Theirs Smoked filled plays Behind closed doors Where there is no room In the halls of power Fore the wrest of us Relegated to copping democracy Round the public square
This protest poem deals with the reality that lack of transparency and accountability in government obliges citizens to apply political pressure through protests, demonstrations, and nonviolent civil disobedience. Sometimes justice demands circling city hall and other halls of power for around whole to fit in a public square. I am particularly proud of the “copping democracy” phrase subject to double meaning. Law enforcement is often poorly trained and cops bad attitudes toward nonviolent citizens exercising their first amendment rights and petitioning for redress of grievances. Judges and courts are often poorly equipped and acculturated to treating nonviolent protesters as more than common criminals. Our criminal justice system exacts a disproportionately high cost upon conscientious citizen protesters actively working to right wrongs in our government and communities. This disproportionately high cost on highly politically engaged activists stymies the vitality of our democracy and reinforces systemic injustices. May we learn to value the vital role protest and resistance play in actualizing a vital democracy.
POEM: The Rein of Hope A tsunami of hope is coming
Are you preparing such a weigh?
Will you be caught looking
Through shot glasses
Only to be decked out with eyedroppers
For blood shot eyes, those ...
POEM: Each Day a Work of Heart For every won of us
Each day
Is a work of heart
Canvassing inexhaustible possibilities
Of epic themes
Momentary epiphanies
And daily grooves
Imploring colors
Exploring ...
POEM: The Human Race Is Not Well Done The human race
Is
Not
Well
Done
I like the short poem because in seven words in five lines it can be read several different ways. The human race can be seen both as a ...
Friendly Rant: Voting FOR Jill Stein NOT Wielding “Privilege” Oddly, with the presidential candidates from the two dominant and domineering political parties setting new records for low approval, voting for anyone else is met with bafflingly ...
POEM: In God We Trust? Money Speaks! In God we trust?
A graven image
We never leave home without
Good
For all debts, public and private
When miss taking goods for good
The most note worthy tender ...
POEM: 24/7 on I-75 — Owed To Trafficking Noise 24/7 on I-75
Only herd
In the mourning
Quiet scarce
With the engines of freedom
Racing vicious cycles
In know way asking, "who cars?"
As you whirr
The buzz of the high ...
Today, the Mitt Romney campaign held a “victory” rally at the Seagate center in downtown Toledo, Ohio. Top Pun ran into a mitt-full of cards as the Romney campaign drew a full house; but, as the rain fell, Top Pun declared victory is he drew a royal flush from the Romney campaign, being banned from the event even though possessing a ticket and a media pass. As the rain fell, Romney supporters lined up two by two around their concrete ark, hoping to save themselves from extinction. As the Romney-ites waded patiently to see their would-be monarch, I could tell by the many white faces that this wasn’t the servants entrance! Of course, there were many tanned Romney-ites, but most seem to have vacationed South, or had a tad freaky spray-on or tanning booth tan — perhaps emulating their feckless leader. Even given the many wet backs that were present, few would be mistaken for Latino. The only African-Americans I saw near the Romney lineup were button and T-shirt vendors.
Of course, across the street, there was an anti-Romney protest that was much more colorful! One protester even wrapped themselves in the flag, a gay pride flag, that is. Not wishing to be restrained by the designated “free speech zone,” I protested outside the box. I took the opportunity to walk back and forth on the sidewalk alongside the Romney lineup (with few unusual suspects), of course, with my signs:
The Romney crowd, perhaps not so surprisingly, responded with vitriol. At one point I chanted, “Can someone give me a nice hello, and end of this ugly vitriol.” One woman asked me if I even knew what a blind trust was. I trust that she did. Many in the Romney lineup told me to go to the other side of the street; I suppose in some attempt to keep like with like, and perhaps, hate with hate?! As I walked up and down the so-called Romney side of the street, even a sheriff’s deputy told me to get on the other side of the street. When I told him that I knew my rights, and that walking down the public sidewalk and not blocking the public sidewalk was simply exercising my free speech, the sheriff deputy responded: “Would you be walking along here if this were an Obama event?” I told him that if this Romney event were not happening, that I would have been in Bowling Green protesting the Obama campaign event (likely with a drone and anti-war message). He told me again that I could not be on the side of the street. When I persisted in claiming my first amendment free speech right to be there, he said that I was becoming disorderly. I turned and walked the other way, continuing to walk back and forth, but keeping an eye out for him and his comrades. The saddest part of this encounter is that the sheriff deputy was apparently proscribing a particular type of free speech — like free speech depends on whether you support Romney, Obama, another, or nobody at all!
