Mud Sun 2013
First things first, let me set the scene
Let's see, the year is 2013
On TV, there's still nothing worth seeing
But Americans are back in vogue with Europeans
President Obama's in his second term, see?
So now the States has some social currency
They're less precarious
Some say it's the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
Although humanity still has some desperate areas
Disease and poverty are still severe
But the Palestinian state is in its second year
It's full of NGO's and civil engineers
And now it seems like there's optimism everywhere
Except here
This festive era overseas
Just doesn't mesh with the English experience
Of the last six years
Domestic fears of terrorism have led
To increasingly oppressive interference
And now people get arrested as suspected terrorists
And just disappear
How can they accept that?
But wait, let's step back
Who is this political hack with the mid-western accent
Giving the British flack for their decent into madness?
I'm a Canadian ex-pat
I trained as a war reporter
But by the time I graduated
Half the major wars were over
So I investigated all sorts of foreign cultures
Searching for the main sources of civil disorder
I expected to do a story on Burmese border closures
Or something on socialist Ecuadorian soldiers
But when my search for civil disorder was over
I accepted this post, cause there was more in Dover
And since I don't work for a British newspaper
I've escaped the censorship that hides the true nature
Of the new relationship
Between the people and the rule-makers
My column is syndicated to thirty-two papers
And they're not state-owned
Although my editors make known
Their debt to stakeholders
And their affinity for take-home pay
They've got a payroll to make
So they only print stories worth their weight in gold
The first piece I wrote was on Habeas corpus
And on the governments use of NATO forces
To fight insurgents in the Secretary of State's orchards
And on the plain distortion of facts
In official statements and discourses
And then I heard about Dizraeli's organization
Of rebel cells, and his dedicated corps
Who carry the disestablishmentarians' torches
Now there's a story that could make a fortune
Credits
