Haiku entries for 2012!

Submissions are grouped by Amendment, where specified or obvious. In the spirit of the 1st Amendment, haiku are published verbatim, may not reflect the views of the ACLU of Hawaii, and may not be suitable for all readers.

1st Amendment: Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause, freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly; right to petition

Speak, yell or babble
Without censorship or fear
ACLU’s here! 
                – Example haiku
 
Military might
Replacing our civil rights
Yo! It’s time to fight!!
                – Laulani Teale (via Facebook)
 
Priest, shaman or witch
Free to disagree, free to
Embrace, happily
               - Goat Anonymous
 
Worship God or goats
Up to you:
Believe freely
              – Goat Anonymous
 
Abridging speech rights
Leads not to Democracy
American’s joy!
                - Andrey Zelenskiy (Ukraine)
 
Don’t touch religion
or problems will have you
like winter’s first snow.
                 - Andrey Zelenskiy (Ukraine)
 
Faces recognized
Everyday objects observe
Chilled democracy
              – Goat Anonymous [see recent FTC report on facial recognition -- scary!]
 - N.B.: http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-free-speech-national-security/ftc-weighs-face-recognition-technology [ED]
 
 
$12,000?????
Under U.S. rule, it seems
Freedom isn’t free.
               - Laulani Teale (via Facebook)
 
 
Churches, public schools
That’s just un-American
New Hope, give it up!
                   - Concerned mom
 
Splintered paddle vs.
First Amendment on camping
What law of OUR land?
                    –  Kim Ku‘ulei Birnie
 
Trump insinuates
Demands access to disprove
Obama’s birthplace
                    -  Kim Ku‘ulei Birnie
 
Courage reigns for those
Who risk disobedience
For justice for all
                     -  Kim Ku‘ulei Birnie
 
Landlord asked to see
license.  I showed passport…what?
No driving required
                      -  Kim Ku‘ulei Birnie
 
I am free to speak,
Will I be free tomorrow,
Yes, proficiently!
                     - Cory John Brummel (via Facebook)
 
Freedom seems to be
A rather abstract concept
On occupied land.
                      – Laulani Teale
 
Free speech ain’t so free
Citizens United will
Out spend You and Me
                     - Myron Berney
 
Free speech ain’t so free
Politicians are for sale
By the People lost gone
                    – Myron Berney
 
This land was made for
you and me, not you and you
Wake up and dance!
- Fl0w3rPunx
 
They do what they want
I am free to disagree,
Just not too loudly
                   - schutte (via Facebook)
 
Say what’s on your mind
strong linchpin of all the rest
free speech, number one!
                   - anonymous
 

2nd Amendment: Sovereign state, the right to keep and bear arms

Anne get your gun
second amendment is fun
Anne get your gun
                   - Myron Berney
 
Ordered militias
Necessary to free states
I liked it that way
                   -  Steve
 
This gun is awesome
And I’m going to need it bad
When the zombies come.
                   - rule1=cardio
 
3rd Amendment: Protection from quartering of troops 
 
Hewa kaua!
Military off my land
Not your ‘aina, bro.
         - N.B.
 

4th Amendment: Protection from unreasonable search and seizure

Sleeping on the streets
Without government abuse
Is quite hard enough.
                  – Laulani Teale (via Facebook)
 
Smart grid signatures
Electronic eyes search, seize
All homes have secrets
                     - Goat Anonymous [smart homes will know what appliances you use and whatever else you do -- no one has "nothing to hide"]
 
 
Online tracking sucks
The ugliest troll ever
Scumbag marketers
                    – Internet Privacy Now!
 
Insane Clown Posse:
“Government kicked us in nuts”
FBI lawsuit!
                    - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/26/insane-clown-posse-sues-fbi_n_1917685.html
 
Want help? Pee in cup
Drug tests for some assistance
Unfair and costly
                   - Mike Brickner
 
right of the people
secure in person and home
expect privacy
                  – Matthew Cohen (via Facebook)
 
Fingerprinted kids
In the cafeteria
Lining up for rice
                  -schutte (via Facebook)
 
Government hit-drones
robo-spying on our own
the founders would snap!
                   - Ms. Boo
 
Secure in my house
papers and effects. I love
the Fourth Amendment!
- @liberalviewer (via Twitter)
 
 
5th Amendment: Due process, double jeopardy, self incrimination, eminent domain.
 
