Angry at the Madness (A letter to fellow troublemakers)
March 20, 2006.

Dear M.,
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    Thank you for your fine work and encouragement. You and we footsoldiers are doing the best we can in this terrible business of opposing our own government to bring an end to its disgraceful behavior.
 .

    I am having difficulty in trying to determine what good, honorable and courageous Americans can do next to stop further descent into flagrant despotism, which sometimes now appears to be as inevitable as the law of gravity. 
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     We parade with our signs -- THEY are smart enough not to attack us, too newsworthy! But they attack everyday around the world with impunity, then lie about the results and glorify the mission. 
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    The media have caved to treachery in fear of losing the precious press passes that permit them to sit obediently absorbing not news, but words describing inventions intended warp our minds to view treachery as patriotism, madness as prudence, liars as apostles, and villains as saviors. 
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    The party which was to represent our opposition sits pathetically compliant as torture is exposed, then reserved -- despite limp protest -- as the prerogative of our head of government and whatever agents he may choose to commission, for whatever ends he deems appropriate. He actually announced this, and our representation let it pass with the silence of a leaf alighting on a bed of moss in an uninhabited forest! 
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     Brave John Conyers was consigned to the basement of the Capitol with less than thirty mostly blacks and women of a Congress of 535, in an endeavor to bring this maladministration to task. Where was Hillary? Kerry? Durbin? Reid? Dorgan? Pelosi? And Florida's own Bill Nelson? Where was any Floridian? We're walking the streets in Citrus County with signs while eight or nine hundred miles away these misfeasors can't recognize the hero who sits literally beneath their feet! 
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    Now B. -- another of our all too precious and rare heroes -- wonders this morning if we must beg an audience with our own senator or mount some stunt in a desperate bid for his attention. Ah, perhaps once again we'll be accorded the reassurance by an "aide" that the Senator feels our pain and is assiduously at work in ways beyond our imagining to save the ship. BULLSHIT ! He's at work assiduously not to offend anyone, perchance to lose a fringe vote or two. Whatever happened to the good old Cracker admonition: God hates a coward! 
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     M., we spend a lot of time and effort and anxiety preaching to the choir (bless them!) and I am morphing into a bigger scold every day, but I am really struggling to find a more productive way to contribute to the cause. Don't give up on me, and I will not give up on it! 
      

Angry at the madness,

Rafe Pilgrim

 

THE MIRROR OF TRUTH  2-27-06

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It is time for Americans to find the courage and to grasp the good sense to look at ourselves in the mirror of truth.

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To start, the constant blathering between Republicans and Democrats, "those conservatives" and "these liberals" serves no purpose but to obscure the issues and to indulge partisan fantasies.  We need to get out of our straight-jacketed political prejudices and comprehend that there is such a thing as good  government, and such a thing as bad  government.  Bad government is incompetent, serves vested interests rather than its people, and is capable of lying to achieve its ends.  Good government may stumble in its efforts, but will try to serve the best interests of its people with the truth as its guide.  Should we need help in objectively assessing the "goodness" our current government, we might profit from asking a resident -- or perhaps now, a  past resident -- of New Orleans for his considered opinion.

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The next candidates for our mirror of truth are our compulsive flag waving and plastic sloganeering.  We put "Support Our Troops" stickers on our cars, having sent our troops into harm's way to kill other innocents in a distant desert where we have no honest place and serve no decent purpose for our own people.  It is really important to support our troops honestly, and we know in our secret heart of hearts that this must be done by bringing them home to their families.  And in today's newspaper, we must not ignore that our government now proposes to triple  the premiums that veterans must pay for their medical care provided by the Veterans Administration.  So, do we content ourselves with smug slogans, or do we want and demand our children back and affordable medical care for our veterans?

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Perhaps the most troubled by the reflection in the mirror of truth would be those among us who loudly and ardently voice their adoration and support of the Prince of Peace within their sanctuaries each Sunday.  They could well profit from the insight that the Prince of Peace preferred the streets to the temple, and favored good works far higher than ceremonial words, however reverently intended.  It is time to come from behind the thick oaken doors of our churches and into the real arena of our Prince's eternal struggle for peace, and to demand it of our government.

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The mirror of truth rejects our indulgence in political posturing, our bumper-sticker morality, and our Sunday hypocrisy.  Its gift is to show us what we really are and to reflect what a good people can be.  If we really want to know, we'll give it a try.  And if we have the courage, we'll tell others what we see, and -- whatever else we do -- we must follow its dictates to explore our conscience and challenge our mentality to identify and vote next November for the best people to provide America with the good government it so desperately needs.

.........................................................................................................................................

 

 

A Letter to My Norwegian Friend  Who Worries

           about Her Country's Involvement        February 2006

 

Dear Eva,

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I assume that Norway's decision to aid the US unjustified occupation of Iraq was a misguided political gesture, but hold that Norwegian leadership is guilty of complicity for each day longer your troops remain there.  I am astonished that Norway ever agreed to participate -- however symbolically -- in this criminal misadventure, but I am certain that the decision was not endorsed by the majority of the Norwegian people.

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Of course, the initial fault rests with Americans, Americans who lied and -- perhaps worse -- the gullible and stupid Americans who believed the lies, and the pathetic political opposition which did not raise its voice in outrage, fearing that the electorate would find them "unpatriotic" and perhaps threaten their political future.

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Now that the truth is evident to any intelligent mind, everyone of any courage and respect for mankind and the decency of our future history, this atrocity must be disavowed and brought to a prompt end.  I work and write to that end here, and the number of Americans who believes as I do is increasing daily.  I hope that Norwegians join in the effort. 

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The crime's been done; that cannot be changed.  Our task now is to stop the madness, stop the killing, and to bring the troops home. 

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As for the future, we owe a debt to humanity.  We owe the world help in the healing and a solemn dedication to never allow this kind of atrocity to happen again.

