Monday, August 18, 2008

The Alphabet Backwards: E is for Elections and Eloquence

I meant to publish this tomorrow but I screwed up. I thought about deleting it and reposting, but I'm not going to argue with the will of the fates. I hope you'll check out my Sunday post too, though. Pretty singing and the link to a wonderful video at my niece Diana's site. That adds up to a lot of videos, I know, but they are all really good.

This week’s Alphabet backwards - which comes to you a week late - features the letter “E.” There’s a pretty rich supply of interesting words. Evil, Envy, experience, emeralds, embarrassment, eagles, exceptional, elephants, elephant in the living room, effort, escapism, errors, editorials, editors, email, exaggeration, eating, Easter, edges, empathic, education, elections, Evil Empire, Emerald City, Establishment, End Times, elevators, equestrian, eggs, emergency, excess, empires, epic, epicenter, evolution, England, eugenics, early bird, expresso, epaulets, eulogies, evergreen, easy living, economics, economy, environment... And then there are phrases like...

Eagerly expecting the End Times, Empire-builder, Evil George and his buddy Evil Dick, Elaborated lies, Elevated fears, Entered into war, Eulogizing the military (while), Eliminating funding and care, Enriching themselves, Enabling the desecration of the constitution, Elections rigged, manipulated, Economy in ruins, Environment – who cares. Eliminate checks and balances, Eliminate your enemies... Ok, so this last list is a rant.

I was going to write about how important it is to vote and how precious and endangered our electoral process is but I think maybe the following videos will have more eloquence than I do on this subject. Those who think our elections are safe, listen to these videos. Those who think that fear about stolen elections is paranoia, listen to these videos. Those who think voting doesn't matter... listen to these videos.





On the subject of eloquence - another "E" word - I would just direct you to this wonderful piece that my friend Dianne at Forks Off the Moment wrote last week.

9 comments:

peppylady (Dora) said...

I've never done the alphabet backward.
At time I wonder if Evil George and his buddy Dick is trying to make the second coming come alive.

I vote so I can gripe.

Remember the coffee is always on over at my blog.

Dianne said...

yet one more (well 3 more) examples of why I always watch/read the BBC as well as other news outlets not controlled by one of 3 American corporations. Disney can give me Miley/Hannah and the Jonas Bros. but they can NOT give me my news.

I truly hope the Dems have tons of ballot watchers and even more civil rights attorneys ready for November.

I don't trust the Republican pack of war mongering liars as far as I could throw them - which would be in jail. And I include McCain in the distrust part - that SOB has sold his soul to the right wing extremists. Amazing how the Viet Cong couldn't break him but they could.

Thank you Raven for mentioning my post. To be called eloquent by you is quite a compliment!

Anonymous said...

Further confirmation (if any were needed) that there are those who belive that democracy is too important to be left to the people...

Raven said...

peppylady - the alphabet backwards is my own personal little hell, not a meme. Just something I made up to fill up Mondays. I've had the same thought about Georgie and Demon Dick Cheney.... trying to bring about the Apocolypse.

dianne - I get the bulk of my news from the Daily Show, Colbert & PBS. I don't even entirely trust PBS anymore except for Bill Moyers & the guy in these videos whose name I can't spell. I too hope the dems have poll watchers but what we need even more is paper ballots or and banning Dibolt machines. I agree about McCain. He's like a pod person these days. His ads are nauseatingly slick. There's one now that starts: "Congress is broken. John McCain knows this... and then he's quoted as saying "we're worse off than we were FOUR years ago." Makes my blood boil every time I hear it... and I've heard the so-called pundits talk about that ad as distancing himself from Bush. Bah! What planet are they on? Aggggh... I rant. You ARE eloquent. I was only stating the truth.

deborah godin - Well said. Agggh.. How did we get to this sorry place?

Amber Star said...

Raven,
This is so disturbing to finally see it from reliable sources. I just do not think we can survive another four or eight years of what we have.

chanpheng said...

Reading your post got me riled up. The last 8 years in the US have been so tragic - and the voter caging isn't new. Michael Moore had written (in Stupid White Men) about the moves by the GOP to disqualify voters in Florida. It just goes round 'n round.

Jim said...

Hi Raven, you are doing great here! Soooorry I didn't leave a comment the other day at your wonderful Skywatch.
I will miss the poem, a lot of us will. I think others will still post, it is an all week thing.

If I did the "E" thing, my word would be 'exotic.' Exotic animals come to mind, a friend of mine (he died at age 99 a few years ago) would hunt deer, every year he would kill an exotic deer (deer's ancestors imported originally from Germany).
My friend, Ray, had severe Parkinson's Disease for the whole twenty-some years I was fortunate enough to be his friend. He shook so badly I never figured out how he could steady himself to shoot his rifle.
Most people had trouble understanding him but I could get every word.
..
BTW, I had a 'Freudian slip' in this comment but I caught it proofreading, guess my heart was thinking 'erotic,' another "E" word not in your list.
..

Raven said...

amber star - I agree. I'm not even sure we can recover from the damage that has been done. That's one thing I worry about if/when the Democrats get the presidency - and hopefully Congress - again.... that everyone will expect the damaged to be repaired like magic. It will take time to heal all the bleeding wounds Bush and Co have left here and abroad.

chanpheng - I feel like I've been riled up for the past 8 years and just keep shouting into the wind. I'm furious that we haven't impeached Bush and Cheney. It speaks badly of our character as a nation. I'm saddened that we haven't risen up in the streets in protest. And Bush and Co haven't been satisfied just to do damage at home - they have wreaked havoc with the whole world. Agggggh. I love Michael Moore. I just posted a 9-part thing called Hacking Democracy which should make everyone terrified. I'm furious (again) that the Democrats didn't challenge the second Bush "election." What has become of my wonderful country!

jim - you keep apologizing about not visiting my sky watch but I didn't visit yours until this morning. I haven't worked out a good system yet for visiting in a systematic way. Exotic and erotic are both good "e" words. My estranged brother has Parkinsons and my mother was diagnosed with it, though there was some debate about the accuracy of that diagnosis. It's a cruel disease.

Carletta said...

Hi Raven,
I stopped a minute last night in the midst of canning beans and tomatoes and wanted to see the videos before I commented.
Well, it only takes a few minutes of each video to know that all is not well in the good ole USA. It's hard to trust what anybody says or does anymore and the reality of that is a huge burden on the conscience. As a country we do have a huge task each and every one of us to think this election through and vote responsibly!
Thanks for putting all this out here - it needs to be seen.