[lit-ideas] Re: Lit-Ideas Taking a chance

  • From: Gregory {Greg} Downing <gd2@xxxxxxx>
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 19:08:47 -0500 (EST)

A link to the exact same content found below was posted to this list on Thu,
04 Nov 2004 at 17:34:39 (about 48 hours ago) by Ursula Stange
<Ursula@xxxxxxxxxx> under the subject-line "the faces of the fallen..." --
Maybe some folks out there in cyberspace are always so busy writing more
posts that they don't have time to read or retain the content that others
post to their target list(s).

In RL (it does exist! mirabile dictu) the rules of thumb for deciding
whether or not to publish something include, among others: (1) it hasn't
already been said and isn't already widely known, (2) it is worth saying and
worth asking many other people to read, and (3) one is able and willing to
say it with maximal concision. Those are good rules of thumb for the
internet, too.

Greg Downing


At 05:50 PM 11/6/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>HI,
>At the risk of offending GD <sigh> I am passing this on to you. [I  dislike 
>offending anyone...]
> 
>I received it, actually, from one of My academic lists <g> and the  poster 
>there gave this as his rationale: there is,  "enough truth buried  within his 
>his comments to give us more data to use and a larger vision of what  will 
>happen in the future".)
> 
>I send it out to all of you, as well, so that we can have more data to use  
>and a larger vision of future possibilities.
> 
>I found it rather humourous, as well, and since I've been trying to study  
>humour these past few years, I hope that bodes well for my studies....I'm not  
>sure.  Maybe that is what I ought to examine...
> 
>love and laughter hoped for you,
>Marlena in Missouri
> 
>11/5/04
>Dear Friends,
>
>Ok, it sucks. Really sucks. But before  you go and cash it all in, 
>let's, in the words of Monty Python, 'always look  on the bright side of 
>life!' 
>There IS some good news from Tuesday's  election.
>
>Here are 17 reasons not to slit your wrists:
>
>1. It is  against the law for George W. Bush to run for president again.
>
>2. Bush's  victory was the NARROWEST win for a sitting president since 
>Woodrow Wilson in  1916.
>
>3. The only age group in which the majority voted for Kerry was  young adults 
>(Kerry: 54%, Bush: 44%), proving once again that your parents  are always 
>wrong and you should never listen to them.
>
>4. In spite of  Bush's win, the majority of Americans still think the country 
>is headed in the  wrong direction (56% 
>_http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Presidential_04/direction_of_country.html_ 
>(http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Presidential_04/direction_of_country.html
) >  
>), think the war wasn't worth fighting (51% 
><_http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm_
(http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm) > ), and don't  approve of the 
>job George W. Bush is doing (52% 
>_p://www.realclearpolitics.com/Presidential_04/bush_ja.html_ 
>(http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Presidential_04/bush_ja.html) >  ). 
>(Note to foreigners: Don't try to figure this one out.  It's an  American 
>thing, like Pop Tarts.)
>
>5. The Republicans will not have a  filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the 
>Senate. If the Democrats do their job,  Bush won't be able to pack the Supreme 
>Court with right-wing ideologues. Did I  say "if the Democrats do their job?" 
>Um, maybe better to scratch this  one.
>
>6. Michigan voted for Kerry! So did the entire Northeast, the  birthplace of 
>our democracy. So did 6 of the 8 Great Lakes States. And the whole  West 
>Coast! Plus Hawaii. Ok, that's a start. We've got most of the  fresh water,
all of 
>Broadway, and Mt. St. Helens. We can dehydrate them or  bury them in lava. And 
>no more show tunes!
>
>7. Once again we are reminded  that the buckeye is a nut, and not just any 
>old nut -- a poisonous nut. A great  nation was felled by a poisonous nut.
>May Ohio State pay dearly this Saturday  when it faces Michigan.
>
>8. 88% of Bush's support came from white voters.  In 50 years, America will 
>no longer have a white majority. Hey, 50 years isn't  such a long time!  If 
>you're ten years old and reading this, your golden  years will be truly golden 
>and you will be well cared for in your old  age.
