For those who cling to hope.

[Artemis Bunyon]

SEVEN DAYS have passed since the presidential elections. Six days have passed since Concession Day, when the Kerry camp entered into an eerie silence that continues, unbroken, to this day. And so it is on this day -- Tuesday, the ninth of November, in this foul year of our Lord 2004 -- that yer old pal Jerky is pulling the plug on Hope. Prolonging extraordinary measures beyond this point would be cruel and inhumane to both the victim and the bereaved.

Yes, I am fully aware that there is a growing body of evidence that suggests historically unprecedented levels of election fraud; intimidation more brazen than in 2000, manipulation more obvious than in 2002.

And yes, I am fully aware that Kerry's concession is not legally binding, and that the fight, such as it is, technically isn't over until the electors cast their votes in Washington next month. I know all that. I will continue to write about all that. But Hope? My Hope is dead.

To those of you who refuse to concede, who refuse to allow last week's events to crush your faith in your fellow citizens, I have nothing left to offer but my bewildered admiration. You are blessed/cursed with the passion of Quixote, the resolve of King Canute. I feel that I must warn you, however, that compared to what you're fighting against, windmills are pushovers; shushing the seas, a breeze. That which you combat is no mere human construct, no simple force of nature. You struggle against forces on a cosmic scale.

Even if every allegation of Republican electoral fraud turns out to be accurate -- and even if, as some insist, Kerry actually won the popular vote -- it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because the Powers That Be have succeeded in their project.

They have spent decades honing their Dark Arts on oblivious subjects both foreign and domestic. They have succeeded in spiritually mutating a critical mass of American citizenry into a catalytic substrate with which to effect a species-wide alchemical transformation. Just as our humble Moon is capable of blotting out the all-powerful Sun, a motivated minority -- absolutist ideology made flesh -- is all that is needed to begin the next phase of their Grand Experiment.

This spell has been cast many times before, and this particular manifestation has been long in the conjuring. Once again, Gnostic priest-whores have breeched forbidden thresholds on behalf of their murderous, whoremonger Super-Masters. Once again, the sequence of events has been meticulously timed and executed. Once again, the initiatory mass conditioning has been brutal and thorough. Once again, they are slowly and solemnly drawing a blanket over all our heads, convinced of the righteousness of the sacrifice to which they have volunteered us against our will.

And so I salute you, futile resisters, in your valiant struggle against odds beyond reckoning. I salute you even as I abandon you, turning now towards the new frontier, curious eyes fixed on the sunrise side of this latest Holy Mountain. I salute your refusal to acknowledge the folly of your hope. I salute your pig-headed denial, which I admire greatly.

Good luck.

[Maat]

1. I hear you.

n/t

[NMDemDist2]

2. gee, thanks for the sunshine there AB

sure made my day <sarcasm off>

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Good for you, but...

I still breathe. When that ends, someone else will still be breathing.

Sometimes, that can be enough.

[Carl Brennan]

4. I've felt like that often. You'll be baaack

After you rest up awhile.

[Joylaughter]

5. Bring on the doom!

You know, it's kind of liberating.

[andyhappy]

6. what does giving up accomplish?

thats what hope is ...wishing and believing in something that is unlikely.

And we should all be working all our butts off to fight this if not for this election but the next one and the next one and the next one.

Its a long life buddy and it ain't gonna get any better if you turn your back on it...

[Artemis Bunyon]

7. For the next one, of course.

I'm talking about people who think the results of this election are reversible.

Even if they succeeded in doing so, it would be a disastrous victory, considering the political climate and other mitigating factors.

[smirkymonkey]

14. I don't think the results are reversible, but I do think we need

to clean up the voting system to protect the integrity of our democracy (what's left of it) if we are ever to have a fair election in this country again.

To be honest, I'm not so sure I would want Kerry to do it even if he could. I have sort of a fatalistic view that what is going on in this country needs to play itself out, during which time the truth will eventually come to light.

I think we should NOT give up trying to fix the system and fighting injustice where we find it, but at this point, I agree that the election is pretty much a done deal.

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. So are we tilting at windmills here?

Just so I know? ;-)

[Artemis Bunyon]

9. If you're trying to reverse this (stolen) election, I think probably yes.

Not that that's a bad thing.

[SammyWinstonJack]

16. I don't know that I am trying to reverse the election insomuch as I just

want to know what exactly happened with regard to voter fraud. I think we need to address the voting machines owned by republican corporations who admit they will do everything in their power to ensure a win for rep candidates. I really just want to know if this election was fair nor not. I think we need standardized voting procedures across this Country, for one thing. I think if we don't address this election and what I consider to be a flawed election, we are doomed for more of the same in the very near future. If that makes any sense?

[ET Awful]

10. Well, as you crawl off back into the primordial ooze, we'll keep fighting

for what's right.

Sound good?

[Artemis Bunyon]

12. Sure.

Go nuts. Have a blast.

[roguevalley]

11. then basically, if you break some laws its okay and not others?

no thanks.

[Artemis Bunyon]

13. Don't see where you get that from what I wrote.

x

[necso]

15. I dislike

your use of the word "gnostic". Gnostic is defined as: Of, relating to, or possessing intellectual or spiritual knowledge.

These are not gnostic priests in that sense (although they do pretend to be "gnostic"). Had you intended the opposite meaning, you should have used "pseudo-gnostic" -- or have made your meaning clear in some other fashion.

And there is some value in just bringing information to light -- particularly as our leadership is isolated from the struggle and should not be harmed by it. Moreover, I see no other immediately pressing duties that can't wait and this is a way of continuing activism (and especially that very important BBV (etc) activism)... and perhaps bringing more players into it.

But why post this at all?

[librechik]

17. hope is not a strategy. I need a strategy.

a) Dems got control of state leges all over the country. We need to go in and reform the voting systems in our home states. pester your state legislators and off assistance.

b) WE need an alternative media. We have done it before, we must do it again. We need to get a network. like Fox and have a daily presence. We need to shake awake the few "liberal" think tanks and get themto work. We need to pull a Gingrich based on truth rather than deceit. Remember Tom Wolfe, Rolling Stone, Norman Lear, and M*A*S*H. WE can do it again!

I don't have any hope either. But I remember Nixon, who won in a landslide, not with a miserable little wedge like Shrub's mandate.
We got him and we could get the little shit too, if we are motivated, clever and more persistent than they are. They aren't as hot as they think they are, by far. We can do it EVEN THO they cheat. I don't hope we can, I'm just disgusted that we haven't done it yet.

[noamnety]

18. there are battles and there are wars

putting kerry where he belongs is a battle

having elections that are more than a sham is the war.

now go crunch some numbers.