Billy's First Blogging Poet Laureate Election

Billy's First Blogging Poet Laureate Election

Billy the Blogging Poet wonders, if we live in a democracy, why can't we elect a Poet Laureate? Well, thanks to Billy, now we can. Go to the link and find the World's First Blogging Poet Laureate nominees!

The nominations thus-far, for the World’s First, Blogging Poet Laureate are listed below:

- Anitha Murthy of Creative Stuff

- Jordan Stempleman of Growing Nation

- Reyes Cardenas of Alivianate El Coco

- Augury Doggerel of Eeksy-Peeksy

- Jack Kimbal of Pantaloons: Tykes on Poetry

- Mr. Sun of Mr. Sun - Billly's only question is how will we ever get a photograph of him wearing the Laureate's Crown?

As others find out about the election, Billy says he's sure the list will continue to grow so please check back often so you can make up your mind by the time voting begins on April 30th. Bloggers, if you want to link to this contest then please link here.

I saw it in the sky

I saw it in the sky

I saw this in the sky yesterday.
Is it anything? Just a cloud?
I don't know.
I do know that death has come to visit Pope John Paul.
Perhaps I caught death's angel on his way to Rome.


See blogJosh on the death of the Pope from one individual perspective: Blogging the Death of the Pope.

Anonymoses bids the gentle angels to cradle him home.

Congratulations, Illinois!

Congratulations, Illinois!

My Dad and Benny will be ecstatic!

Bora on Regressive Politics

Bora on Regressive Politics

There are times we have to take a step back and look at ourselves in a different light..through someone else's eyes. We are not being untrue to ourselves by taking such action, for it is in the hope of examining ourselves for the goal of improvement. We must see our democracy in the same light, for we are the people who are represented in the halls of Congress. Taking a step outside our geographic isolation to listen to the views of well-educated people who have spent a good part of their lives in other lands is one of the best ways to improve the health of democracy and the protection of our own natural freedom.

Bora aka Coturnix has compared Bush to Milosevic in the past, but he now says he thinks Bush may be more dangerous than Milosevic because of a growing atmosphere of anti-intellectualism and miseducation in the U.S. He comments that he saw a quick slide into fascism and civil war in his native country (once Yugoslavia), where he says, "if you go to a dim smoky bar and sit next to a local drunk, he is likely to have a book with him." He thinks it can happen even more quickly here because "the Right is unified in many ways: politically, financially and emotionally." His post is well worth the time to read.
See my own post on the "F-Word".

Another post I recommend by Coturnix is a question about what we should call Republicans, if we wish to accurately frame their political goals for America. His answer is to call them 'regressives', which he admits may "invoke the idea of developmental regression (i.e., something like a potty-trained child pooping in his pants again), or even retardation." (Great wording, Bora).

If the orthopedic shoe fits, why allow them wear it while telling you it's a priceless crystal slipper?

Dead Wrong

Dead Wrong

I was asked why I haven't commented on the WMD Commission report that shows that intelligence was "dead-wrong" on Iraq. I'll tell you why. We have known it all along. What I would like to know is when we'll see an official report examining the role of the White House, particularly Dick Cheney and his band of NeoCons, in massaging the data on WMD. The Commission's report did not deal with that subject matter at all.

Martisco Station

Martisco Station
by Jude Nagurney Camwell

"Train travel gives one time to think without the stress of making plane connections, weather and equipment delays.."

-Frank Romano, professor-emeritus of Rochester Institute of Technology

Women's List

Women's List

Someone e-mailed and asked me to point them in the direction of my list of women in political blogging.

Photo/Onondaga County Spring

Onondaga County Spring
by Jude Nagurney Camwell

Ted Koppel Leaving Nightline in December

Ted Koppel Leaving Nightline in December

He will be missed.
I really hope that John Donvan takes his place. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, he's been with Nightline for seven years and often substitutes for Ted. I think he's the best candidate for Ted's replacement.

Here's my vote!

