poetry and politics
I read this poem today and I thought it was interesting and worth sharing...By RUMI, called THE GUESTHOUSE
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
On a completely different topic!, I've been reading/watching in the news about the port situation and the possibility of this being a major terrorist attack threat for the USA. I'm about to get political here, so if you have strong views, especially ones in favor of Bush, this is your warning....I am not going to blog about what a great leader I think Bush is. First of all, I don't believe it is possible to stop terrorist acts. It's an inevitable obvious act, in my opinion. The best you can do is get plans in place to deal with the aftermath. If you look at our ports (try looking at a satellite view on the internet), or if you are already familiar with some of our port cities, then you know what I'm about to write is nothing shocking. The size of our ports, the number of palettes of shipments that come in every day, in the best of situations we are currently only screening 5% of cargo (according to the information currently available to the public). So we're on borrowed time as it is. Not all ports are owned by the UAE (United Arab Emirates), but the ones that are are our biggest concern. For example, the port in Long Beach, CA is not about to be taken over by the UAE (it isn't one that a company bought by the UAE is about to take over). It's incredibly dumb to me that we elected Bush to hand over the keys to "our house" to the Arab governments. Our leader, our president believes in the kind of affirmative action that gives our East coast ports over to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates. Um, and the Republicans say "finally, he understands the dangers of racial profiling." What the..?! That's their response in support of this? The guy tried to do this deal in secret, so the american public would not raise hell.... Does he think we are a bunch a 1st graders? Two of the 9/11 highjackers were from the UAE and money to fund it was laundered through the country. Here's another fact which brings me back to the whole idea in planning for the aftermath of an attack. The government still hasn't worked out communications networks in places like Washington, D.C. (that failed during 9/11), leaving first responders in likely target cities without the tools they need to keep us safe in a disaster. Bush cut funding for first responders accross the country, that's a fact. Instead, he links funding to adherence to his failed No Child Left Behind program. He sold our country's debt to China, leaving us weaker against that country's political whims, AND he's sacrificed the health of our environment to the highest industry bidders nationwide! All of these things are part of creating real security for America, instead of phony, PR-focused "security." Here's one of my personal favorite Bush annoyances.."support the troops!, support the troops!..send them into battle to win this war on terrorism!" So he sends our troops off into battle without appropriate armor, making them INCREDIBLY less secure. Then he makes them pay to fly home for leave and for body armor that gets damaged when they are hurt using it. Way to go there! I'm in total support, let me tell you. So who's trusting who here? Here's what I'll NEVER understand... how does he have so much support in this country? When most of these supporters (who call themselves Republicans) say 'I support Bush 100% because I'm out to end this war on Terrorism, I'm out for revenge on Bin Laden'...when Bush was the one who ignored a memo in August of 2001, entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States," and now he's handing over the keys to our ports to countries that not only funded that particular attack, but were also supplying the men involved in the attack? What terrorist in the world isn't ecstatic at this news!?
If the Democrats can't pursuade some sense here, I think the cause is beyond hope.
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
On a completely different topic!, I've been reading/watching in the news about the port situation and the possibility of this being a major terrorist attack threat for the USA. I'm about to get political here, so if you have strong views, especially ones in favor of Bush, this is your warning....I am not going to blog about what a great leader I think Bush is. First of all, I don't believe it is possible to stop terrorist acts. It's an inevitable obvious act, in my opinion. The best you can do is get plans in place to deal with the aftermath. If you look at our ports (try looking at a satellite view on the internet), or if you are already familiar with some of our port cities, then you know what I'm about to write is nothing shocking. The size of our ports, the number of palettes of shipments that come in every day, in the best of situations we are currently only screening 5% of cargo (according to the information currently available to the public). So we're on borrowed time as it is. Not all ports are owned by the UAE (United Arab Emirates), but the ones that are are our biggest concern. For example, the port in Long Beach, CA is not about to be taken over by the UAE (it isn't one that a company bought by the UAE is about to take over). It's incredibly dumb to me that we elected Bush to hand over the keys to "our house" to the Arab governments. Our leader, our president believes in the kind of affirmative action that gives our East coast ports over to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates. Um, and the Republicans say "finally, he understands the dangers of racial profiling." What the..?! That's their response in support of this? The guy tried to do this deal in secret, so the american public would not raise hell.... Does he think we are a bunch a 1st graders? Two of the 9/11 highjackers were from the UAE and money to fund it was laundered through the country. Here's another fact which brings me back to the whole idea in planning for the aftermath of an attack. The government still hasn't worked out communications networks in places like Washington, D.C. (that failed during 9/11), leaving first responders in likely target cities without the tools they need to keep us safe in a disaster. Bush cut funding for first responders accross the country, that's a fact. Instead, he links funding to adherence to his failed No Child Left Behind program. He sold our country's debt to China, leaving us weaker against that country's political whims, AND he's sacrificed the health of our environment to the highest industry bidders nationwide! All of these things are part of creating real security for America, instead of phony, PR-focused "security." Here's one of my personal favorite Bush annoyances.."support the troops!, support the troops!..send them into battle to win this war on terrorism!" So he sends our troops off into battle without appropriate armor, making them INCREDIBLY less secure. Then he makes them pay to fly home for leave and for body armor that gets damaged when they are hurt using it. Way to go there! I'm in total support, let me tell you. So who's trusting who here? Here's what I'll NEVER understand... how does he have so much support in this country? When most of these supporters (who call themselves Republicans) say 'I support Bush 100% because I'm out to end this war on Terrorism, I'm out for revenge on Bin Laden'...when Bush was the one who ignored a memo in August of 2001, entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States," and now he's handing over the keys to our ports to countries that not only funded that particular attack, but were also supplying the men involved in the attack? What terrorist in the world isn't ecstatic at this news!?
If the Democrats can't pursuade some sense here, I think the cause is beyond hope.
posted by ROBIN at 2:45 PM
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