Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Three Poems by Jeffery Beam
I posted them here just because I like them. In every one, he speaks of nature and relates it to his own very personal experiences. They are beautiful. So is the sky over Asheville at sunset. This was taken in 2007 on the Flint Street bridge.
TWO LOVES
This is my lesson in humility.
My lesson in grief.
My lesson in the cruelty of the human heart, my own.
Trudging through deep southern snow:
finding both of your faces frozen in the white.
Sparrows still singing in the shrubbery.
I could not say it then.
I cannot say it now.
My heart split in two.
A tree limb weighted by ice.
A white - quiet and protective.
A white - dangerously warm.
My hands spiritless in the drifts.
Why do birds continue to sing?
LOVE COMES
not silent,
but noisy and indiscreet,
rowdy and persistent.
He comes in leaf fall.
musty earth in his palms.
Held out to me
I can do nothing but take it,
and take it gladly,
earth being the one coolness
other than water
to be enjoyed.
The fact of the matter is this:
tomorrow he may come silent.
Tomorrow may be love quiet as mist,
but today,
his cheeks rough with new hairs,
I smell furrows of new fields.
I turn over fertile soil.
I hear burrowing insects, happy worms.
I taste the gentle, crude, excavating damp.
The stain of love upon the earth!
Stain of love!
His sleep rattling me.
His sunrise and breath awakening me.
THAT NIGHT
That body
tree on a misty hill
That face
fawn with dark eyes
That full moon
surrounded by evening skies
That hour
pavement ending in dust
That grass
green with summer’s black-green
That night
coming over us with its breath
That sound
crickets singing at eye level
That body
me on the ground with their song
That body
another touching me with fire
That fire
round as the moon burning as the sun
That face
fawn with dark eyes
That you
speaking in tongues unknown and green
That sound
crickets singing in my ear
That body
tree on a misty hill
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Seven years in chains
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Major Religions on War and Peace
Buddhism WAR: Intentional killing of any living being is condemned. Peace, and not war, is the ideal and should be sought by all who are truly religious.
PEACE: True happiness comes to those who live at peace with their fellows. The aim of all should be to learn peace and live peacefully with all men.
Christianity
WAR: The peacemakers, and not the warmakers, are blessed. Those who take the sword shall perish by the sword. War is the road to destruction, while peace is the road to happiness and prosperity.
PEACE: Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He came to this earth to bring peace to all men. The peacemaker is blessed and shall be a child of God. We should seek the ways of peace and finally come to peace with God.
Hinduism
WAR: Injury to any creature is wrong. The wise man will seek always to avoid strife and will dwell in peace. The ideal for life here on earth is peace, not war. No one should seek to extend his power through war.
PEACE: If one would find happiness and security, he must seek for peace. The peaceful mind will become established in wisdom. God is God of peace and desires peace for all people.
Judaism
WAR: Only fools give way to war. The wise seek peace. The peace loving, the meek, shall inherit the earth. The Lord will judge between nations, and wars are of no avail.
PEACE: Judaism looks forward to an ideal time when peace shall reign throughout the world. God commands peace and urges all His followers to work for peace. The peaceful life offers the greatest opportunity for happiness and prosperity.
Islam
WAR: Peace is to be sought by all. If there is war, the religious man will seek to establish peace. The Lord has ordained peace, and no one can engage in war without endangering the stability of the world.
PEACE: God will guide men to peace. If they will heed him, he will lead them from the darkness of war to the light of peace.
Source: Topical Index, The Sacred Writings of the World’s Great Religions, edited by S.E. Frost, Jr. McGraw-Hill, Paperback edition, 1972.
Printed on the back cover of “Peace in Action” magazine.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The Public Option
Protests in Britain and Afghanistan
1
Demonstrators chant during an anti-war rally in
REUTERS/Luke MacGregor (
2
Demonstrators march during an anti-war rally in
REUTERS/Luke MacGregor (
3
Protestors attend a demonstration held by Stop the War coallition calling for troops to leave
(AFP/Ben Stansall)
4
Demonstrators march during an anti-war rally in
REUTERS/Luke MacGregor (
Afghanistan 1
An effigy of the President Barack Obama and a U.S. flag is placed in front of a tractor before protesters burn them during a demonstration in Logar province, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009. Hundreds of Afghans shouted anti-US slogans to protest a rumor that
(AP Photo)
Afghanistan 2
Afghan students beat an burned effigy of the President Barack Obama during a demonstration in Logar province, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of
(AP Photo)
Saturday, October 24, 2009
What War Brings: the series and the ending
What War Brings: the series and the ending
Summary post
In this series, I have covered the nature of war and its effect on the civilians caught in the crossfire, and its effect on the human condition. There were a few things I did not cover – like home invasions, current health problems that civilians are dealing with and suffering from. There are likely others that I do not know about.
