The Congressmen Came Out To See Bull Run
The congressmen came out to see Bull Run,
The congressmen who like free shows and spectacles.
They brought their wives and carriages along,
They brought their speeches and their picnic-lunch,
Their black constituent-hats and their devotion:
Some even brought a little whiskey, too.
(A little whiskey is a comforting thing
For congressmen in the sun, in the heat of the sun.)
The bearded congressmen with orator's mouths,
The fine, clean-shaved, Websterian congressmen,
Come out to see the gladiator's show
Like Iliad gods, wrapped in the sacred cloud
Of Florida-water, wisdom and bay-rum,
Of free cigars, democracy and votes,
That lends such portliness to congressmen.
(The gates fly wide, the bronze troop marches out
Into the stripped and deadly circus-ring,
'Ave, Caesar!' the cry goes up, and shakes
The purple awning over Caesar's seat.)
'Ave, Caesar! Ave, O congressmen,
We who are about to die
Salute you, congressmen!'
Eleven States,
New York, Rhode Island, Maine,
Connecticut, Michigan, and the gathered West,
Salute you, congressmen!
The red-fezzed Fire-Zouaves, flamingo-bright,
Salute you, congressmen!
The raw boys still in their civilian clothes,
Salute you, congressmen!
The Second Wisconsin in its homespun grey,
Salute you, congressmen!
The Garibaldi Guards in cocksfeather hats,
Salute you, congressmen!
The Second Ohio with their Bedouin-caps,
Salute you, congressmen!
Sherman's brigade, grey-headed Heintzelman,
Ricketts' and Griffin's doomed and valiant guns,
The tough, hard-bitten regulars of Sykes
Who covered the retreat with the Marines,
Burnside and Porter, Wilcox and McDowell,
All the vast, unprepared, militia-mass
Of boys in red and yellow Zouave pants,
Who carried peach-preserves inside their kits
And dreamt of being generals overnight;
The straggling companies where every man
Was a sovereign and a voter-the slack regiments
Where every company marched a different step;
The clumsy and unwieldy-new brigades
Not yet distempered into battle-worms;
The whole, huge, innocent army, ready to fight
But only half-taught in the tricks of fighting,
Ready to die like picture-postcard boys
While fighting still had banners and a sword
And just as ready to run in blind mob-panic,
Salutes you with a vast and thunderous cry,
Ave, Caesar, Ave, O congressmen,
Ave, O Iliad gods who forced the fight!
You bring your carriages and your picnic-lunch
To cheer us in our need.
You come with speeches,
Your togas smell of heroism and bay-rum.
You are the people and the voice of the people
And, when the fight is done, your carriages
Will bear you safely, through the streaming rout
Of broken troops, throwing their guns away.
You come to see the gladiator's show,
But from a high place, as befits the wise:
You will not see the long windrows of men
Strewn like dead pears before the Henry House
Or the stone-wall of Jackson breathe its parched
Devouring breath upon the failing charge,
Ave, Caesar, ave, O congressmen,
Cigar-smoke wraps you in a godlike cloud,
And if you are not to depart from us
As easily and divinely as you came,
It hardly matters.
Fighting Joe Hooker once
Said with that tart, unbridled tongue of his
That made so many needless enemies,
'Who ever saw a dead cavalryman?'
The phrase
Stings with a needle sharpness, just or not,
But even he was never heard to say,
'Who ever saw a dead congressman?'
And yet, he was a man with a sharp tongue.
poem by Stephen Vincent Benet
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
What Democratic congressmen do to their women staffers, Republican congressmen do to the country.
quote by Bill Maher
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Fools in Washington D.C.
It's has been brought to my attention,
That all politicians are fools.
And worst than that,
They all are crooks.
It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
Special interests, lobbyists, money talks.
Chicago style politics anyone, The ex Senator,
From Illinois is now president.
How many sexual predators are in the House,
And Senate?
These men live like Gods.
They have so many benefits, like gym memberships,
Retirement pensions, health care, dental,
And so many more things,
That you and me, will never see,
Yet they are our employees,
Subject to our wills,
And they get pay raises every year,
While you and I suck our thumbs.
These men live like Gods,
And they only have disdain for us.
Disdain for you,
Disdain for me.
They believe they are answerable to no one.
The president thinks he is God,
The senators think they are Gods.
And the Congressmen know they are Gods.
All they can do is pass the buck,
They are not omnipotent.
But we are under their thumbs.
When they return to your town,
Asking for your vote, tell them NO.
Tell them all NO.
Maybe then, we can start again,
When somebody that is on foodstamps,
As president.
And a few illegal aliens as congressmen and senators,
I'll bet you they would do a better job,
And would be grateful to serve.
They would consider it a privilege,
Not an entitlement.
