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

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THE PEACE TREE2...
2009-10-08 20:55:00
As much as I hate to do this, Blogger has left me no choice but to create a new blog, same title, one minor difference in the address- http://thepeacetree2.blogspot.com/... The limit of 2000 on "tags" is the culprit... since we have 2,848 posts! Please bear with me while I, once again, transfer the template to the "new" blog. Author invites are in the mail! Please change to the new address http://thepeacetree2.blogspot.com/ (links, etc) to accommodate and shine a light on the new, yet the same, blog. Peace ...

3 NEW ACTIONS to take on The Peace Tree's Activism Page...
2009-10-08 18:39:00
Three New Actions and many others to take...
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The Roadkill Prayer
2009-10-08 17:17:00
For all animal lovers! Really! En route to work, a passing motorist holds a funeral for a squirrel hit by a car... the Roadkill Prayer .So, I turned around and drove back. I parked. I got out and searched through the trunk, coming up with some cardboard and a plastic lid with which to move his body. As I moved toward his body, one squirrel was trying to move his body, little legs widespread, pushing the body toward the curb with great difficulty. I paused as a truck approached, put my hand up to indicate slow down, and waived the driver around. I turned back to the body. He, for he was clearly male, was dead. I was relieved for that much for his own sake and for mine, as I do not know what I would have done if he were still alive and suffering ever so slowly to death from crushed innards. His right-hand eye was popped clear out of its socket. His teeth were pushed clear forward nearly out of his mouth, blood beginning to dry on his lips. I stooped down and scooped his furry tan-and-b...

SEEING INSIDE THE WOUND (The 8th Violent Verse)
2009-10-08 07:00:00
What it is I've found in the course of this I will tell you. I will. I will, But there’s little comfort in knowing. The awful and the good get beaten down Like a snitch in the prison yard, Fist upon fist, kick upon kick, Pain upon goddamned pain. How many of the living, the wounded, The blameless and marked, Should I expect to be wasted? The abuser has cruelty like illumination, They can see within it, yet know not its heart. The abused have fear like darkness, They can't see within it, yet know when it's upon them. What I’ve found in the course of this I will tell you. I will. I will, But, like I said, there’s little comfort in it. © 2009 mrp/thepoetryman Read all the Violent Verse s DVAM
More About: Inside

AFGHANISTAN'S SPIRALING POSE (Wednesday Head-Lines 9/7/09)
2009-10-07 23:59:00
Poetryman PhotomontageWhy Afghan surge is no sure thingThat we must penetrate at all the mad, sloping Hindu Kush,Forgo what remains scattered all around; let passThat within her jagging and spiraling pose;There’s nothing left there that war cannot expose.Obama seeks advice on AfghanistanWhen words mean everything and nothing,When advice is given through both sides of the mouth,Our thick tongue upon the sky should be, “Get out”.Afghan Taliban say they pose no threat to the WestThis we know to be true, despite the ogre’s screeching spin.And for this inane vortex we’ll die if we mustAnd win at all costs, despite the warnings of history.Obama Meeting Advisers Amid Debate on Afghan PolicyThe voices must be soothing. They must adhere to authority.They must not be treasonous. “The Art of War” shall be drawn.(The field manual for warring, 476-221 AD)We’ve discovered it’s easier to teach war than craft peace.Eighth Anniversary of the Afghanistan WarTroops still brave the sa...
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SHARING THE PAGE (The 7th Violent Verse)
2009-10-07 07:00:00
Nothing paints our bodies like the grief in pain. It floats in the ribs. It expands In dread Like a red violin With a broken string. She scrambles away on the air, Exhaling notes already composed by another. It is music gone mad. It is anguish and ecstasy Sharing the page With misfortune. She has climbed as high as she can. Happiness brushes against her, It is her acquittal, Transitory; Composer of this instant, Her masterpiece. © 2009 mrp/thepoetryman Read all the Violent Verse s DVAM
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The Truth about the Lies about ACORN
2009-10-07 02:09:00
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
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Vincent Van Gogh Letters
2009-10-06 15:05:00
At the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam tomorrow, HM the Queen will open (Dutch) a special exhibit of over 900 letters written to and from the artist Vincent van Gogh.The letters project is result of 15 years of research by the Museum and the Huygens Institute of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. They tell the fascinating story of Vincent and the close bond with his brother and confidant, Theo. After October 8, the English translation of the letters will be available on-line.
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turning the world out
2009-10-06 13:23:00
i don't know if it's cowardly to isolate from the news of the world. i do know it's a luxury and i don't take it for granted. i have no desire to take up the cause of anything anymore. it seems too much like tilting at windmills and i really think i am too old at this point to want to do so. i find it ironic that my foray into my ancestry has opened me up to history that is far too much like the present to suit me. i am currently reading thoreau's 'civil disobedience' and just finished 'walden'- and although he wrote these in the 1840's and '50's, it could easily have been today. corrupt and greedy politicians and materialistic citizens seem to be the american way and it's a real shame. thoreau tilted at windmills too.i did have an interesting, ironic twist in my readings- my father's family on his maternal side are part of the seneca nation. and as i was driving home today, i caught myself thinking- if i had to give up my life tomorrow- my home, family, means ...
More About: World , The World

