When the US explodes -- what then?

[nashville_brook]

I love the thread last night:
This Country Is About To Explode
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3641885&mesg_id=3641885&page=

I especially love what The Watcher says here:

"But I am starting to wonder if the unraveling of Civilization itself and the unpredictability of the consequences of such is going to throw and interesting wrench in things."

I think The Watcher is completely correct in reading the current vibe as one of increasing instability and panic. I feel it too as I'm online reading and writing.

But when I'm out in the world (i.e. Nashville) I see people getting their kids to school, going to work, shopping at the grocery store and otherwise doing the stuff that life demands.

So what's it gonna look like when people start getting "uncivilized?" What will this mean in real terms? Are we worried about vigilantes taking over neighborhoods street by street? Are we predicting the use of concentration camps for outspoken bloggers? Will there be martial law? Helicopters? Riots?

I predicted riots if the Bushies stole the 2004 election. I was obviously wrong. We had other things to do. What were those things? Could it have been: getting the kids to school; getting to work; participating in the details of life as you must everyday?

In Germany when Hitler was rising to power, life went on for everyone not affected by the clampdowns, imprisonments and deaths. They were happy for an improved economy and the "strength" of the Fatherland. Even the Jews in the Concentration Camps reported a sense of "life going on." Normalcy expands to fit your condition.

So, again, what's it gonna look like when the US explodes?

Will there illegal imprisonments?
Will there be illegal wars?
Will there be fake terrorist attacks?
Will the media become nothing more than a propaganda tool?
Will elections be stolen openly?
Will there be purges from the churches?

Might we already have exploded?

And what has changed? The kids still need to get to school. We still have to bring home enough money to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. We might desperately need to take our country back -- but what would that mean to busy parents, somnambulant students, and the rest of us working stiffs?

How might we bring this desire into our experience? How might we give it form and make it real?

I don't think there is any way to predict this with certainty, but I think it is possible to imagine what we need to do as things get more weird and dangerous.

Following Maslow, we will need to account for our basic needs -- safety and security, i.e. getting the kids to school; going to work; feeding the family. Given this, I believe ANY ACTION required to take back the country will have to focus on this stuff. So, imagine how Bush is impacting these things. What are your neighborhood schools going thru right now? What are things like at work? Do you talk to your co-workers about democracy in the workplace? Fair treatment of parents needing to take care of kids? Salary issues? Do you know your neighbors? Can you walk to a store? or a restaurant? If you lost one income, would you have to declare bankruptcy? Do you have a support system of friends and family you can lean on for child care; or even sharing expenses should things get financially rough?

Going back to the original post -- I don't believe Civilization will "break-down." I think it might just "break-together."

We are horribly alienated in our everyday lives. We have to drive to do anything. By and large, we need two incomes to make ends meet. We are consumed in our consumerism. What if all this changed. What if something forced a change?

If we direct our energy to living less alienated lives;
If we really knew our neighbors;
If we had STRONG support systems for our families;
If we get off the damn hamster wheel of consuming, working, consuming;
If we RECONNECT to REAL LIVES... what would THAT look like?

And what if an exploding country FORCED us to do this? How ironic would that be?

I'll tell you how ironic -- it's the kind of irony history is full of -- dictators can't predict how their actions will play out thru the last moves. We are creatures of intelligence and humanity. We have the flag. It has not touched the ground.

Take a moment and reflect on the East Waynesville Baptist Church fiasco. The Christo-Fascist dictators at the Southern Baptist Convention thought they could test the water by sending one of their most rabid dogs up to the hills of Western North Carolina. You KNOW they expected to get away with it and USE it as a model for other churches. But we stepped-in and guess what? We won a big one for freedom of worship and separation of church and state. Don't you think that's huge?

We did it by refusing to be alienated -- even from the mountains of NC. Don't you see how they expected alienation to work against us here? Using our network we got people up to the church and spread the word. We called and emailed and actually FIXED something that was broken. We did it thru our connection. Our connection as human beings -- otherwise known as Civilization.

That is exactly how we will RE-Civilize -- how we will fall together. We will not fall down.

[villager]

1. this post was a good way...

...to start the morning. "Consumed by consumerism" indeed. When that veil gets stripped away...

...well, people will have to confront the void. Some try to stuff that void with a publicly proclaimed rabid Jesus (while, privately -- still feeling the void -- taking their wives to swinger clubs, or molesting little boys, or whatever temporarily gives them their "fix").

