Iraq....Iran....I rant....

As the legendary Yogi Berra once declared, "It's deja vu all over again." Four years ago - to this very day - they were flooding the Sunday morning talk shows and the prime time evening news and cable programs with their fear-mongering talk of "smoking guns" coming in the form of "mushroom clouds". Four years ago it was a "slam dunk" that, once we invaded Iraq, American soldiers would be "greeted as liberators" with "flowers and candies" strewn an their feet. Four years ago we were told by the First Fool that the mission of the United States was "to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people." They were lying to us. Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction and they knew it. "Freedom and Democracy"? These are the same people who are only in power because they were able to steal two elections in their own country. They don't give a shit about democracy in Iraq or anywhere else for that matter. Their only motivation for invading that country was in order to seize the second or third largest oil reserves on the planet. Because of the Bush Mob's murderous corruption and incompetence, over one million men, women and little children lay dead.

And now these homicidal bastards want to attack Iran.

And as bad as that is, the opposition party (Note to viewers of FOX and Friends: that would be the Democrats) seems perfectly content to let the administration commit yet another blunder of historical proportions for no reason other than political gain. You see, the more Bush and company screw things up, the more they destroy your once-great nation, the easier it will be for the Dems at the polls next year. Apparently the death count means not a thing to these pathetic, gutless assholes. Aw, hell! What's one or two million more corpses between friends, ay?

The Democrats seem to have forgotten that it is only the Congress that can declare war (YIKES! It embarrasses me now to even remember that I was registered to vote in that party for twenty years!) When Bush and Cheney attack the (like it or not) sovereign nation of Iran without the constitutionally mandated congressional approval, impeachment proceedings should begin at once. If that fails to happen, the party of FDR will be destroyed next year with another third party uprising - COUNT ON IT. My advise to them? Keep a wary eye over your left shoulder, kiddies!

Again, for the second or third time this month, I must quote Paul Krugman (I think he's really neat, don't you?). From his column in this morning's New York Times:

"The idea that bombing will bring the Iranian regime to its knees - and bombing is the only option, since we've run out of troops - is pure wishful thinking. Last year Israel tried to cripple Hezbollah with an air campaign, and ended up strengthening it instead. There's every reason to believe that an attack on Iran would produce the same result, with the added effects of endangering US forces in Iraq and driving oil prices well into the triple digits."

We are already in the process of fighting two wars that we are - make no mistake about it - destined to lose. And here we are, about to insanely embark upon a third. Am I hallucinating this? Am I missing something here? What gives? All this week, George W. Bush has, once again, been brazenly playing the fear card by conjuring images of a third world war if we don't "do something" about Iran. Here's a nasty little piece of information that you can take to the bank: Attacking Iran will, almost assuredly, make World War III inevitable.

The main argument against impeaching this disgusting administration seems to be that there are only less than fifteen months to go until they're history. How much more damage can they possibly do? What's the point?

Here's the point:

The damage they have already done to this country and this planet in so short a time will take generations to undo. The irreparable harm that they can still do in what comparably little time they have left is nothing short of incalculable. Because of the stress that they have placed on the American economy, our entire social and economic infrastructure could collapse at any moment. And don't think for a minute that it's beneath them to stage an overthrow of our system of government - they've already accomplished that! That they are at this moment planning an electoral coup next year in order to perpetuate their power, I have little doubt. Don't forget that those easily manipulable, Die-Bolt electronic voting machines are now in place in more than enough swing states to do the job. Why do you think it is that in 2000 and 2004 - for the first time since scientific polling began - the exit polls did not conform to the election results? Is that a mere coincidence? C'mon, folks!

Don't deceive yourselves into believing that we're over there fighting the bad guys - WE ARE THE BAD GUYS!!! HELLO??? We "preemptively" invaded a country without provocation - a country that was a danger to no one but itself. That is what is known as a war crime. That is why the Nazi hierarchy were all hanged on the gallows sixty years ago - Hey! that gives me a great idea!....never mind. Don't kid yourselves into believing that the motives of this White House are or ever were honorable. To anyone dumb enough to believe that: I've got a portable, kerosene heater made out of balsa wood that I would just love to sell you!

