Is This America?

Is this America we see when we walk down the street

Families in tent cities because of bankers playing for keeps

4 million unemployed leads to hard life and hard times

In desperation the best person will resort to crime

Is this America we see when we open our eyes

With people screaming at the government

'Stop all these lies'

With crisis after crisis, they use fear to heard us like sheep

If you recognize the truth they say, 'go back to sleep'

We get attacked, they respond with the 'Patriot Act'

But the fact they tracks us takes the world and paints it black

What kind of world do we live in if we can't live free

Addicted to their handouts just like it was smack on the streets

With every resolution called a solution Progressive evolution

rapes the Constitution, this institution breeds dissolution

Sold our freedom for security

Now watch them abuse it

Gave them power in our darkest hour

How can we do this?

Is this America we see when we walk down the street

Families in tent cities because of bankers playing for keeps

4 million unemployed leads to hard life and hard times

In desperation the best person will resort to crime

Is this America we see when we open our eyes

With people screaming at the government

'Stop all these lies'

With crisis after crisis, they use fear to heard us like sheep

If you recognize the truth they say, 'go back to sleep'

Investing in Smith and Wesson in case this recession

turns into a hyper inflated Greater Depression

Their intentions lead one direction

A Brave New World (Order)

Entitlements for every boy and girl (sort of)

Self reliant persons need no longer apply

Even when George Orwell warned us of the eyes in the sky

We didn't catch it, pay attention or even try to save it

A future for our children we forced into enslavement

Is this America we see when we walk down the street

Families in tent cities because of bankers playing for keeps

4 million unemployed leads to hard life and hard times

In desperation the best person will resort to crime

Is this America we see when we open our eyes

With people screaming at the government

'Stop all these lies'

With crisis after crisis, they use fear to heard us like sheep

If you recognize the truth they say, 'go back to sleep'

Is this America?

When 1 in 4 has an STD?

Is this America?
When we get so over taxed we can't succeed?

Is this America?

When they don't need a warrant to break into our homes?
Is this America?
When they try to shut down opposing radio shows?

Is this America?
When they choose for doctors who lives and dies?
Is this America?
When we let the Fed take control of our lives?
Is this America?
Is this America?

