The rich demand, the government enables, the poor supply

I applaud the Nebraska judge who has blocked the TransCanada Corp. from using eminent domain to acquire land for the Keystone Pipeline. Unfortunately, the issue has been ruled upon by the Supreme Court in Kelo v. City of New London. The standard is that the general benefits of economic development allow the forced transfer of private property even to another private entity.
When I hear Tea Partyers and others DEMAND that Obama and Congress approve a country-long pipeline to carry Canadian Tar Sands to the Gulf, I think of Gov. Rick Perry's dream of a mile-wide federal swath as long as the country. Once the path has been established for Keystone what is to stop the widening of that path to include rail lines, highways, electric lines and other pipelines?  Once the power of eminent domain has been used against citizens for the profit of foreign corporations (they are ALL foreign now - no allegiance to the U. S.) why not make it a mile wide? I think about the day in school when I first learned about eminent  domain. I was shocked. It was against every American principle I had been taught: private property rights, capitalism, human rights! You know these pipelines and pipe dreams are the real Socialist danger to America because government dollars and tax breaks will be used to benefit companies. We The People be damned! Supply and Demand has been turned upside down and we are NOT a true capitalist country because the rich demand, the government enables, and the poor supply. That's national socialism - ring a bell?
This song was written in response to the Supreme Court Decision Kelo v. New London.

Car Camping in the four corners

The Four Corners: New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. Two out of three ain't bad, three out of four is good. They're my stomping' grounds, except for Utah. Utah's good when you have an adventure there; just get yourself to and from the adventure without encountering an activist cop. I've seen kids with backpacks unloaded onto the ground while cops looked for … well, pot in all likelihood.
I just completed a neat loop. I spent my first night in the Prescott National Forest. There's an exit off I-17 for the city of Prescott. I turned the other way and entered the National Forest within seconds. I spent the day in one beautiful spot, but moved before dark because I got stared at too long by some folks in a pickup truck. Didn't like the vibe and they looked local. Many locals think the woods belong to them because they live there. If you want to enjoy the American West you need to adapt to an alien mindset. These locals who think they trump you (damn tree-huggers, damn forest rangers- gov'ment) are the Indians. You're the army. Camp on, Smokey. American gun culture may be of benefit to me on these trips. They don't know but what I am armed.
Now this kind of car camping is what you should expect by all rights, even though I'm writing about pull-outs on National Forest roads, not campgrounds. You should expect other people to drive by and you must know they may not want you there. Don't spook, you have your rights, too, and they may be afraid of you.  But I love the Four Corners because, more often than not, those cars just drive by with a wave. You find your spot and it's yours. It's yours for two weeks, citizen.
The next night I went into the Coronado National Forest outside of Tucson. My pullout provided a view of the city. From dusk on my only bother was the three and four wheel vehicles heading down the hill. That was over by true darkness.
For two nights I camped for free with my dogs near Arizona's two largest cities, Phoenix and Tucson. It only gets better the farther you go from cities. I went to Safford, Arizona and headed toward the Gila National Forest. Aldo Leopold wilderness. A mile or so into New Mexico and the place was mine. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Album Notes for "When Hymns Bled Red: Words of Joe Hill in Red"

How many of us found the Wobblies through Joan Baez singing "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night?" I did not delve deeper for many years, but the seed was planted. Pete Seeger watered that seed. Years later I heard U. Utah Phillips. Decades later I finally heard Joe Glazer. I began thinking about recording my favorite IWW songs and  the source songs from which the melodies came for the great Wobbly parodies.
Joe Hill, the great Swedish immigrant was only one of many songwriters who took melodies from popular hymns and other songs of the day and turned them into anthems for worker's rights and economic justice. Joe Hill, the martyr, I read about first, but when I encountered Joe Hill the songwriter he came to life in my mind. 

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is a singing union. The story goes that early members of the IWW, the Wobblies, sang their own lyrics when the street Salvation Army bands were playing their hymns. Now both the popular folk songs and the hymns are now fading from our culture, so what will become of the great International Workers of the World (Wobbly) songs? Would they not be better understood if people remembered the source song? As a folksinger, I want the original songs remembered, too.

