Dean Lawrence R. Velvel: The New Big Lie

I.

Congress -- the Democrats in particular -- have again shown
. . . . . they are a pack of lying cowards
With whom it is perfectly useless to remonstrate.
They have once again given the Administration a bearer check
Enabling it a horrid war and endless killing to perpetuate.
They have done it on a claim they know is a lie,
But which from their lying mouths in Viet Nam did,
. . . . . and in Iraq continues to, emanate.
Not this time “The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est/Pro patria mori,” as in
. . . . . World War I, but now a different lie;
One which says funds for the war they cannot terminate
Because this would mean they are not protecting, but
. . . . . are abandoning, the troops,
And would leave the troops to a deadly fate.
That this is a mother fucking lie of the first -- and worst -- order
Is a point it takes no genius to appreciate.
For any fool can know that a bill cutting off funds could,
. . . . . should and would allow monies to be used to protect our forces
During their withdrawal from the failed state that is not truly a state,
But only a middle eastern geographical expression created by the British in the 1920s
To overarch a territory filled with warring religious wackos who have for
. . . . . centuries sought each other to obliterate.
But the people in Congress quite wrongly fear loss of election
. . . . . unless they lie and do the wrong thing.
So they continue with the newer lie -- they continue to prevaricate
By saying the troops will not be supported, but instead will be abandoned,
If Congress saves their lives by enacting a cut off of funds in order
. . . . . this awful war to terminate.
As said, no longer is the lie the one identified by Wilfred Owen:
. . . . . “Dulce et decorum est/Pro patria mori.”
No: That the troops will be abandoned is the new lie that
. . . . . the mother fucking cowards in Congress asseverate.

II.

What does this mean for the country of our birth, the
. . . . . one Lincoln thought the last best hope of earth?
It means that any lying incompetent, wholly obstinate
. . . . . fool for whom fundamentalism is his barbiturate,
Is for him what laudanum and cocaine
. . . . . were for people in the 19th Century,
Will be able to keep us in war endlessly because he is
. . . . . the kind of person who will perseverate
In pursuit of evil, which he confuses with good;
A melding of ideas that only the stupid or a nut job
. . . . . could conceivably conflate.
We will stay in war for years and years and more
Until there are enough deaths his bloodlust to sate.
Which will be very hard, indeed impossible, to do
Because he is so incredibly obstinate
Notwithstanding any and all contrary evidence
. . . . . which continuously arises,
Evidence he ignores because he sees himself
. . . . . as the new Lincoln incarnate
As he continues careering through a
. . . . . life filled with failure and delusion,
This latest one, in all its many policy ramifications,
. . . . . perhaps callable Bush-and-Cheneygate.

III.

And as our men continue to die in Iraq
A war by which Bush has managed our sworn enemies’
. . . . . number to vastly inflate,
The lying, cowardly members of Congress we can be sure
Will continue to do nothing effective, but will continue only to verbally masturbate.
While the two sides’ bombs and shells and bullets
Will continue Iraq to despoliate:
The legislators will continue to pretend that they are taking action
When in reality they are, as in Viet Nam, doing
. . . . . nothing but mouthing the empty words
. . . . . by which motherfucking politicians politically defecate
Upon the minds of citizens --
Including citizens whose children, unlike those of the motherfucking pols,
. . . . . will never from college or higher graduate,
Because their lives will be snuffed by those
Who due to Bush have learned America to hate.
There are no words, there simply are no words.
There are no words meaningful enough to sufficiently commiserate
With those who have suffered this enormous loss
Because of the War that the stupid, motherfucking, nut job did create;
The war whose enlargement and ever expanding numbers and violence
He and the Dickhead did so much to generate
Because truth to them could not get through,
Could not their thick skulls penetrate;
The more so because truth is not a virtue
The cowardly lying pols of America seek to cultivate;
Contemptible lying pols – pols being a genus
Which in America struggles to be even third rate.
So there are thousands here and hundreds of thousands abroad,
Who already weep or in future will weep, will be emotionally prostrate
Because of the war and the man to whom Henry II’s question applies;
While Congress, where one learns to acculturate
To, and propagate, lies and half-assed bullshit,
Continues its lies and does nothing to stop the killing insensate.
There are no words. There simply are no words.*

* This posting represents the personal views of Lawrence R. Velvel. If you wish to comment on the post, on the general topic of the post, or on the comments of others, you can, if you wish, post your comment on my website, VelvelOnNationalAffairs.com. All comments, of course, represent the views of their writers, not the views of Lawrence R. Velvel or of the Massachusetts School of Law. If you wish your comment to remain private, you can email me at Velvel@mslaw.edu.

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