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My message to Norway is that there are some good Americans who are working to do the right thing.  And that we are impatient for peace,  but we will not stop working for it, however long it takes, whatever the costs, whatever the threats.  And that we will win, because we are right.

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Please tell your Norwegian friends.

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All men are brothers, and so are Norway and America, and so are Christians, Jews, Muslims, and all who work for peace.  Bless us all -- Rafe

 

* * * * * * * * * *

Recently the GOP held their annual Royal Ball.  Rafe wasn't invited.  These are his observations about reporter Levins' article on the gala event: 

 

Ruth Levins on the Ball

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    I've always liked Ruth Levins.  Her enthusiasm and her ebullience are just too vivid to ignore.

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     Ms. Levins' report (Chronicle, 1-31-06) on the Republicans' Third Annual Royal Ball may well serve as the hallmark of Ruth's expository brilliance and irrepressibly positive outlook.

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     She dazzled with her account of a "sumptuous dinner" followed by "karaoke, doo-wop to hip-hop, big band to boot scootin' music" (?)  Also featured was a Royal Ball Court Jester and the crowning of the Republican King and Queen of the Ball, a  process reportedly fraught with nail-biting suspense.  Then the King and Queen "positioned themselves upon the velvet thrones, as cameras flashed, recording their fame for the occasion."  It was at this point that I realized how precisely Ms. Levins had captured the Republican essence of the occasion.

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     Next came the dancing, featuring such pertinent songs as "Crazy," "Urban Cowboy" and "Electric Slide."  Really!

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     Then all the Republicans "joined hands and raised them high in sincere appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy in the good old U.S.A."  I did note a minor omission here in that there was no mention of wire tapping American civilians without the court order prescribed by law, the trashing of habeas corpus at the will of the administration, nor of such misfeasance and malfeasance as the tax break for the wealthy causing a historically high deficit, Bush's involvement with Enron's "Kenny Boy" Lay, the scandals involving Tom Delay and Cheney's right-hand man Libby, and the emerging Jack Abramoff super scandal, nor was there mention of the FEMA failure to address the Katrina disaster, nothing of torture, and nothing of the WMD's, chemical inventories and nuclear programs which never existed but which put us to war at the cost of 2300 young American lives. Apparently, the ball was not to be dampened by such trivia.

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     Ms. Levins, as usual, ends her story on a high note, advising of the "dedication of the participants' efforts to continue to work for candidates that will serve the needs of all peoples in the quest for peace."

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     In appraising Ms. Levins reporting job, one could do no better than to paraphrase the words of a famous Republican:  "You're doing a heckofa job, Ruthie."

 

 

What Seeking Peace is About

 

 This is intended for those who speak and write with such conviction -- at times approaching rancor -- of "those liberals" and "these Democrats" who seek peace, who would not "stay the course," not "finish the job," and who do not "support our President."

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 There is no "course" without a defined path to a destination.  Our President has identified no path, no destination other than amorphous platitudes about "bringing freedom to Iraq."  History tells us that freedom is never "brought" to a people.  It must be struggled for, earned, sometimes by the death of those who would seek it, and always deserved by those who would themselves enjoy it.  Freedom is a gift we are -- anyone is -- incapable of presenting to another people.

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 Now, "to finish the job" is a difficult proposition to handle.  What exactly is "the job"?  If it is to avenge the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, then we should be pursing Osama and his gang (now a minor priority) or invading Saudi Arabia, the home of fifteen of the nineteen attackers, none of whom was from Iraq.  If finishing the job means to protect our country from "terrorism," we would do well not going halfway around the world to pursue a fight that has wasted the lives of 2300 of our troops and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, but rather to set upon the task to shore up our own porous borders, an issue that generates much rhetoric but precious little action by the Administration.  Sad to say, "the job,"  as it appears to many in the world community is a grab for oil, the assertion of arrogant power, or an adventure in madness.

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 As for our President, your attention is drawn to the record of his administration over the past five years:  a foreign war which proceeds without plan for its ending, the restriction of long-treasured civil liberties, employment of torture, the loss of long-standing friends and allies, tax reductions for the wealthy at the expense of a historic deficit that threatens our economic future, an ill-conceived prescription drug program that is widely incomprehensible among seniors and the needy but clearly beneficial to the pharmaceutical and insurance companies, inept emergency management of the Katrina disaster along the Gulf Coast, many other mistakes (lies?) always blamed on others, an emerging scandal of corruption throughout the executive and elective branches, but most of all the futile deaths of our soldiers and the killing of others for no defensible purpose. What more is there to say about the record and the President in charge of such matters?

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 As for those you criticize for pursuing peace -- you would serve the truth to comprehend that we do this not from partisan politics or for personal advantage.  We do it to stop the killing of our troops and others.  We do it for our children, for our country, for the world, and we do it for you.

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 Our mission pursues no other agenda than to walk in the path of the Prince of Peace.  We have no funds, no offices or buildings; we have only our convictions, our volunteer efforts, a passion for peace, and the streets.

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 We ask you to lay aside the partisan politics, and to emerge from behind the oaken doors of your churches to help us end the killing, to help us spare our children, and to help us save America.

 

************************************

Preview of Coming Distractions 

 

I and my fellow seekers of peace (a.k.a. "traitors" to the war boosters) quite frankly celebrated the expose of the scandals afflicting our Republican masters, now surfacing in Washington, and are confident we can expect more, much more to come as one greed merchant after the other turns upon his brothers.
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But now we must take pause to reflect that a beast is never so dangerous as when cornered. The lights are burning in the Administration's offices tonight. Those entrusted to do the people's business are working hard and late, and they're perspiring.
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Are they working on a strategy to declare their innocence, to defend the guilty, to demonize their prosecutors? No, that will be handled by some brilliant young albeit partisan mind from the Justice Department, and delivered summarily by history's most disingenuous press secretary.
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What they're sweating over tonight is diversion, a diversion so monstrous that even you and I will forget about a "little thing" like a multi-million-dollar buyout of our government, because the security of our nation is about to be threatened anew by an international (or should we say out-of-Washington) menace. This menace may have been kicking around in the background someplace just waiting for the opportunity or the necessity to be trotted out. Well, it looks like the time has come for it (whatever it is) to take top billing, certainly higher billing than a little old political corruption scandal.
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Is someone about to attack us? Will we launch a preemptive attack? Will it involve North Korea? Iran? Syria? Goodness, China? Luxembourg? Kansas City? What exactly will be the threat? Where will it come from? Who will the enemy be?
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Not to worry. These and other questions will be clearly answered by the overtime crew just as soon as the scandals assume sufficient proportions to threaten their job security.

