The Spoof: "Come November many Americans who have an open mind and take the time to look at the facts will have a decision to make. That decision shouldnâ??t be that difficult. Do we continue to punish the Democratic Party [and America] for a â??Lewinskyâ?쳌 one Democrat received...or do we recognize the advantages America as a whole has with [Democrats] in office? There are only two paths. One leads us back to a great period in time [the Clinton years peace and prosperity]. I donâ??t even want to think about the other one. How many wars can we fight at once? How high can the unemployment rate grow? How bad can the economy get? How high will healthcare costs get to be? How many people have to die from horrible diseases, such as Alzheimerâ??s? How many countries can we get to no longer respect us? Letâ??s not find out. "

As a thank you to US troops around the world for your ongoing sacrifices and hard work, we will be presenting a special "news log" for our troops and their families, which will appear on Saturdays, hopefully in a regular manner. Sections include: "White Knights" (military heroes of the week), "Officers and Leaders Behaving Badly," "Bits n 'Pieces" and "Humor."

Cheryl Seal writes: "As the Bush administration and its media minions attempt to smear John Kerry, first questioning his bravery in Viet Nam, now condemning his anti-war activism after he returned from that hell, the story of Frank Kroncke and the Minnesota Eight becomes not just relevant - but deeply important. It is an in-depth exploration of why men of courage, conscience, and conviction like Kroncke and Kerry are willing to risk everything to speak out against evil and injustice. This is the kind of principled idealism and honesty the shallow and spiritually dead can never comprehend, the kind of soul-deep patriotism that phony, self-serving jingoists like Bush and followers will never experience."

Cheryl Seal writes: "This week, the Democrats found their voices at last, and they have roared! There is a unity and all-embracing agreement to disagree that crackles through the room like electricity. If all of America could witness this revolution of ideals, it would spread through the nation like a brush-purging wildfire. Truth, once presented, hits with a 'shock of recognition' that cannot be dismissed. Like a tenacious seed, it will sprout and grow even in rock. This is exactly why the Bush administration and its army of media minions are trying to make sure that the public never sees the truth."

Jane Stillwater writes: "Everyone in America with a TV set knows that the Bush administration has just turned the six o'clock news into the world's largest porn site. Everyone who even reads the comics knows that the Bush administration has taught us Americans how to lie, embezzle, threaten, coerce, cheat at elections, corrupt the Supreme Court and turn our armed forces into perverts. Forget about the Jessica Lynch media spin. Now we got Lynndie England. Forget about Janet and even Monica. Compared with the true obscenity of Abu Ghraib? No comparison. Anyone with a dial-up and a modem knows that the Bush administration has turned America to the dark side, demonstrated to our children how NOT to be Christians -- and instructed them on how to get away with it too. That's yesterday's news. Todays news is this: There is still hope for America. We can still stop this downward spiral of destruction and death."

John Kerry is under attack for having been first a war hero, then an outspoken critic of the war. The rightwingers call it "flip-flopping" or unpatriotic. But those who lived experiences such as Kerry's know what they really mean: a deeper form of patriotism that goes to the core of the soul via an agonizing journey of conscience. The story of Frank Kroncke, a Catholic monk turned draft board raider during the Vietnam war, offers powerful insights into the type of spiritual journey and inward suffering that men of real conscience and conviction such as Kerry have undergone. Those who have never been on such journeys are doomed to forever see the world in terms of two-dimensional slogans with no real meaning behind them.

What am I? Well, I wonder
My point of view for what it is
Is that my friends not suffer.
But who is it, on my list?

A homeless man, in the street,
Not my friend; that's the gist.
You see, if I should indeed
Help him out--that's socialist!

An injured child whose parents lack
Insurance to get her fixed
Can't help there, I'd look back
And have to say, socialist!

The sick, the lame, frail old timers.
To them, no obligation.
But clean, well-groomed corporate climbers
Must feel no deprivation.

Read the rest of Suzanne Levisay's poem.

