A song about Waterboarding by Jonathan Mann (video)

Jonathan Mann is writing a song a day often based on current events. In this case he uses the actual words from the waterboarding memo. It's actually has a beat and you could dance to it.




Bush Torture Memos Recut In Song (VIDEO)


Jonathan Mann, the guy who brought you the "Paul Krugman" song is back putting the Bush torture memos to music. This is the 109th video in Mann's "one song a day" project. He uses hot-button topics in the news to inspire him on his surely wearying journey, and this time he took disturbing language detailing the waterboarding technique used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times to create a song.

Last week the Department of Justice released the memos from the Office of Legal Counsel that discussed the CIA's use of torture under Bush. This decision by President Obama has been lauded by some, but several members of the last administration and their supporters have been less enthusiastic about the choice.

Click here to read the memos. Scroll down for the transcript of Mann's song.


WATCH:

The detainee is lying on a gurney
That's inclined at an angle: 10 to 15 degrees
A cloth is placed over the detainee's face
Cold water is poured on the cloth

The wet cloth creates
A barrier through which
It is difficult or in some cases not possible
For the detainee to breathe

If the detainee
Makes an effort to defeat the technique
By twisting his head to the side and breathing
Out the corner of his mouth
The interrogator may cup his hands around
The detainees nose and mouth
In which case it would not be possible for him to breathe!

As we explained
In the Section 2340A Memorandum,
"Pain and suffering"
(As used in Section 2340)
Is best understood as a single concept,
Not distinct concepts
Of "pain" as distinguished from "suffering"...

The waterboard,
Which inflicts no pain or actual harm whatsoever,
Does not, in our view inflict "severe pain or suffering".
Even if one were to parse the statute more finely
To treat "suffering" as a distinct concept,
The waterboard could not be said to inflict severe suffering.

The waterboard is simply a controlled acute episode,
Lacking the connotation of a protracted
Period of time generally given to suffering.

New Music :"Christmas In Fallujah," Video, Lyrics & Links

New Music :"Christmas In Fallujah," Video, Lyrics & Links



About This Video:
Live In Chicago, Billy Joel & Cass Dillon performing "Christmas In Fallujah".
Became Available on iTunes Dec. 4th

Proceeds to Benefit: Homes for our Troops

Billboard Magazine writes: Up-And-Comer Voices New Billy Joel Song

November 30, 2007, 12:50 PM ET
Jeff Vrabel, Savannah, Ga.

Billy Joel has broken his self-imposed retirement from pop for the second time in a year, but he'd almost rather you didn't know that.

The second new Joel-penned single since his last pop album, 1993's "River of Dreams," is called "Christmas in Fallujah" and hits iTunes Dec. 4. There are two major differences between it and the classics that have made him one of the best-selling artists of all time. First, there's no piano on it, and second, there's barely any Billy Joel on it, either.

Instead, for what Joel says is a first, he's written a song expressly for another singer, a 21-year-old Long Island native named Cass Dillon. Joel tells Billboard the inspiration for "Fallujah" was partly born of letters he's received from service personnel overseas, but also simply from years of the realities of war.

The song came to him quickly, Joel says, as did the realization that he wasn't the guy to record it. "I thought someone with a young voice should be singing this, someone just starting out in life," he says. "Plus, you know, I'm 58 years old. My voice isn't the voice I was thinking of when I was writing; I was thinking of a soldier, someone of that age."

Enter Dillon, a young singer/songwriter who'd spent a few years under the wing of Tommy Byrnes, Joel's longtime musical director. Dillon left college two years ago to pursue a musical career, and has spent the intervening years on the coffee-shops-and-bars circuit. Byrnes had played Joel several of Dillon's songs, and when it came time to find a singer for "Fallujah," Joel says Dillon "popped right into my head."

Compare it to Nirvana - In Bloom: Sub Pop Version Very similar music.



Billy Joel introducing Christmas In Fallujah,



The song benefits Homes for our Troops

http://www.homesforourtroops.org

Homes for our Troops is a non-profit organization that provides specially adapted homes for our nation’s wounded soldiers. We live in a world where “stringent” standards dictate that 60% of donations should be spent on program activities. According to their FAQ, Homes for our Troops spends 84% of donation dollars directly on the program activity it sells.

