As family and I have been driving through the Nevada desert today, I’ve been thinking of Burning Man. Next year’s theme is The Green Man. THE GREEN MAN. I am so there.

Not only will this verdant force of nature be the theme of Burning Man, but the community of Black Rock City is asked to offset the carbon footprint of travel, power generation, and expressive burning. A handy calculator helps with this.

• Burners without Borders will participate in this focus.

With the announcement of next year’s theme for Burning Man–The Green Man–expect to hear about lots of BWB projects focused on environmental/sustainable communities in the coming year.

• Cooling Man offsets greenhouse gas emissions and cools it forward.

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With apologies to the great UU choir directors I have known, I have to tell you a joke—because it is just so completely apt.

Why do Unitarians sing so badly?
Because they are always reading ahead to see if they agree with the words.

It’s not even all that funny. If you know Unitarians, just nod in acknowledgment.

Earlier I mentioned that one of my favorite political songs is Steve Earle’s “The Revolution Starts Now.” I might have mentioned it a couple of times, and I might mention it a couple more. One fine commentor suggested other music if I like Steve Earle. It’s not about the sound and the style, and it’s not so much that I like Steve Earle, though I’m sure he’s great. It’s about the story he tells.

I was walkin’ down the street
In the town where I was born
I was movin’ to a beat
That I’d never felt before
So I opened up my eyes
And I took a look around
I saw it written ‘cross the sky
The revolution starts now
Yeah, the revolution starts now

The revolution starts now
When you rise above your fear
And tear the walls around you down
The revolution starts here
Where you work and where you play
Where you lay your money down
What you do and what you say
The revolution starts now
Yeah the revolution starts now

Yeah the revolution starts now
In your own backyard
In your own hometown
So what you doin’ standin’ around?
Just follow your heart
The revolution starts now

Last night I had a dream
That the world had turned around
And all our hopes had come to be
And the people gathered ‘round
They all brought what they could bring
And nobody went without
And I learned a song to sing
The revolution starts now

Sarangel Music (ASCAP)

What this song tells me is that revolution is work. It isn’t domination. It is cooperation and community. That’s a story I can believe. I read ahead, and that’s a song I can sing.

Apparently I’m not the only one. Actually, I’m sure I’m way behind the curve on this one. Listen to Steve Earle’s show The Revolution Starts Now on Air America late Sundays or by podcast. I listened to last week’s show with Dick Cavett. It was like a trip back to my musical infancy watching music on his show.

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Paste this at the bottom of your emails.

NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President.

• Impeach Bush
• Impeach Bush
• “The Case for Impeachment,” Harper’s
• “The Impeachment of George W. Bush,” The Nation
• Impeach PAC
• “Impeach Bush,” Garrison Keillor
• Impeach Bush Meet Up
• So you think you want to impeach?

At the Salt Lake County Democratic Convention this past Spring, I was giving out “Impeach Bush” stickers at the Progressive Caucus table. A certain candidate for federal office (whose numbers ended up in the 30% range), leaned in and said, “I agree with you, but I can’t wear that.”

UPDATE: After the article on Alternet (last link above), readers responded, then Alternet responded inviting more discussion.  You know, like a real conversation.  Amazing to see such a thing in the U.S. political scene.

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Apparently there are conservatives who like to think that “progressive” is a euphemism for “liberal.” It makes them happy to know that Democrats didn’t embrace the term “liberal” during the recent election. I’m tempted to just say Bite Me, but I find that doesn’t do much good in the end. I’m not sure how much they care about distinctions and historical context—and lack of ideological dogma among progressives. Pearls, swine. They want to create dichotomy where none need exist.

I mention this become I wonder whether confusion over the term “progressive” is preventing media from seeing the election as a progressive victory. I know it isn’t. I’m just trying to figure out how they justify the apparent common wisdom in calling the election a victory for the center. Not everyone sees it that way, but mainstream media is screaming it loudly enough that people are bound to believe it soon unless we point out the error.

Democrats didn’t move to the center in this election. Democrats ARE the center, no matter that TIME lacks the imagination to make this more than a simplistic visual issue.

David Sirota’s article on the Connecticut Senate race offers a very interesting analysis of why Lamont’s loss was a progressive gain. John Podesta’s memo on the election is titled “The End of the Grand Conservative Experiment,” but the more interesting point is The Progressive Opportunity. Podesta emphasizes the common good and community. This doesn’t have to be a moment of domination but could be a time of cooperation.

People don’t know whether to call them populists or not, but many won on progressive ideas. The Congressional Progressive Caucus will add seven new members to make a membership of 71, the largest group within the Democratic Caucus. Some states (like my former home New York) are seeing progressive local leadership. I see this as a potentially progressive moment for wages, health care, economy, poverty, education, civil rights–you get the picture.

Alas, this isn’t true in my state, where

a Progressive is a Democrat,
a Democrat is a Republican, and
a Republican is a Fascist.

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Yesterday I bought a book at the place I go on Sundays—some call it a church, but given the sermon on the cognitive dissonance of Unitarians I think I’d better not call it a church. It’s just the UU. I bought Pat Bagley’s latest book, Clueless George Takes on Liberals.

This past summer, Pat Bagley spoke at our building that isn’t quite a church. Even my young daughter went to hear him. She has ambitions to write political graphical novels now.

My children read Pat Bagley’s books regularly (including I Spy a Nephite for a little local color). I hadn’t read the other two Clueless George books, Clueless George Goes to War and Clueless George Is Watching You, before they were sucked into the children’s collection, so I read this one quickly as people came in to sit in the pews.

This is George.
George likes to dress up.
George is the president.
George is a monkey.

This is Bertrand.
Bertrand studies hard.
Bertrand cares about people.
Bertrand always plays fair.
Bertrand is a liberal.
Bertrand is a jackass.

Clueless George invites Bertrand to a party, and George’s friends are all over Bertrand. Poor Bertrand. His mother told him to be polite, so he is. He is polite and silent. He doesn’t speak up, and The Man and Karl the Klown (“Wonk, Wonk.”) keep beating him as long as he takes it.

So, the question is, will Bertrand keep taking it?

Will Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, and Harry Reid be polite? Sure, they were polite this past week–even when the White House wasn’t polite. Will they continue to be silent, though? How could Pelosi already say she’s taking impeachment off the table? Howard Dean said in the weekly Democratic Radio Address that Democrats would be “tough and smart” on defense. I hope that goes for everything else, too. Wouldn’t that be nice to see everyone be tough and smart and no one be terribly and stupidly polite? I don’t particularly have any desire for them to be ridiculously inappropriate, but I want to see them call a criminal a criminal and a monkey a monkey.

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