POETIC JUSTICE: July 2007

UPON THE AIR

With Eyes Fixed on a Distant Soccer Field, Iraqis Leap at a Reason to Celebrate

BAGHDAD, July 29 — The bare statistics will record that in the 71st minute of a soccer tournament 5,000 miles from Iraq, a Kurd from Mosul kicked a ball onto the head of a Sunni from Kirkuk, who ricocheted it into the goal to secure a 1-0 victory for Iraq over Saudi Arabia on Sunday in the final of the 2007 Asian Cup.

(Ben Heine - Cartoons)

On July 29th of the year two-thousand and seven, The Lions
of the Two Rivers rumbled to a much welcomed conquest;
a country torn asunder, wobbling over an impending loss,
was offered a respite of her recent consumption of warfare.

For many, as victory swept through the strident air
like a dauntless charger, it was hard to imagine, bittersweet, impossible;
a swooning land takes refuge where it may- pure Arabian, heart
and soul- “Iraq! Iraq!” “Peace for Iraq!” hung loudly on the air.

“I hope this victory will unite my country”
where nights have been extremely warm with the color of hostility.
This- This night would be different, a voyage made for tomorrow.
“I want the Americans out of Iraq”... (One victory at a time.)

FIERY ARCHANGEL

Iraq’s environment minister blamed Monday the use of depleted uranium weapons by U.S. forces during the 2003 Operation Shock and Awe for the current surge in cancer cases across the country.
As a result of “at least 350 sites in Iraq being contaminated during bombing” with depleted uranium (DU) weapons, Nermin Othman said, the nation is facing about 140,000 cases of cancer, with 7,000 to 8,000 new ones registered each year.
Speaking at a ministerial meeting of the Arab League, she also complained that many chemical plants and oil facilities had been destroyed during the two military campaigns since the 1990s, but the ecological consequences remain unclear.

(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)

Do we not feel the fiery archangel's eyes
when tumors grow from our touch?

So black, so deadened... Numb is this hollowness
as the world watches our march upon graves
and hears the sand shriek in dismay!

O! Our time calls out for more than this from us;
it begs a reflection upon tenderness
with hunger's pleading gaze.

We must enter into a season of grand marvels,
like a child upon seeing his mother’s smile;
a world free of brutality and madness and war.

Thanks to C&L for the inspiration

WHO SHALL MEET THE LOOMING STRIKE

Who hears the coming toll
clanging down upon existence;
the hell’s bell strafing the motherland
in shock and awe’s comeuppance?

Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.

Not nearly enough of the breathing.
For the idle flesh... it’s now beyond remittance.

Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.

For whom should it toll?
And for how much longer?
Ask the twisted faces... staring back in anger.

Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.

Behind us, the screeching gloom hunched in wait.
In front, that goddamned piece of paper
of which... we’ve made a solemn pledge.

Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.

What should each of us do?
And why should each of us do it?
Ask the occupied... that kneel in rigid prayer.

Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.

Who should heed the gruesome chord?
And who should meet the looming strike
of shock and awe’s reward?

Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.

Not nearly enough of the living.
For the fallen... it’s now beyond their giving.

Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.

Who should stand and hold back hell?
And who should end its surge?
Ask the million ghosts... clanging on the bell.

(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)

3,611

Once Upon a time...
The Bloodthirsty Murderers of a Million

POROUS

(SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: The war is not lost in Iraq. In fact, now American Iraqi security forces are winning. The enemy is on the run in Iraq. But, here in — in Congress, in Washington, we seem to be, or some — some members seem to be on the run, chased, I fear, by public opinion polls.)

COOPER: Is the enemy on the run in Iraq, Michael (Ware)?

WARE: No, certainly not. And I think we need to be aware that it’s enemies. I mean, America doesn’t face just one opponent in this country, but a whole multitude, many of whom are becoming stronger, the longer the U.S. occupation here, or presence here, in Iraq continues. So, unfortunately, I’m afraid that Senator Lieberman has taken an excursion into fantasy.

porous

O warriors in the red gleaming grove
with voices like that of stone…

Heroes beneath the noisy rubble of human rage
with breath like that of decomposing joy…

Brothers and sisters at rest under the darkened sky
with an ashen vigor like that of midnight fog...

