When I thought about writing this piece based on three protest songs (1. Running the World, Written and Recorded by Jarvis Cocker; 2. Eve of Destruction, Written by P. F. Sloan, Recorded by Barry McGuire; 3. For What It's Worth, Written by Stephen Stills, Recorded by Buffalo Springfield;) I had no doubt that the three songs were on target for what I wanted to express. I did have some misgivings about the first song because of its explicit nature. Further reflection has led me to believe that those who would be offended would not consider having an open mind about my thoughts. Their false sense of propriety is one the things I was condemning. Therefore, I have decided to declare this piece to be rated R. That is R for REALITY.
Too often liberals think the word politics implies politeness. Our NeoCon advisories observe no such convention. Truthfulness and reality are also missing from their playbook. They do however observe the BIG LIE RULE, repeat something often enough and it will be perceived as the truth no matter how far from reality and truth it is based. This piece is for thoughtful mature adults, written in what I hope is an intelligent but blunt manner. If you are offended by the words used here, please examine if the words are what offends or if it is uncomfortable and novel ideas. That being said here is the uncensored title of this piece:
(Cunts Are Still) Running the World (on the) Eve of Destruction For What It's Worth
There are few words with a more negative connotation than "cunt." This is what caused my initial hesitation. The use of this word in this piece is not gratuitous but is an integral part of the song being used to demonstrate the ideas under discussion. The following can be found at http://www.answers.com/...
Interestingly, the word "cunt," while retaining its original meaning in America, has changed in meaning somewhat in Great Britain in the past thirty years. Where American usage of the word exclusively refers to either female anatomy or (in extreme cases) an ill-tempered woman {Ann Coulter being the exception or extreme case that proves the rule – APL}, "cunt" in the UK has attained the status of a gender-neutral insult, akin to asshole etc.
This song was indeed written and performed by a British artist, Jarvis Cocker. It was used during the closing credits in the recent hit film, Children of Men. It has a very pleasant melody that can be deceiving as to the depth of the lyrics. The fact is I listened to the song several times before it sunk in just what he was trying to say. If you are a liberal with a complete distaste for the word, please mentally substitute asshole and I believe the picture will become focused. With that thought, I will begin trying to explain why I believe these three songs are all saying something vitally important about the situation America finds itself in today. At the end of this piece, I have included the complete text of all three songs.
Well did you hear, there’s a natural order?
Those most deserving will end up with the most.
That the cream cannot help but always rise up to the top,
Well I say: Shit floats.
If you thought things had changed,
Friend you’d better think again,
Bluntly put in the fewest of words,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.
This has to be the best criticism of the Social Darwinism of the NeoCon bunch I have heard or seen. With two words, Shit floats, Cocker sums up the false premise of entitlement that George W. Bush and Paris Hilton share. Bush is the same small-minded idiot who commuted "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence to zero but refused to commute Karla Faye Tucker's death sentence to life in prison, going so far as to mock her plea for clemency by smirking and saying, "Please, don't kill me." Richard Paey is a man incarcerated in Florida for the distribution of drugs, despite the fact that there is no evidence he ever sold a single pill, based on drug laws that allow officials to prosecute based on the quantity an individual possesses. Bush has refused to even hear the facts of the case. Richard Paey sits in a Florida prison serving a twenty-five year sentence in a wheel chair caused by spinal injuries and gets a morphine drip to his back stronger than the drugs he was accused of possessing. Rush Limbaugh who did the same as Paey received no jail time even though his drug possession was for a fix. Rush was offered a plea bargain where anyone else discovered with the same evidence would have served jail time. Paey's lawyers have attempted to get a pardon or commutation from Bush but have been rebuffed at every turn. Libby and Limbaugh get preferential treatment and Paey literally rots in jail.
