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Showing posts with label nytimes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nytimes. Show all posts

Friday, April 09, 2010

Demob? Crazy! [Today's News Poem, April 9, 2010]

Demob? Crazy! [Today's News Poem, April 9, 2010]
“The acting head of the government, Roza Otunbayeva, said at a news conference that the president, Kurmanbek S. Bakiyev, had been offered safe passage into exile if he agreed to step down... Mr. Bakiyev, who fled to the south of the country on Wednesday, has refused to give up power and has made vague threats about trying to re-establish his authority... As many as 75 people were killed and more than 400 were wounded when riot police officers opened fire on antigovernment demonstrators here on Wednesday, provoking a violent backlash that left many of those same police officers bloodied and running for their lives. Protesters burned and looted government buildings and businesses, and President Bakiyev was forced to flee.”
-Michael Schwartz, The New York Times, April 9, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/10/world/europe/10kyrgyz.html?src=mv

If titles are irrelevant
Why bother saying 'Presidents?'
Must blind men fondle elephants
To hear the charge and resonance
Of feet that bear the mass of fate?
And why would they waste time with chat?
Enumerate the style and gait
Of that which seeks to crush them flat?
The early humans nearly died
Before they took to spear and axe—
Before they learned to hunt in prides,
They fled from beasts and wild attacks.
When prey evolves from tribe to mob
Then riot gear cannot defeat
What's otherwise dismissed by snobs.
The rioters must eat elites.

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Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Revenge of the Mud People [Today's News Poem, March 2, 2010]

Revenge of the Mud People [Today's News Poem, March 2, 2010]

“Because of this buffering action, culture was thought to have blunted the rate of human evolution, or even brought it to a halt, in the distant past.”
--Nicholas Wade, March 1, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/science/02evo.html?8dpc

Eugenicists have often said
Our species weakens as it's bred
With imbeciles who reproduce
At faster rates; and thus reduce
Intelligence collectively.
At times the masters actively
Conspire to cull a populace.
I say we find the proper place
For every trait—from theft to art.
The brain survives on other parts:
A plague could kill most humankind,
Exterminate our finest minds—
For now, on tech we might depend;
But when it's gone, what's left to fend
For us but selves? Our cells, our genes,
Our friends, our clans—our very means
Of life depends on traits unknown
Since death cares not for what we hone.
And since in death and life the test
Of merit lies—in not who's best,
But rather those who live in peace
And leave behind no single piece
Of who we are, or were, or seek
To be—in those who shelter weak
And gentle beings—in them our blood's
Ennobled: lifted from the mud.

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Saturday, February 27, 2010

Dodging Nature [Bonus News Poem Feb 27, 2010]

Dodging Nature [Bonus News Poem Feb 27, 2010]

“Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, told The Associated Press that the state had “dodged a bullet” after a major earthquake in Chile a half-day earlier had caused tsunami warnings to be issued for most of the Pacific basin.”
--Charles E. Roessler and Eric Lipton, New York Times, February 27, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/us/28warning.html

When ocean yawns, it stretches tips of waves
Before emerging from the depths with tides
And swells that carve the land: the grotto-caves,
The beasts the plants: the sea discerns no sides.
The water threatens everything—and yet
Despite its threat, the drowning's just a pet
Of continents, of moon, of unknown types
Of influence we've yet to understand—
A force indifferent to flags and stripes:
To reason, God; or any hopeful brand
Of humanism touting our control.
We lie for peace. So what? It might console
Our kids. Who cares what humankind extols?

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Saturday, February 13, 2010

Zoology [Today's News Poem, Feb 13, 2010]

Zoology [Today's News Poem, Feb 13, 2010]

“It didn't happen. There's no way .... they are still alive.”
--Amy Bishop

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jFo5VigoTH0_SUARIYqoUf7P9ziwD9DRIE501

“The shootings on the university campus opened a window into the pressure-cooker world of biotechnology start-ups, where scientists often depend on their association with academia for a leg up.”
--Shaila Dewan and Liz Robbins, NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/us/14alabama.html

http://www.thugreport.com/

A pressure cooker, right? A princess takes
The world by right—her flesh is good: it's white.
She's not an animal. The 'black man' fakes
His decent traits, but her, she fakes her fight—
“It didn't happen,” right? “They're still alive”
She said—that's right. Just ask the news—like you
It wants to know how snow can act like jive-
Ass darkies. Whites with burdens tend imbue
Their sacrifice for darker folks with tragedy.
The blacks just suffer less: their pains are comedy.

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Friday, February 12, 2010

The Nazis Won [Today's News Poem, Feb 12, 2010]

The Nazis Won [Today's News Poem, Feb 12, 2010]
Khakjaan Wessington

“For the second time in less than five weeks, China’s central bank has moved to limit lending to consumers and businesses by ordering big commercial banks to park a larger share of their deposits at the central bank. The step, announced late Friday, came earlier than most economists had expected and was aimed at forestalling a rekindling of inflation by controlling a rapid expansion in bank loans. Families, real estate developers and industrial companies have been borrowing heavily and have started paying more for everything from food to apartments.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/business/global/13yuan.html

The dictionary's buttressed—scholars, publishers,
And interests determine how its read, applied
And otherwise abused—despite how language-roots
Grow deep within the common use. These thought-fissures
We see in words like 'Fascism:' it's oft denied
In case right here. America has tax jackboots

And threats of killer debts because the contractors
Can cover loans by governmental guarantee
Of pay: they borrow all the cash—we can't compete.
Who risks on tiny business? Nuclear-reactors
Will generate a yield for sure, the bourgeoisie
Are safer allocations unlike most main-streets.

Main Street: a flow of cars—of bars, electric wires.
To squash the meats without a shell; to keep the thieves
Away from Mine, to burn the birds to death: with tires
Or current, desperation sells: it hurts, it weaves

The means to close the deal: the cars will sell,
And suicide's against the law, so profits swell
At burger joints that own this land: don't call it hell.