What Planet Are You On?

What Planet Are You On?

by C.A. Matthews 

Reality isn’t to everyone’s tastes.

 

This is most evident in the the comment sections of blogs and social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. When someone responds to your carefully thought-out comment with a string of curse words, or worse, a nonsensical tirade that begins, “Climate change is a vast Russian-financed conspiracy begun in the seventeenth century by the horse antibiotic pharmaceutical manufacturers working for anti-vax Illuminati sex traffickers led by the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein,” you gotta wonder. What planet do they live on?

 

Can’t they observe the severe rise in summer temperatures and wild changes in the jet streams? Can’t they see how much money is changing hands behind the scenes so politicians are more than willing to bend over backward and protect blatant pedophiles? Can’t they understand that Sleepy-Creepy-Jim-Crow-Joe-Warmonger isn’t a “charismatic and dynamic president”? (Yes, some poor deluded fool actually wrote that on a post on Facebook. No, I don’t think they were joking.) Perhaps when you’ve been convinced that, “War is peace,” and “Ignorance is strength,” you don’t really exist in this reality after all?

 

Here’s my attempt to write a protest song from the ear worm that crawled into my mind and kept repeating itself this week: What planet are you on?

 

 

[If you don't want to subject yourself to my attempts at lyric writing, please send money to https://ko-fi.com/therevolutioncontinues or https://paypal.me/camatthews or else I might be tempted to do it again. You have been warned.]

 

What Planet Are You On? (a protest song)

Verse 1

Some days it’s bad—everything seems wrong

But folks say “So what?”

What planet are you on?

 

Verse 2

Cluster bombs fall like rain—we act like King Kong

But why should we care?

What planet are you on?

 

Refrain 1

When up means down and left means right

The propagandists sleep well at night

It makes no sense to fight their lies

Just plug your ears to crush those cries

Verse 3

The temps in May hit one-twenty-one

I say this is Earth

What planet are you on?

 

Verse 4

A governor moved guest workers along

Now no one picks crops

What planet are you on?

 

Refrain 2

When Neo-Nazis do as they please

We give them arms and tanks as a tease

A proxy war makes money by shootin’

Raytheon rakes in profits, blames it all on Putin

 

Verse 5

When CNN gives no word from across the pond

Who needs to know facts?

What planet are you on?

Verse 6

When journalists are jailed for oh-so long!

What’s “freedom of speech”?

What planet are you on?

 

Refrain 3

They’ll keep us scared and fed with lies

With no responsibility or alibis

We’re folks with no morals or scruples

Benedict Arnold calls us his pupils!

 

Verse 7

When nukes start flying, the bells ding-dong

Build my own bomb shelter?

What planet are you on?

 

Verse 8

Oceans rise, tsunamis ring Earth like a gong

There’s no climate change?

What planet are you on?

 

Refrain 4

Smoke and pollutants fill hazy skies—

That choke and maim your kids—makes you cry

But billionaires continue to do as they please

‘Cause capitalism depends on war and greed!

Verse 9

When folks ask me what’s up with this song

I'll look askance and shout—

What planet are you on?

 

Verse 10

If killing and fighting makes us strong

Then we don’t belong here

‘Cause the planet has been wronged!

 

Refrain 5

It’s time to march—take to the streets

Our planet to save, our souls to keep

The future’s ours if we all get along

Then we’ll never need ask, “What planet are you on?”

 

 

Related Articles and Interesting Links:

ORDINARY PEOPLE BY THE MILLIONS https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/ordinary-people-by-the-millions

US Asset Managers Have ‘Significant Investments’ in Nuclear Weapons and Cluster Bombs: Analysis https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/19/us-asset-managers-have-significant-investments-in-nuclear-weapons-and-cluster-bombs-analysis/

 

Covid's Origins and the Death of Trust

https://www.racket.news/p/covids-origins-and-the-death-of-trust

 

Matt Taibbi: ‘In Their Labs’: Fifteen Illuminating Passages in the Proximal Origin Chats and Emails https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/19/matt-taibbi-in-their-labs-fifteen-illuminating-passages-in-the-proximal-origin-chats-and-emails/

 

Virgin Islands Sues JP Morgan For $190 Million for doing business with Jeffrey Epstein (clip) https://youtu.be/mWgRHmqxJ5U

 

Victims of Migrant Boat Tragedy Are Casualties of the US “War on Terror” https://truthout.org/articles/victims-of-migrant-boat-tragedy-are-casualties-of-the-us-war-on-terror

 

