5 posts tagged “lies”

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

George Orwell

While cruising YouTube today I came across a video which caught my attention and it is on YouTube under possibly two different users.  The videos are:

ATROCITIES,TESTIMONY OF A FORMER US ARMY RANGER IN IRAQ

 

TESTIMONY OF A FORMER US ARMY RANGER Part-1/2

Very damning stuff about US soldiers in Iraq.  But his whole story is a lie. In fact he has recently been released from prison because as well as his lies, he also tried to claim false Veterans Affairs benefits.  Jesse has apologised for his actions and now realises how serious his allegations were and the potentially dangerous consequences of his actions to others, including those currently serving in the armed forces.

How did I discover that his story is a lie?  Well it took quite a bit of investigation, but I eventually uncovered the truth - I Googled his name, yes it was that simple.   I did have an advantage though  which others before me didn't have, when Jesse first came out with his allegations there wasn't any concrete evidence to the contrary.

This sort of action does not help anyone.  Jesse has and is paying for what he did and I am sure he will be paying for it for quite some time yet.

Lakewood man wishes he could take back lies

What makes me angry at the moment is that there at two YouTube users who know that Jesse's story is fake and they are still airing it at YouTube and genuine caring people who are against the war are being sucked in.  I tried leaving comments but they were blocked, so I have reported them and I hope others do the same and these videos get banned.  There is another YouTube user who is trying to make people aware that Jesse's story is fake.

I am sure there are many soldiers with tragic stories to be told, but this is not one of them.

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Onward to Iran - can you hear the drums calling the US to another war, can you hear the lies spreading, and can you see another nation destroyed. I can and very soon it will be another reality, you will see it too.

Just so you know, I do not approve of it and this is my public statement against it - unless I can be convinced otherwise.

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1959 - The US gives Iran a 5-megawatt nuclear reactor which became operational in 1967.

Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968 and ratified it in 1970.

The Islamic Revolution in 1979 saw the overthrow of a CIA back Dictatorship -The Shah.

Israel, a nuclear state, has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. By NOT declaring nuclear capabilities, Israel doesn’t have to let inspectors in!

The Iranians took their own country back, to escape Britain and US control of their oil. And to rid themselves of a brutal dictatorship!

Iran isn’t a threat to the US, nor is Iran a threat to Israel!

It’s the US and Israel that has been threatening Iran!

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I have to say why wouldn’t Iran want nuclear capabilities? It has seen what has happened to Iraq and it knows that Bush has his eyes set firmly on Iran as his next target. Wouldn’t Iran be crazy not to try and defend itself? But to do so it risks being labelled a terrorist country, but wait it has already been labelled as such.

Why is the US about to take out Iran?

Before we went into Iraq about 52% of Americans thought that Saddam Hussein was behind the September 11^th 2001 terrorist attacks on the US. I don’t know where they got that information from as originally it was said to be the work of Osama Bin Laden, but I guess as the propaganda machine does its work the blame gets put onto the next target.

It is time to think and protest. You know that you were lied to about the Iraq War, so why should this time be any different – I suspect it isn’t any different, I suspect we are once again being lied to.

Why is the US and Israel preparing to attack Iran?

It appears that Hillary Clinton has the answers and obviously a vote for Hillary is about as good as voting the Republican Party back into office.

 

* Added 11.10am 03/09/07.

*The speech made by Hillary was given in February 2007 at an AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) fundraiser. AIPAC is the America’s largest pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC is widely believed to the most powerful lobbying group in Washington and routinely sees major politicians from both sides of the aisle.  The purpose of this AIPAC fundraiser was to send over five thousand AIPAC members to Washington to have meetings with American politicians.

Hillary’s wording for me is significant and please note I am not taking a swipe at Hillary herself, I am taking a swipe at all politicians on both sides who maybe under the influence of AIPAC.

"Regimes pro-terrorist, Anti-American, Anti-Israeli rhetoric only underscores the urgency of our response to the threat we face................."

Once again this shows to me that US leaders/candidates must keep Israel happy in order to be elected or re-elected. This is not just about America; this is about America's ties to Israel. It seems that Israel must be protected by America at all costs, either directly or indirectly through yearly contributions of $2-3 billion/year in military aid.

Also who gets to define a country as a Terrorist country? The word terrorist is rapidly loosing meaning, as it is used way too often and the definition of what defines a terrorist is growing and as a result the net that its definition may trap is widening too.

Is it a crime to be anti-American and/or anti-Israeli? Does that make you a terrorist?

