In the streets the bullets scream
The fires burn
Exploding dream
The grandest scheme
As rockets ream
Oblivion by any means
You’re Fired
Fills the TV screens
And greed it seems
Inspires the dreams

Fallujah Blues

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"Liberation" rode roughshod over the United Nations, invaded Iraq, killed thousands of her people, destroyed her infrastructure, spirit and identity, established a military occupation in her towns and cities complete with censorship, curfews, barbed wire, beatings and, of course, removed Saddam Hussein and his hordes of weapons of mass destruction. If this is how the U.S. communicates the taste of freedom, perhaps those involved in the Fallujah atrocity were adapting to the behavior of their occupiers. A Columbine-like admonishment for their misinterpretation of the term freedom. A workaround the newly minted minefield of greed and intellectual property law laid by Donald Trump. A message to those who spearheaded the occupation: "You're Fired!"

Clinton Fein, You're Fired, You're Tired, Annoy.com, April 17, 2004

Donald Trump, reality TV star and rapacious New York developer, has filed to trademark the phrase sweeping an underemployed nation. That's right, if The Donald gets the nod from The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, he'll be able to exclusively slap the words "You're Fired" on clothing and "games and playthings," and use it in connection with "casino services." Along with peddling overpriced apartments, Trump runs some spectacularly underperforming Atlantic City gambling joints. Trump's two trademark applications, which you'll find below, were made after the January 8 debut of "The Apprentice," the NBC hit that has thrust Trump (and the alleged billionaire's swirling hairdo) back onto the front pages. We're waiting to see if Trump tries to patent the signature hand motion he uses to dispatch "Apprentice" contestants. On a related note, a check of trademark records shows that the firm "You're Outsourced" is still available for the taking.

Donald Seeks to Trump "Youre Fired" Market, The Smoking Gun, March 18, 2004

Chicago pottery merchant Susan Brenner has a message for real-estate mogul Donald Trump: in the Windy City, she'll do the firing. [...]

[...] But the copper-maned mogul might want to tread carefully in the Chicago area, where Brenner says she has emblazoned the phrase on plates, mugs, birdhouses and other items in her suburban ceramics studio since 1997.

Andy Sullivan, Woman challenges Trump 'You're fired' trademark, Forbes.com, March 30, 2004

So it should come as no surprise that the opportunistic Trump is seeking new ways to cash in on his success with “The Apprentice,” which has been renewed for a second season after turning into NBC’s most popular show with an average of 20 million people tuning in each week. (MSNBC is a partnership of Microsoft and NBC.)

And there is nothing to stop Trump and his partner, Mark Burnett Productions, from winning trademark rights to the phrase, said Jim Kayden, an intellectual property attorney.

Martin Wolk, 'You're fired!' could become Trump trademark, MSNBC, March 30, 2004

In the recent Fallujah attacks, it was not organized terrorists that hung Americans off of a bridge as if they were animals and dragged their corpses through streets with glee. It was a “jubilant crowd” filled with civilians.

As far as I’m concerned, these civilians are the enemy too. A population has a responsibility for the government in place and also a responsibility, obviously, for how it behaves itself. When we are at war with a tyrannical government, if the population works to overthrow that government and does not wish death and destruction on us solely for being us (please note the Americans killed in Fallujah recently were civilians), such as the Iranian civilians, then the civilians are not our enemy – in fact, they are an asset. But civilians who erupt in mass joyful glee at seeing dead Americans being abused and humiliated are.

Probably the most self-destructive, altruistic position of the United States, however, is our unwillingness to do the simplest, least bloody thing we can do to fight this war on terror: fight ideologically by condemning Islam as being the violent religion it is, responsible for producing terrorists.

Amber Pawlik, Atrocity in Fallujah: Time to Take Off The Gloves, MensNewsDaily.com, April 2, 2004

The ideals of presumed innocence and individualism, eloquently enshrined in America’s Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence, are falling prey to a plague that has infected the sensibilities of Americans since 9/11, and which has hit new heights since the Fallujah massacre. This war disease inspires vengeful Americans to punish large groups of innocents for the guilty actions of a few, sometimes insisting these people are not truly innocent because they have failed to stop the violence committed in their name.

Oh, the War Party assured us in the beginning of the war that Saddam’s evil regime was the target of U.S. military attacks, and that the innocent Iraqis, the most pitiful victims of that regime, would welcome their "liberators" with open arms. This war was supposed to be about standing up for the good guys against the bad.

Anthony Gregory, Fallujah Revenge and the War Disease, AntiWar.com, April 8, 2004

"Liberation" rode roughshod over the United Nations, invaded Iraq, killed thousands of her people, destroyed her infrastructure, spirit and identity, established a military occupation in her towns and cities complete with censorship, curfews, barbed wire, beatings and, of course, removed Saddam Hussein and his hordes of weapons of mass destruction. If this is how the U.S. communicates the taste of freedom, perhaps those involved in the Fallujah atrocity were adapting to the behavior of their occupiers. A Columbine-like admonishment for their misinterpretation of the term freedom. A workaround the newly minted minefield of greed and intellectual property law laid by Donald Trump. A message to those who spearheaded the occupation. "You're Fired!"

Clinton Fein, You're Fired, You're Tired, Annoy.com, April 17, 2004