When was this song written?

The spirit was freedom and justice
And its keepers seemed generous and kind
Its leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
Now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told

Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into the noose
And it just sits there watchin'

The cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole world's got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner we can't pay the cost

'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into the noose
And it just sits there watchin'

America, where are you now
Don't you care about your sons and daughters
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

America, where are you now
Don't you care about your sons and daughters
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone against the monster

I ran across this, unattributed, and just assumed it was written in 2013.  However, it's from Steppenwolf's "Monster", from 1969.  There's some hippie druggie claptrap earlier in the song, but this portion is an amazing description of the modern day America.

There you go, Joe

Okay, my grand thoughts on the whole situation at Penn State are still to come.  In the interim...

Too bad Joe couldn't live long enough to see this....

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9204021/college-football-playoff-expected-new-name-four-team-playoff-sources

To me, four teams is perfect.  There are no more than four teams who can have a claim on the college football national championship.  If you are #5 and you're ringing your hands that you should have been #4 and gotten into the playoff... TOUGH!  If your claim to be #4 is controversial then so is your claim for a shot at #1.  With a 4 team playoff, college football still has the most meaningful regular season in all of sports.

Granted, it will ultimately be extended to 8 teams, then to 16, then to 128.  That will suck, but for now, I'm happy... and happy to see what Joe always wanted come to fruition.

Been a long time since I rock and roll

Wow - guess it's been a long time since I posted.

I'm working up some stuff on the Penn State "situation".  Believe it or not, with all the thousands of articles which have been written, I have a fresh angle.  Stay tuned.

If this doesn't wake some people up

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not saying I have a dog in this fight or even care all that much what happens to the people involved, to be totally honest.  However, I suspect for some people who have been ambivalent toward the continued gradual eroding of liberty in America, and for whom over-intrusive government has previously not been of great concern, this story may just get them thinking that sometimes government gets involved where it really shouldn't be.

I just wonder what was going through the heads of the people on that city council.  With so much else to worry about in a huge city like Los Angeles, they're thinking, "Yeah, we gotta make a law about that".

Lefty vs. Lefty

I actually don't know much about The Edge's politics, although I'm guessing 15 seconds of Googling would show him to be a lefty like his buddy Bono.  I'll spare myself the 15 seconds of labor and surmise that his close association with Bono and the plans of greenishness he has for his proposed home in Malibu put him squarely in the leftist camp, which would make this story quite ironic...

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/u2-guitarist-edge-loses-bid-malibu-mansion-042130878.html

A member of U2 gets opposed by a group who doesn't think his plans are leftish enough... that's great.  It reminds me of a story from a couple years ago on some island where some endangered species was eating up another endangered species and the authorities couldn't do anything to reasonably balance the populations because they couldn't shoot even a few of the predator species.

Why does The Edge want to live in Malibu?  That was my first question before I ever got into the article.  Shouldn't he be living in a hut in Mombandishuraqistan writing letters to world bankers imploring them to do something (ex. raise taxes on American gun owners) for the sake of the poor starving children there whose legs have been blown off by land mines?

Oh, yeah, I forgot... the People's Republic of California is more communist than Kruschev... the perfect place for U2 members to relax in their hot tubs...

This mom should be fired

How can some of the commenters on this story feel sorry for the mother of the child who is getting beaten up every day on the bus?  It's pretty simple... if animals attack your child constantly, don't keep throwing the child into the animals' pen:

http://www.todaystmj4.com/features/iteam/123406893.html?viewAll=1&action=quotecomment&cid=68607359&page=1#respond

As the bus pulls away we follow it.  Watching and waiting to see what happens.  Back at home the girl’s mother is fighting back tears she says she can’t believe her daughter has to go through this every day.

 

Edwards adds, “She continues to get hurt.  Why? That hurts as a parent”.

I bet it hurts!  But you just keep letting it happen?????

Planned Parenthood doesn't mess around

Now this is the way to fire somebody...

“We have a zero tolerance policy for this kind of behavior, and the employee in the video was immediately suspended from her duties this morning and was terminated this evening,” Kinsler said.


Taken from:
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/02/03/youtube-may-censor-planned-parenthood-sex-trafficking-expose/

Hint to those in a position to fire people at Planned Parenthood:  Don't say you "terminated" somebody when all you did was fire them.  At the very least, say you "terminated their employment".  The former is far too believable and will raise some eyebrows.