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I decided I would never do interviews again.

quote by Danielle Steel
Added by Lucian Velea
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My Fate Decided

D day
The icy spray of the sea
The soft murmur of men
The retailing of packs
The wait of mine secured on my back
My fate decided

The blow of a whistle
The thump of the 88`s letting lose
The rattle of bullets hitting the boat
The caused cry
The scream of men
The roar of metal ripping apart
My fate decided

The boat stoping
The men confused
The red water linking in
The ramp is opening
My fate decided

The whistles blown
The line a broken
Pushing men not wanting to leave
The water red and cold
The pounding of bullets
The scream of men all around
My fate decided

Blood bleached sand thick and red
My rifle a swung on my back
The clocking of wet rifles
The explosion of a boat
The cry of men, metal and guns
My fate decided

The sicken sight
The feeling worse
The pounding of feet
The rocks
Can we make it?
My fate decided

The rifle unsung
The rocks and shelter still far away
Can we make it?
Falling men hitting hard to the dirt
Is this where we should all now lay?
My fate decided

[...] Read more

poem by Mike Cochrane
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Through the eyes of a Field Coronet (Epic)

Introduction

In the kaki coloured tent in Umbilo he writes
his life’s story while women, children and babies are dying,
slowly but surely are obliterated, he see how his nation is suffering
while the events are notched into his mind.

Lying even heavier on him is the treason
of some other Afrikaners who for own gain
have delivered him, to imprisonment in this place of hatred
and thoughts go through him to write a book.

Prologue

The Afrikaner nation sprouted
from Dutchmen,
who fought decades without defeat
against the super power Spain

mixed with French Huguenots
who left their homes and belongings,
with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Associate this then with the fact

that these people fought formidable
for seven generations
against every onslaught that they got
from savages en wild animals

becoming marksmen, riding
and taming wild horses
with one bullet per day
to hunt a wild antelope,

who migrated right across the country
over hills in mass protest
and then you have
the most formidable adversary
and then let them fight

in a natural wilderness
where the hunter,
the sniper and horseman excels
and any enemy is at a lost.

Let them then also be patriotic
into their souls,
believe in and read
out of the word of God

[...] Read more

poem by Gert Strydom
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I Have Decided

I have decided,
Im gonna live like a believer,
Turn my back on the deceiver,
Im gonna live what I believe.
I have decided,
Being good is just a fable,
I just cant cause Im not able.
Im gonna leave it to the lord.
Theres a wealth of things that I profess,
I said that I believed,
But deep inside I never changed;
I guess Id been deceived.
cause a voice inside kept telling me,
That Id change by and by,
But the spirit made it clear to me,
That kind of lifes a lie.
I have decided,
Im gonna live like a believer,
Turn my back on the deciver,
Im gonna live what I believe.
I have decided,
Being good is just a fable,
I just cant cause Im not able.
Im gonna leave it to the lord.
So forget the game of being good,
And your self-righteous pain.
cause the only good inside your heart
Is the good that jesus brings.
And when the world begins to see you change,
Dont expect them to applaud.
Just keep your eyes on him and tell yourself,
Ive become the work of god.
I have decided,
Im gonna live like a believer,
Turn my back on the deceiver,
Im gonna live what I believe.
I have decided,
Being good is just a fable,
I just cant cause Im not able.
Im gonna leave it to the lord.
I have decided,
Im gonna live like a believer,
Turn my back on the deceiver,
Im gonna live what I believe.
I have decided,
Being good is just a fable,
I just cant cause Im not able.
Im gonna leave it to the lord.
I have decided,
Im gonna live like a believer,

[...] Read more

song performed by Amy Grant
Added by Lucian Velea
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I Decided

[Chorus]
I decided to stay home tonite
I decided I'ma treat you right
I decided to be there for you
Decided to be on my P's and Q's
I decided to give up my friends
Decided I'ma take you out weekends
Decided to give you a reason to trust
These are decisions that I make for love

[Verse 1]
Enough is enough no more running around
(Searchin' for what's right here at home)
Because my luck is 'bout to turn around
(And I just can't keep doin' you wrong)
Girl I take it for granted that you will be here always
(Tired of this ego trip)
'Cause soon you'll be searchin' for another man
And I just can't have that happen to me

[Chorus]

[Verse 2]

Now I've had about all that I can stand no more
(I'm turnin' in my playa's card)
See I'm retirin' from the secret life I chose
(Cause I just can't keep breakin' your heart)
It was silly of me to be the way that I was
(First was blind

song performed by R. Kelly from TP-2.COM
Added by Lucian Velea
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Change His Ways

