Category: No More Bullshit!

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Those who do not learn from history…

…are doomed to repeat it.

Sadly, this is not necessarily true. I’ll get out the “splainsit stick” in a bit to expound on that.

/curmudgeon’s rant: on

George Washington was not the first president of the United States. Seriously. Now, I know many would deride such a comment as silly, even those who already know, as any student of American history knows, that John Hanson was the first president of the United States of America under the Articles of Confederacy, because some do not believe the United States existed before the Constitution of 1787-1789.

Pish-tosh. If the United States of America did not exist before then, then what entity was it that foreign governments treated with under that name? What authority paid troops, what authority issued the Great Seal of the United States in 1782, if the United States did not exist until the Constitution of 1787 was ratified?

Why is it important that we acknowledge that there were seven presidents before George Washington, despite the naysayers who wrongly assert there was no United States until the 1789 ratification of the 1787 Constitution? Because the Articles of Confederacy form the backbone of the fleshed-out Constitution, just as the Declaration of Independence describes the blood that flows through its veins.

Oh, dear me! Did I just make an allusion to a “living document”? Continue reading “Those who do not learn from history…”

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Black Racism as an Employment Opportunity

[See Update below!]

This quote, leading off a post at The American Thinker Digest** is telling, in light of that elite class of professional black racists such as that ole devil Jeremiah Wright:

There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do do not want to lose their jobs. – Booker T. Washington

[h.t. Chaos Manor Mail]

But lest we be too easily sidetracked, professional black racists aren’t the only “shattering class” intent on Balkanizing American society. Hyper-angry homosexual activists (falsely claiming to be “gay”) with permanent chips on their shoulders; shrill harridans masquerading as seeking to level the playinmg field for women… while doing a poor job of hiding the fact that their real intent is simply to emasculate men; these and others have as their genuine goals to leech off society while dragging it down to their levels.

And all these professional whiners and gripers and bigots “contribute” to society is the obfuscation of genuine issues facing our country, issues they all love and want to become worse in order to capitalize on the difficulties of others:

a genuine education crisis resulting from an ever more stupid (or evil?) application of the “Lake Wobegon Principle”

an economic/business model ever more designed to create an atmosphere that will lead to a class of elite lording over peasants

burgeoning government interference in genuinely private matters that are none of ANY government’s business

the erasure of our country’s borders, its identity as a representative democratic republic (based on an uniquely English body of law leading to the greatest freedom from tyranny any people in history have had), and its culture as a bastion of Western Civilization

These and more are genuine issues facing our nation, genuine issues that are being buried under an onslaught of political, social and cultural Balkanization.

Enough is more than enough of this B.S.

The next time you hear someone put forth a candidate for a job, a political office or even for hearing out in argument because of their race, sex, or other divisive and irrelevant characteristic as part of a particular tribe of grievance whiners, just say, “Bullshit!”

After the shock dies down (and quickly, before the charges of “Racist!” or “Misogynist!”–Oops. Forgot that nearly all pseudo-feminist prefessional or semi-professional whiners are too subliterate to use such a word. Instead, they’d likely (still, again) misuse “chauvinist*” in some way–or whatever other bigotted slur) quickly enumerate your reasons for despising the bigotry inherent in “special groups need/deserve special attention” meme.

UPDATE: This, from a recent column by Thomas Sowell:

There is no reason why someone as arrogant, foolishly clever and ultimately dangerous as Barack Obama should become president — especially not at a time when the threat of international terrorists with nuclear weapons looms over 300 million Americans.

Many people seem to regard elections as occasions for venting emotions, like cheering for your favorite team or choosing a Homecoming Queen.

The three leading candidates for their party’s nomination are being discussed in terms of their demographics — race, sex and age — as if that is what the job is about.

Indeed. Pretty much my take. My short form interpretation of Sowell’s comment: Why elect an “affirmative action” president whose qualifications are sub-par?