This was inspired by a Daily
On top of that, the fact that we are occupying or bombing these countries inspires other violent actors to come onto the scene, resulting in even more death and devastation of the civilian population. At many points of time in
Americans know precious little of what has happened to the people of the countries we have bombed and invaded and occupied because it has not shown up on our TV stations. It has always been available on the internet though. By remaining ignorant, Americans have surrendered their humanity. And the majority of American politicians, as far as I can tell, just don’t give a shit.
Powell, after announcing his endorsement of Obama, said this to reporters outside: “And so, my concern was not my past or what happened in
NOT ONE MORE LIFE, NOT ONE MORE DIME, NOT ONE MORE LIE.
As Nancy Lessin (founder of Military Families Speak Out) said: “Racism plus dehumanization equals horror.”
This is what we need now:
- immediate withdrawal of
- take care of our troops when they get home
- reparations to the Iraqi people so that they can rebuild their country ON THEIR OWN TERMS
The above is a summary of the demands of IVAW. This applies to
Here is a list of all the posts on WHAT WAR BRINGS.
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
If you support the continued occupation of
To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole. – Robert Jackson, Chief American prosecutor at the
And to those who think we should keep doing what we have been doing in Afghanistan and Pakistan, those who support this, I just want to say one thing: If al Qaeda or the Taliban infiltrate the Pakistani military and secret service to the point that they get their hands on a nuclear bomb or materials, and they then proceed to use it – all that blood, all that death, all the human misery, will be on YOUR hands.
+++++++++++++++++++++
The after effects of war on civilians in
These after-effects show up in this talent contest in 2009. A young woman does a sand ‘painting’ about the Second World War, and brings the entire country to tears. And a commenter on the blog A Tiny Revolution says
“Ukraine lost one in four of its population during the Second World War, the largest losses of any country and about 20% of the total deaths. Ah, so that's what it takes for a nation to truly appreciate the horrors of war, to the point where masses of people can be moved to tears by a sand painting. A generation from now, on "
Here is the You Tube video of the sand painting.
Iraqis are sickened by cancer at very high rates
The poisonous legacy of our bombings of
Friday, October 23, 2009
Cindy Sheehan and Bob Bowman coming to Asheville
WNC Veterans for Peace present:
THE PEACE MOM AND THE PATRIOT
They will speak about the past and present US administration, America’s wars, the war economy, the banking industry, and much, much more on their PEACE AND WAR speaking tour.
PEACE MOM is Cindy Sheehan
THE PATRIOT is Lt. Col. Bob Bowman, Ret.
Cindy Sheehan became famous with her protest at Crawford Texas asking “For what noble purpose was my son, Casey, sent to die in Iraq?” Lt. Col. Bob Bowman is retired Air Force, a Vietnam War veteran, and is one of the country’s foremost authorities on national security.
Place: First Congregational Church at 20 Oak Street in Asheville
Date: Friday, October 23rd
Time: 7 – 9 PM
Admission is Free – love & peace offering will be taken
Thursday, October 22, 2009
What War Brings: lies, lies, lies and MORE LIES
Photos: US Marines storm through villages during the launch of Operation Germinate into the restive
What War Brings: lies, lies, lies, and more LIES
This is another topic that could fill many books, or possibly an entire library. We are all familiar with the lies about WMDs and ties to al Qaeda that led to the invasion and occupation of
But, here are two things I know are true:
ALL WARS START WITH LIES. ALWAYS.
And here is the second one:
THE ONES STARTING THE WARS ARE THE ONES DOING THE LYING.
