Poetic Justice (Don\'t burn the flag. Wash it!)

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Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

WWJD?
2007-06-20 02:31:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)Canadian jurist prompts international justice panel to debate TV drama 24's use of tortureJustice Antonin Scalia is one of the most powerful judges on the planet. Especially on the planet where Jack Bauer lives. ("I'm talking about doing what's necessary to stop this warhead from being used against us.") The job of the veteran U.S. Supreme Court judge is to ensure that the superpower lives up to its Constitution. ("I don't want to bypass the Constitution, but these are extraordinary circumstances.")But in his free time, he is a fan of 24, the popular TV drama where the maverick federal agent Jack Bauer routinely tortures terrorists to save American lives. ("Tell me where the bomb is or I will kill your son.")This much was made clear at a legal conference in Ottawa this week. ("I need to use every advantage I've got.") Senior judges from North America and Europe were in the midst of a panel discussion about torture and terrorism law, when a Canadia...

OF NO USE
2007-06-19 07:23:00
PBS - Frontline THE TORTURE QUESTION (Laying the groundwork)I don?t want to alarm you, but we seem to have lost our way.The sleeping heads aren?t seeing the grave sins we?re painting;-Vengeance is a nasty and rumbling ogre that folds down overOur sorrowful eyes and shackles us behind the plow.-Noses packed heavy with settling a score can sense nothing,Save for the fury crackling in their overwrought darkness.-Clinched fists held within the smoldering rubble are deadAnd will be of no use in the summoning of peace.Surely the sons and daughters of the worlds terrified offspringCan only bring about an immensely swift and bloodstained justice; The merciless dogs of vengeance seem to have come full circle.© 2007 mrp/thepoetrymanSee all 6 installments of PBS Frontline's THE TORTURE QUESTIONPrepare yourself to enter the dark underworld of our foreign policy...http://apoeticjustice.blogspot.c om/atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc

ONCE UPON A TIME by André de Korvin
2007-06-18 13:00:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)I dreamed if I went sailingfrom telephone poleto telephone pole,I would reach outand touch the world.I imagine what it would be liketo sail to the pole of maritime disasters,to the pole that hasa winter moon for face,to the pole of the roaming unicornthat neighs its sadnessat the door steps of the power Co.I dial the sun and sayput poetry on the lineand nostalgia comes running, chasing imagesacross margins of rewritten years.I sleep and riseabove my room,a one-winged angel,long pillow pressedtight against my back.© 2007 adk/ andrédekorvinJaroslaw / Kukowski Galleryhttp://apoeticjustice.blogspot.com /atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
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Harbinger of War by Len Hart
2007-06-18 07:12:00
The Existentialist Cowboy http://apoeticjustice.blogspot.com/atom.x ml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
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CRASHING THE SURFACE
2007-06-17 20:54:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)Sitting here in the dark I?ve nothing but my thoughtsdrifting merrily just outside of my reach;-A log cabin in the middle of nowhere--A greenwater pond--A full moon-I am at once reminded of a place of memory?perhaps it is home.I scan the surface of the water and see the reflection of the moon.Suddenly an army of great golden lions bursts through the greenwith mighty kings riding upon their backs.A moment ago I was staring into the water that kissed the moonand now I?m witnessing this glorious spectacle of mighty beastscrashing through the surface, their riders golden crowns glimmering upontheir foreheads, black hair lifting up off their shoulders as theylean back and roar triumphant!Now, as suddenly as they came forth, they are gone and I?m looking into the still water reflecting a green and glorious moon.In need of sleep, I turn and make my way toward the cabin.I will soon look back at the water hoping to again glimpse the lionsand hear the victorious...
