MMI, Super Bowl Edition - The Green Police, by Cheap Trick & Won't Get Fooled Again, by The Who

Worth watching again, or for the first time... if you live in a cave or prefer proper football.



Cheap Trick re-recorded "The Dream Police" specifically for Audi.  I highly recommend that you view the 1979 original, hilarious video below.  Don't worry, the music kicks in at about 1:10.



View the lyrics here.  In the commercial's lyrics, the only change is the substitution of "green" for "dream."

Some excerpts:

Well, I can't tell lies, 'cause they're listening to me.
And when I fall asleep, bet they're spying on me tonight, tonight.
...
They persecute me, they're the judge and jury all in one.

Dream, nightmare, or reality?

Audi has caused quite the ruckus with their ad, one of the few Super Bowl commercials this year that wasn't entirely terrible.  The competition was poor, and included an excruciating 30 seconds of census propaganda for only $2.5 million.

Analysts left and right are wound up.  PB wishes both camps would relax -- after all it's just an ad, and one we see as primarily pro-freedom.  In the commercial, the Green Police are depicted as preposterous, self-important, spying, totalitarian thugs.  Unfortunately, at the end we see the Audi driver go along to get along.  Yes, the message is much more dilute than it could have been, but nonetheless it ridicules the eco-fascism movement, which is a very welcome development.  We here at PB have no problem if you want to be green.  Heck, in some ways we are quite green.  What we can't stand is the self-righteous preaching, insults, and attempts to control those who think otherwise.

Here is a sampling of opinion on the ad, noting that we adhere most closely to Hudgin's thoughts, while Steyn disturbingly meanders off topic in his denunciation of Nick George.

Happy Face Totalitarian Commercials, by Edward Hudgins

A Ride in Big Brother's Audi, by Jeff Jacoby

Getting Our Groupthink On, by Mark Steyn

Lest you think the green nightmare depicted in the ad lies far off in the future, there is ample evidence to the contrary.

The Green Shoots of Obama's Green Police, by Norvell Rose

The Green Gestapo Is Here, by William Grigg 

Zero Bin Waste or Get a Fine, by Martyn Brown

In S.F. Thou Shalt Compost: It's the Law, by Peter Hecht

Harvard Hometown Plans Coercive Taxes, Veganism to Stop Climate 'Emergency,' by Joshua Rhett Miller

Someone should send these presumptuous nitwits the following article.

How Being Vegetarian Does More Harm to the Environment than Eating Meat, by Fiona Macrae

Moving on, I was not alone in finding The Who's song choice for the grand finale of the Super Bowl halftime show to be particularly appropriate.



At Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty site, Tom Mullen puts it better than I ever could with his "The Who Sing to the Obama Faithful."  Just after the one year mark in his administration, The Who illustrate to Obama voters that they have been fooled again.  Cool.

This performance is fantastic.  One YouTube commenter claims that the 7:50 mark in the video is the "greatest moment in rock."  Possibly.  Trying to watch the halftime show itself may be a bit trickier, thanks to the NFL copyright cops.  For now, you can find the entire video on YouTube.  Expect this link to be taken down in the near future.  In that case, just try a simple search.  "Won't Get Fooled Again" begins at 7:41, but the entire show is worth watching.  Pretty impressive, considering that Townshend is 64 and Daltrey 65.

Read the excellent, highly-recommended lyrics here, and Wikipedia's take on the song here.

Some excerpts:

Change it had to come
We knew it all along
...
But the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war
...
And the parting on the left
Is now the parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

This song could have been written yesterday, rather than almost 39 years ago.

For more on the "new boss," check out Same Empire, Different Emperor, by Laurence M. Vance, if only for the complete list of countries where our military maintains bases and for the Obama photo illustration.