It should come as no surprise that this group so vehemently opposed to evolution have such a poor grasp of Darwin. Just the term Social Darwinism is a misnomer since Darwin said the best adaptation would be the eventual survivor not the strongest. Darwin was at a disadvantage of not knowing about DNA but when applying his theories to an intimate knowledge of genetics just confirms Darwin was right. The NeoCons have tried and in many cases succeeded in conning the public into believing that anyone through hard work and right thinking can become the cream of the crop thus entitling them to the spoils of society. This is their big carrot just out of reach, behave and you will become one of us. This has let them convince many to vote against obvious self-interest. The idea of natural order lends the notion that God has ordained this system. This is repeated so often that the BIG LIE RULE succeeds and it becomes "common sense." It is time for us liberals to stomp out this BIG LIE. We need to stress that Thomas Jefferson's words are truer now than ever before:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
I have made the mistake (my mistake is a case of a weak stomach and the resulting nausea) of visiting my local Congress creature's web site where he uses this quote in the welcome banner. This NeoCon believes that there is no separation of Church and State as long as it is his view of the Church that takes hold. He sees fit to ignore Jefferson's strongly worded letters declaring the firm establishment of "a wall between church and state" in the Bill of Rights.
NeoCons love to point out the hypocrisy inherent in this statement being written by a slave owner and that the Declaration of Independence is not part of the official laws of the country. This is the false logic of two wrongs make a right – if Jefferson really believed in the "natural order" that one person is better than another then there is nothing wrong in them believing the same thing. In Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration, there was the following statement:
"he (King George III of England) has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither."
It was one of his greatest disappointments until his death that this was stricken from the final Declaration. Without the removal of this statement, the Southern colonies would have never voted for Independence as stated in the Declaration. The Continental Congress imposed unanimity as a condition and the country could not afford to die before being born.
It would do us good to remember that the Bush regime considers the Geneva Conventions "quaint." The Bush regime has done its level best to ignore the Constitution and laws of the land. The Declaration of Independence not being an official part of the laws they already trash is just a happy coincidence for the NeoCons. The defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment and the codification of anti-gay laws are just two of the most obvious ways the NeoCons dupe the public. Polls show that about 70% of the public believe that equal pay for equal work is the law of the land. They are unaware that a woman is on average still paid about 75% of what a man is paid for the same job. This is the natural order of things for the NeoCons and any light we can shine on these cockroaches would help to relieve the pervasive ignorance.
Now the working classes are obsolete,
They are surplus to societies needs,
So let ‘em all kill each other,
And get it made overseas.
That’s the word don’t you know,
From the guys that's running the show,
Lets be perfectly clear boys and girls,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.
The mismanagement of the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina was NO accident or oversight. If either had been the case there wouldn't be 100,000 displaced people that have been unable to return to their homes even now. Undamaged public housing remains empty because of the desire to replace it with housing for the "right kind" of people. The only reason the housing hasn't been torn down and replaced already is simple; the levees and dikes must be rebuilt so the new upper class housing can never suffer the same fate that the poor neighborhoods of New Orleans and environs did during Hurricane Katrina. NeoCons are more than willing to continue the debate about the immediate aftermath of Katrina because it distracts from the real crime that nothing to correct the deficiencies has taken place in the YEARS since.
Labor unions are at an all time low. Attempts to reverse this and insure workers rights are rebuffed at every level of government. The United Auto Workers (UAW) could during the 1960's shut down the production of autos in both the US and Canada. Their aggressive pursuit of benefits got health insurance not just for its members but also for many average workers throughout the country. During recent negotiations, the UAW conceded to wage cuts of one third. The only concession in return was bonuses for those long-term employees who retire early. The working classes are the people of the middle classes. In this country, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the middle classes are rapidly disappearing and joining the poor.
The NeoCon has extended this attitude to Iraq – let them kill each other. The truth is without our illegal and immoral invasion and occupation there would not be the level of killing in Iraq that exists today. The average worker in Iraq today no longer has any job. Those are either being performed by American/British contractors or where the contractors feel the work is beneath them, by imported cheap labor.
