“Save us! Save us!”
Dust off those rugged old shoes
And wind this trek of hardship into a spire of redemptive glory
“Harken! Patriots, assemble!
Money trees, securities, dividends, and democracy!”
(Can you hear the cornered elephant whisper a devil's errand ?)
Stony bread and fishy snakes for everyone!
“Off with his..” (!)
Heads or tails?
Serpents glisten gold as a Midas touch
But a devil is a devil is a devil...
no matter how you dress him
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
No Boys Allowed
Sitting
seemingly aimless
stomach rumbling
pondering on the invisible edge
Mama's tears stain the pillows
Papa abuses Jack till he can't speak
Baby watches TV
learning how to want
“What's for dinner?”
The consumer asks
Dreams of tomorrow...
Wanderers in their own home
Laborers glued, stagnant
Opportunity knocks?
At a heavy oak door encrusted with jewels
No boys allowed
seemingly aimless
stomach rumbling
pondering on the invisible edge
Mama's tears stain the pillows
Papa abuses Jack till he can't speak
Baby watches TV
learning how to want
“What's for dinner?”
The consumer asks
Dreams of tomorrow...
Wanderers in their own home
Laborers glued, stagnant
Opportunity knocks?
At a heavy oak door encrusted with jewels
No boys allowed
The Narrow Way
You have been deceived by a foreign way
But I will show you a narrow path
Winding through the hills of temperament
Opening up to the valley of peace
Those lagging will surely go astray
Ragged and decrepit
diverting from the course whenever the trek proves arduous
Those Free are free of commitment
Ever leading toward the promised land
Forward American soldier!
Leave your treasures
Forsake your “homes”
Listen, breath, and find where your heart leads you
Turn not your head from the light
Bright she may shine
But clear she guides the way
Peace, security, and other adulterated promises
What have they brought you?
The heart of man and woman burn with the fire of discontent
But are quenched with illusion
“Death to the unbeliever!”
Wisdom bows her head humbly and quietly marches on
Agreement is a bond too fickle to endure
But freedom leads her children home
with the bread crumbs of joy
All you need is love
yourself
your neighbor
Who else is there?
You have given over to a foreign way
But I will show you a narrow path
Winding through the hills of temperament
Opening up to the valley of peace
But I will show you a narrow path
Winding through the hills of temperament
Opening up to the valley of peace
Those lagging will surely go astray
Ragged and decrepit
diverting from the course whenever the trek proves arduous
Those Free are free of commitment
Ever leading toward the promised land
Forward American soldier!
Leave your treasures
Forsake your “homes”
Listen, breath, and find where your heart leads you
Turn not your head from the light
Bright she may shine
But clear she guides the way
Peace, security, and other adulterated promises
What have they brought you?
The heart of man and woman burn with the fire of discontent
But are quenched with illusion
“Death to the unbeliever!”
Wisdom bows her head humbly and quietly marches on
Agreement is a bond too fickle to endure
But freedom leads her children home
with the bread crumbs of joy
All you need is love
yourself
your neighbor
Who else is there?
You have given over to a foreign way
But I will show you a narrow path
Winding through the hills of temperament
Opening up to the valley of peace
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Saturated Inspiration by Larry Swetman
A thousand ideas and a trillion words
Depression, suppression, and regression they go
Who am I urging headlong, my call?
I am a god among men
I have tasted forbidden fair
and serve it warm, glowing, and stagnant
Beatniks, freakniks, wear-travelers and beach tricks
Words lay flat under the weight of gravity
We breath life and fly away on a whisper of smoke
Ever expanding, reversing entropy
Fusing light into matter and verse into rain
Trickling with time and lathered in shame
Breath in my breath, run amuck... tear down my imagination
Saturated Inspiration
Woo me sweet muse
Out there
Here
Depression, suppression, and regression they go
Who am I urging headlong, my call?
I am a god among men
I have tasted forbidden fair
and serve it warm, glowing, and stagnant
Beatniks, freakniks, wear-travelers and beach tricks
Words lay flat under the weight of gravity
We breath life and fly away on a whisper of smoke
Ever expanding, reversing entropy
Fusing light into matter and verse into rain
Trickling with time and lathered in shame
Breath in my breath, run amuck... tear down my imagination
Saturated Inspiration
Woo me sweet muse
Out there
Here
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Why I Cry at Night by Larry Swetman
I cry
because blood runs in the streets where children used to play
because daddys cant come home cause their resting in their graves
because bombs fall at night while families try to sleep
because I can hear their stomachs rumbling... thousands of miles away
because policy can build walls but not bring them down
because black is white and 2+2=5
I cry
because my prayers fall on deaf ears
because a loving inclination reeks of treason and sedition
because they pit us against each other like puppeteers in a cruel show of irony
because lies permeate air waves like a AIDS... infecting, destroying, and alienating
because you don't
War is a cash cow
Lionizing the green serpent until he is fat on the lifeblood of the innocent
No!
