Bush Pried for Your Sins

It turns out that their talk is all bluster.
Summon all the outrage you can muster.
To get a good handle
On the breadth of the Bush scandal,
Think of this: We're the Sioux, and he's Custer.

Bombers without Borders

Here's more than five lines, because it's hard to do this justice (though you'll see I tried, below):

Most of us reacted viscerally to the events of September 11th. That afternoon, my wife and I bought an American flag and hung it on the house we had bought a few weeks earlier. When I analyze our response, I realize how strong the need for order, for logic, for security – for home is among humans. Patriotism, in many ways, is that same need for home writ large: Homes equal community; communities equal nation.

A few weeks later, we took down the flag, in disgust at our strafing of Afghanistan. Subsequent events have not prompted us to restore the flag, as you may well imagine. The collection of communities – our nation – had let us down.

We in the United States are no different in this respect than most other humans. Take those in Pakistan, for example. The protests at the news that we had attacked in an attempt to kill Ayman al-Zawahri are substantially about the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

While I do not equate the 9/11 attacks with this action, the fact remains that we have indeed ignored the wishes of a sovereign nation within its own borders. We only win the Global War on Terror when we take away the terrorist’s means of support. It’s an asymmetrical war; the support comes from the hearts and minds of like-minded Muslims. We are obliged, whether we like it or not, to conduct ourselves on a higher plane than our enemy. Each and every time we prosecute the war using tactics that appear no better than those of our opponents, we lose another battle in the war.

Nixon’s incursion into Cambodia was a similar moment in our history, and for the same reasons. This is, of course, likely to pass as a minor incident in the overall war, compared to Nixon’s folly. Still, we are on thin ice where Muslim public opinion is concerned, following our Iraqi follies. The very least we should do is cooperate with one of the few unambiguous allies we have in the Muslim world. Apparently we are too arrogant to do even that. And it’s hard to see how Muslims can miss the hypocrisy that our respect for a nation’s borders seems to stop at our own.

Except Ours

This new war is so complicated.
The things we must do will be hated.
To bring terror to its knees
We must bomb where we please.
Besides, "borders" are so overrated.

Bush Says His Critics are Irresponsible

So we stick your liberties in a vault.
Then we bring democracy to a halt.
We have no other choice
But to silence your voice.
If you speak, we’ll declare it your fault.

The King Sticks His Tongue Out

Go ahead, Congress, pass some new laws;
I’ll sign them, including their flaws.
But I’ll issue a decree
That says they don’t apply to me.
Why do I do it? Just because!

2008

Doctor Dean says: Let's work hard and plan it
And we'll find DC's not set in granit.
We'll place in syzygy
A Democratic big three:
The President, the House and the Sanit.

Recess Appointments, DKE Style

There's no other way I can slice this.
We won't get them through using niceness.
When it comes right down to it,
You ignore them and just do it.
Rewarding incompetence: Priceless.

Bush is Left Behind

Abramoff’s finally snapped, sir;
He’ll be helping assist in the capture
Of Congressman Ney
And then Bugman Delay.
Maybe we can sneak away in the Rapture.

Trust, then Terrify

We’re certain you can be relied on.
Your patriotism real, not just tried on.
A red-white-and-blue model,
Not a wimp we must coddle --
And that’s why you need to be spied on.