The Call

I must have been around 15. I was up in my room doing homework when the phone rang. I  heard my mother answer it. She didn't say much. She was in listening mode. It would be a short call.

Slowly  an indiscernible sound began to make  it's way upstairs..  ,  it didn't sound human at all , but finally  I realized it was my mom sobbing. Not at all like one imagines crying to be. It was an expression of grief for which there are no words  , a sound so dreadful you would not thing humans could produce a sound so horrendous.

So that was that. No more clinging to the last string of hope. He was  dead. Killed in action in Vietnam They kinda strung the family along for a time. My mom would get daily updates from my aunt about his injuries.

After it was all said and done it was a closed coffin affair so we all  imagined there wasn't much of him left over. I guess the 2 accompanying soldiers was to make sure no one tried to open it. My aunt was never the same.

And here we are again , families all across the country are getting the call. This times it's Iraq.
Only those who have been through it could  know how devastating it is to lose a young man in an unnecessary war , inundated with the unimaginable grief  while everyone else just goes on about their business getting on with " the shopping ".

It took a special talent to be able to drive a super power into a deep sandy ditch..wheels spinning but unable to move forward or back out...

5 year occupation of Iraq

Really , it's all because of my father's illness. Otherwise it would not have been so obvious to me. Because I live abroad , I would have missed the media blitz the Bush administration created to convince the people that they needed to "go to war".

Only because of my return to the US in the fall of 2002 did I become aware that something was terribly wrong.
We vacationed that summer with my family at my sister's place on the Jersey shore , and during our 3 week stay we heard virtually nothing , or very little about the Iraqi threat. There were those silly color coded threat level reports , and an overstated terrorist arrest here and there , but the media at that time was in the grip of the Enron frenzy , and the measures needed be taken to ensure "that it would never happen again."

It was a great summer vacation , with real tropical weather while we were at the shore , really a lovely time.
My father fell ill however 6 weeks later , and I was forced to make an urgent trip back from my home in Amsterdam to visit him in the hospital.

His final heart attack was further complicated by a growing lung cancer , and I was informed by the "social worker"?? that he was an ideal candidate for the hospice program.

She estimated that "without his medication" he would live 2 to 6 months.
After 2 weeks I needed to return home to Amsterdam , only to learn one day later that "dad" had passed away.
During my 3rd visit , in the middle of October for his funeral , I found that the country was being assaulted with a new media frenzy. Something had happened between July and October that transformed the Iraqi nation into the greatest threat of world peace since the 3rd Reich. It seemed very peculiar to my wife and myself that such a dramatic change could have taken place in 6 weeks.

The TV news was full of uniformed officers telling how the US would take apart the Iraqi regime. We were on the path to war , and people seemed fired up about it , finally there was a way to vent their pent up 9/11 fury.

I was not aware at that time that the Bush administration was full of the good folks from the PNAC , and the sales campaign had begun to sell the unnecessary invasion of Iraq.

The rest is history of course , but it had not been for my unfortunate father's illness , I would never have been aware of the extent some would go to manipulate a people into an unnecessary war.

Iraq and the Truth

5 long years in Iraq and no end in site. Why did they so badly want to invade.
Using the armed forces as a corporate subsidy for American business interest?
Facilitate George Bush's re-election?
To prevent sanctions from being lifted with the prospect of Iraq , as well as Iran selling oil for euros instead of for petro-dollars?
We may never know. We are however all well aware that we were manipulated into this invasion . The truth has reared it's ugly head , and it is indeed ugly.
It was no easy task , it took a special talent to be able to drive a super power into a deep sandy ditch , wheels spinning , unable to move forward or back out!

The Truth looks beyond the "sales campaign" and into the true motivations for the Iraq invasion.
The song was initially inspired by a speech on the senate floor in 2003 "The Truth Will Emerge" by Senator Byrd from West Virginia.

The Truth
You're always talking about freedom
It 's always freedom this and that
But if it wasn't for the oil
Never be boots in Iraq
You wanted war right from the get go
Regime change was your stated stance
Then along came 9/11
You knew at last you have your chance
(chorus)
won't the truth , rear it's ugly head

You're always talking about service
Talking sacrifice
All those rich folks with those tax breaks
Thank you they 're doing rather nice
While the troops face redeployment
You cater to the elite
Facilitating their good fortune
While the boys fight street to street
Chorus
the key to being a great leader
a successful president
to rally folks around the flag to
dampen voices of dissent
only with a war you'd be seen as
the great commander in chief
push through domestic agendas
we just looked on , in disbelief

there was no grave and growing danger
no looming mushrooms clouds
but all that inspired cheer leading
really fired up the crowds
You wanted war right from the get go
Regime change was your stated stance
Then along came 9/11
You knew at last you have your chance

(C) Joemessanella 2005

51st state (state of denial)

Saw an interview of Kurt Vonnegut on the Jon Stewart show , where he talked about his new book , man without a country ,
and how he wanted to call it the 51st state...at the time I wanted to write a song called a Man without a Country ,
but felt his idea was better.....summing up the Bush Administration ...as being in the state of denial....
I could only shake my head and agree..indeed the 51st State is the state of Denial

51st state

An annexation had gone through
Though there was nothing in the press, not a word, not a hint, not a clue
a state, just the same, only lacking a proper name
Save it for debate we’ll just call the place the 51st state.

crusading pious pioneers
estranged , they laid claim to terrain , a feigned frontier
the cabal playing possum got all jacked up on turd blossom
growing by the golden gate , the passage to the 51st state

soon it was the in place to be
they followed down the trail blazed by the pnac
there was much fanfare about trust the blinding glare
used to help create the trip out the 51st state.

They create their own reality
We 're an empire now friend can't you see
They’re histories actors and you
Are left to study what they do , and as you do , impromptu , they act again!!

there no child’s left behind
science and the bible are meticulously entwined
the air is always clear skies clear
healthy forest are abound , and you never ever need to fear
a stooge willing to lie sending yours off to die
no need to contemplate when your living in the 51st state

They create their own reality
We 're an empire now friend can't you see
They’re histories actors and you
Are left to study what they do , and as you do , impromptu , they act again!!

though he’s said to be austere
the anointed one had god , god whispering in his ear
forsake the meek and poor , go ahead , start your war
that’s how you legislate when your living in the 51st state

so hitch your wagon pack your gear
this wilderness is just a smoke screen blown up from fear
tell your friends , next of kin should they ask where you been
you were partying too late , getting loaded in the 51st state

(C) Joe Messanella 2005

economic policy

found your long lost home ?


I guess it's dawned on most of you that our 2 time elected president never had a clue , and the last pillar of his created reality has been kicked out from all of us...the trickle down effect his tax cuts would promote...complete and total nonsense of course ..the tried and true tactic of the "starve the beast" enthusiasts has run it's course and we're all left holding the bag..not to mention the pentagon's study results that have contradicted all of the reasons for the invasion of Iraq..it's been a bad week for those few baffled Bush supporting hold outs , the infamous neo-conned foxnews'd 'pussy patriots" who maybe voted for Bush because he "was against abortion" and would make us a more Christian nation , I know you're out there , some of you were that stupid , but there's no denying , the truth has reared it's ugly head , and few can now refute the fact that the Bush presidency has been a complete and total failure..

http://www.longlosthome.com