Missnamed Madison

From out of the shadows

Emitted the call

Deficit spending for one

And for all

The people that heard it

Took it to heart

Removing the voter

Allowed it to start

Collective bargaining

The ruse that they gave

Public Unions

Made taxpayers slaves

Increasing their benefits

On all our backs

Increasing the power

And cutting the slack

Politicians who did it

Trade favors for cash

And ignored while their states

Were burning to ash

And when debt became

To much to take

Voters took action

To fix their state

We made our decision

Our ballot was cast

how long did they think

Free money could last

When will Unions learn

Theres nothing for free

When taxpayers have nothing

To pay their trustees

We are the ones who pay the bills

It's from our pockets you attempt to steal

You've made your living off our backs

And if we protest, you turn to attack

No more profiting at our expense

It's your turn to help pay the rent

We're not scared of your childish attempts

We're not backing down from your pathetic threats

In several states

The voters cast votes

To stop the insane

Laws being wrote

Putting workers

Out on the street

While Unions continued

To bribe and to cheat

And live off the taxpayers

Like parasites

Enough was enough

The voters would fight

New governors elected

And actions were took

Union reps exposed

As liars and crooks

In multiple states

There were multiple bills

Enacted that gave us

A chance to instill

Some sort of sanity

To the world we live

To try to provide

A future for our kids

But Union thugs

Would have none of that

They began make calls

To coordinate their attack

There weren't enough

To protest in all states

So they picked Madison

And then set the stage

We are the ones who pay the bills

It's from our pockets you attempt to steal

You've made your living off our backs

And if we protest, you turn to attack

No more profiting at our expense

It's your turn to help pay the rent

We're not scared of your childish attempts

We're not backing down from your pathetic threats

So like zombies now

They began to amass

Devoid of all thought

And devoid of all facts

Repeating only

What they were all told

No research confirming

A thing on their own

Because that would violate

Their Union's control

Over their simple-minded,

Due-paying drones

Vulgar and vile

They called it protest

While destroying the capital

And making a mess

To buy them more time

Their reps act like kids

And hid in Illinois

Like running felons

To the governor's credit

He stood his ground

Despite violent threats

He wouldn't back down

And even though

It's held up in the courts

Wisconsin let

Other states make reforms

Without the protests

Because they were all there

In Madison

Bused from everywhere

We are the ones who pay the bills

It's from our pockets you attempt to steal

You've made your living off our backs

And if we protest, you turn to attack

No more profiting at our expense

It's your turn to help pay the rent

We're not scared of your childish attempts

We're not backing down from your pathetic threats

We are the ones who pay the bills

It's from our pockets you attempt to steal

You've made your living off our backs

And if we protest, you turn to attack

No more profiting at our expense

It's your turn to help pay the rent

We're not scared of your childish attempts

We're not backing down from your pathetic threats

Redistribtuion (of Guilt)

'A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong

gives it the superficial appearance of being right'

So I stop to ask the question of 'why?'

Why we send our young to fight.

Is it for our freedom that we aggressively

Pursue our enemies overseas?

Nations that we've equipped and trained to one day

Stand on their own two feet

Building an empire while we

Try to take control

Making everything our business we

Try to police the world

And for every solution

Problems multiply two-fold

What happen to letting business

Make our impact on the world?

Or is it something more elusive?

That we cannot properly define?

Spreading democracy by force

Despite the outcry from behind

How can we force democracy on others?

When we're no longer a Republic ourselves?

We've forgotten what it means to be capitalist

And replaced it with this outcry of 'Spread the Wealth'

Building an empire while we

Try to take control

Making everything our business we

Try to police the world

And for every solution

Problems multiply two-fold

What happen to letting business

Make our impact on the world?

Building an empire while we

Try to take control

Making everything our business we

Try to police the world

And for every solution

Problems multiply two-fold

What happen to letting business

Make our impact on the world?

Repeal

Once they sign it, we will never get out again

Sit forever on the shoulders of our children

Cast our health care in a pit of ruin

And once they've signed it, we will never get out again

They say it's in our interest and it will fix everything

Behind closed doors, they bribed it's passage while their lobbyists sing

Because they're winner today, but our day will come

When we cast them out and leave them all def, blind and dumb

Once they sign it, we will never get out again

Sit forever on the shoulders of our children

Cast our health care in a pit of ruin

And once they've signed it, we will never get out again

Here you have a bill that 70% of tax paying citizens hate

We want it repealed but they try to convince that it's too late

The fact that it's unconstitutional doesn't mean a fucking thing

To them, but to us it means suffocating our dreams

Once they sign it, we will never get out again

Sit forever on the shoulders of our children

Cast our health care in a pit of ruin

And once they've signed it, we will never get out again

**Recording Notes - I programmed the drums with my Zoom 234 drum machine and direct input recorded them.  For the distorted parts, I mic'd a Hughes & Kettner Warp 7 head and a generic cab with a Heil PR20 in Magix at my buddy Jeremy's.  I used a Schecter Diamond Series Damian 7-String.  I used the native distortion on the Warp 7 for one side, and Boss Metal Zone MT-2 for the other side.  Recorded vocals with a Heil PR20 in Pro Tools.  For bass, I direct input an Epiphone EB-0 into Pro-Tools. 

Be Progressive!

Bourgeois inequality

Owners of all the property

Progressives of the proletariat

Marxism is just a lariat

The narrative they try to tell us

Preaches only Social Justice

But history tells us the truth

Despite it, they want us to

Be Progressive

For the Collective

But be subjective

What's their objective

They got tax obsessive

Makes them aggressive

They make our laws excessive

Makes them oppressive 

Yeah!

It's become a youth pandemic

Excited by academics

on naive students with polemic

arguments about systemic

failures of capitalism

but it's a faux aproism

Class war's a fake aphrodism

Promoting Communism 

don't

Be Progressive

For the Collective

But be subjective

What's their objective

They got tax obsessive

Makes them aggressive

They make our laws excessive

Makes them oppressive 

Yeah!

**Recording Notes - I programmed the drums with my Zoom 234 drum machine and direct input recorded them.  For the distorted parts, I mic'd a Hughes & Kettner Warp 7 head and a generic cab with a Heil PR20 in Magix at my buddy Jeremy's.  I used a Schecter Diamond Series Damian 7-String.  I used the native distortion on the Warp 7 for one side, and Boss Metal Zone MT-2 for the other side.  Recorded vocals with a Heil PR20 in Pro Tools.  For bass, I direct input an Epiphone EB-0 into Pro-Tools.

