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It's Always Good to Start out with Flattery

This paper is a breath of fresh air in a smog-filled atmosphere of media conglomerated mind pollution. I just hope you decide to highlight Congressman Dennis Kucinich's bid for President. He is well-loved here in the Northwest and has the kind of policies in mind that could change the world for the better. Check him out at www.kucinich.us http://www.kucinich.us and invite him to do an interview. It can't hurt, and it might even save America! Also review his book of speeches, A Prayer for America. It just came out and is currently climbing the Amazon.com charts.

Anonymous, via e-mail

Green Labor USA?

I mean, if you really think about it, when have the Greens at the national level actually stuck their necks out on behalf of labor? Is there a position paper in their platform? It would make me wonder if all of a sudden the national Greens set aside their tofu and hummus, and started acting like they're the champions of the collective state of workers in this country. The national Greens are just as self-motivated as the mainstream political parties on this issue in my opinion.

The prevailing attitude appears to be that it's all about P-O-W-E-R. The Greens at the national level want it just as much as the Dems and the Rs, and the Greens are willing to hold out their "Ten Key Values," stick 'em in the faces of conservatives, and act as though they're superior because they have these opinions.

It's BS. Until the national Greens actually put their cans on the line and get out there with the workers, it's all b.s. Yeah, the national Greens can talk all they want about "corporate this and corporate that" and how the Dems and Rs are both beholden, but until the Greens at the national level are actually made up of the stuff of the working class of this country it's all rhetoric, imho.

Tom Hundley, via e-mail

Festive Holiday Poetry Section

Bush lies big and Bush lies small. He lies to Congress, he lies to us all. He lies about taxes, he lies about war. His lies are deadly to Americans and more. He doesn't apologize, he doesn't say why. He just covers it up with another Bush lie. He has to hurry, he has to be quick, before too many wise up to his trick. He lies to make friends richer, he lies to make us poor. He'll know the truth when we show him the door.

Bruce Kelton, via e-mail

Bush Environmentalism

Bout greenhouse gas we reckon there's not really much to fear, If folks would stop obsessing it would surely disappear; Melting icecaps that cause problems for a present shoreline native, Will create new inland beach fronts when swelled oceans get creative.

Ozone holes and fished out oceans, mercury in food and air? Kindly spare us the details, for in truth we do not care; Drill the Arctic, log old forests, let our western parks get seedy? It's utilities and drillers and tree loggers we find needy.

We dodge most green concerns today, at this we're most proficient, And we're skilled in ways that render useful programs less efficient; trim some budgets, stall enforcement, from hard choices deftly scurry, plant a cherry tree on Earth Day, do some PR, what's to worry?

The Beltway Bard

Ed. replies: It's the holidays. Don't try to get away with this all the time.