So you say you've discovered a new class of plastics?
I respond that all plastic is novel
to those who've deliberately avoided accumulating specific knowledge
regarding the synthesis of petro-polymer compounds
And now a brief diversion - to satisfy our uniquely American attention spans
The public -- they've all gone on a lifelong freak-out bivouac
Tom Brokaw their high priest
Jay Leno their court jester of pain
Tipper Gore their minister of political correctness
Reuters gets it all wrong most of the time but we suck up their headlines anyway
Judge Judy's docket is served to her on a stick -- how convenient
Role-model Corn Dogs for all in the gallery!
Ricki Lake has a big ass.
ok.... well, I guess some things don't need pointing out.
Am I lashing out? Throwing a fit perhaps?
Of course, dammit! Someone must!
Who is the voice of reason in the forest of insanity?
It sure isn't that lumberjack over there, so preoccupied with his maple syrple and Maypo
So clear-cut the Forest of the Damned --
Log it out! Level it completely!
Gut the intellectual and spiritual underpinnings of society
I choose instead to grasp at the final dust-mote of hope -- that someday clear thinking
may return to fashion
There are those among us who still know
They know
I know
We know
They know that this flattened meadow of stumps once was crowded with giants
Cerebral Sequoias and Oaken Statesmen
Brave Soldiers and Intrepid Sentries serving fellow man unswervingly
Standing tall and proud
Advocates of level discourse and basic goodness and unselfish intent
Men of sense and mettle
Women of sterner stuff
People of valor and stoicism
In a land we used to call America
Long before Geraldo ever ducked a flung chair
Long before Katie Couric ever woke up in her make-up
Long before Brett Favre ever got a six figure paycheck
Long before Kitty Dukakis ever huffed her hairspray
Long before Ron Popeil ever cranked out pasta at home
Long before Rosie O'Donnell ever simulpimped stuffed Elmos and shotguns for K-mart
Long before Bill ever sploinked his first intern
Long before Jerry Springer ever invited an transsexual skydiving club to sing show tunes
on the air
Long before Ally McFrickin' Beal went slummin' in bulemia-town
Long before Kathie Lee Gifford ever cracked a whip on some Honduran kid's backside
Barnes lies wriggling in the gutter as all the books are burned for heat
Noble is indignant but stands by ignorantly
Long before television rotted our minds
Long before comfortable lies became doctrine
Long before widespread syndication
Long before we sold ourselves out
Sold our children out
Sold our future out
Long before the ad men and litigators crapped out our modern world
Didn't you damned people ever learn to flush?
(written: Midnight, December 29th, 1999, about 72 hours before Y2k)
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