9/11 is a Joke

Now I dialed 911 a long time ago 

don't you see how late they reactin'

They only come when they come when they wanna go 

get the morgue truck and then bag the goner

They don't care cause they get paid 

anyway they treat you like an ace that can't be betrayed

I know you's know with no use people if your life is on the line, 

then you're dead today

Late comers and the late comers stretcher 

that's a body bag in disguise y'all I'll betcha

I call 'em body snatchers quick they come to fetch you

With a autopsy ambulance just to dissect ya

They are the kings 'cos they swing amputation 

lose your arms your legs the famous compilation

I can prove it to you watch the rotation 

it all adds up to a funky situation

Get up get, get, get down 911 is a joke in yo town

Get up get, get, get down late 911 wears the late crown

Get up get, get, get down 911 is a joke in yo town

Get up get, get, get down late 911 wears the late crown

911 is a joke, 911 is a joke

Everyday they don't ever come correct 

you can ask my man right here with the broken neck

He's a witness to the job never bein' 

done he would've been in full effect

911 is a joke cause their always jokin' 

they the token to your life when it's croakin'

They need to be in a pawn shop 

on a 911 is a joke we don't want 'em

I'll call a cab 'cause a cab will come quicker 

the doctors huddle up and call a flea flicker

The reason that I say that 'cause they flick you off like fleas

They be laughin' at ya while you're crawlin' on our knees

And to the strength, so go the length 

thinkin' you are first when you really are tenth

You better wake up and smell the real flavor 

cause 911 is a fake life saver

Get up get, get, get down 911 is a joke in yo town

Get up get, get, get down late 911 wears the late crown

Get up get, get, get down 911 is a joke in yo town

Get up get, get, get down late 911 wears the late crown

911 is a joke, 911 is a joke, 911 is a joke, 911 is a joke, 911 is a joke

Get up get, get, get down 911 is a joke, 911 is a joke, 911 is a joke

Get up get, get, get down 911 is a joke, 911 is a joke, 911 is a joke

Get up get, get, get down

McCOY: 
Come on Spock, it's me, McCoy! 
You really have gone where no man has gone before. 
Can't you tell me what it felt like?

SPOCK: 
It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame of reference.

McCOY: 
You're joking!

SPOCK: 
"A joke" - is, a story with a humorous climax.

McCOY: 
You mean I have to die to discuss your insights on death?

SPOCK: 
Forgive me, Doctor, I am receiving a number of distress calls.


McCOY: 
I don't doubt it!


*****

[Spock's quarters]

KIRK: 

Spock?

SPOCK: 

I prefer it dark.

KIRK: 

Dining on ashes?

SPOCK: 

You were right. 

It was arrogant presumption on my part that got us into this situation. 

You and the Doctor might have been killed.

KIRK: 

The night is young. 

You said it yourself. It was logical. 

Peace is worth a few personal risks. 

...You're a great one for logic. 

I'm a great one for rushing in where angels fear to tread. 

We're both extremists. 

Reality is... probably somewhere in between. 

...I couldn't get past the death of my son.

SPOCK: 

I was prejudiced by her accomplishments as a Vulcan.

KIRK: 

Gorkon had to die before I understood how prejudiced I was.

SPOCK: 

Is it possible ...that we two, you and I, have grown so old, and so inflexible 

...that we have outlived our usefulness...? 

...Would that constitute... 

...a joke?

KIRK: 

Don't crucify yourself. It wasn't your fault.

SPOCK: 

I was responsible.

KIRK: 

For no actions but your own

SPOCK: 

That is not what you said at your trial.

KIRK: 

That was as Captain of a ship. Human beings...

SPOCK: 

But Captain, we both know that I am not human.

KIRK: 

Spock, do you want to know something..? 

...Everybody's human.

SPOCK: 

I find that remark ...insulting.

KIRK: 

Come on, I need you.