I believe that knowing the original song helps appreciate the parody. On Top of Old Smoky deserves to live out it’s truth independently of On Top of Spaghetti, not just as “the source melody of …” I believe authorship and copyrights are to be honored but that, in the Public Domain, Mr/Ms Anonymous can tear it up! 

I begin each song with the first verse of the original hymn. If you detect from my singing that I love the old hymns, you are right. I grew up singing them in the Southern Baptist Church. "Power in the Blood" is one old hymn that is, in my mind, a rock song! It is fun to sing. All these songs have gone into the public domain and any changes I have added are not copyrighted. If my performances of these songs ever make money, I'll happily donate it to the still-active IWW. 

I call the EP When Hymns Bled Red: Words of Joe Hill in Red. The title plays upon those New Testament editions that print the words of Jesus in red.  
This is my second album recorded at Elephonic Studios in Albuquerque, New Mexico with Jesse Korman, engineer and Jared Putnam on that fine upright bass. It's my fifth album since turning 60 in 2010.

I have no use for the Southern Baptist Convention and it’s affiliated churches; my last tie to them would be the hymns. But it was through these hymns and my early Christian faith that I connected with the Civil Rights Movement and came to love and honor Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. It was through his speeches that I came to understand what the battle between rich and poor was all about and the relationship between war and capitalism. So, let's keep the hymns and let them live out their own truth, and let's know the sources also to understand all the nuances of the Wobbly songwriters.

I left out some verses and added whole verses or words to these songs. I will not go into the kind of documentation that is readily available in the Little Red Songbook (Check out used book sources for reprints of older editions) and the Big Red Songbook. Most words you hear that vary from the 1923 songbook are changes I made. I wrote two new verses for this first song and took out some of the originals.
Here is the way I sing the most famous of all wobbly Songs:

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum

Hallelujah, I’m a Bum

Harry “Haywire Mac” McClintock
from Revive Us Again

(Revive Us Again, William P. Mackay)

We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of thy love         

For Jesus, who died and is now gone above.

Hallelujah! Thine the glory! Hallelujah! Amen!

Hallelujah! Thine the Glory! Revive us again.

Why don’t you work like other men do?

How the hell can I work, ain’t no jobs to do.

Chorus

Hallelujah, I’m a bum, Hallelujah, bum again;

Hallelujah, give us a handout to revive us again!

Oh why don’t you save all the money you earn?

If I didn’t eat I’d have money to burn.

Chorus

Whenever I get all the money I’ve earned,

The boss will be broke and to work he must turn.

Chorus

Oh I like my bosses, tell ‘ya how nice they are,

They drive me to the food bank ‘cause I can’t afford a car.

Chorus

Why don’t you use that degree you earned?

They don’t want to pay - they hired an intern.
Chorus

Wobbly Joe Hill picked some mighty fine melodies for his parodies.  Sweet By and By, melody by Joseph P. Webster, is pure beauty. I made some changes, all intended for the Public Domain.  (see the Little Red Songbook)

Sweet By and By

 G                        C                 G

There’s a land that is fairer than day

                                             D

And by faith we can see it afar

     G                      C            G

For the Father waits over the way

                           C  G/D D      G

To prepare us a dwelling place there

                                D

In the sweet by and by

                D7                                        G

We shall meet on that beautiful shore

                     G7/B   C

In the sweet by and by

                G/D              D7          G

We shall meet on that beautiful shore

The Preacher and the Slave 

By Joe Hill

Long-haired preachers come out every night,

Try to tell you what’s wrong and what’s right;

What's wrong?  You need is a job and something to eat

They answer with voices so sweet:

Chorus

You will eat, bye and bye,

In that glorious land above the sky;

Work and pray, live on hay,

You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.

You can work hard for children and wife –

No guarantee you’ll make it in US life–

You’re a sinner and bad man, they tell,

When you die you will sure go to hell.