Terri Schiavo's Body Has Died

Terri Schiavo's Body
Has Died

The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has aid that, despite fervent and sincere action on the part of the family of Terri Schiavo and Congress, "the time has come for dispassionate discharge of duty." The court has formally criticized certain politicians in Congress, saying they are "acting in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people our Constitution."

It's all over now. Terri is dead. Her body has died. I'm not sure what became of the fullness of spirit she once possessed. No one does.

Terri's parents had wanted to care for Terri, as she existed after her heart failure which was brought on by an eating disorder. I believe, if they'd placed a great value upon the life she had left within her, quality notwithstanding, that Michael Schiavo should have agreed to somehow contract with the parents to let them take over all legal responsibility for their daughter's care. She wouldn't have lived forever, and she was not in any pain. The marriage vow that includes the contingencies "in sickness and in health" obviously didn't mean as much to Michael as it might have to other spouses in his position. He wanted to move on with his life, and I'm certainly not going to judge him for that. When it comes to the life or death of his wife, however, we were thrust into the judge's seat, weren't we? All eyes were upon Michael Schiavo. Most people I speak with do not trust that his motives are based in love. No one knows what's in a person's heart, though. I will say that his respect for Terri's family's wishes is not what I would view as particularly healthy or postive. I suppose you could say the same thing about the parents' respect for Schiavo's wishes, if you believe his motives were based on his caring for his wife's wishes.

The bottom line is this: You cannot expect that a court of law could force a family to agree with one another. That would eliminate our freedom to choose on family matters of life, death, and dignity, wouldn't it? The government does not belong in our houses and in our hearts.

This has been a great interpersonal tragedy for the family, but it should never have been made into a political show.

Michael Schiavo has never budged on the issue. The standing law is what it is. You cannot blame a judge or a court or a law for what the family could not work out amongst themselves.

We must not lose respect for the rule of law, through all of this. We are a nation of laws - not men or women.

Jon Stewart in Harvard Political Review

"If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane."
- Singer/Songwriter Jimmy Buffett

Jon Stewart in Harvard
Political Review

Perhaps mainstream media has been reduced to self-selecting choices based solely upon ideology. That would mean old-fashioned, balanced investigative journalism on cable networks is dead as a doornail and we are freely admitting it - and some of us have decided to laugh as long as we're getting a bit of news we think we want.

If you ask me, I'm glad Jon Stewart is there to wrap the insanity into a shitball of delight. I know a lot of young people out there agree with me. I don't know what we'd do without Stewart, Colbert, Corddry and crew.

In an article about Stewart in the current Harvard Political Review (HPR), Harvard professor of government Barry Burden comments:

"..in the last few years, with things like Fox News rising on the right, people are self-selecting into media outlets that are merely reinforcing their preexisting ideas. People are looking for facts, arguments or even humor that agree with what they thought ahead of time."

"It is ironic that satire offering criticism of politics has the power to get people politically involved. Perhaps there are some youth who are cynical about politics, not particularly informed, but still feeling some connection to what is going on, and are tuning into Comedy Central and are coming away a little less cynical and little more informed."

Julie Hinds of the Detroit Free Press has written a feature (Entertainment) article about Stewart. In it, she writes:

Stewart insists he had nothing to do with the fact that CNN announced plans to drop "Crossfire," the long-running show where conservatives yelled at liberals, from its schedule. (The show is still on the air.) In October, Stewart went on the show and told the co-hosts what he really thought: that scream fest political shows were hurting America. And he called co-host Tucker Carlson a, well, colorful name. Not too long afterward, the president of CNN told the press Stewart had a point.


"Look, as much as these guys talk, if Pol Pot's talk show was doing really well in the ratings, he'd still have a talk show," says Stewart.

Happy 1st Anniversary, Franken/Air America!

One year ago at Iddybud

Happy 1st Anniversary to Al Franken and Air America!

Two years ago at Iddybud

From Dublin to Brooklyn, 1903

From Dublin to Brooklyn, 1903

From Aggie of Dublin, Ireland
16 October 1903

To Ada Harte, Brooklyn, NY

Dearest Ada,

Glad to see you have arrived safe and hope you had a pleasant voyage. Did you get my letter at Queenstown? I saw Annie today, looking very well and got your address from her. I have not got over my disappointment at not being able to say goodbye to you. Mama and Nellie join in all good wishes in your new home, and of course I do! Write when you have time and let us know how you are getting on. I will be wondering. With lots of love, believe me, always.

