THE PENTAKOMO CAMEL

A presidential election debate on TV where,
a) The journos are not self disciplined enough to construct a question within the agreed time frame. So      
    self righteous, obviously, that they are enamoured by their own voice.
b) The 3 presidential hopefuls bob-and-weave at the questions avoiding to answer to the point and
     sell hope while the debt of the country has not been, yet, agreed upon.
and where,
a) and b) both are much more part of a star system than their respective professions.

But let's see who are fueling the careers of these people...
a) Special interests
b) Grovelers
c) Dimwits


They are all IRRELEVANT to me...

Well we're heading for a past that you leave not defend
Where the downtowns hold the sadness of you can't go back again
It's there you'll find all the debtors
Motel signs with broken letters

And we can be the super shoppers
We can say we're really smart
We can say our town is doing fine without a beating heart
We can even say the money saved is all our own
It's bought and sold, it's bought and sold
"Bought And Sold"                 (DAR WILLIAMS)


Of course, 11 people are running for the Presidents office but this democratic system will choose only the 3 that are affiliated to political parties to appear on TV. Talk about equal opportunity...
Of course, we never had real politicians, on this island. Spin doctors, yes, but, politicians...it's not funny. Our politicians will answer anything but the question, bringing to mind that exquisite old Cypriot saying : "Camel farts at Pentakomon". And while we are at the subject of farts...

These people are IRRELEVANT to me...


And you can say they're out to hunt you
You can say they are out to fish you
You can join a gang of restless youth
Or start your own militia
You can even say your violence is all your own
It's bought and sold, it's bought and sold

"Bought And Sold"        (DAR WILLIAMS)






To Vote Or Not To Vote is the argument in a (not so) parallel universe.
If you think the problem lies with the faces, then vote.
If you think the problem lies with the system, then don't.
Now, even the last dimwit half-brain can understand that this mutation of democracy is the problem.
Faces come and go and still every year we are worse off.
The system is decaying fast and only when the pool they fish their votes from becomes smaller and smaller maybe, just maybe, they will realize the need for change. Until then, let the TV shows on offer
make you numb(er)...

-"Hey mister. You MUST vote. If you don't like any of them, then cast a blank vote... That's the protest
   vote. The blank vote..."
-"No, mate. The only blank thing is on the page of your IQ test results..."
-"Hey mister. What you're saying is wrong. The right to vote is sacred..."
-"Sacred? Well, while you choose to introduce religion into the conversation be prepared to turn the
   other cheek..."



Well I look up to the people who are less bought than I
You can show them what you're selling and they'll only ask you why
Their paychecks don't have lots of zeros
They're my friends, they're my heroes
And the TV sets are angry 'cause they can't make them pay
But I like the way these people read the signs and walk away

And we can call ourselves the makers and the keepers of our time
We can spend our sand dollars and sand nickels and sand dimes
We can even say prosperity is all our own, it's bought & sold
We can even say our loneliness is all our own, it's bought & sold
"Bought And Sold"                        (DAR WILLIAMS)

THE HALLOUMI THIEF

The story goes like this. A jobless, hungry man steals a couple of halloumi cheese and one lountza (trad smoked pork) from a supermarket which is part of a massive chain.

The man is dragged to court and fined 700.00 euros.

The supermarket chain has been defaulting on payments to the banks and its suppliers for ages and has suspended operations.

Now, should this hapless poor  man had a good lawyer, maybe he could argue in court that the stolen goods did not actually belong to the supermarket since it hasn't paid its suppliers for months, maybe years...

But of course justice doesn't work this way. The "have not" will pay while the "have" will retire comfortably leaving suppliers and banks helpless in trying to recoup tens of millions of euros.

Such is the state of Corporatism. It will protect its rotten businessmen just like Democracy will protect its rotten politicians...