>
>9. Gays, thanks to the ballot measures passed on Tuesday, cannot  get married 
>in 11 new states. Thank God. Just think of all those wedding  gifts we won't 
>have to buy now.
>
>10. Five more African Americans were  elected as members of Congress, 
>including the return of Cynthia McKinney of  Georgia. It's always good to
have more 
>blacks in there fighting for us and doing  the job our candidates can't.
>
>11. The CEO of Coors was defeated for  Senate in Colorado. Drink up!
>
>12. Admit it: We like the Bush twins and we  don't want them to go away.
>
>13. At the state legislative level, Democrats  picked up a net of at least 3 
>chambers in Tuesday's elections. Of the 98  partisan-controlled state 
>legislative chambers (house/assembly and senate),  Democrats went into  the
2004 
>elections in control of 44 chambers,  Republicans controlled 53 chambers,
and 1 
>chamber was tied. After Tuesday,  Democrats now control 47 chambers,
Republicans 
>control 49 chambers, 1 chamber is  tied and 1 chamber (Montana House) is still 
>undecided.
>
>14. Bush is now a  lame duck president. He will have no greater moment than 
>the one he's having  this week. It's all downhill for him from here on out -- 
>and, more  significantly, he's just not going to want to do all the hard work 
>that will be  expected of him. It'll be like everyone's last month in 12th 
>grade -- you've  already made it, so it's party time! Perhaps he'll treat the
>next four years  like a permanent Friday, spending even more time at the 
>ranch or in  Kennebunkport. And why shouldn't he? He's already proved his
point, 
>avenged his  father and kicked our ass.
>
>15. Should Bush decide to show up to work and  take this country down a  very 
>dark road, it is also just as likely that  either of the following two 
>scenarios will happen: a) Now that he doesn't ever  need to pander to the
Christian 
>conservatives again to get elected, someone may  whisper in his ear that he 
>should spend these last four years building "a  legacy" so that
>history will render a kinder verdict on him and thus he will  not push for 
>too aggressive a right-wing agenda; or b) He will become so  cocky and
arrogant 
>-- and thus, reckless -- that he will commit a blunder of  such major 
>proportions that even his own party will have to remove him from  office.
>
>16. There are nearly 300 million Americans -- 200 million of them  of  voting 
>age. We only lost by three and a half million! That's not a  landslide -- it 
>means we're almost there. Imagine losing by 20 million. If you  had 58 yards 
>to go before you reached the goal line and then you barreled down  55 of those 
>yards, would you stop on the three yard line, pick up the ball  
>and go home crying -- especially when you get to start the next down on  the  
>three yard line? Of course not! Buck up! Have hope! More sports  analogies 
>are coming!!!
>
>17. Finally and most importantly, over 55 million  Americans voted for the 
>candidate dubbed "The #1 Liberal in the Senate." That's  more than the total 
>number of voters who voted for either Reagan, Bush I,  Clinton or Gore. Again, 
>more people voted for Kerry than Reagan. If the media  are looking for a trend 
>it should be this -- that so many Americans were, for  the first time since 
>Kennedy, willing to vote for an out-and-out liberal. The  country has
always been 
>filled with evangelicals -- that is not news. What IS  news is that so many 
>people have shifted toward a Massachusetts liberal. In  fact, that's BIG news. 
>Which means, don't expect the mainstream media, the ones  who brought you the 
>Iraq War, to ever report the real truth about November 2,  2004. In fact, it's 
>better that they don't. We'll need the element  of  surprise in 2008.
>
>Feeling better? I hope so. As my friend Mort wrote me  yesterday, "My 
>Romanian grandfather used to say to me, 'Remember, Morton, this  is such a
wonderful 
>country  -- it doesn't even need a  president!'"
>
>But it needs us. Rest up, I'll write you again  tomorrow.
>
>Yours,
>
>Michael Moore
>_MMFlint@xxxxxxxx 
>(http://us.f519.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=MMFlint@xxxxxxx&YY=82792&order
=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b) 
>www.michaelmoore.com <_http://www.michaelmoore.com/_ 
>(http://www.michaelmoore.com/) >
>
>
>
>
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