BLESSINGS

By Arthur Flowers

 

to melanie and my fellow travelers at tbr
rickydoc signing out – good luck to the next ball up

1st a bit of news – finished my draft last week, like to think ive finished my novel but before i can say that i have to put it down, let it get cold for a couple of weeks, read thru it and see if it passes the cringe test – then my poetry draft and its a done deal

meantime ima enjoy the energy unleashed – not only do i have freed up energy, i just feel powerful, like i can do anything

thats gon last until i crack that bad boy open again and start cringing, so ima take advantage while i can

okay, my last tbr post – wanted to do a rickydocs blessings for the world thing – originally conceived this as blessings for the blackworld, then thought as per last post that i need to elevate my game, do a blessing for the world,

so then i start listing all these challenges in the world

the global meltdown
the rise of fundamentalism
the conflict between islam and the west
african development
strengthening global infrastructures
global conflicts and hotspots
immigration and nationalism
quality of life issues (poverty,health,etc)

then i realize this list can go on and on, and somewhat lacking in specificity

what about the iraq and the middle east, what about people losing jobs and houses et al, what about grinding poverty all over the world, folk living on 20 cents a day if they lucky, what about hunger and aids, god help me it goes on forever – the human condition in all its pain and wonder

so lt me just give a generic blessing for the world –  when it comes to the human condition i am an incurable optimist, i believe in the capacity of the human spirit to evolve and solve any problem – i believe that life gets better thru time – i have to – otherwise id despair

so let me say this world – all my blessings for you –

and when you come to the crossroads, always take the highroad, always strive to be greater than you are – step by step and inch by inch, slowly we turn  –  ima take that as your blessings on me

so now, a few blessings for situations that move me personally and ima call it a day:

sudan, somalia, the congo et al – may peace and well being fall upon you like rain, 3 generations

and haiti, poor haiti, you know i got to bless you, hold on, rickydoc got a plan, hold on

let me stick neworleans in there too while im at it, and memphis on general principles, i would the delta take care of its own

and the folk of iraq, they have suffered so, you get a blessing too

and the southern sudan in its coming referendum and subsequent development – dont worry about that, ima walk you thru that, rickydoc wont let you fall

and mugabe, man i wish i could say something to you make you understand what youve done to your legacy – no blessing for you

israel and palestine, i dont think there is anything i can do with that, israel afraid to give slack, the palestinians got no slack to give, i expect nothing but pain here – they been standing at the crossroads a mighty long time, somebody will have to make a move – i suspect it has to be israel – may this work out for both peoples

the conflict between islam and the west, i should put this one in the same boat with the rise in fundamentalism

this one is complicated and perhaps the most fraught of the moment, i have faith that the good folk both sides will prevail – we dont really have a lot of choice – suicide bombers and jihadis on one hand and on the other palin, beck, foxnews, teaparties and militia movements incensed by the election of obama

progressives both sides, islam and the west, will have to make common cause – may you be steadfast – and when you come to the crossroads, so forth etc

and let me do a blessing for barack, and maybe a word of advice

my brother, lecturing and admonishing your base wont get it, you got to beg, man, tell them youve learned your lesson, tell them please come thru for me and i will come thru for you, i just need a little more time, please dont bail on me now

he got a little growing to do but dont we all – nov 2 lets put a blessing on obama, the democratic congress and my midterm voters – my mighty frontline, hold it

anything else that bother me personal – people losing their jobs, people cant find jobs, folk losing their houses – the hammer this collapse has been – hold on people, position yourself for the comeback – this too shall pass, you have my word on that

and to all the conditions i will think of as soon as i send this off – dont worry, i got you covered too, running and gunning i might miss a shot so let me send out a generic blessing for everybody – may the gods be as good to you as they have been to me

and to all the generations – i would humanity be a star faring culture, always evolving, always reaching for higherground – and when you come to the crossroads, always strive to be greater than you are – but you got that, right, i dont have to tell you that again

let me drop a little blessing for my friends and family, i will try to be more attentive in the future

