I see them using electric guitars, which are either being powered by generators that are run by fuel from big oil, or power from Portland Electric. I doubt they would have enough solar panels to run their equipment. They would have more credence if they were using non-electric acoustic guitars. Probably more credence if they were all wearing clothing which they made from stuff that they grew. It’s amazing how much we rely on these evil corporations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeuGx8PplAo
Comments 36
While the lyrics may not be to some people’s tasteful enjoyment, your readers would be under-informed if they did not know that these protestors are covering a song by the punk band The Exploiters.(Source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmcJ1v_XYT4)
Now, while it is no doubt that the crass lyrics challenge the very ideas of American exceptionalism with cussing, we shouldn’t begin to nitpick the meaning behind lyrics lest we go down a very a unwinnable argument.
Take sweet home alabama for instance.
“In Birmingham they love the governor
Now we all did what we could do
Now Watergate does not bother me
Does your conscience bother you?
Tell the truth.”
The song itself is a longing (and catchy) rock tune about Governor George Wallace, a man made infamous for using the national guard to stop the integration of Blacks and Whites. Does anyone who plays, enjoys, or covers the song a segragating racist? Absolutely not.
While many of the readers of this blog do not agree with the Occupy movement, you know that it’s a falsehood to claim that the movement as a whole are just a bunch of anti-american anarchists. You can criticize your government and love your country. The message is the same as the tea party. Americans are afraid for the future of our Republic. Both the tea party and the occupiers recognize that our system is broken and failing millions of americans in favor of a mere handful of international hyper wealthy conglomerates. We have disincentivized higher education by making it completely unaffordable without major public assistance for most Americans. Someone explain to me how having an uneducated work force will help us compete around the world.
In a huge inclusive movement, there will be offensive messages, terrible ideas, and down-right incorrect information. That’s why the masses don’t create policy in our country. But, both from the left and the right, we acknowledge the same thing. Our political leaders have failed us, and we cannot afford to wait any longer. As Robert Gates said, our broken political system is no longer a laughing matter.
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/680938/robert_gates_on_the_gop's_breakdown_and_failure_at_%22the_basic_functions_of_government%22/
We do note, however, that Sweet Home Alabama was a response to a Neil Young tune, Southern Man, which decried racism and apparently really ticked LS off.
Sometimes the political debates are fought through other mediums (and are often more enjoyable) like music. Like one of my favorite songs that included Neil, the Buffalo Springfield classic ‘For What It’s Worth’ about Kent State. I hope Occupy doesn’t result in the same violence. Or any violence for that matter.
WOW. Talk about misunderstanding a Song Lyric !
(1) “Sweet Home Alabama” does refer to then-Governor George Wallace but adds, “Now we all did what we could do.” And after “Down in Birmingham they love the governor” a female chorus adds “BOO, Boo, hoo”.
Meaning, plenty of people in Alabama OPPOSED Wallace. Wallace’s political career barely (52% to 48%) survived an Alabama Democrat primary for Governor vs.Albert Brewer in 1970.
The boys in LS noted that history with, “we all did what we could do”, clearly hinting they opposed Wallace. Then they (essentially) said to Neil Young … Now you’ve got a Northerner scandal (Watergate) and does your conscience bother you ?
Emphatically, Sweet Home Alabama is NOT a pro-George Wallace song.
BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD AND KENT STATE
(2) Buffalo Springfield’s, “For what’s its Worth” was released in 1967. Kent State happened 3 years later in 1970. There will be a test on all this stuff later. And no Blackberries will be allowed.
Indeed, the Lynyrd Skynyrd boys likely agreed with Neil Young about racism, pointing out they all did what they could do about Wallace, but were retorting Young about keeping his nose out of the south’s business, when things in the north were a bit sketchy with Watergate. Of course, Young was a northerner, but a bit more to the north than the U.S.
Trevor is confusing Buffalo Springfield’s classic with the Crosby Stills Nash and Young song, “Ohio,” which is clearly about Kent State. Thus the mix up on the years. Young, who had been in Buff Spring of course, wrote the song after Kent State took place, and it was recorded by CSN&Y. Buff Spring was long broken up.
