Ed Coletti's P3: December 2007

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Happy New Year/"Lame Sketch Writer"/Military Evangelism

(P1) Poetical/Artistic

New Years Eve

Sitting here astride
the thinnest meniscus
separating two years I
find no go back go
forth choice, all we
can be certain about
is that this membrane
inexorably wears
away and so soon
straddling nothing we
have settled into a
familiar new place.

(Ed Coletti poem/Jim Spitzer drawing)

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P3) Philosophical (for lack of better)

Lame Sketch Writer (1st in a series)

Watch my son-in-law, Italian actor/comedian Francesco Brazzini. If you like what you see, let me know below, and next time, I'll include the longer "Prequel." Anyway, here's the link to watch, press"Lame Sketch Writer: The Fountain."

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(P3) Political

Military Evangelism Deeper Wider Than First Thought

By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Report

Friday 21 December 2007


Soldiers at Fort Jackson Army Base pose with their rifles and Bibles.

A Hamas suicide bomber posing with a rifle and a copy of the Koran. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation says the two photos show how the infiltration of fundamentalist Christianity in the US military is starting to mirror Islamic fundamentalism.

For US Army soldiers entering basic training at Fort Jackson Army base in Columbia, South Carolina, accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior appears to be as much a part of the nine-week regimen as the vigorous physical and mental exercises the troops must endure.

That's the message directed at Fort Jackson soldiers, some of whom appear in photographs in government issued fatigues, holding rifles in one hand, and Bibles in their other hand.

Frank Bussey, director of Military Ministry at Fort Jackson, has been telling soldiers at Fort Jackson that "government authorities, police and the military = God's Ministers,"

Bussey's teachings from the "God's Basic Training" Bible study guide he authored says US troops have "two primary responsibilities": "to praise those who do right" and "to punish those who do evil - "God's servant, an angel of wrath." Bussey's teachings directed at Fort Jackson soldiers were housed on the Military Ministry at Fort Jackson web site. Late Wednesday, the web site was taken down without explanation. Bussey did not return calls for comment. The web site text, however, can still be viewed in an archived format.

The Christian right has been successful in spreading its fundamentalist agenda at US military installations around the world for decades. But the movement's meteoric rise in the US military came in large part after 9/11 and immediately after the US invaded Iraq in March of 2003. At a time when the United States is encouraging greater religious freedom in Muslim nations, soldiers on the battlefield have told disturbing stories of being force-fed fundamentalist Christianity by highly controversial, apocalyptic "End Times" evangelists, who have infiltrated US military installations throughout the world with the blessing of high-level officials at the Pentagon. Proselytizing among military personnel has been conducted openly, in violation of the basic tenets of the United States Constitution.

Press here for complete article.

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Monday, December 17, 2007

Holidays/Funny About HMOs/2 by bSue/"reality"

Peace On Earth!

Also Happy Birthday Jim Spitzer December 19th!

(P1) Political (Health)

All About HMO's? :-P

Q. What does HMO stand for?

A. This is actually a variation of the phrase,"HEY MOE". Its roots go back to a concept pioneered by Moe of the Three Stooges, who discovered that a patient could be made to forget the pain in his foot if he was poked hard enough in the eye.

Q. I just joined an HMO. How difficult will it be to choose the doctor I want?

A. Just slightly more difficult than choosing your parents. Your insurer will provide you with a book listing all the doctors in the plan. The doctors basically fall into two categories: those who are no longer accepting new patients, and those who will see you but are no longer participating in the plan. But don't worry, the remaining doctor who is still in the plan and accepting n ew patients has an office just a half-day's drive away and a diploma from a third world country .

Q. Do all diagnostic procedures require pre-certification?A. No. Only those you need.

Q. Can I get coverage for my preexisting conditions?

A. Certainly, as long as they don't require any treatment.

Q. What happens if I want to try alternative forms of medicine?

A. You'll need to find alternative forms of payment.

Q. My pharmacy plan only covers generic drugs, but I need the name brand. I tried the generic medication, but it gave me a stomach ache. What should I do?

A. Poke yourself in the eye.

Q. What if I'm away from home and I get sick?

A. You really shouldn't do that.

Q. I think I need to see a specialist, but my doctor insists he can handle my problem. Can a general practitioner really perform a heart transplant right in his/her office?

A. Hard to say, but considering that all you're risking is the $20 co-payment, there's no harm in giving it a shot.

Q. Will health care be different in the next decade?

A. No, but if you call right now, you might get an appointment by then.

To Your Good Health (because as you'll see, you'll need it!)

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(P2) Poetical

Two By bSue

PROVINCE

The tree must
spend its entire life
in just one place,

And this rock will never
taste cordon bleu,
or smell warm muffins
just from the oven.

The North American weasel
will never hear
a symphony;

A creek doesn’t really
have a mother;

The millions of tiny noseeums
would not recognize
our president,

And I may not
ever know
What it is
Just to be.

(bSue Stephenson)

PAPER

I am this fine paper.
The lines written here
Are my life:
Placed upon
They display a certain meaning,
Illusional purpose,
Warmth.

