Friday

Poets Against War - update

Dear Fellow Poets Against War:
The latest edition of the Newsletter is now posted at http://www.poetsagainstwar.net

I hope you will support our efforts on behalf of the poets and people of Central and South America by signing Esteban Moore's petition and by doing everything possible to make Nov 5 an international day of poetry and consciousness-raising.

The United States has exploited and terrorized and manipulated the people of Central and South America for over a hundred years. We have propped up dictators and promulgated death squads and undermined democratic processes time and again. It is a sad, shameful history.

Now Bush wants more U.S. Armed Forces in those countries, expanding his hegemony, his imperial policies, once again in the name of "war on terror." More arms and more death squads are NOT the solution to anything. More profits for Bush's corporate friends at the expense of poor exploited people is not a solution to anything. These poets and peoples are our allies as we demand peace now. They are our allies when we suggest that poetry is part of the solution when armed forces and terror are the problem. South American Poets Against War will be various in its opinions, and if opinions south of our borders aren't always flattering to the United States, we poets are in the unique position of being available to listen and to agree with all that violence is not the solution to anything.

We cannot change our history, but we can participate in writing a better future for all of the Americas. Most citizens of these United States are completely unaware of what the Bush Administration is doing and how terrible the consequences are likely to be. I urge you to be better informed and to help enlighten those who believe as we do that nonviolence is the only meaningful alternative. We must stand as allies, united in our convictions that poetry can be, as Esteban Moore and his friends have written, a vital part of creating a democratic and nonviolent future for us all. Whether through public readings and protests or through simply gathering with a few friends on November 5 to consider this plight and its possible consequences, the poets of the world can begin to speak as one unified voice against imperial policies.

Please take time to enter readings and public appearances scheduled for Nov 5th at <poetsagainstwar.net> and ask friends in other countries to please stand with us on this occasion. Get out press releases to local media. Remember, Iraq is only the symptom; the disorder is greed and power. Think how gratifying it would be to have the petition in Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, French... poets everywhere watching and listening as Bush puts forth his evil proposal on that dark date.

* * * I have been talking at length with poets in countries like Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Honduras, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, etc., helping them find ways to open their own Poets Against War anthologies and web sites, and I will continue to ask for reports and translations of sample poems from foreign PAW groups to present bi-lingually to our readership. We all have much to gain from this cooperation. * *

* * *

I'm pleased to announce that Martín Espada and William O'Daly have joined
the Poets Against War Board of Directors. Look for O'Daly's essay on poetry
and torture in the next issue of the Newsletter. Both have already made
substantial contributions to our vision and conduct.

* * *

In early November (including November 5), I will be joining poets against
war at the Wellington, New Zealand Poetry Festival. Everywhere, it seems,
we find we have allies and more problems to explore and fresh ways to work
together.

I recently returned from joining in the celebration of the thirtieth
anniversary of Curbstone Press. Its co-directors, Alexander Taylor and
Judith Doyle, have been doing our work for all of those years and a good
many more. They have been a beacon to many young writers and to the writers
of Central and South America (Roberto Sosa, Claribel Alegría and many
others), as well as serving remarkable poets like Martín Espada, Doug
Anderson, and Luis Rodriguez. Indeed, Sandy and Judy are the very
embodiment of what we mean by "engaged" poetry and poetics.

I close this Newsletter announcement with a poem by Mahmoud Darwish,
translated by Omnia Amin and Rick London. I think the poet speaks
eloquently for us all.

Sam Hamill

* * *

Right here and now…

Right here and now, drop the grave
from your shoulders and give your life
another chance to repair its story.
Not all love is death, the whole
of Earth isn’t chronic estrangement,
maybe for a moment you’ll forget
that old sting of honey and, unguarded,
love a girl who doesn’t love you.
Or maybe she does. In this moment
you don’t know why she loves you
or doesn’t.
As you lean into the rise of the stairs
you feel alien in a duet.
Step out of yourself and into another,
away from your visions,
constructing a bridge in the air -
until you’re nowhere.
Mosquitoes near the railway itching
your back might remind you of life.
Take this life on so it can bind you
to life, let the memory of the feminine subside
and right here, right now,
drop the grave from your shoulders…

Namaste, Sam Hamill & the
PAW Board http://www.poetsagainstwar.net


Wednesday

Invitation: Katrina & Antiwar Movement/Flyers/News Recaps

War Times/Tiempo de Guerras is an antiwar outreach and education project: each month we post (1) downloadable flyers in PDF format, in both English and Spanish, for use by antiwar activists wanting ready-made materials; and (2) Month in Review, a brief re-cap of major news developments designed for community groups and individuals who want to monitor the "war on terrorism" but don't have the time to sort through the mountains of information (and misinformation) in the printed media and on the internet.

