Leaves of Sorrow

As I walked into the Free Speech Movement Cafe for my coffee today, the usually quiet CNN feed on the wall was turned up, throngs were gathered around in silence. John Kerry was making his concession. I was listening to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer on the iPod, and paused in the middle of a verse:

Were you there to watch the earth be scorched?
Did you stand beside the spectral torch?
Know the leaves of sorrow turned their face,
Scattered on the ashes of disgrace.

From “Tarkus: VI. Battlefield”

Music: Hem :: Idle (The Rabbit Song)

2 Replies to “Leaves of Sorrow”

  1. While I don’t always agree with him, Jerry Pournelle is one of the few, real conservatives (vs. neo-cons) whose blog I read regularly and who I genuinely respect. His Current Mail page for today includes a response to one of the more extreme “the sky is falling” letters he received.

    As for us progressives, I heard a brief interview on NPR yesterday with Prof. George Lakoff of Berkeley on his new book Don’t Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate–The Essential Guide for Progressives. Sounds like it’s worth investigating for a way forward. After all, “moral values” really seemed to drive voting this time, and the Center & Left have been really bad at articulating our moral values.

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