Yours very sincerely,
Aggie

I wonder if Aggie ever saw Ada again.
I wonder how Ada liked America.
Did she have any regrets?
I wonder why she decided to come to America.
What became of her?
I'm certain she is no longer be alive to tell her story today. Somehow, that saddens me. I feel that something is lost. There are so many stories each immigrant would have to tell us, if only we had time to listen. I purchased this postcard at a collectibles show. For some reason, the words haunted me and I couldn't put it back in its neat place among the other carefully categorized and organized cards. It came alive, and to put it back would have meant the memory of the love and good wishes Aggie had conveyed to Ada would have been put back to sleep.

Edwards Interviewed by Colmes

Edwards Interviewed by Colmes

John Edwards was interviewed by Fox News' Alan Colmes for last night's broadcast. Ther transcript can be seen here.

He said he doesn't believe he would have voted to confirm Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State if he had still been in the Senate, nor would he have voted to confirm Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General because of the role that he played in U.S. torture policy and the infamous torture memo.

When asked what thought about the Terri Schiavo case, Edwards said:

"I think — I think first of all what's happening in the Schiavo case is a terrible tragedy... it's just painful to watch. I mean, I respond very personally to it. It's an awful, awful thing. But here's what I would say: This is something that as a moral issue should be left to the family. And when we have what we're seeing now with this family, that's what the courts are there for, to determine what the right thing is to do and what the wishes of the patient were. I think it is wrong to have a bunch of politicians in Washington getting involved in this."

Edwards stressed that his own personal cause is doing something about poverty in America.


Edwards will be in Iowa this week, and the Internet is buzzing about 2008.

One of Greensboro's News-Record editorials this week suggests that governments and private-sector initiatives should promote better avenues to economic progress in at least four ways: higher education, homeownership, small-business development and retirement security. They believe that Edwards may be positioning himself for another presidential campaign, but "he'll spend his time well in the interim if he reshapes the debate about helping the poor."

The Daily Tar Heel has a brief article about John Edwards'lecture at UNC Law School yesterday.

The Gift of Listening

photo: Oak Creek Canyon by Jude Nagurney Camwell

The Gift of Listening
Author unknown

We believe that we listen, but it's not true.

Listening, if we did it deeply and fully, would transform our lives.

Listening is an experience of communion when we choose to be present, when we "hear" with our heart and not just with our ears.

Listening is not a casual or insignificant act, but an act of great purpose and beauty, an act that will inspire and uplift.

It is a way that we can offer each other love and respect.

We listen not to agree or disagree, but simply to hear each other's experience.

And we speak not to obtain attention or approval, but to communicate what is in our hearts and minds.

Our greatest joy is not to find agreement with others, but to experience hearing and being heard deeply and without judgment.

25 Years After Oscar Romero

"People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive..."
(2Timothy 3:2)

"I the Lord do not change."
(Malachi 3:6)



25 Years After Oscar Romero

The prophet is a light for our world, a voice that illuminates the darkness of sin and points the way towards overcoming that darkness. We are called to be light. Take with utmost seriousness what you are doing. We do not pass this light to one another as mere ritual or inspiration, something to make us feel good and to look beautiful.

Consider the words of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Slavador, who was killed 25 years ago. He gave his last homily on March 24, 1980 moments before a sharpshooter from a death-squad felled him, silencing his radical message of love. Two months earlier, Romero had written to U.S. President Jimmy Carter pleading with him to cease sending military aid to El Slavador because, he wrote, "it is being used to repress my people." The U.S. had sent $1.5 million in aid every day for 12 years. His letter went unheeded.

Romero had a simple message, but it contained the words that are hardest to hear, hardest to learn, hardest to live.

