CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS & OTHER PROPAGANDA & PART III OF AN EPIC FOR OUR TIME : A WORK IN PROGRESS

ANTONIO BANDERAS AS PANCHO VILLA IN A WONDERFUL FILM ABOUT AN IDEALIST & A REALIST WHO KNEW THE LIMITS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS ONCE IT IS CONTOLLED BY THE SELFISH & THE WEALTHY
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PANCHO VILLA LEADING HIS REBEL ARMY FIGHTING FOR DIGNITY & EQUALITY & JUSTICE ( OUT-DATED NOTIONS ACCORDING TO NEOCONS & THEIR "REALPOLITIK " & " ELITISM" )
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PHOTO OF PANCHO VILLA AS A CHILD
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And here's the next part in " AN EPIC FOR OUR TIME " which is a work in progress as it were .
In this so-called Clash of Civilizations who are the barbaians & who are the real bullies on this playground we call Earth.
And what happens when War & Politics are reduced to " Talking Points " & shallow Media " SOUND BITES " ?
And what happens when these political issues are viewed as merely subjects for college debating teams and are divorced from their true reality & their serious life & death consequences as if it were just a war movie or the simulated violence of a high tech video game ?
And what does it say about a Civilization that condemns millions to abject poverty & virtual slavery & acts as if the lives of all those peoples outside the WEST are not as worthy as our own & that we have been chosen by God or the inescapable forces of Nature to fulfill our destiny as the Rulers of The World ?
We are in need of more than just a change in governments in the WEST but also a change in our attitudes towards the rest of Humankind .

Anyway so much for my polemic now onto the main attraction :

AN EPIC FOR OUR TIME
PART III

I

pillaging the world of its wealth
believing it is ours by right
as willed by God or Nature
believing might is right
believing the world should kneel before us
believing we are the superiour race
believing we are God’s chosen ones
believing we have been chosen by Nature
to rule over the world as we see fit
if it were not so God or Nature would unseat us -


II

And the pop-singers sing little ditties
writing tunes to please & appease
writing GANGSTA tunes
glorifying chaos & violence
of brothers killing brothers
proving their phoney manliness
sometimes praising God
for being the last one standing
in the midst of the Killing Fields
in Ghettoes & not so innocent Suburbia
in the end becoming wealthy as princes
buying into the American Dream
of shiny bangles of silver & gold
big cars & lots of ass -

while all those who are mesmerized
believing themselves sophisticated
hang out in well lighted smoke-free cafes
where no one says a discouraging word
speaking of their sexual exploits
searching for the next thrill to pass the time
where everyone repeats the catch phrases of the day
parroting political pundits
& television news anchors
who praise those who hold power
proclaiming this is the best that could be
our leaders they proclaim love us
& would do us no harm
& everyone cherishes their ignorance & innocence -

while sad-eyed broken-down poets
their muse clinging to their backs
too romantic for their own good
write haiku & epics on napkins
while artists paint & sculpt few will see
in this sanitized cookie cutter world
of the politically correct
while they dine in second-rate cafes
becoming wordsmiths in greasy spoons
in the new ghettoes
speaking of love eternal & other nonsense
sometimes asked to share their wordstew
with the second-rate customers
who have no pressing engagements
who have no other place to go
who have become refugees in their own country
unable to grasp & adapt to the New World Order
or the new society of the facile
no longer just rebels going through a phase
after decades of seeking truth
or some other lost ideal
in the forlorn dry as dust world
where stone & bricks are covered in ivy
offer little sustenance
for souls bewildered
by all those false promises
bewildered by the glittering towers of steel & glass
of a world proud of its soullessness
as it verges on the brink of chaos
or just wearing itself out
its wheels cogs & gears grinding
in almost but not quite perpetual motion

or just more noisy Satanic Mills
belching out smoke steam & sulphur
a cacophony of pointless machinery
creating an illusion of progress & prosperity
while billions are enslaved
ensnared by the clutching tentacles we send
reaching across the seas
reaching across deserts
reaching over mountain ranges
reaching across continents
turning the world into ash & dust
stealthily stretching into cities & towns
even into the smallest thatched-roof village
implicating everyone in our crimes -

