A thick black line goes right through my house
a darkness eating chairs, table, floor.
It splits the roof in two.
Looking out the window, I can see it running off, over the hills
heading straight for Buffalo,
across Lake Erie
and beyond.
Meanwhile,
a vast shadow
in the shape of a woman
covers the Western plains

Another interpretation here.

–Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, in her closing statement at the Pussy Riot trial

Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

To understand what Pussy Riot is all about, it is not enough to watch the video of their performance.  You need to read the word—in this case, the translated transcripts of their closing statements at the trial, available here.  This is how Katherine Holt, one of the translators, describes it:

“…they delivered impassioned, philosophically rigorous, and coherent statements about the Russian media landscape, about the co-opting of the Christ the Savior Cathedral as a political stage, about the manipulation of the Christian value of humility, about the need for individuals to think of themselves as citizens, about the role of contemporary art, about the dangers of conformity. And all this was coming on top of all the questions they had already raised (globally) about feminism, punk rock, the limits of public space, the role of cultural forces in political change.

These statements are inspiring to me as a Russia-watcher; they prove that the last nine months of protesting have not been for naught. But I should also add that to me as a person, as a woman, as someone who believes in critical thought and the power of ideas, these statements are acts of heroism.”
I couldn’t agree more.  And as a follow-up, I would remind Americans that it is not just Moscow that takes political prisoners—think of Tim DeChristopher, Bradley Manning,  or Julian Assange. (Assange is in essence being held captive in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London by the United States Government—against whom Assange’s address from the balcony there was (tellingly) very much directed.)

I really do believe that, at some level, we are all as blameless and innocent as the stars.  And I believe in hell not at all.  But right now, all I can think of is how much I really, really want this impossibly ignorant man to roast there.   Thank you, Eve Ensler, for so powerfully voicing the outrage (WARNING–this could be triggering for some people):

“Dear Mr. Akin, I want you to imagine…”

My thought on the upcoming election, exactly.  I don’t know who did the graphic, but I think it’s great:

…………………..

It is all in there.

The true history of the CIA’s involvement with Lee Harvey Oswald,

and the name of the island on which Amelia Earheart spent the last twenty-three years of her life.

The one common household ingredient that would make cold fusion possible,

and the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The eighteen missing minutes of the Watergate tapes,

and the secret to healthier, younger-looking skin.

There are the cures for cancer,

and AIDS,

and male pattern baldness,

and the common cold.

Atlantis is there,

and the stone that killed the dinosaurs

right alongside Jimmy Hoffa

and the details of the secret Mormon plan to take over the world.

It’s all in there,

all in Mitt Romney’s tax returns

which he will take

to his grave.

………………

This is why we fight:

WikiLeaks Forced to Stop Publishing by Major Financial Institutions

This is why we fight:

Goldman Sachs Attacks Poor People’s Credit Union

This is why we fight:

Dozens Arrested at Occupy Oakland as Police Raid Encampment, Tear Down Tents

All from today’s news.

This Is Why We Fight (song):

The Decemberists “This Is Why We Fight” feat. Sarah Watkins

…is the one Naomi Klein would have delivered at Occupy Wall Street, had a microphone been allowed.  It’s touching and beautiful and important and true, and you need to read it:

Occupy Wall Street: The Most Important Thing in the World Now | | AlterNet

…thank you, Naomi, for this…

Or at least, that’s what the Google search engine thinks he (it?) is.  As the result of a brilliant and altogether appropriate google-bombing campaign launched by Dan Savage, the anti-gay Pennsylvania Senator and Republican presidential candididate has had his name linked with something I’m guessing he’s not so personally comfortable with.  I won’t relate the whole story here–it’s been told already very well by Jason Linkins, among others.  But Mr. Santorum’s  response to a gay soldier at the most recent of the Republican presidential contests-to-see-who-can-be-more-hateful is just further confirmation that the association between the two meanings of Santorum a quite reasonable one.   And you know what?  I have to say that the name fits: the sound seems to match the substance remarkably well.  Perhaps  God meant it be that way?