In this weekâs âParade of Bad Newsâ: Yes, the Wrongologist remembers where he was on 9/11, but where we are today is way more important:
Mr. Obama must plan carefully whenever the âCoalitionâ gets together:
Nobody said building an ISIS âstrategyâ would be easy:
After the speech, the âcoalition of the willingâ didnât include the 535 Commanders-in-Chief in Congress:
In other news, hereâs why the NFL didnât get it right the first time:
Todayâs music break is a reflection on 9/11. Itâs still hard to process those events, despite the millions of words written about the attacks. Musically speaking, it was a very creative time. But there were bad calls too. After the attack, a Clear Channel program director took it upon himself to identify a number of songs that certain markets or individuals may find insensitive: No less than 165 songs were purportedly banned, ranging from Peter Paul and Maryâs âLeaving on a Jet plane,â to Sugar Rayâs âFly,â to REMâs âThe End of the World as We Know Itâ, and all songs (!) by Rage Against the Machine.
The music created in the aftermath of 9/11 documents America reacting to our collective trauma. There is sentimentalism. Anger. Calls to arms. Revenge. This long after 9/11, you already know many of the tunes that, like in church, are played on each anniversary, and you know where to find them, they are not here today.
For the 13th anniversary, here are a few songs (and a short film by Woody Allen) that you may not have heard/seen as much that memorialize how we felt after the attacks.
Among the best songs produced after the attack is On That Day by Leonard Cohen from his 2004 album, Dear Heather. Cohen is simply “holding the fort” for a “wounded New York.” No pointing fingers, no aggression, its a healing number to get you started on your day of reflection:
Here is the key lyric:
Some people say
It’s what we deserve
For sins against god
For crimes in the world
I wouldn’t know
I’m just holding the fort
Since that day
They wounded New York
If there was nuanced reaction to 9/11, it was Springsteenâs 2002 album, The Rising. With âYouâre Missing,â Springsteen translates the horror of 9/11 into raw pain:
Lyric:
Pictures on the nightstand, TV’s on in the den
Your house is waiting, your house is waiting
For you to walk in, for you to walk in
But you’re missing, when I shut out the lights
You’re missing, when I close my eyes
You’re missing, when I see the sun rise
You’re missing
Children are asking if it’s alright
Will you be in our arms tonight?
Next, from the British band James, here is Hey Ma. Jamesâ lead singer Tim Booth sings, “Now the towers have fallen, so much dust in the air,” on this title track from the Brit-pop group’s 10th studio album. The song examines the price paid for revenge. Many of us felt a need to avenge the wrong that was done, perhaps by making “choices worse than the fall.” Some images are disturbing:
Next, Juliana Hatfield takes us through the early parts of the 5 stages of grief with her song, âHole In The Skyâ. This is a conversation by the artist and DJ George Bodarky on WFUV, Fordham radio,with her song mostly in background. Hatfield admits that she was terrified about going into New York City after the 9/11 tragedy. She was also too afraid to fly. She talks about creating some of the lines in the song as well:
Finally, a short film by Woody Allen made for the Concert For New York City, 2001. Watch it and laugh:
Best lines:
“I was mugged coming back from the Opera. They took my gas mask, my flashlight, all my Cipro⢓.
(You may remember that Cipro⢠was for the deeply paranoid who thought that there would be anthrax attacks)
Bebe Neuwirth: âI heard that Rudy Giuliani and Al Sharpton got a house together on Fire Islandâ
Itâs 13 years since that beautiful sky-blue September day when our world changed.
Consider the parallelism. Today, as we remember the terrorist attack 13 years ago, we begin another âwarâ against yet other group of Sunni terrorists. Mr. Obama, who was elected in 2008 to get us out of wars in the Middle East, has us on track to lead another âcoalition of the willingâ into the ME. The purpose of this crusade sounds depressingly familiar: To blunt the threat of another attack on the Homeland, despite little evidence that an attack is possible or imminent. And we do this because the people who face a direct ISIS threat canât (or wonât) handle it for themselves.