Deep in the jungle He lost her favour
Another gambit He would have made her
He gave her perfume She use his razor
And decided to change his ways
She was a gambler He didn't blame her
She had a dimple in her favour
At the last minute He always chase her
And decided to change his ways
Life would be so much more exciting
If we could live it day by day
We could at least adjust the lighting
To illuminate the way
He took the loving that she'd been craving
She took advantage of the saving
It almost ruined her reputation
And decided to change his ways
[Yodeling]
Life would be so much more exciting
If we could live it day by day
We could at least adjust the lighting
To illuminate the way
She wasn't crazy 'bout his behaviour
She read it somewhere in the paper
He was seducing a ballerina
And decided to change his ways
[Yodeling]
Deep in the jungle He lost her favour
Another gambit He would have made her
He gave her perfume She use his razor
And decided to change
And decided to change
He decided to change his ways.

song performed by Robert Palmer
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The Impact Of Poverty On Education

THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON EDUCATION.

INTRODUCTION

There are so many different tools that have been thought relevant in people’s developmental projects both at individual and societal levels. Education is one of such practical tools. Importantly to note, there are also various meanings that denote the broad term ‘education’. In this essay, however, we are mainly interested in defining formal education since our discussion will dwell much on it. According to Nwomonoh (1998) , formal education is the process of gaining knowledge, attitudes, information and skills during the course of life especially at school.

Though education is said to be so instrumental in human development but also in the revamping of world economies, it is very unfortunate that education systems, world wide, are being held to ransom all because of poverty at both governmental and household levels. According to Thibault (2009) , poverty means the shortage of common things such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine our quality of life. It may also include lack of access to opportunities like education and employment which aid the escape of poverty.

Problems in our society are interconnected in one way or the other, just like poverty and personal family problems affect a student’s capability to learn. Improving education entails improving the living conditions of students. Having in mind that education is basically responsible for the development of many countries including Malawi, as the back ground suggests, we cannot afford to bypass such a vital element without a mention. Considering also the fact that poverty is one of the forces that come in the way; blocking the success of education, we feel it rational to look at how the two realities, education and poverty, affect each other both positively and negatively. That is also why we are convinced that this topic is worth studying. Our awareness of this source, poverty, and its impact on education will enable us devise some proper measures of intervention with the hope of minimizing the negative impact of poverty on education. This point, in short, explains the purpose of our investigation and why we are so passionate in getting into this research. During the whole discussion we are being guided by two questions thus, ‘does poverty really affect education? And if it does, what points do we have on the positive and negative impacts of poverty on education? ’

METHODOLOGY

The study was basically qualitative in approach because of the nature of the issue that was being addressed. This was the case because the issue of how poverty affects education, both positively and negatively is particularly very difficult to predict the conclusions without penetrating into the core of the issue. For instance, one may unreasonably rush into concluding that poverty affects education negatively only and we cannot even dare to speak of poverty affecting education positively. The study was conducted in three schools namely; Mulunguzi, Masongola and Chirunga Private Secondary schools in Zomba district between 24th April and 3rd May. In this research we used both government and private funded schools to have a more balanced result on how poverty affects formal education in these different institutions. The information required for the study was collected through group interviews of form three students and individual interviews with teachers using semi-structured interview schedules. We opted to use these interviews in the first place because we felt books are more theoretical whereas a field research is practical and it involves real life experiences. Nevertheless, we still used desk research as a supplementary source of information and for clarity in some areas.

RESULTS

Positive impacts of poverty on education
To begin with, poverty encourages one to get educated and of course work hard in class. This is because the problems faced due to poverty are very serious and therefore students who are from poverty stricken families strive to end the problems and one of the best solutions is through education. That is to say, if a person, for instance, due to poverty, is taking just a meal in a day instead of three meals, and again if he/she is sometimes sleeping on an empty stomach, he/she will resort to education bearing in mind that if he/she gets educated they will secure formal employment and eventually be able to make ends meet for themselves as well as fending for their families.

