The Phantom Menace: How the world sees us. by intro
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Description
I love my country far more than those who will hate me for this image. But as a patriot, I've got to say: "If the shoe fits....."
The words of Jackson Browne say it best:
Lives in the Balance
I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headline
and the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to her people
And a country is drifting to war
And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interests run
On the radio talk shows and the T.V.
You hear one thing again and again
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends--
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can't take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can't even say their names
They sell us the President the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us everything from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

Comments (7)
thanks i live in canada but the same could apply here as well
I'm Canadian as well...if things get rough for you, you can hide in my house lol. waves at bill7
''But who are the ones that we call our friends-- These governments killing their own?'' INTRO: HELLO! INDEPENDENT TallPockets has always wondered WHY OUR GLORIOUS America, has seemed to 'side' with DICTATORS. Who we then LATER, almost ALWAYS have to 'clean up' AFTER said dictators WE supported, BIT US in the proverbial butt? This almost '60' year old PATRIOTIC CITIZEN has witnessed OUR support of the SHAH OF IRAN, of SADDAM Hussein (In Iraq's '8' year war against Iran), of Osama Bin Laden (9-11) in Afghanistan and of the MYRIAD of DICTATORS in the MIDDLE EAST (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc) who SUPPRESS their own peoples and WOMEN. To DUMB old TallPockets, it's a FOOL'S CHOICE. The DEVIL you know or the DEVIL they will soon be. SIGH. ALL at the MONETARY COST of BILLIONS and TRILLIONS of TAXPAYER U.S.A. dollars that COULD be used for WE THE PEOPLES and OUR AMERICA. NOT to mention the LOSSES of LIMBS and LIFE to OUR HEROES in OUR MILITARY. SALUTE! TallPockets is FULLY aware, in the words of comedian Dennis Miller, "SOMETIMES ya' GOTTA' thin the HERD". (But WHY make the HERD GROW and PROSPER BEFORE having to THIN it at OUR EXPENSE?). (Q:WHY do WE SELL our PLANES, etc. TO other such DICTATORS ONLY to have to FIGHT AGAINST them and OUR OWN stuff LATER on? .... IF someone GAVE said planes, etc. TO a DICTATOR they would be in PRISON for TREASON!). GRRR. LAST NOTE: If 'OUR JESUS' came back TODAY, HE would be called a LONG HAIRED, PEACE LOVIN' HIPPY. SIGHS. INDEPENDENT-ly yours, PEACE loving FREAK, TallPockets.
I have always loved that song, which is so appropriate to the current state of the world. When he wrote that back in, what, the 70's, early 80's? who would have thought the world would have learned so little. Great image, but a sad commentary on our country and civilization. Those who say "My country, right or wrong" might think in terms of "My country, if MORE right than wrong." There are shades of grey, and perhaps we have tended toward the darker limits of that scale since Sept 11, 2001. To the Canadians I say, hang on to what you have. I envy you your social network... at least you get something for your tax dollars. To TallPockets I say, we are of like minds and ages (I may be a bit ahead of you) and share your dismay.
Yes. Excellent.
I would, as one of your Canadian amigos, offer you refuge and solace, but our current federal government has more in common with Fox News than with Canadian Taxpayers.... it may be a bit of a trick smugglin' y'all across the border, but we'll just dust off the underground railway which saw many escaped slaves making their way to the Great White North.... we'll say you all have jobs at WalMart... the Border Guards would believe that... you'll get a free blue vest once you cross the 49th... just learn to say "eh" a lot, and you'll blend in... just kidding... those that protest are far more patriotic than those who simply agree...
That's horrible but damn right !!