Awesome. Things are getting better and better.

[lapsedmodernist]

1. Ground Zero Suicide Driven by Election.

2. I swear, I am having a hard time telling the difference between Octavia Butler's dystopian sci-fi I am reading at the moment and reality. If you haven't yet been scared shitless by this Op-Ed from LA Times, here is your opportunity, I am posting it here in its entirity in case you don't want to register.

Christian Conservatives Must Not Compromise

Voters reject liberalism, an evil ideology.

By Frank Pastore, Former major league pitcher Frank Pastore is the afternoon host on the Christian talk-radio station KKLA, 99.5 FM.

Christians, in politics as in evangelism, are not against people or the world. But we are against false ideas that hold good people captive. On Tuesday, this nation rejected liberalism, primarily because liberalism has been taken captive by the left. Since 1968, the left has taken millions captive, and we must help those Democrats who truly want to be free to actually break free of this evil ideology.

In the weeks and months to come, we will hear the voices of well-meaning people beseeching the victor to compromise with the vanquished. This would be a mistake. Conservatives must not compromise with the left. Good people holding false ideas are won over only if we defeat what is false with the truth.

The left must be defeated in the realm of ideas, just as it was on Tuesday at the ballot box. The left hates the ballot box and loves its courtrooms, which is why it hopes to continue to advance its agenda through the courts. This must end.

The left bewitches with its potions and elixirs, served daily in its strongholds of academe, Hollywood and old media. It vomits upon the morals, values and traditions we hold sacred: God, family and country. As we learned Tuesday, it is clear the left holds the majority of Americans, the majority of us, in contempt.

Simply, a majority of Americans have rejected John Kerry and John Edwards and the left because they are wrong. They are wrong because there are not two Americas. We are one nation under a God they reject. We remain indivisible despite their attempts to divide Americans through their relentless warfare against class, ethnic and religious unity.

We still believe that liberty and justice is for all. In 1946, there were those on the left who believed the Germans and the Japanese were incapable of democracy and liberty. Today, many doubt democracy can be birthed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Like their forebears, they too will be proved wrong.

The nation has now resoundingly rejected the left and its agenda. We do not want to become European. We do not want to become socialist. We do not want to become secular. We are exceptional. We are unique. And we are the greatest force for good in the world, despite what the left, the terrorists or the United Nations may claim. It is for these reasons that we remain the last great hope in the world for freedom.

We continue to be that shining city set on a hill. And we fully accept the responsibility; we are proud to be the envy of the world.

3. More e-voting fraud links

4. Also I've hardly been a fashionista as of late, I just run around Quito in bulky sweaters and my main accessory is a hot water bottle, but I am getting
this. What can I say, I am extra-susceptible to signifiers this week.

Comments

[stillwell.livejournal.com]

It's so hard to catch a breath these days, with the news so bad. There is something almost fictional about it. I imagine that in some way it's hard to be out of the country right now, or maybe not at all. In any case, sending you lots of support and appreciation for your words and work *

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

It was harder for me to be away before the election. I really wanted to be there, but I suppose it did not matter. I am due to go back to the States in a week for a little while, and if Kerry had stayed and fought I was going to go to Ohio and do whatever I could to help. But as it is...I am limited in what I can do at the moment, but I am thinking of ways of getting this out to the public. And twisting my boss' arm to do it. He knows a lot more people than I do. And thanks for your nice words.

[never-the-less.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the bracelet link. I'm going to order one too.

Too bad you missed the marathon here -- I saw not a single "go bush" shirt, but plenty Run Against Bush shirts (I cheered extra hard, and people who were running cheered for me cheering in mine), and lots of people running with "No Mandate" signs. Plus lots of Europeans to concur. It was at least somewhat uplifting.

Unlike that LA Times piece, which makes me want to throw up. Who the fuck is he even talking to (who reads the LA Times)?

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Like I'd ever run in a marathon :)
But it sounds fun, I am glad you got to go.

I am guessing the population of the City of Ecology of Fear reads the LA Times. Also the dude is a radio talkshow host. Maybe it's the Ecuadorian cold medicine (the warning label says side effects may include vertigo and anxiety) but that article scared the shit out of me.

[never-the-less.livejournal.com]

oops -- i should clarify -- that wasn't supposed to be who reads the la times, but rather who reads the la times who would listen to him?

[never-the-less.livejournal.com]

as in, that would do much better in the omaha times....

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Omaha is expanding...

[never-the-less.livejournal.com]

still, nebraska is one of only three states to not have a single blue county (along with alaska and utah). possibly growing in the wrong way.

my friend elizabeth thinks that the fact that democrats/liberals on average probably have fewer kids than republicans/conservatives is a huge problem for the future of the party. i tend to concur.

[congogirl.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine participated in more than one "Run Against Bush" runs in Dakar...if only the rest of the world were allowed to vote for 'world leaders.'

unrelated linkage

[chelvis.livejournal.com]

Saw this revue in the FT; thought of you:

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/10cbeece-2e26-11d9-a86b-00000e2511c8.html

Re: unrelated linkage

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

oooh, interesting. Thank you. The writing in the snippets sounds a bit exalted, but maybe that's just a translation. I'll have to get my brother to send me a copy in Russian.

[klingrap.livejournal.com]

Omigod. Puke.

In the meantime, maybe we should explore the relationship between the far right and the inability to form coherent, logical, grammatically-correct arguments. I can't believe that was in any newspaper - don't they have copy editors and stuff taking care of this shit?

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

maybe we should explore the relationship between the far right and the inability to form coherent, logical, grammatically-correct arguments

That is a symptom of a difference between the reality-based community and the faith-based community. We think the devil is in the details, they think the devil is in us.

Having said that, NO ONE writes clear copy these days, it's getting progressively worse, even in less-tabloid-y press.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

minority view? Have you heard Bush talking about the Mandate? Do you know that one in eight Americans read and loved the Left Behind books?

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Stephen King is a completely different matter. I am sure more people have read Stephen King than LB, true, but Stephen King is, for the most part, science fiction/fantasy/horror. There is an explicit fictional/metaphorical level, and even though in a lot of ways he taps into the underbelly of Americana, esp. the Vietnam legacy, no one actually views his books as morality plays to guide their lives. Whereas the readership of LB take the books literally.

No, obviously not all Christians are the same, but somehow there is a surge in fundamentalist Christianity of the scary sort...they may be a minority, but I don't know that they are a minority in any meaningful (to me) way, i.e. a minority that has a converse majority that I am a part of. Minority by the census doesn't mean much.

Ceci n'est-ce pas un moi

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

So ... is that bracelet a Magritte homage or what?

Re: Ceci n'est-ce pas un moi

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

uh...how's that?

Re: Ceci n'est-ce pas un moi

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

Hmmm ... must cut down on the late-night internet free-association. Um, my train of thought -- okay more like minature trolley of thought -- was that wearing a bracelet that said "not me" was sort of like labeling a painting of a pipe "this is not a pipe."

[goddessspiral.livejournal.com]

I long for the feeling of floating headfirst in the clear water of Miami beach topless.

Especially after THe week of Elections...

Thanks so much for continuing to post on the elections and the voter fraud that went on. I can't talk about what happened 1/8 as coherently as you so I'm very grateful to have your posts to refer people to.

As for the black "Not Me" bracelet you put a link to. I hope it's legit because I just put a payment through for one five minutes ago. I was going to buy more for my sister and Alex but the paranoid me figured I'd wait to see if I actually get one in the mail.

When you are in Ecuador if you feel like passing by my birth city, Medellin Colombia, let me know I can refer you to family there and places to go.

:-) Que te disfrutes in Quito!