True Terror

[flwyd]

Said the Presidential Skeleton
I won't sign the bill
Said the Speaker skeleton
Yes you will

Said the Representative Skeleton
I object
Said the Supreme Court skeleton
Whaddya expect

Said the Miltary skeleton
Buy Star Bombs
Said the Upperclass Skeleton
Starve unmarried moms

Said the Yahoo Skeleton
Stop dirty art
Said the Right Wing skeleton
Forget about yr heart

Said the Gnostic Skeleton
The Human Form's divine
Said the Moral Majority skeleton
No it's not it's mine

Said the Buddha Skeleton
Compassion is wealth
Said the Corporate skeleton
It's bad for your health

Said the Old Christ skeleton
Care for the Poor
Said the Son of God skeleton
AIDS needs cure

Said the Homophobe skeleton
Gay folk suck
Said the Heritage Policy skeleton
Blacks're outa luck

Said the Macho skeleton
Women in their place
Said the Fundamentalist skeleton
Increase human race

Said the Right-to-Life skeleton
Foetus has a soul
Said Pro Choice skeleton
Shove it up your hole

Said the Downsized skeleton
Robots got my job
Said the Tough-on-Crime skeleton
Tear gas the mob

Said the Governor skeleton
Cut school lunch
Said the Mayor skeleton
Eat the budget crunch

Said the Neo Conservative skeleton
Homeless off the street!
Said the Free Market skeleton
Use 'em up for meat

Said the Think Tank skeleton
Free Market's the way
Said the Saving & Loan skeleton
Make the State pay

Said the Chrysler skeleton
Pay for you & me
Said the Nuke Power skeleton
& me & me & me

Said the Ecologic skeleton
Keep Skies blue
Said the Multinational skeleton
What's it worth to you?

Said the NAFTA skeleton
Get rich, Free Trade,
Said the Maquiladora skeleton
Sweat shops, low paid

Said the rich GATT skeleton
One world, high tech
Said the Underclass skeleton
Get it in the neck

Said the World Bank skeleton
Cut down your trees
Said the I.M.F. skeleton
Buy American cheese

Said the Underdeveloped skeleton
We want rice
Said Developed Nations' skeleton
Sell your bones for dice

Said the Ayatollah skeleton
Die writer die
Said Joe Stalin's skeleton
That's no lie

Said the Middle Kingdom skeleton
We swallowed Tibet
Said the Dalai Lama skeleton
Indigestion's whatcha get


Said the World Chorus skeleton
That's their fate
Said the U.S.A. skeleton
Gotta save Kuwait

Said the Petrochemical skeleton
Roar Bombers roar!
Said the Psychedelic skeleton
Smoke a dinosaur

Said Nancy's skeleton
Just say No
Said the Rasta skeleton
Blow Nancy Blow

Said Demagogue skeleton
Don't smoke Pot
Said Alcoholic skeleton
Let your liver rot

Said the Junkie skeleton
Can't we get a fix?
Said the Big Brother skeleton
Jail the dirty pricks

Said the Mirror skeleton
Hey good looking
Said the Electric Chair skeleton
Hey what's cooking?

Said the Talkshow skeleton
Fuck you in the face
Said the Family Values skeleton
My family values mace

Said the NY Times skeleton
That's not fit to print
Said the CIA skeleton
Cantcha take a hint?

Said the Network skeleton
Believe my lies
Said the Advertising skeleton
Don't get wise!

Said the Media skeleton
Believe you me
Said the Couch-potato skeleton
What me worry?

Said the TV skeleton
Eat sound bites
Said the Newscast skeleton
That's all Goodnight

-- Allen Ginsberg,
"Ballad of the Skeletons"

Tony Blair and George Bush today pledged to do "whatever it takes" to remove Saddam Hussein from power...

The President refused to rule out retaliating with nuclear weapons if Saddam launched a biological or chemical attack against US-led forces. And he promised Iraqi generals who unleashed weapons of mass destruction would be tried as war criminals...

President Bush urged the UN to resume the oil-for-food program in Iraq saying: "This urgent humanitarian issue must not be politicised. The Security Council should give Secretary-General Kofi Annan the authority to start getting food supplies to those most in need of assistance."
-- The Mirror.

There is nothing liberating about a nuclear bomb. There is nothing humanitarian about a nuclear bomb. The primary effects of a nuclear bomb are mass instant death, wide-scale destruction, and the long-term wasting health of hundreds of thousands of citizen lives. There are no smart nukes. You cannot make a precision strike with a nuclear bomb. There can be no shock and awe greater than 8/6. 9/11 doesn't even come close. Hawks and doves alike can agree that dropping a nuclear bomb would be a Bad Thing™. As Tipper Gore once told Jello Biafra, "We have so much in common! We both oppose nuclear war!"

More specifically, this is a threat of nuclear retaliation in response to chem/bio attacks on not American civillians, but on an invading army. Clearly, everyone should hope that Hussein doesn't unleash chemical and biological weapons, but if anyone's prepared for such an event, it would be the U.S. Army. They're going in with some of the best equipment in the world to defend against such an attack. And the commander in chief knew that this was a danger. In fact, it's purportedly the reason the troops are there, to root out these weapons. If Bush is willing to use a nuke in response to a chemical attack, continued inspections are clearly the way to go.

In the event of a nuclear attack against Iraq, could an attack by Pakistan be next? How might North Korea play into this picture? How many more angry youth would join terrorist ranks?

Finally, the Bush administration has politicized the humanitarian crisis from day one. The final paragraph echoes the cries of "Don't politicize 9/11" as the administration grabbed for the unaccountable powers for which they'd lusted.

P.S. The music video for "The Ballad of the Skeletons" is really cool and used to be on the web, but it looks like a webcam company has taken over Mouth Almighty's website. Pity.