December 31, 2011

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (Variations on a theme by William James) is a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin. It won the Hugo Award (in science fiction) for short stories in 1974.

In the story, Omelas is a utopian city of happiness and delight, whose inhabitants are smart and cultured. Everything about Omelas is pleasing, except for the secret of the city: the good fortune of Omelas requires that a single unfortunate child be kept in perpetual filth, darkness and misery, and that all her citizens should be told of this on coming of age.

After being exposed to the truth, most of the people of Omelas are initially shocked and disgusted, but are ultimately able to come to terms with the fact and resolve to live their lives in such a manner as to make the suffering of the unfortunate child worth it. However, some few of the citizens, young or old, silently walk away from the city, and no one knows where they go. The story ends with "The place they go towards is a place even less imaginable to us than the city of happiness. I cannot describe it at all. It is possible it does not exist. But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas."

You can read the story in its entirety at http://harelbarzilai.org/words/omelas.txt or www.markaelrod.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/omelas.pdf The following is a brief excerpt—

In a basement under one of the beautiful public buildings of Omelas, or perhaps in the cellar of one of its spacious private homes, there is a room. It has one locked door, and no window. A little light seeps in dustily between cracks in the boards, secondhand from a cobwebbed window somewhere across the cellar. In one corner of the little room a couple of mops, with stiff, clotted, foul-smelling heads, stand near a rusty bucket. The floor is dirt, a little damp to the touch, as cellar dirt usually is.

The room is about three paces long and two wide: a mere broom closet or disused tool room. In the room, a child is sitting. It could be a boy or a girl. It looks about six, but actually is nearly ten. It is feeble-minded. Perhaps it was born defective, or perhaps it has become imbecile through fear, malnutrition, and neglect.

They all know it is there, all the people of Omelas. Some of them have come to see it, others are content merely to know it is there. They all know that it has to be there. Some of them understand why, and some do not, but they all understand that their happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on this child's abominable misery.

Le Guin’s commentary—

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ones_Who_Walk_Away_from_Omelas

"The central idea of this psychomyth, the scapegoat", writes Le Guin, "turns up in Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov, and several people have asked me, rather suspiciously, why I gave the credit to William James. The fact is, I haven't been able to re-read Dostoyevsky, much as I loved him, since I was twenty-five, and I'd simply forgotten he used the idea. But when I met it in James's The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life, it was with a shock of recognition."

The quote from William James is:

Or if the hypothesis were offered us of a world in which Messrs. Fourier's and Bellamy's and Morris's utopias should all be outdone, and millions kept permanently happy on the one simple condition that a certain lost soul on the far-off edge of things should lead a life of lonely torture, what except a specific and independent sort of emotion can it be which would make us immediately feel, even though an impulse arose within us to clutch at the happiness so offered, how hideous a thing would be its enjoyment when deliberately accepted as the fruit of such a bargain?

Le Guin hit upon the name of the town on seeing a road sign for Salem, Oregon, in a car mirror. “[… People ask me] ‘Where do you get your ideas from, Ms. Le Guin?’ From forgetting Dostoyevsky and reading road signs backwards, naturally. Where else?”

We all are living in Omelas right now

I’m sure that, given all the on-line debates over the 2010 health care bill, it’s pretty obvious where I’m going with this. According to the best of our American values, what we should have gotten was what citizens in every other part of the developed world take for granted—access to health care for all citizens, no exceptions. Apparently the best we can manage is eventual access to inadequate insurance for most of us, and what we got reflects our very worst values, chief of which is that your access to health care should depend mostly on how much money you have. Our brave new call to solidarity is “An injury to one is, after all, only an injury to one. Just ignore it and count your blessings.”

Yes, with more subsidized access to insurance, even inadequate insurance, fewer will die. Given that in nine years 35 million will still lack such access, instead of 46,000 dying a year, there will be 15,000 or fewer dying nine years from now. Kids with pre-existing conditions will no longer be denied coverage as of right now, but their parents will have to wait until 2014. Young adults 23-26 can remain on their parents’ plan, except for those whose parents don’t have insurance, can’t afford to add them, or kicked them out of the house years ago.