Freedom glares like sunlight off the eagle's back
It gently caresses and kisses the cheek of an infant
…
…
I cry because lies have become the truth
And we haven't even noticed
because blood runs in the streets where children used to play
because daddys cant come home cause their resting in their graves
because bombs fall at night while families try to sleep
because I can hear their stomachs rumbling... thousands of miles away
because policy can build walls but not bring them down
because black is white and 2+2=5
I cry
because my prayers fall on deaf ears
because a loving inclination reeks of treason and sedition
because they pit us against each other like puppeteers in a cruel show of irony
because lies permeate air waves like a AIDS... infecting, destroying, and alienating
because you don't
War is a cash cow
Lionizing the green serpent until he is fat on the lifeblood of the innocent
No!
Freedom glares like sunlight off the eagle's back
It gently caresses and kisses the cheek of an infant
…
…
I cry because lies have become the truth
And we haven't even noticed
FBI Targets Peace Activists For Supporting Terrorism (NPR)
This article can be found at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130274688
More than a dozen peace activists in the Midwest will face a federal grand jury in Chicago in the next few weeks, in an investigation related to terrorism.
The FBI searched the activists' homes last week, confiscating computers, photographs and other materials that the search warrants suggest could be evidence of "material support" of terrorist organizations.
One activist, Joe Iosbaker, says that before 7 a.m. last Friday, he heard a loud, sharp knock on the door of his Chicago home. "When I came down the stairs, there were, I don't know, 7, 8, 10 agents standing on our front porch," he says. "And I thought they were Jehovah's Witnesses. And I opened the door — and they showed me a search warrant."
Iosbaker, a labor organizer, says the agents came in and started searching the house, every inch of it.
Iosbaker's wife, Stephanie Weiner, says as many as 25 agents came through their house throughout the day, searching and removing items for 10 hours. "The house was turned upside-down, tip-to-toe, to such an extent that boxes from the '70s and '80s in our attic were brought down and looked through," she says.
Weiner, a community college teacher, says the agents went through their teenage sons' belongings, including notebooks and posters. They even inspected the words and designs on their T-shirts.
"It was a shocker. Um, we were stunned," she says. "I think I have to say we've suffered through a trauma."
At first, the couple was perplexed about why they were being singled out. But as the day went on, they realized they weren't the only ones to have been targeted.
Another home was being searched in Chicago, belonging to the executive director of the Arab American Action Network. And in Minneapolis-St. Paul, six more homes of anti-war activists were searched, along with the offices of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee. An anti-war activist in North Carolina says his home was searched by the FBI last Friday, too.
The search warrants were issued by the Joint Terrorism Task Force and signed by a federal judge. They sought "evidence relating to activities concerning the material support of terrorism."
Investigators appear to be looking for links between the activists and overseas groups the government classifies as terrorist organizations. The groups include the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — and in at least a couple of cases, Hezbollah.
Iosbaker and Weiner say they've spoken out against U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and the Middle East, but they deny they've done anything that can be construed as "material" support for those groups.
Weiner calls the searches an attack on a political movement.
"It was truly to intimidate, to divide, to silence and separate the movement," she says.
After the searches, hundreds of anti-war activists protested outside the FBI's field headquarters in Minneapolis, Chicago and other cities, to denounce what they contend is an effort to squash free speech against U.S. policy.
But Chicago FBI spokesman Ross Rice says that's not what's going on.
"The FBI investigates allegations of violations of federal criminal law," he says. "We do not investigate any person or group because of their political persuasion or beliefs, and we support and defend the right of every citizen to peaceably assemble and protest."
Rice and the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago would add only that this is an ongoing criminal investigation, and no arrests have been made.
Several of those subpoenaed are to appear before a federal grand jury in the coming weeks, starting next Tuesday.
More than a dozen peace activists in the Midwest will face a federal grand jury in Chicago in the next few weeks, in an investigation related to terrorism.
The FBI searched the activists' homes last week, confiscating computers, photographs and other materials that the search warrants suggest could be evidence of "material support" of terrorist organizations.
One activist, Joe Iosbaker, says that before 7 a.m. last Friday, he heard a loud, sharp knock on the door of his Chicago home. "When I came down the stairs, there were, I don't know, 7, 8, 10 agents standing on our front porch," he says. "And I thought they were Jehovah's Witnesses. And I opened the door — and they showed me a search warrant."
Iosbaker, a labor organizer, says the agents came in and started searching the house, every inch of it.
Iosbaker's wife, Stephanie Weiner, says as many as 25 agents came through their house throughout the day, searching and removing items for 10 hours. "The house was turned upside-down, tip-to-toe, to such an extent that boxes from the '70s and '80s in our attic were brought down and looked through," she says.
Weiner, a community college teacher, says the agents went through their teenage sons' belongings, including notebooks and posters. They even inspected the words and designs on their T-shirts.
"It was a shocker. Um, we were stunned," she says. "I think I have to say we've suffered through a trauma."
At first, the couple was perplexed about why they were being singled out. But as the day went on, they realized they weren't the only ones to have been targeted.
Another home was being searched in Chicago, belonging to the executive director of the Arab American Action Network. And in Minneapolis-St. Paul, six more homes of anti-war activists were searched, along with the offices of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee. An anti-war activist in North Carolina says his home was searched by the FBI last Friday, too.
