the right to live- and die- the life we have been given

my husband and i subscribe to netflix- and while we do grab the occasional movie or two- we mainly catch up on television shows we think we might like. neither of us enjoy the extended commercials on network and cable. in fact, there can be much cursing heard in the betmo home when i am watching tv- especially when i flip the channel only to find more ads. but i digress...

we have caught up on several shows that actually are pretty good- battlestar galactica, the shield, deadwood- and most recently, we started season 3 of dexter. for those unfamiliar with dexter, the show is on showtime and season 4 is starting september 27th. dexter is a sociopath and serial killer and the show follows his life as he interacts- and kills- in the world around him. based on a novel as many of the good cinema is.

my point is going to euthanasia. in the most recent episode i watched, dexter assists one of his family friends with dying. she has terminal lung cancer and was placed in hospice struggling to breath and losing her body functions- and then her tumors slowed and the doctors gave her another month or more to 'live.' being catholic, she explains to dexter that she couldn't assist her husband- who had died a year earlier of lung cancer- and she couldn't kill herself because both were mortal sins. they would go straight to hell. but.... dexter wasn't catholic.... she said as she looked him straight in the eyes...

which brings me to my point- i find it extremely ironic that the right to lifers- christians, catholics, jews, muslims, etc., -think nothing of killing strong, vibrant, young folks on the cusp of their lives in pointless wars for profit- but will fight tooth and nail to force folks who are terminally ill and suffering beyond belief to live. teri schiavo comes to mind. i also find it extremely ironic that most folks- if you ask- say that they would never want to live in that kind of condition. i mean, what kind of life quality is that? and then turn around and vote for a pro life candidate to represent them.

there are complex end of life issues that should be talked about in a real and honest discussion- but they get pushed aside by the never ending babble about abortion. what is more important- discussing a life that hasn't developed yet- or discussing the wishes of a human being who has lived their life and wants to end with a bit of dignity? seriously. these issues need to be separated and they need open minds and hearts. in a so called modern and civilized culture, i find it repugnant that we still allow the backwards retreads to a different era to dominate our debates.

The Night America Almost Died

While roaming about the net, Crooks and Liars to be exact, I came upon a post by Nicole Belle, Sunday Morning Bobblehead Thread, with a parody song "That's Not Torture" (lyrics by Marcy Shaffer) sung to the tune of "That's Amore", which made my muse, oddly enough, toss down a parody of "The Night Chicago Died" by Paper Lace. She will not tell me how she went from one to the other so the leap of logic is left to your imagination.

My apologies upfront to Paper Lace.

The Night Chicago Died Lyrics↨

In the heat of a summer night
In the land of the dollar bill
When the town of Chicago died
And they talk about it still

When a man named Al Capone
Tried to make that town his own
And he called his gang to war
With the forces of the law

I heard my mama cry
I heard her pray the night Chicago died
Brother what a night it really was
Brother what a fight it really was
Glory be

I heard my mama cry
I heard her pray the night Chicago died
Brother what a night the people saw
Brother what a fight the people saw
Yes indeed

And the sound of the battle rang
Through the streets of the old east side
'Til the last of the hoodlum gang
Had surrendered up or died

There was shouting in the street
And the sound of running feet
And I asked someone who said
Bout a hundred cops are dead

I heard my mama cry
I heard her pray the night Chicago died
Brother what a night it really was
Brother what a fight it really was
Glory be!

I heard my mama cry
I heard her pray the night Chicago died
Brother what a night the people saw
Brother what a fight the people saw
Yes indeed

And ther was no sound at all
But the clock upon the wall
Then the door burst open wide
And my daddy stepped inside
And he kissed my mama's face
And he brushed her tears away

The night Chicago died
The night Chicago died
Brother what a night the people saw
Brother what a fight the people saw
Yes indeed

The night Chicago died
The night Chicago died
Brother what a night it really was
Brother what a fight it really was
Glory be

The night Chicago died
The night Chicago died
Brother what a night the people saw
Brother what a fight the people saw
Yes indeed

-THE NIGHT AMERICA DIED Parody lyrics
In the dark of an Alaskan night
In the land of the midnight sun
When America almost died
And we trembled of her run

When a crazy woman named Sarah
Tried to take this country by terror
and she used McCain as pawn
With the forces of the neocon

I heard our country cry
I heard her weep the night we almost died
Oh what a night we truly had
Oh what a fright we truly had
Yes indeed

I heard our country cry
I heard us weep the night she almost died
Oh what a night we truly had
Oh what a fright we truly had
Yes, siree

And the noise of her mouth rang
Through the streets of the countryside
'Til the last of the hooligan gang
Gave in to the winning side

There was confusion in the towns
And the sound of screaming clowns
And I asked someone who said
This country might be dead

I heard our country cry
I heard us pray the night she almost died
Oh what a night we truly had
Oh what a fright we truly had
Yes indeed

I heard our country cry
I heard us weep the night she almost died
Oh what a night we truly had
Oh what a fright we truly had
Yes, siree


Then grave silence began to mount
As we waited upon the count
Then the t.v. was turned up inside
And numbers stood up high
And we kissed each other’s face
And we wiped our fears away

The night America almost died
The night America almost died
Oh what a night we truly had
Oh what a fright we truly had
Yes, siree

The night America almost died
The night America almost died
Oh what a night we truly had
Oh what a fright we truly had
Yes indeed

The night America almost died
The night America almost died
Oh what a night we truly had
Oh what a fright we truly had
You betcha

© 2009 mrp/thepoetryman

Help Prevent Medical Errors

Target: President Obama & HHS Director Kathleen Sebelius
Sponsored by: Consumers Union

When deadly medical errors are kept secret, the underlying problems that cause them don't get fixed. These errors, including hospital infections, kill an estimated 200,000 Americans each year, and cost us $51 billion. Yet they aren't required to be tracked or made public. By bringing medical errors to light, effective action can be taken to prevent them.

It's time to get serious about stopping preventable medical errors. Make it known to the Obama Administration to make error rates public so we know what to do to prevent them in the first place. Sign the petition...

Violence is Easy. Peace is Hard.

"I will offer you a simple litmus test to determine whether a person has healthy or unhealthy religion. What do they do with their pain-even their daily little disappointments? Do they transform their pain or do they transmit it? People who are practiced in transforming actual life pain, like Jesus on the cross, are the only spiritual authorities worth following. They know. They can lead and teach. The rest of us just talk." ~Richard Rohr, OFM

In our neighborhood this month, a local man named Steven Mallory unprovokedly assaulted a volunteer at the free meal site for the poor. After fleeing the scene, minutes later, he brutally attacked the police officer who stopped him for questioning. In self defense, the policeman had to shoot, and he killed Steven. Our "inner city" neighborhood, although not a stranger to crime, was shaken to the core. So much violence! A life ended, others severely damaged--all within minutes [for the complete story and video: Violent End to a Violent Life: Our Neighborhood Nightmare].

From the moment I heard there would be a prayer service in response to that horrid sequence of events, I knew I would attend. The service was last week.

