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SASSIE, A TRULY PATRIOTIC DOGI pull my "D" Weltmaster Chromatic Harmonica out of its leather container and hit all the notes up and down, their sharps or flats. The flat bar works fine.
Even before I pull the harp out, Sassie, our white Toy poodle, jumps up and stands ready to sing. I'm sure she was hoping that I play The Star Spangled Banner.
Have you ever wondered if our President can say our Flag Salute? The Preamble to our Consitution? How about sing the Star Spangled Banner. I'm pretty sure that most of the Washington DC crowd can say the flag salute. Ignoring those right wing, cynics, our students in the public school systems across America, every school day, in the lower grades, say the United States Flag Salute, which was adopted only about 100 years ago. In fact, many people in the US are probably under the delusion, by patriotic morons, that, some how, the salute came into being at the same time as our consitution.
I've often allowed my brain to meander, about the flag salute and all who say it. I'm sure all of those in Congress know it and could repeat it, but when it comes time to vote, ... will they vote it?
When the Iraq War was dreamed up by some neoconservatives who could put their hand over their hearts and repeat the flag salute seamlessly, yet made sure they didn't go to war, and, selfishly, didn't take into consideration what a modern day war could be like, since it was foreign to their experiences. Yet, to their horrors, they started a needless war that is killing our wonderful young people, in the name of our flag and our constitution. While the war makes many of their company friends rich and will make them rich when they step down from their jobs, it is uselessly, ravaging Iraq and the families of US familes for the rest their lives. It's sad that we went into Iraq to take out a man who used WMD, but, yet, the war itself became a WMD for both the US and, more so, for the Iraqi citizens.
I've often, wondered, as well, about how often the flag salute has been memorized and repeated by US and non-US citizens who look to harm our country. How many in Congress see the flag, and in the very next instant, sell it out to other countries, ... to outside influences, in different countries, with a plan to make them rich, once they step out of their own jobs in Congress and The White House. Is it right to pass legislation and then, step out of Washington jobs, and sign up to lobby, for huge dollars, for companies who stand to make huge profits from such legislation, even 15 years down the road? Is that right? Shouldn't it smell a little bit rank?
K-Street? This was Tom Delay's big deal. Out of K-Street comes the depths of ugly lobbying. Delay made K-Street an ugly form of government. Yep, from K-Street to Watergate. These same un-Americans called our American Indians, "Monkeys." Here again, I wonder how many people hired by K-Street have long forgotten the US Flag Salute, and really know what it means. In fact, ... I get a little nauseated about our Congressmen, who knew the flag salute and could spit it out in an instant, yet lined their future pockets and bank accounts with giant bucks by a single vote. As a "tad-bit" middle class voter, I watch the Cheney's and Woflowitz's of Washington and wonder just how real their patriotism is. Cheney brings and brought billions of dollars to "his" company, out side of the US, with knowledge attained while working for the White House, Congress, and The Pentagon.
I'm sick of those who profess to run on family values, but then use Washington politics to make themselves rich. Abraham Lincoln died with little money in the bank, ... and I doubt that had he lived, would he have ever used his knowledge about Washington to fill his bank account. Back then, I suppose, most of the presidents saw it as their patriotic duty to become president.
What percentage of our Congressional "bodihood" could sing The Star Spangled Banner? A couple? Less than a dozen. The song is not easy and has brought down some of our most famous singers. I can remember hearing Willie Nelson tangle with the lyrics on an NBC Today program, even though his portfolio of lyrics is virtually bondless.
The Star Spangled Banner has several flat or sharped notes that has to be hit to get it right. Unlike America The Beautiful, which can be played in its entirety on a diatonic harmonica, the Banner is virtually impossible to play correctly on such a harmonica. Howard Levy using a Melody Maker Hohner, maybe? But me, no way. Give me a chromatic harp and the ability to hit the sharps and flats, I can do it.
Since I play the harps, totally by ear, I absolutely have to know all the words to every song I play. But, I am not the only one in our family who has memorized The Star Spangled Banner. The Banner is our poodle, Sassie's, favorite song.
With the first note on the D Chromatic, Sassie stands up and waits, ready to sing the Banner in "DOG." After the first few notes, and she begins to sing, and sings all the way through it, even hitting those incredible high notes. An amazing feat, but she does what 98% of Americans cannot do - she sings our National Anthem, albeit, in dog, and is probably more partiotic than every right-winger, Republican in Congress and The White House, that support the Iraq War! Sassie has never covered up for the Foleys and DeLays who are littered throughout the Republican party.
For sure, Sassie is more patriotic than James Allen, who seems to want to use creative writing to win an election. What say ye? Should we start banning books in every library in the United States, including Lynn Cheney's books? Remember Ms. Cheney yelling, "This is not a good man!" Embarrassing even in US politics, and now Cheney seems to oppose literature and creative writing. Give me a break. Given time, they will want to start censuring Mark Twain.
(c) Dale Hill 2006
"Now, Sassie, how about "Londondairy Aire?" Arf, Arf!"
