Seeking Shelter From Their Crimes...Again.

Everyone has seen the pictures.

Everyone has seen the proof.

What to do when you have been caught committing war crimes?

Change the law, of course.

Alberto Gonzalez is working the legislature to avoid prosecution of his keepers. Again.

Detainee Abuse Charges Feared
Shield Sought From '96 War Crimes Act

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer

An obscure law approved by a Republican-controlled Congress a decade ago has made the Bush administration nervous that officials and troops involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war crimes, and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts.

Senior officials have responded by drafting legislation that would grant U.S. personnel involved in the terrorism fight new protections against prosecution for past violations of the War Crimes Act of 1996. That law criminalizes violations of the Geneva Conventions governing conduct in war and threatens the death penalty if U.S.-held detainees die in custody from abusive treatment.

Gonzales told the lawmakers that a shield is needed for actions taken by U.S. personnel under a 2002 presidential order, which the Supreme Court declared illegal, and under Justice Department legal opinions that have been withdrawn under fire, the source said. A spokeswoman for Gonzales, Tasia Scolinos, declined to comment on Gonzales's remarks.

"The military has lived with" the Geneva Conventions provisions "for 50 years and applied them to every conflict, even against irregular forces. Why are we suddenly afraid now about the vagueness of its terms?" asked Tom Malinowski, director of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch.

At a July 13 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Air Force's top military lawyer, Maj. Gen. Jack L. Rives, affirmed that "some of the techniques that have been authorized and used in the past have violated Common Article 3" of the Geneva Conventions. The top military lawyers for the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, who were seated next to Rives, said they agreed.

So we are all in agreement.
What exactly is it going to take America?

The full story here

No Sunday Poetry. Because there are no words for this.

The usual Sunday poetry series will not be posted today.
There are no words in the world to speak to the madness and murder taking place with our sponsorship.
What happened to this child? She is dead as a result of every Americans tax dollars supporting and supplying Israel with the weapon that killed her and many others today.

The president speaks of "restraint", Rice speaks of "sustainable".
Neither can just simply say stop. Madness. Unspeakable madness.
I wish that reporters would stop referring to these ridiculous statements as if they were coming from all of us. This madman does not, nor will he ever speak for me.

They feel sorrow?

Don't believe what they say America believe what they do...and what they are not doing.

The horrific details....

By Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States urged Israel on Sunday to take more care to avoid civilian casualties in Lebanon after an air strike killed at least 60 people, but still resisted calls for an immediate ceasefire.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was working to arrange the conditions for a "sustainable" halt to the violence as soon as possible.

"This is a horrible event, a terrible event, and we certainly want to make it clear that not only do we feel sorrow for what happened, but determination that it really is important to end the conditions that led to that," Snow told a group of reporters by telephone.

The full story here

Big Coal's paid Spoke-Scientist Debunks Global Warming

The Intermountain Rural Electric Association of Sedalia, Colo is hoping thier donations to scientist Pat Michaels for his dissenting view of global warming will convince someone that it is not happening. It appears that the coal giant is concerned about new taxes being imposed on thier pollution. The coal industry is a major contributor to the problem of global warming to be sure but that is not all they are responsible for.

They practice a method of coal extraction called mountain top removal. They are literally taking down entire mountains in West Virgina, Tennesee and Kentucky right now.

I have provided more links at the bottom of this post where you can help stop the massive destruction of these beautiful, ancient and magical mountains.

Below are excerpts from a great article by:

SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
Thu Jul 27, 2:39 PM ET

Pat Michaels — Virginia's state climatologist, a University of Virginia professor and senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute — told Western business leaders last year that he was running out of money for his analyses of other scientists' global warming research. So last week, a Colorado utility organized a collection campaign to help him out, raising at least $150,000 in donations and pledges.
The Intermountain Rural Electric Association of Sedalia, Colo., gave Michaels $100,000 and started the fund-raising drive, said Stanley Lewandowski, IREA's general manager. He said one company planned to give $50,000 and a third plans to give Michaels money next year.
"These people are just spitting into the wind," said John Holdren, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. "The fact is that the drumbeat of science and people's perspectives are in line that the climate is changing."
Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, a Washington advocacy group, said: "This is a classic case of industry buying science to back up its anti-environmental agenda."
John Holdren, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Harvard environmental science and technology professor, said skeptics such as Michaels "have had attention all out of proportion to the merits of their arguments."

