diashows

Song for the Mavi Marmara

In 1948 they were driven out at the point of a machine gun
Families fled in fear to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon
They fled around the globe, firmly held in terror's grip
And about a million refugees ended up in the tiny Gaza Strip
In 1967 the IDF moved in
And the refugees in Gaza became refugees again
Settlers took their farmland, soldiers took the ports
And the people were surrounded by military forts

In 2007 they cut it off completely
No access to the borders, no access to the sea
The world began to see this unavoidable stamp
The most crowded place on Earth was now a concentration camp
Israeli jet fighters bombed Gaza from the air
And they kept out the supplies needed to rebuild and repair
They kept out the convoys of humanitarian aid
Anemic children going hungry, crushed and burned in bombing raids

From around the world good people tried
To get across the border to the other side
Almost all of them were turned away
Deported back to Turkey, Jordan, France, the USA
They were barred from ever coming back
Adam and Huwaida decided on a different tack
They loaded up a boat and managed to get through
That's when activists in Istanbul decided what they had to do

Armed with food and wheelchairs
And prosthetic limbs for victims of the bombing raids to wear
They packed cement by the ton
They had a few kitchen knives but not a single gun
They were determined to reach the bay
To break the siege of Gaza and not be turned away
As they left Turkish waters everybody wished them well
As for what would happen, only the Apartheid state could tell

All aboard the Mavi Marmara
Sailing toward Goliath's kingdom armed with nothing but a stone
Tell the children of Jerusalem you are not alone

Seven hundred people on board this Turkish ferry
They were sixty miles from the shore out in the open sea
In international waters with no plans for turning back
That's when Netanyahu told his soldiers to attack
They came down from helicopters, fired guns from Zodiacs
They shot some people in their heads and shot others in their backs
The captain raised a white flag high into the air
The soldiers kept on shooting beneath the floodlight's glare

The soldiers kept on shooting, it was a free fire zone
So many dead and wounded, just how many isn't known
So many dead and wounded, blood flowing on the floor
The soldiers kept on shooting sixty miles from the shore
Medics tried to treat the wounded, all they could do was watch them bleed
The soldiers wouldn't let them get the urgent help they need
Masked troopers held their hostages, the Navy towed the ship
Just for trying to sail to the Gaza Strip

Chorus

They took every laptop, every camera and cell phone
This is what Goliath does to those who dare to throw a stone
The ghost of the Exodus is shouting at the sky
But Netanyahu isn't listening, he's just watching people die
For days nobody knew just what happened on that boat
Because everyone was held in jail and dead men do not float
All the world will remember what happened on that night
And to end the siege of Gaza more will go and join the fight

Last Chorus:

All aboard the Rachel Corrie
Sailing toward Goliath's kingdom armed with nothing but a stone
To tell the children of Jerusalem you are not alone

All aboard the Mavi Marmara
Sailing toward Goliath's kingdom armed with nothing but a stone
To tell the children of Jerusalem you are not alone

Operation Iraqi Liberation

We’ve got a situation and it calls for a solution
That upholds our domination of the planet
We’re gonna make our case and we’re gonna make it well
But if you don’t like our logic you can can it
We’ll use impeccable intelligence from any country in the world
As long as we all see eye to eye
And if we don’t find quite what we need we know what to do
Just look into the camera and lie

(Chorus)
‘Cause it’s Operation Iraqi Liberation
Tell me, what does that spell
Operation Iraqi Liberation
O – I – L

And we’ll lie about the missiles and the nuclear research
We’ll lie about uranium
We’ll build military bases and smile for reporters
As we give away bubble gum
And we’ll lie about bin Laden and his connections with the Saudis
And we’ll lie about 9-1-1
And we’ll lie about the Baathists and their connections to Al Qaeda
Because we know there’s none

(Chorus)

And we’ll lie about the North Koreans and we’ll lie about Iran
And don’t mention Israel
Keep those nuclear weapons out of this song
And it will all hold together swell
And now we’ll liberate these people, we’ll liberate their money
We’ll liberate their soil
We’ll liberate their airports, we’ll liberate their harbors
And we’ll liberate their oil

They're Building A Wall

They're building a wall
A wall between friends
A wall that justifies
Any means for their ends
A wall between Semites
Rich and poor
Brothers and sisters
From not so long before
Many feet thick
And twenty feet high
No one can look through it
And into the eye
Of a person you might know
To whom you might confide
Now just a stranger
On the other side