The short, simple event attempted to respond peacefully to that violence. People who knew or were related to the perpetrator, people who serve in the neighborhood, neighbors--we all gathered in the site that provides free meals. We sang, reflected, and shared. We stood and extended our hands, symbolically calling down a blessing of peace on the area--in each of the four directions.

Unquestioningly, the testimony of the volunteer, Rylan Bebermeyer, who had been assaulted at that very room, moved me deeply. His lip was split in the unprovoked punch, an attack he did not even see coming, an attack that required 15 stitches to fix. As a neighbor to the Café myself, seeing his bloody gurney going into the ambulance had been my first indication of the trouble that day. He had looked like a character from the movie Rocky--and he even almost chuckled as he recalled that fact himself to the group.

Rylan also recalled that he had prayed early that morning that he would be open to whatever the day would bring to him. As he spoke of the incident his face mirrored deep peace. He expressed no anger--only gratitude: "I never once had a feeling of anger toward Steve. What good would have anger done?"

Instead Rylan remembered gratefully the many people who assisted him--including even the woman upon whom he fell: "...right over there [pointing]. I fell on her. She kept me from hitting the corner on my way down."

Nonviolence is not "goody two-shoes," otherworldly, nor something vapid or "feel good." The person who can integrate undeserved pain deliberately inflicted on him is not taking the easy way out. Our neighborhood is healing. Violence is easy. Peace is hard.

---------

Thanks to the blog "St. Anne, Pray for Us" for bringing the quotation from Rohr to my attention.

PIRATES OF THE HEALTH CARE-IBEAN

Health care crisis as depicted by pirates - music by Austin Lounge Lizards

LETTER TO FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR MIKE HUCKABEE

I felt compelled to write Mike Huckabee regarding his comments on health care and Ted Kennedy. The inspiration for the letter and the transcript of Huckabee's words comes via The Huffington Post...






Conservative media figures are blasting Democrats for trying to draw political gain from the death of Senator Ted Kennedy. But on Thursday, it was one of their own -- former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- who went there. The 2008 Republican presidential candidate suggested during his radio show, "The Huckabee Report," on Thursday that, under President Obama's health care plan, Kennedy would have been told to "go home to take pain pills and die" during his last year of life.

"[I]t was President Obama himself who suggested that seniors who don't have as long to live might want to consider just taking a pain pill instead of getting an expensive operation to cure them…. …Yet when Sen. Kennedy was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at 77, did he give up on life and go home to take pain pills and die? Of course not. He freely did what most of us would do. He choose an expensive operation and painful follow up treatments. He saw his work as vitally important and so he fought for every minute he could stay on this earth doing it. He would be a very fortunate man if his heroic last few months were what future generations remember him most for."
As it happens, Huckabee made his remarks shortly after he derided Democrats for using Kennedy's death to make the pitch that "Congress must hurry and pass the health care reform bill and do it in his memory," to which Huckabee replied, "That not only defies good taste, it defies logic."

-MY LETTER-

Dear Mike Huckabee,
Your latest comments regarding the president’s health-care plan and Senator Kennedy not only defy good taste, they defy logic. But then, you know this, don’t you?

When you got up on your pulpit, so to speak, and criticized congress for the as of yet politicization of Kennedy’s death and then turn right around and politicize his death before he’d even been placed in the ground, you proved yourself to be a fool first and a contemptible hypocrite second.

You used to be a preacher, right? I can only imagine what minds you must have turned out from your sermons, what lowly forms you must have shaped in the house of God. There must be tens of thousands of misshapen and unfilled men and women walking around with a duplicitous air about them.

Shame on you, shame on you for having done what you knew to be wrong. Shame on you for imagining, no, for knowing, that what you said went completely against what Teddy had fought for his entire life! You, sir, must be a sad man to go the way of a weak-minded marauder, to flout the teachings of your own personal Jesus by resorting to falsehoods in order to gain some imagined political foothold when, in all honesty, there isn’t one for you. You remind me of a snake oil salesman giving a longwinded spiel about the healing properties of his prepackaged mumbo-jumbo juice. He too uses inflammatory language to sway a sale upon the unwitting fools who believe anything they hear spoken with a shade of bravado.

Is that what you want to be known as, a snake oil salesman from Arkansas? Do you want to be remembered as a political preacher sowing fear into the hearts and minds of the citizenry? Wouldn’t you rather be known as a man who used his talents and aspirations to better an already quaking world? My guess is the latter. So why not do just that? Begin to stand against the lies and the fear mongering that are infiltrating our national dialogue, fear for no better reason than some political bone to pick.

You can do it, Mr. Huckabee. I have faith in you, sir. You can be a better man for yourself and for this nation. We don’t need more snake oil salesmen or women, we need men and women to deliver strong leadership that can rise above the status quo and truly make effective changes that benefit all of society. Not left or right or center or rich or poor or black or brown or white, but all of this nations citizenry. We deserve better from our leaders, whether they are serving or whether they have served and still have a sizeable audience that they can sway for the betterment of mankind, we deserve better.

If you don’t speak truth instead of lies to power and begin to truly make a difference then you’re no better than all the other snake oil salesmen and women who lie through their teeth to gain something for themselves. What would a good man do? Seriously, what would a good man do? You know. You know what he would do. So do it…

Sincerely and with peace,
Mark R. Prime
(thepoetryman)

"THE CAUSE OF MY LIFE"

(Poetryman Photomontage)

We, the world, lost a fierce champion for peace
with the lion's, Senator Ted Kennedy's passing,
so let us march forward now guided by his courage
and bring his life's cause to a thunderous certainty.

Please leave your condolences to the Kennedy family here...

and then

Petition the senate to move on Teddy's Health-care for all.

The Lion... Senator Kennedy, 77, dies

This, my friends, is most sad.
The lion... no more to roar,
Gone from our fresh ears
His voice... evermore...

RIP,
thepoetryman

I cannot think of the words at this moment...
I will leave it to Sir William Shakespeare.
A most fitting poet for the lion...

And, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of Heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

Letter to Representative Michelle Bachmann

Michelle Bachmann thinks prayer and fasting will “help” defeat health-care reform.

Representative Bachmann,
Is it your prayer that comforts those dying in Iraq as they pray to Allah?

Is it your pleading lips that stave off any future Afghan deaths?

Do you purse your lips and launch one up for those suffering on other continents?

For those convicted of a crime, have you a prayer?

Do you beseech God to help those without health-care?

Was it your prayer, as well,
that had our national guard killing and dying in Iraq
as Katrina threw down her watery hell?

Is it your prayer that lifts the spirit of a widow or fatherless child
that they might resist shattering themselves against empire?

Is it your request that brings food to the starving and medicine to the sick?

Is it your prayer that the unborn are saved, but not a death row convict?

Step back for a moment and you’ll see you’ve been dim sighted;
All your sanctimonious pleas and prayers have gone unrequited.

Perhaps, instead of playing to and praying with your feral base,
you should do the job you were elected to do in the first place...