The two biggest myths of Iraq: This is a war and the Iraqis are sovereign over their own country. In order for a situation to be war there must be an identifiable enemy. Wars end not through the genocide of the enemy but through political means like negotiation or surrender. In Vietnam for all of its shortcomings, we were able to sit and have dialogue with an enemy. This is impossible in Iraq because there is no enemy to sit down with and negotiate. If Iraq had true sovereignty, it would be up to Iraq when Americans would leave not the NeoCons of the Bush regime or even American public opinion. During any of the elections that were held in Iraq, the US prevented any candidate or party from advocating American withdrawal, this was a forbidden and censured subject. The next time you hear the Shrub or some NeoCon tool talk about democracy in Iraq remember it is pure fabrication and an outright lie.
Oh feed your children on Cray fish and Lobster tails,
Find a school near the top of the league,
In theory, I respect your right to exist,
I will kill ya, if you move in next to me,
Ah it stinks, it sucks, it’s anthropologically unjust,
But the takings are up by a third, Oh So
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.
Every soccer mom and NASCAR dad buys into this mythology. They receive validation of their self worth through their children. The circus values of the Roman Games have been skillfully instilled into our cultural moirés. Token African Americans are allowed into many arenas but their numbers nowhere approach their numbers in the population as a whole. The Williams sisters play professional tennis but not to crowds from South-Central. Those crowds at Wimbledon and the US Open are whiter than white bread. Tiger Woods makes millions but the vast majority of the crowds at golf tournaments secretly cheer at his every misstep.
I lived in California when African-American Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley was the multiple-time Democratic nominee for governor. He would enter Election Day with as much as a 15-point lead in the polls only to be soundly defeated. Voters would tell pollsters one thing and then in the secrecy of the voting booth vote their prejudices. Many of the prejudices involved were not conscious or examined. In many cases, they were what are called Reagan Democrats. These are voters that the NeoCon policies have put on the street or near starvation but believe the fallacious arguments that affirmative action or illegal immigration caused them to lose their jobs. Profit is the true God of the NeoCon. To have truly large profits there needs to be few masters and many consumers. Too few remember the presidential debates of 1980 when Reagan stated ". . . from the days when I was young and when this country didn't even know it had a racial problem" and it was only because of the civil rights movement that race became a problem. Since his election, civil rights have deteriorated until now where it appears the Supreme Court is willing to overturn Brown v. Broad of Education.
One of the biggest failings liberals have in modern political discourse is allowing the other side to frame the arguments and define the terms used. This puts us at an extreme disadvantage during debates or discussions. We liberals must at all times refuse to concede these things and insist on reality-based terms. This is especially true when talking about Iraq. We must separate support for the troops from support for the continued illegal occupation. Every time we are accused of being unpatriotic, we must respond even louder that we will not continue to abet crimes against humanity that occur on a daily basis just by our presence in Iraq.
Your free market is perfectly natural,
Or do you think that I’m some kind of dummy,
It’s the ideal way to order the world,
Fuck the morals, does it make any money?
And if you don’t like it? Then leave.
Or use your right to protest on the street,
Yeah, use your rights but don’t imagine that it’s heard, Oh no no,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.
Business Ethics now tops the list of oxymorons formerly held by Military Intelligence. If some honest executive raises his head, and attempts to do the right thing he is mocked by those around him. The average person in America cannot spend the time to become a "real estate guru" because of the hand to mouth existence of paying rent and feeding the family.
"Fuck the morals, does it make any money?" is the best summing up of Iraq that I have seen. Invading and causing the deaths of over 1,000,000 innocent civilians for the profit is the epitome of immoral action. This is not a matter of mere political opinion; it is a true lack of moral fiber. A close examination of history shows that the average German knew about the Holocaust but private agreement with the policy and apathy let it continue. The Bush administration and all who support their actions are guilty of the same crimes that Nazi leaders were hung.
