Improved Medicare for All Medley

As the obvious solution to Profit-based Suffering gets more obvious, the obvious obstacles become more obnoxious. (Health Care Denial Industry, for those just getting here.)

Freight train:
Single payer is the deal
Guaranteed health care for real
Profiting from suffering
Is not the way to go

Somewhere over the rainbow:
Health care has been a no-show
Price too high
And the schemes of insurers
Have left us high and dry
Somewhere over the rainbow
We break through
When we fight for our right
To health care for me and you

Folsom Prison Blues:
I hear that train a-comin’
It’s Medicare for all
This health insurance profits game is bound to fall
Yes we’re stuck inside this prison
They’ve got us feelin’ small – it’s time for a brawl, y’all!
Cause were coming to our senses
It’s Medicare for all

The Ballad Of And By Smedley Butler

What with all the generals ascending to civilian offices they don’t belong in, here’s a general you could bring home to dinner. These are his own words.

Oh my name is Smedley Butler, Major General to you
Got a little story, kinda gory, you’ll be glad when I am through
I admit it was a sin, take only two minutes to vent
120 seconds, and I reckon it’ll be well-spent

I spent 33 years and 4 months in active military service
In this country’s most agile military force, the Marines
I served in all commissioned ranks from 2nd Lieutenant to Major-General
And all the while I spent most of my time in sordid scenes
Being a high-class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the Bankers
I don’t say this out of any kind of perverse egotism
But in short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914
I helped make Haiti, and Cuba, decent for the National City Bank boys to
collect revenues, I helped
purify Nicaragua for the banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909
I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916
In China I helped Standard Oil say hey, it’s all mine

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room say, a swell racket
Looking back at it, I could have given Al Capone some hints how to attack it
The best he could do was operate in three districts, not so immense
I operated on three continents

We Are Marching: In Washington

For one another
We are marching
Sister and brother
We are marching
Father and mother
We are marching
For each other we are here

For the homeless
We are marching
For the jobless
We are marching
For the imprisoned
We are marching
For each other we are here

For the immigrants
We are marching
For the refugees
We are marching
For the indigenous
We are marching
For each other we are here

And for Ferguson
We are marching
And for Standing Rock
We are marching
And for Palestine
We are marching
For each other we are here

Citizens United

An old one, 2010, way back. Worth another listen.

How much is that judgeship in the window?
The one with the balancing scale
How much is that judgeship in the window?
I do hope that judgeship’s for sale

I believe all corporations were created as a prequel
To the leadership of those too big to fail
And when we have alighted in the Congress and been knighted
Not that we were invited and our love is not requited
To make up for that we call ourselves Citizens United

They say dollars and democracy don’t mix
One swallows the other – guess which
I’m accused of gaming the system
You’re just blaming the victimizer
‘Cause money is speech, oh yes lots of it
A vote is fine but money is above it
Buying elections, you gotta love it
money wins every time, it’s no crime

Don’t donate to a candidate, that would be too brash
The chamber of commerce will redeploy your cash
Make creative use of intermediaries
Launder your cash, to keep elections clean
A rising tide lifts all votes
Some a little higher so they stay afloat
Every politician has his or her price
Who’s to decide if that is or isn’t nice?

I’m an innovator, I’m on the cutting edge
If things need improvement I just buy a new ledge
-islature, a rose by any nomenclature
Is still a rose it’s just the one I impose

Don’t be shy with the corporate cash
Democracy’s a billion dollar bash
Though they say corporate government is fash….ism
That can’t happen here.
Maybe in Germany or Italy but never here at home
Where the people all have health care and the buffalo still roam
Yeah!….

