[Vision2020] Roy Zimmerman Newsletter - September 2012

[Tom Hansen]

See below.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students.  The college students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Roy Zimmerman" <mailing-list at royzimmerman.com>
> Date: September 7, 2012 9:27:50 AM PDT
> To: thansen at moscow.com
> Subject: Roy Zimmerman Newsletter - September 2012
> 
> 
> THE ROY ZIMMERMAN NEWSLETTER
> September, 2012
> 
> ANOTHER ROAD SIGN ATTRACTION
> 
> 
> 
> ...in rural Florida.
> 
> A DELEGATE BALANCE
> First of all, allow me to admit that I’m biased. (Surprise!) I’ve been to Tampa for the Republican National Convention and to Charlotte for the Democratic National Convention and yes, I have certain biases which colored my observations of the two gatherings.
> I have a bias, for instance, toward comedy that’s funny. The Clint Eastwood bit reminded us that even though Vaudeville’s been dead for many years, there’s still a place to be bad. Eastwood had a script. He just went rogue, a strategy that worked so well for the Republicans four years ago. And he warned us, you know. In Paint Your Wagon, he sang “I Talk to the Trees.” It was only a matter of time before one of those trees became a chair. Still, though excruciatingly not funny, the bit served as a great metaphor for the convention’s agenda: Vilify the Imaginary Enemy.
> 
> I’m biased toward facts that are true. Paul Ryan is an AK-47 of lies. He lies with a such pathological glee that even North Koreans are calling him the “Dear Misleader.” According to Ryan, he ran a marathon in under three hours, cooked spaghetti in his bare hands and introduced more than two pieces of legislation in his 14 years in Congress. (Mitt Romney, by the way is a Gatling gun of gaffes.)
> 
> I’m pro-love. Actually, I’m pro-respect AND pro-love - take that, Chris Christie!   The Republicans talked about Love (and flowers and rainbows and horsies) but the biggest applause lines had more to do with punishment.
> 
> I have a big bias toward cooperation. Toward community. Toward public solutions to big problems. All of this was anathematic to the Republicans on display. True, one of their themes was “We Built It.” By “we” they meant “and not you.” Another theme: “We Can Do Better,’ an implicit admission that they threw a crappy convention. Otherwise, it was a lot of “them” and “they.”
> 
> The Democrats used the words “they” and “them” too, of course, but Democrats boast a president who reached across the aisle like no recent president, even Bill Clinton. President Obama spent way too much of his political capital on flowers for John Boehner. But he did it in the pursuit of things I, as a Libra, hold dear: cooperation, community, true understanding and real balance.
> 
> And then there’s joy. I’ve been to a few of these conventions now, and if I had to generalize (I don’t, but I will) I’d say Republican delegates are intelligent, determined, well-dressed and well-organized. They’re having a good time but with an aura of grim purpose. The earnest ones are protecting America against its enemies, real and imagined. The cynical ones are protecting their Swiss bank accounts. There’s a longing I sense. A desperate longing for a simpler time, which never actually existed, a phenomenon Piaget referred to as “faux-stalgia,” but which I prefer to call, “the Mayberry Syndrome.”
> 
> I’d characterize Democratic delegates as smart, caring, colorful and almost-as-well-organized. None of them “want to grow government.” None of them want to “drive God out of the public square.” None of them want to plunge America into a thousand years of darkness (which is my definition of sitting through a Chuck Norris movie). What I sense in the Democratic delegates is joy. That’s the main difference. Joy. A joyful acceptance of struggle, and a celebration of hard-won social progress.
> 
> Also, some of them have a screw loose. Here they are:
> 
> 
> There is one way in which Republicans are bringing us together. They seem intent on campaigning until everyone in America, regardless of race, creed, color, gender or sexual orientation can’t stand Mitt Romney.
> But again, I’m biased.
> 
> TRUE CONFESSION
> I love Elizabeth Warren. She said, “People have hearts. They have kids. They get jobs. They get sick. They cry. They live, they love, and they die. And that matters. That matters because we don’t run this country for corporations. We run this country for people.” Here’s "Citizens United," my love song for Elizabeth Warren.
> 
> 
> VOTE REPUBLICAN FIFTY-POINT-OH!
> As I’ve mentioned incessantly, Melanie and I are posting a new verse to “Vote Republican” from every state we’ve visited. We’ve been to 49 of them plus the District of Columbia. And now that we’ve been everywhere, man, we’re posting the final few videos.
> The last one up will be Florida’s, featuring footage I shot at the Republican convention, and lyrics suggested by You, the Viewer. Truly a YouTube experience. Please write us and tell us why you think it’s a good idea to “Vote Republican.”
> 
> To watch any or all of the “Vote Republican 50.0” videos, go to the map on my home page and click on a state that’s been blue-ed in. Here’s the Alabama entry. Here’s Ohio. And here’s “Hawaii.”
> 
> GREATEST HITS
> People ask me for a Greatest Hits CD. I recommend Neil Diamond. Oh, one of MINE, I say. Yes. And no. Not a CD, a DVD!
> I’ll be performing this month at McCabes Guitar Shop in Santa Monica - Sunday, September 23 at 7:30 pm - and I’ll shoot video of the show for a DVD called “Roy Zimmerman: Live from the Starving Ear.” The set list will certainly include “Creation Science 101,” “Defenders of Marriage,” “Vote Republican” and all the songs which have catapulted me into the flickering glimmer of limelight I now enjoy.
> 
> SWING STATE SWING
> After the McCabes show, Melanie and I will climb in the car with Herbie, our mostly-chihuahua, and drive another eight or nine thousand miles on a “Swing State Swing” through the battleground states, strumming up business for participatory democracy. One of those shows will be sponsored by...
> VOICES UNITED FOR THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
> A lot of the people who are so angry about government intrusion in our lives are more than happy, eager in fact, to have religion poke its head into any orifice it can find. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State is an advocacy group working to promote church-state separation and guarantee our freedom of and from religion. A mouthful? Yes. But not a mouthful of religion.
> At the end of this month, Americans United will present a weekend of concerts all across the country with artists including Russell Brand, Sarah Silverman, Catie Curtis and many others. My contribution will be my show in Laramie, Wyoming.
> 
> My Schedule is constantly expanding, but here it is as it stands right now...
> 
> THE SCHEDULE
> Saturday, September 8 -  7 pm   
> CLEMSON, SC
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> UU Fellowship of Clemson
> 226 Pendleton Rd
> Clemson, SC
> $18 or pay what you can
> 
> Sunday, September 9 -  9:30 and 10:45   
> ATLANTA, GA
> Church Services
> UU Congregation of Atlanta
> 1911 Cliff Valley Way NE
> Atlanta, GA
> 
> Sunday, September 9 -  7 pm   
> ATLANTA, GA
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> UU Congregation of Atlanta
> 1911 Cliff Valley Way NE
> Atlanta, GA
> $18 or pay what you can
> 
> Tuesday, September 11 -  8 pm   
> MILL VALLEY, CA
> Mark Pitta and Friends
> 142 Throckmorton Theatre
> 142 Throckmorton Ave
> Mill Valley, CA
> $16 general / $21 day of the show
> 
> Saturday, September 15 -  5 pm   
> SAN FRANCISCO, CA - RADIO - KALW 91.7
> A Patchwork Quilt
> Host: Kevin Vance
> 
> Wednesday, September 19 -  8 pm   
> MILL VALLEY, CA
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> 142 Throckmorton Theatre
> 142 Throckmorton Ave
> Mill Valley, CA
> $18 general / $21 day of the show
> 
> Sunday, September 23 -  7 pm   
> SANTA MONICA, CA
> Filming the 'Live from the Starving Ear" DVD
> McCabe's Guitar Shop
> 3101 Pico Blvd.
