Bob Dylan wrote a song over 40 years ago about what's going on in the country today, and I wanted to share it with you. It may be difficult to decipher at first, but take a look at the lyrics and put it in the context of this election season, and I think it will start to become clear. Here's some notes on the 1st verse to get you started: he opens with the stock market crash, he follows by encapsulating the state of the McCain campaign, and concludes it with the war in Iraq.
Take it from there, and I'd love to hear your own interpretations!
By the way you can get a taste of the song for free at bobdylan.com and you can even buy it if it became a moment of clarity for you like it was for me. I recommend listening to the man himself singing it, so that you can really get a feel for his most powerful lines.
It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Darkness at the break of noon Shadows even the silver spoon The handmade blade, the child's balloon Eclipses both the sun and moon To understand you know too soon There is no sense in trying.
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn Suicide remarks are torn From the fool's gold mouthpiece The hollow horn plays wasted words Proves to warn That he not busy being born Is busy dying.
Temptation's page flies out the door You follow, find yourself at war Watch waterfalls of pity roar You feel to moan but unlike before You discover That you'd just be One more person crying.
So don't fear if you hear A foreign sound to your ear It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.
As some warn victory, some downfall Private reasons great or small Can be seen in the eyes of those that call To make all that should be killed to crawl While others say don't hate nothing at all Except hatred.
Disillusioned words like bullets bark As human gods aim for their mark Made everything from toy guns that spark To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark It's easy to see without looking too far That not much Is really sacred.
While preachers preach of evil fates Teachers teach that knowledge waits Can lead to hundred-dollar plates Goodness hides behind its gates But even the president of the United States Sometimes must have To stand naked.
An' though the rules of the road have been lodged It's only people's games that you got to dodge And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.
Advertising signs that con you Into thinking you're the one That can do what's never been done That can win what's never been won Meantime life outside goes on All around you.
You lose yourself, you reappear You suddenly find you got nothing to fear Alone you stand with nobody near When a trembling distant voice, unclear Startles your sleeping ears to hear That somebody thinks They really found you.
A question in your nerves is lit Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy Insure you not to quit To keep it in your mind and not fergit That it is not he or she or them or it That you belong to.
Although the masters make the rules For the wise men and the fools I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.
For them that must obey authority That they do not respect in any degree Who despise their jobs, their destinies Speak jealously of them that are free Cultivate their flowers to be Nothing more than something They invest in.
While some on principles baptized To strict party platform ties Social clubs in drag disguise Outsiders they can freely criticize Tell nothing except who to idolize And then say God bless him.
While one who sings with his tongue on fire Gargles in the rat race choir Bent out of shape from society's pliers Cares not to come up any higher But rather get you down in the hole That he's in.
But I mean no harm nor put fault On anyone that lives in a vault But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.
Old lady judges watch people in pairs Limited in sex, they dare To push fake morals, insult and stare While money doesn't talk, it swears Obscenity, who really cares Propaganda, all is phony.
While them that defend what they cannot see With a killer's pride, security It blows the minds most bitterly For them that think death's honesty Won't fall upon them naturally Life sometimes Must get lonely.
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards False gods, I scuff At pettiness which plays so rough Walk upside-down inside handcuffs Kick my legs to crash it off Say okay, I have had enough What else can you show me?
And if my thought-dreams could be seen They'd probably put my head in a guillotine But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.
Hey, I was just thinking, Palin likes to call herself a pitbull, right? And doesn’t John McCain kind of look like a naked molerat?
I totally agree.
The MoleRat-Pitbull ticket.
I mean, using animal monikers has always been a great way to describe us humans, and since the GOP opened the door by calling Palin an “attack dog” and she even referred to herself as such, let’s take the idea and run with it a little bit.
First, Pitbull Palin.
So the GOP found this bitch up in Alaska, excuse my veterinary lingo, and they put her to work. She came out of nowhere, smiling through her teeth, and proceeded to bash Obama and the Dems in front of almost 40 million people (ooh and didn’t she look great doin it) as if she had actually done something that would entitle her to slander men and women of real accomplishment. As we now know, she has no record to run on (that “Bridge to Nowhere” is a load), she has no experience on the national level, and unlike Obama who actually earned his position at the top of the ticket, Palin was handed her spot and got there by straddling the coattails of John McCain on the one hand and Hillary Clinton on the other.