A CHILD WITHOUT FEAR (The 6th Violent Verse)
2009-10-06 07:00:00
The looming shadow holds her every thought from her signature. She remembers as a child she seemed to be without fear in the hollow imaginings of nightfall, she was braver when she put her tongue to his and they fell together. (Love became tired and mean and loud and put a fist inside her smile.) She convinces herself to lie still, to not make a sound, and she does, like a game of charades without gestures. The shadow keeps growing, rising like the pain of seeing a loved one suffer, waiting on the moon to reveal the fog, waiting on the rock to uncover the cause, the shadow to pay a visit, to bring fresh bread and bandages and maybe the pieces of herself. © 2009 mrp/thepoetryman Read all the Violent Verse s DVAM
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TEACH US TO LOVE (The 5th Violent Verse)
2009-10-05 07:00:00
Today, October 5th, is World Teachers Day World Teachers' Day is a day to celebrate teachers and the central role they play in guiding children, youths & adults through the life-long learning process. This year, World Teachers’ Day will focus on the role of teachers within the context of the global financial and economic crisis and the need to invest in teachers now as a means to secure post-crisis regeneration. It is critical, during these difficult times, to seek mechanisms that protect the teaching profession. It is also crucial, despite the crisis, to ensure that investment in teachers is sufficient and proportionate to the demands made upon them. It is the teaching force with its knowledge, experience and foresight which can bring new insights to global solutions. Join us in celebrating this! TEACH US TO LOVE Today the sky wove its deep thread of cold winds as if to rake dying grass like a doctor suturing wounds. Last year it was the same. O! Teach us not to brea...
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THE MIRROR STANDS BEFORE US (The 4th October Violent Verse)
2009-10-05 00:05:00
Domestic violence as pre-existing condition? 8 states still allow it The mirror now stands before us; Torn sleeves and skin, she's come to watch the sorrow dripping down, the sap of our veiled shame, our abysmal indifference… Disgrace, the fickle comrade, has not discouraged her, kept her from loving us fully though she’s been seen weeping in the temple of mankind. We try to imagine her echo shattering man’s tall ceiling and the sharp storm falling down over the world, we even imagine massaging the ache from her body but our hands remind her of her fathers. Bleeding out across the landscape, she covers her eyes with our callused paws and the pale swag of decay As we step away, stagger back from ourselves, unable to let go, our scent upon her pain. The mirror speaks to us and tries to hold us in, to rescue us a small piece at a time as our rooted shame draws back our arms to strike- caught in this snapshot of our pre-existing condition we look stunned, wild animals paral...
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World Animal Day
2009-10-04 18:30:00
Today is World Animal Day and Animal Welfare Sunday.Some liturgical churches also celebrate October 4th as the Feast of St Francis of Assisi with blessings of animals. Writing in the Church Times from the UK, Revd Professor Andrew Linzey, Director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics:The Church of England has spent decades in liturgical renewal, but does not offer even one prayer for animal welfare. We pray as if God were uninterested in the millions of other species. There is, of course, plenty of sensitivity for the misnamed “our environment”, but when it comes to confronting our responsibilities to individual crea­tures, official publications fall silent.A classic example was when the Church of England published prayers this summer for those suffer­ing from swine flu. Here was an opportunity to also remember the thousands of pigs suffering appalling conditions, since their maltreatment was one of the causal links to the disease from which human beings now suffer. In the w...