The rise of ISIS is in part a consequence of US policy in the ME. Our war in Iraq and the subsequent 8 years of Iraqi internal political squabble have left many Sunnis in Iraq willing to support any challenge to the Shia central government. And now, 13 years after 9/11, weâre again strapping on our weapons and heading into war.
So today, letâs talk about the slurry wall at the World Trade Center. The Wrongologist took this photo in July, 2014 of the portion of the slurry wall that remains exposed in the Foundation Hall of the National September 11 Memorial Museum:
The slurry wall is the outer wall of what WTC engineers called the âBathtubâ in the 1960âs:
The bathtub is the 9-block area of the World Trade Center site that is excavated down to bedrock…and ringed by the slurry wall. The bathtub was created to enable the building of the Twin Towers’ foundations, and was ultimately filled with seven stories of basements housing the parking garage, mall, and building services.
Except that this bathtub kept water out of the 70â deep basement. The ground water level at the WTC site is just a few feet below the surface, while bedrock is about 70 feet below the surface. Creating the bathtub required first building a 7-story dam below the water level of the adjacent Hudson River â that was the slurry wall.
After the 9/11 attack, the concern was that the slurry wall would fail. A breach in the wall and a flooding of the bathtub might have also flooded other adjacent below-grade structures, such as the PATH tunnels that passed through the bathtub. The NY subway, built below the PATH tubes could also have flooded with a breach of the wall.
On 9/11, most of the central portion of the wall’s south side (bordering Liberty Street) had moved inward by more than 10 inches. But, it held. According to the New York Times, George Tamaro, a former staff engineer at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who was closely involved with the construction of the trade center, believes: (brackets by the Wrongologist)
[The slurry wall construction]…may have helped prevent the Hudson River from flooding parts of Lower Manhattan
According to Tamaroâs report on the aftermath of the attack, the PATH tunnels in Jersey City, New Jersey, at the Exchange Place Station, were 5 feet lower in elevation than at the WTC PATH Station. Exchange Place became a sump for fire water, river water, and broken water mains discharging into the bathtub. But the slurry wall held.
Looking up at the exposed portion of the slurry wall in Foundation Hall, one canât help but be thankful for the work of engineers and construction workers back in the sixties who built the bathtub, and the engineers and firefighters who stabilized the walls after 9/11. Since the attack, that unseen wall is now a symbol of the resilience of both New Yorkers and America.
But the world has spun off its normal axis since September 11, 2001. Isnât it interesting that 9/11 was supposed to be about America striking back against a foreign enemy of freedom. Yet in the process of attempting to win the âWar on Terrorâ, American citizens have given up a significant part of their personal freedoms. And just this month, we are starting to have a national discussion about how, since 9/11, the US Department of Homeland Security has transformed our local police into a paramilitary force. For example, the Los Angles School District Police got a MRAP (mine resistant vehicle) and 3 grenade launchers.
Schools need grenade launchers now? James Madison said in 1787:
A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defense against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home…
Today, Americans own enormous numbers of weapons. Pew Research reports that the number of guns in the US is between 270 and 310 million, or roughly one for each of us. But, estimates are that about 37% of us actually own all the weapons.
So, today on the 13th anniversary of 9/11, we need to ask each other: What are we to make of a country in which:
⢠Local police are militarizing
⢠Citizens continue to arm themselves
⢠The federal government tramples on our Bill of Rights
Letâs think about what has been won and lost so far in the War on Terror. And letâs think about what remains of our social fabric. Is it as strong as that slurry wall? Will it hold when attacked? Do we still have that same problem-solving genius that built a slurry wall that was strong enough to survive attack?
Is America still built to last?
A Harvard University survey conducted in April found that less than 25% of Millennial voters under 30 definitely plan to vote in November. Thatâs less than one in four, folks.
