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Irises

Mockingbird



   MORE REPUBLICAN JOKES

 1.) What does the Liberty Bell and the Republican ticket have in common.
  Answer: They're both cracked!

 2.) What did God say to George Bush Jr. after listening to him campaign?
  Answer: Just stand there George Bush Jr., just don't do anything!

 3.) Why did half the Republicans have their clothes on backward at their convention?
  Answer: They couldn't tell whether they were coming or going.

 4.) Why does it take a Republican twice as long to shave or put on their make up?
  Answer: They're two faced.
 

 "YOU'RE HURT!"
"Where?"
A lacerated leg,
numb as a corpse
from the waist down,
a line etched on skin;

pale plain,
carpeted with thin black hairs-
then, the red thread,
explodes into a crimson tide.

Muddling missionary
heathens have gutted you;
worn parchment

your little verse
comes direct
from the heart.

I clutch the cotton balls
and swab the deck,
drinks are on the house.

Out of the gap
swell legions of soldiers,
the red gore of battle
covers them all.

Steadfast to duty-
I'm a casualty on their list.
I have taken a pill,

to shrug off
this mountain of pain.
Terrorists,
demolition squad-

the swastikas blaze
across the gauze
you so solicitously
wrap us in.

Comrade, secret police,
stains and blackness,
when the toccata of sound
that daily confronts
the August silence,

like the habit of stars
that covers
the night sky.

How inert to hurt-
grizzled vet,
pilgrim,
barbed wire.
 

 THE RADICAL RIGHT'S DESTRUCTION REVUE
At my side Satan, interminably slithers,
writhing around in the ubiquitous dirt,
as I lay in pain, he blisters my skin like hateful spite,
and, knowing no shame, he taunts me with his disgrace.

Aware of my love of art, he weaves webs from beautiful pictures,
that depict women in voluptuous poses;
and, using a fraud's most devious deceits
subliminally conditions me to his obscene embraces.

Degenerating further, he revels in perverting faith,
and lewdly attempts adultery, by presenting his whores
as temple prostitutes; then, viciously laughing, he leaves his victim
panting and perspiring, crushed with fatigue.

Until, finally, when your lost in his wasteland,
an extortionist, he presents his specters to you-
broken people, debauched and destitute:
dirty derelicts, the stars of the Destruction Revue.
 

 A GOTHIC CATHEDRAL
It's early evening
and the sky, no longer achingly blue,
is one vast opal.

Rising from the valley floor
the dark and solemn cathedral
silently stands waiting for vespers.

Here I am
with my little life,
watching the shadows grow around me;
never before have I seen a poem constructed of granite,
and immovable poem made of marble-
a rock in the swirling tides of man.
 

 DECEASED
Omniscient, the deceased
released from memory, care and hope;
infinite, obscure, abstract
the deceased is stripped of everything-
the world, and all it contains.

Gradually disappearing,
like colors fading into night;
until, nothing is left:
here is the house
no longer seen
and there is the street
where they were ambushed by hope.

The thoughts,
of which we are comprised,
they might have thought, too;
and, now we have divided,
like banquet guests,
after the wonderful feast
of night and day.
 

 THE BLUE MARBLE PALACE
Rising early, I go outside
to greet the dew-drenched-day.
The morning star hangs low
over the West Hills,
high overhead the moon
is perched in a tree.

Lost in distance
a dog speaks of you.
A tree is a green flickering flame,
with streams of light
pouring out from every branch and leaf.

Somewhere a door closes
and floor boards creak-
you call to me;
but, there is no response:

I have turned into the Western Meadowlark,
a glint of yellow in the crystal blue sky.
 

 TORN
Torn with grief
mourners pour
honeyed wine libations
on premature graves
to the embalmed pulse
of contemporary martyrs,
whose cold marble tombs
connect with catacombs
containing ancient mysteries.

The moody evening
dreamily listens,
as the receding notes
of fading revelries
dance into a distant
melancholy silence.

And those who remain
how shall we ever
heal your immense sorrow?