 

Rafe Pilgrim                                                                                                          January 6, 2006

 

* * * * * * * *

 

January 2006

Good People Must Demand Good Government

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When I was a young boy, during World War II, I remember a rare few people saying that there were some good Germans.  Of course, I doubted it.
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Then as a young man, some years after we learned of the atrocities:  Dachau, Bergen Belsen, Buchenwald, and the rest, and of the countless trains going east filled with Jews, and then returning always empty to the Fatherland, and then of the gas chambers and the furnaces  --  Damn! They had to know!
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But now I wonder. Did their government lie to them? Did they desperately need to believe what they were told? Were they not patriotic? Did they not support their troops? Did they not go to their church each Sunday and pray for the victory which would give them the safe return of their sons?
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And now, as an old man, I wonder of Iraq.  I wonder of the cause which has cost us between two and three thousand dead American soldiers, perhaps one hundred thousand dead Iraqis, and of the reason for it all.  I wonder what triumph, what virtue we will we gain if we "win"?  Are we desperately clinging to the same lies as did the "good" Germans in WW II?
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We must look this beast in the eye. We must require the truth of our government and examine what we are told. Then, put aside our political prejudice, resurrect the Sixth Commandment, recall where the Prince of Peace stands -- then demand we do the RIGHT thing!
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Or -- are we to be the "good" Germans of the 21st Century?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

On Tuesday, January 3, 2005, a dozen people from throughout the 5th Congressional District showed up at Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite's office in hope of getting a brief audience with her during an appointment that had been prearranged.  Back in November, a number of individuals called her office and began requesting appointments.  Similar requests were sent by mail and FAX.  This single appointment for a maximum of four people, was finally set up and hopes were high that she might even come out in the hall to address the larger group of people.  Instead, the visit turned ugly and Brown-Waite's accusations about being sabotaged by this "unapproved" group of people suggested she couldn't trust us.  We allowed that we wre there for that very reason, our belief that we couldn't trust her to do what is in the best interests of her constituents, our soldiers, or America. 

 

A reporter from the St. Pete Times wrote an article the following day.  This is Rafe's reply to that reporter's assessment of the meeting.

 

Mr/Ms Loder,

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Being uncertain of your gender, I know not how to address you.  After reading your account in today's St. Pete Times, re  peace workers meeting with Brown-Waite, however, I do know that you deserve no respect as an objective reporter.

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Your starter, describing this group as "Left-leaning local activists" set the tone of all of the biased reportage that followed.

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I personally know a good many of these people and am familiar with their objectives to bring a stop to a war wrought by lies, fraught with disastrous blunders, a war which has killed over two thousand young Americans and tens of thousands innocent Iraqis. 

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These people have no hidden agenda, no "left-leaning" plot to subvert the republic.  They don't work for warmongers or greed merchants, they don't take bribes from Abramoff or steal money from the Indians.  And, most of all, they do not lie, unlike the masters of the historical disgrace of the Iraq misadventure.

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These "left-leaning activists" of yours are good people, family people, hardworking people, most with some age on them, many of them retired, quite a few of them veterans.  Their goal is solely to stop a hideous war and to restore decency to our government.  They are patriots.

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These people don't work for some dark political agenda.  They work for peace and for America.  They deserve unbiased press coverage for what they are, not yellow journalism that paints them as left-wingers with an "argument (which) fails to persuade," followed by smears such as "there was little difference between disparaging the troops and criticizing the war." 

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History will describe these people as the idealists of our time, and will finally describe the warmongers for what they are, and a compliant toady of a press for what it is.

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Be advised that I intend to do my utmost to convince my good peace-worker friends to avoid coverage by you in the future, and also to avoid such bear traps as the office of Brown-Waite.

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Mr/Ms Loder, we are going to get to peace in spite of the incumbent politicians, big oil, the military-industrial complex, and a cowardly press.  We will not falter, we will not suffer discouragement even in the face of biased reportage such as yours. 

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Though I owe you no favor, here's a tip:  Bone up on your objectivity.  You might even consider becoming an "activist"  to bring courage, truth, unbiased reporting and respect back to the American press.

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Recalling that He is the Prince of Peace -- Rafe Pilgrim

 

cc:  Editor, St Petersburg Times

 

> > > > > >         //////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\       <<<<<<<<<<

 

The following account was received via e-mail from Norway today.  The real tragedy is that too many Americans don't comprehend what a tragedy we have here.......

Happy New Year, anyway, Rafe    
     

..........When is a Tragedy Not a Tragedy?.............

President Bush was visiting a primary school and he dropped in on one of the classes. They were in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings.

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The teacher asked Bush if he would like to lead the discussion on the word "tragedy".  So the Bush asked the class for an example of a "tragedy".

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One little boy stood up and offered: "If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs over him and kills him that would be a tragedy."

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"No," said Bush, "that would be an accident." 

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A little girl raised her hand: "If a school bus carrying 50 children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy."  

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"I'm afraid not," explained Bush. "That's what we would call a great loss." The room went silent. No other children volunteered.   

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Bush searched the room. "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of a tragedy?"   

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Finally at the back of the room a small boy raised his hand. In a quiet voice he said: "If Air Force One carrying you and Mrs. Bush was struck by a "friendly fire" missile and blown to smithereens that would be a tragedy."  