[*Yeh, I am aware that nearly 38 years of misappropriation, particularly by faux feminists, has degraded the sense of the word from that describing the hyper-patriotic views of the apocryphal Nicholas Chauvin. And I am aware of the intellectual dishonesty of those who so misused the word. ]

**Update: Observant readers will note that vanderleun corrected my misidentification of the opening quote source. Although, I must note for the record that my mistake was entirely natural, since the site does show some thoughtful reasoning. Regardless what’s being digested over there, the writing is certainly evidence that at least one American is thinking. 🙂

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Prescription for What Ails US: Hope and Change

Yes, both “us” and “US”. This will be short (relatively), and I will provide zero supporting elements. Any comments resulting from readers doing their own homework on the elements below are welcome. Comments that demonstrate absolutely no knowledge of the elements below will be mocked. Do your own homework. I will NOT provide links here. You can type “google.com” as easily as I can.

Barry Hussein Obama-Winfrey floats a lot of hot air about “hope” and “change” (yeh, he hopes to change the US into a completely socialist society filled with grievance groups of “victims” leeching off producers–and he has a good chance of success). Well, unless we, as an electorate, take steps to knock a few politicians *spit*, bureaucraps and assorted other leeches on the head (metaphorically, you understand) in order to change the direction our coutry is headed, I hold out little hope for a future U.S. with any resemblance to the City Set on a Hill envisioned by the Founders.

What must be done (apart from throwing the bums out of office–darned near every elected official we can find)? Several things would stem the tide–perhaps even roll it back.

1. Don’t take this lightly. Every person I’ve presented this to so far (and I’ve been talking this up in the RW for years *sigh* so far w/o much movement) has expressed a positive response–even those who view themselves as “lefties”:

Each State of the Union needs an amendment to its State constitution providing that
a. every elective position on each ballot include “none of the
above” as a choice on the ballot
b. if “none of the above” recieves a plurality of votes, then ALL
candidates listed for that ballot position are disqualified from
seeking that office in the future and
c. a new election must be held for that position with new
candidates.

Frankly, I could see “none of the above” winning in a landslide in the upcoming presidential election…

2. Get the feds OUT of public education, at ALL levels. Out. No influence, no monies, no diktats. Nada, zilch, a big zero with the rim kicked off. Then work on reducing State influence on local schools. Make local school boards and parents completely responsible for their children’s education. With around 2/3 of recent college graduates functional illiterates, largely as a result of early intervention by “feddle gummint” busybodies’ stupid policies, we need to get the fedgov out of education.

It’d be a start.

3. Do some commonsense things to get our economy back on track. No, I’m not talking here about the recent Chicken Little wails about recession. I’m talking here about the fact that we’ve been strongly encouraged (in large part by stupid fedgov meddling) to become a nation of consumers surrendering more and more of our nation’s producing capabilities. “Line jobs”–factory work, even low-to-medium skill work–is dropping off, and this suits socialists just fine (more dependents for government handouts) but does nothing for a republic of free folk. Look, by definition, half our population is “below average” in intellectual potential. What are you going to do for productive, meaningful work for thse folks as more and more real goods manufacturing is moved offshore? Put ’em all in call centers making telemarketing annoyances of themselves?

Or maybe they can all go to work for McDonalds. Ya want fries with that?

To stem the tide of manufacturing jobs bleeding from our society (mixing metaphors is what metas are for, IMO :-)), two simple things would make a huge difference. (Do remember Clausewitz’s admonition that “everything in war is simple, but the simplest thing is difficult” and remember that we The People must recognize that we are in a sort of war with our political buffoons *cough* leaders.)

a. despite the opposition of politicians who do NOT want to
reliquish the power over your life that the IRS and the income
tax gives them, we must press for The Fair Tax.

Do your own homework. I’ve posted enough FACTS here at twc in the past to demolish most of the disingenuous arguments against the plan, so any comments demonstrating you have not done your homewoprk will be roundly raspberried. Rational argument demonstrating you’ve done your homework will be welcome, though. (*crickets chirping*)

b. a 10% accross-the-board tarrif on ALL imports from
EVERYWHERE, no exceptions whatsoever. Period.

These two things alone would do much to restore America’s competitiveness in manufacturing, create more jobs for the average joe (and josephine :-)), strengthen the dollar and encourage thrift (more investment capital–of the right kind).

