Thursday, May 12, 2005
say hello to the REAL Howard Dean!!!!!!!
For about a month now I have been telling this story while giving poetry readings, most recently in San Francisco at the New Langton Arts Center.
It's 100% true by the way, and I say this because people always come up and ask if I'm SURE about this. Am I really SURE!?
About a month ago my friend Janet Mason was asked to be part of a group of women in Philadelphia to discuss the future of the Democrats with Howard Dean. She called me up after this meeting with great alarm in her voice. I had to ask her to repeat what she said, because it just didn't seem possible.
He literally said to this group of women in Philadelphia, "The Democrats must become a Pro-Life party in order to survive."
Wow. Take that into focus. It's a creepy thing to absorb, once you start to really examine all that this can entail in the way of sweeping aside so much hard won freedom.
"must become"
Really? "must become" ?
Who the HELL does that man think he is!? Coming to Philadelphia and saying this to women!
Benjamin Franklin was in his print shop in this same city more than two centuries ago, printing pages of the encyclopedia in the newspaper. While printing the A's he printed a segment on "Abortion." A group of feisty foremothers confronted him, telling him that Abortion is women's business. Not men's, but women's! (I know there's controversy that he made this up, and/or paraphrased the argument later, but whatever, someone said it....)
Howard Dean needs to acquaint himself with the voices of this country's foremothers. Frankly, Howard Dean can go to Hell, because I'm through, once and for all with his weak party.
Actually I feel I have not needed a last straw for Howard Dean and his pathetic party, but for those who HAVE needed a last straw, is this it?
Is it time for a third party, finally? A real third party? A party interested in confronting the many facts of how the environment is being devastated. That basic human needs in this country and abroad are becoming more and more difficult to attain. That raising yet another generation on the war machine has nothing but ghosts to offer, and more denial of suffering.
A third party who will openly discuss how Western values of efficiency are bringing us to the brink of emotional, spiritual, and creative starvation. The more efficient we become, the more brutal, it can be seen layer upon layer in the way we conduct ourselves across the globe.
Not for one second am I going to believe that this country is populated by stupid people. No way! The opposite is true. People, all kinds of people who are Americans are seriously being pushed to the edge of their patience with the conditions being created by a culture whose economy is based on survival by consumption, and all the political, human and other animal action and suffering which must go into such a system in order for that system to survive.
We can find our way OUT of this recklessness, but we can no longer fool ourselves and expect anything from Howard Dean and his sheep called the Democrats.
An opposing force needs strength and total belief in what is possible. A creative flip for the whole fucking mess to be given a new perspective. Nothing but brutal honesty of our brutality.
This third party already exists in the hearts and minds of millions and millions. Its shape is all that is needed.
Eternally optimistic,
CAConrad
It's 100% true by the way, and I say this because people always come up and ask if I'm SURE about this. Am I really SURE!?
About a month ago my friend Janet Mason was asked to be part of a group of women in Philadelphia to discuss the future of the Democrats with Howard Dean. She called me up after this meeting with great alarm in her voice. I had to ask her to repeat what she said, because it just didn't seem possible.
He literally said to this group of women in Philadelphia, "The Democrats must become a Pro-Life party in order to survive."
Wow. Take that into focus. It's a creepy thing to absorb, once you start to really examine all that this can entail in the way of sweeping aside so much hard won freedom.
"must become"
Really? "must become" ?
Who the HELL does that man think he is!? Coming to Philadelphia and saying this to women!
Benjamin Franklin was in his print shop in this same city more than two centuries ago, printing pages of the encyclopedia in the newspaper. While printing the A's he printed a segment on "Abortion." A group of feisty foremothers confronted him, telling him that Abortion is women's business. Not men's, but women's! (I know there's controversy that he made this up, and/or paraphrased the argument later, but whatever, someone said it....)
Howard Dean needs to acquaint himself with the voices of this country's foremothers. Frankly, Howard Dean can go to Hell, because I'm through, once and for all with his weak party.
Actually I feel I have not needed a last straw for Howard Dean and his pathetic party, but for those who HAVE needed a last straw, is this it?
Is it time for a third party, finally? A real third party? A party interested in confronting the many facts of how the environment is being devastated. That basic human needs in this country and abroad are becoming more and more difficult to attain. That raising yet another generation on the war machine has nothing but ghosts to offer, and more denial of suffering.
A third party who will openly discuss how Western values of efficiency are bringing us to the brink of emotional, spiritual, and creative starvation. The more efficient we become, the more brutal, it can be seen layer upon layer in the way we conduct ourselves across the globe.
Not for one second am I going to believe that this country is populated by stupid people. No way! The opposite is true. People, all kinds of people who are Americans are seriously being pushed to the edge of their patience with the conditions being created by a culture whose economy is based on survival by consumption, and all the political, human and other animal action and suffering which must go into such a system in order for that system to survive.
We can find our way OUT of this recklessness, but we can no longer fool ourselves and expect anything from Howard Dean and his sheep called the Democrats.
An opposing force needs strength and total belief in what is possible. A creative flip for the whole fucking mess to be given a new perspective. Nothing but brutal honesty of our brutality.
This third party already exists in the hearts and minds of millions and millions. Its shape is all that is needed.
Eternally optimistic,
CAConrad
