REVERSING THE PANOPTICON lyrics
>>UGLY
>MISSION ACCOMPLISHED (Beautiful Day Part II)
>EMBEDDED (EMISSARIES OF 'DEMOTATORSHIP')
>MODEL CITIZEN (from Orange County)
>INAFFIRMATIVE (EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EXPLOITER)
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what does "reversing the panopticon" mean?
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OPERATION PHOENIX REDUX (we have a video for this song)
(words: Kurt)
(intro is Michael Parenti, from 1993 "Conspiracy and Class Power," available from http://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/programs/category.php?catid=6 AZ1000)
MARCH!!!!
The column moves across the desert 100 miles long
The machine of war boasts a force 200,000 strong
It doesn't matter if what we do comes to right or wrong
Cause we write the history that measures what we've done
We are (hands up) Here (hands up) to liberate (hands up) you
Indo-China's domino measured 5 million bodies tall
60,000 U.S. Troops were buried under its fall
We try to capture hearts and minds with democratic cluster bombs
Now they all die equally when we liberate with our guns
(What was Operation Phoenix? see RANT 5: The CIA and this operation_phoenix link, also
see Rant 3: ABOUT THE WAR SONGS (US/Iraq Policy, US/Turkey Policy, Iran, and Kuwait)
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T = O (we have a video for this song)
(words: Kurt)
The mind grows smaller when pressed by tradition
The unwanted guests of history start to narrow vision
The weight of superstition becomes the fate of the sysytem
And instead of counting days gone by were counting back to zero
zero, zero, zero...
The media points a one way path paved with delusion
The Bills get paid in passive thoughts and questions without solutions
If they had their way they'd bring an end to all forward movement
And count the days to the end of days
T equals zero
( "T= 0" means Time = 0...it is used to designate the birth of the universe and what we call "time")
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AMERICAN EUGENICS(words: Kurt)
Society is not quite living up to your bigger expectations
Your country’s got a bad case of Canadian Drug Importation
Just take a larger dose of the Pfizer recommendation
You won’t get better, You won’t feel better, but your takin’ one for the Nation
Well we can be the Perfect America, Engineered Home of the Free,
With a little help from the AMA (Amer. Medical Assn.) and a little Gene Therapy
Reduce the cost of living long by the process of elimination
Snuff out the genetic flaws of the older generation
Just pull the plug on the machines that supply the respiration
Medical care by Darwin call it Natural Selection…
Well we can be the Perfect America, Engineered Home of the Free,
With a little help from the AMA (Amer. Medical Assn.) and a little Gene Therapy
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(words: Kurt)
(The sound bites are from various religious people and fundamentalists (we don't know who). The opening
is some preacher speaking in tongues... The song is a protest against religious fundamentalism, or religion
itself for that matter. Alternatives? Humanism?)
It takes a mountain off ammo to reach the Lord but damn we're getting close
Bury Satan in a hail of bullets and anyone that gets too close
God's got a selective salvation and He's chosen only us
He delivers His children from the back of a Laid Law bus
Where heaven begins
All logic ends
It's a road we all must pass
We light the flames of heretics
And David (Koresh) stones the path
The Son takes his place at the right hand of God-who wears a kerosene hat
We strike the sin from our souls and he strikes the match
It's a two tower target...New York city
Under the radar we go
PDB's (presidential daily briefings) not withstanding
Can't know what we don't know
So praise the lord and fasten your seatbelt were in for a bumpy ride
Down the barrel of a 737 and clear blue skies
From 20,000 feet you just can't see either side of
common sense
The Lord's drawn a line between East and West and then tore down the fence
The Son takes his place at the right hand of God-He wears a kerosene hat
He strikes His sin from our souls and we strike the match
Religion is faith, is violence, is control
F*ck/stop religious violence, fundamentalism is nonsense
(The "Fundamentalism is Nonsense" reference comes from a 1986 booklet titled "Fundamentalism is
Nonsense: Some Problems with Fundamentalism, Christianity, and Theism in General," by Jim Lippard http://www.discord.org/~lippard/reductios.html. Jim was @ the U of A with Erik.)