And if the locals dare protest
we have our M16s our attack helicopters
our bombs our drones our missiles
our baby nukes our napalm
to crush their resistance
to crush their houses
to rip up their streets
to turn their cities to rubble
to sow their fields & orchards with salt
and anti-personnel mines
and if they complain
we have our deathsquads
to keep them in line
as we build more mega-prisons
destroy schools & hospitals
to show them how civilized we are
as we pillage rape & kill
in the name of our superiority
in the name of our messiah
in the name of our prophet
and in the name of profit
the only thing that’s real
for its just business as usual
ours is still the only way
from one Empire to the next
from one corrupt regime to the next
its always the same
scribes accountants bureaucrats
holding onto their posh jobs
never argue with those in power
fearing for their pensions
making sure it all runs like clockwork
making sure the trains & planes run on time
delivering oranges & apples & tanks & guns
& soldiers eager to fight another war
returning home broken in mind & body
returning home mangled bodies in plastic bags
or kidnapped civilians delivered to secret prisons or death camps
what has this got to do with them they ask
while doctors nurses & psychologists do as they are told
keeping the tortured detainees alive & well for another day
for God & country & a weekly paycheck
while self-serving contractors building tombs & palaces
barracks or schools or hospitals pad their bills
in the ancient good old entrepreneurial way
they’re just out to make a buck they say
while the people settle for bread & circuses
swallow all the lies they are fed
it’s easier that way they say -

COMING TO A BLOG NEAR YOU PART IV

BYE FOR NOW,
GORD.

REVOLUTION VIA THE INTERNET
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REVOLUTIONARY ZAPATA
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"AN EPIC FOR OUR TIME " PART TWO ON THE DEATH OF THE WEST

" THE POLICE STATE - YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT " MIXED MEDIA BY NANCY WORTHINGTON : Nancy Worthington Gallery
http://www.domjoy.com/
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ABOVE IMAGE BORROWED FROM BLOG notes from somewhere bizarre
a contaminated blog by ashley benigno
http://www.ashleyb.org/
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"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." - Sinclair Lewis

So long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth -- Victor Hugo

Anyway here is part two of the poem "An Epic For our Time" which is a work in progress as it were .

An Epic For Our Time
Prologue to Part Two

Let us pray they say for those led astray
For the guards & executioners given orders by the righteous ones
to humiliate & degrade
to nearly drowning a thousand times
telling them they cannot pray
taking away their Holy Books
let us pray
for all the soldiers their souls corrupted
committing unthinkable acts of barbarity
raping & murdering
walking in the footsteps of a thousand years of crusading
we fight for God we are told
Love your enemy no hell kill him
kill them all to end it forever
to purify the world in fire -

thousands hide away in prisons the world round
as the Empire of America expands
needing more of everything -

all the poets feeding their angst
delving into the horrors of history
searching for The Golden Age
finding only illusion
finding only madness
finding no meaning beyond survival -


Epic for our time

I

ah to write an epic for our time
of the death of the west
as it reverts to old ways
its old fears realized
in a hostile world
peopled by those different from ourselves -

as the west takes the easy way out
selling off ideals for wealth
selling our souls for pieces of silver
selling our wondrous dreams
of freedom equality & compassion
to the highest bidder
bearing false witness
against all who stood by us
when we were down on our luck
avoiding all who saw us
at our worse
denying our past
favoring a rewrite of our history
justifying all we have done
oppression slavery genocide
all in the name of God & democracy
& the triumph of the West -

Forgetting the past remaking ourselves
reinventing ourselves in our arrogance
unwilling to ask for forgiveness
refusing to see our crimes
refusing to take responsibility
for all our misdeeds
refusing to humble ourselves
before our countless victims

knowing our failings
denying our failings
seeing ourselves as heroes
denying the worth of others
denying the dignity of others
becoming what once we hated
becoming what once we feared
as we make our claims to our destiny
becoming the world conquerors
becoming the worlds oppressors -


II

as we day by day piece by piece
rip-out the last bits of our humanity
laughing at the failings of others
laughing at the pain of others
laughing at the suffering & death of others
who are not as worthy as we
laughing at all who wish to do good
laughing at all who sacrifice for another
laughing at all who speak of love & compassion
laughing at all who speak of integrity
laughing at all who speak of honor
laughing at all who speak of tolerance

laughing at all who speak of truth & justice -

praising those who’ve turned lying into an art
praising those who’ve replaced truth with propaganda
praising those who only live for themselves
praising those who use others as stepping stones
praising those who only live for pleasure
praising those who only desire to amass wealth
praising the greedy opportunist
praising the power-hungry who prey on the weak -


destroying all those who stand in our way
destroying all those who see through our lies
destroying all those who dare disagree
destroying all who question our true motives
destroying all who dare not fear us -

Watch for part 3 coming soon !!!