"Pope John told the world in his Easter message on Sunday that a culture of love had to defeat terrorism and the 'logic of death' and revenge in Iraq, the Holy Land and other places where conflict reigns. 'May (humanity) find the strength to face the inhuman, and unfortunately growing, phenomenon of terrorism, which rejects life and brings anguish and uncertainty to the daily lives of so many hard-working and peaceful people. Take heed all of you who have at heart mankind's future! May the temptation to seek revenge give way to the courage to forgive; may the culture of life and love render vain the logic of death; may trust once more give breath to the lives of peoples,' he said. 'If our future is one, it is the task and duty of all to build it with patient and painstaking far-sightedness.' "

Cheryl Seal writes, "In this dark era when corporations and rightwing extremists seek to dictate the meaning and content of art to the American public, this speech should be read, reread, and treasured by those who value both art and America's soul. " A sample: "The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the nation's greatness. But the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested. For they determine whether we use power or power uses us. Our national strength matters; but the spirit which informs and controls our strength matters just as much."

Cheryl Seal writes: "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a gentle, romantic man, a poet to whom the violence and hatred of war were horrifying, almost incomprehensible. Thus when the Civil war exploded, he was deeply grieved. Alas, it was to be but the first of a series of traumas that would try Longfellow's soul and bring him to the brink of total despair. It was on Christmas Day, 1864 that Longfellow experienced an epiphany of hope and renewal of faith against all odds...Now, with the world of 2003 seemingly in the throes of endless war, with hate and fear ever present, Longfellow's poem seems more appropriate than ever before..."

"1. I resolve to support -- with time, energy and money -- whatever reasonable candidate the Democrat party puts up in opposition to George W. Bush, even if I may disagree with aspects of that candidate's program or personality. 2. I resolve to help register as many potential voters as I can in time for the 2004 election. I'll set myself a goal of at least five. 3. I resolve to contact my election officials and protest use of the new touch-screen computer-voting machines. 4. I resolve to work toward election-financing reform. 5. I resolve to work to protect the freedom of the press. 6. I resolve to pay more attention to the relationship between justice and peace. 7. I resolve to see the world in a more holistic way. 8. I resolve to act where and how I can to help repair the world. 9. I resolve to maintain and grow my spirituality. 10. I resolve to aid the arts " What are YOUR new year's revolutions?

Isa Atkins writes: "When logic is abandoned voluntarily and en masse...then the floating power of reason and critical thinking becomes as effective as that of a windswept foam dinghy in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The inevitable question is what to do upon finding yourself on that fragile little dinghy...if you consider the widespread attainment of peace and social justice to be fundamental to your personal and moral stability, as well as to the prosperity of your loved ones and your community, nation and world, then make yourself at home. It looks like you will be on this dinghy for a very long time, battling the perilous waves. Try to look forward to your only valuable sources of enjoyment: the daily recurrence of small and large acts of courage and commitment, through which you will show the 'cognitive dissonance' crowd that when you talk about justice, solidarity, compassion and peace, you really, really mean it. "

Lawrence Lader helped to change the world when his book "Abortion" in 1966 helped launch the abortion rights movement, and he became founding chair of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) from 1969 to 1975. Lader's book "RU 486" in 1971 roused the public to the importance of this new drug. As president of Abortion Rights mobilization, he organized the research that led to the drug's approval by the FDA. Now Lader's new book sums up fifty years of activism. "Ideas Triumphant" analyzes how ideas originate, how they can be turned into movements and become national policy through the courts and legislatures.

"I'm sorry that my government doesn't see
That Iraqi children have the right to be.
Although children here and there deserve to live,
War and death is all my country wants to give.
Like you, I am a child with much to grow;
So many things to see, feel, hear, do and know."

Read the rest of the poem by Natasha H.

"War - what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" Those famous lyrics were sung by Charles Hatcher, who gained fame with the stage name Edwin Starr. According to the Village Voice, "Starr began recording in the mid-Sixties for the Detroit label Ric-Tic Records, and scored his first pop hit, 'Agent Double-O Soul,' in 1965, which reached as high as Number Twenty-one. 'Twenty-five Miles,' released five years later would reach as high as Number Six. But it was 'War,' delivered in Starr's rough, staccato bursts of singing for which he was best known. The single was released in July 1970 and spent thirteen weeks on the charts, three at Number One. Vietnam would provide Starr with his next, and last, hit, 'Stop the War Now,' in January of the following year."

Doris Haddock (aka Granny D) writes, "Those of us who might worry the most must work the hardest now. Here is the good news: We still have elections. True, Mr. Bush;s people are trying to cancel presidential primaries in several states. It is the kind of work that fuels our paranoia. But there will be an election in November of 2004 or there will be hell and blood to pay. And those of us who care for the direction of the American dream have one job now to do, and that is to begin working toward that election day in November of next year. We need not wait for a good candidate. We have work to do now with our neighbors, so that they have refreshed in their hearts the idea of a great America -- one that takes care of its people and one that acts as a force for reason and peace and justice throughout the world -- one that abides by its Bill of Rights... We are for love. And most of all and forever, while others are for bombs and death and great lies, we are for love and its truth."

