Soapbox

Vice President Dick Cheney took issue this week with candidate John Kerry’s use of the word “sensitive”. Kerry said that he would take a more strategic and sensitive approach to warfare. Cheney ridiculed Kerry, all but calling him a “girlie-man”. The US does not need sensitivity, Cheney said; it needs the toughness that only he and George Bush can provide.

I suggest that the difference between John Kerry and the Bush/Cheney approach to war and to politics in general is the difference between a scalpel and a baseball bat.

A person can defend themselves with a blade- they can certainly kill with one. But a sharp knife can also be used to tease out a small but deadly spot of cancer and save a person’s life.

A baseball bat can certainly be a handy thing in a dark alley, but it lacks adaptability and nuance. If you try to treat cancer with it, you may kill the patient in the process.

The Bush/Cheney team has taken a blunt-instrument approach to both government and terrorism. They have taken a wild swing on issues such as de-regulation and tax cuts and our environment and the economy are brusied and battered as a result. Education, civil rights and the Constitution have also taken a beating.

Rather than take a strong and sensitive approach to the cancer of terrorism, which would include allowing time for weapons inspections to proceed and fully plan for the reality of occupying a nation, this administration chose to use a Louisville Slugger on Iraq. The result: unbid contracts defrauding taxpayers of billions, lack of an exit plan, chronic supply shortages throughout the war, close to 1,000 Americans dead and the WMD that turned out not to exist. Through their not sensitive, “he-man” approach we captured Sadaam and defeated the under-manned Iraqi army alright, but the cure today seems worse than the disease.

Strength and sensitivity work best when used together, just as do courage and wisdom. Bush/Cheney have indeed shown the American people both strength and courage, but it clearly has not been enough. This November I will vote for John Kerry and John Edwards, to add sensitivity and wisdom to our government in hopes that the cancer can be removed and the patient’s life can be saved.

So it seems I won a second place this year in the Ohio Poetry Day contest. It was for a piece that I don’t think was the best thing I submitted, but isn’t that always the way? Perhaps it got a sentimental vote because of the recent re-opening of the Statue of Liberty.

Keeping Faith

The Lady stands in the harbor
In good weather and in bad,
To guide the way to liberty,
Free those in bondage
And lift up the oppressed.

In times of great moral courage
And times of wretched ignorance,
She stands watch
To remind us all
That America will always aspire to rise
Above man’s worst instincts,
And set an example
That itself is a beacon
For all who seek opportunity.

When her children stumble
And fall prey to fear and cowardice
Or seek revenge over justice,
She keeps the faith
And does not let us forget
The power of compassion,
Or the strength of truth.

Too often her light reveals
Neglect and incompetence
Greed and self-rightousness
Pre-emptive war and prison camps,
Guns and bombs
Anger and terror.

And still she stands
To remind us
That there is strength in diversity,
And that freedom means taking risks.
Through the dark night her lamp shines on
And she whispers to her children
That the path to liberty
Does not involve
Hoods and electrodes.

I actually think this one was better.

Time Undone

In the kitchen
thumbing through a box of odds and ends~
my fingers grow still at the sight.
The colors have faded after so many years
but I can see so clearly—

I am looking through an open window
and if I reach, my fingers will find
not paper~ but trees, and grass,
And his face.

My grandpa
stands on the bank of the Big Darby creek
wearing his funny old-man sneakers
and his fishing hat.
He smiles at me
as the sun dapples through the walnut trees
that shade the riverbank.

I hear the rush of water over rocks
and then his rumbling baritone chuckle,
So, do you want to go fishing, little one?
and oh, Grandpa, I do,
just one more time.

We’ll get the canoe
and I’ll make you proud
with how I’ve learned to paddle.
I reach to take
his rough, calloused hand in mine~

but I am clutching only paper
in a box of old photographs
and the refrigerator hums to life
drowning out the fading echo
of water over rocks.

Remember when the country, the world, even the US government got their news from CNN? Those days are long gone, folks. In case you weren’t looking, CNN is pretty much a really slick mouthpiece of the Bush administration these days, “reporting” mostly only what you could find at the official White House web site.

Sheila Samples is an Oklahoma freelance writer. She is a former civilian US Army Public Information Officer. She is also, apparently, very disappointed in CNN. Read on.

Dear CNN,

I don’t want you to think I’m picking on you, but ever since 2000, when Texas Governor George W. Bush and Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney ran through the streets screaming that storm clouds were gathering on the dashboard of our republic, you’ve been furiously raining on the democracy parade.

There’s nothing wrong with rain. Truth is — where I come from, (New Mexico) rain is quite an event. When it does show up — usually at night — it comes in blinding sheets, riding the violent wind like a banshee, sometimes ripping roofs from houses with golfball-sized hail.

