To Inherit the Earth
In the fragrant backyards
of the Army, the whispering
Janes bake orthodoxies
into pie. Oh! the dresses
they wear, the photos
of some sweet mother
stationed
on each and every shelf.
How they bother
about the meek
on the Sabbath
near the wars
over in Juarez.
Gentle preacher pray
for the whispering Janes.
Pray for the upended
daughters of the revolution,
the last of their kind.
No more Apple Brown Betty,
no more quiet afternoons.
29.10.08
22.10.08
First Time Voter, True Confessions
Ah...yes. Forty five years, three hundred and sixty two days on November 4th and you know what?
I've never voted. Not once. I never felt either compelled or qualified to make that kind of decision. I have to wonder how many people really are qualified to vote?
Not many. Obviously. Some people will vote for "that one" and that just goes to show how ignorant many, many people really are.
Heh. Not telling.
But I will say this. Barak Hussein Obama has some very interesting characteristics to a person like me who has studied the life of the Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abi Taleb (may Allah be pleased with his Ahl Bayt). I have to say, Obama manifests some very good qualities in a human being, especially one who is going to have to lead the United States out of a very dark time indeed.
I think for the first time in a very, very long time....we actually have a race on our hands.
And Allah did choose George W. Bush to be president. For sure. And if Allah prefers one candidate over another...well. There you go.
And if Allah prefers a bad leader for this country, we'll soon know it.
"When a community is composed of honest, sober and virtuous people, your forming a bad opinion about anyone of its members, when nothing wicked has been seen of him, is a great injustice to him. On the contrary in a corrupt society to form good opinion of anyone of them and to trust him is to harm yourself." - Ali ibn Abi Taleb, Commander and Chief of the Faithful, Lion of Islam, Gate to the City of Knowledge, May Allah be so very pleased with his Ahl Bayt.
Ah...yes. Forty five years, three hundred and sixty two days on November 4th and you know what?
I've never voted. Not once. I never felt either compelled or qualified to make that kind of decision. I have to wonder how many people really are qualified to vote?
Not many. Obviously. Some people will vote for "that one" and that just goes to show how ignorant many, many people really are.
Heh. Not telling.
But I will say this. Barak Hussein Obama has some very interesting characteristics to a person like me who has studied the life of the Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abi Taleb (may Allah be pleased with his Ahl Bayt). I have to say, Obama manifests some very good qualities in a human being, especially one who is going to have to lead the United States out of a very dark time indeed.
I think for the first time in a very, very long time....we actually have a race on our hands.
And Allah did choose George W. Bush to be president. For sure. And if Allah prefers one candidate over another...well. There you go.
And if Allah prefers a bad leader for this country, we'll soon know it.
"When a community is composed of honest, sober and virtuous people, your forming a bad opinion about anyone of its members, when nothing wicked has been seen of him, is a great injustice to him. On the contrary in a corrupt society to form good opinion of anyone of them and to trust him is to harm yourself." - Ali ibn Abi Taleb, Commander and Chief of the Faithful, Lion of Islam, Gate to the City of Knowledge, May Allah be so very pleased with his Ahl Bayt.
16.10.08
Ode to the Marxists
This morning, the sun came up
on the wrong side of the street.
It meshed with the moans
of a dozen couples
tired of the fast advances.
It really makes a person
mad you know,
to drive and return and drive again
over the lonely bodies of skunks.
No one gives a damn anymore.
The dried grass in the corner
gets longer like the fingernails
of the dead. The wild hogs
are in a hurry this year.
He's lost his keys again,
he's a bit lonely, on the edge.
This morning, the sun came up
on the wrong side of the street.
It meshed with the moans
of a dozen couples
tired of the fast advances.
It really makes a person
mad you know,
to drive and return and drive again
over the lonely bodies of skunks.
No one gives a damn anymore.
The dried grass in the corner
gets longer like the fingernails
of the dead. The wild hogs
are in a hurry this year.
He's lost his keys again,
he's a bit lonely, on the edge.
15.10.08
The Spiritual Bankruptcy of Free Market Capitalism
And do not take a small price in exchange for Allah's covenant; surely what is with Allah is better for you, did you but know.-The Bee, The Glorious Quran
The crisis we are facing today arises from the fact that there is almost no more social, cultural, natural, and spiritual capital left to convert into money. Centuries, millennia of near-continuous money creation has left us so destitute that we have nothing left to sell. Our forests are damaged beyond repair, our soil depleted and washed into the sea, our fisheries fished out, the rejuvenating capacity of the earth to recycle our waste saturated. Our cultural treasury of songs and stories, images and icons, has been looted and copyrighted. Any clever phrase you can think of is already a trademarked slogan. Our very human relationships and abilities have been taken away from us and sold back, so that we are now dependent on strangers, and therefore on money, for things few humans ever paid for until recently: food, shelter, clothing, entertainment, child care, cooking. Life itself has become a consumer item. Today we sell away the last vestiges of our divine bequeathment: our health, the biosphere and genome, even our own minds. This is the process that is culminating in our age. It is almost complete, especially in America and the "developed" world. In the developing world there still remain people who live substantially in gift cultures, where natural and social wealth is not yet the subject of property. Globalization is the process of stripping away these assets, to feed the money machine's insatiable, existential need to grow. Yet this stripmining of other lands is running up against its limits too, both because there is almost nothing left to take, and because of growing pockets of effective resistance.