“We have been lied to...far and wide, high and low, sea to shining sea. Our history is a veritable cornucopia of lie after lie after lie.” – from OPOL on Daily
Of course, that does not mean the other side (or sides) won’t join in on the lying.
And, here is only one aspect of the many lies about
IraqTortureGate: Powell Denies Knowing He Used Tortured Evidence for UN Case
Recently, we have seen a bit of honesty on
My country hasn't been liberated: it's still under the warlords' control, and Nato occupation only reinforces their power. ~ Malalai Joya
Almost eight years after the Taliban regime was toppled, our hopes for a truly democratic and independent
….. So far, Obama has pursued the same policy as Bush in
of women is as bad as ever.
But the lies of
- OBL was armed, funded and trained in the 1980s under the CIA and paid for by US taxpayers. I am not sure when paying him and his group actually stopped.
- The evil ones who decided on funding OBL and his group did so to have a proxy war with the
- The
- The ones who did the attack on 9/11 were mainly from
- All the attackers on 9/11 are dead.
- The most expensive fucking military in the world did not stop any of the attacks, and they could not even stop an attack on the fucking Pentagon.
- The only attacks that were stopped happened when ordinary American citizens took action, after they figured out what was really going on. No hijacker on a
- Eight years after the 9/11 attacks, the guy that the
- NO ONE has been fired for failing to do their job to protect the American people, and NO ONE in the CIA was fired for failing to detect this attack before it happened.
- The crime scene was extensively tampered with. A recent attempt by NYC residents to get a referendum on the ballot to re-investigate the attacks was struck down by the NY Supreme Court. Democracy can go to hell.
I think it is safe to say that there is something very, very wrong with this picture.
We have been bombing and occupying
We are supposedly there to catch al Qaeda, and it was recently admitted that there are less than 100 al Qaeda in
We have been lied to and lied to and lied to…. And are still being lied to today.
In
With friends like the
"Poll after poll shows Pakistanis increasingly do fear the threat posed by Islamic extremists ... but they believe the
IRAQI PERSPECTIVE
Below is a post sent to me by an Iraqi-Ameircan, about the lies that lead to war in
Inside Tales
I have to confess that I was pro war not for the sake of the war, not because I hate my people and wanted them to die. Not at all, it was because I believed that Saddam Hussein was the creation of the U.S foreign policy. There was no other choice to get rid of him and his sons and the entire family but this war. Please don’t yell at me and don’t hate me, just bare with me till the end.
When you have a hopeless ailing horse, what would you do? You will give him the shot of mercy. I loved my people and cared about them. I wanted to free them from the brutal dictator who denied their right as human beings to express their opinion or even joke about it. They were jailed inside their country and banned from watching, reading or listening to anything or anyone from outside. When I left the country most of the people did not hear about the Internet nor did they know the meaning of the word “email”. Half of the people had not seen a computer or fax, not to mention the satellite or cell phone which were nothing but some kind of science fiction for them. I was looking for their freedom. I was hoping for their better future. Does anyone think that my willing to share the prosperity with my unfortunate people is a crime?
During the first few days of the invasion, I called my aunt, the dearest one to my heart, and asked about her feelings and if she was fine or not. The answer that is still ringing bells in my mind about how people over there viewed this war and how did they look ar it. She was happy and relaxed in spite of all the bombing and shelling that they were living in. She told me that my second cousin got married two months ago before the war but “they are going to have another wedding very soon”. I got the message that she tried to pass. There was no other wedding but the Iraqis wedding. They believed that the day that witnessed the toppling of Saddam Hussein, is their big wedding day.
Yes, Iraqis dreamed of that day. Yes, Iraqis greeted Americans as “liberators”. Yes, Iraqis welcomed them with rice and flowers. They were watching the crawling troops with joy. They were happy and they were dancing in the road. Every body remember that guy “ Ubo Alwan” the slipper guy who was smacking the the poster of Saddam with his old cheap slipper. April 9, 2003 was a remarkable day in our lives, Iraqis’ lives. No one believed that there is going to be a day when you wake up and there is no Saddam Hussein on the TV or in the news or anywhere in the country, no one believed that. He was like Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights who was so hateful and scary that no one believed that they were going to get rid of him even when he was dead and had gone for ever.
