COURTESY C. MCKENNA!

from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/07/blue_state_to_reds/”

The defeated Kerry may have called for unity last week, but already radical elements inside and outside of the Democrat party are arguing for the abandonment of the old ways of cosy consensus. One such organisation, formed even as the last queues for the ballots ebbed away, styles itself “The New Democrat Outreach Program.” The Register has been contacted by one NDOP activist, styling himself Commandante Camembert, with an early draft of the organisation’s first communique to the nation. “

An open letter to the Red-State victors:

With hard work and superb organization, you have triumphed over John Kerry and the forces of Blue-state paternalism. Congratulations. The multinational corporations that hold you in bondage remain free to profit off your sweat nearly tax free, while their overpaid senior execs continue to pay a pittance in personal income tax.

Your primary and secondary schools will continue to turn out third-rate pupils with limited opportunities, while you enjoy the satisfaction of making it on your own without health care when a catastrophic illness bankrupts your family.

Your agricultural universities will continue issuing Ph.D.s in football, and bogus Protestant Evangelical and Fundamentalist theology, and how to jerk off a bull safely. Your children will learn to borrow enough money to erect chicken houses so that they, like you, can take custody — not possession, but custody — of Tyson’s chicks, feed them, rear them, assume losses from those that fail to thrive, and in the end earn just enough money to service their endless debt, and realize a profit of perhaps $12K a year. Your bank thanks you; Tyson thanks you; George W. Bush thanks you; and I thank you.

You can continue sending your sons to die in Iraq on a fool’s errand. When you bury them, you can console yourselves with Bush’s platitudes about their heroic mission to defend America from weapons of mass destruction.

You can savor the deficit spending that stimulates commerce today, but will cripple the US economy in ten or fifteen years’ time when the bills come due with interest. Perhaps a Democrat will be in office at that time, who can be blamed for W’s delayed economic fiasco.

You can continue believing, as Republican Party brainwashing has persuaded you, that we, your neighbors, are your enemies. You can believe that we have no morals; that we pimp out our teenage daughters for Internet porn; that we eat babies; that we are all gay; that we are cowards on the battlefield; and that we want to run your lives and give you AIDS.

Here’s a clue: we are not your enemies; we are your countrymen. Your enemies are the greedy multinationals that the Republican Party bends over backwards to accommodate. Incidentally, most of them are based in Blue states, as are their Republican owners and major shareholders.

Here in the Blue States, Democrats and Republicans alike generate the lion’s share of America’s wealth, although it is you Reds who provide the lion’s share of the stoop labor. You are our Mexicans, so to speak. We could not have accomplished the economic miracle that is America without your willing capitulation to a system that lies to you and fucks you over at every turn.

Look at economic output and educational achievement on a state-by-state basis: it’s painfully evident that we Blues are immensely more productive and better educated than you Reds. We have lots more money. We live longer. We eat better. We work less. We fuck more. We do cocaine and smoke fine Canadian buds, not the homebrew crank and cheap Mexican headache reefer you guys are stuck with. We drink French wine and Stoli martinis, not Budweiser. Our children rarely bother us: we’ve got them on Ritalin and Prozac. Our teeth are straighter and whiter, our necks longer, and our fingernails cleaner. And many of us are the Republican elite who have just punked you.

It’s good to be a Blue, regardless of which party you join.

Understandably, you resent us, so you’ve fabricated an imaginary measure of superiority: Christian “values.” Yet you talk about values the way a pre-teen girl talks about “love” in fan letters to Ashton Kutcher. You recycle quasi-religious platitudes and received slogans. You know nothing of moral theology, a rigorous philosophical pursuit that hardly exists outside the Catholic Church and its elite universities. You make of the Bible what you will; you attend prayer meetings with other semi-literates, where you reinforce each other’s sloppy understandings of the text, and combine them with half-digested bits of old-timey Hallmark-card “wisdom.” And when you spout gibberish, you call it “speaking in tongues.” You actually fancy that you’re saints, you silly, narcissistic creatures.

