So sad to see
How cavalierly
We let slip through our hand
What was once called the “Land
Of the Free
“And the Home of the Brave”
Now down on its knees
To the sleaze
And the knave
To the con
And the grift
Reason numbed
By the swift
Dumbing down
By the mind-
Numbing trashing
Of honor, of truth
To think Hitler youth
Could march in our towns
And gunmen could shoot
Innocent young
And nothing is done
To banish the gun
Not when dollars buy
Those way up high
With power who cry
For prayer everytime
Republican crooks
Who get paid off the books
All grabbing their pelf
Of the gun lobby’s wealth
While parents who grieve
Yet still can’t conceive
Of “the money” that cares
Not a bit not a whit
For the tears that are shed
For the young that lay dead.
Paraphrasing the great Dave Chappelle
The deal in the nut of a shell:
If each nigga was given a gun
Every GOP yahoo would run
To their office
To write a tough bill
“Lord, we can’t have guns
‘Cause they kill!”
While the smug NRA would sit back
‘Til we all just forget each attack
‘Cause our span of attention is zip
‘Twixt the TV the chips and the dip
The celebrity trials, and the junk
That stuffs all our heads up with gunk
Which keep us from focusing on
The reasons this country has gone
To the dogs while “the money” lives large
And we pay the carrying charge
In the taxes we get dribbles for
Which mostly just ends up off-shore
In the numbered accounts of a Trump
In some fat K Street lobbyist’s bump
In some conservative bum’s greasy palm
Who can readily quote every psalm
Who’s an expert in all matters natal
And whose “expertise” is mainly fatal
Whose idea of freedom’s a joke:
We’re all “free” to be needy and broke
We’re all “free” to get shot anywhere
“Free” to forego doctor’s care
“Free” to lose job house and home
“Free” then to be on our own
To be on the street sleeping rough
Sure, we’ll survive ’cause we’re tough
By God, we’re “The Home of the Brave”
By God, we’re “The Land of the Free”
Long may God’s Old Glory wave
From sea to Gods great dying sea.
© tony powers and Barking in the Dark, 2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to tony powers and Barking in the Dark with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Barking In The Dark 
The pictures of Trump, in particular, are just plain revolting. And sacrilegious. I get sick every time I see his dirty hands defiling our flag.
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Posted by SusanR | June 8, 2022, 7:23 pmYou and me both girrrl. stay well, continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | June 9, 2022, 11:21 pmI agree with Liz. Where and when is the tipping point?
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Posted by leggypeggy | June 8, 2022, 5:54 pmPeggy…as I wrote to Liz since we have destroyed our only habitat, we’ve gone pretty much past the tipping point. i pity the children. It is too sad to contemplate. Thanks, continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | June 9, 2022, 12:20 amThe heartbreak is overwhelming. We’re in Australia and my children have decided not to have children. No argument from me.
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Posted by leggypeggy | June 9, 2022, 5:53 amI am so sorry Peggy. What we have done to our habitat is unconscionable. The rest is almost as sad. You and PJ stay well and continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | June 9, 2022, 12:00 pmDear Tony and Peggy and Liz,
Tony’s rhyming poem is quite a tour de force and is to be highly commended!
Whether or not there will be a tipping point, we are all going to face greater challenges soon. The world ecological crisis and the threat of nuclear war aside, we are perhaps already accelerating inexorably towards some eventual calamities or runaway cataclysms, being well on track in facilitating a wholesale and terminal decline of Homo sapiens, a species unable to transcend its own fate, incapable of fathoming let alone solving the great riddle of life, and succumbing in due course to not merely a surfeit of wayward violence and aggressive expansion but also exiguous comprehension of its own existential mess, pernicious strain and destructive streak, never mind the spectres of an even deadlier pandemic (whether zoonotic or genetically engineered), industrial disaster, biochemical apocalypse and nuclear holocaust as well as all-out cyberwarfare, cyberterrorism and cyberattacks.
Yours sincerely,
SoundEagle
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Posted by SoundEagle 🦅ೋღஜஇ | June 9, 2022, 2:40 amThanks, S.E. ” The world ecological crisis and the threat of nuclear war aside…” All that follows these words is sadly true. However, these two items, especially the first one, supersede every other evil that man has committed in his (our) mad dash to extinction. I am certain you’ll agree that none of humanity’s stupid actions that follow in your eloquent statement has had, or will have, the impact of the impending (and in the scheme of things imminent) ecological disaster. All the things you list are quite terrible – and they all lead to the worst possible thing of all. When we have completely and finally destroyed our habitat none of it will matter. Humans, as a group, have for one reason or another (see short-term think, see Oil business, see war in Ukraine) been unable, or unwilling to reduce the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. We are an “instant gratification” species. I have written in the past that we are that missing link science has long been searching for. As you write, we are “a species unable to transcend its own fate.” We are on the way out to make room for something far better. This planet will survive us – in spite of all the damage we have incurred. Our atoms will continue on, our species will not. Thanks, and continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | June 9, 2022, 3:47 pmDear Tony,
You are very welcome. I am delighted that you have understood my previous comment so well. One of most fundamental causes that has given rise to humanity’s outstanding crises and the complex and wretched issues that I have mentioned is that We have Paleolithic Emotions; Medieval Institutions; and God-like Technology, as discussed in great detail in my expansive post available at
http://soundeagle.wordpress.com/2021/12/31/we-have-paleolithic-emotions-medieval-institutions-and-god-like-technology/#top
I welcome your input and feedback there. Please enjoy!
Yours sincerely,
SoundEagle
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Posted by SoundEagle 🦅ೋღஜஇ | June 10, 2022, 12:15 amS.E. i will check it out tomorrow…off to bed now. continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | June 10, 2022, 1:12 amI can’t help but wonder what the tipping point will destroy democracy in the US once and for all? Then what?
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Posted by Liz Gauffreau | June 8, 2022, 4:14 pmWell…not only Democracy and the U.S….the tipping point, which is ongoing, is our environment, which we have all but destroyed by our greed, our need for instant gratification, and our arrant stupidity. It (we) will destroy us – and all of humanity. Thanks Liz, continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | June 8, 2022, 4:33 pmSadly, I expect you’re right.
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Posted by Liz Gauffreau | June 8, 2022, 6:59 pmSad to say, eh? continue…
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Posted by barkinginthedark | June 8, 2022, 9:18 pm