SADDAM HUSSEIN SENTENCED IN KANGAROO COURT BY THE LYNCH MOB WHILE AMERICAN WAR CRIMES ARE IGNORED OR DEFENDED &" EPIC FOR OUR TIME : A REQUIEM" VII

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN CRITICIZES BUSH REGIME FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES & LAUNCHING AN UNJUSTIFIED & DISASTROUS WAR

"J' ACCUSE " WHERE ARE HIS AMERICAN CO-CONSPIRATORS WILL BUSH RUMSFELD & CHENEY FACE JUSTICE ??? MAYBE NEXT CHRISTMAS !!!

THAT OLD PICTURE AGAIN !!!

STEPHEN HARPER FIRST PRESIDENT OF CANADA
PHOTOS Posted by Picasa

So anyway even the Washington Post is gleeful & triumphant over the execution of Saddam Hussein . Nothing like a good execution too round off the Christmas holidays . The post goes on to describe Hussein as a brutal dictator which he was of course . I have no great love of Saddam Hussein but there is more to this story yet The Washington Post & the rest of the American Media & that of Canada & Britain fail to mention that the trial was a farce & the outcome decided before the trial began.
The American government had no right to carry on such a trial since it should have been turned over to the World Court & the United Nations. But since Bush & the American People no longer recognize such concepts as “ International Law “ Or the UN CHARTER OF HUMAN RIGHTS or The Geneva Conventions or any other international agreements except where they are the chief beneficiaries then what can we expect of the American s & The Bush Regime which is also backed by the Blair Regime & now the Harper Regime in this country. Canadian troops are now becoming part of these ill-legal ad hoc wars & when our soldiers stand by while detainees are tortured by American & British forces they become silent participants - the Canadian government at the very least should refuse to hand over prisoners in Afghanistan or elsewhere to the Americans or their foreign or private clients .
Beyond that we should go to the United Nations & insist on a UN force to go to Afghanistan & have all other foreign armies including the Americans British & Canadians withdrawn before our name is sullied more & we become identified with the “ New Ugly Americans”.

Of course the American media & public no longer believe in real justice but only in revenge.

During the trial Hussein was not permitted to speak about his relationship with the United States government & that his regime was propped up by the Americans & they supplied his regime with weapons including biological weapons to use in the war with Iran which the Americans insisted Saddam pursue .

When Saddam committed atrocities the Americans kept quiet or defended Saddam’s Regime til he decided to attack Kuwait. The American government & its leaders & its agencies were also guilty and acted with complicity in those atrocities committed by Saddam . Those who have the power to stop atrocities from occurring stand idly by while those atrocities are committed
are themselves guilty.
The doctor or psychologist or soldier who stands by while a detainee is tortured who does not intervene or who does report this immoral activity to their superiors or take it to the press are also guilty. The press & media who refuse to take a stand on the side of truth & justice are no better than those who torture or who murder hundreds of thousands of innocent people as in Iraq , Afghanistan, Lebanon & Palestine etc.

When Hussein tortured it was wrong. When an American tortures detainees it is also wrong. When British soldiers or private contractors torture detainees it is still wrong.

But don’t say this out loud & don’t say it to the American Media the Washington Post, the New York Times etc. because when Americans torture it is OK & to argue about it shows that one is not a True Patriot & is giving comfort to the Enemy .

American Media even attack well respected human Rights groups like Amnesty International, or Human Rights Watch or the Red Cross or dozens of other Aid Agencies or the Secretary General of the United Nations or even Jimmy Carter former President of the United States if they dare criticize the USA.

How much blood needs to be spilled before the American Media & the elected members of the American government will say “enough is enough” .

To hide behind slogans like “ I was just following orders ” is true cowardice & shows a lack of any personal integrity. Though values like honesty , integrity, fairness & justice are no longer valued in our society which demands complete obedience & adherence to the Status Quo & hyper- & Jingoistic Blind patriotism & the belief that our society is guided by God & whatever we do must by definition be the right thing because we have God & destiny or Evolutionary inevitability as our justification for whatever evil we do.


The trial of Saddam Hussein as such was a travesty of justice & can be characterized as a Kangaroo Court in the tradition of the American Old West or that of the one time heroes of the American South the KKK or other blood thirsty Vigilantes .

Note : one can see this best exemplified in the film G. W. Griffiths “Birth of a Nation ” This was a movie much beloved by White Americans til recent times when it became politically incorrect but many who harbor racist views in our society are very careful in what they say & many such racists confuse the concern over such rhetoric with more substantive issues such as issues of fairness & justice. For instance a judge who gives longer jail sentences to black than to whites for similar crimes is still a racist whether or not he uses the “ N” word. Police officers who brutally beat up a black man just because he’s black when being arrested are still racists whether or not they always use the “ Politically Correct ” terminology when referring to African Americans.

Anyway here’s a little ditty from my latest collection of verses:

“ AN EPIC FOR OUR TIME : A REQUIEM ”

PART VII : AND THE DANCE GOES ON


and everyone loves a good Broadway musical
featuring funny cats & lions
and watch an avante garde circus act
and whores dreaming of a better life
and pity the poor the wretched of the earth
dancing & singing about justice & revolution & love
reducing Auschwitz to a big finale
for an hour or two til the houselights go up
the audience enthralled & oblivious -

and everyone loves a good spectacle
fire works & dancing girls
crowds cheering another execution
of the guilty & the innocent
the lynch mob always needing more
killing children & the feeble minded
& other social rejects seen as the enemy of society
in need of lethal injection or the electric chair
or just a few feet of rope
to defend the status quo
and sometimes a friendly dictator or two
their deaths seen on prime-time tv
to keep the masses & their masters happy
and on & on it goes -

and everyone dances a quadrille a mazurka & polka
flamenco &tango the foxtrot & horsetrot cha cha & swing
mambo samba rumba the twist & disco & gogo
always dancing like Nijinsky Astaire & Kelley
flying for a moment or on ceilings & in the rain
a new dance craze for each new war
with the rise & fall of empires
singing & dancing as the bodies float down the Danube
down the Euphrates Tigris & Nile
down the Belize the Amazon the Hudson & Mississippi
down the Kagera to Lake Victoria
down the Brahmaputra through the Himalayas
to the Ganges & Indus
down the Yangtze the Yellow & the Pearl
down the Thames the Shannon & the Liffey
down the Clyde & Tweed
down the Rio Parana & the Congo
and even down the Potomac
and we all go dancing into the Apocalypse
waiting for the Golden Age
which never comes about
waiting for a Messiah
who does not arrive
dreaming of eternity
dreaming of a world that will never be
while dark clouds gather threatening
and cities are flattened
and nations destroyed by madness -

articles of note:


CORRUPTION PLAGUING AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan - Fighting for Peace
First broadcast November 2006
documentary on BBC.Co.Uk
Money spent by international aid organisations in Afghanistan does not always reach the people it is supposed to help.

David Loyn reports on the alarming levels of corruption and the concerns over the way reconstruction money is being spent.

Country was safer & less corrupt under the Taliban

US Construction Firms get lucrative contracts with massive cost overruns yet local afghan firms proposals for contracts which would costs a lot less are not even considered- so foreign aid money ends up being sent outside the country to the US & UK & other western countries

Tuesday November 28, 2006
The Guardian
WOMEN'S RiGHTS
http://www.guardian.co.uk

'We are just watching things get worse'


When Britain and America went into Afghanistan in 2001, they claimed that the liberation of the country's burka-shrouded women was one of their top priorities. So did they deliver? Five years on, Natasha Walter visits Kabul - and is shocked by what she discovers


Afghan massacre haunts Pentagon
Luke Harding in Dasht-i-Leili
Saturday September 14, 2002
The Guardian

FILM of " THE CONVOY OF DEATH " can be seen on Democracy Now
---------------------------------------
and check out :
Full text: Kofi Annan's final speech
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan will step down on 31 December
Kofi Annan has delivered his final speech as United Nations Secretary General at the Truman Presidential Museum and Library in Independence, Missouri. The following is the text of the speech; subheadings inserted by the BBC.

