"TAX CUTS"

Life is more than just cuttin' taxes.
Fact is you represent yourself and disregard the masses.
Passes, you continually demand. Classless
Bastids for what you did to acid.

LSD, amongst other things I consider personal.
None of your business; I'll paint surveillance cameras purple, yo.
Like Barney and Grimace pushin' poison like in "Serpico."
Torture, so you say, represents the USA?

We gotta pay the right people.
Pray against the sequels to Halliburton, KBR,
FDA's revolving door; All Republican values.
What's in store for the poor?

Third eye's too focused on the all mighty dollar.
Holla at ya boy; come and chat in my parlor.
12 billion per month for a war in Iraq.
I'm payin THAT! My cuz needs some food stamps, so get off his back.

"WOE IS ME?"

It isn't "woe is me"
When I mention poetry.
I'll show; you'll see
How instantly worries can be shed quite deciduously.

Define yourself.
Don't incline yourself
To settle for bottom shelf
When it comes to your true wealth-your health.

Not like marathon running.
Results just as stunning
When you're keen and your cunning
Overpowers the doubt, and the fears of the shunning.

Superior confidence?
Some call it pride.
Frowns, tears all subside
When you pour out your soul and let out what's inside.

"THE WAY THINGS ARE"

The way things are,
Try looking from afar.
Hardy, Har, Har.
Divine distance from the star.

Learning exposes those holes.
Those not known, but to the soul.
Don't disregard your feelings.
Analyze, understand; then start healing.

No need to be alone.
Compounding problems 'cause we're prone
To get stuck in our zone.
Personal choices that we own.

I hope and I wish
That the rope stays loose.
Don't continue what you're doing.
History's dangling our noose.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

Although many Americans have used the "Bush countdown" as motivation to get through the past 5-6 years, now that the end of the countdown is here, the real challenge for us is also here. There's no doubt that the majority of the Bush presidency has been very divisive for our country. And for many of us, opposite the Decider, it has been very frustrating and awfully difficult times. Until now, we could find solace in the mere fact that he would be gone. On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, our 43rd president will do his part. Then, it will be our turn.

2009 is going to be a very challenging year for many different reasons. We're on the verge of another national depression, and in some parts of the country, it's already here. The current wealth gap in this country is already beyond that of the 20's and 30's, so there are already people living in depression-type conditions. We also face the challenge of defining the "change" we have been supporting for almost 2 years. The optimism and hope that has inspired many, young and old, is no longer in the future. It's now.

We're also facing the financial and human costs of two wars. Even President-elect Obama doesn't seem to be slowing the momentum of our war-like foreign policy. We cannot accept withdrawing troops from Iraq as progress if these same men and women are redeployed to Afghanistan. In his final presidential press conference, Mr. Bush finally admitted to some mistakes (or "disappointments," as he called them.) And the big one that stood out to me was "NO WMD'S." This admission, on top of the WMD jokes, shows us that he either doesn't know, or doesn't care that we've been in a permanent state of war mainly because he, amongst others, scared us into believing that we would absolutely be attacked with these punchline, non-existent weapons of mass destruction.

"America must not ignore the threat gathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." ~ George W Bush, 10.7.2002

So the questions "what is going to end?" and "what is going to begin?" are very important to all of us, individually and collectively. We must expand our awareness and not accept the status quo. We cannot judge our 2009 by 2008.

Change for change's sake is not necessarily what's best for us. We must define and make our change. That will be made possible by the bait the Obama Campaign has been wiggling in front of us for some time now - "bottom-up." We must educate our ignorant, feed our hungry, build our pride. We're always told that we, humans, are social creatures, but we're not told how other influences mold our beings.

Ever since Mr. Bernaise made us into "Happiness Machines," with his invention of Public Relations, we've been consumers, too busy to look past the headlines. In this generation of e-mail, IM's, text messages, the "inner-nets," and iPods, we must not succumb to the virtual world to the extent that our social contact and communication is degraded any more. A simple conversation with a genuine interest in learning from one another is far more rewarding and productive than abbreviated language and symbols.

This year marks the end of ignoring our needs, and prioritizing our wants. The beginning of taking the reigns of what's ours, morphing the walk with the talk. Action will be necessary to see what we want. We have the opportunity before us to mold the future by improving the present. It's time to change what we want to change, and for a lot of us that'll start with the mirror.

W., Thanks and Farewell!