The dark is rising indeed.

Unwarranted references to children's literature aside, it's true.

pvt_tiger called me up this morning from her desk upstairs and in greeting said, "The Apocalypse has started."

"I know!"

"No, really, the world's going to end and--"

"I know! I heard on NPR this morning."

"O'connor?"

"Yeah."

"It's all over."

"Pretty much."

It's true though. Our fears have been realized, though it comes from a corner I know I wasn't expecting it from. What's interesting is that if you go to the BBC News homepage you'll see a link to an article. It's right under the headline. "Battle ahead for nation's soul."

I told PT that I was going to move to Canada or Mexico. As a queer female minority, it's hard not to feel more than a little nervous. At the same time you can't just walk away. You can't just give up and not fight, not try protect those around you, who'll come after you. Except, as I told PT, "So wait, after this what am I going to do? Fight from jail?" I fear for the civil liberties of a country that is slowly being forced into a position of moral quicksand by an administration who has no problem uses fear as a weapon against its own citizenry.

Living in California is safe. Or safer. There's a liberal sensibility that pervades much of what we do. The wailing of gnashing of teeth this morning has been gratifying. More than a few email have gone out, all of them begging for this not to be true, all of them voicing the same fears. I admit I don't know enough about politics to be able to say anything more in-depth. It doesn't mean I'm not going to go out and learn more. I've said before that it's our job to arm ourselves, to prepare for a fight we all know is coming. Well, the first shot has been fired -- really, it was fired ages and ages ago, but maybe this will galvanize more people than just me -- and it's time to fire back.