Driving home from work early Monday morning, I was changing channels during a commercial from the replay of Randi Rhodes on XM Radio 167 (Air America), I turned on channel 7 (The 70's) and a song that I liked was playing ("One Tin Soldier" by Coven) ... (band background can be found here). After listening to Randi, then hearing the song, I took the time to analyze the lyrics a bit more closely. For a song that was written thirty-eight years ago, during the Vietnam Era, the song has so much relevance today. I'm not sure, though, but it applies to George W. Bush and Co., and how everything he does benefits him and his rich friends and his and Cheney's thirst for black blood (oops - I meant to say OIL) - He is the Kingdom on the Mountain and "We The People" are the valley-folk belowand the soldiers sent to an unjust war:
Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago,
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley-folk below.
On the mountain was a treasure
Buried deep beneath the stone,
And the valley-people swore
They'd have it for their very own.
So, we get lied into a war, that has killed upward of 650,000 Iraqi citizens, and of this post, 3,531 American soldiers dead (and climbing). The Bush Administration keeps tellign us things are getting better, but as I see it, things are not. We are there, at least, until the Iraqi government approves the "Hyrdrocarbon Law" which will seek to enrich Mr. Bush and his Oil friends:
So the people of the valley
Sent a message up the hill,
Asking for the buried treasure,
Tons of gold for which they'd kill.
Came an answer from the kingdom,
"With our brothers we will share
All the secrets of our mountain,
All the riches buried there."
But as the war keeps going and going, with no end in sight, W. is in his bubble, Cheney working the darkside, Karl spinning web of evil, Condi looking for the next photo-op, and Gonzo still looking like a baby with a major case of gas, our nation has split down a red/blue line. We have all of the Democratic candidates wanting to bring our men and women home from Iraq, and on the Republican side, they want to keep things going forever - this is their Vietnam, in my opinion - and now, they are staring down Iran. No matter the outcome, I see the Republicans losing in 2008 for not caring. Not caring about the American people ("We the people"), for taking away our basic civil liberties (spying on us, reading our e-mail, listening to our phone conversations, rendering US citizens without Habeas corpus to protect us, etc...)... Now it's time for a call to arms, so to speak, to take back, rightfully, which was ours from the beginning:
Now the valley cried with anger,
"Mount your horses! Draw your sword!"
And they killed the mountain-people,
So they won their just reward.
Now they stood beside the treasure,
On the mountain, dark and red.
Turned the stone and looked beneath it...
"Peace on Earth" was all it said.
The more people realize what was lost, the more they will want it back. I know this is a long post, but it's been a long time since I've thought about anything to write until I heard that song a few nights ago. I do the right thing by writing to my senators (Harry Reid, D-NV and John Ensign, R-NV) and my congressman (Jon Porter, R-NV03) - even though my "R's" are in perfect lockstep with "W". Come November, 2008, this country will begin to heal:
Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgement day,
On the bloody morning after....
One tin soldier rides away.
