Tail Lights

Beyond the Rubicon

Now Rome is on fire

We’ve been ridin’ shotgun

Beside a getaway driver

Tried to get some education

Now they pretend I’m guilty of some crime

They keep sending those letters

To tell me I’m living on borrowed time

What did I learn besides the fact

That the system is a shell game

Odds always favor the house

And the damned pit bosses feel no shame

Go ahead and comment

Privileged spectators to the fight

Tell me to keep working ever harder

Without any end in sight

Don’t ya tell me to be patriotic

As tyranny wears no disguise

I just don’t have patience to listen

Tell it to my tail lights

I know it’s said Rome wasn’t built in a day

But in a couple decades it’s been sacked

So-called public servants tell us to 

join a press-gang and help build back

We aren’t the ones guilty of tearing it down

For the true looters sit upon high

Like spectators in the colosseum 

Jeering for gladiators to fight

Don’t tell me how to clear the speck

While you got that whole log in your eye

We know about the bunga bunga parties

Privilege buys any forbidden delight 

Don’t ya tell me to be productive

As decadence wears no disguise

I just don’t have patience to listen

So, tell it to my tail lights

Karma exacts a toll for

crossing this continent it seems

Our ancestors cast others out to 

make way for spreading their seed

It wasn’t with malice that they crossed

The powers-that-be used them as pawns

Called their plight “manifest destiny”

In order to pompously goad them on

Now a new generation feels pressured to flee

This time tetraethyl lead is the blight

Drives the aging into psychopathy

So that they cannot empathize with the plight

Don’t ask me to stick around

And rebuild what ya’ll set alight

I just don’t have patience to listen

So, tell it to my tail lights 

Downer Cow

Don’t be such a downer cow they say

Come join in all the reindeer games we play

Don’t you dare ask who moved your cheese

We own you and do with you as we please

We’ve got you now, so assimilate

Give up your soul and you’re sure to be great

Submit completely or blackballed you’ll be

Go ahead and leave, after all you’re free

Bribery made us you sovereign lords

Representation goes to who can best afford

So no amount of votes will get the people far

Impirio in imperium we are

Don’t be such a downer cow they say

There is more life force to squeeze out of your day

For your damages we need not pay

For isn’t it the downer cow they slay

Hearts and Minds

You think you're doing enough

You think you're doing fine

You think you can keep on bidin' your time

There were the right things to say

But you never said them

They weren’t even written on the prompter you read

You think you did the right things

Won’t apologize

In the name of law and order you destroyed lives

The overseer’s scion

Exacting the debts

Only we debtors have promises that must be kept

Just there Bidin’ your time for 

Thirty-five years

Demagoguing pearl clutching white mice and their fears

So many locked away

For what should be no crime

Now you ain’t gonna win the hearts and minds

You want us to believe

You’ve gotten sweeter with time

But you ain’t gonna win our hearts and minds

And you, glowing orange

Don’t think you’re in the clear

You’ve lived your whole life insulated from fear

Win or lose you’ll get 

what is coming to you

Not a threat, just soothsayer delivering news

You think you’ve done great

The best there’s ever been

But self-exaltation will end in abasement again

Is it so hard to learn

Crushing dissent is disgrace

The people will teach--won’t take a punch in the face

You’ve bought votes on the range

You’ve bought votes in the lofts

But transactions alone only get you so far

At the end of the day

You think true freedom is crime

So you’ll never win our hearts and minds

The numbers aren’t with you

Among those still alive

And you’re never gonna win our hearts and minds

It's time to stand down

Occupation must end

Tanks and fatigues have no place on streets again

You try to outlaw our lives

The people punish this sin

Maybe we'll be lenient if you make great amends

Otherwise a cleansing fire

Will separate silver from dross

And fill a dark hole with tin-badged despots

Why the people rage

can't be a mystery

Fuzz ought long ago been left in the dustbin of history

Still time to surrended

And make restitution

Restored social compact may curb revolution

Social unrest always stems

From treason on high

That's why you can't win these hearts and minds

Soothsayer warns

Oh, beware the ides

You're never gonna win these hearts and minds

.

