W.J. Astore (Also at Huffington Post at this link.) This year the USA celebrates the 200th anniversary of The Star-Spangled Banner. Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics, inspired by the battle at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, and it officially became the National Anthem in 1931. Notoriously difficult to sing (my favorite rendition…
Michael Murry As a veteran of the Nixon-Kissinger Fig Leaf Contingent (Vietnam 1970-72) I have always thought that the American slogan “Peace With Honor” had little to do with Peace and nothing to do with Honor. Over forty years later, witnessing the U.S. military floundering about in — and flailing away at — Afghanistan and…
America the Dutiful By Michael Murry In the Land of the Fleeced and the Home of the Slave Where the cowed and the buffaloed moan Where seldom we find an inquisitive mind And the people pay up with a groan While at home on the range when the firing begins Not a word of encouragement…
W.J. Astore This summer marks the 100th anniversary of World War I. Today in my daily “alert” from The New York Times, there are five articles related to the war. Steven Erlanger writes about how the war brought fundamental changes to the world; Jim Yardley writes about the Yanks in the Second Battle of the…
By Michael Murry. Introduction by William Astore. In 2007 I wrote an article for TomDispatch entitled, “If We Lose Iraq, You’re to Blame.” Its premise was the notion that those most responsible for losing Iraq (Bush/Cheney and Crew) would succeed in deflecting blame from themselves and shifting it onto anyone who opposed the war. Turns…
By Michael Murry “Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray …” – Dante Alighieri, The Inferno “Methought I sate beside a public way …” – Percy Shelly, The Triumph of Life A Clockwork Phoenix Epiphany (Lines 1-112 of The Triumph of Strife: an homage to Dante Alighieri and Percy Shelley) A poet woke midway…
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: “A mnemonic (the first “m” is silent), or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids information retention. Mnemonics aim to translate information into a form that the brain can retain better than its original form. In fact, ‘Memory Needs Every Method Of Nurturing Its Capacity’ is a mnemonic for…
We have appointed Michael Murry as the Contrary Perspective’s “poet laureate” and have decided to bring his ” Polemical Poetry” to our readers as a regular feature that will appear every month. From time to time established poets have written verse that is political and verges on the polemical but Michael has brought his poetry…
The Contrary Perspective 