same same my colleagues and students over at the schoolhouse –  nothing but love

let me save my last and best blessing for tbr, my literary warriors in array

the future is yours, take good care of it

all my love

in the name of the conqueror

word by rickydoc

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REPRESENTATION: BLACKWRITERS IN A POSTRACIAL REALITY

By Arthur Flowers

 

hello tbr, moving into closure here
got this one and one more, had wanted

to let this one be my closure piece but its basically done
and one ima call the blessings of rickydoc im still working on

some commentary on global issues, so you dont think all
i do is me – the mythworkers greatest myth

ima try to get that one to you for my last day, got what, about 3 more days

for this one i got a print by tom feelings, of
babajohn killens as a long distance runner

tom sent it to me right before he died
that moved me – and i thought it appropriate,

for this post on representing: blackwriters in the
postracial reality of the 21st century

i been thinking about doing this one since i got here

wanted to leave you on a high note, maybe a little inspiration

1st full disclosure:

ima child of the 60s, blackpower, civilrights, blackartsmovement
a year of blackinization in the nam, studied with babajohn killens

and i come out of the militant wing of the southern black bourgie
where i come from racial custodianship a family tradition

taking care of blackfolk a sacred calling where i come from

i come out of that we all in this together world of pre civilrights –
that belief we are only as strong as our weakest

its just what i do, no if and or but – my understanding is that to live
life to its fullest is to live a committed life, one of service

but in the postracial reality of the 21st century i often feel out of touch

when i speak out for blackfolk people look at me like im unsophisticated
like i didnt get the memo

i did get the oneworld memo, i acknowledge it the stronger reality
the reality of the future and every day i strive to master a oneworld

sensibility, to speak in my works for all humanity

when i was a young writer my whole constituency pretty much was black
but in my literary maturity my constituency is all over the place

thats my evolutionary track, universalizing
the tribal voice

but that dont mean ima leave blackfolk leaderless – visionless

all over the world blackfolk suffering, still last in every quality of life matrix

whatever it is we doing it aint working, we need a whole new kind of people
long as we slack whatever strategy we attempt will come to naught

i got to work the tribal soul/culture as only the high hoodoo can

i got to give blackfolk a vision of themselves that constantly calls them to their highest

accepting the oneworld reality as given mean statusquo, blackfolk as eternal bottomfeeders
that dont get it – not on my shift – oh no no no – im flipping that script, it is the

geas of rickydoc – aint gon never walk away from the plight of blackfolk in this world

so i had to figure out how to work with both hands,
how to take care of both my families, blackfolk and all humanity

i have addressed this ideological quandry by attempting to illuminate
and empower african american culture, make it a culture to which others

aspire and emulate, the magical negro basically

make sure that its one of the cultures that makes the oneworld cut, that it
is a substantial contributor to the common culture of the future

that way as i work on empowering and illuminating african american culture
im also empowering and iluminating all humanity

i know, its weak, its dicey, but it works for me, thats all i need
it dont have to work for you, it work for me

i can speak for blackfolk without being apologetic,
without feeling like the game has moved on w/o me

it is this attitude i have tried to bring to my time on the tbr stage

it has been a point of honor for me to do right by you

i am a sturdy voice of african american literature, the griotic wing

african american lit has been since its inception the voice of a
culture which has felt itself under mortal siege

determined to use the power of art and the word

to empower and illuminate, to function as guide and guardian of

the tribal soul and destiny

we have sent generations of warriors into this struggle

we will prevail

in the name of babajohn

all my love

rdoc

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GOD’S FAVORED SON

By Arthur Flowers

 

good morning tbr, hope its as good in your world as it is in mine
i been doing my redpen and its turning into a quasi poetry draft

get thru this 30 pages or so and i will do the whole thing poetry

i love the poetry draft, the story is told, all you doing now is

working the poetry (and a couple of rough spots probably)
this is when one word, one phrase, can add layers of meaning

to the text

this is when weak passages repoetized become startling strong

this the draft i love doing, this when the 10 odd years of investment pay off

this the draft when it sing

got today and tomorrow strictly me and the work, everything

good in my world, today i am blessed of the gods

dont know about you but im clocking pages today

may the gods of literature be also good to you

rdoc

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WHERE TWO BLACK STAND, NONE STAND TOGETHER

