Monday, February 28, 2005

More Torture

I sent the folllowing email to Bob Herbert:

Dear Mr. Herbert,

Unfortunately, almost every article you write these days is about torture.

I cannot believe that my country, in four short years, has stooped so low as to order torture. It's the kind of thing that makes it hard to sleep at night, because in some way we are all complicit.

I want to thank you for writing as eloquently and passionately as you do, and for standing up for the America that I love, and because of people like you, an America that can never die.

Keep up the great work!!

Tom English
Jackson Heights, NY

Herbert's piece in Monday's Times.

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Across The Universe

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup,
They slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind,
Possessing and caressing me.
Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world,
Nothing's gonna change my world.

Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes,
They call me on and on across the universe,
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box they
Tumble blindly as they make their way
Across the universe
Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world,
Nothing's gonna change my world.

Sounds of laughter shades of earth are ringing
Through my open views inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns, and calls me on and on
Across the universe
Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world,
Nothing's gonna change my world.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Pharisee Nation

From John Dear on Common Dreams:

We have become a culture of Pharisees. Instead of practicing an authentic spirituality of compassion, nonviolence, love and peace, we as a collective people have become self-righteous, arrogant, powerful, murderous hypocrites who dominate and kill others in the name of God. The Pharisees supported the brutal Roman rulers and soldiers, and lived off the comforts of the empire by running an elaborate banking system which charged an exorbitant fee for ordinary people just to worship God in the Temple. Since they taught that God was present only in the Temple, they were able to control the entire population. If anyone opposed their power or violated their law, the Pharisees could kill them on the spot, even in the holy sanctuary.

Most North American Christians are now becoming more and more like these hypocritical Pharisees. We side with the rulers, the bankers, and the corporate millionaires and billionaires. We run the Pentagon, bless the bombing raids, support executions, make nuclear weapons and seek global domination for America as if that was what the nonviolent Jesus wants. And we dismiss anyone who disagrees with us.

More.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Skateaway

Dire Straits

I seen a girl on a one way corridor
Stealing down a wrong way street
For all the world like an urban toreador
She had wheels on on her feet
The cars do the usual dances
Same old cruise and the kerbside crawl
But the rollergirl she’s taking chances
Just love to see her take them all

No fear alone at night she’s sailing through the crowd
In her ears the phones are tight and the music’s playing loud

Hallelujah here she comes queen rollerball
And enchante what can I say don’t care at all
You know she used to have to wait around
She used to be the lonely one
But now that she can skate around town
She’s the only only one

No fear alone at night she’s sailing through the crowd
In her ears the phones are tight and the music’s playing loud

She gets rock n roll on a rock n roll station
And a rock n roll dream
She’s making movies on location
She don’t know what it means
And the music make her wanna be the story
And the story was whatever was the song what it was
Rollergirl don’t worry
D.J. play the movies all night long all night long

She tortures taxi drivers just for fun
She like to read their lips
Says toro toro taxi see ya tomorrow my son
She just let a big truck graze her hip
She got her whole world in the city
You can’t intrude on her
She got her own world in the city
The city’s been so rude to her

No fear alone at night she’s sailing through the crowd
In her ears the phones are tight and the music’s playing loud

She gets rock n roll on a rock n roll station
And a rock n roll dream
She’s making movies on location
She don’t know what it means
But the music make her wanna be the story
And the story was whatever was the song what it was
Rollergirl don’t worry
D.J. play the movies all night long all night long

Slippin and a slidin
Yeah life’s a rollerball
Slippin and a slidin
Skateaway that’s all
Skateaway
Shala shalay hey hey skateaway
Now shala shalay hey hey
She sings shalay hey hey skateaway
Skateaway

Friday, February 11, 2005

Extraordinary Rendition

Bob Herbert in today's Times:

Any government that commits, condones, promotes or fosters torture is a malignant force in the world. And those who refuse to raise their voices against something as clearly evil as torture are enablers, if not collaborators.

More.