(8/3/11-Alton Texas)
poem by Juan Olivarez
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Iraq has become, for better or for worse, the front on the war on terrorism, and so we've got to do this, and I can understand why congressmen and senators would take their responsibility seriously, but I think in the end we'll get the money.
quote by Paul Bremer
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Having federal officials, whether judges, bureaucrats, or congressmen, impose a new definition of marriage on the people is an act of social engineering profoundly hostile to liberty.
There are congressmen in our congregation, judges, federal reserve governors. And there are also people who are homeless and some who are mentally ill. To be able to talk to each of those people is something that I've had to learn how to do over the years.
quote by James Green Somerville
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.
quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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There isn't a political price to be paid yet for doing nothing. People need to get upset with President Bush. People need to get upset with their Congressmen.
quote by Nicholas D. Kristof
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I'm not a professional politician. I'm a professional problem solver, and I believe we should cut the salaries of senators and congressmen 10 percent until they balance the budget. I call that conservative common sense.
quote by Herman Cain
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Who Turns Out the Lights?
what happens when
the United States of America
cant pay the rent?
i mean, do we get evicted?
do we pack up our senators
and congressmen, and
load them on the back
of an old pickup truck...
and send them into the great
beyond? what happens?
do Native Americans get it back?
do the Chinese take over?
and who turns out the lights?
poem by Eric Cockrell
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Police in Washington D.C. are now using cameras to catch drivers who go through red lights. Many congressmen this week opposed the use of the red light cameras incorrectly assuming they were being used for surveillance at local brothels.
quote by Dennis Miller
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Info For Everone
From: CLEMENT TWIFORD [mailto: [email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, October 15,2011 10: 16 AM
To: undisclosed recipients:
Subject: : Makes sense to me! !
Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best
quotes about the debt ceiling:
'I could end the deficit in 5 minutes, ' he told CNBC. 'You just pass a law
that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all
sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election. The 26th
amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months
& 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in
1971...before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to
the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the
land...all because of public pressure.
Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of
twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do
likewise.
In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the
message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*
1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office
and receives no pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All
funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security
system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system,
and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for
any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans
do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay
will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the
same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American
people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective
1/1/12.
The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen
made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor,
not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours
should serve their term(s) , then go home and back to work.
If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take
three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe it is
time.
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS! ! ! ! ! If you agree with the above, pass it on.
If not, just delete. You are one of my 20. Please keep it going.
poem by Louis Rams
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Can You Handle His Truth?
The old warrior addressed Congress one last time
He spoke of truth, justice n' liberty for everyone
Proposed we put an end to "White color crime"
Whilst fellow congressmen sniggered n' made fun
ROTMS
http: //youtu.be/q03cWio-zjk
View ROTMS writings, images and video at;
rotms.blogspot.com
poem by Ray Lucero
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Inside The Box
Washington always “thinks inside the box.”
No wonder why we’re in the fix were in.
Their collective thinking stifles or blocks
The country’s progress and provides the spin
To sway the public view of uselessness.
This herd mentality is quite bizarre
To think that all these minds can not express
A single “out of the box' thought thus far.
It’s piteous, at least to me, to see
These coattail hangers we call congressmen-
Inane, inept reps of the bourgeoisie
constantly screwing us time and again.
One must conclude this simple inference
Vote in or vote out makes no difference.
poem by Albert Ahearn
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To The States
WHY reclining, interrogating? Why myself and all drowsing?
What deepening twilight! scum floating atop of the waters!
Who are they, as bats and night-dogs, askant in the Capitol?
What a filthy Presidentiad! (O south, your torrid suns! O north, your
arctic freezings!)
Are those really Congressmen? are those the great Judges? is that the
President?
Then I will sleep awhile yet--for I see that These States sleep, for
reasons;
(With gathering murk--with muttering thunder and lambent shoots, we
all duly awake,
South, north, east, west, inland and seaboard, we will surely awake.)
poem by Walt Whitman
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For Those About To Rock
We roll tonight [we're on tonight]
To the guitar bite
Yeah, yeah, oh
Stand up and be counted
For what you are about to receive
We are the dealers
We'll give you everything you need
Hail hail to the good times
'cause rock has got the right of way
We ain't no legend, ain't no cause
We're just livin' for today
For those about to rock, we salute you
For those about to rock, we salute you
We rock at dawn on the front line
Like a bolt right out of the blue
The sky's alight with the guitar bite
Heads will roll and rock tonight
For those about to rock, we salute you
For those about to rock, we salute you
For those about to rock, we salute you
Yes we do
For those about to rock, we salute you
Oooh, salute!
Oooh, ooooh yeah
We're just a battery for hire with a guitar fire
Ready and aimed at you
Pick up your balls and load up your cannon
For a twenty-one gun salute
For those about to rock - fire
We salute you
For those about to rock, we salute you
Those about to rock - fire
We salute you
Fire
We salute you
We salute you
Come on, whooa
For those about to rock, we salute you (x4)
Shoot, shoot (x2)
For those of you, for those who ????
Yeah
(ain't gonna get tired, won't take a break, we salute you.)