By Arthur Flowers

 

okay, tbr folk, moving into closure here, 10 days and counting, its been live but i will be glad to be gone, the overextended one is burntout

caught up my schoolhouse manuscripts yesterday and had a decent window of opportunity, tried to do a little redpen and its a no can do, just too burnt out on it, been working those last 20 pages or so for damn near a month, im not feeling it – will have to go straight to poetry draft, which means i will have a rougher endgame than i care to contemplate but it is what it is, i have to adjust to the terrain and keep moving forward, dont have time to tread water

sudan – preparations for january vote in gear, us and un have stepped up efforts to convince sudanese government to allow it to proceed, hillary and susanrice, the us un rep have been in favor of pressing the sudan hard while gen gration, the us envoy to the sudan, has been conciliatory, i believe for this push though they on the same page,

as referndum date approaches, sudanese gov been dragging its feet, which is understandable, it will cut their country in half and the southern half has most of the oil, but if they dont allow the referendum on independence it will restart the civilwar, which i believe is maybe the preferable option for them, ima keep my eye on these developments

in the name of chancellor williams

have you ever read the destruction of black civilization by chancellor williams, it was one of those books change your life when i read it as a young writer and politico,

he draws this image of the blacks as being under assault, driven out of egypt into the black heartland of the sudan, gets all prophetic talking about the oldtales say as long as jebal barkal (a mountain) stands so will the blacks, but jebal barkal has been inundated by the aswan dam, as were many of the black holy sites

between the conquest of the north africa/egypt and the once fertile lands turning into the sahara desert he draws a picture of the blacks being forced into the long marches and losing their legacy, i remember biking down jamaica ave in queens after reading that book and thinking look how far weve falling and i remember beginning to cry and thinking im not accepting this

and im not, ima keep an eye on the sudan, ima do what i can when i can and when they are free ima help them take the hump because thats when the real struggle start, so far i and the international community have let the blacks of the sudan (as in darfur) down even though as has been the case for a couple of thousand years they have been their own worst enemies

can damn near say that about blacks around the world,

you do realize dont you that wherever in the world you got blackfolk they are on the bottom of their respective societies, everywhere, damn near w/o exception, cant blame everywhere on nobody but ourselves, somehow someway we must transform into strength the weaknesses that have crippled us in global competition

i was thinking of the sudan and chancellor williams when i came up with – where two blacks stand none stand together

instead we got folk naming themselves after mohammed ali, one of the most brutal slave traders to ever depopulate the sudan – for an african american to rename yourself after a brutally efficient arab slave trader in the name of the struggle denotes a failure of historical clarity

if folk were really listening to what i have to say id probably catch some flak for that statement, being a footnote has its advantages

what else, obama and his team trying so hard to energize the dispirited base, recently called on the congressional black congress to fire up the team, if that aint a joke i dont know what is – fact that he had to do it at their notoriously partyhappy annual conference is indicative of the problem – perhaps they can mobilize their respective ops, but it feels like a longshot and indicative of the soup obama has gotten himself into

im still a believer and i find myself unexcited, uncommitted, thats not a good sign
at the very least i should send them some money, that i can do

lets see, anything else or is that it, got a couple of days i can squeeze out of the week, let me see if i can get that poetry draft started

enjoying my 2nd year workshop crew, its a good crew
i love teaching young writers how to be writers

what astounds me is that i get paid to do what id gladly do for free

all my love

rdoc

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FOCUS, THE SOUTHERN SUDAN AND ME

By Arthur Flowers

 

hello tbr, this one kinda rough, as you know im busy, i dont have time to clean this up, didnt mean to be so extensive, i just got caught up, what ima do is not read over it, that way I dont have to rewrite

 

i am concerned about the southern sudan, ever since I read chancellor williams destruction of black civilization, the sudan been holyground to me

