this diary is dedicated to all who suffer because of war and other disasters
I said yesterday that this series of daily diaries has now entered the 300 zone at DailyKos. Maybe it’s like watching your odometer turn, or noting that the number of US soldiers killed has reached 2,000, or that the number of Iraqis killed is now – well, you know what I mean.
Yes, they’re artificial milestones, just as my 18th, 25th, 30th, 40th, and most recently 50th birthdays were all pretty much the same as my other birthdays, which themselves were pretty much the same as any other April day picked at random.
But for whatever reason, we greet these occasions with a different sensibility. Perhaps here, this is the chance for each of us to see images we may have missed, or to see them again with new eyes, or old.
images for days 51-100 and selected poems below the fold. Note – Several images depict graphic scenes of death and mutilation.
Thanks to all who visited yesterday at dKos and here at BooMan for your comments. There were so many (almost as many as were in my one pie-fight diary), and they were all so thoughtful.
I especially thank Liberaljentaps, and point out the dKos link he/she provided – a rendition of the song featured in yesterday’s diary.
Note: Tony Kline is a poet and translator who runs the rich and wonderful site Poetry in Translation. I’ve used many poems that Tony has translated, including one featured today from Day 81, and he has provided me with generous help and encouragement. I encourage all poetry lovers, and others, to visit Tony’s site.
Day 51
Day 52
Day 53 and 54
Day 55
Day 56
Day 57
Day 58
Day 59
Day 60
Day 61
Day 62
Day 63
Day 64
Day 65
Day 66
Day 67
Day 68
Day 69
Day 70
Day 71
Day 72
Day 73
Day 74
Day 75
Day 76
Day 77
Day 78
Day 79
Day 80
Day 81
Day 82
Day 83
Day 84
Day 85
Day 86
Day 87
Day 88
Day 89
Day 90
Day 91
Day 92
Day 93
Day 94
Day 95
Day 96
Day 97
Day 98
Day 99
Day 100
From Day 71
Painful Choice
by Maeve Brennan
from the book The Long-Winded LadyI was in a small supermarket the other evening, waiting to have my things put in a bag, when I saw a shabby tall man with red eyes, who had obviously been drinking heavily since the cradle, trying to decide between a can of beans, a canned whole dinner, a canned soup, and a canned chicken a la king. He had thirty-seven cents or twenty-nine cents of some sum like that, and he was standing there with the four cans, glaring down at them and all around at the stalls of vegetables and fruit and bread and so on. He couldn’t make up his mind what to buy to feed himself with, and it was plain that what he really wanted wasn’t food at all. I was thinking I wouldn’t blame him a bit if he just put the cans back on their shelves, or dropped them on the floor, and dashed into the bar-and-grill next door, where he could simply ask for a beer and drink it. Later on it occurred to me that, putting it roughly, there is usually only one thing we yearn to do that’s bad for us, while if we try to make the effort to do a virtuous or good thing, the choice is so great and wide that we’re really worn out before we can settle on what to do. I mean to say that the impulse toward good involves choice, and is complicated, and the impulse toward bad is hideously simple and easy, and I feel sorry for that poor tall red-eyed man.
September 18, 1954
From day 81
from Ballade: Du Concours De Blois
by Francois Villon
as presented in Hell’s Angels by Hunter S. ThompsonIn my own country I am in a far-off land
I am strong but have no force or power
I win all yet remain a loser
At break of dawn I say goodnight
When I lie down I have a great fear
of falling.Ballade: Du Concours De Blois
par Francois Villon
translation by A. S. KlineI’m dying of thirst beside the fountain,
Hot as fire, and with chattering teeth:
In my own land, I’m in a far domain:
Near the flame, I shiver beyond belief:
Bare as a worm, dressed in a furry sheathe,
I smile in tears, wait without expectation:
Taking my comfort in sad desperation:
I rejoice, without pleasures, never a one:
Strong I am, without power or persuasion,
Welcomed gladly, and spurned by everyone.Nothing is sure for me but what’s uncertain:
Obscure, whatever is plainly clear to see:
I’ve no doubt, except of everything certain:
Science is what happens accidentally:
I win it all, yet a loser I’m bound to be:
Saying: `God give you good even!’ at dawn,
I greatly fear I’m falling, when lying down:
I’ve plenty, yet I’ve not one possession,
I wait to inherit, yet I’m no heir I own,
Welcomed gladly, and spurned by everyone.I never take care, yet I’ve taken great pain
To acquire some goods, but have none by me:
Who’s nice to me is one I hate: it’s plain,
And who speaks truth deals with me most falsely:
He’s my friend who can make me believe
A white swan is the blackest crow I’ve known:
Who thinks he’s power to help me, does me harm:
Lies, truth, to me are all one under the sun:
I remember all, have the wisdom of a stone,
Welcomed gladly, and spurned by everyone.Merciful Prince, may it please you that I’ve shown
There’s much I know, yet without sense or reason:
I’m partial, yet I hold with all men, in common.