When (not "if" but "when") our despicable, half-witted little thug-in-chief orders the military to begin a campaign of bombing in Iran, the House and Senate should initiate impeachment proceedings immediately. Not only that, but any and all military officers who comply with the president's orders should also be held criminally culpable. None of this "I vas only followink orders" jazz. International law clearly outlaws unprovoked attacks. Period.

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On January 20, 2001 and 2004, Bush vowed to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States...." He has, instead, torn that precious document to shreds and pissed on its tattered remains. For almost seven years now, a weak and timid Congress has allowed this bloodthirsty, imbecilic little guttersnipe to run roughshod over our democracy. This is a situation which must end - not on January 20, 2009 - This is a situation which must end NOW. Our very future depends on it.

The Republican party is already doomed. Let's hope and pray that the Democrats finally show some long-overdue courage. Otherwise....

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net

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AFTERTHOUGHT:

Sarah Rachel is a young women living in red state Tuscaloosa, Alabama - with a very blue state perspective. Her thoughts on not only politics but, in particular, spirituality, are profound and deeply moving. Here's a link to her site:

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http://www.liedownandsleep.blogspot.com/

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Please, have a look. She is outstanding.

America's Favorite "House Nigger"

If there is one thing that has always tickled the heck out of me, it is the absolutely pathological disdain with which Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, views affirmative action. Not just the program itself, but the people who have benefited from that program - people like himself! To hear the good judge say it, you would think that it was the worst idea in American history!

According to Uncle Thomas in his recently published memoir, My Grandfather's Son, when he received his diploma from Yale Law School, he put a "fifteen cents" sticker on it and relegated it to the basement of his home. You see, Clarence Thomas believes that it was the very existence of affirmative action that made his law degree all-but-worthless. To his way of thinking, he would have been much better off had he just pursued his dream of becoming a lawyer only on the merits of his talent and abilities and not relied on the good intentions of all those evil, white, liberal, do-gooders. In his mind, his place on the Supreme Court would today be all-the-more significant and he would be sitting on that revered bench free of the guilty conscience that obviously torments him to this very day. His place in the halls of justice would have meant so much more had all of those silly and stupid Great Society types not interfered with his ambitions.

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Question: Just where do you think Clarence Thomas would be today had it not been for affirmative action?

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Answer: He would be mounted on the front lawn of some beer distributor's home in Albany, Georgia, wearing a jockey uniform and holding a lamp.

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Malcolm X used to tell the parable of the Field Negro and the House Nigger. The Field Negro worked the plantation - worked it hard, Jack! From dawn to dusk, he would be out there breaking his back, spilling his blood, and without a single break! He was frequently subjected to savage beatings by the overseer, even for the simple offence of being too physically exhausted to carry on. Oh, he hated the Master. He hated that old bastard with a passion so deep and unbending that he would not have been able to express it in words had he tried. He had dark, vivid fantasies about ending the life of the lord of the plantation - and the lives of his wife and heirs - through an act of cold blooded murder. His only ambition was to escape his soul-destroying existence of tormented, unrelenting, physical hardship.

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The House Nigger, on the other hand, had a pretty sweet deal by comparison. He worked inside the home, setting the table, making the beds, and preparing the meals. He loved his Massah! There was nothing he wouldn't do for him. If he saw another slave committing an infraction against Massah's strict rules, he made damned good and sure that Massah found out about it to ensure that the poor bugger would be beaten silly. Whatever Massah wants, Massah gits! Yassah! When the House Nigger went to bed at night, he had nothing but sweet, contented dreams about Massah. When the Field Negro was able to get what little sleep was available to him, he dreamed only that the Master would die.

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Minister Malcolm was the modern day equivalent of the Field Negro: one who despises the sick, racist system that we're all forced to live in and dedicates his or her life to pulverizing that system to dust. To put it in Hollywood terms, when you think of the House Nigger, think of Stepin Fetchit. When you think of the Field Negro, think of Ossie Davis. That illustrates it beautifully! If the term "House Nigger" ever makes into Webster's Dictionary, it's only safe to assume that there will be a engraved etching of Clarence Thomas' utterly clueless face next to its definition.

