About Top Pun’s Blog
Top Pun's mission is to maximize prophets. Top Pun creates serious, funny, and seriously funny peace and justice designs which are available on your choice of products such as buttons, T-shirts, and bumper stickers. Top Pun blogs to highlight additional facets of his word artistry such as pun-filled poetry and funny political satire, free posters, as well as political actions of local and global importance -- and don't forget the noncommercial, public health radio show available online, Just for the Health of It . Top Pun's serious playfulness ever reminds us that justice is no yoke, and the pun is mightier than the sword!
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Recent Posts
- POEM: Wait for It
- POEM: Post, Post, Post Modern
- POEM: Overdid
- POEM: Making Note
- POEM: May Fly
- POEM: Roll…er…Coast…er – Owed to Trump Tariff Wore
- POEM: Acquit My Jōb
- POEM: Missing an I
- POEM: F-16
- POEM: Ambitions Sunk
- POEM: The Fewed
- POEM: No How
- MEMORIAL POEMS for my mom, Lois Rutt
- Expectant Parents, New Baby POEM: Due, The Math
- POEM: Weather Sadness or Joy
- POEM: Life Shows Up
- POEM: Genocide Heirs
- POEM: Bard From The Sky — Owed to Ode
- POEM: Ever Lusting Foolishness
- POEM: What Kind?
- POEM: Sow Backwards, NOW WON
- POEM: Dam Water
- POEM: Aye, Will Rise in Three Days, Yada Yada Yada
- POEM — What Comes: Of Police Helicopters
- POEM: Sow It Goes
- THANKS for perusing Top Pun's word artistry!
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Tag Archives: Conscience
POEM: The Odds Rising
Be the change you want to see, oh beautiful unicorns and unifying characters. The Odds Rising They were wading For others Too due What Make the whirled A bettor place A casi no Of felt safety As others razed Only … Continue reading
Posted in Poems, Political Action, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged Conscience, Risk
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POEM: Catchy Zzzz’s
I see much of life as a struggle to maintain a vigorous consciousness and cultivate a vital, life-affirming conscience. I see the powers that be as offering a vain, numbing “contentment,” free of inconvenient or uncomfortable realities. Security becomes distancing … Continue reading
Posted in Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged Change, Conscience, Consciousness, Death, Life, Power, Powers that be, Security, Temptation, Time
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POEM: Believe Ability
As you may know, I am a convicted felon, for refusing to register for the military draft, way back in the 1980’s when draft registration was reinstituted. I found such a mandate offensive to my conscience and world peace. I … Continue reading
Posted in About Top Pun, Peace, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged Awe, Buddhist, Christian, Conscience, Courage, Criminal Justice System, Draft Registration, Enemies, Fundamentalism, Gandhi, Heart, Hindu, Joke, Justice, Law, Legalism, Military, Muslim, Muslims, Perspective, Religion, Sincerity, State, Trust, War, Wisdom
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POEM: Blessed Be Our Creator (Not There’s)
In times of war or national revenge, demonization of one’s foes is standard operating procedure, necessary for justifying mass killing and destruction of civilian infrastructure, let alone civilians. This hole affair is all the more disgusting when it is dressed … Continue reading
Posted in Anti-War, Peace, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged Awe, Blessed, Conscience, Darwin, Demonization, Evil, Moral, Morality, National, Necessary Evil, Religious, War
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POEM: Tears in My Soul
This poem is a mournful riff on the destructive grievance politics of the so-called right. Of course, what is left is left, with love and hope remaining to knit life wince agin. Tears in My Soul Where divides multiply As … Continue reading
POEM: Made Passable
1984 may be voted the most likely to be a “Groundhog Year,” repeated over and over and over. The book, 1984, by George Orwell, written in the aftermath of World War II, is a stark warning about authoritarianism that holds … Continue reading
Posted in Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged Cautionary Tale, Conscience, God, Queer, Rules, Soul, Surreal, Time, War
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POEM: Five Cops – a Plea
I am heartened to see the DOJ open a federal civil rights investigation into the murder of Tyree Nichols in Memphis months ago. Five Cops – a Plea Five police officers Killed Tyree Nichols In Memphis Making traffic stop And … Continue reading
Testimony for National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service — END DRAFT REGISTRATION
I prepared the below testimony to present at a public meeting in Chicago before the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, a commission created by Congress to deal with questions of draft registration, most specifically, whether to end … Continue reading