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"Fantastic!" exclaimed Bush. "That's right. And can you tell me why that would be a tragedy?"   

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"Well," said the boy, "It has to be a tragedy, because it certainly wouldn't be a great loss and it probably wouldn't be an accident either."

 

* * * * * * * *                     ///////// \\\\\\\\\                  * * * * * * * * *

 

 Do  We  Deserve  America ?

 

As the London newspaper said of our last national election:

How could 59 million people be so stupid?
 

The underlying characteristic of all of the current Administration's policies and actions is an unrelenting passion to dominate or to trash anything in its way --  to dominate the legislative branch and the judiciary, to trash the United Nations which offered conscientious objection, as well as long-standing allies such as France, to trash the ecology movement as alarmist, to dominate our economy with favored federal contracts, tax breaks for the very rich, and deficits which threaten our social security, to dominate the rights and prerogatives of American citizens, and to slaughter guiltless Iraqi civilians while trashing any objection as unpatriotic.
 

We need to wake up before we lose -- not only in Iraq -- but America itself. I have a very sick feeling that the electorate may not deserve an America. History teaches us that a politically stupid people suffers the same fate as a politically immoral people -- it inevitably falls to domination from elsewhere.
 

Perhaps our evangelical brothers take some comfort in supposing that this all hastens the Rapture, but I suspect that their god does not hold them in the uniquely high favor they suppose, but, as the Creator of All Things, is also responsible for the fate that befell other errant people who dared to challenge or ignore history's harsh judgment.
 

The notice I would serve the war supporters and holier-than-thou crowds is that if there is a god he exists beyond their political persuasion and is not confined within their church. It's time to put aside the partisan bloodlust, the self-serving sanctimony, and the blithering stupidity and take hard look at the recorded fate of those peoples who lived by the sword.

 We should also take a hard look at the Sixth Commandment, which prohibits killing anyone, not only Christians and Jews, but Iraqis, Iranis, neo-conservatives, liberals, communists, saints, sinners, the most heinous criminals, and all others, even your very self.

 If it is true that a people gets the government it deserves, then we can expect a perilous and miserable future for America. If, on the other hand, we think that America is worth saving, then we've got to face up to some changes. Firstly, we need to stop waging war as a national policy, starting immediately in Iraq. Then we need to stop legal murder (also known as capital punishment) at home, if we indeed are to honor the Commandments. Then we need to help the poor and the disadvantaged, consistent with the message extolled within our churches and less often observed outside them.

 The alternative course is to continue the killing and the loss of our children's lives in Iraq, to mindlessly suffer inadequate and bad leadership, to persist at our peril in thumbing our nose at the family of decent nations, and to ultimately lose any America worth having.
 

I vote for saving America at the cost of honest and perhaps brutal self appraisal, some courage, and a lot of hard work. Our ultimate fate will depend upon how many supporting votes this perspective gets. What do you choose?
                                                                                       Rafe Pilgrim

 

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose, or is it a Rock?

 

Bushido Banzai and his malevolent militants (including five-time deferree Cheney, Madam Rice and a host of notables who suffered nary a day in our country's uniform) employ an interesting variation of the Big Lie technique.
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It goes something like this: You see a rose.  It looks like a rose, it smells like a rose, it feels like a rose, and it is in FACT a rose
The Bushies say, "This is NOT a rose, it is a rock."
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Now here's the effect: The FACT that it is really a rose becomes transmuted from no longer a FACT but to a DEBATE.  And the decision as to whether it is a rose or a rock is no longer a matter of the REALITY of its being, but rests with the PERSUASION the debaters have upon an audience.
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In this debate, no holds are barred. One cannot rely solely upon rose-ness or rock-ness and expect to prevail. The audience, or electorate, will decide what the thing is to be rather than the determination of sensory perceptions or science.  Rhetoric will triumph over the rules of evidence.
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The Bushies lack no shame in employing the full range of persuasive devices, including charges of and appeals to terrorism, patriotism, tyranny, democracy, treachery, virtue, fear, courage, hostility, peace, bailing out, supporting the troops, treason, motherhood, jihad and -- a big favorite -- the Almighty. 
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Also included in their arsenal is the full range of lies, from the plain-brown-envelope variety of lie, up through the bald-faced variety, and then to their crowning specialty:  the listen-very-carefully-ever-shifting lie.
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This being America, everyone is entitled to his opinion, so reality be damned, the majority chooses whether the rose is a rose or a rock.
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And, great country that this is, every several years we get to vote for the rose-guys or the rock-guys to do their shtick at managing the world's oldest democracy and history's most terrifying arsenal.
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Now, this is what I ask of you:  Before you next vote for the person who sleeps next to the red phone facilitated to transmit, at any 3 a.m., the command to destroy the world, I implore you, my fellow Americans, to please wake up and smell the flowers.
..        

....................Rafe Pilgrim, December, 2005

 

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** 

 

Dance  Card

 

Evenings when work was done
I would ask if her dance card was full
and she would grin
then hug me
then whirl my clumsy steps about the happy kitchen
and we would sing imperfectly
not caring what words we invented
and the house rang with our laughter.

 

When sickness first came to visit
we prayed for her deliverance
and when it chose to bless us
we danced and sang and laughed once more.

 

But then the sickness returned,
then again and again and again,
and now we wait, not dancing,
not daring song or laughter
lest they tempt a suitor from another shore
to sign for the final dance.

....................................................... Rafe Pilgrim, 2003

 

Slip  Slidin' Away   December 2005

 A fellow Democrat recently made the case about the otherwise unknown character of a potential candidate to supplant the local incumbent Republican Congresswoman in 2006, that he would be BETTER THAN Ginny Brown Waite.  In response to my stoic demeanor, he then proceeded with an energetic variation of the where's-the-love pitch.  All I could think about was ... 2006 ... slip slidin' away ...
 

