conflicts of interest

how long must we wait
for this
occupation to end?
how many of our children
how many
dads and wives
must be sacrificed for your bottom line?

i'm not blind
i don't see an end comin
how many lives must be wasted?
your reasons are revolving lies
i don't want to panic
but i
just don't see an end comin
while we sit on our hands
aren't their lives just as important as yours or mine?

her scars are on her pillow
until they
slowly dry
no pictures on the mantle
of grandkids and a wife
just a fading memory and a folded flag

she said
'i don't want to hear that you're sorry,
i don't need to know that you sympathize
your yellow ribbons and flag magnet won't bring back my boy's life
why aren't you screaming?
why do you
just sit there and justify
all this madness
all this
loss of life
all of this devastation
it's just so overwhelming
please, stop pretending
everything is not alright
he didn't matter to the president
but he was my life
still, it feels like all the blame's mind
i can feel it
crushing down on top of me
he'd still be alive
if i could've afforded to send him to state

i lay down but nothing ever comes
feels like i blink and i'm staring at the sun light
another day to die all over again
waking up just to break down
every day has got to be this way

paper weight

you tell me we still have time
but what are we gonna do with it?
is it something more to waste away?
are you gonna furrow your brow and look concerned
then turn and walk away?

ignore the clock
another tanker on the rocks

you tell me we still have time
but what are we gonna do with it?
is it just something more to throw away?
will you shuffle some papers and hold meetings
then shrug and walk away?

ignore the obvious
but at what cost?

so you made it through the doors
but what have you done?
nothing worth mentioning
no, you ain't nothing worth mentioning
just another opportunist
a soul-less fuck
bells should be ringing
but they're not

and time just goes by (what's logic without compassion?)
another species dies (what's logic without compassion?)

and how can you poison everything
and say that's the price you've gotta pay?
how can you sell us out
and just go about your day?
and how the fuck can you
sleep at night?
just another opportunist (you betrayed us all)
a soul-less fuck (you know you betrayed us all)

when can we?? (or 'don't i look rather dashing in my brown shirt?')

mass denials
single syllable logic
whispered to me from the television
through and through your words ring so hollow
and your neon sign of 'change' ain't foolin me
it's beyond your parties indiscretions
all rhetoric but no substance
change doesn't come from what you say in between election cycles
and it'll never come from giving in
and that's why i have to put my foot down
really, it's my obligation
maybe one day you'll find
ideals mean more than 4 years of bragging rights
and don't tell me to quiet down
i've got just as much right as you
there isn't much difference from where i stand
between you and a moral coward
and i'm far too familiar with this road of inaction you're headed down
so you'll have to excuse me when i refuse to follow
empty words
are all that come out
of your
fucking mouth
you speak in fairy tales and vague circles
are you incapable of telling the truth for just one moment?
feed me your cleverly worded denials
fill me up with false hope, again
temporarily pacify this call for change
but you sound so resolute
so hopefull
promising me hope and change that i can believe in
but it still feels so hollow
how will you bring change by protecting the status quo?
i will no longer take part
in your apathetic corporate charade
the only way i could waste my vote
would be in being your accomplice

you are a target market

in my mind
none of this seems real
all the time
i can't help but feel
that everything i hear
is dumbed down and sugar coated
they made our fear color coded
everything i buy
is another lie

dumb me down
just so i won't care what's real
numb my mind
because i don't want to have to deal
that despite it all
i still feel everything was planned this way
you obscure my view, but i don't really seem to care
i want my news all about celebrity hair

i just don't want to know
corporate news keep me safe and warm
tuck me in
and comfort me with your fuzzy logic
distort the truth and sugar coat it
market fear then color code it
everything i hear
is another lie

keep in line
if ya know what's good for you
turn off your mind
we'll tell you what you should do
we'll tell you when to cheer and shout
and dance like the puppets you are
real progress is just too hard
to be achieved
don't think about it, just accept the message
don't worry about your inactive stasis
everything i read
is just another fucking lie