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These disgusting, subservient Negros have become more and more visible in the last quarter of a century. Condoleeza Rice, Tony Brown and Michael Powell (Bush's Chairman of the FCC and Colin's half-witted kid) come immediately to mind. I have to believe that ideology had not a thing to do with their joining the fold. It was nothing more than cynical opportunism on their part. Let's face some serious facts here, folks: African American faces at Democratic gatherings are a dime a dozen. If a black man or woman really wants to be noticed, it has be at a gathering of Republicans. The reason is quite simple: No sane and rational person of color - in his or her right mind - could possibly support the extremist, racist policies of the kooks, criminals and fools who have hijacked that party! That is why there are so few of them "in the tent", so to speak.

A black person in the Republican camp has one hell of an opportunity to stand out - and maybe even make a little extra bread on the side (as Armstrong Williams did when he was paid a quarter of a million dollars in taxpayer cash by the current administration to promote their No Child Left Behind scam). It also gives the Great White Father the opportunity say to the rest of the world, "See? We really are the party of all the people!" It is a mutually beneficial arrangement: Quid pro quo. One hand washes the other; ya know what I mean?

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Back in 1980, the GOP had a little problem. By that stage in the game, the "Party of Lincoln" had lost all credibility with the descendants of slaves. It didn't help matters any when Ronald Reagan launched his campaign that year from the little town of Philadelphia, Mississippi - a town whose only claim to fame was the brutal murder of three civil rights workers there in the summer of 1964. (Shame on us if we ever forget their names: James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner). At the time, it really didn't surprise anyone who knew the Gipper's history. After all, Ronnie's first exposure as a political figure was in 1964 when he made a nationally televised speech supporting the candidacy of Barry Goldwater. It was during this tirade of an address that he condemned the Johnson administration for the Civil Rights Act which had been passed earlier that year.

His not-too-subtle message sixteen years later in Philadelphia was as clear as a bell: "Jim Crow's gonna have a friend in my White House." The nasty little reality facing the Grand Old Party was their well deserved reputation for being the Party of the White Man. Every television picture of every crowd at every convention always showed the same old faces: WHITE FACES. All they had to do, at the very least, was give the illusion of inclusion. Well now, just how the hell were they going to do that?

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America's House Niggers bravely came to the rescue.

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By the time the conventions of 2000 and 2004 rolled around, the crowd shots still showed almost entirely white faces. So where were all these newly recruited Black Republicans, you may ask? THEY WERE ALL UP ON THE STAGE - EVERY FREAKING ONE OF THEM!!! Oh, my goodness! That was a funny sight, indeed! It looked so much like an old time minstrel show with all of those smiling, slap-happy and pathetic Uncle Toms shufflin' 'cross the podium! I thought I was watching a tribute to Scatman Crothers:

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We got wings

'Dey got wings

All God's chil'en got wings!

All God's chil'en got wings!

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Watching this tragicomic spectacle on television, I remember thinking to myself, Just where do they find these assholes???

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In 1991, Judge Thomas scored the the ultimate affirmative action gig. Legendary Justice, Thurgood Marshall, the first African American in history to serve on the Supreme Court (in ill health and with not long to live) was retiring and George Bush the elder thought he could score some political points on both sides of the aisle. He would please the liberals by appointing another Black man, while at the same time appeasing the right wing by making sure that the Black man in question was a half-witted, reactionary darkie. He didn't have to look far to find the man who fit the bill: Clarence Thomas was there, ready to do his bidding for dear ol' Massah. What a great trick Poppy must have thought he had pulled off! One can only imagine Judge Thomas sitting in the oval office, congratulating the president on his political chicanery:

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"Hee! Hee! Oh, Mistah White Folks, you sho' is sly!!"

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Thomas' confirmation hearing, which was initially expected to sail through the senate, hit a snag early on in the process because of the disturbing accusations of a woman named Anita Hill. (We won't go into the sordid details here - Hey! Even I have standards of decency, thank you very much!) After a long and contentious fight (Thomas describing it as a "high tech lynching"), he was able to win over a few of his more timid, Democratic detractors and was then confirmed as an Associate Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States of America. He has been dutifully making the lives of black people in this country miserable ever since.

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Clarence Thomas, the ultimate House Nigger, is a sad, bitter and confused man. In 1958, the year I was born, the very idea that an African American would one day sit on the Supreme Court would have been dismissed as ludicrous by even the most liberal minded person. It is because of the very policies that Thomas so despises - policies placed into law by the progressive-minded lawmakers he views with such utter contempt - that he is where he is today. The very fact that he would want to pull up the ladder that made it possible for him to climb to the pinnacle of his profession - thereby preventing other members of his oppressed race from achieving the same opportunities that he so skillfully exploited - is one of the most despicable things I have ever been forced to witness as an American citizen. No law or program is perfect and affirmative action is no exception. One of its glaring imperfections is the undeniable truth that it occasionally allows someone of mediocre ability and intellect to rise to the top of the heap. Clarence Thomas' very presence on the highest court in the land is an embarrassing testament to that truth.

