Yeah, sure, this song may technically be about about the fight for Irish freedom, fighting against an oppressive British regime, but the sentiment is valid in every nation being oppressed by its government, including our own.

For if anyone believes that the citizens of the United States are truly free anymore, they are seriously deluded. Thankfully, we only have another 6 1/2 months under our current oppressors, who will then retire off to Texas and Wyoming with taxpayer protection for the remainder of their lives.

One can only hope that our next President will help restore that which the current has taken away.

FLOGGING MOLLY - WHAT’S LEFT OF THE FLAG

His eyes they closed
And his last breath spoke
He had seen all to be seen
A life once full
Now an empty vase
Wilt the blossoms
On his early grave

Walk away, me boy
Walk away, me boy
And by morning we’ll be free
Wipe that golden tear
From your mother dear
And raise what’s left of the flag for me

Then the rosary beads
Count them: one, two, three
Fell apart as they hit the floor
In a garb of black
We must pay respect
To the color we’re born to mourn

Walk away, me boys
Walk away, me boys
And by morning we’ll be free
Wipe that golden tear
From your mother dear
And raise what’s left of the flag for me

In his place there grew
An angry festered wound
Filled with hatred and remorse
Where I pick and scratch
‘Til the blood amassed
To silent rage now that fills my lungs
For there are many ways
To kill a man they say
With bayonet, axe or sword
But son a bullet fired
From a shapeless guise
Just leaves the shell of a Thompson gun

Walk away, me boys
Walk away, me boys
And by morning we’ll be free
Wipe that golden tear
From your mother dear
And raise what’s left of the flag for me

From the east out to the western shore
Where many men and many more will fall
But no angel flies with me tonight
Though freedom reigns on all
And curse the name for which
We slaved our days
So every men chose Kingdom Come

But sure as night turns day
It’s the passion play
Oh my God
What have they done
With madmans rage
Well they dug our graves
But the dead rise again you fools

Walk away, me boys
Walk away, me boys
And by morning we’ll be free
Wipe that golden tear
From your mother dear
Raise what’s left of the flag for me

Walk away, me boys
Walk away, me boys
And by morning we’ll be free
Wipe that golden tear
From your mother dear
And raise what’s left of the flag for me

BAD RELIGION - AMERICAN JESUS

I don’t need to be a global citizen
‘Cuz I’m blessed by nationality
I’m a member of a growing populace
We enforce our popularity
There are things that seem to pull us under and
There are things that drag us down
But there’s a power and a vital presence
It’s lurking all around

We’ve got the American Jesus
See him on the interstate
We’ve got the American Jesus
He helped build the President’s estate

I feel sorry for the Earth’s population
‘Cuz so few live in the U.S.A.
At least the foreigners can copy our morality
They can visit but they cannot stay
Only precious few can garner our prosperity
It makes us walk with renewed confidence
We got a place to go when we die
And the architect resides right here

We’ve got the American Jesus
Bolstering national faith
We’ve got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day

He’s the farmer’s barren fields (In God)
The force the army wields (we trust)
Expressions on the faces of the starving millions (Because he’s one of us)
The power of the man (Break down)
He’s the fuel that drives the Klan (Cave in)
He’s the motive and the conscience of the murderer (He can redeem your sin)

He’s the preacher on T.V. (Strong heart)
The false sincerity (Clear mind)
The form letter that’s written by the big computers (And infinitely kind)
The nuclear bombs (You lose)
The kids with no moms (We win)
And I’m fearful that he’s inside me… (He is our champion)
Yeah!

We’ve got the American Jesus
See him on the interstate
We’ve got the American Jesus
Exercising his authority
We’ve got the American Jesus
Bolstering national faith
We’ve got the American Jesus
Overwhelming millions every day, yeah!

One nation, under God…

BILLY BRAGG - WAITING FOR THE GREAT LEAP FORWARDS

It may have been Camelot for Jack and Jacqueline
But on the Hugo Chavez highway filling up with gasoline
Little Donald Rumsfeld spies a rich lady who’s crying
Over luxury’s disappointment
So he walks over and he’s trying
To sympathise with her but he thinks that he should warn her
To prepare to be bombed back into the Stone Age

In the former Soviet Union the citizens demand
to know why they’re still the target of Strategic Air Command
And they shake their fists in anger and respectfully suggest
We take money from our missiles and spend it on our hospitals instead

The Cold War is now over but the stakes are getting higher
I’m frightened of collateral damage
And of friendly fire
And I don’t believe we can defeat no Axis of Evil
By putting smart bombs into the hands of dumb people

Mixing Pop and Politics they ask me what the use is
I offer them my acupuncturist, my masseuses
While looking down the corridor
Out to where my ego is waiting
I’m looking for the New World Order

Jumble sales are organised, all my mates got fat
Even after all this time you can still me a fax
You can be active with the activists
Or sleep in with the media
While you’re waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

One leap forward, two leaps back
Will YouTube give MTV the sack?
Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

Here comes the future and you can’t run from it
If you’ve got a t-shirt I want to be on it

If no one seems to understand
Start your own revolution and cut out the middleman
Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

In a perfect world we’d all sing in tune
But this is reality not American Idol

So join the struggle while you may
The Revolution is just an ethical haircut away when you’re
Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

Ostensibly, this is supposed to be a cycling and/or skiing related blog … but over the years it has certainly developed into so much more … and for those of you who continue to come back and read my scribbles, I am grateful for your indulgence.

It’s 9 months until the actual 60th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but as we in the United States approach our upcoming Presidential election, maybe it’s time to re-examine this document … and then count how many of the enumerated rights we as Americans actually have?

Are they truly rights, or are they, as George Carlin pointed out on his recent HBO special, merely temporary human privileges, which can be granted, and yet also revoked by a government?

In case you really have problems, think about World War II, during which about 120,000 people of Japanese descent, of which about 72,0000 were American citizens, were forcefully relocated from cities along the West Coast and placed into remote desert internment camps.

Okay, so that was 1942, before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was ratified by the members of the United Nations … so how’s this for a few examples?

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Shall we discuss waterboarding?

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

How about Gitmo?

And here’s one of my favorites:

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

And yet, the current administration has continually curtailed citizens’ rights to privacy, resorting to warrantless domestic wiretaps.

An aphorism, often attributed to Benjamin Franklin states: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

Think about it. What do you want your future to look like?

I don’t think it’s a secret who I’m supporting … but regardless of yours, my, or anyone’s political beliefs, if you are in a Super Tuesday primary state, be sure to go vote tomorrow.

I don’t care who you support. Well, that’s a lie; I do care, but what matters more is that you vote.

It’s the only duty that we, as American citizens, should never fail to fulfill.

Vote.

And then do it again on November 4.