America The Beautiful!

Oh! beautiful, for Smoggy skies;
     Insecticided grain.

For, Stripped Mined mountains,
     majesty,

Above the Asphalt plain.


America, America, Man Sheds his
     Waste onto thee!

And Hides the pines, with those
     Billboard Signs.

From sea to Oily sea.

-0-0-
George Carlin.

The Drunken Driver Has The Right Of Way

The Drunken Driver Has The Right Of Way

Ethan Cohen


The loudest have the final say,
The wanton win, the rash hold sway,
The realist's rules of order say
The drunken driver has the right of way.

The Kubla Khan can butt in line;
The biggest brute can take what's mine;
When heavyweights break wind, that's fine;
No matter what a judge might say,
The druken driver has the right of way.

The guiltiest feel free of guilt;
Who care not, bloom; who worry, wilt;
Plans better laid are rarely built
For forethought seldom wins the day;
The drunken driver has the right of way.

The most attentive and unfailing
Carefulness is unavailing
Wheresoever fools are flailing;
Wisdom there is held at bay;
The drunken driver has the right of way.

De jure is de facto's slave;
The most foolhardy beat the brave;
Brass routs restraint; low lies high's grave;
When consciousness leads you, it's astray;
The drunken driver has the right of way.

It's only the naivest who'll
Deny this, that the reckless rule;
When facing an oncoming fool
The practiced and sagacious say
Watch out--one side--look sharp--gang way.

However much you plan and pray,
Alas, alack, tant pis, oy we,
Now--heretofore--'til Judgment Day,
The drunken driver has the right of way.

Let America Be!

Let America Be America Again

Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed –

Let it be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

But opportunity is real, and life is free,

Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,

Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?

And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,

I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scares.

I am the red man driven from the land,

I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek –

And finding only the same old stupid plan

Of dog eat dog, of might crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!

Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!

Of work the men! Of take the pay!

Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the machine.

I am the Negro, servant to you all.

I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—

Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!!

I am the man who never got ahead,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yes I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream

In that Old World while still a serf of kings,

Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,

That even yet its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That’s made America the land it has become.

O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my home—

For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,

And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,

And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came

To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?

Surely not me? The millions of relief today?

The millions shot down when we strike?

The millions who have nothing for our pay?

For all the dreams we’ve dreamed

And all the songs we’ve sung

And all the hopes we’ve held

And all the flags we’ve hung,

The millions who have nothing for our pay—

Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—

The land that never has been yet—

And yet must be—the land where every man is free.

The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—

Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,

Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—

The steel of freedom does not stain.

From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,

We must take back our land again,

America!

O, yes,

I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,

The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,

We, the people, must redeem

The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the endless plain –

All, all the stretch of these great green states—

And make America again!

You'll Never Make It Alone In This World

You’ll Never Make it Alone in this World.

Eric Welge.

An old man’s voice was heard coming from a room.

This room was empty and silent as a tomb.

The man was talking to a baby he held in his arm,

And the baby listened as if the man had a magic charm.

The man said, “Boy, you’ll never make it alone in this world.

If you try, you’ll end up like a garden in autumn, all dried and curled.

Take it from me, I tried and learned the hard way.

You’ll have nothing to live for but the hope of seeing the light of day.

When I first began, I felt alone even with a crowd gathering.

I had everything, yet I had nothing.

Life had no color; it was an endless gray.

There was no one for me to share life’s glorious array.

Then I began reaching out to others, sine by then I’d learned

You can’t make it alone in this world; happiness must be earned.

I made many friends and the sun began to shine in my life.

Friendship cut the barriers of my glum world with its sharp knife.

Mysteriously my garden didn’t die that fall.

Where gray had been, color appeared,

And my loneliness quickly disappeared.

Remember what I’ve told you, little man.

Learn from my mistake if you can.

If you start early, your garden will grow,

And you will always be able to harvest from it tomorrow.

Not Always Glad When We Smile

NOT ALWAYS GLAD WHEN WE SMILE

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

We are not always glad when we smile;
Though we wear a fair face and are gay,
And the world we deceive
May not ever believe
We could laugh in a happier way, --
Yet, down in the deeps of the soul,
Ofttimes, with our faces aglow,
There’s an ache and a moan
That we know of alone,
And as only the hopeless may know

We are not always glad when we smile, --
For the heart, in a tempest of pain,
May live in the guise
Of a smile in the eyes
As a rainbow may live in the rain;
And the stormiest night of our woe
May hang out a radiant star
Whose light in the sky
Of despair is a lie
As black as the thunder-clouds are.

We are not always glad when we smile! –
But the conscience is quick to record,
All the sorrow and sin
We are hiding within
Is plain in the sight of the Lord;
And ever, O ever, till pride
And evasion shall cease to defile
The sacred recess
Of the soul, we confess
We are not always glad when we smile.

