21 Unanswered Questions
http://unansweredquestions.org/
1. Why was Osama bin Laden allowed to leave the American Hospital in Dubai
after meeting with CIA station chief Larry Mitchell from 4-14th July 2001?
2. Given the Bush family's close ties to the Bin Laden family is there a
conflict of interest at play here which may have influenced President GW
Bush to limit or kill any investigation?
3. Is ex-President GHW Bush's advisory role in the private defense
contractor Carlyle Group and close business ties with the Bin Laden family
endangering American lives ?
4. Why were FBI investigations during 2000-2001 into Al-Quaeda, their
funding, and terrorism all blocked and shut down by the FBI? Why did
Clinton shut down FBI investigations into the connection between the
Binladen family and a known Terrorist organization?
5. Why did NORAD fail to respond to three hijackings despite all means
available to them to respond to such emergencies (e.g., scambling fighter
jets to make visual contact with the hjacked planes) along with a previously
impeccable record of rapid response? Why has NORAD lied about Langley AF
jets responding instead of the ones at Andrews AFB?
6. Why was ex-President GHW Bush in the White House with Dick Cheney and
Condoleeza Rice during the attacks?
7. GW Bush claimed to have seen the first plane hit the tower when he could
not have; Pentagon officials cancelled travel plans on 9/10; White House
officials took Cipro before anthrax attacks on Democrats and media; FEMA
groups were transferred to NYC on 9/10. All these point to prior knowledge
by the Bush administration. Why is no one reporting these facts?
8. Why is the SEC withholding information it has concerning the identity of
the purchasers of unusually large volumes of put options on American and
United Airlines stocks (and other companies located in WTC)? It is reported
that the profits made on these options could run well into the hundreds of
millions. Better yet why has there been no demand from Congressional leaders
for the release of this information?
9. If Bush knew nothing about this in advance, as he says, (the FBI screwed
up and lost all that important information in a bureaucratic swamp), then
how did they figure out within a few hours that Bin Laden did it from the
caves in Pakistan?
10. Why is it that since one engine from our plane crashing in Pennsylvania
was found 10 miles preceeding the crash site, an exact configuration that a
heat seeking missle would cause, is there no investigation into the
likelihood this plane was shot down?
11. Why did Congress pass the suspiciously ready-to-roll US Patriot Act
without even reading it?
12. Why is the CIA continuing to finance Al-Qaeda-style paramilitaries in
Columbia, Indonesia, Afganistan, etc.?
13. What has happened to press coverage of the Anthrax episode, and why
does the FBI investigation of Don Wileys death differ from that of the
Memphis police?
14. Why has no one questioned the statement that a novice pilot hit the
pentagon? A casual view from the Navy Annex, overlooking the Pentagon on the
Arlington side, shows clearly that expert skills are required to first fly
into a small valley, then level out approximately 30-50 feet above ground
level. Few "expert" pilots could do this.
15. Did a boeing really crash into the Pentagon or was it a truck packed
with explosives like the first AP reports said?
16. Was Flight 93 shot down by fighter jets? If the plane was brought down
solely by the heroes on board, why did a passenger making a call from the
plane (while still in the air) report that he had heard an explosion?
17. Of the companies and individuals who are involved in the brokering,
financing, contstruction and use of the Trans-Afgani Unocal pipeline, which
were party to secret US Energy Policy mettings with Vice-President Dick
Cheney?
18. Why has the US backed the former Unocal employee Hamid Karzai as
President of the new Afghani government?
19. How much money does Dick Cheney (as major shareholder in Halliburton)
stand to make from the completion of a trans- Afghani oil pipeline, made
possible by the ouster of the Taliban? How much does the Bush financial
empire (including the Carlyle Group) stand to gain from the vast public
expenditures brought about by the "National Security Crisis" of 9/11?
20. Given the absence of any DNA evidence, and the use of false passports
by the hijackers, how was the government able to come up with the list of 19
names so quickly? Why is it that none of them appeared on the original
passenger lists of the airlines?
21. Why is it that no one has held hearings on the FAA/DoT's role in the
9/11 debacle?
