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READ PART I
READ PART II
READ RESPONSES TO PARTS I II & II (A Work in Progress - Check back for updates)
LONG BEACH (coup2k.com) June 27, 2001 - "Wake Up Democrats! Take Back the Country!" -- The final installment of my report from Southern California Americans for Democratic Action's 2001 Conference in Los Angeles on Sunday...
MORE ON HATE
One of the things I have tried to do on my site, is take back the language from regressives, reactionaries, propagandists, and media you-know-whats who have bastardized it beyond all logic or recognition, and who have pulled many progressives (and most of American society) along in their wake. In this quest, I have often turned to dictionaries for support:
hate [hayt ] noun (plural hates)
1. feeling of intense dislike or anger: a feeling of intense dislike, anger, hostility, or animosity You could see the hate in his eyes.
2. something hated: something that is hated
[Old English hete (noun) and hatian (verb). Ultimately from an Indo-European word perhaps meaning "strong feeling," which is also the ancestor of English heinous.]
Now, I know it is considered poor form in America right now to admit to hating ANYONE or ANYTHING. That is because the denotative (fixed, objective) meaning of "hate" has been replaced by the connotative (changing, subjective) meaning, which can be bigotry or prejudice.
When I speak in defense of hate, I am speaking in defense of hate, as defined.
I intensely dislike the Filthy Five, Bush, and the other coup-conspirators. I feel anger, hostility and animosity towards them all. Not only that, I consider their actions HEINOUS ("shockingly evil or wicked").
If that makes me a bad person in the eyes of some (or all), I accept that. I plead guilty to the charge of hate. If that means I am doing more harm to myself than to 'them', so be it. This is the way I honestly feel, and I will not lie about this to gain the respect or approval of anyone... Not only CAN'T I change the way that I honestly feel, but I WOULDN'T if I could. I am proud of my hate. I think it demonstrates my values, my morality, and my high personal standards.
MORE ON MAXINE WATERS
When I write, I often forget that not everyone is a regular or longtime visitor to the BBBR (coup2k.com), and that not everyone may understand what I am saying, what I mean, or where I am coming from. Mea culpa. My bad. Please allow me to clear a few things up.
First, I am black by choice, not by birth, and Maxine Waters is not my biological sister. What she is, is my hero, and an inspiration for changing my personal racial identification -- proudly, and once and for all. What do I mean by this? Well, I'll paraphrase for you what I told Maxine:
When the Congressional Black Caucus stood to challenge the Florida electors, and stood alone, and when the media insisted on asserting that the only Americans who cared about the stolen election were black, and since America's past racial purity laws defined any person with any black blood as black, and since we all share a common ancestry (a principle present in both the Theory of Evolution and the Judeo-Christian creation tale -- take your pick), I put two and two together -- being the on-the-ball Diva that I am -- and formally announced my change of race.
FUN AT THE EXPENSE OF THE MEDIA
Since I wrote that story on January 7th, many people have written in to make similar switches, and I have recently even had the opportunity to act on my change, vis-à-vis the mainstream media. I was called as part of CNN's Telephone Survey regarding the Resident and his appointistration's policies (you can, I am certain, guess the nature of my answers to the substantive questions asked of me), and part of the information being gathered was demographic information. That portion of the interview went something like this:
CNN: Are you Hispanic or Latin American?
DIVA: No.
CNN: Are you white, black, or Asian?
DIVA: Yes.
[Long Pause]
DIVA: [Feigning surprise] Oh! Did you want me to choose one?
CNN: Yes, please.
DIVA: I'm black.
[Long Pause]
DIVA: Hello...?
Yes, I did tell Maxine about all of this (remember my remark in Part II about "babbling?"). I told her about my race change, about others following suit, and about having the chance to flummox the CNN pollsters. She seemed to get a kick out of it.
A sense of humor must run in the family... [DISCLAIMER: And I don't mean nuclear family...]
"INCONCEIVABLE!" ROB REINER AND ROBERT REICH
At the conference, I had one of "those" moments... You know, one of those moments where serendipity puts two people in the same room -- people that have a strong connection for you personally, but who have no idea you feel that way -- and that reality tickles your funny bone?
Well for me, at SCADA, those two people were Rob Reiner and Robert Reich. You see, on March 11th of this year, Robert Reich wrote a column pronouncing the Democratic Party dead, using the "Dead Parrot" shtick from "Monty Python" to make his point. I disagreed with his assertion (I am, after all, a Democrat, and very much alive, as far as I know), so on March 13th, I re-wrote a scene from "The Princess Bride" (Directed by Rob Reiner) to make my point.
It's probably a good thing that Rob Reiner blew me off, or I might have ended up babbling this story to him...
CENSURE THE FIVE!
While at the conference I met many Resistance Fighters who don't hold the high profile of a Maxine, or Warren, or Dick, or Jesse Jr., or Vincent. One such Fighter that I spent a considerable amount of time speaking with was Eric Jacobson of censurethefive.org.
This is a group committed to lobbying for a censure resolution in the United States Congress, as a first step towards restoring the balance of power shattered by the Bush v. Gore decision. I want to encourage every one of you to visit their site, and support their effort by writing your Congressional Representatives (remember, snail mail is better than e-mail). Censurethefive.org argues that now is the time to begin laying the foundation for ultimately holding the Filthy Five accountable for their actions. I wholeheartedly concur... (Continued on NEXT PAGE)
ALSO TODAY: Gil Christner on The Resident CEO
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