Lewandowski of The Intermountain Rural Electric Association of Sedalia, Colo, said he believes global warming is real just not as big a problem as scientists claim, and acknowledged this is a special interest issue. He said the bigger concern is his 130,000 customers, who want to keep rates low, so coal-dependent utilities need to prevent any taxes or programs that penalize fossil fuel use. He said his effort is more aimed at stopping carbon dioxide emission taxes and limits from Congress, something he believes won't happen during the Bush administration.

Read the entire article here

These folks are fighting the Coal Giants destructive practices and they need YOUR help!
Links where you can get involved!

United Mountain Defense
National Radio Project
Mountain Summer Justice

American Bar Association Busts Bush

American Bar Association President Michael Greco says their report shows Bush’s use of signing statements is undermining the constitution.

Ya think?

That’s great but will anything come of it? No mention of what if anything they plan to do about it other than document it. The pen may be mightier than the sword but in Bush’s case the pen and the sword together are killing our democracy.

Here are excerpts from Michael Greco's interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy now:

A new report (PDF) by the American Bar Association criticizes the president’s unprecedented use of what’s known as signing statements through which he claims a right to ignore or not enforce sections of bills that he signs into law.

The report declares: "The Constitution is not what the President says it is.”

One thing should be pointed out. If the President believes that a law that Congress has enacted is unconstitutional or he has other problems with it, the Constitution provides him with an avenue: he can veto that bill. No one expects the President to enforce a law that he is uncomfortable with. But instead of vetoing these bills and sending it back to Congress so that Congress can deal with the President's concerns and either modify that bill to address those concerns or override the veto by a two-thirds vote, what the President is doing is denying Congress that power, given to it in the Constitution.

That's what we mean when we're talking about destroying the system of checks and balances, because recent presidents -- and it isn't just President Bush -- recent presidents have been taking, seizing more and more power from the other two branches to create a more powerful executive branch. The founders of this country separated those powers, precisely so that we would not have a monarch or a king or an all-powerful executive branch. That's how serious this issue is.

These series of issues that you just mentioned are issues of great concern, not only to the ABA, but to all of us in this country. We want security. We want our nation to be secured. We want the President and the administration to protect us, but not at the expense of giving up our constitutional freedoms, because if we do that voluntarily, then we are doing the work of the terrorists that are trying to destroy our democracy. We would be doing it to ourselves, and that would be the ultimate harm inflicted on ourselves.

The sweet sound of logic.

Monica Lewinsky where are you when your country needs you most?

Read the entire interview at:

Democracynow.org

Israel Bombs UN Post While Talking to Them

Israel launched 20 strikes, four direct hits on the UN position while Speaking to them on the phone. It is kind of hard to argue that they didn't know who they were shelling. This compound has only been there for 50 odd years, it is clearly marked and the victims are on the phone with Israeli officials begging them to stop. They said they would. But they didn't. They said they would open a route for rescuers. They didn't. The shelling continued even as rescuers tried to save the victims.

The US blocked a statement by the UN Security Council because it contained the phrase
"any deliberate attack against U.N. personnel."

UN Secretary Kofi Annan had this to say about the attack:

“The shelling of the U.N. position which was long established and clearly marked started early in the morning and went on till after seven p.m. when we lost contact. Our general and the troops, the people on the ground were in touch with the Israeli army, tried warning them, 'please be careful, we have positions here, don't harm our people'. And many calls went out until this happened. You can imagine the anguish of the soldiers and the men and women, unarmed military observers who were down there in the service of peace.”

Is this what Bush means by Israels right to defend itself?
Join the call for a cease fire now Mr. Bush.

Democrats Threaten Iraqi PM

Iraqi PM Maliki received a not so veiled threat from Senate Democrats on his lack of support for Israel and its massive campaign of collective punishment being carried out in Lebanon.

In a letter to Maliki, the Senators write "Your failure to condemn Hezbollah's aggression and recognize Israel's right to defend itself raises serious questions about whether Iraq under your leadership can play a constructive role in resolving the current crisis and bringing stability to the Middle East.”