Many people complained that the film, The Passion of the Christ, contained too much gratuitous violence. When you consider that it was a message about the suffering of the world throughout the sad history of mankind's greed and often-violent oppression of the poor, the blood and gore displayed in the film begins to make all too much sense. Movies are generally meant to take us on a breezy route to beauty, but real beauty lies in the the light that reveals the angels of our higher nature. Those angels do not resemble Raphael's flowery vision, but bear the essence of the martyrs of Jusepe De Ribera's artistc interpretation.

Archbishop Romero said:

"God needs the people themselves to save the world. The world of the poor teaches us that liberation will arrive only when the poor are not simply on the receiving end of hand-outs from governments or from the churches, but when they themselves are the masters and protagonists of their own struggle for liberation."

"Unjust social structures are the roots of all violence and disturbances. The church's hard mission is to uproot sins from history, from the political order, from the economy."

"The church has put itself on the side of the poor and has assumed their defense. This means that the church incarnates itself in the world of the poor, proclaims a good news, gives hope, inspires a liberating praxis, defends the cause of the poor and participates in their destiny.

A Christian who does not wish to live this commitment of solidarity with the poor is not worthy of the name Christian. Go out and be light. May your word burn like the word of the prophets. May your defense of the poor and suffering, the victims of injustice and oppression, be a transforming power for our world."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oscar Romero was once a little boy like the one who may be sleeping warm and snug in your cribs or tiny beds tonight. Being a witness to unspeakable injustice changed his heart and gave him focus. He was a prophet who lived in our time.

George W. Bush beats a mean drum when it comes to giving rhetorical lip service to Jesus, but he isn't going to be the one to save the world through his perverted politics. It's up to us - every one of us - to see that justice comes to the poor in the name of true liberation, regardless of their country of origin or their religion. They must be free to be the masters and protagonists of their own struggles.

I am not ashamed to say that I am committed to bear the force of love, no matter how radical that idea may seem to you; no matter how hard it may be for your ears to hear or your eyes to see.

I thank God for sending men like Oscar Romero to show us the face of angels who dwell among us.


Obispo Romero y los Martires de El Salvador
by House of Escalet - works by Frank Diaz Escalet


"No, brothers and sisters,
El Salvador need not always live like this.
“I will tear off the veil of shame
that covers it among all peoples.
I will wipe away the tears” (Isaiah 25:7–8.)
of all those mothers who no longer have tears
for having wept so much
over their children who are not found.
Here too will he take away the sorrow
of all those homes that this Sunday suffer
the mystery of dear ones abducted
or suffer murder
or torture
or torment.
That is not of God.
God’s banquet will come;
wait for the Lord’s hour.
Let us have faith;
all this will pass away
like a national nightmare,
and we shall awake to the Lord’s great feast.
Let us be filled with this hope."

Oscar Romero
October 15, 1978


See Sojourners article - "San Romero de la America"

A Word of Advice For Democrats

A Word of Advice For Democrats

At MyDD, Chris Bowers leads us to a Matt Taibbi piece where he is upset with Taibbi for insinuating that the Democrats might abandon Social Security as a trade-off for National Security credibility. Chris Bowers believes there are unnecessary divisions being created in the Democratic party by some giving themselves the unofficial moniker, "National Security Democrats". Beating the drums about a national security and foreign affairs gap, Democrats are falling into the frame-trap set by the GOP, which too often shows Democrats as soft on National Security. He claims that the press only gives the big megaphone - the interviews - to those Democrats.

Bowers says:

"....the uniting feature about the big names who joined this group seems to be that they were wrong when it came to Iraq, and that they took a position that was in contradiction to the vast majority of those people who they claim to represent."

What is the answer to this problem? If I were a Congressional Democrat who'd voted "Yes" to the 2002 Iraq resolution and I was thinking about running for President, I would cautiously watch how I chose to proceed. I believe there is a faction within the Bush administration of whom an overwhleming majority of (left-to-moderate) Democrats not only distrust, but deplore. It is the faction Sy Hersh called "a cult" and it has taken over our nation's foreign policy. The Iraq War that was promoted by this faction - known as the NeoConservatives - has caused those millions of Democratic voters to deeply distrust any Congressional Democrat who failed to adequately question the merits of the Iraq resolution and raise concerns about the people who were manipulating and interpreting the related intelligence. We now know that MI6 chief Richard Dearlove said that he had briefed Tony Blair, well before the war, that America's Iraq intelligence was "fixed" to meet the administration's goal of invading Iraq at all costs.