A brilliant kaliedoscope of wildflowers miraculously pops up out of nowhere and cacti explode in cream and ivory roses. Most will be gone by sunset. No matter. Their loss is a small price to pay for the achingly beautiful panorama that unfolds at the end of each searing, windswept day. All that is important in life — “truth” beyond the perverted reach of man — is contained in the sheer enchantment of a single New Mexico sunset.

The wonderful thing about Truth, and the thing you folks at CNN can’t seem to come to grips with, is — the Truth is out there. It’s impenetrable; indestructable, and it’s not going away. And, don’t bother pointing out that CNN’s softer-edged barking heads and cackling pundits aren’t as bad as Fox News’ mean-spirited barking heads and cackling pundits. Is to be a Fox clone really what you want? Do you think this is what Ted Turner had in mind when he built your magnificent empire, brick by ethical brick?

“Fox News manipulates the polls in favor of George Bush — so we’ll manipulate the polls in favor of George Bush! Fox News screams and spontaneously combusts at the sight and sound of President Bill Clinton — so we’ll do the same AND throw in the rat-gnawed, demon-encrusted Hillary for extra points. Fox News hangs onto George Bush’s every incoherent word. We can do that. And, because Bush is our very own charge to keep, we’ll clean up the messes he inevitably leaves in his wake. Hey — least we can do…”

I noticed that your boss, Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons is out there saying the Fox News Channel is nothing more than “crazy people exchanging views.” Lest anyone get the wrong idea, Parsons was quick to emphasize that CNN was not “liberal.” By golly, Parsons bragged modestly, CNN just has a “bias for the truth.”

But, hey — there’s nothing wrong with being liberal! Every time you make a snide reference to Senator John Kerry being “too liberal,” I mutter, “Yes!” and smack my TV screen in a high-five. If you look “liberal” up in the dictionary, you will find a picture of my wild-eyed self, proud to be “free from bigotry, broad-minded, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others.

So, if Parsons is right and you’re so truthfully biased, why don’t you just tell the truth? You can start with the reasons we were snookered into war. It will set you free.
Just think how good it will feel to say the president, vice-president, national security adviser, secretary of state, secretary of defense, and all their minions who have not fled the ship of state in revulsion — are liars. Like you, they did not mis-speak. They lied. Like you, they did not misrepresent, nor did they mislead. They lied. Like you, they are continuing to lie — and you continue to broadcast their lies as truth.

Americans”emotional ties” are to the U.S. Constitution — specifically to its first Ten Amendments, the Bill of Rights — rather than to what your own Anderson Cooper breathlessly refers to as “raw politics.” Why don’t you do a little feature on needless, destructive wars of aggression, and tell the truth about how such wars violate that Constitution, as well as the U.N. Charter and the principles of the Nuremberg Tribunals?

And while you’re at it, why not ask yourself why you continue to support a willful, arrogant little man who gives the finger to laws of humanity that exist solely to prevent the maiming and slaughtering of your fellow citizens as well as those of other countries — simply because — well, because there ain’t nobody out there big enough to stop him…
Continue Reading »

Editor: Columbus Dispatch

George W. Bush’s recent Columbus appearance (08/04) actually had the nerve to call itself “Ask President Bush”. If they were honest it would have been called “Pat the President”.

Columbus residents were required to have a ticket to get in, and needed a background check to get a ticket! One can only assume that anyone who didn’t meet their neocon standards~ unemployed, belongs to a union, dobated money to an environmental group, etc.~ was not welcome.

This is in keeping with the recent trend of Bush/Cheney appearances, where the audience must sign a loyalty/voting pledge to see the men who are supposed to be the servants of the American people. They demanded that a photographer for the Arizona Sun Times declare her race in order to be allowed to cover an appearance by Dick Cheney. Apparently this administration is afraid of the American people and the questions they have, such as:

~Mr. President, why are so many needy Ohio children being left behind as Headstart programs close for lack of funding?

~Why are you searching for WMD in Iraq when Don Rumsfeld has begun a program to develop small, portable nuclear weapons right here in the US?

~How can you say you support our troops when you threatened to veto the recent military appropriations bill unless Congress removed the money earmarked for health benefits for veterans!

~Why did you try to prevent the 9/11 Commission from being formed, block it at every turn, promise to fully implement their recommendations, and then refuse to follow many of them?

~Why did you send our soldiers to war without decent planning or supplies, resulting in needless suffering and death?

~President Bush, in your first campaign you promised to unite the country, give a tax cut to the poor, strengthen Social Security, protect the environment and not engage in “nation building” overseas. Since you broke all of those promises, and in light of your dishonesty over WMD, why should we believe a single word you say?

The American people have the right to question the way our president runs the country. With George Bush in office, we’ll never get the chance.