Ashcroft's Second Amendment
Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Thu, 09 May 2002 12:00:00 GMT
Once God made love to a great saint
Who had a hairy belly.
Of course things like that can happen!
And it was a surprise
Only to the novice on the path
When the saint's stomach began to swell
Just like a woman's.
Weeks went by, then months.
The saint's cheeks
Turned into beautiful roses.
He became like a young bride
Who was carrying a holy child,
And his gratitude was speechless.
But his eyes shone
Like two planets making love.
The town began to stand outside his house
At night,
For it had come to the attention of the faithful
That as the moon passed by on its round,
It would sometimes bend over and kiss the roof!
Of course things like that can happen.
Life went on
Amidst the other ten thousand wonders:
Whiskers and weeds and trees and charming babies
Kept emerging.
People and cattle and bees worked side by side,
All sweetly humming,
And, come lunch,
All dined on the same Mysterious
Divine manna of nourishing Love -
Disguised in a thousand shapes, colors and forms.
Galaxies gave away their ingenious ideas
And told us of their private body functions.
So man, too,
Eats, burps and excretes more worlds.
How is it that invisible thoughts can lift heavy matter
And build cities and armies and altars?
All contain a Hidden Strategy
To be transformed again
Into Divine Music and Love and Light!
The sun rolls through
The sky meadows every day,
And a billion cells run
To the top of a leaf to scream and applaud
And smash things in their joy.
Of course things like that can happen.
Rivers stay up all night and chant;
Luminous fish jump out of the water
Spitting emeralds at all talk of Heaven
Being anywhere else but -- Right Here!
Clouds pull each other's pants down
And point and laugh.
O my dear,
Of course things like that can happen.
For all is written within the Mind
To help and instruct the dervish
In dance and romance and prayer.
The stars get clearly drunk
And crazy at night
And throw themselves
Across the sky.
Only an insane being or compound
Is not going mad with excitement
At this Wonderful Performance by God!
And still,
Light stretches its arms
Open ever more
And shouts to you, because you are His lover,
To forget your harsh actions of the past
And just Dance!
Look! Angels and flowers
Are playing hooky in graveyards,
Laughing and rolling naked on cool stones.
Why go to sleep tonight
Exhausted from the folly of ignorance,
When even the Beloved is Drunk
And is doing wonderful, ecstatic somersaults
And is giving wild lessons between the sheets
And between His handstands
All up and down the Tavern floor and ceiling!
Indeed,
Indeed, things like that can happen.
A few days
Before the delivery of God's baby,
The saint had to visit a city close by
Where few knew him.
He was walking unnoticed past a mosque,
And the shouts of God's lovers
Happened to fill the air, calling,
"Allah, Allah! Where are you?
Where are You, Beautiful One?"
And the child in the womb of the Master
Could not remain silent and shouted back,
In an astounding voice,
"I am Here!
I am Here -- dear world!"
The crowd in the mosque became frantic,
And they picked up shoes, clubs and stones.
You know what then happened -
The story became grim.
But the moon cannot hold a grudge.
It still stops by some nights
And leans over this gentle earth, as over a crib,
And gives a full, wet kiss.
For the moon knows
That God is always amorous -
He will never stop making Love,
For the Truth has been Divinely Conceived
Deeply within each of us.
O Hafiz,
Look at the Splendor of God's Grace:
The Sun has been planted in a thousand furrows
Across every soul's brow.
Of course, my dear,
Everything God and I say
Can Happen!
(I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)
From The Federalist:
Ammunition beats persuasion when you are looking for freedom. -- Will Rogersand:
Never underestimate the power of bad ideas. They must be refuted again and again. -- Lew Rockwell, Jr.and:
No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the sources of our troubles, we shouldn't test for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power. -- P.J. O'Rourke
From brad:
A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply (an actual letter): "Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin."
Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows (actual letter):
"Your letter regarding the title in Case No 189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended back further than the 194 years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the US from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of uninformed bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to US ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain. The land came into possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the then-reigning monarch Isabella. The good queen, being a pious woman and careful about titles almost as much as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to fund Columbus' expedition. Now the Pope, as I'm sure you know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that He also made that part of the world called Louisiana. He therefore would be the owner of origin. I hope to hell you find His original claim to be satisfactory. Now may we have our loan?"
They got it.
John De Rosier at the Albany (NY) Times Union - Senate Subcommittee Hearing, Enron Directors, Former and Current - cartoon commentary on the modern meaning of oaths. Hahahahahaha.
Doug Newman has a really nice links page and lots of good speeches and essays.
The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, MA) - Ashcroft takes aim at Constitution - claims that since 1939, the second amendment has guaranteed the right to keep and bear arms to only the militia. Forgets completely that the militia is all of us. The second amendment is there so that all of us will at all times be prepared to fight a war, with our own personally owned weapons, should it become necessary. I sent the following letter to the editor:
Although I agree that John Ashcroft has blighted the land with horrendous disregard for the constitution, it is his support of the so-called USA PATRIOT act to which I refer. Though some may claim that his interpretation of the second amendment disagrees with U.S. v Miller, the court case to which I assume the Eagle's May 9 editorial was referring, his interpretation agrees with that of our founding fathers.
Even if I were to agree that the second amendment supports the right to keep and bear arms for only the militia, which I don't, the Eagle would do well to read the definition of the militia. U.S. code, Title 10, Subtitle A, Part I, Chapter 13, Section 311 says:
"The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
"(b) The classes of the militia are -
"(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
"(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia."
Hence, every male U.S. citizen between the ages of 17 and 45 is a member of the unorganized militia. Each is expected to be at all times prepared to fight a war, with his own personally owned weapons and ammunition. That means, as supported by U.S. v Miller, any weapon with warfare utility for an individual soldier. Today that includes handguns, fully automatic rifles, bazookas, hand grenades, and shoulder-mounted heat-seeking missiles.
It was the unorganized militia who responded when the Redcoats attempted to disarm citizens in Lexington, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775. Without them, America would still be a British colony. We need the unorganized militia as much today as we did then. Even more, in the light of September 11, 2001.
Lucas Helder at The Badger Herald via Cryptome - Mailboxes are exploding! Why, you ask? - a transcription of the letter the pipe bomber sent to the Herald. Most unusual. [cryptome]
See you all in 2011 (or sooner). Now go find your higher selves!
Preston Peet at drugwar.com - Pig-headed Arrests Mar NYC MMM 2002 Event - NYC pigs arrested 148 at last Saturday's Million Marijuana March. Desk warrants? What desk warrants? Lots of pictures. [cures-not-wars]
Human Rights, Winter 2002 is a publication of the American Bar Association. This issue covers the tradeoffs between liberty and security after September 11. I only skimmed a few articles, but it looks interesting. [smith2004]
J. Orlin Grabbe at Laissez Faire Electronic Times - In Praise of Hawala - Mr. Grabbe lauds one of the few remaining free markets left on the planet. [grabbe]
The transaction is simple and efficient by comparison to most of the alternatives. Iqbal pays on one day and his wife picks up the money the next day. Iqbal doesn't need a bank account, no one asks him to fill out elaborate forms or show a government ID number. Nor does he need to deal with an artificial exchange rate set by the Pakistani central bank -- a rate of exchange intended to rip off (tax) Pakistanis in foreign countries who are purchasing rupees with their repatriated earnings. Instead, the local hawaladar in Karachi deals on the white market and gets a market-determined exchange rate. (The central bank calls the free market in currencies a "black market," but since the market involves voluntary exchanges between individuals, it should be referred to as a "white market" -- or maybe not, depending on your psychological associations with colors.)
Snake Plissken as told to Carol A. Valentine - 9-11: The Flight of the Bumble Planes - more fodder for conspiracy buffs. [grabbe]
