November 23, 2004

• TUESDAY POLITICS

  Some ideas from an individual who posts at a forum called, coincidentally, The Resistance:
  (What do you think, do we have it in us yet?)

  As the darkness spreads, people of courage and integrity will have to find ways to resist. 

  The problem with resistance is that any illegal activity only empowers those who claim that their goal is to fight terrorism.  They will brand resisters as “domestic terrorists” and increase their stranglehold on the machineries of the nation.

  Therefore, the resistance to the creeping crud of this theocratic agenda must occur in ways that are entirely legal. 

  The sit down/stay home strike idea is one great way for great masses of people to show that they are unhappy.  Sociologists say that it only takes 20% of the population to withdraw their support from a govt to cause it to collapse.  Sit down/stay home strikes endanger no one, they’re impossible to take action against, and they produce damage where it will be felt the most — in the wallets of corporate America.  When corporate America has had enough, they will get rid of the creeping crud.

  Other ways of resisting are equally powerful — million-person marches usually shut down Washington DC for two or three days.  If a series of marches were held — first gays, then workers, then moms, then blacks, etc. so that DC were subject to six weeks straight of protest demonstrations, congress would react hard to the fact that they have lost the faith of the people. 

  Silent demonstrations are equally effective.  A flash mob of people who all dress in white (or some other color) who stand silently in front of a Federal building.  The same flash mob can also block traffic, but that only pisses off drivers and has a negative impact. 

  I’m certain that there are other, equally effective ways for great masses of people to effectively send a message to the administration. 

  What if in 2005, 55 million people did NOT send in their tax forms…?  A tax rebellion is how this country started.

  We can look to WWII, to France and Denmark and other occupied nations, to see how brave citizens found safe ways to resist the oppressors. 

  In one, not very well documented, incident in Berlin, the Gestapo arrested everyone who worked for a specific company.  Within hours, hundreds of friends and family members had surrounded Gestapo headquarters in protest.  Shortly after that, everyone who had been arrested was released and the Gestapo never came near that company again.  Proving that bullies are cowards at heart. 

  We now know that 55 million Americans want Bush out.  The other 59 million … well, we don’t know that there were really 59 million of them, but we do know that some of them had to hold their nose in the voting both.  The election might be over, but the campaign for truth is just warming up. 

  Nixon didn’t complete his second term.  Bush might not either — and it might be possible to make the Bush legacy one of crushing national disgrace.  But it will take an even more concerted and definite effort on the part of dedicated citizens to make it happen.

  “‘Tis far far better to be pissed off than pissed on.But those are not the only choices.” — Solomon Short
  Opinions Unrestrained”Free speech is more than a right,it’s a responsibility.” 
  

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  Deep Thought: “Probably one of the worst things about being a genie in a magic lamp is a little thing called “lamp stench.”
  Today I am grateful for: Trail mix
  Guess the Movie: “Well, this is great. If the ionization-rate is constant for all ectoplasmic entities, we can really bust some heads… in a spiritual sense of course.” Answer: Ghostbusters, 1984. Winner: dancing_pen .
  Going Nuclear: The Coming Wars with Iran and North Korea
  Learning from Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the Loss of Historical Memory?
  by David B. Willis and Walter W. Enloe
   The news from Washington this past week had eerie echoes of the lead-up to the war in Iraq. Now that George Bush has been re-elected President what might we anticipate as future scenarios? If the doctrine of pre-emption is followed the next conflict is likely to go nuclear.
  One plausible scenario is that the Neocons will stop at nothing to bring the other members of the Axis of Evil to their knees. There has already been considerable talk along these lines following the election. The Neocons have said as much when they have called for imminent regime change in these countries in documents such as the Project for the New American Century. (Rest of article here.)
  End of Day: 8:55 pm
  + = Going to Grandparents’ Day at my granddaughter’ school tomorrow morning.
  - = Rainy yucky cold today.

  • 9:30 am
  • 7 Comments