Others -- well, others may just have to come back down to Earth...

[nashville_brook]

2. this was my appeal to "pragmatism"

i take great comfort in the ingenuity of real people solving real problems. we get out "in the weeds" when we bang the drum of theory. but bring it down to earth and things become clear.

one foot in front of the other.

[PATRICK]

5. Has Iraq exploded?

Most Iraqis are also trying to go about their even more unsatisfactory lives as they were the day before shock and awe rolled over them. Usually it is a fringe of activists, dissidents and "them" groups going to prison, doing and suffering the most in the percolating drama.

Explosion is probably a joke in our context, and a barometer of how far we can go into the typical human history- interesting in the rampage of armies, the intrigues of dictators, the blindenss of perfunctory civilization, and not something to be caught in if you are commoners.
History is something most people avoid and whistle at from afar.

Something mundane such as critical search for the facts and engagement in
civic responsibilities is about as universally avoided. The illusion that most of the fish can escape the shark will diminish sharply some day when it is too late to expect any good from a reolution. Those who decide to fight the shark are guaranteed more immediate excitement.

[nashville_brook]

7. hmmm -- could i paraphrase:

it's more FUN to fight the shark. i like that.

commoners have a fight to fight. i see it everyday with my friends and family. we are re-tooling, tightening budgets, finding alternative ways to feed the family by purchasing veggies, meat and dairy from local farmers (better than organic, and we have friends who are farmers).

explosion won't be theoretical in our context when mortgage interest rates soar. everyone with interest-only ARMs are going to be HURTING. or when gas gets harder to get.

if we premise our Revolution on civic responsibility we will lose. it will be a matter of survival on the family level -- the little fishes -- or else it won't happen. i think bush is pushing us toward transformation b/c we are left without any other options.

speaking of iraq -- where's the chruches on PEACE? we have to demand that our communities recognize what is happening. it's vietnam all over again.

[sam sarrha]

3. US gang members would number the 6th largest army in the world.

is is going to be Road warrior days... and about 100,000,000 mexicans will swarm up under the orders of Fox and take back what is theirs... We will become Nothern Mexico.

[Just Me]

4. Well, here's my thing,...

,...does it ALWAYS have to take a crisis to "fall together? *LOL*

I understand the dread. On the other hand, like you, I do believe we will "fall together,...not,...down".

Many people are starting to get a real-life understanding of just how much struggle and sacrifice those before us had to bear in order to exact change which bettered humanity. It's difficult.

[nashville_brook]

6. unfortunately, the nature of transformation is

stasis followed by crisis followed by transformation followed by stasis.

we are coming out of the stasis of the 2-income family that came about in the 70s and seemed like such a great deal in the 80s and 90s. hell, we were loaded! stasis.

it IS difficult -- but so is everything else in life. having babies is difficult. working everyday is difficult. living is increasingly difficult.

doing these things BETTER -- reconnecting -- will make these things easier once we get the hang of it.

[KansDem]

9. This is reminiscent of the 1050s "Who would you let in" argument...

that surrounded the move for families to build fall-out shelters in their back yards as protection against the threat of nuclear war. I was only a child then, but remember these discussions: father builds a fallout shelter in his backyard. It's understood that the family will escape there in the event of an atomic war. But, what if your neighbor, who didn't build a shelter, wanted to come into your shelter? What if he wanted to bring his family? What if some neighbors down the street wanted in? So on and so on...

The suggestion was to decide on how many, if any, to let in and have a gun on hand to enforce that decision. No doubt had a such a war erupted, there would have been "many decisions" made... I wonder if we are entering this stage in the Civil Cold War.

I understand your argument regarding "statis...crisis...transformation...statis" but I don't see that happening today. Consider:

1) 1 breadwinner (? to 1960s) to 2 breadwinners (1970s-2005) to ???. How many breadwinners will be needed in the 21st century?

2) Agrarian culture (relative peace with nature) to industrial culture (some dissonance with nature) to cybernetic culture (no relation to nature) to ???. Will man ever be at relative peace with nature again?

3) From neighbor helping neighbor, to neighbor ignoring neighbor, to "F*ck you, neighbor!" to ???. How many of us really know our neighbors?