We also make available occasional special messages, such as last month's "Katrina & The Antiwar Movement: Lend Our Hand and Our Voice," pasted in below.

Go to http://www.war-times.org to access these news recaps, messages and flyers including:

"Be All You Can Be: Don't Enlist".... "U.S. Soldiers Say No to War"....."Help Stop Torture - Raise Your Voice".... and "Iraq: 'Stay the Course' or Get Out Now?"

We invite you to subscribe to War Times/Tiempo de Guerras e-mail announcement list (2-3 messages per month) to receive notice each time new flyers or a new Month in Review is available. Go to http://www.war-times.org to sign on.

We look forward to hearing from you! Thanks, and peace,

The War Times/Tiempo de Guerras Staff

War Times/Tiempo de Guerras is an all-volunteer project fiscally sponsored by the Center for Third World Organizing. Contact us at info@war-times.org or write to War Times/Tiempo de Guerras, c/o P.O. Box 99096, Emeryville, CA 94662.

-----------
Katrina & The Antiwar Movement: Lend Our Hand and Our Voice

"One prominent African-American supporter of Mr. Bush who is close to Karl Rove, the White House political chief, said the president did not go into the heart of New Orleans and meet with Black victims on his first trip there, last Friday, because he knew that White House officials were 'scared to death' of the reaction. 'If I'm Karl, do I want the visual of Black people hollering at the president as if we're living in Rwanda?' said the supporter, who spoke only anonymously because he did not want to antagonize Mr. Rove." - New York Times, Sept. 10

The desperate plight of thousands of mostly Black and poor people in the wake of Hurricane Katrina didn't inspire any urgency in the Bush administration. The White House was roused to take action - mostly on the public relations front - only when Karl Rove realized that the human disaster underway might result in a political disaster for his President.  

And well it should.

Katrina was a natural calamity - but the scope and color of the resulting social disaster was a direct result of human action and inaction. The callous and incompetent behavior of the Bush administration is most immediately responsible. Yet beyond that are deeper causes:

  *the racist and class-divided structure of U.S. society (and the specific situation in the Gulf region of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama);

  *the 30-plus year right-wing assault on the public sector and on the whole idea of government responsibility for public welfare and the common good;

  **longstanding patterns of development that place private profit ahead of environmental responsibility and human needs (including destruction of Mississippi Delta wetlands that diminish the force of hurricanes, global warming and its impact on hurricane ferocity, racist placing of toxic contaminated waste sites in communities of color, and so on).  

The antiwar movement has an important role to play in the post-Katrina struggles that are already underway. We can reach deep into our pockets to help those directly impacted by this disaster (see below). We can add our voice to the demand for immediate accountability from those in government - starting with the President - for their dereliction of duty. We can join other social movements in making sure that the spotlight now shining on U.S. racism and class inequality is not drowned out by the voices calling for a return to "business as usual." We can do our part to amplify the voices of those who have deep truths to tell: folks who can describe what really happened during those agonizing days and nights in the Superdome; undocumented workers still too fearful to apply for assistance (over 100,000 immigrants in the region face devastation); New Orleans residents who had to endure a militarized reaction from authorities even while struggling to find food, water and shelter; the poor, sick and elderly who were betrayed and left behind.

Gulf region community-based organizations, especially in the hardest hit African American community, are taking the lead in this fight. Many are the same organizations providing immediate help to those most urgently in need. These deserve political solidarity as well as an outpouring of generous donations. Among the organizations you can contribute to are:

 *People's Hurricane Fund/Community Labor United (Louisiana/Mississippi) http://www.qecr.org./index.html

 *The Southern Relief Fund, c/o The Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights, PO Box 1223, Greenville, MS 38702, 662-334-1122

 *S.O.S - Saving Our Selves, Att: Beni Ivey, Center for Democratic Renewal, PO Box 50469, Atlanta, GA 30302, 404-221-0025

 *Louisiana Environmental Action Network, http://www.leanweb.org

 *Alejandro Rosales, Oxfam regional organizer for the hurricane relief, with a focus on immigrants, Biloxi, Mississippi 818-434-6495; or e-mail Emily Parry of OxFam, eparry@oxfamamerica.org

Antiwar activists also have particular responsibilities in pointing out the links between Katrina's impact and the war against Iraq. Money that should have gone to disaster preparations went to the war instead. National Guard members and resources that could have made a huge difference in Katrina's aftermath were instead thousands of miles away. These are vital issues to raise as we redouble our antiwar efforts, before, during and after the urgent mobilization for the September 24-26 actions in Washington, DC to End the Occupation of Iraq and Bring Them Home Now. Go to www.unitedforpeace.org for full information: Money to Fund Full Recovery of the Gulf Coast, Not War in Iraq!

