Brothers and Sisters,
Fellow kossacks spanning the globe, bringing us the constant variety of outrage; fellow lovers of good coffee, of late-night blogging on wine, of blogging on "The Man's" time on the sly (oh you know you do it, and it's barely on the sly), of blogging in outrage and in inspiration and for no good reason other than it beats the shit out of another hour of The Simple Life and, damnit, you better justify that high-speed connection: Fellow Key-gals and Key-guys, keymonkeys all of us, I have a few things I want to say to you tonight.
The forces of Mordor are gathering. The lidless eye searches. It can feel the ring. ... And yet, the Shire sleeps. The Shire awaits its fellowship. The Shire waits to be led.
Are you ready to lead?
Let my main man stroke the chords of your Patriotism. Turn up your speakers, open your windows, take a long deep whatever-it-is of whatever-you're-indulgin' and have a listen.
...Because folks, there's a war outside still ragin', and they say it ain't ours anymore to win.
Come with me now, to the other side....
Are you with me still?
Cyber-chimps, I'm here tonight to tell you, we got some work to do. I'm talkin' real work. I'm talkin' no bullshit, no Ctrl+C Ctrl+V URGENT! NEWSFLASH! Ashcroft is still an ass, more on the flip! bullshit.
I'm talking about leading.
It it time, brothers and sisters -- and yes, I realize this is maybe the WORST pseudo-Baptist-minister-in-cyberland imitation to ever have the misfortune to land in diaryland. Live with it! -- that we take stock in ourselves as a community. I've been lurking/commenting/diarying for what? a year now? and I have to say this is one of the smartest, most informed, most passionate collection of patriots in the land. (Draw deep from your draught once more. Give yourself the duke.)
But frankly folks, it's not enough. There is leadership talent in this community (Are you listening MaryScott? This love note is for you. And you, Georgia10 and you Armando and dozens more, hell, all of you really.), that NEEDS to be on the front lines, LEADING regular folks in the regular world.
And I'm here tonight to show the way.
Okay, take a breath, get a tissue, stretch and watch this clip and prepare to mourn the loss of one of the GREAT leaders cut down before his prime.
And dare to imagine:
Here's what I dare to imagine. I think this is very much in the American Friends Service tradition. As a United States Senator from Minnesota, I dare to imagine, as a father and now a grandfather of three, I dare to imagine a country, where I travel, and meet children, and I pick up an infant and hold her in my arms, I want to be able to believe, that in the United States of America, I dare to imagine a country where every child I hold in my hands, are all god's children, regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of whether they're boy or girl, regardless of religion, regardless of rich or poor, regardless of urban or rural, that every child I hold in my hands, will have the same chance to reach her full potential of his full potential. That is the goodness of our country. That is the American dream.
In closing, to the graduating seniors, I say this with all sincerity. I do not believe the future will belong to those who are content with the present, I do not believe the future will belong to the cynics, or to those who stand on the sideline. The future will belong to those who have passion, and to those who are willing to make the personal commitment to make our country better. The future will belong to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
--Paul Wellstone, 1998 Swarthmore College Commencement Speech
Kossacks, there has been some, and will continue to be, amazing work done on these blogs and in this cyber community. Bloggers have already begun the process of taking our rightful place in the pantheon of journalism, and right now we are shoving our way past the bouncers into the wing of the building where you don't subjugate your goddamn DUTY to the profession and your country for some goddamn ACCESS and so you won't be dropped from the DC Christmas party lists! Is that Edward R. Murrow over there? Hunter, nice hat. (May he rest in ever-livin' shit kickin' hell!)
But there's more to be done. This weekend my wife, who has never held a political position in her life, took part in a two-day FREE training seminar, hosted by Emily's List as part of their woman-focused Political Opporuntiy Program (POP). ... The dag gum event wasn't just free, it included meals and wine! Are you kidding me? The fighting Key-Gals among us must take note.
You hear Howard Dean talk about a 50-state strategy. Well, people, you can't have a 50-state strategy unless you have viable CANDIDATES in every district.
Did you know?
--Did you know that in California's 4th Congressional District, the Democratic Party Candidate spent exactly $2,061 on the race. The incumbent, John Doolittle, spent $912,648?!? And we STILL got 35% of the vote!
Don't make me do the math. I hate math.
We need a POOL of candidates that we can draw from. Fuck, give me a graduate of Camp Wellstone and 50 Grand and we make that fucker Doolittle sweat. I'll tell you that.
Folks, there are organizations out there right now and they are TEACHING people how to lead. How to become a grassroots candidate. How to become a community activist. We got to get out there people, because we're smart, we're informed and we're passionate!
Quick pimp of Camp Wellstone. Gunna be in your neck of the woods, Maryscott. next month.
Training Schedule
DATE TITLE
Camp Wellstone
3/4 - 3/6/05 Camp Wellstone: New Jersey
New Jersey Camp Wellstone is now full.
4/1 - 4/3/05 Camp Wellstone: Los Angeles, CA
NEW: REGISTRATION FOR CAMP WELLSTONE LOS ANGELES NOW OPEN
Campus Camp Wellstone
4/8 - 4/9/05 Campus Camp Wellstone: Pitzer College
Registration will begin soon!
Camp Sheila Wellstone
5/19 - 5/20/05 Camp Sheila Wellstone: Atlanta, GA
REGISTRATION WILL BEGIN LATER THIS SPRING
Camp Wellstone
6/10 - 6/12/05 Camp Wellstone: Seattle
REGISTRATION FOR CAMP WELLSTONE SEATTLE WILL OPEN LATER IN THE SPRING
6/24 - 6/26/05 Camp Wellstone: Rochester, Minnesota
REGISTRATION FOR CAMP WELLSTONE ROCHESTER WILL OPEN LATER IN THE SPRING
Camp Sheila Wellstone
6/27 - 6/28/05 Camp Sheila Wellstone: Kansas City Area
REGISTRATION FOR CAMP SHEILA WELLSTONE WILL BEGIN LATER THIS SPRING
Okay, drink deeply from your muse and give Little Steven a click. I'll tell you what, Silvo Dante was onto this shit before it was fashionable to be onto this shit:
I am a patriot and I love my country
Because my country is all I know
And I ain't no communist, and I ain't no capitalist
And I ain't no socialist
and I sure ain't no imperialist
And I ain't no democrat
And I ain't no republican either
And I only know one party
and its name is freedom
I am a patriot
And the river opens for the righteous, someday
Brothers and sisters, I realize that I've most likely mixed and slaughtered and hung out to dry about every metaphor in the book (Guinness in a pint glass will do that to a guy.) but I need your help.
I'm in the process of putting together a rally of some kind -- okay I'm in the very early stages, the vertible infancy stages of the process. Okay, who's kidding who? I'm at the does-life-begin-at-conception? type of early. A zygote could kick the crap out of my idea in a war. I'm talking early -- on an issue I blogged on last weekend:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/20/203849/233
There have been some developments on that issue -- the Horowitz website and, on a larger scale, the demonization of the left and the poisoning of the debate -- which I'll blog about later.
But tonight people, I'm looking for inspiration and ideas.
In short: Does anyone know anything about putting together a rally?
And I'm trying to inspire.
Thanks for reading. And thanks for fighting. And thanks for being here and shining the light of truth on a diseased country.
So let my man Steve Earle, take you out with three chords and heart laid bare: The Revolution Starts ... Now!
Say goodnight Gracie.