not watching television

One long, easy smile . . .

That's what this past weekend felt like. Daughters Jo and Kate weren't here so it wasn't quite perfect, but the weather was. And there was Gary working around the farm with nephew Ryan out from RI to help. And then Dave here to add his certain je ne se qua to the mix. Got Ryan to ride into the big city of Mt. Vernon with Dave and me to help pick out a digital camera just so I could take some pics. We bought the same model Ryan has, which made decoding all those buttons a whole lot easier for une femme d'un certaine age -- okay, 60 -- to work the thing.

Here are the early results . . . That's "Ah Youth" Ryan on the left. He helped mow and rake and clear a patch of ground south of the barn that hasn't seen human footsteps for years; hauled huge cherry logs down out of the woods so Gary can get 'em to a sawmill to be cut and cured; and built a bridge over the Big Dig going on in our back yard. In between he strummed guitar and sang out on the picnic table, roasted marshmallows, ate S'mores (and healthier stuff) and watched the moon and stars. Oh, and he also put on a killer (a few times almost literally) July 4th fireworks show.

Dave's there in the center, looking amused -- probably at something he just said -- and finally showing a bit of age at 50. He ran errands -- out for ice and back to find he had to go right back out for charcoal, only to learn we'd found some here by the time he got back home. He played chief dish-n-bottle washer, too, talked literature/music/politics and did what he does best . . . be good company.

And bringing up the end is Gary -- Jungle Gary as he was known when he was a lot closer to Ryan's age. He  did everything Ryan did but backwards and in high heels. Which is the reason for that world-weary expression -- well, that and a couple o' beers. Oh, yeah, he also cooked and grilled great food. Sometimes he even talked!

Not pictured are the 6 dogs and three cats that shared our weekend: Gary's three standard poodles, collectively known as The Clowns; Henry, the world's best farm dog though ailing at the moment from a fight to the death with a racoon; Rocky, a Lasho-Poo we've been dog-sitting for a friend while she settles into new digs; Dave's dog, Shade, aka Velcro-Boy because he never leaves Dave's side; and Charlie, Tib and Suzi -- current members of our ever-shifting community of cats

Me? Well, I'm not there cuz I'm not stupid enough to have my spirit stolen. But what I did was fix a lot of food, wash a lot of dishes, and generally enjoy the company of three terrific men.

Call me lucky.

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING: I should change the title of this blog . . .

I didn't watch tv for the better part of 3 years during the Bush nightmare, but I started watching again several years ago when I started following political blogs -- shortly before I quit blogging, I guess.

Just reactivated my blog days ago and haven't given thought to updating it. Maybe I will . . .

Expanding family . . .

How cool is this? My former sister-in-law's foster kid -- well, not a kid, an 18-year-old grown up -- came to visit the farm to help out my ex with some work around here. Yeah, we're an odd configuration of a family.

But, y'know, we are a family and it's great meeting this new member. At 18 Ryan has already made the western trek, all the way to Alaska alone in a Suburu, didn't find himself there, came back home to Attleboro RI and took right off again for Mexico when one of my SIL's friends invited him along for the ride. Lotta ground to cover so early in life and a lotta interesting stuff in his head that he shared as we chatted last night because of it.

Now he's got a new-style folk band with vocals, a couple of guitars, banjo, upright base and violin. Cactus Attack and they're playing gigs around the MA-RI border so if you're in those parts, check 'em out.

This is the thing, if you're old like me it's important to remember how amazing young people are, how they struggle to cope imaginatively and truthfully with whatever gets dished out on their plates. The world is such a weird place but full of good people trying to care for others and themselves in ways that do no harm.

It's so easy to forget that. To frame our realities in sweeping generalizations and knee-jerk reactions. The quiet joy that lifts you up and keeps you going comes when you stay conscious of people, even in throngs, as individuals with stories they're living and shaping to make sense of it all or live with the wisdom that sense isn't always possible. And it comes from thoughtfulness in the face of media bombardments and tabloid headlines designed to encourage you not to think.

Governor Sanford's tale is undeniably weird, but he's a guy trying to make sense -- along with all the other players in the drama playing out on the public stage. Michael Jackson is guy of unmeasurable talent who used it to express his own sense of things and give unadulterated joy to millions in the process.

