A Tale of Two Telethons (MDA vs. the Iraq War Industry)
Every Labor Day, for the past 40 years, America has endured bad comics, aging vocalists, and Ed McMahon on air for 21 hours straight in pursuit of a cure for Muscular Dystrophy. We felt the pain of each "poster-child" and shared their hopes with every drum roll that heralded new numbers on the telethon tote-board. For 40 years, celebrities begged us to keep the phones ringing and we did -- to the tune of $1.5 billion in donations.
Today, there is a phone ringing back. Pick it up America. It's your wake up call!
For the past 4 years, cable news has pre-empted your local programming to broadcast a new kind of corporate telethon for the defense industry, complete with their own theme music and logo, live from Baghdad. And though you never signed the donation checks, your state representatives called in over $450 billion of your money to invade and occupy a country who's people never asked for our intervention and who resent us more every day. Their poster-child is now any one of a hundred thousand who are missing a parent or limb in exchange for a small measure of democracy that came packaged with a long future of sectarian violence.
Every 4 days that we stay in their country costs more than was donated to "Jerry's Kids" in over 40 years! That is about $1 million every 4 minutes payed mostly to no-bid contractors like Halliburton (our Vice-President's former corporation) to rebuild cities we destroyed with million dollar bombs. Today, billions of those dollars are unaccounted for due to alleged "waste, fraud and war profiteering".
The Labor Day telethon is over, but we can still be heroes to thousands of G.I.'s who desperately need to be cured of this administration's failed policy and who have earned a ticket home in a first class seat rather than a cargo body bag. Phone in your pledge to your Congressperson that if they don't stop funding our occupation of Iraq, you'll stop funding them.
Ask them to set a new course out of Iraq and to work cooporatively to get more U.N. and less U.S. in the middle of international affairs. Then, hopefully, by next Labor Day, America can redirect a portion of the savings to fixing the holes in our homeland security, education, healthcare & social security and you can donate a part of your tax debt reduction to "Jerry's Kids" -- or to Katrina relief, or cancer research, or rebuilding our own bridges... anything besides risking American lives on unilateral crusades that require us to DESTROY and REBUILD FOREIGN CITIES!
Want cheaper fuel & electricity? With 4 days of Iraq funds we could double this year's Renewable Energy research budget aimed at ending our dependance on foreign oil and the greedy corporations that exploit it.
Worried about Iraqi citizens? A poll conducted by the University of Maryland this month found 71% of Iraqis want us out within 1 year, 78% feel our presence is provoking more conflict than it is preventing, and 61% endorse violence against our troops.
Worried about YOUR safety? The consensus of 16 US intelligence agencies is that our Iraq occupation is spawning a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the invasion.
Watch our 30 second INDEPENDENCE DAY election video (2003) Windows Media Player (30 seconds)
[voice over "American Woman" music]
American woman, we need to talk.
Last election, George Bush bullied his way into your White House,
He let his corporate friends manipulate your energy and pollute your water.
He failed to protect you on 9/11,
then mislead your children into an unrelated war.
He lost more jobs than the last 10 Presidents combined
and he bankrupted your budget.
He broke his promise on education,
took away your civil liberties,
and divided the world community.
Woman, file your seperation papers
because next election is
Independence Day!
VOTE
Listen to our "Sympathy for the Devil" song parody, HYPOCRISY OF THE DEVIL (2002) Windows Media Player or
MP3
[lyrics]
please allow me to introduce myself,
i was born of
wealth and taste
i campaigned for a long long year,
stole many a man's soul for a tax
rebate
i was around when kathrin harris and jeb,
turned 22,000 black voters
away
made damn sure judge scalia,
washed his hands and sealed gore's fate
pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name,
but what's puzzling you is the nature of my game
i bombed down in afghanistan
till i felt it was time for a change
kill saddham and his ministers
while the world cried out in vain
i drove and drank and held a CEO's rank
then i sold my stock
before the company tanked
i shouted out, "who killed the economy"
when after all,
it was Dick and me
and who sacrificed social security,
for corporate welfare and for bigger bombs
and who sold out the environment
and our energy,
in closed meetings
with the halliburtons and enrons
pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name,
but what's puzzling you is the nature of my game
well maybe martha stewart is a criminal,
and every priest is no saint
but i know jesus christ was a liberal,
and i'm conservative in need of restraint
i'll unify the church and state,
and divide every school,
and give the rich every break
i'll crucify e v e r y prisoner,
and send your sons and daughters to be slayed,
for the oil gods we made
pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name,
but what's troubling you is the, childish things i say
i say nah nah nah nah to the the evil ones,
bring it on, i'll hunt you down and smoke you out
but as heads is tails they call me simpleton,
but don't mess with texas,
i may be wrong, but i am proud!
so if you meet me, excuse my hypocrisy,
cause i am blinded by wealth and faith
just say hail to the thief,
and pray down on your knees
that my super power
doesn't lay your whole world to waste
and i'll say nah nah nah nah nah
(30 seconds)