The search warrants were issued by the Joint Terrorism Task Force and signed by a federal judge. They sought "evidence relating to activities concerning the material support of terrorism."
Investigators appear to be looking for links between the activists and overseas groups the government classifies as terrorist organizations. The groups include the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — and in at least a couple of cases, Hezbollah.
Iosbaker and Weiner say they've spoken out against U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and the Middle East, but they deny they've done anything that can be construed as "material" support for those groups.
Weiner calls the searches an attack on a political movement.
"It was truly to intimidate, to divide, to silence and separate the movement," she says.
After the searches, hundreds of anti-war activists protested outside the FBI's field headquarters in Minneapolis, Chicago and other cities, to denounce what they contend is an effort to squash free speech against U.S. policy.
But Chicago FBI spokesman Ross Rice says that's not what's going on.
"The FBI investigates allegations of violations of federal criminal law," he says. "We do not investigate any person or group because of their political persuasion or beliefs, and we support and defend the right of every citizen to peaceably assemble and protest."
Rice and the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago would add only that this is an ongoing criminal investigation, and no arrests have been made.
Several of those subpoenaed are to appear before a federal grand jury in the coming weeks, starting next Tuesday.
Friday, September 17, 2010
The Battle For Your Mind
American politics are a joke. The wishes of the people are ignored for the policies of rich men completely out of touch with reality. However, no matter how irresponsible politicians are with our money I must admit the genius of the system.
The two-party system of American politics diverts the attention of the population from the real problems of poverty and injustice to minute matters of legislation. The state parades our vote like it is a privilege when, in fact, it is more of a curse. A vote in the American political process is a constant reminder of the bonds that hold us. We are forced to choose between two evils that do not represent the will of the people. Every day protests take place across the country in local communities outraged at the audacity of their government.
History is riddled with examples of the rich lording their influence over the general populace. 2010 America is no exception. When the top two percent of the population control nearly half its resources there is bound to be a disparity of rich and poor. In 1960, CEOs of major corporations “earned” around 90 times the salary of an average employee. Today, that number is closer to 475 percent. The rich really are getting richer and the poor really are getting poorer. What is worse is that those chosen to represent our interests have succumbed to an Orwellian case of swine flu. Corporate interests are as prominent as ever and showing no signs of slowing.
Our system has become corrupt beyond repair. Rich men pay for elections and are thereby elected themselves. The only way out of this mess, that they have created, is to work together. Every great movement for change in history has come from the broken backs of the poor who refuse to stay down. We are many. They are few. If we the people, the majority, redirect our gaze from the sinking ship of the American-capitalist experiment to the holy mountain of social co-operation, we may be able to find a society where the poor are fed, the homeless are housed, and the sick taken care of.
Our government has proven itself inept for 200 years with the genocide of the Native American people, the imperial ambition of rich and greedy, and other countless atrocities. It is time we demanded real change. Real change will come when we realize that we share a common humanity and therefore share in each other’s condition. While rich men sit on their thrones dictating freedom to the slave, the poor and destitute struggle for basic necessities. We can no longer allow imperial ambition and political banter to define our priorities. Our priority must be each other, here and abroad. One humanity. One love. It is time we took government into our own hands.
Viva la revolucion!
The two-party system of American politics diverts the attention of the population from the real problems of poverty and injustice to minute matters of legislation. The state parades our vote like it is a privilege when, in fact, it is more of a curse. A vote in the American political process is a constant reminder of the bonds that hold us. We are forced to choose between two evils that do not represent the will of the people. Every day protests take place across the country in local communities outraged at the audacity of their government.
History is riddled with examples of the rich lording their influence over the general populace. 2010 America is no exception. When the top two percent of the population control nearly half its resources there is bound to be a disparity of rich and poor. In 1960, CEOs of major corporations “earned” around 90 times the salary of an average employee. Today, that number is closer to 475 percent. The rich really are getting richer and the poor really are getting poorer. What is worse is that those chosen to represent our interests have succumbed to an Orwellian case of swine flu. Corporate interests are as prominent as ever and showing no signs of slowing.
Our system has become corrupt beyond repair. Rich men pay for elections and are thereby elected themselves. The only way out of this mess, that they have created, is to work together. Every great movement for change in history has come from the broken backs of the poor who refuse to stay down. We are many. They are few. If we the people, the majority, redirect our gaze from the sinking ship of the American-capitalist experiment to the holy mountain of social co-operation, we may be able to find a society where the poor are fed, the homeless are housed, and the sick taken care of.
Our government has proven itself inept for 200 years with the genocide of the Native American people, the imperial ambition of rich and greedy, and other countless atrocities. It is time we demanded real change. Real change will come when we realize that we share a common humanity and therefore share in each other’s condition. While rich men sit on their thrones dictating freedom to the slave, the poor and destitute struggle for basic necessities. We can no longer allow imperial ambition and political banter to define our priorities. Our priority must be each other, here and abroad. One humanity. One love. It is time we took government into our own hands.
Viva la revolucion!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)