Nevertheless, you are fellow Americans. The Blue Republican elite encouraged you to vote for George W Bush, because they quite simply own him, and they know that his administration will make policies that help them, even if hurt you. We Blue Democrats voted for John Kerry because we believed he would minister to your needs better than Bush. A President Kerry would have shared some of our wealth with you, assured your health care, raised the minimum wage, and checked the rapacious greed of the multinationals that hold you in thrall.

President Kerry would have helped us to help you, which is all that we ask. It pains us to see you in wage slavery. It pains us to see you so ignorant and uneducated, and so eager to place yourselves in bondage. Yes, we live better; but we wish you to live better too, even if it means sacrifice on our part.

What we wanted for you would have been far better than that which you, in your ignorant pride, demanded for yourselves. Oh, you defeated us all right, but only to your detriment.

We Blues will come out of the Bush era no worse for wear, although you Reds will come out very much diminished, deeper in debt, and less able to improve your circumstances by your own powers. But because you wish to be flattered more than helped, you will be grateful for your ass fucking from the Blue-state Republican elite that is laughing behind your backs today.

We did not wish it so. We honestly did want to help.

On 2 November, you thanked us by electing a shrewd, manipulative handmaiden to corporate America who panders to you while ruthlessly exploiting your ignorance and weakness for the benefit of his patrons in the national plutocracy. There is nothing we can do about that. You won fair and square.

We should let you rot. We should secede and leave you to fend for yourselves. Then you will see firsthand just how dependent you are. We are sick of fighting for you by fighting against you. Perhaps, when you see how dreary your lives have become without us, you will finally develop the spine to fight for your basic, human rights. And then we will gladly confront the plutocracy alongside you. We need your help to defeat the Blue Republicans, who, I assure you, are just as decadent as we are, though often richer.

But until you finally learn to respect yourselves, we can’t respect you, and we therefore can’t be bothered to give a rat’s ass about you.

So let us secede, Blue America and Red America. We can handle the Blue state Republicans, so long as we don’t have a lot of ignorant Red state lemmings frustrating our efforts and screwing themselves in the bargain. Secession will enable us both to live as we have chosen without the other’s interference. We will prosper, and you will get a clue.

But do stay in touch after the borders slam shut. When you finally tire of living on the modern, corporate plantations of Cargill, Tyson, ConAgra and Smithfield; when you tire of shopping at Wal-Mart and sending your daughters to sling hash at Denny’s in hopes that they’ll meet the nicer sort of truck driver; when you tire of sneaking into Blue America as illegal white-trash wetbacks eager for casual work dusting our parlors; and when, like men, you finally rise up in rebellion against this immoral usury — then, and only then, let us talk.

We’ll gladly get your backs. But first you must grow the brains and the balls needed to profit from our help.

COURTESY J. COULTHART!

DOPESMOKER by SLEEP
(written by: Al Cisneros, Matt Pike, Chris Haikus 1993)

Drop out of life with bong in hand
Follow the smoke to the riff-filled land
Drop out of life with bong in hand
Follow the smoke to the riff-filled land
Proceeds the Weedian, Nazareth
Proceeds the Weedian, Nazareth
Creedsmen roll out across the dying dawn
Sacred Israel Holy Mountain Zion
Sun beams down on to the Sandsean reigns
Caravan migrates through deep sandscape
Lungsmen unearth the creed of Hasheeshian
Procession of the Weed-Priests to cross the sands
Desert Legion Smoke-Covenant is complete
Herb bales retied on to backs of beasts
Arise arise arise – The Son of the God of Israel
Jordan River flows on evermore
Bathe in glow of sunlight’s beating rays
They feel so lost and burned through our days
Stoner caravan emerge from sandsea
Earthling inserts to chalice the green cutchie
Groundation soul finds trust upon smoking hose
Assembled creedsmen rises prayer-filled smoke
Raise up sea of Holy Prophecy
Judgement soon come to Mankind
Green Herbsmen serve rightful king
Hemp seed caravan carries
The broken fire flowed up to-uh Zion
Flight of the Nazarene to seek the Cherry Moon
Rides out believer with the spliff aflame
Marijuanaut escapes earth to cultivate
Grow-Room is church temple of the new stoner breed
Chants Loud-Robed priest down on to the freedom seed
Burnt offering redeems–completes smoked deliverance
Caravan’s stoned deliverance
The caravan holds to Eastern Creed – Now smokes believer !
The Chronicle of the Sensimillian
Drop out of life with bong in hand
Follow the smoke to the riff-filled land
Drop out of life with bong in hand
Follow the smoke Jerusalem

COURTESY A. SULLIVAN!

