Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Time to Get Real about War's True Nature: "For Eli" by Andrea Gibson



Andrea Gibson at the 2006 poetry slam, performing "For Eli"

For Eli

Eli came back from Iraq
and tattooed a teddy bear onto the inside of his wrist
above that a medic with an IV bag
above that an angel
but Eli says the teddy bear won't live
and I know I don't know but I say, "I know"
cause Eli's only twenty-four and I've never seen eyes
further away from childhood than his
eyes old with a wisdom
he knows I'd rather not have
Eli's mother traces a teddy bear onto the inside of my arm
and says, "not all casualties come home in body bags"
and I swear
I'd spend the rest of my life writing nothing
but the word light at the end of this tunnel
if I could find the fucking tunnel
I'd write nothing but white flags
somebody pray for the soldiers
somebody pray for what's lost
somebody pray for the mailbox
that holds the official letters
to the mothers,
--------------fathers,
--------------------sisters,
and little brothers
of Micheal 19... Steven 21... John 33
how ironic that their deaths sound like bible verses
the hearse is parked in the halls of the high school
recruiting black, brown and poor
while anti-war activists
outside walter reed army hospital scream
100, 000 slain
as an amputee on the third floor
breathes forget-me-nots onto the window pain
but how can we forget what we never knew
our sky is so perfectly blue it's repulsive
somebody tell me where god lives
cause if god is truth god doesn't live here
our lies have seared the sun too hot to live by
there are ghosts of kids who are still alive
touting M16s with trembling hands
while we dream ourselves stars on Survivor
another missile sets fire to the face in the locket
of a mother who's son needed money for college
and she swears she can feel his photograph burn
how many wars will it take us to learn
that only the dead return
the rest remain forever caught between worlds of
shrapnel shatters body of three year old girl
to
welcome to McDonalds can I take your order?
the mortar of sanity crumbling
stumbling back home to a home that will never be home again
Eli doesn't know if he can ever write a poem again
one third of the homeless men in this country are veterans
and we have the nerve to Support Our Troops
with pretty yellow ribbons
while giving nothing but dirty looks to their outstretched hands
tell me what land of the free
sets free its eighteen-year-old kids into greedy war zones
hones them like missiles
then returns their bones in the middle of the night
so no one can see
each death swept beneath the carpet and hidden like dirt
each life a promise we never kept
Jeff Lucey came back from Iraq
and hung himself in his parents basement with a garden hose
the night before he died he spent forty five minutes on his fathers lap
rocking like a baby
rocking like daddy, save me
and don't think for a minute he too isn't collateral damage
in the mansions of washington they are watching them burn
and hoarding the water
no senators' sons are being sent out to slaughter
no presidents' daughters are licking ashes from their lips
or dreaming up ropes to wrap around their necks
in case they ever make it home alive
our eyes are closed
america
there are souls in
the boots of the soldiers
america
fuck your yellow ribbon
you wanna support our troops
bring them home
and hold them tight when they get here

Monday, April 28, 2008

Rev. Jeremiah Wright vs the Sound Bites

When all of a sudden soundbites from the past sermons of Barack Obama's pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, began to surface, it took me five minutes to figure out what was going on, an emotionally-charged character assassination of Rev. Wright meant to torpedo Barack Obama's candidacy. The basic strategy is to paint Wright as a hate-America, Black-Muslim type ideological extremist and to damage Obama with the old guilt through association routine.

But is Rev. Wright this one-dimensional stereotype? Does he warrant all these tempests of abuse across America? You be the judge, because here is Rev. Wright in the raw in last Friday evening's hour-long interview (April 25) with Bill Moyers on PBS, complete with transcript:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04252008/watch.html

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Explanatory Buzz

I confess.....Without any warning our posting went into serious decline over here at mosquito blog. (Mac, kindly posted our latest post 12 days ago....) This has not been a planned thing...to take a break it just has sort of descended upon us for a variety of reasons.

Star and I decided in March that we were sick and tired of Hillary Clinton. We concluded that she will probably still be around on inauguration day laying out spiking strips to derail Obama's victory lap in the presidential limousine. We both were tired of wasting our time covering Hillary's latest antics. We believe she cannot win and though she entered this race as the "favorite' with all the resources, etc....the people have soundly rejected her. No matter how much the corporate media backs her campaign now (and she wouldn't still be around if corporate media wasn't backing her now.....unfortunately, the corporate media is supplying Hillary with the air time, she can no longer afford, to allowing her to evolve into a sort of "Terminator" presidential candidate. Seems to me the last thing our country needs is to replace Darth Vader with the Terminator.....

