Dogs of War
Come to the reaper sing the song, bringing death to everyone
Once the earth was calm and safe,
but now the land's a
battle place
Firing shells into the air, where they land, no-one cares
Now the blood flows like a stream, widow-maker reigns supreme
Dogs of war, no surrender (*)
Dogs of war, I kill the defender
Dogs of war, Scream into battle
Dogs of war, it's the
day of the jackal
Nothing seems to ease the pain
The reaper's shadow still remains
Sniper lets the bullet fly, in the distance someone die
The town becomes an empty shell,
come and spend a day in hell
Forgotten what we're fighting for,
no-one wins this
bloody war [Repeat *]
Lay the wreath across the flag, fill another body bag
Guard of honour standing proud,
put your son into the ground
Did they die for you and me, a sacrifice for liberty
A generation dead and gone,
the reaper sings his
deadly song [Repeat *]
"Robert Frost coupled poetry and power, for he saw poetry as the means of
saving power from itself. When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry
reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern,
poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power
corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truth which must
serve as the touchstone of our judgment." John F. Kennedy's Speech at
Amherst College on 10-26-63
Sanctuary for
Illegals
There is no sanctuary for blacks
in America. A black man can get arrested or killed for causing a policeman to
"feel threatened" merely by his presence. Yet, there are
"sanctuary cities," where local officials have put out welcome mats
for illegal immigrants seeking jobs, housing or local government services. In
these municipalities, federal immigration laws are not enforced.
Recently, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney attacked fellow Republican
Rudy Giuliani for his soft approach to illegal immigration as mayor of New York
City. Although billed as a tough-on-crime, law-and-order mayor, especially when
it came to enforcing a host of ordinances against homeless and poor blacks in
New York, Giuliani ignored illegal aliens and apparently was adamant in
upholding a city ordinance that prohibited city employees from turning over
information about illegal immigrants to federal authorities.
Illegal immigration poses a serious dilemma for Republican presidential
contenders. On the one hand, they support efforts that provide a ready supply
of cheap labor that fattens the bottom lines of the businesses that feed their
campaign coffers. On the other hand, they want to appease their conservative
base, which opposes illegal immigration.
Democrats seem to have sidestepped this problem, even supporting the Bush
administration's lax approach to enforcing existing federal immigration laws
and embracing proposed legislation that provides some form of amnesty that is
supported by the Hispanic community.
Whether Democrats or Republicans,
there is real irony in providing sanctuary for individuals that are breaking
the law by being here without documentation, given the lack of sanctuary for
blacks born in this country.
Alberto R. Gonzales
Born August 4, 1955 in San Antonio,
Texas to a Catholic family, Alberto Gonzales was raised in Humble, a town
outside of Houston. The second of eight children born to Pablo and Maria
Gonzales, his father, who died in 1982, was a construction worker. According to
Gonzales, no immigration documents exists for three of his grandparents; they
may have entered and remained in the United States illegally.
After graduating with honors from MacArthur High School in unincorporated
Harris County, Gonzales enlisted in the United States Air Force (1973); he
served two years at Fort Yukon, Alaska and two years as a cadet at the United
States Air Force Academy. In 1979, he earned a bachelor's degree in political
science from Rice University in Houston. An excellent student, he earned a
Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School (1982).
From 1982 until 1994, Gonzales
worked as an attorney with the Houston law firm Vinson and Elkins. While in
private practice, Gonzales also taught law as an adjunct professor at the
University of Houston Law Center.
In 1994, Texas Governor George W. Bush named Gonzales general counsel. As
Bush's general counsel, Gonzales reviewed all clemency requests. According to a
2003 Atlantic Monthly article, 'Gonzales gave insufficient counsel, and failed
to second-guess convictions and failed appeals.' During his tenure, the state
of Texas executed more prisoners than any other state, yet Bush over-turned
only one death sentence. Bush named Gonzales as Texas' Secretary of State
(1997). In that capacity, Gonzales served as a senior advisor to Bush, chief
elections officer, and lead liaison on Mexico and border issues, such as
illegal immigration. In 1999, Bush appointed Gonzales to the Texas Supreme
Court.