Jeanette Wallis began her Walk for Democracy on 4-1-01. On 3-18-03 she reached Oxford OH, where she wrote: "If you had told me five years ago that I would be walking across America for democracy, I'd still be laughing. All I can say is this: one day, you just get to a point where you understand that everything you thought was important is not. The only important thing in life is to make the world a better place than it was when you found it. Even if you can't see a difference now, you must work towards this goal anyway. You have to look at the choices you make now not in terms of what people will think of you now, but how they will think of you 50 years from now. Do you want to be the kind of person who's remembered for keeping silent while innocent people died in your name, or do you want to be remembered with pride by your children and grandchildren as one of the brave people responsible for making the world the peaceful place we want them to inherit?" You GO, Jeanette!

Farai Chideya writes, "Depression. You can't out-nice a flesh-eating virus. And that's pretty much the spiritual equivalent of where America is right now. God/Goddess/God-us, not to mention the flag and Uncle Sam, have pretty much been appropriated as corporate logos of the Bush Administration. Yet most Americans do not support policies that will gut their schools, turn their cities and towns into economic dust bowls, and send their friends and families to their deaths. What goes? I have a theory. Niceness=death... Like many people around me, I have tried being extremely nice in the face of flying hunks of bullshit. Like the Administration's statements that fighting Iraq will bring peace to the Middle East. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will free us from oil problems. Giving rich people money will allow working moms to spend time with their kids. Whap. Wait a second, I read a policy report that...Whap."

"So what is to be done? What should we do next? Keep working, keep struggling, keep marching together. We are doing something brand new here-trying to stop a war before it starts. Trying to rebuild a serious peace movement. Trying to save multilateralism, and the UN. Trying to slow down the strong, to protect innocent children. Trying to fend off the trap of empire, and redeem the hope of democracy. Never forget what Dr. King taught us: 'The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice.' Don't you give up. Don't surrender. Your spirit and faith will be tested; the war machine will give us fierce opposition. But faith can move mountains."

LRB writes, "The subject of Daniel Ellsberg's memoir is the decadence of American democracy. The conditions he began fighting in 1969 are much worse today and far more dangerous to many more people. Yet central casting could not have produced a more perfect foil for the American imperial Presidency than Ellsberg. An infantry lieutenant in the Marine Corps with genuine battle experience in Vietnam, a PhD in economics from Harvard, and a defence intellectual employed by the Rand Corporation of Santa Monica, with the highest security clearances, Ellsberg is as good as the American system can produce in the way of a male citizen working in the foreign policy apparatus. His odyssey from Pentagon staff officer to the man who spirited 47 volumes of top secret documents out of the Rand Corporation, copied them, and delivered them to the New York Times and a dozen other newspapers is breathtaking."

Mark Cooper writes, "It's hard not to be moved - deeply moved - when you hear Brazil's new president speak. And even harder not to be downright jarred by the realization - by comparison - of how very hollow, how very dead-ended, our own national politics have become. I can't think of two countries today more politically divergent than the US and Brazil, or two presidents who reveal more startlingly opposite political possibilities than Bush and the newly inaugurated Luis Ignacio 'Lula' da Silva... Bush barreled into office rewarding the wealthiest elite with a double serving of juicy and fattening tax cuts. Lula's first acts were to fire the gourmet chef from the presidential staff and then to cancel the $700 million purchase of 12 new air-force fighter jets, redirecting the funding to his new 'Zero Hunger' program... Brazilians live precariously with the greatest of hopes. And we live with fabulous potential that is the legitimate envy of the globe, and we have, seemingly, no hope."

Manhattan.
I am sick today.
My heart hurts deeply.
A feeling of helplessness has overcome-
my sense of hope and well being-
for my nation, my damaged city, my world.

My spirit grieves.

Watching the tv news last evening I saw the
President throwing boyish fits again to start his war.
Bush pounded his chest like an enraged teenage gorilla-
ready to attack another tribe at the high school-
to prove his manhood- just for the fun of it.
The power of it.
The "high" of it.
Alone.

The savage gorilla screamed,
"War. War. War!"