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Bill Maxwell is an African American writer for the St. Petersburg Times. In an excellent and moving opinion piece that was published yesterday in the Times Herald-Record of Middletown, NY, he reminisced about his early years as a scholarly but dirt-poor black kid from the deep South and the advantages that came his way because, one fine day, some whiny, cheese-eating, latte-swirling liberal recognized his great talent as a writer and chose him to become an "affirmative action baby":

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"Thomas got into Holy Cross and Yale University Law School through affirmative action programs. I got into the University of Chicago the same way....Affirmative action had opened up this rich world to me, a young black man born into Southern poverty. I was proud to be at the University of Chicago. I wore a "U of C" sweatshirt everywhere. Clarence Thomas' diploma may be worth fifteen cents to him. My degree from the University of Chicago is priceless."

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Amen, Brother Bill. Amen.

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Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

tomdegan@frontiernet.net

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SUGGESTED READING:

Black Like Me

by John Howard Griffin

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Notes of a Native Son

by James Baldwin

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The Autobiography of Malcolm X

by Malcolm X (with Alex Haley)

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Nigger

by Dick Gregory

For more recent postings on this hideous, positively un-American site, kindly proceed to the link below:

"The Rant" by Tom Degan

Shameful, left wing propaganda. Oh, the humanity.

An Inconvenient Truth for the Dems

Hey Democrats! Think about this: How would you like to have an Academy Award winning, Nobel Peace Prize recipient running at the top of your ticket? Hell, even Ronald Reagan never won an Oscar! (He never deserved one. Did you ever see him act? Just awful!) And he certainly never won a Nobel Prize! Can you even imagine something as absurd as that? The patron of the Contras getting a prize for peace??? Then again, they did give one to Henry Kissinger, the world's only German/Jewish war criminal, didn't they? On second thought....
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But back to my main argument: Not since 1932 have you ever had a better chance of reclaiming the White House, and yet - incredibly - you seem to be hell-bent on committing the worst political blunder since you handed the nomination to Hubert Humphrey in 1968. You are about to nominate the only candidate among your current crop of front runners who can't possibly win the election in 2008. Four more years of a GOP-controlled executive branch of our government will, quite possibly, destroy this country - that's assuming it's not already broken beyond repair. The fact of the matter is this: Al Gore, if given the nomination next summer, will certainly be the next president of the United States. Hillary Clinton will certainly be defeated. It is as simple as that.

