Conflicted

Conflicted

(Between a desire to feel pride and the reality I see)

I could not revel

in the inauguration of

this  president

for his second term

Too much has come

to my attention

Drones are flying

and they kill hundreds

of children

civilians

and

his hit list

targets Americans, too,

and sentences all to death,

without benefit of due process

Today, Martin

would be 84—that imperfect

peacemaker of our times.

Would he value the values

of this president

who has been given

a job

of which we may

not conceive its

immensity

until history recounts

these terrible times?

When the world’s

wealthiest 100

could end

extreme poverty with a

single year’s income

but they don’t

When wars rage ceaselessly

and the Middle East is

about to burn in

flames of

damnation

because one people

suffered

unimaginable genocide

and now,

because they believe they stand in

righteousness

in a land,

given by those with no right to give

they now condemn others to die—

Is genocide

inflicted

by those who once

suffered from it

no longer genocide?

And the rich

of our nation

and our nation itself

sends

them money

and munitions

and weapons

of mass destruction

And they act and react

and kill and kill and kill

and bulldoze and steal land

and maim children

These terrible times when

losing our freedom of speech

and to assemble peaceably

and to privacy

but guaranteeing

madmen the right to kill babies

in our schools and adults in our

theaters

In these times

when biotech companies

destroy our food,

the environment

and the right to life

of the creatures

that share this planet

when they can give us

tumors and leaky

guts

just because they choose to

and not for any earthly reason

that anyone can understand

because they obfuscate

the research

and say they are doing it

in the name of feeding

seven billion people

but they are really doing

it for the billions of

dollars they

earn while

expecting to earn

more

when the final

cornering of the market

leaves no seed

unpatented

no water unpolluted

and no real

food to eat

And in Syria where

the U.S.  again works

with al-Queda

to destabilize

to destroy

to fulfill

the greedy desire

for more more more

control, more militarization

and more money

What would Martin think of

this most powerful

man in the world?

The president

has much to

account for

as the toll rises

daily

and it may be too

late to stem

a tide that is rising

to cover

Tuvalu and other

nations—the first

casualties

of an environmental

disaster we

refuse to contemplate,

denying reality

until reality

sweeps in on the tide and the islands are lost,

the water tainted with salt evermore

Martin would

weep, rail and march

and insist

that this president

Keep his word

fulfill his promises

remember those

whose names he called

during his second inaugural speech

And to create a better

world

instead

of globe where the  blowback

will burn as

hot as hellfire.

Do you cry, Mr. President?

I believe you are a good man, Mr. President, and a thoughtful, loving father to your beautiful daughters. I see how you interact with your wife and know you offer her your love and support. I cried with you over the children and other victims of Newtown, Connecticut. Your pain, as a president and as a father, was sharply evident. 

And then I wondered, do you cry for the dead children of Afghanistan and Pakistan?

It is reported that 176 children have died in your drone strikes, the ones purported to be “targeted killings of terrorists.” This number is nearly nine times the number of children who died because an obsessed young man had weapons of mass death in his hands. Do you cry for those children whom you have “inadvertently” targeted? Do their deaths weigh heavily on your heart?

Those children, too, had loving parents who dreamed of a better future for them. Those children, too, are lost forever to their families, while they lie in graves outside the consciousness of the people of the United States. 

We see the roll calls of the Newtown victims’ names and cry anew for losses too terrible to bear.

But do you cry when you know your programs have sent so many innocent children to their deaths?

I wish I knew—and I wish you’d stop sending in weapons that kill the children.

The Gun Lobbyist’s 12 Days of Christmas

The Gun-Lobbyist’s 12 Days of Christmas

©Ann Carranza 12/ 14/ 2012

On the first day of

Christmas

the gun lobby gave to me

a dead partridge under a pear tree.

On the second day of

Christmas

the gun lobby gave to me

two traumatized toddlers

and a dead partridge under a pear tree.