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"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
James Madison
Forth U.S. President, principal author of the Constitution and Bill of Rights
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(words: Kurt)
We'll everyday is the 4th of July in the Pit of Eternal Damnation
And the rocket's red glare eternally flies for a prideful nation
And everyone will be there from the Pepsi co and the Disney Corporation
So grab your sweet heart and your .45 we're going flag waving
When we all get to Hell
All our differences go away
And Clint Black and Lynard Skynard can hold hands
while the Dixie Chicks play
And Rumsfeld loves Michael Moore
when they both take to flame
Cause everything being equal
We're all Americans
We gotta pay
We'll Bill Mahr's got all the answers and Bill O'Reilly's hair looks swell
And enemies put differences aside
After all its Hell
And everyone will be there from radio Pacifica and Fox news
So grab Ann Coulter and Geneane Garafalo, and make a bitch sandwich
(Life itself is "Hell," but is there a Hell for an afterlife (if there is an afterlife)? Knowing the mythological
origins of Hell, it is doubtful-- Hell's Pre-Christian Origins... also see rant 6: religion)
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(words: Kurt)
You can't pretend your not your friend
Can't you see how this all will end
The stink is so foul
can you feel the tension mount
Your so lovely you disgust me
I'm so ugly why won't you f*ck me
When put to the test how will you bend
We will see where you really stand
The stink is so foul
can you feel the tension mount
Your so lovely you disgust me
I'm so ugly why won't you f*ck me
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(words: Kurt, Erik)
I don't wanna see
American Idols
I don't wanna be
Corporate sponsored
Bound and gagged by FCC
I wanna be Anarchy
I'm not here
To sell you out
Don't you think
there's better things to sing about
I won't be a part of it
I'm gonna sing about the government
Clear Channel Friendly
Punk's sleeping with the enemy
When there's nothing left to say
I'll shut my mouth
When there's nothing left to say
I'll quit f*cking playing
Clear Channel Friendly
Punk's sleeping with the enemy
Tradition of dissent 30 years long
Replaced by a love song
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(words: Kurt, Erik)
"[The ruling elites] know who their enemies are, and their enemies are the people, the people at home and the people abroad. Their enemies are anybody who wants more social justice, anybody who wants to use the surplus value of society for social needs rather than for individual class greed, that's their enemy."
Michael Parenti
(Intro by Bobby Seale of The Black Panther Party--apologies to Mr. Seale for censoring the word "racist" which was supposed to precede the words "power structure." This was done to give it a more global feel, though we know racism is a global problem. see: Tim Wise's ZNet HomePage, also see: The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide)
Here is more of Bobby Seale's original:
"...Let's get into the inner workings and the meaning of this. Let's get into the inner workings and the meaning of a black revolution and why black people have a right to take what's theirs.
So the concept is this, basically: The whole black nation has to be put together as a black army and we're going to walk on this nation. We're going to walk on this racist power structure. And we're going to say to the whole damn government, 'Stick 'em up, motherf*cker. This is a hold-up! We come for what's ours!'"
"Bobby" (Robert George) Seale
Listen to Erik's Ham Radio Ensemble Tracks on the Black Panther Party featuring Bobby Seale: 2 free MP3s: HRE-FV1-11-The Concept is This.. Prelude | HRE-FV1-12-The Concept is This... )
It's a global race to the bottom
and the ones that work the hardest crosses first
We reward the least deserving with our hard earned dollars
and the inequity keeps getting worse
One Nation, One Corporation
It's a media based pregnancy
giving birth to the corporation myth
Spreading the gospel of outsourcing
and you and me we're getting clipped
Free Trade is not Fair Trade for the low paid
They compete to buy us, but we're not oblivious
to the monopolies of profits and losses
from neo-politics and economics
You got a hand in every pocket and a finger in every eye
Fly your shit up the flagpole to see if it will fly
Push your marketplace morality on everyone else
You're numero uno, number one the center of the self
Pick Pocket, Pick Pocket
India, Mexico, Indonesia--getting skrewed we're all the same
Until the workers of the world unite in defiance we're united- only as slaves
One Nation, One Corporation
Privatization of our basic needs has left our National conscience in debt
A bill to paid by the weakest of the weak-to be paid in national regret
From each, subtract the price of need
To each, add the cost of greed
The sum, a system demanding...the supply...bleeds
You got a hand in every pocket and a finger in every eye
Fly your shit up the flagpole to see if it will fly
Push your marketplace morality on everyone else
You're numero uno, number one the center of the self
Pick Pocket, Pick Pocket
(Though I don't jive with Dr. Cornel West's religious views he eloquently states the crux of the
"pick pocket problem" in a Pasadena City College lecture (purchase Ralph Cole's many DVDs
and videos @ www.Justicevision.org vol 2.1)
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(words: Kurt)
I'm just a product of Complete nonsense
You're just a product of Complete nonsense
We're just a product of Complete nonsense
I gotta an A in History, Bible study comes easy to me
What's it mean?