America is a country who solve many of its problems by "moving." Consider the formation of the colonies, the move West, and the sense of empire it possess now (Vietnam, Iraq, and other invasions). We can no longer "move," since where ever we go, somebody or something owns the ground! There is no "New World," or "American West" that we can go to start anew; couple this with the fact that we are all in dozens databases, so this is no anonymity; no starting anew. And in less than six months, we will see how the new bankruptcy laws will make this situation more of a nightmare.

As much as I admire your view, it will be difficult, if not downright impossible, to transform to a better society giving the direction we're going now and the fact there is very little, if any, room to go to.

[nashville_brook]

13. if you live in McMansionville -- you probably don't know your neighbors

if you live in McMansionville -- you NEED 2 incomes
if you live in McMansionville -- you must drive everywhere
if you live in McMansionville -- you probably are alienated to the point where you wouldn't let your neighbor into your shelter.

I moved. I don't live in McMansionville. I know my neighbors. I can WALK to a BAR if I wanted to, amking me a better citizen for staying off the roads drunk in a car.

You are absolutely correct, we solve our problems by moving. And lots of people are moving from an alienated life to a connected on.

In the 60s people talked about moving back to the land and all that -- and many people did, but we found that we needed urban environments in order to have the carrying capacity to support our needs -- schools, etc.

We have the ability, now, before the shit hits the fan, to retool -- rethink our lives. My point is that the current economic situation and the coming economic storm (let alone the socio-political storm) is forcing us to reconnect.

Reconnection isn't rocket science. It means safe neighborhood, sidewalks, mixed-use zoning, extended families, and thinking thru our ennui to create solutions by thinking in terms of consequenses and not just running scared.

[nashville_brook]

25. this is a good metaphor -- fallout shelters; preparing for nuke war

how would you prepare for creeping fascism?

how do you fight fascism?

[tavalon]

46. But that's exactly what he's saying

It's time to trim it down, get to know your neighbors, learn to help one another. Just because many aren't doing it doesn't mean that it isn't just the right thing for now.

Every Sunday, I go to something we call "Family Dinner". It's a group of 10 - 40 people who are chosen family. Many of us in that group are creating different families greater than two, learning to live in a communitarian fashion. (and heck, if this grand experiment doesn't work at least everyone in my "family" will know how to cook in prison. Have you ever cooked for forty? It's an experience!)

Transformation comes down to you and me. If it works, the rest will follow.

[nashville_brook]

54. she -- but thanks -- :)

it's purposely not a "utopia." this isn't for everyone. i can't fix the world. but i can fix me.

there's another thread asking i
Are we heading back toward large extended families living together?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3647601

i love this thread -- i noticed reading the comments that people who are already sharing, had a lightness to their description of the arrangement which sounded a lot like happiness.

when i was in high school i used to go to Unitarian Youth retreats and we always rotated in and out of diff chores -- cooking for a hundred people was one of my fave things. if you haven't had the opportunity to shell a few hundred eggs with your best friend, you should try it. really gives you a chance to get to know someone better.

as an aside -- this is very goofy, but we were kids -- one of the activities the Unitarians would do with the Youth on retreat was called Love Feast. yikes, it makes my skin crawl typing that, but -- the idea was you could eat dinner -- but other people had to feed you. you couldn't feed yourself. it was a neat object lesson in relying on others. sweet. but very hippy dippy.

[tavalon]

57. Heh, heh

I wonder why I assumed male? Very interesting.

[Cleita]

8. Things have to get pretty bad first.

For instance, certain foods start to get scarce, so when you go to the supermarket, there will be empty bins and counters of things that aren't available. When a shipment comes in of the desired grocery, people will start waiting in line to get it.

Gas will probably start being rationed by stations only being able to sell it on certain days and at certain hours. Again, lines and gridlock.

Electricity will be on only during certain hours.

When it hits home like this then watch the shiet hit the fan.

[nashville_brook]

10. what if you can't afford food? gas, or electricity? healthcare?

i know plenty of people in this boat -- or damn close to it. it's time to start problem-solving NOW.

how many people send their kids to well-funded schools?

how long does it take for a fire truck to get to your house?

are your parents well taken care of? or do they decide between drugs and food?

there's no rule that says every family a nuclear family. there's no law that says you have to live 5 hours away from your extended family. there's no one coming after DU for sticking our nose into East Waynesville Baptist Church business.

the revolution comes from both directions -- inside and out. and it can start now if it's a matter of personal revolution -- what are our priorities?

[Cleita]

14. Oh, I agree with you, but those who can still go a about their

business and have jobs to shop and fill thier SUVs will be apathetic until it hits them. It will be almost too late then.

