(13 Poems to self assess your Beliefs, Values, Reason and Intellectual Integrity)

Illegal Human being

We in the land of the free,
In God we export democracy,
You, illegal human being,
No rights to feed your off spring,


We in the Eurotopia community,
Intellectuals think about humanity,
You, illegal human being,
No rights to feed your off spring,


We in the First World have intellectual integrity,
Human, Animal, Insect and Vegetable rights are priority,
You, illegal human being,
No rights to feed your off spring,


You, illegal human being, we have to teach you,
Everything about Freedom, Democracy and Human rights,
Et sur La liberte', l'e'galite' et la fraternite',
Until we colonize your country, go back,


Because you still don't understand about human rights.




Within the Walls of Freedom

Within the Walls of Freedom,
The sun shines so bright,
The colors are so many,
It all seems so right,


So many Arena Heroes,

I had a nightmare,
That the people of this Nation,
For the first time ever,
Will be in real despair,

That one day we will be judged,
By the color of our words in flair,
And not the contentment,
Of our characters, yes, I had a nightmare,

That this Nation,
Will rise a new Emperor,
Off its common sense,
From a ghost of terror,

In blood it will be spelled,
Over the Legislative walls,
Strokes of Judiciary Bush,
Demon-cracy for all's.

Julian Bravo, June 1st, 06.

Delegates include mother of current prisoner, former Guantanamo detainee, and high-level US peace activists

On January 9-13, a first-ever international delegation of former prisoners, families of current prisoners, US lawyers and human rights activists will travel to Guantanamo, Cuba to hold a conference on prison abuses and march to the Cuban-side security gate of the US Naval Base to call for the closure of the illegal prison. The protest in Cuba is part of the January 11 International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo, the day that marks the 5-year anniversary of the first prisoners being sent to Guantanamo.

"I am traveling all the way from Dubai because by heart is overflowing with grief over the abuse and ongoing detention of my son," says Zohra Zewawi, who claims her son has been tortured and blinded in one eye during his detention, and has never been charged or tried. Her son was imprisoned in September 2002 and is still a prisoner in Guantanamo.  Asif Iqbal, a former detainee who was freed on no charges after years of abuse, is coming to show his support for the basic rights of detainees.

Protest Clear Channel's dropping Air America!
Come out on Monday 1/8 during the Stephanie Miller show FOR A PUBLIC SHOW OF SUPPORT to Stephanie Miller for two years of progressive talk in Columbus, 11AM-Noon, on the sidewalk in front of the Ohio statehouse.

Clear Channel is dropping 1230am's progressive format and will be taking a hard right turn. WTPG (We're Talking Progressive) will change it's call letters to WYTS and will abandon voices like Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller, and Al Franken in favor of Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham. Sign the petition to help save progressive radio: Save Progressive Radio

In a recent Columbus Dispatch article, it is claimed that "The progressive-talk format, in place at WTPG since September 2004, never took off here despite live broadcasts in Columbus by Franken, Miller and Schultz." What it doesn't tell you is that WTPG TRIPLED its ratings since switching to a progressive format 2 years ago, and moved the former WCOL frequency into the top 25 stations for the first time in years.

Is Santa real? What about God? Or Mr. Stranger Danger? A 5-year-old's curiosity is a wonder to behold - more than a wonder if you haven't had your coffee yet, or if you're trying to get last-minute Christmas shopping done at Target and your son says he wants to die right now so he can meet God.

To be a parent is to feel the force of this curiosity like a live spring uncoiling with unpredictable energy against the day's agenda and the furthest reaches of the known universe, pushing you into a possible future not yet imagined.

"When did people first realize there was a God?"

This is my great-nephew Jackson, doing curiosity handsprings across the academic discipline of theology and squeezing an open-mouthed pause from his mom, Carmen, my niece - with whom I had a lively chat over the holidays about such matters when she had a moment to relax. This was a conversation of puzzlement and gold, and I've been thinking ever since about childhood and the precious possible.