Bloggence, Cunning, Exile

Aspiration of Poetry

ASPIRATION OF POETRY
by Li Min-yong, c 1990
translated by Denis Mar
[I dedicate this to Condoleeza Rice, see previous log ]

Our search is for words that have not been ruined
To pursue the genuine in a false land

Power is a ringleader who compels
The wraiths of politics to twist our language

With deliberate care
We clear a place for each injured word
And let the words join into a force of resistance

Let language come to life again
So we may have sufficient strength
To capture the doers of harm.


[P.S. Today, sadly and predictably, Rice was confirmed by the Senate for the next 4 years as Secretary of State. Senator Boxer objected strongly and with good reasons. Senator Robert C. Byrd also spoke eloquently about the neglected founding principles of the US Constitution. Meanwhile we watch in dismay as the Bush administration and its cheerleaders continue to violate those principles, leading the whole nation downward into unpayable debts -- debts economical, ecological, moral, and diplomatic. Condoleeza Rice doesn't have the respect of other nations the way Colin Powell did, therefore the US has now lost even this diplomatic face.

Senator Byrd intoned that, "To confirm Dr. Rice to be the next Secretary of State is to say to the American people, and the world, that the answers to those questions are no longer important. Her confirmation will most certainly be viewed as another endorsement of the Administration’s unconstitutional doctrine of preemptive war, its bullying policies of unilateralism, and its callous rejection of our long-standing allies."

The Bush-Rice-Rumsfeld-Cheney doctrine of launching offensive wars is a violation of the US Constitution and of international laws. Add to this grave and unAmerican error of the promotion of torture and imprisonment without due process, without the traditional legality of habeas corpus, and then next initiating death squads. The sum result is a cancelled Constitution. Gonzales is up next for confirmation into the Bush cabinet. Expect the same horrifying results. Boxer, Byrd, and a few others will stand up for American ideals, while the rest of the cynical and self-serving creeps will snicker while they vote for the lawyer who advised that torture is right, and that our agreements against torture were merely "quaint".

One wonders that if these are the new rules of the game, the new laws of the land, then the opposition should consider likewise the use of lying, cheating, stealing, and torture. It's probably _not_ a good idea, but still doesn't it cross your mind? This is what is meant by the Law educating and cultivating a public morality. ]

posted by E. Heroux @ 11:58 PM