“...respect for human rights and the rule of law.”

“...security must be collective and indivisible.”

“...no nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others. We all share responsibility for each other's security, and only by working to make each other secure can we hope to achieve lasting security for ourselves.”

“It also includes our shared responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity - a responsibility solemnly accepted by all nations at last year's UN summit.”

Much of his speech either obliquely or directly criticized the Bush Regime for its actions in Iraq & Afghanistan & its abuses of Human Rights .
And from CTV.ca

Annan criticizes U.S. in farewell speech
Updated Mon. Dec. 11 2006 3:22 PM ET
Associated Press

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- In his farewell address Monday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan criticized the Bush administration's leadership on the global stage, warning that America must not sacrifice its Democratic ideals while waging war against terrorism.

"Human rights and the rule of law are vital to global security and prosperity," Annan told a packed audience at the Truman Presidential Museum and Library.

When the U.S. "appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends
abroad are naturally troubled and confused," he said.
( for the most part to find honest & unbiased reporting on Kofi Annan’s speech you need to go to Media outside the United States & Canada the rest of the world saw the speech as a realistic appraisal of what the Bush Regime has done wrong & may even escalate their war on terror )
------------------------
And check out headlines at New York Times & the unbalanced & biased & pure propaganda by just the headlines :

NEW YORK TIMES
Death of the Iraqi Tyrant, DECEMBER 31
Neil MacFarquhar and John F. Burns report on the life and legacy of Saddam Hussein.

Dictator Who Ruled Iraq With Violence Is Hanged for Crimes Against Humanity
By MARC SANTORA, JAMES GLANZ and SABRINA TAVERNISE

Saddam Hussein’s execution came with terrible swiftness after he lost the appeal of his death sentence.
December 30, 2006

The Defiant Despot OppressedIraq for More Than 30 Years
By NEIL MACFARQUHAR

Saddam Hussein’s hanging ended the life of one of the most brutal tyrants in recent history.
December 30, 2006

Anyway see you around ,
GORD.

THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES & MY VERSES " AN EPIC FOR OUR TIME: A REQUIEM"- PART VI " THE WAYS OF THE WORLD "

THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES is a film version of CHE GUEVARAS roadtrip on a mororcycle across South America during which he became aware of the widespread injustice & oppression throughout the region which led to him becoming political & eventually a revolutionary. The film is also essentially a roadmovie & is quirky & humorous & sad & poignant & is a great piece of film-making at its best.


Before he changed the world the world changed him...

Let the world change you... and you can change the world... TAGLINES FROM THE MOVIE

PHOTO FROM The Motorcycle Diaries ( 2004)
Gael Garcia Bernal AS Ernesto Guevara de la Serna
Rodrigo De La Serna AS Alberto Granado

Director
Walter Salles
Writers
Jose Rivera Screenplay (Adaptation)
Ernesto Che Guevara Source Material (from book: "The Motorcycle Diaries")
Alberto Granado Source Material (from book: "Traveling with Che Guevera: The Making of a Revolutionary")


CHE GUEVARA & FIDEL CASTRO AFTER THE REVOLUTION SUCCEEDED IN CUBA OUSTING THE OPPRESSIVE REGIME of Dictator Fulgencio Baptista in 1959

Anyway I highly recommend this film as a good film & not just for its political overtones.

And now for a few more verse of my poem " AN EPIC FOR OUR TIME : A REQUIEM "

PART VI : THE WAYS OF THE WORLD


and someday the day may come

And when the people are no longer afraid
and the people cry out for freedom
and the people fill the streets protesting
and the people demand their rights -

and the generals send in their troops
and the profiteers hide behind the generals
and the foreign investors cry out for more profits
and the foreigners send in their gunboats
and the Gunship helicopters & fighter jets & B1 Bombers roar overhead
to maintain peace & security
to pacify the natives
with Napalm burning their flesh
charred bodies mere limbless lumps unrecognizable
& cluster bombs left to explode to mutilate for maximum effect
to teach them the ways of the world -

and the children in their hunger & suffering cry out
and wonder what is their crime
and they lay on the ground moaning
missing legs or arms
their bodies riddled with shrapnel & bullets
and the angry or just bored snipers on the concrete walls take potshots
at children going to & from school
and at children are playing soccer in the schoolyard -

every line of your history is tainted with blood & tears
blood of the innocent
tears of the mothers of the wounded & the dead -


and the soldiers & the leaders share jokes
as they toss bodies into mass graves
in the middle of nowhere
in the dry desert sands
in the midst of overgrown jungles
in city parks into quarries & wells
tossing dissenters into the Pacific or Atlantic -

their dirty little secrets growing year after year
and the press & tv praise them
and the well to do in cozy suburbia praise them
their cities & neighborhoods
and the citizens cry out
to hell with those who do not wish us well -

and all the racists are so politically correct
knowing just what words to say
and which words are forbidden
keeping their white robes hidden from view
as they rule from their lofty heights -


words burning your flesh like napalm
words spoken burned like shadows into cement sidewalks
silencing one nation after another -

secret planes secret prisons
secret police secret missions
its all a secret -

just a few bad apples they say
they say turn the other cheek
always say please & thank you
learn to share & play the game fairly
care about others
pray to God & the Flag
& the faces carved on Mount Rushmore
bow before presidents prime ministers & kings
kiss the rings of Popes pastors rabbis & archbishops
heed the orders of Tzars Pharaohs & Generals
while each of us spies on our neighbors
ready to turn them in
for some suspicious & subversive behavior -


as they conquer nations in our name
torture & kill all who dare resist -

blaming the victims
be silent no more -

and chorus girls dance the cancan
in the bowels of hell -

NOTE: VERSES WRITTEN WHILE LISTENING TO VICTOR JARA SILVIO RODRIGUEZ & CHILEAN GROUPS " INTI-ILLIMANI " & " QUILAPAYUN " FOR INSPIRATION & DISORIENTATATION AS IT WERE !

SO THERE YOU GO,
GORD.

WAR CRIMES & PUBLIC INDIFFERENCE TO DEATH TOLL IN IRAQ PABLO NERUDA & FACING THE REALITY OF WAR & OPPRESSION

PALESTINIANS UNDER SEIGE BY ISRAELIS WHILE THE WEST REMAINS SILENT-

DEAD CHILD IN IRAQ - DEATH TOLL IN IRAQ 450,000-655,000 - THE BLOOD ON OUR HANDS

SWEDISH VOLUNTEER ATTACKED BY ISRAELI EXTREMISTS WHILE ISRAELI SOLDIERS STOOD IDLY BY - THIS IS JUSTICE ISRAELI STYLE A SOCIETY WITHOUT SHAME

WATER TORTURE THEN & NOW TORQUEMADA TO BUSH BLAIR & OUR OWN NEOCON HARPER - WHILE THE PUBLIC CHEERS

HOMECONTENTBG.ORG - IS THERE ANOTHER WAY ???



MY LAI SPREADING DEMOCRACY THE AMERICAN & THE WESTERN WAY

Maher Arar is a 34-year-old wireless technology consultant. He was born in Syria and came to Canada with his family at the age of 17. He became a Canadian citizen in 1991. On Sept. 26, 2002, while in transit in New York�s JFK airport when returning home from a vacation, Arar was detained by US officials and interrogated about alleged links to al-Qaeda. Twelve days later, he was chained, shackled and flown to Syria, where he was held in a tiny �grave-like� cell for ten months and ten days before he was moved to a better cell in a different prison. In Syria, he was beaten, tortured and forced to make a false confession.

During his imprisonment, Arar's wife, Monia Mazigh, campaigned relentlessly on his behalf until he was returned to Canada in October 2003. On Jan. 28, 2004, under pressure from Canadian human rights organizations and a growing number of citizens, the Government of Canada announced a Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to MAHER ARAR .



