Never in our country's history have we witnessed a natural disaster that has impacted so many people in such a wide area. In fact, as of the writing of this column, millions of people along the Gulf Coast have been displaced from their homes in a period of only five days.
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That Millions Do Live In Poverty
That millions do live in poverty should never be seen as okay
The gap between the haves and the have nots keeps getting bigger by the day
Everyone should have the chance to live happy a home to live in and enough for to eat
There never should be slums and ghettos and never a poverty street,
That millions are born to live in poverty and to end their hard lives in despair
Only tells us if there's a god that god favours the wealthy and that god is not very fair
To leave millions homeless and dying of malnutrition the people condemned to die poor and young
In the refugee camps of the World live the displaced, the poor and unsung,
In the age of celebrity worship the poor in millions multiply
Why millions are destined to be poor don't ask me I wouldn't know why
Even in the World's wealthiest Countries poor people are no longer rare
And millions and millions of have nots in the bigger World out there
And millions are dying of hunger and millions are doing it tough
And millions are displaced and homeless and as refugees living it rough.
poem by Francis Duggan
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If you have a major disaster involving hundreds of thousands, or in this case millions of people, whether it be a natural disaster or an act of terrorism, the first 72 hours are going to be totally chaotic no matter what you plan to do.
quote by Warren Rudman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Flotsam
After the First World War
there floated a sea of stateless people
who drifted from border to border,
flotsam of the war, each reaching out
to find somewhere to call their own;
displaced by everyone as they tried
to adopt a homeland,
a place they could call their own.
Etched on each face was the agony
they felt being turned away
everywhere they went.
This flotsam of war.
10 November 2010
Author’s Note:
It is hard to believe that millions of people were displaced and wandered the borders of Europe for years after the First World War. However, it is true and history does record it.
DVH
November 2010
poem by David Harris
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In Every Way!
how many people are blind?
how many people are deaf?
how many by choice?
perhaps you still have jobs,
homes, food to eat, medical care.
perhaps you have investments,
a way to retire....
perhaps your family is happy,
and well taken care of...
i hope so for you!
millions of people hurting,
millions in need...
millions of children hungry,
millions who cant get an education.
millions enslaved by poverty,
millions left alone....
people with faces and names.
all of these are normal people.
whatever their language, their religion,
their sexual orientation.
all of these are people just like you.
and many of these have families,
just like you!
is it their fault they're victims?
perhaps they've worked their whole lives.
male, female, young, old.....
all people,
with mothers and fathers....
all people....
and no, America is not free.
the news we watch is tainted.
the truth is hidden from us.
killing people around the world
does not make us free....
books are being banned and burned,
prejudice and discrimination are rampant.
we have forgotten we are responsible for each other,
we have forgotten we are all immigrants here.
there are no illegal people,
all people are just people.
freedom demands equality,
in every way!
poem by Eric Cockrell
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The second is there are some communities that we thought originally would take mobile homes that have decided they don't want them. And we're not going to cram mobile homes down the throats of communities in Louisiana and the Gulf - and other parts of the Gulf Coast.
quote by Michael Chertoff
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
They leave their homes
Unwillingly forced
And follow their fate
Through fields and trails
Massifs and woods
With all their goods
Love and hate
Mores and tales
All in bales
Carrying their own
Flesh and bones
Feet like stones
Their bodies and souls
Kids and crones
Torn by storms,
Rains and gales
Attacked by guns,
Helis and drones
No role to play
In games of peace
And deadly war
Not a word they say
But a question,
Why? What for?
While we yawn
Sitting at ease
In our climes
They leave their homes
And reside in camps
Strive for a living
Internally displaced and dead
Beg for a dropp of water
And a piece of bread!
(May 12,2009)
(*) Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is a neoteric terminology used in reference to those people who adopt refuge in their own countries due to any life threatening disturbance like fight between the extremists and security agencies or fight between the local millitant groups that results in catastrophic changes in their lives and they leave their homes due to anarchy in their respective area. (NAN)
poem by Naseer Ahmed Nasir
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You Tell Me Of Your Australian History
You tell me of your Australian history your ancestors were British and Irish pioneers
But your history in this Land is not an old history just two centuries and twenty years
And in time that may seem quite a long span though the combined life spans of three people nothing more
Your ancestors hardly were Aussies they came here from a distant shore.