According to the surveys, Millennialsâ views on politics are not easy to follow. They support big government, unless it costs more money. They’re for smaller government, unless budget cuts scratch a program they’ve heard of. They’d like Washington to fix everything, just so long as it doesn’t grow the government.
There have been three surveys of Millennials this year, by Pew, Reason as well as Harvard. The Pew report also found inconsistencies:
⢠Millennials hate the political parties more than everyone else, but they have the highest opinion of Congress
⢠Young people are the most likely to be single parents and the least likely to approve of single parenthood
⢠Young people voted overwhelmingly for Obama when he promised universal health care, but they oppose Obamacare as much as the rest of the country… even though they show strong support for universal health care.
Millennials are often described as the new “me” generation. They invented the selfie, and they post most of their waking thoughts on social media. They see themselves as controlling their destinies, despite being underemployed, so it may be difficult for one party (or ideology) to hold them for very long. Maybe what they thought was cool, supporting Obama in 2008, is now passĂŠ. After all, Instagram didn’t even exist in 2008.
Some facts about Millennial voters from Do Something.org:
⢠By 2015, Millennials will account for one third of the electorate
⢠50% of eligible young voters (ages 18-29) cast a vote in 2012, amounting to 23 million votes, and 19% of all votes cast in 2012 came from young voters
⢠The majority of young voters supported President Obama over the Republican candidate in both 2008 and 2012 elections
⢠Fewer young voters supported President Obama in 2012 than in 2008. In 2008, Obama won 66% of the youth vote (John McCain won 32%) and in 2012, he won 60% (Mitt Romney won 36%).
⢠In 2012, the youth vote won toss-up states, Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania for Obama.
The Harvard survey shows voter enthusiasm among young people is lower than even in 2010, when Republicans took back the House of Representatives. Enthusiasm for the 2014 midterms is especially low among Democratic Millennials. John Della Volpe, Harvardâs survey director, said:
Young people still care about our country, but we will likely see more volunteerism than voting in 2014…
Harvard surveyed 3,058 web-enabled interviews with 18- to 29- year-olds. Of those surveyed, 48% were male and 52% were female. Other demographic data: 57% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 43% are between the ages of 25 and 29. 18% were married, 11% were living with a partner, 1% were divorced, and 69% had never been married. The survey also found that young women, another key Democratic constituency, are feeling uninspired to head to the polls. Just 19% of women said they were âdefinitelyâ going to cast a ballot, compared to 28% of men.
Part of the reason young people are not interested in voting, experts said, is they donât believe politicians in Washington are addressing issues that matter to them. For example, the poll found that young people are very concerned about issues like wealth disparity in the country and student debt.
Interestingly, both parties seem to care deeply about garnering a majority share of the votes of Millennials, although in the case of Republicans, they seem to want to wait until they all have good paying jobs before trying to move them into their camp.
And for you Millennials, a piece of advice: the best way to make sure politicians continue to not give a damn about your issues is not to vote. Why vote? Let your elders determine the country’s future. Go on, abdicate any role in the decision.
After November, when the Tea Party controls both houses of Congress, and passes laws you may not agree with, maybe then you’ll think about growing some enthusiasm, and vote.
Why are the media so willing for America to go up against ISIS? Why are the media letting John McCain go on endlessly, and why are they acting as if Lindsay Graham is the second coming of Douglas MacArthur?
Our post-Cold War American politicians canât do the intellectual heavy lifting that connects policy to strategy. They are incapable of articulating a realistic vision of the political ends that are the desired outcome of a decisive use of military force.
US foreign policy in the Middle East for nearly a century has been based on one simple principle: Maximize the security of the delivery of fossil fuels from the region to the US. The corollary: While we’re doing that, let’s make sure to maximize the profits of the big corporations that benefit from the oil trade, and the corporations that make big profits by getting America to defend the oil companies.
âI listen to the commanders on the groundâ isnât strategy. And strategy shouldnât be formulated by the military. They have the operational role, but strategy should be based in the hands of our elected officials. Letâs see what Commander-in-Chief Obama says about our strategy for the Middle East on Wednesday. We shouldnât second-guess the strategy BEFORE it is promulgated, we can wait to do that.