On the third day of

Christmas

the gun lobby gave to me

three semi-automatic weapons,

two traumatized toddlers,

and a dead partridge under a pear tree.

On the fourth day of

Christmas

the gun lobby gave to me

four crying mothers,

three semi-automatic weapons,

two traumatized toddlers,

and a dead partridge under a pear tree.

On the fifth day of

Christmas

the gun lobby gave to me

five golden caskets;

four crying mothers,

three semi-automatic weapons,

two traumatized toddlers,

and a dead partridge under a pear tree

On the sixth day of

Christmas

the gun lobby gave to me

six assault guns purchased,,

Five golden caskets,

four crying mothers,

three semi-automatic weapons

two traumatized toddlers

and a dead partridge under a pear tree.

On the seventh day of

Christmas

the gun lobby gave to me

seven casings dropping,

six assault guns purchased,,

five golden caskets,

four crying mothers,

three semi-automatic weapons

two traumatized toddlers

and a dead partridge under a pear tree.

On the eighth day of

Christmas

the gun lobby gave to me

eight bullet holes bleeding,

seven casings dropping,

six assault guns purchased,,

five golden caskets,

four crying mothers,

three semi-automatic weapons,

two traumatized toddlers

and a dead partridge under a pear tree.

On the ninth day of

Christmas

the gun lobby gave to me

nine lobbyists lying,

eight bullet holes bleeding,

seven casings dropping,

six assault guns purchased,,

five golden caskets,

four crying mothers,

three semi-automatic weapons,

two traumatized toddlers

and a dead partridge under a pear tree.

On the tenth day of

Christmas

the gun lobby gave to me,

ten machine guns spraying,

nine wounded women,

eight bullet holes bleeding,

seven casings dropping,

six assault guns purchased,

five golden caskets,

four crying mothers,

three semi-automatic weapons,

two traumatized toddlers

and a dead partridge under a pear tree.

On the eleventh day of

Christmas

the gun lobby gave to me,

eleven pistols blasting,

ten machine guns spraying,

nine wounded women,

eight bullet holes bleeding,

seven casings dropping,

six assault guns purchased,

five golden caskets,

four crying mothers,

three semi-automatic weapons,

two traumatized toddlers

and a dead partridge under a pear tree.

And on the

Twelfth day of

Christmas

the gun lobby gave to me

too many hearts just breaking,

eleven pistols blasting,

ten machine guns spraying,

nine wounded women,

eight bullet holes bleeding,

seven casings dropping,

six assault guns purchased,

five golden caskets,

four crying mothers,

three semi-automatic weapons,

two traumatized toddlers

and a dead partridge under a pear tree.

Heaven help us all.

Peace and blessings. (Practice the first; count the second.)

Refudiate your language, Sarah

Reload, Sarah, right?

No, Sarah, it's time to cease and desist.

What do you think of your word choices, now? Does your verbal history give you pause? You had your crosshairs right over Congresswoman Giffords’ district. And now the unspeakable has happened. What you so blithely pictured has come to pass.

How do you feel as she lies in critical condition in the hospital? How do you feel as U.S. District Judge John Roll lies dead?

Do you feel in any way responsible for the vitriol? Or do you continue to believe your hate-filled, ill-educated rhetoric is cute and folksy?

Is violent rhetoric a down-homey way to draw followers, or could it, in part, convince any individual that violence is an answer to our country’s divisive politics?

Does your snappy gun-speak add something to public discourse beyond its potential to incite violence?

Your self-appointed gun guru "lock and load" talk bears more resemblance to terror-speak than it does to political discourse held in a democratic republic.

Does talk have consequences? Does the written word? Did it have consequences, today? Could today’s violence in Arizona be a consequence of vitriol turned violent?

It’s time to end the acceptance of leaders using virulent rhetoric laced with violent overtones such as “reload,” "target," and “Second Amendment solutions,” as well as hate speech and virulent rhetoric.

