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Another four years of a president who is trying to consolidate as much power as possible, lets his religion and bank account dictate domestic and foreign policy, and seeks to suppress freedom of speech.

This is not democracy. To those who voted him in for a second term, I say this: You have chosen to believe a false, folksy rhetoric that masks an egotistical tyrant who will stop at nothing to achieve his aims.

We are no longer as a beacon on a hill. We have now clearly established ourself as a country that values personal wealth over humanity, military might over diplomacy, subjective values over democracy, and power over people.

This is a dark, dark day.

Count every single vote, wait until all the provisionals are counted, DO NOT CONCEDE even though that asshole in the White House is assuming his victory.

And even if Kerry doesn’t win, even if it’s “statistically impossible,” as the numbnuts are saying, I hope that he doesn’t concede until the bitter, bitter end. This race is too hotly contested to give in.

I am terrified the numbnut will win another four years in office, which will be the end of democracy as we know it. Who are these people who are voting for him? Whare are they thinking?

This, from the inbox:

Zia, you may remember Zainab. Political activist, ran for President of Sierra Leone. I sent her on the IV.

Kiki Skagen Harris

—–Original Message—–
From: Zainab Bangura
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 2:48 AM
Subject: Good Luck

I am sending this email to all my friends in the United States who have a right to vote or United States citizens out of your home land. If you donot fall in any of these categories please forgive me and ignore the email.

Today is a big day in your country, I hope you all can take the opportunity and go and make your intentions clear and contribute to making sure the right person wins. You have to remember, every vote counts and it is politicians that make decisions and policies. No matter who are you, good or bad policies affect your life. And you owe it to the future generations in your country to say that you contributed to making the right decision.

There are still countries around the world where people are still dying to get that one vote. Your country has been and will remain for a while a symbol of democracy to me. I became an activist as a result of an International Visitors Program organised by the United States Information Service. By then, I had never voted in my life or enjoyed a democratic government. I came back from that trip with a commitment, that I am going to spend the rest of my life fighting for democracy. It has been a very difficult, and frustrating fight. But it has worth it. Your country has always been an inspiration and a goal. I enjoy the decentralised nature of your government, the various centres of powers ,be them local, civil society, minority etc. Your political systems and structures creates a lot of opportunity for participation across the board. It has its pits falls of course, but nobody is expected to accepts everything. Our responsibility is to take what is good and has worked and adopt it to our needs. You built your democracy from experience, that is why it is unique and confusing, understandable only to few of even Americans.

You might have faced a lot of criticism within the last number of years, not because people hate you as a people, but because people feel you have betrayed their hopes and dreams. It will all pass away.You are still the greatest democracy. This is why today the whole world will turn their television set to see how it will be done.

So today go and vote and contribute to making a difference. We are all going to be at our television watching the news and praying the best man wins – unfortunately not the best woman.

Thank you all and God bless you all.

Good luck

Mrs Zainab Hawa Bangura
Executive Director
National Accountability Group(NAG)
P.O.Box 1312
18 Dundas Street. Freetown. Sierra Leone
West Africa

Interesting book review at spiked online. I was struck by the assertion that nothing is valued for itself, and is instead valued for what it leads to, whether education, knowledge, or art–something I’ve been saying for years. The result, according to Feludi, are institutions that are more concerned with making people feel good about themselves and/or their relationships with others and less concerned with the quality of art or education. Which, of course, seeps, into every cultural aspect of life, dumbing institutions down.

Stamp out Bush

This is remarkable.

It’s not remarkable that he opposes the gay marriage ban and thinks it should be left to individual states. Nor it it remarkable that he has publicly acknowledged his gay daughter. But think about this. In a single public statement, he underscores what we have known all along: Our current administration looks out for number one. You think he would have made the same statement were it not for a gay daughter? Think again.