I'm just a cog in a big machine, I see girls in my dreams
What's it mean?
Complete Nonsense
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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED (Beautiful Day Part II)
(words: Kurt)
We build the Noble Lie and name it progress
And the mechanics of moderation drop the wrench of the senseless
on the mediocre mission, "mission accomplished"
"The only way to abolish war is to make peace heroic." John Dewey
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EMBEDDED (EMISSARIES OF 'DEMOTATORSHIP')
(words: Erik, Gordon)
"A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force." William Blum
(1st bite is Tariq Ali at The World Social Forum 2003: www.pacificaradioarchives , 2nd bite is Chalmers Johnson on The Sorrows of Empire)
Also see Johnathan Schell from The Nation; also from www.justicevision.org vol 2.1, see Rants 3: ABOUT THE WAR SONGS (US/Iraq Policy, US/Turkey Policy, Iran, and Kuwait)
Preventing war is not achieved preemptively striking first
War is prevented by not striking at all
Preventive war is preemptive no matter how it is sliced
War is war- an act of terrorism- forcing political aims on others
War is War is War, it's terrorism
So, war is terrorism, but how clear an eminent The Evidence to justify terrorism or war? It wasn't from Iraq, Afghanistan maybe, Saudi Arabia- definitely- or better yet the Taliban and Alqueda- not Iraq
War is War is War, it's terrorism
There is no difference, They're the same
Support
the troops and
the human shields
Not the leaders of the oily Plutocracy
Question Their Authority
Their diplomacy Is not consensus democracy
They feed us lies and bribe autonomy to maintain hegemony
They're arrogant
They want their way
They won't compromise their target
Its economic
Their aim, Its strategic
There is no difference, They're the same
But there's a difference in opinion
Which is Fueled by the perjury of
an eminent threat and an Iraqi-Alqueda connection
Which is Bolstered by
the corporate media and their deception and propaganda
Because their Under the thumb of
The Imperialist Empire's Hierarchy
And the Almighty Dollar
Perpetuating a continuation of Brutal, Rouge Foreign Policy
And the expansion of
The Capitalist Globalization Machine
There is no difference They're the same
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Following the bombing of Iraq in 1991, the U.S. wound up
with military bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the
United Arab Emirates.
Following its bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the United States wound up
with military bases in Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Hungary,
Bosnia and Croatia.
Following its bombing of Afghanistan in 2001-2, the United States wound up
with military bases in Afghhanistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Yemen and Djibouti.
Following its bombing and invasion of Iraq in 2003, the United States
wound up with bases in Iraq.
This is not very subtle foreign policy. Certainly not covert. ...
William Blum
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(words: Kurt, Gordo/Erik)
Stupid mother f*cker with a #2 pencil and a whole peanut full of ideas
Got a bumper stickered Hummer with an equal amount of numbered of AM Radio slogans in the rear
He’s got 15 kids to populate the planet with his backwards ass view of the world
Takes 2 weeks a years to violate his wife on a private beach close to the locals
Took his SC (USC) Law degree to a villa on the coast
He’s most sincere when he’s on the take
He dreams of cornering the market on his neglected faith
so he can pay his way through the Golden Gate
He the greatest thing he’s ever seen
Catches his favorite team twice a week
Couldn’t love himself more than he already does, but if you ask him he’ll give it a try
He’s 100% American made
Spends 50 bucks if he wants to get laid
He's not doin' time and he's not gettin' paid
He's a Model Citizen
He's got 3 recorded claims of domestic abuse
After a couple of drinks he's of no f*ckin' use
Votes the party line when he's got the time
He's a model citizen
Got surf racks on his S Class 500
Call him Barney when he’s in the break
Drinks his decaf Grande from an HB local Mug
Drives off with North Dakota plates…
He the greatest thing he’s ever seen...
He's a model citizen...from Orange County
Parking fee
Disney
Plastic Surgery
SUV
Misery
Infidelity
Over Rated
Over Crowded
(we are not sure who the sound bite is, but think it is either George Carlin or Timothy Leary)
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INAFFIRMATIVE (EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EXPLOITER)
(words: Kurt, concept: Gordo)
(intro is Michael Parenti, from 1993 "Conspiracy and Class Power," available from
http://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/programs/category.php?catid=6 AZ1000...Parenti was not talking
about Affirmative Action, but something bigger, he may even agree with AA, I don't know...