Lay down your weapons of violence Sarah, Sharon, Bill, Glen, Jan and Rush. Your words carry deadly consequences.

It’s time to join the civil conversation.

Peace and blessings. (Practice the first; count the second.)

Open hearts and hands for Haiti

A Plea for help for the people of Haiti:

My heart and prayers go out to the people of Haiti in this time of desperate need. May Universal blessings aid your nation in recovery, succor those who have suffered so much loss, and may those who lost their lives rest in eternal peace.

Together we can help alleviate the suffering of the Haitian people.

Join me in donating through Doctors Without Borders:

Doctors Without Borders


And the American Red Cross’s International Response Fund:

American Red Cross

Please, won’t your add your gift to help those who are suffering so much?

Thank you and blessings.

Fatalism vs Optimism--the battle wages on

Health care - it’s certainly difficult to talk about health care reform in the United States these days, and it happens to be only a symptom of our larger challenges. Many of those who have insurance (like some members of Congress) apparently think that everyone can pay the outrageous prices insurance companies charge. We have had to let our insurance lapse due to premium prices. It’s frightening at any age not to have insurance, but more frightening I feel, as we are aging.

The government we expect to fix our insurance woes is sadly broken and the division of severe partisan politics is hurting us terribly. It does look like the sixty votes are now in the Senate for health care “reform” but what is proposed is more a give-away to insurance companies than true reform.

Our two-hundred year plus experiment in a democratic republic seems to be unable to break the deadlock of partisan politics and corporate lobbyist control. The corporations have taken over and individuals are paying the price. Can capitalism be fixed? Is there such a thing as sustainable capitalism? I have my doubts.

We cannot continue to count on growth and consumerism to keep us going. We’re fast running out of the natural resources that have sustained our grotesque consumerism of the last 20-30 years. It certainly isn’t to say that I am not guilty - I am, and I don’t know how to get completely out of the system. I do reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink. My husband and I are not heavy consumers, and we do grow many of our own fruits and vegetables. We produce far less garbage than our neighbors and we take composting and recycling very seriously. But, we eat too much meat, we use too much water, we depend upon cars (although we have reduced our miles driven) and have a multitude of other consumer traits.

I ponder whether a fatalistic approach is more appropriate, since we can't seem to agree on fixing the challenges we clearly face. If perhaps, all humanity were to die off, it might not be such a bad thing? We are the biggest consumers and exploiters of the world’s resources. We outsource our pollution and our jobs. We don’t share well. We’re greedy. We’re violent. Homo sapiens, as the most innovative and adaptable species, has become, too, the most invasive pest. An yet, we do love life and want to explore, learn, love, and live.

In all seriousness, we need to work on reducing the global population just as much as we are working on global climate change (not that Copenhagen proved to give us any serious change with an appropriate timeline). I know it is going to be hugely difficult to get nations (and individuals) to agree, but I know our single largest battle ahead is population control.

Of course, if we let that go, too, the tipping point will eventually cause our population to crash due to lack of food or through disease in the form of virulent global pandemics. (How's that for fatalism?) Sigh.

Questions such as these cause a deep-seated battle to rage within me - as my natural optimism vies with the fatalism such great challenges offer. It is quite daunting to grasp that there are no quick fixes; these tribulations have begun during our lifespan.

Peace and blessings (practice the first; count the second).

Ranting renders null the point of any argument.

I read an interesting comment, today, on a progressive website. The writer had a good argument backing a valid point; however, the writer rendered null and void his perspicacious comment by using capital letters and hateful language. In other words, while he could easily be part of the global solution conversation, his voice was lost in the abyss of flaming reactionary rhetoric.

I, too, am outraged by much of what is happening in the world; however, we cannot have positive discourse without issuing an invitation.

Had he modulated his response by removing the anger—his voice could have been heard. It is sad to see good ideas go to waste.

Peace and blessings (practice the first; count the second).