And here are some blogs of note:

The-Barricade.com
A Political Poetry Ezine
http://zine.gavroche.org/


DownWithTyranny! by keninny
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." - Sinclair Lewis

So long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth -- Victor Hugo

notes from somewhere bizarre
a contaminated blog by ashley benigno
http://www.ashleyb.org/


different maps
no use for eyes
i.e. Friday, August 11, 2006
Spectacular War
http://www.cinestatic.com/

ZNET
A CENTURY OF U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTIONS:
From Wounded Knee to Afghanistan
Compiled by Zoltan Grossman
(revised 09/20/01)
http://www.zmag.org/

THE POLICE STATE- YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT
Nancy Worthington Gallery
http://www.domjoy.com/

So there you go - til next time
GORD.

AN EPIC FOR OUR TIME: ALL THE POETS ARE GONE , PART ONE

UBU ROI BY MAX ERNST OR OUR NOBLE LEADER ?
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SPECTACULAR WAR BY MAX ERNST OR LEADERS & THEIR PEOPLE GONE MAD
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ASSASSINS BY RENE MAGRITTE
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Anyway so here's a piece of poetry I have been working on in this age of madness banality conformity & paranoia while trapped in a frozen lake of fear .

All the poets are gone
An Epic For Our Time
( a work in progress )
part one
October 1st -November12
Gord.

All the poets are gone
the people without a voice
Poets driven to suicide
some crippled by a broken heart
some kidnapped off the streets late at night
some silenced by fear
some write verses to praise their captors
some driven to madness
some left in prisons to rot
some disappeared without a trace
like the good old days in El Salvador & Chile
or in the efficient third Reich
everyday another martyr is created
the people left without a voice
all their tears & prayers in vain
no one to comfort them in their poverty
no one to comfort them in their despair -

The people are left without a voice
without a Ginsberg to lead the way
to give America a wake-up call
no Bukowski to soothe us
for its all just more bullshit he would say
no Kerouac to pass on the Dharma
no Dharma Bums to share their visions
no Thoreau to teach us simplicity
no Blake or Burns to mock us
no Dante to damn our hypocrisy
no Cervantes to help us to dream
no Swift to undermine our certainty
no Baudelaire to reflect our despair
no Pablo Neruda or Garcia Lorca
reciting lyrical verses about freedom & tyranny
singing songs of revolution
no folk singers & rock & rollers
willing to stand up
too busy making another million or two
how many millions does one person need
no rebels to throw a wrench into the machinery
so many lost their way becoming Court Jesters
for Monarchs, the New Czars & tyrants
such tyranny abides when poets abandon their posts
all we get are silly sad love songs while the world burns -

All the poets are gone
tending their gardens
while bombers pass unnoticed over their heads -

No Poets to man the Barricades
No Poets to storm the Bastille
Poets fat & content in Suburbia
having retired from the battlefield
writing odes to flowers & misguided soldiers -

Poets crying out in the wilderness
Poets shouting from the mountain tops
all in vain the people have turned a blind eye -

Poets crying into their beer
all those long dark nights of the soul
waiting for a reprieve
we all stand accused -

poets gone to Innisfree & Walden Pond or gone to live in Medieval Castles
or to the Isle of Crete or to the Courts of Kings who feed the poet’s ego & belly
in the hopes of regaining their sanity
hoping to regain their identity -

Poets lost in drug induced visions
Poets having meditated themselves into indifference
for all is an illusion they say
even your hunger & destitution
even mangled bodies of children merely an illusion
all life is suffering so why worry be happy
so their song & dance men sing -

Poets getting drunk to dull the pain
to run through the streets drunk or high
jumping head first into the machine
torn apart by its cogs & wheels -

Poets lost in lust or love
& other distractions
souls untended left to languish-

Poets longing for death
each line a confession of despair -

Poets writing manifestoes no one will read
Poets preparing for the next revolution
just another delusion of the feeble minded
as they huddle together in a common room
of some hospital for the overly sensitive
who weep & wail over the mangled bodies of strangers
blown to pieces in another war to end all wars
on the tv nightly news but now its 24/7 there’s no escape
& it’s just a video game everyone wants to play -