Sincerely,
Mark R. Prime
(thepoetryman)

Welcome to Hell on Earth

Watch this Wide Angle documentary Eyes of the Storm on the orphans of Burma, who are sold into sex slavery or used as (involuntary) organ donors.

lords and ladies to the manor born

i was mowing my lawn last week and stopped to have a chat with my portly mailman. in the interests of disclosure, i, too, am a wee portly and i was mowing the side lawn that is a bit hilly. he looks at me as he handed me my mail and said, "you should hire someone to do that for you." my response was that if i did- how would i get any exercise?

so, i guess it came as little surprise to me- living in a country who outsources jobs and hires any manual labor job out to others and where the middle class pretends to own estates complete with servants- that the cia outsource the odious torture of terror suspects to mercenaries. it really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone as certain news outlets had begun commenting on the cia and their secret prisons back when the iraq war was in it's infancy.

i mean, really, should you be shocked that an agency who has operated secret prisons would torture folks? my biggest surprise is that the attorney general has decided to do anything at all about looking into abuses and illegalities. the theme of politics these days is to not hold anyone accountable for anything- and then pretend to apologize for wrongdoings while continuing them. i did find this part of the article particularly amusing though:

"The State Department also will play a more prominent role in overseeing transfers of suspected terrorists to other countries for interrogation, the official added. The department will help ensure that suspected terrorists are not abused or tortured."

oh, you mean the same state department who continues to utilize blackwater and other private contractors regularly in the middle east despite the horror stories? uh huh. the more there's supposed to be change out of the obama administration- the more it continues to look like a more polished and photogenic cheney administration.

“Enough Already” by Cindy Sheehan

“And you look at somebody like that (note: me) and you think here's somebody who's just trying to find some meaning in her son's death. And you have to be sympathetic to her. Anybody who has given a son to this country has made an enormous sacrifice, and you have to be sympathetic. But enough already.”
ABC Nightly News Anchor, Charles Gibson August 18, 2009

“Enough already?” Hmmm…I don’t know Charlie Gibson and I don’t pay any attention to his career, but I seem to agree with him on this one: “Enough already.”

Enough with the killing, torturing, wounding and profiting off of the backs of our troops and off of the lives of the people of Iraq-Af-Pak: as our brothers and sisters in Latin America say: “Basta!”

Somehow, I don’t think that this is what Charlie Gibson meant, though. I am sure that he just wants me to go away like most of the rest of the anti-war movement has done under the Obama presidency.

One of the things I hear quite often from people from all over the political spectrum is: “Why don’t you just go away, you’ve had your 15 minutes of fame.”

(Please visit Cindy's blog to read in full)

A New Fall 2009 Collection of Dining Room Tables

Fall is just around the corner and that means only one thing -- it's time to update your furniture!

Dining room sets, especially dining room tables, seem very popular this season and it appears that the trend will continue, inspired by the Barney Frank's riposte that shook the world: Madam, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table.

We are happy to present to our readers our favorite dining room tables, all low to moderately priced, available from such retail giants as Walnutmart, Target Obama, KKK-Mart and Crazy Barn.

Here, for example, is a stylish faux antique, made of severely distressed walnut and decorated with ample asshattery and semi-socialistic ruffles:


This model, below, is made of wood imitation and features a combination of some innovative touches such as a removable papier mache cover with the traditional racist overtones -- and as you can see, it is quite popular with the customers (it's perfect for tea-baggers' parties): (SEE MORE TABLES)

Below is an inexpensive table made of layered plywood, sturdy and impenetrable, able to easily sustain any assaults of reason or common sense -- it's particularly recommended for houses located in areas with a flooding libruls problem or democratic hurricanes, since it may serve as a make-shit* cover:


The model below is fashioned after a traditional Amish design, charming in its modesty and evoking memories of simpler times as well as ingrained distrust of anything that may possibly re-arrange its marbles (available in oak, cherry and maple finishes):


Here, for a change (no pun, really), we have a more modern design, compact and not too bright, yet sophisticated enough in its presentation to satisfy a younger customer:


And now our by far most popular design this season, very much in demand: a table cut from the wingnutty liberty tree with the traditional and always alluring finish of combined stupidity and weaponry :


Finally, all tables shown below are currently on sale at Crazy Barn, because they are so last season. Mind you, it is an offer you cannot refuse: buy one, get one free! But be warned, each specimen may be slightly... -- oh, who are we kidding -- seriously damaged and may require extensive polishing and other unsavory manipulations to bring it back to reason and make it usable again (and even then the results are not guaranteed -- so buyer beware!):


Call your local retailer to check for availability of particular models. And happy shopping ya'll!

*No, it's not a typo.

(Photos from CBS News.)

Cross-posted at The Middle of Nowhere

Torture

by Wislawa Szymborska

Nothing has changed.
The body is painful,
it must eat, breathe air, and sleep,
it has thin skin, with blood right beneath,
it has a goodly supply of teeth and nails,
its bones are brittle, its joints extensible.
In torture, all this is taken into account.

Nothing has changed.
The body trembles, as it trembled
before and after the founding of Rome,
in the twentieth century before and after Christ.
Torture is, the way it's always been, only the earth has shrunk,
and whatever happens, feels like it's happening next door.

Nothing has changed.
Only there are more people,
and next to old transgressions, new ones have appeared,
real, alleged, momentary, none,
but the scream, the body's answer for them --
was, is, and always will be the scream of innocence,
in accord with the age-old scale and register.

Nothing has changed.
Except maybe manners, ceremonies, dances.
Yet the gesture of arms shielding the head
has remained the same.
The body writhes, struggles, and tries to break free.
Bowled over, it falls, draws in its knees,
bruises, swells, drools, and bleeds.

Nothing has changed.
Except for the courses of rivers,
the contours of forests, seashores, deserts, and icebergs.
Among these landscapes the poor soul winds,
vanishes, returns, approaches, recedes.
A stranger to itself, evasive,
at one moment sure, the next unsure of its existence,
while the body is and is and is
and has no place to go.

(From Miracle Fair. Trans. from the Polish by Joanna Trzeciak.)

Cross-posted at The Middle of Nowhere

Letter to Pastor Steve of The Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, AZ

-Pastor Steve's Sermon followed by my letter in protest-

(READ HIS SERMON)

The same God who instituted the death penalty for murders is the same god who instituted the death penalty for rapists and for homosexuals, sodomites and queers!

That's what it was instituted for, okay? That's God, he hasn't changed. Oh, God doesn't feel that way in the New Testament ... God never "felt" anything about it, he commanded it and said they should be taken out and killed.

You know why God wanted the sodomites in the Old Testament to be killed? You know why every good king of Israel, the Bible says they got rid of the sodomites in the land? You know, the good kings that came after the bad kings who had allowed the sodomites to infest their land, they had infiltrated ... King Asa got the sodomites out of the land, Jehoshaphat exterminated the sodomites that were left from the days of his father, Asa. Why? Because the sodomites are infectious, that's why. Because they're not reproducers, that goes without saying, they're recruiters.