Half–lived and fruitless toward your end,
rise up and speak!

Bring forth your will from beneath the crushed stone
and inform these thieves and frauds they’re wrong!

O bright mourning lifts no truth from this;
our dying soil, no glee pours forth its liquid mouth...

Peace, if it is to come, shall enter upon your spoils,
and those lofting fantasy upon you and your brethren,
rejected, leaving your trace floating over the world…

Bush Rejects Strategy Change

200 Explosive Belts Siezed in Iraq

Vendetta Attack Kills 11

One Year ago- LISTEN CLOSELY

An al-Sadr aide, Shaikh Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, denounced the Baghdad raid, saying 11 civilians were killed and dozens wounded as U.S. jets fired on the area while people were sleeping on their roofs amid searing summer temperatures and electricity shortages.
"This is a big escalation from the American side," he said. "I condemn all the silence toward such violations and I call for the withdrawal of the American forces."
There were conflicting casualty figures. Lt. Kadim Abbas Hamza of the Sadr City police said fighter planes fired from the air at about 3:15 a.m. and nine people, including a woman, were killed and 14 were wounded. He also said eight people were arrested. A hospital official said seven people were killed and 34 wounded.

Now that we truly see them, the people of the world,
Why are our eyes not wet in the midst of scaly grief?
Have we not shrieked in nameless terror long enough,
Been onlooker to nightmares of insensible winters
Beckoning to us from unfilled graves etched in awe?

Now that we might truly see ourselves with the world’s stale eyes
Why do we condone the enduring massacre of even one more?
Are we so goddamned fearful to not flinch of this;
Our queasy indifference?

We should be vomiting out our coldness
And ingesting the puff-tongued hunger for peace!
We need be humble and reaching
Not bombing and preaching!
Forty-seven more bomb-split, blood-spilled,
Freedom-cuffed, breath-snuffed, and killed!

Listen… You can sense the dead eating our horror,
Heed the dry bone now bleached under dawn’s collapse,
Perceive the stars and moon tremble and overlap the other.
Listen closely; you can hear immense wings clambering for heaven.

© 2007 mrp/thepoetryman

Join in on the impeachment matrix!

h/t to Betmo of Life's Journey

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We, the undersigned bloggers of America, agreeing that dissent is the truest form of patriotism, hereby publicly voice our unanimous discontent with the Bush administration and beseech the Congress of the United States of America to provide redress by immediately initiating impeachment proceedings against George W. Bush and Richard Cheney.

Left in Aboite Fort Wayne Left Left of Centrist Monticello America Weeps Get Your Own Der Parson's Rant The Katrinacrat Let's Talk About It Carol for Peace Divided States bu$hmeriKa Dizzy Dayz Anti-bush pro-usa States-a-Mind Life's Journey A Poetic Justice The Peace Tree ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW ImpeachNOW

WORTH

Breath to a corpse,
A bottomless floor,
A penny to the poor,
A whispered roar;
A country's flag
is worth no more;
Illusion of truth,
Slight of hand,
Trap door.

© 2007 mrp/thepoetryman

COMMUTABLE DISEASE

Newsday.com –

Bush Respects the Jury and the Judge but not the Sentence

“I respect the jury's verdict," Bush said in a statement.

"But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive."

National Review Online – Libby gets what he deserves… freedom

Say what?

(A Poetic Justice Photomontage)

“We have urged President Bush to pardon Lewis "Scooter" Libby from the moment a jury found Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff guilty of perjury and obstruction in the CIA-leak case. Now the president has acted. He didn't go as far as we would have liked, choosing to commute Libby's prison term while leaving his conviction, fine, and probation intact. But his action ensures that Libby will not go to jail, and that's a good thing.

There were a lot of reasons why presidential clemency was appropriate. The first is that the CIA-leak investigation was a fundamentally political exercise from Day One. Even before the appointment of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in December 2003, Justice Department investigators knew that it was former State Department official Richard Armitage, not Libby, who originally leaked the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame Wilson. The Justice Department also knew enough to conclude that Libby had not violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the law at issue in the case. Lacking proof that an underlying crime took place, and knowing the source of the leak, the Justice Department should have shut down the investigation then and there.”

