Battle Hymn of the NeoCons

A bit of doggerel, casually tossed off on August 16th,

has taken on a life of its own.

The Battle Hymn of the NeoCons
by Hart Williams

Mine eyes have seen the gory
from a useless foreign war
They are trampling out the protest
for what we used to stand up for
We are sending troops to Baghdad
to get shot up more and more

The lie keeps marching on.

Gory, Gory in Fallujah
Gory, Gory what's it to ya?
If you ain't in agreement, well then screw ya,

The lie keeps marching on.

In the glory of mendacity
George sent troops across the sea
with a perfidy in his bosom
that flim-flammed you and me
as they die to protect oil wells
he says they die for you and me

The lie keeps marching on.

Gory, Gory Mesopotamia
Disagree and they'll
defame ya
Keep yer mouth shut-
who can blame ya?

The lie keeps marching on.

We control the barking moonbats
of a thousand talk show mikes
when we fax them all our talking points
they do just what we likes
we went to war for gasoline
so ignore those gas pump hikes

The lie goes marching on

Gory, gory Al jazeerah
we'll turn off your feed so none can hear ya
disagree with us and
watch us smear ya

The lie keeps marching on ...

The Version heard on the
Nationally Syndicated
Stephanie Miller Show

The Version that aired locally
MP3 format - 2 meg download
(right-click and choose
"save as" in WinDoze)

But then, the EUGENE WEEKLY decided to print it, because, evidently, "it was on the internet" and, while five minutes of Googling would have found the author, the first two stanzas were published, credited to "Anon." Naturally, as a Writers Union Member, I take a dim view of copyright infringement (we successtully pursued "Tasini v. New York Times" all the way to the Supreme Court, where writers rights to their copyrighted material was upheld by a not-very-split court).

So, I called the editor, Ted Taylor, who never actually apologized, nor did he offer compensation for publishing my material without permission. "Fair Use" doesn't extend to commercial publications printing for profit.

He said he'd "correct" it. (This is what they ran -- in teeny weeny little type):

SLANT

... Last week's Slant section included a clever, unattributed little blurb called "The Battle Hymn of the NeoCons" that has been circulating on local political e-mail lists and has even gotten air time on local talk radio KOPT. Sing along and follow the bouncing ball-busters. Turns out the snarky stanzas were penned by Eugene political pundit and blogger Hart Williams. There's an additional stanza about "barking moonbats" at www.hartwilliams.com

Speaking of ball-busters, did anyone catch "Real Time with Bill Maher" Sept. 9 in which Maher called on Bush to resign? [...]

SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com

But alas, this wasn't the first time this YEAR that the EUGENE WEEKLY decided to snark me in print. Earlier, and having stomped on AVA's shutdown the previous week (kicking Bruce Anderson when he was already down), I noted it. This was their response:

http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2005/02/10/news.html

A couple of weeks ago we asked AVA Oregon! publisher Bruce Anderson about rumors that he's returning to California, and he denied it. Turns out we asked the wrong question. He's staying in town, but his newspaper is going away, unless of course he finds someone to bankroll future issues. The R-G gave AVA's demise about 200 words Saturday, buried on D3, getting less attention than the Springfield mayor's plans to go on TV for five minutes each week to answer questions. Back in November, the R-G gave Anderson's arrival in town two prominent stories, a photo and a total of 2,000 words. The Oregonian weighed in with a big story, The New York Times gave Anderson's move to Eugene 1,200 words, and the February Editor & Publisher devoted four full pages to Anderson, "the Jeffrey Dahmer of journalism." Hype generates hype, and it turns to whimpers.

Speaking of the daily rag, up until now the R-G's long-term, full-text archives have only been accessible on a fee basis. But if you have a Eugene Public Library card, you can gain access to the paper's full-text archives for free, along with other newspapers and magazines...

SLANT includes short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com

Talk about snarky! I also noted that the library had the microfilm index online for quite a while -- indeed, my last article for AVA Oregon relied heavily on microfilmed articles on Vicki Walker from the R-G, researched initially over the internet. In other words, when you discover the the world isn't flat, is that news? Or is it shoddy, self-absorbed me-journalism?

Having never held the position as Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary or Treasurer of the Democratic Party of Lane County, snarking, was, as per usual, more important than facts.. This is what they ran:

SLANT

Our Slant last week on the closing down of AVA Oregon generated a slew of unflattering words from Hart Williams, former chief of the Lane County Democrats, a former state House candidate and a recent contributor to AVA Oregon. Williams writes about EW on his blog and calls the paper "basically glorified parakeet cage liner," and goes on to say that "generally, the parakeets contribute the best material to the paper." He describes EW as a "pseudo-'alternative' paper," noting that EW gave scant attention to his political opponent Paul Holvey's out-of-district campaign contributions in the last legislative primary (see News Brief 5/6/04). "They started raking muck where there was no muck, and NOT raking muck where there was," he writes. He calls AVA's Bruce Anderson "the only honest editor in Eugene," and "the only editor that I know of on the West Coast with any balls." Read all about it at www.hartwilliams.com where there's a link to his blog.

SLANT includes short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com

Too bad they couldn't get their facts straight. Or, actually, it's TYPICAL that they can't get their facts straight.

Frankly, that "ball buster" comment on their "correction" and minus so much as a minor nod to their illegal behavior (to say nothing of an apology) is just beyond the pale. Clueless, rude and lawless.

Now this may not make any difference to anyone. You might think it doesn't matter. But the next time somebody steals your lawn mower, then tells you that they didn't know it was yours, and uses it, returns it without so much as a faretheewell or replacing the gasoline they used, well, perhaps you'll understand how I feel.

That's some kind of "professionalism" in a "newspaper."

I tried to resolve this quietly and amicably, without sending my Union Grievance Officer, or retaining a lawyer. But I guess they just don't cotton to acting civilized. So, what do you think? Do I declare war?

Oy vey.

-- Hart Williams 9-22-05