PAINTING OF PABLO NERUDA AT ISLA NEGRA, CHILE
Anyway here is a bit of biographical info. on the world acclaimed Chilean Poet, Pablo Neruda followed by one of his poems.

But first let me explain -The poem chosen for this post “ I’ll Explain Some Things ” is one in which Pablo Neruda explains why some of his poems are political & speak about injustice oppression & brutality & torture & assassinations & are filled with disturbing images about war & revolution about dying soldiers & civilians etc. This is a poem which is suited to our time in which people in Canada & the United States & Britain prefer not to see the all too horrific images of those who are detained & tortured & all those innocent civilians men women & children who are shot to death or blown to pieces in Iraq or Palestine or Afghanistan in our troubling & disturbing policies in fighting Terrorism as once the West fought against real or imaginary evil Communists around the Globe - then as now in our fight we have committed brutal & unjustified attacks on various individuals groups & nations in our Zeal for revenge & blood for the 9/11 attacks & other such attacks which has led to a world more dangerous & all our actions have only made matters worse .

All these crimes against humanity are done in our name & if you believe they are justified then you should be willing to contemplate the end result of such policies which is not merely abstract but something quite tangible as flesh & bone are ripped to pieces by bullets & the smell of burning human flesh as the military rains down Napalm on civilian populations & be willing to ponder over the images of those whom we kill & linger over the images of the hundreds of thousands killed in our name to protect Our HOMELAND as we deny others the right to protect their homes & neighborhoods from our invading forces .

Try to put yourself in the shoes of those who are arrested black-bagged taken to some prison to be tortured for days on end & weeks & months & years - to not be charged with a crime- to be held incognito to be beaten for praying to your God & someday released & told simply that it was just a mistake - a case of mistaken identity or some bureaucratic error - FOR EXAMPLE CANADIAN CITIZEN MAHER ARAR !!! HOW MANY MORE HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN ???

Most people in our society have lost the ability it seems to EMPATHIZE with others especially if they are different from them in some way ie. color, race, language, culture or religion . Only our group actually feels all those others are incapable of being sensitive or care about life as we do since they are all brutes mere animals in comparison to ourselves - this is racism & Xenophobia at its worst .

It is not just those who commit these acts in our name & those who give the orders & set the policies but all who stand by & do nothing are also guilty & so we all STAND ACCUSED . It is not just George Bush & his fanatical Neocons who are guilty but all those politicians, bureaucrats & organizations & individual citizens who have stood back & did nothing to stop the carnage & madness that has now engulfed Iraq & Afghanistan & Palestine & Lebanon & whatever countries are next on our " HIT LIST " -


Unfortunately too many people in our society put far too much trust in our leaders & our Secret Police & the military personnel who claim “ WE WERE JUST FOLLOWING ORDERS ”-

Pablo Neruda
From Wikipedia,
Neruda recording poems at the U.S. Library of Congress in 1966

Pablo Neruda (July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973) was the pen name of the Chilean writer and communist politician Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto.

Having his works translated into dozens of languages, Pablo Neruda is considered one of the greatest and most influential poets of the 20th century. Critic and biographer Alistar Reid has stated that Neruda is the most widely read poet since William Shakespeare.

Neruda was accomplished in a wide variety of styles, ranging from erotically charged love poems, surrealist poems, historical epics, and overtly political manifestos. Some of Neruda's most beloved poems are his "Odes to Common Things," collected in several volumes. Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez has called him "the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language". In 1971, Neruda was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature after several years of being overlooked for his political activism.

During his lifetime, Neruda occupied many diplomatic posts and served a stint as senator for the Chilean Communist Party. When Conservative Chilean President Videla outlawed communism in Chile, a warrant was issued for Neruda's arrest. Friends hid him for months in a basement of a home in the Chilean port of Valparaiso. Neruda then escaped into exile through a mountain pass into Argentina.

Years later, Neruda was a close collaborator to Socialist President Salvador Allende. Upon returning to Chile after his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Allende invited Neruda to read at the Chilean national soccer stadium before 70,000 people, the largest poetry reading in recorded history.

Pablo Neruda, hospitalized with cancer at the time of the Chilean coup d'état led by Augusto Pinochet, died of heart failure twelve days later. Already a legend in life, Neruda's death became charged with an intense symbolism that reverberated around the world. Pinochet had denied permission to transform Neruda's funeral into a public event, but thousands of grieving Chileans disobeyed the curfew, flooding the streets in tribute. Neruda's funeral became the first public protest against the Chilean military dictatorship.

And from website:
Blues For Peace
And they shall beat their swords into Guitars...
http://www.bluesforpeace.com/

“ In 1933, Neruda published Residence on Earth which was a literary breakthrough. The two parts of Residence on Earth contain his poetry from 1925 to 1935. They show Neruda at his most surrealistic. Neruda used obscure and violent imagery to convey a sense of universal chaos.

The murder of Garcia Lorca, who Neruda knew, effected him strongly and he joined the republican movement in Spain. Because of his political views, and the danger of civil-war torn Spain, he left in 1937 to return to Chile. In 1939, he was appointed consul of Spanish emigration and moved to Paris and then Mexico. During this time he wrote Canto de Chile and Canto General which was an epic about the South American continent. It was published in Mexico and underground in Chile. It was hard living abroad and by 1943 he returned to Chile. In 1945 he was elected senator and joined the communist party. He protested President Gonzales Videla’s oppressive policy against the striking miner’s union and had to live underground for two years until he was able to leave in 1949. Returning to Europe he was only able to return in 1952. Because of these experiences, he honed his message and published work closely related to his experiences. During this time he also won the Stalin prize and Lenin Peace Prize. ”


PABLO NERUDA RECORDING POEMS AT U.S. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

I'll Explain some Things
PABLO NERUDA

You’ll ask, Where are the lilacs?
And the philosophy dreamy with poppies?
And the rain which kept beating out
Your words, filling them
With water-specks and birds?

I’m going to tell you everything that happened to me.
I lived in a neighborhood
In Madrid with church bells
And clock towers and trees.

From there you could see
The dry face of Castille
Like a sea of leather
My house was called
“The house with the flowers” because around it
Geraniums exploded. It was
A beautiful house
With dogs and kids.

Raúl, do you remember?
Federico, do you still remember
Under the ground?
Do you remember my house with the balconies
Where the June light soaked your mouth with
The taste of flowers?
Brother! Brother!
The market place of Arguelles, my neighborhood
With its statue like a pale inkwell among
The fish stalls.
It was all
Loud voices, salty commerce,
A deep rumble
Of feet and hands filled the streets,
Meters and liters,
The sharp essence of life,
Fish stacked up,
The texture of roofs in the cold sun in which
The weather-vane grows tired.
Fine, crazily carved ivory of potatoes
Lines of tomatoes to the sea.

Then one morning flames
Came out of the ground
Devouring human beings.
From then on fire,
Gunpowder from then on,
From then on blood.
Bandits with airplanes and Moorish troops
Bandits with gold rings and duchesses
Bandits with black monks giving their blessing
Came across the sky to kill children
And through the streets, the blood of children
Ran simply, like children’s blood does.

Jackals that a jackal would reject
Stones that a dry thistle would bite and spit out
Vipers that vipers would hate!

I have seen the blood
Of Spain rise up against you
To drown you in a single wave
Of pride and knives!

Generals
Traitors
Look at my dead home
Look at broken Spain –
But from each dead house
Burning metal shoots out
Instead of flowers.
From every shell-hole in Spain
Spain will rise.
From every dead child a rifle with
Eyes will rise.
From every crime bullets will be born
Which will one day find a place
In your hearts.

You ask “Why doesn’t your poetry
Speak to us of dreams and leaves
Of the great volcanoes of your native land?”
Come
See the blood along the streets
Come see
The blood along the streets
Come see the blood
Along the Streets!