The first Australians have lived in this Country for longer than most care to know
Their ancestors came here from Asia more than sixty thousand years ago
They are indigenous to this Country all others have links to elsewhere
Yet they still struggle for recognition and that to me seems quite unfair.
Dispossessed by the Northern invaders they never did get back their Land
And that they are now ruled by white people I find that hard to understand
You talk of the history of this Land as if it were only two hundred years old
But then suppose the history of the ancient Dreamtime by white people will never be told.
I was not even born in this Country which makes you more Aussie than I
And though I'm not Nationalistic or Patriotic my heritage I won''t deny
You talk of your pioneering ancestors but why talk of Human history at all
If the history of the first Australians you do not see fit to recall.
You tell me of your pioneering ancestors but one fact you tend to ignore
That they were not born in this Country they came here from a foreign shore
You''d swear by you the Human history of this Land was only two centuries old
But the true history of this great Country by your type will never be told
poem by Francis Duggan
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The gulf coast, we all know now, after Katrina, is responsible for 25 percent of U.S. production of natural gas. Following Katrina and Rita, almost 75 percent of the natural gas production in the gulf was shut down and not producing.
quote by Mark Foley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good. In area after area - crime, education, housing, race relations - the situation has gotten worse after the bright new theories were put into operation. The amazing thing is that this history of failure and disaster has neither discouraged the social engineers nor discredited them.
quote by Thomas Sowell
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Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good. In area after area - crime, education, housing, race relations - the situation has gotten worse after the bright new theories were put into operation. The amazing thing is that this history of failure and disaster has neither discouraged the social engineers nor discredited them.
Thomas Sowell in Is Reality Optional? (1993)
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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That Tomorrow Is Another Day
There always is tomorrow you hear some people say
But for many tomorrow will me much like today
In the refugee camps of the World thirty million refugees
From war ravaged and drought stricken Countries waiting for placements overseas
In living conditions poor and overcrowded they are obliged to stay
No Country seems to want them that does seem sad to say
Even the wealthy Nations have their own homeless poverty is Worldwide
Due to their circumstance of birth to millions success has been denied
That there always is tomorrow so happens to be true
Though the millions of homeless and displaced better Karma are surely due
Than what life is giving them millions dare not to look ahead
And many far too many only wishing they were dead
That tomorrow is another day with that most would agree
But tomorrow will be like today for those in poverty.
poem by Francis Duggan
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And I'm writing
The purpose of writing poem
Is not known and I'm writing.
Excuse me, I'm writing
And writing
And writing is natural
As natural as wind
As natural as light
And I'm writing
Writing and pervading
Everywhere.
poem by Gajanan Mishra
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It is people
It is people’s victory
No one should feel sorry
It was writing on wall
Demand of the day and call
Mahatma Gandhi did it to gain freedom
Such movement was witnessed seldom
Today it is happening once again
Glory to motherland and power to regain
No bloodshed or single loss of life
Amidst uncertainty, with growing concern and strife
Whole country has witnessed a non violent struggle
With free will drive for looters, grabbers in populated jungle
Why country and poor can not be placed at top?
Why does our spirit and conscience not stop?
What is reason for putting country into shame?
Is the liberal democracy only causing to blame?
Politicians and bureaucrats have done immense damage
The country’s affair is in shamble and unable to manage
The precious national wealth is taken away from people
God only knows when we can do it or be able?
Even the mighty can be brought down to knee
This is movement for calling a country really free
The system is not used to the advantages for few
People are in street to compel the culprits review
Only one man has done the miracle
Whole of country is proud of and entered the circle
The time zeroed in and changes are offered
The conception may be odd but opinion never differed
The country has to be freed from the slavery
From the organized loot and corruption mystery
Who can lead the nation and bring the result?
The country has faced enough of it with insult
Mahatma faced bullet for telling truth
This lone man may loose battle and face the death
Yet whole country is behind mass movement
We can only offer tribute and no other comments
poem by Hasmukh Amathalal
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Right around the end of the fifties, college students and young people in general, began to realize that this music was almost like a history of our country - this music contained the real history of the people of this country.