Decapitated,
the Sun rolls
across the blue satin sheets,
it only seeks
a decent internment;
love, like desert snow,
quickly vanishes
leaving only dust
covered cairns-

with my flesh
I give you sustenance.
 

 SORROW OF MY SADNESS
Sorrow of my sadness, I resolutely sail
tumultuous tears, with broken wings
I can not reach the pallid moon
shining through translucent clouds,
friend of the mysterious, blue crystal waters.

The beauty of the vague pastel colored mists.
The lips of the breeze that whisper at twilight.
The recently devoured sun.  My ship lost,
taut chains as the sea anchor drags
along the bottom of this rimless mirror: in what filth.
 
 

  DEAD DRUNK
Dead drunk with sorrow and horror!
For fifteen years, now, essentially isolated
I have almost continually experienced the sadness
of watching a sick society devouring itself-

I have, on occasion, almost been overwhelmed with the tragedy.
The anvil at the bottom of the abyss,
while above in the remoteness of heaven
the shuddering stars withdraw in dread.
 

 ILLUMINATING
The Sun sets with a wink,
and, after the clamor of color subsides,
the moon rises out of the obscurity of twilight.
It's then that the cold and barren "real" World dies,
which is the dream of day; and, from its pyre
another World emerges just like ours.
It has cities and streets, woods and meadows,
and rivers and oceans.  Storms race down streets
and around corners, evening mists rise,
jets fly across the sky, fear stalks the dark woods
and thunder rumbles over the horizon.
It is profound and sublime.
And, the shackles of this Earth
that keep you from soaring,
to ecstatic heights, fall away.
From out of the surrounding fields of darkness,
your luminous face floats before me
illuminating a small area of night.
 

  THE REICH
Here I sit wrapped in my cloak of many colors-
wrapped in my precious dreams.
But, the radical right are tyrants,
its intolerant bigots and brutal fanatics
have become so intoxicated by power
that they spread their narrow ways
and absolutist visions everywhere,
they try to meddle with everyone,
and dictate what's good for all.
Until, our civil rights and individuality
are usurped and destroyed.
What good they tried to accomplish
has now been perverted into something wicked.
The Reich they would have established
has insidiously turned evil instead.
 

 PURE JOY
It was pure joy, the first
half of my life-
and then, God, you saw fit to test me
like this, in a terrible Nightmare.

I see where my wife and I were first one,
on Mt. Tabor, and my heart rejoices
with love for the land and sky
and whole dark mystery of existence,

my heart rejoices
at the years that I
played in the fields of the Lord,
before today's tormented time.

But is happiness only a small white flower
briefly blooming among black brambles?
Is human happiness a little flame
frailly flickering and easily destroyed?

Reflecting on these destitute thoughts
I'll bravely strive to be of good cheer-
but, God, I patiently wait to join you in the next life,
I've been blessed so much in this one already.
 

