Planet Waves | May 25, 2005 First, a note about the links in prior posts -- they don't appear to be active, and I apologize. Please cut and paste them to go to the articles -- and I will attempt a "fix" on my end. Yesterdays news was full of speculation and analysis of the "stand down" that the group of 14 moderate Pubs and Dems managed to establish on the filibuster -- frankly, in less radical times we wouldn't have paid much attention to them or noted the courage and risk attributed to their actions. Undoubtedly it was just that ... courage and risk ...that they displayed, in a Congress hijacked by the Sectarian-Christian Nationalists who have been strong-arming their fellows on a regular basis, a'la Karl Rovian principals. Breaking with the Party Line is considered treasonous -- it won't win them points from the Prez; it does win them points with the people, and they DO face re-election in 2006. It would appear that this might encourage other of the many true conservative Pubs to push back a little, as well ... we see hope of that in the stem cell vote [sadly a point or two short of eliminating Dub's veto.] This situation is so fluid, at this point, that being either optomistic or pessimistic is sheer projection. William Rivers Pitt puts it perfectly, I think, in his perspective piece, Take The Long Way Home -- So yeah, I'm tired. But maybe, just maybe, the clouds are parting a little bit here. It has been a long road to get to this admittedly desolate spot, and it is a longer road ahead. Just put one foot in front of the other, and see where it all winds up. I agree with Pitt -- the clouds ARE parting a little bit. The reasons are legion -- the economy, the constant lies, the state of the world, just to mention a few. I don't think the American public is paying any more attention to politics than usual but the ramifications have finally come home to roost ... reflected in their utility bills, at their gas pumps, in food prices and restrictive legislation like National ID. In a kind of visceral way, they're looking to Washington and the wing nuts who have led them down this path to see what's wrong -- WHO'S WRONG -- with the government they'd counted on to protect their standard of living. If the clouds are indeed parting, I think it's the collective awakening of the public pushing them aside ... not awakening to the moral issues, perhaps -- but certainly awakening to the realities they face with their current choice of governance. The great [and shrinking] middle-class of this nation was seduced by the "values" question in the last election ... they had morphed American values and Religious values into one hybrid notion about Mom and Apple Pie and Supporting Our Troops and God. Now they're worried about Mom's Social Security, the apples cost too damned much for a pie and the troops are being picked off at an alarming rate while recruiting new one's has become very difficult. And God? We've already had that discussion ... interpretation is everything. If the litmus paper for "which God that would be" is the popularity of rubber-stamping conservative judges with no discussion, apparently the majority of America is not in full agreement with the God of the Religious Right. Polls show that they overwhelmingly want their judges vetted and tested and they approve the congressional filibuster as a tool to do that. Please note that Bill Frist has not been pleased with the compromise -- it was his intention to go "nuclear." It served his party agenda -- to stop the Democrats from having any power at all to influence legislation. He did not participate in the agreement -- and has no loyalty to it. We've not heard the end of this, I think ... and that is where the clouds may part even more. No rational person on earth can't change his mind ... can't learn from his mistakes and make better choices. We are finally beginning to notice that the people who govern our nation are not rational. I read the other day that Bush was on his "72nd day of a 60 day speaking tour for Social Security reform." Two full months of rhetoric got him nowhere ... so he'll just keep talking talking talking? This has been Karl Rove's genius -- "if you say it often enough, it becomes true." But what happens if enough of us notice, along the way, that It's Not True, and there's no hope for it to BE True? That the president is on a Fool's Errand and using his "mandate" to try to push something down our throats that we have no taste for? That he is not willing to change his mind and listen to what the people of this nation want? If the clouds have parted and we ARE noticing this, then we're years late. Bush used the same strategy to get us into war, bend our civil liberties, remove the legislation that protected our environment and reward his corporate buddies. We've let so much go by the wayside, it will take years to figure out how we got in this position, let alone how to fix it. But -- every day is a new day, isn't it -- every day, rational people make new choices. I think Bill Frist will continue to wave his "nuclear option" around with impunity, ignore the will of the people and their hunger for bipartisanship, and prove himself the radical he truly is. For him, this is more a truce than a treaty. Make no mistake -- the Judicial Wars are still on, with a vengeance. The filibuster agreement was a small, and perhaps temporary, victory for democracy ... and that is still the battle we face in this nation. Will we have the kind of democracy that we've counted on for decades, or the "new reality" version that a handful of people in Washington DC want us to accept? Time will tell -- and We The People still have a choice. The "mandate" George Bush declared was given to him by the slimmest of margins -- and his All or Nothing tactics are beginning to rub all the but the power-mongers raw. They're full of ego-maniacal confidence, and not likely to let a little "truce" stand in their way ... but the public is still capable of pulling the e-brake. Let's not wait until Bush nominates [the unthinkable] Clarence Thomas to head the Supreme's before we pull it. Write, fax, e-mail your Senators and tell them how much you appreciate the tone of the bipartisan moderate's agreement; indicate that this is the kind of legislator you will support with your vote in '06. We have a little break in the clouds -- let's give Congress a "new reality" that puts them back into service to the American people. Peace ~ Jude Take the Long Way Home http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/052405B.shtml The right cries foul as Bush is foiled http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=19107 The No Nuke Deal: A Fast and Skeptical Take http://www.bushlies.ws/ Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is currently standing in for Eric Franics on his daily blog. You can subscribe to Political Waves (our all-politics news distribution list) for free at the link below. You'll receive between five and 10 news articles each day. You may write to Jude with your responses to her commentaries at moderator@planetwaves.net. Political Waves list: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Political_Waves/