4. Get a handle on illegal immigrants who are stealing American jobs, stressing American health and social services, Close our borders. Period. Make sure we facilitate LEGAL immigration, but close our borders, seriously police them–like Mexico does its Southern border (complete with shoot to kill orders, exactly as Mexico does). And aggressively go after ALL employers of illegal aliens (are you listening, Tyson?). Shut down the jobs and social services (all social services except for legitimate health emergencies–provide emergency health care and then a free ride to the border) and watch the flood of illegals make their way to the borders. And make no mistake, of the 20,000,000 or more ilegals in this country, much more than 75% of them will head south… Eisenhower accomplished similar results in the 1950s, and what man has done, man can aspire to do… It ain’t rocket science.

Reminder: any arguments with assertions made above should show you’ve done your homework.

5. Make some commonsense decisions about energy policy. Right now, energy policy is being made by stupid, short-sighted politicians who’re either afraid of their shadows (eco-whackos) or bought and paid for lackeys of oil companies, OR by greedy, short-sighted energy company execs who just want to cash in now without serious thought for the future.

a. eliminate our need for fossil fuels for electricity production.
E-lim-in-ate.

MIT has put plans for a modular pebble bed reactor in the public domain. China likes it. Although China is now leading the world in oil imports (actually, energy imports of all kinds), it plans on being a net exporter of energy within the next decade, relying largely on pebble bed reactors. Now, admittedly, PBRs are not the most technically advanced possibilities for nuclear energy production, but the technology is here, now, and is safer than any other energy production method, save possibly hydro-generation, that can approach its ability to provide large-scale electricity production. Safe. (Do your homework. Oh, and include readings on radioactivity, hormesis and what actually happens when Cobalt60 is accidentally introduced into the building materials for a large apartment complex… yeh, you get one link from me to start you off. It’s a PDF file. :-).) And please, no cries of “What to do with nuclear waste?” That problem’s been solved, solved and solved again. Take your pick of safe, eficient and easy methods. It’s 19th Century engineering.

But oil for other uses? Why the heck is the U.S. importing oil at all? We already have enough reserves for short-to-medium term oil production. If the fedgov would get out of the way, that is. And technologies like thermal depolymnerization manufacturing of oil are proven technologies. Heck, if every lil burg simply contracted with a TDP company to process its raw sewage, the lil burgs would have their clean water as a “by-product” and the contracting company could sell the oil. Everybody wins. And the odor some folks complain about from TDP plants? Not any worse than raw sewage, my friends, and the odor from TDP plants has this advantage: it smells like money. Talk about win-win-win-win: lower costs could be assessed on citizens for water treatment, city has a new business to tax (*feh*), the Saudis and Hugo Chavez take it on the chin, and the TDP business makes money.

And nuclear energy, available proven reserves and TDP plants are just three of many things we could be doing right now to wean ourselves of foreign oil. No pie in the sky technology leaps necessary, just political will.

There you have it: the twc five-point plan. It’s not exhaustive (I’ve not mentioned, for example, annual meetings of Mass Media Podpeople with Dr. Tarr and Mr. Fether or many of the other things that would benefit our society), but you get the picture.

Argument welcome, but remember the warning above: comments that demonstrate the commenter hasn’t bothered to do his/her homework will be mocked.

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Nanny State=Anarcho-Tyranny

Peple who know me in the “real world” have long known that it’s easy to get a rant out of me: just present me with another instance of “gummint” knowing what’s good for me… and punishing me if I disagree.

Take the national “Click It or Ticket” campaign that’s been going on for a couple of years now as but one example of many intrusive “gummint” policies. What a piece of bullshit! (Nope. Not getting a bowdlerized euphemism out of me on that one.) Stealing from–and modifying–the Chesterton quote in my right sidebar,

“Though not using a seat belt may be dangerous, it is a danger that cannot be forbidden to a citizen, but can be forbidden to a slave.”

Or, as The American Spectator put it a couple of years ago when the “Click It” bullshit began,

The late conservative intellectual Sam Francis came up with an excellent term for all of this stuff — “anarcho-tyranny.” In brief, he meant a situation in which the truly lawless (violent criminals, big-time crooks) are increasingly treated with kid gloves while at the same time, ordinary schlubs who never commit serious personal or property crimes are increasingly hassled over Pecksniffy technical fouls and “lifestyle violations” such as failing to wear their seat belts.

