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On paths of love for freedom.
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NO KINGS DAY
The day begins with signs
Of all that any patriot finds
In need of expression
To resist oppression.
We line the streets
Feet deep
Only to meet
Aggression
From those who seek
Our suppression.
Gerrymandered districts
Are incomplete,
Unable to meet
Fair representation,
Denying the nation
one person one vote,
Intimidation afloat
In every state.
We pray it is not too late.
We pray our efforts matter.
We pray our mad-as-hatter
Administration
Stops destroying our beloved nation.
We sing. We dance. We shout.
This is what democracy is about.
No kings today.
No kings in any way.
No kings over courts’ justice.
No kings over any of us.
Every king eventually falls.
We do not want a king at all.
THREE MONKEYS
It seems all you do is wait.
I know what for.
As do you.
But is your imagination
bright enough to see,
loud enough to hear,
courageous enough to speak?
Do you believe you can cope?
Have you lost all hope?
Does fear hold you captive,
dim your sight,
close your ears,
silence your tongue?
Do you most hide
from lost pride,
knowing what you most fear
is already here?
Open your eyes.
un-stop your ears.
Loosen your tongue.
Resistance, too,
has already begun.
HELP US ON OCTOBER 18th.
This is difficult to write for several reasons.
First because I have chronic fatigue syndrome, sometime called ME, CFIDS, and now, similar to long Covid. I became very ill and disabled from my illness 36 years ago. I was told then I would be lucky to walk again, likely need a wheel chair or cane. Great medical care from osteopathic manipulative medicine and acupuncture, years of pushing physical boundaries allow me to walk, for short distances. I can care for myself at home. I taught myself to read and write again by writing in a journal every morning. Despite brain fog, I developed a blog. My earliest efforts were poems. Gradually, I re-learned grammatical forms. Dyslexic imagery means my written words are sometimes corrupted. Lately, ChatGP has stolen even more of my words when it fails to recognize dyslexic word forms and alters words I do not always catch. My eyes and my brain take a while to catch up. Still, I must write to connect to the larger world I once participated in with gusto.
I practiced law as the Associate Director of Legal Affairs for Ohio University and Assistant Attorney General for the state of Ohio. In my spare time I taught law as an adjunct Associate Professor to advanced undergraduate and graduate students. I taught Business Law, School Law, Vocational Education Law, Law and Medicine (at O.U.medical school), and created courses and taught Social Welfare Law and a race relations course. I co-founded OU STARS, training and mentoring students to run race relations programs and workshops. I visited other campuses, community organizations and political groups and lectured on law as it applied to them. I love the law. I love the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights. I loved teaching and sharing my love of law with every audience available to me.
It was difficult to be sidelined from such an active life sharing the love of the law. It is difficult now to watch the hatred of the law spewed from the lips of a president, vice-president, Secretary of State, Director of Homeland Security, every federal agency, Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader. Watching the dismantling of the Rule of Law is almost too painful to write about. Watching the Supreme Court ignore centuries of stare decisis, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and every legal norm makes me want to scream until my throat is raw. it makes me tremble in disgust. Nightmares steal my sleep. I watch my country dissolve as it laws are twisted, debased, ignored and stomped upon. The only thing capable of holding together a nation dedicated to personal freedom is the law assuring no person is above the law. Otherwise disrespect and hatred toward other persons fueled by our animal nature inevitably leads to anarchy and self-destruction. We must hold the line against this administration and those who have tried to take and hold power only for themselves. To do so they must destroy the rule of law. That is what see every day. That is what I mourn every moment. Thank God for lawyer Marc Elias. He holds our hope and beliefs in his legal briefs.
The media giants, universities, Republican state and local leaders are silent or complicit in the destruction. Worse, the voters, including family-friends-neighbors, pay little attention to what is happening. Or. worse, support what is happening. I do not know how to find forgiveness. I pray for grace to do so. Finally, my church is realizing it must oppose such forces. However, its last few decades has seen it fully supporting those destroying our freedoms because of its unwillingness to acknowledge the right of women to control their own bodies. The right of women to hold sexual power. Nothing threatens a misogynistic organization more than women holding power in their own hands. At last, heroes like Fr. Pfleger of Chicago have seen enough. They are speaking out. An answer to my prayer. I keep praying!
On October 18, I shall join millions of Americans our government has labeled traitors and evil people as we American freedom-lovers celebrate NO KINGS DAY. I ask you to join us, wherever you live. Will it place you at risk? The federal government leaders want you to think so. They want you afraid to stand up for the Constitution and laws which govern our democracy, and protect it from autocracy. We are stronger the larger the groups. If you are unable to stand on the street beside us, drive by and honk in support. If you cannot do that, encourage all you know to join us in any way they can. Please do not sit there and shake your head. Please do not lose hope. Please do not be afraid. We are stronger than we know. Never listen to those who tell you that you will never walk again, never speak nor write again, never advocate for change again. You can. You must. Help us!
Filed under COMMENTARY, POLITICS
SHOUTING OUT IN THE HALL
The voices are too loud out in the hall.
No one sitting solemnly inside
can understand the meaning of it all.
No matter how close one tries to listen
the cacophony distorts all meaning
of words angrily shouted, until tears glisten
feeling the hatred and monstrosity
which keeps all ears and hearts enthralled.
Thrills and chills sell as well as bloody gore.
“If it bleeds it leads” is a phenomenon
we know too well.
Shouters point a finger and shout some more.
Such behavior always draws a crowd.
Once they have your attention
the “soft-sell” begins the con in whispers.
And while they have your keen attention,
hanging on every word they mention
in the twisted story, repeated over and over,
using religion and love as a cover
to bring us to our knees to beg forgiveness,
they try to manacle our minds and tongues
if successful. If not, our hands and feet
in courtrooms, jail cells and on the streets.