I recently made the mistake of watching a local newscast where an Army Specialist on leave from Iraq went to a local elementary school where he had pen pals. Interviews with the students afterwards non-critically reported how great it was that he came to explain how he was protecting Americans by serving in Iraq. This one American sincerely wishes that this protection would cease immediately. Do not continue this criminal enterprise in my name or for me. This series of crimes has one motivation – profit. Profit at the expense of human life and liberty is immoral and must be resisted at every turn. We liberals and peace lovers of every stripe must resist the ridicule factor. We are not the extreme, we are the mainstream. Those who support America's co-opting of Iraq are the extremists and must be treated and exposed as such.
The eastern world it tis explodin',
violence flarin', bullets loadin',
you're old enough to kill but not for votin',
you don't believe in war, what's that gun you're totin',
and even the Jordan river has bodies floatin',
but you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
When I heard this song for the first time some forty years ago, I had no idea that it would still be applicable today. Of course, I was naïve enough to believe that we were capable of learning from History. Yes it is true that eighteen is now the voting age but the tactics today is to make sure the votes aren't counted (Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004) if it is obvious that you probably will vote against the powers that are. The most insidious and hypocritical of these tactics is the caging of votes of active military. We have had two presidential elections stolen and a third is inevitable unless there are drastic changes. The simplest way to steal the 2008 election is to not hold it. To do that however requires even more power than Bush and his criminal organization have been able to amass for the time being but just barely. Ominous executive orders and actions make this a distinct possibility by November 2008.
Progress towards peace in Israel and surrounding areas is thwarted by declaring democratically elected governments terrorist organizations. We only recognize those entities that are willing to toe the NeoCon line. The Palestinians and Lebanese elected Hezbollah and Hamas because they felt they would be best represented by them. The parental figures of the United States and Israel have decided that these people do not have the right of self-determination. Whenever the NeoCons spout their garbage about terrorists in the region it sounds exactly like the rhetoric that was given about Communists for fifty years. It is time to break the cycle and not give them a continued new punching bag.
Pat Tillman is a prefect case in point of gun toting peace lovers. This tragic figure is the epitome of patriotism but was killed for no good reason. The military in its own wisdom decided it was not necessary to find out just who killed him since he was an atheist. The investigating officer said that since he was an atheist being dead meant that from the Tillman family point of view he was now just so much "worm soil."
Don't you understand, what I'm trying to say?
Can't you see the fear that I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no running away,
There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave,
take a look around you, boy, it's bound to scare you, boy,
but you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
The NeoCons want us to be in fear. They want a delicate balance of fear however because a paralyzing fear brings a halt to the profits generated. They don't want the fear to be a motivating factor in getting rid of their sham of democracy. We have a new boogey man called terrorists now that the Communists have been "vanquished." We have mortgaged ourselves to the most populous country in the world, China, which is indeed still under a truer form of Communism than the Soviets ever were. The advantage of having terrorists as your "enemy du jour" is that anybody can be labeled as "the enemy." Suspension of the Constitution in dealing with these bad guys is seductive in its appeal because they don't have rules so why should we.
It is through fear that they manipulate their party faithful. The concept that we must fight and kill them over there, or they will come here and kill us, is an exceptionally strong motivator albeit a false one. They have told this lie often and loud enough that it is now considered common sense. We have made enemies of people who at one time were in favor of us, if for no other reason than the removal of Saddam. Remember, despite the rhetoric the government in Iraq is no more than a puppet regime controlled by the NeoCons in Washington. Not since the Vichy government in France during World War II have we seen such a blatant non-democratic and non-local government.
Yeah, my blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin',
I'm sittin' here, just contemplatin',
I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation,
handful of Senators don't pass legislation,
and marches alone can't bring integration,
when human respect is disintegratin',
this whole crazy world is just too frustratin',
and you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
Here we are more than forty years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it no longer takes a handful of Senators to keep things screwed up. All it takes is one named Joe Lieberman. This one Senator has single handedly thwarted the will of the majority of Americans. I would like to believe that he is sincere and honest in his stances, but years of political observation say otherwise. This is a case of where there is smoke, there is fire. His desire to keep his job at all costs is responsible for the death of many innocent Iraqis and if he were to have his way, Iranians as well. It is unfortunate that the Democratic Party has so compromised itself that it has not done the honorable and moral thing and told Lieberman to take a hike. His ultimate act of arrogance in refusing to accept the outcome of the primary only gave the Republicans the wedge they needed to co-opt his votes on the war. Make no mistake, the Republicans actively supported Lieberman over their elected nominee and the real Democratic nominee.
