LAISSEZ FAIRE: Dedicated to the uninsured 47 million Americans.

Laissez Faire


generally adored
this system fortunato
rarely abhored
maker of the ghetto

in a country hailed
by three hundred million hearts
covered if failed
with doctored charts

we hide the effects
defy the attacks
coming from rejects
lost with no chance


highest bidder, step up!
fight for your cash
and trample the Gallop
see? ain't no backlash!

we keep 'em down n' broke
what they got to take?
might be the stroke
or backyard snake

build my empire on your back
you slave, slave away for me
i cut your paycheck
damnit, don't cry when you bleed!

you're gonna stain my Persian
walk out of here and stay
i give you compensation
to keep the Wobblies at bay

don't try to organize
put those chains back on!
when you gonna realize
life ain't fair to a peon!


we switch it up now, boss
we take back the mic
you gonna hafta cut your loss
or we goin' on strike!

don't tell us what to do
we know what's ours to claim
and we gonna take it, too!
you didn't listen--damn shame

we want healthcare--swear it!
you've killed too many
we're gonna live--declare it!
no more big money


i'm gonna tell my kids to come
what corporations got wrong
tell 'em what is good n' done
apologize it took so long

you can have your competition
just don't shoot craps with strife
wheel n' deal to bold fruition
but give us liberty n' life!


--

pax.

oh, what's the word...?

there's a word i can't really remember all that well. my first girlfriend, freshman year of high school, used to always call herself this. and it fits me now more than ever before in my life. it means you do something a lot, way more than everyone else, and it's not healthy, and now, as i attempt to find the word on dictionary.com, you shall see (hopefully) how miserable i have become due to this condition.

it seems to happen every monday.

i'm a valetudinarian.

yep, i'm an invalid. chronically sick. frickin sucks.

this is the fourth time since i arrived in Arusha 3 months ago that i've been nauseous. the last three times i was fine after ...um... clearing my system.

sadly this time around that hasn't happened yet. and i've missed the first class session of the week. and i'm going to miss work duty too. for the third time since last monday--i had a fever that day.

between 4 nauseated mornings, a fever or two, chronic weakness that clung for a month as fatigue, and random headaches that cripple most of my human functions, i'm pretty much an invalid. no point in trying to dodge that description, i don't figure. but yeah. can't wait till this passes.

Patrick prayed with me a bit this morning, and i honestly believe i'll be well by the time i wake up tomorrow, if not before. but still.... hanging in limbo like this gets on my nerves.

obviously, i'm not nearly as articulate as i can be in my writings, and that coupled with a general sense of impending doom (and a runny nose left over from last week's fever), i'm pretty much having a crummy day.

it'll get better no doubt, i just wish i could function better. and i wish dinner wasn't going to be ugali and sukuma. but, c'est la vie.

to be quite honest, just writing this with a vaguely comical flare and imagining the reactions to some of my terminology, by a handful of my audience, a new smile rests upon my face.

so, i guess, i almost get to laugh at your misfortune as you read this. (as we say here in East Africa, pronounced "Po-lay", as a sign of feeling bad for someone:) "Pole!"

hey, look at it this way, at least your discomfort only lasts as long as it takes you to read half a page! this is the part wherein i become jealous.

PAX everybody!
(oh, and um... pray that i can ... expunge last night's dinner.)
-archer

the real heroes

for what it's worth, i must tell you that great numbers of people doing small things with great love... they have just saved thousands of lives in India.

i get newsletters from many organizations asking for me to help with certain issues all around the world, largely affecting the sick and the poor. they are your burden just as much as they are mine. and they are my burden just as much as they are their own. no one gets off the hook.

in the case which the organization called CARE has been tracking and fighting for, in India, i just learned today that Novartis (a huge pharmaceutical company which has been pushing to make ILLEGAL, a score of generic brands of life-saving Anti-Retroviral drugs--ARVs--in India) has DROPPED its case!

i was first made aware of this struggle in the Indian courts sometime last fall, and from time to time, i've had new news. frankly i think all i ever did for this case was a generic letter online with maybe a couple personal tweaks, and my "signature". it's a lot when a lot of people are doing it. but i'm certainly no hero. the point is, many many people actually hand-wrote letters to the Indian government and none of it was the usual, tailored story that most of us with computers have the convenience of dealing with. i read a couple excerpts from these letters in the email newsletter i just got.

here's the excerpts that were among the many words shared with the Indian government that have, at least for a while, secured the affordable ARVs for India's poorest brothers and sisters... these two women are among the heroes of this battle!

"I hope you know what AIDS has done and is still doing in Africa . . I have three blood sisters who depend on ARV's for life. I may not be infected with AIDS but I am affected because I am nursing beloved ones who are infected and keeping orphans of those who are gone." -- Hannah , Zambia

"As a woman and mother of two children of my own, I ask you please drop this case against the Indian government. If I were sick and needed lifesaving drugs, I can't possibly imagine what it would be like to be denied those drugs. Please don't deny other women the chance to live." --Michelle, LA

i say again... only small things, with great love.
PAX.