Here are some websites to check out for more on Pablo Neruda

http://www.poetseers.org/

http://www.britannica.com/nobel/

and some his poems online
http://www.public.asu.edu/

http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/
with sixty of his poems

Poetry of Pablo Neruda
http://www-personal.umich.edu/

http://www.britannica.com/nobel/

http://www.geocities.com/

and:
Lone Star Internet
Culture Café
http://www.lone-star.net/

For a view from the radical right & NEOCONS see The Weekly Standard
Bad Poet, Bad Man
From the July 26, 2004 issue: A hundred years of Pablo Neruda
by Stephen Schwartz
07/26/2004, Volume 009, Issue 43

That’s all for now,
GORD.

BUSH REGIME OPENS NEW & IMPROVED DETENTION & TORTURE CENTRE

www.polizero.com 20/06/06


NEW GUANTANAMO BAY PRISON & TORTURE CENTRE : ALJAZEERA.NET
http://english.aljazeera.net
NEWS AMERICAS
New Guantanamo Bay prison in use
The new prison cost $37 million and was designed to restrict contact between detainees


A group of Guantanamo Bay detainees have become the first to be moved to a new maximum-security prison - a $37 million facility designed to restrict contact among the prisoners and prevent attacks on guards.


Navy commander Robert Durand said 42 detainees were taken to the new 178-cell prison in Cuba.

Durand said the new facility will allow the US naval base to close Camp 3, which was constructed in 2002 with walls of thick gauge and chain link metal.


About 430 men are currently held at Guantanamo, including 100 who have been cleared for release and are awaiting transfer to another country.


UN human rights investigators and foreign governments have called on the US government to close the entire detention centre.


FROM PINOCHET TO RUMSFELD BUSH & CHENEY TORTURE HAS BECOME AN AMERICAN INSTITUTION : CHECK OUT WEBSITE: From Third world traveler
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/dictators

Friendly Dictators
(written in 1995)
Many of the world's most repressive dictators have been friends of America. Tyrants, torturers, killers, and sundry dictators and corrupt puppet-presidents have been aided, supported, and rewarded handsomely for their loyalty to US interests. Traditional dictators seize control through force, while constitutional dictators hold office through voting fraud or severely restricted elections, and are frequently puppets and apologists for the military juntas which control the ballot boxes. In any case, none have been democratically elected by the majority of their people in fair and open elections.


They are democratic America's undemocratic allies. They may rise to power through bloody ClA-backed coups and rule by terror and torture. Their troops may receive training or advice from the CIA and other US agencies. US military aid and weapons sales often strengthen their armies and guarantee their hold on power. Unwavering "anti-communism" and a willingness to provide unhampered access for American business interests to exploit their countries' natural resources and cheap labor are the excuses for their repression, and the primary reason the US government supports them. They may be linked internationalIy to extreme right-wing groups such as the World Anti-Communist League, and some have had strong Nazi affiliations and have offered sanctuary to WWll Nazi war criminals.


They usually grow rich, while their countries' economies deteriorate and the majority of their people live in poverty. US tax dollars and US-backed loans have made billionaires of some, while others are international drug dealers who also collect CIA paychecks. Rarely are they called to account for their crimes. And rarely still, is the US government held responsible for supporting and protecting some of the worst human rights violators in the world.


FOR EXAMPLE; FULGENCIO BATISTA ,President of Cuba
P.W. BOTHA, President of South Africa
VINICIO CEREZO, President of Guatemala ROBERTO SUAZO CORDOVA, President of Honduras; ALFREDO CRISTIANI
President of El Salvador ; FRANCOIS & JEAN CLAUDE DUVALIER ,Presidents of Haiti ; KING FAHD BIN 'ABDUL - 'AZIZ
King of Saudi Arabia ; GENERAL FRANCISCO FRANCO ,President of Spain ; FERDINAND MARCOS
President of the Philippines ;MOHAMMAD REZA PAHLEVI, Shah of Iran etc.

ALL IMAGES Posted by Picasa

SEE YOU LATER,
GORD.

PINOCHET FORMER DICTATOR & MASS MURDERER WHO TOOK OVER CHILE IN AN AMERICAN STAGED COUP IN 1973 HAS DIED

FORMER DICTATOR & MASS MURDERER OF CHILE 1973-1989 BELOVED BY USA & HATED BY HIS OWN PEOPLE DIED TODAY ESCAPING JUSTICE - IN THIS IMAGE PICTURES OF THE DISAPPEARED ARE SUPERIMPOSED ONTO PINOCHET- HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATHS OF THOUSANDS CHILEANS

"30 years ago, the Chilean military, backed by the CIA, Kissinger, and Nixon violently crushed the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. Thousands of people were killed and disappeared; thousands more were arrested and tortured."
/www.freedomarchives.org/Chile/

For Photos before & after the Coup

Guards at National Stadium, Santiago, Chile
www.flickr.com/photos/marcelo_montecino/



SALVADOR ALLENDE POPULAR PRESIDENT OF CHILE - ELECTED DURING A LEGAL & FAIR DEMOCRATIC ELECTION - THIS CARRIED NO WEIGHT FOR NIXON & KISSINGER WHO DID NOT APPROVE OF HIS POPULAR REFORMS-

as for freedom of the Press the USA saw nothing wrong with destroying Newsgroups in Chile who wrote in fovour of Allende or who criticized Pinochet & US involvement in the 1973 Coup
for example on the website for the newsgroup Puro Chile write:

" On September 11, 1973 torturers and murderers in uniform assailed the building in which the daily Puro Chile had its offices, after it had been under intense attack by heavy machine-gun fire. Once inside the offices, the robbers in uniform destroyed furniture, the archives and the work of the journalists, to then throw all the debris onto one heap and set it alight. In this way, the torturers and murderers in uniform attempted to physically wipe-out the existence of Puro Chile from Chilean soil. They reduced our offices to pieces, but not our dream of social justice and a better future for mankind. "

" Now, almost 30 years later, from the ashes left by the bandits in uniform Puro Chile is reborn like a homage to those who fell, were tortured, to those who disappeared, were killed, to those who were humiliated and offended by the monstrous claw of the murderers in uniform. "


http://www.purochile.org/indexen7.htm
Puro Chile
The memory of the people



SALVADOR ALLENDE PRESIDENT OF CHILE JUST BEFORE BEING MURDERED DURING THE 1973 AMERICAN STAGED COUP


VICTOR JARA POPULAR FOLKSINGER OF CHILE WHO WAS TORTURED & ASSASSINATED ON THE ORDERS OF PINOCHET AT THE STADIUM IN SANTIAGO SEPTEMBER 16, 1973

" Victor Jara is widely recognized as one of the leaders of the New Song Movement in Chile which began in the 1960s and continued through the 70s. Other artists who defined the New Song Movement include folk singer Violeta Parra and the groups Inti-Illimani and Quilapayun.After September 11, 1973, all music by the artists was declared subversive and the discovery of possession of such recordings would lead to certain arrest. The New Song Movement had strongly identified itself with the Popular Unity government of Allende (la Unidad Popular), and the music lent inspiration and cohesiveness to the supporters of the Unidad Popular "--STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
AND ACADEMIC INFORMATION RESOURCES
www-sul.stanford.edu/about_sulair/

And the wounds left by Pinochet's brutal regime have still not healed -


santiago demo Anti-Pinochet activists in Chile have protested against his possible release-- Saturday, 29 January, 2000, 01:03 GMT
Ex-prisoners accuse Pinochet of torture
By James Reynolds in Santiago

Some 643 former political prisoners in Chile have filed a lawsuit against General Augusto Pinochet, accusing the former military leader of torture.
This is the 59th lawsuit submitted in Chile against General Pinochet.
The general is currently under house arrest in London. Earlier this month, the British Home Secretary, Jack Straw, said that he was minded to return him to Chile on health grounds.
'Degrading crimes'
The text of the lawsuit accuses the former military leader of responsibility for cruel, inhuman and degrading crimes, which it argues cannot be covered by any amnesty laws.