quote by Jackson Browne
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Will this be my last breathe
Will this be my last breathe
A question or doubt
That occurs to us
At times and the frequency of which
Becomes more
With advancing age
The anxiety is not out of way
As we witness people
Dying suddenly of a number of
Disease conditions and
System disorders
Leave alone,
People in large numbers meeting their ends
In man made accidents and
Natural calamities
No one knows for sure
How, when and where the
Death would conquer him or her
It can be while sleeping
It can be on an operation theatre
It can be while partying
It can be any time, any where and any how
And one day
Any one has to depart
It is natural
When this thought strikes
One would quickly take a relook
Of the entire life path
The tasks unfinished
The dreams unrealized
The goals unaccomplished
The wealth left behind
The love and affection of dearest ones
And range of things
That impacted his or her living
Positively or otherwise
These days, the person struck by this thought
Would, very likely, think about the
Possible financial benefits
From the life insurance funds
To the kith and kin
One fact, most people miss to note
Is that
When this is really the last breathe
There need not be any more worries
As all worldly things associated with the person
Become insignificant immediately after this
If at all, any one is to worry
Are the people left behind
The nearest one worrying maximum
The extent of worry dilutes
With the distance of association
Peripheries not even making a note
Of one’s departure
Least worrying person
Is the one who departs as
Nothing really happens to him or her
Who is going to breathe last
The physical pain associated with death
And emotional pain of moving away
From belongings vanish all on a sudden
Traditional wisdom points out
To one simple thing
Keep your cool
Know and feel the fact
That you are relieved of all
Attachment and bond
Associated with this body
You are not the one to worry any further
It is for people around you to do that
As they will be the one to stand
The impact of your departure
You cannot in any manner contribute a thing
Towards alleviating their pain
Breathe your last in peace and comfort
poem by Bashyam Narayanan
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It's The Conquerors Who Write The History
As they chased the wild bison on horse back they whooped and cheered loud
And they were great hunters so noble and proud
But now on the prairies the bison are rare
And the people who hunted them no longer there.
Of the great Northern Land the first people till the invaders came
And their tragic dispossession is a thing of great shame
Conquered and put into reservations for to grow old and die
The rights of Indigenous people to them did not apply.
It's the conquerors who write history as we have been told
And men they have murdered for Land and for Gold
But what matters most when history we trace
That a Country's first people must take pride of place.
You great country singers with your golden guitars,
You politicians and tycoons and billionaire movie stars
There once was a people far greater than you
And to Mother Nature they were far more true.
And the workings of Nature they did understand
And they were the people who cared for the Land
And they were displaced and oppressed and down trod
By those who believed in a different God.
They once were great warriors, wise, noble and proud
And they gave us Chief Seattle and wise Chief White Cloud
And their profound words of wisdom still living today
And such things of great beauty will never decay.
The truth may seem bitter but the truth we must face
That a Country's first people should take pride of place
And around the World Indigenous people are not treated well
Though they have such marvellous stories to tell.
The conquerors write the history as conquerors do
But to the true history they never are true
And the conquered the history never will write
And we are conditioned to believe that might is always right.
The changes keep happening and nothing seem to last
And the great herds of bison a thing of the past
And those who once hunted them were locked away
And in reservations were forced for to stay.
Out on the lone prairie their ghosts still reside
At midnight the hunters their spotted horses ride
As they chase the wild bison across the great plain
The past in the moonlight comes to life again.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Experiences at church
In the city I witnessed some men
going to church trying to follow God
with a true passion, a true commitment
to finding a blessing
and weary old ladies, children
and some men were bringing offerings
of money, action and time
and some just went there to express
how by wealth they have been blessed
gathering in cliques in little groups and circles,
discussing business, pleasure
and inconsequential things that are of interest to them
and I have witnessed other people,
who saw no need for churches
or for the services rendered by them,
any other than as places for
grand weddings
or to serve God or any higher being
as if they in the image of God
had become gods
and the whole wide world
belonged to them to exploit
and even other people
have got to serve them
and now that the church
to which they did at a time belong
had lost its power
with which it governed the country
from religion they were totally free.
Even if other people were gathering
for self serving reasons
I went to church
to get some kind of blessing
from the presence of the One
from whom all love comes.
poem by Gert Strydom
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The fact is if we do our job right, if we keep worrying not about polls but about the jobs of the American people, about their health care, about their ability to educate their kids, stay in their homes and own their homes, send their kids to college, the basic pillars of a middle-class life, if we keep worrying about the future and building a stronger future for this country, these things will take care of themselves.
quote by David Axelrod
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My heart goes out to victims and survivors of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy and to their families. This disaster will go down in history books as one of the largest natural disasters in U.S. history.
quote by Ellen Tauscher
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When history looks back, I want people to know that the Nazis could not kill millions of people with impunity.
quote by Simon Wiesenthal
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