Poets unable to see the trees for the forest -
Poets plagued by nightmares of war & pestilence
of massacres & genocide -

Poets chipping away at icebergs
taking an axe to our paintings & statues
smashing our glass houses
murdering our mythical selves -

Poets oblivious savoring sweet dreams
& visions of beauty
til they are dragged away
breaking their guitars & breaking their hands
then politely shot -

Poets seeing through the false veneer
of a society & world gone mad -

Poets giving up the ghost
throwing in the towel -

Poets lashed to the unforgiving wheel of time -

Poets caught like flies in amber
twenty years gone in the blink of an eye -

Poets born into an age where poets are ignored
better to face a firing squad -

Poets calling to the people to arise
to fight the tyrants
the people stoning poets in the public square
believing their wise men & priests
who feed their blood-lust & hate
for what is a man without fear & hate -

See you later,
GORD.

ASSASSINS BY RENE MAGRITTE
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BUSH'S OWN GRAND INQUISITOR GRANTED IMMUNITY BY DEMOCRATS & REPUBLICANS AS PART OF THE AMERICAN TRADITION ??? RUMSFELD & MENTOR TORQUEMADA

WATER TORTURE USED DURING THE SPANISH INQUISITION BY THE PIOUS TORQUEMADA WHO'S ACTIONS EVEN NOW ARE DEFENDED BY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH & DOES NOT REPENT FOR THESE UNCHRISTIAN ACTS OF BRUTALITY.
















And here is a bit about Torquemada which reminds one of Rumsfeld:
From BLOG WHAT'S LEFT

" Never has a man so enjoyed his work! Torquemada developed and employed an elaborate network of spies and secret police to root out heresy. His favorite methods for extracting confessions, nevermind the truth, were to hang the accused by the arms so that the arms were pulled from their joints, to force the swallowing of gallons of water, and to have the joints dislocated on the rack. His methods made him generally unpopular — he had to travel with bodyguards — but no one dared oppose him. Even the Pope could not reign him in: when Sixtus issued a bull absolving conversos of any wrong they might have done, Ferdinand, under Torquemada's influence, refused to enforce it.



The least of his crimes was his twisting of jurisprudence: In 1490 Torquemada oversaw the LaGuardia trial, in which eight Jews and conversos were accused of crucifying a Christian child. No victim was identified, no body ever discovered, but all eight were convicted nevertheless on the strength of confessions obtained by torture. And all were burned at the stake.



In sum, Torquemada had over 2,000 heretics, Jews and Muslims burned by auto-da-fé, and perhaps 9,000 punished in other ways. "



(From catholic encyclopedia : At that time the purity of the Catholic Faith in Spain was in great danger from the numerous Marranos and Moriscos, who, for material considerations, became sham converts from Judaism and Mohammedanism to Christianity. The Marranos committed serious outrages against Christianity and endeavoured to judaize the whole of Spain. The Inquisition, which the Catholic sovereigns had been empowered to establish by Sixtus IV in 1478, had, despite unjustifiable cruelties, failed of its purpose, chiefly for want of centralisation. In 1483 the pope appointed Torquemada, who had been an assistant inquisitor since 11 February 1482, Grand Inquisitor of Castile, and on 17 October extended his jurisdiction over Aragon.)
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14783a.htm

My comment -This sort of apologetic is typical of Christian Historians who through their own twisted view of the world & mangled logic are able to defend the " indefensible ".
For one thing The Christian Church was not threatened at that time in Spain . Secondly the statements made show how suscepible to the propaganda & ignorance & supertitious beliefs of virulent anti-semitism which has played a major role in Christianity since its very beginnings & was incorporated into Christian theology by the Church Fathers .
When it comes to the Church's silence while Jews were being exterminated by the Nazis the Catholic church & other Christian Churches have down-played their lack of action & offer some feeble half-assed apology is it because they still do not see that they too by their silence are also to a great degree guilty of Sins of Ommission at the very least .