We have indeed made a start on emptying out our room full of non-persons, though we are nowhere near getting the number down to one as the fictional citizens of Omelas did. You see the big problem with the slowly emptying room, I hope. The lower the number of people still in it, the easier it will be for everybody else to ignore them permanently.

That has been our biggest political problem in trying to achieve universal health care all along—about 85% of us are never going to get really expensively sick. 5% of the population in every age group accounts for 50% of the health care expenses for that group. 15% account for 85%, and line of least resistance for the remaining mostly healthy 85% is to just ignore the unfortunates hidden in the basement. The healthy majority remains free to think that such insurance as they have is probably pretty good, an opinion about as well-informed as their opinions about how good their fire extinguishers are. After all, 46,000 dead is less than a tenth of a percent of the population; 350,000 bankruptcies amounts to only 1% of the population. According to the California Nurses study, 21% of claims are denied, which means that four out of five are not denied. If most people are just fine, it’s very easy for them to ignore the small minority who are not.

No, I am not happy at all about “reform,” and even the batshit crazy sociopathology of its right wing opponents doesn’t change that for me. Le Guin’s fictional solution of just leaving Omelas won’t work for me either, though it has for people like one of the former chairs of Health Care for All-WA. Dr. Bramhall used to be the only MD psychiatrist in Washington State who would see Medicaid patients. Her reimbursments had dwindled for years. She gave up her car and moved to an apartment on Pill Hill near her practice to save money and keep helping the desperate people she worked with. Eventually, she could not afford health care for herself, a very bad situation for someone of late middle age to be in. Luckily for her, New Zealand was very happy to pay for her health care in exchange for making her professional skills available to their population.

Permanently breaking down the door to the basement room is the only thing that will get everybody out of our Room of Non-Persons Who Don't Deserve Health Care. I truly believe that most of the people cheering in the streets for the release of some fully intend to go back down at some time or another for the rest. But, based on quite a bit of past history, if that were really likely to happen Le Guin would never have felt the need to write her story at all.

December 28, 2011

Why the Wyden-Ryan plan amounts to privatization of Medicare

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/25-0?print

Why does the Wyden-Ryan plan amount to privatization? A brief glance at the recent history of Medicare is necessary to explain.

Medicare was once dominated by the federal government, where, as a result, administrative costs were low and quality was high. In the 1990's Medicare patients were given an option to have their Medicare services performed by private providers, who were now able to profit off Medicare by charging extra fees for extra services, which they added to the basic amount of funds received via Medicare.

The reason that people often chose private providers was that Medicare funding was being cut and consequently, less services were being offered under traditional Medicare. For those who could afford it, private providers became preferred, since people could then purchase the services they needed but were not offered under traditional Medicare. This "option" created the beginning of a two-tier system of Medicare, opening the door for the systems fracturing.

The Wyden-Ryan plan would crack the nut wide open. But instead of saying privatization, a dirty word, "premium support" is used instead, a sterile sounding term with nasty consequences. It essentially means that each Medicare patient will receive a set amount of money for their Medicare that they can use to "shop" for their insurance. This would be the first time that Medicare spending would be capped, and the rate of growth of this capped fund would not match the rate of growth of health care prices. Once you've accepted the cap, the cap can be continually lowered by Congress or not raised to keep pace with inflation.

Instead of reducing Medicare costs by going after profit-hungry pharmaceutical corporations, patients will have their services curtailed via the cap

December 20, 2011

+10000!! n/t

December 20, 2011

What I really expected from Obama--

--was that he would run his administration like he ran his campaign. When it came down to Obama or Clinton, it made no difference to me one way or the other on the issues. Both are confirmed corporatists. Obama was slightly better on the wars, and Clinton slightly better on health care. Both were mostly funded by the same corporate interests.

I made my choice to support Obama strictly on the grounds of his campaign organization. In our caucus state, the Clinton people came in and told local Dems that they'd better get behind the inevitable winner, or those wanting political careers would be made to pay. And she hired worthless pieces of shit like Mark Penn.

