Let Civility Prevail

I'm Back! A Couple of Thoughts.

Well....I'm both scared and thrilled by the Egyptian uprising.
I've been spending much too much of my remaining time worrying
about the rise of fascism implicit in the Michelle Bachman, Glenn Beck,
Tea Party stew. Suddenly there are resonable people on the
streets of Cairo (and elsewhere on the upper rim of Africa) demanding
an old-fashioned demand....a democratically elected government to
replace a petrified dictator. How thrilling it is.....mostly peaceful
and non-violent bravery in the long tradition of popular democracy.
Of course, there's the threat of Jihadism and other religious uglies
but it appears today (Jan 30, 2011) that an entire new generation
which by the way includes my Charlie, has some real humane gravaman
that it wants to spend in a secular rebellion. Hooray!

I am inspired to go back to some basics of my own....and try again to
deal with some of the more brutal problems in our own society. I'm
told that the food banks up here in the Berkshires are being mobbed
by hungry people who are victims of the floundering economy... I'm
gonna start collecting non-perishable food on a serious basis.....this
recession is far from over.

Finally (sorry I've been away for so long) I've been trying to help my
friend Frances Piven....the visionary sociologist who was (and is)
the intellectual underpinning of the civil rights movement....who has
been savaged (the word aint strong enough) by Glenn Beck who, in
turn has ignited an internet spasm against her.....the most horrible
series of obscene, even murderous posts and blogs anyone has ever
seen. I will not repeat them. Beck's problem is that 45 years ago
Frances and her co-author Richard Cloward argued for tactics that might
bring about a Guaranteed Anuual Income. (A policy, by the way, that
Richard Nixon via Senator Moynihan supported.) I'll be goddamed if
I'll let these awful people like Beck and Limbaugh prevail....especially
today when the decent folks of Egypt stand tall.

olval