They're building a wall
Between water and land
So we can eat fruit
And they can eat sand
A wall to make sure
That our orchards will grow
And our kids can get fat
And not need to know
Of the cities in ruins
And the children in fear
That your fathers and brothers
In tanks might be near
A wall to keep quiet
That which you fear most
So you don't have to listen
To your grandfather's ghost

They're building a wall
Between future and past
A wall to keep separate
The chambers of gas
From bulldozers, gunships
And the tears of a child
Dignity, love
And all honor defiled
To remove reality
From your facts on the ground
A wall to keep distant
The terrible sound
Of the houses that crumble
And the children that die
A wall to keep separate
The truth from the lie

They're building a wall
And at such a cost
Land, money and safety
And all the lives lost
A wall made of brick
But bricks can be broken
When the people of Zion
Have finally awoken
Anjd said no more walls
No more refugees
No more keeping people
Upon their knees
And then the history books
Will someday recall
Before apartheid was ended
They were building a wall

Reichstag Fire

The planes hit New York City
And thousands now are dead
"It was Arab terrorists"
This is what you said
Well if that is the truth
Then what have you got to hide
And what were you doing
On the day all those people died
Where the f*** were the fighter jets
Ordered by the FAA
And what is your explanation
For what you were heard to say
When you told the Air Force to stand down
Not to intercept
Did you plan to let it happen
Or are you just inept

(Chorus)
I am left to wonder
As the flames are reaching higher
Was this our latest Lusitannia
Or another Reichstag Fire

There's some distressing information, sir
Which I think should be explained
Just which things have been lost
And just what has been gained
Like the thousands of put options
Bought days before the crash
If the money were collected
It would make quite a pretty stash
And the only stocks they bought
Were American and United
Deutsche Bank knows the answer
But the names have not been sighted
And is it just coincidence
That this firm in the private sector
Was once run by "Buzzy" Krongard
Ex-CIA Director

(Chorus)

There's something fishy in Virginia
And I want an explanation
Why did they get the contract
What is Britannia Aviation
A one-man operation
Corporation with no history
He said he worked in Florida
But there he was a mystery
So is there a connection
I think it bears investigation
When the FAA found boxcutters
Does this cause you consternation
Hidden behind the seats
In these Delta planes
That had been fixed in Lynchburg
With Brittania at the reigns

(Chorus)

You said Bin Laden was your friend
But he isn't anymore
Now that he's not fighting Russia
In your proxy war
Who called the FBI
Off the Bin Laden family trail
When so many times you had the chance
To re-write this sordid tale
Sudan in '96
The Taleban in 2001
Offered to turn him over
And right then you coulda won
But perhaps it is the case
That you're avoiding victory
That to justify your exploits
You must have an enemy

(Chorus)

If you were not hiding from the truth
Then you'd have a truth commission
And not some masquerade
Kangaroo investigation
Hiring Henry Kissinger
The ancient master of deceit
To make sure all stones are left unturned
And the ruse is kept complete
And now you carry out your plans
Which you have had for decades
Conquering the world
With your troops and bombing raids
I see an evil regime
Led by an evil man
On Pennsylvania Avenue
Where this evil war began

(Chorus)

Breivik

They say he acted alone for a Europe white and free
A sick and twisted man from an otherwise sane society
The image of Aryan blond, almost iridescent
With a manifesto quoting from the Crusades to the present
But he stood on many shoulders, of this we can be sure
A millenia of xenophobes who slaughter to be pure
Since before the First Crusade, when a mighty Christian band
Hacked and stabbed and burned their way to the Holy Land

They say he acted alone but in his mind he was another
Of those who came before him, his mighty Christian brothers
Who rode, covered in armor, and served their masters well
They vowed to chastity, they vowed to kill the infidel
They marauded west and east in the name of Christendom
They killed Jews, pagans, Muslims, fellow Christians by the thousand
In the name of Jesus, from the Jordan to the Rhine
The red cross on their chest plates, their terrifying sign
In the shadow of the Knights Templar

They say he acted alone, no one said this of the Pope
Whose victims were left burning or hanging from a rope
The Lord's own Inquisition for six centuries
The ethnic cleansing of a continent, a Christian tyranny

European Jews and European Muslims
Fled the Christian Caliphate to be protected by the Sultan
For five hundred years they prospered beneath the Turkish sky
For those left behind: convert or die
In the shadow of the Knights Templar

They say he acted alone but he's living in a country
Where the xenophobic right is the second-biggest party
And he's living on a continent that is over-run
With Prime Ministers who tell us multiculturalism is done
They talk of their traditions, they swell with Christian pride
For their civilization built on holocaust and genocide
Anders Breivik pulled the trigger but he didn't write the play
That script was being written a thousand years ago today
In the shadow of the Knights Templar

