This poem started off on dailyKos….I added a lot of images, fixed some of the text, and put it all below the fold
January 2008 archive
Jan 08 2008
Docudharma Times Tuesday January 8
This is an Open Thread: Welcome to Dixville Notch
Justices Weigh Injection Issue for Death Row
With conservative justices questioning their motives and liberal justices questioning their evidence, opponents of the American manner of capital punishment made little headway Monday in their effort to persuade the Supreme Court that the Constitution requires states to change the way they carry out executions by lethal injection.
Donald B. Verrilli Jr., the lawyer for two inmates on Kentucky’s death row who are facing execution by the commonly used three-chemical protocol, conceded that theoretically his clients would have no case if the first drug, a barbiturate used for anesthesia, could be guaranteed to work perfectly by inducing deep unconsciousness.
Jan 08 2008
We’re a Long, Long Way From Home
In his haunting song, “Devils and Dust”, Bruce Springsteen observed, “We’re a long, long way from home . . . home’s a long, long way from us.”
As usual, The Boss knows what he’s talking about. Americans have never been so far from home. Our “leaders” have taken us all into a bizarre Twilight Zone America where torture is patriotic, civil liberties have been erased, and proclaimers of endless war are sanctified. Treason is rewarded, justice is waterboarded, and the truth dies unreported.
In the America we used to know, a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty welcomed the world to our shores with this guarantee:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
That guarantee has been replaced with this disclaimer:
Jan 08 2008
Muse in the Morning
 Muse in the Morning |
The muses are ancient. The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them. Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward. In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.
It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse. Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets. Others have been suggested throughout the centuries. I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts. And maybe there should be many more.
Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…
Jan 08 2008
RNN News asks: “Time for Cheney ‘Impeachment’ Hearings?”
Richard French of RNN News on growing movement for Cheney Impeachment.
And asks the Question: Time for Cheney ‘Impeachment’ Hearings?
Jan 08 2008
it’s not weakness; the Dems are ashamed
It hit me out of the blue. The Democrats in Congress aren’t afraid of looking weak as the majority. They are ashamed for having been weak in the minority. Investigating BushCo and shining the light of day on this most corrupt of administrations exposes a Democratic minority without principles or courage. They are ashamed because their lack of action is one of the major factors in the world being as it is today.
Jan 08 2008
My Daughter Speaks Out
Mark’s note: My daughters are both very politically aware. My oldest daughter Sara sent this to me and it is presented here with only minor edits. She wrote this last week after the Iowa Caucuses. I am proud of you, Sara.
Last night, my sister called at 6:23 to tell me that the race was called for Barack Obama. I can’t imagine her joy, her relief, her satisfaction, because I’ve never been on the winning end of election day. She was pretty elated.
On the news B-Roll of different campaigns included Raj, my intern-boss when I was in Iowa working for Howard Dean. Raj was on his old street corner again, 8th and Grand, waving Obama: Hope signs. I was very happy to see him, even if it was only on the news.
My fiance’s mother called to say, “Go Huckabee!” Personally, I still think Romney wins the nomination, but what do I know about Republican politics? She tried to bait me, but I just let it roll off my back. Last night’s victory was too sweet to not relish it.
Jan 08 2008
Simply REMEMBER
Cross posted from sanchopress.com
Citizens and military combine forces to advocate for better care for troops and vets, for responsive government and for the Constitution
There is a you tube video below the fold of this article I write. It is about OUR troops. It is about our nation supporting them. It is about our obligation to help them with the multitude of problems they face.
Remember them. Remember they are not a number or a statistic. Remember they are not bad people. Remember they are not in Iraq because they support George Bush’s policies. Remember they raised their right hand and swore an oath to God, our nation, to me and to you. Remember that oath was most of all to themselves.
Remember that this oath was to follow any lawful order of those of higher rank. Remember that even when they disagree with what they are told to do or where they are told to go or why they are there, they are soldiers and THEY DO IT, THEY MUST. Remember they are bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Remember they do it because it is their job. Remember they do it because they swore they would. Remember they do it because they are men and women of their word. Remember they are men and women of honor. Remember that when they signed up to serve our nation, you and me, they knew it was possible they would have to do things, go places and fight wars they may not agree with.
Remember many die in the sands of Iraq. Remember many are permanently physically wounded in the sands of Iraq. Remember even many more will be mentally scarred for the remainder of their life with PTSD and TBI and Depression and mental health problems and more. Remember that 20 or 30 and even 40 years from now, many will wake at night from horrendous memories, awful demons and things most of us can not imagine in our worst nightmares.
Remember they swore an oath. Remember they were doing their job. Remember they are soldiers. Remeber THEY MUST DO WHAT THEY DO. Remember they don’t deserve the things described above.
MOST OF ALL; Remember they are husbands, fathers, sons and brothers. Remember they are wives, mothers, daughters and sisters. Remember they are away from those they love and those that love them.
THAT IS WHAT THE VIDEO BELOW IS ABOUT. I LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG BUT YOU WILL STILL WATCH IT.
Aside from Iraq and our troops and our veterans, I NEED to express my feelings about the paragraph you will read just below the fold.
This paragraph below the fold was written by the author of the video. It is just above the video you will watch.
Regarding what the author had to write, I am outraged, disgusted, amazed and astounded. I am God damn pissed off and outright fucking angry. I can not believe she had to do what she had to do and write this to her audience. Please read what she had to write and watch the video below the fold and then please read my closing comments.
Aside from Iraq and our troops and our veterans, I NEED to express my feelings about the paragraph you will read just below the fold.
This paragraph below the fold was written by the author of the video. It is just above the video you will watch.
Regarding what the author had to write, I am outraged, disgusted, amazed and astounded. I am God damn pissed off and outright fucking angry. I can not believe she had to do what she had to do and write this to her audience. Please read what she had to write and watch the video below the fold and then please read my closing comments.
Jan 08 2008
Musings on comedy
Comedy and humor are the hardest things to write. Sure, Hamlet gets all the praise, because it is oh-so-serious. Preston Sturges makes this point in Sullivan’s Travels, his film about a Depression-era Hollywood writer of screwball comedies who wants to do something serious. The movie is a dramedy, in fact, but this scene shows Sullivan’s epiphany
1BTvvEBeYcE
as he realizes the curative power of laughter: the way it frees people, if only for a time, from their troubles.
Please follow me below the fold:
Jan 08 2008
Convicted Phone-Jammer Tells All
Disgraced Ex-GOP Consultant Allen Raymond Reveals His Dirty Tricks as Party’s ‘Fall Guy’
What does it take to win the New Hampshire primary dirty tricks or retail politics?
Jan 08 2008
The CIA Needs To Turn Snitch!
Yeah, yeah, I know, That is about as likely as Britney getting voted Mother Of The Year! But with actual investigations at least being waved around by the FBI and DOJ, not to mention Congress….they seem to be getting a tad nervous.
Add in the various abuses and misuses of the CIA by Bushco…from blaming them for the trumped up intelligence used to invade Iraq to outing Valerie Plame, to being told that torture was legal and to waterboard and otherwise torture terror suspects (including Jose Padilla, a US citizen) the CIA has taken it up the wazoo from Bushco repeatedly and continuously since the Bush lads stole the Presidency. And now their hated arch-rivals the FBI are going to be let in to the inner sanctum to investigate THEM???
I mean, they are not totally evil, right?
Jan 08 2008
Pony Party: Mahna Mahna
Mahna mahna
Do do do do do
Mahna mahna
Do do do do
Mahna mahna
Do do do do do
Do do do
do do do
do do do do do do do