Obama, on the other hand, hired experienced organizers and used a lot of his early financial booty to set up software that people could use for self-organization. The paid people came in and mostly approved of what local people were already doing. They contacted local party leaders and PCOs, and listened to what we had to say.

The 2008 general election was THE canonical model for how elections should always be run. In past years, the "coordinated" campaign, supposedly working on state and national candidates concurrently, has always been totally uncoordinated chaos, featuring newbies who blew into town and did their own thing, totally ignoring what local party members were already doing. I don't know how many times I answered calls for door-knocking volunteers and wound up walking a precinct that already had literature hanging from all the doorknobs, put there by a local PCO.

In 2008, the people sent from the national organization immediately connected with the local party people. They asked us for lists of precincts with and without PCOs, and accepted our evaluation of just how likely any given PCO was to actually walk his or her precinct. My legislative district contains parts of 3 congressional districts and 5 cities, so I recommended subdivisions by geography which the coordinators immediately accepted. With a near-perfect blend of the online campaigning pioneered by Dean and tradtional personal outreach, there was this very rewarding sense of being on the same page as everyone else and getting something done right for a change.

Silly me. I expected that to carry over into Obama's administration. When OFA became Organizing for America, all that changed. No one wanted to hear what any of us local people had to say anymore. We were given the word from on high about priorities, and ignored when we wanted to suggest priorities of our own.

I knew that 2010 was going to be a disaster when the OFA people had meetings where they presented charts and graphs and lists of microconstituencies that benefited from particular programs. There was not even a single mention of values or messaging, whereas the 2008 campaign had been heavily values-based. I quit going to those meetings, and did as much canvassing as I had time for on my own, given that I was also organizing against the Catfood Commission. I got a lot of very good response to mobilizing people against that, from Democrats, Republicans and independents alike. Given that caucus states tend to have much stronger local party organizations, WA State resisted the red tide. Still, I could have done much more without the Obama-imposed distraction of the Catfood Commission.

And here we are at 2012 almost, and not a single word from OFA other than that "we have to educate people about Obama's accomplishments." Actually we shouldn't be doing anything of the sort, despite the fact that much useful stuff has gotten done. Why? BECAUSE THE GENERAL PUBLIC DOES NOT GIVE A BLOODY GODDAM ABOUT LAUNDRY LISTS! They care what is going on in their lives and about values, and no one can tell me what Obama's values are, except they seem to have something to do with government not being able to create jobs, regulations being bad and tax cuts being good.

The economy is still going straight to hell for the majority. This majority would still be strongly behind Obama if they felt he was on their side, no matter how bad things get. I don't feel that at all, and am working hard trying to convince all the 2008 PCO dropouts in my legislative district that we have to get more progressive people in locally and at the state level before we can change anything at the national level in any meaningful way. I'm having some success passing the word on what Republicans plan to do to Social Security and Medicare. I'm into politics for the long haul, but I'm part of a shrinking minority.

December 17, 2011

Do we need health insurance?

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/12/15/health/do-we-need-health-insurance/print/

Do Americans need health insurance? The short answer is no — at least not in the form it currently exists in America.

It is true that in many wealthy countries private insurance companies are used in the financing of universal health care systems. But they are nothing like American companies. They are regulated public utilities and are told by their governments who to insure, what to cover and how much and when to pay. Most are prohibited from making a profit and are required to pay any willing provider. Not exactly the American model.

The purpose of health care financing systems should be — and is in all other wealthy countries — to facilitate the delivery of health care services, to protect individuals and families against huge medical care expenses and to avoid breaking the national bank while they do so. But in America, our private insurance system actually interferes with the delivery of health care and is rapidly becoming too expensive.

Last month I argued for adopting a universal health care system on moral, ethical and economic grounds. It is not only more humane but cheaper to cover everybody. We have moved in fits and starts toward that goal since the enactment of Medicare in 1965.