Young people like Ryan help me remember that. They're passionate in trying to know the world; they haven't traded simple catagories and easy answers for compassion and empathy. We need 'em to remind us of our responsibility to be guided in all things by empathy and compassion, too.

So, thanks for coming by, Ryan. It's been great taking this refresher course with you.

Expanding family . . .

How cool is this? My former sister-in-law's foster kid -- well, not a kid, an 18-year-old grown up -- came to visit the farm to help out my ex with some work around here. Yeah, we're an odd configuration of a family.

But, y'know, we are a family and it's great meeting this new member. At 18 Ryan has already made the western trek, all the way to Alaska alone in a Suburu, didn't find himself there, came back home to Attleboro RI and took right off again for Mexico when one of my SIL's friends invited him along for the ride. Lotta ground to cover so early in life and a lotta interesting stuff in his head that he shared as we chatted last night because of it.

Now he's got a new-style folk band with vocals, a couple of guitars, banjo, upright base and violin. Cactus Attack and they're playing gigs around the MA-RI border so if you're in those parts, check 'em out.

This is the thing, if you're old like me it's important to remember how amazing young people are, how they struggle to cope imaginatively and truthfully with whatever gets dished out on their plates. The world is such a weird place but full of good people trying to care for others and themselves in ways that do no harm.

It's so easy to forget that. To frame our realities in sweeping generalizations and knee-jerk reactions. The quiet joy that lifts you up and keeps you going comes when you stay conscious of people, even in throngs, as individuals with stories they're living and shaping to make sense of it all or live with the wisdom that sense isn't always possible. And it comes from thoughtfulness in the face of media bombardments and tabloid headlines designed to encourage you not to think.

Governor Sanford's tale is undeniably weird, but he's a guy trying to make sense -- along with all the other players in the drama playing out on the public stage. Michael Jackson is guy of unmeasurable talent who used it to express his own sense of things and give unadulterated joy to millions in the process.

Young people like Ryan help me remember that. They're passionate in trying to know the world; they haven't traded simple catagories and easy answers for compassion and empathy. We need 'em to remind us of our responsibility to be guided in all things by empathy and compassion, too.

So, thanks for coming by, Ryan. It's been great taking this refresher course with you.

Last night I had the strangest dream . . .

Strange in a wonderful way. I dreamed I was organizing for a move. Two guys from a shop down the street arrived with their truck and I was sorting, piling, telling them what to load up. Then Michael Jackson showed up, he was standing in the hallway smiling. And the dream became me helping Michael with his move.

I've found myself unexpectedly moved by Michael's death, feeling sad and helpless. So I guess the dream was about that -- being moved but not so helpless; helping Michael to move on . . . 

                                                                                                          

Okay, I haven't read The Da Vinci Code

But I don't think it's necessary to get the drift of what David Sirota is saying in his piece at The American Prospect yesterday -- that there are lots of signs in the 2004 election results that voters respond positively to  those issues of economic class the current DLC-dominated party wants to ignore. Across the country there are examples of voters in culturally conservative areas who consistently send progressive Democrats to Congress and elect them to state offices, too. Why? Economic populism, that's why. Conservative voters will vote for progressive candidates, even those who are vocally pro-choice and support gay rights, if those candidates speak for and represent their constituents' very real economic concerns.

Values are important to these folks; it's just that Republicans and DLC Democrats don't want you to know about some of the values they care about -- values like clean government, ethical business practices, economic fairness, good jobs, good schools . . . Yeah, all that stuff we care about? Turns out that given a choice they can trust, folks in conservative rural and small-town America care about them, too.

Please read the article. Then go here to use MoveOn's site to send a message to your state's Democratic Party leaders, who will be meeting this weekend to consider who will be the next chair of the DNC.

The only trustworthy progressive candidate vying for the position is Howard Dean. I told my leaders that if Dean doesn't win the chairmanship I won't be putting my time and money into the Democratic Party anymore. I'll support the Progressive Democrats of America along with minority parties like the Greens and the Working Families Party,  but the DNC can take me off its mailing lists. I've had more than enough of the DLC . . .

Exit Polls graft & corruption: How it was done . . .

