America the Beautiful
It's for all the men in all the concentration camps--excuse me, "detention centers"--the women of Darfur--the Serbians of Kosovo and the Kosovars of Serbia--a voice for those who cannot speak. What my heart feels after watching F9/11, "Control Room" and the screener of "The Corporation" this week. It's for the bloody capitalists I am working for. It's for a half million dollar fine for Janet Jackson's boob. It's for Howard Stern, Arthur Kent, Peter Arnett, Geraldo Rivera, Ashleigh Banfield. It's for Ishan Karim. Its for Specialist Simone Holcomb and Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia. It's for Ron Brown and Medger Evers and Paul Wellstone and JFK Jr. and Col. Bo Gritz and J. H. Hatfield and Danny Casolaro and Jessica Savitch and Jonathan Ng and Abbie Hoffman and Hale Boggs and Dr. Huey Newton, PhD who gave their lives in the service of their country. It's for Cathy O'Brien and her daughter and all those like them. Its for Congresswoman Lynn Rivers, whose personal life and medical history was trashed and whose district was gerrymandered out of existence. It's for Michael Moore who told me once that when his books and films stopped making money for the rich he expected to be found dead in a ditch somewhere. And it's for you, and it's for me.
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life !
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
America the Beautiful
Katherine Lee Bates, 1913
It's for all the men in all the concentration camps--excuse me, "detention centers"--the women of Darfur--the Serbians of Kosovo and the Kosovars of Serbia--a voice for those who cannot speak. What my heart feels after watching F9/11, "Control Room" and the screener of "The Corporation" this week. It's for the bloody capitalists I am working for. It's for a half million dollar fine for Janet Jackson's boob. It's for Howard Stern, Arthur Kent, Peter Arnett, Geraldo Rivera, Ashleigh Banfield. It's for Ishan Karim. Its for Specialist Simone Holcomb and Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia. It's for Ron Brown and Medger Evers and Paul Wellstone and JFK Jr. and Col. Bo Gritz and J. H. Hatfield and Danny Casolaro and Jessica Savitch and Jonathan Ng and Abbie Hoffman and Hale Boggs and Dr. Huey Newton, PhD who gave their lives in the service of their country. It's for Cathy O'Brien and her daughter and all those like them. Its for Congresswoman Lynn Rivers, whose personal life and medical history was trashed and whose district was gerrymandered out of existence. It's for Michael Moore who told me once that when his books and films stopped making money for the rich he expected to be found dead in a ditch somewhere. And it's for you, and it's for me.
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life !
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
America the Beautiful
Katherine Lee Bates, 1913
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--l*P