Did You Hear?-

I woke up disgusted 7 more innocent people shot for nothing
and the stale-faced messenger doesn't budge when he says it
and neither does his medical grade hairspray, it's pathetic
or actually apathetic, and I started wondering
if he truly doesn't care, or is he just desensitized
over years of filling his own head with lies
he has to recognize to a full extent the lowest in humanity
it's every morning in his mirror stroking vanity
so he picks up a pencil and chewing on the eraser
tells of a little girl gone missing and the efforts to save her
and he's thinking about his paycheck and what he'd pay for with it
reporting that a private company is building 8 more prisons
and I'm helpless (fuck it I'm useless) I'm still in bed
still wrestling with last night, trying to kill it dead
bury it and get a move on
and then the news cuts to a commercial asking me to donate to a kid with no shoes on

Hello, here's a child on the verge of tears
for just thirty cents a day over the next few years
we can pad our pockets and keep running the ad you've seen here, thank you.

And it's not that I don't care, or I don't want to donate
but we've all had that thought like "where's it really going?"
I'd rather see it firsthand but I only stretch as far as my arms
and I have my own sharp needles and yarn

But back to the program, the news caster is looking older
it must be tough every morning reporting what they told ya'
I see him begin sweating as details of an earthquake fall out of his mouth
and his face loses a little bit of its fake tan
the doubts creeping out of his pores with every story
like in the grand scheme of things what the fuck do weather and sports mean?
why is a home run a bigger deal than a lone gunman drunk behind the wheel
running people down, bucking steel
he seems sickened, but keeping his composure
he clears his throat and speaks on a factory foreclosure
that's 400 more American workers unemployed
and I'm thinking why should everyone pay for the economy some destroyed
but he doesn't even mention the debt crisis
his objective is to objectify violence to keep us inside and in silence
buying shit, drugged up and on diets, whatever's trending
keeping you abreast of the latest celebrity weddings
We're off the deep end
He's sweating more now, forgetting how to talk he coughs and grabs a sip of water
and reads of a mother and father who slaughtered their own son and daughter
with no explanation, and he reads it without hesitation
but he's breathing heavy and blinking his eyes in morse code, S.O.S.
and no one seems to notice that he's puffing out his chest
while he speaks about Keystone, and my first thought is beer
not the tar sands in Canada, shit that doesn't affect me here

Commercial break #2:
Feeling fat? Take Lypocrack, it's the best with minimal side effects
including but not limited to headaches, dizziness, aggression, stroke, implosive bowels, lack of sexual appetite, infertility, and death

Listen, just because you don't fit that stereotypical skin and bone individual they feed you on TV
that doesn't make you anything less than beautiful, believe me
you weren't meant to be using these chemicals, orally or inter venously

And it's back, breaking news of a pop star's death at 22
"Holy shit, let me guess, it was pills right?" Yep
and that's every few weeks now, and I'm starting to freak out
Better go get my rations before the apocalypse happens
and the anchor man is sinking deeper into his seat
and no one seems to notice that he's gritting his teeth
he takes one last breath, says "Have a wonderful afternoon"
and keels over dead on the floor of that newsroom