Saturday, July 04, 2009

Independence Day

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  1. These warehouse wages
    Kill the ends introduction
    man I should have schooled it up
    When I was younger should have stuck to plan
    Always had the dreams of being more self assertive
    And my kids a teenager now he needs the health insurance
    So break my body
    Break break my soul down
    Just another zombie walking blindly through your ghost town
    Pull up to the bar to politic and tap the power
    Aint nobody really all that jolly at your happy hour
    But I don’t want to go home yet
    So I’m gonna talk to my cigarette
    And that television set
    It doesn’t matter what brand or station
    Anything to take away from the current situation
    No overtime pay no holiday
    Months behind on everything but the lottery
    Went around the corner guaranteeing that my car died
    Wifey having trouble trying to juggle both the part times
    My cup aint close to filled up
    We trying to build up so we can have enough
    And when I finally get the color
    There won’t be nothing left to paint on
    A friend of mine tried to kill himself to the same song

    My better half is mad at making magic out of canned goods
    My tax bracket status gotta questioning my man hood
    My shorty got caught smoking weed at a concert
    And if I smack em everybody treats me like a monster
    My neighbors aint doing much better
    And we making competition instead of sticking together
    Cant save no nest egg in fact this nest is rented
    In fact that rent is late, wait
    The money aint here the raise aint coming
    Just me and my son and that crazy woman
    And those bartenders this whole fucking country
    Got everybody swallowing that lunch meat
    Maybe we can speed up the process
    Kill me in my thirties in the name of progress
    Put me in the dirt and then change the topic
    Some time it seems like the only way to stop it
    Contemplate my departure date
    Doesn’t take a lot to get a lot of us to talk this way
    Take a shot at me that’s all i’m obligated for
    Apparently my only guarantee is a walk away

    The only guarantee in life is a life worth dying for
    The only guarantee in life is a life worth dying for
    Cause death don’t wait for no one
    Sitting on your front door
    The only guarantee in life is a life worth dying for
    Cause death don’t wait for no one
    Sitting on your front door-Guarantees, Atmosphere.

    //Not about july 4th but more about the everyday struggle of making it in these United States.
    In these days how do you celebrate this nation’s independence when you support almost nothing it does??

    Posted by Dylan Horowitz from New York City  on  07/04  at  06:46 AM

  2. amazing grace

    Posted by richie from flatbush  on  07/04  at  06:52 AM

  3. dylan u r amazing

    Posted by richie from flatbush  on  07/04  at  07:02 AM

  4. we love u d

    Posted by richie from flatbush  on  07/04  at  07:06 AM

  5. Here’s a song for independence day by, Ustad Habib Khan on Sitar and Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri on Tabla, titled, ‘Raag Miyan Ki Todi’...it’s a real toe tapper.

    Posted by joe of maine from  on  07/04  at  08:14 AM

  6. This is 1786 after independence day??? My partner and I can relate to this first hand.

    Essay
    Getting By & Getting Ahead - Petition & Protest
    “The Labyrinth of Debt”
    image: Petition to the General Court from the Town of Dracut

    This petition from the town of Dracut to the Massachusetts General Court was typical in both the grievances it listed and in the remedies it proposed. More info
    Courtesy American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA

    To pay the state’s large war debt, the Massachusetts government had increased taxes. In order to obtain the cash to pay those taxes, people called in private debts. The consequence, as a County Convention held at Worcester in September, 1786 noted, was “an amazing flood of lawsuits.” (1)

    The problem was that there was not enough cash in circulation to meet the increased demand. Matthias Rice of Pepperall replied to his creditor’s repeated demands for payment for two debts that “[I]t has not been in my power to pay them as yet, nor can think that is possable to pay them this Spring unless I can turn lumer [?] into Cash.” Rice wrote with frustration that “if I was to sell Every thing that I have on Earth it would not obtain Money, you must Sir be very Sensible that it is out of the power of pepol in general to command cash at this time.” (2) As debtor defaults rose, the numbers of people imprisoned for non-payment of debts skyrocketed. (3) Deputy Sheriff Thomas Ward of Shrewsbury was kept busy arresting debtors on behalf of creditors determined that obligations be satisfied “one way or the other.” By December 1785, over 20 debtors were crowded into a tiny unheated garret in the Worcester County debtor’s prison where they plaintively petitioned for relief from conditions “by no means fit for any of the Human Race."( 4)

    Petitions pleading for legislative relief inundated the General Court. Citizens of Athol reported that “our property is torn from us Our goals filld [with debtors] and Still our Depts not Discharged but our property Daily Diminishing…” (5) Dracut joined other towns in asking the government to pass laws making real and personal estate as well as gold and silver a legal tender. Otherwise, the Dracut petitioners informed the General Court, it would be “out of the Power of a great part of the Community, as well as the Inhabitants of this town, to Extricate themselves from the Labyrinth of Debt into which they are fallen…” (6) A petition from the town of Greenwich assured the governor and legislature that “We are sencable also that A great Debt is Justly brought upon Us by the War and we are as Willing to pay our share towards itt as We are to injoy our shars in independancy and Constatutional priveledges in the commonwelth if itt Was in our power.” But, the petitioners pointed out,

    when we Compute the taxes Laid upon us the five preceeding years the State & County town and…

    Posted by joe of maine from  on  07/04  at  08:51 AM

  7. Hi Helga, richie, joe, Dylan, Mickey, and all…

    Here is my contribution -
    http://tinyurl.com/m2kcqc

    Posted by RMJ from Ward Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  07/04  at  01:56 PM

  8. RMJ—hey hey ..loved the article ..

    richie

    Posted by EIHCIR in the mirror.. from THE GULF CAUSEWAY.. FL  on  07/04  at  04:18 PM

  9. RMJ...great article, I sent it down the pike to locals. Maine senator suzie collins wants to make Maine a military economy. She loves sitting with all the boys.

