Terraplane

2011-11-01T20:01:00.001-07:00

The stars grind slowThe stars grind slow.Father. Daughter.Father, the mountain laurel bloomscall me, home.Daughter, walking, the sippy cupis yours now.The year past, annus mirabilisfor me. Father, you diedat ninety-two. In twenty-elevena quick spell brought you downtoo soon, but I, at forty-twoarrived. The photograph, youholding my six-month baby girlby the shed, morning glories,your sweater

2011-09-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

Relative to the Arab freedom movement of 2012 – the Arab 1776: I’m not sure what the current thinking is in Tel Aviv and Washington, but it occurs to me that if Israel’s foreign policy senses the strangely emerging freedom of Arab peoples primarily as a threat, it’s time for Israel to get a new foreign policy. If Washington is inclined to share that view when thinking on

2006-11-22T21:42:00.000-08:00

"...the specific intent to remove the regime in Baghdad is not even remotely thought-out in terms of consequences..."The latest excuses for Iraq from Charles Krauthamer and others spouting this line is that Iraq was lost in three bungles - not shooting enough looters, not setting up a provisional government of Iraqi exiles, and not squashing Muktada Sadr at the outset. Oh, that it should be so

2006-09-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

Untruth and ConsequencesI have heard a lot of insightful examination and truth-telling by our TV news pundits, in the past couple weeks, concerning our present challenges in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the “war on terror.” I hear intelligent, realistic recognition of the complex mix of motives behind the terror, the diversity of Muslim opinion, the tangled histories that make for unruly

2006-07-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

Put the River in ReverseListening to the radio today, I heard Elvis Costello’s new song, “The River in Reverse,” produced by New Orleans’s own Alan Toussaint, with its refrain “Wake me up, with a slap or a kiss.” A melodic and sinuous tune, it seemed to me to obliquely convey harsh, heavy, of-the-moment echoes of Hurricane Katrina, and of our present hell of idiotic terrorists and their perfect

2006-07-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

"Bush has borrowed more money from foreigners than all prior presidents COMBINED"Ordinarily I do not do this, but the facts are as stark as any voter could possibly imagine, so I am quoting verbatim, Robert Freeman, July 5, 2006 on CommonDreams.org"Bush has borrowed more money from foreigners than all prior presidents COMBINED. To fund his own record debts, Bush goes, hat in hand, to borrow more

2006-05-15T19:32:00.000-07:00

Leaks 101To dispose of all the hot air lately about leaks – partisans on both sides declaring treason by leakers they don’t like, while giving a pass to leakers on their own teams – I will now help you understand whether a leak is good, bad, or just normal. There are 3 kinds of leaks: whistleblower leaks (good), partisan leaks (business as usual), and abusive leaks (extraordinary and bad).

2006-05-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

This government is an abomination.I woke up on fire and started writing. Looking at my words again, I still haven't thought better of them. So here is my letter to the editor, of what publication I know not. I think you would be surprised at how many millions of Americans share the perspective I would like to share with you now.I love my country and our constitution passionately. But...I would

2006-04-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

We rise from and return to the dustSee the origin of plants in the dustThe ground was fertile, fecund, amplebearing within it many potentials,readinesses waiting,tools-which-now-that-you-have-you-can-no-longer-do-without,gift opportunities,receptors waiting for your arrival,welcoming you in.Our protein-molecule hormone receptorsevolved as the fertile ground,the gardens upon gardens withinover

2005-09-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

The following was written in celebration of my father's 87th birthday, by his brother Peter.9/21/05FOR ENGLISH MOROCCOAKA BILL, BILLY, WILLYAT FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARSI’ll not waste time, I’ll be quite quickExplaining what makes Billy tickOur nation’s reeling, it’s heading for a fallYet my bro’s focus is on major-league ballCritics suspect the President’s in a comaBut Bill stays glued on Terry