See for instance : THE CRUCIFIED JEW : TWENTY CENTURIES OF CHRISTIAN ANTI-SEMITISM abook by Dan Cohn-Sherbok pub. 1992
















GRAND INQUISTOR RUMSFELD PROUDLY SMILES BELIEVING HE IS DOING GOD'S WORK BY ORDERING OTHERS TO KIDNAP, DISAPPEAR , TORTURE & KILL ALL WHO WILL NOT SUBMIT TO GOD & DIVINELY GUIDED AMERICA.
HE HAS THE SAME BLIND FAITH AS HIS MENTOR TORQUEMADA & IS PROTECTED & DEFENDED BY KING BUSH !!!
Rumsfeld is a living example of " the Banality of Evil "
Just a bureaucrat in a nice blue suit doing his job !!!

CONDI'S PLAN FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AS SHE DISCOVERED IT IN THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS
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Rumsfeld's resignation is really just a bit of window dressing to appease the more gullible among America's public . This is just another trick in Bush's " dog & monkey show " or if you will just a piece of theatre to silence some of the administration's critics .


There has been no indication from Bush or his administration that things are going to be different and so the kidnaping & disappearing & torture of detainees will continue.
The Blood-Bath that is Iraq will continue as Bush stays the course.

Bush again said Rumsfeld did a great job & that everyone agreed & that because of Rumsfeld the Taliban have been beaten in Afghanistan.

These assertions are not in tune with the reality that Afghanistan is a bloody mess & the Islamic extremists control large parts of the country & that warlords operate freely & the opium business is booming while most Afghans live in abject poverty .

But Bush Rumsfeld & many Americans never really cared about the people of Afghanistan anymore than they care about the Iraqi people .



DETAINEES SHOUTED AT; BEATEN ; NOT PERMITTED TO TALK OR PRAY & NOT PERMITTED TALK ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE WHILE BEING HELD OR AFTER THEY ARE FEED -THIS WE ARE TOLD ARE THE SUPERIOUR WESTERN VALUES WE ARE BRINGING TO THE ISLAMIC WORLD
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AMERICAN JUSTICE AT WORK CONDI RICE EXPLAINS
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TORTURE CONTINUES AT QUANTANAMO & ELSEWHERE WITH REAL CHUTZPAH BUSH HAS MADE IT LEGAL
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The question is do Americans have a conscience or do they believe anything done in their name is ok by them . If their neigbor's kid dies in Iraq or if their neighbor is disappeared into the secret prison system & tortured that's ok as long as it is not them or their friends or relatives .

Since the election has reduced Republican control of the government then if Democrats are serious about change they should everyday stand up & demand that the Geneva Conventions be upheld in regard to " detainees" & that American laws in regard to suspects who are American citizens should have their rights respected as guarnteed by US law the Constitution & the Bill of Rights which Bush has & Rumsfeld have disregarded & defamed since 9/11 & further that Bush be made to relinguish those powers which he has amassed for the Executive in his move to give himself dictatorial powers equal to those likes of leaders who ruled with an Iron-Fist & jackboots such as Pinochet in Chile & Marcos in the Phillipines or Franco had over Spain or the ruthless Shaw of Iran or even Saddam himself & note all these dictators were supported by various American administrations .




It is time for the American people to show the world that they not only believe the principles of democracy which they refer to all the time but that they are willing to put these priciples into practice. This would mean extending human rights to everyone regardless of their social standing whether they are rich or poor of whatever their color or race or their religion or lack of religious belief or their gender or sexual preference . This would really require a New American Revolution in political & social terms so it is probably unlikely as the Elite would not allow it & as for the people they seem to be quite comfortable in their Zenophobia & their racism & bigotry .



Such a revolution would have to include investigating these war crimes & crimes against humanity & bringing all those to trial who are responsible for these crimes including senior staff members of the administration & those in other parts of the government who are also culpable whether they in the Pentagon or the CIA or Special forces or individual officers & soldiers or those who have been "contracted out" to perform such tasks who should have refused to obey such blatantly unethical immoral acts .




This would mean that Rumsfeld Condoleeza Rice ,Cheney & a host of others including President Bush would be forced to testify at their own trials for Crimes Against Humanity & try to defend their actions in the same way as Saddam has had to defend his actions & face the consequences. If this were followed through then we would know that the American people will insist on holding their leaders up to these higher standards of Democratic Principles & Human Rights & Ethical or Moral standards . ( yeah ! When Hell freezes over as they say)




Anyway , that's all for now
GORD.

RUMSFELD RESIGNS BUT WILL HE PAY FOR HIS VARIOUS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY???

RUMSFELD SHAKING HANDS WITH FRIEND & FELLOW WAR CRIMINAL SADDAM 1983