Well Hillary is as delusional as ever and I just can't bring myself to write about her. Then Star has had some stuff come up so she is going on a sabbatical until August/September. She may post something here and there but she will not be posting on a regular basis.

I have also decided that I am going to take a sabbatical until August/September. Quite frankly, this news junkie has to turn the channel every time Hillary Clinton's face appears on the Boob Tube. I can no longer stand the deceitful way the corporate media is playing this and I'm even more disgusted with the Democratic party. I have a relative that used to be "big" in the Democratic party. She would often say--"The Democratic party would screw up a two car funeral. " I am seriously looking at other options for my future community service work. I am so disgusted with the Democrats....unfortunately it's becoming more difficult to tell the difference between a democrat and a republican....especially with Hillary Clinton's negative campaign and her crazy plans to "nuke" the Middle East.

(I may post something occassionally) but I want to free up some time and resources to get a home renovation project underway and give some serious thought to local community projects I may wish to work on.

I haven't had a chance to speak with Mac about his plans for the summer so I can't give you any idea of what to expect from him over the summer.

I plan to continue to support Barack Obama financially, and if the Democratic party does not self-destruct, I plan on volunteering to volunteer to assist Obama's Presidential campaign in the fall.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Honors Choir of South Africa Performing at the Historic First Baptist Church - Sunday April 6

Earlier this month, on Sunday, April 6, a unique cultural event took place in Norfolk that didn’t receive much, if any media attention that I am aware of. The 24 youth (12 boys/12 girls) Honors Choir of South Africa performed at the Historic First Baptist Church on Bute Street in Norfolk. This choir, representing some of the most talented youth from South Africa’s high schools, has begun a brief tour of America, what is known as the Ubungane Tour. Their overall, international sponsor is the International Children's Outreach Ministry, while many other sponsors have contributed locally. The choir was headed to Brooklyn next after their performance here.

It was almost a full house at this beautiful old church with a large balcony, so there must have been at least 500 people there by my estimate, maybe more. The choir performed three exciting sets, the first one with the choir dressed in uniform attire reflecting the South African Nation's official colors, green, blue, red, yellow and white, a set in which they sang traditional African chants and songs with religious themes.

The second set saw them return in tribal costumes of South Africa, to sing and dance three powerful songs associated with play, weddings and courtship, very vigorous and exciting, the dances displaying colorful ceremony, powerful rhythms enhanced by drumming, and some very dynamic, at times lighting fast, movement.

During both intermissions, I might add, soloists from the church’s musical talents performed rousing gospel numbers to standing ovations.

For their third set, the Youth Choir returned in black gowns and suits formal enough for the New York Met to display their musical versatility. They sang various Opera arias and chorus pieces, finally ending with the South African National Anthem, while the audience went wild once again, giving them a lengthy standing ovation.

My small camera was rather challenged, with only an average zoom, to get good shots. Lighting was not very high, so when I took shots of the dancing, the lens, which had to stay open longer to capture enough light, was not shutting fast enough to prevent some blurring of motion, so some of the photos of the dancing are blurred. Consider this special effects.

Enjoy the photos. I have more if anyone is interested. Some of you may want to contact the Historic First Baptist Church at 622-6701 about DVD's, CD's, future events and tours. Some of you might consider jumping on the sponsorship bandwagon, truly a worthy cause.



















The Choir did various religious, African songs popular in South Africa, such as Shosholoza (Song Sang in Bondage), Vuma Nawe (Believe), KaeleKae (Anywhere with Jesus). They would act out some songs.




















They finished the first set with We Shall Overcome.



















For the second set they came back in tribal costumes to do three sung and danced African melodies in a medley.



















The first dance song was Idani re Tambe (Come let's Play).



















The dancing got faster and faster.





















I think this is where the second dance began. It is called Tihomu (Wedding Song).























For the third set, they came back in formal attire to do Italian and other opera arias and choruses. Tremendous versatility!





















A quintet doing Non v'e pui tempo & Di Scrivemo.



















