Friday, August 01, 2008

RaceCardFever/Dept of Peace/BushResume/Poem


(P1) Political

What Race Card?

Instead of just playing the press's game, why doesn't Barack just come out swinging with:

"What race card. I'm the black guy, not McCain. I'm the guy who had to overcome race to get where I am, and I've done a marvelous job of that. Where the hell are you guys coming from acting like you've been victimized by me. Yes, last time I looked in the mirror, I had fairly dark skin, perhaps not dark enough to satisfy you when you were saying I wasn't black enough! So this is what I mean when I say I look different from all those other guys on the dollar bill! I do! I'm black! And I'm proud! Were there one thing that might keep me from winning a landslide victory in the age of Bush, it would be what the polls cannot show us, namely how voters will feel when they enter the booth and decide whether or not they want to vote for a black man (spell that B-L-A-C-K). Otherwise, there's really no other choice in this election. I'm smart, informed, attractive, not Republican, certainly not Bush or McCain. Oh, and, not so incidentally, I'm black!"

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in under "Name" or "Anonymous" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Actual name is best, but use what you like. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net if you have difficulty.

George Bush's Professional Resume


As stated by the friend who sent this to me, "It's nice to see all of this in one place."

This person needs a job, an executive position, will be available in January 2009, and is willing to relocate.


RESUME-GEORGE W. BUSH

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

(continue here)





(P2) Philosophical


Response to Those Against Department of Peace

Interestingly, the majority of my responses to support for a U.S. Department of Peace have focussed not upon the positive goals but rather reasons to say no to another bureaucracy. I'd really be interested in your observations. Hit "comments" below. In the meantime, hear is typical correspondence:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Has anyone actually read Kucinish's bill? While it is an interesting idea in theory, it is totally unworkable from a practical standpoint. The governmental department turf wars alone would render the "Secretary of Peace" impotent.

4:35 PM

Delete
Blogger Ed Coletti said...

Dear Anonymous,

In the future, please add your name or nickname. That would add more moral force to the comment. My support of a Dept. of Peace is not so much based upon it's bureaucratic workings as upon the transformative nature of the words "Secretary of Peace." Regardless of how it works out, a Dept. of Peace gets people talking about Peace. What's a Dept of Defense? When was the last time troops were used to defend this country? Don't you think that focusing upon family serenity, gang neutralization, an Academy of Peace (paralleling the 4 "service" Academies), etc, might have a more positive effect? Tell me, Anonymous, why do you focus merely on the negative? So there would be "turf wars." I suspect the war turf might gain the advantage over the peace turf. But then, what do we have now? War turf and No Turf.

Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in under "Name" or "Anonymous" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Actual name is best, but use what you like. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net if you have difficulty.
(P3) Poetical

In Silence
by
Thomas Merton

Be still.
Listen to the stones of the wall.
Be silent, they try
to speak your

name.
Listen
to the living walls.

Who are you?
Who
are you? Whose
silence are you?

Who (be quiet)
are you (as these stones
are quiet). Do not
think of what you are
still less of
what you may one day be.

Rather
be what you are (but who?)
be the unthinkable one
you do not know.

O be still, while
you are still alive,
and all things live around you

speaking (I do not hear)
to your own being,
speaking by the unknown
that is in you and in themselves.

“I will try, like them
to be my own silence:
and this is difficult. The whole
world is secretly on fire. The stones
burn, even the stones they burn me.
How can a man be still or
listen to all things burning?
How can he dare to sit with them
when all their silence is on fire?”




Comment Here on any of the above or below and read the comments of others too. Log in under "Name" or "Anonymous" if you like, but please be sure to sign some facsimile of your name. Actual name is best, but use what you like. Or email me at edcoletti@sbcglobal.net if you have difficulty.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Ed,

After reading the text of the bill, I would be forced to agree with Anonymous.

Almost all the goals of the bill are well within the powers of Congress and the Presidency to enact. Why do we have to add another layer to a bloated, and largely ineffective, government to make them do their jobs?

Also, you are right to believe the discussion should be started. However, Three Mile Island started the discussion about alternative energy sources. Almost thirty years later we are beginning to see some results of those conversations. Can we really wait that long?

"Action this day" - Winston Churchill

My two cents,

Paul S.

Anonymous said...

Well now, "fast Eddy" - that would be Obama, not you - was quick to cut off his old friend, mentor and pastor when it became politically expedient to do so. I find it hard to believe that Barack Obama had no prior knowledge or awareness of Rev. Wright’s beliefs about America until he entered the presidential race. Maybe "Mr. Change We Can Believe In" IS a "reverse racist." I don't know because I really don't know who he is. His polictial platform is more confusing than ever now too. This "message of hope" is still not enough for me.

Anonymous said...

Ed -

Great comments about Barack. Thanks for sending them out.

Jonah

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with your response to the "race card"--it is right on the money!

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

Hey, Ed:

Like the poem very much - it feels a bit like a work in progress, I would urge you to return to it from time to time for tweaking. Overall, coupled with the Merton quote, it is quite good.

Don @ Lilliput

PS. A member of "Poets for a Department of Peace."

Anonymous said...

"What Race Card?" Ed, is that your poem? Very good. I like it.

Ed Coletti said...

Don/Issa and Jeanne,

Thanks for commenting. But I'm puzzled. To which "poem" are you referring. I have not put a poem of mine on the P3 for some time. My comments, in the voice of Obama, weren’t meant to be “poetical,” but I suppose I can take this as a compliment. Right? Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Ed:

The poem is "In Silence" that has the Merton quote at the
end. Is it a Merton poem and not yours?

best,
Don

Ed Coletti said...

Yes, Don, it's Merton's poem. I've now put a "by Thomas Merton" under the title. Thanks. Ed

Anonymous said...

To BJ Favaro I say, perhaps you like "Compassionate Conservatism" better than "Change". Is so, how did that work out for you and the rest of the world?