Yes, 

Us people are just poems 

We're ninety percent metaphor 

With a leanness of meaning 

Approaching hyper-distillation 

And once upon a time 

We were moonshine 

Rushing down the throat of a giraffe 

Yes, rushing down the long hallway 

Despite what the p.a. announcement says 

Yes, rushing down the long hall

Down the long stairs 

In a building so tall 

That it will always be there 

Yes, it's part of a pair 

There on the bow of Noah's ark 

The most prestigious couple 

Just kickin' back parked 

Against a perfectly blue sky 

On a morning beatific 

In its Indian summer breeze 

On the day that America 

Fell to its knees 

After strutting around for a century 

Without saying thank you 

Or please

And the shock was subsonic 

And the smoke was deafening 

Between the setup and the punch line 

Cause we were all on time for work that day 

We all boarded that plane for to fly 

And then while the fires were raging 

We all climbed up on the window sill 

And then we all held hands 

And jumped into the sky

And every borough looked up when it heard the first blast 

And then every dumb action movie was summarily surpassed 

And the exodus uptown by foot and motorcar 

Looked more like war than anything I've seen so far 

So far 

So far 

So fierce and ingenious 

A poetic specter so far gone 

That every jackass newscaster was struck dumb and stumbling 

Over 'oh my god' and 'this is unbelievable' and on and on 

And I'll tell you what, while we're at it 

You can keep the pentagon 

Keep the propaganda 

Keep each and every tv 

That's been trying to convince me 

To participate 

In some prep school punk's plan to perpetuate retribution 

Perpetuate retribution 

Even as the blue toxic smoke of our lesson in retribution 

Is still hanging in the air 

And there's ash on our shoes 

And there's ash in our hair 

And there's a fine silt on every mantle 

From hell's kitchen to Brooklyn 

And the streets are full of stories 

Sudden twists and near misses 

And soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters 

With tales of narrowly averted disasters 

And the whiskey is flowin' 

Like never before 

As all over the country 

Folks just shake their heads 

And pour

So here's a toast to all the folks that live in Palestine, Afghanistan, 

Iraq, El Salvador

Here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation 

Under the stone cold gaze of Mt. Rushmore

Here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors 

Who daily provide women with a choice 

Who stand down a threat the size of Oklahoma City 

Just to listen to a young woman's voice

Here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now 

Awaiting the executioner's guillotine 

Who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads 

To find peace in the form of a dream, peace in the form of a dream

Cause take away our PlayStations 

And we are a third world nation 

Under the thumb of some blue blood royal son 

Who stole the oval office and that phony election 

I mean 

It don't take a weatherman 

To look around and see the weather 

Jeb said he'd deliver Florida, folks 

And boy did he ever

And we hold these truths to be self evident: 

Number one, George W. Bush is not president 

Number two, America is not a true democracy 

Number three, the media is not fooling me 

Cause I am a poem heeding hyper-distillation 

I've got no room for a lie so verbose 

I'm looking out over my whole human family 

And I'm raising my glass in a toast

Here's to our last drink of fossil fuels 

May we vow to get off of this sauce 

Shoo away the swarms of commuter planes 

And find that train ticket we lost 

Cause once upon a time the line followed the river 

And peeked into all the backyards 

And the laundry was waving 

The graffiti was teasing us 

From brick walls and bridges 

We were rolling over ridges 

Through valleys 

Under stars 

I dream of touring like Duke Ellington 

In my own railroad car 

I dream of waiting on the tall blond wooden benches 

In a grand station aglow with grace 

And then standing out on the platform 

And feeling the air on my face

Give back the night its distant whistle 

Give the darkness back its soul 

Give the big oil companies the finger finally 

And relearn how to rock-n-roll 

Yes, the lessons are all around us and the truth is waiting there 

So it's time to pick through the rubble, clean the streets 

And clear the air 

Get our government to pull its big dick out of the sand 

Of someone else's desert 

Put it back in its pants 

And quit the hypocritical chants of 

Freedom forever

Cause when one lone phone rang 

In two thousand and one 

At ten after nine 

On nine one one 

Which is the number we all called 

When that lone phone rang right off the wall 

Right off our desk and down the long hall 

Down the long stairs 

In a building so tall 

That the whole world turned 

Just to watch it fall

And while we're at it 

Remember the first time around? 

The bomb? 

The Ryder truck? 

The parking garage? 

The princess that didn't even feel the pea? 

Remember joking around in our apartment on Avenue D?

Can you imagine how many paper coffee cups would have to change their design 

Following a fantastical reversal of the New York skyline?!

It was a joke 

At the time 

And that was just a few years ago 

So let the record show 

That the FBI was all over that case 

That the plot was obvious and in everybody's face 

And scoping that scene 

Religiously 

The CIA 

Or is it KGB? 

Committing countless crimes against humanity 

With this kind of eventuality 

As its excuse 

For abuse after expensive abuse 

And it didn't have a clue 

Look, another window to see through 

Way up here 

On the hundredth and fourth floor 

Look 

Another key 

Another door 

Ten percent literal 

Ninety percent metaphor 

Three thousand some poems disguised as people 

On an almost too perfect day 

Must be more than pawns 

In some asshole's passion play 

So now it's your job 

And it's my job 

To make it that way 

To make sure they didn't die in vain 

Ssh

Baby listen 

Hear the train?