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APJ NEWSLETTER ALERT
2007-06-17 05:39:00
I have recently had to reinstall my hard drive (Joy! Joy!) due to a system crash and have lost all email contacts and the Newsletter list of recipients was among the missing. I am sorry for any inconvenience. So, if you would, please see...NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP[+]...on the sidebar of APJ or The Peace Tree or Poets for Peace and sign up for the newsletter again.If you do not know about the Newsletters you can peruse the past letters on my Newletters page, link on top menu.Thank you and peace,thepoetrymanhttp://apoeticjustice.b logspot.com/atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
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DISEASE by André de Korvin
2007-06-16 11:15:00
When I washed my handswater refused to curl around my fingers, insteadit formed handcuffs around my wrists.The doctor said my body wasjust like a gramophone.He scraped my arm with a long needleand adjusted his stethoscope to catchthe beat of my heart,my heart humming a tuneno one else knew, a tunein the far awaywhiteness of my bones.Later, the receptionist presseda dime against my lipsand I stood there,a long timeweeping foreign stampson the worn carpet, tryingto cry enough stamps to sendthe whole officeto another world.© 2007 adk/ andrédekorvin(Ben Heine - Cartoons)http://apoeticjustice.blogspot.c om/atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
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Happy Birthday Habeas
2007-06-16 01:27:00
Today, June 15th, marks the 792nd anniversary of the writ of habeas corpus.*There?s rarely been more at stake for our friend Habeas Corpus than there is this year. So we?re taking a moment to celebrate him and show him we care. And you can be a part of the celebration.Show your support by adding a greeting and message to our Habeas birthday card. Or, email us a photo of yourself with a birthday message and we'll upload it to Habeas' Flickr photo gallery. (Please keep your photo size to less than 2 MB.)We'd give the card to Habeas himself, but he's been missing since October 17, 2006 -- the day Congress allowed the president to sign the Military Commissions Act into law. But you can go to FindHabeas.com today to see selected birthday messages (and with any luck, Habeas will find an Internet cafe somewhere and get to see them too).Habeas got one early birthday present this week, when a federal court said the Bush administration cannot indefinitely imprison a U.S. resident on suspi...
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THE LOSS OF LIBERTY
2007-06-14 21:55:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage) Libby Loses Liberty Another man is destined to lose his freedom, the same water that feeds our wellspring, and we celebrate with the wingless corpse of justice that dots the landscape we move upon searching for an identity.There is no celebration in such loss. This land lays down its lambs for the blade, the blood, awash over our two-headed righteousness, stooped and bleeding, holding tight the country?s sword in one handand with the other lobbing the sinless stone.So, I weep at our oceans of loss. I cry for the world?s demise. Justice is swift- and blind- and stumbling over errant stones. O! There is no delight in our living if we will not see our way! Had we ended this folly long ago our joy might have seemed fitting in this; our fleshy requiem.O! The path needs our joy and it must also have our light!Death. O! Death he does not celebrate without first crushing something!And life. O Life! She does not celebrate living that lunges back again and aga...
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CLOCKWORK WINDING DOWN by André de Korvin
2007-06-13 21:38:00
When rain fell,I tried to changewater into letters.Rain didn't want to writepoems anymore,it just curled around my fingersand when night fell,Dostoevsky wouldn't comedown Mike bar?s flashing lights.Neon remained unfocused, a sick childhappy to make doughnutsand car repair signs.Dust went on strikerefusing to rise withthe passage of each car,refusing to bespecks of diamonds in the sun.Often I forgot to greetthe newness of morningsascending over Earth,still talking in its sleep,mornings brighter thanexplosions of flowers,melting down wallsas if they were wax.© 2007 adk/ andrédekorvinhttp://apoeticjustice.blogsp ot.com/atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
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THE ARTIST'S LITTLE BOY (Happy birthday, Ben Heine)
2007-06-13 06:10:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage) There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.__Pablo PiccasoTeach me to paint!Teach me to paint the sun like you, daddy!It?s better that your life be painted first, my child,And from its color you might then paint the sun.You mean like you?No? I mean like you.© 2007 mrp/thepoetrymanHappy Birthday , Ben! (Ben Heine - Cartoons)http://apoeticjustice.blogspot.c om/atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
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LOVELESS BALM
2007-06-10 19:31:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)Lieberman: Bomb Iran If It Doesn't StopConn. Senator Says The U.S. Should Strike If Tehran Keeps Helping Anti-U.S. Forces In Iraq(CBS) The United States should launch military strikes against Iran if the government in Tehran does not stop supplying anti-American forces in Iraq, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday on Face The Nation. "I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq," Lieberman told Bob Schieffer. "And to me, that would include a strike into... over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers."The Indepedent former Democrat from Connecticut said that he was not calling for an invasion of Iran, but he did say the U.S. should target specific training camps. "I think you could probably do a lot of it from the air, but they can't believe that they hav...