The most popular response from the Romney crowd was: “Get a job,” often with some ‘hippie’ or ‘cut-your-hair’ comment thrown in for good measure. Occasionally, I responded with “I have a job; in fact, I am self-employed, I created my own job.” Sometimes I might throw in “I even left a government job,” but nary a poker face yielded any approval. Once, when a Romney-ite was particularly uncivil to me, and I requested that we at least be civil, a woman in the crowd showed approval. I did experience two Romney-ites threatening violence. The first was when I overheard a man say to the crowd, “Do you want me to beat up the hippie?” I asked him if he was threatening violence to me and he said, “It’s an offer.” The other person, a man, or perhaps man-wannabe, said “I’ll beat your face in.” I asked him if he was threatening violence to me and he said, “Yes.” I asked him if he’d like me to call law enforcement over and he said, “Yes.” Well, his bully talk didn’t faze my walk. Just goes to show, you can usually rely on the general cowardice of humankind (human-unkind?).
On this rainy day, God rained on the just and the unjust. Most of the Romney-ites hugged the publicly financed Seagate center rationally seeking shelter so as to not tax their dry wits. And, since the first shall be last and the last shall be first, I joined the Romney-ites, the end of a long line. I had secured online the night before my ticket to the event Being practically soaked to the bone, having paid my dews in the open streets, the ink was running on the ticket that I had printed out and the scanner failed to read it. I was told to wait for a higher power. What more irony could I ask for then cryptic ink running on a ruinous ticket. Of course, not relying on serendipitous irony, I had brought a brown manila envelope containing my tax returns for the last 10 years (actually, which are heavily redacted blank sheets of paper). Knowing that airport-like security was to be the order of the day, security personnel would likely ask me to open this envelope. Then, I would respond that I was hoping that if I gave Mitt my tax returns then maybe he would give me his. I knew that this would probably not be satisfactory, and my alleged tax returns would be declared a security threat and the irony would be complete! In the meantime, while I was waiting for a boss-man’s stamp of approval for entrance, the young man with a scanner, the first line of security, saw that I had registered by name as “Top Pun,” and he asked me for some ID. I showed him my media pass (shown below) and my driver’s license. I told him that I was the soul proprietor of the business, that I wrote a blog, and that I was going to report on this event. He asked me what kind of business it was. I told him that I make things like buttons and T-shirts, pointing to my mission statement emblazoned on the media pass and business card, “Maximizing Prophets.” He didn’t seem to have anything to say to this. Just then, a man came out and said that the doors would be closed and locked, so if you wanted to get in, get in now. The young man with a scanner tried to scan my ticket again and it worked! I went through the two sets of doors and got in a short line for their main security check. However, as I waited in the security line, another man told the dozen or so of us waiting at security that the fire marshal said they were full and we had to leave. We went outside. After a little while, someone came back out and said that we could go in again. Again, I got in the security line. Just as I had emptied my pockets and the woman at security asked about the brown manila envelope, a sheriff deputy called me back through the set of doors. The sheriff deputy instructed me that the event organizers would not let me in their event. There it was: I was officially uninvited from the Romney victory rally. Be the change you want to see in the world. Now, if we could only all get uninvited from a Romney victory rally…
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POEM: Unending Vocation She summoned me
To tell me
Of my new job assignment
I soon realized
That it was
Not beneath me
But behind me
So I moved on
In my unending vocation
As I was tolled
This ...
POEM: Commercial Interruption We interrupt this commercial
Now that wasn't so hard
Or was it?
How many times a day is our consciousness breached by some form of commercial interruption? Way too many ...
POEM: Enlightenment Not Worth Beings Conversing in the street
At a protest
We had a very enlightening pow wow
As too in form me
He stated with qualm assurance
"Protest before enlightenment, protest after ...
POEM: That Cursory Savor Life
As present
Did not add up
As if
A zero
Sum game
The passed getting bigger
The future getting smaller
That good buy
That eminent lessen
As holy for gone
As ...