2005-09-30T16:56:00.000-07:00

Day long. I do agree the open event. You that you that all of these of my e-mail me in the ad into war but I am to you. Are we, the U.N.. “you can set the tone for one. We need to get you in the wrong one. One day one and of these ago that has all the information on the day. You only have the right to you on that one: said: that the pick of the eye for a lot of the one the new details you really

2004-11-04T13:11:00.000-08:00

Kerry Teaches a LessonBush’s election victory came as a bit of a surprise to me; I had expected him to tank with the American public by now, brought down by his accumulated falsehoods, failures, felonies, and fakery. That reckoning will come.But for those of us who are not enthusiastic about Bush, equanimity is in order: some things are beyond one’s control, and now is a time to prayerfully build

2004-08-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

Prediction: Bush will lose, and it won't be closeI feel more sure now than ever before that Bush will tank by election day ’04 – in the end, it won’t even be close. Economic spluttering, disappearing healthcare, oil prices, deficits, overwhelming evidence that our middle east/antiterror/you-break-Iraq,-you-own-it policy has gone off a cliff, a few more mini-scandals to come (more prisoner abuse;

2004-02-26T17:04:00.000-08:00

No terrorism in Haiti, right?Any Democrat presidential candidate worthy of my support will immediately be denouncing from the rooftops the recent US chess moves in Haiti. How is this not terrorism? Heavily armed bands pounce on defenseless city populations and attack the police stations. Thuggish, shadowy, unaccountable actors announce that they will topple the duly elected democratic

2003-11-29T21:53:00.000-08:00

Yes! Found! For several months, I’ve been looking for an assessment that I wrote before the American-Iraq War of 2003 commenced, because I knew that in it I’d anticipated what was to come. That’s no great achievement: only dolts could have failed to expect the things I mention here. I wrote it in the early part of this year, before the attack, perhaps in January or February.I’d like to give

2003-11-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

Rules of PuctuationI was taught the formal American “Rules of Puctuation.” But now I find the Brits and some internet journalists using things like “The Period outside of the Quotations”. And I note that when I was first taught “The Comma Inside,” I thought, “Logically, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.” The punctuation mark sets the package, which is the “quotation”. So it should be

2003-10-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

My blue haikuOctober, 2003Oh, Red Sox, cursescolor my days and keep meawake in the night.My "seeing red" haiku(contributed by B.C)Full house. Of fiftythousand souls, just one doesn't knowhis pitcher is spent.untitled(contributed by T.B.)In a cynical landthe Sox and Cubs restore our faithin the metaphysical.

2003-09-20T08:28:00.000-07:00

"Twin Towers Bombing," written Sept. 12, 2001 Another anniversary of September 11th has now come and gone. This is what I wrote on the day after the event, September 12, 2001.Discussing security strategy, tactics and response misses the main point that yesterday showed: ultimately, there is no way of keeping an event such as this from happening except by making the people of the world love us

2003-09-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

The Art of "Strategery"I would like to share with you a timely bit of Sun Tsu's ancient classic The Art of War, so that we might more richly consider the recent chess moves of our leader, Geo. W. Bush (text excerpted/adapted from a wonderful translation, The Art of Strategy by R.L. Wing).Leadership is intelligence, credibility, humanity, courage, and discipline.Foretelling triumph: Much

2003-06-03T21:15:00.000-07:00

Since I have neither written nor posted anything for such a long time, I'm dusting off a dish I wrote back in early Frebruary during the runup to our splendid invasion of Iraq. I didn't post it at the time because I could see I had lost my usually cool head; and because I thought I was perhaps projecting my own feelings too much onto my fellow Americans; and because wars rip by in the blink of an

2003-04-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

How the other side lostCall me crazy...Is it just me? Many commentators have been harping on about the ineptitude of the Iraqi military command in the conduct of their historic loss. But this analysis seems off-base. I don't know what was going on behind the scenes, and I wouldn't waste a breath defending these ringleaders and their Olympian brutality (Chemical Ali and all that). I don't know