Once all this is done, the coup is complete.
The Bill of Rights becomes an empty promise,
a useless piece of paper torn asunder,
while disingenuous voices thunder
in all the halls, in every building, across the nation.
It is when the voices stop we shall finally hear
that democracy has been lost, as we all feared.
SHARED SHAME
Do you see the military
roaming city streets?
It is not my imagination
we are a threatened nation
about to lose our liberty.
The military which was once
our department of defense
against outside enemies
has turned its face within.
Now, it is the department of war
against those it would once defend.
We saw this coming.
We raised the alarm.
You answered with smarmy charm
that both sides do it.
What “it”? I ask.
I do not make war against you.
I build no fence to enclose you
in concentration camps
and jail cells with no chance of bond,
nor due process, nor rule of law.
You do all this and more.
You call me names to intimidate
and threaten my peace, my livelihood.
You take away my safety net, my health,
my happiness, my freedom to speak
and resist you. You call me your enemy
to justify your willingness
to let the constitution be tossed aside.
you no longer have integrity nor pride.
You can only feel shame if you have pride.
And you have no shame.
But, I…
I have enough pride for two;
enough to be ashamed of you.
DEMORALIZED
Newscasters used to tell it like it is.
Now, they are opinionated forecasters.
They still tell us who.
They tell us who said why.
They no longer tell us
what, when or how.
That would expose the lie.
No wonder we are demoralized
within both its meanings,
no surprise.
First losses began long ago:
No more manners as a guide.
No more conscience to lower pride.
No respect for others.
No authority recognized.
Second losses are less discreet:
No longer safe in thoughts nor words.
No longer safe on our own streets.
No more hopeful for the best
when every known fact is put to the test.
No more law and order.
Due process now out the door.
Demoralized beyond repair?
The people rise, at last, at last?
Not in anger and outrage.
Peacefully assembling on marching feet.
Nuns, priests, ministers, imams and rabbis
offer a morality well-intentioned if incomplete.
But this is how our story goes.
We are not perfect, heaven knows.
Our moral code is soft and flexible.
Our democratic republic makes it workable.
It offers a way to respect ourselves and one another;
to recognize all as sister or brother.
Immorality is what we see, and vote for?
Approve of, and laugh about too obviously?
See where we have led ourselves and our country,
fueled by wantoness and greed.
Demoralized we may be.
Still a people willing to fight to remain free.”
“NOLITE TE BASTARDES CARBORUNDORUM.” – Handmaid’s Tale
KEEP BREATHING
upon hearing results of 2016 election in USA.
Chains of cool air
strung like loose beads on thread
rattle unsteadily
within lungs too tight
to move out the breath
aching to leave
a heavy chest,
weighted down
by tears of regret.
In the first stage of grief
I am angry,
so angry,
my country is dead.
Who will grieve with me?
Those watching reality TV?
Those betting on games?
Those still seeking fame?
Those paralyzed by fear?
Those who only hold dear
their latest triumph over others?
Worn-out working single mothers?
Frustrated youth, anxiously hopeless?
Fired civil servants abandoned, feeling useless?
There are tears enough for us all.
But, too few who will cry out loud.
The screams must be released, you see,
that we may again breathe free.
Breathe out, damn lungs, despite the pain
Only then can we breathe freedom in again.
NO!
The strongest word in any language is “NO”.
It is every child’s first word for a reason.
To a toddler’s parent it is treason.
It carries more weight than cuddles or cudgels
used to reprimand, remand and reform.
Its power can overturn threats and intimidation.
Its shout can garner attention and create doubt.
Its momentum can move mountains about.
Its clarity quickens response to its shame.
It calls attention to errors or cheats in any game.
It works where no other method succeeds
to enforce self-interest’s vitality and need.
Its surprise increases the ability to annoy.
“NO!” can be weakened if too late employed
Authoritarian rule is under attack
every time the word “NO!” is shouted back.
“No!” used in concert create symphonic dissent,
until the whole world rises to up-end
intimidation by armed and masked men
who invade our streets and use force to bend
our knees and our minds and our very lives.
When will such madness end ?
When more “NO” is heard than “yes”.
On such “NO!” does one’s freedom depend.
Every child knows this to be true.
Speak your “NO!” now before freedom is lost
to me, to all of us, even to you.
annarino writes 
DECONSTRUCTION
The streets were lined for blocks on end.
Signs reminded all who rejoiced to attend
Why they walked and talked and smiled and waved
At passing cars who braved delays
While drivers honked horns and shouted out
“Vote him out and make it a rout!”
Costumed critters danced to our delight
Knowing their freedom would give him a fright.
Deconstruct the lies we have been told.
Deconstruct the narrative being sold.
Deconstruct the bullie’s hold.
Deconstruct institutional mold.
Gather in peace the young and the old.
Stronger are you, more wise, more bold.
Deconstruct so we can rebuild
What he has destroyed with his minions’ lack of skill.
We know how to do this, and more.
We have done it many times before.
My thanks to my friends in Clintonville area of Columbus who helped me attend this moment of patriots’ challenge to the con men robbing the USA of its power, wealth, ideals and humanity. The lack of media coverage was appalling. The misrepresentation of attendance numbers cannot be challenged when media fails to provide images of the gatherings. A local station covered it AFTER it was over and crowds had dispersed. Another stated hundreds attended when it was actually thousands. We are here. We are resisting. We are going nowhere until the despotism and kidnapping of people and the Supreme Court, universities, news organizations, social media outlets, medical and public health Institutions… even our very language and the meaning of words and phrases has been brought to an end and freedom restored.
We shall not be silenced.
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