 

january they vote on independence from the sudan, this vote is a given, the question is what happens next, will the sudan willingly give up its primary oil supplies, not likely, will they put aside an ageold contention with the southern tribes

 

not likely, will the southern tribes stand together, not likely, the historical pattern seems to be where two blacks stand, none stand together,

 

what about the grinding poverty, the archaic social system, the lack of human resources, and me the armchair player, bemoaning once again my lack of resources in the realworld,

 

as a young artist politico the soldiers and activists wings would berate the artists and the thinkers in the movement as being ivorytower theorists

 

and as a young artist i was susceptible to this charge but i am comfortable now in the knowledge that my most profound contribution will be through my works, if i can write works that will inspire generations i will have done what i been put on the planet to do

 

your organizing efforts might help one or two folk, a given community, but if you want to effect systematic change on the human condition, your best shot is thru your works

 

but then situations like obama, like the southern sudan, come up where i crave power

in the realworld, when i want to make a difference, my response is nonfiction, blog et al

 

which is a very poor substitute for some kind of direct action but i got to do my thing

as a young artist i had discretionary energy that often went into political organizing, i no longer have that option, everything i can beg borrow or steal now got to go into getting my work done, assuring my legacy

 

anybody can be an activist, nobody else on the planet can do what i do – which is write what i write, work my vision

 

but i have this lifelong fantasy of founding a thinktank, founding an international consulting firm on governance, assembling a good team, contracting out to governments and blackworld leaders in need of committed guidance – just thinking as i write this, i am part of palf, panafricanliteraryforum,

 

had a meeting with jeff and mohammed in the city this weekend, we about to make some moves on nigeria, palf been more than a notion, 3 writers do not a viable board make, im the systems guy, the organization guy, which gives you an idea of just how bad a shape we in – we call ourselves going to different african countries, holding literary conferences and empowering literary cultures, couple of years ago we did ghana, our initial run – but we all busy writers and we doing just enough to keep it alive, but when i get this novel done ima have to put that in play

 

im thinking i can work some institutional goals into that framework….

 

okay rick, you need to chill, down boy, but you see how my mind run, its my nature to put pieces in play, i just cant help myself, that’s how i was trained, but the fulfillment of that particular initiative will take a full court press and i cant do that and be a great novelist too, least not at this stage in the game

 

i have to repress that side of me, do it on the side, in my spare time, allow its fullest manifestation in my work

 

which is part of what i like about being a writer, this prophetic thing i got, this would be prophet of the hoodoo way bit, that’s a recipe for failure, i dont believe a true prophet can be a success in their lifetime, then they become something i dont care for, so my little efforts in the realworld to manifest as a prophet of the hoodoo way are shall we say frustrating, failure is a given,

 

but that’s okay because on another level whatever i do in the realworld is just research for my books, cause ima metafictional, all i got to do is write about being a would be prophet and a mode that would otherwise be considered delusional has realworld value, in fact i get my best material from failure in life

 

I did not intend to get this deep into themud

 

once again i have gotten all involved in a post, i meant to write you a quick note, i got to do manuscripts today, i feel a great sense of relief that i have finished my longhand phase (w/a little cheating), now ima put the book down, focus this week on schoolhouse, domestics and palf, then redpen this weekend hopefully,

 

would like to take a week or two off and prepare myself for the final lap but until i redpen that last 30 pages or so im not really done and rest wont be restful

 

so this is the plan – take the week to catch up on schoolhouse manuscripts, palf and some domestics – then this weekend its redpen do or die

 

dont know about you but ima be clocking pages, do or die

 

as for the sudan ima do what I can – a luta continua

 

rdoc 

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BUCKING UP

By Arthur Flowers

 

working, if you can call it that, inch by inch, word by word – slowly we turn
apparently i am burnt out, have overextended myself over  my summer woodshed

and working on fumes now, do a para and im whipped, an hour
and im ready to take a nap, what i need to do is just shut down shop

take a couple of weeks off –  difficult for me to do that, my desperation
generally dont allow that, i get panicky if i dont work a whole week

but i dont believe i have much choice in the matter, will keep
you informed, didnt want you to think i had forgot about you

at some point will cut that obama piece down to nytimes op ed size and send it off
i expect they will file it wherever theyve filed all the others ive sent but i brought it

this far, might as well play it out

im gone, limping and lame, still game, im out

rdoc

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Everytime I Tell A Story: Part II