I think guilt and innocense
They are a matter of degree
What might be justice to you
Might not be justice to me
You may be the wrong colour
You might be too poor
Justice isn't something that anyone can afford

"Crime For Crime"        (ANI DI FRANCO)




Oh, and by the way, if you've located 3 wise men and a virgin, you can celebrate Xmas,
 all you good Christians....

SELLING MY SOUL (TO ANY FOOL WHO'LL BUY IT)

The Danse Macabre is finally upon us as the Troikans feast on a cocktail of foolishness, incompetence, greed and vanity. It takes two to tango but the philosopher will argue that if there is no audience to witness it, the tango never really happened. Nothing sexy about this tango and the dancers are not sexy either. The Danse Macabre stars...

a) La Troika

You forget your rights and I'll forget your name
You're gonna keep prayin' cause you're all the same
This is the master's voice don't you dare defy it
What's it gonna take to make you riot?
Swing to the right, baby all the way
I'll be dancing with the devil on Judgement Day
I sold my soul to any fool who'd buy it
What's it gonna take to make you riot?
"Riot"                                               (RIOT)



b) The Politicos

Round here we talk like lions
But we sacrifice like lambs



"Round Here"                            (COUNTING CROWS)








c) The Hapless Primates

Now with hindsight, I admit
I don't admire the human lot
Frail bodies, fragile, ill equipped
Their lives are hard but they are not


"Postacrds From Planet Earth"              (SKYCLAD)

I GOT DAT OL' SINKING BANK BLUES AGAIN, MAMA...

In this age of oligarchic corporate Democracy, one part of hopelessness/one part of rage/one part of injustice constitute a potent, volatile and lethal cocktail.
It is strangely weird (to say the least) how the woes of the Banking sector are being loaded on the shoulders of the hapless primates. And how the guilty, stretch only as far as the CEOs and their boards
are concerned.
The Major Shareholders who are mainly responsible for voting these incompetents into their position and are handing them the orders for the (catastrophic) economic and investment policy they should and
have followed, are never mentioned in the half-assed press. Alarmingly, they are never investigated in
any probe. By law, they are untouchable.
In this tremendously flawed and mutated Democracy, these people stand only to make profit but, when it comes to loss, the primates are asked to pay...

Some people say they are lucky in their birth
And their nationality bequeaths them pride
But those who own the earth are still tethering the serfs
With Company allegiance fully tied

Mr Company Man, on the Company land
Stand every street and building in the town
Every park, every green, every home and dream
The Company owns every piece of ground
And everybody in the Company town

"COMPANY TOWN"        (The Men They Couldn't Hang)


So...isn't it fair and LOGICAL that the Major Shareholders of a sinking banking institution cough up
the funds instead of the taxpayers? Isn't it just? It's their company after all...
In most cases Major Shareholders do not have enough to cover the losses, but it's not like they are
homeless, living in cardboard boxes. Shouldn't they be asked to relinquish a (vast) amount of their
wealth to save THEIR company? And, when it's on track again, they can continue to to enjoy the profits...or f**k it up again (whatever- it's a free world, I'm told).
But no...the taxpayers must endure cutbacks and in many cases, enter the unemployment corps.

And it seems that the Corporate Eyes, they are watching
She fears for her job and the moments are passing
I stare at her nametag and think to myself
Both you and I we never asked for any of this


"225"                          (NEW MODEL ARMY)






Is the world getting any better since the inception of Democracy or is it moving towards a regime where
oligarchs under the protective cover of the Democratic system, are sharpening their knives...

Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense
Expressed in Dollars and Cents, Pounds, Shillings and Pence
Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense


"Perfect Sense"                           (ROGER WATERS)





And a hungry and desperate primate in a dim-lit room smashes the TV, grabs a baseball bat and heads to the nearest fast food store to trash it up...

Be nice to people. They outnumber you 5.5 billion to one!