Since the administration and nearly everyone else on Earth agrees that ISIS is a threat to at least some degree, the questions are:
⢠In what way is ISIS a threat to Americaâs security? To what extent are they a threat?
⢠What do we want the political end state to be in the ME if/when the threat of ISIS is contained, diminished or destroyed?
⢠What is it worth for America to accomplish this outcome in light of our other, competing, American interests, in the region and globally?
Once we answer those questions, Mr. Obama can give our military leaders definitive policy guidance. The Generals in turn can then give the administration the best possible advice on how military force could secure our aims, or how to use it in conjunction with other elements of national power, such as diplomacy, economic coercion or covert operations.
Moving forward, as McCain, Graham, Rubio and others want, without answering these questions, is another exercise in flailing about, hoping that using sufficient force opportunistically will cause good geopolitical things to happen.
It is important to see that ISIS is different from Al-Qaeda. ISIS focuses on the near enemy, the Iraqi and the Syrian Governments and their supporters, while Al-Qaeda focuses on the far enemy (think 9/11). That should be a pointer for our strategy. The US only attacked ISIS when the Kurdish oilfields were threatened. The message should be that ISIS can do whatever they want in northern Iraq and Syria â once they step out of their box they will get slapped hard.
We should ask if a militant and backward-looking form of Islam is what the people living in Islamic countries want. They are the ones who have to contend with the Muslims who financed the growth of militant Islam, and the Imams who preach it. The citizens in Muslim countries also have to take responsibility for their actions. They can’t just point at the Russians and Europeans and Americans and say “you made us do this.” There is some culpability among the Western powers, but we didn’t suggest, or encourage, Sunnis and Shiites to kill each other. That was a decision made by Muslims, some of whom are in power because of actions by the US.
Solving the problem presented by ISIS is primarily the job of the countries that have common borders with Syria and Iraq. We have a role, but it isnât our problem to solve. The US and its European allies do not possess the wisdom, or the will, or the tools to fix whatever it is that ails much of the Islamic world.
This is the principal lesson that the long Iraq war taught us. The direction of our future ME strategy lies in recognizing that fact.
No doubt, ISIS poses a danger. But for the US and Europe, the present danger is negligible. Regional powers such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran are both more directly threatened and far better positioned to deal with it. Offering indirect assistance might be helpful, however, the US would be better served simply to butt out. We’ve done enough damage.
Letâs ask some final questions on the way to developing a new ME strategy.
First, if it’s unacceptable to have an antidemocratic Sunni fundamentalist regime that routinely beheads people, denies women basic human rights, and uses oil money to support worldwide terrorism – what are we doing about Saudi Arabia?
Second, nobody’s saying that it’s fine for the ISIS lunatics to form a Sunni caliphate. But the regional powers who should able to and interested in stopping ISIS: Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel, Iran, and Egypt must do the heavy lifting. Some have even participated in making ISIS what they are today. Let them clean it up.
If ISIS defeats its local opponents, and then truly threatens the world, there’d be sufficient reason to step in.
But so far, it has not.
It seems that we have nearly reached peak moron, but since WWIII ainât gonna start itself, Mr. Putin and the guys at ISIS are trying to do what they can to move us in that direction:
NATO is happy to get back to an enemy it understands:
Putin wants peace with Ukraine, now that he owns about 1/3 of the country:
Turning to domestic news, on Monday, the Senate will vote on a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. The Democracy for All amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 19, allows governments to distinguish between people and corporations. It wonât pass in the House, so the Koch Brothers will be free to continue marching the Country toward Fascism.
The public finally got behind the issue of personal privacy when nude celebrity photos were hacked from the cloud:
And the fight we really want to win goes on:
Finally, RIP Joan Rivers:
Labor Day is in the rear view mirror. November, and control of the Senate, should be our focus, not ISIS and Ukraine. In fact, the more we focus on foreign affairs, it is less likely it is that we will discuss domestic issues, and the more likely it is that voter turnout will be low in November.