And now for the real world view:

Chairman Conyers on President Bush’s Decision to Commute

A Betrayal of Trust of the American People by Nancy Pelosi

Chairwoman Slaughter on President Bush’s Decision to Commute

Libby Sentence Commuted: Inexcusable

Tony Snow Spins the Libby Commutation

Bush Does Not Rule Out a Pardon

COMMUTABLE DISEASE

The people readied themselves for the celebration; burgers, hotdogs, refreshments, and beer, but ahead of their gleeful caravan was mankind’s lies and grime that the wind dropped until the unbearable stench was hard upon them.

The grave spirits wept of the fading justice, tears tilted their red cheeks into the pungent air opening the fear-filled and stinking carriage, lowering the trappings across the doldrums.

They stood, one next to the other, smiling in quiet optimism as the odor drifted through and crawled up their expectant noses making bed in the deep ruts left by the torrent of recent wars.

The spirits had not meant to overstay their welcome.

They had not meant to disillusion.

(But the world’s people are so pliable, so tired, that even expected news rocks them back.)

Monuments of sacrifice on that day split open like melons, exposing the battered hearts gasping at the shock of dishonor standing limbless before them.

They never imagined the disease would find them so easily, yet its stench fell freely, flooding the dried up land.

How could this have happened, they shrieked!

We love our dear country!

We took all the necessary precautions:
sunscreen, fireworks, USA T-shirts, shotguns, the bible, ice, extra towels and coolers, ice-cream, apple-pie, the American flag, sunglasses, and reusable cups.

Olbermann's Special Comment on Libby and Bush/Cheney.

WARRING CHRIST (Blog Against Theocracy II)

Theocracy is derived from the two Greek words, Qeo/j(Theos) meaning "God" and kra/tein (cratein) meaning "to rule."

The Reverend Rod Parsley, a champion of theocracy, or what he calls a "christocracy," told his congregation at the World Harvest Church, located just outside Columbus, Ohio, "Theocracy means God is in control, and you are not."(more)
D. James Kennedy, Pastor of Coral Ridge Ministries:
"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society."

Today's hard right seeks total dominion. It's packing the courts and rigging the rules. The target is not the Democrats but democracy itself.

Dying in the meadows,
They’ve all fallen
Lifeless along the wind
Old men and women,
Barren youth,
Dried up bones housed there.

Hush! Be still. Life’s unbending.
Cease your talk of harmony,
I mean… Christ was ready,
It was only a matter of time
Before death found him there.

Hush! Stop your whimpering!
Man’s horizon needn’t moan,
It is not to be queried
Or driven by pale hearts or
Soft-boned determinations.
It is hallowed and absolute.

Dying in the meadows,
They’ve all fallen
Lifeless along the wind
Old men and women,
Barren youth,
Dried up bones housed there.

Quiet! Hush there you flaccid cowards!
The ancients look upon us
With our five sided devotion
And find no fault in it
Or dreadful mourning.

We have watched, unremarkably,
The sorrow-tipped blade of the reaper.

DRUG INDEPENDENCE (Blog Against Theocracy I)

Believe in Him, child.
Don’t in your heart hold hatred or shame. Don’t have other god’s before Him
And never, never, never, never

Say His name in vain.

And for Christ’s sake! Don’t do drugs!
Nicotine, Dramamine and Novocain,
Caffeine and Ritalin; they’re just fine,
But don't ever, ever, ever
Do LSD, marijuana or cocaine.

Don’t forget to go to church on Sunday.
Do not dishonor your father and mother.
Do not commit adultery,
And absolutely never, ever
Have sex with your sister or brother.

Don’t steal, lie, or cheat of one another.
Do not of your neighbor tell tales of fiction,
Covet or lust for anyone’s wife,
And you must never, ever, ever trust
The brown or black skinned.

Another’s blood you must never spill
If you want to get into heaven.
Don’t, don’t, don’t, don't ever kill,
Unless your leader says you must,
To save your own fair skin.

First Freedom First

Blog Against Theocracy