POEM: A Life Virtual, oh so… There was twitter Jen
Facebook Jen
Work Jen
School Jen
Family Jen
Amongst others
Never at risk
That they would hookup
Or unplug
In some formidable Jen convention
Or at ...
I am finally uploaded a new batch of Occupy Wall Street designs. This batch of 125 political designs is mostly Occupy Wall Street designs, but there are also a large series of “stop socialism” designs, a large series of Fox news parodies, and a new line of designs: vegetarian. I still have hundreds of other designs made that I still need to upload, so stay tuned.
The designs below are linked to button products, but each of these designs is available in all of Top Pun’s products such as T-shirts, bumper stickers, mugs, magnets, key chains, sticker sheets, posters, and caps.
If you like what you see, you can check out all of my political designs, which also include more Occupy Wall Street related designs.
Gandhi Quote: First Ignore, Then Laugh, Fight, Win – POLITICAL BUTTON
If you like what you see, you can check out all of my political designs.
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POEM: Mere Image I look in the mirror
At a real piece of work
And I thank God
That genius recognizes genius
Sharing more than mere image
I am more than the sum of the images that you can ...
ANTI-FASCISM POEM: In Efface of Creeping Fascism He was a custom
Too accept
That creep
Creep
Creep
Of fascism
Without a furor
Incite
Picking wons
Fights
Posedly agin
And agin
Sow frayed
Peering opposed
Laws and ...
POEM: Ad Dulled State Ad Dulled State
Well come
To this ad dulled state
What will it take
To see the light
Tell a vision
Divining every yen
Razing the whys
Jacking up
All that meters
Taxi'ing ...
POEM: Relationship Test I like to be alone
Especially when you and I are together
I wrote this as a love poem. Surprisingly, really surprisingly, I did not see the second way to read this poem. ...
Dennis Kucinich versus Marcy Kaptur Congressional Race War is a Crime blogger David Swanson recommends that the election that we should be watching is the congressional district nine race pitting Democratic incumbents Dennis Kucinich ...
POEM: My Ransom I had drug
All my holdings
To the pinnacle of possessions
And the depths of conceded
Realizing
Long the way
It was
My ransom
Delivering me
Oftentimes our possessions ...
POEM: By No Means Necessary By No Means Necessary
When the strident are
Up in arms
Staking their claims
By any means necessary
May such a battlefield
Arouse patience strewn
A bout
Of ...
POEM: Guarding God He stoutly guarded God
From an unruly world
An unreveling creation
And in such earnest
He, and millions others, were
Relieved of their doody
Perhaps only a small relief
For ...
POEM: A Brother Lying Prey fore the dead
In the name of Jesus
In resurrection of those soully asleep
Getting a phallus rise
Out of Christianity
That is, US
More sow then radical Islam
In violate ...
POLITICAL POEM: You Don’t Say, And Ever Prey To every American
YES
The president no's stuff
That wee don't
Real lies
Pinocchio without puppeteers
Cyrano's muzzle sow credible
Undisclosed pickings of boogie ...
Silence Will Not Protect You Your Silence Will Not Protect You - Pink Triangle--Gay Pride Rainbow Shop BUTTON
Your Silence Will Not Protect You - Pink Triangle--Gay Pride Rainbow Shop BUTTON
This cool ...
This afternoon, protesters gathered outside the federal courthouse in Toledo Ohio as one of hundreds of protests Across the United States to bring awareness to the travesty of corporate personhood. The nationwide protests were sponsored by MoveToAmend.org. Move to Amend seeks a constitutional amendment which bans corporate personhood and reserves First Amendment rights for human beings. Most of the Toledo protesters were from Occupy Toledo, which cosponsored the protest. While the temperatures were in the teens, the protesters received warm responses from passersby in automobiles and trucks. There was an explanation of the purposes of Move to Amend as well as Mic checks and singing. Pictured below is me, the one and only Top Pun, holding my hand made signs — made by a human, not a corporation.
Top Pun in front of federal courhouse in Toledo, Ohio, at Move To Amend protest sponsored by Occupy Toledo
Below you can see a group of the protesters who braved the cold on a January Friday afternoon with a winter storm warning in effect.
Move to Amend Protesters
Please join us at Move to Amend Toledo or Occupy Toledo, or your own local or regional chapters of these groups, to bring an end to corporate personhood and reestablish humans as the appropriate and preeminent power in this nation. Thanks!
