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I scream FREE AMERICA, barely legible on the wall —
and I get one word, one rat, one care,
and an angry and ignorant old-world glare,
a smile here, bewilderment there —
And it seems there is nothingness everywhere.

*

What compels one to erase signs of peace everywhere?
What once blared out is no longer there.
A sigh for the next lost soul that’s to come,
and a sign that will be erased, but that might
reach some.
My voice, it will echo and the image linger on,
for this image isn’t mine, for my words will not end,
for Hell is war, and this war
can’t be won.

-- Melanie Gnosa, poetforhumanity@yahoo.com

Poetry for the Baltimore 28

storm drains running full
commuter buses no where to go
when the squad cars
roll into the square
dozens on 28 just ain’t fair
shivering on the station floor
i’m gonna be late for my date
the rain is running down the door
louisville is farther from baltimore then you think
the storm outside is pouring again
baltimore’s finest outside
trying to force their way in
national alliance street thugs
racist lies spread thin
shivering on the station floor
i’m gonna be late for my date
the rain is running down the door
louisville is father from baltimore then you think
there’s a trampled flag in the gutter
red and black cuts and bruises
inconsequential evidence of state abuses
washed clean with moral absolution
silence is approval
28 reasons to
demand justice now

The anti-war '60s all over again

First, the big anti-war demonstrations in Washington D.C., and San Francisco a couple of weeks ago; then, the Election Day sweep by Bush and the (prime) party of war and then, ... in my case, a concert by Merle Haggard in my local town of Eureka, Calif., Wednesday night.

When it comes to the big themes of love and war and history, nothing concentrates the mind like a few songs by Merle, whose 1969 pro-war country anthem "Okie from Muskogee" lambasted the dope-smoking hippie peaceniks and earned the former resident of San Quentin a full pardon from Governor Ronald Reagan.

Merle's political positions have evolved somewhat since the late Sixties, as we'll see, but sitting there in a mostly white working class audience even a tad older than the equally white crowd listening to Bob Dylan in Berkeley a few weeks ago, an obvious question bulked as large as the Stars and Stripes hanging above Merle: Are we seeing the birth of a new anti-war movement as potent as the one that prompted Merle to riposte with "Muskogee" and "The Fighting Side of Me"?

An Open Letter to the United Nations

Recently, U.S. President George W. Bush addressed your august assembly. Despite obtaining his office by what appeared to be a fraudulent coup and stealing the electoral votes of the state of Florida where his brother Jeb is governor, he did make one impressive point: “Our principles and our security are challenged today by outlaw groups and regimes that accept no law of morality and have no limit to their violent ambitions.”

The UN needs to realize that Bush’s statement is a Freudian slip – a self-confession about the real terrorist network that surrounds him in Washington, D.C.

On December 20, 1983, once and future Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld traveled to Iraq to extend his hand of friendship to Saddam Hussein. Rumsfeld, then a private citizen was acting as a liaison for the Reagan-Bush administration. As we say in U.S. politics, they knew Saddam was a son-of-a-bitch, but we wanted him “as our son-of-a-bitch.” You know the history here – Somoza, Pappa Doc Duvalier, the Shah of Iran, Marcos, Franco. These are just a few of a long list of fascists and thugs employed by the U.S. to do its imperialist bidding.

Secrets of the Tomb: The Order of Skull & Bones

“The Order of Skull & Bones is the Wizard of Oz! Presidents are just assassinated! There is no conspiracy!”

“It’s just necessary for us barbarians ‘to be able to make sense of the world!’”

“Whitewash, Smokescreen, Disinformation and Modified Limited Hang-out”

Recent Yale graduate Alexandra Robbins’s new book, Secrets of the Tomb - Skull and Bones, The Ivy League, And The Hidden Paths of Power portends to be an exposé, but in reality is a response by Bones to its critics, an apologia and. more skullduggery. Ms. Robbins, who claims to be a member of one of Yale’s seven senior secret societies (she never reveals which one) writes:

“The rumors and conspiracy theories about Skull and Bones. are widespread and deep-rooted. The most fascinating thing I learned through my interviews with members of Skull and Bones is that the majority of rumors were carefully planted by the Bonesmen themselves.”