December 14, 2011

Allowing Insurers to Withhold Data on Enrollees' Health Status Could Undermine Health Reform

Comment by Don McCanne of PNHP: Insurers that corner the market of healthy individuals have an unfair advantage over insurers that cover a greater number of high cost, sicker patients. To protect those insurers with high costs from failing in the markets, risk adjustment corrects for the market distortions by taking funds from the insurers with low cost patients and transferring them to the insurers with high cost patients.

Risk adjustment may be a great theory, but in practice it doesn't work very well. As an example, even though prohibited from selectively enrolling healthier patients, Medicare Advantage plans have been very successful at selectively marketing to the healthy. Insurers end up with significantly lower costs, even though they are paid higher amounts than are paid for patients in the traditional Medicare program.

My comment: Local insurers in my area are offering Medicare Advantage plans with subsidised exercise club memberships--Silver Sneakers. Nice extra benny, but seniors with health problems serious enough that they can't use an exercise club are obviously not going to go for those plans. By eliminating sick people, they stand to save far more than the exercise club subsidies will cost them. very sneaky cherry picking.

December 13, 2011

PNHP comments on the "Obamacare bomb"

Comment by PNHP cofounders Himmelstein & Woolhandler:

Limiting overhead to 15%-20% is far from the stringent regulation that Ungar implies. Private insurers' overhead currently averages about 14% nationwide, and they will probably be able to reclassify some items currently classified as overhead into the patient care expense category (despite regulations that attempt to stop this). Moreover, some current sales expenses will be offloaded to the insurance exchanges, which are likely to have overhead of 3-4%, and the exchanges' expenses will not count as part of insurers' overhead. Finally, ACOs will take over many of insurers' administrative tasks and expenses, but these ACO overhead expenditures will not count toward the 15%-20% overhead limit. In sum, total insurance overhead (and profit) is likely to grow, not fall in the years ahead."


Comment by Don McCanne of PNHP:

Never have we received as many requests to comment on an article as we have on Rick Ungar's "The Bomb Buried in Obamacare..." He is to be highly commended for his enthusiastic support of single payer, but his analysis that the insurers' requirement to comply with the statutory medical loss ratios is an Obamacare bomb that will cause so much damage that we'll be on an inescapable path to single payer might represent... well, perhaps a touch of hyperbole, intended or not.

In the response above, David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler explain how the medical loss ratio will have very little impact on reducing total insurance overhead and profit, although some recategorization will likely take place. Thus it isn't quite the bomb that will relieve us of their excesses and intrusions, nor relieve the health care providers of the administrative burdens that are placed upon them by the insurers and by the general complexity of our fragmented, dysfunctional health care financing system.

That said, it is political season. We can thank Rick Ungar for providing us with well-meaning hyperbole that that is appropriately provocative and makes people want to look once again at single payer as an answer to our health care mess. As Ungar says, "we are now on an inescapable path to a single-payer system for most Americans and thank goodness for it," even if the medical loss ratio bomb won't really budge us in that direction.

My comment: What will lead single payer is the continued spiraling of health care costs completely out of control. Hopefully, by the time the wheels come off of PPACA, we will have implemented single payer in at least a few states.

December 12, 2011

A blast from the past--Merry Fitzmas! Treason's Greetings!

This collection of jolly Fitzmas carols is culled from Daily Kos and Democratic Underground, October 2005. The expression Fitzmas was first used on Democratic Underground to refer to the eagerly awaited day on which Patrick Fitzgerald would recommend indictments of various high-level Bush administration people for their role in outing the undercover agent Valerie Plame. WHIG =White House Iraq Group. The reference to aspens turning in autumn at the same time (because they are connected at the roots) refers to the series of people turning on their connected buddies who were linked in the project of selling the Iraq war for the White House at any cost.

And what a wet firecracker all that turned out to be. Still, the occasion brought an unusual florescence of DU creative hijinks, worth celebrating even today. Most of these are the result of extensive collaboration, and I picked and chose my own favorite versions, often combining two or more. Posting in Good Reads because of not anticipating a lot of discussion.


O Aspen Tree

O Aspen tree, O Aspen tree,
Your roots are all connected.
O Aspen tree, O Aspen tree,
Your sources aren't protected.
How shall we sell the war to them?
Just send some lies to Judy M.
O Aspen tree, O Aspen tree,
Your roots are all connected.