The choir ended with a powerfully felt rendition of the South African National Anthem.

Monday, April 14, 2008

U.N. Official calls for UN investigation of 9/11

A United Nations (UN) official is calling for an official UN commission to study te U.S. government's involvement in the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. The UN official requesting the study is none other than Richard Falk, Milbank professor of international law emeritus at Princeton University. It appears that government officials in Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, and Belgium are also noted to have questions regarding U.S. government involvement in 9/11.

It is long past time for us to have answers to important questions concerning 9/11. Hopefully the UN will appoint a commission who will independently study the issue.

Sunday, April 13, 2008



Five Buzzes to the Highway Blogger!!

The Thurmond Rule

The ‘Thurmond Rule,’ a longstanding Senate practice, dictates that only non-controversial judicial nominees should be processed by the Senate in the months preceding a presidential election. (Source) Now is the time that the Senate should have stated "enough" and refused to confirm Bush's nominee, Catharina Haynes. Instead, the "Democratic" Senate approved a nomination to the Fifth District Court that does not meet the criteria for the Thurmond Rule.

Why are the Dems so self-destructive. It's actions like these that keep their approval ratings in the basement. Buzz....Buzz....

Food for Thought on 9/11

Check this out, from George Washington's Blog, who is known as a heavy-duty 9/11 Truth Advocate, so he would attract the kind of statement you are about to read. Whether or not you want to believe it is up to you. It might have been made up, but what if it wasn't? That would certainly explain why Flight 93 debris was scattered for miles and no fuselage or engines were found. And it would confirm what several eye-witnesses on the ground claimed to have seen, what looked to them like a missile attack by another plane. From George Washington's Blog:

"The US Air Force Shot Down Flight 93"

The following comment was posted to my blog today (I do not know who the author is -- he posted semi-anonymously; so decide for yourself whether or not you believe him):

"I am an Air Force veteran. I was serving at Langley AFB, Virginia on Sept. 11. (not to be confused with CIA headquarters at Langley, VA). The "Alert Squadron" of 4 F-16 Falcons also stationed at Langley AFB was scrambled AFTER the "plane" crashed into the Pentagon. Because of my position as a ground equipment mechanic, I had access to the flightline operations that day. My friends were Crew Cheifs and Weapons Loaders, among other professions on the flightline that day. One of my [unusual] duties that day was to drive a Loader (personal friend) along with a rack of live missiles (AIM-9's and AIM-120's) across the active runway to the Alert Squadron and drop them off. I was towing equipment to the flightline, so when it was time to go back and pick up the Loader (and our missile trailer) I was unable to do so, but another member of my Flight (a good friend, and later roommate) did go. According to my roommate (and I later confirmed with the Loader) the Loader was completely silent most of the trip back to our side of the base, after they crossed the active, he spoke. "They shot one down." JJ replied "WHAT?" Loader:"One of those 16's came back with one less missile than it left with" That was all. As they pulled back in to the squadron area, The loader was whisked away by his commanders for debriefing. I didn't see him for a few days, but when I did, he said he couldn't talk about it, but he confirmed that what my roommate had told me was true.

The US Air Force shot down Flight 93. I haven't told this to many people. I told my parents and other family members shortly after I left the military. They didn't believe it. I figured no one else would either. I kept my mouth shut. Everyone was dedicated to the president and the country (not really) And anything that went against the Official, media delivered story was viewed as unpatriotic. I knew that I loved this country, so I kept my mouth shut. I just can't do that anymore. I know that I don't have any documents to prove it, and I have no way of knowing where the others involved are now days, so I can't prove anything. All I have is my word. and with God as my witness that is the truth."

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Americans won't vote for this....

McCain Gets It Wrong Again....Will the rest of US follow him?



Think Progress reports:
In fact, it was members of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government who brokered the ceasefire, to which Sadr agreed. Experts agree that Sadr’s influence was strengthened — rather than diminished — by the Basra battle.
When is McCain going to get it right? Maybe in his next lifetime? According to his own logic, things are going worse not better in Iraq.

In the "mean"time...watch Bush, Cheney, "Petraeus," Crocker, and McCain beat the drums of war next week....Time to bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran!! Once again watch "our" corporate media once again become cheerleaders for another ILLEGAL Invasion. Guess what....most folks think Intelligence got it right this time...but the "Intelligence" counters the lies that Bush et al are building their new war plan on. So.....Bush is NOT allowing this Intelligence report to be part of the discussion. Yikes!!

