Leave My Child Alone

In June of this year I blogged on a little known aspect of Bush's NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND Act. This is a provision that requires school districts to furnish the government personal information on your minor child for the purpose of military recruiting.

This despicable provision at least has an opt-out option. This option is little known and no doubt the government was hopeful that it would continued to be just as obscure as the provision itself that requires school districts to turn over this information to them... Including their social security number. This information then is maintained by a private vendor hired by the department of defense to retain this data.

I am happy to report that LEAVE MY CHILD ALONE DOT ORG has made it relatively simple to opt-out and give proper notification of your child's school district as well as the vendor. ODDS ARE THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN GIVEN THE INFORMATION DURING THE PAST YEAR. From this site you can very easily with a limited amount of keystrokes, construct two letters - one to your school district superintendent opting-out, and the other to the vendor instructing them to purge your child's information.


Using the link below, you can access the site to help you with this process. I encourage you to not only do this, but help publicize the site so that more people are informed of this. I already opted-out for my school age child.


The Pentagon has been compiling sensitive data on 30 million youth ages 16-to-25 using a private marketing firm, without the knowledge or consent of individuals or their families. You can opt-out of this database by following instructions at www.LeaveMyChildAlone.org.


No Child Left Behind

United for Peace and Justice - Saturday, September 24 Massive March, Rally & Festival

United for Peace & Justice - Saturday, September 24 Massive March, Rally & Festival


I wanted to share this information with Stick Poet readers. Any of you that are within the proximity of D.C. - this is your opportunity to make a statement to the Administration and Congress that enough is enough!

Sam Hamill of Poets
Against the War has put out a call for support from the poetry community.

While I can't physically be there this weekend, I am there in spirit.

Iraq War Bush Administration Poets Against The War

Yet Another Poetry Send Off

Another six poems off this afternoon for consideration. This is a good thing!

Connecting the Dots

The mind is such an incredible device. You are reading along in some other poet’s work and all of a sudden, hum…. You wonder what was going on in the poet’s mind. Well, very likely what was going on in his or her mind is the same thing working in your own mind, logic.

Of course you’ll argue that you certainly don’t see the logic of what you just read, but the fact is, the writer used his mental process and came up with what he did. So your life experiences are different and these two minds take the same things and end up at different points of conclusion. So what! That in fact is one of the very reasons I find poetry so utterly fascinating.

If I say “clock” and you immediately think of your daughter, I might not immediately see how you got daughter out of that. None the less you arrived at point C from point A. There was to you a logical progression. For you, perhaps the word clock reminded you of an appointment time. Those in turn triggered A thought that you were supposed to be somewhere 45 minutes ago. Where? Ah, your daughter’s school to pick her up and take her to the Doctor. So while I am thinking of wristwatch, quitting time at work, going home, etc., I just don’t see your daughter. Still the connection to you was quite logical.

I recall someone once saying ( I think it was Pinsky but don’t hold me to it) that when he reads a poem and is not getting it, he refuses to dismiss it, thinking what a poor job the poet has done. Instead, he figures the problem lies with himself, the reader and that he has to read it again, and again , again until he gets it.

The is the challenge of reading poetry that inspires me. Yes, I too sometimes wonder, “where did that come from?” The fact however, is that it was the product of the logic of another’s mind. There is always a reason, it simply may not be an obvious reason to you. And so with poetry, we get a tiny glimpse inside the workings of another’s mind.


Poetics

Even Nixon & Bush Would Admire NYPD Gestapo Tatics

Yesterday, Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war activist who's son was killed in Iraq and who camped outside Bush's ranch for most of the president's vacation spoke in New York's Union Square. She had nearly finished when police intervened.

She was ushered away from the Union Square rally by supporters as onlookers yelled at police and chanted "let her speak". Some upset onlookers likened the police response with the arrests of more than 1,800 protesters last year during the Republican National Convention. Organisms Paul Zulkowitz was arrested for using a sound devise and disorderly conduct.

NYPD Detective Kevin Czartoryski called the arrest "appropriate action" after the department received numerous complaints. Daniel Starling, Green Party's Manhattan chapter co-chair who attended the rally said, "This is what's been happening for the last couple of years, every time we hold a demonstration they arrest us."

Ah yes, shades of Richard Nixon at the height of Vietnam.

Iraq War Cindy Sheehan NYPD

The Ever Fashionable Barry has his Beauty Day Out

My dog Barry - who has previously graced the pages of this blog with pictures of him teething on his George W. Bush doll, among other poses, can be seen here sporting the "wet look" when he was taken to the Brookside Barkery for a shampoo and blow dry. Obviously this is a pre-dry shot.

Barry is a very hip - dog with real culture. He has been know to set on the bed and listen to me read poetry aloud. My wife will tell you he has no choice in the matter, but I can tell he enjoys the likes of Sylvia Plath, Robert Frost, Sharon Olds, and Billy Collins. He even is kind enough to listen to some of my own.

Released Into The Wild

Do you ever mail submissions and feel like you've just released doves into the air or something?

Packet with six poems off in the mail this afternoon.