O Aspen tree, O Aspen tree,
Your leaves are turning yellow.
Fitzgerald’s nailing Karl Rove
And other nasty fellows
Who lied to get us into war.
He’ll throw the book at media whores.
O Aspen tree, O Aspen tree,
Your leaves are turning yellow.


"Plame!" the White House Sources Say

"Plame!" the White House sources say,
"Wilson's wife is CIA!"
"She's the one who booked the trip
"To debunk the Niger tip."
Slowly now the Aspens turn!
Fitz has energy to burn!
He'll flip the sources from the WHIG,
Turn this into something big!
"Plame!" the White House sources say,
"Wilson's wife is CIA!"

Hark, the rotten traitors choke
Caught up in the lies they spoke
In the court they're standing tall
Facing jail time one and all
Now they spin and tell more lies
Wingnuts make up alibis
Crooks and liars every one
Fitz has got them on the run
Now they're hung they've got no hope
Karl ol' boy, don't drop the soap.


Don't Rest Ye Merry Democrats

Don't rest ye merry Democrats
Although they booked DeLay
Remember that indictments
Will come on Fitzmas Day
To save us all from Bush's hacks
Who led us all astray
O charges of treason and more
Treason and more
O charges of treason and more

From Karl Rove and Libby too
The name of Plame did slip
Once Wilson proved the liars wrong
Back from his Niger trip
Behold the rot that caused the leak
On Bush's sinking ship
O charges of treason and more
Treason and more
O charges of treason and more

To Rove the Great Deceiver
And Libby, Cheney's bitch
The plan to sell their pointless war
Went off without a hitch
But Karl's just a conjurer
And Scooter’s just a snitch
O charges of treason and more
Treason and more
O charges of treason and more

Patriots can speak freely now
That Rove is behind bars
And Cheney's booked, and Libby's done
For starting groundless wars
Our press will come alive again
But not without its scars
O charges of treason and more
Treason and more
O charges of treason and more

Good Fitz will throw the book at them
Or so my sources say
Hark! The time has come at last
To make these traitors pay
Our flag will stand for freedom now
On glorious Fitzmas Day!
O charges of treason and more
Treason and more
O charges of treason and more


The Little Leaker Boy

"Plame" they told them
pa rum pum pum pum
"She is fair game" they said
pa rum pum pum pum
The lamest smear they wrought
pa rum pum pum pum
And thought they'd not get caught
pa rum pum pum pum
rum pum pum pum
rum pum pum pum
So to slander him
pa rum pum pum pum,
Wilson's name.

So Fitzgerald
pa rum pum pum pum
Investigated them
pa rum pum pum pum
"I have no axe to grind"
pa rum pum pum pum
"For sure the truth I'll find"
pa rum pum pum pum
rum pum pum pum
rum pum pum pum
"Oh, they'll sing for me!"
pa rum pum pum pum
"to stay free."

Cheney plotted
pa rum pum pum pum
To hide his Iraq lies
pa rum pum pum pum
So Libby outed spies
pa rum pum pum
And Judy shilled for them
pa rum pum pum pum
rum pum pum pum
rum pum pum pum
Now they frogmarch on
pa rum pum pum pum
Fitz's work is done.


Do You Know What I Know?

Said the Ambassador to the New York Times,
"Do you see what I see?
In the Niger docs, New York Times?
Do you see what I see?
A lie, a lie, it sure looks like a lie
With an arrow that points to the Prez,
With an arrow that points to the Prez."

Said the Veep to the White House Iraq Group,
"Did you read what I read,
In the New York Times, mighty WHIGs?
Did you read what I read?
A threat, a threat, this is quite a threat
We must somehow not let it live!
We must slip this Wilson a shiv!"

Said Karl Rove to the pundits on TV,
"Do you know what I know?
In your studios, pundit friends
Do you know what I know?
A wife, a wife, Wilson has a wife --
And she spies for the US of A,
Yes, she spies for the US of A!"

