OpEdNews » Welcome to the Twilight Zone

Support OEN
With Your
Tax-Deductible Donation

Tags for This Article:

Populum Tag Cloud Control Panel
	Fine tune your search to access content

Articles	Links
Diaries	Products
Events	All

All time
Last 6 mos
Last month
Last week
Last 24 hrs

From:
Month Day Year

To:
Month Day Year

Alphabet Popularity	Count ON Count OFF
This Level	Sub-levels

Tag(s): Corporations; Democracy; Economic; Elections; Politicians; Politics; Torture
Add to My Group

November 16, 2007 at 12:11:37

Welcome to the Twilight Zone

by Rainbow Law Page 2 of 2 page(s)

www.opednews.com

SAVE FAVORITES

VIEW FAVORITES

View Ratings | Rate It

Every person in my country had their phones and computers secretly monitored. Detention-like camps were being constructed and private military armies were being paid and trained to deal with "homeland" emergencies.

In my dream my country was in the throes of an economic disaster. People were losing their jobs, wages were low, homes were lost. The wealthy got richer and the rest of us poorer.

It was a gray and frightening world.

Like those dreams where I am naked in a crowd, it seemed that no one else noticed what was happening. They walked like zombies around me -- either numb or unconcerned.

I remember a Twilight Zone episode where the Earth was hurtling toward the sun. The main character, Norma, was dealing frantically with a chaotic world that grew hotter and hotter. Finally overcome from the heat and the trauma, Norma screams and passes out.

Then comes the "Twilight Zone" twist: Norma wakes up to find that it's snowing outside. She'd been having a nightmare. The Earth isn't falling into the sun, after all; it's actually spinning away from the sun. The world isn't going to end in searing heat, but in a dark and deathly deep-freeze. Fade to credits.

Like Norma, when I first awoke, I had a moment of relief that it was all just a dream.

And then it hit me like a sickening punch in the gut.

It is NOT a dream.

It is a NIGHTMARE.

My country IS hurtling toward fascism.

And I feel helpless to stop it.

1 | 2

http://www.rainbowlaw.com

We also publish RainbowZine (http://www.rainbowzine.com), a progressive LGBTQ newsletter and we Blog at http://RAINBOWbLAWg/.blogspot.com.

In 2003 and 2004, we rode our bicycles across the country to advocate for marriage equality. Lesbian Grandmothers from Mars, a documentary about the ride, premiered at the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in San Francisco in 2005.

And if all of that is not enoiugh to keep us busy, we are building our own house with our own hands out of recycled materials. The building project is online at http://www.BuiltfromTrash.com.

	Contact Author
	Contact Editor
	View Other Articles by Author

Bookmark this page: (what's this?)

(More...)

4 comments

Host of "American Voices" radio-Wednesdays 7-8PM Eastern & Co-Host of popular "Strait & Kall"radio programming- Thursdays 8-9PM Eastern, airing on WNJC1360 in the Philadelphia Pennsylvania radio market(live internet stream www.wnjc1360.com);

Frequent guest/co-host on "Voice of the Voters" radio.

Most importantly, a concerned and involved American.
James StraitHost of "American Voices" radio-Wednesdays 7-8PM Eastern & Co-Host of popular "Strait & Kall"radio programming- Thursdays 8-9PM Eastern, airing on WNJC1360 in the Philadelphia Pennsylvania radio market(live internet stream www.wnjc1360.com);

Frequent guest/co-host on "Voice of the Voters" radio.

Most importantly, a concerned and involved American.

Twighlight Zone

Could not have put it better myself.

by James Strait (39 articles, 0 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 192 comments) on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 8:35:52 AM

Rainbow Law is Elisia and Carrie Ross-Stone, lesbian civil rights activists, life partners and grandmothers. We own and operate Rainbow Law, an online service offering legal information and free and affordable legal documents for gay and lesbian families.We also publish RainbowZine (http://www.rainbowzine.com), a progressive LGBTQ newsletter and we Blog at http://RAINBOWbLAWg/.blogspot.com.In 2003 and 2004, we rode our bicycles across the country to advocate for marriage equality. Lesbian Gran...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Rainbow LawRainbow Law is Elisia and Carrie Ross-Stone, lesbian civil rights activists, life partners and grandmothers. We own and operate Rainbow Law, an online service offering legal information and free and affordable legal documents for gay and lesbian families.We also publish RainbowZine (http://www.rainbowzine.com), a progressive LGBTQ newsletter and we Blog at http://RAINBOWbLAWg/.blogspot.com.In 2003 and 2004, we rode our bicycles across the country to advocate for marriage equality. Lesbian Gran...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Trying to Stay Optimistic

This post reveals my life-long inner struggle as I have tried to keep an optimistic and open mind about a possible better future while, at the same time, becoming more and more frustrated by the grim reality of cynical politics.

When I first caught the political bug, I believed I could make a difference. I joined and volunteered for progressive organizations, I marched in DC, I lobbied Congress. I wrote letters, signed petitons and testified at Congressional hearings.

What I saw was shocking to my young and naive psyche. Officials left the room, whispered to one another, read the paper and basically turned a deaf ear in the middle of passionate and heart wrenching testimony.

Then, as if the hearing never took place, legislators voted in whatever way they had agreed to before the whole thing ever happened -- and none of the tales of rape, poverty, sickness or unfair treatment made one bit of difference to the robots with the power to make things right.

They have no souls. And those who do (like Jimmy Carter) get slaughtered.

It is Darwinism at its finest.

Survival of the poilitcally fittest produces an evil and fascist government.

by Rainbow Law (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 42 comments) on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 9:56:23 AM

57Yo m I'm a "been there, done that! Bought the tee shirt,to hide the scars!" type of person Ive workedï¿½many jobs fromï¿½a chicken slaughterer to managing a branch of a multinational and many jobs in between.Raised in colonial PNG Left School 16,Grad Hi school 22 Night School, University 36ï¿½ BBus (majored in Psyche and Marketing), Dip Comp prog and project Mmnt.at 50 I've been in 48 different community org ,23 on board with 18 prez or deputy prez.First social campaign at 17 for the aborigine...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Andris57Yo m I'm a "been there, done that! Bought the tee shirt,to hide the scars!" type of person Ive workedï¿½many jobs fromï¿½a chicken slaughterer to managing a branch of a multinational and many jobs in between.Raised in colonial PNG Left School 16,Grad Hi school 22 Night School, University 36ï¿½ BBus (majored in Psyche and Marketing), Dip Comp prog and project Mmnt.at 50 I've been in 48 different community org ,23 on board with 18 prez or deputy prez.First social campaign at 17 for the aborigine...

to see more of bio, click on member name

I'm curious

What do you mean by progressive and progressive issues?

By progressive do you mean anti republican?

Do you mean your beliefs in your time frame?

do you like many other see progressive as meaning those who agree with you?

What do you expect from politicians?

oh by the way Darwinism ISN'T 'survival of the fittest' as you imply. That was a phrase coined by an Astronomer who was a theist opposed to Darwin's theory.

by Andris (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 531 comments) on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 4:25:42 PM

Dear Curious

The definition of the word Progressive: of, relating to, or characterized by progress; or, making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities

The definition of the word Conservative: tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions; or, marked by moderation or caution

Progressive issues are those social, economic and political issues which strive to create justice, fairness and equality. They primarily include (but are not limited to) clean renewable energy, environmental protection, access to education, employment, health, sustainable living wage, and housing regardless of race, gender, physical ability, age or sexual orientation.

A conservative tends to resist change and/or is compelled to go in reverse out of fear, or the desire for a nonexistent, idyllic past. If this definition describes a Republican, then so be it.

A progressive goes forward -- toward a better future. Progressive people recognize that unless we learn from past mistakes and move forward we run the risk of repeating the tired old mistakes of the past. If this definition best suits a Democrat or "liberal" then count me in!

Correction: Darwin's theory of evolution is NOT survival of the fittest. Rather, he noticed that a scarcity of resources in a burgeoning population would lead to competition between individuals of the same species that had to compete for those resources. Those individuals with "better" traits were able to survive while those with "inferior" traits died off. The surviving individual passed on the desirable traits to the next generation and so on. He called it "natural selection."

So silly of me to get that so absolutely wrong.

by Rainbow Law (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 42 comments) on Monday, November 19, 2007 at 5:55:08 PM