People are dragged through
bureaucratic hell for months
…and that’s “Due Process?”
                   - Laulani Teale (via Facebook)
 
Due Process of Law
No Self Incrimination
Just Compensation
                                        – Michelle Walker-Cook (via Facebook)
 
6th Amendment: Trial by jury & rights of the accused; Confrontation Clause, speedy trial, public trial, right to counsel
 
Government too poor
To provide me a lawyer?
Indigent Defense
                   - John Chasnoff
 
Mom says I’m perfect!
“…a fool for a client?” Oh.
Guess a lawyer’s cool.  
                   - Super Mario (via email)
 

7th Amendment: Civil trial by jury

How many people
Lose their “rights” because they can’t
Afford a lawyer?
                   - Laulani Teale (via Facebook)
 
Dude, you banged my car!
Judge Judyʻs gonna get you
Courtʻs not just for crimes
                    – You Must Acquit
 
 
8th Amendment: Prohibition of excessive bail and cruel & unusual punishment
 
Kanaka fill cells
Sentenced, oppression simmers
Justice still not just.
                    –  Kim Ku‘ulei Birnie
 
Overseas prisons
Absent food, culture, and kin
Bring our people home.
                   -  Kim Ku‘ulei Birnie
 
Hitting Kids In School
Still OK in Many States
Ban this Outrage Now!
                  – Deborah J. Vagins
 
Prisons for profit
Privatization not free
Goodbye liberty
                   - Mike Brickner
 
Alone and frightened
Children behind prison bars
Stop Solitary
                  – Mike Brickner
 
Solitary men
In cruel isolation:
Solidarity!
                  – John Chasnoff
 
No Excessive Punishment
Not Cruel or Unusual
Death Penalty Irrational
                  – Michelle Walker-Cook (via Facebook)
 
Sad prisoner sits
He contemplates bad outcomes
Worries for future 
                   - J.K.
 
9th Amendment: Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Constitution
 
Life, love, happiness.
This is all we want and need.
Why is this so hard?
                  – Gregory A. Smith
 
Scalia says no
But the Constitution lives!
Founders not that dumb
                   - Butter Day
 
10th Amendment: Powers of States and people
 
 
13th Amendment: Abolishing slavery
 
What kind of sickness
Claims ownership of a man
Capitalism
                  – Comrade 2.0
 
14th Amendment: Due process, equal protection, birthright citizenship
 
There are some paddles
This illegal government
Needs a good crack with!
                  – Laulani Teale (via Facebook)
 
Goats bleat; donkeys bray
Expressions abound freely
Straight or gay: OK!
                    – Goat Anonymous
 
Equal protection
Not just for people like “us”
Shielded from the crowd
                   - Goat Anonymous [we must protect minority causes from oppression from the majority]
 
Do you earn  the same
as men who do the same job?
Pass Paycheck Fairness!
                  – Deborah J. Vagins
 
Due process for all
Born here are citizens
Equal protection are givens.
                  – Michelle Walker-Cook (via Facebook)
 
Fourteen protects me
guarantees equality
life and liberty
                 - Myron Berney
 
15th Amendment: The equal right to vote regardless of race 
 
Voter Suppression
Bull Connor’s Ghost Still Haunts, But
VRA Still Lives!
                – Deborah J. Vagins
 
My toes in warm sand!
Living Aloha always!
Cold drink in my hand!
                – @PaulKlink Paul Leo Klink

19th Amendment: No sex discrimination in the voting booth

Women’s Right to Vote
Gender equity led to
Title IX success
               - Kim Ku‘ulei Birnie

24th Amendment: Prohibition of poll taxes

Right to vote inviolate
Federal/state election.
Free citizens mandate.
     - Michelle Walker-Cook (via Facebook)

General Bill of Rights Topic/Tributes & Non-Haikus

No more blood for oil
no more blood for religion
no more NDAA in the name of terrorism
no more drug war
lets make love not war.
               - Robert Clemens (via Facebook)
 
No lessening of gun laws in paradise
no more rolling of the dice
no lessening of keiki prioritize’
and no more victims will lie dead.
               - Michelle Walker-Cook (via Facebook)
 
 
Laulani, a warrior on the front lines……
standing up for i and i’s rights……
still waiting for more, waiting for representation….
how long she gotta wait?
no haiku, just my truth
                – Brady Townsend
 
 
Life is grand for me.
ACLU—why the fuss?
Now I know … too late.
                – Diane Balogh, St. Louis
 
Rights in paradise.
Mahalo, ACLU,
For preserving them.
               - Susan Herman
 
800 pound ape!
Government’s so powerful
Oh, my aching back!
                – Elmer Gantry
 
The Constitution was meant to be a guiding light
Evil lawyers turned it upside down into a painful plight
Civil Rights and Liberties False Fears have stolen away
The Government Terrorizing it’s Citizens, that’s not OK
      – Myron Berney
 
Bill of Rights haiku
Brevity, the soul of wit
Government, behave!
                – Ms. Boo