From 2001 to 2005, Gonzales served in the Bush Administration as White House
Counsel. He drafted and Bush issued on November 1, 2001 Executive Order 13233,
which attempted to place limitations on the Freedom of Information Act by
restricting access to the records of former presidents. Gonzales authored the
2002 memo on the Geneva Convention that concluded Article III was obsolete and
ill-suited for dealing with captured Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. He also
authored the Presidential Order authorizing the use of military tribunals to
try terrorist suspects. He fought with Congress to keep Vice President Dick
Cheney's Energy task force documents from being reviewed. Gonzales was also an
early advocate of the controversial USA Patriot Act.
On November 10, 2004, Bush announced Gonzales' nomination to succeed Attorney
General John Ashcroft. On February 3, 2005, the Senate confirmed Gonzales'
nomination, 60-36, primarily along party lines. Gonzales was sworn in on
February 14, 2005.
Over his tenure, controversy dogged Gonzales for his role in the secret wiretap
program, use of the USA Patriot Act to uncover personal information about US
citizens, the firing of nine US attorneys for possible political reasons,
prisoner abuse and his assertion, "there is no express grant of habeas
(corpus) in the Constitution." His critics have charged his lack of
objectiveness and independence made him a Bush "yes man," who failed
to provide Bush with legal advice of the highest professional or ethical
caliber.
In testimony before Congress
regarding the US attorneys' firings and warrantless wiretapping, Gonzales may
have committed perjury. On August 27, 2007, Gonzales announced his resignation
as attorney general. Gonzales and his second wife, Rebecca, have three sons.
(Sources: www.usdoj.gov/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Gonzales
and www.whitehouse.gov/)
By John Burl Smith
The first priority of the United States of America (USA) is to maintain power.
The US began as a power grab by colonials who wanted to run their own show.
Great Britain had power and used it to benefit England. The colonies didn't
have power, so they provided Britain raw materials, markets, tax revenue and
manpower, especially during wars. Rights were privileges granted by England's
sovereign; colonials couldn't make demands on colonial governments, even though
they paid more taxes than citizens in England.
Revolution in 1776 changed not only the power relationship between Britain and
its renegade colony but the power relationship between citizens of the new
nation. Beginning with Article I Section II, the 3/5 Compromise, the Founding
Fathers created a "republic," which limited rights and representation.
Liberty, justice and freedom were incidental to the goal of acquiring and
maintaining power. Property ownership became the American ideal and greed its
number one symbol. The Founding Fathers were not egalitarians; nurturing
democracy and equality were not their real considerations.
All rights were granted to white men of property and denied to slaves, woman
and Native People. Controlling the vote, white men have maintained power
exclusively. A self-perpetuating system of white supremacy, through racism the
US continues to deny blacks any semblance of power.
Article I Section II, the 3/5 Compromise, made blacks property - bond slaves.
To maintain that power relationship, white men developed a system of terror -
hanging, burning alive, rape, breeding, breaking up families, random brutality
and other forms of domestic terrorism - to induce learned helplessness in
slaves. From the 1890s until the 1970s, lynching, Jim Crow segregation,
discrimination and the hostile environment those conditions created forced
slave descendants to accept injustice, denial of rights, inferior education,
black and white signs, which restricted access to public accommodations, etc.,
as a way of life.
It is imperative today that blacks understand that the 3/5 Compromise is still the
law of the land. A major part of the US Constitution, it is the foundation of
the Electoral College, which determines who is elected president; it is an
institution based on not counting 2/5 of the votes cast by slave descendants.
That is how whites maintain power and white supremacy in the US.
White lawlessness and murder replaced the legal system in regards to blacks,
allowing whites to establish symbols that represent their power. These symbols
remind blacks that they are helpless and powerless to change their conditions,
further reinforcing learned helplessness. The aim of such symbols are to make
blacks accept being on the bottom as their rightful place in life.
