Victor Jara's Prayer

I found this translation of Victor Jara's "Plegaria a un Labrador"

Stand up, look at the mountains
Source of the wind, the sun, the water
You, who change the course of rivers,
Who, with the seed, sow the flight of your soul,
Stand up, look at your hands,
Give to your hand to your brother so you can grow.
We'll go together, united by blood,
Today is the day
We can make the future.
Deliver us from the master
who keeps us in misery.
The kingdom of justice and equality come.
Blow, like the wind blows
the wild flowers of the mountain pass.

Clean the barrel of my gun like fire
They will be done at last on earth
Give us your strength and courage to struggle.
Blow, like the wind blows
the wild flowers of the mountain pass

Clean the barrel of my gun like fire
Stand up, look at your hands,
Give to your hand to your brother so you can grow.
We'll go together, united by blood,
Now and in the hour of our death.
Amen. Amen. Amen.

Taken up by a younger generation!

Healthcare is a right

I'm amazed sometimes at the gulf between my own values and those of what seem to be a sizable portion of this country's population. Here we have yet another racist image being circulated among the Republican right-wing mob that neatly ties its ugly racist ignorance to the mind-bogglingly ignorant campaign against healthcare reform.

Why are these knuckle-dragging dolts so beholden to the existing healthcare system that makes the US a sicker, shorter-lived, and poorer nation than those with progressive national health services? Why are they so anxious to sacrifice their health and their money to an industry designed foremost not to provide affordable healthcare but TO MAKE A PROFIT FOR ITS SHAREHOLDERS?. It just doesn't add up.

Well this graphic provides vital insight into their real motives: we don't want nothing to do with that communist ni**er.

This country desperately needs national healthcare: not better insurance but better healthcare. Sadly, it looks like all we may get, if we're very very lucky, are a few regulations on the obscenity that is insurance.