Sites Holmquist trys, and often fails, to go no more than a couple of days without visiting (some of which Holmquist regularly swipes links from without attribution)
Jackson Browne's "Lives in the Balance" holds up at least as well as any other pop song from the mid-1980s. The chorus is awful but the verses are cool and make the understated song into something of a "Straight to Hell" for the adult contemporary crowd. And the lyrics' focus on how the U.S. oppresses people around the world and uses manipulation of the U.S. public's natural inclinations in order to get support for such policy even as the policies themselves breed resistance seems as relevant as ever.
The following lines seem particularly relevant at the moment:
On the radio talk shows and the T.V. You hear one thing again and again How the U.S.A. stands for freedom And we come to the aid of a friend But who are the ones that we call our friends-- These governments killing their own? Or the people who finally can't take any more And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
And, it should go without saying, that America will use Saddam's former buddies in evil (so evil we had to invade goddamnit) in order to further freedom, just has we have done in Afghanistan. As Ms. News writes in an April 22 story:
Female performers in an Afghan province have been banned from performing on television and radio. According to Reuters, female entertainers have been declared un-Islamic in the Southeastern province. The provincial government, according to Radio Free Europe, ordered state-run television in Jalalabad to stop broadcasting Afghan women singer’s performances.
Good for the Afghans. They don't need some slut prancing around for men to see and "women" to emulate. I mean I'm still suffering from early exposure to Cyndi Lauper. posted by micah holmquist at 4/24/2004 11:25:00 AM