Events such as those involving Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, Genarlow Wilson and
the Jena 6 are important because they demonstrate the importance of symbols to
white power. The power of whites to take something as innocuous as a tree and
make it symbolize racial hatred, while terrorizing people who have no ability
to resist is a testament to US racism.
Genarlow Wilson and the Jena 6 are victims of US racism today, not 1939. Their
examples reinforce learned helplessness in slave descendants. Symbols, such as
these, make black and white signs unnecessary. Emasculated, blacks lack
political and economic power to prevent these kinds of incidences. Resoundingly
over the last two months, whites have shown they care more about dogs than
justice for black men, who are being killed like dogs by police that are sworn
to protect us.
By John Burl Smith
A brash loud-mouth skinny kid known as the "Louisville Lip"
(Kentucky), emerged a hero following the 1960 Olympic Games. Crowned world
heavyweight amateur champion, Cassius Clay wanted the professional title held by
Sonny Liston. Very flamboyant and considered a braggart by many, Clay lipped
his way into top ranked boxing matches, but made good on his rhetorical boast
and poetic barbs. Defeating Liston with the "phantom punch," Clay
claimed the coveted prize of the world's most brutal sports.
As long as Clay played the buffoon and consummate jester, the USA loved him.
Once Clay became Mohammed Ali, he created a different power dynamic. No longer
telling jokes or reciting poetry, he became a megaphone against racism in the
US, colonialism in Africa and South America and spoke continually about
problems of have-not nations.
Determined to shut Ali's mouth, the US government drafted him. Ali refused
induction. The US government and boxing associations colluded and stripped Ali
of his titles. They used every means to prevent him from making a living.
Holding onto his principles, Ali became a rallying point for thousands of
blacks that shared his beliefs and supported his stand against the Vietnam War.
He became a black leader because he stood against racism. Ali communicated
clearly what it meant to be a slave descendant and no matter what whites did,
he would stand up as a black man.
Today another young black man, who gained fame and fortune as an athlete, is in
the cross-hairs of racism. Mike Vick's circumstances are different. He did not
take a stand against racism, as the reason he became the target of white ire.
Drafted a quarterback by the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL, rather than by the US
military, Vick became a hundred million dollar man. Rich beyond his wildest
dreams, he also became an itch white sports talking heads and white fans
couldn't scratch.
A black quarterback, nothing Vick did pleased white fans. Victims of the double
standard of justice in the US, most blacks ask when Vick's troubles began,
"If he was a white quarterback would the response have been the
same?" Put another way, "Had Vick been Dany Heatley, the Atlanta
Trasher hockey player, who pleaded guilty to second-degree vehicular homicide,
would the public outcry have been so loud?" Heatley killed his teammate, a
human being, as a consequence of drinking and speeding. Rather than receiving a
3-15 year prison sentenced, the victim's parents urged the judge not to send
Heatley to prison. He received probation and community service and is still
playing hockey. If one only receives probation after killing another human
being as a result of illegal behavior, why are the public and the NFL rabid
over Vick's involvement in dog fights?
Black males are lynched for incidents white boys barely get slapped on the
wrist. There are thousands of black males across the US that victimized by
racism, much like Vick. They are awaiting trials and/or languishing in jails,
while whites who have committed murder go free.
Finally, Vick is a victim because
he is an example of the kind of "justice" blacks receive. If justice
was equal and blind in the US, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would have been
impeached and tried for treason. For that kind of justice, the power relationship
established in the US Constitution in Article I Section II, the 3/5 Compromise,
must be repealed.
Disgruntled wants to know: Idaho
Senator Larry Craig is the latest member of the GOP (Gay Ole Party) to be
exposed as a hypocrite and closet homosexual. Still in denial, Craig resigned
under pressure from members of his party. That aside, this incident has broader
implications for the political party and the country. For decades, rumors of
homosexuality swirled around Craig. And being a staunch conservative, he
vehemently denied them. Similarly, rumors of homosexuality exist about other
members of Congress, as well as current and former officials in the Bush
administration, including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has jettisoned
principles he supposedly held dear, such as the "rule of law," to
embrace George W. Bush's war and whatever else Bush claims to stand for. What
if the Bush administration is using their dirty little secrets to blackmail
members of Congress?
