I've seen too many soldiers still in their teens
Seen too many scars, heard too many screams
Too many starvin hungry while others burst at the seams
Livin like drones, working like machines
For a corporate dictatorship that acts behind the scenes
Filling us with MTV hopes and Walmart dreams…
So I decided long ago to go ahead, change the station
more than that, I'm gonna start the annihilation
of a system where a cross can promise salvation
even if we bomb the life out of a sovereign nation
…and for the men women children let’s poor libation
Cause for cheaper gas we’ll sacrifice all of creation

I said:
For Cheaper gas…would we sacrifice all of creation?

No here is where we draw the line and here is where we stand
A band of brothers and sisters rising hand in hand
To demand the system be canned, the army disband
And no more blood mix with the desert sand
And though this damned system has planned to withstand
With time tsunamis of peace and hope will sweep this land

But…

Let there be no deception…I want you to see
I don’t do yoga, Pilates or tai-chi
Anarchist, Socialist Capitalist…not me
There isn’t an “ist” in the world that describes humanity
So scowl at me, frown at me, but let me decree
If we’re selling dogmas, we’ll never be free.

…and I’m worried, cause it seems like it’s been here all along
Sometimes I’m hearing verses out of the same old song
Morality police, preaching all day long
Swimming in selfishness and hazed by a bong.
Now, we do have to remain united. We do have to remain strong
But the flip side of a coin, of wrong, is still wrong

Don’t worry…this is not the voice of an activist on strike
And I will go back to fighting that corporate Reich
But don’t expect me to follow the crowd or say what you like
I’ve never traveled quietly down popularity pike
I’m in this for a way of life, not just for the hike
Are we in this to build a new world…
…or do we just like hearing our own voices on the mike

Cause if our crew brings down the 202
And builds new ideologies, shiny and new
Always talking, never listening, preaching things untrue
Ruled by a few….hypocrisy anew
I’ll let the dust settle, the fog clear, and upon further review
I’ll get up, brush myself off…
…and I’ll protest you.

So Peace, Love and sincere happiness to us all
But let’s listen, learn, ask…or we will always fall…
…and for those of us who think they know it all
The wisest know they are so grand, but they are somehow…
…still small

Is it the curse of the oppressed
that they should oppress?
the occupied
to occupy;
the down trodden
to climb above and
trod down those
they've climbed over?
Is repayment so ingrained
it will cross over generations –
this filthy currency of hate
to be traded by the sour hands
of Victim
Set down at the feet of grand children
for collection in the New World
by a new victim?

Oh, Marie, they will eat cake
decorated with your blood.

On Friday night, November 10, the Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency (GPI) helped raise the roof and funds for Univeristy of Maryland's Feminists without Borders. The GPI had a 45 minute set between student performances and David Rovics.  Themes of human tragedy and overcoming struggle peppered performers' pieces, echoing the topic of the show: supporting oppressed Lebanese and Palestinians.

The GPI rolled heavy with five female voices and two male drummers. It was not the first time the GPI had been invited to perform by feminists, so the women of GPI had a couple of group pieces to offer among their individual pieces, which included other themes like feminism, 911, being Arab, fighting oppression, human compassion, and immigrant rights. Stellar drumming and percussion–and some debut guitar strumming–made the GPI performance stand out from the rest, as the audience rocked to a socailly conscience beat.

"Your performance was great! I really liked how diverse you all are," said one audience member after the set. Reggae, hip-hop, latin, and rock rhythms and vocal styles were just some of the sounds heard by the audience. UMD's poetry and music scene is vibrant, and its students are inspired. The GPI was honored to be a part of their energy.

Babylon shook today, with all three branches of the federal government reflecting the best news our nation's had in awhile.

• Both Houses of Congress changed hands, with Democrats picking up both the House of Representatives and the Senate, empowering the corporate centrist party (with a loud and growing progressive wing) to investigate corruptions pervading the recent history of Repubican rule, from the the energy task force chaired by Dick Cheney that in 2004 the Supreme Court insulated from public transparency to the 2003 Republican extortion of legislators that resulted in one of former Republican Congressman Tom Delay's many ethics rebukes and legislation allowing the pharmaceutical industry to suck yet more blood from senior citizens.
• Traitor and arrogant buffoon Donald Rumsfeld (AKA the incarnation of hubris) resigned his post as Secretary of Defense, sealing the historical narrative that will come to define the American invasion of Iraq as analogous to that of Vietnam 30 years earlier.  During his press conference announcing "Dummy Rummy's" resignation, our illustrious leader George W. Bush admitted that he had previously lied about his intentions with respect to the Secretary's future in his administration, and conceded that he and his cronies received a "thumpin" (without a "g," mind you) at last night's "rodeo."  He also suggested that his failure to predict the change in the Congressional leadership "shows how much I know." 
• The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in the Carhart cases, presenting the most serious challenge to reproductive freedom since the first round of cases involving Dr. Leroy Carhart six years ago.  The cases differ from their predecessor mostly in that (a) Congress compiled "findings" that so-called "partial birth" abortion (the term is right wing contrivance whose ambiguity was actually an independent ground for the Supreme Court's invalidation of the first round of laws in 2000) is never medically necessary — despite the mounting evidence and emerging consensus within the medical community that "dilation & extraction" procedures are often the safest alternative for women seeking abortions in their second trimester; and (b) the replacement of retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (the 5th vote in the majority that defended reproductive freedom in Carhart I) by Justice Samuel Alito, who as a young lawyer bragged about his efforts to reverse the line of privacy cases culminating in Roe v. Wade.  While Justice Anthony Kennedy's support of the legislation struck down by the Court in 2000 has grown legendary since, his questioning during today's argument suggested to observers that his mind was open and that expansions in the state of medical science — not to mention the Court's institutional interest in maintaining its own independence from Congressional fiat — may have convinced him to reconsider his position.

Lest believers in a brighter future get ahead of ourselves, however, I'll merely suggest that the real question is now how assertively will the incoming Committee chairs wield their new influence, and whether corporate or bona fide progressive Democrats come to define the forgoing agenda.  The right wing is down, but it's far from out, and we have yet to even address the more longstanding threat to meaningful justice or equality in America: the overwhelming dominance of corporations in both major political parties.

I remain hopeful, but still skeptical of what goes on in this town….

It seems to me
we have an opportunity
to let all people see
what it means to be free

(more…)