Chorus

Workingmen of all countries unite,

Side by side we for freedom will fight:

When the world and its wealth we have gained

To the grafters we’ll sing this refrain:

Last Chorus:

You can eat bye and bye,

When you’ve learned how to cook and to fry;

Chop some wood, ‘twill do you good,

And you can eat in the sweet bye and bye.

I first heard Joe Hill's Last Will sung in a pub in Dublin. That musician (can't remember his name, sorry) sang it to some melody of his own, I think. I put the words to the tune of Sweet Hour of Prayer. Unlike the songs whose words I tinkered with, there is no excuse to tinker with a last will and testament. Ain't it funny how Christian in nature this "dangerous communist's" last will is?

  

If you grew up singing, "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow..." like I did, you may enjoy this little nugget from Australia. As in other songs I got from the Little Red Songbook I made my changes according to our beloved folk process, but I sure as hell did not change the emotion!

Dump the Bosses Off Your Back
Dump the One Percent. Let's start there, shall we? Once again, I changed a few words. Changes can be detected by buying and reading a Little Red Songbook. My changes are Public Domain, intended to stay that way. The original song What a Friend We Have in Jesus was adapted by John Brill.

The simple truth is that the poor, forlorn, and hungry did have a great friend in Jesus, but most of today's "Christians" are not followers of Jesus. They are not "a thousand points of light." 

Neither is the United States an anti-Communist country. Why? Because Nixon went to China. 

So don't be afraid to sing the Wobbly songs even if you aren't a "Red." Do you want your children to have healthcare? Do you think if you work hard at the best job you can find that you should be able to support your family in a decent life? Then sing for economic justice my friends. That's not communism and don't let the 1% fool you that it is.

What a friend we have in Jesus                                   

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit

O what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Dump the Bosses Off Your Back

By John Brill 

Are you poor, forlorn, and hungry?

Are there lots of things you lack?

Is your life made up of misery?

Then dump the one percent off your back.

Are your clothes all patched and tattered?

Are you living in a shack?

Would you have your troubles scattered?

Then dump the one percent off your back.

Are you almost split asunder?

Loaded like a long-eared jack?

Mule!  why don’t you buck like thunder?

And dump the one-percent off your back.

All the agonies you suffer,

You can end with one good tax..

Buck up! You orn’ry voters,

And dump the one percent off your back.

If you can, get a copy of the reissue of the 1923 songbook in addition to the latest one.

Joe Hill's Power In a Union
Singing Power in the Blood (at Trinity Baptist Church, Amarillo, Texas) was thrilling. Some hymns soothe, others exalt, this one ROCKS!
Get the latest edition of the Little Red Songbook or the others still out there as reprints and you'll see the changes I chose to make to Joe Hill's words. My changes are in the public domain. The edition I used most was the 1923 version.

A                                            D              A

Would your be free from your burden of sin?

           E                            A

There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood.

                            D         A

Would you o’er evil a victory win?

           E                               A

There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.

                            D                      A

There’s pow’r, pow’r wonder working pow’r

           E                 A

In the blood of the Lamb

                             D                         A                 E7                               A

Ther is pow’r, pow’r, wonder working pow’r in the precious blood of the lamb.

 There Is Power In a Union

By Joe Hill     

Would you have freedom from wage slavery,

Then join in the grand industrial band;

Would you from mise’y and hunger be free?

Then come! Do your share, like a man.

Chorus

There is pow’r,  pow’r

In a band of workingmen,

When they stand hand in hand,

That’s a power, that’s a power that must rule in every land –

One Industrial Union Grand.

Would you have mansions of gold in the sky,

And raise your kids in a shack, way in the back?

Would you have wings up in heaven to fly

And starve here with rags on your back?

Chorus

There is pow’r,  pow’r

In a band of working women,

When they stand hand in hand,

That’s a power, that’s a power that must rule in every land –

One Industrial Union Grand.

If you believe corporations and all they’ve said

Then don’t organize, all unions despise,

If you want nothing before you are dead,

Shake hands with the boss and look wise.