I am not the lines
(Though they are upon me
And I love them so,
And I exist here because of them)
Just as I am not the things I do
Or the people I love,
The ones who love me,
Or even the words I myself
Have written.

I am thin, white,
Delicate,
And can easily be
Crinkled,
And thrown in with the nearest
Trash.

(bSue Stephenson)

(P3) Philosophical

Reality, no matter how widened and heightened our perceptions, never ceases to be anything but the effect on us of an infinite mystery.

(Laurens van der Post)

Monday, December 10, 2007

JQAdams/Oprah = Cronkite/coletti & spitzer

"I don't understand all the sudden fuss over illegal aliens. Native Americans have been dealing with this issue since 1492."

Adam Fortunate Eagle

Fallon Indian Reservation

Letter to the Reno Gazette-Journal
Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007

(P1) Philosophical (Historical)

John Quincy Adams - Hero - 3 Very Interesting Facts

1. Toward the end of his life, he became the first president to be photographed (see 1848 photo)

2. Rather than retire, he went on to win election to the House of Representatives, serving for seventeen years, from 1831 until his death.

3. It was during these years that he gained his greatest political respect, by defending, successfully, the rights of the African captives who in 1839 overwhelmed the crew of the Spanish slave ship Amistad, by opposing, unsuccessfully, the Mexican War and statehood for Texas, and by opposing, again unsuccessfully, the gag rule denying the right of petition on issues involving slavery. In the end, however, his opposition to the gag rule can be counted as successful, for his unwavering efforts against slavery had a powerful effect that outlived him.

But then there's this George Bush Quote of the Month - (Seriously, it's so difficult to choose among them)

"Look, Iran was dangerous, Iran is dangerous and Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

Observance: Logically, then, it's time to destroy knowledge

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(P2) Political

Oprah Is to Iraq As Cronkite Was to Vietnam

I believe Marty Kaplan ( Huffington Post Dec. 10th) is really onto something:

"But Oprah -- well, in an age that has thoroughly blurred the boundary between news and entertainment, Oprah may actually be the twenty-first century's de facto national anchor. She really does channel -- and change -- Middle America.

"And as I watched Oprah introduce Senator Obama in Iowa, the two-by-four that hit me on the head wasn't: Oprah is for Obama. It was: Oprah is against the war.

"Maybe, just maybe, Oprah's audience will take from this the message that their own opposition to the war isn't a betrayal of the troops, as the Republicans claim; isn't giving comfort to the terrorists, as the administration asserts; isn't moral cowardice, as the Right's bile-spewing whiner intelligentsia insists. And maybe the message that current and aspiring members of Congress will take from Oprah's unembarrassed anti-war message is that it's not political suicide to stand with the decisive majority of the American people, that being called bad names by your opponents will not kill you, that if as canny a businesswoman and brand manager as Oprah doesn't think it's a fatal risk to tell the truth about Iraq, then maybe you can afford some campaign candor, too."

Click for entire Kaplan article.

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(P3) Poetical

Shepherd

This guy 30 or so
pulls up curbside
in the rain by the rescue mission.
Someone on a decrepit bicycle
yells, “Hey Speedy!”
Everyone in the car gapes
but the passing cyclist aims
elsewhere while the driver
gets out to open his trunk,
grabs an umbrella, covers as much of
his dependent trio as he can
and gently herds them
into lunch.

Ever find yourself
wondering who has the right
to live, whose lives are worth
something, why so many are mortified by
the death of a cat?
Why my demented ninety-three year-old parents
continue to live?

Then there’s this thirty-year-old
who from this perspective,
still a kid,
is caring for three profoundly
damaged young men
his own age who
without him would
drown, freeze,
disappear——
entirely.

© Ed Coletti 2007 / Drawing Jim Spitzer

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Sunday, December 02, 2007

More Bizarro/More Heraclitus/More Jim Spitzer/

(P1) Political

More Bizarro

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(P2) Philosophical
More Heraklitus(Heraclitus) Fragments

"Pre-Socratic philosopher Heraklitus (also Heraclitus) was the sage of Ephesus where Joyce and I visited some time ago. Heir to the throne of Ephesus, Heraclitus gave up his kingdom and chose, instead of the trappings of power, to seek the word of wisdom. Twenty-five hundred years before Einstein, Heraclitus declared that energy is the essence of matter, that everything becomes energy in flux, in relativity: 'All things change to fire, and fire exhausted falls back into things.' His great book, On Nature, the world's first coherent philosophical treatise, has been long lost to history but its surviving fragments have for thousands of years tantalized our greatest thinkers...from Plato and Aristotle to Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Jung." (James Hillman).

(41)
The river
where you set
your foot just now
is gone --
those waters
giving way to this,
now this.

(47)
The harmony past knowing sounds
more deeply that the known.

(56)
The cosmos works
by harmony of tensions,
like the lyre and bow.

(57)
Therefore, good
and ill are one.

(110)
Sound thinking
is to listen well and choose
one course of action.

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(P3) Poetical (and Artistic)

More Jim Spitzer

http://jimspitzerart.com/