"Principia Discordia"                           (5th Edition)

A TOOTHPASTE, A CARTON OF MILK AND TWO KILOS OF BULLETS...PLEASE

So, one (not so) fine day in Aurora, Colorado, a certain james Holmes goes on a murder spree in a movie house. It is not the first time such an act has shocked a nation and, unfortunately, one would be a fool to believe that it will be the last.
Then, there's a parade of psychiatrists trying to dissect and analyze Holmes' psyche trying to pinpoint the reason that pushed him to pick up the gun...

Hush child, go to sleep
It's only the sound of a gun
Hush child, do not weep
It's only the sound of a world on the run
You're hearing the sound of a gun


"The Sound Of A Gun"   (CHRIS DE BURGH)





You know, my biggest fear is having to wake up one morning and miss my daily meeting with SANITY! When common logic cannot prevail then it is time for the shrinks, the whitecoats, the
technocrats...
Let's find out who molested him as a child, unravel his childhood's dark pages. Why did James Holmes kill so many people?

Eeerm...maybe because he had a gun, folks? It maybe my simplistic way of thinking and maybe utter
nonsense, don't let it detract from finding the real reasons-what do I know, I'm just a simpleton...

But...say he had a kitchen knife, would the bloodbath have been of this proportion?...nah don't pay
attention to ordinary me...

But, if you can purchase two kilos of bullets as easily as you can purchase two kilos of tomatoes then it is a different ballgame. Because demented people will always be a part of society. Everyday, some people will have something crack up in their brain, Should we turn them into killers by giving them easy access to murder weapons?
Once you let special interests (in this case, the NRA) compromise your policy, then, subsequently you
compromise Democracy. And a compromised Democracy, evidently, can be murderous...

You don't have to be a Jew
To disapprove of murder
Tears burn in our eyes
Moslem or Christian, Mullah or Pope
Preacher or poet, who was it wrote
Give anyone species too much rope
And they'll f**k it up

"Too Much Rope"       (ROGER WATERS)




IMAGINARY SCENARIO : A man on a killing spree enters a house and shoots dead the wife, the 4
                                                 children, the maid and the dog. It is revealed that that it is the family of
                                                 the CEO of the company that manufactured the gun.
                                                 And the camera zooms in on his face...

"...England, where no one has guns : 14 deaths.
United States, and I think you know how we feel about guns-whoo!
I'm getting a stiffy!-23000 deaths from handguns.
But there is no connection and you'd be a fool and a communist to
make one. There is no connection between having a gun and shooting someone, and not having a gun and not shooting someone...OK, though admittedly last year in England they had 23000 deaths per soccer game..."

BILL HICKS

DOG CITIZENS OF THE EU

When they overrun the defenses
A minor invasion put down to expenses
Will you go down to the airport lounge
Will you accept your second class status
A nation of waiters and waitresses
Will you mix their martinis
Will you stand still for it
Or will you take to the hills

"Home"                       (ROGER WATERS)




In the months prior to the commencement of the Cyprus Presidency (EU) the primates have witnessed
a fervent and unparalleled attempt by the powers that be to beautify the main transport routes of this
dryland.
*Freshly painted signs on the asphalt.
*Freshly painted edges of pavements.
*Unprecedented planting of trees, plants, flowers and grass.
*Restoration of pavements and creation of ramps for the primates who are stranded on wheelchairs.
All these to impress the eyes of the EU luminaries who will be visiting regularly for the next 6 months.

Of course, before the Cyprus Presidency there was no need whatsoever for people on wheelchairs
to have access...
Or, need for the non indigenous kikuyu grass...
Or, legible roadsigns...

One view shows a white cathedral dome
Galleries and mansions made of stone
One view shows a ghetto rise beyond the sewerage
One of these views they call our heritage

Down to the river, up to the sea
People in the city are making history
Changing history


"Blackfriars Bridge"  (THE MEN THEY COULDN'T HANG)






Therefore, it is logical to assume that in fifteen years when Cyprus will preside again, people on
wheelchairs will have access to a few more pavements...
And that is how the EU is good to your health...
And that is how RESPECT and DIGNITY are terms that are fading fast in the Democratic Dictionary
of the politicians...