So, letâs think a bit about food insecurity (and music). Economic times are tough for a great swath of our citizens. From the Wall Street Journal:
On Wednesday the Agriculture Department released the results of its annual Household Food Security in the United States survey for 2013. According to the USDA survey, 14.3% of U.S. householdsâsome 49 million Americansâwere “food insecure at least some time during the year in 2013.” The decrease from 14.5% of households in 2012 was “not statistically significant.”
This has been a familiar story for a long time in America. Today, we will listen to only one song, done three ways. The song is âHard Times Come Again No Moreâ. It was written in 1854 by Stephen C. Foster, America’s pioneer songwriter. Foster was born July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of US Independence. That is the same day that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died. There was a short, sharp recession in 1854 that saw an 18% drop in economic activity. As in all recessions and depressions, the poor got hit the hardest. Here are some of Foster’s lyrics from 160 years ago:
Let us pause in life’s pleasures and count its many tears,
While we all sup sorrow with the poor;
There’s a song that will linger forever in our ears;
Oh hard times come again no more.
Chorus:
Tis the song, the sigh of the weary,
Hard Times, hard times, come again no more
Many days you have lingered around my cabin door;
Oh hard times come again no more.
Even though it sounds as if it could have been written recently, this is a traditional piece of American music. Food insecurity has been around for a long, long time.
Here are James Taylor and Yo Yo Ma performing the song. It is from the CD “Appalachian Journey“. James Taylor and Yo Yo Ma are joined by Edgar Meyer and Mark O’Connor:
James Taylor and company do a lovely job. The sad part is that it demonstrates that not much has changed in the past century and a half: the poor still suffer in this land of plenty.
Next, Mavis Staples recorded the song in 2004 as part of the CD “Beautiful Dreamer – The Songs of Stephen Foster“:
Finally, a rousing version from Tommy Fleming, who has been called the âVoice of Irelandâ and is one of Irelandâs top entertainers. This song is from the âVoice Of Hopeâ DVD Recorded at Knock Basilica, in County Mayo:
Steven Foster’s prayer, “Hard Times Come Again No More” has not been answered in 160 years.
Syria, Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and ISIS: We have to do something! Whatâs the plan, Obama? In fact most Americans have heard that Mr. Obama said âwe donât have a strategy yetâ to deal with ISIS.
WTF? In fact, Obama was speaking solely about ISIS in Syria. A reporter asked last Thursday:
Do you need Congressâs approval to go into Syria?
Obama replied:
We donât have a strategy yet…We need to make sure that weâve got clear plans, that weâre developing them. At that point, I will consult with Congress
This has led to the âWe have to do somethingâ chorus. Consider Fox Anchor Heather Childers:
https://twitter.com/HeatherChilders/status/506918798298198018
Ever hear of the âPoliticianâs Syllogismâ? It is a logical fallacy that takes this form:
1. We have to do something
2. This is something
3. Therefore, we have to do this.
Sound familiar? We see and hear it every Sunday morning on âBloviating with The Old Punditsâ, also known as the network week in review shows. Here is what this can lead to: The Hill reports that House and the Senate are considering action to âdo somethingâ:
Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-Va., said in a statement Wednesday he will introduce legislation when Congress reconvenes next week that would authorize the use of military force against ISIS and other terror groups around the world, including al Nusra, Ansar al Sharia, al Shabaab and Boko Haram
House Speaker Boehner said in an appearance on conservative Hugh Hewittâs radio show that the president will need congressional authority if he wants to strike at ISIS in its Syrian strongholds:
…If heâs going after ISIS…I think he would have to provide a War Powers notification to the Congress…And then it would be up to the House to make a decision about whether we dealt with the issue or not
Are you feeling better? We saw the pitfalls of âWe must do somethingâ following 9/11. Initial reactions to the attacks on America were shock and confusion. Traditional ideological divides were blurred, but then the Right trotted out a line that resonated with all Americans and caused the antiwar left to dissolve: We have to do something!