And not surprising is the The Bush Regime supports a number of ruthless brutal dictatorships around the world for example UZBEKISTAN:


http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news498.htm
LET THEM EAT LEAD

lock 'em all up... and protect freedom

"There are over 6,000 political and religious prisoners in UZBEKISTAN. Every year, some of them are tortured to death. Sometimes the policemen or intelligence agents simply break their fingers, their ribs and then their skulls with hammers, or stab them with screwdrivers, or rip off bits of skin and flesh with pliers, or drive needles under their fingernails, or leave them standing for a fortnight up to their knees in freezing water. Sometimes they are a little more inventive. The body of one prisoner was delivered to his relatives last year, with a curious red tidemark around the middle of his torso. He had been boiled to death." - George Monbiot, activist and writer

Given that George Bush has been busy bringing "democracy" to the Middle East and former Soviet Union states, you'd think the White House would be condemning the dictatorial Uzbek government, who this week have been busy murdering hundreds of their own people. A spokesman simply murmured that the regime should "exercise caution and restraint ", nothing more. It's only a week since Bush visited Georgia, a country which he referred to as "a beacon of liberty for this region and the world". Congratulating the people for overthrowing ex-Soviet apparatchik Edvard Shevardnadze in the "Rose Revolution", Bush must have had a sense of deja vu. Only last Christmas the White House lavished similar praise on the Ukrainians "Orange Revolution" , providing material, financial and political support. When crowds demonstrated in Lebanon, Kyrgizstan, Ukraine and Georgia, the Americans welcomed it as "people power" and pledged to support "freedom-loving peoples" of the world in their struggles to overthrow "brutal dictatorships". So why go so quiet when the Uzbek people rise up against their own Soviet-era dictator? '

And Human Rights violations continue up to the present in Chile:


ALL IMAGES POSTED BY PICASA

VIGIL IN FRONT OF LA MONEDA PALACE IN SANTIAGO,CHILE ---
gfvb international
SOCIETY FOR THREATENED PEOPLE: FOR HUMAN RIGHTS WORLDWIDE
Anti-terror laws against Mapuche leaders are in the tradition of the Pinochet dictatorship
Mapuche in Chile call for release of the political prisoners

Yvonne Bangert
November 2005

Mapuche civil rights workers are criminalized

The Mapuche make up with some 1.3 million members nearly ten percent of the 15.8 million inhabitants of Chile. Following the first step of Christopher Columbus on American soil, which presaged doom for the indigenous peoples, the Mapuche on the territory of the present Chile fought for a long time against the Spaniards for their land. They had also successfully resisted the empire of the Incas. They were not conquered until Chile became independent in 1818. Today the Mapuche are a peaceable, but extremely impoverished and under-privileged minority. According to the Chilean Indian Law the Mapuche are really entitled to minority rights and the right to the return of the lands stolen during the military dictatorship of Pinochet (1973-1989). However these laws have not been implemented. So the Mapuche civil rights movements came into being, and their leaders are being criminalized as terrorists by the Chilean courts as an answer to their non-violent demands for land.

The laws in use are: the "Law for Inner Security " (Law No.12.927) and the Anti-terror Law, both taken over from the time of the dictatorship. The Anti-terror Law was indeed extended in the 1990s after the dictatorship: since then it also takes effect in the case of damage to property and of a possible link with an organisation which may be seen as of a terrorist nature. The criminal prosecution of the Mapuche is therefore regularly based on charges which are connected with the accusation of terrorism: belonging to an illegal association (among these being Mapuche associations which are legally working for more rights and also Mapuche communities which recognize their local persons of authority, the Lonkos), disturbing public order in the course of non-violent demonstrations, insulting officials, non-violent occupation of land, violence against objects or arson.

Mapuche International Link
http://www.mapuche-nation.org/
our site aims to highlight the current situation of the Mapuche people and to provide information about their culture and history as well as their continuing struggle and aspirations for the future.

Tomas Hirsch, leader of the Left
"Chile no longer has a rule of law "
By Jorge ZIGA Tuesday 9th May 2006, Santiago

Tomas Hirsch, the ex-presidential candidate of the extra-parliamentary left, visited the Moneda Palace to show his support of the Mapuche hunger strike taking place in southern Chile . "They have been illegally convicted using faceless witnesses under the Antiterrorist Law " the same law used by Pinochet during his dictatorship " said Hirsh.
After presenting a letter to the President of the Republic, Tomas Hirsch stressed that "a democratic country does not have "rule of law " while it has political prisoners detained and accused under an anti-terrorist law created during the dictatorship and using "anonymous witnesses". The ex-presidential candidate of the left highlighted that the insistence of the Supreme Court in repeating the trials three times in order to secure a guilty verdict, " shows that there is real political persecution against the Mapuche people " .

ANYWAY SEE YOU LATER,
GORD.

MIND THE GAP BY MORLAND- INTOLERANCE SUSPICION & PARANOIA FUEL RACISM IN BRITAIN & THE WEST
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JESUS PREACHINGS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN BY MARTIN LUTHER & THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT

" SACRED HEART " MYKERU.COM- I came across this picture at the website " Junk for Code:looking for something firm in a world of chaotic flux " Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at December 28, 2004- THE CREATOR OF THE IMAGE DESCIBES IT AS : " I interpret the head of Christ inside the television set as the new American-style fundamentalist Christianity, which repudiates the Enlightenment and transforms religion into a right wing extremism of blind patriotism based on mythology about war.

That extermism constructs our enemy (described as Islamofascism, Islamist extremism, global jihad) is seen to have no rational agenda beyond the desire to destroy the United States Britain and Australia out of remorseless, theologically-inspired hatred and pathological loathing for their values. The enemy is the underground monster threatening the survival of Western civilization.

This kind of religion provides the cliches that undewrites the patriotic script handed to us by the mythmakers."


MARTIN LUTHER 1483 - 1546
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"I am not permitted to let my love be so merciful as to tolerate and endure false doctrine. When faith and doctrine are concerned and endangered, neither love nor patience are in order.... when these are concerned, neither toleration nor mercy are in order, but only anger, dispute, and destruction -- to be sure, only with the Word of God as our weapon." - Martin Luther

What is most troubling about the Evangelical Fundamentalists is their belief that tolerance of other viewpoints & of other religious systems is unacceptable & is seen as pernicious . This goes against the whole idea of a liberal society which tries to embrace as many viewpoints as possible.
Believing they like Martin Luther himself have found the Truth they wish to enforce this truth on the rest of society. And in their view there is no room for compromise .

The Religious Right do not merely wish that society should tolerate their views but rather that they should be the ones deciding what policies & laws should be enforced by the government in the United States or Canada or elsewhere.

For instance when it comes to the issue of Abortion they want to pass legislation banning all Abortions even in cases of Incest, Rape or to save the life of the woman giving birth . Women in the view of Evangelical Fundamentalists are merely a vessel for the carrying of the unborn child & therefore the Fetus has prima facia rights over the mother.

On the issue of Evolution they believe it to be Anti-God & Anti-Christian & therefore should not be taught in the schools but that it should no longer be treated as an alternative view in the Media or in public discourse of how the Universe & the Earth & Humankind came about. Their opion is that God made the Earth & Man as a Special Creation & that since this is the Biblical view it should not be debated in public .

On the issue of Gay Marriages & Gay Rights the Religious Right argue that the churches should not perform Gay Marriages & further that Civil Unions of Gay couple by a Judge should also not be permitted. They also take this a few steps further claiming that Civil unions of Heterosexual Couples should not be permitted or Recognized & including Common Law Marriages etc. Only marriages between a man & a woman before a minister, pastor , Priest or Rabbi should be accepted by society as having a legal standing . Eventually the Christian Religious Right will argue that only Christian & Jewish Marriages would be acceptable since they believe all other religions to be false & as the products of The Father of Lies Satan himself . The issue of Gay Marriages is one of the rights of minority groups & of religious freedom & the freedom from religion.