I don't believe that the US will use nuclear weapons against Iran, but they may use other missiles if they attack. I hope they don't. If the US doesn't attack, don't rule out Israel as a potential threat to Iran.

Hillary’s full speech can be seen at Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton statements and releases page. I would also suggest that you read this article for a more balanced view in regards to some of the things that she and others have said about Iran. Senator Clinton won't rule out use of force to stop 'pro-terrorist' Iran

Just ignore the bombing footage at the end of this video as it is not relevant to the point I am making. Also as far as a nuclear strike is concerned, the woman wouldn't even have a chance to scream - she would be vaporised in an instant if she was that close to the explosion. *

Is there any choice when it comes to a US election? I am an Australian so I don’t know.

So why is an Australian concerned about what the US has got planned? Because what the USA does, affects the world as a whole. It isn’t all about America or Israel, it is also about the rest of us and we count as well.

Are We ‘Good Germans’?

 

By Ed Ciaccio

 

09/01/07 “ICH” — - A shirt I recently bought from Old American Century (www.oldamericancentury.org ) has the figure of Uncle Sam, steely-eyed, fists on hips, and under it, the following text:

“If you had told me a few years ago that we would have secret prisons through out the former Soviet republics, tortured our enemies, and used chemical weapons on civilians, I’d have thought you were crazy. But I also didn’t think you’d let Bush steal another election.”

Regardless of whether you choose to believe that both the 2000 and 2004 Presidential Elections were stolen (and there is ample evidence; see, for example http://www.gregpalast.com/one-million-black-votes-didnt-count-in-the-2000-presidential-election-rnits-not-too-hard-to-get-your-vote-lost-if-some-politicians-want-it-to-be-lost/ and http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen ), there are many other disturbing facts about our nation which no longer need to rest on faith to be “believed” because they are now part of the historical record.

Among them are the following:

· Bush and his administration had many warnings before the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks (http://www.buzzflash.com/perspectives/911bush.html )

· War on Iraq for “regime change” was planned long before the 9/11 attacks (http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1203-21.htm , http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/comment/0,12956,1036687,00.html , and http://pnac.info/index.php/2003/4-years-before-911-plan-was-set/ )

· Intelligence about Iraq was “fixed” starting in 2002 to support Bush and Blair’s decision to attack Iraq (http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/ and http://globalresearch.ca/articles/SMI505A.html )

· The U.S./U.K. invasion and occupation of Iraq is illegal and constitutes the supreme war crime, that of an unprovoked, preventive war of aggression similar to Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3661134.stm , http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/13670 , and http://www.counterpunch.org/freeman09172003.html )

· Over one million Iraqis died, including over 500,000 children, as a result of the sanctions imposed by George H.W. Bush after the 1991 Gulf War and then maintained by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush until the U.S./U.K. invasion in March, 2003 (http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/sanction/iraq1/2002/paper.htm#summary , http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/418625.stm , http://www.infowars.net/articles/march2007/270307Iraq_toll.htm , and http://www.thenation.com/doc/20011203/cortright ) as all three administrations tried to provoke “regime change” in Iraq

· Detainees held in U.S. prisons in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in Afghanistan, and in Iraq have been tortured (http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2005/06/24/afx2110388.html and http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/project.jsp?project=us_torture_abuse )

· CIA “Rendition” (kidnapping) of terrorist suspects to nations known to torture started in the Clinton administration, continued and increased under Bush, and was known by “top officials” (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678155.shtml and http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510512006 )

· U.S. forces have committed war crimes by using weapons such as napalm (Mark 77 firebombs), depleted uranium, white phosphorous, and cluster bombs in Iraq (http://www.brusselstribunal.org/WMD.htm , http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/was-there-napalm-in-fallujah/ , http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11020.htm , and http://www.consumersforpeace.org/pdf/war_crimes_iraq_101006.pdf )

· Between 600,000 and one million Iraqis have died since the March, 2003 illegal U.S./U.K. invasion and occupation* (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/world/middleeast/11casualties.html?ex=1318219200&en=516b1d070ff83c15&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss , http://pressesc.com/news/99409082007/one-million-iraqis-killed-us-invasion )

· In spite of prior warnings, Bush failed to have the New Orleans levees repaired or see New Orleans was properly prepared for Hurricane Katrina (http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,372455,00.html and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11627394/ )

· Bush admitted he broke the FISA law, an impeachable offense (http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1216-01.htm , http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20051230.html , and http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/19/1515212 )

*If you consider the one million Iraqis who died as a result of the 1991-2003 sanctions and the one million who have died since the 2003 invasion, the word genocide comes to mind. If you consider the four million Iraqi refugees resulting from our invasion and occupation, and the resulting sectarian violence causing the creation of unprecedented sectarian enclaves in Iraq, the term ethnic cleansing comes to mind.