Read the rest of Ray Berry's Progressive Political WordArt.

Jay Walljasper writes, "Rarely in American politics have voters been offered such a clearcut right-wing agenda - and never before have they responded with such coast-to-coast approval... In my despairing moments I wonder if Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Karl Rove are right: Is America, at its deep and mythic core, a fundamentally individualistic culture that views most attempts to promote social equity, ecological balance, and international understanding as affronts to its values? But then the dark cloud passes, and I recall the civil rights movement, the New Deal, Stonewall, abolitionists, Cesar Chavez, anti-nuke activists, and prairie populists. That America gave birth to the environmental movement and the idea of national parks... It took union activists a half-century to achieve the 40-hour work week, and suffragists seven decades to win the vote for women. This puts the 30 years of political ups and downs I've experienced since knocking on doors for McGovern into perspective."

One thing the rightwingers have a total lack of is real creativity (sorry, propaganda does not count as a fine art - it's an industrial technqiue). Here's yet another example of the creativity of the liberal half of America's currently tarnished coin that will make you proud to be an American - a liberal American, that is.

"I know a lot of people around the country are feeling pretty discouraged because of the election and because it looks like we're building up to war any day now. But these are the very times we have to take a few minutes out and try to spit that bitter taste out of our mouths. Otherwise, it's like to poison us and then we wouldn't be much good to anybody, would we? Whether you believe in prayer or not, or whether you are religious, it wouldn't hurt to take a minute or two out and read what a few other people trying to keep seeing good in a bad world had to say on days they had their doubts." So writes C. L. McElvaine for Unknown News.

Mark Morford writes: "It is a time of great need. It is a time of national teeth-gritting and resigned fortitude...It is a time when one single false war against an already decimated ragtag terrorist opponent is not nearly enough to satiate the delirious military-industrial complex and arouse Cheney's defibrillator and hence we must launch another one. That's right, two full ostensible wars, Osama and Saddam, simultaneously, though thanks to sinister White House PR everyone seems to think they're basically the same war, even though they're almost completely unrelated, but hey, why split hairs. Many ask what they can do. How they can contribute, how they can best aid the faux-war effort and support our troops...I have compiled this short list....The nation needs your help. This is a time of warmongering and bitterness and semi-literate Texas cowboy wanna-bes who want nothing more than to careen us down the path of perpetual violence and isolationism and dread."

In 1814, the British very nearly succeeded in taking America back. When the King's troops marched on Washington, the "defenders" of that city took off for the hills like "scared rabbits" (according to one eyewitness). The city was captured and burned. The Brits then prepared to make short work of Baltimore. But they were in for a nasty surprise. Far from heading for the hills, the doughty defenders of Baltimore Harbor, led by the courageous but self-effacing Major George Armistead, were the targets of what has been called the most intensive attack ever launched by the British Navy. Against all the odds, on the morning of Sept. 14, 1814, after 24 hours of continuous bombardment, Ft. McHenry still stood. Waving bravely above it was a 32 X 40 foot American flag, glimpsed through a spyglass by a young lawyer named Francis Scott Key....An Independence Day special by Cheryl Seal.

Donella Meadows died on 2-21-01, but her thoughts and words continue to inspire activists around the world. Here's an image poem by Allysson Lucca that is based on Meadows' "The Global Village."

Long after he was labeled a "traitor" in 1901 [for opposing what he considered the imperialistic Philippine American War], Mark Twain returned to the issue of patriotism in this sketch from the closing pages of the notebook he used from 1905 to 1908. "A Patriot is merely a rebel at the start. In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. The soul and substance of what customarily ranks as patriotism is moral cowardice and always has been. In any civic crisis of a great and dangerous sort the common herd is not privately anxious about the rights and wrongs of the matter, it is only anxious to be on the winning side."

Through the night of September 13, 1814 and into the pre-dawn hours of the 14th , the American Fort McHenry at the mouth of the Port of Baltimore, was pounded relentlessly by British warship cannons. At the same time, a terrific thunderstorm raged. No one expected the fort or its defenders to survive. But on the morning of Sept. 14, a young lawyer from Baltimore peered across the water from the deck of the HMS Tonnanni (where he had been forcibly detained by the British), To his deep astonishment and joy, the huge flag sewn just before the battle by Mary Pickersgill was still flying proudly above the battered fort. The lawyer, Francis Scott Key, was so moved that he grabbed a letter from his pocket - the only piece of paper he had - and began to write down the poem that has inspired Americans in time of need ever since. (Folk rendition by Richard Hefner - lo-fi setting works best)

