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Friday, September 3rd, 2004
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3:51p - RNC-u-l8r
so i took the train into the city yesterday and caught a subway to union square. right when i walked into the square i saw lenny molotov playing music with some people, and that really set my mood and made me feel good about how the day was going to go. i met sam and we walked around a bit and then sat and watched lenny (from people's history of the united states) play for bit. and randi russo was there too. then we walked around some more and looked at booths and bought some buttons. there were lots and lots of people around. then we met up with sam's friend jill and went to sam's office around the corner and made some iron on transfers. i had brought some fabric and shrapies to make patches for my shirt but sam had the supplies to do it quick and fancy for free so we did it there. i had a front patch that said "FREE HUGS cuz i fucking love you" and a back patch that said "hug dispenser". we were barely out the door of his office building when someone asked me for a hug. we went back to the park and walked around more. i ran into jim flynn taking pictures for a new book he is working on. if you were around union square i am sure you saw him and lippe frantically snapping shots of everyone. you should go to jim's website and check it out http://www.curbsidepress.com he is a modern day hero for sure.
then we met up with pablo and mike and hung out with them for awhile with randi and lenny. then i hung out with the back to back cafe kids from portland for awhile. i ran into so many good people all day and there was such a good good feeling around. there was no trouble making. there was nobody making anybody look bad. all that is bullshit. i probably hugged over 100 people. and only one person grabbed my ass. most everyone was just tired and frustrated and needed a hug. or all energetic and excited and wanting a solidarity hug. i got some great hugs. i saw old friends from olympia and chicago and oregon and amsterdam. i made new friends. i was alone for most of the night time. i have been finding lately that when i go places alone sometimes i have a richer experience then when i am comfortable with friends. it is good to find a balance. i watched a lot of music happening. people meeting with instruments and playing and singing together. i ate beans out of a vat of free beans, while watching a hip hop kid rhyme along to some kid in a top hat playing guitar and a nice boy from memphis playing a triangle. i talked to a woman whose best friend just died. we hugged 3 times. and i met a guy whose brother is in iraq for the 2nd time during this war. he was there and came home with horror stories and then was shipped back. i met charlotte from hot dog is my hero's mom and we called charlotte to say hi. i sat with a boy whose 11 year old sister was a fan of my music but she was hit and killed by a car and he asked if i would play at a concert in her memory. i ran into roger manning and sit with him for a long time and begged him to PLEASE play some shows. he says he won't and that makes me sad. i met people who had been detained and people trying to raise bail money for friends who were arrested and being held on bail. i watched the police tell people it was okay to march up 15th street and then once there was a huge crowd form a straight line behind them and block them in and have vans drive up right behind the line. i felt like it was the holocaust and people were being marched to their death. there was that sort of control and power being exercised to divide the people. union square was packed with people. PACKED. and in 10 minutes the police divided the crowd. divide and conquer. hmm.
there was a man with a radio blasting bush's speech. it was so absurd. that man is so absurd. it made me sad to even listen.
then i went and met the man whose son died and was having a candlelight vigil for his son. and there was a man yelling about how it was bullshit because when you go in the service you know you what might be expected of you. i was standing with the guy whose brother is over there now. the guy whose brother is there, who happens to be brown and speaks with a thick accent) turned to me and said "they promised my brother so many things that would make his life better for him and his family and they gave him nothing. they make him fight a personal war that is dishonorable. they make him go into people's homes and plant things to make it look like they have valid reasons for stealing away the husbands and fathers. this IS NOT what you are told is to be expected of you." it is so sad. but we were all their together saying "i believe this is wrong and it is good to see that i am crazy. i am not the only one who sees this." there is a revolution happening. it may take a long long time, but every step is important. every effort and showing of support is important. the park was full of revolutionaries. and i am not talking about this false image of the destructive anachist that has been created by mainstream media. i am talking about people who will go out of their way to speak out against injustice and in support of the preservation of freedom. nyc was held in contempt of court yesterday for refusing to release detainees that no charges had been pressed against. THAT IS TERRIFYING. they were held in a huge unsafe facility. many were there for days. over 1500 people were arrested. most for nothing serious at all. THAT IS TERRIFYING. these people included people who were walking home from work, or trying to catch their train, or peacefully protesting which is not a crime. but the police have these new ziplock handcuffs in bunches hanging off their belts. they can cuff bunches of people really fast. SO SCARY. there was more love amongst the people than anything else. there was a lot of support and a lot of solidarity. it was beautiful. and that is threatening to people with no regard for love and truth. dammit. here... read this...