March of the Intellectuals

This nation is breaking, apologies for the taking

The outrage that they're faking, a civil war in the making

They fight the economy instead of letting us fix

Then scream hypocrisy if we manage to lift it

It's like they're trying to break us while telling us that they'll save us

Anti-colonial actions dividing people in factions

Persecuting responsible citizens like they're horrible

While holding up all criminals as those that are honorable

Celebrities standing on the graves of children

Authorities treating us like the villian

Politicians trying to disarm the citizens

Then tell another lie, tell another lie

Don't tell me Marx was right

He failed everything he tried in life

He's nothing but a failure

Don't tell me Marx was right

He failed everything he tried in life

He's nothing but a failure

 Look at the bigger picture, it's easy once your figure

that tearing down the free market enslaves their intended target

They think they know better than us cause Marx and Engels earned their trust

with a manifesto based on hate that divided people on a single trait

They promoted class warfare instead of celebrating success

The promoted collectivism instead of praising the best among us

While preaching unity and practicing segregation

Their bi-polar philosophy is destroying our nation

Think of the hypocrisy of creating a classless society 

with a single ruling class assigning each and every single task

They try to pretend it's freedom they sell in our schools

But it's just propaganda with elites making the rules

Celebrities standing on the graves of children

Authorities treating us like the villian

Politicians trying to disarm the citizens

Then tell another lie, tell another lie

Don't tell me Marx was right

He failed everything he tried in life

He's nothing but a failure

Don't tell me Marx was right

He failed everything he tried in life

He's nothing but a failure

**Recording Notes - I programmed the drums with my Zoom 234 drum machine and direct input recorded them.  For the distorted parts, I mic'd a Hughes & Kettner Warp 7 head and a generic cab with a Heil PR20 in Magix at my buddy Jeremy's.  I used a Schecter Diamond Series Damian 7-String.  I used the native distortion on the Warp 7 for one side, and Boss Metal Zone MT-2 for the other side.  For clean tone, I just direct line recorded in Pro Tools.  Recorded vocals with a Heil PR20 in Pro Tools.  For bass, I direct input an Epiphone EB-0 into Pro-Tools.

Living and Dying

This is a song my sister (Madeline) and I did for my dad for father's day.  The lyrics are from a poem by Rosa Lee Sims and my grandmother (my dad's mother) sent to a local newspaper.  She saw fit to put it in print... that the editor saw fit to publish it... and that my mother's mother saw fit to cut it out and keep it in 1969... before my parents had ever met in the mid to late 70s... seemed reason enough to take it and turn it into a song.  And on top of that, I took it as an opportunity to get my younger sister to sing the words her name sake found important enough to put into the world.   

Have to Earn Place in Society

November 24, 1969

To the Editor:

Yes, my generation like the current generation, made its own share of great mistakes and blunders.  But what freedom we have today in Europe, Japan, North Africa, and Korea, and a score of islands in the Pacific, exists because hundreds of thousands of young men are lying in graves in Europe, the Pacific Islands, Korea, and now Vietnam.  And they're not the only ones who have given a great deal for their country.  Go visit a veteran's hospital sometime.

Why do you draft card burners, the ones who go to college to avoid the draft, rather than to learn, you peace demonstrators.  You have got the right to do this, because there are brave men in the world.  And here is a poem that tells it better than I could:

Living and Dying

By Mrs. Rosa Lee Sims

Take a man, then put him alone

Put him 12,000 miles from home

Empty his heart of all by blood,

Make him live in sweat and mud.

This is the life I have to live,

And my soul to the devil I give.

You "Peace Boys" pent from your easy char,

But you don't know what it's like over here.

You have a ball without trying

While over here the boys are dying.

You burn your draft cards and march down

and plant your Flag on the White House lawn.

You all want to ban the bomb

There's no Real War in Vietnam.

Use your drugs and have your fun

Then refuse to use a gun.

There's nothing else for you to do

And I'm supposed to die for you?

I'll hate you to the day I die,

You make me hear my buddy cry.