By Arthur Flowers

 

hello tidal basin folk
sorry about crying on your shoulder last post

whats happening is i havent worked on my novel in about a week
that always depress me – that make me cranky

 hopefully i will be able to get some work

done this weekend, get back in my groove

once again, i appreciate the respect you

have shown my work,

a luta continua

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EVERYTIME I TELL A STORY

By Arthur Flowers

 

hello tidal basin folk
i believe ima have to chill for awhile

invested in doing that barack piece and not feeling the love
i appreciate yall asking me to be the guest blogger sept

but you know i write my little pieces and i think i be wailing
but the literary world dont give me no respect and i know its

not going to actually affect the political dynamics, the realworld

mostly because i dont get no respect, who cares what i write

now i got the why did i even waste my time doing that blues

the everytime i tell a story i expect it to change the world blues

the why do i insist on spitting in the ocean blues – im feeling unappreciated

i know on the realside its cumulative, respect and readership build up over time
but i been doing this 30 years now and im still a footnote

everytime i hit i call myself hitting strong – i just dont see why i dont get no play

i look at all the ink ive invested in rootsblog/tidalbasin/facebook this last month

and i think i could have finished that novel for sure if i had been focused

then i got the schoolhouse taking up all my discretionary time,

between prep, classes, paperwork, meetings and student conferences
ive got to invest mon/tue/wed/thur into the schoolhouse full court press

which give me fri to rest, sat and sun to work – thats just not enuf to do otherstuff too
specially when you include domestic and family obligations etc

im just underwater, and everybody want to do lunch, folk want to hangout,
orgs asking me to do presentations, family folk always in crises

everybody want a piece of rick – everybody unhappy with me when i say look i just cant do it

but until i get this novel done i get no respect, none – i give it my best shot and i still get ignored

which has been the case with my books too, but at least they books, ima have to chill

im not whining toni, im just trying to focus

there is this throw in the iching that says the superior personality has two ways of influencing the world
you can contend for influence in the court or you can withdraw to work on yourself as a model for

future generations – i translate that as a spiral, engagement in the arena, withdrawal for reflection and renewal

i think ima chill for awhile,  got to get my work done – got a couple of pieces in the pipeline for you

so im not done with you – and i may be over this literary funk in a couple of days, maybe not

but for the moment im out

rdoc

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KEEPING IT REAL

By Arthur Flowers

 

hello tidal basin folk
well you got me rolling

did that barack obama piece for you
and liked it so much i put it on facebook

as a note, which put it on everybodys wall
which is not cool but since i was making the move

embarrassing myself anyway

i figure i might as well make it the strongmove
and get it out to enuf folk that its truly embedded

in the historical flow

between that and tbr im satisfied – which is not an easy thing to do

i wandered thru the tbr yard the other day and
was very impressed with what yall doing

it warm my soul to see warriors in array

ima do one about representing, being a
blackwriter in a postracial reality

cause i see you keeping it real

i like working w/you

you bring out the best in me

all my love

rdoc

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The Uncertain Trumpet of Barack Obama

By Arthur Flowers

 

hello dear regulators

a little political commentary today, a little less me me me – sometime I get to macking and start telling folk more than I should, so lets take the spotlight off me and put it on obama

obama in big trouble, mostly i believe of his own doing, but this put us in a tribulation more pressing

barack could have handled this much differently, its easy i guess for me to carp from the bleachers, he all about the longgame, i got to give him that much, its his shortgame thats questionable

and there some structurals that have tripped him up, this recession for one, global complexity another

now he got to contend with an angry electorate out for scalps, but still he could have played this out different,

now it look like him and the dems going down in nov unless he step up his populist game, my concern is that it wont be enough – democrats got a serious enthusiasm gap, mostly because of obamas moves, the way he roll

