I woke and my head was alight with flame...

[ocvictor]

Actually, no. Mostly, I just woke up. I'm not a morning person, by any stretch of the imagination, but I was suddenly wide awake at 7 a.m. sharp, a full hour before my alarm would go off. Which is odd, because I didn't go to bed particularly early, and didn't sleep all that well because I'd taken something to deal with the sudden, splitting sinus headache that I developed when I got home from Speak, and it usually keeps me awake. Just plain weird.

****

Speak last night was excellent. No theme, but a goodly amount of people present for the three-year anniversary. The house that Tony Brown built has a damn fine vibrancy to it, and as always the poetry was excellent. Read nothing of my own last night, but instead previewed a couple of the poems by Daniel McGinn and JE Stanley accepted by "The November 3rd Club." The first issue will be up in September, but I probably mentioned that.

"Where Your Mouth Is" is tonight, at QVCC in Worcester. Poetry by Seren Divine and Simone Beaubien, music, performance art and such by Industrial Sonic Echo. You SO want to be there.

***

Strangely, I've had no passion for politics the last few days. The Wall Street Journal has Bush's approval ratings down to 40%, and Cheney's down to 35%. Condi Rice is the only administration member whose approval ratings are actually going UP, all the way to 57%.

America is still largely indifferent to John Roberts, proving my age-old belief that nine out of ten Americans don't even know we have a Supreme Court and if they do, they think Judge Judy presides. Opinions are souring on the war, and it really doesn't help the right to keep attacking Cindy Sheehan, because all most people register is "mother of dead soldier protesting Bush," and every time they attack her, that message gets re-enforced. And when they actively try to pick fights, like they've done recently in both California and Texas, that pretty much does in their case.

OK -- two points on this. One, dragging out the Gold Star Moms and other family members of active servicepeople, living and dead, isn't helping much because they all come back to making the same emotional appeal: "I just can't let myself think that X is fighting/died for nothing." Unfortunately, as cold as it may sound, what they want to believe has little bearing on what is actually happening. Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but the facts of the matter are not interpretive. The war was a crock, and Iraq is an albatross we're stuck with, and someone needs to pay for this state of affairs.

Second point, the religious right don't help their case when one of their foremost spokespeople calls for the assassanation of a world leader -- on television -- and then lies about it. The whole thing just reveals what's under the facade of the so-called values they trumpet: brutish, simple-minded thuggery.

Comments

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

the religious right don't help their case when one of their foremost spokespeople calls for the assassanation of a world leader -- on television -- and then lies about it.

To paraphrase someone over at b.org, so just the nine commandments,then? (I'll give him a pass on the lie, because he did eventually cop to it.)

[ocvictor.livejournal.com]

Heh. I have to admit, I'm less than forgiving of the lie -- which reflects badly on me, I'll admit. He should have known better.

[drgeorge.livejournal.com]

"I just can't let myself think that X is fighting/died for nothing..."

It isn't cold to say it has nothing to do with the truth. I completely understand, that what they are doing is a matter of survival for them, just as it is for Cindy Sheehan. The only real truth that matters to these folks is that their kid is dead.
But Cindy's coping is her own. Bush is exploiting these other families during a time of profound grief and insanity.

[ocvictor.livejournal.com]

Well, an unwillingness to be cold in the face of that sort of grieving has been a lot of the problem. It's exceedingly difficult to look someone in the eye who's in that sort of pain and say, "they did die for nothing. But it may well be a neccesity.

[drgeorge.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it has to be cold. Folks can disagree with empathy. I've been against the war since it started, but on the second year anniversary I sponsored an event discussing PTSD for soldiers and civilians. It seemed to confuse a lot of folks in Uxbridge. I can be against the war and for the soldier. I can be against the war and grieve for those families who have suffered a loss and still support the war.
We don't have to say to those families that their loved one died for nothing. They didn't. They died doing what soldiers do, following orders. And, sadly, for the most part, that is what we want them to do. It is the orders we disagree with, not them or the life they chose. I am grateful for that. It's not like we don't need a military, we do.
I think if we can show them we can separate the two - soldier and commander - and pay respect to their loss, we may be able to penetrate the walls of grief.
Then again, I may just need another cup of coffee to wake up...

[upendedurn.livejournal.com]

Victor, I'm curious about your opinion of Chavez. Not whether or not he has a right to be president, just what you think about his policies.

[ocvictor.livejournal.com]

I have no strong opinions about Chavez. Just not terribly up on Latin American politics. That being said, from what little I know, he strikes me as a relatively benign Latin American dictator who could probably stand to learn a little about the benefits of free enterprise. That being said, I could be wildly mistaken, but neither U.S. interests (no, I don't count oil) or the human rights situation strike me as untenable there.

As far as I can tell, the U.S.'s real issue is that he keeps leaning more and more into the oil companies to fund his social programs, which doesn't strike me as such a terrible thing.