MIND THE GAP BY MORLAND- INTOLERANCE SUSPICION & PARANOIA FUEL RACISM IN BRITAIN & THE WEST
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and in the article "Amazingly graceless: American evangelicals rationalize the lapses of Protestantism's greatest leaders but are far less charitable about Muslims' foibles" by Rob Asghar writes :

The "clash of civilizations" may dissipate when the West's hawks recognize that their worst fears lie not in their imagination but in their memory.

Picture Europe under siege by anti-democratic zealots. Picture a militant religious leader calling for the destruction of Europe's Jewish communities. Picture a Talibanesque theocracy arising in a major European center.

Given that this is no dark fantasy but simply a recollection of Europe during a Protestant Reformation that was reputedly a highlight of Western civilization, a war of civilizations seems merely a jingoistic myth.

Frustrated by President Bush's relative moderation and his willingness to call Islam a "religion of peace," right-wing American pundits, historians and religious leaders increasingly portray Islam as an irredeemably violent menac

Yet what should we make of a Western giant such as Martin Luther? When he wasn't condemning the pope as the Antichrist or insisting that popular rule is incompatible with Christianity, he raged against other targets.

"Now just behold these miserable, blind, and senseless people," he wrote in 1543 in one of his lesser-known books, The Jews & Their Lies. In a manner that would fuel generations of German anti-Semitism, Luther advised his countrymen to burn synagogues and raze Jewish homes "in honor of our Lord and of Christendom."

Meanwhile, in Geneva under the influence of the brilliant theologian John Calvin, blasphemy and unbelief often led to being burned or hanged. Paintings and statues of religious figures -- even reverential works -- were as forbidden as any caricature of a Muslim prophet. Dancing was a jail-worthy offense, as was immodest hair on women.

Found at:
Ft. Worth Star-Telegram: Religious Rivalry
Robert Asghar :An Archive of Essays & Published Articles.
Oct. 22, 2006
americabug.typepad.com/rob_asghar/

& also check out his article:

PASADENA STAR-NEWS
March 13, 2003
" Bush, evangelical allies have taken hostage my hero, Jesus "
By Robert Asghar
http://www.dimestoreguru.com/articles/bushgod.htm

And other sites of note:

http://hypocrisytoday.com/index.htm
Hypocrisy Today
Since 1996, the official publication of the American Society of Sociopaths©

and from GOSPEL PLOW
http://users.frii.com/gosplow/
Dispensationalism:
A Return to Biblical Theology
or
Pseudo Christian Cult

and from MIDDLETOWN BIBLE CHURCH
for in depth discussion of Dispensationalism
www.middletownbiblechurch.org

and THE TRADITIONAL VALUES COALITION
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/

which includes articles debunking Global Warming , Evolution & attacks on Gays, liberals, Islam & the Public School System & what they consider the "liberal " media etc.
Here are examples of headlines on their current home page:
SENATOR INHOFE ANNOUNCES PUBLIC RELEASE OF “SKEPTIC’S GUIDE TO DEBUNKING GLOBAL WARMING”
EPW FACT OF THE DAY: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 08, 2006

TVC Chairman Bids Farewell To Ambassador John Bolton

Sen. Inhofe Holds Hearing On Media Hyping Of Global Warming

Anti-Marriage Bills Resurface In California Legislature

ACTION ALERT - Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act Must Pass!

John Bolton’s Resignation Leaves Gap In National Security Efforts

Atheism And Radical Islam Fuel Mass Genocide

Strategists Calls For Worldwide Effort To Fight Islamofascism

Chicago Bans Nativity Movie From Christmas Festival

First Muslim Congressman Wants Oath Of Office On Koran

‘Happy Feet’ Cartoon Is More Al Gore Sky-Is-Falling Propaganda

President Bush Appoints Pro-Lifer To Family Planning Post

see you later,
GORD.

LEFT BEHIND VIDEO GAME RELEASED IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS - TEACHES BIGOTRY HATRED & VIOLENCE AS THE CHRISTIAN WAY-DEFCON WEBSITE CRITICAL OF WALMART !!!

DefCon is an online grassroots movement combating the growing power of the religious right. We will fight for the separation of church and state, individual freedom, scientific progress, pluralism, and tolerance while respecting people of faith and their right to express their beliefs.

Tell Wal-Mart: Stop Selling Religious Violence for Christmas
What's Wal-Mart promoting this holiday season? The religious right's extreme ideology.

Just in time for Christmas, the religious right has released a violent video game in which born-again Christians aim to convert or kill those who don't adhere to their extreme ideology. Disturbingly, the game's apparent attempts at religious indoctrination are aimed at children. While the religious right apparently has no problem pushing the product this holiday season, America's #1 video game seller should know better. Tell Wal-Mart to stop selling religious violence for Christmas.
http://www.defconamerica.org/

Tell Wal-Mart: Stop Selling Religious Violence for Christmas
What's Wal-Mart promoting this holiday season? The religious right's extreme ideology.

THIS CHRISTMAS START KILLING IN THE NAME OF JESUS - ' TIS THE SEASON TO WAGE WAR !!!

PHOTO FROM LEFT BEHIND GAME ETERNAL FORCES - KILLING HERETICS ON CHRISTMAS MORNING OH MY ! WHAT FUN !!!

WWW.LEFTBEHINDGAMES.COM - ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS & OTHER GRADUATES OF JESUS CAMP !!!

NEW YORK DURING THE TRIBULATION JUST AFTER THE RAPTURE - RELIGIOUS RIGHT PREPARING FOR WAR - THIS IS THE FUTURE THEY HOPE FOR & PRAY FOR & YET MAINSTREAM CHURCHES NEVER RAISE THEIR VOICES AGAINST SUCH PERNICIOUS VIEWS & INTERPRETATIONS OF THE BIBLE - ARE THEY TOO AFRAID OF THE POWER OF THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT - THEY ARE GUILTY BY THEIR SILENCE !!!
( all images posted by Picasa )

Welcome to the Bizzarre world of the Religious Right as they teach their children how to kill for Jesus !
The website Defcon has featured the game & wants to send a message to Wal-Mart & others that the game is violent & unacceptable . They have set up a petition to sign on their website.
I have mentioned this Left Behind Video Game before & some people thought I or someonelse had made the whole thing up - not so dear reader !
Combine the video game with the film " Jesus Camp" & the three Left Behind movies & you are in for a treat . These people do not wish anyone - well except for their own kind of angry vengeful self-righteous Christians .


GEORGE BUSH & HIS CHIEF ADVISOR

As the leaders of the Religious Right in their own words like to frame their struggle against what they consider the Evil Secular Humanist Society we live in :


GARY BAUER

"We are engaged in a social, political, and cultural war. There's a lot of talk in America about pluralism. But the bottom line is somebody's values will prevail. And the winner gets the right to teach our children what to believe."
Gary Bauer

Former head of the Family Research Council, 2000 Presidential candidate. And now president of the Campaign for Working Families.


JAMES DOBSON

And as James Dobson Founder of Focus on the Family says:
“Fight abortion. Block gay marriage. Stop stem cell research.”

"My observation is that women are merely waiting for their husbands to assume leadership."

or Jerry Falwell Founder of the Moral Majority (disbanded in 1989)
& Founder of Liberty University who has said some outrageous things for example:

"Blacks, Hispanics, women, etc. are God-ordained minorities who do indeed deserve minority status."
Jerry Falwell


REV. JERRY FALWELL

Falwell is one of the most outspoken leaders of the religious right. Over the years he has raised $2.5 billion, which he has used in his various campaigns against women's rights, gay rights, and pushing the religious right agenda in our government.

Falwell has been at the center of many controversies over the years including a number of run ins with the Federal Elections Committee and the IRS. Falwell even blamed the events of September 11th, 2001

"on abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America."

"I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!"

And then there's Tony Perkins of The Family Research Council :

While not as well known as many other leaders of the religious right, Tony Perkins runs arguably the most dynamic and influential propaganda machine in the extreme right movement, the 500,000 member strong Family Research Council.