As Americans, supposedly believing in the rule of law, supposedly believing in fairness and compassion, what do we do now that we know these facts?

Do we deny them because they clash with our view of America as the “greatest country in the world”?

Do we shrug and say, “Well, every country has its dark side”?

Do we throw up our hands and complain that we can’t do much because Cheney and Bush have so much power and, besides, they’ll be out of office soon?

Or do we simply turn the page and see what else is on TV?

The “Good Germans” who did nothing had similar reactions while Hitler destroyed Europe and murdered 6 million Jews, and 5 million Poles, Russians, Communists, homosexuals and other “non-Aryans” in his death camps. They denied, or accepted and approved, or said they didn’t know, or (justifiably for many) feared punishment or death in Hitler’s dictatorship.

But we don’t live in a dictatorship.

And we DO know what has been done in our name.

So who are we? What have we become?

Right now there are three massive U.S. aircraft carrier task forces in the Persian Gulf, and B-1 and B-2 bombers and many fighters on airfields in countries surrounding Iran. They are there waiting for Bush, with Cheney’s urging, to give the signal to repeat “shock and awe’, this time on the Iranian people.

Right now another propaganda campaign, similar to that which preceded our 2003 Iraq invasion, is beginning, but this time charging Iran with unproven “evils” against our troops in Iraq. Again it is accepted without challenge by our compliant, corporate mainstream media with its many links to the so-called “defense” industry. Meanwhile, that same media distracts us with “coverage” of Larry Craig’s men’s room saga, or the death of Princess Di ten years later, or John Edwards’ haircuts, or Britney, or Lindsay, or Paris, or…

And right now, Iranian forces are accused, with little, if any, solid evidence, of helping kill U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Meanwhile, ignored by our media, U.S. special forces and CIA operatives are in Iran selecting targets for our planes, drones, and cruise missiles and supporting anti-Iranian government groups there. In effect, we have been waging war on Iran from inside Iran for almost two years already (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4180087.stm and http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0620-31.htm ).

And now Bush wants our always-accommodating Congress, Democrats and Republicans, to declare a part of Iran’s military as “terrorists.” This will enable him to attack Iran without Congressional authorization.

 

These are also facts.

 

So what will you do about this?

 

Will you be a “Good German”?

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Pentagon ‘Three-Day Blitz’ Plan For Iran

By Sarah Baxter

THE Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days, according to a national security expert.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18290.htm

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The War Criminal in the Living Room

By Paul Craig Roberts

The media is silent, Congress is absent, and Americans are distracted as George W. Bush openly prepares aggression against Iran. - US war doctrine has been altered to permit first strike nuclear attack on Iran and other non-nuclear countries.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18287.htm

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Do We Have the Courage to Stop War With Iran?

By Ray McGovern

09/02/07 "ICH" -- - Why do I feel like the proverbial skunk at a Labor Day picnic? Sorry; but I thought you might want to know that this time next year there will probably be more skunks than we can handle. I fear our country is likely to be at war with Iran - and with the thousands of real terrorists Iran can field around the globe.

It is going to happen, folks, unless we put our lawn chairs away on Tuesday, take part in some serious grass-roots organizing, and take action to prevent a wider war - while we still can.

President George W. Bush's speech Tuesday lays out the Bush/Cheney plan to attack Iran and how the intelligence is being "fixed around the policy," as was the case before the attack on Iraq.

It's not about putative Iranian "weapons of mass destruction" - not even ostensibly. It is about the requirement for a scapegoat for US reverses in Iraq, and the White House's felt need to create a casus belli by provoking Iran in such a way as to "justify" armed retaliation - eventually including air strikes on its nuclear-related facilities………………………….

 

 

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Who Put the Lie in Lieberman?

 

By Simon Floth

 

09/03/07 "ICH" -- -- On July 11 this year congress loaded and pointed a gun at Iran in the form of Lieberman’s amendment to the Defense Authorization act (S.AMDT.2073, amending H.R.1585 and S.AMDT.2011).  That was more than six weeks ago, yet the most pivotal feature of the amendment, and indeed of history in the making, has gone entirely unremarked: It is a demonstrable non-sequitur.

 

Claiming that Iran is complicit in the murder of US soldiers, the amendment is a crucial link in an unrolling geopolitical chain of events.  Yet it depends entirely on a fallacious inference smuggled under sobering rhetoric………………………………………………. 

