Ode to Houdini

I am a sovereign nation state.
I train soldiers to defend me.
I arm them.
I put them in harms way.
And if you hit them with pipes and stab them and throw them off boats I want them to shoot you to death.

Multinational corporations risk the health of the entire earth in the name of profit and wealth and when all goes terribly wrong ... they shrug and buy commercial air time to let you know that they’re responsible. I believe them ... don’t you?

I am a privileged Dutch boy.
I kill girls and my daddy “fixes it”.
I hide,
Behind a smirk and an expensive lawyer and lies.
Until Peru.
Now I go to prison,
Guilty as charged.

The war rages on, soldiers are killed and maimed and terrorized, villagers are bombed, crops are burned to stop the drugs. New President, new party, same war. The nation grinds to a halt ... states go bankrupt, banks stop lending, the factory closed, the mill isn’t hiring and the unemployment check isn't going to cover the bills. New President, new party, same economy. I wouldn’t care if they all didn’t tell me it was Bush’s fault, if they didn’t tell me they would fix it. I know they’re all the same, do you? You can’t vote them out, it’s being “in” that makes them this way. The war rages on, jobs ... gone, and the oil isn’t going to stop flowing.

The media tries to use slight of hand (look, over here, a Dutch boy and Israel, BP ...) Did you see it? The trick? The war rages on with no end in sight, the oil is filling the gulf and congress is trying to get reelected, don’t look now, but it’s all happening.