However, the wedding did not last for ever and the honeymoon was over before it starts. The ugly marital relationship between the Iraqis and American troops had started by leaving the looters free and without control and Donald Rumsfeld defended their act by saying that they were practicing their freedom. Excuse me! But this is not an act of freedom but chaos. When you, American troops, had assigned yourself as an occupation authority then you would have supposed to control the situation and protect the properties and treasures of your occupied territory. It was part of your job. It was not expected from you to stand still or, in some cases, help in the looting job as what happened to the
And here is how it ended up making him feel:
I feel ashamed. Yes, I have a pain in my heart and a reproach upon my mind of being one of those who supported the war, to be one the fools who believed that bringing “Democracy” was true, to be one of the blinds who followed the Satan down the road. I am ashamed, reading all about torturing civilians to justify the war. I am ashamed, finding out that the Bush administration hired mercenaries whose mission was to supply armed protection to the American officials and working on ending Islam faith and killing Muslims and destructing Iraqis lives at the same time.
If you have hated me from my previous blog, then you have all the right to do so and I will not excuse myself or forgive her for being such a fool. I will not forgive myself and excuse her for thinking that bringing the change can be done through a war. And again, I will not forget that American troops are like any other troops no exception and no exclusion. Some of them can act dumbly or wickedly like any others especially when it is supported and encouraged by vicious authority like Bush Administration.
I am not covering what lies are promoting the violence in
The Liars
by Carl Sandburg
A liar goes in fine clothes.
A liar goes in rags.
A liar is a liar, clothes or no clothes.
A liar is a liar and lives on the lies he tells and dies in a life of lies.
And the stonecutters earn a living—with lies—on the tombs of liars.
A liar looks ’em in the eye
And lies to a woman,
Lies to a man, a pal, a child, a fool.
And he is an old liar; we know him many years back.
A liar lies to nations.
A liar lies to the people.
A liar takes the blood of the people
And drinks this blood with a laugh and a lie,
A laugh in his neck,
A lie in his mouth.
And this liar is an old one; we know him many years.
He is straight as a dog’s hind leg.
He is straight as a corkscrew.
He is white as a black cat’s foot at midnight.
The tongue of a man is tied on this,
On the liar who lies to nations,
The liar who lies to the people.
The tongue of a man is tied on this
And ends: To hell with ’em all.
To hell with ’em all.
It’s a song hard as a riveter’s hammer,
Hard as the sleep of a crummy hobo,
Hard as the sleep of a lousy doughboy,
Twisted as a shell-shock idiot’s gibber.
The liars met where the doors were locked.
They said to each other: Now for war.
The liars fixed it and told ’em: Go.
Across their tables they fixed it up,
Behind their doors away from the mob.
And the guns did a job that nicked off millions.
The guns blew seven million off the map,
The guns sent seven million west.
Seven million shoving up the daisies.
Across their tables they fixed it up,
The liars who lie to nations.
And now
Out of the butcher’s job
And the boneyard junk the maggots have cleaned,
Where the jaws of skulls tell the jokes of war ghosts,
Out of this they are calling now: Let’s go back where we were.
Let us run the world again, us, us.
Where the doors are locked the liars say: Wait and we’ll cash in again.
So I hear The People talk.
I hear them tell each other: Let the strong men be ready.
Let the strong men watch.
Let your wrists be cool and your head clear.
Let the liars get their finish,
The liars and their waiting game, waiting a day again
To open the doors and tell us: War! get out to your war again.
So I hear The People tell each other:
Look at to-day and to-morrow.
Fix this clock that nicks off millions
When The Liars say it’s time.
Take things in your own hands.
To hell with ’em all,
The liars who lie to nations,
The liars who lie to The People.
"Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception." ~ Mark Twain - from The Mysterious Stranger 1916.
If you support the continued occupation of
Tell me president tell me if you will
How many people does a smart bomb kill?
How many of them do you think we got?
The general says we never miss shot
And we never ever ever keep a body count
We're killing so efficiently we can't keep count
In the afghan hills the rebels still fighting
Opium fields keep on providing
The best heroin that money can buy and
No body knows where Osama bin hiding
The press conferences keep on lying
Like we don't know
The war for oil is a war for the beast
the War on terror is a war on peace
~ Michael Franti