But none of that matters…she is a just trained hound, and the hound doesn’t ask why it hunts, it just hunts.
And while this particular hound was being trained to attack black guys, the GOP was staging the greatest hipocrisy of the entire election season.
Trying to pin a US Weekly story on every legitimate news organization in the country, the Republican spinfuckers (as they are endeared to me) hurled insults and put pressure on the media as a whole for attacking Palin unfairly the only way they knew it would work… by calling it sexism.
Ooh, sexism. A magical word. It’s like, we should love her for being a mother…but we can’t question her ability to be one. We should respect her stance on abortion and abstinence eduction…but we shouldn’t hold her accountable for letting her underage daughter get knocked up. We should believe in our hearts that she is a strong woman and a maverick that puts her country first…but we shouldn’t question how she sacrificed her daughter to make a personal career move, or tell her that being a extremist conservative who votes along the Bush lines even more than McCain does is NOT very maverick. Not maverick at all, Sarah.
But basically, the GOP wanted to make it clear that we can’t ask any questions about this woman…because she is a woman.
It was ludicrous, but it worked, and the media and the Dems backed off. A stupid move--especially after she came out at the RNC chomping at the bit and made it very clear that she didn’t need this sudden renaissance of Republican chivalry to protect her. She has teeth in that pretty mouth, and it’s time to give her a nice smack on the nose.
Now for MoleRat McCain. Let me start off by saying “with all due respect……”
But you see what I’m talking about, right? A naked molerat is small, slow, pale, wrinkled, chubby, almost completely hairless…you get it. Even his posture and cadence reminds me of a hobbled rodent (keep in mind I said “with all due respect”). But let’s go beyond the physical comparison and get down to personalities, because shoot that’s what the GOP says the American people are really interested in and so that’s what we’re gonna talk about.
But it’s all too easy. What are the two key things that come to mind first when we think about moles (and their mixed molerat kin)?
1) They live underground
2) They are blind (or close enough), due to living underground for so long
People, McCain is blind.
He is no longer living in his own time, Vietnam has passed and is no longer relevant to politics, and by looking at the world from a dead perspective he is unable to see it for what it is. In his mind, he is still in that POW camp somewhere deep in the Vietnamese jungle, completely out of touch with what is going on in the world. He admits that he prefers to “go with his gut”, and that is obvious enough, because when you can’t SEE what’s going around you, you just have to guess.
His solutions are outdated, he knows nothing about the global economy, he was wrong about the war in Iraq…and if he is elected president, he will continue digging and drilling us deeper and deeper underground until this country is good and buried.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to stand by and let this country get dragged into the darkness, and sure as hell not because I was too nice to say something about it.
And finally, tying all this back to Pitbull Palin, let’s mention the “one heartbeat away from the Presidency” thing.
McCain obviously has battled with melanoma, an extreme form of skin cancer, off and on for years now. His condition is exascerbated simply by being exposed to the sun (or to Obama’s glowing aura), and it is entirely possible that if McCain’s staffers did not hang giant tarps over his outdoor rallys that he would have burst into flames by now. So when people express concerns about the woman who would replace President who could DIE just by staying outside a little too long, those concerns are legitimate, and you can’t just keep Palin tucked away in her cage between dog shows…WE WANT ANSWERS.
Tonight, Palin will say "she's not part of the establishment", but both of the candidates on both tickets are part of the establishment, because the old two-party political process in this country dictates that you must first be part of this system if you want to change the system. It is actually a policy that has worked pretty well so far, and yes we have to admit that both parties have now 'shown' their ability to adjust to the changing American landscape.
But only one of these parties is putting on a show. The Democrats are for real. We will actually CHANGE the system, not just put a pretty new face on it.
The REAL maverick, Barack Obama, has already fought the battle to reform the establishment within his own party (something McCain tried and failed to do at the ruthless hands of George W. Bush)...proving that his message of change IS the real deal, and that it is Obama, not McCain, who is capable of coming through on his promises.
thoughts after Palin's speech:
they want to split us up so badly. and don't be "impressed" just because she got all the way thru it...when expectations are so low, it's easy to look impressive. that's what the Republicans are running on--"we might've hit rock bottom, but now the only way is up!"