The Hype of Nuclear ‘Renaissance’ https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/20/the-hype-of-nuclear-renaissance/

 

What Should We Do With The Perpetrators Of The Climate Crisis?

https://popularresistance.org/what-should-we-do-with-the-perpetrators-of-the-climate-crisis/

 

Modern ‘Sixth Mass Extinction’ Event Will Be Worse Than First Predicted https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2023/07/19/modern-sixth-mass-extinction-event-will-be-worse-than-first-predicted/

 

Carbon Budget to Limit Temperature Rise Ticks Away as Climate Clock Drops Below Six Years https://truthout.org/articles/carbon-budget-to-limit-temperature-rise-ticks-away-as-climate-clock-drops-below-six-years/ 

 

Tribes Take The Lead On Regenerative Agriculture

https://popularresistance.org/tribes-take-the-lead-on-regenerative-agriculture/

The Empire Knows It's Pouring Ukrainian Blood Into An Unwinnable Proxy War https://open.substack.com/pub/caitlinjohnstone/p/the-empire-knows-its-pouring-ukrainian

In Ukraine, US Adds to Barbaric Cluster-Bomb Legacy https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/21/in-ukraine-us-adds-to-barbaric-cluster-bomb-legacy/

Biden's War: WWIII https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com/p/bidens-war-wwiii

House and Senate Set Up for Fight Over How Much Military Aid to Give Taiwan https://news.antiwar.com/2023/07/20/house-and-senate-set-up-for-fight-over-how-much-military-aid-to-give-taiwan/

What We Can Still Learn From J. Robert Oppenheimer https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/21/what-we-can-still-learn-from-j-robert-oppenheimer/

Establishment Tool Says Jill Stein Voters Regret their Vote - But Can’t Find One! https://youtu.be/xm11h21VkIY

‘Underground Climate Change’ Is Shifting Chicago’s Foundations
https://popularresistance.org/underground-climate-change-is-shifting-chicagos-foundations/

19-Year-Old Girl Sent to Jail for Self-Managed Abortion in Nebraska https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/22/19-year-old-girl-sent-to-jail-for-self-managed-abortion-in-nebraska/

60 Years After the March on Washington, 1 in 3 Black Children Live in Poverty https://truthout.org/articles/60-years-after-the-march-on-washington-1-in-3-black-children-live-in-poverty/

Tijuana Groups Protest Border Wall Construction At Friendship Park https://popularresistance.org/tijuana-groups-protest-border-wall-construction-at-friendship-park/

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

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More details to come. Power to the people!

A Sing-Along Capitalist Christmas

Ho, ho, ho! Have we got a surprise for all you good little girls, boys, and non-binaries!

 The Revolution Continues proudly presents "A Sing-Along Capitalist Christmas" for your holiday enjoyment. So call the family together, pull up a chair, and sit down and relax while leading lefty parodists like Don Caron at the Parody Project and Randy Rainbow share the real meaning of a Sing-Along Capitalist Christmas. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/ehmfytvA0V0


https://youtu.be/azEDPKHBUIg 


https://youtu.be/_V4Io_bW_EQ 


https://youtu.be/dfSYXwarxwQ


https://youtu.be/1DUYZQHeqjI

https://youtu.be/Nv4207c9M74 

And what could be more heart-warming than your typical American family sitting down for Christmas dinner...

https://youtu.be/VxVXYp2KIeE 

But remember above all else:

 

***

 Celebrating the Solstice--Saving the Planet

Some shots of the Solstice sun and area climate activists by C. A. Matthews

Peace on Earth from your friends at The Revolution Continues!

*** 

Twenty Percent of Children in the U.S. Can't Afford to Eat or to Buy the Basics They Need. Demand Lawmakers Take Action Now!

Sign Now

The United States has the resources to make sure every child in the country has what they need to survive. So why are millions of children still living in poverty? The United States is one of the richest countries in the entire world, yet a full 21 million children live in poverty in the U.S. That's one in five who don't have enough food to eat, or whose families can't afford basic necessities. Luckily, Democratic legislators are now proposing a simple idea: provide monthly cash payments to all but the wealthiest families in the country. Let these lawmakers know you stand behind their plan to help America's children. Cash payments for parents and families might sound like a radical idea, but many European countries already provide exactly that to make sure everyone is taken care of. And it works. It's possible here, too, if we can create a groundswell of public support. Tell legislators: we want to take care of every child in the United States. Thank you for all that you do, Corey H. The Care2 Petitions Team P.S. In one of the wealthiest countries in the history of the world, there's no reason any child should live in poverty. Tell lawmakers to pass a law guaranteeing that the basic needs of every child in the U.S. are met.