20030301
Wait, traveller
In this invisible fountain
Before you wet your tongue
Think, traveller of life
You also ooze out of the rocks
Only a water sprite
The thinking water does not flow forever
It dries in a moment of eternal time
Ah, a noisy jay
Sometimes from this water
A phantom man comes out holding up a flower
Seeking an eternal life is a dream
The murmuring stream of life flows away
Abandoning thought at last
Falling over the eternal cliff
Dreaming of disappearance
Are the words of a phantom, a water imp
Coming out of the water to the village and to the town
At the time of glowing waterweeds in the shadow of
Floating clouds
-- Nishiwaki Junzaburo
In this invisible fountain
Before you wet your tongue
Think, traveller of life
You also ooze out of the rocks
Only a water sprite
The thinking water does not flow forever
It dries in a moment of eternal time
Ah, a noisy jay
Sometimes from this water
A phantom man comes out holding up a flower
Seeking an eternal life is a dream
The murmuring stream of life flows away
Abandoning thought at last
Falling over the eternal cliff
Dreaming of disappearance
Are the words of a phantom, a water imp
Coming out of the water to the village and to the town
At the time of glowing waterweeds in the shadow of
Floating clouds
-- Nishiwaki Junzaburo
20030225
Always Be Closing, Always Be A Closer
written by David Mamet
In this scene, Blake (Alec Baldwin) is confronting the employees of a tough Chicago real-estate office, Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon), Ed Moss (Ed Harris) and George Aaronow (Alan Arkin) while their unsympathetic supervisor John Williamson (Kevin Spacey) looks on. If you would like, this monologue I'm sure can be edited into one incredibly long one, if you want to take out the lines from the other actors.
Blake: Let me have your attention for a moment! So you're talking about what? You're talking about...(puts out his cigarette)...bitching about that sale you shot, some son of a bitch that doesn't want to buy, somebody that doesn't want what you're selling, some broad you're trying to screw and so forth. Let's talk about something important. Are they all here?
Williamson: All but one.
Blake: Well, I'm going anyway. Let's talk about something important! (to Levene) Put that coffee down!! Coffee's for closers only. (Levene scoffs) Do you think I'm fucking with you? I am not fucking with you. I'm here from downtown. I'm here from Mitch and Murray. And I'm here on a mission of mercy. Your name's Levene?
Levene: Yeah.
Blake: You call yourself a salesman, you son of a bitch?
Moss: I don't have to listen to this shit.
Blake: You certainly don't pal. 'Cause the good news is -- you're fired. The bad news is you've got, all you got, just one week to regain your jobs, starting tonight. Starting with tonights sit. Oh, have I got your attention now? Good. 'Cause we're adding a little something to this months sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anyone want to see second prize? Second prize's a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired. You get the picture? You're laughing now? You got leads. Mitch and Murray paid good money. Get their names to sell them! You can't close the leads you're given, you can't close shit, you ARE shit, hit the bricks pal and beat it 'cause you are going out!!!
Levene: The leads are weak.
Blake: 'The leads are weak.' Fucking leads are weak? You're weak. I've been in this business fifteen years.
Moss: What's your name?
Blake: FUCK YOU, that's my name!! You know why, Mister? 'Cause you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight, I drove a eighty thousand dollar BMW. That's my name!! (to Levene) And your name is "you're wanting." And you can't play in a man's game. You can't close them. (at a near whisper) And you go home and tell your wife your troubles. (to everyone again) Because only one thing counts in this life! Get them to sign on the line which is dotted! You hear me, you fucking faggots?
(Blake flips over a blackboard which has two sets of anagrams on it: ABC, and AIDA.)
Blake: A-B-C. A-always, B-be, C-closing. Always be closing! Always be closing!! A-I-D-A. Attention, interest, decision, action. Attention -- do I have your attention? Interest -- are you interested? I know you are because it's fuck or walk. You close or you hit the bricks! Decision -- have you made your decision for Christ?!! And action. A-I-D-A; get out there!! You got the prospects comin' in; you think they came in to get out of the rain? Guy doesn't walk on the lot unless he wants to buy. Sitting out there waiting to give you their money! Are you gonna take it? Are you man enough to take it? (to Moss) What's the problem pal? You. Moss.
Moss: You're such a hero, you're so rich. Why you coming down here and waste your time on a bunch of bums?
(Blake sits and takes off his gold watch)
Blake: You see this watch? You see this watch?
Moss: Yeah.
Blake: That watch cost more than your car. I made $970,000 last year. How much you make? You see, pal, that's who I am. And you're nothing. Nice guy? I don't give a shit. Good father? Fuck you -- go home and play with your kids!! (to everyone) You wanna work here? Close!! (to Aaronow) You think this is abuse? You think this is abuse, you cocksucker? You can't take this -- how can you take the abuse you get on a sit?! You don't like it -- leave. I can go out there tonight with the materials you got, make myself fifteen thousand dollars! Tonight! In two hours! Can you? Can you? Go and do likewise! A-I-D-A!! Get mad! You sons of bitches! Get mad!! You know what it takes to sell real estate?
(He pulls something out of briefcase)
It takes brass balls to sell real estate.
