http://www.curtiswlong.com/ Writings and translations by Curtis W. Long. en-us http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost188_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_20.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost188_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_20.html Thu, 15 May 2008 12:14:41 PST
Don Qui-Hillary,
You’ve had a nice run.
It’s quite chill-ery,
This flight to the sun.

Even Icarus
Would doubt your mad quest.
“She’s not one of us,”
“Says Robin Redbreast.

“Weighed down with armor,
“She’d ne’er leave the ground.
“She’s quite the charmer;
“Alas, not too sound.”

Now, this metaphor
Begins to digress.
It is quite a bore—
This need to impress.

Let’s go back again
To Hill on her horse.
Just what’s in that brain?
What brings out such force?

With her lance in ha... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost187_Response_from_Matador.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost187_Response_from_Matador.html Wed, 14 May 2008 11:12:30 PST I can not shake the notion that all this is some vast Republican plot, and can not really believe that I will see a black person sworn in as president of these United states in my life time.
However, I will be delighted to be proven wrong and offer my congratulations and sympathy.
The vice president will really be the one who will be running the country. The bigots will kill him within the first year.
Read some of their blogs, and re... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost186_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_19.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost186_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_19.html Tue, 13 May 2008 14:37:20 PST
If Barak Obama does happen to be the one who raises his hand in that cold, January scene (that long ago should have been taken indoors), this is the speech that only he could give:

My fellow Americans,

I am not just African American. I am not just European American. I am not just Kenyan. I am not just Scots-Irish. No one is just this or just that. The one thing that we all are, completely, is human, Homo sapiens sapiens. Regardless of what our history, culture or poli... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost185_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_18.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost185_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_18.html Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:13:46 PST
When Europeans set up shop in every available corner of the newly discovered American continent, they also planted the imprimatur of “White, Male Supremacy.” This hierarchical device was first used to wrest away the lands and mineral possessions of the indigenous peoples, and then enslave them or otherwise marginalize and control their existence. It was kicked into high gear when the African slave trade began. This kaleidoscopic totem pole of racial superiority, base... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost184_Response_from_Matador.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost184_Response_from_Matador.html Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:03:54 PST We complain about the price of oil and not being a slave to it, but we allow those idiots who somehow envision themselves saviors of this planet which does not belong to any of us, prevent us from doing the things that could provide alternative energy sources.
They don't want us to dig for oil in Alaska or in certain parts of the ocea... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost183_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_17.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost183_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_17.html Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:34:14 PST
We should avail ourselves of all of the energy resources afforded by the earth. Any disputes over coal, wood and whale oil pale in comparison to those stemming from the Industrial Age, when oil became both king and jester among nations. We must now make a move toward those equalizing forces supplied by the sun, the wind and the sea. These considerations are necessary, regardless of how scientific evidence stacks up on either end of the human-contribution, global-warming see-... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost182_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_16.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost182_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_16.html Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:01:16 PST
During a stay at the Veterans Administration Western Blind Rehabilitation Center in Palo Alto, California, last December and January, I was encouraged to participate in the National VA Art and Literature competition. I entered poems in several different categories.

I was just informed that my poem in the “other” category has won first prize in the local selections. It will be sent along for inclusion in the national competition, which results will be announced at a ceremony in... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost181_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_15.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost181_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_15.html Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:57:02 PST
With a Salient phrase in an otherwise wide-ranging interview, the other day, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice takes the cake for the most effective description of the race thing with which we Americans find ourselves permanently saddled: a “birth defect.” That is a most apt description of our national plight.

Here are more excerpts from Rice’s most extraordinary—but right on the mark-- pronouncements on the topic: "Black Americans were a founding population…Africans and... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost180_Response_from_Matador.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost180_Response_from_Matador.html Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:28:22 PST I believe most of the poor fools in the volunteer army believed they could accomplish a quick stint in Iraq or some other God forsaken place with a one deployment deal, and get a discharge. Upon arrival home, they could benefit from all the non existent goodies vetrans are supposed to get.
They had no idea that the tours in enemy countries would be... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost179_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_14.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost179_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_14.html Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:00:25 PST
Upon the occasion of the four thousandth death among U.S. forces in Iraq, re-printed below is a relevant poem I wrote some time ago.

In a recent interview, Vice President Dick Cheney, in response to a reporter’s assertion that two-thirds of the country is opposed to the administration’s policy in Iraq, he responded, “So…?” Upon another occasion, Cheney was asked to respond to the continued increase in casualties in Iraq. He indicated that they are volunte... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost178_Response_from_Matador.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost178_Response_from_Matador.html Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:22:53 PST Rev. Wright was apparently suffering from hoof and mouth disease when he made his now... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost177_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_13.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost177_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_13.html Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:01:05 PST
Rot in the State of N.Y. – “There is something rotten in the state of Denmark,” wrote Shakespeare in “Hamlet.” A similar stench seems to be emanating from the state of New York. I know nothing of the world of finance. Nonetheless, these institutions are controlled by human beings, and I have a pretty good notion about the ways of human nature. What is behind the sudden, surgical outing of “Client No. 9”--the bane of Wall Street--and the soon-thereafter U.S. government complicity (... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost176_Response_from_Matador.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost176_Response_from_Matador.html Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:55:06 PST You are correct in stating that he would have fared better if he belonged to a standard church.
Obama"s varied background growing up does not really help him in his quest for the presidency. If all of his years had been spent within the continental borders of the good old USA, he might have a more realistic understanding of the country he wants to preside over as president.
H... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost175_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_12.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost175_SYNAPSE_SHOTS_2008_12.html Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:15:18 PST
IF all of the presidents of the United States had not been men; white’ non-Jewish; non-Muslim; or non-any religion that did not border upon “Christian;” never would they have had a chance to become president.

IF George W. Bush had not been a man; white; a Bush; had not had a brother as governor of Florida; a Florida secretary of state frenzily purging the voting rolls of African Americans; and a 5-4 majority on the supreme court; thousands of families would not be mourning their de... ]]> http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost174_THE_BIRTH_OF_.html http://www.curtiswlong.com/blogpost174_THE_BIRTH_OF_.html Wed, 12 Mar 2008 23:09:04 PST
Apart from an unfinished opera and legally prohibitive, aborted attempts at one-person musicals... ]]> Wed, 12 Mar 2008 23:09:04 PST