I saw his arm, a bloody shred,

I heard them say: "this one's dead".

It's a large price he had to pay,

Not to live to see another day.

He had the guts to fight and die,

He paid the price, but what did he buy?

He bought your life, by losing his,

But who gives a damn, what a soldier gives?

His wife does, And his pop

and mom, And maybe his sons,

But they are just about

the only ones.

 There are many courageous young men and women today.  And I get a little tired of hearing some people say, "There aren't any responsible young people today."  There are!  I know quite a few.  They are judging the masses by the minority.  I help supervise the school grounds sometimes.  And all I can say, is you people of Washington can be proud of your teachers, and your schools.  They are there to teach your children, but they also help them when they need it, too!  These are some of the ones that have gotten an education and used it to help others.  Their dedication is sincere, and I admire them.  

This happens to be "Thanksgiving week".  Well!  I am one American that, Thank God, she was born in America.

I also remember that November 11 is what we now call Veteran's Day.  I would also like to say thanks to the men we refer to as veterans, who gave up some of your precious years to protect my rights.  My husband happens to be a veteran, so does my Dad and brother and scores of cousins.  And our nephew came home from Vietnam in June with a purple heart on his chest.  But at least he came home.  In America you still have the chance to make your own place in society.  But you have to earn that place in society if you want it.  

Sincerely, 

Mrs. Madeline Crowe

In reading what she wrote, I found that I am not too far off from her thinking.  I too believe we should have to earn a place in society.  I am doing so.  I haven't taken a hand out because I'm a capable person of ability, so for someone like me to accept the wealth of others taken via a 3rd party I see as morally corrupt.  

I became incredibly active in politics as she was.  So, despite having never met her, I wonder how much like her I am.  It's amazing how timely her words still are today.  To me, it reinforces that the concepts of freedom are timeless.  Not flimsy temporary arguments constructed to fit the fashionable ideas of the day and prey on the emotions of the people too weak to see beyond themselves at the bigger world and history of it.  

Also, of lesser note, look at the detail that she addresses herself and Rosa Sims as 'Mrs'.  I don't address myself as Mr.  I don't know anyone today that signs their name like that.  We deny ourselves even that smallest sign of respect.  Why?

Understand

And I can't understand as a man how this plan we've been handed

Is supposed to fix the place that we've landed

The hand we've been dealt, and the lives that we've played

Responsibilities forgotten, opportunities wasted away

And I can't understand as a man how this plan we've been handed

Is supposed to fix the place that we've landed

The hand we've been dealt, and the lives that we've played

Responsibilities forgotten, opportunities wasted away

What has America become except unloyal?

And yes, we can blame the cost of oil.

And yes, we can blame Iraq for our troubles.

And we can blame the Wall Street bubble.

And yes, we can blame Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and W;

and all the Republicans, for fighting a war instead of helping you.

We can blame everyone who stripped market regulation

and allowed corporations, speculators and banks

to rape America and run amok.

Never thought about stranded families, lost jobs,
workers sacrificed in their plight

cause they're too busy not giving a fuck.

We can blame everyone we want.

But it doesn't change the path we're on.

Instead of looking back, you could try moving on.

Looking ahead, using your head
finding solutions to the problems

instead whining about the lies you've been fed.

And I can't understand as a man how this plan we've been handed

Is supposed to fix the place that we've landed

The hand we've been dealt, and the lives that we've played

Responsibilities forgotten, opportunities wasted away

And I can't understand as a man how this plan we've been handed

Is supposed to fix the place that we've landed

The hand we've been dealt, and the lives that we've played

Responsibilities forgotten, opportunities wasted away

And yes, you can blame Pelosi, Carter, Clinton,

Rangle, Obama, Dodd and Frank;

and everyone who pushed for 'affordable' housing

for low-income families in the Democrat rank.

Knowing that, when approved, they couldn't pay the bills.

Leaving children starving in the streets in the name of goodwill.

Breaking marriages.  Destroying homes. 

And creating generations of welfare bums.

And then expecting everybody else to pick up the slack

for incompetent decisions, and bring them back on track

when 'Graceland' began to fall.

And we can blame for the programs that have shackled us all.

And yes, we can blame everyone else.

But when it comes down to it, we can only blame ourselves.

We let it happen.  Let it build, let it boom, let it bust.