Ten Reasons Not to Move to Canada
by Sarah Anderson

Ready to say screw this country and buy a one-way ticket north? Here are some
reasons to stay in the belly of the beast.

1. The Rest of the World.
After the February 2003 antiwar protests, the New
York Times described the global peace movement as the world’s second
superpower. Their actions didn’t prevent the war, but protestors in nine countries have
succeeded in pressuring their governments to pull their troops from Iraq
and/or withdraw from the so-called coalition of the willing. Antiwar Americans owe
it to themajority of the people on this planet who agree with them to stay and
do what they can to end the suffering in Iraq and prevent future pre-emptive
wars.

2. People Power Can Trump Presidential Power.
The strength of social
movements can be more important than whoever is in the White House. Example: In 1970,
President Nixon supported the Occupational Safety and Health Act, widely
considered the most important pro-worker legislation of the last 50 years. It didnt
happen because Nixon loved labor unions, but because union power was strong.
Stay and help build the peace, economic justice, environmental and other
social movements that can make change.

3. The great strides made in voter registration and youth mobilization must
be built on rather than abandoned.

4. Like Nicaraguans in the 1980s, Iraqis Need U.S. Allies.
After Ronald
Reagan was re-elected in 1984, progressives resisted the urge to flee northwards
and instead stayed to fight the U.S. governments secret war of arming the
contras in Nicaragua and supporting human rights atrocities throughout Central
America. Iraq is a different scenario, but we can still learn from the U.S.-Central
America solidarity work that exposed illegal U.S. activities and their brutal
consequences and ultimately prevailed by forcing a change in policy.

5. We Can’t Let up on the Free Trade Front
Activists have held the Bush
administration at bay on some issues. On trade, opposition in the United States and
in developing countries has largely blocked the Bush administrations
corporate-driven trade agenda for four years. The President is expected to soon
appoint a new top trade negotiator to break the impasse. Whoever he picks would love
to see a progressive exodus to Canada.

6. Barak Obama.
His victory to become the only African-American in the U.S.
Senate was one of the few bright spots of the election. An early opponent of
the Iraq war, Obama trounced his primary and general election opponents, even in
white rural districts, showing he could teach other progressives a few things
about broadening their base. As David Moberg of In These Times puts it, Obama
demonstrates how a progressive politician can redefine mainstream political
symbols to expand support for liberal policies and politicians rather than
engage in creeping capitulation to the right.

7. Say so long to the DLC.
Barry Goldwater suffered a resounding defeat when
he ran for president against Lyndon Johnson in 1964, but his campaign spawned
a conservative movement that eventually gained control of the Republican Party
and elected Ronald Reagan in 1980. Progressives should see the excitement
surrounding Dean, Kucinich, Moseley Braun, and Sharpton during the primary season
as the foundation for a similar takeover of the Democratic Party.

8. 2008.
President Bush is entering his second term facing an escalating
casualty rate in Iraq, a record trade deficit, a staggering budget deficit,
sky-high oil prices, and a deeply divided nation. As the Republicans face likely
failure, progressives need to start preparing for regime change in 2008 or
sooner. Remember that Nixon was re-elected with a bigger margin than Bush, but faced
impeachment within a year.

9. Americans are Not All Yahoos
Although I wouldn’t attempt to convince a
Frenchman of it right now, many surveys indicate that Americans are more
internationalist than the election results suggest. In a September poll by the
University of Maryland, majorities of Bush supporters expressed support for
multilateral approaches to security, including the United States being part of the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (68%), the International Criminal Court (75%), the
treaty banning land mines (66%), and the Kyoto Treaty on climate change (54%).
The problem is that most of these Bush supporters werent aware that Bush
opposed these positions. Stay and help turn progressive instincts into political
power.

