The morning papers
PICTURED THEM
as they so
neatly lay
PLASTIC BAGGED
AND ready for the grave
FIREWOOD
stacked in rows
WAITING FOR A MATCH
to burn the
ribbons
FROM THEIR CHESTS
and toe tags from
their toes..
An angry shake of head
AND HE WAS DONE
with news-page one,
AND TURNED INSTEAD
to news page two
WHERE MAIMED
and dying men
STARED UP AT
HIM,
as mothers, wives
AND CHILDREN WEPT
with quiet burning eyes.
A POUT AND SCOWL THEN
twisted up the presidential face.
"PICTURES WERE FORBIDDEN!"
he said, as he fumbled for
the door
AND SPORTS SECTION NUMBER FOUR
which
never had bad news of war,
BUT NASCAR RESULTS AND
FOOTBALL SCORES
sometimes tennis...seldom more.
THE PRESIDENTIAL SMIRK APPEARED THEN
...Texas A&M had
won again.
...and the NASCAR winner
HAD A HAPPY FACE,
not knowing yet his brother's
race
HAD FINISHED IN ANOTHER PLACE
or that his
brother made
NOT JUST PAGE ONE
of section four
BUT FRONT PAGE
...section one...
beneath a casket
lid
BY A HANGAR DOOR.
Comforted by the smiling NASCAR face,
THE PRESIDENT SOUGHT
ADDED GRACE
in news from mighty section three
WHERE
FRIEND AND FAMILY STOCKS WOULD BE.
"Good news
all!" he beamed.
"UP AGAIN IT SEEMS!
All's well, indeed,
GOOD
SENATORS AND MEN!
Let's drive these stocks up again,
my friends!
YOU KNOW....er...FOR THEM!
...our dead and wounded
WOMEN AND MEN
...our patriots and friends."
Footnote:
Donald Rumsfeld, CEO and Chairman of Gilead
Sciences, before being appointed U.S. Secretary of
Defense is estimated to hold in excess of
$20,000,000 worth of Gilead Science stock and options,
which have escalated wildly in value since he took his
position in government. The company keeps the
exact amount of his stock ownership secret. The
the exact extent of his other oil and military stock
holdings and those of his relatives is difficult to
determine. The U.S. Government aggressively
promotes government stockpioing (at taxpayer expense)
Gilead Sciences' "Tamiflu" as the best and only
currently available flu vaccine to fight bird
flu....even though it has been repeatedly proven to be
of little value to combat an as yet undetermined human
strain of H5N1 -- making Rumsfeld and family wealthier
by the week via a highly questionable and suspect health
policy
Richard Cheney, CEO of oil and gas giant
Halliburton, before being elected Vice President of
the United States, continues to received a deferred
salary from the company. According to financial
disclosure forms, he was paid $205,298 in 2001; $162,392
in 2002; $178,437 in 2003; and $194,852 in 2004. “Vice
President Dick Cheney's Halliburton has already raked in
more than $10 billion from the Bush-Cheney
Administration for work in Iraq, much of it awarded
without bid, and it has been awarded some of the first
Katrina contracts," according to U.S. Senator Frank
Lautenberg (NJ) who says Cheney's 433,333
Halliburton stock options have increased in value by
3,000% since he was VP. The the exact extent of
his other oil and military stock holdings and those of
his relatives is difficult to determine.
The Bush Family has oil and military interests
so vast and complex that the exact extent of their stock
options, and holding... and those of their
relatives...is difficult, if not impossible to
determine.. which is precisely the way some say they
want to keep it.
The