Say something stupid, Charlie

Life used to be so lush
On Monday nights at nine,
A good laugh on T.V.
So you can sleep easy
With all the world’s ills
Forgotten by dawn.

Now the new buzz
Around the water cooler,
What everybody wants to know
These dark days
Is what Charlie said.
What was the latest salvo
In the brawl for it all
Between Charlie and Channel Two.
The public hanging
On the words of a star
Self destructing
To maybe half the man
He once was.

Never mind that in this fractured world
Where compassion is needed most
The only thing you can count on
Are the imbeciles pointing fingers
On who pissed God off so much
For New Orleans,
For Haiti,
For Japan.

Never mind the politicos
Cutting the voice from the throats
Of working people just getting by  
With an X on their backs for an honest
Day’s pay while the breaks go to those best
Able to fill the coffers for a favor
Or two or three or more.

Say something stupid, Charlie,
Say something stupid.

Never mind the soldiers dying grisly deaths
Fighting for freedoms in battles overseas.
Parents bearing a hurt no one can possibly imagine
And tortured even more as hateful pickets wave
And chants of unbridled evil echo in the cemetery
On the day mothers and fathers bury their children at home.

Never mind the gangs running amuck
With the chance a kid gets out alive
Going down each dead end day,
Where not only are the guns not registered
But conscience doesn’t even register as an afterthought.

Say something stupid, Charlie,
Say something stupid.

Never mind millionaire players of the games of children
Jousting with millionaire owners of the great fields
While dad lives paycheck to paycheck and can’t take his kids
To a ballgame without getting in hock.

Never mind the barbed hook of crystal meth,
The high of choice for so many who give up everything
For the last choice they’ll ever make.
Ghosts at the expense of those who love them most.

Never mind the words of Jesus often quoted
But more often than not misinterpreted
By those who hide their sins
In the shadow of the cross
While promising damnation to those undeserving.

Say something stupid, Charlie,
Say something stupid
Till somebody syndicates your shit
So we don’t have to care
For anything at all
Except for you
Winning.