I suspect what they really mean is:
Puppet boy, if you don't get with the US program we will take you out. We have spent billions to get a government that will do our bidding and you’re not going to go solo on us now.

So much for democracy, free speech and all that other crap about freedom, when you are bought and paid for, eh Maliki. And these are the democrats. They like to bring out the tough talk round about election time. I would watch my back if I were you.

The signatories include Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Senator Charles Schumer of New York. Several Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Hillary Clinton and Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi, have indicated they may boycott Maliki’s speech today unless he renounces his comments.

Howard Dean seems to think that our billions should buy us a puppet government too.
Speaking at a gathering of business leaders in Florida on Wednesday, Dean called Maliki is “an anti-Semite.” Dean added: "We don't need to spend $200 and $300 and $500 billion bringing democracy to Iraq to turn it over to people who believe that Israel doesn't have a right to defend itself and who refuse to condemn Hezbollah."

The terrible crime he has committed that provoked these threats from democrats?
Al-Maliki has called for a ceasefire and condemned what he called Israel’s “operation of mass destruction and mass punishment.”

I suppose that hits a little to close to home. Thier sensibilities for Israel and its American style aggression are so offended that it requires them to turn their backs on joining a simple call for a cease fire and an end to civilian casualties. You can boycott his speech Senators, you can issue threats, but the world knows why you can't condemn Israel. You are just as guilty.

Pathetic...the lot of you.
If you thought these senators were really interested in peace and reconciliation....think again.


More on the story from:
Democracy now!

Sunday Poetry: Desiderata

The selection for this week is a timeless classic. This poem reminds us in the most beautiful way that we literally change the world by our own interactions with it, everyday.



Desiderata
Max Ehrman

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

The Wreck

The Wreck

I was racing down the highway of hypocricy, measuring the distance in the headlights of my short sightedness. False confidence, the rush of speed and power holding me firm in its embrace.

I smiled to myself, secure in my justifications for supporting, building and profiting from weapons of war that would kill for the God I created in my own image.

Lost in my reverie, contemplating my complete freedom from conscience, the road of self-righteousness I was traveling narrowed. The canyon walls of cause and effect rose high above and pressed in upon me from either side.

I saw the hair-pin curve of consequences ahead and suddenly speed and power were my bane. The distance that had once seemed so far , now drew near and my glory shone empty and useless before me. I slammed on the brakes of my desperation and prayed for mercy to the God of my own making but there came no answer.

The screeching of my realization locked into place, the futile fight against the pavement of false pride and heinous pretense rose in my ears like the sound of a million children screaming. Where the thick black marks of my destiny crashed through the guard rails of my humanity, I left the road. I found myself standing on the edge of the highway, watching as the remains of my mortal existence were received by the eternal desert below, a glow rising into the night like the campfire of an ancient truth.

I turned to look back up the road of horror from whence I had come and there before me stood a child. In her hand she held the bullet I had made for her. The bullet that killed her.

I have come to take you home where you will remember that we are one, she said.
She took my hand and together we walked out of that dark canyon of consequence and into the light.

Find out more from Democracy Now!:
U.S. Arming of Israel:
How U.S. Weapons Manufacturers Profit From Middle East Conflict

This post is dedicated to all the children killed by weapons built, used and exported by US arms manufacturers.

In America

Just cause this is funny and then sad.
But still funny...and then still sad.
Oh, well. sometimes America can be funny in a sad kind of way.

Wal-Mart
By Deb
Wal-Mart Wine
I have no idea how old this is, but it struck a chord with me today:
BENTONVILLE, ARK (AP) — Some Wal-Mart customers soon will be able to sample a new discount item - Wal-Mart’s own brand of wine. The world’s largest retail chain is teaming up with E&J Gallo Winery of Modesto, Calif. to produce the spirits at an affordable price, in the $2-5 range.