(That's what he's now holding, two brass balls on string, over the appropriate "area"--he puts them away after a pause)
Blake: Go and do likewise, gents. The money's out there, you pick it up, it's yours. You don't--I have no sympathy for you. You wanna go out on those sits tonight and close, close, it's yours. If not you're going to be shining my shoes. Bunch of losers sitting around in a bar. (in a mocking weak voice) "Oh yeah, I used to be a salesman, it's a tough racket." (he takes out large stack of red index cards tied together with string from his briefcase) These are the new leads. These are the Glengarry leads. And to you, they're gold. Because to give them to you is just throwing them away. (he hands the stack to Williamson) They're for closers. I'd wish you good luck but you wouldn't know what to do with it if you got it. (to Moss as he puts on his watch again) And to answer your question, pal: why am I here? I came here because Mitch and Murray asked me to, they asked me for a favor. I said, the real favor, follow my advice and fire your fucking ass because a loser is a loser.
written by David Mamet
In this scene, Blake (Alec Baldwin) is confronting the employees of a tough Chicago real-estate office, Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon), Ed Moss (Ed Harris) and George Aaronow (Alan Arkin) while their unsympathetic supervisor John Williamson (Kevin Spacey) looks on. If you would like, this monologue I'm sure can be edited into one incredibly long one, if you want to take out the lines from the other actors.
Blake: Let me have your attention for a moment! So you're talking about what? You're talking about...(puts out his cigarette)...bitching about that sale you shot, some son of a bitch that doesn't want to buy, somebody that doesn't want what you're selling, some broad you're trying to screw and so forth. Let's talk about something important. Are they all here?
Williamson: All but one.
Blake: Well, I'm going anyway. Let's talk about something important! (to Levene) Put that coffee down!! Coffee's for closers only. (Levene scoffs) Do you think I'm fucking with you? I am not fucking with you. I'm here from downtown. I'm here from Mitch and Murray. And I'm here on a mission of mercy. Your name's Levene?
Levene: Yeah.
Blake: You call yourself a salesman, you son of a bitch?
Moss: I don't have to listen to this shit.
Blake: You certainly don't pal. 'Cause the good news is -- you're fired. The bad news is you've got, all you got, just one week to regain your jobs, starting tonight. Starting with tonights sit. Oh, have I got your attention now? Good. 'Cause we're adding a little something to this months sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anyone want to see second prize? Second prize's a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired. You get the picture? You're laughing now? You got leads. Mitch and Murray paid good money. Get their names to sell them! You can't close the leads you're given, you can't close shit, you ARE shit, hit the bricks pal and beat it 'cause you are going out!!!
Levene: The leads are weak.
Blake: 'The leads are weak.' Fucking leads are weak? You're weak. I've been in this business fifteen years.
Moss: What's your name?
Blake: FUCK YOU, that's my name!! You know why, Mister? 'Cause you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight, I drove a eighty thousand dollar BMW. That's my name!! (to Levene) And your name is "you're wanting." And you can't play in a man's game. You can't close them. (at a near whisper) And you go home and tell your wife your troubles. (to everyone again) Because only one thing counts in this life! Get them to sign on the line which is dotted! You hear me, you fucking faggots?
(Blake flips over a blackboard which has two sets of anagrams on it: ABC, and AIDA.)
Blake: A-B-C. A-always, B-be, C-closing. Always be closing! Always be closing!! A-I-D-A. Attention, interest, decision, action. Attention -- do I have your attention? Interest -- are you interested? I know you are because it's fuck or walk. You close or you hit the bricks! Decision -- have you made your decision for Christ?!! And action. A-I-D-A; get out there!! You got the prospects comin' in; you think they came in to get out of the rain? Guy doesn't walk on the lot unless he wants to buy. Sitting out there waiting to give you their money! Are you gonna take it? Are you man enough to take it? (to Moss) What's the problem pal? You. Moss.
Moss: You're such a hero, you're so rich. Why you coming down here and waste your time on a bunch of bums?
(Blake sits and takes off his gold watch)
Blake: You see this watch? You see this watch?
Moss: Yeah.
Blake: That watch cost more than your car. I made $970,000 last year. How much you make? You see, pal, that's who I am. And you're nothing. Nice guy? I don't give a shit. Good father? Fuck you -- go home and play with your kids!! (to everyone) You wanna work here? Close!! (to Aaronow) You think this is abuse? You think this is abuse, you cocksucker? You can't take this -- how can you take the abuse you get on a sit?! You don't like it -- leave. I can go out there tonight with the materials you got, make myself fifteen thousand dollars! Tonight! In two hours! Can you? Can you? Go and do likewise! A-I-D-A!! Get mad! You sons of bitches! Get mad!! You know what it takes to sell real estate?