How are they multiplying? Do you not see that they're multiplying? Are you that blind? Have you noticed that there's more than there were last year and the year before, and the year before that? How are they multiplying? They're reproducing right? No, here's a biology lesson: they're not reproducers, they're recruiters! And you know who they're after? Your children. Remember you dropped off your kids last week? That's who they're after. You drop them off at some daycare, you drop them off at some school somewhere, you don't know where they're at. I'll tell you where they're at: they're being recruited by the sodomites. They're being molested by the sodomites. I can tell you so many stories about people that I know being molested and recruited by the sodomites.

They recruit through rape. They recruit through molestation. They recruit through violation. They are infecting our society. They are spreading their disease. It's not a physical disease, it's a sin disease, it's a wicked, filthy sin disease and it's spreading on a rampage. Can't you see that it's spreading on a rampage? I mean, can you not see that? Can you not see that it's just exploding in growth? Why? Because each sodomite recruits far more than one other sodomite because his whole life is about recruiting other sodomites, his whole life is about violating and hurting people and molesting 'em.

I'm here to preach the Bible. And I'm sick to death -- hey, let me tell you something. Our country is run by faggots. You know who wrote this 700-billion-dollar bailout bill? You know who was the man who was the architect of the bailout? His name is Barney Franks, he is a pedophile, he has been arrested for uh, interacting with boys that are in their teenage years when he's in his 50s, it's in the news, he's been arrested for it. He is a pedophile, he is a homosexual, he has stood up in the floor of the sacred halls of justice and said, 'I am gay, I am a sodomite.'

That's Barney Frank, that's who just sold our country into fascism. That's who just sold our corporations to the government. That's who sold out our country, a faggot! And I'm here to tell you something! I'm not going to stand for it, and let a faggot run the church! It's bad enough that we've got a bunch of faggots running the government!

Gospel of Hate via Crooks and Liars

-My letter in protest-

Dear Steve,
You, sir, are unquestionably a man of god. Yes. Little "g". You are not a man of God or any other proper name for some supreme being in the sky; you are your own arrogant god; the god of self.

You emit depraved hatred as if you were a perpetual volcano pitching down lava. You use the “good” book, the bible, to thrust a malevolent ember into the heart of anyone and anything that you consider unworthy of your kingdom. It is not the kingdom of God; it is your own fiefdom, your very own Eden, your own private, rather lonely, and most depraved paradise.

According to your logic, I feel that it is in your best interest that I urge you to cease your small-minded parade. The same God who instituted all of those arcane and, in my opinion, despicable laws you spoke of, had something to say about judging others and greed. He also said that we should stone children who are stubborn, put to death everyone who curses his father or his mother, cut both off from their own people any man who lies with a woman during her period, forgo cutting the hair at the sides of our head or clipping the edges of our beards, cancel every seven years anyone's debt, if a man has a stubborn and rebellious son he should be stoned to death, we are not to plant our fields with two kinds of seed, we are to kill anyone who works on a Sunday, and wearing polyester is a sin, as well as eating shellfish, we should support slavery, women are not to be teachers, we shall not touch the skin of a pig, and there’s also something in the good book about taking His name in vain, which, by the way, seems to be your specialty.

Yes. Your specialty is taking the Lord's name in vain. It’s not about uttering the word “Goddamn”, in any of its forms, it's about using His name as a mockery, as a means to a selfish end. Using it, not as, perhaps, a graceful instrument to teach, but as an instrument of terror. That’s right. You, Pastor Steve, terrorize people when you choose to bend, for your own individual ideal, the good book that your flock live and breathe.

You go on in your ranting sermon to defame Barney Frank as if he were not one of your own kind. As if he were not a human being. You denigrate all homosexuals, but you slander so much more than the few labels you viciously spout in your unhealthy repertoire; you slander humanity, religious or otherwise, with your insufferable delusions and unsophisticated spirit.

You recruit and rape via the word of God. You recruit through the molestation of your flock's holy book. You recruit through violation of God’s word. You infect all of society by spreading your disease. No. It’s not a physical disease, although it makes me physically ill to think of it, it is, ironically enough, your “sinning”, your depraved indifference that transfers this horrible infection. It is your wicked, filthy indifference to humanity that is spreading this sickness like a wildfire during a summer drought. Can’t you see that you’re spreading gloom through the children’s spirits? I mean, can you not see that? Can you not see that it’s just exploding in growth? Why? Because each self-infected preacher recruits far more than one disciple for Christ, because his whole life is about recruiting disciples for Christ, his whole life is about violating and hurting people and molesting children’s spirits for Christ's sake!

I’m here to tell you my truth, not to preach the bible or any other predetermined doctrine. I’m sick to death of soul sucking leeches! Let me tell you something else; our country is infested with self serving men and women of a little "g" god. You know who spouted hatred regarding a fellow human being? You know who was the architect of such a foul sermon? His name is Steve Anderson; he is a molester of children's spirits and he should be arrested for defamation and ruination of the human soul! Thrown in jail for interacting with the people’s precious minds with the goal of turning their God into a monster! You should be arrested for being an innocent spirit pedophile, a molester of the scriptures and rapist of the soul!

Surely you know the term, jihad... If by chance you don’t, you certainly should. You are calling for one against those that do not see life, or God, the way you do. You obviously want to wage a jihad, but I need to inform you that you should be careful what you wish for; you may not like or even recognize what you get.

One last observation, Steve, if I may... If, and I do mean if, if God does indeed look down upon us from heaven, if he indeed devises plans for those deemed “unworthy” of his grace, if he truly is the all vengeful and the all wrathful and the all forgiving and the all powerful and the all loving deity that you claim he is, I’m reasonably confident that you, dear Steve, have caught his eye.

Sincerely,
Mark R. Prime
(thepoetryman)

Steve Anderson's family blog...

The Women’s Crusade...A must read

IN THE 19TH CENTURY, the paramount moral challenge was slavery. In the 20th century, it was totalitarianism. In this century, it is the brutality inflicted on so many women and girls around the globe: sex trafficking, acid attacks, bride burnings and mass rape.

Yet if the injustices that women in poor countries suffer are of paramount importance, in an economic and geopolitical sense the opportunity they represent is even greater. “Women hold up half the sky,” in the words of a Chinese saying, yet that’s mostly an aspiration:

(Continue reading at NY Times Global Edition)

DFA - Send a thank you to those taking a stand... for the people!

Let's be clear: A Healthcare bill without a public option is D.O.A. in the House. Period.

To pass any bill in the House they need at least 218 votes but 64 House Democrats have stood up and said they will not vote for a bill without a public option. That means a bill without a public option would only have 193 votes.

It's up to us to make sure these Democrats stand strong and never back down to the insurance industry or pressure from insider Democrats.

All signatures delivered directly to every single Democratic member of the House. We'll make sure they know we're watching. We will support those who stand and deliver real reform.