What any Democrat serious about running for President in 2008 should think about is to start talking about this up-front. It's their political funeral if they don't. The mainstream media does not hold the same sway that it once did with informed Democratic voters. The blogs and the internet are a new tour de force in campaigns. Grassroots Democrats are entering the political scene with a force never before witnessed in American politics.

If any Democratic presidential hopeful thinks we want to hear our candidates competing with the NeoConservatives for who's the tougher cookie, the cookie's going to crumble. The Democrats should be highly criticizing the NeoConservatives and exposing the part they played in taking our country into the most unwise elective war since Viet Nam.

It's time we heard something realistic from our Democratic presidential-hopefuls. We aren't willing to play into any fantasy when it comes to our troops and how we decide to use them. I'm sick and tired of being labeled "a fanatic" for only wanting the truth and openness from our government. Truthfulness and openness are moral values and no one - especially a Republican government of free people - should be exempt from following them.

If Congressional Democrats want our trust back, and if they want our unwavering support, they need to:

- Start talking from a new frame of reference. Stop falling into GOP-frame traps.

- Talk about the process by which we eventually went to pre-emptive war in 2003, and how that process failed miserably...and why. Name the players who deceived the American people - and how they did it. Don't be shy about it.

- Tell us it's not going to happen that way - ever again. Make that promise. Our trust in American leadership has been breached. Tell us how your plan is superior to theirs. It will sound more honest and convincing than telling us how tough you wish you were. Why are you afraid? The majority of Americans polled recently agree that this war was not worth the lives it's taken. Most want our troops home - yesterday.

Monday in Syracuse Politics/Sports

Monday In Syracuse -
Politics and Sports



Congratulations go out to the UNC Tar Heels and Michigan State Spartans for their big win(s) at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse yesterday. The two teams will meet this Saturday in St. Louis for a national semifinal game. Mike Waters of the Syracuse Post Standard has a story about the UNC Tar Heels team - three members, in particular: North Carolina seniors Jawad Williams, Melvin Scott and Jackie Manuel.

photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

There were many letters to the editor printed in the Syracuse Post Standard this morning by citizens who support the Onondaga Nation's Land Rights lawsuit. They are not available online. The lawsuit asks the federal court to declare that the Onondaga Nation is the rightful owner of a 4,000-square-mile strip of New York land from Pennsylvania to the Thousand Islands. The Post Standard's Mike McAndrew reports that tribal rivalry is playing no part in this land rights case.

Sid Hill, a tadodaho of the Onondaga Nation, believes that it is New York's strategy to split the tribes of the Six Nations up. Hill has said. "Divide and conquer. You can see the casino deals are splitting nations."

The land claim area has no precise boundaries but includes parts of 11 Upstate counties: Broome, Cortland, Cayuga, Chenango, Jefferson, Lewis, Madison, Onondaga, Oswego, Tioga and Tompkins. The swath of land varies in width from 10 miles to 40 miles and includes the cities of Syracuse, Binghamton, Watertown, Cortland, Fulton, and Oswego.

From the Ithaca Journal:

While other tribal land claims are being used as bargaining chips in casino negotiations, Onondaga leaders said they would use their land claim to compel the state to undertake environmental cleanup of hazardous sites in the land claim area -- specifically Onondaga Lake.

"Our concern is for the water, the land, the air. They are not well," said Sid Hill, the tribe's spiritual leader. "It is the duty of the nation's leaders to work for a healing of this land, to protect it, and to pass it on to future generations."

The Syracuse lake -- a sacred location regarded as the birthplace of the Iroquois Confederacy -- is a federal Superfund site and one of the most polluted bodies of water in the world.