Marches alone didn't change race relations or get us out of Vietnam but they were a large contributing factor. One of the reasons they had such a strong effect is that these marches were not ignored by the mainstream media. News departments of that time-period did not have to answer to the sales or profit driven entities of their organizations. The news departments of today are responsible for showing their own profits. This is a direct result of the removal of the Fairness Doctrine during Reagan's years of deregulation. This has allowed a small group of NeoCons to control the vast majority of news outlets and contents. They have kept terms like 'war' instead of the more accurate 'invasion and occupation' at the forefront of the American mindset. Terms like "insurgent" and "terrorist," would have been used by the British during our own Revolutionary War and by the Nazis during WWII in any of the various occupied countries. The Bush regime does not use Freedom Fighter for the average Iraqi angered by the occupation of his country like Reagan/Bush HW did for the Contras in Nicaragua.
Think of all the hate there is in Red China!
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama!
Ah, you may leave here, for four days in space,
but when you return, it's the same old place,
the poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace,
you can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace,
hate your next-door-neighbour, but don't forget to say grace,
and you tell me over and over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
We are now in the compromised position where we must ignore the hate in Red China. They hold the mortgage on the USA. We dare not offend or piss them off or they will bring our economy crashing down. Selma now has de facto segregation. The whites built private schools for their children. The public schools are over 95% African American students. Since the school boards are run by the whites of the area, they set the taxation rates low making proper funding of the public schools impossible. This also frees up money in the private sector for the white attended private schools. Of course, if these bunches in office and on the Supreme Court have their way, it won't matter any way because segregation will again become legal and accepted. During their last session, the Supreme Court came dangerously close to overturning Brown v The Board of Education. It now appears too many on this, the highest court in the land, use the Bible for their Constitution.
We have succeeded at burying our dead and not leaving a trace. The only figures of Iraqi occupation causalities that are published and counted are military. The military numbers in Iraq now appear to be at best half the story. We have outsourced so many functions, including the dying, to private contractors that no accurate accounting of their numbers can be made. There is a growing number of widows and orphans of dead contractors that are unable to be vocal enough to stop this outrage. They have no recourse with the contracting firms since the contracts their loved ones signed waived all the companies' liabilities. When a contracting firm runs empty trucks down the road to feed their profits on cost-plus contracts and their employees are killed, it is just one of the costs of doing business to make a profit.
Yes, we are on the eve of destruction but maybe not our physical destruction. The destruction of our democracy is imminent if it hasn't already occurred. The destruction of our Constitution and the rule of law is at hand. The war crimes committed by the Bush regime are not just technical abstractions. The most reliable numbers available put Iraqi civilian deaths at over one million. Have no doubt this is a crime against humanity. Any reasonable legal scholar will tell you that support during or after the fact make one as legally culpable as the main perpetrators in any crime. This means those in Congress that continue to vote for this immoral and illegal invasion and occupation are just as guilty of war crimes and murder as Bush and his cohorts. Any impeachment proceedings should then include Bush, Cheney and all war criminals that enabled the crimes in Congress. If one is the subject of impeachment proceedings then one becomes ineligible to vote in the proceedings and protect one's conflicted vested interest. This should adequately take care of any so-called majority problems the Democratic Leadership claim to have in pursuing impeachment.
There's somethin' happenin' here.
What it is ain't exactly clear.
There's a man with a gun over there
A-tellin' me I've got to beware.
I think it's time we stop.
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin' down.
