"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on,
the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die."
--- speech conceding the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination.

Read on for a poem by Cape Cod poet José Gouveia, celebrating Senator Ted Kennedy.

The reason I support public option is because it gives consumers of health care a choice—if we like our insurance policy we can stay with it, but if we want to try something else we can go with the public option, a government administered program. There are many advantages to a government program, not the least of which is that government does not have CEOs who make millions of dollars in salary each year. The government, conceivably, has a different set of priorities and can bargain with providers on our behalf.

Elizabeth Alexander's poem is all the buzz in the poetry world, with plenty of critiques from armchair poets. I thought the poem was lovely-- especially to look at it later in print; I can't fathom the pressures of writing such a poem.

One of my favorite quotes of all time is “if I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution,” Emma Goldman. This week-end, in Washington, DC, for me, involved a lot of dancing. For eight long years, we’ve had our spirits pressed…not to mention how long African Americans and civil rights activists have waited for this moment. It's no wonder there were over 800 gala events in Washington, DC on inauguration night!

"We are currently in a conflict with the Palestinians.... engaging in a successful PR campaign is part of winning the conflict." Alon Pinkas, Consul General for Israel in New York.

"You can't defend yourself when you are militarily occupying somebody else's land, call it what you like, but it's not self-defense." Noam Chomsky.

If there is anything we learned from the Holocaust and other genocidal wars, it is that language matters. It can be used to dehumanize the victims of war, and to hide the perpetrators' responsibility. As I listen to Israeli officials speak this week, and to the language coming out of the White House, I have to note that we are being given several messages over and over, and that these messages contribute to a one sided, dehumanizing framework.

In the past two days US backed Israeli bombs have killed more 300 people, injuring 900 in Gaza, where the humanitarian crisis was already building because of a blockade which has prevented food, cooking gas, and medical supplies from entering Gaza. This is a city of 1.5 million people and these bombs are paid for with US tax dollars. 56% of the population of Gaza are children.

The Bush administration’s response to this violence is inadequate. The US funds the Israeli military (last year alone, $2.5 billion) and is therefore complicit in this violence. We must demand a change in US foreign policy. Please read on for analysis by middle east policy expert Phyllis Bennis for analysis of the current crisis:

"How do we sustain our creative lives during a time of economic crisis? What are the investment returns on a new painting or musical composition? What if there was no art? How much is the world worth without color? What if we had jobs but no music during our breaks or when we returned home? Our society is built not just by bone and flesh but by our imagination. We are wealthy when we create. We are poor when poetry is missing from our lives. We must have art as well as air." -- Poet, E. Ethelbert Miller

They hang the man and flog the woman
That steal the good from off the common,
But let the greater villain loose
That steals the common from the goose,

The Law demands that we atone
When we take things we don't own
But leave the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine,

The poor and wretched don't escape
If they conspire the Law to break;
This must be so, but they endure
Those who conspire to make the Law.

The Law locks up the man or woman,
Who steals the goose from off the common
And geese will still a common flock
Till they go and steal it back.

--- English folk poem, circa 1764

McCain said need a “cool hand at the tiller” and the tiller I saw was not the boat tiller, but the tiller that turns up soil. Seconds later he was talking about “America's most precious asset, American blood.” I was still trying to figure out if he had said “cruel hand” or “cool hand” either way, I saw Mr. Death tilling up a field of blood. Never mind that we are not shipping blood over seas, we are shipping men and women who have a lot more to offer this world than their blood.