LIVES IN THE BALANCE

I don't know if there are any Jackson Brown fans out there or not. I first heard this song on an old Miami Vice episode that had to do with El Salvador during the civil war fought with our support during our proxie war with the Soviet Union. There's a definite Latin beat to the music.

When I listen to this I can't help hearing the voices of Bush and Cheney selling our newest wars as a way of spreading democracy. As if democracy could be passed out so much to the pound with a guaranty that the results will be what WE want. As if we can export democracy when we don't have it at home.


LIVES IN THE BALANCE

I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war

And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where their business interest runs

On the radio talk shows and the T.V.
You hear one thing again and again
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends--
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can't take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
There are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can't even say the names

They sell us the President the same way
They sell us our clothes and our cars
They sell us every thing from youth to religion
The same time they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear somebody asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they're never the ones to fight or to die
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire

JACKSON BROWN

One thing that has happened since the 2010 elections. We know who the puppet masters are now. Shadow masters work best in the shadows. They can't stand it when they're dragged into the light. Yes, they have the money and the media. But we have five of the most powerful words in the English language. NO and MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. Shout it loud, shout it often. And keep shouting until they have to listen,