In US political speak, the one thing we have to do “something” about always refers to a foreign policy concern. Politicans don’t feel that we “have to do something” about domestic problems. Poverty? No need to act. Corrupt bankers? Inaction is fine.
In foreign policy, when a crisis flares up overseas, and especially if it involves possible opponents that the War Hawks, the defense industry and the media can categorize as bad guys, “we have to do something” means military action.
But, there are always supplements to military action. Half-measures can come in both military (money and weapons, but no boots on the ground), quasi-military (military and political advisers) and geo-political or diplomatic forms (coalitions, sanctions or embargoes). We can employ some, or all of those options. Or, after careful consideration of our short and long term interests, we can do nothing.
Any and all of that is called âstrategyâ.
And that’s the problem. We need to do something effective that has long and short term benefits, and that doesnât bankrupt the nation. We can drop some more bombs and send more advisers. To have a useful strategy, we have to come to grips with these facts:
⢠We’re going to have to give Assad a pass for killing his countrymen and doing mean things with chemical weapons, because we have to work together on eliminating ISIS
⢠We may need to ally with Iran, a non-democratic and anti-Sunni regime that most Americans think of as an enemy
⢠We may need to confront our allies, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, who have, at best, been âsoftâ on ISIS
⢠We have to accept that we now bomb our own weapons that have been seized by ISIS. Are we OK with more of that down the road, if that is the outcome of arming the âmoderatesâ in Iraq and Syria?
With two beheadings, American opinion is being whipped up by certain politicians and the media to get us to strike back, hard. Fine, but letâs spend a few seconds thinking about WHY ISIS is whacking the hornetsâ nest that is America. We are told that it is to get America to stop the bombing in Iraq.
Could it be just the opposite, that it is their invitation to join in yet another Middle East quagmire?
Could it be that they want a chance to defeat the “sole superpower” on their way to creating their caliphate? The logic of this form of asymmetric terror is pretty straightforward. But our “tough on defense” politicians fall for it every time. They take another bite of the “counter-insurgency” apple.
It may just be that their strategy (emulating Osama bin Laden), is to:
…in any way possible, enmesh the US and NATO in unwinnable wars, and then watch as the imperial powers disintegrate
ISIS and Al Qaeda are playing a long game. By doing flashy terrorist actions they empower the War Hawks and American conservatives. War Hawks and conservatives thereafter use their rejuvenated mandate to insist on crude and violent actions in the Middle East. They push reluctant centrists and liberals to do the same.
America then completely messes up the campaign, and further weakens its economy and social contract.
Perhaps we should let ISIS terrify Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Gulf States to the point where they will all work together to destroy ISIS and its sources of funding instead of begging us to waste American lives and money there.
That is a strategy that is not exactly a do-nothing strategy, but you can already hear the War Hawk chorus, telling America to expect beheadings on Main Street next week.
Labor Day 2014:
(Sunday Cartoon Blogging will return in earnest next Sunday)
We pause once a year on the first Monday in September to commemorate Labor Day, a celebration of (and by) the American worker. Sadly, we live to work and we work to live, and we complain about it all week.Our real national pastime is bitching about our salaries and our jerk bosses. Here are a few Labor Day songs that are not part of the typical songs you associate with Labor Day.
And before you ask, “Where’s ‘Take This Job and Shove Itâ”? That’s an ANTI-work song. Despite the Wrongologistâs support for the sentiment, it doesn’t qualify. Remember, wealth does not create labor, labor creates wealth.
So, play âem loud, even if youâre in your cubicle.