  RUMOR MILL: essay on political violence

 In previous issues the Rumor Mill has suggested that some violence is politically motivated and is cyclical in nature.  During an election year high profile acts of violence are committed and timed to have maximum impact on the elections.  It was noted in previous issues that statistics couldn't account for the distribution patterns of certain kinds of criminal activity that only transpired in Democratic controlled districts, when the occurrence of these crimes should be occurring in random patterns.  Because they are not, Rumor Mill suggests that other explanations should be pursued i.e the Radical Right who stand to benefit the most and so certainly have the biggest motive from this variation of the politics of terror, where violent acts are designed to catalyze the public into reactionary voting patterns, which, as previously stated, benefit the Radical Right.  Further, the particular pattern of the types of crimes committed defy the laws of probability and need to be scrutinized for other possible explanations, too.
 The Rumor Mill whispers that the Radical Right have targeted young females during the last year in an effort to expand their market.  Please see previous issue's essay.  If they brutally attack girls and young women, they can effectively double their market and the revenues that can be collected through bounties.  Recently added to the previous types of crime (just in time for this election where an effort is being made to repeal the Radical Right sponsored mandatory sentencing) is the heinous crime of kidnapping children.  It is highly visible, and it effects women voters, which is a weak point for Republicans, and it can be extended for long periods of time.  Kidnapping, when coupled with violence, is ideal for the needs of the Radical Right's propaganda model.  The advent of kidnapping fills two propaganda needs.  First, it substitutes for the brutal crimes against girls and young women.  After you've murdered, gang raped and serial raped women and children what's left?  Second, having acclimated the public to these types of heinous crimes something else is needed to seize the public's attention.  Sexual perversity coupled with kidnapping, just in time for the election, meets their sordid and depraved needs.
 If the Rumor Mill's previous hypothesis were to be true we should be seeing the very kinds of crimes we have been witnessing over the Summer and into the Fall.  Further, theses crimes should transpire in Democratic controlled districts.  What has happened?  First, a 15 yr. old girl was missing South of Eugene - a Democratic district.  Two months later she was found dead.  Then, two teenaged girls are murdered in July in Eugene ages 17 yrs. old and 13 yrs. old.   Rumor Mill suggests that in the wrongful death the family had been targeted by the Radical Right.  First, father was laid off and arrested (first $2,500 reward) and then the mother was targeted and the daughter was determined as the means to accomplish their dirty end.  "You have to be hard."  so a Radical Right field agent recently said.  Now, if you include the child, the total take on this operation netted the Eugene field operatives $7,500.  In the other case a girl was murdered by two indigents for another $7,500 pay day, or a $15,000 take for one months work.  Meanwhile, the Radical Right field agents were busy at the coast (in the Democratic controlled NW corner) unleashing a pervert who was a serial child abuser on the community.  He was caught, tried and convicted, when out on bail prior to sentencing he was induced to strike again so Rumor Mill claims.  This time in Salem - another Democratic controlled district.  After he kidnapped the boy he raped him and then slit his throat.  The boy was 10 yrs. old.  Finally, a small 3 yr, old boy was kidnapped form a Portland suburb at the end of August.  Notice that the ages of the victims, with the exception of the 17yr. old girl, descended, just as the hypothesis predicted, starting with a 15 yrs. old then going to a 13 yr. old girl followed next by a 10 yr. old child and finally terminating with a 3 yr. old infant.  Also notice that all five crimes occurred in Democratic controlled districts.  Further, notice that the Rumor Mill's hypothesis predicted the escalating nature of the crimes, the location of the crimes and the progressive decrease in the ages of the victims.  Unfortunately, it is still a couple of months until the elections.  The potential pay off to the Radical Right's field operatives for this crime wave, according to what Rumor Mill thinks, is $25,000 just for the five crimes described in this sequence.  All tax free and for only three months.  The total does not include the other less visible though equally lucrative criminal activity generated by their city search.  So Rumor Mill speculates.  Finally, notice that the Radical Right's self-serving, self- delusional rationalization justifies these unprecedented assaults on our children, as being done for the sake of children.  A group they claim only they represent.  And, what's more, they claim that no one else can disagree with them.  It is no wonder they deny an individual's right to disagree, when any reasonable person would immediately challenge the validity of the Radical Right's position about either dissent or children.  The Rumor Mill feels compelled to note that denying citizens the right of dissent is historically a characteristic of tyranny.  What happens to Christianity; or, the ideals, like equality, liberty and justice that constitute a healthy Democracy are concerns which are rarely discussed, certainly not by members of the Radical Right.  So Rumor Mill claims.
 

   ESSAY: ECSTASY

Rumor Mill has been whispering.  It wonders about the latest wrinkle in the Radical Right's monopoly of the international drug trade.  Their rationalization for their involvement is that they figure that if someone is going to be making money it might as well be the good guys, and they of course are the good guys.  Take the curious state of affairs in Holland.  If Holland has enough labs to supply 80% of the U.S. market, which is supposedly the reason behind our sending the F.B.I. over there to straighten things out.  Then the Rumor Mill would like to know the following:
 1.) Is it reasonable to believe that a small country way over in Europe, one protected by Interpol, supplies 80% of the U.S. demand for a variation of methadrine, which Ecstasy is?
 2.) How can this be done without extensive distribution networks?
 3.) If the F.B.I. knows that supposedly 80% (not 79% or 82%) of the ecstasy is coming from  little Holland, and that there must be an extensive network system and/or systems in order for the speed to be distributed; then, they have to have been infiltrated.  How else did they know how much speed was coming from Holland, let alone the fact that Holland was its alleged point of origin, unless they had already infiltrated them.  After all that is a lot of detailed  information to have on an organization.
 4.) How come they haven't already been busted?
 5.) If ecstasy is methadrine with a molecule attached to it, then, the manufactures are nothing but speed labs.  And if that is true then they are the same type of easily identifiable speed manufactures that the Radical Right has afflicted the good folks of Utah with, in their continuing efforts to galvanize support from the Mormons their monopolistic involvement in the Mexico, Central and South American drug trade.  In Utah, to make up for the non existent demand, the Radical Right has brought in not only the manufactures but people to use the speed, too.  A large percentage of which are Hispanics, and a large number of these are then narced off by other Hispanics, who get the same $2,500 reward per felony conviction.  This accomplishes two things.  First, it enables the Radical Right to gain influence with the Hispanic voting constituency by greed and corruption, which has previously been strongly Democratic. A voting block which is becoming increasingly important as it continues to grow.  This the Radical Right hopes to accomplish while politically pursuing public policies that are highly injurious to the Hispanic population as a whole in areas like wages, health care, education, housing and affirmative action to name just a few.  Wouldn't it be better if the Radical Right developed sound policies instead?!?
 6.) If the above is true, and Rumor Mill thinks it is, then the state of affairs in Holland are contrived, too.  It reminds one of Switzerland three years ago, before they legalized heroin and abolished the drug trade by registering all the heroin addicts, when the Radical Right started a heroin market there to gain support for accessing the country's accounts.  Everyone's but their own.  Who checked the drug accounts of the Radical Right?  Legalizing heroin and registering addicts was only done after the Radical Right was caught and exposed, an act designed to deflect criticism from the Radical Right's involvement in the heroin trade.  In Holland the Radical Right has already flooded the country with heroin, and now its adding a methadrine compound, too.  So Rumor Mill believes.
 

   ESSAY: E-MAIL PRIVACY

 Rumor Mill believes that the radical right influence extends into England.  Further, it believes that the radical right was instrumental in initiating events that led to, what it hopes will be, an eventual open e-mail policy.  Consider the following scenario.
Legislation to open e-mail languishes in Parliament.  Then, a major scandal occurs where several illegal immigrants are killed.  Suddenly, there is pressure to open everyone's e-mail to "supposedly" fight drug and illegal immigrant smugglers.  Now here is where the "supposedly" comes in.  Instead of only opening suspects e-mail the legislation also would open all corporations e-mail addresses and force them to instal and maintain encoding devices at the companies expense.  In addition, the data would then be sent to a center controlled by Britain's M15 there version of the F.B.I.
 Here is how Rumor Mill thinks the scam will work.  Instead of having to monitor countless coded messages sent at random times all over the world (over 2,900 companies in the U.S. received venture capital last year alone) the radical right would then only have to monitor one location- the M15 headquarters.  This could be done in at least two ways.  One way would be to displace key agency personnel.  Another way would be to electronically monitor data arriving and departing from one spot- the M15 headquarters.  Either alternative could easily be accomplished.
 The benefits Carnivore would generate, in terms of industrial espionage, are staggering.  First, London is in direct contact with all the financial centers of Europe; thus, all Europe could easily be spied on.  Second, the same would be true for the U.S. and the rest of the World, too.
 If they were just interested in public safety only criminals would be targeted.  The existing legislation targets businesses!  As for spying on any "large number of persons in pursuit of a common purpose" what are they paranoid of?  It sounds like Democracy to the Rumor Mill.
 
 
 
 

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