TONY PERKINS

The primary sponsor and organizer of the recent religious-political rallies, Justice Sunday's I & II, Perkins exerts incredible political influence with top conservative leaders, convening high-level Republican strategy meetings attended by the likes of Tom Delay and Bill Frist. Tony Perkins uses this access to power to push a dangerous agenda of intolerance and radical religious dominance.

Tony Perkins' personal agenda includes:

* Conquering the Judicial Branch: "The Court has become increasingly hostile to Christianity, and it poses a greater threat to representative government – more than anything, more than budget deficits, more than terrorist groups."

* Tearing Down the Wall Between Church and State: "I cannot think of a more foundational element of our republic than the Ten Commandments."

* Supporting White Supremacists: In 2001, Tony Perkins addressed the Louisiana chapter of the white supremacist group Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), the successor of the anti-integration white citizen's council. And, in 1996 Tony Perkins paid former Ku Klux Klan wizard David Duke $82,000 for his mailing list.

"Tony Perkin's agenda is, to put it bluntly; terrifying. The danger he poses to the separation of church and state and the freedoms we as Americans hold dear qualify him as the Theocrat of the Month. "

or the Infamous Pat Robertson who in his paranoia & hysteria often paints a bleak picture of America & the West in which he believes Christians are an oppressed group about to be herded off to Concentration Camps -


PAT ROBERSON
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"(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." Pat Robertson, 1992 Fund Raising Letter

# (Talking about apartheid South Africa) "I think 'one man, one vote,' just unrestricted democracy, would not be wise. There needs to be some kind of protection for the minority which the white people represent now, a minority, and they need and have a right to demand a protection of their rights." at Robertson, "The 700 Club," March 18, 1992

"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history." Pat Robertson, 1993 interview with Molly Ivins

Anyway Happy Trails,
GORD.

PABLO NERUDA ON POETRY & MY POEM " AN EPIC FOR OUR TIME : A REQUIEM PART V " TRAGEDY OF MAN " & " WILTED FLOWERS "

PAINTING " WAR " BY EILEEN AGAR RA (1899-1991) BRITISH SURREALIST
IMAGE Posted by Picasa

“ Poetry is an act of peace. Peace goes into the making of a poet as flour goes into the making of bread.

Arsonists, warmongers, wolves hunt down the poet to burn, kill, sink their teeth into him. A swordsman left Pushkin mortally wounded under the trees in a dark and gloomy park. The fiery horse of war charged over Petofi’s lifeless body. Byron died in Greece , fighting against war. The Spanish Fascists started off the war in Spain by assassinating its greatest poet. ( Garcia Lorca )

But poetry has not died, it has a cat’s nine lives. They harass it, they drag it through the streets, they spit on it and make it the butt of their jokes, they try to strangle it, drive it into exile, throw it into prison, pump lead into it, and it survives every attempt with a clear face and a smile as bright as grains of rice. ”

PABLO NERUDA ( 1904-1973 )
from MEMOIRS
Translator Hardie St. Martin pub. 1977

Anyway here is part V of my poem which is a work in progress entitled An Epic For Our Time : A Requiem

V

TWO VARIATIONS ON HOPE & TRAGEDY

1. The Tragedy of Man

There is no end to the tragedy of man
the people jobless & homeless without a country
children throw stones at soldiers & tanks
their homes crushed by bulldozers
old men women children run over by bulldozers & tanks
in the name of national security
in this police state or that
from Ireland to El Salvador to Guatemala
from the miners mowed down at Iquique to the stadium in Santiago
from Argentina to Peru to Cuba to Haiti to Guernica
from the streets of Paris & Chicago & Seattle to Soweto
to Saint Petersburg to Leningrad to the steps of Odessa
to Mexico City to Tibet to Tenneman Square
from the Gulag of Siberia to Quantanimo Bay
to the killing fields of Cambodia & Bosnia
from Wounded Knee to The trail of Tears to My Lai
to the shipyards of Gdansk to the boulevards of Manila
from Fallujah to Bagdad
from Constantinople to Jerusalem
slaughtering in the name of Christendom
from Culloden to Amritsar to Kristalnacht
from the Golan Heights to Hebron
to Palestine a country of sad oranges & uprooted olive trees
their dreams of freedom crushed in a hail of bullets
and there is no end to the tragedy of man -



and there is no end to the Tragedy of Man
while the court poets pay homage to the rulers of the land
to maintain a life of luxury & decadence
and the philosophers use their craft
to give comfort to the new nobility
like sad Aristotle wanting their acceptance
fearing to take a sip of hemlock
as scholars & academics are bought for a few pieces of silver
as petty bureaucrats sign death warrants
and shuffle papers to ensure the trains run on time to the death camps
while claiming their innocence
and the world spins
and its always the same
and there is no end to the tragedy of man -

for a moment the locks are slipped
for a moment some light enters
our dark dungeons
and we have a vision of flowers
squeezing through the prison bars
hope arises in our hearts
as if great changes were about to come
as if the tragedy of man were about to end -

then the wondrous shimmering flowers fade & wilt
and hope is dashed again
like a child’s head dashed against stone
whole families slaughtered just for fun
towns & cities aglow in the night
with boiling tumbling waves of napalm
dropped by our would be liberators
and new jailers arrive
to tighten the bolts & locks
and our hearts are cast into darkness
for there is no end to the tragedy of man -

and every hour of every day
we taste not milk & honey
or manna from Heaven
but the bile of our dark fear
and our desire for revenge & justice
and there is no end to the tragedy of man -

2. THE WILTED FLOWERS

Once in the prison yard I did see
a green shoot & a bud or two
which opened bright yellow
defying the grey stone walls
& the razor-wire fences
and the flower was like the lily of the valley
which does not spin or weave & toils not
and yet once was praised cherished & loved
filling the hearts of men to over-flowing
but now these sweet adornments of the earth are disdained
as useless as a poet who’s not made of steel
who’s heart is not yet stone
who despairs at the tear soaked world
where mothers cry over the corpses of their dead children
who were left to starve in a world of plenty
who were murdered without thought
by police or soldiers to maintain the status quo
who wearing a deadly vest of c2 explosives was blown to pieces
sacrificed for some empty greater cause
for some version of God & country
who were tossed into mass graves
who’s bullet riddled bodies were left to rot in city dumps
who’s mangled corpses were buried in flag-draped coffins
to a twenty-one gun salute while some insincere leader
makes a well-crafted speech filled with empty words
while shedding crocodile tears
impressing the ignorant masses
who just do as they are told
preferring the role of sheep to that of men -

SEE YOU LATER,
GORD.

FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA 'S POEM " LAMENT FOR IGNACIO SANCHEZ MEJIAS "

Federico Garcia Lorca (1898-1936) is considered Spain's greatest poet and dramatist of the 20th century, and the most famous victim of its civil war. Lorca was assassinated on the orders of the fascist dictator Franco . Lorca's approach to poetry combined traditional and modern forms and ideas. His struggle with his identity and the modern world permeates his work, and finds its most critically admired expression in Poet in New York.
IMAGE Posted by Picasa

Anyway I just wanted to share a few verses by the poet Garcia Lorca & a tid bit or two about his life & work & his death .

Federico Garcia Lorca Writer Poet Artist
Martyr of the Spanish Civil War
1898 - 1936
http://www.geocities.com/

"Federico Garcia Lorca was one of the great Spanish writers and artists of the 20th Century. In his short lifetime he produced a wide variety of novels, short stories, poetry as well as paintings,drawings and even musical compositions.
He influenced such politically disparate artists as the poet Neruda and the painter Dali.
On August 19, 1936, at the age of 38, Lorca was beaten to death by Franco's falangists along with several other 'disappeared' political opponents of Franco.
While his homosexuality was known even then, his fascist assassins used this to make his assassination look like a bit of 'rough trade' gone wrong,(see Why Lorca Was Murdered) the real reason for his death was his outspoken defense of the Republic and his criticisms of monarchism, Catholicism and Fascism. "

And from MEMOIRS by Pablo Neruda ( 1904-1973 )Chilean poet & friend of Garcia Lorca :

“ Federico Garcia Lorca was not merely shot; he was assassinated. It would never have crossed anyone’s mind that they would kill him one day. He was the most loved, the most cherished, of all Spanish poets, and he was the closest to being a child, because of his marvelous happy temperament. Who could have believed there were monster on this earth, in his own Granada, capable of such an inconceivable crime? “ P. 125

Anyway here is one of Lorca's poems which I wish to share...


