Weeping and gnashing of teeth

Um ... if you threaten the President, the Secret Service takes it seriously.

Twice as seriously if you are a teenager from Colorado.

Kids singing a song is threatening the President?

Well, I suppose we do not have the assassination history - or gun culture - that you guys have....sigh..


And what of the second point, about veterans telling the truth about war, and how unpatriotic that is? Do you have an opinion on that?

Someone asked if there isn't a better way to solve the nation's problems. Young people think they are going to war to protect our freedom or to protect american interests. Let me ask, is it the country's interests or is it the interests of certain economic sectors that are being protected? If Eisenhower's warning to us regarding the military-industrial complex refers to economic motivations for war, i.e., the profits to be made by some industries (e.g., energy, armaments, steel, etc.--not all industries), then we might consider the young people who go to battle, and to possible death and maiming, to be a form of cheap labor. If so, it is disgusting and we are dupes, patriotic dupes.

hmmm... well i guess ya could get one of those li'l black hoods from abu ghraib and say you were doing it for the benefit of the grateful liberated iraqi people.

i've posted this before, but it will show that the president is not named in dylan's original lyrics;

Masters Of War

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

No, they said the band changed the lyrics to mention Bush.

But....

They changed the name of their group from "Taliband" (LOL) to "Willing of the Coalition" after a visit from....

The Secret Service.

LOL!

Where'd you get that from, JW. The article posted says there were rumorst that the students changed the lyrics, but that they didn't actually change the lyrics. I didn't see anything about "Taliband".

Ah, thanks revel. I missed that part.

The worry is that kids might start thinking that they are powerless to stop the Bush machine and start doing things other just singing songs.

Readin' the articles, I get the sense the Secret Service did their job. It is by law the duty of The Secret Service to investigate any allegation of threat against The President. They responded to concerns which were brought to their attention, checked it out, determined there was nothing of concern, and went on their way. Without much attention from The Media, they do the same thing quite routinely ... a few hundred times a year. That to which I take exception here is the politicization of it. That is pathetic.

Now, I figure the students are within their rights to say or do as they please, within the law and the relevant school regulations, no matter what.

As for "Telling the truth" to those other students, I do perceive error on the part of that school's administrators; a particular politically charged point of yiew was presented during school hours, the date of the presentation being itself a key part of the political statement. That is politicizing, officially advocating a political position, plain and simple.

I have no objectionthe speaker's point of view being presented to the students, what I object to is the manner of the presentation ... and I would be just as irritated if the presentation had been blatantly pro-Iraq War. Veterans day is not about advocacy of any sort; it is about honor to those who have served, and to that for which they have served. That some would stoop to exploiting the day ... to whatever purpose ... is reprehensible.

While I don't know this, I would be unsurprised if that same school board would prohibit a school-sanctioned, school-hours presentation of a nativity pageant, or of a sinilarly sanctioned program advocating less restrictive regulations perttaining to the logging industry. And I expect many will not understand why there is no difference between either of those examples and the presentation that was put on.


That is even more pathetic.

Wonders still got it wrong, it was a teacher not the secret service.

Gives me the creeps thinking about all these secret service people lurking about the schools anyway.

I don't make the news...I just report it LOL.

It seems to me that where Wonders got it wrong is when she assumed the kids decided not to call themselves the Tali Band after the secret service visit. The article doesn't say at what point the teacher advised the kids. It seemed to me, the way the article read, that he did it before the visit. However, he could have done it after hearing rumors that the SS [ironic designation, isn't it] had been called in. Or it could have been anytime. The point is that the article doesn't say when he gave the advise.

Small point. But as long as we're sittin around, scratching our a$$es, why not obsess over the small stuff?

Seems to be the order of the day, LOL. I was just listening to an account of the incident while reading DTOM's lyrics, and typed precisely what my local evening news station was saying. I hadn't read any articles or anything past p.35 of this thread. (I still think it's pretty funny).

Timber - I agree with your thoughts on the nativity pageant. I'm a teacher and I've seen these school boards' ambiguity on more than one occasion.

It is hard to answer anything on this kind of thread as there are layers of layered sharks lined up in sharkville waiting for a post.

Both of those photos are Wonderful.....

LOL. Osso..........I must admit, I'm growing tired.........