Not only does poverty encourage one to get educated, but also it helped in the introduction of free primary education. In Malawi, for instance, when Bakili Muluzi became president, he introduced free primary education and he had eliminated the requirements for school uniform forthwith (Kadzamira & Rose,2001) . This had increased the access to education dramatically as those pupils who were coming from less privileged families were also given access to this free primary education. It should also be noted that the free primary education system was not only implemented to fulfill an electoral pledge but also bearing in mind that some families were not able to send their children to school due to poverty. Free primary education was there to deal with illiteracy by reducing families’ direct costs of education. Again due to the influx in the number of pupils in primary schools; there was a lack of teachers. Sonani (2002) , testifies that the Ministry of Education re-employed all retired teachers below the age of 65. This also meant that the once retired teachers got back to their source of income which helped them support their families as well as hauling the economy of the country. The implementation of free primary education system in Malawi forced the government to provide infrastructures so as to accommodate the large number of pupils in these schools. Simply put, poverty had led to the introduction of free primary education which means that more children are going to school, and again more teachers are being trained and getting employed and finally the construction of school blocks culminating into infrastructural development, all these branching from poverty.

We may also look at poverty from a positive angle bearing in mind that when a country is poor more funds and donations come into it. These funds and donations are also given to the education sector to build new infrastructures and in the maintenance of already existing ones in the sector. These privileged countries also provide learning materials to schools that are poor as a result students in these less privileged schools perform well in accordance with the amount and quality of the learning materials that they have been provided with. For instance, a United States based non governmental organization known as “Water for People” handed over 44 water toilets they built to Chimwankhunda primary school. The school toilet facilities had been vandalized 11 years ago but because of poverty the school could not renovate them (Gausi,2007) .

In addition, these funds and donations help more people to get educated. This is so because people can use funds as school fees, pocket money and buy stationery. The donations may include library books, chairs and writing materials. These can make a conducive environment for one to learn since there will be enough facilities at the school. For instance, with funding from the “United States Agency for International Development” (USAID) ,3,300 needy Malawian primary school girls are being funded. They are being provided with food, clothing, school supplies and hygienic products like soap and body lotion (Muhaliwa,2005) . Likewise,500 pupils at Katoto primary school in Mzuzu no longer sit on the floors during lessons courtesy of Southern Bottlers Limited and Lions Club of Limbe. Before these funds and donations, pupils used to sit on the floor due to scarcity of desks. These donations improved the pupils’ school attendance in such a way that pupils have started going to school regularly.

In the same line, a needy student can be given a scholarship to go further with his/her education. In this case the scholarship is given to the person just because he/she cannot manage to pay school fees on her own. This in turn benefits the needy person and the community at large. In this situation poverty has assisted in the development of education in an area by beckoning funds and donations from rich countries and organisations.

Further more; in most cases poverty facilitates one’s ambitions to attain formal education. It becomes easier for a poor child to put much of his concentration on education as compared to a rich child. This is because a poverty stricken student will have less destructive materials for entertainment. He/she will also have less or no money to indulge him/herself in activities that require spending a lot of money for instance, drinking beer. Sometimes even if the child can find money he/she can buy basic needs and not just spending it anyhow. Contrast to this a rich child may obtain things like ipods, mp3s, games for entertainment. These things in most cases destruct the concentration of students in their studies. As a result, one’s class performance is negatively affected since most of his/her time is being spent on entertainment.

Negative impacts of poverty on education

Just as a coin has got two sides, a head and a tail, poverty also, apart from having positive impacts on education, it does have negative impacts on the same. We have talked much about the positive face of poverty on education. We shall surely do ourselves injustice if we do not look at the negative part. In spite of the fact that poverty has an impact on education that is worth complimenting, we cannot afford in this discussion to overlook the point that so many students have been forced to leave the corridors of learning institutions due to the same poverty. One of the reasons that force some students leave the learning institutions prematurely is pregnancy, which in most cases, come because of poverty. It is almost common knowledge that a good number of students who come from poor families wish they could be sailing in the same boat with those who come from well to do families as far as luxurious life is concerned. The poor students constantly feel that there is something missing at the core psychologically. With this feeling in their minds, they tend to regard themselves as incomplete and not accepted socially. Consequently, they envy the rich students and squarely want to posses the things that are associated with the rich students. Very unfortunate that the poor students’ parents cannot afford to fulfill their children’s desires like what the rich parents would provide. Because the pull towards recognition is too strong for the poor students to resist, they end up in indulging themselves into prostitution in their search for money. Pity indeed that instead of recreating, as anticipated, their promiscuous behavior sees most of them getting pregnant and for some very unfortunate ones get even HIV and other STIs. From this discussion, commonsense convinces us that this school dropp out due to pregnancy is one of the negative impacts of poverty on education.

