Friday, June 24, 2011

JOAN'S DAILY DOGGEREL TWEETS

I'm continuing my Daily Doggerel TWeets, commenting on the headlines of each day. Here's my latest batch through June 13.

WEINER RESIGN?/NOT BOEHNER/CANTER & RYAN/& EACH TAX CUT CONDONER/& THOSE WHO PROFIT/FROM ARMS & OIL/AT MEDICARE SCOFF,IT/MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL
8 Jun

NEWT'S DESERTED/ANTHONY'S PERVERTED/THIS HOCUS POCUS/IS MEDIA'S FOCUS/MEANTIME, NO JOBS/ WALL STREET ROBS/BANKS FORECLOSE/DEPRESSION GROWS
9Jun

PALIN'S EMAIL/OUT IN THE OPEN/DEVIOUS FEMALE/WE'RE BUSY HOPIN'/ASK 4 SUPPRESSION/DESPITE WHAT'S REVEALED/END PALIN OBSESSION/KEEP IT SEALED
11 Jun

CONGRESS DEBATES/CUTS IN BUDGET/THE REPROBATES/WRECK & MISJUDGE IT/THEY CHOOSE/WE LOSE/INSTEAD, BRING THE TROOPS BACK/FROM AFGHANISTAN& IRAQ
12 Jun

SAGA OF WEINER/GROWS EVER OBSCENER/AS MORE SHOTS EXPOSE/THIS JERK WITHOUT CLOTHES/MEDIA DUCKS/THAT ECONOMY SUCKS/JOBS R GONE/& WARS GO ON
13 Jun

REPUGS DEBATE/HOT AIR SPEWED/EMPTY PRATE/WE'RE REALLY SCREWED/MITT'S THE PITS,NEWT A BRUTE/MICHELLE DUMBBELL/TIM DIM/END'S NEAR/NEED A BEER
14 Jun

WISCONSIN COURT/ CRUELLY SMITES/LEGAL SUPPORT/OF BARGAINING RIGHTS/PLEASE RECALL/THE G.O.P LUGS/WHO CAUSED LABOR'S FALL/OUST THE THUGS
15 Jun

WEINER'S GOING/WHO IS NEXT/FOR PACKAGE SHOWING/AND TAWDRY TEXT/ONE THINGS IS SURE/MORE SCANDAL WILL RISE/THERE'S NO CURE/FOR WANDERING EYES
16 Jun

Joan's Daily Doggerel: LET'S BOYCOTT THE AARP/CAVING ON SOCIAL SECURITY/THE TRUTH IS OUT/THEY'RE ONLY ABOUT/SELLING STUFF TO THE ELDERLY
18 Jun

BARRY AND JOHN/OUT ON THE LINKS/HOSTILITIES GONE/NO PARTISAN STINKS/BUT TOMORROW AGAIN/STALEMATE BACK /EACH CITI-ZEN/DROPPED THRU THE CRACK
19 Jun

Daily Doggerel: TIGER, TIGER, BURNING BRIGHT/MCELROY HAS GRABBED YOUR LIGHT/YOU THOUGHT YOUR REIGN UNENDABLE/NOW LEARN NOONE'S EXPENDABLE
20 Jun

IT'S TIME TO END/EACH FUTILE WAR/WE'VE GOT TO MEND/THE ROT AT OUR CORE/RETURN EACH SOLDIER/DO NOT WAIT/OBAMA, BE BOLDER/BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE
21Jun

OBAMA,NOT ENUF/WE NEED MORE/U SHOULDA GOT TOUGH/ STOPPED THE WAR/WE DON'T GAIN/BY KEEPING TROOPS THERE/ONLY MORE PAIN/MORE DEATH & DESPAIR
22Jun


IF WE CUT/TROOPS BY 10 THOU/TELL US WHAT/CASH WE'LL GET NOW/TO BE REDEPLOYED/TO DOMESTIC NEEDS?/OR STAY IN A VOID/& SUPPORT WAR MISDEEDS?
23Jun

NEWT SPENDS BIG BUCKS/4 TIFFANY WARE/THEN FEEBLY CLUCKS/WE'RE A THRIFTY PAIR/WHY SHOULDN'T U TRUST/ME 2 CUT DEBT/THO I LUST/4 ALL I CAN GET
24Jun

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

JOAN'S DAILY DOGGEREL RE CURRENT EVENTS

Joan Wile, founder of Grandmothers Against the War, and author, "Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace" (Citadel Press, '08), as well as an award-winning ASCAP lyricist and composer, recently launched "Daily Doggerel Re Current Events" online. Joan is writing a short poem (observing the mandatory 140-character cap) every day on Facebook and Twitter about current events as they unfold. "It's a good mental exercise to write a poem within those constraints...maybe it will help stave off Alzheimer's," the 79-year-old songwriter said. "At least I'm not posting sleazy photos of myself."