While wine connoisseurs may not be inclined to throw a bottle of Wal-Mart Brand wine into their shopping carts, there is a market for cheap wine, said Kathy Micken, professor of marketing at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I. She also said: “The right name is important.” So, here we go:

The top 12 suggested names for Wal-Mart Wine:

12. Chateau Traileur Parc

11. White Trashfindel

10. Big Red Gulp

9. Grape Expectations

8. Domaine Wal-Mart “Merde du Pays”

7. NASCARbernet

6. Chef Boyardeaux

5. Peanut Noir

4. Chateau des Moines

3. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Vinegar!

2. World Championship Riesling

And the number 1 name

1. Nasti Spumante

Found this bit of Americana at:
Elephant in my Coffee

Sunday Poetry: Shine, Perishing Republic

The selection for this week comes from Poet Robinson Jeffers

Shine, Perishing Republic
Robinson Jeffers

While this America settles in the mould of its vulgarity,
heavily thickening to empire.

And protest, only a bubble in the molten mass, pops and sighs out, and the mass hardens,
I sadly smiling remember that the flower fades to make fruit, the fruit rots to make earth.

Out of the mother; and through the spring exultances,
ripeness and deca-dence; and home to the mother.

You making haste on decay: not blameworthy; life is good, be it stub-bornly long or sudden.

A mortal splendor: meteors are not needed less than mountains:
shine, perishing republic.

But for my children, I would have them keep their distance from the thick-ening center;
corruption never has been compulsory.

When the cities lie at the monster's feet there are left the mountains.
And boys, be in nothing so moderate as in love of man, a clever servant, insufferable master.

There is the trap that catches noblest spirits, that caught--they say
God, when he walked on earth.

Source: The Poems of Robinson Jeffers

Is Tony Snow the Max Headroom of the right?

Is Tony Snow an artificial intelligence agent, created in Fox Corp labs to spread the message of the right? Has Karl Rove's mind been downloaded for presentaion by a prettier face?
Here are just a few quotes to think about:

On Israeli attacks:
"We think it's important that, in doing that, they try to limit as much as possible the so-called collateral damage, not only on civilians but also on human lives," Snow said.

So-called collateral damage...?
Are civilians not humans, or have I missed something here?

The war in Iraq:
"It's a number." --White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, on the U.S. military death toll in Iraq reaching the 2,500 milestone

It is also a son, a daughter, a mother, a father, asshole.

On marriage:
Even though divorce rates remain revoltingly high, the institution of marriage maintains a unique place in the American heart.

Revolting...Americans do love revolting.

On Voting Rights:
Frankly, I don't want ignoramuses showing up en masse to vote on propositions that could raise my taxes, restrict my freedom, or make life more miserable for my family.

With Dibold electronic voting machines you can fix that problem now.

On Healthcare:
In many cases, a bout with sickness stretches your soul, opens your eyes, and introduces you to a world of unimagined grandeur, possibility and joy.

AIDS, a world of un-imagined grandeur, possibility and joy.

On Politics:
Many people don't give a rip about politics and know as much about public affairs as they know about the topography of Pluto.

Rip this, Tony.

On Social Security:
The real sin with Social Security is that it's a long-term rip-off and a short-term scam.

A scam! Does that mean I can keep the thousands of dollars I have been giving the government out of my paycheck?

For those of you who are not sure who the Max Headroom Character is and never saw this show, a litle background:

Set "twenty minutes in the future," Max Headroom depicted a society of harsh class inequalities where predators roam the street looking for unsuspecting citizens who can be sold for parts to black-market "body banks." Max inhabits a world ruled by Zic-Zac and other powerful corporations locked in a ruthless competition for consumer dollars and television rating points. In the opening episode, Network 22 dominates the airwaves through its use of blipverts, which compress thirty seconds of commercial information into three seconds. Blipverts can cause neural overstimulation and (more rarely) spontaneous combustion in more sedate viewers. Other episodes centered around the high crime of zipping (interrupting a network signal) and neurostim (a cheap burger pak give-away which hypnotizes people into irrational acts of consumption). We encounter blanks, a subversive underground of have-nots, who have somehow dodged incorporation into the massive databanks kept on individual citizens.
At the core of this dizzying and colorful world was Edison Carter, an idealistic Network 24 reporter who takes his portable minicam into the streets and the boardrooms to expose corruption and consumer-exploitation which, in most episodes, led him back to the front offices of his own network. Edison's path is guided by Theora Jones, his computer operator, whose hacker skills allow him to stay one step ahead of the security systems--at least most of the time--and Bryce Lynch, the amoral boy wonder and computer wizard. He is aided in his adventures by Blank Reg, the punked-out head of a pirate television operation, BigTime Television. Edison's alter-ego, Max Headroom, is a cybernetic imprint of the reporter's memories and personality who comes to "live" within computers, television programs and other electronic environments. There he becomes noted for his sputtering speech style, his disrespect for authority, and his penchant for profound nonsequiters.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Your Friday Flip-Off

