Sorry about typo!Fabulous weekend. Met Rani Rhodes twice and

[saracat]

saw a an AAR event draw thousands of hitherto unknown Dems out in Scottsdale AZ a Republican bastion(Though they do have a Dem Mayor). It was a benefit for the families of Vets and the crowd was fantastic! I will add the Dem Party had nothing to do with this which is a shame! They do NOT understand the value of publicity!)We also had a very well publicised DSM Protest at our state capital.All our local media gave us extensive coverage.AND this is a "RED" state folks! It was truly inspirational to hear this crowd roar when one of our air America on air hosts Charles Guyette said that we would be watching the impeachment proceedings this time next year!
Randi said she was floored at the amount of liberals in Phoenix. It was more than she had seem anywhere. I tell ya folks, Kerry did NOT lose, and our party needs to get on the stick and pick up all these people who are still angry!

Edited for brain dead typo! I meant to say Kerry DID NOT "lose" but "won" Duh!

[TayTay]

1. This sounds awesome!

I wish that those liberals would show up for meetings of their local Dem Party and bring in that energy. Good for you. This is great!

Randi Rhodes is great. She is a real spitfire and excels at speaking truth to power. I love her radio show. I alternate listening to her and Ed Schultz. I'm so glad this went off well. Isn't it a balm to the soul to see that kind of turnout? It really helps to keep the hope and faith going.

I was in Boston today. It was an absolutely beautiful day, perfect for wandering around. My daughter wanted to go shopping on Newbury Street so we meandered down there and then walked up Newbury to the Public Gardens and watched the Swan Boats. I have never seen the Public Gardens look better. It was a great day in which I did nothing special but just sat back and enjoyed the pretty setting. (Then ate at Quincy Market and finished up with Italian ice cream. I highly recommend nothing days like this.) It was nice to just spend time with my daughter and wander around the old city.

[Island Blue]

2. Sounds like a great weekend!

I don't remember much at all about the '60s and my memories of the early 70's mainly revolve around David Cassidy, but is it beginning to feel a bit like that era in this country now? It just seems like more and more people are beginning to publicly protest the corruption of their leaders, particularly those leaders in the White House. Also of course, the calls for impeachment are in the air. It also seems that slowly but surely, people are beginning to unashamedly call themselves liberals again!

[TayTay]

3. I have this theory about Americans

We have two great and sometimes conflicting myths about ourselves. One concerns our belief that Americans are self-sufficient and independent and celebrate the achievements of the individuals. We like the stories about 'self-made men' and like to think that everything we do is based on our own ability.

The other great American myth is about the power of groups to affect change. We also love the stories of people who banded together to affect change, get the country together in times of adversity and managed to write laws that respect the rights of the disadvantaged, the down-on-their luck and the poor.

We seem to go back and forth between these two and we don't like one side to be out of proportion to the other. Right now the myth of being able to advance in society through hard work and ability is in trouble. The cuts in aid to the lower and middle-income people is having a devastating effect on who can go to college, who can get the good jobs and who can actually get in the door of 'The American Dream.' This challenges our view of ourselves as a porous and democratic society. The social structure is out of whack and the rich are not plowing money back into the society but are keeping it. This is not good and the opposite impulse to band together into groups to affect progressive change will begin to come to the fore. (This is cyclical in American History. We have a Gilded Age followed by the progressive enactment of an income tax.)

Anybody else see this? Never under-estimate the American sense of fair play. It is one of the fundamental myths of the American nation. The *ies are not playing fair and are encouraging a society built on privilege. This is not American and the pendulum will swing back to correct this. It always has.

[Island Blue]

4. That makes sense.

I guess it takes a while for the average American to see the damage being done by bad policies. I work for a program that receives both state and local funding. The state funding is partly made up of monies from the federal level that eventually trickle down to us. We recently found out that that trickle is about to dry up. (Why? We're in a war don't ya know!) This will hurt a lot of programs, most of which deal with children's issues (there are others it will hurt too I'm sure). The damage the lack of funds will cause, may not show up for several years, when kids who could have been received services, don't receive them. This will in turn, hurt society as a whole.

I think the "society built on privilege" chooses to ignore the damage being done, so I'm glad maybe non-privileged people are beginning to awaken from their slumber!

[jillan]

5. Saracat - If you live in Arizona - we need to talk!

I didn't get to go because of work, and am so jealous... even more today than I was yesterday. I want to hear more about it. Send me a msg if you don't want to post here.