Invariably, the punishment involves money.

Anarcho-tyranny has another dark side beyond the simple harrassment of citizens with ever more restrictive laws and regulations along with the encouragement of dangerous outlaws: the infantilization of America. Big Brother will force you to either give up what “he” considers bad habits or pay an ever-increasing price. You are no longer responsible to yourself, your family, your neighbors and community for the effects of your behavior, because now you are responsible directly to Big Brother for your behavior (and soon thoughts–that’s what “hate crime” legislation is about, after all) regardless the results.

“When will politicians realise that George Orwell’s 1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual?”–Derek Clark, Member, European Parliament

So, don’t wear your seat belt, drive safely to your destination and start home–still safe–until Big Brother’s thugs decide you’ll be an easy, safe way to fill a ticket quota. Your safety is NOT the issue: compliance with authority is the issue.

As this slide into infantilization of the American public continues, expect ever more interference in your life. After all, you asked for it, didn’t you, when you voted for Any of the Above instead of None of the Above every time you went to vote for the last couple of decades?

That said, do I wear my seat belt? Usually. Have I ever been ticketed for not wearing my seat belt? No. Does it matter that I have not been ticketed? No. The law restricting my freedom to make my own decisions about my own safety is reprehensible. As are all other laws that presume to dictate my actions supposedly for my safety.

Note also:

“A nation of sheep will surely beget a government of wolves.” -Henry de Jouvenel

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Greed

Last Monday I posted a lil piece excoriating the growing intellectual sloth of what was once a democratic representative republic (the USA) using the sloth of an electorate that simply will not be bothered to learn to read and do its own homework to be able to vote intelligently. ANd I pointed out that such sloth is one of a few critical moral issues killing what was once a democratic representative republic.

Today: greed. But not only as you may think of the moral failing we call by that name. Yes, the greed (and sloth) of both “Big Bidness” (including especially the big business of so-called labor unions) and workers alike are pointing the way to the ruin of our economy, and thus the ideal of a democratic representative republic.

Huh? How’s that? A few simple facts of life and a few trends: essential to a democratic representative republic is a working class, if you will. As many people working at jobs that contribute to the overall health of the economy and republic as possible. And that must include many manual labor jobs for a very simple reason: we are not Lake Wobegon where “all the children are above average”. By definition, half the population is below average. What happens when the jobs they are suited to be successful in are shipped overseas by stupid trade policy or by simply greedy, short-sighted number-crunchers is that the ability of the lefthand side of the bell curve (anyone objecting to my use of such imagery had better be really careful to be solid in argument, cos I’ll rip you a new one if you advance some stupid lefty argument without basis in fact) to hold productive jobs essential to the survival of a republic is greatly reduced… and, long-term, the progeny of those who make such bad policy or make such stupid, short-sighted, greedy offshoring decisions will curse their progenitors.

But that’s just one aspect of the greedy behavior that’s driving this country to ruin–although that alone would be enough to accomplish our ruin. Consider also the individuals, parents, children whose greed demands more, more, more material goods but who have no desire to actually PAY for those goods. Nope. “Put it on the card.” Mortgaging ones own future for a new toy is stupid. An unwillingness to save, defer purchasing a luxury item until one can actually, well, PAY for it is evidence of a measure of childish greediness that is driving this nation of debtors to become slaves to mere stuff.

And politicians who know their constituencies well know how to play to this greed: play class against class (in what was once envisioned as a near classless society–or at least one where “class” was fluid, determined by personal, responsible behavior); rob Producer to pay Sloth; rob the Future to pay Now (Social Security=”Put it on the card” on a gargantuan level).

But perhaps the most insidious manifestation of greed is in those who covet what is yours to pay for their agendas often without directly benefitting themselves (except as such aggrandisement strokes and inflates their egos–yes, I intended that image). Of course, “often without directly benefitting themselves” doesn’t apply to such as Algore who, while lying through his teeth about Anthropogenic Global Warming, did so both for the ego strokes and to line his own pockets. But that’s pretty much political B.S. for you in a nutshell: double-sided greed for ego strokes and money.

These are just a few aspects of greed and how it detrimentally affects our society. You can list many, many more just off the top of your head, I’m sure.