J'accuse!
2009-10-04 08:08:00
The response to Roman Polanski's arrest from people who put themselves on the forefront of many cultural, social and political issues, is unconscionable and mind-boggling.The very same individuals who, between their red carpet appearances, can carry on with a seemingly genuine passion about human rights and social justice, have come out in defense of a child rapist and fugitive because he is one of their own. And, oh, a genius. One would imagine that with their gifts and privilege comes a greater responsibility for upholding the principles they appear to champion during their photo-ops, interviews, and lectures. One would be sorely mistaken.Their duplicity offends every human sensibility that informs us about right and wrong. In essence, by protesting Polanski's arrest and probable extradition, the members of the cultural and political elites have sanctioned both child rape and the splendid notion that when you commit one, you can and should run from justice. The clear message t...

Our Final Frontier: Keep Space for Peace
2009-10-04 07:00:00
Their goal is cosmic: to keep the arms race out of the heavens. That's why October 3-10 is worldwide "Keep Space for Peace Week: International Days of Protest to Stop the Militarization of Space," announced the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. Events this year focus on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) that fly over Afghanistan and Pakistan but are controlled by pilots at computer terminals on bases in the US. Death at a distance is still blood on our hands, the group contends. The technology produces massive civilian casualties. Satellite communication technology drives the remote-control robots that devastate targets around the globe, according Dave Webb, Global Network chairperson. "We must not allow these technologies to go unchallenged. Indeed we must do all we can to stop the spread and rule of violence and destruction," he says. The week reminds the public "what kind of a destabilizing future these systems could create." Protests are planned t...
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ONCE UPON A TIME (The 3rd Domestic Violence Verse)
2009-10-03 07:00:00
As well as it being National Domestic Violence Awareness Month October is also National Arts and Humanities Month Each year since 1993, National Arts and Humanities Month has helped give millions of Americans the opportunity to explore new facets of the arts and humanities in their lives and has encouraged them to begin a lifelong habit of active participation. It has become the nation's largest collective annual celebration of the arts and humanities. National Arts and Humanities Month's four primary goals are to * create a national, state and local focus on the arts and humanities through the media; * encourage the active participation of individuals, as well as arts, humanities and other interested organizations nationwide; * provide an opportunity for federal, state and local business, government and civic leaders to declare their support for the arts and humanities; and * establish a highly visible vehicle for raising public awareness about the arts and humanities. Once ...
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TORMENT COME STUMBLING (The 2nd Domestic Violent Verse)
2009-10-02 07:00:00
UN declares 2 October, Gandhi’s birthday, as International Day of Non-Violence (15 June 2007 – The United Nations General Assembly today decided to observe the International Day of Non-Violence each year on 2 October – the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, who helped lead India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.) I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life. __Mahatma Gandhi To the hardened freedom on the crown of winter where coldness flourishes, they've come again. Bloody faced women in their nightclothes, humming such lovely howls as they rock their children to sleep, listening for footsteps on the porch, torment... come… stumbling home. Women brushing their hair as if it were love, daubing makeup to dilute the venom they can’t escape. Tears, useless; even their children’s smiles carry them to frowni...
More About: Domestic , Verse

THE LIGHT WAS HARSH - (The 1st "Violent Verse" for October)
2009-10-01 07:00:00
This, The Light Was Harsh, is the first poem in the month-long series of daily poems, Violent Verse s, posted for the month of October. The light was strong, violent. In his anger, Leaping out, he’d made an imprint And puffed her soul to bleed. She knew he would soon stop- End his rage toward anguish and The gaping holes In the walls would attest To his frenzied decorations. His dreadful, pitching heaviness Would suddenly meet Such stiff and frightened jaws, her redness Emerging, and her cries pleading to let go. I can’t tell you anymore, Not without putting a hole through a wall. I can’t tell you anymore, For I am a man whose rage might leak Like fearsome light through a cavern at dawn. I could read everything; All there is to know about man And still not know where the hell we are, Still not know why or when We fell away into such ferocious shadows… Perhaps I’m looking at it wrong... Maybe it is not man that has fallen away, Maybe it’s the light that has forsak...