Throwaway Empire

Nobody admires the ruins, Of a throwaway empire

They left a shitty plastic flag on the moon

The used whalebone to make nature groan

And to make all the ladies swoon

Built a facade instead of civilization

Around the worship of worldly mammon

They had just enough of the right kind of faith

To make them sacrifice the innocents

At night the rubble glows, rusty water flows

Watch out for feral tigers and the razorbacks

Relic of the frontier, I only survive out here

Guiding safaris for pseudo-brave guys named Vlad

Some folks grow things, by scratching in the earth

In the spots that aren’t too radiated

Some smelt the oxidized beams that lay around
Skim the dross and sell the remnant

That’s the homage we pay to that throwaway empire

That barely registers in our memories

Because even when it was, it was working toward

Ceasing ever to be!

--

Cold Light of Day

I used to think I was the only one

evermore under the gun

And had to self induce mania 

just to get through each day

Now I see that others do it too

With what they smoke

or drink or pop or chew

to push the trauma out of the way

Until foolishness floods the land

So many pretty houses built on sand

And when calamity strikes

It’s so hard to understand 

It simply can not stay

The same old goddamn way

Once we’ve seen this world

Under the cold light of day

A knack for breeding in captivity

Or rather were we bred selectively

Spiritually abused and indoctrinated

In order to serve and plough under the yoke?

And so they keep the mass guilty

Reminded of their own redundancy

Until they forget the feelings

Of a wild and roaming liberty

And so on and on the cycle goes

As inevitable as the storm that blows

Away the sands on which we’ve 

built this house and this charade

It simply can not stay

The same old goddamned way

Once we’ve seen this world

Under the cold light of day

Unforgivable

In the summer of 2003 I made a very grave mistake. The sort of mistake that society has determined to be unforgivable.

You see, I had recently injured my back, I wasn't thinking as clearly as one ought to have been before making a decision that will irreversibly alter the course of the rest of one's existence. But I wanted to be self sufficient. And I had two young children and a wife depending on me to be breadwinner. And I knew that my physical limitations meant I'd have to do something differently, going forward.

I'd seen the ads on TV promising flexible schedules, so I went to see about the opportunity in person. I listened to the slick sales pitch, how it would all be manageable financially. How I would get a degree that employers were looking for. How it was an ever-growing field, with no slow-down in sight. How this was a path to self sufficiently.

And then I made the worst mistake of my life. I signed up for the drafting program at ITT Technical Institute. And I allowed myself to be saddled with $36,000 in tuition.

Early on, I got the inkling I'd been had. It turned out that classes started an hour earlier than was promised, which was a major issue for someone who worked eight hours and got off at 2:00 AM. I seemed to have limited aptitude for the technical part of the work. AutoCAD was familiar to most of my classmates, but we hadn't had it in my High School in the mid 90's.  Despite the "flexible schedules" promise in the television ads, the classes were only offered for my course material at 7:00 AM. And the instructors kept making a point that if anyone left the program early, their loans would be due immediately.

In 2004, I got more of an inkling that I'd made a mistake when ITT corporate offices were raided by George W. Bush's Department of Education.

Despite these obstacles, I managed to muddle through, with the help of outrageous amounts of caffeine, and Graduated with a 3.42 GPA. Then I began looking for work in the industry.  The trouble was, that despite the claims that the recruiter had made, there didn't seem to be entry level positions that paid as well as what I was making as a janitor. My back had largely healed by this time, and I genuinely regretted my decision to attend.

Over a month after graduating, I finally found a position that paid a few cents more than my janitorial job. Unfortunately after going to school full time, and working full time, and being a parent part time, for over two years, I just didn't have enough left to learn this new position at the rate necessary. Add to this, that the chronic abuse of caffeine had left my attention span depleted.

It took over a year, but eventually my working errors caught up to me, and I lost that job.  I got rehired by the janitorial company I had worked for before, and tried to put myself back together.  The amount of credit card debt that my household had increased while I was attending ITT Tech, and this continued until we declared bankruptcy and my marriage fell apart in 2010.

And that's where this story gets it's title. Because whereas loans for for-profit colleges could have been forgiven under the bankruptcy code that was on the books when I entered school, by the time I had earned my degree a new law had passed.

The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 passed a few months before I graduated. It included language that made my loans unable to be forgiven, even though at the time my other debts were being discharged, I was living in poverty.

I lived in a studio apartment that I had had to clean up in lieu of paying a deposit. I ate mostly refried beans smashed between two corn tortillas and pan fried, because this cost less than $2 a day. I worked janitorial at a local university, and had to park off campus, because I couldn't afford parking fees. I still had back and other physical pain all the time. I had no credit. And I still owed over $20,000 to an entity that should have known better than to loan to a fraudulent predatory educator.