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Blessed are the Peacemakers Blessed Are the Peacemakers - Jesus Quote--BUTTON
Blessed Are the Peacemakers - Matthew 5:9 - Jesus--BUTTON
This cool design is linked to a button, but other great Top Pun ...
POEM: The Lost Heart of Wore Dave lost his head
On the edge of barbarism
Shariq found his blown to pieces
On the edge of civilization
Savage swordplay and droning videogames
Medieval meets modern
Death ...
POEM: Metings, I’d Rather Do Without I listen
To that which speaks
A bigger
In feeleds of dreams
Wanting more
Then words
Aloft from fences
Of unsatisfying breadth
And stealy calculation
Dis passionate ...
POEM: Birth Day Present On my birthday
I was given
As were you
A time machine
A way faring
By lusty seconds
And so moving
Fates billed
To hour credit
Surpassing daze
And weaks
A sort of ...
POEM: Flowers Cut I set before you these flowers
For your reflection and edification
These flowers were cut from my yard
A yard not unlike the two yards that will cover us all some day
Some may ...
Yin Yang PEACE SYMBOL: Yin Yang Symbol 2--BUTTON
PEACE SYMBOL: Yin Yang Symbol 2--BUTTON
This cool design is linked to a button, but other great Top Pun products like T-shirts, bumper ...
It’s “We the People”, not “We the Corporations.” Well, perhaps, for now, it’s “Wee the people!” But hang on, the people are pissed off, and the meek are getting ready. We are in fact the people we have been waiting for. Corporations never have and never will be our saviors. At best, they are tools… for people to use to better humanity as the people see fit, for the people’s benefit.
I am encouraging all the people of these United States to join in the effort to abolish corporate personhood through direct democracy. One national organization helping lead the way in abolishing corporate personhood is MovetoAmend.org. Here is a snippet from their website:
“On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions.
We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule. We Move to Amend.”
Here’s the Move to Amend amendment they propose:
Move to Amend 28th Amendment
Section 1 [A corporation is not a person and can be regulated]
The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only.
Artificial entities, such as corporations, limited liability companies, and other entities, established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law.
The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.
Section 2 [Money is not speech and can be regulated]
Federal, State and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate’s own contributions and expenditures, for the purpose of influencing in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure.
Federal, State and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed.
The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.
Section 3
Nothing contained in this amendment shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.
Let’s abolish corporate personhood and end of the reign of legal fictions over our political and social life in these great United States, great because of the strength of its people, and great because laws can serve people not people serving legal fictions.
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POEM: Awe The Deference In The Whirled He said
She said
You seem full of yourself
Or full of something
As I would
Decidedly be
Rather mistaken
As too much for sum
Than sow scarcely perceived
In convenient ...
POLITICAL CARTOON: CEO Jesus Retirement Plan CEO Jesus: You Had Me At The Retirement Plan
After a long hiatus, CEO Jesus is back. This comic was inspired by a poem I wrote recently:
At Jesus, Inc.
I came for the love ...
POEM: Light ‘n Darkness To face darkness
Lighten up
Facing darkness is a serious issue. Nonetheless, the solution is light, or to double the meaning, to lighten up. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I've ...
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 ...
POEM: Universe So Vast I once asked God
Why did you make the universe so vast?
What were you possibly thinking?
And God said
I was kind of hoping
To have enough room
For all of the poetry yet to ...
Sometimes justice demands circling city hall and other halls of power for around whole to fit in a public square. I am particularly proud of the “copping democracy” phrase subject to double meaning. Law enforcement is often poorly trained and cops bad attitudes toward nonviolent citizens exercising their first amendment rights and petitioning for redress of grievances. 
Judges and courts are often poorly equipped and acculturated to treating nonviolent protesters as more than common criminals. Our criminal justice system exacts a disproportionately high cost upon conscientious citizen protesters actively working to right wrongs in our government and communities. This disproportionately high cost on highly politically engaged activists stymies the vitality of our democracy and reinforces systemic injustices. May we learn to value the vital role protest and resistance play in actualizing a vital democracy.
![Globalize THIS - RESISTANCE [earth graphic] POLITICAL BUTTON](http://toppun.com/Political/Globalize-THIS-RESISTANCE-earth-graphic.gif)