The Loyal Order of Corn

"There's another fellow," muttered Scrooge; who overheard him: "my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas.  I'll retire to Bedlam."

This lunatic, in letting Scrooge's nephew out, had let two other people in.  They were portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood, with their hats off, in Scrooge's office.  They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed to him.

"Scrooge and Marley's, I believe,"said one of the gentlemen, referring to his list.  "Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley?"

"Mr. Marley has been dead theseseven years," Scrooge replied.  "He died seven years ago, this very night."

"We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner," said the gentleman, presenting his credentials.

It certainly was; for they had been two kindred spirits.  At the ominous word "liberality," Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, and handed the credentials back.

"At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time.  Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."

"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

"And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge.  "Are they still in operation?"

"They are.  Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."

"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?"  said Scrooge.

"Both very busy, sir."

"Oh!  I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course," said Scrooge.  "I'm very glad to hear it."

"Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude," returned the gentleman, "a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink and means of warmth.  We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices.  What shall I put you down for?"

"Nothing!" Scrooge replied.

"You wish to be anonymous?"

"I wish to be left alone," said Scrooge.  "Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer.  I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry.  I help to support the establishments I have mentioned -- they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there."

"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."

"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.  Besides -- excuse me -- I don't know that."

"But you might know it," observed the gentleman.

"It's not my business," Scrooge returned.  "It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's.  Mine occupies me constantly.  Good afternoon, gentlemen!"


Seeing clearly that it would be useless to pursue their point, the gentlemen withdrew.  Scrooge returned his labours with an improved opinion of himself, and in a more facetious temper than was usual with him.

 Hail to Thee, O Ears of Splendor,

Joyously we pledge our job

We declare our staunch allegiance

to protect your kingly cob.

With fidelity and devotion

and every day from dawn to dusk,

We will never shuck our duty,

we’ll defend your noble husk.

Yea, we vow, our dear lodge brothers,

when ‘er in need down through the years,

When there’s trouble by the bushel

we will always lend an ear.

For from each teeny tiny kernel,

another Eerie ear is born,

There sprouts a Hardy sturdy stalk,

the Loyal Order of Corn.

The Ride, in fact, is Made Up of Denial

"Today, a Young Man on acid realised that :

• All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration. 

• That we are all OneConsciousness, experiencing itself subjectively. 

• There is no such thing as 'Death', Life is only a Dream and We're The Imagination of Our Selves." 

"Here's Tom with the weather." 

"Wow! Did you see the fuckin news!" By the way that thing I just did about matter is energy condensed to a slow vibration, we are all one conssciousness experiencing itself subjectively, and dadada, that thing I just did? 

Einstein proved that...! 

[Cosmic Manic Joker Laugh]

Not Complete, Even Though Correct.

 It's called Quantum Physics. 

Anyway I was tripping one day with Al, which was really weird, 'cos he's dead.

 And I said 'Al do you notice the walls are fuckin breathing right now?'

"Bill I noticed the same thing, I've got to jot some numbers down real quick, I just had a fuckin idea" 

"I saw your head light up like a fuckin bulb Al, this is unbelievable. 

Its called Quantum Physics, 

its called The 20th Century... 

We'll get there one day. "

You've been fantastic and I hope you enjoyed it.

 There is a point - is there a point to all of this...? 

Let's find a point. 

Is there a point to my act? 

I would say there is. 
I have to.

The World is like a Ride at an amusement park. 

And when you choose to go on it, you think that it's Real because that's how powerful our minds are. 

[Audience member shouts 'bollocks'] 

There is a lot denial in this ride, 

The Ride, in fact, is made up of Denial.

"All things work in Goatboys favour". 

The World is like a ride at an amusement park. It goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. 

Some people have been on The Ride for a long time and they begin to question, 

"Is this Real, or is this Just a Ride?" 

And Other People have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, 

"Hey - don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, 

This is Just a Ride..." 

And We... 

Kill those people. 

Ha ha !!

"Shut him up!" 

"We have a lot invested in this ride! 

Shut him up! 

Look at my furrows of worry. 

Look at my big bank account and my family. 

This just has to be real." 

Just a ride. 

But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok?

