Snow in Carolina... Ron Paul redux... Alice Cooper for president!

Left: One of the foot-bridges over the Reedy River, downtown Greenville, South Carolina. Photo from the Greenville News.

It's always a shock when we get snow here, which doesn't happen often. Panic reigns. Milk and bread disappear from local shelves, and everyone collectively freaks out.

Two years ago, we had a power-outage of FOUR DAYS, meaning no heat, no hot water, no lights, no--(this will strike terror into the hearts of BLOG READERS!!!)--no computers!!! We were living on peanut butter and bottled drinks. It was horrendous, and I wondered how people managed that a hundred years ago. Then I realized, you know, they had lanterns and stuff and WERE PREPARED.

The power-outages happen because the snow and ice usually starts to melt very quickly during the heat of the day, drip-drip-drip, making enormous puddles and streams. THEN the temperature drops at night and re-freezes the whole mess. At that point, the power lines fall under the weight of the ice. And if you happen to live close to that, you are fucked. That is also the genesis of the term Black Ice, which looks like any other large, dark puddle. You don't even realize you're on ice until your car does a 180 (or a 360, as mine memorably did some years ago).

And so, I stomped out into the already-slushy snow to buy groceries; gotta stock up on peanut butter and cat food in case it all happens again tonight. Pray the temp don't get too low!!

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Left: The GrannyWarriors tour bus, which follows Ron Paul on the road. They have a pet monkey, too!

I've been soundly taken to task in private over my last Ron Paul post, so in fairness and in the interests of TRUTH and EQUAL TIME, I offer the following links:

Anthony Kennerson: Why Ron Paul is Political Kryptonite for the Left (Or, Would You Vote for David Duke if He Opposed the War?)

Latestpolitics.com: Ron Paul's race problem

Feministe: Another safe assumption: Ron Paul knows how to rally the base and How exactly are we defining "racist" these days?

DailyKos: Ron Paul in his own words

If anyone has any more articles, feel free to post them in the comments.

Although I have to say, Anthony asks a good question. We all know that David Duke could never win a mainstream party nomination . Is it moral to vote for him if it takes votes away from, say, Mitt Romney? And we know he would never actually win? People used to ask these same questions back in the day, about voting for George Wallace (to take votes away from Nixon), so I don't find it too shocking to discuss. As Tip O'Neill liked to remind us, politics ain't beanbag.

Also, a deeper question: Which kind of racism is most damaging, the kind with power to implement actual programs, or the flaky, fringe kind? (Does one form of racism in fact feed the other?) When we organized against the kkk in the 70s, we argued endlessly over these sorts of ideological twists-and-turns. Obviously, nothing really got resolved, since we are still discussing them.

The people with the power (Dubya) are far too savvy to make comments considered overtly racist, but that doesn't necessarily mean they haven't done far more actual damage to people of color than fringe white supremacists living out on some separatist acreage in Idaho or somewhere.

I've always found this discussion interesting, so fire away!

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Do any of you kids remember when Alice Cooper ran for president? It was great fun! Enjoy!

Alice Cooper - Elected

[via FoxyTunes / Alice Cooper]

Ron Paul at the Peace Center Amphitheater, Greenville, SC

I forgot to charge up my nice new camera's battery... d'oh! ...and thus, cribbed these ultracool photos from the Greenville News. If they make me take em down, oh well. But in the meantime, I can show you where I went, and who I saw tonight.



Republican presidential candidate, Congressman Ron Paul gave a speech to hundreds of revved-up followers in the Peace Center Amphitheater, in downtown, Greenville, South Carolina, this evening. I was dumbfounded (and impressed) by the fervor. There was music, food, and almost balmy weather. I actually enjoyed the event.

I used to call this place Mayberry, but in the last decade it has turned into what David Brooks calls a Latte Town. It was interesting to see Ron Paul's middle American populists in the pricey mall-atmosphere that downtown Greenville has become. Greenville was built by working class people, like those at the Ron Paul rally. Now that the mills are gone, and once-humble Reedy River neighborhoods transformed into the millionaire's River Place (with appropriately upscale restaurants and hotels), I could easily guess which families were headed for swanky Soby's, and which were headed for Ron Paul. Many of the people in the surrounding, trendy, spanking-new restaurants and apartments came out on their decks, cocktails in hand, to have a look at the spectacle. I felt the impact of them looking down, quite literally, on us.

Not the money people, in other's words. Not your father's Republican party.

Standing around beforehand, sipping hot chocolate with Carolina fans for Ron Paul, I tried to sort out his appeal. Lots of these people were saying they don't usually get involved in politics, so what brings them out for Ron? Let me count the ways. The GrannyWarriors, with their pet monkey, never tire of telling you how much they love Ron. The collapse of the dollar, among other concerns, is one motivation. But overwhelmingly, I heard young men especially say that the trashing of the constitution in fighting an undeclared war (with no end in sight), was something that they felt strongly about.

Ron Paul was introduced by a conservative talk radio guy from Charleston (whose name and radio station I didn't catch), who promptly confused me by trashing Sean Hannity. Huh? Again, not your father's GOP.

"Why is the national media talking about Huckabee in Iowa when Ron Paul has more money and bigger crowds? Why do they patently ignore the actual numbers, in favor of coverage of Giuliani and Romney?" he asked. Indeed, I hadn't thought of it, but Ron Paul doesn't get much mainstream TV coverage.

Living in an early primary state and deciding to become a Political Blogger(tm), I dutifully signed up for all the campaign updates. It's been an illuminating exercise in what politicians consider important: money. Most campaign emails do not discuss policy, ideas, intentions, plans for the country, etc. They discuss CONTRIBUTE HERE, with a bright red button you can click to take you to the contributors page.

Here, as in other respects, Ron is far ahead of the rest of the pack. Certainly, he asks for money, but he always includes strong political statements in his email. He actually assumes people on his mailing list care about what is happening. And he doesn't talk down to them. Decidedly not a movie star of any sort, he repeatedly says WE instead of "I"--as in WE can do this together, not I will do this for you.

There is the sentiment in the crowd that he is a savior, but also, somehow, that he is an ordinary person. I find the confluence of the two sentiments odd, but thoroughly American and completely fascinating.

One of my political mentors, the late Steve Conliff, taught me to think strategically about elections. A radical and Yippie, he nonetheless deliberately ran as a Republican candidate for governor, not as a Democrat. He used to counsel us to vote for the most liberal Republican in the primaries, drawing the most conservative party to the left, which he felt was crucial. Then, cast your vote according to precinct in the general election. If your precinct can't waste a single Democratic vote, you know what to do. However, if the GOP has the election sewn up in your neighborhood (as SC is a predominantly GOP state, and there is little chance of that changing in 2008), get creative. Send messages. Vote for the Green Party, or Ron Paul, or a write-in candidate. Do something.

Let them know that Tweedledee and Tweedledum are simply no choice.

Ron Paul: Missing weapons put soldiers at risk
Ron Paul: No escalation with Iran

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Listening to: Magazine - A Song from Under the Floorboards
via FoxyTunes