MODERN SNAKEOIL
My grandaddy said he was gettin' up three and four times a night
Then he saw one of these commercials on the box that said
He could sleep all night and wake up in the morning feeling just right
Well, he don't get up at all now but in the morning he has a wet bed
Then my wife saw an ad for a pill guaranteeing weight loss while you sleep
It said in just a few short weeks we'd all see a slimmer, trimmer you
Taking them literally at their word, she tried it first on some of the sheep
The weight she lost was from her purse but we still had some prize-winner ewes
Drug commercials on the television frost me to no end
"Just Say No" got lost somewhere in corporate greed
They've convinced us that pharmaceuticals are our friends
And if you believe all they say, you'll be buying the devil's weed
Disclaimers about adverse effects delivered like a sales pitch
No longer buried and blurred with intent to conceal
Silver-tongued talkers smooth over danger like quilters do a straight stitch
Dubious cures or plain ol' snakeoil, trading known for unknown is a bad deal
Regardless of the drug they're selling or the ailment it's supposed to cure
The list of negative posibilities outweighs the chance for success
One must be completely desperate to fall for this snakeoil allure
So desperate to be completely unaware of the impending distress
If we treated our livestock with this same mentality,
We'd reduce the value of the herds by every animal treated
No one would buy a burger knowing it could cause senility
No rancher would help his own livelihood to become defeated
Major drug companies prescribing without benefit of diagnosis
"Do no harm" is an oath they uphold only as it relates to their net earnings
Meanwhile, we're all walking around like subjects of hypnosis
Seems to me that we could cure our ills with much better means
Expecting a result and getting more than bargained is not always advantageous
It's not the same as ordering a truck-load of fresh-cut alfalfa
And getting a free all expense-paid trip to the Strip in Las Vegas
It's more like expecing a cure for hiccups and getting free fibromyalgia
When did we switch from cancer being a death sentence
To becoming just another item in the long list of side effects?
When did society accept mortal sin without repentance?
The goal of the industry and our own wisdom are both suspect
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
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UNFIT
"Unfit" says it best of all
When a cowboy has the gall
Or anyone lacking in cognizance
Hateful of the populace
In love with themselves beyond megalomaniacal
Obsessed with building up the numerical
Blind to all but their own likeness—
Those who don't have enough whiteness
Sometimes we find horses like this
And give their sorry asses a goodbye kiss
Along with all of the herd they've melded,
We sort them out to be quickly gelded
"Unfit" says it best of all
When a cowboy has the gall
Or anyone lacking in cognizance
Hateful of the populace
In love with themselves beyond megalomaniacal
Obsessed with building up the numerical
Blind to all but their own likeness—
Those who don't have enough whiteness
Sometimes we find horses like this
And give their sorry asses a goodbye kiss
Along with all of the herd they've melded,
We sort them out to be quickly gelded
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
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PEACE KILLERS-9, PEOPLE-0
The score shows the People behind
Peace Killers ahead by nine
First Abe, by a rebel malcontent
Nearly a hundred years before the next went
John killed by: who really knows?
Then Malcom, shot down in his preacher's clothes
Martin, who preached about a cross at Calvary
Was targeted while standing on the balcony
My heart sank when I heard about Bobby
Peace Killers score one more body
I really thought we lost the crusade
Four dead at Kent State and I was afraid
Then another John, gunned down in the Big Apple
If the People want to score, it's going to be a big battle
Seems the People don't have a chance at winning
Numbers on the scoreboard keep spinning
Now they aim at children in school
Shoot 'em down before they change the rule
Peace Killers in the legislatures too
Laws to protect the killers but not me and you
The numbers on the scoreboard keep mounting
And the People keep counting
Peace Killers with a huge lead
While the People bleed
There are way too many Peace Killers on their team
And not nearly enough People who will scream
When the rules of play are inequitable
The People's loss is inevitable
© 2025 Brian McNeal
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CITY RANCHERS
Well, I suppose it was bound to happen sometime,
People from the city encroaching past the rural line.
As life gives us chances to experience things anew,
More and more of the clueless come into view.
Pushing the envelope to advance and grow,
Is only good so long as you don't crow.
Getting bigger than your britches can be fateful,
When you've helped yourself to more'n a plateful.
"A man's got to know his limitations," according to Dirty Harry.
Cross the line, and you'll never get any prize more than tertiary.
Wiser words were never said by anyone since St. Francis of Assisi.
It's much like paying for a Mercedes and getting a Mitsubishi.
And so it is with those who delve into areas unknown,
When crops and livestock never become fully grown.
Life and Mother Nature have a way to put them back in their place.
If only they were smart enough to realize when they fall flat on their face.
People who leave the city for a rural life,
Are like the priest who takes a wife,
Or like a butcher without a knife,
Like Las Vegas without the nightlife.
Out of their area of expertise to say the least,
Running wild like a dog unleashed,
Never hearing the words that were preached,
Doomed to fail and fall prey to the beast.
Well, I suppose it was bound to happen sometime,
People from the city encroaching past the rural line.
As life gives us chances to experience things anew,
More and more of the clueless come into view.
Pushing the envelope to advance and grow,
Is only good so long as you don't crow.
Getting bigger than your britches can be fateful,
When you've helped yourself to more'n a plateful.
"A man's got to know his limitations," according to Dirty Harry.
Cross the line, and you'll never get any prize more than tertiary.
Wiser words were never said by anyone since St. Francis of Assisi.
It's much like paying for a Mercedes and getting a Mitsubishi.
And so it is with those who delve into areas unknown,
When crops and livestock never become fully grown.
Life and Mother Nature have a way to put them back in their place.
If only they were smart enough to realize when they fall flat on their face.