    Posted by joe of maine from  on  07/04  at  06:13 PM

  10. Hello Expendables. Once again, I’m not getting e-mails when you guys post comments so please excuse my absence.

    Michele and I got free Yankee tickets today so we got to see an extra inning win.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  07/04  at  06:26 PM

  11. ‘In these days how do you celebrate this nation’s independence when you support almost nothing it does??’
    Such a good point, Dylan Horowitz #1 - and it could be made for many countries on earth.

    And hi, richie, Joe of Maine (quite a story there in #6), Rosemarie and the Cool Observer Mickey of course.  After the sun showed its ‘face’ earlier today, it has just been raining.  Another wet day - but it will be sunny from next Tuesday, or so the weather forecast tells us.

    Posted by Helga Fremlin from Daylesford, Australia  on  07/04  at  10:24 PM

  12. Helga, 11...That’s the problem, we are not independent as individuals or a nation. Independence day is just some nonsense written on calendars, then people take this cue and set off fireworks and have backyard barbecues spending time ridiculing their relatives and friends, polishing their cars, because authorities tell them to do these things. If it weren’t for the multiple authorities, everyone would be lost. Few can think about anything independently.

    Posted by joe of maine from  on  07/05  at  04:20 AM

  13. I hate 4th July for a very specific reason. It’s the highest profile, most widely know nationalist event in the English language world.

    Therefore I can barely get through the day without someone I previously respected, or someone I have to work with ...etc etc ... saying something nauseating or offensive.

    bah humbug.

    A tough day for me.

    Posted by Andy from Shanghai  on  07/05  at  10:59 AM

  14. Andy, yes, I hear you. Here’s what Layla Anwar says ‘our’ about...independence day.

    “Today is the 4th of July. American day of so called Independence.

    So you’re independent are you ? Wallahee, tell me, what are you
    independent from ?

    For me you’re nothing but a bunch of slaves, a 200 years old slaves. A
    grouping of pathetic, miserable ex-convicts and criminals with no
    history, tradition or roots…

    So you’re independent huh ? How come I see you like sheep with no
    capacity for questioning then ? How come I see you totally subjugated in
    those minds of yours, incapable of asking the right questions. How come
    I see you a numbed out, divorced from reality, running after, pursuing
    stupidities from the day you are born to the day you are lowered down in
    your graves.

    And you think that a bunch of illiterate, nasal, armed, cowboys who
    can’t even spell or pronounce words correctly - like you - will deter us
    ? Well think again, assholes.

    We are Iraqis. Do you know what Iraqis are—you arrogant, ignorant,
    backward people.

    Of course you would not know. You know nothing.

    We’ve been around for thousands of years. Well before the Persians,
    Greeks, Romans… and well before you. We are the first people and will
    be the last people.

    History started with us and will end with us. Of that I am absolutely
    certain. Because you will be history. Your fake, empty empire will be
    history.

    We will reclaim our Independence again. And all of you and those
    perfidious collaborators of yours - from the persians and their shiites
    puppets to the zionist kurds will vanish in the dustbins of Ur. As they
    have done so in the past.

    Happy 4th of July suckers and see you around in Ur !”

    Posted by joe of maine from  on  07/05  at  12:50 PM

  15. Andy #13...Me too. As some visitors were leaving my home on the 3rd, I reminded them to do something unpatriotic for the 4th. They smiled and said that they planned to play Iraqi music all day on the 4th.

    Posted by RMJ from Ward Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  07/05  at  12:59 PM

  16. The first song that comes to mind is War Pigs by Black Sabbath.

    Posted by Jodda Mitchell from  on  07/05  at  02:59 PM

  17. Hello Expendables and welcome, Jodda.

    Since we all agree about July 4, I’ve moved on to a new/old post. Today starts the 2009 version of summer re-runs but fear not, plenty of new stuff will appear all summer, too. (The next one is a doozy)

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  07/05  at  03:24 PM

  18. Thanks Mickey!  I’m a long time lurker, and huge fan of all you do!

    Posted by Jodda Mitchell from  on  07/05  at  03:43 PM

  19. Thanks right back at ya, Jodda. I hope this means you’ll be joining in more often now.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  07/05  at  03:45 PM

  20. betchur bippy!  I already spread your writings all over yahoo groups, and on my facebook page.  Also used a quote of yours as my tagline for months, “A vote for either John McCain or Barack Obama is, at best, an act of criminal negligence”.  It got me tossed out of a couple of progressive groups!  You rock!

    Posted by Jodda Mitchell from  on  07/05  at  03:50 PM

  21. And by way of introduction to the Expendables, I am probably Mickey’s biggest fan in the hills of redneck Arkansas.  I live on a dirt road surrounded by exploding meth labs with my pit bull companion, Fat Head, and all my other critters.  I am an editor for LUV (Liberty Underground Virginia) News, and spend most of my time ranting and raving at the government.  Good to be here!

    Posted by Jodda Mitchell from  on  07/05  at  04:07 PM

  22. You’re gonna fit right in around here, Jodda. See you on the next thread.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  07/05  at  04:46 PM

  23. this song is called Gurantees, by Atmosphere

    Posted by Ben from LV  on  07/12  at  06:59 PM

    24. Next entry: DISMANTLE: Bunnista's Save-the-World Resistance Group Name?

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