Here is an inconvenient truth you silly donkeys must come to terms with: You desperately need a nominee who is going to energize and inspire your base - and Hillary Clinton is not the candidate who will do that. Al Gore, on the other hand, will most assuredly appeal to your base. How do I know that? BECAUSE I AM YOUR BLOODY BASE! (or at least, I was). Senator Clinton is one of the many reasons I am no longer a Democrat. I'll be voting for the party of FDR next year, come heck or high water. But if Hillary is the person I'm forced to vote for, I'll be holding my nose, trust me. Here is something you need to understand: If you nominate her at your convention next summer, you will face another third-party uprising at the polls in November of '08. COUNT ON IT. That's a chance you can't afford to take. You remember what happened in 2000, don't you? Of course you do.
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Hear me out, Democrats! Have you noticed that all the right-wing talking heads and talking points are claiming that she will be their most formidable foe next year? Woooooh!! They're really scared of her, aren't they? Don't you see what they're trying to do here, folks? They're trying to manipulate you into believing that she's unbeatable. They're trying to lull you into thinking that Hillary Clinton as your standard bearer will mean certain doom for their chances at retaining the White House in January of '09 - and you people are falling for it hook line and sinker! Ask yourselves the following question: Why would Rupert Murdoch - of all people - be holding fundraisers for her? Do you actually believe that the owner of FOX Noise and the New York Toast wants her as our next president? It is nothing more than a cynical, strategic move on Murdoch's part. He wants her to be the next Democratic nominee because he knows she is bound to lose. Sure, if the Hamptons had seven-hundred electoral votes, she'd be a shoo-in - BUT THEY DON'T! Trust me on this one, campers: They're praying for a Hillary Clinton candidacy!
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It has been said that Al Gore does not want to run for president; Gore himself has even hinted that he doesn't want to run. That may be the case. But a nationwide, Draft Gore movement would definitely change the man's mind in a heartbeat. We have got to let him know that America needs him whether it realizes it or not. Think of the message that a Gore administration would sent to the rest of the world! It would be like saying, "Yeah, Planet Earth, we Americans really screwed up - BIG TIME - when we stupidly sent that half-witted, murderous little thug from Crawford, Texas to Washington DC. But we're gonna put things right, Planet Earth. Honest to goodness we are!"
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From Paul Krugman's column in today's New York Times:
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"The worst thing about Mr. Gore, from the conservative point of view, is that he keeps being right. In 1992 George H.W. Bush mocked him as the 'ozone man', but three years later the scientists who discovered the threat to the ozone layer won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 2002 he warned that if we invaded Iraq, 'the resulting chaos could easily pose a far greater threat to the United States than we presently face from Saddam.' And so it has proved."
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In other words, the less we heed the warning of Al Gore, the more idiotic we look as a nation (Don'cha just love Krugman? I sure do!) One of the worst mistakes I ever made in my life was abandoning the Gore campaign in 2000 and supporting the Green Party candidacy of Ralph Nader. At the time, it seemed like a safe, even responsible thing to do. Ralph was addressing every issue that needed to be addressed; issues that both major political parties were totally ignoring. As alarming as a prospective George W. Bush administration seemed (even without the benefit of seven years 20/20 historical hindsight), the guy was so jaw-droppingly stupid, I felt he didn't have a chance in hell. Who knew he would be able to steal the election in Florida by removing 57,000 African Americans from the voting rolls? Who knew that so huge a segment of the electorate would be foolish enough to vote for him? If only we knew then what we know now....
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The very worst thing you can say about Al Gore is that Saddam Hussein would still be in power had the former vice-president not been denied the White House by an ideologically perverted Supreme Court in December of 2000. Right!....and over a million Iraqi men, women and little children would still be alive. Right!....and almost four-thousand American families would not this day be grieving for a lost son or daughter. Right!....and our entire social and economic infrastructure would not be teetering on the edge of the total collapse that will surely come any day now. Right!....and we all would be a lot more secure. Good ol' Saddam! Come to think of it, I'm startin' to miss the old bugger!
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But, hey! All of that is water under the bridge, as they say. The Democratic Party is now in a unique position to right some extremely nasty wrongs. Al Gore won the presidency on Election Day 2000 and it was stolen from him. At this point in time, I think it is a foregone conclusion that our nation would be a whole hell of a lot better off had a President Gore taken the oath of office on January 20, 2001. As it now stands, the damage that has been done to our beloved country by the disgusting little piece of shit who at this very moment sleeps soundly in the master bedroom of the Executive Mansion will take generations to undo. Ancient Chinese wisdom tells us that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. A Gore White House would be a very good first step indeed.
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Hey Democrats! Do you want to know another reason why I left your party almost a decade ago? You people are just dumb enough to give the nomination to Hillary Clinton!
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Prove me wrong, Dems! Please, prove me wrong!
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Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
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SUGGESTED READING:
The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Krugman