Adding more flesh to this discussion, we can also appreciate that hunger has been so instrumental in bringing down the standards of education world wide, in general, and Malawi, in particular. Frankly speaking, there are very few students if not none, who concentrate on their studies on empty stomachs. Food is one of the basic needs that every person is obliged to have if he/she is to survive. It is not surprising, therefore, to see some students performing miserably in class simply because they have not taken enough food or they have taken none altogether. The question of hunger finds its way into the education system because the government has failed to provide adequate food in most of its boarding schools. This is poverty at governmental level. There are also some students who are not boarders but still endure the hostile reality of hunger right in their homes. This is due to poverty at household level. It is sad that poverty, both at governmental and household level, has helped in engineering the deteriorating of education standards in Malawi.

Bearing in mind that it is only the eagle that can tell us the real whisper of a cloud, we visited Masongola Secondary school with the hope of getting first hand information from the students and their teachers since they are the ones who mostly benefit or get destructed by poverty. The Masongola secondary school students and their teacher, Mr. Enock Abraham, testified to us during an interview that government’s inability to provide extra food, apart from the usual beans that the institution offers, has seen many students developing ulcers. It would sound bizarre to reason that one can attend classes whilst he/she is on a hospital bed battling with ulcers. The Masongola students further testified that most poor students who have ulcers just bow down out of the race of learning because they cannot afford to buy extra food whenever the institution is serving the students beans.

This pitiful development goes beyond the boundaries of Masongola secondary school. Mulunguzi secondary school as Mr……the head teacher at the institution testifies, has not been spared from the scourge of school dropp outs simply because the school has not been able to provide extra or adequate food to students who cannot take what their friends take on health grounds. Needless to say this leaves the education standards in Malawi vacillating. It is a pity that though we have wrestled with this question of poverty a dozen times, we have not been successful in the battle. At one point in time, the government attempted to minimize the chances of school dropout in primary schools through its provision of porridge to pupils in the junior section. This attempt was in itself a good gesture but the government has failed to implement the initiative further in other schools that up to now have not benefited from the program.

It may not sound an exaggeration if we may say poverty has also forced a good number of students to give up their hopes of getting educated simply because they find it so difficult traveling to and from their respective schools. Lack of transport means, in short, has pushed them well towards the blink of despair as far as attaining formal education is concerned. This point speaks for itself how poverty can sometimes work on the education’s disadvantage.

As we go further with this discussion, we also appreciate the fact that the problem that mostly hinders a student’s success is inadequate resources that include; few teachers and learning materials. It must be highlighted that these problems are not only in developing countries but they may also find their way in reasonably developed countries like South Africa. In a developing country like Malawi, the education system encounters these problems because of the government’s failure to look into problems of infrastructure, capacity and availability of teaching and learning materials (Nkawike,2005) . The Muluzi government did a little if any; in as far as infrastructure is concerned. Lack of school blocks facilitated by a large number of pupils due to the introduction of the free primary education in 1994, forced pupils to have lessons under trees. In 2003, for example, lack of school blocks resulted in a tragedy at Nkomachi in Lilongwe when a tree fell onto an outdoor class, resulting in injury and deaths of pupils (Mvula & Chanika,2004) . This problem of learning materials continues till date, in all levels of the education system. According to Abraham (2009) , the school has always had shortage of learning blocks to an extent that the Physical Science and Biology laboratories are used as classrooms. There is also great shortage of books in all departments, and some departments like the technical department needs new equipment and current books which are very expensive. With this unfortunate situation we cannot anticipate good performance from Masongola secondary school.

In order to deal with these issues, the Muluzi government thought it wise to disregard the provision of learning materials in schools. Instead the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) pass mark was reduced to ensure the success of students in their examinations. Even the director of Basic Education, Nelson Kaperemera admitted that funds intended for learning materials were servicing the debts of government at the expense of improving quality education. Instead of reducing the pass mark, the government and other stake holders should strive to improve quality of education, improve teacher salaries, and provide adequate materials and train teachers properly (Malawi News,2006) .

