Not much has changed from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire 100 years ago to the catastrophe/mass murder in the Smart Export Garments factory in Bangladesh. They just move the most exploitative jobs around the globe. At the center, or forward edge, of this demonic regime is our old friend Wal-mart.
In the clothing factory in Bangladesh
They locked the doors, no fire escape
They told the workers to remain
At their machines despite the flames
120 workers died
the factory owners hemmed and lied
they paid the workers 20 cents
Don’t know how they pay their rents
Just like 100 years before
When immigrant women made the clothes we wore
Shirtwaist factory fire vaporized the shop floor
These conditions are illegal now and here
So they outsource suffering to some other hemisphere
You’ll find Walmart’s flag unfurled
Where you find the cheapest labor in the world
Christmas gifts made by Asian elves
Sent to the planet’s most enormous shelves
Yes there’s always low prices at Walmart
Always low prices at Walmart
Somebody said
If you don’t like it go work at a different store
Seems he forgot his history and a whole lot more
Like the weekend and the eight-hour day fights
Forgot or never learned about workers’ rights
Seems he forgot most of the story
Guess that’s why he loves his faded glory
Forgot about the women’s vote
And many other victories of some note
These conditions are illegal now and here
So they outsource suffering to some other hemisphere
You’ll find Walmart’s flag unfurled
Where you find the cheapest labor in the world
Christmas gifts made by Asian elves
Sent to the planet’s most enormous shelves
Yes there’s always low prices at Walmart
Always low prices at Walmart
You would never want to see the faces
of those in desperate need of pay raises
Meanwhile you cheaply fill your shopping cart
Always low prices at Walmart
You would never want to see the broken lives,
broken bodies, broken hearts
There’s always low prices at Walmart
And while we’re speaking of things inappropriate
They’re workers, not associates
One of the reasons for low prices at Walmart
Now the checkout lady prays
For food stamps to augment her wage
Employed workers on the dole
A 21st century retail dust bowl
These conditions are legal now and here
No need to outsource suffering to some other hemisphere
You’ll find Walmart’s flag unfurled
Where you find the cheapest labor in the world
Christmas gifts made by Asian elves
Sent to the planet’s most enormous shelves
Yes there’s always low prices at Walmart
Always low prices at Walmart
You’ll find Walmart’s flag unfurled
Where you find the cheapest labor in the world
Get a Drone
Wild Bill has the perfect defense against civilians, casualized soldiers, immigrants, and other unforeseen byproducts of his policies.
(from Kevin Cahalan, New Orleans. Rewrite, DL)
If dead soldiers make you queasy, GET A DRONE!!
If the people are uneasy GET A DRONE!!
If you want a war more breezy,
From New York to Tbilisi,
Simply spray it with Febreze, GET A DRONE!!
If they’re occupying Wall Street, GET A DRONE!!
And the public’s getting cold feet, GET A DRONE!!
Cut through reinforced concrete
Turn civilians to dead meat
Go on, give yourself a treat, GET A DRONE!!
When you haven’t got a friend, GET A DRONE!!
And your wars are all dead-end, GET A DRONE!!
You can always still pretend
That it’s freedom you defend,
While you spend, and spend, and spend, so GET A DRONE!!
If you fear negotiation, GET A DRONE!!
If you trust no other nation, GET A DRONE!!
Is there too much immigration
Is the situation Haitian
To your Vegas battle station, GET A DRONE!!
Gaza’s Ark
The Gaza’s Ark group plans to help Gazans build a boat, ready for high seas, to help maintain boat-building skills and help break the blockade.
I’m gonna build a boat, I’m gonna sail the sea
I’m gonna break a blockade
I’m gonna say Let Gaza be
I’m gonna say Let Gaza be
You’ve gotta take a stand, You’ve gotta be a man
You’ve gotta be the woman who demands
Freedom on the land
Freedom on the land
I’m gonna light the dark
I’m gonna sit up and bark
I’m gonna build an ark
Gaza’s ark, Gaza’s ark
Gaza’s ark, Gaza’s ark
We’re gonna build it together
Cause we’re all birds of a feather
Work together in all weather
We’re gonna build it together
We’re gonna build it together
We’re gonna build it in Gaza
Palestinian shipbuilders in the plaza
Singin’ hazza hazza
Singin’ hazza hazza
We’re gonna ship some fish
Embroidery, and dates if you wish
Palestinian products that are so delish
Palestinian products that are so delish
I’m gonna build a boat, I’m gonna sail the sea
I’m gonna break a blockade
I’m gonna say Let Gaza be
I’m gonna say Let Gaza be
You’ve gotta take a stand
You’ve gotta be a man
You’ve gotta be the woman who demands
Freedom on the land
Freedom on the land…
Truthful Tuesday
Folks in South Carolina are mobilizing to protest the Republican outrages emanating from the state government. At issue are attacks on voting rights, education, Medicaid, etc. etc.