for peace....in memory of john lennon

live for peace

die for peace

give for peace

try for peace

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black for peace

white for peace

dark for peace

light for peace

*

be for peace

do for peace

me for peace

you for peace

*

stop for peace

go for peace

fast for peace

slow for peace

*

day for peace

night for peace

pay for peace

quite for peace

*

weak for peace

strong for peace

speak for peace

long for peace

*

john for peace

paul for peace

one for peace

all for peace

*

mean for peace

nice for peace

once for peace

twice for peace

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move for peace

stay for peace

groove for peace

sway for peace

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march for peace

june for peace

sun for peace

moon for peace

*

near for peace

far for peace

hear for peace

star for peace

*

wake for peace

sleep for peace

laugh for peace

weep for peace

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toil for peace

stake for peace

soil for peace

rake for peace

*

sing for peace

grace for peace

ring for peace

race for peace

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type for peace

monk for peace

pipe for peace

honk for peace

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search for peace

please for peace

lurch for peace

tease for peace

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gain for peace

lose for peace

reign for peace

choose for peace

*

make for peace

fill for peace

break for peace

till for peace

*

four for peace

five for peace

store for peace

strive for peace

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earth for peace

sky for peace

mirth for peace

cry for peace

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dream for peace

call for peace

scheme for peace

stall for peace

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rich for peace

poor for peace

stitch for peace

roar for peace

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he for peace

she for peace

they for peace

we for peace

*

in for peace

out for peace

win for peace

shout for peace

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soar for peace

steal for peace

tour for peace

feel for peace

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walk for peace

beam for peace

talk for peace

scream for peace

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girl for peace

boy for peace

whirl for peace

joy for peace

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love for peace

like for peace

dove for peace

hike for peace

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fear for peace

run for peace

tear for peace

fun for peace

*

time for peace

doors for peace

mine for peace

yours for peace

*

old for peace

new for peace

told for peace

two for peace

*

lend for peace

lease for peace

send for peace

peace for peace

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yep for peace

nope for peace

prep for peace

pope for peace

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right for peace

wrong for peace

might for peace

song for peace

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eat for peace

drink for peace

meet for peace

think for peace

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us for peace

them for peace

rock for peace

gem for peace

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friend for peace

foe for peace

fend for peace

know for peace

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bob for peace

hope for peace

sob for peace

cope for peace

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high for peace

low for peace

buy for peace

glow for peace

*

send for peace

get for peace

mend for peace

let for peace

*

land for peace

sea for peace

hand for peace

knee for peace

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sigh for peace

reach for peace

try for peace

teach for peace

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now for peace

then for peace

how for peace

when for peace

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work for peace

play for peace

lurk for peace....

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pray for peace....

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tom degan

goshen, ny

tomdegan@frontiernet.net

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in memory of john lennon on what would have been his 67th birthday.

october 9, 1940 - december 8, 1980

all he was saying was, "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE."

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please feel free add your own verses to this poem. it was written for your children and their children and their children and their children and their children and their children and their children....and so on....

An open letter to the First Fool

Dear George,
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Well, here we are: Six miserable years, eight miserable months, two miserable weeks and one miserable day into what can only be described as the most murderously corrupt and incompetent administration in the annals of human stupidity - with one more miserable year, three more miserable months, two more miserable weeks and one more miserable day to go. Or, if you will: four-hundred and seventy-three miserable days until you're history. Miserable. Miserable. Miserable - a mind-numbingly depressing scenario any way you slice it or dice it!

Can you believe it's finally come to this, George? By now you must surely realize that with respect to the office of president of the United States, you were in way over your head, were you not? The question that most intelligent people are asking, though, is this: You were such a perpetual fuck-up from the day you were born, after failing at every single thing you ever attempted throughout your entire life, what defect in your psychological make up made you think you could possibly succeed at the most intellectually taxing, complex job in the entire Milky Way? Enquiring minds want to know, George!

But it is not merely the fact that you screwed up royally at everything you ever tried. There is also the undeniable fact that you were one mean little bastard - even as a small boy. Your former childhood playmates like to tell the the story about how, as a kid, you loved to catch frogs at a creek near your home in Crawford, Texas, stuff two or three firecrackers down their throats and blow the little darlings to smithereens in mid-air. Excessive and gratuitous cruelty to animals. You know what that's a sign of, don'cha, George? That's an alarm bell sign of severe mental illness. It is also a trait which is the common childhood denominator of most mass murderers! (Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacey, Jeffrey Dahmer, etc.) Gee! It all fits neatly into place, doesn't it, George? Given your positively perverted penchant for torture and the carnage you've created in Iraq (1.2 million dead and counting), the sad tale of those poor little Crawford froggies makes perfect sense!

I need to know: What made you want to run for public office in the first place, George? Surely it was not out of a desire to do right by the people, that's for damned sure! And it certainly wasn't out of any religious calling to do the work of the good Christian you profess yourself to be. Then what was it, George? When the dust is finally settled and historians are able to siphon through the wreckage of your nightmare of an administration, not one positive achievement will be said to have come from the long years of your disgusting reign of error - NOT ONE!

