Hello All –

Today, December 10, 2007, is International Human Rights Day. And while we have undoubtedly made great strides in places, the violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights glare out at us from around the globe.

I recently saw Across the Universe, a film I highly recommend, especially for those of us who lived through the '60s, but also for those who can see the parallels between the war of that era and the war now. What's missing today is that groundswell of people who are willing to look a gun (taser?) in the eye and stick a flower in it. And perhaps rightly so, we'd probably get tasered. But it seems we've lost our courage, our passion, our stamina. We're just too comfortable.

With eternal gratitude to the Beatles for writing the incredible music and singing to us for all those years, here's my offering, based on Sgt. Pepper's. If you're not sure of the tune, click here, or just go to YouTube and type in Sgt. Pepper's in the search box, where you'll have a variety of video versions to choose from.

Human Rights Lament

It was sixty years ago today
They declared Human Rights hooray
But lately they've been thrown in the pile
Where only the vile can ever crack a smile
So may I introduce to you
The act you've known for all these years,
Corporatation's Greedy Heartless Band
We're Corporation's Greedy Heartless Band
We hope we make a lot of dough
We're Corporation's Greedy Heartless Band
Sit back so we can screw you ha ha ho
Corporation's Beady, Corporation's Seedy
Corporation's Greedy Heartless Band
It's wonderful to be here,
It's certainly a thrill.
You're such a sleepy audience
We'd never take you home with us,
We'd never take you home.
I don't really want to get too low
And I don't want to let you know
That to the poorhouse you will throng
While the Corporations sing a song
So let me whisper one more time
That greed is the ultimate crime
Corporation's Greedy Heartless Band

Take care,

Ellen