The sky’s the limit, my guy’s gonna win it, power? He’ll be at its hub
To prepare for his election he’s puttin’ in his hours at the country club
If you miss me at the voting booth
You can’t find me there
Come on over to the ad agency
I’ll be buyin it there

I’ll be buyin it there, I’ll be buyin it there
Come on over to the TV studio
I’ll be buyin it there
All you fools are my tools, I’ve seen to that
Through sub-standard schools and media that
I won’t mention, and I didn’t
You didn’t hear it, you were never here

You know democracy is not so much about what you do
It’s about what you choose on pay per view
Remember corporations are people too
A major donor is a system owner
And when we have alighted in the Congress and been knighted
Not that we were invited and our love is not requited
To make up for that we call ourselves Citizens United

Maoz Tzur/Rock of Ages: Solidarity

Mighty stronghold is our land
Immigrants together
Those who work our fields and homes
Those who’ve slipped their tether
Furious, Trump assails them
As our nation fails them
They must stay safe with us
We will not be silent
They must stay safe with us
We will not be silent

When a people is enslaved
And then persecuted
Africans who came in chains,
families uprooted
Men in blue may kill them
Justice must fulfill them
We proclaim, say her name
We say Black lives matter
We proclaim, Say her name
We say Black lives matter

Out of Egypt came the Jews
Persecution endured
Now Israel leads us astray,
Failure is assured
Ethnic demolition
But there’s no submission
Palestine will persevere
We will not be silent
Palestine will persevere
We will not be silent

To respect first people’s rights
Listen to their demands
Use the pow’r of sun and wind
Leave oil in the earth and sands
For our son and daughter
We defend the water
Let their word break the sword
We stand with their resistance
Let their word break the sword
We stand with their resistance

Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah: Solidarity Against Islamophobia

Hanukah, Oh Hanukah
Come light the menorah
Persecuting refugees
Is not in the Torah
Anti-Muslim hate speech
We cannot allow
Stop your state surveillance
And profiling now

Invading their nations
Destroying their world from above
You’re demonizing
And militarizing
This planet’s not your world to own
Your war on terror
Is worse than an error
Now you have reaped what you’ve sown

Hanukah, Oh Hanukah
A time of rejoicing
Honor and support
The resistance we’re voicing
Gather round the threatened
The wounded and scarred
How you treat the victim
Is who you really are

And while we are standing
The voices of hatred must heed
Think what you do
For it could be you
As it was in days long ago
Think what you do
For it could be you
As it was in days long ago

We Shall Not Be Moved – Chanukah

Islamophobia is a trick, Black lives do matter, and water is life.

They say Islam is frightening
We shall not be moved
Solidarity is heightening
We shall not be moved
That’s why we’re standing in the streets
This Chanukah
We shall not be moved

Trump has brought us hate crime
We shall not be moved
It’s stand up for your neighbor time
We shall not be moved
That’s why we’re standing in the streets
This Chanukah
We shall not be moved

They say Black lives don’t matter
We shall not be moved
Our support they cannot shatter
We shall not be moved
That’s why we’re standing in the streets
This Chanukah
We shall not be moved

Stand for justice, have some spine
We shall not be moved
Equal rights for Palestine
We shall not be moved
That’s why we’re standing in the streets
This Chanukah
We shall not be moved

Refugees are welcome here
We shall not be moved
It’s our own leaders we should fear
We shall not be moved
That’s why we’re standing in the streets
This Chanukah
We shall not be moved

We’re standing here for Standing Rock
We shall not be moved
Pipeline construction we must block
We shall not be moved
That’s why we’re standing in the streets
This Chanukah
We shall not be moved

We Will Not Be Silent

Islamophobia, Afro-phobia,
refugee-phobia goes nowhere
Every time they try to
Make us buy into
Kickin’ our neighbors all over the place

We will not be silent
We will not be silent

Study history now, gotta be
Shouting in the street,
Gonna take on the hate today
You got blood on your hands
So our demand’s
No more profiling together we stand

We will not be silent
We will not be silent

Now we’re all standing up
For the Sioux at Standing Rock
Everybody knows that water is life
It’s your dirty pipeline
Against our lifeline
Use solar and wind what’s the matter with you?

We will not be silent
We will not be silent