In developing countries like Malawi, the schools are understaffed (teaching personnel) and they tend to be handling a large number of students for long hours. Furthermore, the teachers are subjected to meager salaries, which are even made late. The government does not seem to have the welfare of teachers at heart, for instance the education Manager for Phalombe, Enoch Ali says the district is facing a dire shortage of teachers, a situation that is contributing to low education standards. The teacher pupil ratio in Phalombe is 1: 120, whilst the recommended ratio is 1: 60 (The Nation,2006) . Due to low pay teachers resort to organizing part time classes, which demand an extra amount of money on top of the normal fees. These changes clearly affect those students who come from very poor families, as they do not receive adequate studies because of lack of money.
This does not only occur in secondary schools, but it also happens in universities. As the academic staff of the Universities go on strike because of the government’s reluctance to increase their salaries. One considers how this is supposed to retain staff in the University. As a result lecturers spend more time doing consultancies; instead of preparing lectures and doing University mandated research. If we are serious about fighting poverty, formal education is the hub of ideas to fight these problems by improving its standards (Kapasula,2008) .
Child labour is one of the major problems that contribute to school dropp out. The majority of child labour victims are children who are living in poverty. This is so because they lack basic needs, for this reason they are forced even against their will to do any kind of work in order to gain financial wealth. This, therefore, affects school attendance. Evidence of school dropp out due to child labour is found in central region where most children are being employed in estates. This region has high tobacco production. Since this crop demands a lot of work, children are at high demand because they do not claim high wages compared to adults. Research, therefore, showed that the percentage of children attending schools is lower compared to that of northern and southern region (Nyirongo,2004) . We have the case of two brothers aged between 12 and 15 who were forced to work at a tobacco farm at Mpherembe in Kasungu district, where they were receiving 150 kwacha a day due to poverty (Namangale,2005) . We can see that child labour has a great impact on education because through it, a lot of children are being deprived of their right to education as they spend most of their time working.

In addition to that, Chirwa (2003) found out that child labour is also taking place in people’s houses. In this case children are forced to dropp out of school either by parents or on their own, to work in neighbouring homes. Here one of the victims is a 12 year old girl Elizabeth Chalimba, who left school when she was in standard six to work as a nanny in order to support her siblings. Children from low income families are at risk because though school is their only hope for a better future, they dropp out because their parents are failing to provide them with basic needs. Apart from child labour, psychological problems due to poverty is also another cause of school dropp outs. Research shows that the impact of poverty is greater on children as opposed to adults. Firstly, the problem arises due to the environment in which these children are raised. These environments being impoverished, they are intellectually unstimulating, and lack of stimulation results in impaired intellectual development of a child. This in turn contributes to failure in class which can later on lead to school dropp out.

[...] Read more

poem by Innocent Masina Nkhonyo
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Y

Don't ask us Y!
We do the things that we do
Don't ask us Y!
We feel the same as you
Don't ask us Y!
Life can be so damn cruel
Don't ask us Y!
It's all been decided for you
Pure soul first breath is filled with sin
A young child just born quit suffering
A mother's greed, get high, chasin' ghosts again
This will happen over and over again!
Don't ask us Y!
We do the things that we do
Don't ask us Y!
We feel the same as you
Don't ask us Y!
Life can be so damn cruel
Don't ask us Y!
It's all been decided for you
I look into your eyes, I feel your pain, life's insane
I'm gonna do my best to try again and live again
I know we're all the same, we live our lives it's like a game
And still we do it over and over again!
Don't ask us Y!
We do the things that we do
Don't ask us Y!
We feel the same as you
Don't ask us Y!
Life can be so damn cruel
Don't ask us Y!
It's all been decided for you
First communion done, now your life has just begun
Second plot the whole world is looking with a gun
Another child will do it when he's on the run
The vicious circle of life has just begun!
Don't ask us Y!
We do the things that we do!
Don't ask us Y!
We feel the same as you!
Don't ask us Y!
Life can be sooo cruel!
Don't ask us Y!
It's all been decided for you!
Don't ask us Y!
We feel the same as you
Don't ask us Y!
Life can be so damn cruel
Don't ask us Y!
It's all been decided for you

[...] Read more

song performed by Zug Izland
Added by Lucian Velea
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I Decided

I decided not to cry
'cause I know
you cannot wipe my tears
I decided not to ask
'cause I know you cannot give
I decided not to give
'cause I know you will reject
I decided not to speak
'cause I know
you will be...hurt.

I decided to decide
'cause I know....
I have to.

poem by Marites C. Cayetano
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Teacher Of Lessons

Shouldn't someone expect,
A life of regretting a planting of misdeeds.
After they have discovered,
The one person they decided to pick on...
Was not the person they thought.
But was a lover of playing cat and mouse.

And that one person they decided to pick on...
Decided not to be the turn the other cheek,
Forgiving kind.
Oh no.
This one decided it was time to teach a mind.

And had in fact been a teacher of lessons.
With a knack of customizing lesson plans.
Suitable to be understood,
As to 'who' one should have left alone.
To make it clear it is best not to judge a book,
By its cover for effective results to get.
Especially if one is not familiar with the contents.

Shouldn't someone expect,
A life of regretting...
After they have discovered,
The one person they decided to pick on...
Has long been a master of human interaction.

