pomes of buddy don: The Rule of Law

The Rule of Law is obviously not
Their cup of tea since they believe they are
Past paying for their crimes if they are caught –
Besides their crime involved not one cigar.

(ifn ye wonta make a comment, ye gut to click on 'link' below.)

pomes of buddy don: If The People Sleep

If The People Sleep

When lines are crossed in actions that should be
Non-partisan in nature and affect
The purity of justice sea to sea
Then we have fouled what took years to perfect.

When principles by party needs are trumped,
We let the promise of the USA
Be sacrificed for goals that should be dumped
Like tea was flung into the Boston Bay.

We all have heard that justice should be blind
That justice can’t be weighted toward one side
That truth alone is what the courts must find
And bias always means justice denied.

Can our ideals be trashed and made so cheap?
They can, but only if the people sleep.

(ifn ye wonta make a comment, ye gut to click on 'link' below.)

pomes of buddy don: The Unitary Executive in a Time of War

The Unitary Executive in a Time of War

A felony is legal if in war
The President decides he has to act
In ways that violate the very core
Of our constitutional contract.

Thus all those principles to which we pledge
Our allegiance with the flag’s salute
Must be sacrificed much like a hedge
When Presidential power’s absolute.

And if the enemy is not a state
With powers to surrender on a ship
Then such a war might never terminate
And leave us stuck forever in its grip.

We can restore our civil rights, then, later,
For now to be free we need a dictator.

(ifn ye wonta make a comment, ye gut to click on 'link' below.)

pomes of buddy don: The Sick Man

The Sick Man

The man was having surgery and knew
He would be far too sick to play his role –
So he did what he knew he had to do
And put the number two man in control.

The sick man had already shown his hand
When he refused to bless the wire taps –
For law was one thing he could understand
Although his illness caused him to collapse.

Though many have condemned his prudish ways –
As when he clothed a statue’s too bare breast –
I write today to offer him my praise
For what I’ve read has left me much impressed

For even presidential hatchet men
Could not convince the sick man to give in.

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pomes of buddy don: It Is Not Stomach

It Is Not Stomach

The enemy's emboldened still (would someone tell Bob Gates?),
Our use of free speech will not make him bolder.
If exercise of liberty is what he denigrates,
Must we allow our Bill of Rights to moulder?

We do not seem to understand you can't kill an idea
With all the weapons man has yet devised.
How contradictory to think of war as panacea –
For shock and awe just leave us more despised.

The terrorists have no set number that we have to kill
Until terror's cruel practice is no more –
For terrorists are made when demagogues claim it God's will
To use the Devil's arts to practice war.

To win we must take higher moral ground: that's everything–
It is not stomach that we lack but Gandhi, Christ and King.

(ifn ye wonta make a comment, ye gut to click on 'link' below.)

pomes of buddy don: We Were the Great Republic

We Were the Great Republic

We were the great republic – we were free –
Governed by law and not the whim of man –
A shining beacon was our destiny –
The best democracy since time began.

No one could be arrested without charge –
Imprisoned on suspicion, nothing more –
With speedy trials, convicted or discharged –
We were presumed not guilty – but no more ...

For now the president simply proclaims
A citizen's a danger to our nation –
After which he never clears his name –
Instead he suffers harsh interrogation.

The man who swore he'd guard our constitution
Has gladly signed its writ of execution.


(ifn ye wonta make a comment, ye gut to click on 'link' below.)

pomes of buddy don: What Good Is Freedom?

What Good Is Freedom?

Once we were known as the land of the brave
A great people proud to die or live free.
But magnified fears, a tsunami wave,
Convinced us to rewrite our own history.

Instead of brave people, who fear only fear,
We've become cowards who fall for sound bites.
The fighting's for those who must volunteer
Meanwhile let's rewrite that old bill of rights.

For what good is freedom from six feet under?
What good is freedom with terrorists near?
Our president's voice, it rings out like thunder
To scare everyone each election year.

We thought our ideals were manna from heaven,
Now we forsake them as pre-9/11!

(ifn ye wonta make a comment, ye gut to click on 'link' below.)

song parodies of buddy don: America?

America?

My country, 'tis of thee
Land of security, with thee I fear!
Land where my fathers quail
Scared that death might prevail
Liberty has to fail – life is too dear!

My native country, you,
Land where fearmongers spew embellished threats!
We love thy guns and tanks,
For bugged phones we give thanks –
Freedom's for left-wing cranks – have no regrets!

Let rock songs make the list
Give their meanings a twist, sweet right-wing song
Make all things fit our view
Whether they're false or true
Long as we can construe as right what's wrong.

Our father's God, you see,
Demands security – He wants us scared!
Long may your spin produce
Panic that can induce
All of us to turn loose rights we once shared.

My country, 'twas of thee
Sweet land of liberty, for thee I cry
Where freedom once was deemed
Worth more than death, esteemed
Fair price for all we dreamed would never die.


i writ thisn after readin that book name of How Would a Patriot Act by Glenn Greenwald. whut happend to a land founded by folks that wood give up life fer liberty?

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pomes of buddy don: Whom Shall We Trust?

Whom Shall We Trust?

Whom shall we trust to protect and preserve
Our way of life and our constitution,
If the executive, sworn to conserve
It, uses its power for retribution?

Will it be congress to balance and check
Assertions of powers never defined
To let the president's statements reject
The clear intent of the law he just signed?