The Lyrics to Christmas in Fallujah by Billy Joel

"Christmas In Fallujah"
Words & Music By Billy Joel
Preformed By Cass Dillon
2007

It's Evening In the Desert
I'm Tired and I'm cold
But I'm just a solder
I do what I am told

We Came with the Crusaders
to save the holy land
It's Christmas In Fallujah
and no one gives a damn

And I just got your letter
And this is what I read you said

I'm fading from your memory
so I'm just as good as dead

We are the armies of the empire
We are the legionnaires of Rome

It's Christmas In Fallujah
and we ain't never coming home

We came to bring these people freedom
we came to fight the infidel

there is no justice in the desert
Because there is no god in hell

They say osama's in the mountains
deep in a cave near Pakistan

But there's a sea of blood in Baghdad
A sea of oil in the sand

Between the Tigris and Euphrates
another day comes to an end

it's Christmas In Fallujah
Peace on earth goodwill to men

it's Christmas In Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

it's Christmas In Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

it's Christmas In Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

it's Christmas In Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

Merry Christmas from Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

Merry Christmas from Fallujah
hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

hallelujah hallelujah
(hoorah)

hallelujah hallelujah
Hoorah!



Another artist, Jefferson Pepper, with am CD song by same title: http://www.sonicbids.com/epk/epk.asp?epk_id=41253

In general, holiday albums do not get confused with vehicles for social change. If you don't like in-your-face, change-the-world music, then stop reading now. Far removed from the typical bouquet of carols, Jefferson Pepper's Christmas in Fallujah is a holiday music anomaly. This is protest music at its finest, exploring the dark underbelly of America's social and political landscape. As for the artist's unusual name, I'm imagining some cross between Jefferson Airplane and Sgt. Pepper, but I could be wrong.

Jefferson Peppers MySpace :http://www.myspace.com/jeffersonpepper

Christmas in Fallujah
Written by: Jefferson Pepper
c2005 Jefferson Pepper

It's Christmas in Fallujah, to the victors go the spoils
We came to help the people, it's not about the oil
I came here to Fallujah with presents in my sack
I bring the gift of freedom through unprovoked attack

That's not the sound of reindeer up on your roof at night
We're coming down your chimney with guns and blinding lights
We're gonna take your husband, I'd like to tell you why
But I can't speak your language, I'm too overwhelmed to try

But Uncle Sam made a list, he's checking it twice
He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice
But sometimes the names, they get mixed up
If we get it right half the time that's close enough

It's Christmas in Fallujah, children snuggle in their beds
While the corpses of their parents dance around in their heads
Palaces and bridges, we burned them to the ground
'Cause someone got a contract to rebuild the whole damned town

It's Christmas in Fallujah, hear the bells begin to toll
I'm sorry about your mother, she's somewhere down in the hole
We came here to Falujah to win your hearts and minds
But when we bombed your building your family was inside

Don't blame it on us soldiers, we're only doing what we're told
Never had a spoon of silver, now I've got a broken heart of gold
And I'm gonna have to live with all these nightmares that I've seen
Never taught to know the difference between Osama and Hussein

But Uncle Sam made a list, he's checking it twice
He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice
But sometimes the names, they get mixed up
If we get it right half the time that's close enough

Dear Mr. President (2 videos)

Protest song: Dear Mr. President

I came across this on one of my favorite blogs- Crooks And Liers

Here are two versions of Pink's Dear Mr. President:

Live in NYC. (Acoustic)



Pink at Wembley Empire Pool, London, UK -w/ video in background




Alecia Moore (IPA pronunciation: [ə'li:ʃə 'mɔ:(ɹ)][1]) (born on September 8, 1979), known professionally as Pink (often stylized as P!nk), is an American singer-songwriter who gained prominence in 2000.

Pink released her first record, the R&B-based Can't Take Me Home, in 2000 via LaFace Records. Her pop rock-based second studio album, M!ssundaztood, was released in 2001 and is her biggest seller to date. 2003's Try This, her third album, failed to match the success of M!ssundaztood. After taking a break, Pink released her fourth studio album, I'm Not Dead (2006), which has been successful worldwide. Pink has sold over twenty-five million albums.

Pink, who follows a strict vegetarian lifestyle, is a prominent campaigner for PETA, contributing her voice towards causes such as KFC's alleged poor treatment of chickens. She sent a letter to Prince William criticizing him for fox hunting and one to Queen Elizabeth II protesting about the use of real fur in the bearskins of the Foot Guards and the Honourable Artillery Company. In November 2006 Pink mentioned in the News of the World that she was disgusted with fellow singer Beyoncé for wearing fur. Pink, in conjunction with PETA, recently criticized the Australian wool industry over its use of mulesing. In January 2007 Pink stated that she had been misled by PETA about mulesing and that she had not done enough research before lending her name to the campaign.

Her campaigning led to a headlining concert in Cardiff, Wales on August 21, 2007 which is PAW (Party for Animals Worldwide). This highlighted her involvement with animal cruelty problem