Used to be our enemies had a piece of land,
Like with oil in Iraq,
pipeline in Afghanistan
Indians and Mexicans
brought out the cavalry,
'cause they were in
the way of manifest destiny
Guatemala had bananas,
Somalia had oil,
Venezuela has democracy
that we want to spoil.
Cuba has cigars and rum,
Phillipines had sugar cane,
Colombia had the Isthmus
and some kilos of cocaine.
But now are enemies are treasonous.
They tell the truth and that's serious.
It's adversity, it's mockery, insurgency, hostility,
but mostly WhiteHouse sociopathology
Daniel Ellsberg was once
the most dangerous man
for telling the truth about
the war in Viet Nam
And Bradley Manning's murder
footage was too graphic
of U.S. conduct clearly sociopathic
It's called whistleblowing, (1)
everybody should be knowin' about corruption,
the waste and abuse..
Transparency is treasonous.
Democracy is dangerous.
It's a crime to tell the truth.
Edward Snowden told us all
what we already knew
that the N.S.A. is taking notes
on everything we do
Is it worse that they are spying
or try to cover up with lying
With their files on where we go and with who.
It's called whistleblowing,
everybody should be knowin about corruption,
the waste and abuse
Transparency is treasonous.
Democracy is dangerous.
It's a crime to tell the truth.
Kiriakou fingered Brennan
for torture in Guantanamo
Tom Drake, the N.S.A.
for a billion bucks a dough,
Jeffrey Sterling, C.I.A. sabotaging
Nuclear blueprints to Iran
they were passin.
It's called whistleblowing,
everybody should be knowin about corruption,
the waste and abuse
Transparency is treasonous.
Democracy is dangerous.
It's a crime to tell the truth.
I was on the road in Buffalo
on my way to Canada
to go to a gig in Detroit
Seems they had me in a file
as long as a ¼ mile about the songs I sing
and every joint.
They took my passport,
put my truck in detention.
And submitted me
to interrogation
I escaped captivity,
now only outlaws will be free
livin outside the law
in and out of this nation.
It's called whistleblowing,
everybody should be knowin about corruption,
the waste and abuse
Transparency is treasonous.
Civil liberties are dangerous.
It's a crime to tell the truth…
It's a crime to tell the truth.
Like with oil in Iraq,
pipeline in Afghanistan
Indians and Mexicans
brought out the cavalry,
'cause they were in
the way of manifest destiny
Guatemala had bananas,
Somalia had oil,
Venezuela has democracy
that we want to spoil.
Cuba has cigars and rum,
Phillipines had sugar cane,
Colombia had the Isthmus
and some kilos of cocaine.
But now are enemies are treasonous.
They tell the truth and that's serious.
It's adversity, it's mockery, insurgency, hostility,
but mostly WhiteHouse sociopathology
Daniel Ellsberg was once
the most dangerous man
for telling the truth about
the war in Viet Nam
And Bradley Manning's murder
footage was too graphic
of U.S. conduct clearly sociopathic
It's called whistleblowing, (1)
everybody should be knowin' about corruption,
the waste and abuse..
Transparency is treasonous.
Democracy is dangerous.
It's a crime to tell the truth.
Edward Snowden told us all
what we already knew
that the N.S.A. is taking notes
on everything we do
Is it worse that they are spying
or try to cover up with lying
With their files on where we go and with who.
It's called whistleblowing,
everybody should be knowin about corruption,
the waste and abuse
Transparency is treasonous.
Democracy is dangerous.
It's a crime to tell the truth.
Kiriakou fingered Brennan
for torture in Guantanamo
Tom Drake, the N.S.A.
for a billion bucks a dough,
Jeffrey Sterling, C.I.A. sabotaging
Nuclear blueprints to Iran
they were passin.
It's called whistleblowing,
everybody should be knowin about corruption,
the waste and abuse
Transparency is treasonous.
Democracy is dangerous.
It's a crime to tell the truth.
I was on the road in Buffalo
on my way to Canada
to go to a gig in Detroit
Seems they had me in a file
as long as a ¼ mile about the songs I sing
and every joint.
They took my passport,
put my truck in detention.
And submitted me
to interrogation
I escaped captivity,
now only outlaws will be free
livin outside the law
in and out of this nation.
It's called whistleblowing,
everybody should be knowin about corruption,
the waste and abuse
Transparency is treasonous.
Civil liberties are dangerous.
It's a crime to tell the truth…
It's a crime to tell the truth.
Contributed by giorgio - 2020/4/26 - 17:27
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Lyrics & music by Tom Neilson
Album: It's a Crime to Tell the Truth
Wars happen because lies are told about them. When I worked in Somalia, I had a report covered up because "it told the truth". As Monsanto makes food policy with its ties to the WhiteHouse and Cabinet, our food supply is put in a precarious position with lies about glyphosate and the consequences of genetic modification. Our potable water is threatened by gas and oil drilling, mountain top removal, radioactive waste, agricultural poisons, and climate change. Radiation levels from Fukushima are covered up while years of radioactive waste fill up the Pacific and pollute our air, food and water. It is the end of the world as we know it because lies are told about the destruction of our natural resources and people - all so that a few can make billions off the spoilage. 99% of the voters voted for the above violations in the 2012 election. In Orwellian faux-patriotism, mass murder is honorable; "drones save lives"; "it isn’t torture unless there is organ failure"; annulling civil liberties keeps us safe and protects our freedoms; non-Wall Street candidates are "a threat to democracy". Barack Obama, a constitutional law professor, tells the Yemeni government to keep a Yemeni journalist in jail, seemingly for reporting US drone attacks. "Guardian" newspaper computers are ordered destroyed by the government. A journalist's partner is detained at the border and harassed under ‘anti-terrorist’ laws. Journalists’ phone records, lap tops, and cell phones are confiscated. Whistleblowers reporting lies, waste, corruption, and abuse are arrested in record numbers, but the government says they are not whistleblowers rather, traitors and criminals. We have attained a state of perpetual war, streamlined assassinations, and zero privacy of electronic communication. As Jeremy Scahill says, "The world is a battle ground", and the Obama administration has arrested more people under the 1917 Espionage Act than all his predecessors combined. We are all journalists now, and it is a crime to tell the truth.