Chorus

There is pow’r,  pow’r

In a band of working humans,

When they stand hand in hand,

That’s a power, that’s a power that must rule in every land –

One Industrial Union Grand.

Come, all ye workers, from every land,

Come join in the grand Industrial band,

Then we our share of this earth shall demand,

Come on! Do your share, like a human.

Chorus

There is pow’r,  pow’r

In a band of working humans,

When they stand hand in hand,

That’s a power, that’s a power that must rule in every land –

One Industrial Union Grand.

The living Martin Luther King

I don't want just one Martin Luther King day this year. I want 52 or so. I'll get them with my new purchase which I want to turn you onto as well. On iTunes and other download sites there is a 17 hour collection of MLK speeches. Google or search for "speeches by martin luther king, the ultimate collection." Here they are on Spotify. Last night I spent 30 minutes listening to the address made at the conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery March. Yes. Selma.
That 30 minutes was worth the $9.99 cost of the download. Really people, snap this download up. The recordings of the speeches are history in the public domain as far as I know and use of them in a classroom is certainly a fair usage of the words of this true American hero. If I were still in the classroom, I would edit the speech, or simply cue up the day's segment of the speech according to the age group of the student. Younger kids can enjoy inspirational moments. English as a Second Language students can appreciate the references to great quotes such as, "My feets is tired, but my soul is rested," and "Josh'a Fit the Battle of Jericho." Teachers can point to the musical use of cadences in Dr. King's speeches. This speech contains the cadences: 1. We're on the move now…;  2. Let us march…;  3. It was normalcy…;  4. How long - Not long.
(This last cadence, in my experience with middle school immaturity, is best taught in the earliest grades.)
A teacher could make lessons for older students directly taught by King in the speech. There is the segment explaining segregation as a creation of politics! Astounding insight. And there is an introduction to the much misunderstood Populist movement.
Teachers, please continue with your lovely stories, but incorporate the living, breathing man as well! His breath is alive and it still vibrates the arc of the moral universe.

Water boarding at the dentist office

I might not be able to go to a dentist again. They water boarded me twice now. I'm only kidding a little bit. It seems that the latest design of dental furniture for patients requires the patient to lie in a horizontal position. The hygienists and dentists actually prefer your head to be lower than the rest of your body, but I said no way so we compromised for a moment. During that horizontal moment (okay, maybe my head was lifted up 5 degrees or so) I pretended to be ok. But when the hygienist finished "brushing" my teeth and I could sit up to wait for the ultrasound cleaning segment, I found myself breathing rapidly. Then I realized that I had not been able to breathe without choking while on the chair, so I stopped pretending. I told them I needed to talk with the dentist and if s/he could not work on me in a more upright position I'd have to forgo dental care. He put me in the most "upright" position he said he could allow. I think he'd put a bend in my knees somehow with the chair - that helped my back-but did not address the issue of fluids building up in my throat. It's like a chair designed to induce the very choking sensation of sleep apnea, and hey, people die from that!
WTF! It can't just be my problem. What if I was pregnant? Aside from the miracle that would be, wouldn't baby be pressing on major arteries? What if I had congestive heart failure? The fluid would build up in my lungs! We're all gonna die in the dentist chair! Arrrrrrgggg!
And, while I'm ranting, what happened to the concept of two people working at the same time? One continuously suctioning fluid and every now and then offering a rinse of mouthwash? And, hey where the fuck is the basin with running water -  you know for you to spit the mouthwash in? I had to get up go into a hall and spit in front of other people. I only do that in bars!
I once had my teeth cleaned by another hygienist who worked alone. One hand bristled with instruments, you know those pin-sharp things they scrape away with. She could have put my eye out! There was no suction device at all, no sink. She could tell fluid was building up so she stopped and said, "Swallow." Eeeeuuuu! Gross.
I told the young dentist that all my life I had gone to dentists without ever having to lean back like that -  there was always a bit of a V-shape in my torso and my head was tilted back for access. He said he was unaware of chairs like that. Bullshit, I thought. But when I speculated that the entire setup was geared to allow rapid work, high turnover, and not even a nod to patient comfort, he admitted, "Actually, it's because the old way of working was damaging to the dentist's backs." Aha.
Well, I wish him a long, healthy career.
Me, I'm going to Mexico and I'll pay cash for my dental work. I bet all those grand old dental chairs are down there. I bet they even have plumbing throughout the clinic with neat basins right by your side to spit in. And I bet I'll never have to swallow such shabby treatment again.