obama brought a political army with him to the whitehouse and immediately begin to ignore it in his attempt to be bipartisan, eventually it just dissipated,

he take better care of his enemies than he do his friends, lately he starting to channel fdr a little teenincy bit but he will have to do better than a couple of speeches here and there, he will have to show the troops that hes learned a trick or two, that he got a decent learning curve

my boy been so iffy his victories – healthcare, saving auto industry, 2 supreme court picks, et al – dont feel like victories to a dispirited base,

obamas team go so far as to ridicule the progressive troops, the very folk would walk on nails for him if he let them

problem is that he been so iffy its hard to back him up, this from somebody who consider him brotherme brotherblood brotherblack – brother in trouble bring back my vietnam blackinization days, my me and you brother against the world training – I desperately want to back  him up

lately he been coming on somewhat strong but its hard to believe its any more than electoral convenience

i always knew he would be a disappointment to me because you dont run for president (and win) unless you ready and willing to play the game, to make more compromises than i would consider legit

but thats why he do what he do and i do what i do

when you a race of activists everybody dont take the same path, and there more than enuf struggle to go around –

im not a politician, ima political theorist, i can afford principles obama cant

but principles aint been obamas problem sad to say, he been confused about the nature of struggle today and still may be – thought bipartisanship and being holier than thou would bring the republicans to their senses and turn them into something they not and have no intention of being – serious about governing

barack and i both would like to think that race has nothing to do with the rabid resistance some folk have to him – least they havent tried to impeach him like they did clinton – but i have to believe that some of the unreasonable anger toward obama is sublimated racism –

obama dont want to see that, or feel like he cant afford to see that, he cant afford to let his presidency become about race because thats a recipe for going down in political flames, but his election has clearly infuriated the yahoos.

i am concerned for the brother, he been cornered now

which mean we been cornered

barack has led us into a trap and we gon to fight our way out of this one

our goal now is not to win but to survive

and survive we must

the alternative too painful to contemplate – think president palin and the options become startlingly clear,

think teaparty cabinet in charge of social security, in charge of education (think texas), in charge of the army and the security establishment, in charge of our lives, imposing their own little sharia on us all

the mind boggles

folk remember the republicans for economic policies that enriched the rich and beggared the rest of us, and for their attempts to ‘starve’ the government (how is this any different from the goals of the taliban)

these the very same folk ran the government and the economy into the ground, fought wars on false pretense, ran policies that shamelessly enriched the rich and ruined the economy, the list goes on. and on and on

well I got news for you, teaparty folk worse, repubs dont believe in gov but the teaparty folk actually hate gov, I believe they hate us all

but the most insidious aspect of republican control was to try to use the power of the government to ensure their continued rule, to treat the gov like it was an arm of the republican party, remember the attorney generals, remember the way bush used the supreme court in elections, the way the repubs lockstepped K street, what about the recent supreme court decision to unshackle corporate donations

these are political transgressions we would deplore in a thirdworld country

we cant let them back in power, we just barely cleaning out the stink they left behind when they were

and if its palin and the teaparty in power i just dont know what id do – well yes i do, id take it and knuckle down for the comeback but i would be very dispirited

if you think you dispirited now, just contemplate president palin – go ahead, I dare you

and dont think its not possible, could have won the last election if the economy hadnt tanked on them, if they had played their cards differently

there is no way that we can get out of this november unbloodied, economy and jobs so bad that incumbents, mostly democrats, will pay – also the dems won so many republican seats last two elections they ripe for correction

i dont know why obama didnt come up with a wpa type job op from the beginning, now that he been cornered he propose a little weak version he know doesnt have a chance in hell, nor any other of those proposals he coming up with

they just theater at this point and we know it,

so far his idea of saving the economy been saving wall street while mainstreet twist in the wind – o barack, my brother, that just wont do – you gon have to throw down my brother, talk to fdr while yall hanging out there in the oval office – or are you just not ready for prime time