Jim,
I have to disagree with your interpretation of the lynyrd skynyrd lyrics, but you’re right on with my previous reference to the Buffalo Springfield Song, I was thinking of “Ohio.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRX4R9cYeDQ
Now that that’s all cleared up, can someone provide an interpretation of the lyrics, F*CK THE USA? We’re not clear on the meaning,
Well, here’s the lyrics if you’re really curious.
“Exploited – F The U.S.A.”
There really is nothing nice about USA
You go to the hospital you have to pay
The dollar is the language that they all speak
they don’t really bother about the radiation leak
F THE USA
They keep their secrets undercover
the rich don’t bother about those that suffer
this ain’t the land of milk and honey
cause all they want is money money money
F THE USA
Nuclear bombs are f all new
you’d better start running when they drop on you
run into a shelter, play hide and seek
cause when you die your body reeks
F THE USA
There really is nothing nice about USA
You go to the hospital you have to pay
The dollar is the language that they all speak
they don’t really bother about the radiation leak
F THE USA
/end lyrics
Any questions?
It’s very clear those thoughts are far different than the views of the average Occupy protester. Not reflective of Occupy in any way. Agree?
“Thoughts”? In the head of an Occupy Protester? Can you say Oxymoron, boys and girls?
They are definitely brash, but they are addressing some of the grievances echoed by the protestors (aside from the mmm, “concise” chorus).
For-profit insurance created an inhumane system where if you are not insured, you have to choose medical treatment or bankruptcy. We have 10 years constant warfare abroad that is making a group of people very, very wealthy (look for anyone who received no-bid, cost plus contracts to build or shoot anything in the middle east). Admit it, in America even on an individual level we always choose profit over people. We have the technology to connect the world in an instant, but we’ve lost the ability to help the people we meet. Maybe not, maybe this is the beginning of a new age. Who knows, I don’t.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO-J2UgDvdI&feature=related
It’s cheesy but I can’t help but feel Charlie Chaplin was on to something.
Trevor-
Would you mind sharing your definition of an “inhumane” system?
Your statement insinuates being insured or not is determined by some action outside of one’s own control. The uninsured do not only have the two options of medical treatment or bankruptcy as you insist; but rather a third option would be for them to pay for insurance just like the majority of Americans.
Providing insurance to people in exchange for monetary compensation is not inhumane, it’s an exchange of goods between two individuals, its freedom.
I hear many people demanding “people before profits” and that healthcare, education, etc should all be free. These people are all really good at making demands on others but are incapable of actually doing what they themselves demand.
My challenge to you Trevor would be to devise a sustainable way to provide insurance coverage (or education or food or housing or etc) to the millions of Americans demanding a more humane system.
If it can be done, as you and the occupy protestors insist it can, please show us the way.
Richard
Sorry, Trevor, the ‘People v. Profit’ theory was settled in Berlin and Budapest and Prague and Bucharest (1989) and then in Moscow (1991).
Your side lost.
To all the F’ing protesters. Catch a plane to Somalia, then Zimbabwae, then Haiti. Go to Ghana and act like this.
You will not need a return ticket.
This can’t be true! — Communist and Nazi Parties both reported to endorse #Occupy movement…
http://sdrostra.com/?p=21388
Hey Richard,
It’s good to talk to you again. We did phone banks together out of Jim Kelly’s office during the 2010 cycle. I hope you are doing well.
Let me give you a personal example of how our insurance system has failed a family member of mine. My cousin was 22, working at Best Buy part time (no benefits) while delivering flowers for his sister’s local business (flowers by coley). In total, he was making about $1,500 before taxes. After paying rent, food, gas, and car payment (used 1989 toyota truck), that left him between 20 and 50 dollars a month for entertainment, savings, insurance, phone bills, and school. He decided to opt out of insurance in order to save up to take classes at city college. He came down with a rare blood disorder called ITP that put him in the hospital for 3 weeks. Thankfully, when doctors correctly diagnosed his disease and removed his spleen, he had a full recovery. A month after he left the hospital he was handed a bill for $330,000 dollars. Can you imagine being 4 years into your professional career and then being given a debt equal to the value of a large home?
Of course, he’ll pay 30 dollars a month at infinitum and will never pay that debt off. In turn, that cost is past on to my parents, rate payers with full coverage, who pay $1,450 A MONTH FOR TWO PEOPLE. Their premiums have increased almost 130% over the past 10 years, even after all 4 of their children are no longer covered under their plan.