Disgruntled
feels: Powerless! This week the US looked back on Hurricane Katrina and
the devastation it caused along the nation's gulf coast. George Bush visited
the region and spoke as if he was in a foreign country, frequently referring to
Katrina's victims as "people down here" or "folks in this part
of the world." His detachment and lack of urgency in rebuilding the region
two years on simply reminded people of the nation's slow response in rescuing
those trapped when the New Orleans levies broke. This look back also brought
back the feeling of powerless we experienced on seeing people clinging to
rooftops begging for help and the charges of racism leveled at the government,
given its lethargic response to a life and death situation.
Disgruntled
says: The plan announced by George W. Bush to help some US citizens save
their homes from foreclosure sounds like the kind of bailout free market
proponents, like Bush, usually oppose. Based on Bush's announcement, he seems
to believe people with "good credit" deserve government assistance to
save their homes, while those with low incomes and poor credit histories
deserve none. Bush claims he will not reward bad investment decisions. Yet,
there is no real difference between the greed to have more home than one can
afford and the greed associated with multiple refinancing done by folks with
"good credit" that believed their homes would appreciate ad
infinitum. It's still greed, and bad decisions are bad decisions that have
nothing to do with credit ratings, which should not be the sole determinant of
who gets government support to save their homes.
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls
Email http://mediamatters.org On the August 28
CNN's The Situation Room, White House correspondent Ed Henry
uncritically aired President Bush's assertion from his August 28 speech to the
American Legion that "[s]ectarian violence has sharply decreased in
Baghdad. The momentum is now on our side." Henry gave no indication that
he attempted to verify Bush's assertion. By contrast, the Associated Press
reported on August 25 that while violence is down in Baghdad "from peak
levels ... the death toll from sectarian attacks around the country is running
nearly double the pace from a year ago." Moreover, McClatchy Newspapers
reported on August 15 that while U.S. officials have said civilian casualties
have decreased in Baghdad, they have "declined to provide specific
numbers, and statistics gathered by McClatchy Newspapers don't support the
claim."
Email www.nytimes.com ...White House Shell
Game..The Bush administration's obsession with secrecy took another absurd turn
this week. The administration is claiming that the White House Office of
Administration is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act, even though
there are some compelling reasons to think it is. Like the fact that the office
has its own FOIA officer. And it responded to 65 FOIA requests last year. And
the White House's own Web site, as of yesterday, insisted the office is covered
by FOIA. The administration's logic-free claim about the Office of
Administration follows fast on the heels of Vice President Dick Cheney's
laughable claim that he was immune to an open-government law because his office
supposedly was not an executive agency.
Email www.legitgov.org/ ...Powerhouse GOP firm
working to undermine Iraqi PM 23 Aug 2007 A powerhouse Republican lobbying firm
with close ties to the White House has begun a public campaign to undermine the
government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, CNN has confirmed. A senior
Bush administration official told CNN the White House is aware of the lobbying
campaign by Barbour Griffith & Rogers because the firm is "blasting
e-mails all over town" criticizing al-Maliki and promoting the firm's
client, former interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, as an alternative to
al-Maliki. ['Iraq's' oil law not passed yet... another Bush coup is surely on
the way.]
Email http://www.smirkingchimp.com
....Bush's Bogus Vietnam History Kills…By Robert Parry...It is often said
that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. But a much
worse fate may await countries whose leaders distort and falsify history. Such
countries are doomed to experience even bloodier miscalculations. ...And it
appears to be the case again today as President George W. Bush presents the
history of the Vietnam War as a Rambo movie with the heroic narrative that if
only the U.S. military had stuck it out, the war would have been won. Or, more
likely, the black wall of the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial would stretch most
of the way to the U.S. Capitol....Presumably, Bush would have prolonged or
escalated the Vietnam War, although it's doubtful he would have called up the
Texas Air National Guard where he was safely ensconced, while skipping his
flight physical and seeking an early discharge.