"Crippling"

i just spent the past hour and a half working out the kinks in the lyrics of a song i wrote. and now i think i'm done with the first draft.

inspired by the rawness of Derek Webb's newest album. in case you never knew my hardest battle, it's in words finally.
i can really relate to some of Derek's songs... especially the one called "I Don't Want to Fight"

but here's mine...



V1:
I'm not a good Christian
I'm not a good person
Ain't no good about me
I'm just the bad guy
With the good intentions
The sinner who won't stop trying

Chorus:
19 years down and I haven't frickin' grown
Haven't stayed on top
More than a minute
But i can't stop trying
Or i won't stop sliding

V2:
I'm not really worth it
I'm not going for it
Ain't no success for me
I'm just the bad guy
With the good intentions
The sinner who won't stop trying

.Chorus.

V3:
I'm not the one to judge you
I'm sure as Hell gonna stop you
Ain't no point in lying
I'm just the bad guy
With the good intentions
The sinner who won't stop trying

.Chorus.

Bridge:
I'm just crippling
The Body of Christ
Learning to shoot
Just to stop the shooter
I know that I'm wrong
But i want the lesser of two evils.

V4:
So close your eyes, darling
I don't want you to see this
ain't no hope for me
But you got freedom
I'm just the bad guy
With the good intentions
The sinner who won't stop trying
When my words dry up
And i'm killing just to stop the dying



please comment if you read this. i hope you can tell i need feedback.

the most informative hour of my life!

earlier today, right around 11.00, my friend Grace skipped class to join myself and her friend Matt (a co-chair of student gov't), on an excursion to Starbucks.

i had intended to have fair trade coffee, but they did not have any brewing at the moment. ergo i had a simple, bold, "komodo dragon" coffee. a tall decaf drink that by NO means seemed devoid of caffeine! :) it's finally wearing off!

i don't have time to focus on writing much here, but i have made some decisions based on all the philosophy and economic and "evil pharmaceuticals" stuff that we talked about.

1. i am going to look into a Rosetta Stone program for either some African language or French, i believe! intensive fluency is the goal!
2. i am going to invest in a strong and intense course for learning EMT training within five months, shortly after my return to the states. ergo i will likely be unable to hold a job, unless i work weekends only. the program i've heard of is 8-hour days & 5-day weeks!
3. i am going to seek out more information on WHO makes WHAT drugs. i need to know who goes where, does what... who's got western (especially US) moneys, and who i can ask for money from for the beginnings of a strong Non-Profit, as well as partnerships with other organizations.

finding news of Africa from within the African continent has been a huge task this morning! it was ALL i was doing (aside from cataloguing sources and blogs to read, and such) when Grace found me! ok, i lied, i had just began to listen to Rob Bell's sermon: "Calling All Peacemakers" Part 1, from early december. i downloaded them weeks ago and i'm finally getting into them. so far i am really enjoying it! i can't wait for the next 2 parts! I heard part 2 got a lot of flak. i think he spoke about the idiocy of the Iraq war. i have really liked Rob Bell to begin with, but he never fails me, it seems! he's also really big on saving the world thru love, prayer, and activism. hopefully i'll be able to guide my own relevant love based on revelations like his and that of others, as well as reading the Psalms and the gospels (over and over again!).

I am disturbed by the likelihood of humanity killing itself off thru diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis. I do not know much about Malaria, but i hope to learn something about it's effects... especially considering these are the three targets of the United Nations Global Fund!! Tuberculosis is ALREADY DRUG-RESISTANT!!!! it is incurable and TREATMENT is the only option. these drug-resistant strains exist in New York City and Russia already. TB may very well be the next great Plague.

until the next plague, we must learn to do things naturally and be careful with the drugs we manufacture and administer. approval of severely toxic and poisonous drugs is NOT PERMISSABLE!!!! it's simply not wise, and we MUST learn our way around these drugs. disease scares (such as SARS, Avian Flu, and West Nile Virus) are nothing but scams while we forget about the realistically globally-threatening diseases!

we have secured our own doom in our desire for immaculate cleanliness. we fight bacteria- ALL bacteria. ergo we kill the healthy bacteria that strengthens and maintains our immune systems. so we weaken ourselves and downwardly spiral into ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCY on man-made drugs full of life-limiting toxins.

i've got to look into AZT and Nevirapine. both are used to treat AIDS patients. apparently both are able to cause death.
the Treatment Information Group's leader (don't look to me for technical terminology and names and details here, just the gist of the story) has recently-3 weeks ago-accused the leader of the Treatment Action Campaign of GENOCIDE based on the fact that he has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of poor, black South Africans thru administering these two ARV's!

I e-mailed Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) in the fall with the intent of working with them this summer. yeah, this is hitting kinda close to home! what the devil is going on here?!

i've got a lot more to investigate.

love and peace or else, sisters and brothers!