Said Bob Novak to the people everywhere,
"Listen to what I say!
In the CIA, his wife works --
Listen to what I say!
A spy, a spy, Wilson's wife's a spy,
And Karl Rove says she’s 'fair game',
And Karl Rove says she’s 'fair game'"

Said the Shrub to his minion Karl Rove,
"What the hell did YOU do?
Blabbing to the press, Karl Rove?
What the hell did YOU do?
Shut up, shut up, we must both shut up,
I know nothing and neither do you.
I know nothing and neither do you."

Said Joe Wilson to the people everywhere,
"Do you get what THEY did?
Acts of treason, people everywhere!
Do you get what THEY did?
A frog, a frog, marching like a frog
That's how Rove should vacate his job
That's how Rove should vacate his job!"


Fitzmas Night

Fitzmas night, sleepless night,
Fitz is going to indict
Round yon White House, rumors are wild
Cheney's lawyer is on speed-dial
Bloggers are going to feast
Bloggers are going to feast.

Fitmas night, sleepless night
Wingnuts quake on the right
Indictments stream on Fitzmas day
Bloggers cheer "Hip-hip-hurray!"
Felons reap what they sow
Felons reap what they sow.


Rove’s Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire

Rove’s nuts roasting on an open fire
John Law snapping at his toes
Federal indictments being read by the hour,
And perps dressed up in prison clothes.

Everybody knows those turkeys in a prison cell
Would help to make the season bright
Fiendish plots had their eyes all aglow
But they'll find it hard to sleep tonight.

They know Fitzgerald's on his way
With big indictments in his attaché
And every one of us will crack a smile
To see Dick Cheney put away for awhile.

And so I’m offering these simple words
To all those neocons who choose
Not the truth, but to lie through their teeth
"Merry Fitzmas! You lose!"


Ode to Joy

Freude! Miller got the fuckin'
Daughter of the New York Times.
WHIGs entwined like roots of aspen,
All will go down for their crimes.
Scooter Libby has been busted;
Karl Rove has screwed the pooch.
Treason must not go unpunished;
Chickenhawks come home to roost.


O Little Town of Washington

O little town of Washington,
How still we see thee lie.
The folks below
Don't seem to know
That Fitzmas day is nigh.
The grand jury is weighing
Indictments `gainst these crooks.
Hopefully, we soon will see,
Fitzgerald throw the book!


Karl Rove, the Bald-faced Liar

Karl Rove, the bald-faced liar
Never gives the truth a chance.
He, Scooter, Bush and Cheney
Have to wear asbestos pants.

They sold the country on war,
Based on fraud and forgeries.
They lied to us and Congress,
They're awfully good at perjury.

Then one crisp clear autumn day,
Fitzgerald came to town.
"Karl Rove and your whole cabal,
You all are going DOWN!"

Then how the rats did scurry!
Everyone was jumping ship!
Karl Rove, I hate to tell you,
All the other Aspens flipped!


Away in a Jail Cell

Away in a jail cell, no plea for his bids
The little Lord Cheney is now on the skids,
George Bush in the White House shall not thee now save
Oh little Lord Cheney, you sniveling knave!

The aspens are turning, oh, Hannah hath spake,
And little Lord Cheney in his boots doth quake.
I loathe thee Lord Cheney! Come down from on high,
And stay in your jail cell till your time is nigh.

Goddam you Lord Cheney, we pray that you'll stay
Locked up in your jail cell ‘til your dying day!
And damn all your cohorts, seduced by your charms,
Oh take them down with you, and do no more harm!


Go Tell It on the Mountain

Go, tell it on the mountain,
Over the blogs, through cyberspace
Go tell it on the mountain,
Karl Rove's goose is cooked!

While wingnuts kept on spinning
And Judy was doin' time,
Behold to the grand jury
Was revealed a heinous crime.
Refrain

Go, shout it from the rooftops,
Down in the bayou, Baghdad, too!
Go, shout it from the rooftops,
Dick Cheney's time is through!