10. Winter. Average January temperature in Ottawa: 12.2¬?F.

Sarah Anderson (saraha@igc.org) is a fellow of the Institute for Policy
Studies.

COURTESY R. von PLEUGER!

“I know the forces of spontaneous, emergent Life are stronger than the forces of evil, repression and death, and the forces of death will destroy themselves.”— William S. Burroughs

(from a letter to Jack Kerouac, May 24, 1954)

COURTESY M. SIMMONS!

VOODOO, MOUNTED BY THE GODS

Benin, Germany, Switzerland, 2003, 90 min, Color, 35 MM
World Premiere
DIR/DP: Alberto Venzago

Mahounon’s father was a Voodoo High Priest in Benin who lived nearly a century, before passing his unwritten knowledge of sacrifice and stones to his son. Although Mahounon is still decades younger, his connection to the Other World advises him he must swiftly find his own successor as his own lifespan is limited.

After the oracles tell the Voodoo specialist–one of the last true practitioners of native magic–that his own sons aren’t up to the task, Mahounon opens his doors to children from all over West Africa, but they too are rejected by the spirits. Instead, the oracles select 12-year-old Gounon, a village boy who is wrested from his family to be surrounded by blood and strangers as demanded by his total submission to the dark arts.

Alberto Venzago’s 10-year documentary is striking in its intimacy and access to Mahounon’s physical decline and Gounon’s powerful ascent. It’s a unique study of an education both compelling and chilling.

Thu Nov 11 10:00pm
ArcLight Theatre 13

Fri Nov 12 9:30pm
ArcLight Theatre 11

Psychomagic: Beyond Therapy
Alejandro Jodorowsky

Monday, November 22, 7pm, CIIS
Admission: $15 general/$10 students & seniors

Alejandro Jodorowsky, Chilean-born mystic, director, author, and esoteric comic book author, speaks for the first time in North America on Psychomagic, his healing practice that uses the language of the subconscious to undo our deepest knots, phobias, fixations, and obsessions. He is the writer and director of the film El Topo.

ENLIGHTENED DUALITY:
A Series of Lectures on Spiritual Integration in Modern Times
Hosted by Mariana Caplan, Ph.D.

Come join pioneering spiritual leaders and scholars to discuss the cutting-edge topic of Enlightened Duality: an integrated and embodied approach to spirituality in modern times. Together we will embark upon a journey to unify the transcendent and immanent, divine and human, spirit and flesh.

All lectures will be held at CIIS Mission Street Building, Namaste Hall, third floor at 1453 Mission Street in San Francisco. This lecture series is also part of a three-unit, 15-week academic course for students and auditors. For information about registering for academic courses, please call CIIS’s Registrar’s Office at 415.575.6125. No continuing education units (CEUs) are available for these lectures.

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/archive.html?day=20041021

The blind leading the blind

Even if they don’t like to say
it out loud, lots of Democrats
think that George Bush’s
supporters are a horde of
ignoramuses. Now comes evidence
that they’re right! A
remarkable new report, titled
“The Separate Realities of Bush
and Kerry Supporters,” from
PIPA, the Program on
International Policy Attitudes
at the University of Maryland,
suggests that rank and file
Republicans are more benighted
than even the most supercilious
coastal elitist would imagine.

Analyzing data from a series of
nationwide polls, the report
finds that a majority of Bush
supporters believe things about
the world that are objectively
untrue, while the majority of
Kerry supporters dwell in the
reality-based community. For
example, Bush backers largely
think that the president and
his policies are popular
internationally. Seventy-five
percent believe that Iraq was
providing “substantial” aid to
al-Qaida, and 63 percent say
clear evidence of this has been
found. That, of course, would
be news even to Donald
Rumsfeld, who earlier this
month told the Council on
Foreign Relations, “To my
knowledge, I have not seen any
strong, hard evidence that
links the two.”