Will the American people stand by and allow another country and hundreds of thousands of innocent civilian families to be massacred and torn apart?? Iran intervened and assisted Iraq's prime minister so that a cease fire could be negotiated. This was not "stirring up trouble" but brokering a peace that Bush folks were failing to do. So Iran's "good deed" is not going to be rewarded with some masterful diplomacy...instead Bush, Cheney, and McCain want to bomb Iran?

Will our "Democratic" Congress go along this time. According to Paul Craig Roberts:
Don't expect Congress to do anything except to egg on the attack. On April 3 the International Herald Tribune reported that senators and representatives have made millions of dollars from their investments in defense companies totaling $196 million. Rep. Ike Skelton, the Democrat chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is already on board with the attack on Iran. The London Telegraph quotes Skelton: "Iran is the bull in the china shop. In all of this, they seem to have links to all of the Shi'ite groups, whether they be political or military.
We don't have to go here again....Check YOUR elected officials...are they war profiteers like Bush and Cheney or are they representing the 80% of their constituents who what a drastic change in this horrible, immoral, destructive, continuous march to make war on the world?

Buzz...Buzz...

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Ex-Governor Jesse Ventura Speaks Out on 9/11

This is a significant interview with a prominent political and social personality, ex-Governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura. The ramifications of what he is stating raise this disturbing question for all Americans to ponder: Was the attack on the World Trade Center a criminal conspiracy that went well beyond al Qaeda, a conspiracy that included elements of our own intelligence agencies, or those of our allies?

Here is the interview in three parts:



Part 2


Part 3


We welcome your comments on the Governor's interview.

Joe Scarborough is a RUDE Idiot

Why in the world does MSNBC keep this idiot? He's just a Republican promoting his own very flawed agenda. He constantly interrupts others in an attempt to keep them from making their case. Why doesn't MSNBC hire REAL political analysts who aren't afraid to carry on a polite, respectful conversation with varied viewpoints? When Joe comes on I turn the channel....

Keith Oberman features quality folks on his show...like Rachel Maddow. Joe thinks only Republicans should talk about Republicans so they can "spin" their talking points. MSNBC should boot Joe Scarborough and his looney sidekick Mika to the curb and put someone in that spot who will stop the partisan spin....Maybe the Republicans can buy some airtime for folks like Joe to spin their talking points...It would be more honest.....

We need more folks like Rachel Maddow who aren't afraid to put this lackey in his place!!!

Tuesday, April 01, 2008



LIGHT IN THE DARK at THE STUDIO

Friday, April 4 at 7:15pm
THE WAR ON DEMOCRACY Veteran filmmaker and independent journalist John Pilger reveals in his brilliant new documentary that in spite of a history of repeated US-backed suppression in Latin America, grassroots democratic movements are gaining ground in Latin America. Pilger provides an historical background of U.S. clandestine intervention in Central and South America over the last century and interviews key government officials who ran the CIA's war in Latin America. Pilger also conducts an exclusive interview 'on the road' with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela,


Date: Friday, April 4 at 7:15pm
Location: Studio for the Healing Arts, 1611 Colley Ave (2nd floor) one block north of Naro
Admission: $5
Host: Tench Phillips, Naro Cinema
Facilitators: Chris Jaramillo, Joe Filipowski, D.C. Amarasinghe

Arrested because of a t-shirt?

An 80 year old church deacon, in a wheelchair, was arrested at a mall because he was wearing an anti-war t-shirt. What happened to freedom in America? Even young women are now being taken off of airplains because "someone" (even if the "someone" is an employee of the airline) didn't like their clothes. We aren't talking public nudity here folks. We are talking about our freedoms and a new fascist code that restricts our freedoms.

For a shopping mall to be defined simply as private property when it exists for the "public" to use is just ridiculous. Anyone can go to a shopping mall without an invitation from any of the owners or renters. We should be free to pass out leaflets and wear what we wish as long as we are not forcing others to accept our leaflets or inhibiting the freedoms of another person.

There was a time when I would have said something like this was "impossible" in America but then along came Bush and Cheney.......Source

Buzz....Buzz...