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Metaphoria is published by JeanneE and Jozef Hand-Boniakowski, Wells VT.  Dylan Hand-Boniakowski is the graphic artist.  Metaphoria is a labor of love produced without pecuniary interest with the hope that it provokes reflection and discussion and that debate even though it may be passionate at times is healthy for democracy and for freedom.  

 

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Declare Your Lawn 
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Socialism For Corporations: Bush's Failout

October 15, Volume 16 Nr. 2, Issue 246
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
Art (ink on paper) speaks.
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Do As I Teach But Not As I Do.  Vermont Teachers Union Fails Democracy
September 12, Volume 16 Nr. 1, Issue 245
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
I'll be the first to admit that Peter Diamondstone can be trying and difficult.  Peter can be stubborn.  Perhaps this is why the two-party system political proponents dislike him.  They may disagree with Diamondstone.  But the dislike, disagreement, adverse reaction to personality, even Diamondstone's preference to not wearing suits, is no reason to exclude him from gubernatorial debates.  As a major party candidate, Peter Diamondstone is entitled to participate, and Vermonters, including young people, deserve to hear what he has to say.  The Vermont-NEA has denied Diamondstone the standing he has earned through his party's major status.  It has denied Vermont's young people access to non-establishment opinions which they most likely will not hear in the classroom.  Of course, this may...
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Dumping The National Phone Directory.  Electing The President of the United States.
August 15, 2008 Volume 15 Nr. 13, Issue 244
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
In the 1995 movie version of Harrison Bergeron, written by Arthur Crimm and directed by Bruce Pitman, the president of the United States is randomly chosen out of the national phone directory and then called by telephone and notified of the "honor".  Crimm is telling us that it does not matter who the president of the United States is.  Crimm's reasoning reflects the common thread throughout the movie that everyone is equal so who becomes the president is irrelevant.  Also, the president is not in charge of anything.  As in "Harrison Bergeron", the movie what we see is not what we get.  What we see on TV and the media is the sideshow passed off as reality for we have all become the George and Hazel Bergerons of the 21st century.  
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John McCain: The Candidate Of, For, And By The People.  He's Just Like You And Me.  Right?
July 1, 2008 Volume 15 Nr. 12, Issue 243
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
It is now June 2008, and not since the Great Depression has Wall Street's performance been so dismal.  War with Iran is appearing more and more probable, perhaps inevitable, the closer we come to election day in November.  Making war to influence the outcome of a presidential election has been a long-time tradition in the USA.  The media inform us daily that there are only two candidates: John McCain and Barak Obama, both trying to convince the people that they are, like us, struggling day to day, feeling the pain of our collective economic woes.  Really?  Let's examine John McCain to see if that is the case and discover what a mensch he really is.  John McCain just another salt of the earth is he?
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Obamanation
June 7, 2008 Volume 15 Nr. 11, Issue 242
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
After a grueling year-and-a-half of campaigning, this stage of the oppressive election year frenzy is over.  Obama has won.  And so what?  Obama asked no hard questions. Obama provided no solutions. Obama gave the electorate a preacher’s delivery, a rock star’s persona, a basketball player’s hand claps. Obama gave the public what the media creationists programmed them to want: a feel better candidate delivered via Madison Avenue finesse for which they are conditioned to accept. The main stream corporate media orchestrated the so-called Obama movement offering it as an adjunct to the Republican option. The only game allowed, after all, is....
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Spirituality: The Ego Clamoring For Attention
May 15, 2008 Volume 15 Nr. 10, Issue 241
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
No matter how big a family we may have, no matter how many friends or colleagues, we will ultimately be alone.  Either our friends, etc., will die first or we will.  I would go one step further than Brandon: to live a loving and peaceful life causing minimal damage to others we must accept the fact of our ultimate non-existence.  This means that we must do what the ego is designed not to.  We must accept the reality that the ego will cease to be and along with it, so will we...
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From The Great Dictator: Adenoid Hynkel Speaks. Charlie Chaplin Addresses Bush, Cheney, et al.
April 15, 2008 Volume 15 Nr. 9, Issue 240
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
I came across the classic film, "The Great Dictator" starring Charlie Chaplin.  In this movie, Chaplin plays Adenoid Hynkel, the great and autocratic dictator of Tomania. Chaplin also plays a second character, a Jewish barber, who is an Adenoid Hynkel look-alike.  The barber mistaken for the dictator, eventually is maneuvered into making a speech to the great world masses after the successful invasion and conquest of the fictitious country, Osterlich...People concerned about fascism in the U.S.A. would do well to watch "The Great Dictator" while they still can...Chaplin knew fascism when he saw it back in 1937.  If he were alive today, he would know it again...
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Putting It Where The Sun Does Shine.  Ending Solar Impotence.
March 15, 2008 Volume 15 Nr. 8, Issue 239
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
What is wrong with this picture?  The self-appointed greatest nation in history cannot put its ever-increasingly unemployed people to work mass-producing solar panels.  It is as if we are impotent in putting our people to work in industries with obvious long-term benefit.  The country that made it a national goal to put its citizens on the moon remains remarkable in its inability to produce the energy products necessary for its own future well-being.  Why is that?  Why is it that foreign competitors have taken the lead in cellular network infrastructure building with massive access to digital and Internet services, hybrid and alternative fuel automobiles, etc.?  
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From Garlic Powder To Heparin.  We Are At War With Ourselves.
February 15, 2008 Volume 15 Nr. 7, Issue 238
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski

A technician from interventional radiology told me that increasingly they are seeing injectible solutions that are "Made in China".  They expressed their discomfort with this trend, especially when it came to the important and common injectible anti-coagulant called Heparin.  And justifiably so.  Recently, the Heparin "manufacturer", Baxter, voluntarily recalled a batch of its product.  The drug Heparin that is labeled as being manufactured in the United States is made from an active ingredient that comes from a factory in China that has not been inspected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration...

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Patriotism: The Other Opiate of the Masses
January 18, 2008 Volume 15 Nr. 6, Issue 237
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski

We are as infants in our recognition of the deleterious effects of patriotism.  We are ignorant from whence in the face of grave loss we choke up when the colors are presented or the national anthem is played  Patriotism never tries to interfere with our inability to understand it.  It exists as an ever present aspect of our being, a fact of life successfully inculcated from an early age from the habits of our parents and our schooling through the dominant and domineering paradigms of our culture.  Patriotism's demanding proliferators build upon our internal proclivity toward something bigger than the self.  In that regard patriotism is a parasitic infection that often destroys the host and many more times those branded as its enemies and collateral damage.  Patriotism is an infection that cares not one whit whether the host survive only that the parasite continues...
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Under the Guise of Freedom: Fascism's Ultimate Destination
December 26, 2007 Volume 15 Nr. 5, Issue 236
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski

The ultimate destination of fascism is the total domination over and control of everything that happens to people while operating under the guise that people are free.  The terminus operandi is a breed of wetware automatons that question not, while being convinced that they have chosen not to question.  The goal is a society that behaves as planned while its members believe they have chosen their behavior...

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Mukasey, Buchanan, Feinstein, and Schumer.  Waterboarding And The Passion Of Christ
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
November 7, 2007 Volume 15 Nr. 4, Issue 235
Fatherland is what fascists turn to when they cover up their personal internal conflicts in favor of domination over everything.  To fascists, waterboarding becomes not being torture.  The United States becomes a country that does not torture.  Extreme rendition becomes not kidnapping.  People's disappearances become not un constitutional.   Assassination becomes not being murder.  " Preventive war" becomes not aggression.  And collateral damage is no longer contrary to "thou shall not kill".  Death becomes not being contrary to the "pursuit of life".  To hell with "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights."  I ask you, Pat Buchanan, would your Jesus Christ sanction waterboarding?  

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Homeopathic Thuggery
JeanneE Hand-Boniakowski
November 1, 2007 Volume 15 Nr. 3, Issue 234
In the interest of democratic discourse and the cause of rational health care, Metaphoria is joining with dozens of sites across the web in reproducing the article which the Society of Homeopaths...managed to have removed from a web server via ridiculous legal threats.... they just bullied the ISP. The SoH has continued to support its members even when they practice dangerous versions of homeopathy... encouraging folks to skip the malaria meds... when visiting/working in places where malaria is endemic. How long do we coddle quackery in the name of twisted versions of "healthcare freedom" and "multiculturalism"?