Here are the first six:

JoanWile - Thursday, June 2
PALIN, A TWIT/BACHMAN, A DUNCE/AN EMPTY SUIT, MITT/ALL BRAINLESS RUNTS/WHAT A BUNCH OF CRETINS/KEEP EXPOSIN' THEM IN YOUR TWEETIN'S.

JoanWile - Friday, June 3
JOBLESSNESS RISING/BENEFITS DIPPING/COMPANIES DOWNSIZING/ ECONOMY'S SLIPPING/BOEHNER IS CLUELESS/WE'LL ALL WIND UP SHOELESS

JoanWile - Saturday, June 4
WEINER SEEN STALKING/UNDERWEAR SIGHTED/PUBLIC GAWKING/ IMAGE BLIGHTED/EDWARDS INDICTED/PRESS OVERJOYED/RIGHT WING DELIGHTED/IMAGE DESTROYED

JoanWile - Sunday, June 5
ECONOMY'S WITHERING/EVRYTHING'S CRUMBLING/CONGRESS JUST DITHERING/FUMBLING AND BUMBLING/NEOCONS SLITHERING/BUT NOBODY'S GRUMBLING

JoanWile - Monday, June 6
5 GIs DEAD TODAY/TWAS IN IRAQ/WHY'D THEY STAY/THEY SHOULDDA BEEN BACK/AND IN AFGHANISTAN/MORE GIs DYING/TO STOP THE TALIBAN?/ IM NOT BUYING

JoanWile - Tuesday, June 7
WEINER'S DISGRACE/ IS TAWDRY AND BASE/FAR GREATER SLEAZE?/THE WARS OVERSEAS/NO JOBS, HUNGRY KIDS/ AS ECONOMY SKIDS.

You can follow Joan's poetic output every day on Twitter -- joanwile@twitter.com -- and Facebook -- joanwile@facebook.com.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

BROOKLYN HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS STATE IRAQ WAR A CRIME

It was a well-used music room in a slightly beat-up ancient school--the Brooklyn Collaborative School. Approximately 20 kids piled in. They appeared to be all Latino and African-American. They were seniors about to graduate. We were told by their teacher, Stephen, that every single one was going on to college, some with full scholarships.

We were invited guests for a special occasion on June 2 -- Carol Huston, an active member of the Granny Peace Brigade; Alicia Godsberg, currently Executive Director of Peace Action New York State; Hugh Bruce, a Vietnam veteran member of Veterans for Peace, and me, founder of Grandmothers Against the War.

We were there to witness the reading of several essays the kids had written on the question: Was the Iraq war a just war? Unbelievably, Stephen had made this the primary focus of his Social Economics class. We wondered if there were any other teachers in the United States who were daring and RESPONSIBLE enough to introduce this inflammatory topic to their students. We would like to think so, of course, but given the general aura of apathy about these illegal and misguided wars, we figured it was an unmentionable subject in the temples of education.

What could we expect from this bunch of chattering school kids? The giggling girls, the high-fiving brash boys slumping toward their seats? Looking at them, you'd figure they were most likely thinking about the latest rap record, or maybe the new movie, "Thor," or probably some were ruminating about the coming prom. They couldn't be seriously thinking about our disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan....or could they?

After a brief speech by Ms. Godberg, in which she told them all the things that the huge amounts of money wasted on the war could do for their community. the first student, a slim young man calling himself Fran, got up and read his paper. He argued that the rules of war were broken by the very nature of why the war was waged -- not for defense of a people or nation or safety, just business.

Five others followed. They talked of the illegality of invading a sovereign country that had not attacked us. They talked of the fact that Congress had not authorized our invasion. They discussed the catastrophic economic ramifications of our spending a trillion dollars to wage these conflicts. They discussed our defiance of the Geneva Convention with our illegal torture and imprisonment.

In short, all the billions of words we Progressives have read over the years by professors, experts, pundits in the annals of Online publications such as this one were intelligently summarized by these youngsters in one hour.

What did these amazing children conclude? Each made the firm determination that the war in Iraq was definitely an unjust war. They also determined that we had no business in Afghanistan, either, and we should get out....Now!

Hey, there's hope after all for the new generation, especially with hero teachers like Stephen to guide them. Teachers like him should get quadruple their salaries....but, then, that's the subject of another article