Or will the courts stand up to proclaim
That even the president must obey
The laws of the land and the very same
Ideals that he vowed never to betray?

Or will we trade cheap our sweet liberty
For the false promise of security?


ifn ye wonta make a comment, click 'link' below.

pomes of buddy don: Or Would That Be Classified Too?

Would That Be Classified Too?

How many plots have we identified
How many bombings obstructed?
Were the plots local or were they worldwide?
And how many have we abducted
And jailed without true judicial review?
Or would that be classified too?

And how many terrorists have we bagged
In casting our nets so wide?
How many evil-doers have we snagged?
And were they indicted and finally tried
In courts, whether legal or kangaroo?
Or would that be classified too?

How has the Patriot act been abused
To target the presidents foes?
And how do we know if it's ever been used
To threaten those who oppose
Whatever the president wants to pursue?
Or would that be classified too?

Are our votes counted?
Our voices heard?
Do we even matter?
Or is it absurd
That we the people believe we do?
Or would that be classified too?


(ifn ye wonta make a comment, ye gut to click on the wurd 'link' below)

pomes of buddy don: You Need Not Be Proved Guilty

You Need Not Be Proved Guilty

You need not be proved guilty to sustain
More troubles than you ever could expect –
For if the president should ascertain –
From phone records he claims he may collect –
That your calling patterns might contain
Suggestions that you might just be suspect –
You could lose the few rights you think remain
And be thrown into prison to protect
Your fellow citizens, for to be plain
They cannot risk the chance you might defect!

Such is the price we pay if we neglect
To keep the president's power in check.

pomes of buddy don: The Bee and The Weevil

The Bee and The Weevil

Some folks compare Bush to Richard Nixon
In terms of arrogance and power lust,
But Bush's nasty habit of affixin'
Signing statements to the laws he doesn't trust
Shows that in terms of presidential evil
Nixon was the bee and Bush the weevil.

full disclozure: i voted fer richard nixon in my furst chants to vote, 1972. i wuz verr disappointed at whut cum after that, but the differnts twixt the two publicans is this: when the publick wuz shown the depth of nixons presidentchull violayshuns, he had the good sense to resine. bush is differnt: he brags about the laws he intends not to execute, not to uphold, but to brake. whenever he duz that, he violates the oath he tuck to uphold the constitushun.

i am hopin that arlen specter kin be this generayshuns howard baker ("What did the President know and when did he know it?"). but i fear he will be brung under the wheel lack ever other publican. i pray fer a patriot to emerge frum amung them publicans, but seems lack we only git partisans. we will see whuther arlen specter cums thru on this: Hearing vowed on Bush's powers; Senator questions bypassing of laws.

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pomes of buddy don: He Is a Crook!

He Is a Crook!

Oh ours is a land of laws, not of men,
Our freedoms fixed by our constitution
And our bill of rights, which we will defend
To the death – be there no substitution!

Yet though we spend more than all other states
Combined on our military machines,
We live as though we were in desperate straits
As if we could be blown to smithereens!

Is there an army, alliance or state
With power enough to invade and win?
No, Sir! For our freedoms to disintegrate
The attack would have to come from within.

And there is the danger, be not mistook,
For our leader admits he is a crook!

pomes of buddy don: They Hate Us For Our Freedoms

They Hate Us For Our Freedoms

They hate us for our freedoms as I'm sure you've heard us say –
So why not make them hate us less by taking some away?
Especially since by doing so, with luck we might detect
The dangerous among the very folks we must protect?
Trust us, we were guided by the very best intentions –
So what if we defied some constitutional conventions?

The fact is we did nothing that should be called "malicious"
By spying on our citizens to see who is suspicious.
We needed to hear what was said whenever someone talked –
We would have asked to change the law but Congress might have balked!
And why should we reveal our hand to some top secret court
Whose judges might not understand this is no easy sport?

Our enemy is not a state – our war can have no end –
If civil rights are in the way, they'll simply have to bend!

pomes of buddy don: two vues

one vue

If we cannot violate
The constitution we defend,
How can we annhilate
The enemies who wish to end
Our liberty inviolate,
Our rule of law and not of men?

I am the president, you see,
The law's for others, not for me.

nuther vue

The Constitution is a piece of paper, after all.
You could frame a replica and hang it on your wall.
You could treat it as you would the relic of a saint
Could pray to it or worship it, there would be no complaint.

But if you are the president of these United States
You made an oath: article two, section one, clause eight.
From that there is no hint that you could be beyond its reach
Your charge is to defend it; if you don't, you get impeached.

i wunder witch vue will win? i know witchn orta.

songs of buddy don: Watch What You Do

Watch What You Do

You better
Watch what you do
Cause they could be watching you
Big Brother
Big Brother

You Better
Watch what you view
Cause they could be watching too
Big Brother
Big Brother

They can
Watch what you say
And who you say it to
Watch who you call
And who is calling you

That's right!
It's legal!
Big Brother!

You better
Watch what you do
Cause they could be watching too
Big Brother
Big Brother

You better
Watch what you read
Cause it might be a lead
Big Brother
Big Brother

They can
Watch what you know
And what you choose to buy
Watch where you go
With their own private eye

That's right!
It's legal!
Big Brother!

You better
Watch what you do
Cause they could be watching you
Big Brother
Big Brother