Go to Cosmic Iquana and read the post and link about how exit polls were skewed toward Bush late in the game on November 2. I'm behind the recount in Ohio because of the many, many irregularities that denied or attempted to deny voting rights to thousands of citizens. I want this shit exposed, regardless of who comes up the winner in the recount.

But when I read stuff like this I'm more and more swayed that well-planned deliberate fraud took place on Election Day.

Couple o' quickies from my CASE-Ohio group . . .

"For those who have been wondering about the extent of public support for looking further and deeper into the vagaries of Election 2004, I offer the following from a Zogby national survey taken recently (12/1/04 - 12/3/04)* :

"Asked of all likely voter respondents: 

Concerns have been expressed by some observers of the election that problems with counting the votes may have affected the results and deserve further investigation. Do you think these concerns are...?

Very valid                 28.5%
Somewhat valid        14.0%
Mostly invalid          24.2%
Not at all valid          31.2%
Not sure                      2.2%

"What's significant about this is that in spite of the media lockdown/disparagement of the concerns, a very substantial portion of Americans strongly want further investigation and do not believe that the answers to date have been satisfactory. Certainly 42.5% backing takes this well out of the realm of "wild-eyed conspiracy theory" which the media has thus far painted it into.

"Further, among Democratic voters the numbers are: Very valid (59.8%), Somewhat valid (21.8%), for a total of 82% willingness to support ongoing investigations such as the Conyers hearing. This support stands only to increase as more evidence emerges of wrongdoing."

*"These results were taken from a Zogby Interactive survey, and were part of a larger poll on politics and policy. The questions were independently produced by Zogby International and were not commissioned by any individual or organization." This note must be included with any forwarding or other publication of the above-cited results.

And then there's this blistering letter to a reporter at the Columbus Dispatch. also posted to the group:

Dear Mark:

Your article in the Dispatch today quotes Ken Blackwell as saying: "It would have taken the collaberation of hundreds of Democrat leaders with Republicans to have stolen this election for George Bush."

On the contrary, please see the attached affidavit of a former software engineer from Florida who designed software to steal the election. Only a few people would even have to know about it to steal an election through software. That's why many groups such as CASE Ohio, Citizens' Alliance for Secure Elections, www.caseohio.org, have sprung up across the country, to fight the fact that our elections are no longer trustworthy, free, or fair.

All you need is software to steal an election. It is just that unwitting journalists and members of the public are lulled into a false sense of security by blatantly misleading statements from Ohio's Secretary of State, and others, that it would take "hundreds" of people's involvement.

DId you know that Sequoia, one of the big vendors of electronic voting machines in the country (not in Ohio) is owned by The Carlyse group? Did you know that the Carlyse Group has the elder George Bush sitting on its Board of Directors? Did you know that George W. Bush just bought a $ 2.5 million yacht and named it "Sequoia"?* Did you know that the only three vendors that Blackwell has chosen for use in Ohio, Diebold (decertified in California - CEO Wally O'Dell wrote in a fund raising letter, "I pledge to deliver the electoral votes of Ohio to the President in 2004" - and then he did - O'Dell raised over $ 100,000 for the Bush 2004 campaign), ES&S (owned by an Ursevich brother, whose brother owns Diebold) and Hart InterCivic, all have far right-wing origins and ownership? (See, www.blackboxvoting.org )

Did you know that we have privatized our public elections and that over 70% of the country was tabulated by these far-right wing companies with secret software that is not open to public inspection and has no auditable paper trail? Did you know that the software referred to in the attached affidavit, or similar software, was probably utilized across the country to systematically shift votes to Bush?

No wonder a constantly growing number of American people are no longer buying the lies that have been fed to us about the integrity of the voting system. It is inherently flawed and rife with conficts of interests. That is why we had about 1,200 people** (not 400 as reported by AP) attended the CASE Ohio rally on the Statehouse lawn on Saturday to protest Blackwell's involvement and delay of the recount.

You need to write a story about the issues I raise herein. This is the real story - not some calculated lies of a politician on the ropes. I would be happy to talk to you for the purpose of writing that story.