the pledge of allegiance

sell my soul
loot my mind
steal my will to be
drown out my will to think
i just want to sit in front of my TV
and numb myself, everyday
i don't read
i don't think
i don't create
i don't expand
i buy my dreams
i trade my conscience for escape
but still there's something in the back of my head....
saying my life doesn't relate to these images
that their situations don't reflect my life
these aren't my problems
warning me
yeah, it could be....but it doesn't seem very likely....
a lighthouse lost in the fog of consumerism
i don't seek
i don't question
i don't wonder
i don't evolve
i accept
i assimilate myself for the sake of convenience and acceptance
don't blame me
i was in the comfort of my safe home
finding things to take my mind off the mess
choosing pacification over reaction
i complained to myself and the watercooler
i even shook my head and said it was a shame
what more do you want from me?

your apathetic inaction is what keepts it this way

trapped behind enemy lines
surrounded bu distracted lemmings
who obey every command
very much like a trained seal
who never stray from the line
who fail to question or even try to grow a thought of their very own
led by crazy fanatics
spreading nothing but hate, greed, ignorance and fear
shouting their orders through pixilated megaphones
through preplanned question and answer sessions
fed to us from robotic corporate talking heads
while the docile herd stumbles mindlessly along
the apathetic masses blinded by the flashing lights
being indoctrinated to your system of greed
your system of greed
your system of greed
you fucking cowards
just shoot your missiles and drop your bombs from far away
never think of who bleeds
as long as it's not you
as long as you're not confronted by your barbaric deeds
as long as you can just turn the channel to something else
you fucking cowards
send someone else to die for your profit margins
just as long as it's not you on the other end
just as long as it's not your kid that finds the u.x.o.
and you expect me to embrace you?
if anyone deserves to live near DU rounds it's you
you expect me to accept you?
you fucking cowards
just close your eyes
stick your fingers in your ears
hum softly
look the other way
shrug your shoulders
do nothing
do nothing
do nothing
you just can't be bothered
too afraid to rock the boat
money is your god
selfishness and deceit are your path
it's all you know
it's all you've chosen to know
all your bring is death and your corporate chains
your corporate whip
your corporate boots
your corporate justifications
your corporate thirst to suck it all dry
your corporate sense of entitlement
your pre-packaged, mass-produced 'thoughts'
you fucking cowards
everything is not ok
no matter what the TV says

scattered thoughts

spare me your empty promises
i don't believe a single word you say
all you know how to do is take from others
your belly is past full
and yet you steal from everyone's plate
taking more than you need
dragging everyone else down
shaking hands and acting friendly
with a knife hidden just behind
marketed as the savior
come to save us and make us complete again
you are not the fucking answer
you are an idiotic knock-knock joke
you are a fucking cancer
you are a fucking disease
marginalize the suffering
a heartless man if there ever was one
your hollow efforts no longer are a comfort to me
your pretty speeches no longer distract me
i see you for what you are
and it disgusts me that i once gave in
that i had trust in you to do the right thing

the new millenium grendel

the monsters crawled out from under the bed
and hid in our TVs
whispering tales of fear
and manufactured images in out our ear
compulsive liar
and bearer of false realities

the boogiemen gathered together
and put on suits and ties
trading money
trading futures
trading lives
of people like you and me
wallowing in their greed

the wolves whispered into the ear
of the village idiot
attaching the strings
stealing the children
putting guns in their hands
filling their heads with lies
and then turning their backs
when the questions turns to 'why?'

ask geocit....ohhhhh wait

(this had 2 more sections in the middle but i never wrote them down)

i wanted to sing along
but i got the words all wrong
you call my name
like it's some game
but it's no fun when all you do is wave
goodbye
goodbye

and so my song remains
in a box shoved under the bed
as you say
nothing's changed
so why does it feel like all i hear you play
are lies
lies

streaming and deeeeeep breath

i had the thought again today
that we only have ourselves to blame
thinkin 'how do you figure
if you don't address it, it'll all just disappear?'
and i hope you choke on the lies you swallow
kept safe from all you choose not to see

how can you care so little?
how much can you pretend not to notice?
all you portray is selfish apathy
how do you expect me to trust your sincerity?