UPDATED - The Professor as Entrepreneur: Chief virologist in Holland under
2009-10-01 01:51:00
UPDATE BELOWI am not sure which is wackier, the disaster politics of the H1N1 vaccine or ethics standards at Erasmus University Medical Center, a teaching hospital in Rotterdam. Ab Osterhaus, chief virologist at Erasmus, has advised the the Dutch government and international agencies (WHO, for one) on approaches to fighting the flu pandemic and has even recommended that the government purchase flu vaccines. DutchNews.nl reports he works part time for—and has a 10 percent share in—the university-owned ViroClinics which is researching a flu vaccine.Anton Westerlaken, chairman of Erasmus MC, told the Telegraaf professors have to become a shareholder in any company set up under university auspices to exploit a patent. Any profits are divided 80% to the university and 20% to the professors involved, he said.Osterhaus told the paper he had done nothing wrong. 'I have always said I am involved in that company and shares are all in the game,' he said.Earlier this year Osterhaus deni...
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THE END - The 30th September Song (poetry series for hunger)
2009-09-30 07:00:00
(Artwork by Marcin Bondarowicz) I think today is the end of all things conventional, Whatever had been predictable yesterday, is no more. Forks and spoons are too rusted to use, Jutting out of us like some perished nightmare. Dining room tables are being used for makeshift mausoleums, (Leave the dead, don’t waste precious energy.) Electricity went out this morning, water this afternoon. It reaches everywhere; the world reeks of a decomposing. There’s a deafening silence ticking down like a giant clock; Nothing can be heard, save the monstrous, shrieking echo of silence That swims over our heads like crop-dusters spitting flesh. We are so goddamn frightened! Is this the end of the world? Has our greed and apathy finally made its way back to us? Have our closed hands and open mouths at last climbed inside our minds? Where are all the loud children skipping home from school? What day is this? What time is it? What has happened? At night there will be fireflies and the moon t...
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Democratic Hall of Shame
2009-09-30 01:46:00
Two amendments proposing a public option were shot down in the Senate Finance Committee today: the first amendment was crafted by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and rejected in a 15-8 vote (five Democrats joined all the Republicans), and the second one, by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), was killed by a vote of 13-10, with three Democrats joining the Republicans.Here they are, the Infamous Five (really GOPers in sheep's clothing):Sen. Max Bupkus Baucus (D-Mont.)Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.)Sen. Kent Clueless Conrad (D-N.D.)and Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.)As HuffPo reports, there were predictable eruptions of idiocy during SFC's deliberations:Republican senators argued that the public option would bankrupt the country and lead to a single-payer system.* "Government is not a competitor. Government is a predator," said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa).** Yet the GOP also defended Medicare, which Democrats took pains to point out was a government-run plan. Sen. R...
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SOMETHING COLD - 29th September Song (poems for the hungry)
2009-09-29 19:00:00
Have you ever touched something cold? I mean cold, not as ice, but as bitter as oblivion? Have you ever touched something, Something as cold as the universe leaking nightfall, Frigid as an unopened hand frosted with shame? Our numbness embarks upon this; our private voyage Traversing over a glacial truth buried under stars, Beneath our frostbitten souls and veined throbbing Fetching bones for the scabby mongrels of cosmic machinery. There’s no flight, no escape from such famished consent; If there were, the final thing we’d touch would be warm. (Artwork by Marcin Bondarowicz) © 2009 mrp/thepoetryman Read all the September Song s Help support Feeding America's Hunger Action Month
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human nature
2009-09-29 08:26:00
i have been reading a bit about the early history of new york state- as i am a native upstate new yorker. i always preface with 'upstate' because folks who aren't from here often tend to think that manhattan is all there is to new york state. on the contrary, upstate has just as rich a history as downstate- and indeed, the mighty iroquois nation encompassed just about all of new york state and surrounding territories down into tennessee and the carolinas. i wanted to know a bit more of what my ancestors were about- my father's family is seneca. i discovered many things- ironic and interesting- the iroquois did not care for the french and yet, the name iroquois is the french term for the 6 nations; and seneca is derived from the dutch term sinnikar which actually came from the algonquin term osinika. neat stuff. the more relevant facts i am finding out- human nature brought the 6 nations down from being one of the mightiest foes of the europeans- to being relegated to 3 sma...
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Brutes of Human Destruction - MONDAY (9/28/09) HEAD-LINES
2009-09-29 03:02:00
3 arrested in Ill teen's beating death Before youth caved in, bloodshed crashed to earth. Before fury and murder Climbed up, Brutes of human destruction let fly their steel teeth. While we so easily tolerate the thunder of metal To crash down, shock And awe, Remember where our youth’s fury learns to speak. Iran flexes muscle ahead of talks with major powers When the markings of power outlive our stillness It is the endeavor of our own eagerness To keep and bear arms. At U.N., Obama Calls Climate Threat 'Urgent' In this direction The wits succumb to indifferent blindness In that direction The intellect falters of the air’s importance And fails to journey CAUTION: Two-way Single Lane Traffic Ahead Secret Service Probing Obama Assassination Poll on Facebook Since this headline comes from Fox News It is of no surprise and very little comfort That the story is outwardly probative as Deception continues to load, cock, and aim Israel Pushes Harder Line On Iran Nuclear Ambitions T...
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OUR OWN RECONGNIZANCE (Head-Line poetry 7/30/09)
2009-07-30 22:43:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)Guantanamo inmate to be releasedUnaccountable flesh and bone and greed and crueltymixed in with the fineness of a discarded spider?s legand everything else that we?ll soon release of ourselves.Iran to release prominent reformist from jailStride slowly now, warrior, on the sidewalktoward your battle. It will be this taste, this airthat you shall carry for others to Please visit 'Poetic Justice' to read in full... apoeticjustice dot blogspot dot com
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QUESTIONS FOR THE FREE
2009-07-29 22:42:00
Iran 'releases 140 demonstrators'Was it dark in there? Were you in pain?Is it light outside on the path to sovereignty?Do you have the same evil upon your streets as we?Why does gloom sit with you on the crimson sidewalk?Careful that you not tarry long, for wickedness Will surely wipe the efforts of tyrants upon your joy.Gates says U.S. urban pullout in Iraq going wellAre you proud? Rush to war Please visit 'Poetic Justice' to read in full... apoeticjustice dot blogspot dot com
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I AM NOT AFRAID
2009-07-27 22:41:00
English translation of the video [+/-]I am not afraid.I am not afraid if in the turmoils of these conspicuous times I will be accused of conspiracy.I am not afraid to be accused of stirring unrest, but you cannot deny that I am a mother; not only the mother of "Tandis & Baran" [refering to her daughter Baran Kowsari], but also the mother of all that youth who has been witnessing their own mothers Please visit 'Poetic Justice' to read in full... apoeticjustice dot blogspot dot com