(He pulls something out of briefcase)
It takes brass balls to sell real estate.
(That's what he's now holding, two brass balls on string, over the appropriate "area"--he puts them away after a pause)
Blake: Go and do likewise, gents. The money's out there, you pick it up, it's yours. You don't--I have no sympathy for you. You wanna go out on those sits tonight and close, close, it's yours. If not you're going to be shining my shoes. Bunch of losers sitting around in a bar. (in a mocking weak voice) "Oh yeah, I used to be a salesman, it's a tough racket." (he takes out large stack of red index cards tied together with string from his briefcase) These are the new leads. These are the Glengarry leads. And to you, they're gold. Because to give them to you is just throwing them away. (he hands the stack to Williamson) They're for closers. I'd wish you good luck but you wouldn't know what to do with it if you got it. (to Moss as he puts on his watch again) And to answer your question, pal: why am I here? I came here because Mitch and Murray asked me to, they asked me for a favor. I said, the real favor, follow my advice and fire your fucking ass because a loser is a loser.
20030224
This from the Poets Against the War website
(http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org/displaypoem.asp?AuthorID=9052).
Kent Johnson
47 years old
Freeport, Illinois
Kent Johnson's most recent book is Immanent Visitor: Selected Poems of Jaime Saenz (U. of California Press), which he translated with Forrest Gander.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Baghdad
Oh, little crown of iron forged to likeness of imam's face,
what are you doing in this circle of flaming inspectors and bakers?
And little burnt dinner all set to be eaten
(and crispy girl all dressed with scarf for school),
what are you doing near this shovel for dung-digging,
hissing like ice-cubes in ruins of little museum?
And little shell of bank on which flakes of assets fall,
can't I still withdraw my bonds for baby?
Good night moon.
Good night socks and good night cuckoo clocks.
Good night little bedpans and a trough where once there was an inn
(urn of dashed pride),
what are you doing beside little wheelbarrow
beside some fried chickens?
And you, ridiculous wheels spinning on mailman's truck,
truck with ashes of letter from crispy girl all dressed with scarf for school,
why do you seem like American experimental poets going nowhere
on little exercise bikes?
Good night barbells and ballet dancer's shoes
under plastered ceilings of Saddam Music Hall.
Good night bladder of Helen Vendler and a jar from Tennessee.
(though what are these doing here in Baghdad?)
Good night blackened ibis and some keys.
Good night, good night.
(And little mosque popped open like a can, which same as factory of
flypaper has blown outward, covering the shape of man with it (with
mosque): He stumbles up Martyr's Promenade. What does it matter
who is speaking, he murmurs and mutters, head a little bit on fire.
Good night to you too.)
Good night moon.
Good night poor people who shall inherit the moon.
Good night first editions of Das Kapital, Novum Organum,
The Symbolic Affinities between Poetry Blogs and Oil Wells,
and the Koran.
Good night nobody.
Good night Mr. Kent, good night, for now you must
soon wake up and rub your eyes and know that you are dead.
(http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org/displaypoem.asp?AuthorID=9052).
Kent Johnson
47 years old
Freeport, Illinois
Kent Johnson's most recent book is Immanent Visitor: Selected Poems of Jaime Saenz (U. of California Press), which he translated with Forrest Gander.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Baghdad
Oh, little crown of iron forged to likeness of imam's face,
what are you doing in this circle of flaming inspectors and bakers?
And little burnt dinner all set to be eaten
(and crispy girl all dressed with scarf for school),
what are you doing near this shovel for dung-digging,
hissing like ice-cubes in ruins of little museum?
And little shell of bank on which flakes of assets fall,
can't I still withdraw my bonds for baby?
Good night moon.
Good night socks and good night cuckoo clocks.
Good night little bedpans and a trough where once there was an inn
(urn of dashed pride),
what are you doing beside little wheelbarrow
beside some fried chickens?
And you, ridiculous wheels spinning on mailman's truck,
truck with ashes of letter from crispy girl all dressed with scarf for school,
why do you seem like American experimental poets going nowhere
on little exercise bikes?
Good night barbells and ballet dancer's shoes
under plastered ceilings of Saddam Music Hall.
Good night bladder of Helen Vendler and a jar from Tennessee.
(though what are these doing here in Baghdad?)
Good night blackened ibis and some keys.
Good night, good night.
(And little mosque popped open like a can, which same as factory of
flypaper has blown outward, covering the shape of man with it (with
mosque): He stumbles up Martyr's Promenade. What does it matter
who is speaking, he murmurs and mutters, head a little bit on fire.
Good night to you too.)
Good night moon.
Good night poor people who shall inherit the moon.