[nashville_brook]

16. THEY can be as apathetic as they want to be -- that's not the point

how apathetic shall we be?

it's a question.

[Cleita]

18. Oh, I don't think we do enough because many of

us don't realize how bad it could get. I surely think we should get out every weekend and picket the offices of our representatives and senators, even the Republican ones, or maybe especially the Republican ones to make them do what we want them to do.

I think they have ignored the will of the people enough and it's time to let them know we could get ugly.

[tavalon]

47. Exactly!

I'm working really hard learning to be self sufficient and yet interdependent. So is every one else in my community. The predominant questions I ask myself are, "Do I really need this?", "Can we share this?" "What do I have to offer?" which is creating the impetus for learning new things. This summer's new things are learning to garden in the Northwest (longtime gardener in Texas - a whole different beast), learning water bath canning and pressure canning and relearning how to quilt.

One of my friends knows how to hunt, another how to prepare a carcass and how to tan hides. Yet another is quite the woodworker. And so on. And we are coming together, preparing. And networking and becoming a more solid community in the process.

I know all of that sounds vaguely (or maybe not so vaguely) like militia for the Armageddon talk but even if the shit doesn't hit the fan, I think this is a much better way to be than the insular nuclear units most of us had during the 80s and 90s.

[nashville_brook]

51. there a "Real Simple," womens' magazine -- living trends vibe about this:

what's a pot latch but an excuse to party? what's partying, but networking? what do we have to do FOR WORK all the freaking time? NETWORK. it just feels better to netowrk for yourself. grow your own community.

the thing about buying or trading food from hunters and farmers is that it maintains VERY rewarding relationships with people we wouldn't otherwise grow to know. to the person they are conservative in that straight arrow kind of way. me and my husband are blown away by their "nobility" -- they are stand up people -- AND the really cool thing is they are starting to come around... just like the top posts today from born again dems. i think it's the stuff that life is made of.

[tavalon]

56. Wow

We must be incredibly blessed here in Seattle, because the local farmers we deal with (yes, organic and local is so much better!) are extreme liberal hippie types.

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. Someone once said that our culture is two days away from riots

If you interrupt the distribution of food and electricity, etc.

Folks who know how to live off of the land wouldn't see much change.

And don't forget the uppity NRA members with Nugent cheering them on. We'd have a showdown between every weapon-owning American (gangs versus NRA etc.)

[nashville_brook]

15. that would be an example of disentegration -- de-civilization

the fact that we didn't have riots after the election shows our commitment to "staying put" and seeing what happens. i think it points up our essential Civility.

gangs don't give a hoot about this stuff. gangs are little pockets of organized crime. they are busy making money.

in your neighborhood, who are the NRA folks you expect to start shooting? keep an eye on them. maybe that means going to a chruch service on sunday at a parish you have never visited before. maybe it means having a garage sale and striking up conversation with your neighbors who drop by. size 'em up. if you really think that this is a possibility, shouldn't you be preparing?

or, more likely, is this a dramatic fiction? is this how we excuse ourselves from connected with the world?

[Cleita]

17. It's not possible to live off the land anymore.

Too much of it has been paved and taken over for farming. The wilderness is shrinking and the wild animals are having a problem finding food. So imagine millions of Americans suddenly trying to strip the resources in the wilderness to survive. Most will starve, I'm afraid.

[Fire Walk With Me]

20. Yep

Don't underestimate greed and opportunity.

By "living off the land", I meant the Fellahin in the Middle East. The end of Western Civilization wouldn't effect some people, is my meaning.

[nashville_brook]

28. this isn't about living off the land -- it's pragmatic -- literally

what are the consequences of assuming the US is exploding?

if you really think the country is exploding, what should then we do?

what does this mean to life and how we live it?

[Cleita]

29. Well, people could downsize, like I have, but I don't

know if many people want to live like I do. I grow a lot of my food. I don't eat meat often. I still could do a lot more if I can scrape the money together, to get solar panels and a hybrid car. I try to drive my car only once a week to shop for other food and necessities.

[nashville_brook]

30. sounds like you are conscious of your carrying capacity

i think this is a positive way of approaching it.

