WHAT ABOUT THESE KIDS' RIGHT To LIFE (or is Mass Murder not quite an abortion)? AR Redux and Where Have All Real Americans Gone?
When does it end??????????
Seems like every year I feel compelled to post my anti-automatic weapons for lay public consumption poetic rant. Of course, another mass murder, or two, or three... may be the source of my outrage! Here's the note for the original post in 2016. Bob, what happened... "The Times Don't Seem to Be Changin." Well, perhaps they are, but damn, seems for the worse. In the last ten days, Buffalo, Laguna Beach, today, Uvalde High School, TX, and I’m sure I’m missing a few.?Below is my original intro and poetic parody written in 2016, “triggered” by the killing of dozens of people in the Orlando Night Club.?Then another political lyric to the tune of the folk classic, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.”?Peace and Protest. Mark Gorkin, The Stress Doc
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Like so many, I had a paradoxical mix of reactions to the Orlando mass killing:?1) first I was startled and sickened, and 2) I quickly sealed over; just another day, week, or month in the US of A.?But as my anger smoldered, I read something that revealed a common thread.?Then my brain came up with an ironic twist, ala ‘60s Harvard physicist, pianist, and political-satirical lyricist, Tom Lehrer.?Initially, the mathematical riddle may prove somewhat confusing…but, please, bear with my little irony.?To say any more would spoil the game!?
When Fifteen Times Four Equals One Hundred and Four (by now much, much more):?A Politico-Mathematical Riddle
?Warning:?This verse may be hazardous to the 2nd amendment addicted and rigidly constitutionally-impaired!
It’s time for a lesson
Today’s times table session:
When does 15 x 4
Equal one hundred and four?
?
Do I have your attention?
It’s a life and death question.
AR(e) you ready to play havoc with me?
Here’s a clue:?go waste the “e parentheses.”
?
Okay, to solve this critical problem
Sing the fiery national anthem
Shout that “Red BULL” slogan:?Go ahead…Make My Day!
Of course, bow down to the new guard – the NRA.?
?
Now, putting two letters in front of 15
Makes you more than Clint “lean-and-MEAN.”
I gave you a hint, a few lines above:
Enough of this hippie ‘60s peace and love!
?
Perhaps I’ve been too clever by half
Ready to give this game-poem the shaft?
But wait…just kill the (e), grab that AR
Now you can do damage from near and afar.
?
AR is tactical
Who needs an ARmory
AR is radical
You are your own ARmy.
AR is surgical
Can rip open an ARtery.
AR is mystical
Crazed crusader ARtistry.
?
For AR alone seems but a trifle
But AR-15…makes an ASSAULT RIFLE!
AR + XM ** and all types in between
You too can be a mass murder machine.
?
Now I said 4 but who’s keeping score?
In fact…46 mass shootings since 2004. ***
While religious terror is in the design
But so too VTech and, of course, Columbine.
?
But from our four…oh what liberal furor
Starting with Newtown and then Aurora.
A workplace party in San Bernadino
A gay nightclub in Disney’s Orlando.
(Oh yes, that black church in Carolina.)
?
The Second Amend is starting to trend
We all have a right to buy a “best friend?” ****
With a cool option for the street hunting scene
A high-capacity killer magazine!
?
15 x 4 may not equal sixty
When 15 x 4 totals all those dead bodies.
So when is the next rapture of wrath?
15 x 4…Just do the math!
?
AR is tactical
Who needs an ARmory
AR is radical
You are your own ARmy.
AR is surgical
Can rip open an ARtery.
AR is mystical
Crazed crusader ARtistry.
**?XM – BushmsterXM15 was the automatic weapon used in the Aurora, CO killings
***?2004 – According to June 16, 2016, “Make It Stop:?Boston Globe tweets every mass shooting victim since 2004” (when the assault weapons ban expired), there have been 47 mass shootings and 411 people killed; another news source cited 46 shootings
****?“best friend” – AR-15 has been called “the mass murderer’s best friend”
??Mark Gorkin?2016
Shrink Rap ? Productions
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Where Have All Real Americans Gone?
Alas, Mass Murder Lyrics Never Get Old!
Where have all the children gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young males gone, long time ago?
Where have the “adults in the room” gone?
Swiping or shooting till night’s early dawn
Worshiping “killer-kid”-vids; no chants for mother sun
All lost in Silicon-blue state ‘rhythms everyone…
When will they ever learn, when will their minds start to burn?
Oh, when does a soul stop to yearn?
?
Where have all the immigrants gone, long time passing?
Where have all people of color gone, long time ago?
Where has all our humanity gone?
Caged in categories: “other,” “strange,” ALIEN!
Your only chance… to be on the run.
Even Miss Liberty sneers:?Who says “pursuit of happiness” is for everyone?...
When will they ever learn, when does a soul stop to yearn?
Oh, when will our minds start to burn?
?
Where have all the patriots gone, long time passing?
Where have all the MAGAs gone, long time ago?
Where have Alt-righteous red-state people gone?
Wrapped in red, white, and blue, you son of a gun
Saying prayers for all whose rapid-fire time has come
Bought and sold in NRA pockets everyone…
When will we ever learn, when will their souls start to burn?
Oh, when will our times ever turn?
?
Where have all the crazies gone, long time passing?
Where have the mentals gone, long time ago?
Where have the easy scapegoats gone?
Do they idol-eyes the White-Hot American Way?
That good ol' boys’ arms and industry DNA
Profit Trumps people; you can pay or just “hate” to play
As tweet-sites scream:?Just leave the USA or "Make My Day!"
Or, perhaps tried and true – just get on your knees and pray
But who can you blame when we’re all blown away?
?
When will we ever learn?
When will we once more yearn?
When will our souls start to burn?
Oh, when will these times ever turn?
??Mark Gorkin?2019
Shrink Rap ? Productions
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