Here we have the specters of the war criminal Bush, General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker telling us how the surge in Iraq has just begun to dent the presence of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. There is no acknowledgement of several key facts: Saddam and Al-Qaeda were NOT allied and were even in active opposition to one another. Al-Qaeda did not become a factor in Iraq until after the occupation. These three would have us believe that Al-Qaeda is the major and sole source of the continuing violence when the Army's own numbers show that at worst they account for 5% of the opposition with this number much more likely in the 2% range. What seems to be more important is to dupe the American public into believing that our presence in Iraq is a response to the attacks on 9/11/2001.
If anything is to be learned from history then Osama and Al-Qaeda must believe that these attacks were the most successful ever. Their demands that the United States remove their bases from the holy places in Saudi Arabia were quietly and fully met. Yes, BushCo gave the true terrorists exactly what they wanted and in their headlong rush for profits have created an entire country that hates and distrusts America. What will we Americans do when they examine history and determine the only way to get us to leave is again attack us on American soil? One of the hardest lessons of history is understanding that evil is never in the first person. These actors feel there is no other recourse and when we blindly apply even more pressure to an already intolerable situation that results in deadly and explosive circumstances.
There's battle lines bein' drawn.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.
Young people speakin' their minds
A-gettin' so much resistance from behind.
I think it's time we stop.
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin' down.
Extremists of every stripe are dangerous. The Christian Fundamentalist and the Islamic Fundamentalist are equally dangerous. Both have God on "their side" and are fully convinced of the righteousness of their causes. There is no convincing either side to change their minds. The line above, Nobody's right if everybody's wrong applies more than ever. Neither of these extremists have a tolerance for a pluralistic society. Never has the case for the separation of Church and State been exposed more so than when war becomes a "Crusade." It is time to get the preachers back to their churches, mosques and synagogues and out of the halls of the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and most importantly the Pentagon. We cannot force Iraqis to have our type of democracy without killing many more of them. I see where Bush views his mandate from God to export moral democracy to the Middle East. This is impossible since the people doing the exporting are the least moral leaders for a generation. I would prefer dozens more presidents like "Blowjob Bill" to the new holocaust now being committed in our name in Iraq and the attempts to extend it to Iran.
Those Democrats and moderate Republicans that supported this invasion and occupation now face the ultimate test of their morality. A friend of mine uses the following signature line:
"When people who are honestly mistaken learn the truth, they will either cease being mistaken, or cease being honest." --Anon.
Will Congress prove there is no longer the chance to be "honestly mistaken" and join the likes of the Germans under the Nazis.
What a field day for the heat.
A thousand people in the street
Singin' songs and a-carryin' signs
Mostly sayin' hooray for our side.
It's time we stop.
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin' down.
Protests have been marginalized by lack of Main Stream Media coverage and the ridicule of the NeoCoNazi pundits. I am continuingly astounded by the likes of Ann Coulter that claim that the church of liberalism has no moral basis and no God. They take the moral high ground on rhetoric only and continue to tell the lie that Iraq is the moral thing to do. Murder is never justified, that is what makes it murder. We liberals need to reclaim the moral high ground discarding the wisdom of the DC beltway.
Paranoia strikes deep.
Into your life it will creep.
It starts when you're always afraid.
Step out of line, the men come and take you away.
You better stop.
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin'..
You better stop.
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin'..
You better stop.
Now, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin'..
You better stop.
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin'..
It is time to realize that we have reason to be paranoid but not of those the Neocons tell us. It is the war criminals and Neocons themselves where we need to have a healthy paranoia. Remember it is in the name of our country that these war crimes are being carried out. Yes, we need to stop.
One of the reasons I hesitate to write a piece like this one is all too often in the past many pieces like this seem to turn into pure bitch fests with the offering of little if any concrete actions we can take. I would like to end with making what I hope is a few concrete ideas of what we as mainstream Americans can do.
- – Never refer to the Bush administration with deference. They are war criminals and need to be referred to as such.
- – Resist at all opportunities the occupation of Iraq. Tell your local Congress critters that their continued support for the occupation makes them accomplices in murder. By any legal definition of murder, accomplices are just as guilty as the main perpetrators.
- – When engaging in discussion with the opposition, do NOT let them define the parameters and terms of the discussion. Remember the great lesson of Orwell's 1984 was that whoever defines the language has already won the argument.
