No Dennis Kucinich at FDP Convention

Proof that it is darkest before dawn and after that it's pitch black. Dennis Kucinich will not be attending the Florida Democratic Party convention. Attendees can be wooed by Orleans and Mike Gravel. The former Senator had a hard time getting living souls to listen to him speak in Clearwater.

Update: Sherri at Talk 2 Me is pissed about Kucinich bailing.

I have to admit. I was surprised. I thought Kucinich was different.

He's not.

I understand why Clinton, Obama, and Edwards aren't attending. They still have a chance to win and don't want the DNC to penalize them by taking away delegates. The only reason I can think of Kucinich not attending is Howard Dean dropped the hammer on him or he is actually delussional enough to think he can still win the nomination. I say it's the latter.

Kos an an excellent post on how flaky Kucinich is. Kucinich's keynote address at the Dubrovnik Conference on the Alchemy of Peacebuilding reads like bad science fiction.

As one studies the images of the Eagle Nebula, brought back by the Hubble Telescope from that place in deep space where stars are born, one can imagine the interplay of cosmic forces across space and time, of matter and spirit dancing to the music of the spheres, atop an infinite sea of numbers.

Spirit merges with matter to sanctify the universe. Matter transcends to return to spirit. The interchangeability of matter and spirit means the starlit magic of the outermost life of our universe becomes the soul-light magic of the innermost life of our self. The energy of the stars becomes us. We become the energy of the stars. Stardust and spirit unite and we begin: One with the universe. Whole and holy. From one source, endless creative energy, bursting forth, kinetic, elemental. We, the earth, air, water and fire-source of nearly fifteen billion years of cosmic
spiraling.

We begin as a perfect union of matter and spirit. We receive the blessings of the Eternal from sky and earth. In our outstretched hands we can feel the energy of the universe. We receive the blessings of the Eternal from water, which nourishes and sanctifies life. We receive the blessings of the Eternal from the primal fire, the pulsating heart of creation. We experience the wonder of life multidimensional and transcendent. We extend our hands upwards and we are showered with abundance. We ask and we receive. A universe of plenty flows to us, through us. It is in us. We become filled with endless possibilities.

We need to remember where we came from; to know that we are one. To understand that we are of an undivided whole: race, color, nationality, creed, gender are beams of light, refracted through one great prism. We begin as perfect and journey through life to become more perfect in the singularity of "I" and in the multiplicity of "we"; a more perfect union of matter and spirit. - - This is human striving. This is where, in Shelley's words, " . . . hope creates from its own wreck the thing it contemplates." This is what Browning spoke of: Our 'reach exceeding [our] grasp'. This is a search for heaven within, a quest for our eternal home.

This video of clips from the movie Airplane! sum up my reaction to Kucinich's keynote address.