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Words to Avoid Using

Following on my mini-rant against the sub-literate use of the word “liberal” (Liberals? Not) to refer to reactionary pseudo-communist/socialist tyrannical statist control freaks, here is a short list of terms that should be avoided, or used only with great care, by any rational person:

conservative–when used by or to refer to any reactionary pseudo-communist/socialist tyrannical statist control freak who does not actively practice the ethos of “the government that governs least, governs best” by seeking to reduce the scope and power of government, reduce the enormous burdens of taxation upon citizens, guard our borders, our rights (including our property rights), etc. IOW, about 99% of the current crop of lying, self-styled “conservative” politicians–aren’t. Don’t call such folks “conservatives”; call ’em liars.

gay–when used to refer to angry, neurotic, deeply troubled homosexual self-styled “victims”. Use the word to refer to happy, carefree people, instead.

black–when used to refer to a person (unless you are talking about a black-hearted villain of some sort). I have yet to meet ANY so-called “black” person who is black, even guys from Nigeria I knew in college.

Afro-American–another B.S. term. Also, ban any other hyphenated-American term. What? Am I a hyphenated-American because a couple of hundred years ago my ancestors came from elsewhere? By that measure, Eskimos, Cree, Sioux and all the other so-called “native Americans” ought to be called “Asian-Americans” cos that’s where they came from. We’re either Americans or something else entirely.

Update: I thought it good to include the following from a comment made by Theodore Roosevelt in 1915:

“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. … The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans… There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.”

green–used to refer to eco-prop (ecological propagandist), an eco-propagandist or a supposedly “eco-friendly” technology. It’s become either a nearly meaningless shiboleth for leftist goons to use to ostracize people who simply want to live civilized existences or else a stupid-happy brainwashing tool. Use “green” to refer to the color, OK?

global warming–the proper term is “anthropogenic global warming hogwash”. Get it right, folks.

climate change–when used as an escape for AGW loonies, liars, fellow travelers and useful idiots who are confronted with inescapable proof that their AGW hypothesis is hogwash. When used in the context of, “Climate change? Sure, that’s the nature of climate; it changes all the time, whether we do anything about it or not,” it’s a perfectly good term. Just be careful how you use it, or you may be (justly) lumped in with the AGW loonies, liars, fellow travelers and useful idiots who use it improperly.

There, that’s a short list. Add to it in comments.

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Liberals? Not.

I do heartily wish that those who know better would stop referring to reactionary pseudo-communist/socialist tyrannical statist control freaks as “liberals” when they are indeed the antithesis of liberal thought.

A real liberal would back to the hilt every single Constitutional right The People posess, including the right toi keep and bear arms (against a tyrannical government, among other dangers), the right of free association, and the rights not ennumerated, as mentioned in the 10th Amendment.

A real liberal would seek at every turn to curb government intrusion into individuals’ lives.

A real liberal would seek to lessen the burden of taxation upon The People.

A real liberal would, in short, be the exact opposite of those lying bastards of Satan on the left who falsely claim to adhere to liberal principles.

And I’d like to see such reactionary pseudo-communist/socialist tyrannical statist control freaks stoned for false witness when they refer to themselves as “progressives” too.

(Yeh, yeh, I know: they’re probably already “stoned” eh?)

A grassroots movement to simply call these folks “liars” might be best. Liberals they ain’t.

OTOH, soi disant “conservatives” who are indistinguishable from the reactionary pseudo-communist/socialist tyrannical statist control freaks on the Left, save for a few cosmetic false declarations, are hardly any better.

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Yo Grandmama, Obama

After Obama’s racist speech last week, apart from one post (and a few comments elsewhere) I’ve been mostly speechless. Of all the politicians *spit* out there, surely Barry Hussein Obama-Winfrey now lays legitimate claim to Clown Prince of Audacity.

Today, in partial response to Barry Hussein Obama-Winfrey’s disgusting and disingenuous performance (throwing grandma under the buss, for example*), I’ve taken up Nuke Gingrich’s invitation to make my own BHO-W poster, after the disgusting Marxist P.o.S., urm crap (with apologies to turds everywhere) posted here. Actually, most of my slogans were too long for the linked page to process, so I just used a graphics program and inserte my own text.