Federico Garcia Lorca

Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias

1. Cogida and death

At five in the afternoon.
It was exactly five in the afternoon.
A boy brought the white sheet
at five in the afternoon.
A frail of lime ready prepared
at five in the afternoon.
The rest was death, and death alone.

The wind carried away the cottonwool
at five in the afternoon.
And the oxide scattered crystal and nickel
at five in the afternoon.
Now the dove and the leopard wrestle
at five in the afternoon.
And a thigh with a desolated horn
at five in the afternoon.
The bass-string struck up
at five in the afternoon.
Arsenic bells and smoke
at five in the afternoon.
Groups of silence in the corners
at five in the afternoon.
And the bull alone with a high heart!
At five in the afternoon.
When the sweat of snow was coming
at five in the afternoon,
when the bull ring was covered with iodine
at five in the afternoon.
Death laid eggs in the wound
at five in the afternoon.
At five in the afternoon.
At five o'clock in the afternoon.

A coffin on wheels is his bed
at five in the afternoon.
Bones and flutes resound in his ears
at five in the afternoon.
Now the bull was bellowing through his forehead
at five in the afternoon.
The room was iridescent with agony
at five in the afternoon.
In the distance the gangrene now comes
at five in the afternoon.
Horn of the lily through green groins
at five in the afternoon.
The wounds were burning like suns
at five in the afternoon.
At five in the afternoon.
Ah, that fatal five in the afternoon!
It was five by all the clocks!
It was five in the shade of the afternoon!



2. The Spilled Blood

I will not see it!

Tell the moon to come,
for I do not want to see the blood
of Ignacio on the sand.

I will not see it!

The moon wide open.
Horse of still clouds,
and the grey bull ring of dreams
with willows in the barreras.

I will not see it!

Let my memory kindle!
Warm the jasmines
of such minute whiteness!

I will not see it!

The cow of the ancient world
passed had sad tongue
over a snout of blood
spilled on the sand,
and the bulls of Guisando,
partly death and partly stone,
bellowed like two centuries
sated with threading the earth.
No.
I will not see it!

Ignacio goes up the tiers
with all his death on his shoulders.
He sought for the dawn
but the dawn was no more.
He seeks for his confident profile
and the dream bewilders him
He sought for his beautiful body
and encountered his opened blood
Do not ask me to see it!
I do not want to hear it spurt
each time with less strength:
that spurt that illuminates
the tiers of seats, and spills
over the corduroy and the leather
of a thirsty multitude.
Who shouts that I should come near!
Do not ask me to see it!

His eyes did not close
when he saw the horns near,
but the terrible mothers
lifted their heads.
And across the ranches,
an air of secret voices rose,
shouting to celestial bulls,
herdsmen of pale mist.
There was no prince in Sevilla
who could compare to him,
nor sword like his sword
nor heart so true.
Like a river of lions
was his marvelous strength,
and like a marble torso
his firm drawn moderation.
The air of Andalusian Rome
gilded his head
where his smile was a spikenard
of wit and intelligence.
What a great torero in the ring!
What a good peasant in the sierra!
How gentle with the sheaves!
How hard with the spurs!
How tender with the dew!
How dazzling the fiesta!
How tremendous with the final
banderillas of darkness!

But now he sleeps without end.
Now the moss and the grass
open with sure fingers
the flower of his skull.
And now his blood comes out singing;
singing along marshes and meadows,
slides on frozen horns,
faltering soulless in the mist
stumbling over a thousand hoofs
like a long, dark, sad tongue,
to form a pool of agony
close to the starry Guadalquivir.
Oh, white wall of Spain!
Oh, black bull of sorrow!
Oh, hard blood of Ignacio!
Oh, nightingale of his veins!
No.
I will not see it!
No chalice can contain it,
no swallows can drink it,
no frost of light can cool it,
nor song nor deluge of white lilies,
no glass can cover it with silver.
No.
I will not see it!



3. The Laid Out Body

Stone is a forehead where dreams grieve
without curving waters and frozen cypresses.
Stone is a shoulder on which to bear Time
with trees formed of tears and ribbons and planets.

I have seen grey showers move towards the waves
raising their tender riddle arms,
to avoid being caught by lying stone
which loosens their limbs without soaking their blood.

For stone gathers seed and clouds,
skeleton larks and wolves of penumbra:
but yields not sounds nor crystals nor fire,
only bull rings and bull rings and more bull rings without walls.

Now, Ignacio the well born lies on the stone.
All is finished. What is happening! Contemplate his face:
death has covered him with pale sulphur
and has place on him the head of dark Minotaur.

All is finished. The rain penetrates his mouth.
The air, as if mad, leaves his sunken chest,
and Love, soaked through with tears of snow,
warms itself on the peak of the herd.

What are they saying? A stenching ( stinking?) silence settles down.
We are here with a body laid out which fades away,
with a pure shape which had nightingales
and we see it being filled with depth less holes.

Who creases the shroud? What he says is not true!
Nobody sings here, nobody weeps in the corner,
nobody pricks the spurs, nor terrifies the serpent.
Here I want nothing else but the round eyes
to see his body without a chance of rest.

Here I want to see those men of hard voice.
Those that break horses and dominate rivers;
those men of sonorous skeleton who sing
with a mouth full of sun and flint.

Here I want to see them. Before the stone.
Before this body with broken reins.
I want to know from them the way out
for this captain stripped down by death.

I want them to show me a lament like a river
which will have sweet mists and deep shores,
to take the body of Ignacio where it looses itself
without hearing the double planting of the bulls.

Loses itself in the round bull ring of the moon
which feigns in its youth a sad quiet bull,
loses itself in the night without song of fishes
and in the white thicket of frozen smoke.

I don't want to cover his face with handkerchiefs
that he may get used to the death he carries.
Go, Ignacio, feel not the hot bellowing
Sleep, fly, rest: even the sea dies!



4. Absent Soul

The bull does not know you, nor the fig tree,
nor the horses, nor the ants in your own house.
The child and the afternoon do not know you
because you have dead forever.

The shoulder of the stone does not know you
nor the black silk, where you are shuttered.
Your silent memory does not know you
because you have died forever

The autumn will come with small white snails,
misty grapes and clustered hills,
but no one will look into your eyes
because you have died forever.

Because you have died for ever,
like all the dead of the earth,
like all the dead who are forgotten
in a heap of lifeless dogs.

Nobody knows you. No. But I sing of you.
For posterity I sing of your profile and grace.
Of the signal maturity of your understanding.
Of your appetite for death and the taste of its mouth.
Of the sadness of your once valiant gaiety.

It will be a long time, if ever, before there is born
an Andalusian so true, so rich in adventure.
I sing of his elegance with words that groan,
and I remember a sad breeze through the olive trees.

Websites of note :

Ben Harnett’s Home Page
http://www.cherryvalley.com/

Garcia Lorca
http://boppin.com/lorca/lament.html

Cyberspain offers you a huge journey through Spain, its culture, traditions and landscapes.
http://www.cyberspain.com/


http://www.geocities.com/
Federico Garcia Lorca
Writer Poet Artist
Martyr of the Spanish Civil War
1898 - 1936


SPANISH LITERATURE
http://users.adelphia.net/

POETS.ORG
from the Academy of American Poets
http://www.poets.org/

and for a look at Lorca’s poetry & drama with an extensive Bibliography
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/
and also http://www.booksfactory.com/


Romance Sonambulo/minstrel’s romance
http://www.cs.rice.edu/


check out website Famous Poets & Poems which has 34 of Lorca’s poems in translation
http://www.famouspoetsandpoems.com/

All the best,
GORD.