Good night first editions of Das Kapital, Novum Organum,
The Symbolic Affinities between Poetry Blogs and Oil Wells,
and the Koran.
Good night nobody.
Good night Mr. Kent, good night, for now you must
soon wake up and rub your eyes and know that you are dead.
20030222
In response to:
http://www.thestranger.com/current/feature.html
Shutting up is the act of choosing to be silent, to slam our traps shut. Silence is what got us Auschwitz, East Timor, Cambodia, Vietnam, Gulf War I, Reagan, Panama, and news stories about Michael Jackson. The NRA. George Will. William Buckley. Deion Sanders. Rush Limbaugh. And yes, even Noam Chomsky. Silence is also apparently what has gotten us the noise that is Neal Pollack.
The world is littered with bad writers and Neal is not one of them. He has a gift for satire, a flair for drama, and a penchant for meticulous revision. He clearly checks most of his sentences with loving care and is attentive to his craft--something painfully absent from so many writers.
But craft isn't everything, Neal. And sometimes even writing isn't everything. Sometimes, even, writing isn't merely writing. Sometimes writing is a log of customer complaints, a license number on a traffic ticket, a grocery list. And sometimes writing, specifically in the voices we all have, the voices that almost invariably want to participate in government, have no place to go. Sometimes writing is the form in which participation in government takes place. Unfortunately it's hard to find a place for that voice to go. Our supposedly democratic government seems to be averse to actually providing such a place for such voices (unless they are coupled with campaign & party donations). Sam Hamill gave some folks a place for those voices to go on record.
Whereas Pollack might be a good writer, he fails when it comes to reflexive awareness. Specifically he writes he is all for "democratic modernity" yet it seems he doesn't want anyone to speak out against the war or for the war. Neal, people speaking out and voicing their opinions and emotions, however "stupid", is the essence of democracy.
With "Poets Against the War" (PATW), Sam Hamill's idea was to have people participate in the democratic process. He was to take poems from maybe 100 or so of us regular and not so regular poets. But the email request spread like a virus while Laura's advisors received a message from the NSA warning of dissenting e-mail activity. So she cancelled the luncheon that Hamill was to give her these 100 or so poems, and Hamill had thousands, not hundreds, of poems. Many poems came from people who'd like to be writers but couldn't write a line of crafted verse even if their credit ratings depended on it.
Much of the poetry from PATW is HORRIFIC. Solipsistic poetry is horrible and so too is poetry from people who write more poetry than they read. Granted. Poetry written by many poets is bad, not to mention the poetry written by people who think all expression is art. It isn't. It's usually Crapola. ("Just because it happened to you doesn't make it interesting." - Howard Korder, "Search and Destroy") Bad writing is bad writing, and not everyone is born to write even if everyone wants to be a writer. (Nearly everyone...the mark of many a great writer is hir resentment of having been born as, or turned into, a writer.)
But Neal Pollack, in his disingenous self-positioning into the role of some 21st century E.B. White, well, he go fall down and go boom. He go make a boo-boo. He go make a gross oversight in his writing. PATW still an act of democracy, even if it is a poor excuse for an act of art.
You're for "democratic modernism," Neal?
George and Laura Bush, thier parents, and perhaps even their drunken offspring would like everyone to shut up about the war, to just say nothing, to go away and let them have all the goods. Thos Bushies come from a long line of shrubbery and other vegetable forms firmly rooted in oppositon to marginalizing the participation of voices outside their little Wall Street/Ivy League/Madison Avenue/Oil cabal. Yes, they don't want to hear anyone or let anyone say anything. They also tell people that they're for democracy, not just for us, but for everyone abroad. That's why they're preparing the Patriot II act, to shut everyone up. Permanently. So they can have their cake and, um, feed us ours. Something like that.
This isn't very funny, Neal. Nobody cares? Um. LOTS of people care. Nearly everyone. Even you. You cared enough to tell people to shut up.
Well, I'd like to say instead:
GEORGE BUSH , SHUT THE FUCK UP! COLIN POWELL, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND CHECK YOUR FACTS YOU PLAGIARIST MORON. CAN YOU PRONOUNCE "MY LAI"? NOPE? GOOD. RICHARD "DICK" CHENEY, SHUT THE FUCK UP. FAT ASS HALLIBURTON FUCK. HEY TONY BLAIR! ONCE AGAIN YOU'VE SOILED YOURSELF. SO SHUT THE FUCK UP. DONALD RUMSFELD? YOU? YOU, YOU HANDSOME DEVIL? DON'T TELL ANYONE ABOUT THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION YOU HELPED SELL TO SADDAM. YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THE EVIDENCE AGAINST SADDAM IS. SOME CALL THIS ENTRAPMENT. YES. SHUT THE FUCK UP DONALD. CONDOLEEZA RICE? YOU LIKE CASPIAN BASIN OIL, YES? SO SHUT THE FUCK UP. PAUL WOLFOWITZ, SHUT THE FUCK UP PLEASE. JOHN ASHCROFT? THAT SINGING'S GOT TO GO, AND SO DO YOU. WE'RE GOING TO FIND THE KIDDIE PORN YOU ARE HIDING SOME DAY. YOU CREEP. SO SHUT THE FUCK UP. AND THEN ALL OF YOU, YOU FUCKING ZOMBIES, PLEASE GO AWAY.