Nevertheless, we are talking about Affirmative Action here in this song along with class struggle like Parenti.
To "us," the three of us (if I may speak for the other two), laying a tool that is racist in and of itself over
a racist, sexist, and classist system, is not progress. Progress would be uniting to demand: people before profits,
and an end to the hierarchies, domination, and wage labor that fatten the pockets of ruling class pimps
who steal from their working class prostitutes.)
There's a rift in the peace
There's division in the ranks
We can pretend all is well
Pat each other on the back
But the wedge keeps getting bigger when we focus on the color
The intentions of a broken system keep us going under
Racist by association
Defamation of a system
There's no progress
When I'm pitted against my brother ("sister" in the 2nd chorus)
The only qualification is the color of one's skin
The poor are getting poorer and the rich always win
It's not about race--making peace with an axe has got to stop
It's all about class--making peace with an axe has got to stop
There can be no equality when bigotry comes standard
Blindfold replaced with a microscope at the discretion of a panel
Entitlement is just another word for "preference of race"
Resentment springs eternal from a system in disgrace
(outro is by Kathleen Cleaver www.akpress.org/2004/items/selfrespectselfdefenseselfdeterminationvhs)
(see: Tim Wise's ZNet HomePage - Tim Wise is the Director of the newly-formed Association for
White Anti-Racist Education (AWARE) in Nashville, Tennessee. He lectures across the country
about the need to combat institutional racism, gender bias, and the growing gap between rich and
poor in the U.S. Wise has been called a "leftist extremist" by David Duke, "deceptively Aryan-looking"
by a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and "the Uncle Tom of the white race," by right-wing author,
Dinesh D' Souza. Whatever else can be said about him, his ability to make the right kind of
enemies seems unquestioned.)
also see: The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide, and Melvin Oliver:
www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-03-05.htm , www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=1019
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(words: Erik)
( intro bite is Saul Williams, "rapper"/poet extraordinaire, from a remix of his speech at a NOT IN OUR NAME rally http://www.notinourname.net/resources_links/music_art.html ...NOT IN OUR NAME is affiliated w/ "International
ANSWER" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSWER, which is problematic: http://www.infoshop.org/texts/wwp.html )
Capitalize what’s Socialized or will concoct an overt covert plot
with Economic Hitmen and Jackals, Mercenaries and Death Squads, or our Men and Women
Foreign Lands we need a hand feeding our consumer demands
Your resources will feed our inefficiencies
Corporate interest is our interest and drives our policies
A colonial Conquest for cheap commodities and non-sustainable energy
So fall in and pretend to be a make-shift Demockracy
Thanks for supporting us
Sorry about the mess
Can’t stay to help you clean it up
You know the consequence of dealing with US, shortsightedness
We’ll take this and some of that
Dig over here drill over there
Burn it up cut it down
Run your wages into the ground…
( in an earlier recording we had an outro by Nafeez Ahmed from an Alternative Radio
cd: http://www.alternativeradio.org/speakers/AHMN.shtml, and John Perkins, author
of Confessions of an Economic Hitman )
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(words:
Erik, Gordon)
—WHAT A SWELL GUY
He’s no friend, He’s no fun, He ruins it for everyone
Good days become bad, Bad days become worse
Cause Wally turns waves into walls ten blocks long
So paddle hard to get outside and wait to lose the fight
can't go left, can't go right, don't wanna go straight,
but there's no end in sight
So hey Wally, turn around, leave our town,
and never come back
Its blackballed, Its polluted
But that won’t stop him
Wally is Good for floaters
And Good for getting’ covered
And not comin’ out
Cause Wally turns waves...
He’s a local almost everywhere...
But he’s hated worse than snakes...
He’s got no shoulders
And he’s out of shape....
He hangs out at sandy bars...not on the corner
And he’s been know to ruin a good reef or too...
You can catch him
And you can hit em’ (once or twice)...
But you’ll rarely win the fight
You think you’ve got him, but you don’t
You think you’ll make it, but you won’t (repeat)
And I know it’s better somewhere else…(repeat)
But wwwhhhhheeere?
not wally...costa rican perfection...