First, here is âSalt of the Earthâ by the Rolling Stones, written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. It was on Beggarâs Banquet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZGPcRyyvc0
The first stanza is the one you remember, but the 4th and 5th are the Wrongologistâs favorites:
Raise your glass to the hard working people
Let’s drink to the uncounted heads
Let’s think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead
Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio
Next, âBright Future in Salesâ by Fountains of Wayne, recorded in Chicago in 2009:
Best line:
I got a new computer
And a bright future in sales
Next, âWorking for the weekendâ by the Canadian band Loverboy. This performance is from 1986:
Technically, now that itâs 2014, the difference is that Everybody is Working ON the weekend.
Here is âFactoryâ by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on 10/2/09 at Giants Stadium.
Factory is a simple 3 stanza song. The meditation on labor isnât simple though:
Through the mansions of fear, through the mansions of pain,
I see my daddy walking through them factory gates in the rain,
Factory takes his hearing, factory gives him life,
The working, the working, just the working life.
We close with âWorking Class Heroâ by John Lennon. This was on his first post-Beatles album in 1970, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. Since the song contains the F-word, many radio stations banned it. The Georgetown University student station, WGTB was investigated by the FCC for playing the song after a Congressman filed a complaint. The station manager, under threat of a $10,000 fine and a year in prison, replied:
The people of Washington are sophisticated enough to accept the occasional four-letter word in context and not become sexually aroused, offended, or upset.
The history of WGTB, a radical-liberal student station inside a conservative, Jesuit university was a great example of the 1970’s counterculture wars. You can read about it here. Now, the video:
The lyric tells the story of growing up to be middle class, back when middle class wasnât working class:
There’s room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
Welcome to the start of the Labor Day weekend. Despite Ukraine, Syria, ISIS, Uzis in the hands of 9 year-olds, and the omnipresent Mitch McConnell, we are here today to listen to songs about the end of summer. The Wrongologist thinks Labor Day feels more like New Yearâs, that it is the start of something new. New academic year, the annual budgeting process in corporate America. Oh, and Congress returns from its self-imposed exile in their districts.
First up, The White Stripes âWe are gonna be friendsâ takes you back to grammar school days when it was time to get back to school. It was the opening song in the movie, Napoleon Dynamite.
Here is a sample of their lyrics:
fall is here, hear the yell
back to school, ring the bell
brand new shoes, walkinâ blues
climb the fence, books and pens
I can tell that we are gonna be friends
yes I can tell that we are gonna be friends
Next up, a new band, Echosmith. They are 4 California siblings who make music that critics call alt-pop. Whatever. The songs are lightweight and summery, the ideal indie pop jams for when youâre a teen, cruising around, or getting ready to go out with your friends. This one shows teen angst about not being one of the cool kids. Itâs called âCool Kidsâ.
Here is the lyric:
I wish that I could be like the cool kids cuz all the cool kids, they seem to get it
Summer doesnât end without the Wrongologist thinking about âMaggie Mayâ by Rod Stewart, since we all have to get back to something at the end of summer. Here is an acoustic version by the Rodster. Note Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones and formerly of Faces along with Stewart, is playing guitar:
Apparently, Stewart wrote this about the first woman he had sex with. It is unclear whether her name was Maggie. Here is the Wrongologistâs favorite stanza:
I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school
Or steal my daddy’s cue and make a living out of playing pool
Or find myself a rock and roll band that needs a helping’ hand
Oh Maggie I wish I’d never seen your face
While we usually have a set of 3 songs, today it is 4. Canât close without âSummer Skinâ by Death Cab for Cutie. The song is about more than just a summer romance ending, it’s about youth and carefree days ending, and how subtle those endings can be. It is from their album, âPlansâ.
Here are the lyrics:
Squeaky swings and tall grass
The longest shadows ever cast
The water’s warm and children swim
And we frolicked about in our summer skin
I don’t recall a single care
Just greenery and humid air
Then Labor day came and went
And we shed what was left of our summer skin
On the night you left I came over
And we peeled the freckles from our shoulders
Our brand new coats so flushed and pink
And I knew your heart I couldn’t win
Cause the season’s change was a conduit
And we’d left our love in our summer skin