People who leave the city for a rural life,
Are like the priest who takes a wife,
Or like a butcher without a knife,
Like Las Vegas without the nightlife.
Out of their area of expertise to say the least,
Running wild like a dog unleashed,
Never hearing the words that were preached,
Doomed to fail and fall prey to the beast.
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
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ABORTION BLUES
Knitting needles and coat hangers
And neanderthal haranguers.
Back room abortions with torture tools,
The world is filled with political fools.
If you can change the clocks each year,
Why not move far enough to make it clear?
Why not turn back to a darker time,
When life on earth was not so fine?
You and your neighbors could fight
Over keeping slaves - it's your right.
You could drain blood to cure your sickness
And fall off the edge of the earth to prove your thickness.
You'd never see the man on the moon,
Or watch the election in your living room.
You'd only know what the emporer chooses,
And you'd never know what everyone loses.
You think you're right on moral grounds,
But your flawed arrogance is profound.
You want to separate church and state,
But you want your church to decide my fate.
You can't ban abortion with the stroke of a pen.
Only safe abortions will be gone in the end.
Back room quacks with dubious intent,
And unchecked methods you can't prevent.
Knitting needles and coat hangers.
Dangerous abortions thanks to political haranguers.
It's hard being a woman in this boat,
But don't forget they still have the right to vote.
Knitting needles and coat hangers
And neanderthal haranguers.
Back room abortions with torture tools,
The world is filled with political fools.
If you can change the clocks each year,
Why not move far enough to make it clear?
Why not turn back to a darker time,
When life on earth was not so fine?
You and your neighbors could fight
Over keeping slaves - it's your right.
You could drain blood to cure your sickness
And fall off the edge of the earth to prove your thickness.
You'd never see the man on the moon,
Or watch the election in your living room.
You'd only know what the emporer chooses,
And you'd never know what everyone loses.
You think you're right on moral grounds,
But your flawed arrogance is profound.
You want to separate church and state,
But you want your church to decide my fate.
You can't ban abortion with the stroke of a pen.
Only safe abortions will be gone in the end.
Back room quacks with dubious intent,
And unchecked methods you can't prevent.
Knitting needles and coat hangers.
Dangerous abortions thanks to political haranguers.
It's hard being a woman in this boat,
But don't forget they still have the right to vote.
© 2025 / Brian McNeal
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TWO BULLS
In the battle between two bulls
One is bound to win and the other to lose
When the issue is what's mine or yours
Tempers flare like all the previous wars
When one says they have exclusive domain
The other hears a threat to their reign
There are plenty cows to go around
But each bull refuses to give ground
It's not a matter of right or wrong
It's not a matter of how long
It's not a matter of who threw the first stone
It's simply just a matter of testosterone
...
© 2023 Brian McNeal
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CAMPAIGN ADS
Running for office with their ads on TV
But their only claim to greatness seems to be
That they supported the president from the first
So they're great because they supported the worst?
We should have seen this coming
When bad meant good and no argument was forthcoming
When the boundaries of excellence were loosed
And mediocrity was seduced
Dumb and blind used to be a literal term
Now we've let it become a figurative worm
To follow blindly without introspection
Creates a political vivisection
To worship the devil is a sin
Yet they bow down again and again
Without full control of common sense
Is it possible, the majority is that dense
Is it necessary to bombard the other fifty percent
With trumped-up nonsense for advertising content
Is it necessary for the gloating as if they were right all along
I can't help the nausea knowing they were dead wrong
Running for office with their ads on TV
But their only claim to greatness seems to be
That they supported the president from the first
So they're great because they supported the worst?
We should have seen this coming
When bad meant good and no argument was forthcoming
When the boundaries of excellence were loosed
And mediocrity was seduced
Dumb and blind used to be a literal term
Now we've let it become a figurative worm
To follow blindly without introspection
Creates a political vivisection
To worship the devil is a sin
Yet they bow down again and again
Without full control of common sense
Is it possible, the majority is that dense
Is it necessary to bombard the other fifty percent
With trumped-up nonsense for advertising content
Is it necessary for the gloating as if they were right all along
I can't help the nausea knowing they were dead wrong
© 2026 Brian McNeal
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EIGHTYSIX IQ IS THE NEW GENIUS
When the world is run by morons
The Gold Standard is below bronze
An "F" is the new "A" on your report card
Thinking for yourself will get you barred
When the world is led by half-wits
When it seems sanity has called it quits
You feel like you can't even trust a compass
And you know the world is being consumed by a fungus
When the world is run by idiots
When everything seems hideous
Yesterday's wrong is the new right
Because I said so gives me the might
When everywhere you look, all you see are cretins
Every day the news says you have been beaten
Hope and despair battle for equal time
Disgust and outrage merge when people die
When imbeciles are put in charge
Critical thinking escapes, by and large
The lost commodity is common sense
Which isn't even worth two cents
You can't argue with an imbecile
Their brains don't amount to a thimbleful
Nothing you say can be comprehended
It's always best to leave the matter suspended
When the world is run by morons
The Gold Standard is below bronze
An "F" is the new "A" on your report card
Thinking for yourself will get you barred
When the world is led by half-wits
When it seems sanity has called it quits
You feel like you can't even trust a compass
And you know the world is being consumed by a fungus
When the world is run by idiots
When everything seems hideous
Yesterday's wrong is the new right
Because I said so gives me the might
When everywhere you look, all you see are cretins
Every day the news says you have been beaten
Hope and despair battle for equal time
Disgust and outrage merge when people die
When imbeciles are put in charge
Critical thinking escapes, by and large
The lost commodity is common sense
Which isn't even worth two cents
You can't argue with an imbecile
Their brains don't amount to a thimbleful
Nothing you say can be comprehended
It's always best to leave the matter suspended
© 2026 Brian McNeal
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