Though its language is
dispassionate, the report lays
responsibility for this
epidemic of ignorance at the
White House’s door. “So why are
Bush supporters clinging so
tightly to these beliefs in the
face of repeated
disconfirmations?” it asks.
“Apparently one key reason is
that they continue to hear the
Bush administration confirming
these beliefs.”

Indeed, it says, “an
overwhelming 82% [of Bush
supporters] perceive the Bush
administration as saying that
Iraq had WMD (63%) or a major
WMD program (19%). Only 16% of
Bush supporters perceive the
administration as saying that
Iraq had some limited
activities, but not an active
program (15%) or had nothing
(1%). The pattern on al Qaeda
is similar. Seventy-five
percent of Bush supporters
think the Bush administration
is currently saying Iraq was
providing substantial support
to al Qaeda (56%) or even that
it was directly involved in
9/11 (19%). Further, 55% of
Bush supporters say it is their
impression the Bush
administration is currently
saying the US has found clear
evidence Saddam Hussein was
working closely with al Qaeda
(not saying clear evidence
found: 37%).”

These people aren’t going to be
swayed by the argument that
Bush has alienated America’s
allies and left the country
isolated in the world, because
they don’t believe this to be
the case. “Despite a steady
flow of official statements,
public demonstrations, and
public opinion polls showing
that the US war against Iraq is
quite unpopular, only 31% of
Bush supporters recognize that
the majority of people in the
world oppose the US having gone
to war with Iraq,” the study
says. Bush supporters also
think that world public opinion
favors Bush’s reelection. In a
poll taken from Sept. 3-7, the
study says, “57% of Bush
supporters assumed that the
majority of people in the world
would prefer to see Bush
reelected, 33% assumed that
views are evenly divided and
only 9% assumed that Kerry
would be preferred.”

In fact, a PIPA study released
in early September found that a
majority or plurality of people
from 32 countries preferred
Kerry to Bush. PIPA surveyed
34,330 people, ages 15 and
above, from regions all over
the world. A Pew poll released
this spring similarly found
that “large majorities in every
country, except for the U.S.,
hold an unfavorable opinion of
Bush.”

Bush supporters are also
mistaken about the president’s
own positions (a pattern of
misapprehension that an earlier
PIPA report also documented).
“Majorities incorrectly assumed
that Bush supports multilateral
approaches to various
international issues — the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
(69%), the treaty banning land
mines (72%); 51% incorrectly
assumed he favors US
participation in the Kyoto
treaty — the principal
international accord on global
warming … Only 13% of
supporters are aware that he
opposes labor and environmental
standards in trade agreements
— 74% incorrectly believe that
he favors including labor and
environmental standards in
agreements on trade. In all
these cases, there is a
recurring theme: majorities of
Bush supporters favor these
positions, and they infer that
Bush favors them as well.”

According to the report, this
reality gap is something new in
American life. “So why do Bush
supporters show such a
resistance to accepting
dissonant information?” it
asks. “While it is normal for
people to show some resistance,
the magnitude of the denial
goes beyond the ordinary. Bush
supporters have succeeded in
suppressing awareness of the
findings of a whole series of
high-profile reports about
prewar Iraq that have been
blazoned across the headlines
of newspapers and prompted
extensive, high-profile and
agonizing reflection. The fact
that a large portion of
Americans say they are unaware
that the original reasons that
the US took military action —
and for which Americans
continue to die on a daily
basis — are not turning out to
be valid, are probably not due
to a simple failure to pay
attention to the news.”

The analysis says that the
roots of this denial could lie
in the trauma of 9/11 and
people’s desire to hold on to
their image of Bush as a
“capable protector.” It offers
no guidance, though, on how
ordinary Republicans might be
coaxed back to reality.

And while “The Separate
Realities of Bush and Kerry
Supporters” may be perversely
satisfying to Democrats in its
confirmation of blue-state
prejudices, it carries a pretty
disturbing question for all
rational Americans: How can
arguments based on fact prevail
in a nation where so many
people know so little?

— Michelle Goldberg

[12:21 PDT, Oct. 21, 2004]