Parody and Contempt

What would happen in the United States if a publication repeatedly drew cartoons of Jesus with the goal of poking fun?  And would it be all the more provoking if the publication were staffed by people of Arab or Persian descent?  Many of our most dangerous gun nuts are "Christians."
It is strange to me that the loudest noise is made when the right of free speech to ridicule is involved, not the right to take to the streets and protest politics. We The Sheep are herded into kennel-like "Free Speech Zones" to keep us from the protective bubble that surrounds that one per cent support groups which comprise our major political parties.
Knowingly provoking resentment and anger in others cannot by its nature lead to positive outcomes. It is a part of free speech, sure, but it's not the part that matters most.

Eli Lilly's troubling "Symptoms of Mania" checklist

I have some pages from an Eli Lilly and Company workbook for mental patients and providers. I don't have all the pages, nor are they in order, but I'll identify the source as best I can. I remember seeing the pages came from the Canadian branch of the company. At the top of the page I read,

"TeamSolutions Workbook 3 Understanding your illness
Session 7 - Symptoms Checklist (Part 2)"

At the bottom of the page I can see the script-style font spelling out "Lilly."
The stated objectives of the worksheets are to:
1. Identify depressed symptoms.  2. Identify manic symptoms.  3. Recognize mixed manic symptoms.

My only problem is with one of the "Symptoms of Mania" number 13. The main learning point of this lesson is that "Symptoms of mania appear when your 'mood thermostat' allows moods to go above the standard range of moods."
Okay, fasten your seat belts, here is a statement of one symptom of mania:

"13. I have my rights and I will stand up for them."

Yes, that is a warning sign of mental illness, my friends. I have my rights and I will stand up for them. So, if you read all my blogs, you will see ample signs that I must not only be mentally ill, I must be dangerously mentally ill, quite probably in need of being locked up!
I imagine that many readers of this blog are also mentally ill by the same standard. Any true red, white, and blue US citizen is mentally ill -  our entire revolution was spawned by sick advice - endowed with God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, indeed! Sicko.
As Americans in general and Democrats in particular focus on who is President, more active politicians (the Republican Party) are busy dismantling far more than the federal government. I worked for a school district that used money intended for students to fight a long, drawn-out lawsuit brought by a teacher at his own expense. The teacher was suing the district for not spending federal dollars on the behalf of English-As-A-Second-Language (ESL) students. He lost his suit. The students lost twice.
There are so many lines of battle in the fight against injustice and yet, I feel most people focus only on one or two big issues. Meanwhile, corporations and their lobbyists chip away on every issue and at ALL levels of government right down to the precinct and school district level. And as we sail on obliviously, even a goddamned pharmaceutical company is establishing the definition of crazy to include standing up for our rights!
To get an even fuller idea of the attack on individual liberty contained in #13, here are the others:
1. I have so much energy.
2. I keep having all these really great ideas.
3. It is fun and powerful to drive fast.
4. Who needs sleep -  not me.
5. I can't focus on anything.
6.Other people can't keep up with me - they get on my nerves.
7. My thoughts are racing through my head so fast I can't keep up with them.
8. I feel very sexy now - I don't want to miss anything good in life.
9. I am too much of a man or woman for just one person.
10. It takes money to make money and I am going to spend and be rich.
11. Who worries about bills coming due -  not me.
12. I have a lot to say and you should listen and benefit.
13…….
14. I am applying for more credit cards because mine are at their limit.

I have my rights and I will stand up for them!!