there was a time you were aware
before you chose to divert your eyes
ignore the obvious
pick a team color
then point the finger and blame the other
pretending your intentions are honorable

your pretentious posturing and posing gets us nowhere
but further down
your blatant denials
constant justifications
are overwhelming me
embracing you seems beyond reality

and it always comes down to you
it all comes down to your greed
it's all that you know
it's all that you breathe

lame attempt #5,849

(to Tool's 'Stinkfist', i don't know why i thought it was a good idea)


something
has to change
drastically and forever
and all you're doing is standing in the fucking way
confiscation
selfishly take more than you need
and i don't think you know any other way

it's not enough
you need more
destroy dreams to satisfy
if you want it
you just take it
save your storybook history for someone who's blind

you don't care how far you have to alter the lie
you don't give a damn the human cost it takes to get there
just look me in the eye, lie to my face and shake my hand

lying
deceitful
parasitic entities
with guns pointed at everyone else's head
corporate
lackeys are comforting the herd
and selling greed as the american way

it's never enough
always need more
distractions made to pacify
i guess
just ignore it
accept the edit
your thoughts, your belief structure, your way of life is a fucking lie

you don't care how deep you have to bury the lie
moral subjectivity is just something that you'll get used to
just hold your breath and close your eyes

corporate cameras have cast their spell
showing sheep the way they oughta be
you rationalize everything
swallow up their double-speak

your empty words don't mean anything to me
do you really not think anything's wrong at all?

liar
cheating
thieving
keep
denying
everything

you don't care how many have to die
just as long as it's not in your neighborhood and it keeps prices lower when you get there
you'll always hold onto your fucking lie
exploit it all and poison everything

march of the bobbleheads

(someone was in a bad mood that day!)


bobble along
in a neat little identical row
keep yer eye focused on the others
for your cue
for your lines
for your carefully worded lies
for your newest excuse
'the latest in rationalizations!'

and like a bad script all i can do is sit in dumbfounded amazement....
and wonder
'are they serious? how the fuck do they accept this bullshit!?'
and it's not just the script, mind you
but who hired the fucking casting director?
kudos to the props and special effects departments, however

do you have to repeat the lines in your head?
or do you just cling to your raft of naivety?
if only you cared about the planet the way you care about your lawn
your manufactured realities have poisoned the world
and yet....
you still can't stop
it's still not enough
more and more each year
until you've striped it all bare and privatized
capitalized
brutalized
maximized profits as much as you can
your festering wounds sink deeper
time is shrinking along with the fresh water, clean air....
and you still manage to have time for what if's?
we already let you play that game through and as you can see
you were a bit off the mark
you fuckin owe me one
stop your cleverly designed side arguments
you will not find salvation in these distractions or this corporate duopoly
i don't know why you even try
it's like the truth can be so obvious
but you still find a way to rationalize
bury your head
bury the truth
bury me and bury you
your selfishness
and greed
will destroy
us all

and i'm just wondering....
why the fuck don't you care?
you willfully drown in your sea of apathy
don't try to put your words in my mouth
or your sense of morals in my head
your false sense of morals
your fucking hypocritical, subjective sense of morals
fuck you
fuck the war and it's ever revolving justifications
fuck your corporate goons and their ties to this fucked up view of government
fuck your voting machines without papertrails that accidentally delete thousands
fuck the shadows kept behind the curtains of apathy
fuck the warhawks, investment bankers and bomb making elite
fuck the strings at the end of their fingertips that you chose to ignore
fuck your extraordinary rendition, secret prisons and prison ships
fuck your pr propaganda and this fucking mission
fuck your corporate talking heads feeding us your lies

bah bah americans have you any soul?
no sir, no sir, we just do as we're told

fat lil piggies wallowing in their greed
middle class piggies wallowing in their apathy
elected piggies wallowing in their denial
all the other critters wallowing in their self imposed ignorance
just get your lines and memorize them like a good little boy
balance them on your nose like a trained seal

just fess up
you don't care
you're not fooling anybody
just admit it
you don't care
at least aside from the generic reaction and gasp
you don't show it
just fucking say it
you don't care
at least not enough to actually do something about it
not even the smallest effort towards anything other than you're god damn self serving interests
and tell me how i got it all wrong
tell me how you really care
tell me how it will really be alright
and tell me again how you really don't support it but.....
just tell me who you hold accountable?

i guess what i'm trying to say is
i think we should see other people

will the revolution be available via text messaging?