Curing America (And Jill Stein Live!)

Jill Stein Live!

We recently traveled to Capital University in Columbus, Ohio to see Jill Stein in person. More of our photos are posted below this week's topic of health care, which is one Dr. Stein has a lot to say about. (You can watch Jill's speech at Capital U. on  this Facebook video.)

Curing America
By Cindy A Matthews

There's a serious illness in the air, and it's highly contagious. I'm not talking about the Zika virus or the upcoming flu season, either. I'm talking about the disease of greed and the accompanying symptom found in its wake of its many victims, the sickness of despair.

We need a cure. Asking corporate America, those who created and nurtured the disease, to provide one for us is a good definition of insanity. Allowing the instigators of this disease, Big Pharma, to regulate themselves and continually exploit the sufferers goes well beyond anyone's definition of insanity. 

Insanity and injustice... Isn't this what was exposed to us in the recent EpiPen controversy (A $300 pen holding $1 worth of medicine) involving the grossly overpaid  CEO of Mylan, Heather Bresch, and her daddy, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia? Isn't it insane to think that this isn't the first time something this despicable has happened in the good ol' USA? Remember Martin Shkreli? Isn't it insane to think this chart of drug price comparisons from a year ago is a good thing? (Add in the fact that in most other countries universal health care pays the full price of these life-saving drugs, and then you can truly see the injustices of our so-called "health care". (Consider this comparison of the US to other countries.)

 How do we cure ourselves of this disease of greed foisted on the American public by a privately-controlled system? Why do we shy away from demanding universal health care for all Americans? What should be our response to this unjust  system of non-health care?

 Yet another song lyric jumps into my head in reply. To quote the Twisted Sister rock classic: "We're not gonna to take it! No, we ain't gonna to take it! We're not gonna to take it anymore!"

That rock anthem should become our rallying cry. Why? A lot of folks lately have been expending energy arguing and moaning about how Bernie Sanders isn't the nominee and how the crooked DNC stole the primary election. Yes, those are sad things, rightfully to be mourned, but sitting around and doing nothing while there are positive things we could be doing to change America and the world for the better is a complete waste of time.

Bernie (and many other progressives) have given us plenty of ideas of what we should be doing besides catching--and spreading--the sickness of despair. We should be working together on a cure for the disease of greed. What better issue to start with, and make a big noise about, than insanely-priced vital medicines such as the EpiPen? This story by itself could sell universal health care if we put our minds and backs into it.

Think about it. How many ordinary Americans are affected by a 400%+ increase in the cost of an EpiPen or other life-saving drug? Wouldn't these  "non-political" people be angry like we are about what's happening? Wouldn't they be willing to join forces with us in calling out the perpetrators of the disease of greed (the pharmaceutical industry and its lobbyists) and our bought-and-paid-for politicians (such as Senator Manchin and others)? 

This heinous headline about the greed of the EpiPen manufacturers makes for a prime opportunity to bring more on board with the political revolution. 

So, get out there and start talking about it. Write about it to your local newspaper's Letters to the Editor column and post related article links online to get your friends and neighbors talking. Get out and join groups who are protesting the outrage of non-health care in America in the streets and attract media coverage (alternative and Periscope coverage count, too). Make some noise and demand change! (For example, Toledo area progressives are marching in their Labor Day Parade with SPAN--Single-Payer Action Network.)

Because, to quote both the classic film Network and the talented Twisted Sister, "We're mad as hell, and we're not gonna to take it anymore!"

 *** 

And now another look how the disease of corporate greed has affected our hopes for democracy.

The Slo-Mo Corporate Coup d'etat
by Adrian J. Matthews

It's been happening for years, decades even. The corporate world has stealthily infiltrated government at state and national level. Politicians have been bought and bribed. The proposed bills they espouse are more often than not put together by corporations determined to skew the laws of this country to their own advantage. One politician once boasted he could call a lobbyist at any time of the day or night and arrange for them to hold a rendezvous, where said lobbyist would hand over a suitcase full of cash, no questions asked.

Really.

As time passed the corporate behavior became more complacent, their trickery more blatant. Their contempt for ordinary people is manifest. On one occasion during the peaceful Occupy Movement, protesters staging a sit-in in New York City were treated to the spectacle of a one-percenter emerging from his office block to ostentatiously pour a bottle of expensive wine over the heads of those sitting in front.

Contempt, indeed.

