Government Cheese

"Government Cheese" written by Bob Walkenhorst and recorded by The Rainmakers.

This song was written in the early 1980's when one of the foods distributed to poor people was cheese, forever known as "Government Cheese." The song was an anthem to Reagan Conservatives and everyone else who though this was an absurd creation of the welfare state. The first verse goes like this:

Give a man a free house and he'll bust out the windows
Put his family on food stamps, now he's a big spender
no food on the table and the bills ain't paid
'Cause he spent it on cigarettes and P.G.A.
They'll turn us all into beggars 'cause they're easier to please
They're feeding our people that Government Cheese

As a liberal, it isn't my favorite in the catalog, but as someone with a lick of common sense I can't deny much of it. But there's also a final verse I want you to consider:

Give a man a free ticket on a dead end ride
And he'll climb in the back even though nobody's driving
Too goddamn lazy to crawl out of the wreck
And he'll rot there while he waits for the welfare check
Going to hell in a handbag, can't you see
I ain't gonna eat no Government Cheese

Here's my new point: Politicians, those who are nominally our leaders, are bought and sold by people who finance campaigns. Politicians need votes to get elected; getting elected takes money; money buys influence. Money buys influence.

Politicians have been given the ticket on the dead end ride of campaign finance and they aren't bothering to get out of the wreck because they keep getting their checks. This is why people in Washington don't change, they keep getting paid. In the end, the real difference between Republicans, Democrats, and Welfare Queens is the source of the check. What a bunch of hypocrites! Any way you slice it, they've all lined up to a teat and are feeding well while the rest of us are left to rot.

Good luck everyone. What we need is someone in government who will say, "I ain't gonna eat the corporate cheese." Until that happens, what we've seen for the last four weeks is going to be the beginning. I just pray it isn't the beginning of the end.

All or Nothing

Earlier today I was at a meeting of clergy. By the way, if you ever want to sit in a meeting with forty people who love the sound of their own voice, clergy meetings are the way to go.

During the time for prayer, one of the women in the group asked us to pray because the State of California was looking into getting "gay textbooks" into the schools. She said she saw it on "60 Minutes" last night and she knows that if we don't stem the tide now, it's just going to keep on going. (I didn't see the show, so I what I say is not based on the story, but on her reaction to it.)

The "Amen Corner" was in full voice. Now, cut to last month...

The meeting begins with a devotional. The June meeting featured a piece originally published in an Baptist (sorry, don't know which branch) magazine on death and dying by Henri Nouwen. It was a lovely piece that she read and from what she read the article was well done.

Now my questions:

Did she know Henri Nouwen was gay?

If you have any question that the answer to this question is "yes" then read the Nouwen biography "Wounded Prophet" by Michael Ford.

Here's my point: To hold up the spirituality of a gay man in one breath and condemn gayness in text books because "it's going to infect us all" displays hypocrisy or ignorance. I don't know which is which, I just know neither is good.

Here's the next point: Nobody should throw labels around without knowing where they land.

Here's my last point: I know this is true because I have an open account at the plate glass company to replace the walls in my own house. I have violated these rules, so believe me when I tell you I am sensitive about this.

Ignorance is a lack of information, so friends GET INFORMED before throwing out holier-than-thou statements. It's all or nothing people, you can't cast judgment against one without casting the same an all. So beware, you never know where it's going to fall next.