Jesus : 

Murdered

Martin Luther King :

Murdered

Malcolm X :

Murdered

Gandhi :

Murdered

John Lennon :

Murdered

Reagan : 

Wounded.

But it doesn't matter because: 

It's Just a Ride. 

And we can change it anytime we want. 

It's only a choice. 

No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. 

A choice, right now, between Fear and Love.

The Eyes of Fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. 

The Eyes of Love, instead, see All of Us as one. 

Here's what we can do to change The World, right now, to a Better Ride :

Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defences each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating The Poor of The World, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore Space, together, both inner and outer, Forever, in Peace. 

Thank you very much, you've been great. 

[Applause] 

I hope you enjoyed it. 

London, you were fantastic, thank you, thank you very much. 

[bow] [bow] 

[three shots ring out - Bill crumples to the ground] 

So we then move on you see to another possible response, not repentance, but that of resignation :

"I quit The Game, I won't play it." 

There are all sorts of ways of doing this but basically this is an aristocratic posture, 

"You ordinary mortals with all your Desires, and all your Involvements are deluded - You Get attached to Things.

But there are a certain minority of Us, Who are above it all. 

And since We've resigned We're not going to follow This now. " 

This as I say is an artistocratic, [be aware]  that it may be aristocratic in two ways : There's the aristocracy of the Hindu Sannyasi the people outside and above caste and there's also the aristocracy of the actual aristocrat - I get so mixed up with my British and American pronunciation on this - but 

The Aristocrat who comes on with the position of always being bored, who has complete sangfreud who is imperturbable 

Kaiser Ling's study of this mentality is marvelous in his book of Europe the essay on Hungary portrays the rightly he calls the grand signeur. 

He always identified himself as a type disrobe the grand familia cannot be saved,  who could always be always rise to the occasion under any social circumstances whatsoever, without trying to do so or without apparently trying to do so.

In other words if he goes to the Opera wearing blue jeans he will somehow make it apparent that everybody else is improperly dressed.

This is a very interesting type of person you know there was an essay written by someone whose name I can't remember in the Centennial Review which contrasted the Attitude to Time of the

aristocracy, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat; 

It said The Aristocrat lives in The Past because his ancient forbears have achieved everything and his very by the fact of his birth in his existence he has nothing to strive for and he somehow I never need overdo it - he's always cool.

The Bourgeois on the other hand feels that it's necessary to arrive 

and he's always striving for The Future

Whereas the aristocrat lives in  The Past, on the other hand, 
The Proletarian lives in The Present because he doesn't care about his reputation, and he just lives.

And so of the three bourgeois The Sucker 

because the formula is always cheated because, well, it's going to come someday, see, you're going to get it - even your money when you pull it out of your pocket,  there says on it 

"Promise to Pay" 

- watch out for that!

It's poverty and the bourgeoisie use the news on from the whole the whole economy is the United States being the great bourgeois country is in a state of expectancy of feeling happy, not on what you have but on what is going to come 

The Aristocrat is happy on what has happened, these great achievements of the past mean there's nothing left to do except sort of glory in it.

The Proletarian wants it right now, see and they often get it; 

About the poor bourgeois, my uncle once said 

The Poor have it given them 

The Rich have it anyway so 

The Middle Classes do without

So both the aristocrats and the sannyasi have resigned.

Now, the more interesting of the two types is Acosta Sonia who resigns from The World Game, let me review for you the role of the sannyasin in Indian culture you know there are four castes because the priests or Brahmins the caste of warriors and rulers called Kshatriya the caste of merchants called Vasia and the caste of workers called Shudra 

And to belong to a caste means that you are in  the state called grihastha, which is householder that is to say you are One Who is Involved in The World, you are engaged in what is called loca Sandra and loca means The Well, Sandra, upholding, upholding the going on of The Great Illusion and so you are playing for money for position for status, for success and hoping above all that you could win - You can beat The Game.

But it's supposed in the same culture that every man who attains the age of 45 or so, who has now a grown son to take over his work, will quit the game, will resign and so, when you come to be at age you're supposed to move from the state of grihastha, householder to vanaprastha which means forest dweller.

You give away all your possessions to your son, you change your name, you take off your clothes and go more or less naked, because you have abandoned status.

So in spite of the fact that he has no status, he is however respected in the culture for being an upper outcast, whereas the Aborigines of the Indian Peninsula are Untouchables, the lower outcast and the upper outcast always mimics the lower.

For example Buddha had his disciple wear ochre robes because ochre robes were worn by convicts. 