In an address given by President Thomas Jefferson to the Six Nations' religious prophet Handsome Lake, one cannot wonder - if Jefferson could see the state of Onondaga Lake today - what he might think about the real consequence of "a little land well-stocked".

"A little land well stocked and improved, will yield more than a great deal without stock or improvement. I hope, therefore, that on further reflection, you will see this transaction in a more favorable light, both as it concerns the interest of your nation, and the exercise of that superintending care which I am sincerely anxious to employ for their subsistence and happiness. Go on then, brother, in the great reformation you have undertaken. Persuade our red brethren then to be sober, and to cultivate their lands; and their women to spin and weave for their families. You will soon see your women and children well fed and clothed, your men living happily in peace and plenty, and your numbers increasing from year to year. It will be a great glory to you to have been the instrument of so happy a change, and your children's children, from generation to generation, will repeat your name with love and gratitude forever. In all your enterprises for the good of your people, you may count with confidence on the aid and protection of the United States, and on the sincerity and zeal with which I am myself animated in the furthering of this humane work. You are our brethren of the same land; we wish your prosperity as brethren should do." [Link- Yale]

Oil and American pockets

Oil and American Pockets

Thomas Friedman reminds us that, by doing nothing to lower U.S. oil consumption, we are financing both sides in the war on terrorism and strengthening the worst governments in the world. Smart geopolitics means smart fiscal policy, smart climate policy, and most of all - smart politics.

Oil prices have shot up by nearly 20 percent in the past five weeks to around $54 a barrel in New York — a little more than $1 shy of all-time records. OPEC is playing games as we speak, ensuring that they, in conjunction with U.S. oil companies, will continue raping Americans at the gas pumps. At Common Ills, there is reference to an article in April's Harpers magazine by Greg Palast in which he says NeoCons were plotting the destruction of OPEC, but failed to predict the virulent resistance of the U.S. oil industry itself. Palast says that the U.S. State Department officially denied the existence of a 323-page plan drawn up by ex-U.S. oil company officials for an Iraqi state-owned oil company under which the state would maintain official title to the reserves but operation and control would be given to foreign oil companies. The OPEC-friendly policy, which allows for a continued stranglehold on the U.S economy, was driven by none other than VP Dick Cheney.

The Voice of America reports:

"What is behind the near-doubling of crude oil prices over the last two years? The period coincides with the war in Iraq, as well as unrest in oil-producers Nigeria and Venezuela. But analysts say the trend cannot be explained solely by conflict and chaos on the world stage. Rather, they point to a dramatic boost in global oil consumption in 2003 and 2004 that more than doubled the rate of increase from previous years. Manouchehr Takin, an analyst at Britain's Center for Global Energy Studies, points to one country in particular.

"Chinese growth in oil imports has been the major force behind the growth in world oil demand," he reminded.

Mr. Takin says plans by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries for expanding production capacity were based on previous assumptions of slower growth in demand. Today, only three of the cartel's 11 members - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates - have the capacity to boost production to any appreciable degree."

Grandpa's Band

Grandpa's Band

My grandfather played bass with the H-Bar-C Boys in the 1940s in Central New York. He also played the violin and mandolin with an Eastern European folk flair. He refurbished musical instruments as a part-time job after he retired as an airplane mechanic. He filled our lives with music. He was also a craftsman and could work wonders with wood. I have a lovely table he crafted with beautiful designs of colorful inlaid wood. His brother Peter is listed as a famous Ukranian for his work as an aviation pioneer. His father was a Ukranian immigrant whose name rests today upon the memorial stones at Ellis Island.

This came to my mind as I searched for a site on Pysanky - Ukrainian Easter Eggs, which I used to enjoy making with my Grandparents at Easter time.

A blog shout-out to the Nagurneys-
Jane of Scranton Prep
Toby of Harvard (love to Aunt Julie).
Justine of Harvard (Don't ever let Larry Summers tell you that you can't do it).
Anna of U Mass
Still fairly newlywed Quinn of Jay Quinn Band (Keep on rocking)
Lad of U Hartford
...and so many more of you marvelous Nagurneys.
Happy Easter.