Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Broken Hearts Are For Assholes


Another performance I attended at the Palladium, NYC, Oct.31, 1981
That's right, boys and girls! That's the message for tonight, the 12th night of Zappadan, the Eve of Unpleasant Realizations, where we are forced to confront uncomfortable realities and either collapse into a ball of quivering emotional crap or GET OVER IT and do something about it.
I have been feeling extremely let down, disappointed and disillusioned by so much of what has been coming out of the Obama administration lately. It's not just a nagging feeling of ineffectual spinelessness...it's a feeling of a ship with out a compass. The rudder is not connected to the wheel...
I have been really disillusioned and sob,
 you might say broken hearted, baby. 
Mistreated and abused like a fool...
I voted for an idea, baby and now I feel I was used, used like a tool...
oooh ooh wooo wooo.....
Today, I read about the conditions under which 22-year-old Pfc. Bradley Manning, presumed to be the source of classified documents published by WikiLeaks, is being held at the Marine brig in Quantico, Virginia. He's been held there for 5 months, but has not yet been convicted of any crime. Glenn Greenwald interviewed "several people directly familiar with the conditions of Manning's detention, ultimately including a Quantico brig official (Lt. Brian Villiard)."and published his article in Salon. He writes that Manning is being held "under conditions that constitute cruel and inhumane treatment and, by the standards of many nations, even torture," conditions "likely to create long-term psychological injuries."
If you read the article, you will see that this man who has acted under his own moral compass, believing that he had an obligation that went beyond country, but an obligation to all of us, not to betray the human race, is being presently held in medieval conditions, before trial...It's not about countries anymore, it's about War Crimes, it's about a sane future, it's about us! 
I remembered this piece by Zappa, Broken Hearts Are For Assholes and it kicked me in the ass today and made me realize that I have to move on and kick some ass! So tonight, on the 12th Night of Zappadan, the Eve of Unpleasant Realizations, perhaps you'd like to check out the legal defense donation fund for Pfc. Bradley Manning. Stop whining, pull your socks up and your fingers out! 
DO SOMETHING! 
BROKEN HEARTS ARE FOR ASSHOLES!

No comments: