Global
For a number of years, 18, I have worked a Saturday night through Sunday morning job in addition to a regular job. We put together various out-of-town newspapers and load them on trucks. Last night, the fellow who delivers the Dayton paper was worried. He said he was concerned, and so wasn't the paper owners, that the attack on Iraq might happen today.
Why was he worried? Well, he explained, the "bracket day," when what teams will play in the NCAA tournament is drawn up, is tomorrow. That is the best-selling paper day of the year. The day the war starts, they anticipate allot of papers will be sold then too, but not as many as bracket day. If both events are covered on the same day, then only one day will be a big paper day instead of two, so it would be better to bomb Iraq on a different day than bracket day for the paper business!
He did not express an opinion as to whether there should be a war.
Why was he worried? Well, he explained, the "bracket day," when what teams will play in the NCAA tournament is drawn up, is tomorrow. That is the best-selling paper day of the year. The day the war starts, they anticipate allot of papers will be sold then too, but not as many as bracket day. If both events are covered on the same day, then only one day will be a big paper day instead of two, so it would be better to bomb Iraq on a different day than bracket day for the paper business!
He did not express an opinion as to whether there should be a war.
President Bush started beating the war drums Saturday in an attempt to win support for a war that many people here and throughout the world believe is unjustified. In his weekly radio address Saturday, Bush dug deep into the past; reminding the public that last weekend marked the 15-year anniversary of the poison gas attack on the Kurdish village of Halabia by Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein.
The attack was indeed an act of brutality and a gross violation of human rights. But what Bush failed to tell the world in his radio address was that it was his father, the former President Bush Sr., who punished Saddam Hussein with a mere slap on the wrist because Bush Sr. did not want to jeopardize United States-Iraqi relations. Today, Iraq does not pose an imminent threat to the U.S. Evidence to suggest otherwise is non-existent. Simply put, this is a case Bush tidying up unfinished business. It’s these past crimes, that Bush’s father turned a blind eye to, that the current president believes gives him the right to start a war with Iraq today. But there is no justification for waging such a war now.
The attack was indeed an act of brutality and a gross violation of human rights. But what Bush failed to tell the world in his radio address was that it was his father, the former President Bush Sr., who punished Saddam Hussein with a mere slap on the wrist because Bush Sr. did not want to jeopardize United States-Iraqi relations. Today, Iraq does not pose an imminent threat to the U.S. Evidence to suggest otherwise is non-existent. Simply put, this is a case Bush tidying up unfinished business. It’s these past crimes, that Bush’s father turned a blind eye to, that the current president believes gives him the right to start a war with Iraq today. But there is no justification for waging such a war now.
It’s time for U.S. citizens to demand that President George W. Bush’s cabinet invoke Section 4 of the 25th Amendment and remove him from office. By a majority vote of the cabinet and the Vice President, transmitted in writing to both the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the President may be declared “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Increasingly, journalists are willing to admit that the cognitively-impaired President may indeed be mentally ill.
What would drive a President who lost an election by over half a million votes to attack the arch-enemy of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, rather than to pursue the 9-11 terrorists in the Al Qaeda network? What would cause a President to ignore his generals, his own intelligence agencies, the major religious leaders of the world and the vast majority of the world’s people in pursuing an unnecessary and destabilizing war that is likely to plunge the world into chaos for the next hundred years?
What would drive a President who lost an election by over half a million votes to attack the arch-enemy of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, rather than to pursue the 9-11 terrorists in the Al Qaeda network? What would cause a President to ignore his generals, his own intelligence agencies, the major religious leaders of the world and the vast majority of the world’s people in pursuing an unnecessary and destabilizing war that is likely to plunge the world into chaos for the next hundred years?
Amidst the agonizing crisis over Iraq, the violent contortions of the world's only military superpower have given birth to a transcendental force: the global Superpower of Peace.
That George W. Bush's obsession with Saddam Hussein has become a global issue at all is perhaps the most tangible proof of this new superpower's potential clout.
Only one thing has slowed (or stopped) Bush from launching this attack: the economic, political, moral and spiritual power of an intangible human network determined to stop this war.
Bush has amassed the most powerful killing machine humankind has ever created. He's set its fuse on the borders of an impoverished desert nation with no credible ability to protect itself from this unprecedented attack. His military henchmen believe the conquest of this small country can be done quickly, with relatively few casualties on the the attacking side (though many civilians would die on the Iraqi side, as they did in the 1991 Gulf War I).
The potential prizes are enormous:
· Outright control of the world's second-largest oil reserve;
That George W. Bush's obsession with Saddam Hussein has become a global issue at all is perhaps the most tangible proof of this new superpower's potential clout.
Only one thing has slowed (or stopped) Bush from launching this attack: the economic, political, moral and spiritual power of an intangible human network determined to stop this war.
Bush has amassed the most powerful killing machine humankind has ever created. He's set its fuse on the borders of an impoverished desert nation with no credible ability to protect itself from this unprecedented attack. His military henchmen believe the conquest of this small country can be done quickly, with relatively few casualties on the the attacking side (though many civilians would die on the Iraqi side, as they did in the 1991 Gulf War I).
The potential prizes are enormous:
· Outright control of the world's second-largest oil reserve;
Freep Heroes: Germany and France
The Freep chooses to honor the governments of Germany and France who refused to sanction the Bush administration's war-mongering imperialist dreams in the Middle East. Drunken frat-boy foreign policy, fermented by what psychologists call "dry-drunk" syndrome, was slowed down and possibly halted by the heroic resistance of the French and German people. It's one thing for traditional enemies like China and Russia to resist the United States. It's a new and positive development when our closest European allies refuse to accept the folly and lies of the Washington warmongers.
The Free Press Salutes:
The folks at Victorian's Midnight Cafe
We know Victoria's secret -- she's a peacenik! Spontaneous organic grassroots organizing put more than hundred peace activists into the streets at the February Gallery Hop. The people at Victorian's have created a unique liberated zone where poets, musicians and activists express their views and keep this country truly free. Avoid the corporate chains and the acid reflux brought on by Starbucks. Instead, give Connie Harris a call and sign up for social justice.
The Freep chooses to honor the governments of Germany and France who refused to sanction the Bush administration's war-mongering imperialist dreams in the Middle East. Drunken frat-boy foreign policy, fermented by what psychologists call "dry-drunk" syndrome, was slowed down and possibly halted by the heroic resistance of the French and German people. It's one thing for traditional enemies like China and Russia to resist the United States. It's a new and positive development when our closest European allies refuse to accept the folly and lies of the Washington warmongers.
The Free Press Salutes:
The folks at Victorian's Midnight Cafe
We know Victoria's secret -- she's a peacenik! Spontaneous organic grassroots organizing put more than hundred peace activists into the streets at the February Gallery Hop. The people at Victorian's have created a unique liberated zone where poets, musicians and activists express their views and keep this country truly free. Avoid the corporate chains and the acid reflux brought on by Starbucks. Instead, give Connie Harris a call and sign up for social justice.
When my parents and I moved
to our present home, on the
near east side of Columbus, there was a place off the alley across the street that was notorious as a dog-fighting site. I guess humans like to watch dogs rip into each other, or they make a lot of money betting on it. Both are beyond my comprehension. Not that I am an actual fan of dogs (they've tried to chase me in the park a few times, but Daddy fended them off with a large walking stick) but I don't think it's right to pit pit bulls, or any other kind of dog, against each other to the death. Not for anybody's amusement or profit!
Recently I have heard that there is a concern in the metro-Columbus area regarding the state of health care services for our veterans. Apparently the Department of Veterans Affairs is having problems meeting the current demand, and the nearest V.A. hospital for veterans in Columbus is over an hour's drive away. If our national administration is going to talk war, then thought and action should also be given to our young men and women upon their return to home-life. Although I did not see combat, I am officially a Vietnam Era Veteran, and someday if I am out of employment or medical insurance, I may need to use veteran health benefits.
There is an American flag whipping
in the wind above them
They rarely see it
they are shut in
many cannot walk
others are blind
They spend many hours in bed
alone, un-cared for
They are the mangled
the helpless
They play cards
watch television
but mostly they wait
Most wars are little more than
footnotes to history
obscure conflicts with obscure reasons
started by quiet men in quiet rooms
carefully and methodically
And when the bodies are beautiful
the patriots cheer
But when those bodies get mangled
the patriots are no where to be found
Because when the body gets mangled
it is ugly
and does not fit into the American
ideal
of
health
youth
and vigor
in the wind above them
They rarely see it
they are shut in
many cannot walk
others are blind
They spend many hours in bed
alone, un-cared for
They are the mangled
the helpless
They play cards
watch television
but mostly they wait
Most wars are little more than
footnotes to history
obscure conflicts with obscure reasons
started by quiet men in quiet rooms
carefully and methodically
And when the bodies are beautiful
the patriots cheer
But when those bodies get mangled
the patriots are no where to be found
Because when the body gets mangled
it is ugly
and does not fit into the American
ideal
of
health
youth
and vigor
dance contest
in the growing absence
of ceremony and ritual.
driven by icons and marketing
toward a state of apathy
we are faced with
way too many choices
many finding they are unable
to choose at all
as the storm clouds gather
an inhumane political agenda
falsely projected by those
who would divide and isolate us
from each other
and all of us
from the rest of the world
instilling fear.
those who would have
and use it all
continue encouraging us
to sit this one out
consistently inviting us.
to remain silent
in the growing absence
of ceremony and ritual.
let's dance.
in the growing absence
of ceremony and ritual.
driven by icons and marketing
toward a state of apathy
we are faced with
way too many choices
many finding they are unable
to choose at all
as the storm clouds gather
an inhumane political agenda
falsely projected by those
who would divide and isolate us
from each other
and all of us
from the rest of the world
instilling fear.
those who would have
and use it all
continue encouraging us
to sit this one out
consistently inviting us.
to remain silent
in the growing absence
of ceremony and ritual.
let's dance.
Now that the Soviet guardians of
orthodox Marxism have fallen,
we are free to take Karl Marx for the political economist he was and not as a god or idol. In fact, Soviet orthodoxy did not draw on the humanistic philosopher Marx.
Marx himself gives support to those who link democracy with socialism. He of course did talk about the dictatorship of the proletariat, which contained a vision of overturning the current social order where a few dominate the many. This also resulted in a "vanguard," directing the way for the proletariat, and these leaders became a ruling elite in the Soviet bloc that along the way forgot much of Marx's vision and merely sought to maintain itself in power. However, he stated, "We do not assert that the attainment of this end [political supremacy of the workers] requires identical means." For example, Marx alluded to the possibility that in the United States socialism might be achieved democratically. These many years later, neither socialism nor even any real economic democracy is not yet present in our nation. We who claim to follow Marx seek to make this a reality.
Marx himself gives support to those who link democracy with socialism. He of course did talk about the dictatorship of the proletariat, which contained a vision of overturning the current social order where a few dominate the many. This also resulted in a "vanguard," directing the way for the proletariat, and these leaders became a ruling elite in the Soviet bloc that along the way forgot much of Marx's vision and merely sought to maintain itself in power. However, he stated, "We do not assert that the attainment of this end [political supremacy of the workers] requires identical means." For example, Marx alluded to the possibility that in the United States socialism might be achieved democratically. These many years later, neither socialism nor even any real economic democracy is not yet present in our nation. We who claim to follow Marx seek to make this a reality.