~ we have been noticeably and intentionally absent over the past couple of weeks. this doubtlessly has rattled the nerves and instilled despair in the hearts of our readers, many of whom come here not for the sparse commentary on urbanity and domesticity, but for the lashes and cuts poured upon political eventualities. part of our absence has been for personal reasons, namely the conclusion of the second atlanta experiment, about which you shall learn at a later date, and part is because we figure that most of our readers are too occupied with various GOTV endeavours to spend time reading our random diatribes. we assume that most people know by now that our president is a criminal and any administration that refers to a threatening tape from osama bin laden as a ‘gift’ on the same day that eight (8) of our marines are killed deserves to be replaced. furthermore, we have accepted bitterly the doctrine of ‘anybody but bush’ which stipulates that any mention of kerry’s shortcomings will fail to benefit the parallel goals – similar but not identical – of the left and the democrats. due to this forced, necessary unity, we have shelved such essays as the nakedly titled ‘why we always lose’ and ‘the left does not know how to speak’ and ‘we wish dean was here’ and ‘do we really need to be friends with fucks like eminem and robert byrd just because we all happen to hate bush?’ and ‘are the goals of ralph nader less appealing just because his book was published by a republican?’ and ‘we can’t wait for this forced, necessary unity bullshit to end’. in other words, with regards to the democrats, if you can’t post anything nice, don’t post anything at all.

we are close now; what once seemed a depressingly forgone conclusion – a second term – during lonely rides through the rainy nights in the no-man’s-lands along dekalb and breathless climbs up the windswept peaks of north avenue has become a tantalizing improbability. we are not adept at motivational pep talk at the angry red planet, as we work mostly in deliberate misanthropy, so as you spend your last hours affecting the process in whatever measure you are able – phone banking, visibility, canvassing, election protection, rides to the polls, monitoring – we must look to others for words of inspiration and perspective, such as a couple of lines swiped from frederick douglass on the work ahead, “Men may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must pay for all they get”, or, as ashley williams puts it to his troops massed against the army of the deadites, “by god let’s give ’em what for!” go forth, friends, girded with the fearlessness of knowledgability, and we will see you sometime on the moons and rings and seas of titan.

ps. if the election is so close that legal hijinks ensue, and the united states supreme court again oversteps its boundaries, precipitating a bloody solution in the streets and fields and malls of america, try to keep in mind that the battle is between ideas, not men. as crass teaches us, ‘destroy power, not people’.

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