Hey Palestine, Lebanon and all y'all Islamic and Arab type people.

Israel's got my back over there ya see. Were thick like that. Ain't nothing like a full blown regional war to drive up that oil price, baby.

Lebanon's Saniora wants me to help diplomatically? I don't do diplomacy, sorry. I'm a war president, boy.
This is the only finger I will be raising on your behalf, but I will offer a little lipservice about not killing too many innocent people.

Burn baby Burn, Bush shrugs off call for help from Lebanese government he said he hoped Israel's attack would not topple.

By TOM RAUM

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) - President Bush rejected Lebanon's calls for a cease-fire in escalating Mideast violence on Friday, saying only that Israel should try to limit civilian casualties as it steps up attacks on its neighbor.

"The president is not going to make military decisions for Israel," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

Lebanon's prime minister asked Bush, during a phone call Friday, to pressure Israel for a cease-fire. But Bush told Prime Minister Fuad Saniora that Israelis have a right to protect themselves.

"We think it's important that, in doing that, they try to limit as much as possible the so-called collateral damage, not only on civilians but also on human lives," Snow said.

It is unlikely that either or both parties are going to agree to" a cease-fire at this point, Snow said.

Source: The Raw Story

Condi. The Crusher

We have a long tradtion in the USA of direct military action, covert destabilization and the outright overthrow other country's governments. We currently support some of the world's most repressive and violent dictators (but only when they do what we tell them to do), now Condi has unveiled the latest chapter in this sad, sad saga.

On Monday, Condoleezza Rice said a government commission (which she happens to chair) on Cuba had been reconvened and would report by next May on more measures to promote change.
She said the time had come to end 46 years of "cruel dictatorship".
To the tune of 80 million bucks now and 20 million anually thereafter.

Well, there you have it, Condi the Crusher has spoken.

So be it.

Castro's response:
"Pitiful"

So, what about our grand tradition of mess'n?

William Blum, writer of the book, "Rogue State":

"From 1945 to the end of the [20th] century, the USA attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggling against intolerable regimes. In the process, the USA caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair".

Let's have a look at the counting coup tote board shall we?

COUNTING COUP

1949 Syria, Elected government against USA political interests and pro-Palestinian.
1949 Greece, Elected government against USA political and economic interests.
1952 Cuba, Elected government against USA business interests.
1953 Iran, Elected government against USA oil interests.
1953 British Guyana, Access to sugar and bauxite.
1954 Guatemala, Elected government against USA business interests.
1955 South Vietnam, French backed leader replaced by USA backed leader.
1957 Haiti, Previous government against USA business interests.
1958 Laos, Pro-USA government wanted.
1959 Laos, Pro-USA government wanted.
1960 South Korea, Previous leader not strong enough for USA.
1960 Laos, Pro-USA government wanted.
1960 Ecuador, Previous government too independent in foreign policy.
1963 Dominican Republic, Elected government against USA business interests.
1963 South Vietnam, Previous USA puppet leader's policies led to televised suicides.
1963 Honduras, Pro-USA government and access to resources.
1963 Guatemala, Military government was about to allow elections.
1963 Ecuador, Elected government too independent.
1964 Brazil, Access to resources and cheap labour.
1964 Bolivia, Previous government too independent in foreign policy.
1965 Zaire, Access to cobalt, copper and diamonds.
1966 Ghana, Previous government too independent in foreign policy.
1967 Greece, Military bases.
1970 Cambodia, Previous king against USA political interests.
1970 Bolivia, Country took ownership of its oil and tin.
1972 El Salvador, Elected leader against USA business interests.
1973 Chile, Elected government against USA business interests.
1975 Australia, Elected government had unsuitable foreign policy.
1979 South Korea, Pro-USA government wanted.
1980 Liberia, Pro-USA government wanted.
1982 Chad, Pro-USA government wanted.
1983 Grenada, Pro-USA government wanted.
1987 Fiji, Previous elected government supported nuclear-free Pacific.
2002 Venezuela, Disagreed with foreign policy of elected government.
2003 Iraq, Control of startegic oil reserves.
2004 Haiti,Disagreed with economic policy of elected government.