Ohio's Contreception Grade

Ohio received an “F” from the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) for its policies regarding contraceptives. Governor Bob Taft’s office refused to comment, but a look at the www.naral.org website for Ohio’s laws, shows that our state does not have a policy, law or regulation requiring private health insurance plans to provide coverage for contraceptives. State workers’ health insurance plans, however, cover oral contraceptives and Depo Provera. State employees may also choose plans that cover Norplant, IUDs and diaphragms.

Star Artist

Some people are pioneers, innovators. They cannot help it and no matter how much they may try to suppress their genius, their flaming intellect, there is nothing that can be done about it. Jim Shepard was just such an entity, except he didn’t suppress anything and truly answered to no one.

On October 16, 1998 this seminal artist took his life — and yet instead of focusing on that final act, I think the focus needs to be placed on the work this man did during his thirty-nine years of extreme and bombastic living. His music — his art — the steaming body of work he left for us to listen to and dance to and grind and sink to creates a jarring impact. Like a meteor, he burned his own fiery trail; made every note he played, every fretboard he scraped his own.

A Democratic Socialist Perspective: Campaign Finance and Taxpayer Protection

“ I would rather err on the side of being too generous.”

That is what Columbus City Councilman Richard Sensenbrenner said in 1999. He wasn’t talking about generosity to help the less fortunate or the working people of Columbus. City Council had just approved tax abatements totaling $3 million for the Brewery district. It was pointed out by opponents that the area was not blighted, and would be developed anyhow, without any tax abatements. That is when Mr. Sensenbrenner made the statement quoted above. Coincidently, the beneficiaries of the abatements, Casto Development and Schottenstein, are among the biggest political campaign contributors. Combined, they gave more than $112,000 from 1998 through 2000 to Columbus City Council members and Mayors Coleman and Lashutka. Capital Square Ltd., a business subsidiary of Dispatch publishing, was a partner with Schottenstein in the Brewery district deal. Over $53 million in tax abatements were approved from 1998 to 2000 for companies that contributed to political campaigns. The political campaigns of the public officials that granted the abatements.

Big Contributors

Ticky Disclosure: The Chamber anonymously tips the scales of justice

Last June, in a cleverly calculated political pseudo-event, Governor Bob Taft and his sidekick Secretary of State Ken Blackwell announced their long awaited “campaign reform proposal.” Their rhetoric stressed the importance of achieving “full public disclosure” of anonymous money flowing into Ohio political parties as well as electioneering communications. Still, Ohio does not require that political parties disclose of money, even corporate money, coming into their coffers.

The question of whether “electioneering communications” can be kept private however, is under litigation in Ohio. Both the Ohio and U.S. Chambers of Commerce asserted their right to run so-called “issue ads” that looked a lot like attacks on judicial candidates in the 2000 election. as long as the ads bogus “issue ads” focused on smearing judicial candidates, but never mentioned “magic words” like “vote for,” “elect,” “support” or “defeat” any specific candidate.

Questions that won’t be asked about Iraq

Soon we hope to have hearings on the pending war with Iraq. I am con- cerned there are some questions that won’t be asked, and maybe will not even be allowed to be asked. Here are some questions I would like answered by those who are urging us to start this war.

1. Is it not true that the reason we did not bomb the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War was because we knew they could retaliate?

2. Is it not also true that we are willing to bomb Iraq now because we know it cannot retaliate, which just confirms that there is no real threat?

3. Is it not true that those who argue that even with inspections we cannot be sure that Hussein might be hiding weapons, at the same time imply that we can be more sure that weapons exist in the absence of inspections?

4. Is it not true that the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency was able to complete its yearly verification mission to Iraq just this year with Iraqi cooperation?

5. Is it not true that the intelligence community has been unable to develop

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