SHACKLES OF IRON...
2009-07-20 22:38:00
On June 7th, 2008 Sarah Palin interrupted her schedule of state business and spent Alaska state taxpayer money to fly down from Juneau to the Mat-Su Valley where she attended on June 8th two religious events dominated by the Wasilla Assembly of God, which is demonstrably Palin's key Alaska church.At the end of one those events, young adults in a church Palin had attended for over two decades were Please visit 'Poetic Justice' to read in full... apoeticjustice dot blogspot dot com
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THE LESSONS OF TODAY (Head-Lines 7/17/09)
2009-07-17 22:36:00
Taliban threatens to kill captured GIA colossal, gloom stuffed breathing thingMoved over the land with a push from inadvertent liberty.They said they weren?t sure if it was from this worldAnd begged the hostage to find the nearest well hole andDrag it kicking and screaming down with him...Chaos besets 9/11 court hearingO, thank you, lords of turmoil,Thank you for this stunning day;How bone Please visit 'Poetic Justice' to read in full... apoeticjustice dot blogspot dot com
More About: Today , Head , Lines , Lessons

PROPHECY OF DESPAIR (Head-Lines 7/13/09)
2009-07-15 22:35:00
(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)Blasts kill 2 Marines in AfghanistanAs we stand near the afternoon window and the sun dancesThrough the glass, someplace a marine gets lifted andChildren lose their mom or dad in the crowdWhile our hearts pound out misery?s song.Children die in harsh Peru winterThe snow unfastens a child?s fortress and a bluebird?sSong- their expression moves through the Inca Please visit 'Poetic Justice' to read in full... apoeticjustice dot blogspot dot com
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