A request from John Schertzer that I'm more than happy to oblige.
One of my favorite John Lennon songs, with George Harrison on lead guitar.
Has anything changed much since 1972? Tricky Dick was Richard Nixon, now it's Dick Cheney. The uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics and the neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians remain the same.
All I know is that Lennon's anger and yearning for truth in the midst of an absurd and corrupt environment resonates just as much now as it did 36 years ago.
I'm sick and tired of hearing things
From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
I've had enough of reading things
By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky dicky
Is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me
With just a pocketful of hope
Money for dope
Money for rope
No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky dicky
Is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me
With just a pocketful of soap
Money for dope
Money for rope
I'm sick to death of seeing things
From tight-lipped, condescending, mamas little chauvinists
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth now
I've had enough of watching scenes
With schizophrenic, ego-centric, paranoiac, prima-donnas
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth
No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky dicky
Is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me
With just a pocketful of soap
Its money for dope
Money for rope
Ah, I'm sick to death of hearing things
From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocrites
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth now
I've had enough of reading things
By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth now
All I want is the truth now
Just gimme some truth now
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth
Monday, September 08, 2008
Gimme Some Truth
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9 comments:
The more things change...maybe it's because I don't remember Nixon (was born right after he left office), but it seems like Cheney and Bush are a lot more dangerous.
It's impossible, really, to know which was worse, but I think we get caught up in tyranny of our own moment and forget how bad the Nixon-Kissinger years were. for example, as bad as Iraq has been, over 21,000 U.S. soldiers died in Vietnam during the Nixon era. And though I don't know how many Vietnamese, the totals overall were much worse than they have been for Iraqi civilians - I believe at least 3 million died during the conflict.
And while we point to bad guys like Alberto Gonzales, we forget that J.Edgar Hoover was still running the FBI under Nixon, and I don't think anyone today is as scary as he was - and no one, not even Cheney - has the kind of power Hoover did.
Not only were we in Vietnam, but we also conducted a secret bombing campaign of Cambodia that killed anywhere from 100,000 to half a million people there. We invaded Laos.
In Latin America, Nixon-Kissinger toppled Allende in Chile and installed the dictator Pinochet. There, they began testing the neo-liberal policies (privatization, some of the globalization policies) that we are still dealing with today. They helped topple Juan Torres in Bolivia. They paved the way for Operation Condor.
On the domestic front, they were spying on thousands of activists and public figures like John Lennon. The National Guard was killing students at Kent State.
I think the difference is that Nixon-Kissinger were more competent at what they did, which, to me, makes them scarier.
On the other hand, the Bush administration has OPENLY attacked the constitution, threatening it much more than Nixon. Nixon-Kissinger were more covert.
In any case, neither time period really marks the best of what our country can be.
John Dean, Nixon's White house counsel, has written a book about Bush & Co. called -Worse Than Watergate-. I think in attacks on the constitution, and in terms of corruption, the present demons are worse than Nixon & Kissinger, as bad as Watergate was. But overall, in terms of the destruction they wrought across the world, much of it long-lasting (the Vietnamese still can't grow crops in much of the land we dropped chemical weapons on) I think Nixon and Kissinger were worse.
Yeah...although I'm not sure what's worse: the politics of nixon and crew, or the religious fundamentalism of now. I think that the extremism now has the potential to be much, much worse. What really scares me is the 23% who still think Bush is doing a good job.
I meant to mention the fundamentalism - thanks for pointing that out. That's one big difference between then and now. It creates a strange atmosphere.
What really scares me is the 23% who still think Bush is doing a good job.
Yeah, I wonder if it's the same 23% who were still supporting Nixon when he resigned? Probably not. I get the feeling some of these 23% are the fundamentalists - though certainly not all of them are like that now. I know many are pretty frustrated by Bush.
I think the 23% are the people whose connection to conservative Republicanism is completely tribally based. There's no thinking at all there -- their guy is right and the other guy is wrong no matter what. There are also probably more than a few people who refuse to admit they themselves were wrong in supporting Bush and rationalize the situation accordingly.
It's a different world than 1972. One thing that boggles my mind is that there is so much information available, and yet McCain and Palin are getting away with outright boldfaced lies as the center of their campaign. I'm not saying Obama never bends the truth or anything, but the McCain-Palin thing is incredible.
Liam,
What did you think of John's song?
John Lennon had one of the best BS detectors going.
One important thing to remember about Cheney and Rumsfeld... They cut their teeeth during the first "Imperial Presidency" of Richard Nixon. Cheney never forgot it, and was determined not only to recreate it, but to expand upon it with this administration.
For some reason I couldn't get it o work yesterday -- I just listened to it. It's great. It seems like he's singing about Fox News (and, really, all the other TV blatherers).
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