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GONZALES
2007-06-10 01:24:00
Friends,I just called on congressional leaders to demand that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resign or be removed from office. The recent scandals involving the dismissals of eight U.S. Attorneys and the report that the F.B.I., which is part of the Department of Justice, violated the law and abused its authority under the Patriot Act to obtain personal information about American citizens are just the most recent in a series of failures.This Attorney General puts the President above the people. He has shown a deeper fidelity to the political interests of President Bush than to the public interest and the rule of law. It is in the nation's best interest for the Attorney General to resign, and if he fails to do so, President Bush should remove him from office.The New York Times recently called for removing Gonzales from office. Can you join me - and a growing chorus of voices - by speaking out and signing the emergency petition that Congress demand Gonzales resign or be removed fro...
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Start your Saturday off with the BLAST Drum Line
2007-06-09 07:44:00
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(One year ago today) THE SENSE OF THE WHITE BIRDS
2007-06-09 00:01:00
O! White birds fly down the raging river lineAnd white hot are the sun?s rays bathing the shore,And I think of this war and of my own borrowed complicityThat will be my shrieking, loathsome marrow felt forevermore!You cast it masterfully, dangling your lureOf every feeble people?s swindler in your damn book.You?d rather not have ?pull out? swim the raging water,But it?s out there! The nibblers bleed from your despotic hook!I think of all the Iraqi people, and I weep.And of their homes and shame at having believed in us;Freedom, democracy, clean water, safe streets, living;I think of your lies and at once am asphyxiated by our oily lust!O! The white birds flying the river can see it,They can see the shoreline and they can see the nectar,They glimpse a fabrication in America?s half-truths,For they see the ancient beauty of Iraq swilling in fumes of war!The bird senses our pandering, illicit ambition,The looming and buckling hell of shorelines stony crustAs the warring winds change cou...
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IT'S NOT EASY by André de Korvin
2007-06-06 20:06:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)Writing poems about agingfacing blank pages at the River Café.I write time flows differently inside a poem.and the page catches my reflection.On the other side of the poem,my father sits at his desk.He jots down another stanza,a rose blooms on the tip of his pen.He looks up, his faceyounger than mine.© 2007 adk/ andrédekorvinhttp://apoeticjustice.blogsp ot.com/atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
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(One year ago today) DRIPPING MOUTH
2007-06-06 05:32:00
The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do."-Samuel P. HuntingtonO heal thy heart,Thou white steely soulsWhose bleeding desire is to rule the world. American knights, heal this offense. Heal thy spirit of this dreadful lust.Do away with it?There is much hunger for peace,For love.There is much yet to be spoken,Much to heal of thy sickly onslaught,Much to be gleaned of this worldAnd its hunger for salvation.O! the breath of manNeed be sweetened!Softness need envelop her,And the wanton paws of this;Thy dominant voyage need come to an end,For it serves only to shackle and bloodyThe supple lips of hopeUpon divinity?s dripping mouth.Copyright © 2006 mrp http://apoeticjustice.blogspot.com/atom.x ml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
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ARROGANT SEA
2007-06-04 07:04:00
The grand vessel has tilted its lustrous bowInto the heavy remnants of an arrogant seaAnd is set to acquire more useless weight.In this great ship now grounded we passengers must ask:Where are the voices thundering with rescue?Where are the weapons of mutiny buried?Deep beneath the dismal granite of a callous sea?Or here, in the thickset shell of humankindWhere heroes have beaten back upon greater odds?Might they have died for nothing?Might we squander their hope given us,Their lives plunge `neath the icy waters?The grand vessel has tilted its lustrous bowInto the heavy remnants of an arrogant seaAnd is set to acquire more useless weight.Where? Where is the anger in our voices?Where are the urgent pleas in our bearings?Where are the new heroes most willing to march sternwardLifting voices with the immense weight of atonement?© 2007 mrp/thepoetrymanhttp://apoeticjustice.blo gspot.com/atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc

Smashing Pumpkins Disarm video
2007-06-03 07:26:00
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BUYING THE WAR
2007-06-02 16:13:00
NOW on the News Cindy Sheehan Interview PBS(Ben Heine - Cartoons) Under a starless sky the mounds move like an ebbing seaAs the moon stands sentry with an uncomfortable glowPeering below for obscure foes prowling the dark.Night?s mortal choir can be unforgiving to our mind's eye,Bringing visions of godless armies tramping ever near,Their bitter throats puffed with god-filled vengeance.The night bird no longer croons for our fluttering glory,Instead she travels toward her family, as it should be,Her voice banking off watery lips of listless nations;The echo felled empty as we creatures of madness roar,Crying out to the mythical army that they cease their tideAnd evaporate to shadow so we can tell our tales of yore;When we were free and a gallon of gas didn't murder a child.© 2007 mrp/thepoetrymanThanks to C & L for finding the video.http://apoeticjustice.blogspot.com/ atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
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FIRST CONVERSATIONS by André de Korvin
2007-06-01 16:34:00
I asked the German priestwhich way to dark river?Being one year old,I didn't yet speak very wellthe language of the planet,also my voice came out somewhat distortedby the émigré sadness I carried within.It sounded somewhat like this:ma-ma- ma-ma.He got very angry,his words came at melike an engine that had lost its oil:hush-hush-hush-hush.We were both so far from home.http://apoeticjustice.blogspot.com/a tom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
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1. Michael Franti and Spearhead : Time To Go Home 2. FrantiV: Episodes 1 -
2007-05-31 20:16:00
If you've yet to see any of this workDo not hesitate now.Watch them allAnd feel the peace my friends.Feel it with your very bones now.Feel it deep within you.Do not turn your face from their sun.Do not fear them.Do not hide from their truth.Do not.Do not.Do not turn and run.Do not.Do not run and hide.Oh no.Face them.Look them in the eyeAnd say to them,Peace. Peace. Peace.If you've yet to see them,You've not held their handAnd walked with them.You've not lived them.Do not ignore them.Let them rumble in you.Let them course through.Let them grow in you.Let them.Let them.Let them.Peace.© 2007 mrp/thepoetryman Episode 01 : Dennis KucinichEpisode 02: Jack JohnsonEpisode 03 : 8 yr old's Letter to the PresidentEpisode 4: Veterans for Peace, North CarolinaPrevious Post - POETS FOR PEACE(A Poetic Justice Other's Videos)http://apoeticjustice.blogspot.com /atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
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Poets for Peace
2007-05-31 08:48:00
On the advice of Lynn from Zelleblog I have created a sister blog to The Tree. The blog will be dedicated to poetry only. If you want to post poetry with the theme of peace, anti-war, or the like please let me know and I will add you to the "Poet s for Peace " author list so you can post your work on your own time, any time. I have posted the first poem on the blog and added (1) to the end of the title. Anyone posting after that will simply add the number that follows the number preceding your post. Come one, come all, just make the poem fit the theme of peace or in that area. If you are not sure if your poem fits with the blog's theme, and by proxy The Peace Tree, it probably doesn't.http://apoeticjustice.blogspot.co m/atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc

PEACE... COME STUMBLING
2007-05-30 07:00:00
Do you know what astonished me most in the world? The inability of force to create anything. In the long run the sword is always beaten by the spirit. Soldiers usually win battles and generals get the credit for them. You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war. If they want peace, nations should avoid the pin-pricks that precede cannon shots.__Napoleon BonaparteWe cannot use peace. It must come stumbling.We cannot force peace. It must enter free of war. Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding. __Albert EinsteinPeace, if it rears its beautiful head, will have found its legs in the resistance to bloodshed.The stepping stones of this event are laid down by the people.We must choose to walk upon the stones and not be motivated by force.I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days gov...
