Titanic Post

Whether your shell hits the target or not,
Your cost is Five Hundred Dollars a Shot.
You thing of noise and flame and power,
We feed you a hundred barrels of flour
Each time you roar. Your flame is fed
With twenty thousand loaves of bread.
Silence! A million hungry men
Seek bread to fill their mouths again.

["To a Nine-Inch Gun", sent on a crumpled piece of paper to the New
York World by P.F. McCarthy, c.1915, with the author's address given
as Fourth Bench, City Hall Park - Daily Bleed]

Lifted from Sam Smith’s Progressive Review

I named my motorcycle Jelal (sometimes spelled Jalal), because it is the name of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, the famous and much honored Persian poet. In earlier posts on this site, I mumbled something about my motorcycle having this big hump of a fuel tank that was really quite ugly and reminded me of a camel. While this harsh judgment was true then, it is not true now, because the experience of riding this motorcycle over the past months has given me new insights and has brought much joy into my life. Riding this motorcycle through the mountains brings up honest to goodness belly laughs and childlike giggles that just burble up from somewhere deep inside. What indescribable joy! The name “Jalal” does not convey this motorcycle experience as well as it honors a truly great man. (more…)

When the president talks to God
Are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our women’s’ rights
And send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
Are the consonants all hard or soft?
Is he resolute all down the line?
Is every issue black or white?
Does what God say ever change his mind
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
Does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed?
Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed
When the president talks to God?

When the president talks to God
I wonder which one plays the better cop
We should find some jobs. the ghetto’s broke
No, they’re lazy, George, I say we don’t
Just give ‘em more liquor stores and dirty coke
That’s what God recommends

When the president talks to God
Do they drink near beer and go play golf
While they pick which countries to invade
Which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess god just calls a spade a spade
When the president talks to God

When the president talks to God
Does he ever think that maybe he’s not?
That that voice is just inside his head
When he kneels next to the presidential bed
Does he ever smell his own bullshit
When the president talks to God?

I doubt it

I doubt it

~Conor Oberst “Bright Eyes” on Jay Leno

O Lord,
If tomorrow on Judgment Day
You send me to Hell,
I will tell such a secret
That Hell will race from me
Until it is a thousand years away.

O Lord,
Whatever share of this world
You could give to me,
Give it to Your enemies;
Whatever share of the next world
You want to give to me,
Give it to Your friends.
You are enough for me.

O Lord,
If I worship You
From fear of Hell, burn me in Hell.

O Lord,
If I worship You
From hope of Paradise, bar me from its gates.

But if I worship You for Yourself alone
Then grace me forever the splendor of Your Face.

Rabi´a al-Adawiyya, born in Basra 717, died 801,translation by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut - ‘Perfume of the Desert’

Our City of Alamogordo needs a new library. The old one is bursting at the seams with not enough space for new bookshelves, archives, meeting rooms, and public computers. The Alamogordo Public Library is one of the most used public spaces in the county. Recently, a water line break under the building caused a corner of the building to sink. The foundation, a wall, and several roof structural supports cracked and portions of the library had to be closed off until they could be supported.

Years ago it was decided that a new library must be built. A five acre parcel across the street from the old library was donated to the city with the stipulation that it be used for a new library. Other sums of money were donated, auctions were held to raise money, grants were applied for and granted, but it was still not enough to cover the cost of a new library building. A new bond issue was proposed, and therein lies a problem for our community.

A few people, including members of the stodgy Eagle Forum, have decided that, in keeping with the right wing odors emitting from Washington, D.C., they don’t want their property taxes raised to pay for it. One such person even resigned her post on the Friends of the Library Committee in order to freely protest the issue. I imagine that the Eagle Forum will invest a good deal of money into a campaign to defeat the bond referendum.

My point here isn’t about the values-challenged right wing, but about the slow erosion of the common good and how it is affecting communities all over the country. This library is just one example. It is a process that contaminates the water we drink and the air we breathe. It is the reason that we have no universal health care. It is the reason that there are so many poor people. It is the reason that we have been asked to fight so many senseless wars. The tragedy of our commons is that people put their self interests over the interests of the community.

I believe that at the end of this story the bond issue will have passed and that our library will be rebuilt in it’s new location. I believe that the good people of Alamogordo will prevail. I believe that the majority of our property owners will realize what an asset a library is to the common good. However, we do need to keep our collective eyes on the Eagle Forum and their ilk.