Soon to be Ex-Governor of Virginia Mark Warner traveled down to South Carolina to show his presidential wannabe self to the Palmetto people this week, and even rigged national exposure of his speech on C-SPAN.   He made several references to Virginia things,  too many allusions to his alma mater, Harvard, and mumbled something about truth being important.  My companion interjected he (Warner) had no fire in his belly, at which juncture I started to nurse the remote to find a British or Canadian station so to learn some real news along with the context our networks refuse to provide in favor of celebrity scandals, all the while I wondering if there could be a candidate somewhere in this nation who could make president from other than an Ivy League school,  while at the same time in the back of my mind the constant beat ... 2008 ... slip slidin' away ...

 

 Democrat Ex-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle announced it would not be good to get out of Iraq now, but is promoting a plan to withdraw by the end of 2007, while my head rings with the beat ... peace-now ... slip slidin' away ...

 

 Hillary Clinton hasn't said much about the disgraceful Iraq misadventure lately, her energies apparently consumed by linking up with the Republicans on an anti flag-defacement initiative.  That beat again ... priorities and integrity ... slip slidin' away ...

 

 Joe Lieberman, the champion of "reasonableness" and "reaching out," and the darling of the Jewish war hawks, now smiles coyly when asked how he would like to be Rumsfeld's replacement in the Bush cabinet.  No beat here -- Lieberman done slid away years ago.

 

 E.J. Dionne, Jr., in his column in the Washington Post this week, with the headline:  Democrats Divided on War, notes:  "Politicians, especially Democrats, will be discouraged from saying what they really believe about Iraq for fear of offending swing voters."  Once again the beat ... courage and integrity ... slip slidin' away ...

 

 The beat has had its effect on this traditional Democrat, namely me ... slip slidin' away ...

 

 I can't stomach being a Republican, but I am seriously considering slip slidin' down to Home Depot for a lantern, then tracking down Diogenes and proposing a party of two, with twice as much candlepower as he commanded heretofore in his millennia long quest for an honest person, an endeavor which, with decent regard for efficiency, ruled out searching the Republican camp.   It would be a real coup to find one with also a bit of courage, but that would probably rule out seeking the rare person amongst Democrats.

 

 Oh my!  The beat again!  Could that be ... America ... slip slidin' away ... slip slidin' away ... slip slidin' away ...

         

* * * * * * * * *

 

* * * * * SURVIVING THE FLAG-WAVERS * * * * *  12-7-05

 

After a torturous and prolonged ordeal, with all the power, resources and prestige of the government arrayed against him, a jury of his peers acquitted Prof. Sami Al-Arian on eight charges related to terrorism and was unable to reach a decision on a number of others, reportedly due to a few diehard holdouts for conviction.

 

I suppose we may now assume that, though not generally applauded in our society, it will be, well, okay to be Moslem, okay to wear "funny" clothes, okay to be politically unpopular, and okay to support movements such as statehood for Palestine in the face of powerfully entrenched and moneyed interests in opposition.

 

Although my best wishes go to Prof. Al-Arian and his family, I must admit that they were not my primary concern during this challenge to our system of justice. 

 

My primary concern was for my country.  Had America been poisoned by 9-11?   Would the Patriot Act prevail over human rights and constitutional guarantees?   Could the reverses of the war in Iraq profit from a coat of paint by cracking down on "terrorism" in the homeland?  And however could the belligerent one-track flag-wavers be appeased by anything less than a verdict of guilty?

 

Then twelve ordinary citizens, chosen by lot, stepped up to the challenge, damned the pressures, and mustered the courage to save America.  I am proud of them and much relieved.

 

Their verdict will be far from universally received.  The super-patriots, in some vogue today, will say it places us in further danger of "terrorism" and will detract support from the war.  Other enthusiasts contrarily will claim that the verdict just goes to show what a great country this really is.

 

I and some fellow quieter patriots are certainly relieved and simply quite satisfied that the jury gave us what we EXPECT from America.

 

Response  to  Friend  Who  Asks:   Why  Wait  Until  2008? 

 

    Why wait indeed!

 

    Good ol' boy Charley Reese (not too deep a thinker, incorrigibly homespun, and with whom I frequently take exception) got it right in his column [in the Citrus County Chronicle]  today when he proposed that we kick out ALL political incumbents in the elections of 2006 and 2008, regardless of their party, because they've done a lousy job for the past five years and are generally persons of no other merit than to cause the citizens unwarranted expense, malfunction of government, and enrichment of the greed machine.  I might even go one step ahead of Charley and impeach them, in fact I would relish and support that initiative.

 

    Our problems as a people are indeed dire, and not only at the national level.  Despite some stout efforts, we have still not awakened the electorate --particularly in Florida -- to bother to vote, and when they do vote -- ferkrizakes -- to vote for their OWN best interests.

 

    Even in our local politics we struggle with clarity and integrity.  Pitiful dumb Democrats have a senator (Bill Nelson) who voted for the presidential war powers, and -- whether doing so in cowardice, ignorance or innocence -- does not deserve another opportunity to represent YOU and ME in OUR government. We cannot afford to have him there to do something equally perilous in the future.  Our crafty fellow Dem politicos will caution that he is better than the alternative -- apparently an arch villain Repub -- but, dammit, that's in no way sufficient to justify appointing an unqualified person to represent US in the affairs of OUR government, OUR economy, and in the decisions to send OUR children to die in war.  Apparently we've forgotten an old fashioned word:  standards.

 

    So, we need to advise the locals that we are not about to select representatives, not about to compromise our high standards, not about to endorse leaders on the basis of less-worse alternatives. They need to get over the tactics and the strategy, and to seek out, identify and encourage candidates of courage, intelligence and goodwill.  Mediocre "better-thans" are no longer sufficient, no longer acceptable to US.

