Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.

[KlatooBNikto]

The words of Janis Joplin's great song have taken on a great resonance for me since I realize that we do not really have freedom in our lives even though we live in a nominal democracy.Our press is not free because the men who write for this press are beholden to others and have become fearful of saying anything at all that offends the masters.Our Congress is populated by fearful men and women whose positions depend on the moneychangers at the corporate temples.Our corporations employ thousands of people whose lives can be wrecked by decisions made by unseen and unheard bosses living far away from where they work.

All this tells me that we as a country have become so addicted to material comforts and keeping up appearances that we have imprisoned ourselves.Until that addiction to material comforts and projection of false realities is given up we cannot be free.

[Bellamia]

1. I'm still free

to think as I wish. I am in control of my own mind and the information that enters it. But I agree, we are a materialistic society. Where should we lay the blame?

[KlatooBNikto]

3. I am not talking about those among us who get by on very little. It

is the people among our Millionaire Press,the Congressmen who live high on the hog on lobbyists's dime,the corporate managers who never seem to be satisfied with making millions.The materialism of these people corrupts the lives of the rest of society because money has become not just a means to an end but an end in and of itself.It is the way measure other people's worth.That is my pet peeve.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

2. Sad, but very true. n/t

[DemBeans]

4. sadly ---

Those who are "busted flat in Baton Rouge" are now Bush voters.

[cyclezealot]

5. It did not take Bush/Ahscroft to make me feel this way.

I related to this song for as long as I can recall hearing the lyrics....Go to Howard Zinn's website...He has an essay on the history of the First Amendment...Goes back to alien and Sedition act under Adams..
We are partially Irish..Look at how they were treated in early Boston..The first minorities...The Palmer raids in the 20's..The Haymarket riot.....Know our history..We are not a great democracy as Birchers like to remind us...We are a republic established for the landowner class. always has been...
The other day , I heard Neil Young's "After the GOldrush." thought what promise the baby boomer generation was and how much our dreams are shattered by our failings...Now, we might be lucky if "After the Goldrush" comes to fruition and we all can get the hell out of here..
Sorry Neil we all did not listen.
ps...Nothing new..I have been huming those lyrics ever since we lost Janice...Janice might feel lucky to not know what miserable failures we baby boomers have been following "San Francisco Nights."
We can't even 'teach our children...' they have turned out to be selfish monsters...as have even the repug's offspring , too...
another ps...Not worth another thread...But my question..I like to call fanatical 'Red state' people Repugs...combination of Republican and Repugnant...as an asside to this question.."Repug." a favorite expression...

[Neecy]

8. speaking of Janis...

I used to live a couple of blocks from her Noe Valley apartment, and every year on the anniversary of her death people leave flowers on the sidewalk in front of the building. San Franciscans still haven't forgotten her.

[cyclezealot]

9. Anybody know the sone "Everybody Knows."

This is really a timely song...Everybody knows we are run by crooks...that is what it is about...and we did not listen to that song either...

[cyclezealot]

13. Everybody Knows lyrics.

Found the lyrics by no less than Leonard Cohen...Lyrics we all need know...First two stanzas....Link below..

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/l/leonard-cohen/82809.html
God. I love these lyrics...How appropriate to today's world...Too bad Cohen had to commit suicede?

[cyclezealot]

10. Wonder if they still do?

[Neecy]

12. they still do

I've been away from San Francisco for just a little over a year, and they were still doing it up until I left. It's a nice tribute, even though she died in LA and had moved out of the city to Marin.

[immoderate]

6. Hate to be pedantic, but Kris Kistofferson wrote that song.

I always favored the G. Dead version myself.

--IMM

[oneighty]

7. Interesting

I have been running that song past me for the last few weeks. By Janice, by Jerry Lee Lewis and by the writer Kristofferson.

And I think of the expression mouthed by people that seemingly have never been shot at by people intending to kill them; "Freedom is not free." And I ask; "How the heck does he/she know?"

180

[PeaceProgProsp]

11. "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to buy."

-Billy Bragg

Maybe it's "sell," not "buy" -- can't remember..