For those who don't, it will be a strong reminder: if you stand against the 76% of Americans who want a choice of a public health insurance option, you will stand alone for re-election.

Here Are the Names of All 64 House Democrats Who Are True Healthcare Heroes
Albio Sires (NJ-13) Alcee Hastings (FL-23) Andre Carson (IN-07)
Barbara Lee (CA-09) Barney Frank (MA-14) Bennie Thompson (MS-02)
Bill Delahunt (MA-10) Bill Pascrell (NJ-08) Bob Filner (CA-51)
Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI-13) Carolyn Maloney (NY-14) Chaka Fattah (PA-02)
Chellie Pingree (ME-01) Corrine Brown (FL-03) Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)
Diane Watson (CA-33) Donald Payne (NJ-10) Donna Edwards (MD-04)
Earl Blumenauer (OR-03) Ed Towns (NY-10) Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30)
Elijah Cummings (MD-07) Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05) Eric Massa (NY-29)
Pete Stark (CA-13) Grace Napolitano (CA-38) Gwen Moore (WI-04)
Jackie Spier (CA-12) Jerry Nadler (NY-08) Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-02)
Jim McDermott (WA-07) Jim McGovern (MA-03) John Conyers (MI-14)
John Olver (MA-01) John Tierney (MA-06) John Yarmuth (KY-03)
Jose Serrano (NY-16) Judy Chu (CA-32) Keith Ellison (MN-05)
Laura Richardson (CA-37) Linda Sanchez (CA-39) Lloyd Doggett (TX-25)
Lucille Roybal-Alard (CA-34) Luis Gutierrez (IL-04) Lynn Woolsey (CA-06)
Marcia Fudge (OH-11) Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) Maurice Hinchey (NY-22)
Maxine Waters (CA-35) Mazie Hirono (HI-02) Mel Watts (NC-12)
Michael Honda (CA-15) Mike Capuano (MA-08) Nydia Valezquez (NY-12)
Peter DeFazio (OR-04) Phil Hare (IL-17) Raul Grijalva (AZ-07)
Robert Wexler (FL-19) Rush Holt (NJ-12) Sam Farr (CA-17)
Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18) William Lacy Clay (M0-01) Yvette Clarke (NY-11)
Hank Johnson (GA-04)

Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story'

CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY' - In Theaters October 2nd

"It's a crime story. But it's also a war story about class warfare. And a vampire movie, with the upper 1 percent feeding off the rest of us. And, of course, it's also a love story. Only it's about an abusive relationship.

"It's not about an individual, like Roger Smith, or a corporation, or even an issue, like health care. This is the big enchilada. This is about the thing that dominates all our lives — the economy. I made this movie as if it was going to be the last movie I was allowed to make.

"It's a comedy." — Michael Moore

HELP PUT A STOP TO HURRICANE BILL!

Get ready for a new talking point, or screaming point, to emerge this week throughout the town hall meetings across the country.

Here is an example of what we are likely to begin hearing-

VERY OLD WHITE MAN: "This here Hurricane Bill is growing like the Mexican population! We, the true people of this land, are left with only one recourse, revolution!"

OLD GUY WITH HAT: "First the Death Panels, now this!? Bunch of no good terrorists! Over my dead body this Bill passes!"

NRA SPOKESPERSON: "We must inform congress that if this bill passes we will have no other choice but to begin attending any and all political events strapped to the gills with automatic assault rifles and any and all hand guns we can get our paws on!"

YOUNG GIRL: "Enough is enough! This is America, not Nazi Germany! We do not support an administration that has such little regard for life on the outlying coasts!"

NASCAR FAN: "In all my days I have seen many terrible bills pass through, but this one takes the cake! I won't stand for it! Who does this Obama think he is, president of the U.S. Weather Service?"

Connections Count in Obamaland

Cross posted at Antemedius and Blazing Indiscretions.

According to the website of the Dutch Royal House (Dutch), U.S Ambassador to The Netherlands, Fay Hartog-Levin, has presented her credentials to the queen today. NRC/international reports today that Ms. Hartog-Levin has traveled a very interesting road indeed. She has Dutch roots.

Hartog-Levin's parents were Dutch Jews who lived in The Hague and owned a meat-processing factory in Oss. When World War II broke out, they fled to Suriname, then a Dutch colony, where her father served in the Dutch army. In 1948 the family emigrated to the US, where daughter Fay was born shortly afterwards.

Those Dutch family roots notwithstanding, the newspaper highlights her connections to the Chicago elite and US pols.

Hartog-Levin became acquainted with Obama through her membership on the board of Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History.

She is also connected to the president through her husband, Daniel Levin, who founded a real estate firm, The Habitat Company. Habitat's CEO until recently was Valerie Jarrett, a good friend of the Obamas and currently a senior adviser to the president for public engagement and intergovernmental affairs. Jarrett was also on Obama's transition team.

Levin, who is a cousin to both senator Carl Levin and congressman Sandy Levin, was also on the board of the Chicago sports club where president Obama often worked out and played basket-ball. The Hartog-Levins were contributors to Barack Obama's campaigns for both the US senate and the presidency.

Not surprising at all, Hartog-Levin's new position is typical of US ambassadorial appointments. Even Obamafreaks who rallied for his message of change will find that money trumps merit.

From the sidebar in the NRC report, a list of previous ambassadors to The Netherlands:

All the president's men and women

Most US ambassadors to the Netherlands have come from a business background and were involved in fundraising for their respective presidents' election campaigns.

Fay Hartog-Levin replaces James B. Culbertson as US ambassador. Culbertson was only in office for six months; he replaced his predecessor Roland Arnall who suddenly died in March last year. Arnall left the Netherlands after two years just weeks before his own death because his son had taken seriously ill. Arnall was controversial because his company, Ameriquest, was the market leader in the high-risk subprime mortgages which led to the current economic crisis.

Arnall's predecessor Clifford Sobel was a donor to former president George W. Bush's campaign.

The last female US ambassador to the Netherlands was Cynthia Schneider (1998-2001), an art historian specialised in Rembrandt, and a personal friend and fundraiser to president Bill Clinton.

ASTROTURFING

It’s time to expose the astroturf groups. Spread the word. Copy the code below to post the widget on your blog or Web site.

Iran Watch Canada via Mori Jex

Picture: Alireza Beheshti

Protest continued- the fire of the people's anger to the regime of coup d'etat still burns! *People have gathered in front of "Etemad Melli" newspaper office on Monday and protested the closure of this newspaper.

According to news hundreds of militia and anti-riot police force sorrounded the area to the office and arrested as many as 15 protesters.

Wednesday, protest against the regime of coup d'etat! (Read in full...)

IRAN WATCH CANADA

Tell Obama: The public option is not optional.

If we don't make a stand now for a public option, the Obama administration may hedge on its plan for health care reform.

This weekend, the Obama administration indicated that it might be open to passing health care reform without any provision for a public insurance option similar to Medicare that could compete with private insurance companies.

President Obama said that a public option was just a "sliver" of his plan. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius went so far as to say that the public option was not an "essential" part of reform.