What more can I do? Redeem what I’ve in pawn,
Welcomed gladly, and spurned by everyone.
From Day 93
Why Don’t We Mourn as a Nation?
by RubDMC
based on the essay Why We Don’t Mourn
by Tom WatsonAll Italy mourns Nicola Calipari
His honored body
Streams of visitors
A state funeral
The gold medal of valorBut there’s no national mourning in the U.S.
For our soldiers
For any soldierWe avoid it
Our leaders avoid it
Our trained seal national media avoids itHave you paused to watch
A national prayer service
For our dead in Iraq and Afghanistan
Over the past two bloody years?No, because
It hasn’t happened1,500 killed so far in Iraq
Do you recall
The national day of mourning?No, because
President Bush has never named oneWe have local stories about “our heroes”
Killed in Fallujah
Killed in Baghdad
Killed in Mosul
Local funerals
Local ceremonies of grief
Local newspaper stories
About the high school athlete
The volunteer fireman
The father, mother
The husband, wife
The son, daughter
Who went to war and never came homeBut, nothing national
Nothing American
NothingAlways
In war
Horrendous mistakes
Among jittery
Scared
Heavily-armed troops
Lead to mistaken death and injury
It is part of the cost society has decided to accept
Following the path laid out by our national leadershipWhat we don’t have to accept
Is the national silence that greets the dead
From an administration
That doesn’t want photographs
Of coffins arriving
StatesideWhy don’t we mourn as a nation?
The reason is
Simple
Shocking
DamningOur leaders don’t care
– – –
view the pbs newshour silent honor roll (with thanks to jimstaro at booman.)
take a private moment to light one candle among many (with thanks to TXSharon)
support veterans for peace
support the Iraqi people
support the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)
support CARE
support the victims of torture
remember the fallen
support Gold Star Families for Peace
support the fallen
support the troops
support the troops and the Iraqi people
read This is what John Kerry did today, the diary by lawnorder that prompted this series
read Riverbend’s Bagdhad Burning
read Dahr Jamail’s Iraq Dispatches
read Today in Iraq
witness every day
cross-posted at DailyKos, Booman Tribune, European Tribune, and My Left Wing.
Click on the candle to copy the image into your own comment (you can leave it on my server), and/or rate this one – not for mojo, but to leave a small mark after taking this moment.
we are each others’ children
waking up to the world
with new eyes
every day
we are each others’ children
strong and full of wonder
needing oone another other
every day
we are each others’ children
orphaned
by indifference
with breaking hearts
every day
for all who are connected through empathy to the human family
that’s what I get for posting poetry on the fly.
love you, Rub!
Peace
Bless you, Rub.
This morning’s edition was especially heartbreaking as I listened to Waltzing Matilda in the background. (thanks for the link)
Thank you for investing so much of yourself into these powerful, disturbing diaries. I appreciate your contributions immensely.
Peace
this hideous war.
Thank you RubDMC
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For Innocence Lost!
Retired Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s former chief of staff, has sharply criticized the Bush administration’s handling of the run up to the Iraq war. Following an interview with Wilkerson, two experts debate his charges.
Listen To and Read Transcript Here
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October In Iraq – Video
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This is a Silent Honor Roll shown on the PBS ‘News Hour’, now Almost Daily, that was started at the Beginning!
As of Today, 11-05-05 there are 51 Pages with 5 ‘Honor Roll’ links per page!