And this goes doubly for you, Neal Pollack:
HEY NEAL!
SHUT THE FUCK UP!
http://www.thestranger.com/current/feature.html
Shutting up is the act of choosing to be silent, to slam our traps shut. Silence is what got us Auschwitz, East Timor, Cambodia, Vietnam, Gulf War I, Reagan, Panama, and news stories about Michael Jackson. The NRA. George Will. William Buckley. Deion Sanders. Rush Limbaugh. And yes, even Noam Chomsky. Silence is also apparently what has gotten us the noise that is Neal Pollack.
The world is littered with bad writers and Neal is not one of them. He has a gift for satire, a flair for drama, and a penchant for meticulous revision. He clearly checks most of his sentences with loving care and is attentive to his craft--something painfully absent from so many writers.
But craft isn't everything, Neal. And sometimes even writing isn't everything. Sometimes, even, writing isn't merely writing. Sometimes writing is a log of customer complaints, a license number on a traffic ticket, a grocery list. And sometimes writing, specifically in the voices we all have, the voices that almost invariably want to participate in government, have no place to go. Sometimes writing is the form in which participation in government takes place. Unfortunately it's hard to find a place for that voice to go. Our supposedly democratic government seems to be averse to actually providing such a place for such voices (unless they are coupled with campaign & party donations). Sam Hamill gave some folks a place for those voices to go on record.
Whereas Pollack might be a good writer, he fails when it comes to reflexive awareness. Specifically he writes he is all for "democratic modernity" yet it seems he doesn't want anyone to speak out against the war or for the war. Neal, people speaking out and voicing their opinions and emotions, however "stupid", is the essence of democracy.
With "Poets Against the War" (PATW), Sam Hamill's idea was to have people participate in the democratic process. He was to take poems from maybe 100 or so of us regular and not so regular poets. But the email request spread like a virus while Laura's advisors received a message from the NSA warning of dissenting e-mail activity. So she cancelled the luncheon that Hamill was to give her these 100 or so poems, and Hamill had thousands, not hundreds, of poems. Many poems came from people who'd like to be writers but couldn't write a line of crafted verse even if their credit ratings depended on it.
Much of the poetry from PATW is HORRIFIC. Solipsistic poetry is horrible and so too is poetry from people who write more poetry than they read. Granted. Poetry written by many poets is bad, not to mention the poetry written by people who think all expression is art. It isn't. It's usually Crapola. ("Just because it happened to you doesn't make it interesting." - Howard Korder, "Search and Destroy") Bad writing is bad writing, and not everyone is born to write even if everyone wants to be a writer. (Nearly everyone...the mark of many a great writer is hir resentment of having been born as, or turned into, a writer.)
But Neal Pollack, in his disingenous self-positioning into the role of some 21st century E.B. White, well, he go fall down and go boom. He go make a boo-boo. He go make a gross oversight in his writing. PATW still an act of democracy, even if it is a poor excuse for an act of art.
You're for "democratic modernism," Neal?
George and Laura Bush, thier parents, and perhaps even their drunken offspring would like everyone to shut up about the war, to just say nothing, to go away and let them have all the goods. Thos Bushies come from a long line of shrubbery and other vegetable forms firmly rooted in oppositon to marginalizing the participation of voices outside their little Wall Street/Ivy League/Madison Avenue/Oil cabal. Yes, they don't want to hear anyone or let anyone say anything. They also tell people that they're for democracy, not just for us, but for everyone abroad. That's why they're preparing the Patriot II act, to shut everyone up. Permanently. So they can have their cake and, um, feed us ours. Something like that.
This isn't very funny, Neal. Nobody cares? Um. LOTS of people care. Nearly everyone. Even you. You cared enough to tell people to shut up.