The comments this weekend by the president and Secretary Sebelius rhetorically pave the way for the Obama administration to cave on a meaningful public option and instead accept toothless regional health care co-ops that would be unable to compete with insurance companies and keep them honest.

Please remind President Obama that part of the reason he won the presidency was his plan to enact major health care reform that included a public option, a provision that 76% of Americans support.

Sign the petition asking him to pledge only to sign a bill with a robust public option similar to Medicare.

Q: How Many Republicans Does It Take To Screw Up The Health Care Reform?

A: None. They can just leave the job to the Democrats.

Alright, Mr. President, please forgive my forthrightness, but enough with the charade. We all like a good thriller from time to time, but this ain't one of those times. So please don't keep us in the dark. End the suspense already. We are waiting for that audacity with hope -- and it's nothing outstanding, mind you, just a belief that what's right and just will prevail and that you still stand for it, with us, not against us.

The hands-off un-Clintonian approach you've learned to cultivate for our own good has not worked all that well and we are pleased to see that you're traveling and meeting with people now that the wingnut crock has hit the fan. You put out new messages on your website trying to undo the Limbaugh-Beckian nonsense and that's all good too, but it seems that somehow the kick-ass attitude from your campaign has gotten lost or diluted. Supposedly because you have gone all bipartisan on us.

Why on Earth would you do THAT? Is there anything in the Republicans' staunch opposition to ANY health care reform that would make you think they:
a. are interested in the good of the nation?
b. know what they are talking about?
c. give a damn?
d. make sense?

If not, then why the hell are you so willing to compromise with them? You don't compromise with idiots -- or not very bright children -- playing with destructive toys. You step in and take their toys away -- for their own and everyone's good.

I've never thought I'd say so, but I have to agree with some Republicans* here who, ever so gleefully, notice that the only bipartisan thing you have accomplished so far is to raise criticisms of your nebulous health care reform proposal, which is getting fuzzier by the day. No one is sure what it'll look like, but pretty much everyone has already found things in it to be angry about.

To be sure, the Republicans' idea of the health care reform appears, so far, to be just more of the same for-profit private insurance bonanza.

But is yours really that different?

I've listened to your town hall meeting a couple of days ago, where you showed up with your sleeves rolled up (a nice touch, that), and responded, to a woman inquiring why we can't do a single-payer government-run system, a Medicare for all, by saying something along the lines of it not being feasible or such. Then you added that what we will get is going to be a "uniquely American system."

Forgive my cynicism, but when I heard that, I thought immediately that this, translated into plain English, means just more fleecing of the American middle-class and the poor. It seems that this uniquely American thing will be trying to achieve the impossible: combine for-profit medical "care" with, well, you know, medical care. It indeed seems uniquely American to keep screwing up while the whole world is laughing at us and to do the right thing only after we exhaust all other idiotic options.

The progressive bloggers, in general, have been quite forgiving toward you -- it just shows that you've generated a massive supply of hope and good will in people. But not every one of your supporters is so patient and kind, and I have had my doubts too. Now you're telling us you are ready to drop the public option.

So let's get it straight. We are learning about your secret deals with Big Pharma after you've promised to make any such negotiations public and transparent. Then you -- or your people -- issue unconvincing denials about those.

But we have not been born yesterday, and we realize that profit-making behemoths do not, all of a sudden, grow hearts and consciences, so you must have promised them something pretty sweet in exchange for their support. That 50 million new customers does sound good on its own, to think of it. Add to it a promise of no cost controls, and hallelujah! There is heaven on Earth, after all -- for some of us (OK, not us, but them) at least.

So please tell us straight what this is all about: deal or no deal with the Big Pharma? And if there is a deal, then why? How does this advance your and our cause of the health care reform? No cost containment. No regulation. No public option.

Where does the reform part begin?

Yes, we get the insurance reform proposal shtick going on now. We do notice that you have switched from health care reform to health insurance reform. We totally get it -- it's more palatable and less scary to average Americans to hear that you are going to push for consumer protection laws in the insurance industry rather than a total overhaul of the system, although the latter is what this country desperately needs. The switcharoo is part of that crazy pragmatism your own doctor warned you about. Personally I think you should have listened to him, because that kind of pragmatism is dangerous to your own and our health.

However, we also get the pragmatism part, if we must. And health insurance consumer protection laws are nothing to sneeze at (no pun, I swear), to be sure.

But, still, where is the reform? As in, the single-payer not-for-profit system, which, as you well know and as everybody who has seriously studied the issue clearly states is the only sensible way to reform our health care? How is pouring more money into this bottomless pit of greed and human misery called the American health "care" system going to change it for the better?

Yes, there is that whole thing about politics and sausage-making. None of it pretty, sure. But making compromises with the medical insurance industry in the name of reforming our health care is sorta like negotiating chicken coup's security with the foxes. Sure, they are promising to do a good job of it, but, historically speaking, their record in that matter is not encouraging, to put it gently. See that drool dripping from their chins already?

So while the wingnuts are raving about offing grandpa and palining about with imaginary death panels, we, your supporters, worry too -- that maybe you are punking us, after all.

Please, Mr. President, say it ain't so. Americans are patient people, they can wait when necessary, they've been waiting for, oh, 70 years or so, but I'm not sure how much longer they can manage it, you know, with 14,000 people losing their insurance coverage each day and close to 2,000 dying every month because of lack of adequate health care. 2010 isn't far away, nor is 2012. If Democrats want to have anyone voting for them, they better get this right.

*Thus the picture above. Pigs must be flying as I'm saying this.

Cross posted at The Middle of Nowhere.

american peace- the facade

anyone else see the writing on the wall for america? tpm has been following the 'town hall meetings' around the country centered on the health care issue and things are getting fairly scary out there. led by the likes of glenn beck, sean hannity, lou dobbs, et al, the teabaggers/birthers/ordinary americans have been disruptive, disrespectful, and downright hostile towards the congress folks they elected-- or didn't. the problem isn't with dissent- the problem is with dissolution.

because that's what these folks are too stupid to realize- they are pushing for the dissolution of the united states of america. these people claim to stand up for the constitution but the only right that they seem to recognize is the one to bear arms. look, coming on top of the hording of bullets and ammo- carrying a concealed weapon holding a placard that wants to overthrow the government takes on a whole new meaning. the right wing doesn't just think politics as usual- the rethuglican party wants to annhilate anyone left of where they think. put the pieces together and it's downright scary.

hannity, et al, is laughing at the rest of the nation because they know what they are whipping up- using race, gender, political affiliation, sexual orientation, etc. as wedge issues- these people are the mouthpieces spreading the misinformation and lies to their minions while the rest of us bask in the glow that they aren't running the show officially anymore. make no mistake- they are working overtime to take back the states one state at a time- from the local governments on up. and, they are looking at taking back this country by force.

taking a look at the escalation of the right wing tactics since the 2008 election, folks should be afraid. verbal escalated to mob mentality even during the campaign- whipped up by the likes of sarah palin (who is still throwing the red meat), limbaugh, and the rest. the tea bag parties and hording of bullets and ammo- the rise of the militia groups again- and now carrying weaponry to an event that the president will be attending- well, i can't see things de-escalating.

we shouldn't turn the other cheek- we should be aware and vigilant. because they are prepared for war- and we aren't. in fact, they are waging it right now- and it is another civil war.