 

    Yes, the country is mired in one of its history's biggest disgraceful messes, domestically and internationally.  It is desperate for an elevated political morality, and must not confuse this with the bedroom variety.  This is about people who, with their clothes on, will provide trustworthy stewardship of our treasure, facilitate quality education for our young, medical care for our sick, accommodate a decent comfort level for the old, ensure clean air for our lungs and pure water for our veins, mount a secure defense while not terrorizing the world with unjustified war, and about people who put service to our country above personal pursuit, who will not enrich themselves at the public trough, and who will crunch the machinery of greed that corrupts every level of our government today.

 

    In short, we need people whom we can count on to always honestly try to DO THE RIGHT THING.  No more compromises, forget expedience, trash the bullpucky, no more political wonks.  Just people who will do the right thing.

 

Let's find some.

November 29, 2005

 

* * * * * * * *

 Thanksgiving, 2005

Judy, Judy, Judy...

 

     Judith Miller has hit the news again, prompting honest and discerning folks to recall that she provided a straight pipe from the bloodlusting WMD liars to a dupable readership.
 
     Judith now casts herself as the girl reporter "just trying to do my job," and the innocent victim of her sources,  a stance to which Maureen Dowd (whom I would run away with in a nanosecond) responded that reporting on claims which purport to justify war is "not stenography." 

 

     Of course, we must also view the New York Times' behavior as reprehensible for relaying Judith's relaying of the war lies to the public without sufficient confirmation or editorial skepticism.  Be that all as it may, Judith now says  she is resigning because she has "become the news," while the Times says -- sotto voce -- that she's being fired.

 

     Discounting the effects this may have on the whacko-patriots, most will greet this as good news -- she's outa here!  Unless, of course, she is somehow born again.  Hmmm...is it beyond the wildest  imaginings that she could re-emerge to replace the current pathetic bumbler as Presidential Press Secretary?  Hey, with these guys, absolutely nothing can be discounted as too deviant and insane.

 

     Several weeks ago, before Ms. Miller's position became terminal, I wrote a letter to the Chronicle, which they summarily discarded without printing, along with a dozen or so others of my authorship.  Perhaps it might be of some interest after all.  It follows  ......................

     Let's see if we have this right: Judith Miller (1) opted for twelve weeks in a federal jail (2) rather than to reveal a source (3) whom she now forgets (4) for a story she never wrote. 
 

    It seems that once again citizens are faced with a dilemma. Should we: (a) Throw her back into jail? (b) Charge her for twelve-weeks' room and board? (c) Charge the New York Times with harboring a perjurer? (d) Impeach her Administration masters? (e) Advise the special prosecutor he is not supporting the troops? (f) Do nothing, as usual? 

     It may be expecting too much to get any kind of an answer from our Democratic so-called leadership. We might ask them why: (a) Concerned about being labeled divisive? (b) Afraid of offending the women's movement? (c) Afraid of their own shadows? (d) Hadn't heard about it or doing other priority stuff? (e) Petrified by possibly being accused of not supporting the troops? (f) Not wanting to blow their five-year cloak of mystery now? 
 

    It seems that on the one hand we have the devil, and on the other hand we have...well, what do we have?

 

 G L O R Y

    

    The flags will fly
    and the bands will play,
    and all the boys
    will march away.

 

    The crowds will cheer,
    filled with glory,
    but you and I  
    know this story.

 

    They'll come home
    in body bags,
    between their teeth
    their dog tags.
    
    We'll shed a tear,
    say it's a crime,
    and swear off war
    until next time.

..................................Rafe Pilgrim, 2003   

 

BUSH SPEAKS THE TRUTH       11/13/05                      

 

     In his Veterans' Day address on November 11, 2005, Bush quite truthfully said, "When I made the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power, Congress approved it with strong BIPARTISAN support."

 

     This statement of fact prompted me to recall an email I wrote to sixteen Democrat senators on September 23, 2002, which read in part:

 

     "In my lifetime, I have several times witnessed the lust for war which ultimately became the tragedy of war.  You must not allow this to happen now.

 

     "In opposing the President's resolution for the use of force, you face the hazards of  unpopularity, loss of constituent support, and perhaps even the accusation of being unpatriotic.  My impression of each of you -- judging from past examples of your intelligence, goodwill, and courage -- is that you are not easily intimidated and that you possess the fortitude, under the most challenging of circumstances, to do the RIGHT  thing.  The RIGHT thing, as many Americans and most other nations would have it, is NOT to war against Iraq at this time.

 

    "Please rally against this resolution for war.  Please give us your last ounce of determination and stamina to deny it.  Please preserve the lives of our children and grandchildren for more worthy purposes.  Please DO THE RIGHT THING."
............................................................................................................................................................
     To their everlasting shame, the majority of Democrat senators and representatives DID NOT DO THE RIGHT THING, but did exactly as Bush now says.  It was a day of infamy by the very leaders I had pleaded with, including then Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (who has since paid for his failure of character) and the current Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, and such liberal luminaries as senators Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton. 

 

     Their perfidy aroused the following from me:

 

     "On the morning of October 10, 2002 ... we could already concede that the struggle for reason, sanity, constitutionality and peace had been defeated, and ... the authority to decide upon and to order a "democracy" of 280 million people to war in another hemisphere would be transferred to a single individual.

 

     "The Congress now steals from the people of the world's oldest democracy, the people's right to grant the authority to declare war, as established in the Constitution, to the people's chosen representatives, i.e., the Congress, and to none other.

 

     "The fate of our sons, daughters and grandchildren to die in a distant desert or in the narrow alleys of an Arab ghetto now rests in the fallible mind, heart, vocabulary and pronunciation of one man.  The lives of millions in the Mideast are now hostage to a   

single short sentence uttered into the red phone by the bedside of one man.  Will the mind be perfectly clear at 4 a.m.?  Will the correct words be used?  Will the voice quaver?    Will the fateful message be correctly understood?  We may not know until the first missiles have been launched and the entire irrevocable continuum of massive destruction has been set into motion.