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Military Cadence: A Tribute to VFP Brother David Cline, RIP
October, 2007 Volume 15 Nr. 2, Issue 233
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski

"They killed Dave forty years ago, the government of the United States killed Dave in Vietnam; but Dave had too much in him to die right away. Too much heart, too much soul, too much spirit, too much of a passion to fight for what is right and true and just; it took him 40 years to die."
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Removing the Toxins - Cleansing the Nation
September, 2007 Volume 15 Nr. 1, Issue 232
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski

The cleansing session that removes toxins from the body are four hours long and take place three days each week.  If only the chief executive of the USA could be hooked up to remove what poisons the nation.  If only the flow rate could be set to maximum and performed seven days per week.  If only the Cheney - Bush regime could be cleansed of lies, deception, corruption and incompetence.
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Reel Mowing As Protest.  Twisting Panties And Squeezing Gonads
August, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 12, Issue 231
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski

I
f one protester pushing a lawn mower in opposition to the illegal and immoral Iraq war can elicit the wrath of fascists in the White House, then there is hope still that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights can be defended and protected.  Evidently, one protester with a push mower can twist the panties of the powerful.  Tens of millions, however, would put the gonads of corruption in a vice grip called ...
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They're Off! Trunks And Asses On Their Way
July, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 11, Issue 230
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
We do not elect candidates to high office in the United States. We pay for and they buy their way in.  No Mr. Obama, what exists is the same old corrupting influence of large sums of money on the electoral process.  Democracy is not only ill-served, it is abrogated by campaign cash that determines candidate viability.  Little money means little electability and the U.S. ruling class determines and manufactures who the candidates will be.
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June, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 10, Issue 229
JeanneE Hand-Boniakowski
(
temporarily unavailable)
  
Relevant Ramblings With A Child By My Side
May, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 9, Issue 228
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
A poem about breast feeding and being male in the U.S.A.
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Alternative Ethics
April 29, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 8, Issue 227
JeanneE Hand-Boniakowski