If you take the Time to View ‘ALL’ the Pages/Photo’s and Information Instill This Thought Into Each American Military Face You See, ‘Try and Picture 30, 40, 50, 60 or More Iraqi Faces, Children-Women-Men, Killed for Each Of These Faces You Are Looking At’
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For Most Understand ‘What You Do You Receive In Return’!
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sorry world and sorry to the children… everywhere.
My government are warmongering profiteers who lied so that they could control the scared masses of my apathetic, apolotical country. They lied so they could KILL and KILL and KILL.
My country doesn’t even want to see the troops when they return. They don’t want to see YOUR faces of grief and death. They don’t care about you, Iraqi children. They don’t care about you Afghani children. They simply can’t be bothered… and for that I am so ashamed.
Please know that there are people in America who do care and cry and scream and bang their fists till they bleed… but it’s not enough and I’m so sorry.
All those children… and coffins. …
May Bush and the Red Regime ROT IN HELL. It’s going to take a lifetime to clean up their greedy mess.
This was all about power and control. This was about exterminating people. Everywhere.
…that it will grip our lives and move us to change.
THANKS IS ALL I CAN MUSTER UP TO SAY TO YOU AFTER LOOKING AT THESE PICTURES. My heart breaks more each and every time I review your diary. This needs to be on Cnn and MSNBC and cbs and abc and all the channel affiliates! Then maybe someone would really take to heart on what we are doing over there and to our own society.
Rub, Thanks for your endurance and compassion. Hugs
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For Innocence Lost!
Smoking Gun on Manipulation of Iraq Intelligence? ‘NY Times’ Cites New Document
By E&P Staff
Published: November 05, 2005 1:30 PM ET
NEW YORK Ever since the Democrats briefly closed the U.S. Senate from view earlier this week, to protest alleged Republican foot-dragging in probing Bush administration pre-war manipulation of intelligence, the press has been asking: So what new evidence do the Democrats have in this matter?
Tomorrow, The New York Times starts to answer the question, with reporter Doug Jehl disclosing the contents of a newly declassified memo apparently passed to him by Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
SNIP
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October In Iraq – Video
^^^^^^^^
This is a Silent Honor Roll shown on the PBS ‘News Hour’, now Almost Daily, that was started at the Beginning!
As of Today, 11-05-05 there are 51 Pages with 5 ‘Honor Roll’ links per page!
If you take the Time to View ‘ALL’ the Pages/Photo’s and Information Instill This Thought Into Each American Military Face You See, ‘Try and Picture 30, 40, 50, 60 or More Iraqi Faces, Children-Women-Men, Killed for Each Of These Faces You Are Looking At’
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For Most Understand ‘What You Do You Receive In Return’!
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Jim, I am so wanting this to be a big take down for this administration..the whole lot of them….ALL of them…those still present and those who have been dismissed or went else where. Do you know that Douglas Feith is doing nowadays!? I worry since he has dropped of the face of the earth. He is such an evil man!
Don’t know but you do bring up something that I’ve been wondering myself!
He isn’t the Only quite one from the NEO-CON Ranks, Pearl etc. also have been ‘Hiding In An Undisclosed Location!’!!!
But I don’t think they are Planning anything, the Whole Ideology is Under Extreme Fire even from Inside, unless of course another ‘Terrorists[?]’ here is in the works!!
The only one I’ve heard a peep about is Wolfawitz, and he’s having priblems at the World Bank!!
Jim
It breaks my hart to see the suffering of all those human beings.
It is often said that those who win, do write history. That is not true: History is writen by people like you Rub. People who care about the truth, and who documented, just like you did.
Thank you.
I was raised to believe in heaven and hell, and that there was punishment in the life after death, that would correct all the injustices of this life.
Now, I have mostly lost my faith, although some faith in God returns from time to time. But not in all those old ideas of eternal reward and punishment. . .
However, I would really like to believe in hell. Because I would like to believe that the persons who so easily consigned so many innocents, and so many who are neither “innocent nor guilty”, to such pain and deprivation, would rot and burn forevermore. Actually, I don’t want to believe it, I want to know it.
What I do know, however, RubDMC, is that you are blessed for doing this.
Light A Candle For
Peace, Tolerance, Understanding
and For Innocence Lost!
KidSpeak, Same Here!!!
Dona nobis pacem