 

 `    "The issues of war or peace, death or hope for humanity are no longer in the hands of the  people.  Those who enjoy the requisite faith may now seek solace and hope in their  prayers.  Others of us can only hope that fate treats us better than we deserve for permitting our Constitution to be violated, our democratic patrimony to be disgraced, and our promise for democratic world leadership in pursuit of peace to be discredited".
...........................................................................................................................................................
     Now, where does this leave us Democrats?  I  strongly believe it leaves us with the need to admit to ourselves the failure of leaders we selected to act with integrity and courage, and to come clean with the American people on that score.  Sure the other side has lied, but there is no way we serve our goals, ideals and our people by making this a contest of which party has the most grievous character defects.

 

     I, for one, will never vote for any Democrat who supported this disgraceful war in Iraq.  Further, I will not support any Democrat who employs weasel words to delay withdrawal, claims that we have a further responsibility, we must preserve our honor, we must not have those already dead to have died in vain, and other such tripe which translates into only more deaths and disgrace. 

 

    I will vote only for candidates who present a fast and firm plan to stop this war. (And, Ex-Senator Daschle, that does not mean by the end of 2007!)  I will vote only for candidates who will DO THE RIGHT THING, as perilous as that may seem to be, and requiring as much courage as it may.

 

     Now here's the important part for us -- We need to get this message across, not to America at this time, but to those Democrats who now contest for our support.  These Democrats have to get by us before they stand up to the voters of America.  They need to know what we demand in a Democrat candidate, or we will not give them the opportunity to run.  And if we do this, I firmly believe that we will choose candidates who will win in the general elections.

 

     I will demand that Democrats sign in blood to stop the war in Iraq.  We don't need those who will not.  This time, more than ever before, we need to give America candidates with integrity and courage, candidates who are winners!

 

     I need your help to tell Democrats what is required if they are to deserve our nomination. This time we will select only leaders who will DO THE RIGHT THING. 

 

     Please help me to let them know. 

 

 

*******************************************************************

"No Need for Demonstrations"

 

     Sometime ago, good ol' syndicated columnist Charley Reese put forth a piece of business in the newspapers he is associated with, that there was "no need for demonstrations."   Not that peace demonstrations were bad, mind you, there just was no need for them.

 

     I wrote an open letter to the local paper that features Charley's downhome wisdom, as well as a personal letter to Charley.  The local paper (as is often its wont with my stuff) chose not to print my contribution, and Charley apparently deemed it of insufficient merit to be dignified by a response.

 

     I did circulate my feelings on the subject with some of the local "troublemakers," but --  since most of the readership of this site could fall into that very category --  decided to give it a shot here for those of you who missed it.

 

Here goes --

 

     Charley Reese, you got either all tangled up in your own homespun lines or finally fell victim to the malady afflicting the American press in general when you trashed demonstrations as unnecessary and unpleasant. 

     We who perform the sad duty of demonstrations know how really unpleasant it is, Mr. Reese, as would anyone who sacrifices his free time to stand in the hot sun or rain, toting a sign, being called "coward" and "traitor" and accused of nasty behavior with his mother. 

     We publicly protest not because we enjoy it, but because we feel morally and patriotically compelled to reveal that the current administration is incompetent and misrepresents the best interests of the American people, while our press slavishly falls in line. The war mongers and greed merchants get page one; our dead soldiers are listed on page fourteen, if at all. 
 

    So, Mr. Reese, demonstrating is a lousy job but someone has to do it if an America we can be proud of is to be salvaged. We would ask of you -- rather than to attack and discredit the endeavors of honest and patriotic citizens -- to either (1) measure up to your responsibilities as a columnist by providing fuller commentary on the lies, the futility of the war in Iraq, the torture, the voting irregularities, the incompetence in responding to tragedies such as New Orleans, and the other misadventures of the current government, or (2) please honorably desist from disparaging the efforts and adding to the already unpleasant burden of good Americans desperately pleading for decent governance by the only means short of revolution now available to them.

**************************************************************************        
Getting Acquainted
  (another true story)

 

The older man
     knowing only
my name
and that I would move
into the neighborhood,
     smiled,
     then asked innocently,
"What war were you in?"
..........................................................Rafe Pilgrim, 2000

 

POLLS SHOW SUPPORT FOR WAR WANING

 

The pollsters report some "progress" in the public's dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq, and are putting numbers on the various options we should elect from here, but I submit it's a mistake to let this get too nuanced or complex.

 

The basic issue is one of Good or Bad.  And the first step is to open ourselves to the objective truth, and then to make the moral and practical decision. 

 

Some will never see this war as bad because of their imbedded politics or psychology.  My persuasion is that history will condemn the reasons for this war as greed and stupidity, compounded by vicious madness, and promoted by lies, and that it never should have happened, and, as with all monstrous mistakes, participation by each if not all parties should have ended immediately upon recognition of the error, fruitlessness and evil.  (Some experience with bad love affairs may be helpful in prompting this kind of decision.)

 

Perhaps you should get into a bathtub one toe at a time, but that's no way to get out of a snake pit.  If you think that this war is bad, then you need to work on getting shed of it now.  Sticking around in Iraq -- as a "practical matter" or for whatever lofty reason -- is a perpetuation of a dumb and evil mistake.  Yes, the bloodbath may continue with the other participants, but we will make it smaller by our withdrawal. We will stop contributing to the slaughter of innocent Iraqis and stanch the waste of young American lives.

 

It's bad.  Get out.  Do it now!

November 6, 2005

 

*********************************************************

Re:  Tom Daschle's Proposal to Vacate Iraq by End of 2007

 

    A thousand years ago or more, a Chinese ethical philosopher advised that there were only three important measures of a person:  Courage, Intelligence and Goodwill. 

    Mr Daschle is a very intelligent man, and certainly also a man of considerable goodwill, the kind of person we would like to have as a friend and a neighbor.  That however was not Senator Daschle's role at a critical time in our history. 

