Seething on the Third Rock

2006-06-05 Can he get any worse?

Dubya and "gay marriage",
Shameless politically motivated discrimination.
My civil rights the whim of mob rule?
Keep dreaming.
I will never live in America again.

2005-11-28 Totalitarian Democracy

Excerpts from TOTALITARIAN DEMOCRACY by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

...

The first plane to hit the first Twin Tower
The last plane to hit the last Twin Tower
The only plane to ever hit the Pentagon
The birth of a vast national paranoia
The beginning of the Third World War
(the War Against the Third World)

...

The birth of a nation of sheep
The deep deep sleep of Middle America
The underground wave of feel-good fascism
The uneasy rule of the super-rich
The total triumph of imperial America
The final proof of our Manifest Destiny
The first loud cry of America über allies
Echoing in freedom’s alleys
The last lament for lost democracy
The total triumph of
totalitarian plutocracy

...

Read the whole poem here.

No One is a Loser

We must not think ourselves victims,
Disadvantaged, held back
Because of race, colour, creed,
Education, class, gender,
Religion, height, or age.
The world is not made of labels.
the world from now on,
Will be made through the mind.
Through great dreaming, great loving
And masterly application.
Those who transcend their apparent limitations
Are greater than those who apparently
Have little to transcend.
Our handicaps can be the seed of our glories.
We shouldn't deny them.
we should embrace them,
Embrace our marginalisation,
Our invisibility, our powerlessness.
Embrace our handicaps, and use them,
And go beyond them,
For they could well be the key
To some of the most beautiful energies
That we have been given.
Accept no limitations to our human potential.
We have the power of solar systems
In our minds.
Our rage is powerful.
Our love is mighty.
Our desire to survive is awesome.
our quest for freedom is noble, and great.
And just as astonishing is the knowledge
That we are, more or less,
The makers of the future.
We create what time will frame.
And a beautiful dream, shaped
And realised by a beautiful mind,
Is one of the greatest gifts
We can make to our fellow beings.

Ben Okri, Mental Fight, "No One Is A Loser"

When Hope Ends.

When hope ends.

I once had hope that we could all want less and share more especially with the least amongst us.
I once had hope that one day we would live within our means and no longer impose our debts on future generations.
I once had hope that we would leave this planet a little cleaner than we found it.
I once had hope that one day everyone would respect each others right to think and live differently.
I once had hope that one day we could live in a world where fighting was considered the very last option for resolving disputes.
I once had hope that one day we could fear less and try to understand each other more.
I once had hope that one day Jinny and I would be able to live together with my friends and family in America (1).

Today a cold veil of darkness fell all around me--and for the first time in my life, hope has slipped from my grasp and drifted away.

-FF