And...
Had in fact,
Been a teacher of lessons.
With a knack of customizing lesson plans.
Some less painful to accept when delivered direct,
Than those taught unexpectedly to leave the student...
Frrling unsure what test is coming next.

Why do some people pick those to be subjected,
They believe to them will be easy to shame...
With a branding of a quick defamation.

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Turned Away From The Rough Stuff

a-When I...
Turned away from the rough stuff.
My mind was tainted and a bit corrupt.
I had decided I had had enough,
And if I had any luck...
Only bad would show up.

a-When I...
Turned away from the rough stuff.
My mind was tainted and a bit corrupt.
I had decided I had had enough,
And if I had any luck...
Only bad would show up.

And it seemed like a habit I had,
That kept me attached to bad like that.
Grabbing to attract when I laid on my back...
With a feeling of an itch I had to scratch.

a-When I...
Turned away from the rough stuff.
My mind was tainted and a bit corrupt.
I had decided I had had enough,
And if I had any luck...
Only bad would show up.

Oh-oh-I,
Turned away from the rough stuff.
My mind was tainted and a bit corrupt.
I had decided I had had enough,
And if I had any luck...
Only bad would show up.

And it seemed like a habit I had,
That kept me attached to bad like that.
Grabbing to attract when I laid on my back...
With a feeling of an itch I had to scratch.

Bad luck!
It had me feeling in a deep rut.
Bad luck...
I got stuck but I didn't give up.
Bad luck!
It had me feeling in a deep rut.
Bad luck...
I got stuck but I didn't give up.

And it seemed like a habit I had,
That kept me attached to bad like that.
Grabbing to attract when I laid on my back...

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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A few of these interviews have gone slightly awry, because every now and again there has been the odd conflict of interest between interviews because of the Iron Maiden record, and I am a bit long-winded.

quote by Bruce Dickinson
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I mean the idea of this is that it's a good thing for the public to hear interviews like this and that there will be an inevitable amount of fewer interviews if people that the press talks to wind up thinking, well, it's not really a CBS correspondent.

quote by Floyd Abrams
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Killers Eyes

I see so little hope in you,
So much despair,
As I look in your eyes I wonder,
What thoughts linger there.
Life means nothing to you,
At least thats what they say,
But it doesnt mean that you have the right to take life away.
How were we to know what was going on inside your mind.
You never let it show what was going on behind
Those killers eyes
Killers eyes
Youve seen your picture in the paper.
Youre little sisters pinned it on the wall.
She thinks youre in some kind of movie.
Imagine her surprise when she saw you on the news.
Reporters came around and asked for interviews.
So little compassion, so icy cool.
They say you were a poor boy, you know that life can be cruel.
Hate builds up from childhood, your world was a slum
But you havent got the right to blow it to kingdom come
How could we know what it was like inside a killers mind
It never really showed, you kept the secret deep inside
Those killers eyes
Killers eyes
You say the world is full of bullshit,
So you kill just as you see fit.
They say that youre a fanatic with a mission.
We all go through hell in some kind of way,
Can you tell me what its like to be there every day?
When you were young you had a vision
Whyd you go and do a thing like that?
And now we see you on the television.
Imagine our surprise when we saw you on the news,
And reporters came around and asked for interviews.
I see so little hope in you,
So much despair,
As I look in your eyes I wonder,
What thoughts linger there.
Life means nothing to you,
At least thats what they say,
But it doesnt mean that you have the right to take life away.
When you were just a child
Youd hide away when other children cried
But how were we to know
These tears that flowed were from a killers eyes
I see so little hope in you,
So much despair,
As I look in your eyes I wonder,
What thoughts linger there.
Life means nothing to you,

[...] Read more

song performed by Kinks
Added by Lucian Velea
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New Balls Please... Yes It's Another Rant...

Big sports weekend…
in a coupla hours, Wimbledon,
or to local residents, Womble-din…

someone’s gointa win; someone’s
gointa lose. That’s life
for millionaire sportspersons;
love-all. New balls please, loser…

then those post-match, post-coital,
exquisitely embarrassing how-was-it-for-you,
high-thrive or detumescent interviews…

will the dreaded HOW virus strike again?
live-mike brings on rabbit-in-the-headlights syndrome –

at the end of the day, we know
the answer – that’s what it’s all about,
all credit to the other guys…
yes, there was pressure – that’s what it’s…

it’s the questions, though, where the new
HOW virus strikes –
‘HOW pleased are you to have won? …’
‘HOW sorry are you to have lost? …’

that’s like, on a scale of nought to infinity?
No lawyer would dare to use such
a leading phrase: ‘HOW sorry, Mr Under-age X,
are you to have murdered my client…? ’
‘Objection! Objection! …’

