In my latest blog post and podcast, I comment on Judge John Roberts and point out why it's necessary to speak out against him, despite the seeming futility of doing so. And of course there's some political poetry too -- two new poems, including this one:
Why Bother? By Madeleine Begun Kane
Judge John Roberts' confirmation Is a certainty, it's true. We're powerless to stop it. Yes, no matter what we do.
But to those who say it's futile, Making fun of things I rue, I say it feels essential, And that you should do it too.
"America was never innocent. We popped our cherry on the boat over and looked back with no regrets. You can't ascribe our fall from grace to any single event or set of circumstances. You can't lose what you lacked at conception.
"Mass-market nostalgia gets you hopped up for a past that never existed. Hagiography sanctifies shuck-and-jive politicians and reinvents their expedient gestures as moments of great moral weight. Our continuing narrative line is blurred past truth and hindsight. Only a reckless verisimilitude can set that line straight."
--James Ellroy, American Tabloid
Ensure a Free and Fair Election (Ban Paperless Voting Machines
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."