how many yellow ribbons do you need?

how many yellow ribbons will it take to soak up all the blood, bandage all the wounds, heal the injured, clean up the depleted uranium, rebuild the houses, and give food and water to the people of Iraq?

how many yellow ribbons for the children of Iraq? for the five hundred thousand children that have died in the past 12 years; thanks to american enforced economic sanctions?

how many yellow ribbons make it ok?

how many yellow ribbons to cover your eyes?
how many yellow ribbons to cover your mouth?
how many yellow ribbons to tie back your arms?
how many yellow ribbons to bind your ankles?
how many yellow ribbons to strap you down?

how many yellow ribbons does america need to justify this war?

So then, does america need a ribbon for every injustice it endorses - silently or otherwise and cannot justify?

how about a blood red ribbon for the thousands killed and kidnapped in colombia by right wing paramilitary groups funded by our tax dollars and trained in Ft. Benning Georgia.

maybe a olive tree green ribbon for all the killed, orphaned, beaten, harassed, detained, tortured, oppressed, and exploitated palestinians at the hands of the israeli government, pleasantly funded by the american government to the tune of 2 billion a year

and what about a blue collar ribbon for the millions of working poor in this country, consistently ignored by lawmakers, who emphasize weapons programs over health care programs.

but wait -

what about the dead vietnamese - the dead cambodians - the dead koreans - the dead native americans - the dead africans - the dead asians...

my my account roy g. biv is busy and every fucking tree in america should look like a goddamn rainbow while a governmental commission researches the next color designed to suck sympathy out of an already emotionless society.

cause tying a ribbon around a tree makes it all ok -makes the dead come alive - makes killing ok - makes it right.

so, i ask you again -

How many yellow ribbons do you need?