Sincerely,

xxxx

* With the single exception of what the writer says about Bush's new yacht, Sequoia, everything in this letter is factually correct. The USS Sequoia is an historic vessel once owned by the US government and sold off to private interests during Jimmy Carter's administration. The recently passed omnibus budget bill did include an appropriation for repurchasing the Sequoia, I think for the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis. It's possible that the proposed purchase will bail out the current owners in some way, but the sale has not gone through, while the amount allotted is a small portion of the vessel's material and historic value. My personal position on the yacht is that it should be part of government collections. I just think the current owners should do their patriotic duty and donate rather than sell it back to the public to which it rightfully belongs.

** The 1200 estimate is, according to my count, close to correct. I counted 100 ralliers in one area close to the side of the stage during a point in the rally when folks were keeping to one place and listening attentively to the speakers. I then estimated the rest of the crowd according the volume in the particular area that I counted. In my previous post I said my estimate was a bit lower -- about 900 -- because I lost my visual place at one point and wanted to err on the conservative side. Either way, the point is that the crowd was without-a-doubt at least twice as large as the AP estimate by the time the rally was well underway.

 

Post-Rally Post . . .

A bunch of stuff has kept me from writing about the rally. Let me just say it was great to feel a part of such a community of positively impassioned people. Everyone needs to understand that this is not primarily a movement of angry people: It is a movement of people who are committed to the democratic principles of justice and equality that are expressed in the right to voteand know all the votes will count.

It is, above all, an extention of the Civil Rights Movement into the 21st century. The overwhelming majority of voting irregularities and possible frauds took place in low-income princincts and those dominated by minority voters and students. Thus, the groups with the strongest progressive traditions -- young people, hispanics and blacks --  waited in the longest lines; voted with the fewest machines; saw their votes flipped to opponents; their provisional ballots rejected, or their punch-card ballots "spoiled".

The afternoon rally took place on a sunny but chilly day, with a strong wind that occasionally played havoc with the sound system set up beneath a statue of William McKinley in front of the  Statehouse. A bit of irony that, since Karl Rove is a McKinley fan and has a lot in common with "Dollar Mark" Hanna, the king-maker behind McKinley's presidency. Every single one of the  speakers was impassioned and articulate, and the crowd (estimated between 400-1,200; my best guess is about 900) was with them through every word. Two speakers in particular stood out for me: Jon Bonifaz of the National Voting Rights Institute, who is serving pro bono as general counsel for David Cobb and Michael Badnarik in the recount; and David Lytel of ReDefeatBush.

And of course, there was Greg Palast, who was high energy and informative with a biting sarcasm earned through all that he's learned in the course of his investigations . . . Unfortunately Jesse Jackson was too ill to attend but talked the the audience by speaker phone at the evening symposium at Columbus's Afrocentric School. However, in his place there was a surprise visit from Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who is from Barbara Jordon's old district (or whatever gerrymandered form it now takes), and was in her own way as powerful a speaker.

Really, all the speakers at both the rally and symposium were rousingly wonderful. I've been to a lot of political rallies and it's pretty easy to tell when speakers are tired, off their game, just-going-through-the-motions-giving-the-same-old-speech-one-more-time. There was none of that on Saturday. Every word felt fresh . . .

And best of all, the rally served to bring folks together to actually do stuff. I'm most excited about the contact I made with a few Green activists in the rural 'n coal-country county next to mine. In fact, my daughter and I are now tentatively county coordinators for the recount! And yes, we'll be observing the initial 3% recount in a county with punch-card machines -- a land of overvotes, undervotes, dimples and hanging chads . . .

Consequently, I'll probably be slow with postings for the next week or so. But stop by now and again if you can. Whenever I have a free moment I'll try to publish something about the process I'm about to become part of on the ground.

And speaking of the ground, there are still more opportunities to put feet to the street to protest vote fraud in Ohio and around the country. Ray Beckerman, an attorney who was himself "on the ground" in Ohio on Election Day, is posting a running list of actions around the country this week and over the weekend at Ohio Election Fraud (Formerly "Fairness") -- Go scroll around his site and see what you can do.

I can't emphasize strongly enough how important it is to get involved in the real world beyond the virtual one where so many of us spend so much time. It's been awhile since I've had such a pure and promising contact high . . .

Heading out the the Rally . . .

We're about to take off for the vote-recount rally in Columbus. Will report back late tonight or early tomorrow . . . In the meantime, if you want to read the latest from Wayne Madsen on rigging the vote, go here (most recent), here (previous) and here (intial article).