George Bush he joked and jittered,
When lo! above the spin,
Rang out the big indictments
That did those bastards in..
Refrain

Down in a DC courthouse
The aspens did suborn,
God sent incrimination
That blessèd Fitzmas morn.
Refrain


A Frog March Together With You

Just hear those hand cuffs jingling,
Ring ting tingling too
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a frog march together with you,
Outside indictments falling
While friends are calling "Screw you,"
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a frog march together with you.

Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up,
Let's go, Let's eats lots of crow,
They said it couldn't happen, but now we know.
Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up,
It's grand, Just cuffing your hands,
We're gliding along with a song
Of a justice fairy land.

Rove's cheeks are nice and rosy
And comfy cozy in jail
He's snuggled up together
With a guy in prison named Nail
Let's take that road before us
And sing a chorus or two
Come on, it's lovely weather
For a frog march together with you.


Walking in a Beltway Wonderland

Pundits talk, are you listening?
On Rove's brow, sweat is glistening.
A beautiful sight,
Fitz will indict,
Walking in a beltway wonderland!

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
And pretend that he is Traitor Bush.
We'll call him unindicted co-conspirator,
And then we'll start to kick him in the tush!

Can’t you tell, we're excited
Just to see who's indicted
Those who have clout,
Will be frog-marched out,
Walking in a beltway wonderland!


O Come All Ye Liberals

O come all ye liberals
Joyful and triumphant!
O come ye, o come ye, and watch them go down.
Come and behold them--
Bush and Cheney's minions--
O come let us abhor them, o come let us abhor them,
O come let us abhor them
Libby, and Rove.

Sing, all ye snitches,
Sing in desperation--
Rejoice, all ye citizens of heaven and earth!
They will be goners,
We will say, "I told you so"--
O come let us indict them, o come let us indict them,
O come let us indict them.
Right to the top.


I Saw Three Shits on Fitzmas Day

I saw three shits perp-walking in
On Fitzmas day, on Fitzmas day
I saw three shits perp-walking in
On Fitzmas day in the morning.

And who were they, these shits all three?
On Fitzmas day, on Fitzmas day
And who were they, these shits all three?
On Fitzmas day in the morning.

The traitorous turd met his demise
On Fitzmas day, on Fitzmas day
His cuffs and leg-irons were oversize
On Fitzmas day in the morning.

Libby the liar begged for bail
On Fitzmas day, on Fitzmas day
As he was frog-marched off to jail
On Fitzmas day in the morning.

Losing his Dick caused Bush much pain
On Fitzmas day, on Fitzmas day
His lying crew saw the end of their reign
On Fitzmas day in the morning.


Karl got run over by an AG

Karl got run over by an AG,
Right inside the White House Fitzmas Eve.
You can say there’s no such thing as justice,
But even Scooter Libby now believes.

He’d been mostly living off his hubris,
Though they really hoped that it had peaked.
He forgot that somebody was watching
When he leaked and leaked and leaked and leaked.

When they found him Fitzmas morning,
After he was canned,
He had Fitz prints on his forehead
An indictment in his hand.

Oh-h-h-h, Karl got run over by an AG,
Right inside the White House Fitzmas Eve.
You can say you don’t believe in justice,
But now I think I’m willing to believe.



Carol of the Fitz

Hail to the Fitz, on high he sits
Soon he will say, “Busted today”
Fitzmas is here, crooks must appear
Singing like birds, their lying words

”I did no wrong,” that is their song
Yet do they sing of wrongdoing
We seem to hear words so unclear
From everywhere, filling the air

But they’re flipping, and Fitz will bring
Charges severe - Fitzmas is here
Merry merry merry merry merry Fitzmas
Merry merry merry merry merry Fitzmas

Though liars spin on without end
They can’t atone, covers are blown
Ding-dongs ding-dongs, ding-dongs ding-dongs
Ding-dongs ding-dongs, ding-dongs ding-dongs.

Hail to the Fitz, shredding to bits
All of the lies we do despise
Fitz knows the score of the postwar
Fitzmas is here, justice is near….

December 12, 2011

My journal archive

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/?az=archives&j=748&page=0