US Senator Bernie Sanders woke us all up. His run for President was a roller-coaster ride of jubilation that ended on a sour note when it became obvious the so-called Democratic Party was anything but. It is in fact a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Clinton Family, and they had absolutely no intention of allowing anybody but Her to be the nominee. Allegations of electoral fraud have been dismissed by carefully-placed judges. Bernie Sanders himself was forced to go to New Hampshire, a place where he had great success during the primary to Her detriment, to give his endorsement for her as nominee. (I'm sure if she'd thought she could get away with it, she'd have cut the Senator's head off and held it up to the people of New Hampshire as an example of what happens to those who defy her.)

Post-convention, propaganda moves to discredit Senator Sanders' new Our Revolution movement have been ramped up. Proposed head of the organization Jeff Weaver has been slammed for acting like a traitor and turncoat, a real Benedict Arnold. People who have supposedly been Bernie Sanders supporters all along have vilified him on social media and in the press for appearing to support Her.

It's ugly stuff and so irrelevant.

Why? Because it's not about Jeff Weaver. It's not even about U.S. Senator

Bernie Sanders, although he is owed a yuge vote of thanks for waking us up. Our Revolution is about You and Me, our children and their descendants, and the world we want them to have. For myself, I don't want to leave a world that's owned by the multi-national corporations, where people are no longer citizens of their country but slaves for the rich.

Let's leave this idea of personalities behind and carry forward the idea of progressive values. It's the last thing the one percent want us to do, and so it must be the first thing we do.

We must get involved in government at all levels, beginning with local affairs such as school boards, county commissioners, sheriff, judges and so on up the scale. Our Revolution is the lubricant that will loosen the one-percenter's grip on our world. 

***

Jill Stein at Capital University

September 2, 2016:  Jill Stein arrived in the Columbus, Ohio area about two hour later than her scheduled time of noon--all a part of the challenges third parties face because they don't have big travel budgets. Here's Jill with human rights attorney and activist Bob Fitrakis (to her right) who is running on the Green Party ticket for Franklin County (Ohio) Prosecutor. The Greens are quite active in the Columbus area, and they're currently collecting signatures to put an anti-fracking measure on the city/county ballot. Good luck, C-bus Greens!

Capital University's campus Green Party group arranged Jill Stein's visit to their school. It's heartening to see the Millennial generation working  hard to bring political and environmental issues to the public's awareness. We can only hope and pray they have a better future in spite of their elders' selfish ways.

Former Ohio Green Party gubernatorial candidate Anita Rios talked about how she overcame many obstacles in her life to get where she is today, and how she's never going to quit fighting for a brighter future for all our children.

 Dr. Wasserman of Capital University helps Jill with the question and answer portion of her presentation. Yes, Jill actually takes questions from her audience and the press, unlike another presidential candidate who has avoided speaking to the press for over 280+ days now. And  once again Jill got asked the "Why are you against vaccines?" question.  Dr. Stein repeated that she was trained as a medical doctor and isn't against vaccines. She's for bettering the public's health, which includes vaccination. In fact, she co-authored a book, In Harm's Way, on how toxins in our environment adversely affect child development. You can download the pdf file of In Harm's Way for free at this link.  

Jill is also against the so-called "War on Drugs," which has done nothing but create a "school to prison pipeline" in communities of color in order to make money for private, for-profit prisons. Jill pointed out that the bloated U.S. Defense budget makes up 54% of the total budget and the next items get 7% or less. The Green Party plans to bail out our students from their burden of college debt instead of bailing out "too big to fail" banks.  Greens want to invest our tax dollars into a "Green New Deal" to provide jobs and education to transform America into a first world country. All Americans will have the dignity of work and live free from fear of losing their credit ratings and homes due to medical debt because of universal health care.

We were sunburned from sitting out on the lawn for several hours, but still very happy to have met Jill Stein in person. Jill is a very polite and approachable person. I think that's what makes her a good candidate--you get a vibe that she actually likes people and wants to help them and our world become healthier, happier and safer. Her motto is "People, Planet and Peace above Profits." She's not in the race for the glory or millions. She's in it because she really cares. 

A lot of Berners have picked up on this sense of "Not Me Us" in Jill's Green Party message. Progressives of all stripes can rally around the Green platform with its emphasis on ordinary people and saving our planet, a far cry from the corporate-owned-and-operated establishment parties. The new "Green Party Anthem" debuted this past week at the famous Bernie Cafe in Los Angeles. Rap along with Kor Element's Power to the People on Jill's Facebook page or listen to it on this Truthdig You Tube video.  To misquote Kor Element: Let's "get outta line and vote Jill Stein." Power to the people!