 

 

 

“Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain subjects... totalitarian propagandists have influenced opinion much more effectively than they could have by the most eloquent denunciations.”    

- Aldous Huxley

 

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Propaganda - it comes from the left, the right and anywhere in between!

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The master of the big lie was the head of the Third Reich's Propaganda Ministry, Josef Goebbels, who used repetition in the manner of an unrelenting drum beat to con the nation's masses into believing whatever deemed necessary by the regime to serve current objectives.

The big lie technique featured two important elements:

Goebbels stated his belief that, whereas a small lie would be questioned, if a gigantic untruth were unleashed its staggering magnitude would impact against the kind of scepticism that would arise from a more benign, less extravagant lie.

Repetition to the point of monotonous exhaustion should be employed to beat the lie concussively into the heads of the masses.  The more frequently a lie is repeated the more common place it will appear to be until, alas, it will ultimately gain acceptance.

 

 

How Propaganda Works

by Bob Wallace

 

"Once you base your whole life striving on a desperate lie, and try to implement that lie, you instrument your own undoing."

- Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death.

It's not hard to understand how propaganda works. You don't need a college degree, or to read any of those thick textbooks everyone hates. Everything relevant can be explained in one not-particularly-long article. And, I guarantee you, you must understand how propaganda targets you, to immunize yourself against the attempts.

Propaganda works by appealing to our most base, animalistic instincts. It does not appeal to our better nature, although one of the purposes of it is to convince us it does. It pretends to appeal to our reason, when in fact it appeals to our most primitive emotions. There is good reason for this: perception travels through the emotional brain first, to the rational brain last.

Specifically, propaganda works by appealing to three things: emotionalism, tribalism and narcissism.

I just mentioned perception travels first to the emotional brain, then the rational brain. This happens to everyone, including people who con themselves that they are the most rational and intelligent of intellectuals.

As for tribes, we share with nearly every animal in the world the instinct to form tribes, arranged in a hierarchy, with a leader. We are group animals. The fact we look to a leader to take care of us is one of the most firmly established principles in psychology (if you don't remember anything else, remember that).

When anyone transgresses the taboos of a tribe, they can, and often are, ostracised or even expelled. An example? Say some people oppose a war. What happens? They are often called cowards and told to leave the country. Who hasn't heard the insult, "You're a coward! If you don't like it here, get out!" People who say such things think they're being patriotic; in reality they're acting like animals. Emotional, irrational, herd animals, prone to the fear and flight activated by propaganda. Individuals think; groups do not, and cannot.

Narcissism is our inborn tendency to see everything as grandiose or devalued, good or bad, with nothing in-between. It's why nearly every tribe in the world -- and nations are just tribes writ large -- called itself "the People," "the Humans," "the Chosen," "the Motherland," "the Fatherland," or "the greatest nation on earth," relegating everyone outside the tribe to a devalued non-people, non-human status (aka "collateral damage"). No wonder it's so easy to kill the outsiders -- they're just not quite human.

When you combine those three concepts, you have the basis for all propaganda. If a leader of a tribe tells the people their goodness is under attack by insane, evil people who want to destroy them, they will react just like animals and attack. The Nazi Goering noticed all you had to do to get people to march off to war is for the leaders to tell them they were under attack, denounce protesters as traitors exposing the tribe to danger, and the people would slander, ostracize and expel the protesters, and then tramp straight off to be slaughtered. He said this technique worked in every country of the world.

The Bush administration used exactly this technique to start two wars. Essentially they told the public that our goodness was under attack by insane and evil people who wanted to destroy us. See how it works? Tribalism, emotionalism, and narcissism.

Supporters of the war responded by attacking protestors as traitors -- trying to expel them from the tribe -- and marching off to war. It's altogether too simple, and too easy.

One man everyone should know is Edward L. Bernays, the American disciple and nephew of Sigmund Freud. He was for all practical purposes the founder of modern propaganda techniques.

Bernays despised most people and regarded them as his inferiors, especially because of intellectual or social claims. (See how it works? I just appealed to your emotions, and convinced you Bernays was attacking you. You fell for it, right?)

Bernays not only pretty much founded modern propaganda techniques, but was also the father of modern PR. Although, you could say they are same thing, and that there's really no difference between them.

In his 1928 book, Propaganda, Bernays wrote, "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country..."

Remember that quote. Burn it into your memory. Bernays thought people should be ruled by an extremely small elite, who should manipulate them through propaganda. That means you. People who believe in the wonders of government, and that it is their friend, should think twice about it.