The boxer trains, the baby cries, the waiter waits
All boxers train, all babies cry, all waiters wait
In towers and gutters and soft sweet rooms
Eating takeout or escargot
Or drinking coffee from a paper cup
Or Chateau Rothschild from a crystal goblet

Am I alone in this? Am I alone?
I am your waiter and I'm ordinary and I am the wildest in the world

"The Waiter"                 (DAVID BAERWALD)

SUPERMARKET DEMOCRACY

Long time didst thou dwell
Mid the peoples that mourn
Awaiting some voice
That should bid the return

"Hymn To Liberty"   (D. SOLOMOS)

National anthem of Greece


Been to the supermarket and amongst others, bought some shampoo. It was on offer. A buy-one-
get-one-free deal. Mind you, I have a half head of hair...

Take one last look behind
Commit this to memory and mind
Don't miss this wasteland, this terrible place
When you leave
Keep your heart off your sleeve


"Motherland"      (NATALIE MERCHANT)






Greece, the cradle of Democracy. In recent elections the party with most votes was given a bonus
of 50 seats in Parliament!
In the land that gave birth to Democracy...

O, my five and dime queen
Tell me what have you seen?
The lust and the avarice
The bottomless, the cavernous greed
Is that what you see?


"Motherland"          (NATALIE MERCHANT)






It is extraordinary how malleable and open to manipulation the system of Democracy is.
And, much worse, the legal shroud it offers politicians to thieve, to succumb to special interests,
to fuel nepotism and generally to get away with murder (sometimes literally).

You can sleep safely in your bed
While the knife it cuts deep, the blood it runs red
Did anyone hear who fired the first shot?
Who licked the first wound
Was the last one to drop
It's just a game
When you're grown up


"The Grown Ups"       (DEMON)

Everybody's hanging round here waiting for the call
The time will come when you grow sick of it all
We run in circles but we're run by the bentest squares
Life ain't that hard but, Christ, it's hard to bear
I'm there where are you baby, maybe broken now...

Now you know just who I am, I am the devil's son
I'm as cruel as the cursed land you have me walk on


                                                      "Devil's Son"           (LUPEN CROOK)


At the end of the day, it is performance that counts-not words. And reviewing history should
maybe teach us that where things really matter, the world has not gotten any better after the
implementation of Democracy globally. I have no clue re alternatives and if anybody knows of
any please, be my guest...
But I would like to experience waking up one morning to smell the dignity of citizenship.

Now come on shotgun bride
What makes me envy your life?
Faceless, nameless, innocent, blameless and free
What's that like to be?

Motherland cradle me
Close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep
Keep me safe, lie with me
Stay beside, me don't go
Don't you go
"Motherland"        (NATALIE MERCHANT)



It used to be, when you had an autocrat, a tyrant, an oppressive monarch....you could
just shoot the bastard and get rid of.
You'd be hailed a hero.
But what do you do about "Democratic" oppressors?
You'd probably end up in jail.

They like bomb proof cadillac, air conditioned, gold taps
Backseat gun rack, platinum hubcaps
They pick horses for courses
They're the market forces
They like order, make up, limelight power
Gameshows, rodeos, star wars, TV
They're the powers that be
If you see the come
You better run-run, you better run on home

Sisters of mercy better join with your brothers
Put a stop to the soap opera right now
                                                  They say the toothless get ruthless
                                                  Run on before it's too late

                                                 "The Powers That Be"          (ROGER WATERS)

All I would ask of you
Remember me for what I've done
And not for what I didn't do

Wish I was Jeff Bridges moving down the highway
With the wind blowing through my hair
Wish I was Jeff Bridges moving down the highway
Oh the road, it's taking me somewhere...

"Jeff Bridges"       (MIDNIGHT CHOIR)



Got plenty of shampoo for that but a half head of hair..........