but it does not matter, we cant afford to let that boy go down, we just cant afford it, we will have to save him in spite of himself

and im not talking about just speaking out in our respective ivory tower forums – as im doing now –

we all know what it will take to bring this one home, full service electoral politics,

i know how that works, i know i personally need to go sign up with some organization to do yeomans work – callbanks, voters stuff, motorpools, get out the vote ops, etc etc etc etc etc – should trot on over to the next ofa (organizing for america) meeting and get busy

perhaps even leverage myself into a leadership position – I know how its done, ive done it before

and even thats stepping late into the game, should have been organizing all along so that when time come to throw down you bringing resources to the table

whitehouse organizing under pressure too –  obamas op, organizing for america, been doing stealth organizing, they trying to pull some slick tricks off but its been shaky – political analysts assume that OFA will not have any measurable effects on the midterms, i suspect they right

while the teaparty firing all burners, got the enthusiasm for turning out obama we had for turning out bush

whitehouse recently gave OFA 30 mil, but its kinda late in the game for that, more like they setting up for 2012 than for 2010 – but the repubs have already crippled barack when the dems have had a historic majority – if they take congress now its back to square zip

so, knowing what I know, seeing what I see, there a couple of reasons why im not down there at OFA syracuse organizing and electorating

one, who got time, im already critically overextended and i dont know anybody that isnt

two, its hard to throwdown for obama when he dont seem to want to throwdown for himself

you feel like you gon give your all and be left holding the bag

while obama continue to do his bipartisan thing and get his lunch ate

but thats what the game require and im trying to convince myself to step up – I confess, i love america, i love what america can be, the one use its power to help people, its own and others, to be a good citizen of the world

that america the teaparty represent, that one i dont love so much

ima child of the 60s, i remember the civilrights movement and i detect the parallels, the same impulse that lead me to march and picket and sit in et al, thats whats driving me now

this a crossroads moment and when the story told i want to be able to say i did my part

whole world depending on us

right now the frontlines of struggle is electoral politics, and ima do my part, i always have – and ima hope barack gets his act together in time to inspire folk less motivated

and if he get his butt kicked this go around i hope it will inspire him to try harder

samesame the rest of us –  process

cause this battle for the soul of america, a battle to define what america is, what america means

as evidenced in the recent tussles over the meaning of sept 11^th, that battle to define what this day means to us, does it represent america crumbling under assault or rising above it

9/11 was an unprecedented hammer, question is how do we leverage that hammer into power, what is power, what is it that makes america great, what make it less than great

whats the difference between fundamentalists burning the koran and the fundamentalists who flew that plane into the towers – they both fundamentalists and fundamentalism is a problem wherever it seed – think palin, think teaparty, think koch brothers

the republicans couldnt even condemn the koran burner with a straightface when those the very attitudes they been fanning and counting on for november

now they trying to fight off teaparty incursions into their own ranks, but thats what happen when you lie down with dogs you get fleas,

our best hope now is that they end up nominating a bunch of unelectable teaparty folk, but we cant depend on serendipity when the stakes this high

these the very same folk trying to take over in nov

and 2012 – and they just might win

im telling you, this a battle for the soul of America, and its a battle we losing

this a battle we cant afford to lose

im tired, im tired and im weary, ima old warhorse in need of rest but I suspect I got one more good campaign in me, let me get a couple of stretches in ima be ready to mount up

we gon have to save brother obama in spite of himself

cause this aint about him, this about the people

those of us call ourselves progressives, those of us feel that we have a responsibility to look out for all the civilians who dont have our skilz, to be a voice and instrument of the peoples will and well being, for folk in need, who feel that we are only as strong as our weakest – well we cant afford to sit this one out

rightwing been outorganizing us for some 40 years now, it will take generations of hardwork to change the attitudes we see in play now

but its all coming to a head in about 50 days – midterm about getting the vote out, thats all it is

we know what its gon take to turn this around

only question is will we do it

i dont know what tune barack call himself playing

but

that sound you hear thats the warhorn

thats a real old tune, lets do this

in the name of the conqueror – word by rickydoc

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