But at the end of it, it was us.

And I can't understand as a man how this plan we've been handed

Is supposed to fix the place that we've landed

The hand we've been dealt, and the lives that we've played

Responsibilities forgotten, opportunities wasted away

And I can't understand as a man how this plan we've been handed

Is supposed to fix the place that we've landed

The hand we've been dealt, and the lives that we've played

Responsibilities forgotten, opportunities wasted away

*recording notes - cellos created in East West Colossus for a Zero Principle song called There Is A Way.  vocals recorded with Heil PR20.  The remaining music was created in Fruity Loops.

Everything (Never) Changes

It seems like everything I know

Is always changing

But if there's one thing I know for sure

Nothing really changes

Those with power want more

All their talk is cheap

But they live on the fools

They've convinced to believe

It seems like everyone I know

Has become jaded

But if there's one thing I think for sure

The truth is obfuscated

Those with power want more

All their talk is cheap

But they live on the fools

They've convinced to believe

You've been betrayed

By your allegiance

Open your eyes

You're manipulated

It seems like every place I go

Gets more complicated

But if there's one thing I want for sure

It's to be vindicated

Those with power want more

All their talk is cheap

But they live on the fools

They've convinced to believe

 

You've been betrayed

By your allegiance

Open your eyes

You're manipulated

It seems like everything I know

Is always changing

But if there's one thing I know for sure

Nothing really changes

Nothing changes

**Recording Notes - I programmed the drums with my Zoom 234 drum machine and direct input recorded them.  For the distorted parts, I mic'd a Hughes & Kettner Warp 7 head and a generic cab with a Heil PR20 in Magix at my buddy Jeremy's.  I used a Schecter Diamond Series Damian 7-String.  I used the native distortion on the Warp 7 for one side, and Boss Metal Zone MT-2 for the other side.  For the acoustic parts I used Dillon Acoustic, direct line input into Pro Tools.  Recorded vocals with a Heil PR20 in Pro Tools.  For bass, I direct input an Epiphone EB-0 into Pro-Tools. 

Being that this was an early song of mine and I'm going back and recording all the music I've ever written on guitar, I decided to use the opportunity to develop other instruments and my voice.  I've never really sung, only screamed.  So, I figured, since this music is very basic because I was just learning guitar, it would be fitting to also start developing my voice and skills at drums and whatever other instruments I bring in as well. 

2nd For A Reason

One look at the statistics

Drives home one simple fact

Our Fore Fathers gave us guns

So we could fucking fight back

The logic is extremely simple

Allow the people to arm themselves

The weapon acts as a deterrent

And allows them to protect their wealth

Banning assault weapons and tracking ammo

Is just a quiet, subversive first step

To door-to-door gun collection

And paves the way for dictatorship

State's Rights is one solution

Over federal government

And maintain control over an issue

Important enough to be the 2nd Amendment

Fight for our rights and freedoms

The Right to Bear Arms

Fight for our rights and freedoms

The Right to Bear Arms

The idea that taking guns away

From law abiding citizens

To stop crime and prevent violence

Is about as stupid as it can get

Criminals don't care about the law

They buy their guns on the streets

Not in stores with paper trails

And documented receipts

Fight for our rights and freedoms

The Right to Bear Arms

Fight for our rights and freedoms

The Right to Bear Arms

*This is the second song I ever wrote on guitar.  More punk-ish, and that was the direction I began heading early on because it's easier to play for a new guitarist. 

**Recording Notes - I purchased a midi keyboard from M-Audio that came with a cheap version of Pro-Tools that was locked down.  Not knowing much about Pro-Tools, I programmed the drums with my Zoom 234 drum machine and direct input recorded them.  Then I mic'd a Hughes & Kettner Warp 7 head and a generic cab with a Heil PR20 in Magix at my buddy Jeremy's.  I used a Schecter Diamond Series Damian 7-String.  I used the native distortion on the Warp 7 for one side, and Boss Metal Zone MT-2 for the other side.  Unfortunately, somehow I lost the doubles, so the guitars aren't as beefy as they probably could've been.  I used a doubler plugin to emulate a second guitar track on either side to make up the difference a little.  Recorded vocals with a Heil PR20 in Pro Tools.  I direct input an Epiphone EB-0 into Pro-Tools.