‘Oh, I’m really sorry to have won today…
it’ll put me in the supertax bracket,
I’ll see less of the kids, with
all those personal appearances…
who’ll get the kids anyway when we divorce? …’

‘Oh I’m really glad to have lost…
gives me something to aim for, I’ll
get to see the kids more, the wife’s
quite relieved… I can still afford
the tinted windows and the limo,
then I don’t get to hear the shouts
of ‘loser! ’ when they see me…’
and anyway, the other guy
was better on the day… all credit to the lad/girl…
I’ve got better legs, I’ll get more modelling contracts
than that ugly bull-cow…’

[...] Read more

poem by Michael Shepherd
Added by Poetry Lover
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Going Solo

She left a message after the tone,
I hear it over and over on the answer phone.
No one can find her, address unknown.
She just decided to go out and make it alone.
Solo, solo,
My little child is going solo.
Solo, solo,
My little child is going solo.
I feel like crying, Im in a rage.
I cant understand why she just ran away.
What made it happen, guess well never know.
She just decided to go out and make it solo.
Solo, solo, solo, solo, solo.
We work like dogs all of our lives,
Like millions of other husbands and wives.
Sent her through college, didnt care what we spent.
Think of how we feel,
She didnt say, she didnt ask, she just went.
Solo, solo,
My little child, youre going solo.
Its like a pattern, its like a crime,
We see it happen time after time.
You raise your children, you watch them grow,
Then one day its good-bye, theyve decided theyre going solo.
Solo, solo, solo, solo, solo.
The toys are forgotten, now it appears,
Youve let them down after all of these years.
Sacrificed all, now theres nothing to show,
Ungrateful youth, decided youre going solo.
Solo, solo,
My little child, youre going solo.
Solo, solo,
Ungrateful youth, youre going solo.
The obligations, all of the ties,
Have got to be broken so you can survive.
Just because they gave you life, they cant stop if you grow,
Now they cant hold you back cause youre going solo

song performed by Kinks
Added by Lucian Velea
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Promises Promises

Ill promise you a gift worth much more if not sold.
Half for you and half for me if I may act so bold.
Ill promise you a home that money cannot buy.
All good homely spirits walking by and by.
Ill promise you a world of making of amend,
And on our anniversary invite you round the bend.
Ill promise you a life it only takes a tick.
All the fruits of life carry you aboard my ship.
Ill promise you a world of making of amend,
And on the anniversary invite you round the bend.
Dont feign to me youre only acting when you care,
So Ive decided on decisions that will not strike you very fair.
Lets devise a plan and well think about it twice,
Sketching watercolour paints, bury hatchets in the ice.
Dont feign to me youre only acting when you care,
So we decided on decisions that will not strike you very fair.
Lets devise a plan and well think about it twice,
Lets make mates merry, bury hatchets in the ice.
Dont feign to me youre only acting when you care,
So we decided on decisions that will not strike you very fair.
Now lets devise a plan and well think about it twice,
Lets make mates merry, bury hatchets in the ice.
Dont feign to me youre only acting when you care,
So we decided on decisions that will not strike you very fair.
Now lets devise a plan and well think about it twice,
Sketching watercolour paints, bury hatchets in the ice.

song performed by Madness
Added by Lucian Velea
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Harpua

Om-pa-pa oom-pa-pa oom-pa-pa oom-pa-paaaaa
Fat sweaty bulldog
Stood in the sun
Stone village swamp man
Slow motion run
Tender poke police walker
Precious birthday fudge
Swamp night bull nail
Walker done done
Hot sweaty bulldog stood in the sunthen -
stone village swamp man (is doing a)
slow motion runhere comes the policeman:
tender poke police walkerwhom the dog and the man see as:
precious birthday fudgethen -
swamp night (the man)
bull nail (the dog - the bulldog's claw)
kill the policeman:
walker done done
Me and Harpua
We couldn't care few-a
It happens all the time
We beat Okimo
(Repeat Chorus)
Hot liquor stone jack
Bitter toothless flesh
Shabby pimple chin-slime
Evil milky rash
Me and Harpua
Spastic dead-eyed hound
Oozing dreadlock skullcap
We're coming to your town
We'll help you party down
(Chorus 2x)
Spoken by Trey [with asides by Fishman]:
Once upon a time Far far away from here
There, in a small town...
a small town...
small town...
small...
And on the outskirts of this town
there lived a mean, nasty, furry, ugly hound named Harpua.
Harpua roamed the outskirts of the town every day and he'd walk around looking for a little action.
So of course this day was no different from any other day and here we start the story and we see Harpua walking around on the outskirts of town near the forest kind of at the edge of the forest and he's walking in toward town...
Harpua walked toward the town...
innocently...
And meanwhile in the town...
in a whole different part of the town
there lived a young boy all alone in a suburban neighborhood
and every day he'd sit in his room
and sit on his little couch [AND SMOKE POT!]...