(the product of drugs and Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada)

how can you just sit there and do nothing
while everything dies?
poisoned our waters
poisoned our skies
so much needless suffering and dying
all because of your greed and lies
send our kids off to a prison
for 6 hours at a time
how can you just stand there
hand in pockets and divert your eyes?
don't tell me you don't feel it
can't feel the numbing
generations squandered
chasing materialistic abstractions
like sheep or cattle staying in our pen
fed manufactured ignorance and distractions
only thing you're taught
is how to obey on a plantation of corporate design
only thing you're taught
is that you better stay in line
and it's sad
renting out our bodies for some dimes
and it's sad
what can be so easily justified
that your moral subjectivity makes the profits rationalized
breastfed conformity, 1/2 truths, misconceptions and lies
and it's sad that we've all become so desensitized
an entire nation raised on network and text book lies
how can we really tell our children we just sat back and did nothing?

shock and terrorize (an ode to paul wolfowitz)

(i wrote this after watching a documentary called The Panama Deception. the day after i wrote it paul wolfowitz was made head of the world bank)

is over 75% of the casualties 'precise'?
see, there's this nagging in my head that says 'no'
and while i don't have a dictionary handy
something is telling me 'surgical' may not be the proper word, either.
but that's just me
we all know war is ugly so we must shelter ourselves from reality and accept the script they have come up with
let's kid ourselves
and grab our blankies
it's all for the greater good, right?
it's all justifiable in the end, you just need.....
to look at it in a certain light
maybe twist it to the side a little bit
squint
repeat it softly to yourself
embrace it
we all know
war is hell

when's the last time Halliburton paid taxes?
how often did Dubya's companies pay taxes?
$9 BILLION in Iraq unaccounted for how?
TRILLIONS unnaccounted for in the defense budget?
what miscalibrations, 'accidentally deleted votes' and voter irregularities?
oh, but how they stand there with their chests puffed out
lips all pouty and decree how bad such a thing is......
smoke and mirrors, my friends
smoke and mirrors

our political system is a complete cancerous mess
infested with lil piggies suckin on the teet of our tax money
money that simply can not be accounted for
that is.....
the trail grows cold after being placed in their hands
stuffing their pockets full, circle jerking, bending us over often enough....
but hey why think about such things?
that might mean i may have to actually do something.....
i may have to hold someone accountable and i just can't be bothered
i might have to sacrifice a little bit for.....
my fellow man??
hell, i don't even know him
and what the fuck has he done for me lately, anyhow?
and besides
if strange things were afoot surely the uber liberal media would've alerted us a loooooong time ago
the liberal media owned by.....
who again?
the same ones telling us to just play?
don't think
don't question
just forget
just consume
just look the other way
just give in to the distractions
it's easier to just not think about it
right?

the same ones telling us every week something new to be afraid of
continually pumping us full of fear to where it's hard to function
the same ones telling us about the newest wonder drug that will make it ok
hurry, before the side effects become too dangerous
the same ones filling our conformity boxes with mindless crap
created solely to distract
and blind
and makes us forget
there ever was an unjustified war
that $9 billion and millions of weapons are unaccounted for
that it turned out there never really was a reason for this war
but i don't have time to care right now
i can't miss american idol
who do ya think will be voted off the island this week??
the same ones showing the approved footage
are the same ones manufacturing the cluster bombs
the same ones telling us how they were used so effectively
effective to whose standards?
that is the question that really must be asked
someone really must put a dictionary on their christmas list