[Swamp Rat]

31. No como carne... solamente pescado... ahora

Cuando la mierda golpea el ventilador (Armageddon), voy a comer a republicanos y hacer el carne azada de sus niños y a compartirlo con mis nuevos amigos aztec. Voy a ser un caníbal y a comer a republicanos PRIMERO, hasta que ninguno está vivo. No serán segura en sus comunidades bloqueadas o sus 'spidyholes.' :D

[Cleita]

32. Boy you really hate Republicans.

LOL

Ojala, que los Mods no entienden Espanol. Buena suerte. :-)

[nashville_brook]

33. mmm, babies taste good!

[yurbud]

34. hydroponics. Start studying.

[nashville_brook]

35. good stuff to do just anyway -- i love being around the lights and

lovely happy green plants.

i've actually had a couple of those creepy "post-apocalyptic" dreams that involved lots of indoor gardening.

[Cleita]

42. Even city people can do this. Just empty a closet and

set up your garden in it.

[nashville_brook]

44. fresh herbs! flowers! whatever...

i love going in the hydroponics store especially in winter! it;s prolly good for SAD, too.

[Just Me]

40. Um, no,...that assertion is just,...so untrue,...unless you live in,...

,...concrete cities which only take up a very limited space in the U.S.

But, carry on. I'm sure you're describing a particular perception which is quite real and true for many people.

[Cleita]

41. I have lived in rural and wilderness areas from

the Northwest down to Texas and I am not the only person to observe this, but the Audobon society among others who are trying to preserve the Wilderness attest to this. It is very apparent when wild animals start raiding garbage and breaking and entering into homes and other places where food is stored, that they are hungry and willing to face up to humans whom they mostly fear.

[MsTryska]

12. am i the only one that's actually looking soemwhat forward

to the whole damn thing exploding. i need the release dammit - and i'm come to fully believe that the only way to set things to rights is for the whole damn thing to come tumbling down.

[nashville_brook]

21. since you are looking forward to it, you must have some thoughts on

how it might impact you.

have you ever thought about how YOUR street would fare? or do you expect your experience of the "explosion" to be gathered mostly from television? i think we think of the "Explosion" as happening in ATLANTA -- LA -- CLEVELAND -- not down the street. that excuses us from really owning it. sure, we can ESCALATE the coming "revolution" to epic proportions -- as long as it's somewhere else. on Mayberry Street:
"there'll be the Motor City Madman shooting RPGs out of a double-necked guitar. Pat Robertson will have an on-air wargasm that will turn his minions of septagenarian believers into human cannonballs; and Dick Cheney will finally reveal his true cyborg nature, emitting death rays like tenticles that will poison the earth for aeons and entomb our mindless bodies. Then the Bloods and the Crips will rise up. They'll be dead, but ZOMBIFIED. So you won't be able to kill them. Which won't matter, unless you take the RED PILL."

but if it were you, on your street -- what would you do.

WWYD? what would YOU do?

i've been thru hurricanes where this isn't theoretical. you know what happens? people come over to your house to see if you are okay. they offer to help fix your roof. they worry about the old lady down the street. they converge on lawns and cook food. that's CIVILIZATION. that's what we do.

only nutcases roam the streets looking for stuff to shoot -- and when that happens, you've got a hoard of husbands saying, LETS ROLL.

i'm just saying -- WWYD.

[MsTryska]

23. Well i do live in Atlanta....

so i'd prolly wind up in the mess of things.....as for what i would do - make sure me and mine are taken care of food wise and shelterwise and then start going out and gathering others....stop at pharmacies and herbshops along the way, gather my necesseities, and go out healin'.


but that's always been my gameplan.

[nashville_brook]

24. so... you'd make yourself available where you're needed

that's a function of Civil-ization. you wouldn't be the only one.

it's our nature to create systems that encourage life. it's in the "machine's" nature to disrupt it. as things get ugly, people will meet that energy with their own. we can't think about positive solutions and make extra connectioons, or we can despair in the darkness that comes thru the TV. it's up to us.

[MsTryska]

45. absolutely - I would make myself available when needed

I try to do that now, try to be the canary int he minesheft, the warning bell, the voice of reason, and i tend to get dumped on by the population at large.


i'm convinced the only way these people will wake up is when it all goes to hell in a handbasket - and when that time comes i will be there, helping people find a better way.

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. Germany exploded.. and now they are feeling much better... but

it was a heck of a lesson for them (and us, and the jews, and the many other people) to live (and die) through.

