It is a time of freedom and fear, of Gaia and of borders, of many paths and the widening of a universal toll road, emptying country and swelling cities, of the public bought into privacy and the privacy of the public sold into invisible data banks and knowing algorithms. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.

These are the times when maps fade and direction is lost. Forwards is backwards now, so we glance sideways at the strange lands through which we are all passing, knowing for certain only that our destination has disappeared. We are unready to meet these times, but we proceed nonetheless, adapting as we wander, reshaping the Earth with every tread.

Behind us we have left the old times, the standard times, the high times. Welcome to the irregular times.


 
Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter appears to be trying to waffle his way to Washington D.C. Less than 24 hours after he fought off another Republican trying to unseat him, Senator Specter is now contradicting practically everything he's promised his constituents over the last few weeks.

Arlen Specter says that he's a strong conservative who stands with George W. Bush, then he says that he's a moderate who will stand up to George W. Bush, then he says that he's a conservative who will help defeat liberals in Pennsylvania, then he says that he's a moderate who will help defeat conservatives in Pennsylvania.

Just a couple days ago, Arlen Specter announced, "I think it's very important to focus on what President Bush wants." Now he promises that he won't be a rubber stamp for Bush. This is typical Specter-speak, trying to have it both ways. Where I come from, we have a name for this kind of character: Two-faced.

Arlen Specter is proving that he can't be trusted by anyone, that he's willing to say whatever he thinks it will take to get re-elected. Arlen Specter would rather get re-elected than consistently and strongly stand up for what's right for Pennsylvania, and for America. We're glad to say that we've found a web site that calls Mr. Specter on his waffling ways: It's called the Specter Two-Step, and we encourage you to take a look.

Posted by J. Clifford Cook at 5:59 PM. # (permalink)  




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