What motivated you, George? I think I can answer that question. Your motivation was never to preside over a "government of the people, by the people, for the people". It was, instead, to "alter or abolish" that form of government. And the funny thing is, you were almost successful, George! Maybe you're even stupid enough to believe that you have succeeded. Well, here's the big surprise, pardner: Are ya ready for this? Can you hear that bell faintly ringing in the distance? It tolls for thee, George. It tolls for thee.

The jig is up, George, and you can deny it no longer. The chickens will soon be coming home to roost for you, Dick Cheney, and the tsunami of walking, talking shit that comprises most of your administration. Oh, it's not going be a pretty picture, Georgie; not by any stretch of the imagination. You've called tune, Buster, and We, The Pipers must be paid. At the risk of sounding sadistic, I've got to say that it is, indeed, going to be a beautiful thing to watch you being severely punished for your crimes against the human race. Living as a citizen of the United States for the last six years, eight months, two weeks and one day has been like being a passenger in a speeding car with an insane, half-witted, out-of-control drunk at the wheel. The damage that you've done to this once-great nation is impossible to accurately assess. Your tax cuts for a class of people who already had more money than they knew what to do with - at the expense of the poor and the middle class - can only be described as the most despicable deed of any American president in history. Your criminal recklessness and disdain for the tenets of governance put forward by the Founding Fathers over two-hundred years ago will still be palpable one-hundred years from today. Because of your actions, the "American way of life" - that most of us have taken for granted all of our lives - is gone forever.

Compassionate conservatism, huh? What a fucking joke.

Well, George, as your knucklehead of a Father would say, you're in deep doo-doo, son! Honestly, you've got to grow up and face some uncomfortable truths: you've failed yet again. Not only that, but you've also committed serious felonies too numerous to adequately catalogue. From the genocide in Iraq to the warrantless spying on American citizens; from the looting of our national treasure to the perversion of the Constitution....To quote the Sheriff of Boone County Kentucky, "You're in a heap a' trouble, boy!"

Oh, why, George, why??? Why couldn't you just have left well enough alone? You were a rich kid from a prominent (if somewhat disreputable) family who was destined to inherit a fortune from your two hideous parents! Why couldn't you have been content to live out your life as a dim-witted country squire and leave the rest of us be? Why did you do it, George? Can't you see the heartache you've caused for untold scores of millions of people across the globe? Can't you see the misery you've unleashed across this small and fragile planet? Are you unable to perceive the magnitude of the suffering that has been the result of your arrogance and foolishness? Do you not comprehend the death and destruction you've wrought? Are you unaware of the grief you've brought into the lives of so many innocent people? What the fuck is the matter with you, George?

Your day is coming, George. Man! I'd sure as hell hate to be you, buddy! What I'd love to know is, how will you face your just deserts? Knowing you, you'll try to flee the country. That one-hundred thousand acres your family purchased two years ago off the coast of Paraguay had a certain stink to it when I first read about it - just the place for a fugitive war criminal to hide out. How are you going to react when you're finally cornered? Will you take the cowardly, Hitler way out? A well-placed, self-inflicted bullet through the brain? Nah! You're too much of a coward for even that method! I imagine they'll just end up dragging you out of your bunker, screaming and crying like a pathetic, frightened little four year old. By that time you will be such a sorry, gnarled figure of a human being, even I will feel some measure of sympathy for you.

Miserable. Miserable. Miserable.

You had a great opportunity for a while there, George, and you blew it - BIG TIME! You might have taken all of the sympathy and good will that was beamed on the American people from all over the world after the tragedy of September 11, 2001 and ushered in a new, golden era of peace, understanding and cooperation. You might have been able to force even the most unbending, intolerant leaders to look at the senseless carnage of that dark day and made them see the tragic meaninglessness of it all. You could have done great things, George. You had the unprecedented, overwhelming support of the American people. Hell, you even had my support, George! I said as much on a live radio program two days after the attack! So many people like me who were initially bitter towards you because of the stolen election of the year before wanted to believe that the trauma of that day would transform you; that you would put behind you the extremist doctrine of the criminals and sociopaths who have hijacked your party and do the right thing by the country you claim to love so much. But then you thoughtlessly - criminally - rendered all of our hopes and prayers futile. All of that good will was foolishly squandered, scattered like ashes to the wind.

Go away, George. Please, just go away.

Your biggest fan (Ha! Ha! I'm just kidding),

Tom Degan

Goshen, NY

tomdegan@frontiernet.net