looking out a window to see total devastation
seeing mass graves piling up
turning on the TV and seeing.....
something that looks nothing like the view from the window
the view from the street
the view from almost anywhere you go in this burnt down, crater filled town
the same view from everywhere but the other side of the tracks
the side they do show
the side where lives the ones who see it 'the right way'
the ones with homes and connections far too nice to bomb
it's not that they don't want us to see it, per se....
we simply must be shielded from such images
we can't go turning the public off, can we?
we have a deal for a video game of this war in the works
advertising revenue, folks
that's what's important

world banks
world debt
yet record profits
your skewed balance....
world hunger....
no, on second thought
make that
selective hunger
i think that is far more appropriate, no, don't you?
world wars
bullies holding the planet hostage
gun in one hand
placed firmly in their backs
stuffing pockets with one hand
foreign banks and offshore accounts with the other
looking down and noticing, to some disgust and annoyance, some of the blood
but hey,
they're nice enough to hire some of them to clean it up
those stains are so hard to get out, after all
and i simply can't be bothered with seeing it
no sir

there's a saying
i think they might even have it in Tennessee
you can flock some of the herd some of the time
but....
can't.....
can't get fooled again.....
well....maybe that's not an exact quote
but what, nowadays, ever really is?
not everyone was force fed the same edited version of what is mistakenly labeled as 'history'
not everyone has been indoctrinated in the gloriously freeing habit of selective amnesia
they don't forget how empty their children's bellies were
while you were impatiently waiting on that refill and someone ought to fire that fucking waiter
they won't forget the sounds of their children's cries at night
while you mingled at function drinking, laughing, making little jokes
they can't forget the date on that eviction notice
while you fly from a secure ranch to a bill signing photo-op

i just don't understand
you seem to sadistically enjoy all of this...
why not go all out?
why not make it the spectacle it is to you?
why not pain the cluster bombs like easter eggs?
ya know
kill 2 birds with 1 stone
embrace our religion
boom
or maybe mines like christmas presents
embrace our culture
boom
don't you agree?
no??
cool
boom
point being
get back in fucking line
point being
shut the fuck up
you were warned
damn Fallujahns got what they deserved
so did those damned Guatemalans
and the Panamanians
and the Nicaraguans
and the Iranians
and the Salvadorians
and the Argentineans
and....
fuck it
let's cut to the chase
....anyone else who had something we wanted and wouldn't play ball
they had it coming
they only have themselves to blame

meaningless
take comfort in your distractions
your empty, hollowed distractions
thank god for michael jackson
and terri shivao
thank god congress is investigating steroid use in baseball
we won't have to be bothered with such stories for now
just ease your mind
eat some over processed food
drink some beer
forget
your guilt is not just implied
your guilt is in your silence
the silence that equals consent
your consent that 'each life is precious' is actually pretty subjective
that ends really do justify the means
as long as taxes don't go up
as long as i don't have to bother with anything
our recurring theme
stand behind your chosen figurehead
repeat the mantra 'they hate me for my freedom'
shake your fist over <3,000
scream for blood
howl for revenge
just don't expect the world to care much
when those numbers are far eclipsed there
every year
at the ends of our guns
our bombs
our policies

i just want to sleep

(by the way, the $300 references was that first stimulus check bush gave that made so many suddenly stop questioning things)


i turn on the TV and rest my head on a fluffy pillow of deceit
fuzzy logic
faulty math
cooked books
i need my news summed up for me in 10 second sound bytes and spoonfed to me by robotic talking heads
it's all the same except for slight wording changes no matter which channel i turn to
please fill me with false hope
please distract me from reality
i sold my child's future for $300 and i need the reassurance that my greed is justifiable
i need that cleverly manufactured and tested rationalization to embrace me
to comfort me
to hold me tight
to convince me everything's alright
so i can sleep at night
give me the answer that will dismiss this nagging in my head
show me how "those who trade liberty for security deserve neither" was taken out of context
please, just show me the way because the TV contradicts my conscience
lord, i just need to sleep
for i need to rent my body and soul early tomorrow for a pocketful of change
it's almost a new year so why does it still fell like 1984?
direct me to the proper line to stand in
hand me the cue cards so i may practice my lines
it surely can't be a lie if everyone is saying it
the truth has become too long and must be edited
reworded
spun to the approval of those who hold the chains
the chains i must grow to love
oh corporate media, where oh where would i be without you?
please tell me a nice story
give it a happy ending
i don't care if it doesn't make any sense at all
i don't care if my head screams "this can not be!"
i just need to sleep
i swear i will never question you, my divine savior
i will do as i'm told
i promise to be good
i'll be productive
i'll make you proud, you'll see
i don't need the whole story
i just need to sleep
i want reality to be what you have carefully laid out for me
like a child's clothes
tell me what i should be afraid of tomorrow
keep me waiting anxiously between commercial breaks
tell me anything
i don't care
tell me anything
just so i can sleep
it makes no difference that these pretty promises you never keep
i am what you tell me to be
help kill the doubt in my mind that my morals were cheap
if only so i can sleep