50 years of mess'n. And wer'e still at it.
I think I agree with Fidel on this one.
It is Pitiful.


Material on coups from:
Shoutwire

Just Tracking Phone Calls Is So Last Month

Break the law.
Then change the law to fit the crime.
It's all the rage in Washington these days.

The FBI is drawing up plans to give "Big Brother" the internet...legally.

I know, what's the problem if they are using it to track dangerous terrorists? The problem is who gets to define terrorism.

Our country is mere steps away from that definition including you if you but disagree with the power elite.

This story today from Democracy now!

Report: FBI Drafts Legislation Forcing Internet Surveillance.

The website CNET News.com is reporting the FBI has drafted legislation that would open the door to massive surveillance of internet users. The legislation would force Internet service providers to create wiretapping hubs for police surveillance and require manufacturers to build in “backdoor” technology into computer networks that would allow for easy eavesdropping. The surveillance would be approved under an expansion of the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.

Can you see it, George?

The writing on the wall that is.

So many improprieties, so many deaths, so many failures, so many hard questions being asked.

Someone's going to have to take the fall for the corporate master, George.
Someone......

• whose popularity is already in the tank.
• without the ablility to articulate a plausible public defense.
• whose demise would be the perfect three ring diversion for a nation paying far too much attention to the state of their "democracy" these days.
• who understands there is no code of honor among theives.
• who has graciously implicated himself as "The Decider".
• who is entirely expendable.

In other words George, someone who has become too much of a liability to the master who created him.

Someone like you.

Perhaps you're thinking "they won't turn on me".

You say you are a man of God, then maybe you have heard that part about reaping what you sow.

When they toss you to the lions and or Democrats, you could just come clean and at least that would be something we could work with.

Just a thought.

Sunday Poetry: Invoking Peace

This weeks selection comes from Jennie Nixon

Invoking Peace

Ubaka is beating her drum

in a small Lilyfield community hall in my memory

grown there seeded from song

Ubaka is singing the world awake

she is healing the earth

cleansing the waters

Ubaka is chanting

we won’t fight your war

we won’t fight your war

Calling Peace

Calling Peace

Ubaka is beating her beloved drum

magic thrums the air

as women dance

shake their booty

bums and bellies undulate

women stomp their feet

bang the beat on drums

we are shouting

we won’t fight your war

we won’t fight your war

Calling Peace

Calling Peace

Source: The Poets Union

Visit The Lilyfield Community Centre

Peace In Our Time? It's a simple matter of choice.

Is this the beginning or the end of us?
Actually it’s both.

Theories abound about the probable futures the Human species will choose at this point in our collective experience. The choices are, in their individual details, infinitely incalculable. However, when choices similar enough in nature attract and form more well defined groupings we begin to see that collective future materialize. It's a simple, yet profound universal truth.

This is the wondrous power of the Human Being. This is the power to create any future that can be conceived. Most of us Humans have yet to reach a state of complete being but we are all involved at some level in the business becoming one. For some of us the fear of admitting our un-becoming roles in co-creating the once probable future we are experiencing right now is more than we can acknowledge. We may not have committed the act but did we seriously object to the torture? We may say we didn't know, but did we make an effort to seek the truth? We say it's a shame, but did we take even one risk to stop it? Some have and we see them villified and condemned.
Sound familiar?

Many of the worlds “Great Religions” are based squarely on the premise that we are basically powerless and must beg an always greater master for benevolence in the face our unworthiness. These same “Great Religions” have become the manifestations (one of any number of differnt present realities we might have chosen) where universal truths would be interpreted, framed and utilized in such a way as to bring about a mass reality of perpetual fear and conflict with little or no knowledge of the gift of our own infinite power to change our experience. This arrangement has also conveniently served as an excuse for not taking our responsibility as the creators of our own reality, we always have someone or something else to blame for the mess we make of our world.

