No matter who did what to who, promise me, we will not falter.

[EFerrari]

No matter if your feelings are hurt, your name is mud, your heart is broken.

No matter if the ground shifts, and you suddenly don't know who you can trust.

No matter if you say something stupid or are the butt of an insult or if you calls are ignored.

We will never give up.

No matter if you have spent a day, a month or a year or years building your organization, you do not give up.

I have looked into the face of homicide and calmed the situation down. You know that because, I am still here. I have done that not once, not twice but as many times as was necessary. And I am still here. I wouldn't recommend this as a lifestyle but, I am still here. And I will again. But at least now, I know I can.

If I can do that, you can do this.

So promise me, I need you to promise me. No matter what you think about the players, this is not a game. To survive, to keep going, we sometimes think in terms of a game but we know, this is not a game.

We need to build infrastructure, we need to develop methods, we need to remember the value of ends vs. the compromise of means.

But while we are learning, we will not give up. We will not stop. We will never ever ever be deterred from our goals: clean, verifiable elections.

We will disagree. We will do without, burn out, get pissed and shut down.

Then, we will drag ourselves back up and we will continue.

Promise. Promise you will get over yourself, promise to put the mission first, promise to keep your humor and your gut and your hands free. Not to walk away from problems but to walk to them with open arms. You can do that. We are good enough, smart enough and dogged enough. We can take on whatever comes our way.

Promise.

Remember what they did to Martin. You think we're the first ones to be chewing these bones? Think again.

Never give up. Promise.

http://www.d.umn.edu/~schilton/GIFS/king,martin%20luther%20iii.jpg

[niyad]

1. I promise, because I refuse to let the bastards win.

[EFerrari]

2. Exactly.

We can sort out our problems.

We stay on tack.

:kick:

[Rowdyboy]

3. We will disagree, sometimes, on tactics, but we have the same result

in mind. I wish we could realize how much we truly have in common rather that fighting over our minor differences.

[EFerrari]

5. Only dead people don't have differences. And this movement

is just birthing itself.

So, we disagree but we don't melt. :)

[Rowdyboy]

6. We don't need to melt....We have sooooo much in common, its incredible

[EFerrari]

9. Yes, sir. we do.

:)

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. I promise!!

:patriot:


and great pic! :loveya:

[EFerrari]

8. Did he ever take a bad one?

Everything we need we can read in his face. His gift to us.

:loveya:

[Rowdyboy]

11. And here are a few of the faces thathe would have loved....

[EFerrari]

12. That looks like a pretty and a tough crowd.

lol

:)

[Rowdyboy]

13. Tough faces that he would understand.....

and love

[chill_wind]

7. K&R and thanking you. n/t

[EFerrari]

10. Thank you, chill.

Now, there's an idea. :)

We'll be all right.

[Kurovski]

14. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I'm trying to sort this all out and I resist coming to fast conclusions.

Yes, I promise.

But I have to say that those very few who continue to cling to personal attacks, are defensive and deride those who want to look closely at the present matter are not building confidence by doing so. It may only be from anger, but if it is, the result is still the same. Time to rethink anger as a method of reaching out and expressing ones self.

I'm also happy to say that the overwhelming majority are keeping their heads and actually communicating.

And as for what you, sfexpat2000 are saying, well...:hug:

[Wilms]

15. There's my girl!

:loveya:

[livvy]

16. Yes! NGU, NGU, NGU.....promise.

Here's another face to remember...


Thanks for a great post!

[EFerrari]

39. Dear face. Thank you, livvy.

:)

[Boredtodeath]

17. Sorry, human beings cannot tolerate the shit that goes on here

Watching people tear down perfectly good Democrats with lies and accusations makes me not want to be a part of what I see.

The price for caring is waaaaaaaaaay too high.

So, you people keep tearing down good people. I won't be a part of it.

The Curlings are being treated just like Andy was - I won't be a part of that.

[Kurovski]

18. Does this mean you'll be moving on?

Leaving DU?

[Boredtodeath]

19. Nope, I'll be around to remind you of the lies

So don't plan your celebration.

on edit:
I plan to stand and fight the lies and deception in Andy's honor.

[ccarter84]

23. nuts, guess i'll just have to play with the balloons on my own n/t

[EFerrari]

32. I need you to do exactly what you do. And thank you.

:toast:

[mom cat]

20. Right on. Fair, verifyable elections is our goal. We must take this

country back!
Thanks for your wisdom born of pain. :hug:

[mogster]

21. Thanks you, Beth

Great! :-)

:kick:

[EFerrari]

35. . . .

:hug:

[BeFree]

22. I like it.

We need each other. The country needs us together. The poor huddled masses who don't have a voice, except at the ballot box, need us unified.

We have a common enemy, and many mutual friends. We know what is right and what is wrong. We need to put aside our minor differences. The very future of our democracy is in our hands.

We can make MLK proud.

[rumpel]

24. n/t

:)

[autorank]

25. Never give up...there's no alternative, no place to hide because

wherever you go, there they are, and I'm talking about the White House "2 live crew."

They're in Canada and Mexico, they're in England and Denmark (of all places!),
they're in every single country in the Middle East, they're in Russia and China,
they're in India and Australia, they're in North Korea...and more...

The neoconservative messengers of total domination and subjugation, the fanatic messengers
of sectarian hate and violence, the "hallow men" who fill their empty shirts with mindless
adventures that make no sense, have no end, and only produce suffering.

Welcome to the 21st Century. We have no where else to go and we cannot give up.

[Kurovski]

27. ...

The Hollow Men

T. S. Eliot (1925)

I


We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar


Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;


Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
Remember us -- if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.


II


Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind's singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.


Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer --


Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom


III


This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.


Is it like this
In death's other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.


IV


The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms


In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river


Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death's twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.


V


Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o'clock in the morning.


Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow


For Thine is the Kingdom


Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow


Life is very long


Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom


For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the


This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

[EFerrari]

33. "Not farewell, / but fare forward voyagers." n/t

[blm]

26. If we don't stick it out who will? I'm sticking.

Salute.

[EFerrari]

37. Looks like we're the grown ups. Darn!

:)

[mopinko]

28. i promise

people already think i am nuts. i have nothing to loose.

[EFerrari]

30. LOL! Ditto!

:toast:

[Land Shark]

29. K&R, we're re-creating democracy=endless disagreement and debate

all aimed at having the group re-constitute itself in a better way....

[EFerrari]

36. Some people are easier with that than others.

This is one of the important negotiations we need to recognize.

We will.

:)

[Cookie wookie]

31. Beautifully written, sfexpat2000.

King is my inspiration and particularly when I'm down, I read his words and they keep me going inspite of all the sham, drudgery and broken dreams.

I'm not sure where "nobody should be crucified, unless they take choicepoint's side" -- fits with these lofty sentiments, but I'm sure wherever Dr. King is, he knows.

Interestingly, for the most part, the people who are actually working for secure, transparent, verifiable and accurate elections (working not talking) are missing from this self-congratulatory emot-athon.

[Kurovski]

34. "No matter if you... are the butt of an insult...never give up."

[EFerrari]

38. It goes without saying that we hold the absent ones in our thoughts

and wishes.

How anyone here has the energy to be self-congratulatory, I'd love to know. And learn time budgeting from them.

lol

:)

[Kurovski]

40. Kick

:kick: