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Story by Dashiell Collins

Over the past weekends, I've taken part in events that speak to the true nature of San Francisco. I went to LoveFest and got drunk in the streets with friends. I photographed one man giving another man a blowjob, inches from my bike, at the Folsom Street Fair. I rode in my first Critical Mass and laughed as some pissed-off driver yelled at a cyclist "What makes you think you have the right to stop traffic?" Apparently he's never noticed the two-wheeled chaos on the last Friday of every month for oh, only the last 15 years.

I met cheerleaders at the Castro Street Fair who raise money for the fight against AIDS and cancer. I even made it to opening weekend of the new mall, but not to take part in the consumer trap of doom under the beautiful dome. It was the only place “The U.S. vs John Lennon” was playing that my roommate told me about, so we went.

Along with less than 50 people who all seemed over or nearly 50, munching on 50 cent popcorn, I couldn't help but chuckle at the blatant comparisons of Lennon, Nixon and Vietnam to this country's current downward spiral, with another criminal president and unpopular war. They are the same comparisons we've all heard. And it saddens me to think that the principles that Lennon believed in, the principles I saw in action these past weeks, are the same principles that our country still cannot embrace.

The powers of this country still cannot give peace a chance. Whatever steps this country had since taken closer to brotherhood among all citizens were pushed back by political feud, general distrust, and fear of those with a different color, religion or ideology.

And guess what: it's about a month until Americans vote again. Yes, us citizens of this shining beacon of democracy will go to the polls, probably in pathetically low numbers as usual, and see which party we think will make everything ok again, at least for ourselves. Will the champions of grand old American values keep their grip? Hey, if Mark Foley is gay and sends sexual e-mails to his underage staffers, why wouldn't someone I photographed at Folsom vote for him? Oh yeah, he's gone.

Maybe some of those folks who live between the parentheses of California and New York might open their eyes a little bit, see where their precious elephants have led us along by their tails. Or maybe not. I don't trust those electronic voting machines, because there's no hanging chads when there's no paper trail.

Meanwhile, our Congress is on a month break to campaign. We've got no legislature for October. That's just a little weird to me. Let's just leave the country in the hands of the White House and their Supreme Court, just as we're about to threaten the others(1) rollin along that axis of evil(2).

The times just keep getting scarier. War is over, if you want it.