[...] Read more

song performed by Phish
Added by Lucian Velea
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Sally Simpson

Outside the house mr. simpson announced
Outside the house mr. simpson announced
That sally couldnt go to the meeting.
That sally couldnt go to the meeting.
He went on cleaning his blue rolls royce
He went on cleaning his blue rolls royce
And she ran inside weeping.
And she ran inside weeping.
She got to her room and tears splashed the picture
She got to her room and tears splashed the picture
Of the new messiah.
Of the new messiah.
She picked up a book of her fathers life
She picked up a book of her fathers life
And threw it on the fire!
And threw it on the fire!
She knew from the start
She knew from the start
Deep down in her heart
Deep down in her heart
That she and tommy were worlds apart,
That she and tommy were worlds apart,
But her mother said never mind your part...
But her mother said never mind your part...
Is to be what youll be.
Is to be what youll be.
The theme of the sermon was come unto me,
The theme of the sermon was come unto me,
Love will find a way,
Love will find a way,
So sally decided to ignore her dad,
So sally decided to ignore her dad,
And sneak out anyway!
And sneak out anyway!
She spent all afternoon getting ready,
She spent all afternoon getting ready,
And decided shed try to touch him,
And decided shed try to touch him,
Maybe hed see that she was free
Maybe hed see that she was free
And talk to her this sunday.
And talk to her this sunday.
She knew from the start
She knew from the start
Deep down in her heart
Deep down in her heart
That she and tommy were worlds apart,
That she and tommy were worlds apart,
But her mother said never mind your part...
But her mother said never mind your part...

[...] Read more

song performed by Who
Added by Lucian Velea
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She Hits Back

(doo-oo, doo-oo, doo-oo, doo-oo)
(doo-oo, doo-oo, doo-oo, doo-oo)
My ears getting tired of listening all the time,
Theyve been talking lots of garbage all their lives.
And suddenly they decided to ring one back,
Ring-ring, ring-ring,
My ears are ringing like a warning.
My eyes getting tired of looking all the time,
Theyve been talking a lot of winking all their lives.
And finally the decided to flash one back,
Flash-flash, flash-flash,
My eyes are flashing like a warning.
My nose is getting tired of sniffing all the time,
Shes been taking memphis blues all her life.
And surely she decided to sneeze one back,
Sneeze-sneeze, sneeze-sneeze,
My nose is sneezing like a warning.
My bodys getting tired of taking all the time,
Shes been taking lot of cornballs all her life.
Suddenly she decided to hit one back,
Bang-bang, bang-bang,
She hits back like a warning.
(she hits back like a warning)
Ring-ring, flash-flash, sneeze-sneeze, bang-bang,
She hits back like a warning.
Shes gonna hit back, (yeah)
Shes gonna kick back, (yeah)
You wont know what hit you
Till you see her flashing. (yeah)
Shes gonna hit back, (yeah)
Shes gonna kick back, (yeah)
You wont know what hit you
Till you see her head flashing. (yeah-yeah)

song performed by Yoko Ono
Added by Lucian Velea
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Out of Season

It's tragic!
And more sadistic it gets,
When a truth is left to sit...
To be decided by those most misfit.

It's tragic!
And more sadistic it gets,
When a truth is left to sit...
To be decided by those most misfit.

Integrity once had is not allowed.
Those made to feel a guilt,
Had walked so proud.
But now...
They're out of season.

It's tragic!
And more sadistic it gets,
When a truth is left to sit...
To be decided by those most misfit.

It's tragic!
And more sadistic it gets,
When a truth is left to sit...
To be decided by those most misfit.

Integrity once had is not allowed.
Those made to feel a guilt,
Had walked so proud.
But now...
They're out of season.

Integrity once had is not allowed.
Those made to feel a guilt,
Had walked so proud.
But now...
They're out of season.

Where is the truth and the goodness of the people.
Have they all gone out of season.
The goodness of the people.

Oh...
Where is the truth and the goodness of the people.
Have they all gone out of season.
The goodness of the people.
Oh...
Where is the truth and the goodness of the people.
Have they all gone out of season.
The goodness of the people.

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
Added by Poetry Lover
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