The truly unforgivable part, is that they knew that this fraud was going on when the law passed. I know that because I was attending when the ITT corporate offices were raided in 2004. It can only be surmised that they knew this was an economic bubble that would pop, unless they sacrificed a generation of people to fix the mistake.

The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 enjoyed bipartisan support too. In fact, one Joe Biden voted in favor of it, and worse: hasn't offered a plan to forgive or otherwise help out the victims of predatory educators who have been financially unable to constently make payments:

So, regardless of who else is in the running for president, I can never vote for Joe Biden. Because like the worst mistake in my life has been for me, that vote is unforgivable.

Jubilee

Hey, it’s a national shame

A great hypocrisy

Even a peculiar institution

Updated for the modern day

Under the thumb of subjugation

These generations are just trying to be

The myth we were taught to believe in

That we had the right to be free

But it’s not that simple in practice

With stumbling block of a guilt complex

Told to do better than those before us

With this millstone around our necks

Hey, Heyyyyyyeee!

Olly Olly Oxen Free

Olly Olly Oxen Free

That’s the way that the world should be

Like the year of the Jubilee

Under the thumb of subjugation

These generations are just trying to be

The myth we were taught to believe in

That we had the right to be free

Ignorant; we were cheated

Asleep, we’ve been surprised

Divided; the yoke has been forced upon us

Heavily laden; lest we might try to rise

Too late once we became enlightened

Now awake to the fraudulence

Many factions find themselves united

Disobedient but ever vigilant

Hey, Heyyyyyyeee!

Olly Olly Oxen Free

Olly Olly Oxen Free

That’s the way that the world should be

Like the year of the Jubilee

Making of a Nothingburger

"The killing of Khashoggi, the way it was done, was meant to send a message... they killed him – violently. They cut him up while he was still alive and then put his body through a meat grinder.”--Ali al-Ahmed [1]

As we have seen plainly in the uncovered phone call that was illegally classified by the administration, this President is more than willing to trade favors to do away with his enemies. [2]  We had already learned of him having Jared Kushner hand over an enemies list to Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud, with the intent of doing away with those on the list. [3]

And we know very well that--just as he had promised to do for Ukraine in exchange for favors--he sold Al Saud weapons, in defiance of congress. [4], [5]

We know that Jamaal Khashoggi was banned from writing in Saudi Arabia after he wrote criticisms of Donald Trump [6]

And we know that Trump's first response to the news of Khashoggi's demise was to assassinate his character: 

' Representatives of Saudi Arabia say that Jamal Khashoggi was an “enemy of the state” and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but my decision is in no way based on that ' [7]

Based on the exposure of Trump's modus operandi during the Ukraine call--and according to his former lawyer, the sort of coding he used [8]--it seems more than likely that he was intimately involved in conspiring against Khashoggi, because the journalist had dared to speak ill of him.

Congress must find the courage to get to the bottom of this!


[1] https://augustafreepress.com/saudis-under-scrutiny-on-anniversary-of-khashoggis-death/

[2] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/09/26/whistleblower-complaint-against-trump-read-full-declassified-document/3773047002/

[3] https://theintercept.com/2018/03/21/jared-kushner-saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman/

[4] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-vetoes-bill-that-would-have-prevented-arms-sales-to-saudi-arabia-and-uae/

[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc8L4dQFQK8

[6] https://www.newsweek.com/saudi-arabia-banned-khashoggi-speaking-writing-after-criticized-trump-1226762

[7] https://www.scmp.com/article/2174244/heres-donald-trumps-full-statement-about-jamal-khashoggis-killing-its-636-words

[8] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/09/28/how-trump-tells-people-do-bad-things/

Brutish Desideratum

'Tis not for light nor transient cause
Usurpation under guise of law
Peaceful petitions now de facto banned
Redress of grievances left to common hands
Hearts were hardened against the people's call
Arrogance set the mighty up for a fall

A little rebellion now and again
'tis like a storm in the atmosphere
for the Tree of Liberty must
be watered from time to time

A little rebellion now and then
Necessary medicine
better a dangerous liberty than
living as if in the stillness of the grave

When patient sufferance eventually proves
contrary to rights inalienable
The Laws of Nature hold
That some social bonds must dissolve

A machine not quite so blind as balls and bombs
be we martyred, keep our memories embalmed
For necessity impress by Nature's call
By duty's spur our souls absolved

Rather than bind our posterity under subjugation
Better half the world come to desolation
After all, what has artifice improved upon
the innocence manners of Eden.