Well, I'd like to say instead:
GEORGE BUSH , SHUT THE FUCK UP! COLIN POWELL, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND CHECK YOUR FACTS YOU PLAGIARIST MORON. CAN YOU PRONOUNCE "MY LAI"? NOPE? GOOD. RICHARD "DICK" CHENEY, SHUT THE FUCK UP. FAT ASS HALLIBURTON FUCK. HEY TONY BLAIR! ONCE AGAIN YOU'VE SOILED YOURSELF. SO SHUT THE FUCK UP. DONALD RUMSFELD? YOU? YOU, YOU HANDSOME DEVIL? DON'T TELL ANYONE ABOUT THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION YOU HELPED SELL TO SADDAM. YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THE EVIDENCE AGAINST SADDAM IS. SOME CALL THIS ENTRAPMENT. YES. SHUT THE FUCK UP DONALD. CONDOLEEZA RICE? YOU LIKE CASPIAN BASIN OIL, YES? SO SHUT THE FUCK UP. PAUL WOLFOWITZ, SHUT THE FUCK UP PLEASE. JOHN ASHCROFT? THAT SINGING'S GOT TO GO, AND SO DO YOU. WE'RE GOING TO FIND THE KIDDIE PORN YOU ARE HIDING SOME DAY. YOU CREEP. SO SHUT THE FUCK UP. AND THEN ALL OF YOU, YOU FUCKING ZOMBIES, PLEASE GO AWAY.
And this goes doubly for you, Neal Pollack:
HEY NEAL!
SHUT THE FUCK UP!
20030221
It has been pointed out to me that my post of 1/31/2003 ("Ange Mlinko vs. Arielle Greenberg") was a rather dumb argument based on erroneous information. The first problem was that I used old work that was not quite representative of the poets. The second problem: Arielle Greenberg DID NOT attend Brown; she intended Syracuse for her MFA. I now agree that it was stupid of me and poorly researched. The inaccuracy evaporates the tidiness of my evaluation, particularly the criticism of the Brown/Burning Deck style and the concomitant irony of the argument. I admit: I'm a dummy. My apologies to Arielle and Ange, especially for the confusion.
20030207
Z O M B I E
http://proximate.org/zombie.htm
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Thanks to Henry Gould, Jordan Davis, Anastasios Kozaitis, Stephanie Young, and David Hess for linking to my blog.
HG Poetics INCLUDED!
Equanimity INCLUDED!
Ineluctable Maps INCLUDED!
the well nourished moon INCLUDED!
Heathens in Heat INCLUDED!
INCLUDED!
Thanks.
Love,
Lester
HG Poetics INCLUDED!
Equanimity INCLUDED!
Ineluctable Maps INCLUDED!
the well nourished moon INCLUDED!
Heathens in Heat INCLUDED!
INCLUDED!
Thanks.
Love,
Lester
Links Links Links Links, or
Do Your Homework, or,
Why George Bush is a Zombie
Centre for Research on Globalization (Michel Chossudovsky)
http://globalresearch.ca/
U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup: Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians, Kurds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52241-2002Dec29.html
Hamilton Public Inquiry Into Sept. 11
http://www.flora.org/911-inquiry/
Halcyon Days (anti-war site)
http://halcyondays.home.attbi.com/
From the Wilderness Publications (Mike Ruppert)
http://www.copvcia.com/
Infowars.com - Government involvement in terrorist attacks...
http://www.infowars.com/resources.html
Media Monitors Network (Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed)
http://nafeez.mediamonitors.net/
Center for Cooperative Research
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/
AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/
Hijack 'suspects' alive and well
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stm
Hunt the Boeing! And test your perceptions!
http://www.asile.org/citoyens/numero13/pentagone/erreurs_en.htm
UnansweredQuestions.Org: thinking for ourselves
http://www.unansweredquestions.org/
Political Strategy.org
http://www.politicalstrategy.org/
NameBase
http://www.namebase.org/
Did the US use VX Nerve Gas in Vietnam?
