Vas: The Eagle READS (not bleeds)

I found the lyrics to this Vas Meyers' song called "Eagle Bleeds" at xfamily.
http://www.xfamily.org/index.php/Vas_Myers#Plagiarism

"Have you walked the streets today
With your head on your shoulders?"

What's about the head on YOUR shoulders? As best as I can figure, you've got something like an 8th grade education. It's no big deal unless you're interested in developing a capacity for critical thinking.

"Seen the vice & the decay?"

Yes, and this is what I did about it: This morning I promoted a program called Multi-Systemic Therapy to the county's juvenile justice authorities. It's designed to help delinquent kids and their families get out of the justice system and move on with productive lives. It has an extremely high success rate.

And what did you do to alleviate vice & decay today? Write another crappy song?

"Uncle Sam is growin' older.
He isn't what he used to be,
A true God-fearing nation."

I'm getting older, too, and I can't remember a time when people in the U.S. were more God-fearing than they are these days. It's like we're caught in the grip of a religious mania, for crying out loud. More people in the U.S. say they believe in God and attend church than anywhere else in the Western world. Moreover, we scrutinize the religious commitment of people who run for public office and debate religious values during our elections.

If the U.S. isn't God-fearing, what does that make the Europeans?

"They took God out of State & schools
Only to reap damnation."

Our dollar bills still say, "In God we trust," bro. No one has taken God out of the U.S. Treasury--yet.

But if you'd actually had a chance to attend high school, you would have learned that the U.S. is not a theocracy. Separation of church & state is a novel concept to someone in a theocratic "kingdom" like TFI, but major Christian denominations like the Baptists have fought long & hard to uphold that principle in the United States. Wonder why?

If you attended high school in the U.S. for a week, you'd know that most students do lots of private prayer before algebra & chemistry exams. But any time you want to attend a school where God's name is publically invoked, you're free to enroll in the Christian school of your choice. Is that an option in China?

"I have seen enough to know there's nothing there;
Lies & vanity, home of the bound, land of despair.
I have chosen to take the path of higher ground."

All you have ever seen is life in The Family. As a U.S. citizen, I can admit that my leaders tell lies and are often vain, empty-headed idiots. Can you make the same admission about Mama & Peter? Of course not. Even if the thought entered your mind that your leaders are vain liars, you don't have the freedom to speak your mind.

"Oh, can't you see? America's goin' down."

When & if she does, you're going to be among the first to feel it. Did you ever hear of something called NAFTA, amigo? The U.S. is like the Titanic--when she sinks, she's dragging Mexico & Canada into the deep blue with her. Do you honestly think the rest of the world won't feel it when this high-powered economic engine takes a big hit?

"Foul politics & Homicide
disease U.S. shores."

Yeah, we have dirty politics, high crime rates, and disease, but I always thought this was part of the human condition. Try living in Uganda if you want to sing about "foul politics, homicide & disease." I think Mexico has its fair share of this sh*t going on, too. Have you noticed all those Mexicans crossing the border to get into the United States? What's up with that?

"Doses of lies can't heal the wounds
Of carnality & more."

I like this line. Mind if I plagarize it for the song I'm writing about Mama's incest of her son Rick and Berg's incest of his daughters & grand-daughters?

"So the eagle bleeds its life away
While everybody's dreamin'.
Their days spent in pursuit of wealth,
Nights spent in lonely weepin' weepin'.

Sorry to burst your bubble, bub, but I haven't cried myself to sleep in a really long time. I do spend some of my days in pursuit of wealth, and you know what? I don't have to beg for a living the way you do. Yeah! I pay my own way through honest labor. I also pay for cancer research, food for the poor, public education, police protection, road & bridge repairs, and a bunch of other stuff related to the common good. Earning money and paying taxes is awesome. You should try it.

"It looks so good from the outside,
A number one system."

There are other places that qualify as number one systems, btw. Any democracy in the developed world will work.

The thing about number one systems is that they are preferable to stuff like civil war in Bosnia, genocide in Sudan, poverty in Mexico, prison in China, starvation in the Sahel, repression in Egypt, and illiteracy in Afganistan.

"But while lavished with security,"
You become a slave, a victim
Of credit cards & payments due,
Chained to great illusions."

If you had the good fortune to live my life for a few months, you might get some perspective and begin to think that you are a slave & a victim chained to "great illusions" about the way the world works outside the little pond in which you swim.

"But Jesus can and will free you
From U.S.A. delusion, delusion."

O.K., I'll admit it. Jesus set me from from U.S.A. delusion a long time ago. He also set me from from T.F.I. delusion. Where does that leave you?