Anger expressed out of frustration

Thomas Jefferson, the President and apparent Prophet said in 1816, “Old Europe will have to lean on our shoulders, and to hobble along by our side, under the monkish trammels of priests and kings, as she can. What a colossus shall we be.”

That’s the path we took after WWII when we started spending billions of dollars on the military, 379 Billion a year beginning in 2003, and implementing a draft will only prove what academia has been preaching against for decades. We are a colossus and even worse an Empire nonetheless tyrannical than the British counterpart we revolted against back in the 1700’s. By the way, we are the biggest spender on military issues the second is currently Great Britain at 34.8 billion and then Russian at 29 billion.

The current administration says that we are not an Empire because we have no desire for territory or resources. A few basic motifs of Empire have changed over the millennium but the destruction, the tyranny, and the biggest motives; power and influence have not. With about 130,000 troops in Iraq and 18,000 in Afghanistan and with spending, well who knows the exact amount, but Bush is asking for 80 Billion Dollars more, we are doing in Iraq, we own them and we have all the Influence and power in that region that we could possible need. We certainly don’t set a good example for the world. The rhetoric of the state department is that of peace but Iran is looking at a reenactment of “The Charge of the Light Brigade” written by the Bush Administration. 130,000 US troops to the left of them 18,000 troops to the right of them, 379 Billion Dollars of military spending in front of them; volleyed and thundered.

The reenactment of the Draft will only increase the government’s power to enlarge the Empire. We currently have 73,000 troops in Germany. How many in Asia, Africa, South America? The pentagon is continuing plans behind to scenes developing the Anti Missile defense system a.k.a. Star Wars. How many checks and balances, principles set forth by our founding fathers, are available/needed when the President has a military that costs 10x more than our allies and 300 times that of our enemies, and any and all 18-25 yrs old citizens male and female from the draft at his/her disposal? How much did our founding father’s trust government in all their wisdom? Originally the federal government wasn’t going to have a military. How much do we trust the government despite the politicians’ rhetoric?

Colossus!! The Constitution says that the government has the power, “to provide for the common defense.” So it’s a justifiable argument as far as they are concerned for all this power but first off, how can it be for the Common defense when in a Washington Post Survey 56% over half are against the war in Iraq. Second, when are we going to stop the killing and decide as a country what is in our common defense? Since the war in Iraq began in March 19 2003 1,372 US soldiers have died there. The “official” count of wounded is 10,252 US Soldiers. The unofficial body count of Iraqis, military and civilian, is estimated to be over 15,000 Iraqis. At what point is the killing of others justifiable. 2,948 were reported killed in the terrorist attack on American soil that is now identified as 9/11. It’s a justifiable question to ask. How many of those 15,000 Iraqis were involved in 9/11? How many of those 15,000 Iraqis were terrorists planning attacks on Americans? How many Iraqis were planning to harm America or American citizens’ pre-Iraq war and . . . How many Iraqis are now planning such attacks while we occupy their country?

The draft would help this!? Yeah it would. It would help kill more potentially innocent Iraqis more Afghans and more US troops.

Colossus! Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that US military growth accounts for 3/4^th total world military growth. This military is to prevent attacks; not preemptively attack; but how is maintaining this army preventing small terrorist’s cells? It’s designed to maintain an Empire. The WIU Draft Team wants to Draft you to fight terrorism so that the volunteer army can maintain high troop levels across Europe and the world. Instead of the Draft, close those out of date bases and send those troops to the Middle East so we can get out of Iraq ASAP. In fact, let’s leave Iraq, Afghanistan, and basically everywhere else; The Libertarian time table? Now.

Occupying forces in other countries usually fail against terrorists actions. Afghanistan used terrorist tactics against the Soviet Union and succeeded. The Vietnamese used terrorist tactics against the US and succeeded. History relates countless success stories for such tactics and why add Iraq to the list. US leaving would create a political vacuum but any government created under the status quo would have to be propped up by the US anyway and unless our presence is permanent would ultimately fail. The Political Vacuum is necessary and would lead to stability quicker than the US alternative because terrorists wouldn’t have a target, the US, to fight against. Civil War? Why is it our business? The North wouldn’t have been too pleased if Britain fought for the south in our own Civil War. Who would it be this time? The Shiites, Sunni’s, the Kurds? Must we be the ones to flip the coin?

Why are we in Iraq to begin with? WMD? The search for those officially ended last week. Saddam was a bad man? That doesn’t justify the deaths of 1,372 US soldiers over there and not the 10,000+ wounded. Saddam murdered his own people, or rather the Kurds, but we killed over 15,000 of Iraqi’s ourselves. Is that why the WIU Draft team wants to implement the draft? No draft, No Iraq war; not in Afghanistan, not in South America, not in Europe, and therefore no targets for terrorists. By setting a good example, instead of just preaching it, we can implement a foreign policy of non-intervention and forge economic partnerships that are mutually beneficial to all parties and by our example spread Libertarian Ideals that founded this great country.

