CVS boycott

On a slightly different subject, I sent a letter this morning to CVS in protest of the Dallas pharmacist who refused a local woman her birth control pills. I got the info from this site. Scroll down the page to see some letters.

More newfound news.

There is another, more recent article on the Common Dreams website which continues to mount evidence of voting fraud in Florida. I think this is clearly an enormous concern, and wonder whether a simple, concrete action might be some kind of letter writing campaign to congresspeople encouraging a return to paper ballots?

Two quick quotes from the article:

"When I spoke with Jeff Fisher this morning (Saturday, November 06, 2004), the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 16th District said he was waiting for the FBI to show up. Fisher has evidence, he says, not only that the Florida election was hacked, but of who hacked it and how. And not just this year, he said, but that these same people had previously hacked the Democratic primary race in 2002 so that Jeb Bush would not have to run against Janet Reno, who presented a real threat to Jeb, but instead against Bill McBride, who Jeb beat. "

"But I agree with Fox's Dick Morris on this one, at least in large part. Wrapping up his story for The Hill, Morris wrote in his final paragraph, "This was no mere mistake. Exit polls cannot be as wrong across the board as they were on election night. I suspect foul play.""

Once again, reluctance to be a conspiracy theory monger meets up with overwhelming evidence which encourages belief in the conspiracy.

Statements from the empire about the empire

I thought I'd add a short piece that summarizes nicely the mentality of the newly re-elected administration. This mentality certainly doesn't disguise itself, but it does not always appear as explicitly as it does in the words of the senior Bush advisor quoted below. Kerry attempted to play up the administration's failure to address reality and react accordingly, seemingly to no avail. However, I'm still hopeful that the appeal of a "reality-based community" might trump that of an "ideology-based community" the next time around, especially if the democrats can show that their values are not so out of synch with those of the apparently heartless Heartland (Kerry is no radical, after all!).

Laura

* * * *

Excerpt from a Boston Globe column (for which I thank my dad)

"Think reality, not ideology"

By H.D.S. Greenway November 5, 2004

CONGRATULATIONS, Mr. President. I would hope, now that you no longer have to face an electorate ever again, that your second term might be based a bit more on reality than ideology. One of your senior advisers told writer Ron Suskind that people such as Suskind were "what we call the reality-based community . . . [people who] believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." That, according to your adviser, was old hat. "We're an empire now," he said, "and when we act, we create our own reality. We're history's actors, and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

Newfoundland: New items in the news

My head is spinning and my inbox is exploding with information that keeps pouring in--maps, iq charts, news articles, blogs (woo-hoo!)--which show the current political situation in historical perspective, in geographic perspective, in 3-D, in comic relief (and none of them are very flattering, I assure you). But I'd like to achieve something like a sense of synthesis, and maybe we can help one another on this. Here are some of the most provocative things I've seen recently:

ON VOTING FRAUD:

I am super-concerned by the reports on possible election fraud, for example, such as the one published on the Truthout website (thanks, Dad!) and also on the Common Dreams site (thanks, Ann!). Are these crazily sensational? I know anecdotally I've heard about voting problems in Florida and Ohio, but this blows anecdote away, I fear. I've just been exploring Truthout and Common Dreams, and both of them are very provocative, very interesting sites.

ON HOW WE LOOK FROM AFAR:

Not so hot, apparently. There's an incredible editorial in the Guardian by Robin Cook, the politician who resigned his position in the government in protest of Iraq, I believe. He is sympathetic but alarmed.

Although thanks to Ann again, there are still a few ways to laugh, it would seem. You should definitely check out sorryeverybody for a bittersweet chuckle and feelings of solidarity.

ON WHAT'S WRONG WITH OUR SYSTEM:

Have you seen this video clip of Jon Stewart on Crossfire? They hate him. It's a kind of amazing exchange on the powers and responsibilities of the media. I hope this link works, but you can find it by googling Jon Stewart and Crossfire and then looking for the ifilm link.

ON WHY WE DON'T HAVE TO MOVE TO CANADA IMMEDIATELY:

John Kerry wrote a letter to his supporters, a sign-off email of sorts, and this website quotes the letter and replies, quirkily and concernedly. Funny, poignant, and found by Stephanie:

Michael Moore gives us 17 reasons, supposedly, not to slit our wrists. I'm convinced by some of them. One wrist only?

But then there's the astute historical perspective of John Cavanaugh, director of the Institute for Policy Studies, which gives some hope, too. Are these kinds of analyses consolatory? I keep wondering whether this situation is really extraordinary, or whether we are simply experiencing it as such. I tend to conclude the former, but what do I know, really?

This is of course an incredibly limited choice; feel free to add things, or to make comments! I LEARNED HOW TO INSERT HYPERTEXT. Now I feel like everything will be okay for the next four years.

What to Do?

Dear all,

Are blogs epistles? I am not so sure, but this is a letter to my loved ones who are suffering depression and feeling disconsolate after Tuesday. Many of you heard me talking brashly about moving to Canada if the elections didn’t go as I hoped (there was additionally a plan for gluten-free muffin-making in Ireland (not entirely ruled out!), and a more recent idea about organic sheep’s milk cheese and New Zealand, less well-formed), but listening to Kerry’s eloquent concession speech on Wednesday made me realize that, in the end, I don’t think I believe in opting out. How long can we run? And how far? This national disappointment is of course global, too, making it all the more tragic and all the more imperative that we stay and fight.

So my idea for this site is that it is not my blog, but our blog, a blog for anyone among us who is wondering what is going on, or what they can do. In talking to you over the last few days, I’ve heard lots of varied concerns: our distance, as intellectuals, from an understanding of the thinking which motivated more than half of the population to vote the way they did; our concerns about the fairness of the voting process; the dangers of a Supreme Court stacked with justices chosen by this administration; the possibility of regressing on key issues like a woman’s right to choose; the way the world will now perceive and interact with the U.S.; a general atmosphere of hate and intolerance which seems to have predominated in certain areas and on certain issues.

I thought this could be a space, our own special, online Canada, in which we can organize our thoughts, the information we hear, the issues that concern us most, and our ideas for action, however small or strange. Perhaps some of you would like to lead discussions or the organization of resources. I know that I would like to know where to donate my time and limited funds responsibly; I’d like ideas about how to buy socially responsible Christmas gifts; I’d like to know where to volunteer or work or write letters. If we can find this information collectively and share it, that brings us a little closer to hope, and a little farther from despair.

I am still learning how this thing works, but perhaps we can have subsections for various discussions: Quebec for activism, Manitoba for meditation, Vancouver for rumors? If nothing else, maybe it can be a place where we learn our Canadian geography, in case the optimistic activist approach doesn’t work out…

Maybe in this first thread, we can discuss how to make this work, and how to make it useful. I feel so sure that together, we can come up with something!