Posted in About Top Pun, Anti-War, Health, News, Peace, Peace Signs, Political Action, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged America, and Public Service, Balance, Blessing, Business, Change, Character, Charity, Children, Choices, Citizens, Citizenship, Civil Disobedience, Coercion, Community, Compulsion, Congress, Conscience, Conscientious Objection, Conscription, Constitution, Constitutional Rights, Control, Cowardice, Creation, Crime, Culture, Democracy, Draft Registration, Education, Elite, Employment, Enemies, Evil, Experience, Failure, Faith, Family, Farce, Fear, Female, Freedom, Freedom of the Press, Future, Gandhi, God, government, Grace, Haiti, Heart, History, Holy, Honesty, Hope, Hospitality, Human Rights, Humanity, Ideals, Idolatry, Inspiration, Ironic, Jesus, Job, Justice, Labor, Law, Life, Love, Meaning, Media, Mennonite, Mercy, Military, Modern, Moral, Murder, Muslims, National, National Commission on Military, National Security, Nature, Necessary Evil, Noncombatants, Obedience, Patience, Peacemakers, People of The Book, Perspective, Political, Politics, Poor, Power, Present, President, Prison, Public Health, Questions, Radical, Reality, Refugees, Religion, Religious, Religious Freedom, Resistance, Rhetoric, Risk, Rules, Russia, Sacred, Security, Selective Service System, skin in the game, Social Justice, State, Status, Suffering, Supreme Court, Surreal, Terrorism, Time, Toledo, Truth, Values, Violence, War, Women, Work, Worship
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FREE MLK POSTER: Martin Luther King, Jr. Quote – TIMELESS and TIMELY Questions of Cowardice, Expediency, Vanity, and Conscience
As Martin Luther King Day approaches this year, I was struck by the timelessness and timeliness of this MLK quote: Cowardice asks, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks, “Is it politic?” Vanity asks, “Is it popular?” But Conscience asks, “Is it right?” … Continue reading
Posted in Free Stuff
Tagged Conscience, Courage, Cowardice, Enemies, Expediency, Martin Luther King Jr, Questions, Quotes, Vanity, Wisdom
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A Spiritual Autobiography
I wrote the below spiritual autobiography a dozen years ago as part of a servant leadership study group. While it definitely needs updating, it serves well as a brief overview of my spiritual history and development over much of my … Continue reading
Posted in About Top Pun, Anti-War, Gay, Health, News, Peace, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged America, Anxiety, Art, Authority, Beautiful, Bible, Blessed, Buddhism, Business, Catholic, Children, Christian, Church, Civil Disobedience, Conscience, Conscientious Objection, Conscription, Crude, Death, Diversity, Draft Registration, Environment, Events, Experience, Faith, Family, Food, God, government, Grace, Haiti, Healing, Heart, History, Holy, Hope, Humor, Irreverence, Jester, Job, Journey, Justice, Kids, Law, leadership, Liberal, Life, Love, Media, Mennonite, Military, Mind, Mom, Money, Mystic, Nutrition, Obedience, Pacifism, Pastor, Philosophy, Play, Poems, Political, Poor, Poverty, Powers that be, Prayer, President, Public Health, Religious, Reverence, Science, Security, Serenity, Social Justice, Spiritual, Stewardship, Success, Theology, Time, Top Pun, Truth, Vegetarianism, War, Work, World Hunger, Worship, Zen
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POEM: Another Martyr Bides The Dust
Another martyr bides the dust And I was a stray Beside myself In the fog Of yet another mourning The missed over my heart Feeling only that ephemeral beaten The wait on my brain Fueled into thinking of the dread … Continue reading
Posted in Anti-War, News, Peace, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged America, Awe, Beautiful, Catholic, Character, Children, Church, Civil Disobedience, Community, Compassion, Conscience, Conservative, Death, Dorothy Day, Elite, Environmental, Family, Fear, Freedom, God, government, Heart, Heresy, Holy, Hope, Human Race, Imperialism, Integrity, Jesus, Life, Love, Martyr, Militarism, Military, Mourning, National, nobel peace prize, Obedience, Occupy Wall Street, Oligarchy, Poems, Poet, Political, Poverty, Power, Prison, Protests, Religious, Religious Freedom, Risk, Sacred, State, Time, Truth, Wall Street, War, Women, Work
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POEM: The Iconoclassism of Godliness
She was in A class by her self Staring at her teacher In a too room school hows By two mirror subjects taut Assure as three Bound by know Student lones Only that body Of know ledge From the school … Continue reading
POEM: Signs of The Tines
At the White House speak easy Blah blah blah blah blah blah The media drinks it up At a mine-blowingly vapid clip In the mean time On the plantation Grounds to a halt Surrounded by offense In arose guardin’ At … Continue reading
Posted in About Top Pun, Anti-War, Peace, Poems, Political Action, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged America, Argument, Authority, Citizens, Conscience, Conscientious Objection, Constitutional Rights, Conundrum, Democracy, Demonstrators, Draft Registration, Evil, Existential, Farce, Free Speech, God, government, Grace, Law, Law Enforcement, Lawyer, Meaning, Media, Military, Modern, Moral, National, National Security, Nationalism, Nonviolent, Poems, Poetry, Police, Political, Politics, Power, Protests, Rage, Religion, Resistance, Security, State, Status, Superficial, Supreme Court, Time
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POEM: What If Everybody Did That?