[nashville_brook]

22. so what did we learn? seriously?

from my limited perspective on hitlet-era germany these are the lessons i walk away with:

-- good to have a place to hide people
-- good to make a noise as loud and as long as you can, cause you won't be able to later
-- better to try everything possible before the hammer comes down, b/c you won't get another shot
-- good to have liquid assets
-- good to have contacts with people in other countries

and it's always better to be an unsatisfied human, than a happy pig (to paraphrase plato).

[Cleita]

43. Yes, and we should learn from their lesson before

we get there. It's time to start turning the screw now.

[tavalon]

48. And yet, we're hell bent on doing it again

Aren't humans the funniest of animals?

By funny, I mean odd.

edited for clarity, as much clarity as I can muster after 12 hours on the labor deck!

[nashville_brook]

55. some are -- rest up -- it's our job to stop them -- :)

i'm in a smiley face mood today :)

[yurbud]

26. We are 50% or more of America

I think if they go to far, there will be a White Palace moment like the Communist attempt to undo Gorbachev's reforms.

There will be a point where soldiers and police refuse to follow obviously unjust and unAmerican orders.

I don't know what that point will be.

They have their plans for Iran this summer, and most people have no stomach for another war two incomplete ones on our plate, so Bush needs to get his Saudi friends to send us another attention getter.

If there is another terrorist attack, I don't think it will help the Bushies like they expect it to--in fact, it could be the turning point.

[nashville_brook]

27. exactly! -- they are arrogant. they think they can control everything

but they can't. and you are so right -- we are WAAAY more than 50 percent since the "election." we've read the republican turned democrat conversion stories. bush guilt.

they are going to push, push, push too far and they won't be able to predict the outcome.

[AlternativeView]

36. Arrogant for a reason

They can afford to be arrogant. When you control the money and the media, you do control everything.

Given that they control each of these, I don't think that anything is left to chance. I'm afraid that there will be contingencies for all potential outcomes. We've already seen the evidence of this a number of times: election results, Iraq war, etc.

[nashville_brook]

37. welcome to DU, AlternateView!

dang, that rhymed. :)

[HEyHEY]

38. Canadians start profiteering

CHA-CHING!

[nashville_brook]

39. omg, those canadians sure are cute!

[kohodog]

49. Something must be in the air...

I haven't had much time to post or even keep up lately and was going to post today about when this country would slide into violent confrontations like ones occurring and brewing in many parts of the world. As the American taliban struggles to gain power via the judiciary I expect them to become more strident, less tolerant and eventually confrontational in many areas of American life. It has started in the churches, pharmacies, hospitals and Doctors' offices and will move into retail and other areas close to home before long.

At some point the populous will wake up and I wonder how strong the reaction will be. I think it may get very ugly before it gets better, unless they over-reach and are seen to be as they are very soon.

Are we past the tipping point, or is there still time to turn it around?

[nashville_brook]

50. we are to the point of LOCKING ELBOWS

reach out to the person next to you and grab their hand. we are here for each other and are fighting as hard as we can everyday. the Waynesville thing is a beautiful victory for everyone. it transcended the usual narrative. it UNITED. there's more of this to come!

[understandinglife]

52. I agree with you and we are seeing more and more opportunities ...

.... every day to link and accomplish much.

Conyer's and his colleagues offered another rallying opportunity today -- http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne/conyers_war_crimes_513

Karpinski. Edmonds. "Bush-Blair memo." .... -- lot's of opportunities.

The way so many joined to support Andy.

We are well prepared to defend our Constitution, to indict those who start illegal wars and authorize torture and other crimes against humanity, to stop the destruction of the social infrastructure of our Nation, and to ensure that each person's belief is protected, but is entirely separate from what it means to be an American.

Let's just do it.

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Be it MNA Day 3 or 8 or 15 or .... the day will come when 10s of millions of Americans and others stop their typical activities for 24 hours and urge 10 times that many to join should another MNA Day be required. On that glorious day America will have begun truly to be "America," again.

[nashville_brook]

53. i KNOW! it's really great! what a wonderful weekend kickoff!

andy -- warcrimes -- waynesville

it's really been a wonderful week and we deserve a tall one this weekend.

as i putz around the house i will be lighter in step, b/c i've felt heavy for so long. Wait Wait Don't Tell Me should be fun -- hope michael feldman has a new monologue on Whaddya Know. the weekend provides so much opportunity to talk to friends and reflect on shit, nice to have good stuff to relate!

reminds me of when Clinton was elected -- remember the feeling? the optimism? i miss that.