http://www.namebase.org/nerve.html
Eleven microbiologists mysteriously dead over the span of just five months surrounding Anthrax attacks
http://www.zetatalk.com/theword/tword25t.htm
The Difference Between Money and Real Wealth
http://www.communitycurrency.org/
Is Iraq a True Threat to the US? by Scott Ritter, former UN chief weapons inspector in Iraq
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0721-02.htm
The Institute for Policy Studies
http://www.ips-dc.org/
IndyMedia
http://indymedia.org/
Arianna Huffington's columns
http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/
"The Unbearable Costs of Empire: Bush's war could help the economy in the short run. The big harm comes later" by James K. Galbraith
http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/21/galbraith-j.html
The Powell Doctrine: Baghdad/Jenin/My Lai
http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/cra0781.htm
The Legend of Colin Powell
http://www.tnr.com/politics/cnote/lane041795.html
colin powell: don't ask about my lai, don't tell about iran-contra
http://www.disinfo.com/pages/dossier/id803/pg1/
Iraq develops oil fields without foreign help
http://217.158.86.13/ip/data/ipenglish/8104.htm
Iraqi Oil and Gas Reserves, Oil Industry
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/oil/Iraqoilgas.htm
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction: chemical, biological, and nuclear
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/wotiraq/iraqwmd.htm
Special report on Depleted Uranium
http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/index_e.html#iraq5
The Massacre of Withdrawing Soldiers on "The Highway of Death"
http://burn.ucsd.edu/~mai/wc-death.htm
40 Reasons to Kick George Bush’s Corporate Butt out of OUR White House
http://www.geobop.com/Education/911/Bush/Reasons/
The Hegemonic Imperative: The Model of Central Asian Conquest
http://www.mises.org/misesreview_detail.asp?control=115
The Highway of Death
http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/iraqgenocide/HighwayofDeath.html
Bush Body Count
http://www.bk2k.com/bushbodycount/index.shtml
American/British Terrorism and Genocide of the Iraqi Peoples, 1991–Present Day
http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/iraqgenocide/AmericanBritishTerrorism.html
Iraqi cancers, birth defects blamed on U.S. depleted uranium
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/95178_du12.shtml
Do Your Homework, or,
Why George Bush is a Zombie
Centre for Research on Globalization (Michel Chossudovsky)
http://globalresearch.ca/
U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup: Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians, Kurds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52241-2002Dec29.html
Hamilton Public Inquiry Into Sept. 11
http://www.flora.org/911-inquiry/
Halcyon Days (anti-war site)
http://halcyondays.home.attbi.com/
From the Wilderness Publications (Mike Ruppert)
http://www.copvcia.com/
Infowars.com - Government involvement in terrorist attacks...
http://www.infowars.com/resources.html
Media Monitors Network (Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed)
http://nafeez.mediamonitors.net/
Center for Cooperative Research
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/
AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/
Hijack 'suspects' alive and well
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stm
Hunt the Boeing! And test your perceptions!
http://www.asile.org/citoyens/numero13/pentagone/erreurs_en.htm
UnansweredQuestions.Org: thinking for ourselves
http://www.unansweredquestions.org/
Political Strategy.org
http://www.politicalstrategy.org/
NameBase
http://www.namebase.org/
Did the US use VX Nerve Gas in Vietnam?
http://www.namebase.org/nerve.html
Eleven microbiologists mysteriously dead over the span of just five months surrounding Anthrax attacks
http://www.zetatalk.com/theword/tword25t.htm
The Difference Between Money and Real Wealth
http://www.communitycurrency.org/
Is Iraq a True Threat to the US? by Scott Ritter, former UN chief weapons inspector in Iraq
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0721-02.htm
The Institute for Policy Studies
http://www.ips-dc.org/
IndyMedia
http://indymedia.org/
Arianna Huffington's columns
http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/
"The Unbearable Costs of Empire: Bush's war could help the economy in the short run. The big harm comes later" by James K. Galbraith
http://www.prospect.org/print/V13/21/galbraith-j.html
The Powell Doctrine: Baghdad/Jenin/My Lai
http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/cra0781.htm
The Legend of Colin Powell
http://www.tnr.com/politics/cnote/lane041795.html
colin powell: don't ask about my lai, don't tell about iran-contra
http://www.disinfo.com/pages/dossier/id803/pg1/
Iraq develops oil fields without foreign help
http://217.158.86.13/ip/data/ipenglish/8104.htm
Iraqi Oil and Gas Reserves, Oil Industry
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/oil/Iraqoilgas.htm
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction: chemical, biological, and nuclear
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/wotiraq/iraqwmd.htm
Special report on Depleted Uranium
http://www.chugoku-np.co.jp/abom/uran/index_e.html#iraq5
The Massacre of Withdrawing Soldiers on "The Highway of Death"
http://burn.ucsd.edu/~mai/wc-death.htm
40 Reasons to Kick George Bush’s Corporate Butt out of OUR White House
http://www.geobop.com/Education/911/Bush/Reasons/
The Hegemonic Imperative: The Model of Central Asian Conquest
http://www.mises.org/misesreview_detail.asp?control=115
The Highway of Death
http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/iraqgenocide/HighwayofDeath.html
Bush Body Count
http://www.bk2k.com/bushbodycount/index.shtml
American/British Terrorism and Genocide of the Iraqi Peoples, 1991–Present Day
http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/iraqgenocide/AmericanBritishTerrorism.html
Iraqi cancers, birth defects blamed on U.S. depleted uranium
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/95178_du12.shtml
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