So in the same way if today, in San Quentin, they all wear blue jeans with special kind pants and a kind of a blue denim jacket and this could well become the uniform of a new kind of sannyasi in the

Western world and to some extent this is happening.

So this guy says 

"The Game is not worth the cap, 
the richer I get, the more miserable I get"

You know how this is, you think that your problems may be monitored and you get more money.

What do you do then we've got enough money, you start worrying about your health and you can never never stop worrying about that 

Or if you're not worried about your health you worry about politics, if somebody's going to take your money away from you, worried about taxes, about Who's Cheating You.

And so a person who goes through all that he's finally 

"I don't think The Game's worth it, I'm going to resign."

And so resignation or renunciation the difference from repentance it hasn't it hasn't got the same kind of passion in the resolve that the repentant person feels he's wrong who made a mistake has committed sin and wants to get better about the renounce first didn't concerns of that country he knows that better progress whether moral or material is an illusion and you have to understand this when you approach for example the study of Buddhism I think one of the most withering remarks I ever heard, from an oriental, he was Japanese he said once he was 

"Never forget that whereas Jesus was the Son of a Carpenter, Buddha was the son of a King" 

You know Wow! Take that! 

And it's choose it is something always about about that this is not the this is easy to see which Christianity historically was the protest of the slave class again if the Roman, establishment Buddhism was different it was the abandonment of position by an aristocracy  - That We've done it We've seen it all we've had it so now we check out and we will be therefore we will resign from all games and if you follow this attitude to an extreme you're going to make because it all goes to the center the same discovery that is made by the person who follows repentance to an extreme.

Just as The Repentant Person discovers that his contrition is phoney the person who tries to resign will discover that he can't, that 

There is no way of not playing games 

Let's go a little bit then into this Game Theory there are a lot of games that we play and not only the game of 
Can I get One Up on The Universe,  of Pretending That I'm me This Ego, With Its

Name and Its Role, The Man, 

but also we have what I call meta-games, for example the game 

My Games Better Than Your Game,

or the game 

"I Won't Play With You Because Your Game is Vulgar, Stupid, Banal, Inferior or Whatever." 

One of the most, therefore, effective games in saying My Game is Better Than Your Game is that 

I'm Not Playing Games At All.

You are now at the lowest level we find that in the form of :

You're Not Sincere, I am sincere 

You are Fooling, I'm not Fooling You and Being Honest with You 

Now, that's a great game and of resignation is a form of it as to say you are children claim with toys and you haven't ever really woken up to the important concerns of life you haven't reached the dimension of ultimate sincerity all, that is to say Ultimate Reality, and in order to reach it you have to 

Resign from Distractions 

You hear a great deal in the literature about meditation of getting rid of distractions wandering for well I you might ask when you think about all that what are wandering for what are wrong for what shouldn't I be doing with my mind, well they all say actually every day you think about this and then you think about that in your thoughts run on in an undisciplined way from one association to another and you can't keep your mind fully on the job or whatever so you see, you're supposed to announce that because that's True Reality all those wandering thoughts they're not about the

importance now what's important what should you keep your mind on well, something just as long as you keep your mind on.

In an instruction one of the Buddhist scriptures says about concentration, when they concentrate on a yellow square on the ground, on the burning tip of an incense stick, on your navel, on the tip of your nose on the, center between the eyes, or anything.

And then the footnote the commentator adds 

"But not on any wicked thing." 

As you know that commentators the world over, they never have any [sense of humour].

So anything will do just so long as you keep your mind on it, and don't wander, stick to it, so wandering is involvement in games,

by this kind of definition, so then you try to get out can you now get out can you stop competing with other human beings 

In ancient Greek society there was a place in the center of the community called the argon AG om and this was a place for contests where they had wrestling matches and other athletic events because all the men were constantly trying to show who was the

better and from this were the agonyax which means these the contest itself held in the argon we get our word agony, the struggle and striving to be superior and a lot of people that you meet among you,  you will recognize this among your friends all the time are not happy unless they are involved in the contest it doesn't matter what it is, so long as they're trying to beat something they're  happy 

And you may say over everything :

"You know can't we just sit around and talk instead of having to play a game, or bet or do something to prove who's the stronger...?" 

I was married to a girl who never was happy unless she was engaged in some kind of combat, when of course I had a game, it didn't look like one,  and so it was a very superior game just because it didn't look like one,  but it was a form of the game, my games that renews so you can't really not-play, you may go through the motions of not playing, but you still are. 

The Psychonauts Field Manual by BlueFluke