- – Wear a black armband of mourning. This is especially effective as people are always sympathetic and solicitous. When they ask what or whom you are in mourning for respond, "Are you sure you want to know?" Most will say of course and respond that you are mourning the Constitution and the rule of law; that both are in their death throes because of the criminals currently in charge.
- – Insist that the best candidate be the one you support not just the one that can win. Elections are not horse races and the bandwagon effect has been a determent to the entire process. Remember the members of Democratic Leadership Conference (DLC) are just Republicans that have labeled themselves Democrats. The 40 percent that voted for McGovern were vindicated in the end when Nixon was finally caught.
This piece has taken a lot longer to write than I originally anticipated but to do nothing in these times is the moral equivalent of being one of the war criminals themselves. Keep up the good fight and the odds of success will eventually turn in our favor.
Complete Text of All Three Songs
(Cunts Are Still) Running the World
Written and Recorded by "Jarvis Cocker"
Album: "Children of Men Soundtrack"
Well did you hear, there’s a natural order?
Those most deserving will end up with the most.
That the cream cannot help but always rise up to the top,
Well I say: Shit floats.
If you thought things had changed,
Friend you’d better think again,
Bluntly put in the fewest of words,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.
Now the working classes are obsolete,
They are surplus to societies needs,
So let ‘em all kill each other,
And get it made overseas.
That’s the word don’t you know,
From the guys that's running the show,
Lets be perfectly clear boys and girls,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.
Oh feed your children on Cray fish and Lobster tails,
Find a school near the top of the league,
In theory, I respect your right to exist,
I will kill ya, if you move in next to me,
Ah it stinks, it sucks, it’s anthropologically unjust,
But the takings are up by a third, Oh So
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.
Your free market is perfectly natural,
Or do you think that I’m some kind of dummy,
It’s the ideal way to order the world,
Fuck the morals, does it make any money?
And if you don’t like it? Then leave.
Or use your right to protest on the street,
Yeah, use your rights but don’t imagine that it’s heard, Oh no no,
Cunts are still running the world,
Cunts are still running the world.
Eve of Destruction
Recorded by "Barry McGuire"
Written by "P. F. Sloan"
Album: "Eve of Destruction"
The eastern world it tis explodin',
violence flarin', bullets loadin',
you're old enough to kill but not for votin',
you don't believe in war, what's that gun you're totin',
and even the Jordan river has bodies floatin',
but you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
Don't you understand, what I'm trying to say?
Can't you see the fear that I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no running away,
There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave,
take a look around you, boy, it's bound to scare you, boy,
but you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
Yeah, my blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin',
I'm sittin' here, just contemplatin',
I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation,
handful of Senators don't pass legislation,
and marches alone can't bring integration,
when human respect is disintegratin',
this whole crazy world is just too frustratin',
and you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
Think of all the hate there is in Red China!
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama!
Ah, you may leave here, for four days in space,
but when you return, it's the same old place,
the poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace,
you can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace,
hate your next-door-neighbour, but don't forget to say grace,
and you tell me over and over and over and over again my friend,
ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.
For What It's Worth
Written by "Stephen Stills"
Recorded by "Buffalo Springfield"
Album: "Best of Buffalo Springfield"
There's somethin' happenin' here.
What it is ain't exactly clear.
There's a man with a gun over there
A-tellin' me I've got to beware.
I think it's time we stop.
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin' down.
There's battle lines bein' drawn.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.
Young people speakin' their minds
A-gettin' so much resistance from behind.
I think it's time we stop.
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin' down.
What a field day for the heat.
A thousand people in the street
Singin' songs and a-carryin' signs
Mostly sayin' hooray for our side.
It's time we stop.
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin' down.
Paranoia strikes deep.
Into your life it will creep.
It starts when you're always afraid.
Step out of line, the men come and take you away.
You better stop.
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin'..
You better stop.
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin'..
You better stop.
Now, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin'..
You better stop.
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's goin'..
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