I have to disagree that insurance is just an exchange of goods. If I go to the doctor and he gives me treatment or medicine, those are goods. Taking out an insurance policy is a bet between myself and an insurance company on whether or not i’ll get sick. Not only is it a bet, but I know that if I don’t buy the insurance ‘product’, the hospitals will go after my assets and savings if I need emergency care. That sounds a lot more like the mafia to me than healthcare.
I’m not a health policy expert by a long shot, and I would defer to guys like Barry Jantz who have much more information and expertise than myself. But while I can try to accept your challenge to devise a sustainable system for healthcare, at the same time I know that our current system is not only unsustainable, but a ticking time bomb for the 50 million uninsured in America.
For the record, I don’t support Obamacare. I don’t think mandating individuals to buy health insurance from private companies is the answer. It’s also about as far from free market capitalism as you can get. I do think we need to put a lot more investment into preventative care and community clinics to stop easily treatable ailments before they explode into much more expensive infections. Ultimately, we have to decide as human beings whether a right to a healthy life is universal, or something that is relegated only to those who can afford it. This may be a fundamental topic we will never agree on.
And Jim, I know we like to boil down political debate into two neatly divided sides, but we have to stop thinking like that. “Us vs. Them” has got us to where we are, and we won’t get to the solutions we all desperately need until we can recognize our similarities, appreciate each others differences, and work towards getting to “yes”.
-Trevor
Hey Trevor – good talking to you as well, its been too long.
First of all I’m glad your cousin is fully recovered, that’s great news. Its incredibly unfortunate that he became sick at just the time he did not have health insurance.
Health insurance is essentially a bet as you pointed out, but it is service that allows consumers to transfer a portion of the risk to a third party in exchange for a relatively small payment.
I do not mean to get personal but since you mentioned your cousin perhaps it is okay to continue with his example. Your cousin considered the probability that he would be in need of medical care given his current status and weighed it against health insurance expenses. His conclusion was one that many young people make: I’m healthy, I’m young, and I’m poor so the marginal benefit will mostly likely not equal or exceed the marginal cost. This was his choice and unfortunately he made the wrong bet.
Perhaps we will not agree on government’s role in our healthcare but we can surely agree that two young guys with exceptional intelligence and dangerously good looks should get together and plot their takeover of the world. Call me up sometime.
NO to socialism. NO to Big Brother. Economic Freedom and Personal Freedom
are inseperable!
These vital lessons were painfully learned again for two generations in
Eastern Europe, and 3 generations in Russia. Hear the voices from the
Gulag Archipelago… they speak to us, right here, and right now.
I just wanted to add my two cents to this debate.
I am young, healthy, and underpaid as I work as a teaching assistant at
San Diego State University. I am not allowed to have heathcare according to Blue Shield, Kaiser, or any other large health corporation. Thank heavens for the Healthcare Reform Act, a horrible government intervention in private healthcare. Why might you ask? Well, simply because I have pain that doctors cannot diagnose, I therefore have a pre-existing condition. Thus, seeing as I am a risk to private healthcare’s profits, I am not insurable.
What do all of you brillant government naysayers have to say about that? I mean honestly, I cannot even buy health insurance. Instead, I have to pay an increased cost for Pre-existing Health Care, which was created by the federal government in the 2010 Act. I do not see how we can applaud an industry that simply does not allow you to get health insurance even if you want to pay for it. I am 25, healthy, I do not smoke, I eat well, I am not obese, and I exercise. Yet, I am not insurable. Please explain how this system makes sense. Please explain why we should continue to keep government out of this industry? Because frankly, your answer will most likely not do nor will it make sense. And stop all this talk about socialism. If you think that bailing out the banks, trade agreements, defense contracting and everything in between can exist in a true free market, you really need to read up on that.
Thanks for allowing me to add my input.
Lori,
Have you looked into San Diego County’s excellent network of community clinics? They don’t care about pre-existing conditions and they charge based on ability to pay.
Here’s a story I did on community clinics in 2006.
Here’s another story about how community clinics treat uninsured children with asthma.
And if you’re “underpaid” in your current job, you might want to start looking for a better-paying one.
“And if you are ‘underpaid’ in your current job, you might want to start looking for a better-paying one.”
Thank you Marie Antoinette.
Alger,
You’d advise her to keep her current underpaid job?
Alger:
Anyone who believes they are underpaid may want to look for a better-paying job. What’s wrong with such advice? Is that a guarantee they will find a better one? No. Especially given the economy? Again, no. A guarantee is that they won’t find a better-paying job unless they look for one. The Lord helps those who help themselves.
Bradley,
Do you know that she is not looking for a better paying job?
I read your comment as very dismissive of someone who has a job, but does not earn enough to make ends meet. Your insinuation that a better job is available if she would only look for one definitely reminded me of the famous “let the eat cake” line that was attributed to Marie Antoinette and more recently to Herman Cain’s comment that the poor have no one to blame but themselves for being poor.
Moreover, I was giving Lori the benefit of that doubt by taking her word that she is indeed underpaid. It could be that she’s paid what she’s worth, and is overestimating her value.
If Lori is a TA in a field with some commercial value such as science or engineering, she could make more money in the private sector.
If she’s in some field with no commercial value, like gender or ethnic studies, she’s SOL.
If she’s an English major, Lori can join the highly remunerative field of journalism.
Bradley,
Are you suggesting that those who choose teaching as a career, instead of something more “commercial” are simply SOL,
and should just accept that it will always be a struggle to financially meet their basic needs?
Alger,
Do you know that she is not looking for a better paying job?
She didn’t say that she was looking, so I thought the subject needed mentioning. I didn’t say she would succeed in getting a better-paying job, btw. She only would get the opportunity. And unlike millions of others, she’s employed. As it’s commonly said, the best time to look for a job is when you have one.
Lori seems to have an entitlement mentality about her, and that’s what I was getting at. If she’s unhappy with her lousy pay, don’t just whine about it, do something about it! As a reporter, I could have whined about the low pay I got starting out, but I persevered instead of complaining about how the mean system was screwing me over.
And you may know, that supposed quote of Marie Antoinette is spurious.
Alger,
Are you suggesting that those who choose teaching as a career, instead of something more “commercial” are simply SOL,
and should just accept that it will always be a struggle to financially meet their basic needs?
I’m suggesting that those who choose a low-wage career path shouldn’t get a lot of sympathy when they complain about their low wages. It was their choice, and complaining now is disingenuous.
And please consider the point I made earlier, that affordable health care is available for those without insurance through our community clinics. If Lori is reading this, she ought to check it out.
And those who can’t afford to feed their children always have Father Joe’s.
Bradley,
The problem is that as long as we are accepting that important service jobs such as teaching should be “low-wage career paths,” then we will continue to attract less than the best to those careers. Of course, at least we can be proud of having the best and brightest hedge fund managers.
This is what happens when the Chargers lose a
home game to the Raiders. Everybody is angry,
even the usually mellow Alger.
Alger,
I won’t disagree that pay for good teachers, especially in K-12, should be higher than it is. (Note that I said “good” teachers. Tenured mediocrities don’t qualify.)
In this particular instance, I’d still like to know exactly what Lori is teaching. If it’s some field like gender or ethnic studies, which exists only to train political activists, I’d say *any* funding by the taxpayers is too much.
Bradley,
I believe we need to study (and therefore teach) more than simply the areas of commercial importance, but that is another discussion. More to the point, in a capitalist society, which I believe we both agree we are happy to live in, you get what you pay for. Therefore, if you value education and you want “good teachers,” we as a society have to pay them better. Otherwise, the more qualified among us will choose other higher-paying careers. In fact, I would argue that is one of the reasons that the quality of public schools is in decline.
Many of my allies are upset by the Occupy movement. Not me. This is great!
The riotous behavior of these incoherent, drugged out profane derelicts is alienating the nonpartisan voters, driving people away from Obama — who is seen as the patron saint of the Occupy mess.
Moreover, we get to see who backs Occupy. The list (see the article) is impressive indeed — communists, NAZI’s and other scumbag groups.
The best part is that conservatives and libertarians don’t have to fund this anti-Democrat Party movement — progressive bozos are paying for it themselves! .
Does it get any better than this?
There have been comments here that health care is just too important to leave to profit making companies. Hence I ask these questions:
What is more important in America than food?
Who provides it — what makes it so widely available in so many forms?
What motivates people and companies to provide it?
Isn’t THIS function too important to entrust to profit-making companies?????