Thanks, peace, and please forward this e-mail to a friend!

The War Times/Tiempo de Guerras Staff


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The Beauty of an Egg

wonderful products available
coming on this blog: new graphics and items

I have had a drop from the duckdaotsu website provider, can't upload new images, edit, or add new pages until I have the payment. Sorry from this shameless promotion of my products at the online store, but I have had such trouble affordiing all the costs of this blog and the duckdaotsu website, as well as the duckdaotsu list-serve... The shop is just geting off its feet and if you would like any of the products with any changes, and want to price-haggle (my favorite part of the transaction; the fun of cutting prices for friends!). Please send feedback or just wander around in there and tell me what you liked and most important WHAT YOU DIDN'T LIKE OR WOULD LIKE TO SEE CHANGED.

Onward. I have the project wall coming up to work on this weekend: Adding September casualites to the NOT JUST NUMBERS progect. I also need to update the page that shows the names, ages, and home towns. That photo wall is getting huge, takes forever to load on a dial up modem — but it continues each day and I change the faces and absorb new losses through NOT JUST NUMBERS work.

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duckdaotsu media

DeLay Indictment

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2055

Sept. 28, 2005

DeLay Indictment Highlights

Culture of Corruption in Washington

*/Statement by Joan Claybrook, President, Public Citizen/*

Republicans swept to power 11 years ago, promising to restore integrity
to government. But the indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
today shows that something is rotten in the heart of the party's
political structure. DeLay's raw power grab has relied on a complex
influence-peddling scheme designed to consolidate his own power and that
of his party's while giving corporate interests private access to steer
the wheels of government at the expense of citizens.

Americans deserve better from Congress than the culture of corruption
and arrogance that DeLay and the majority party have installed.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle should work together to clean up
the corruption and remove the corporate influence that keeps Congress
from solving the real problems Americans face every day while it doles
out billions to big corporations.

Corruption is not based on party affiliation, but there is one party in
charge in Washington, and that party has the power to enact change. It
should act immediately to do two things. One, replace the dysfunctional
ethics committee with an independent agency that actually investigates
corruption in a nonpartisan way. Two, enact legislation that reforms the
corrupt lobbying system and returns the government to the people.

Until the ethics process is overhauled, an immediate step the House
ethics committee should take is to institute a thorough investigation of
various other allegations involving DeLay, including that he granted
legislative favors to Westar Energy in exchange for a $25,000
contribution to one of the political action committees at the heart of
the Texas investigation. The committee also should closely examine
DeLay's relationship and dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who seems
to be at the center of multiple scandals involving Republican politicians.

###

*The Charges:
*DeThroneRight
. *Unethical Behavior*
<http://www.citizen.org/congress/delay/articles.cfm?ID=12993>: A look at
Tom DeLay's ethics problems, the House's 'neutered' ethics committee and
the government ethics community's fight to clean up Congress.

. *Undemocratic Leadership*:
<http://www.citizen.org/congress/delay/articles.cfm?ID=12588> A review
of DeLay's authoritarian leadership, under which open debate has been
dramatically reduced, alternative proposals are routinely denied a vote
and the ability to offer amendments has been sharply curtailed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Wit and Wisdom of Tom DeLay
<http://www.citizen.org/congress/delay/articles.cfm?ID=13081>

*Reporter:* Have you ever crossed the line of ethical behavior in terms
of dealing with lobbyists, your use of government authority or with
fundraising?*
* *
Mr. DeLay:* Ever is a very strong word.

/-- During an interview with several Washington Times
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050413-111439-5048r.htm>
reporters, transcript published April 14, 2005./

------------------------------------------------------------------------

DeLay's Legal Expense Trust

NEW: The Latest Numbers from DeLay's Legal Expense Trust
<http://www.citizen.org/congress/delay/articles.cfm?ID=13738>
. Press Release <http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1930>
. Accompanying Tables
<http://www.citizen.org/documents/Delay0426Tables.pdf>
. Actual Filing <http://www.citizen.org/documents/DeLayLET1Q2005.pdf>

» congress <http://www.citizen.org/congress> | delay

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