Jesus Patrick.  If you look at it another way, how many Americans had to
pay one quarter of one cent in  order for you to *breathe* sufficiently
long to write this message?  Twenty?  Thirty?  Maybe you had a
mouthful of coke or whatever when you were writing it?  Fifty?  Sixty?
Well, this puts a whole new slant on democracy and representation.
The constituency of the artist, simply by virtue of paltry subsidy, is
*huge*.  I suppose there's a definite danger of saying: hey, your subsidy
is so rotten this syllable is all you get.  On the other hand, a good
haiku now: how many quarter of a cent would that take?  Looking at it
like this, one imagines the artist spearheading vast cohorts of widows'
mites rather than yowling in the living room.  I think your post requires
and fully deserves the quarter of one cents of several hundred Americans
and that you serve them well.
Mairead


On Thu, 23 May 2002, Patrick Herron wrote:

> My rant on being nice to Americans -
>
> Yes, this is a rant.  Forgive me if it offends anyone.
>
> As an American, specifically as a native Philadelphian, I think Lawrence is
> right on.  He did not mean to slander us, or, at least, not all of us.
> There are some of us here in America, perhaps only a wee few, who know about
> the sort of people Lawrence is talking about.  America is full of people
> "talkin' 'bout freedom, speakin' 'bout liberty," people who are in reality
> nothing but slaves to a bunch of criminals.  Besides, I was the first one
> who put forth the "Philadelphia hypothesis."  I'm talking about MY family at
> risk.
>
> Nothing would surprise me...my US government is run by irrepressible
> hegemons and criminals.  Between Cheney, Bush, (what a pair, Dick and Bush,
> won't pull out 'till they've gone all the way) and Condosleeza Rice you've
> got millions dead in Iraq and Timor, before they ever came to office.  In
> Central Africa.  Brown & Root, Halliburton, Chevron, Unocal, Enron, the
> Carlysle Group (chaired now by John Major, working with fellow scum like
> James Baker and Frank Carlucci).  As Governor of Texas, Bush tried to give
> Lockheed Martin exclusive control over the state welfare system before
> Clinton stopped him.  Lynne Cheney, Dick's wife, is on the payroll at
> Lockheed Martin.  Lockheed Martin alone receives over $12 billion annually
> from the US Federal Government for defense contracts.  And 9-11 looks very
> sketchy--stand-down orders from the 113th fighter wing over DC during the
> attacks, evidence of cover-up, a trail of documentation showing that the
> Bush administration was warned at the very least but continued to act
> completely surprised afterwards ("was it the terrorists," Bush said, not
> "was it some terrorists" or "were they terrorists"), and the "trifecta"
> comments by George Bush.  "Cui bono?"  Bush answered that question himself,
> not on network television, but at GOP fundraisers.  "I hit the trifecta."
> Scum.  His kingdom for a hearse.
>
> Lawrence's sarcasm is absolutely warranted.  I see quite clearly his point,
> once I got past my own irrational emotional attachments.  Our politicians
> here in America speak so frequently in the name of freedom (e.g., Bush's
> speech on Cuba this week) yet work against that very idea with every ounce
> of energy they posess (e.g., attack Afghanistan without rational
> justification, or, steal an election).
>
> If this hurts my fellow Americans, well, tough.  Their lack of pain in
> avoiding this painful subject is the reason we're all suffering from this
> crap here in America--the fading civil liberties, the extreme exploitation
> of the tax base for military/corporate interests, the looting of all social
> support systems, the destruction of public education, the explosion of the
> prison industry and the so-called "international war against drugs," the
> institutionalized military-corporate propaganda system built into the media,
> the suffocating forces all of these things exert on the arts and creativity
> in general.  Is that enough?  What about people in SUVs gouging themselves
> and the environment in the name of credit, kids running around with guns
> shooting each other?   The trickle down of these ugly economics empties out
> into the ocean of childhood, and we're training these kids and arming them
> so that they can come to your town soon!  Jawohl.  Maybe they'll be called
> the "Tee Shirts."  And I haven't even really touched on the international
> exploitation....allende and letelier, che, patrice lumumba and the belgian
> congo airlift, maquiladora industries and mercury in the streets, genocide
> in rwanda and zaire, 20 years of civil war in angola, arming both extremist
> palestinians and extremist Israelis, Plan Colombia.
>
> International TT International Tief
>
> One of the latest developments here is a new push for gun reform...folks in
> the Bush administration want to still permit individuals to possess guns and
> buy guns, but prevent anyone in an organized militia group from possessing
> arms.  Of course, this is the exact opposite idea that the founding fathers
> wrote into the Constitution, the right to bear arms in order to form a
> militia for defense from tyrrany and exploitation, not the right to keep a
> handgun under the pillow.  But gun sales matter more than public safety or
> preventing the government from direct acts of tyrrany.
>
> In June, 2000, it was announced that Secretary of Commerce William Daley was
> resigning his post to become AL GORE'S campaign manager. A few days later,
> it was announced that PRESIDENT CLINTON had named NORMAN MINETA his choice
> for the new Secretary of Commerce.
>
> Before being named Secretary of Commerce, NORMAN MINETA - a former
> California congressman - was an EXECUTIVE and LOBBYIST for LOCKHEED MARTIN!
> In January, 2001, President GEORGE W. BUSH (R) named NORMAN MINETA (D) as
> his SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION.
>
> On September 11, 2001, under the watch of NORMAN MINETA, four U.S. airliners
> were hijacked.
>
> On October 27, 2001, LOCKHEED MARTIN was awarded the largest military
> contract in the history of our country.  $200 billion.
>
> Cui bono?
>
> Just one of many many factors.
>
> America is now responsible for over 40% of the world's annual military
> spending.  40%!  The American people are sleeping through this and just
> opening their pockets wide to these fuckers who sit around trying to figure
> out how to increase those numbers.  And the American people bitch about the
> 1/4th of 1 cent they each spend on the arts.  If that hurts Americans then
> let's hurt us some more.  We're literally a loaded weapon.  As a country
> quite clearly we're dangerous.  If we don't hurt and change, everyone else
> will continue to get hurt.
>
>
>
> Best,
> Patrick
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
> poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Wild Honey Press
> Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2002 3:09 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: POETRYETC Digest - 21 May 2002 to 22 May 2002 (#2002-143)
>
>
> I know this was said out of compassion for others, but I don't think any of
> us appreciate how hurtful remarks like these are to Americans.
>
> Randolph
>
>
>
> From: "Lawrence Upton" <[log in to unmask]>
> > Nuking Philadelphia. What an idea for the loving Bush bros!
> >
> > Mind you, freedom loving democrats bombed Jugoslav Vojvod and everything
> was
> > beautiful in Kosovo - I guess it works the way a needle in your foot may
> > cure your headache...
> >
> > Or a pain anywhere else
> >
> > I'd like to think the people of Philadelphia would make the sacrifice if
> it
> > would help a great nation towards healing and hope
> >
> > Dream well
> >
> > L
>