Since the skeptical and scientific blogworld is in a deep discussion of strategic appeasement over whether science and religion can play nice together, I am going to look at some of the ethical muck of appeasement that has dirtied health care...
The appeasers are those who trumpet “integrative medicine”.  Seeing themselves as moderates, a bridge between hostile camps of “allopathic” and “alternative”, the integrators are a muddy waffle that is dishonest at its core...
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Cindy Sheehan in Vermont: Nothing Left For The Right Wing Except To Attack The Messenger.  How Pathetic!
March 6, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 7, Issue 226
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
What stands out most strikingly is that the pro-war side no longer has any credibility. No longer having any rational, nor legal, nor moral justification to continue supporting the war and G.W. Bush, the pro-war folk are left to their own nasty devices of attacking the anti-war messenger. Swift-boating, spreading lies, character assassination, are all they have left to comfort the cold cockles of their insidious hearts...The lies that led to Shock and Awe have now morphed into lies that attempt to mask their own complicity. These are the deceptions that continue to kill and maim hundreds of thousands of people. The attacks against Cindy Sheehan are in response to her powerful and truthful message and do not require any rebuttal whatsoever...
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Democrats and Liberals: Lacking Conviction. The Door That Cannot Swing Both Ways. 
February 19, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 6, Issue 225
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
War is murder. We cannot be in support of murderers while opposing murder. I will not honor that which makes murder and war possible. Liberals and Democrats want to condemn war and then honor or commemorate those who make war. Those who kill are killers no matter what the cause or ideology, or what the flag, or what the religion, or what the reason. If, as Nancy Pelosi says, “There is one proposition on which we all agree: our troops have performed excellently in Iraq. They have done everything asked of them”, then she, and we, have honored the killing in our name and at our request. I will not honor that.
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The Ultimate Human Activity: The Exchange of Capital.  The Ultimate Crime: Not Participating.
January 22, 2007 Volume 14 Nr. 5, Issue 224
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
Neoliberalism, however, has it backwards. The ultimate crime is not rejecting the moment-to-moment urge to buy something. The ultimate crime is, instead, neo-liberalism placing profits before people. The higher human activity is not going shopping. It is, not shopping. Shopping is not a prerequisite for a good life. Free market capital circulation is not necessary for well being and living a good and content life. Quite the contrary...
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The Relative Value of Human Life.  No Iraqi Civilians on Mount Hood.
December 22, 2006 Volume 14 Nr. 4, Issue 223
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
The human will to survive is strong and ever-present. The money to pay for survival, however, is another matter. Callous neoliberal economics renders human capital inconsequential. To neoliberalism, the use value of a human being does not matter. Only their surplus value matters to the capitalist, thus making the value of rich human life greater than that of the poor...
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Industrial Warfare.  Industrial matrimony.  Neo-liberalism's Big Products.
November 15, 2006 Volume 14 Nr. 3, Issue 222
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
Just as we are indoctrinated into the mindset that the war will never be done away with, we think we cannot have a wedding outside the corporate model.  The cultural operative dictates a public ceremony, typically including a minister, a reception with an obligatory meal, a bubbly toast, booze, a band, a DJ, a wedding cake and some kind of favor for the guests.  A corporate recipe for yet another commodity.  Like other commodities, the typical mass produced wedding is riddled with... 
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The Doctrine of Americanism and the United States Midterm Elections of November 7, 2006.
October 30, 2006 Volume 14 Nr. 2, Issue 221
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
In this the last week before the 2006 mid-term elections (November 7, 2006) in the United States, it may behoove us as United States citizens to ponder upon the following historic words: "Many of the practical expressions of Americanism such as party organization, system of education, and discipline can only be understood when considered in relation to its general attitude toward life. A spiritual attitude. Americanism sees in the world... 
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War as Human Defect.  Faith as Disease
September 19, 2006 Volume 14 Nr. 1, Issue 220
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
Just before the cease fire in the Israel-Hezbollah war went into effect at 0500 hours GMT, 14 August, there was a final push for maximizing destruction and death.  Last licks, before time runs out.  The maximization of casualties is not the characteristic of a sophisticated and highly developed species.  Quite the contrary... 
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All Natural
August 7, 2006 Volume 13 Nr. 51, Issue 219
JeanneE Hand-Boniakowski
Ah, the seduction of that meme: “natural”.  We are enchanted by a notion of the natural world that reads like a personals ad: “loves long moonlit walks on the beach.”  Just as one should be realistic about Mr. Box # 4723, so should one examine assumptions about nature.  Parasites and polio, tsunamis and tsetse flies, volcanoes and vipers are all natural.  When we get that wistful idea of Nature, we are thinking of... 
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Banning Body Jewelry. Stretching Ear Lobes While Shrinking Free Speech.
July 26, 2006 Volume 13 Nr. 50, Issue 218
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
Having mouth jewelry in today's off-shoring job marketplace appears to be a positive asset.  Just wait, Ms. Pena.  Your job and your teachers positions are about to be eliminated.  You are going to be replaced by Indian educators and teachers with mouth and ear jewelry!  These other fad- endowed educators and teachers even have the audacity to speak the Queen's English.  They are anglophiles who, unlike "Texan", G.W. Bush, can pronounce the word "nuclear" properly and not mangle verb tenses... 
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Exceptional Americans Manifest Their Destiny:  And to Hell with the Consequences...
June 17, 2006 Volume 13 Nr. 49, Issue 217
Jason Miller
Contrary to the “catapulted propaganda”, Enron, Haditha, and Abu Ghraib were not isolated incidents or the work of a “few bad apples”. American savagery and oppressive behavior pervades our society and predates our nation’s birth. Building its patriarchal wealth on the backs of Black slaves and cheap labor while acquiring its territory through Native American genocide, predatory exploitation of non-Anglos, the poor, women, and the working class emerged as a pillar of America’s socioeconomic “success” before we even declared our independence... 
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Capitalism Requires a Great Depression. Getting Ready for World War III. 
June 17, 2006, Volume 13 Nr. 48, Issue 216
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
The Boomers grew up in a period within the United States when the expectation was that every year the personal and family economic situation would improve along with the improved fiscal condition of the nation.  Every year better than the previous year.  The Boomers who worked hard all their lives are now beginning to retire and the fiscal house of the United States is not in order to provide for them in their senior years as was promised...
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Memorial Day.  A Dedication to the People of Woodfolk in Charlottesville, Virginia
May 30, 2006, Volume 13 Nr. 46, Issue 214
Jozef Hand-Boniakowski
A few days ago, a long time friend and I had the good fortune to spend a few days with the wonderful people of the anarchist environmental community, Woodfolk, in Charlottesville, Virginia.  It is to them I wish to rededicate the first two versions of my Peacemakers songs below, especially Peacemakers II, for it is within the Woodfolk community that I see the best chances for this planet realizing what I have written about in this song.  The planet needs more people like Woodfolk if it is to survive.  Thank you Woodfolk.  Thank you very very much... 
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