    His responsibility was to serve as the leader of the majority in the Senate, that is as the head of the most potentially formidable opposition an errant president could face.  In this capacity, Senator Daschle failed to muster the courage and thereby the support of his fellows to vote against the presidential war powers, giving away the people's constitutional right to declare war through their elected congress to a flawed leader.  It is quite likely that Senate Majority Leader Daschle could have prevented this.

    I knew, sitting at the time in my living room, remote from Senator Daschle's privileged access to intelligence, that the "justifications" for the war to follow were distortions and outright lies.  Senator Daschle must certainly at least suspected such, but he caved to a proposition wrapped in the flag, apparently concerned he could be colored as unpatriotic by the Administration.

    His vote and his leadership shocked and appalled me.  The man failed in this test of courage.  He does not deserve any further consideration from those who once depended upon his leadership and whom he so miserably failed.

    In and of itself, the proposition to vacate Iraq by the end of 2007 lacks any merit and appears to be ploy for "reasonableness" in the face of continued disaster, an attempt at a less worse scenario than endlessness. 

    Our participation in this historically disgraceful slaughter needs to end now.  Who other than I think so:  the French, the Germans, the Italians, the Norwegians, the Chinese, and nine or more of every ten nations in the world, including -- if it were possible on the issue -- a referendum of the Iraqi people.  Damn, in Argentina today they are burning trains in protest of Bush's visit.  The whole decent world now thinks of us as the Nazis of the 21st Century.

    In conclusion, Tom Daschle seriously lacks the courage element of the old Chinaman's prerequisites.  We don't need him, we don't need those who voted-against-the-war-before- voting-for-it, and we don't need a "reasonable" proposal that will kill another 2000 American kids and another 100,000 innocent Iraqis. 

    We need to stop participating in and encouraging this insane and despicable slaughter in Iraq now!  We need to look the ugly truth of this atrocity right in the eye.  And we need to find leaders who see this truth and possess the courage to do what has to be done.

 

things ARE actually what they seem 

 

 bushmen in whiteface
 atop oil barrels
 pledge allegiance to the flag
 waist deep in snow

 

 while senators in blackface
 bedazzle fast-food workers
 with income tax reductions
 for needy billionaires

 

 now enters Condoleezza
 deftly pirouetting
 to the music of preemption
 in pursuit of peace

 

 then whoops rise from the rose garden
 when it's made quite clear
 that although donkeys neigh
 it's sayin' NO they fear

 

 and here comes Dick with baton
 leadin' George in skat
 to the beat of Rummy's drum
 while John shines jackboots
 in the correct rhythms
 of color-coded bongoes
 
 while we all sit watchin'
 and noddin' to the beat

....Rafe Pilgrim, 2002

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Arms, the Boy, and Gunga Din

Atop the battle tank with "Heaven's Revenge"
painted on its roasting sides,
the teenager rests his helmeted head
against the fifty caliber machine gun
and tries gingerly to ease his shoulder muscles
from the clutch of the clunky Viet Nam era
body armor, issued said the supply girl
when they ran out of regulation kevlar.

He uncaps another bottle of hot Aquafina
to nourish the river of perspiration
coursing down his breastbone,
then across his flat belly,
pooling in his crotch,
then streaming down his skinny legs
into his boots, still swampy
from yesterday's urine,
leaked when they crushed the Iraqi kid
inexpertly struggling to launch an RPG,
just outside Fallujah.

The sun penetrates his eyeslits at 114 degrees
in this shadeless place of dust and helplessness,
as the leaden echoes of Sarge's words
reverberate between his inner ears
-- You got doubts -- It's unfriendly --
   You waste him before he wastes us --

Last week at home base
the TV showed Fearless Leader
in front of a dozen flags,
playing to a rapt air-conditioned audience
that we all needed was to  SUPPORT  OUR  TROOPS !
and all the businessmen and soccer moms
burst into cheers, and applause thundered
out across the Republic.

Support, my ass!
You want to support this trooper,
then get me the fuck outta here
before I get wasted!

A couple of days later,
Fearless Leader in a nifty flyboy suit
jumps down from his personal jet plane
onto the deck of an aircraft carrier
out in the ocean far away from the shooting
and declares to the TV world --

MISSION  ACCOMPLISHED !

Mission fuckin' accomplished?
Get off the boat, come ashore
and try that act here, Bushido Banzai,
and suddenly Dick Cheney will be  
     smiling
        from behind that big desk in the oval
             office

Then after a couple of more days,
in the real world,
two of the guys got their missions accomplished --
Hillbilly flown to Germany without his left leg,
and Sambo flown to the morgue in Delaware
without his face.

Goddamitey, Goddamitey...
the boy mutters aloud, recalling
he enlisted to get a crack at college,
maybe someday counsel troubled middle-schoolers.
Goddamitey, Goddamitey...
More images invade his battered consciousness --

....here's the lecturer in the library
telling of the young English soldier
who was killed in an old time war
shortly after writing a poem
about a friend boy-soldier whose dead face
once featured teeth seemed made
for smiling round an apple.

....then the bearded little teacher in
Introduction to Philosophy,
running on about the ancient Chinaman
who recognized only three virtues:
Courage, Intelligence, and Goodwill.

(What!  No fuckin' Support Our
         Troops?)

....but then there was Gunga Din,
who did in fact support the troops
with one last round of foul water
before being himself wasted.

Can you imagine all this shit
coming down on me from long ago
and far from this dehydrated cesspool
of human misery?

Can this be some kind of sign --
Am I perhaps ordained to be Gunga Guy
providing one last round of foul oil
to the brotherhood of Exxon, Shell & Friends?

Or I wonder could there be a Gunga God,
and could He get me the fuck outta here
so I can raise kids one day
instead of gunning down kids now?

Or, Gunga God, if that's asking too much,
could You spare a smaller miracle for
me and the crew before it's too late,
like maybe one last round
of ice cold Budweiser?

Funny, the teenager mused,
what a man will think,
sitting atop a tank in the hot sun --
then his eyes caught
the movement on the horizon. 

                          Rafe Pilgrim, 2003