In “honor” of Obama’s racist speech,

and

NOTE: In his book, The Audacity of Hope (I’ve been informed by a reliable source that the incident was “reported” in the pseudo-bio, “Dreams From My Father,” instead), Barry Hussein Obama-Winfrey has been widely reported to have related the “grandma incident” as a one-time thing, when indeed she appeared to have had a legitimate reason for fearing a specific black man. In his speech, he transformed a previously-reported (by himself) one-time event into a generic “fear black men” whitey reaction. Liar, liar. Which was it, Barry Hussein Obama-Winfrey? No matter which you choose now, you have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that your word is lies upon lies. And not very credible, crafty or deniable lies, as a smart well-seasoned politician would utter.

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Could I Support Juan “Snake” Mexicain?

Jerry Pournelle has outlined a scenario that might allow me to support, however reluctantly and distastefully, a McCain candidacy, even a McCain presidency.

What we need is a good negotiator to get a pact with McCain: what he will promise the conservative movement in exchange for our enthusiastic — and I mean enthusiastic even if we must fake some of the enthusiasm — support.

In particular we want a reiteration of promises already made: strict constructionist judges both on Supreme and lower courts; secure borders before any comprehensive immigration reform; and a bit more enthusiasm for tax cuts.

We can get all that, and it is far better than we will get from any Democrat. We should take it, and get to work.

PS: If we can get Fred Thompson for VP, it will certainly make it easier to generate some zeal.

OK, I won’t say that the very idea of voting for Juan Mexican wouldn’t still nauseate me to the point of spewing, but were the scenario Pournelle outlined above to come to pass, I could still–maybe–vote for the snake. Especially if Thompson were on the ticket. I could still pray for God to to strike Juan Mexican with a debillitating illness (say, something like Nebuchadnezar experienced as noted in Daniel 4:25 Now that would be fitting indeed *heh*) and feel much more comfortable knowing a better man was in the wings to take the reins… Well, a guy could hope, couldn’t he?

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Tommy

Rudyard Kipling’s “Tommy” seems a timely comment on the Marines/Berkeley brouhaha, especially given the Code Pink pleas for help from Marines when they felt threatened by a passing motorist…

“While we were at the protest in Berkeley from 12 to 4 PM a white volvo drove by and a man spat upon code pink. They chased him down the street and got into a verbal altercation. The police were NO WHERE in sight. That’s not the best part, ready for this? Medea Benjamin yelled and I quote “Marines!” she actually yelled for our help because this man had stepped out of his car. Lol. I even asked her if she was yelling Police and she told me “I said Marines” then put her arm around my friend Allen (the Marine vet) Ironic?

An old story. Kipling’s commentary on the same sort of behavior is telling: unappreciative civilians disrespecting those who serve in the military are nothing new. The tag line is remarkably reminiscent of a Roman Centurion a couple of millennia back… (see “More”)

Tommy

I went into a public-‘ouse to get a pint o’beer,
The publican ‘e up an’ sez, “We serve no red-coats here.”
The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez I:

O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, go away”;
But it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins,” when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it’s “Thank you, Mr. Atkins,” when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but ‘adn’t none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-‘alls,
But when it comes to fightin’, Lord! they’ll shove me in the stalls!

For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, wait outside”;
But it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide,
The troopship’s on the tide, my boys, the troopship’s on the tide,
O it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide.

Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap;
An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit.

Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy how’s yer soul?”
But it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll.

We aren’t no thin red ‘eroes, nor we aren’t no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An’ if sometimes our conduck isn’t all your fancy paints:
Why, single men in barricks don’t grow into plaster saints;

While it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, fall be’ind,”
But it’s “Please to walk in front, sir,” when there’s trouble in the wind,
There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in the wind,
O it’s “Please to walk in front, sir,” when there’s trouble in the wind.

You talk o’ better food for us, an’ schools, an’ fires an’ all:
We’ll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don’t mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow’s Uniform is not the soldier-man’s disgrace.

For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!”
But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country,” when the guns begin to shoot;
An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
But Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool – you bet that Tommy sees!

Continue reading “Tommy”