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THE WAY OUT
2007-05-29 15:39:00
(Ben Heine - Cartoons)Iraq: The Way OutThe Bush administration often repeats the phrase "When they stand up, we'll stand down".And in an effort to speed up the process, the US army is training teams of soldiers to embed into the very Iraqi army they once defeated.Al Jazeera's Josh Rushing follows one such team through training at Fort Riley, Kansas - where the soldiers are supposed to learn culture and language skills to help them "lead from behind" in their new assignment - to Al Hatra, Iraq to find out how training compares to reality.Sure? there is a way outThere?s also the occasional truthOf course, lies can be made to fly a longer distanceAnd have the sheen of certaintyThey do not have the smiling facesOf children with hope of a futureThey do not carry supplies to the offendedAnd they cannot be made to reflectThe dream of every ferocious wolfIs a world gone mad with sheepAnd, inevitably, it ends with everyone soaked in redFrothing from the cup of empireSure? there?s a way out...

HIGH INTO THE MOIST AIR
2007-05-28 06:06:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)the thread is now barren, too soon,waving over the arid ground,it splits againand the cotton bleeds with the fallen lists of yongiant horned butterflies swoop in with their drumsthrum-thrum-thrum, thrum-a-tum-tumand the pageant fills the air in every city and the sky groansthrum-thrum-thrum, thrum-a-tum-tumthe solemn horde stand in their mumble-stumble anthemthrum-thrum-thrum, thrum-a-tum-tumhandkerchiefs are made handy for eyes dropping bombs in the dustthrum-thrum-thrum, thrum-a-tum-tumthe holy alliance with the soil spilled long ago grows heavier stillthrum-thrum-thrum, thrum-a-tum-tumsoulless worms made of oil inch along in macabre silencethrum-thrum-thrum, thrum-a-tum-tumwell dressed children stoop in slack-jawed bewildermentthrum-thrum-thrum, thrum-a-tum-tuma little boy is told to stop giggling this instantthrum-thrum-thrum, thrum-a-tum-tumthe young lad won?t see that his laughter is out of orderthrum-thrum-thrum, thrum-a-tum-tumand he notices al...
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Soldier
2007-05-27 12:06:00
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Much of America's Business is none of America's Business
2007-05-26 07:27:00
© 2007 mrp/thepoetryman Previous Post - FOLLOWhttp://apoeticjustice.blogspot.com/ atom.xml http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc
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FOLLOW
2007-05-25 17:16:00
O they?ve followed us home!O home! O home! O home!They?ve followed us home!So why are we failingAnd so damned alone?We need see ourselves in their shadow,If not, then see to their reasons.Why only listen for their moist-plodding feetRumbling our fears rooted in seasons?Why do we shiver and gasp at their specter;Ghosts of our own image-and-nation,Phantoms embarking of invisible caravanComing to carry us away from creation?O home! O home! O homeward they?re marching!Calling from graves of political deception,Motioning to us from barren street lamps,Thrashing down alleys and streaking the skyBringing their wrath upon pale conceptions.O home! O home! O homeward they?re striding!The least of them nearing our beckoning nation,Moaning and groaning, intriguing our childrenWith movie passes and soda and popcorn salvation.O home! O home! They?re following us homeTo sit by the fire and move us to seething,To cudgel our hopes, mislead and threatenThe chord of our most dire illusions,Carrying pa...

WAR AND SHAME
2007-05-24 05:55:00
Neville Chamberlain:"My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time...Go home and get a nice quiet sleep." Sept. 30, 1938~Winston Churchill:"Owing to the neglect of our defences and the mishandling of the German problem in the last five years, we seem to be very near the bleak choice between War and Sham e. My feeling is that we shall choose Shame , and then have War thrown in a little later, on even more adverse terms than at present." Winston Churchill in a letter to Lord Moyne, 1938 (A Poetic Justice Photomontage)We have at last managed to turn up here,Arriving so near again to our hope filled pain.Trusting was our finite howler;Waiting on frauds to usher in our word.Let us question this; our recent path.Let us notice its pebbles of truthShattered and scattered along the edge.Peace with principle, it seems, shall not be,So let us trust ourselves to forge anew.?No!...