fear

it’s all that’s left for mccain to conjure up the votes he needs to win the swing states: call obama dangerous. suggest he’s a terrorst; use outdated and since-disproved rumors to support these claims you can’t admit to on television but can be heard clearly as mimiced by ‘your friends,’ interviewed after a Palin speech in ohio:

outrageous. not only has mccain emboldened the racist, ignorant masses to come out of the woodwork and into a public forum, but by doing so he’s ALREADY setting public thought and social progress back by half a century. THIS is his campaign strategy? watching the videos of these ’supporters,’ i feel like i’m watching a white supremacist convention. no, i’m not trying to sound dramatic.

don’t be fooled that this is just another wacky, ill-fated ploy by the GOP to win one election, either. repercussions from this nasty fire the mccain camp has been stoking will persist. imagine if obama does win for a moment…what happens to all that anger and distrust in the supporters he’s wriling up now? chances are, some of them will look past the policies and logistics (as they must, now) and resort to physical violence. while i want barack to win, i worry that his entire term will be fraught with assassination attempts and that america itself will remain even further divided due to the ugliness this election has seen awake; a side effect of the desperate, petty, enormously irresponsible, pathetic, and dangerous campaign the republicans have been fronting.

i am beyond livid for so many reasons. i knew that the republicans had always been able to shamelessly draw on more support by tapping into pool of ignorant, uninformed voters; that’s always upset me. but propagating, feeding off of and allowing ignorant and racist propaganda to fly during a presidential election is more than vile. i’m quite sure we’re seeing history; both being made and relived - and it scares the shit out of me.

alma [mutter]

i’m going to give you two different opinions from two different sources as to why john mccain decided to use my old middle school as the backdrop to his acceptance speech at the 2008 republican national convention, seen here:

reason #1:

“McCain messed up. He was talking about Walter Reed hospital, and he used our picture by mistake,”

-Joshua, 11-year-old student currently at Walter Reed Middle School

reason #2:

“[it was]…a way of illustrating the candidate’s call ‘for public education reforms that empower parents and students before bureaucrats and labor unions,’”

-GOP spokesman, Tucker Bounds (LA Times)

….

this is difficult:

on the one hand; we have the speculation of a pretty astute prepubescent kid in jr. high…

on the other hand, we have the man whose sole job it is to represent the republican campaign.

huh.

look both ways

uhm, rad. probably gonna go myself, this month.

PROBLEM:
bad-assness aside; while i AM excited and enjoy the idea of biking along side (and past) los angeles traffic to stress the point of fuel and economic efficiency; i’m not keen on the idea of weaving in and out of lanes like asshole motorcyclists NOR getting into the fast lane when traffic is moving at a relatively fast clip. why encourage road rage (or at least moderate annoyance) in the drivers we’re supposed to be winning over? more importantly, why is it the ORGANIZERS who usually take the overly-zealous road (punn har har). this fact makes sense, but it is - again - disconcerting.

in retrospect i’ve seen this in a lot of activist societies - left or right leaning - where members or followers forget to take into account the mindset of the general public who aren’t privvy or - in most cases - have NO IDEA what it is you’re trying to get across. in my experience, you can’t expect someone to sympathize with a concept they’re not used to immediately (probably not just my experience).

in light of this, it’s my belief that many participants (again, most often the organizers) of these events easily psyche themselves up and become too absorbed in the moment, forgetting about relating the message to the public and instead coming off as alienating…something i’d term as ‘abrasive activism.’ not to be interpreted that i’m opposed to activism or feeling passionate…i just worry that too many well-meaning and sometimes even philanthropic movements/activities fail in getting the message across and instead come off as rude and insulting for this reason.

then again, it’s always possible that some of the people who support good causes can very well be…yanno….jerks from the start.

getting back to the freeway ride:
i like the idea of handing lollipops to motorists as we pass by. thanks natalie!

Homosexuality: the toe cancer of our great nation*

“[she’s] not anti…[she’s] not gay bashing,” mind you. [as i scream into a pillow of paranoid delusion].

ahem…

i’m also not as considerate of others’ privacy; especially when ignorance this dangerous is supposed to be representative of us.please be responsible if you write, though. (voice informative, critical disappointment; not a counter-hate tirade):

sally kern

sallykern@okhouse.gov

help in the long term by trying to elect RATIONAL officials into government positions (the bush admin has done a hell of a job with the judicial branch…but that’s another story).

*thanks to h-buck for the link AND the the montage (to take away from the otherwise wearing audio).