I don’t buy the rhetoric of common defense as an excuse for the implementation of a draft. Clearly, its propaganda used to disguise government’s true nature: gathering more power and influence. The protection of our borders and of our citizens does not need to cost the lives of others or the rights of others. The cost of our protection rest on basic principles taught in grade school. Play nicely, play fairly, and never mistake might for right. Thank you.

Never Ending Remembrance

“Up and Over to a Place Down Under”

“There is a certain fish in the sea waiting to be caught, Jason. You may not be a great fisherman but even you should be able to see that the conditions are just right.” Jeremy usually had everyone’s attention unless he wanted to direct it otherwise and at that time he wanted it directed at me.

Everyone was mocking me and I knew it but I could not figure out exactly what they all meant. Obviously somebody from the group liked me more than just a friend but what if I was wrong? Doubting myself was dangerous but an assumption would have surely made an ass out of me. There were five people, Jeremy and four girls, gathered around me giggling and sneering at me in a cathedral in Wanganui, New Zealand. I was sixteen years old and on a four week tour of Australia and New Zealand with thirty high school students my age from Central Illinois and East Tennessee on a program called People to People Student Ambassadors.

We were a close knit group to say the least. There were no outsiders among us and smaller groups did not form in spite of our size and different backgrounds. We were a group of friends having the best time of our lives and knew that there would be few better in the years to come. Jeremy, Jennifer, Emily, Beth, and Amanda would not give me any more hints that day in the cathedral other than that there was a fish in the sea for me, but it would not be much longer after that until I knew for sure.

It was obvious to everyone who liked me. It was obvious to everyone but me, of course, and for good reasons too, damn it. There was Jennifer who went to the same high school with me and who I had a major crush on when I was in the fifth grade. Emily and I would go jogging every morning to see the area around us without a tour guide. Beth and I went scuba diving together while everyone else went snorkeling. Even Amanda, who had a crush on Jeremy, laughed harder than anyone else at my jokes. Her laughter made me blush on more than one occasion. My doubts were justified, so why was it so obvious to everyone but me?

Bah! It was Kathie Logue . . . Of coarse! In Auckland, New Zealand everyone had stayed with a host family so everyone was split off from each other for the day. Most of us, however, were at a huge shopping district with our host brothers and sisters and the people I saw told me that Kathie had said, “hi” while giggling to themselves. My memory had immediately flashed back to long conversations with Kathie while on the road. I remembered that they were not really conversations but rather her staring at me listening as if what I had to say was the most important thing in her life. A few days earlier, the coach driver could not find the camp of the Maori tribe that we were to stay at and it was getting late. I was next to Kathie and she was having trouble sleeping on the bus so I had offered her my shoulder to sleep on. I was unable to remember ever being so comfortable with being uncomfortable in my life.

I was fascinated by the aborigines and tribal life, but I was disappointed when the driver had finally found the camp. Kathie was the most beautiful person on the trip and that I had ever seen. She had long, straight hair past her shoulders and it was the lightest of brown shinning in the sun. I was a lost, little boy every time I looked into her deep green eyes. Luckily, after being told by a dozen people, mostly girls, that day in Auckland that Kathie had said hi, I was given plenty of opportunities to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. I was also lost on many levels and yet had known I was where I wanted to be. Those contradictions were not the last ones I had during that relationship.

It was not until our teary eyed airplane trip back home, however, that I finally asked Kathie to confirm my suspicions. It was three a.m. and we were on the plane up and over the Pacific Ocean taking us away from our place down under. I was awake because I had the arm rest piercing my rib cage while leaning over to make Kathie comfortable. Kathie was awake because she did not want the trip to end. That was what she said at least though I half suspected I was not the only one with an arm rest propped up against my side.

How happy it was to grieve when the emotion brought someone I loved so close to me. I was the happiest, depressed person that had ever contradicted the earth. On that airplane, I was holding my first love, my true love close to me. I was depressed because that moment would end but I was euphoric because the memory would not.

Stay! Wait! Don’t Go! Shouting to a memory I relived in my dreams, I woke up each morning knowing that releasing the fish back into the sea was a mistake. What was I to do, you Bastard!? Send the Fish to a taxidermist and had Her mounted on a Wall? Who was I angry at? She thought I was angry at her, but she was wrong. I was angry at the contradiction that was boiling inside of me. I was Angry at being Angry at not Wanting the things I Wanted and yet Wanting them the same. Sigh. There was, however, that airplane trip home that we shared . . . At the end of the relationship, she said goodbye. I, however, did not because I was still on that airplane that was up and over the Pacific taking us away from the place down under that we had shared.