the american dream

(i had the dead kennedys in my head when i wrote this)

i wanna live in a gated community
i wanna live my life by what the the TV tells me
i wanna live my life in total apathy
i want corporate op/ed channels to form my opinion for me
pump me full of fear so i can cling to your distractions
i want to just accept your wild rationalizations
tell me what to buy so i can fit in
i'd stop and think for myself but i'm far too busy
i don't wanna know about your problems
i can't afford to help ya cos i'm defined by my possessions
i don't care if you don't have enough, only if i have more
i want to consume genetically modified food and bottled water
the newest useless contraption for a few months until they release something better
i buy magazine just to find out who i'm supposed to be

pre-packaged products

following the line, never daring to stray an inch
he might as well have been asleep
afraid to speak, too nervous to even pursue his own thoughts
it had been far too long since he even had an independent one
standing in line waiting to but a personality
never finding himself, instead clinging to the fleeting image of what is accepted
the image the advertising agencies and marketing execs had decided upon this season
glancing from side to side
hoping to catch a glimpse of what is safe to be, what is accepted to think
straining his ears to hear what the new catch phrase will be
"what fashionable trend shall i reinvent myself as this year? this is me, i'm original!!"
screams the mass marketed, pre-packaged choir
originality shouldn't come with a catchy slogan or label attached to it

i think what god meant to say was.....

pick and choose what to believe
pick and choose what is worth following
in your book of fairy tales
tell me again how you do it all for the children
tell me again how each life is precious
and must be saved
just don't ask me to believe you
as you turn you back on the unfortunate ones
don't expect me to accept your pathetic rationalizations
as you help to hold them down and keep them in their place
it's all so simple if you just opened your eyes
an undereducated populace leads to an ignorant one
an ignorant populace leads to an easily distracted one
an easily distracted populace equals the perfect consumers
oh so easy to keep in line
a culture of waste, not progress
oh, right, to you and your holier than thou, self-righteous attitude
record profits at the expense of everyone else IS progress
money may make the world go round
but it will also lead to its destruction
selling your soul for a plasma TV
trading your values for a fucking SUV
and it's all for the kids, you say
fighting each other and not the problems
if all this will send me to hell then i can only wonder where it will send you
you've got no soul
no soul
no fucking soul at all

heritage

the TV speaks to me selling me false realities and lies
why must the bottom line always end in dollar signs?
the american dream was murdered for greed
pushing their waste and marketing it as need
they're buying and selling off shares of fear
choosing between puppet A and puppet B every 4 years
they started it writing it into all their scripts
spare me your tired, sensationalistic rhetoric
keepin us occupied with trivial party conflicts
while the right hand has a gun to our head and the left doesn't give a shit
it's got me searchin for enlightenment but all i find is 1/2 truths and lies
united by quiet distractions and ignorance while they sell off our lives
never questioning the facts, taught to just blindly accept
ignoring the fact that the media is owned by the military-industrial complex
pushin their agendas and the 'need' for war
with the whole world lookin at us like a greedy little whore
laughin to each other while they rob us blind
lookin over maps, pointing and sayin 'that one's mine!'
our news has turned into Jerry Springer, lives of celebrities and other useless shit
fuck education, fuck health care, fuck the environment
let's bitch about Janet Jackson's partially obscured tit