In another book, In Crystallizing Public Opinion, Bernays wrote how governments and advertisers can "regiment the mind like the military regiments the body." This can be imposed, he said, because of "the natural inherent flexibility of individual human nature," and suggested the "average citizen is the world's most efficient censor. His own mind is the greatest barrier between him and the facts. His own 'logic-proof compartments,' his own absolutism are the obstacles which prevent him from seeing in terms of experience and thought rather than in terms of group reaction."

Bernays also thought "physical loneliness is a real terror to the gregarious animal, and that association with the herd causes a feeling of security. In man this fear of loneliness creates a desire for identification with the herd in matters of opinion."

Bernays claimed that "the group mind does not think in the strict sense of the word...In making up its mind, its first impulse is usually to follow the example of a trusted leader. This is one of the most firmly established principles in mass psychology." What Bernays called the "regimentation of the mind" is accomplished by taking advantage of the human tendency to self-deception [logic-proof compartments], gregariousness [the herd instinct], individualism [exalting their vanity] and the seductive power of a strong leader.

Bernays also expressed the opinion people "have to take sides...[they] must step out of the audience onto the stage and wrestle as the hero for the victory of good over evil." This also means appealing to our narcissism, our inborn tendency to see everything as either good or bad, with little or nothing in-between.

He also noted the need for people to feel as if they belong to something larger than themselves. Again, this also means appealing to our narcissism, such as people claiming they belong to "the greatest nation on earth."

When people consider themselves as part of the Humans (by whatever name they call themselves), they exalt themselves. Still again, those outside the tribe are non-people, "collateral damage."

"Mental habits create stereotypes just as physical habits create certain definite reflex actionism," Bernays wrote. "...these stereotypes or clichés are not necessarily truthful pictures of what they are supposed to portray." Perception is everything, the truth matters little or not at all.

Now, let's boil all this down and see what we have:

Mass Man, the herd, cannot think, and is instead ruled by its feelings. The herd will look to a leader to save it. The best way to accomplish this is for the herd to feel it is under attack. The herd will draw together, expel those who see the truth and protest, and then march off to war.

The full quote from Goering? "Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

Tell the herd they are the Humans, or the People, or best of all, have God on their side. Paint their enemies as insane and evil. Again, this is appealing to people's narcissism, the tendency to see everything as either good (us) or evil (them). Evoke paranoia and hysteria in them by convincing them the insane evil ones want to conquer and destroy them. What will happen? You can get them to march off to war by the millions, just as Goering noticed. The truth doesn't matter, only the manipulation of perception.

To make it as simple as possible, everything that is needed for a successful propaganda campaign can be summed up in those three aforementioned words: emotionalism, tribalism and narcissism.

We con ourselves we are so advanced. In reality, the human race is stuck in One Million Years BC, except there's no Raquel Welch in a two-piece fur bikini.

Listen to the lyrics and substitute Government in place of Mother/Mama from the 2nd verse and that is the purpose of most propaganda.  To make you scared, dependent, stifled, psychologically imprisoned, incapable of thinking for yourself, dumbed down and constantly monitored and controlled.  If the propaganda campaign is well exercised you will not even be aware that this is happening to you because it will be disguised as being in your best interests – “Mama will keep baby cozy and warm” and “Mama wont let anyone dirty get through” and  “Mama's gonna keep baby healthy and clean.”  But while Mama is doing all of that for you, think about what else Mama is doing to you.

 

Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb?
Mother do you think they'll like this song?
Mother do you think they'll try to break my balls?
Mother should I build the wall?
Mother should I run for president?
Mother should I trust the government?
Mother will they put me in the firing line?
Mother am I really dying?

Hush now baby, baby, dont you cry.
Mother's gonna make all your nightmares come true.
Mother's gonna put all her fears into you.
Mother's gonna keep you right here under her wing.
She wont let you fly, but she might let you sing.
Mama will keep baby cozy and warm.
Ooooh baby ooooh baby oooooh baby,
Of course mama'll help to build the wall.

Mother do you think she's good enough -- to me?
Mother do you think she's dangerous -- to me?
Mother will she tear your little boy apart?
Mother will she break my heart?

Hush now baby, baby dont you cry.
Mama's gonna check out all your girlfriends for you.
Mama wont let anyone dirty get through.
Mama's gonna wait up until you get in.
Mama will always find out where you've been.
Mama's gonna keep baby healthy and clean.
Ooooh baby oooh baby oooh baby,
You'll always be baby to me.

Mother, did it need to be so high?

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 Sometimes we are so comfortably numb that we aren't willing to see past the propaganda.