A little rebellion now and again
'tis like a storm in the atmosphere
for the Tree of Liberty must
be watered from time to time

A little rebellion now and then
Necessary medicine
better a dangerous liberty than
living as if in the stillness of the grave

Parasite

You ask why I'm turning to skin and bones
Got a parasite!
If I'm this young, why do I feel so old
Got a parasite!

Its against the law not to have a home
So better pay your rent or beg for a loan
Either way--You got another... of many parasites!

They build everything so you can't walk to there from here.
They do it for the parasites.
If you pay for a license, they've got a road to go 'round the mess.
Pay it to the parasite!

Put you to work and make you pay for it
two and three jobs to a worker, because they won't hire for shit.
Just build more gilded fences to keep out the starving poor.
Don't let them see... the boated parasites!

They'll keep you working until your final hour.
Because corporations are the new Slave Power!
What medicine rids mankind...of such parasites?

Public Servant

You never thought that you'd be hired
But tragically the fates conspired
Or rather too many bumpkins
are too primitively wired

But now you're on the hook, it's true.
There's no recourse; who can you sue?
The gig is up, you'll be exposed.
The emperor has no clothes.

Don't dare tell us lies! You're the public servant!
Don't you patronize! You're the public servant!
It ain't gonna fly! No, public servant!
It's not a game of disguise! No, public servant!

And we ain't gonna take... No lip... from the help!
No, no, no, no... we ain't gonna take no lip from the help!

You've got a real job for once, you'd better get your sleep
Don't let us catch you up, sending late-night tweets
For disunion looms, you whiny little bitch,
Torches and pitchforks, not trumped-up bullshit!

For your sovereign will take you to task
We the people command; we won't kindly ask
We won't accept your promise of so many Acts
of Tyranny, without a Mask

Don't dare tell us lies! You're the public servant!
Don't you patronize! You're the public servant!
It ain't gonna fly! No, public servant!
It's not a game of disguise! No, public servant!

And we ain't gonna take... No lip... from the help!
No, no, no, no... we ain't gonna take no lip from the help!

Contrasting abortion stance of 11 GOP Candidates -- 11 Sharia Governments

Abortion exemptions of 11 Governments which have Shariah Law:


Saudi Arabia

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 Yes

To preserve mental health                   Yes



Kuwait

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 Yes

To preserve mental health                   Yes



Qatar

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 Yes

To preserve mental health                   Yes



Bahrain

Grounds on which abortion is permitted


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 Yes

To preserve mental health                   Yes



Pakistan

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 Yes

To preserve mental health                   Yes




Algeria

Grounds on which abortion is permitted


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 Yes

To preserve mental health                   Yes



Jordan

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 Yes

To preserve mental health                   Yes



Eritrea

Grounds on which abortion is permitted


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 Yes

To preserve mental health                   Yes



Comoros

Grounds on which abortion is permitted


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 Yes

To preserve mental health                   Yes



Kuwait

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 Yes

To preserve mental health                   Yes



Morocco

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 Yes

To preserve mental health                   Yes



Source: United Nations

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/ng-interactive/2014/oct/01/-sp-abortion-rights-around-world-interactive

_______________________________________________________________________


11 GOP Candidates' support same abortion exemptions, based on their statements and/or voting record:



Marco Rubio

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              No

To preserve physical health                 No

To preserve mental health                   No



Scott Walker

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              No

To preserve physical health                 No

To preserve mental health                   No



Bobby Jindal

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              No

To preserve physical health                 No

To preserve mental health                   No



Rick Perry

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              ?

To preserve physical health                 No

To preserve mental health                   No



Ben Carson

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              ?

To preserve physical health                 No

To preserve mental health                   No



Rand Paul

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 No

To preserve mental health                   No



Ted Cruz

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 No

To preserve mental health                   No



Jeb Bush

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 No

To preserve mental health                   No



Rick Santorum

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 No

To preserve mental health                   No



Mike Huckabee

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 No

To preserve mental health                   No



John Kasich

Grounds on which abortion is permitted:


To save the life of the woman              Yes

To preserve physical health                 ?

To preserve mental health                   No


Updated to add:

Donald Trump

To save the life of the woman             Yes

To preserve physical health                Yes

To preserve mental health                   No

More on Trump's anti-choice stance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQfJpTUYr2Q

_________________________________________________________________________________