We salute you (x3)
Fire
song performed by by AC-DC
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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For Those About To Rock We Salute You
For Those About To Rock (We Salute You) (1981)
Who Made Who (1986)
LIVE (1992)
SINGLE: Big Gun/For Those About To Rock-Shoot To Thrill(live) (1993)
(Young, Young, Johnson)
We roll tonight [We're on tonight]
To the guitar bite
Yeah, yeah, oh
Stand up and be counted
For what you are about to receive
We are the dealers
We'll give you everything you need
Hail hail to the good times
'Cause rock has got the right of way
We ain't no legend, ain't no cause
We're just livin' for today
For those about to rock, we salute you
For those about to rock, we salute you
We rock at dawn on the front line
Like a bolt right out of the blue
The sky's alight with the guitar bite
Heads will roll and rock tonight
For those about to rock, we salute you
For those about to rock, we salute you
For those about to rock, we salute you
Yes we do
For those about to rock, we salute you
Oooh, salute!
Oooh, ooooh yeah
We're just a battery for hire with a guitar fire
Ready and aimed at you
Pick up your balls and load up your cannon
For a twenty-one gun salute
For those about to rock - fire
We salute you
For those about to rock, we salute you
Those about to rock - fire
We salute you
Fire
We salute you
We salute you
Come on, whooa
For those about to rock, we salute you (x4)
Shoot, shoot (x2)
For those of you, for those who ????
Yeah
(Ain't gonna get tired, won't take a break, we salute you.)
We salute you (x3)
Fire
song performed by by AC-DC
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We Are the People
The man says, 'hey will somebody listen?
I need to talk with someone to get this off my chest.
In a persecution I transgress.
With something missing in my heart, I fall into a category:
I'm such a mess.
Befuddled by every ones current situation.
Emasculation of self being.
We are one as a whole,
Or not at all.
I keep hearing an think to myself.
Self sustaining.
We must live off our own doings.
Not those of others.
We must create an equal trade.
We have consummated a sickness that continues to increase.
At a speed so fast I don't how it will end.
Absolute destruction?
Or the downfall of so many.
Their is a enemy.
We can't see it in our fake peace and harmony.
If we portray it as better, will it be?
No social security to the old and disabled.
Your all done for.
Your are all property of big corporations.
That is what is depending on this.
Yet I hear talk as if it has too happen.
We are the people Mr. President.
We are the people Senators.
We are the people Congressmen.
You just speak for us.
Don't take that for granted.
For you are still in the bounds of an agreement.
To defend us as human beings.
Not rob us of our dignity.'
poem by Ace Of Black Hearts
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The American Dream
Things I'd like to see
A congressman with cojones
A president with pride
A government less regulated
And no agendas to hide
American children having enough to eat
Less homeless families living on the street
Senators and congressmen taking the places
In war of all of our young boys of all races
Jobs that pay a little less in some cases
So those same jobs aren't exported to other places
Tighter borders, to keep out the ones
who only enter this country to bear daughters and sons
C, E, O's that refuse that huge bonus
And take huge pay cuts instead
Oil rigs drilling to remove the onus
Of the Arabian axes that hang over our head
Young Americans in college, instead of in khaki
Politicians who care instead of acting wacky
Our troops being put only on an American shore
To die wantonly, wastefully, nevermore
How to see these thing?
Bring our boys home. NOW!
Keep them home. FOREVER!
Keep our jobs home. NOW!
Keep U.S dollars home. FOREVER!
No more foreign aid. EVER!
Legal immigration only. RIGHT NOW!
Let all countries pursue their own fate. HOWEVER!
Elect only politicians who put America first. FOREVER!
Build and maintain an invincible military. ON THIS CONTINENT ONLY!
Never again enter an unwinnable war. DON'T EVEN ENDEAVOR!
Put our education system and children first. PLEASE ENDEAVOR!
Never let a millionaire or national company pay less taxes than your average citizen. NEVER!
Will we see these reasonable, righteous things in our lifetimes?
Nope! …No way in hell! …Never, never ever!
poem by David Whalen
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The Time They Are A-Changin'
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin
song performed by by Bob Dylan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Salute Wounded Soldier
To serve is a blessing
to battle is a endless honor
to all that served we salute
for the dead we praise their heroism
to drape they coffin with our flag
a 21 gun salute, flags at half staff
we give very little to the wounded
they suffer the most, life ever changing
suffering pain, fighting the nightmares
left to heal, lots to deal with
from the bed they fight for life
pray for healing, what their families are dealing
life changes, minds destroyed, bodies mangled
they fight to survive, strong then life
stronger than us, they will over come
wounds will heal, the nightmares remain
coping with new limbs and faces
proud they stand, Honor they are
Heroes to all, loved by all
thanking for serving, your real deserving
the wounded soldier, the beholder
our deserving heroes, our icons
a salute to all of you
all will not be forgotten
your in our hearts, its an honor
Salute Wounded Soldiers
poem by Michael Peterson
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