Halloween is over but you are still haunted by nightmares....Wolf Blitzer at 3 a.m. is saying , "Well no one could have predicted this!" and a beaming Brit Hume is smirking about "Americans who resent being told by the liberal media the outcome of an election before it's held"....and why does David Gregory look so smug?? WHY IS TUCKER BOUNDS SMILING????
The polls are closed in Pennsylvania and it's STILL too close to call? Vote flipping in Virginia and Ohio? Machines down in Florida? ----wake up, wake up, it's only a dream!----
Or is it?? <clutches chest> Okay, this is "The Coop", a safe haven for all Chicken Littles, Hand Wringers and unfairly labeled "Concern Trolls" from Daily Kos. Hey, Buddy, we might be concerned but we ain't trolls! Well, never mind - as welcome as a skunk at a garden party in all other threads, this is YOUR thread!
Warning: If handwringers bring out your homicidal impulses, if you cannot resist the urge to post large troll pictures in response to any worried posts, THIS IS NOT THE THREAD FOR YOU! The confident and calm are welcome here only if compassion is exercised! C'mon, you annoyed Kossacks have 500 other diaries and threads in which to bash the worriers. Fly the Coop!
What are you thinking? What are you scared of? How is this anxiety disrupting your life? The NY Times had a piece on liberals who are suffering over this election; traumatized by the last eight years and finding it unthinkable that the - well, unthinkable - could happen once more. You are not alone! http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/... Most of us who remember Florida flipping from "Gore" to "Undecided" and recall how the Kerry "victory" fizzled away are suffering from understandable post-traumatic stress when it comes to American elections.
I have OCD and am very familiar with anxiety and the rituals people employ to relieve it, from reassurance seeking to better living through chemistry. One of the tactics I've always used to readjust my fears is music - stirring and inspiring or soothing and tranquilizing, music has a real physiological effect on those sweaty palms and racing hearts.
So to start us off, here is "Ready for the Storm" by Dougie Maclean, one of my favorite Celtic singer/songwriters and a great lefty as well. He wrote it for his great uncle Fergus, a Crofter fisherman off the coast of Scotland - and it is most appropriate for all of us trying to steel ourselves for a rough journey.
If you enjoy progressive music but aren't a folk fan, check out Black 47, another of my favorite socialist bands. Headed by the brilliant Larry Kirwan, originally from Wexford, I'll include one of their songs downthread. Larry's written songs about some of my absolute heroes, from Paul Robeson to James Connelly to Bobby Sands. Of course, he also writes about drinking and dancing and sex, so it's not all politics with Black 47. Meanwhile, here's Dougie: