And why not? Post an anti-war song in your journal (via http://morgaine-x.livejournal.com/

Rich Man's War

Jimmy joined the army ‘cause he had no place to go
There ain’t nobody hirin’
‘round here since all the jobs went
down to Mexico
Reckoned that he’d learn himself a trade maybe see the world
Move to the city someday and marry a black haired girl
Somebody somewhere had another plan
Now he’s got a rifle in his hand
Rollin’ into Baghdad wonderin’ how he got this far
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war

Bobby had an eagle and a flag tattooed on his arm
Red white and blue to the bone when he landed in Kandahar
Left behind a pretty young wife and a baby girl
A stack of overdue bills and went off to save the world
Been a year now and he’s still there
Chasin’ ghosts in the thin dry air
Meanwhile back at home the finance company took his car
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war

When will we ever learn
When will we ever see
We stand up and take our turn
And keep tellin’ ourselves we’re free

Ali was the second son of a second son
Grew up in Gaza throwing bottles and rocks when the tanks would come
Ain’t nothin’ else to do around here just a game children play
Somethin’ ‘bout livin’ in fear all your life makes you hard that way

He answered when he got the call
Wrapped himself in death and praised Allah
A fat man in a new Mercedes drove him to the door
Just another poor boy off to fight a rich man’s war

Steve Earle

Dirty Cheating B*stards

Now I don't often rant about football, but last night I watched Sean Wright Phillips deliberately get another player sent off by cheating (he dived when running past a Newcastle player).

Why, now that TV evidence is available, hasn't he been charged and fined by the football authorities? Why isn't the red card being rescinded?

This sort of cheating is really putting me off watching football.

Friends locked bad taste and possibly racist if you looked at it funny joke.

I heard this in the gym this morning and almost choked.

Please don't go beyond the cut if you are upset by the word "Prick". Or jibes at Sassenachs.

( Read more... )

The Good Stuff

The eponymous hero of "Laidlaw" by William McIlvanney, a book I like a lot, is a Glasgow cop, who keeps books stashed in his office desk like another detective might keep whisky, as a support when he's near despair.

I don't, so I had to go on line to look for the text of Chandler's "The Lady in the Lake". I'd quoted from it the other day, and I wanted to read the whole scene again.

All I found was the first two scenes, but there's a paragraph in it describing an incidental character who has no other appearance in the book, but who Chandler nails in two sentences. I wish I could write like this:

"The little blonde at the PBX cocked a shell-like ear and smiled a small fluffy smile. She looked playful and eager, but not quite sure of herself, like a new kitten in a house where they don't care much about kittens."

More anti-war songs

I was going to post this on Saturday (for obvious reasons) but reading the lyrics made me want to put it up today.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you

Tom Waits,
The Day After Tomorrow

I got your letter today
And I miss you all so much, here
I can't wait to see you all
And I'm counting the days, dear
I still believe that there's gold
At the end of the world
And I'll come home
To Illinois
On the day after tomorrow

It is so hard
And it's cold here
And I'm tired of taking orders
And I miss old Rockford town
Up by the Wisconsin border
But I miss you won't believe
Shoveling snow and raking leaves
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow

I close my eyes
Every night
And I dream that I can hold you
They fill us full of lies
Everyone buys
About what it means to be a soldier
I still don't know how I'm supposed to feel
About all the blood that's been spilled
Look out on the street
Get me back home
On the day after tomorrow

You can't deny
The other side
Don't want to die
Any more than we do
What I'm trying to say,
Is don't they pray
To the same God that we do?
Tell me, how does God choose?
Whose prayers does he refuse?
Who turns the wheel?
And who throws the dice
On the day after tomorrow?

Mmmmmmm...
I'm not fighting
For justice
I am not fighting
For freedom
I am fighting
For my life
And another day
In the world here
I just do what I've been told
You're just the gravel on the road
And the one's that are lucky
One's come home
On the day after tomorrow

And the summer
It too will fade
And with it comes the winter's frost, dear
And I know we too are made
Of all the things that we have lost here
I'll be twenty-one today
I've been saving all my pay
And my plane will touch down
On the day after tomorrow
And my plane it will touch down
On the day after tomorrow