Back to the Future
What Bush would do if he were president.
By William Saletan
Posted Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004, at 11:47 PM PT
NEW YORK—For $2.4 trillion, guess what word—other than "a," "and," and
"the"—occurs most frequently in the acceptance speech George W. Bush
delivered tonight.
The word is "will." It appears 76 times. This was a speech all about
what
Bush will do, and what will happen, if he becomes president.
Except he already is president. He already ran this campaign. He
promised
great things. They haven't happened. So, he's trying to go back in
time. He
wants you to see in him the potential you saw four years ago. He can't
show
you the things he promised, so he asks you to envision them. He asks
you to
be "optimistic." He asks you to have faith.
"Since 2001, Americans have been given hills to climb and found the
strength
to climb them," said Bush. "Now, because we have made the hard journey,
we
can see the valley below. Now, because we have faced challenges with
resolve, we have historic goals within our reach and greatness in our
future."
Recession. Unemployment. Corporate fraud. A war based on false premises
that
has cost us $200 billion and nearly a thousand American lives. They're
all
hills we've "been given to climb." It's as though Bush wasn't
president. As
though he didn't get the tax cuts he wanted. As though he didn't bring
about
postwar Iraq and authorize the planning for it. All this was "given,"
and
now Bush can show up, three and a half years into his term, and start
solving the problems some other president left behind.
It's all downhill from here, he assures us. The mountain precedes the
valley. Because the results have been bad, they'll start to be good—but
only
if we keep doing the same thing. Everything that hasn't happened will
happen. Bush "will" control spending, he pledged. He "will make our
country
less dependent on foreign sources of energy." He "will lead a
bipartisan
effort to reform and simplify the federal tax code." "Soon every senior
will
be able to get prescription drug coverage." "More people will own their
health plans."
Wonderful, unprecedented things will occur abroad. "Democracy is coming
to
the broader Middle East," Bush promised. We'll soon be "on the path of
stability and democracy" in Iraq. "Our troops will return home." "As
the
citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq seize the moment, their example will
send a
message of hope throughout a vital region. Palestinians will hear the
message that democracy and reform are within their reach, and so is
peace
with our good friend Israel." "As freedom advances—heart by heart, and
nation by nation—America will be more secure and the world more
peaceful."
Why will these things happen? Because resolve brings good things, and
we've
maintained our resolve through bad times. "Having come this far, our
tested
and confident nation can achieve anything," said Bush. The bad things
that
have happened while we've stayed resolved show that good things will
happen
if only we stay resolved.
"A presidential election is a contest for the future," Bush argued.
"Tonight
I will tell you where I stand, what I believe, and where I will lead
this
country in the next four years." So, Bush told us where he stood: "I
stood
where Americans died, in the ruins of the Twin Towers." And he told
what he
thought: "I wake up every morning thinking about how to better protect
our
country." But standing and thinking are not doing. Beliefs and promises
are
what you talk about when you have no progress to report. Bush pointed
to the
wars he had launched and the bills he had signed, but he couldn't point
to
the benefits those laws and wars were supposed to deliver. The benefits
haven't happened yet. They "will."
My favorite moment was when Bush touted the No Child Left Behind Act.
No
more social promotion, he promised. "We are transforming our schools by
raising standards and focusing on results. We are insisting on
accountability."
Wasn't this speech, full of unfulfilled promises and appeals to good
character, basically a plea for social promotion? Isn't that the
message of
the entire Bush campaign? Shouldn't the president have to show results,
too?
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5:24p - be safe florida kids
xoxox
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