http://www.realitysandwich.com/money_and_crisis_civilization
And do not take a small price in exchange for Allah's covenant; surely what is with Allah is better for you, did you but know.-The Bee, The Glorious Quran
The crisis we are facing today arises from the fact that there is almost no more social, cultural, natural, and spiritual capital left to convert into money. Centuries, millennia of near-continuous money creation has left us so destitute that we have nothing left to sell. Our forests are damaged beyond repair, our soil depleted and washed into the sea, our fisheries fished out, the rejuvenating capacity of the earth to recycle our waste saturated. Our cultural treasury of songs and stories, images and icons, has been looted and copyrighted. Any clever phrase you can think of is already a trademarked slogan. Our very human relationships and abilities have been taken away from us and sold back, so that we are now dependent on strangers, and therefore on money, for things few humans ever paid for until recently: food, shelter, clothing, entertainment, child care, cooking. Life itself has become a consumer item. Today we sell away the last vestiges of our divine bequeathment: our health, the biosphere and genome, even our own minds. This is the process that is culminating in our age. It is almost complete, especially in America and the "developed" world. In the developing world there still remain people who live substantially in gift cultures, where natural and social wealth is not yet the subject of property. Globalization is the process of stripping away these assets, to feed the money machine's insatiable, existential need to grow. Yet this stripmining of other lands is running up against its limits too, both because there is almost nothing left to take, and because of growing pockets of effective resistance.
http://www.realitysandwich.com/money_and_crisis_civilization
14.10.08
The Easiest History Lesson in the World
Diametrically Opposed Doctrines: United States of America against Iran"The United States and some European countries consider Iran and its foreign policy "the greatest threat to security and stability in the Middle East." On the other hand, the Islamic regime in Tehran regards the West in general and the United States in particular as "the enemies of Islam and Iran.""
But why?
"According to what is spelled out in the constitution, Iranian foreign policy is made according to a number of fundamental principles: First, rejecting all forms of external domination; second, preserving Iran's independence and territorial integrity; third, defending the rights of all Muslims without allying with hegemonic powers; and fourth, maintaining peaceful relations with all non-belligerent states."
I'd say that is a pretty accurate assessment of the overall problem. No explanation needed.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1175008641586&pagename=Zone-English-Muslim_Affairs%2FMAELayout
The result?
"In this context, it becomes understandable why Iranians are heading towards the East rather than the West. Such a predisposition can be perceived as a response to: First, the cultural attack on the basic principles of the Islamic Revolution; and second, the notorious history of British and US intervention in Iran in the 20th century, not to mention the US-backed overthrow of Prime Minster Mohammed Mossadaq, who wanted to nationalize Iranian oil production, in 1953."
On the Road to Success in Iran. Some general ideas about the Iranian Economy:
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1177155918945&pagename=Zone-English-Muslim_Affairs%2FMAELayout
Iran is a developing country with a history that goes back to more than two millenniums. The main source of Iran’s riches is oil and oil is the main thrust of the Iranian economy. But Iran has other resources as well that together with oil keep the Iranian economy moving forward slowly though not always smoothly.
The Iranian economic system is Islamic and in many ways similar to the present day free enterprise economic systems of the world. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran makes it clear that Iran is not against private property and personal wealth, provided these are acquired in legitimate ways within the Islamic directives.
Iran is endowed with plenty of land, mineral, and human resources, location advantages, unique topographic features, a variable climate, natural attractions, a rich historical heritage and amenities whose efficient use is the main concern of the Islamic Republic’s 20-Year-Vision. At the heart of the Vision lies particular concern for development of science and technology and for the education of the young people that constitute a relatively high percent of the total population.
The Vision puts emphasis on science and technology and on graduate education at the Masters, PhD and post-PhD levels. It also calls for both government and non-government higher education capacity expansion. Even at present, Iran has an array of top-notch graduates in, for example, medicine, engineering, humanities, arts, basic sciences, social sciences, agriculture, marine sciences, and aeronautics that can compete fairly well with graduates of advanced countries.
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1177155918945&pagename=Zone-English-Muslim_Affairs%2FMAELayout
Iran is a developing country with a history that goes back to more than two millenniums. The main source of Iran’s riches is oil and oil is the main thrust of the Iranian economy. But Iran has other resources as well that together with oil keep the Iranian economy moving forward slowly though not always smoothly.
The Iranian economic system is Islamic and in many ways similar to the present day free enterprise economic systems of the world. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran makes it clear that Iran is not against private property and personal wealth, provided these are acquired in legitimate ways within the Islamic directives.
Iran is endowed with plenty of land, mineral, and human resources, location advantages, unique topographic features, a variable climate, natural attractions, a rich historical heritage and amenities whose efficient use is the main concern of the Islamic Republic’s 20-Year-Vision. At the heart of the Vision lies particular concern for development of science and technology and for the education of the young people that constitute a relatively high percent of the total population.