They say he acted alone and they want us to believe
That moderating rhetoric is the best we can achieve
but moderating rhetoric will bring us nowhere near
To the understanding that the problem is right here
European empires, European greed
European Christians, poison European seeds
European racists running European states
European tolerance for European hate
In the shadow of the Knights Templar

Marie

I remember when I met you, living in cancer alley
I was on the road with Robert and Claude -- us and Rand McNally
You were the classic punk rock momma, running a social center
Smile on your lips, tear in your eye, but keeping it all together
Just the sort of woman best at organizing the lonely masses
Though what I remember most is when your dog broke my glasses
Every time I thought of Detroit I wondered how things with you were going
I guess you kept it on the down and low, the other things you were doing

But I wonder...
What're you doing in there (3x)
While I'm out here

Since then I would see you maybe once a year
Usually that meant a really good show you'd organize there
The towns would change, you moved around all over the midwest
Finding the local punks, bringing out their best
The kind of friend and organizer everyone wants around
I for one had no idea just where you'd be bound
They say you were doing other things, keeping it on the sly
In hindsight I'm sure you're up at night and you must be wondering why

I remember once you asked me if you could join me on the road a while
I was a selfish bastard, I said I think that'd cramp my style
Who knew then your ex Frank would be wearing a wiretap
Who knew then what he could do with you sitting on his lap
The things they say you did are not crimes to me
The CEO's destroy the Earth and they stay rich and free
While they put you away for 22 years for destroying property
The judge put you in the hole and threw away the key

I drive around the country beneath the deep blue sky
While you're trapped inside those walls as your life passes by
I wander down a forest path, feel it feed my soul
While you wonder without knowing when they'll send you to the hole
For me you are a hero but who else knows who you are
Perhaps when you look up at night you wish on the same star
If I were not an atheist I'd get down on my knee
And I'd pray to God Almighty that soon they'll set you free

Osama Bin Laden is Dead

It was a commando operation of courage and skill
Navy Seal helicopters flew in for the kill
They had a firefight and they shot him in the head
Now the mastermind of terror, Bin Laden is dead
For all those who love freedom it's a glorious day
In DC and New York they're chanting USA
Fatherless children clutching teddy bears
Legless veterans with catheters and wheelchairs

Can all rejoice that the deed is done
And the War on Terror has been won

Now orphans of Afghanistan can look at the skies
They can fill the air with joyful cries
As the call to prayer rings from shattered domes
They can all run out from the rubble of their homes
Now they know their parents didn't die in vain
When they heard the roar of a jet plane
Now the whole village except the hundred-fifteen
Who died that morning unknown and unseen

(Chorus)

Now folks can have a party in old Baghdad
And the people of Falluja can all be glad
Now they know there is a reason for their poisoned farms
And for the babies born without heads or arms
The widows need not wonder where their husbands went
They can look forward to the future in their tents
Now all the refugees whatever country they're in
In Syria, Jordan or Michigan

(Chorus)

America, America, God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea

No Fracking Way

There was a knock one morning, a man was standing at my door
He said, hello, I'm from Halliburton, have you heard of us before?
We'd like to lease your backyard to drill for natural gas
It's called hydraulic fracturing and it is the very pass
For a clean energy future above the Marcellus stone
Plus we'll give you lots of money and a new mobile phone
I said you are a corporate crook, I don't believe the things you tell
And you can drive right of my property and then go straight to hell

No fracking way! (2x)
I don't trust corporate salesmen, whatever they may say
No fracking way! (3x)

My neighbor was out of work and things were looking grim
So when the fracking guy came knocking he had better luck with him
The company said don't worry, everything will be just fine
So just sign your name right here, sir, on this dotted line
Pretty soon the water was tasting pretty dire
One day I lit a match and the water caught on fire
I thought about a lawsuit, then stumbled upon the fact
That fracking is exempted from the Clean Water Act

...Is that how democracy works here in the USA

As if the situation weren't sufficiently unattractive
We tested the water and found it was radioactive
Now my property is worthless and there's a tumor in my brain
Half of my neighbors are sick, the rest are just in pain
Maybe I should take the money, move off to live somewhere
But all the places I look at, they're fracking there
Our choices now are simple, lose that which we hold dear
Or communicate the message in a way that's unstoppably clear

...Tell these frackers to frack off, both tomorrow and today