BartBlog

Dear Church of Reality Members,

I just got back from my reception with the Big Dog and I think the
Church of Reality has a new member. As you know from my previous emails
Bill Clinton came to Oakland tonight for a political fund raiser for

Hillary. I paid the big bucks so I have the chance to get my picture taken with him.
I had hoped to get 30 seconds to talk to him but only got about 10 seconds, which
wasn’t enough to get him hooked on the idea, and the secret service people made it
clear that I wasn’t allowed to hand him anything. So at first I didn’t think I had achieved what I had hoped to.

After the picture taking we all went downstairs where there were a few hundred others who paid only $500 to get in. Clinton came down and gave one of his incredible speeches. Oh how I miss having a president who actually thinks things through and is full of ideas. If that speech is online somewhere I’ll send you a link to it. After the speech Clinton came down to the rope line and started shaking hands and talking to people. He saw me in the crowd. I was the only one there wearing a bright yellow t-shirt that said Church of Reality on the front.

So I yelled to him to make the campaign about reality, talk about reality. And he stopped and listened and then he started to tell a story about reality. He was saying something about Cheney and the Bush team making comments about how they were above reality and considered themselves more powerful than the reality culture. The was before they started losing the war. I don’t remember everything he said because I was trying to listen and think about what I was going to say next to hook him on the idea, but he rambled on about reality for about 3 to 5 minutes.

I think we really connected and I think I got it into his mind in a way that he’s going to go home and tell Hillary about it. I’m hoping that I’m not being too optimistic here but I think I accomplished far more than I had hoped to accomplish. We will see in the future if I’m right about this.

Interestingly enough – I almost didn’t make it to the reception. This is the part of the story that only a few people know about. A few weeks ago when I signed up I sent an email to the contact person and I had noticed some names of people who were called “hosts”. So I asked what it takes to be a host and they said all I had to do was find 2 other people to come and I’m a host. So I said that I knew a few people and would give it a try, They said that if I were going to be a host that they would have to do a background check on me. So I said sure, no problem.

Well two days ago I get a call from the campaign and they said that they didn’t like what they found in my background check and that I couldn’t go at all. They said they were refunding my money. I asked why and they were evasive but mentioned 3 things. The main issue was they didn’t like one of my web sites. The also thought I had a criminal past but it turns other that I’m not the only Marc Perkel on the planet and there’s someone out there abusing my name. However that person was born in 1988 and although I look young for my age I’m definitely not going to pass for 19 anymore.

So after many phone calls getting no where I send an overnight letter to the campaign headquarters and in the letter I talked about my long political history, that I had run for Congress as a Democrat myself back in 1998 and that between the Church of Reality membership and various political blogs there were some ten thousand people who know I’m supposed to be there and asked how I was going to explain to these people why it was that I was being turned away. And apparently y letter ended up in the hands of some smart person who decided that yes in deed they had made a mistake, apologized, and said they hoped that I would still attend. My response was – right answer!

What I think they were upset about most was some writing I did called the “Men’s guide to Escort Services” which is a state of the art how to guide for men who want to hire a prostitute. The article was a huge hit 10 years ago when I wrote it and I was invited to an event called the International Conference on Prostitution (ICOP) where, as I pointed out to the Clinton staff, that the keynote speaker at the event was Dr. Jocelyn Elders, Clinton’s Surgeon General. Anyhow – also pointed out that this is San Francisco and if they aren’t used to strange people that they should stay out of California.

So the good news is that I got to go. And I had to keep reminding myself about the new Sacred Principle I came up with recently about Patience and Persistence because I was really angry and was ready to be stupid. But I controlled myself and I didn’t give up and as a result I might have started a process that will change the future.

I intend to follow up on this. I’m going to send another overnight letter to the Hillary campaign and try to get them hooked on the reality idea. So if you hear the Clintons talking about reality as a theme, you heard it here first.

So – hopefully I’m not basking in self delusion here but sometime I have to celebrate the victories before you find out it was all in my imagination. And I’m really glad that Hillary has some smart people on her staff because getting people to change their mind after they’ve been stupid is a rarity these days.

Anyhow – that’s the big story. I’m excited about this election. I think we can make a difference and I’m hoping that you all will be as interested in changing the future as I am.

Marc Perkel
First One
Church of Reality
“Even Bush can’t stand up to Reality” as Clinton put it.