The Vision puts emphasis on science and technology and on graduate education at the Masters, PhD and post-PhD levels. It also calls for both government and non-government higher education capacity expansion. Even at present, Iran has an array of top-notch graduates in, for example, medicine, engineering, humanities, arts, basic sciences, social sciences, agriculture, marine sciences, and aeronautics that can compete fairly well with graduates of advanced countries.
ACORN
How to change elections by getting the poor, disenfranchised people to vote. Good idea, no wonder the Republicans hate it.
http://www.alternet.org/democracy/102685/
Why are they after ACORN? Well, I'm sure they're going to come up with a lot of "reasons" in the coming days. But the real reason is obvious: Because ACORN, along with Project Vote, just announced that they had successfully registered 1.3 million poor people this year.
Get that? 1.3 million, including 148,000 in Pennsylvania, 152,000 in Florida, 217,000 in Michigan, and 238,000 in Ohio. No wonder the GOP is up in arms. They're scared of too many poor people preparing to vote this year.
In the last week, the right wing has tried to blame ACORN for the collapse of the globalized financial system--yeah, that's a viable argument. They got excited because they found a some possible fake registration forms in Florida, which predictably led to a bunch of whining from the party that stole an entire presidency from Al Gore by blocking vote counts, mischaracterizing voters as felons, refusing to recount entire counties, sending congressional staff down to riot and intimidate volunteer vote-counters, and topped it all off with the most partisan, badly-reasoned, illegitimate Supreme Court decision since Plessy v. Ferguson. A decision so illegitimate that the partisan majority, to their eternal discredit, themselves damned by writing into their own decision that it should never be used as a precedent for any other court ruling.
How to change elections by getting the poor, disenfranchised people to vote. Good idea, no wonder the Republicans hate it.
http://www.alternet.org/democracy/102685/
Why are they after ACORN? Well, I'm sure they're going to come up with a lot of "reasons" in the coming days. But the real reason is obvious: Because ACORN, along with Project Vote, just announced that they had successfully registered 1.3 million poor people this year.
Get that? 1.3 million, including 148,000 in Pennsylvania, 152,000 in Florida, 217,000 in Michigan, and 238,000 in Ohio. No wonder the GOP is up in arms. They're scared of too many poor people preparing to vote this year.
In the last week, the right wing has tried to blame ACORN for the collapse of the globalized financial system--yeah, that's a viable argument. They got excited because they found a some possible fake registration forms in Florida, which predictably led to a bunch of whining from the party that stole an entire presidency from Al Gore by blocking vote counts, mischaracterizing voters as felons, refusing to recount entire counties, sending congressional staff down to riot and intimidate volunteer vote-counters, and topped it all off with the most partisan, badly-reasoned, illegitimate Supreme Court decision since Plessy v. Ferguson. A decision so illegitimate that the partisan majority, to their eternal discredit, themselves damned by writing into their own decision that it should never be used as a precedent for any other court ruling.
9.10.08
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081008/D93MFL900.html
CHICAGO (AP) - Residents of foreclosed properties in Chicago and other parts of Cook County don't have to worry about deputies forcing them out. Sheriff Tom Dart says that starting Thursday his office won't take part in evictions.
Dart says he's concerned that many of the people being evicted are renters who were unaware that their landlords have been failing to pay their mortgages. He says his deputies have no way of knowing whether they're removing someone who has defaulted on a loan or someone who has been faithfully paying rent.
...now that's a new one. Never thought of that. What about people who don't own homes but live in a building owned by someone else who is in foreclosure? All you ever hear about is "homeowners".
I'll bet even the dogs are suspiciously eyeing their fiberglass shells from PetSmart.
CHICAGO (AP) - Residents of foreclosed properties in Chicago and other parts of Cook County don't have to worry about deputies forcing them out. Sheriff Tom Dart says that starting Thursday his office won't take part in evictions.
Dart says he's concerned that many of the people being evicted are renters who were unaware that their landlords have been failing to pay their mortgages. He says his deputies have no way of knowing whether they're removing someone who has defaulted on a loan or someone who has been faithfully paying rent.
...now that's a new one. Never thought of that. What about people who don't own homes but live in a building owned by someone else who is in foreclosure? All you ever hear about is "homeowners".
I'll bet even the dogs are suspiciously eyeing their fiberglass shells from PetSmart.
5.10.08
3.10.08
The Other Tuesday September 11th
The US destroys Chilean People courtesy Henry Kissinger and the lovely Mr. Pinochet
...rats in women's vaginas, electrocuted genitals and dogs raping prisoners. Sounds a bit like Abu Gharaib does it not?
"Hope has two daughters. Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are and Courage to change." St. Augustine
The US destroys Chilean People courtesy Henry Kissinger and the lovely Mr. Pinochet
...rats in women's vaginas, electrocuted genitals and dogs raping prisoners. Sounds a bit like Abu Gharaib does it not?
"Hope has two daughters. Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are and Courage to change." St. Augustine
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