MN Homeless Confront Governor Nonviolently--on YouTube!

Taking their struggle to YouTube, Twin Cities' homeless are telling Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty what they think about recent health care cuts. Pawlenty's veto ended the General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) program during the last legislative session. Coverage that protects homeless Minnesotans will stop in March 2010.

Hoping to catch the governor's attention, homeless people are telling their stories to camera crews and posting them on YouTube. Josh Lang, Human Rights Program Director at St. Stephen's, says the project is "a way to get that voice out that isn't getting out in any other way."

"People on anti-psychotic meds who are trying to figure out, 'Well do I wean myself off? How do I do that?' People with diabetes [who need to take] insulin. These [are] real life or death issues. They're scared." Lang told a local reporter. "People aren't going to stop getting sick when their health care runs out. They're not going to stop getting injured on the streets, they're not going to stop having mental health issues."

Michael Harristhal, Vice President of Public Policy and Strategy at Hennepin County Medical Center, the facility that handles the most patients on GAMC in the state, is concerned that ending the GAMC program will drive up costs for everyone. "[The GAMC funding cut] was conceived as a way to save costs but unless we come up with a better solution it actually could result in higher costs to the system," he stated.

Patients without health care often must delay treatment and end up in the emergency room, a more costly treatment option.

St. Stephen's Human Services hopes to record 1,000 YouTube interviews for Governor Pawlenty. By actually showing the people left in the lurch without health care, they hope the impact will go beyond that of a paper petition.

Over 30,000 Minnesotans are currently covered by GAMC. Pawlenty has said that when it ends, other programs should cover them. But opponents say different programs have higher costs and that those programs will need more money to cover new patients.
For the entire collection of YouTube videos CLICK HERE.
Here's a compilation video featuring a few of the voices edited together in one video montage:

PLAYING FOR CHANGE...details

http://playingforchange.com -

Playing For Change: Peace Through Music is a story of hope, struggle, perseverance and joy.

Directors Mark Johnson and Jonathan Walls, along with the Playing For Change team, traveled the globe with a single minded passion to connect the world through music. Their ambitious journey took them from post-apartheid South Africa, through the ancient sites of the Middle East, to the remote beauty of the Himalayas and beyond.

Using innovative mobile technology, they filmed and recorded more than 100 musicians, largely outdoors in parks, plazas and promenades, in doorways, on cobblestone streets and amid hilly pueblos. Each captured performance creates a new mix in which essentially the artists are all performing together, albeit hundreds or thousands of miles apart.

Playing For Change: Peace Through Music is the story of this unparalleled international musical collaboration and its remarkable power of redemption.

"Poem 2" by Naj

On the stairs of the temple,
more than acsension of faith,
fall sacrificed corps, martyrs of divine
hanging from the ladders of fear
-with ropes of prayer.

On the disused gravel of the temple,
lay no footsteps of love,
just the traces of prostrating knees,
in a theatrical exposition of creed,
habitual gratification of god(s).

In the gloomy precincts of altar,
a molded god is worshiped
and blasphemy and deity
differ in none but words.


A Naj poem on Neo-Resistance...

Iran, this انقلاب‌ will be televised!

LIGHT AND SAND Kseniya Simonova's moving portrait

If you imagine that you've seen talent, great or otherwise, on any talent show you've ever witnessed, I can guarantee that this display will make any other pale by comparison.

Prepare yourself to witness one of the most incredible talents you may ever see.

I dare you to take your eyes off of Kseniya's masterful work as she transforms a light box with sand on top of it into a heart-wrenching portrait in motion (at a mind-numbing pace) of Germany's invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.

I was completely astonished, staggered really, by her ability, and found it extremely difficult to stifle my tears, as I watched her story unfold before my very eyes...

IT'S TIME FOR OUR ANNUAL HEALTH (care) CHECK UP

-follow the link below to discover fact from fiction-
Health Care Reality Check!

What are you fighting for - Gemini (Def Poetry)

HEALTH CARE MYTHOLOGY

MYTH: Grassroots Protestors are
Disrupting Town Halls...
House Republican Leader John Boehner’s Office:
“Back home for the August recess, rank-and-file
Democratic Members of the House are facing a
backlash from their constituents.”
FACT: Lobbyist-Run Groups Are
Orchestrating Extremist Mobs
Republicans and well-funded special interest
groups are sending far-right extremists to local
town halls to stop any meaningful discussion of
Health Insurance Reform! Some of these mob
scenes have turned especially ugly -- including
the hanging of Members of Congress in effigy
and use of Nazi SS symbols.

MYTH: “Government-Encouraged
Euthanasia”....
House Republican Leader John Boehner claimed
the House bill “may start us down a treacherous
path toward government-encouraged euthanasia.”
FACT: The claim is “nonsense.”!
The bill never requires anyone to discuss
end-of-life care. Rather, the bill ensures medical
professionals who do offer this type of counseling
… are reimbursed for their time, just as … for
other types of counseling or medical services.

MYTH: Private Plans Outlawed...
Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) claimed on his
website that individual private health insurance
plans will be outlawed in 2013 under the
Democratic health care plan.
FACT: Private health insurance not
banned!
Individual policies will continue to be available,
but people will buy those policies through the
national health insurance exchange, which will
ensure that people with pre-existing conditions
will be able to get coverage. The House bill also
allows for existing policies to be grandfathered in,
so individual purchasers who like their coverage
will be able to keep it.

MYTH: 120 Million Americans Will Be
Deprived of Health Care...
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.): Democrats’ plan “will
deprive roughly 120 million Americans of their
current health care coverage.”
FACT: “This claim is absolutely false”!
The 120 million number Pence cites comes from
the Lewin Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of
insurance giant UnitedHealthCare, which based
its numbers on several public-option scenarios
that are dramatically different than what
Democrats have proposed. The Congressional
Budget Office estimates that in 2013 about 11
million—NOT 120 million—Americans will end up
voluntarily enrolling in the public option, and none
of them will be “deprived” of coverage.

MYTH: There is a Republican Plan...
Minority Whip Cantor: “The Republican plan”
provides “access to affordable basic coverage.”
FACT: “Republicans have yet to
coalesce around a single plan.”
Even though the House Republicans’ “Health
Care Solutions Group” guaranteed a counter
proposal, they have refused to release a plan to
the public.

The Summer of White Discontent

(The picture, of an unnamed protester, is from Sen. Arlen Specter's town hall meeting today. Via AP.)

Many people have questioned the wisdom of Chris Matthews and MSNBC for putting the gun-carrying wingnut on the air and giving him an opportunity to talk.