There are no people on Earth as conflicted as rightwing Americans, largely because of the mixed messages conveyed by the "corporate right,' who rule the nation from behind the mainstream media and sellout politicians like Bush. The messages: be compassionate, but don't help the poor or sick TOO much; be chaste and pure, but associate sex with every product on the market; be religious and spiritual, but allow corporations to destroy Earth's environment and human dignity. Meanwhile, the same people preach the myth of unity that we can all "be as one." Here with a soundscape of this tortuous conflict, swingly insanely between the spiritual and industrial is a piece composed esp. for Dems.com by Llamachine: Song title: "Split Decision." We suggest the lo-fi setting for best results.

There are no people on Earth as conflicted as rightwing Americans, largely because of the mixed messages conveyed by the "corporate right,' who rule the nation from behind the mainstream media and sellout politicians like Bush. The messages: be compassionate, but don't help the poor or sick TOO much; be chaste and pure, but associate sex with every product on the market; be religious and spiritual, but allow corporations to destroy Earth's environment and human dignity. Here with a soundscape of this conflict 'commissioned' by Dems.com is Llamachine with 'Split Decision.' (It is the first song in the song list)

We ran this story back in June to show the world that everyday men and women often show far more valor, compassion, and nobility than their leaders. But alas, the stories of everyday courage and selflessness are so soon swept into oblivion in the wake of new political strifes. As the violence in the Middle East continues to escalate - an endless back and forth that ultimately destroys only the everyday people, while solutions are driven further from reach - we thought it might be good to run this story again. Maybe this time, the memory of what true humanity means - a grace beyond race, religion, and political boundaries - will not be so soon forgotten.

Land can be true wilderness just once – once violated, it is wilderness no more. Even armed with axes, 19th-century logging operations were able to cut nearly every acre of Maine at least once by 1900, before moving on to Ohio, then to Minnesota, then out West... now to South America and Indonesia. As Congress and the Administration prepare to decide the fate of America's remaining wilderness, they would do well to ponder the thoughts of Henry David Thoreau on Maine’s wilderness.

We remember the first time we ever heard 'Masters of War' - it was during the Vietnam War. We had just finished looking through yet another issue of 'Life' Magazine showing the faces of the boys killed that month. As I listened to the words of the song, I thought, could anyone be so cold, so amoral as the monsters Dylan described - monsters who could sacrifice the lives and hopes of others for profits and power - and a power born not of passion but of pure greed? Well, we listened to the song again this week and the realization hit hard: Yes, there are such people and they are in the White House.

"Is the price of progress complexity? And if so, does that complexity mean a loss of freedom, a loss of control?...The United States has a cultural history of standing for self-determination and human rights, despite our own deep and sorrowful missteps. Does a new, complex world mean we must contort those values in order to reap the benefits of doing business with other countries, such as China? Is it possible the only way to survive is to make speeches about Chinese abuses on one hand, take their cash with the other, and then chalk up the seeming inconsistencies to "complex foreign policy? The nation becomes awash in an energy crisis every 20 years, yet alternative fuels on a mass scale remain far in the future, despite the technology being available for decades. Must we accept the inconsistency as a complexity beyond our ken and leave such matters in the hands of others?" So writes Missouri "shadetree mechanic/philosopher" Edgar Simpsom.

U.S. steelworkers are losing their jobs to foreign competition, as are copper miners. Coal mining may soon become part of history as coal fields are depleted and alternative energy is developed. As Democrats, we must not forget these workers, whose occupational heritage is long, tough, and proud. Even if their jobs cannot ultimately be save, honorable and comparable alternatives MUST be developed. Here's an original folk song by BlueFrog, a musicmaker from the coal district of the U.K., which also faces an uncertain future.

During a war - or prolonged "conflict" - people do extraordinary things. This story from the Middle East proves that in many cases, the "common man" is a far nobler being than those elected (or not elected, as the case may be) to lead them. Here, the family of a Palestinian man killed over the weekend donated his heart to save the life of an Israeli. The surgeon told Israel Radio, "When you are deep in the transplant operation you don't think about it, but a moment later you think that during the operation you held in your right hand the heart of an Arab Palestinian Muslim... and in the other hand the heart of a Jew. You smile to yourself and see that deep inside we are exactly the same and all the conflicts are completely unnecessary."