Human Beings possess many remarkable gifts, one of which is the ability to actually alter the past as well as the future from the present moment. I realize that to many that statement will not seem plausible. To those I would offer this example in acheiving that remarkable feat.

Forgiveness.
When we seek to forgive and actually achieve it, ones entire perception of the past begins to transform and rearrange; hidden meanings and profound truths are revealed. While the Human is gifted with many awesome powers to create a peaceful existance, there is none greater than the power unleashed through our ability to forgive. For it is only through forgiveness of ourselves and our "enemy" that we shatter the illusion of victimization and acknowledge that our own individual and collective choices were also represented, no matter how justified they may have appeared to be, in the horrors that beseech us now. We can step back from the brink of destruction and see the common ground on which to build a peaceful world.

If we wish to achieve peace, forgiveness is a fundamental mechanism we must employ in this grand experiment of combining the consciousness of creation, that is the Human Soul, with the consciouness of the earth. Some may argue that peace here on earth is not the point any longer. That we are simply not capable of achieving that lofty goal, we should instead, participate in, profit from and support the destruction of this experiment in physicality. Doggedly fulfilling the old prophecy instead of simply choosing a new one.

Those who would invoke God as thier justification for war tell us the rapture is coming, and at the rate we are killing ourselves and the earth, it certainly seems a day of reckoning must surely come, but for whom does the bell toll, warmaker?

The bell tolls for thee.

Peace to all Souls.

This post is dedicated to:
Amnesty International
And all those who dare to speak for the voiceless.

Your Friday Filp-Off

The Weekly flip-off from your public servants in washington D.C.

Hey America,
We stole that election fair and square. We have more pressing issues to attend here than rigged elections, Gay's want to get married for God's sake. Besides, it was all turd blossom's idea anyway.

Phone calls lead to White House, John Byrne

Phone records show hundreds of phone calls from the New Hampshire Republican Party and convicted phone jammer James Tobin to the White House Office of Political Affairs during the time the scheme was being planned and carried out.
The Republican National Committee, which shelled out millions to defend Tobin, has said it is "preposterous" to suggest the calls involved phone jamming.
According to AP, "The phone records show that most calls to the White House were from Tobin, who became President Bush's presidential campaign chairman for the New England region in 2004. Other calls from New Hampshire senatorial campaign offices to the White House could have been made by a number of people."
A liberal political action group, Senate Majority Project, also uncovered that GOP Marketplace, which subcontracted out the hang-up calls to Hansen’s Mylo Enterprises, was partly owned by Mississippi Governor and former RNC Chair Haley Barbour.
Repeated hang-up calls that jammed telephone lines at a Democratic get-out-the-vote center helped secure the victory of Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) over Democrat Jeanne Shaheen in November 2002, 51 to 46 percent.
Hansen’s motion can be read here.

Source: The Raw Story

Real Patriots Would Impeach Bush

This 4th of JulyTake a stand for Freedom with Honor.
Resolve to get out of apathy and get involved.
We ignore our Government's lack of integrity at our own peril.
It is up to us.It always has been.
Now, more than ever before, the people must speak as one.
Find your voice and the courage to use it.
You can make a difference.
Demand that George Bush and his collaborators be brought to account.
It makes no difference which party you favor.
The Truth is bi-partisan if the people decide it is.
Reclaiming our integrity is our only hope.
The world is watching.
What will you do this July 4th?
Eat a hot dog and forget about it?
Or follow these links to educate yourself and take action?


Impeach PAC

Impeach George W. Bush

The Impeachment of George W. Bush

The Nation

Impeach Bush Now!

Sunday Poetry: Peacemaker

Our Selection this week comes from Debbie Parvin.
Source: Quiet Spaces

Peacemaker

She never lit a candle in a vigil.

She never raised a voice for human rights.

She slept on public benches in the summer--In basement shelters on cold, winter nights.
She never held a sign and demonstrated.

She moved no one to action with her words,

But in the park each day, by roaring traffic,
She knelt to share her bread crumbs with the birds.