I can understand that criticism. There is only one reason the man showed up with a loaded gun and a provocative sign* at a town hall meeting devoted to, of all things, health care reform. (Health care! Oh, the irony...) And that reason was to draw attention to himself and his position, if one can call it that. By appearing on the Matthews' program, he got that and then some, more than he deserved. It is easy to predict that he will become a hero of the far right-wing fringe and a fodder for the progressive ridicule.

On the other hand, however, the interview was useful inasmuch as it showed that there is no "there" there. The man could not/would not directly answer Matthews' questions and instead spouted off the well-worn slogans taken straight from the liberty or death bag of the right wingnuttery.

He could be easily dismissed as just another whackjob, which he is in some respects, but his presence at the meeting with the loaded gun and the justifications that he gave for it point to something quite serious and insidious: the white wingnut rage brewing just barely under the surface of the American life this summer (though not only).

In the wingnut's mind, the loaded gun was for "self-defense." As absurd as it sounds, this reasoning shows the deepening fear and projected hatred which have been sweeping the white America -- or some of its segments -- seemingly for ages and which have now intensified with the election of Barack Obama to the highest office.

We know this projected hatred, and the rage it produces, quite well: it too often comes to a boil in political assassinations and acts of domestic terrorism. Mr. Wingnut feels threatened in his rights to "liberty" or whatever may be on his mind, so, in self-defense, he may think nothing of obliterating others, whom he perceives as the source of this threat. We have seen it before.

Right-wing talk show hosts, Limbaugh, Beck and their ilk, stoke the fear and rage with their absurdist rhetoric, which, unfortunately, finds a captive audience in this segment of the population as it "explains" these individuals' disadvantaged position in life, justifies their fears, and further demonizes the others, who, in their eyes, are responsible for it all.

Never mind that Limbaugh and Beck spew their nonsense from the safety of their well-cushioned ivory towers, obscenely compensated for doing nothing more than fomenting disorder and rage. The run-of-the-mill wingnut does not take time to stop and notice what's really being done to him and for what reason -- he grabs his loaded gun, in self-defense, to come to a presidential meeting devoted to, of all things, the health care reform.

We have seen this before and we know where it leads. It is absolutely incumbent on the Republican leaders and talk show hosts to tone down their hateful rhetoric to prevent tragedies that may be just around the corner. If they don't, we will hold them responsible.

BTW, perhaps we can bring back a bit of Dubya's "war on terra" thinking and tactics, because we are clearly dealing with terrorism of the domestic kind here.

*As Cenk Uygur points out, This is the same exact quote Tim McVeigh was referencing in a shirt he wore... before bombing the Oklahoma City federal building.

Cross posted at The Middle of Nowhere

IRAQ : Disastrous and Shocking Official Statistics...

Via Media Lens MB and I have no reason to doubt these stats.

August 07 ,2009
By Sabah Al-Baghdadi

Translated and adapted from Arabic by Khalil Nakhleh

The following official governmental statistics, up to December 2008, show the disastrous conditions prevalent in Iraq since the American invasion and occupation of that country.

1. One million widowed Iraqi women (according to Iraqi Ministry of Women Affairs).

2. Four million orphaned Iraqi children (according to estimates by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning).

3. Two and a half million (2,500,000) Iraqis killed (according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health and Forensic Medicine).

4. 800,000 Iraqis have disappeared in secret holding places connected with the different ruling parties (according to registered complaints at the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior).

5. 340,000 Iraqi prisoners, detained without charge, in U.S. army prisons, the prisons of the Iraqi government, and the prisons in the Kurdistan District (according to Iraqi, Arab, international and UN human rights organizations and agencies). US occupying forces admit officially that the number of Iraqi detainees in their prisons is about 120,000.

6. Four and a half million (4,500,000) Iraqis are refugees outside Iraq (according to statistics of those seeking passports (category C) from the General Directorate of Passports.

7. Two and a half million (2,500,000) Iraqis are refugees inside Iraq (according to the Iraqi Ministry of Refugees).

8. 76,000 registered Iraqi cases of AIDS; this number did not exceed 114 cases before the invasion and occupation of Iraq (according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health).

9. Frightening spread of the use of addictive drugs imported from Iran, among youth (according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health and the Center for Combating Drugs and Addictions). I have written a series of well-researched articles about the various methods used to smuggle drugs, some of which are highly toxic, and how they are collected in different storage places in the southern districts, under the total control of some of the parties and the militias participating in the government, and how the profits from these drugs are used to buy (pay off) government officials, in order to gain their support and silence, and to finance their election campaigns.

10. Three out of every four marriages end up in divorce since the invasion and occupation of Iraq (according to Iraqi Ministry of Health).
.............

Read full article.

Cross posted at Blazing Indiscretions and Antemedius.

Completion...

Dear Peace Tree readers and authors,
The transition is complete. Every smidgen of an iota of a post from the other blogs is now on The Tree, each with its own link above in the menu bar.

I do hope you like the look, which is here to stay, and I hope the new template is easier on the eyes and the site simpler to navigate. All I truly know is, with the integration of all the blogs now complete, my sanity, what little I'd left, has been salvaged.

Peace,
Mark

Priest and Activist Arrested While Praying at US-MX Border

photo credit: Fr. Bob Carney

This news story is about one of the most wonderful human beings I've ever met: John Heid. I'm proud to call him my friend.

A Catholic priest and a peace activist were arrested Thursday morning during a prayer vigil at a virtual fence communication tower under construction in Arizona. John Heid, 54, a Quaker with Christian Peacemaker Teams and Fr. Jerome Zawada, 72, a Franciscan priest, had gone to pray at the US-Mexico border where walls and virtual fences have caused the deaths of five thousand migrants. A Pima County Sheriff's deputy arrested both for trespass. The pair was taken into custody on the anniversary of the atomic bomb deployment on Nagasaki, Japan. They released the following statement:

On this, the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, we call for an end to militarization in all its guises. An end to bombs, nuclear and conventional. An end to the use of Drones (unmanned aerial vehicles). An end to walls, fences and their virtual counterparts that divide us and promote fear of each other. An end to war without end.

This morning we vigil at the gates of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, home of a Predator UAV unit which now flies missions around the clock in Iraq and Afghanistan armed with Hellfire missiles which have killed hundreds of unarmed civilians. We demand an end to the unilateral slaughter.

This afternoon we vigil at a communication tower, "Tucson-1" (virtual fence) construction sight. Fences and walls, solid and virtual, have funneled people in migration deeper into the harsh, dangerous terrain of the Sonoran desert, resulting in more than 5,000 deaths since 1994.

These three - bombs, drones and fences/walls - are lethal weapons directed specifically at noncombatants. Cities like Hiroshima, villages in Iraq and Afghanistan and the U.S.-Mexico borderland have been deliberately targeted and violated. These are crimes against humanity. A betrayal of civility. In spiritual terms, a sin.

Today we pray without ceasing for a world without weapons and fences. We pray for peace, for justice, for unity which makes walls and war obsolete.