Whoa, where do you go when you want everyone to know
We’ll tell you tomorrow enough is enough
Lady Madonna Beatles
Hey Nikki Haley, education you shelve
Illegally low funding for K through 12
Funding for college, down 40%
Tuition through the roof, so much for food and rent
Gerrymandering without a true case
Vote suppression creeps in like a nun
But Tuesday’s wild, your party is a disgrace
We are not done
Monday, Monday Mamas & Papas
Truthful Tuesday, so good to me
Truthful Tuesday it was all I hoped it would be
Though Truthful Tuesday, Truthful Tuesday couldn’t guarantee
That Tuesday evenin’ South Carolina would be free
Every other, every other day
Legislature gets away with crime, yeah
But whenever Tuesday comes, but whenever Tuesday comes
You can find me mopping up all the slime
Blue Monday Fats Domino
Truthful Tuesday how I love Truthful Tuesday
Get to take back our state all day
Not like Monday, that no fun day
When they’re withholdin’ our Medicaid
On Wednesday, they cut what we need
We say enough is enough, we secede
‘Cause Thursday they raise what students pay
And Friday ALEC gets its way
Saturday mornin’, oh Saturday mornin’
All my health care has gone away
They got my money and my union, honey
And they’re buying’ elections every day
Sunday mornin’ I’m feelin’ bad
This is the worst government I’ve ever had
But I’ve got to get my rest
Cause Truthful Tuesday’s the best
Whoa, where do you go when you want everyone to know
We’ll tell you tomorrow enough is enough
I Don’t Go Into Stores
A post-consumerist fantasy. I never buy anything new – except the canoe cupholder.
I forage at their back doors
People throw out what I can’t live without
So why would I go into stores?
I’m never seen in banks
They offer me services I say no thanks
You’re serving yourself
Masquerading as a friend
I have no friends in banks, so no thanks
I’ve never bought anything new
Though warranty’s handy it’s true
There are nicks and scratches
On everything I own
I’ve destroyed the economy
But I will not atone
I mute all the ads on TV, it’s all leering
They really are something to see, without hearing
To allow them out loud would not be good child-rearing
Besides, I’m religious, you see, ad-fearing
Why would I go into,
I rarely even pass through
I wouldn’t stoop to
They mainly sell dog doo
So unless I need a kazoo
Or a cupholder for my canoe
Otherwise I’ll make do
I don’t go into stores
I forage at their back doors
People throw out what I can’t live without
So why would I go into stores?
I reject all those free credit cards
I scissor them into unuseable shards
I get them quite often
But I will not soften
They’re sent by the Waffen
So scissors it is…are.
No I don’t go through their doors
I don’t walk on their floors
I’d rather stay outdoors
And demonstrate against wars
Well all right, if I need new drawers
But otherwise no.
Why would I go into,
I rarely even pass through
I wouldn’t stoop to
They mainly sell dog doo
So unless I need a kazoo
Or a cupholder for my canoe
Otherwise I’ll make do
I don’t go into stores
I forage at their back doors
People throw out what I can’t live without
So why would I go into stores?
We Won’t Be Bound and Gagged No Mo
Texas’ own Hornet Signs made a truck decal of a hogtied woman. Up in arms we are. Here’s a song/video for the women of Texas.
I got a gal in the back of my truck
She’s all tied up, she’s out of luck
And when I get to it I’m gonna pluck her
Unless she kicks me in the balls
I got a quirk in the back of my mind
I don’t like women, they’re not part of humankind
I’m all for freedom but you gotta draw the line
What if they got the vote
Got up last night and opened my door
Was a thousand women there maybe more
Slashed the tires on my brand new Ford
One stepped forward from the female horde
Respecting women is your number one job
Said the spokeswoman for the midnight mob
Catch you with another sexist decal
Gonna cram it up your alimentary canal
Hey Ho, there you go,
We won’t be bound and gagged no mo
Hey Ho, there you go,
We won’t be bound and gagged no mo
Trayvon, You’re Livin’
As they pile on more justifications for terrorizing young black people, we pile into the streets to say if we don’t get no justice, you don’t get no peace!
If we don’t get no justice, then you don’t get no peace
The whole damn system is guilty
Trayvon, we got to stay on your case
Trayvon , your memory we won’t let them erase
Trayvon, you’re livin in our hearts and minds
Trayvon, we’re fightin for all mankind
George got away with murder in the racist degree
The whites on the jury said let him be
Is that what it means for a country to be free?
Gated community you’re tryin to hide
from racial injustice nurturing your false pride
when you called it freedom you know you lied
The Zimmerman walked free as tears were spilt he
Was liberated from his deed but racist to the hilt
He’s culpable but the whole damn system is guilty
This is our clarion call
C’mon down to the street alla y’all
The right to stalk and kill, the jury found
For rights of young black men we must stand our ground
Trayvon, we got to stay on your case
Trayvon, your memory we won’t let them erase
Trayvon, you’re livin’ in our hearts and minds
Trayvon, we’re fightin for all humankind
50 Ways To Slice the 99
Within the 99%, differences are important. Who goes to college, work, prison; who ends up on the street? Statistics that rhyme!
Mic check!
We are the 99%
Many of us can’t afford our rent
Some have a house and some have a tent
The wealth of the nation has been misspent
Differences among us
we must not
circumvent
64%
of statistics
are made up
on the spot
Even so:
(50 Ways…)
You know it’s really not my habit to intrude
All right it is, I know statistics can be misconstrued
But I’ll just do the math
About how we’re all being screwed
There must be things it pays to discover
It could take 50 days to uncover
Cuz the capital gains tax
Is lower than mine that’s the facts
The more money you make, Jake
The less FICA you pay
(99 bottles….)
90% at the bottom make one
35th of the top 1%
Take the dough down and pass it around
Oops that’s class war never mind
90% at the bottom owns twenty-
Five percent of all wealth
Top 1% has 40%
And also they have their health
(When I was 17)
When I made 17
hundred times average pay
It was a very good gig
For a top CEO with bonuses bright
I’d hide from the lights and the TV screen
While my salary careened
(50 ways…)
Net worth of a family
for blacks is 20% of whites approximately
Latinos 27, give or take point three
I give you that one free
Net debt of a family
As a percentage of net worth, let’s see
It’s 3 times as high for Blacks you see
And Latinos similarly
In the latest economic torment
white wealth declined 16%
African Americans 53
Latinos 66, whoo-ee
(76 Trombones)
76 percent is what women make
To the 100 that men take home every day
They are followed by Blacks and Latinos at 57 per
cent of whites, that’s quite a rate of pay
1 little, 2 little, 3 little benefits
Taken away as society retrofits
Union membership down to 12%
Pension & health care destroyed
(50 Ways…)
6 people at Walmart own
Same as the bottom 30% who’ve been thrown
Down to where they owe more than they’ve every known
They can’t get themselves free
(When I was 17)
When I was unemployed
It was a very good year
A very good year for blue-blooded crooks
Of extravagant means
They’d ride in limousines
We had nothing to drive
10% barely alive
(76 Trombones)
76% of our college costs
Were once taken care of by our Pell grants
Now it’s fallen to 33 and for folks like you and me
We’ll be living in the basement at our aunt’s
There are whites who go to college and Latinos too
Though not quite as likely, by percent it’s 42
Blacks are found to be 3/5ths
As likely to be studying with
The rest of the upward mobile crew
(1 little…..)
Half of the country’s leading figures have degrees
From the same 13 universities
1 of 12 students there come from the bottom half
So much for upward mobility
and rhymes
Blacks and Latinos are 65%
Of those in prison while 13.2%
Of black men can’t vote because of this predicament
And guess who gets stopped and frisked
Warren Buffet pays 17%
His secretary can maybe pay the rent
Top 1% saved $150,000 in the
Unkindest tax cuts of all
(Somewhere, My Love):
25% of blacks live in poverty
Women and kids stuck there especially
Trillion dollar wars, paid for by me and you
20% of the budget before we’re through
Who fights? Lots from the middle of the bottom
And a bit lower for those who get killed or maimed
(1 little,….)
13% of the homeless are veterans
42% are African American
1 out of 4 are mentally ill in the
Richest country on earth
Mic check!
This is the hour of our discontent
Society we’re gonna re-invent
We occupy to represent
To inequality we won’t consent
Revolution is a permanent event
The top 1/10th of 1 percent
Is 100%
Guilty!