Such sophistry Firmly on the bench But What if Everybody did that Judging propriety Smudging property An intolerable act My conscience He decreed Must fall Into line With Kant Where every reason Reduced to rant It’s the leash they can … Continue reading
Posted in About Top Pun, News, Poems, Political Action, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged Attitude, Conscience, Crime, Danny Brown, Ethical, Injustice, Justice, Life, Logic, Love, Mock, Moral, Mourning, Muse, Perspective, Poems, Poetry, Poor, Prison, Propriety, Responsibility, Rhetoric, Risk, Sleep, Toledo
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SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER: A Christian Perspective on Justice
Here is a portion of a document that I drafted a couple of years ago while I was a board member of Toledo Area Ministries (TAM). It was never adopted in any form, but I put a lot of work … Continue reading
Posted in About Top Pun, Peace, Political Action, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged Accountability, Ancient, Art, Authorities, Authority, Awareness, Bible, Blessed, Blessing, budgets, Capitalism, Change, Character, Children, Christian, Church, Civil Rights, Classism, Common Good, Community, Compassion, Competition, Conscience, Consumerism, Control, Conundrum, Conventional Wisdom, Creation, Creativity, Death, Defense, Denial, Domestic Violence, Domination, Dream, Economic, Egalitarian, Enemies, Equality, Evil, Facts, Failure, Faith, Family, Fear, Food, Forgiveness, Freedom, Future, Gender, Gift, God, government, Grace, Greed, Harmony, Hate, Healing, Heart, Heaven, Hell, History, Holy, Hope, Hospitality, Human Rights, Humanity, Humility, Idolatry, Image, Immorality, Impersonal, Incarnation, Inequality, Injustice, Intimacy, Israel, Jerusalem, Jesus, Journey, Joy, Justice, Kindness, Labor, Law, leadership, Life, Logic, Loss, Love, Market, Materialism, Meaning, Mercy, Militarism, Military, Mind, Modern, Money, Moral, Morality, Nationalism, Nature, Nonviolence, Patience, Patriarchy, Patriotism, Perspective, Philosophy, Piety, Political, Politics, Poor, Possessions, Power, Powers that be, Prayer, Present, Prison, Privilege, Prophet, Questioning, Questions, Racism, Radical, Rage, Reality, Reconciliation, Relationships, Religious, Responsibility, Resurrection, Revolution, Rich, Risk, Sabbath, Sacred, Science, Security, Sexism, Society, Solidarity, Songs, Soul, Spiritual, State, Status, Status Quo, Stewardship, Success, Suffering, Temptation, Theology, Time, Toledo, Truth, Unity, Unjust Laws, Values, Violence, Vulnerability, War, Wealth, Wisdom, Work, Worship
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Another Bastard for Birth Control
Today, a couple hundred people gathered outside the Lucas County Courthouse in Toledo, Ohio, to demonstrate about religious freedom and healthcare in America. Most of the crowd was organized by the effort to repeal President Barack Obama’s so-called Obama care, … Continue reading
Posted in Health, News, Political Action
Tagged America, Birth Control, Catholic, Children, Church, Conscience, Control, Demonstrators, Family, Freedom, Health Care, Health Insurance, Income, Jobs, Jobs with Justice, Justice, Life, Obama, Occupy Toledo, President, Pro-life, Protests, Religious, Religious Freedom, State, taxes, Toledo, Torture, War, Work
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Religious Liberty, Conscience Exemptions for Everything
With the Obama administration’s recent rules requiring organizations owned by religious groups to provide contraceptive coverage as part of their employees’ health insurance, conservative groups and the Roman Catholic Church have gotten all their panties in a bunch, which is … Continue reading
Posted in Health, News, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged America, Balance, Bible, Birth Control, Catholic, Church, Community, Congress, Conscience, Conscientious Objection, Conscription, Conservative, Control, Draft Registration, Economic, Existential, Freedom, God, government, Grace, Health Insurance, Illegal, Immigration, Law, Law Enforcement, leadership, Logic, Love, Mennonites, Military, Obama, Pacifism, Parodies, Philosophical, Political, Politics, Power, Quakers, Questions, Reality, Religion, Religious, Religious Freedom, Resistance, Respect, Rules, State, Status, Supreme Court, taxes, Toledo, Truth, Violence, War, Work
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Birth Control as a Human Right – Toledo Protest
On Friday, February 6, about a dozen protesters gathered outside St. Anne’s Hospital on Secor Road in Toledo, Ohio. This protest was organized by the Toledo Chapter of the National Organization for Women (see Toledo NOW facebook page), it also … Continue reading
Posted in Health, Political Action, Political and Philosophical Musings
Tagged Birth Control, Catholic, Christian, Christianity, Church, Conflict, Conscience, Control, Conventional Wisdom, Creation, Doctrine, Events, facebook, Freedom, God, Health Insurance, Hospitality, Human Rights, Idolatry, Ironic, Life, Mystical, National, Nationalism, Obama, Occupy Toledo, Political, President, Protesters, Protests, Radical, Reality, Religion, Religious, Religious Freedom, Respect, Risk, Sacred, Sacrifice, Security, skin in the game, Society, Soul, State, Stewardship, Time, Toledo, Values, Willingness, Wisdom, Women, Work
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