2003-04-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

Give us a boy and it'll all be overI'm busy. So when I checked the news on the web at work for a couple of minutes this morning and saw this photograph, I had to take a second look, but I didn't linger long. This photograph - of the boy from Baghdad with both his arms blown off, unknown medical goop smeared all over his torso, a bandage on his head, and an astonishing expression of loss, terror,

2003-03-16T13:28:00.000-08:00

Oops, the UN is brokenIn a sense, Bush is right: the United Nations is broken. And it's not just because he picked it up and dropped it. It's the Security Council. Five permanent members with veto power, left over from World War II, will not do. They will not get us out of this decade, forget about this century.Here's what I propose: the Security Council should be composed of seven semi-permanent

2003-02-23T10:06:00.000-08:00

"Let everyone be subject to his neighbor." - I Clement

2003-02-15T00:56:00.000-08:00

Dear friend:Please send the following message with all due haste. And pass it on!The key to avoiding a war against Iraq is the united efforts of those nations with votes on the UN Security Council to push through a viable alternative to war.Our own government is an unbending obstacle to this outcome, so those of us Americans who prefer peace must go directly to these other nations. If we American

2003-02-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

If it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?- Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn, 2002

2003-02-08T18:20:00.000-08:00

Put a piece of your heart into each thing that you do.And be ever ready to give each of your gains away.

2003-02-07T22:52:00.000-08:00

I have a couple of thoughts following the 1/30/03 open letter by several European leaders in support of Bush’s planned Iraq war, as published in the Wall Street Journal. The big problem I have is with its thesis statement, coming at the end of the first paragraph: “Today [our shared values of democracy, individual freedom, human rights and the rule of law] are under greater threat than ever.”I

2003-01-05T20:12:00.000-08:00

"It is one thing to say with the prophet Amos, 'Let justice roll down like mighty waters,' and quite another to work out the irrigation system. Clearly there is more certainty in the recognition of wrongs than there is in the prescription for their cure." -- William Sloane Coffin

2002-12-13T01:06:00.000-08:00

"Beautiful beautiful beautiful truthDon't leave because I can't see you"- The Proclaimers

2002-12-12T08:16:00.000-08:00

A TASTE FOR PEACE - LIBERAL BIAS?Your question was something like this: reasonable people can disagree on the question of whether or not to go to war against Iraq, but why do "antis" like me often seem to have a bias or "torque" against our own government on these questions? That's a really important question at this moment, because dismissive treatments of views like mine are so commonplace in

2002-12-02T20:29:00.000-08:00

Today's Rumi:But that shadow has been serving you!What hurts you, blesses you.Darkness is your candle.Your boundaries are your quest.

2002-11-28T09:10:00.000-08:00

Go to the story of the source.Go to the art of sublime origin.Find the stone, the water, the sky,the life-fuse.(Italy, 9/98)

2002-11-20T22:29:00.000-08:00

On free-market ideology, faith in technology, and other contemporary religions:Religion is everywhere in this world. Economics, politics, and science are rife with religion.No, I'm not talking about John Ashcroft's brand of Christian fundamentalism. "Religion" is simply any belief in something without the backing of stone solid scientific proof. Any such belief is an act of faith.Mind you, I'm

2002-11-15T21:41:00.000-08:00

The inner light that pours out of all thingsthe light of creationyou are a stream running outwardever into the worldthe glow that life is holyI a lantern strive to bea polished mirror reflecting theegushing forth a mighty streamilluminating life the dreamThe unity, light upon lightthe rocks in the way, Istruggle, day upon daywhile these morning-particle-moments showlife in the beam

2002-11-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

A final thought on the recent election. California governor Gray Davis refused to debate Green candidate Peter Camejo, saying in effect that it was beneath his dignity to be in a debate with anyone who isn't in the Republican or Democratic parties -- e.g., a "serious" candidate. Yet the man Davis refused to be in the same room with got 6 percent of the vote -- without the exposure and legitimacy