> Santa Monica, CA
> tickets: $15
> 
> Wednesday, September 26 -  7 pm   
> BOISE, ID
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> Boise UU Fellowship
> 6200 N. Garrett
> Boise, ID
> $15 or pay what you can
> 
> Friday, September 28 -  7:30 pm   
> LARAMIE, WY
> Roy Zimmerman: Hope, Struggle and Change
> sponsored by Voice United for the Separation of Church and State
> UU Fellowship of Laramie
> 1402 East Gibbon Street
> Laramie, WY
> $15 or pay what you can
> 
> Saturday, September 29 -  7:30 pm   
> BOULDER, CO
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> UU Church of Boulder
> 5001 Pennsylvania Ave
> Boulder, CO
> $15 suggested donation
> 
> Sunday, September 30 -  time TBA   
> COLORADO SPRINGS, CO
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> High Plains Unitarian Church
> 1825 Dominion Way
> Colorado Springs, CO
> $18 or pay what you can
> 
> Tuesday, October 2 -  7 pm   
> OMAHA, NE
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> First Unitarian Church of Omaha
> 3114 Harney St
> Omaha, NE
> $18 or pay what you can
> 
> Wednesday, October 3 -  7 pm   
> SIOUX FALLS, SD
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> All Souls Church UU
> 2222 South Cliff Ave
> Sioux Falls, SD
> $15 or pay what you can
> 
> Saturday, October 6 -  7 pm   
> DULUTH, MN
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> UU Congregation of Duluth
> 835 W College St
> Duluth, MN
> $15 or pay what you can
> 
> Sunday, October 7 -  7 pm   
> MADISON, WI
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> James Reeb UU Congregation
> 2146 E. Johnson St
> Madison, WI
> $18 or pay what you can
> 
> Sunday, October 14 -  7:30   
> NEW YORK, NEW YORK
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> Reidy Friendship Hall
> Unitarian Church of All Souls
> 1157 Lexington Ave
> New York, NY
> $18 or pay what you can
> 
> Wednesday, October 17 -  4 pm   
> YORK, PA
> DeMeester Recital Hall - Wolf Hall
> York College of Pennsylvania
> 441 Country Club Road
> York, PA
> free to the public
> Double bill with Robbie Conal!
> 
> Friday, October 19 -  time TBA   
> BELLAIRE, OH
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> Art Works Coffeehouse
> 2200 Market St
> Wheeling, WV
> pass the hat
> 
> Saturday, October 20 -  8 pm   
> KENT, OH
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> UU Church of Kent
> 228 Gougler Ave
> Kent, OH
> $15 at the door
> 
> Sunday, October 21 -  7 pm   
> LEWIS CENTER, OH
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> North UU Congregation
> 1574 Franklin St
> Lewis Center, OH
> $18 or pay what you can
> 
> Thursday, October 25 -  7 pm   
> INDIANAPOLIS, IN
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> CFI Indiana
> 350 Canal Walk, Suite A
> Indianapolis, IN
> $18 in advance / $20 at the door
> 
> Friday, October 26 -  8 pm   
> BLOOMINGTON, IN
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> UU Church of Bloomington
> 2120 North Fee Lane
> Bloomington, IN
> $18 or pay what you can
> 
> Saturday, October 27 -  8 pm   
> ST. LOUIS, MO
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> Ethical Society of St. Louis
> 9001 Clayton Rd
> St. Louis, MO
> $18 or pay what you can
> 
> Thursday, November 1 -  7 pm   
> LAS CRUCES, NM
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> UU Church of Las Cruces
> 2000 S. Solano
> Las Cruces, NM
> $15 or pay what you can
> 
> Sunday, November 4 -  7 pm   
> LAS VEGAS, NV
> Hope, Struggle and Change
> with special guests Danielle and Robert Bell
> UU Congregation of Las Vegas
> 3616 East Lake Mead Blvd.
> Las Vegas, NV
> $13 advance (at the church) / $15 at the door
> 
> Tuesday, November 6   
> ELECTION DAY!
> 
> CLOSING TIME AT THE DNC
> 
> 
> 
> Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome The Guy Who Vacuums The Stage!
> 
> Looking forward,
> 
> Roy
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Site content © 2008 Metaphor Records. Site design © 2008 Darren Zieger
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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