Sincerest Apologies to The Mayor of London

 

I have reached a stage of such complete embarrassment 

At the thoughtless comments by the U.S. President

To the Mayor of London after terrorists attacked

That I cannot find the words...  I'm totally gobsmacked.

May I please apologize, to England and the world

For the stupid insults that my president just hurled.

Let me just assure you that he doesn't speak for me.

I send my condolences and this apology.

#IStandWithAhmed

Freshman, from MacArthur High in Texas, built a clock.

Showed it to his teachers who, to that poor freshman's shock,

Called police, believing that he'd brought a bomb to school.

Ahmed was interrogated, all because some fool

Couldn't tell a nerdy kid apart from terrorists.

So, in NASA tee-shirt and with hand-cuffs on his wrists,

Five cops took Ahmed Mohamed off to Juvie Hall

Where, at last, they let the kid give mom and dad a call.

He's still facing charges but he's home...  Not in a cell.

'though the school's suspended him, perhaps it's just as well;

Doesn't sound as if they've got a lot to offer him...

Faculty has demonstrated that they're rather dim.

Shame On U.S.

 

I can't help but be ashamed we haven't done our part

Taking in more refugees from wars they didn't start.

People fleeing terrorism, bombings, drone-strikes - death.

U.S. should be helping more...  I wouldn't hold my breath.

Even though the chaos in the region can be traced

Back to wars we started, that's a fact we haven't faced.

We have a responsibility.  Don't like it? Tough.

Yes we send a lot of AID but that is not enough.

Less than fifteen hundred refugees accepted here.

Europe's seen 360,000 just this year.

U.S. must take its fair share of desperate people, too.

Short of war - again - it is the least that we can do.

The Boston Marathon Bomber

Jury found Tsarnaev guilty on all 30 counts.

Sentencing's next week, when his defense attorney mounts

Her case why the jury shouldn't send him to his death;

Why the State should not insist he draw his final breath.

By a huge majority more people than I thought

Feel his execution is devoutly to be sought.

I have said they ought to spare his life 'cause he's a kid,

That he only followed what his older brother did.

But, with public sentiment against the kid so strong

I have had to reconsider...  Maybe I was wrong.

I was not in Boston on that truly awful day,

Therefore, I don't have the right to choose the price he'll pay.

If it gives the victims closure maybe he should die,

But I still can't help it.  I feel sorry for the guy.

Either way, his life is over just like those he killed.

He had better pray that his attorney's very skilled.

Fear of Flying

Used to be a fan of flying...  Now, though?  Not so much.

I prefer my feet and solid ground to stay in touch.

Once I'd hop a flight to destinations near and far.

Nowadays I only go if I can go by car.

Wouldn't have a qualm if I were flying on my own

But a flight with my 2 sons - though both are fully grown -

Makes my stomach hurt to picture what it would feel like

Sitting with them, knowing that our plane's about to strike

Into buildings, oceans, mountains... Wanting to provide

Comfort, strength - while watching, helpless, as my children died.

I can't bear to think about them falling from the sky

Thus, this former aviator's now afraid to fly.

Failing in Yemen

(Courtesy of/news.yahoo.com)

No one wants to say that Yemen's failing as a state

But the situation on the ground ain't looking great.

President has fled the country; Houthis hold the streets...

I'd say the criteria for failing's one it meets.

Saudis and Iranians engaged in proxy war;

Former leaders want to loot the country even more.

Sunni fighting Shia with al Qaeda in the mix

Yemen's problems may yet prove impossible to fix.

On the brink of civil war - the final coffin nail -

What else would you call this if it's not an epic fail?

U.S. forces left already; writing's on the wall

As another sign of Arab Spring becomes its Fall.

The Tsarnaev Defense

Prosecution's wrapping up Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's trial

And, although we know he's guilty, it took them awhile.

His defense will make their case in just a day or 2.

They've already said the allegations made are true.

All that's left to argue now is if the boy should die

Or if he's a victim, too...  Manipulated by

Tamerlan, his older brother, and the crimes he did

Do not merit death because Dzhokhar was just a kid.

Mother was deported and divorcing his sick dad;

All alone - his parents gone - his brother all he had.

Thus, despite the horrors at the Boston Marathon,

Defense plans to argue that Dzhokhar was just a pawn.

As the mom of teenage boys, I'd buy that argument...

If my older son jumped off a bridge, as down he went,

Right behind - I'm pretty sure - his "little" brother would

Follow without pausing to consider if he should.

Unsolicited Advice for Nigerian Voters

(Mr. Jones' artwork/Courtesy of www.cagle.com)

There is an election in Nigeria next week;

Yet another term that Goodluck Jonathan will seek.

Vote has been postponed for weeks 'cause fighting grew intense

When the army finally came to the North-east's defense.

Boko Haram's terrorized Nigeria for years.

Thousands died but only as this new election nears

Has the fight grown serious, 'cause controversy swirls

As the whole world questions why they can't Bring Back Our Girls.

General Buhari (the opposing candidate)

Stands a chance to make Goodluck a former Head of State.

Suddenly his war on terror has new urgency.

Jonathan's now interested in security.

It sure took him long enough...  And still more girls are gone.

6 years he's ignored the fighting that's been going on.

'though I'm glad he's ordered Boko Haram be attacked,

If I were Nigerian I'd vote to have him sacked.

Cancer of the Extremists

Boko Haram's pledged allegiance to the ISIL group,

Cutting out their old, Al-Qaeda allies from the loop.

Both gangs are barbaric so they make a perfect match

But it makes these terrorists more difficult to catch.

Moving into Africa like cancer that has spread:

Lots of open territory that the natives fled,

Schoolgirls they can sell as slaves or kidnap for a bride,

Room to build a Caliphate, a place for them to hide.

Drive them out of Syria or kill them in Iraq;

Doesn't matter... Tumors like these guys keep growing back.

But, as cancer patients know, that's no excuse to quit.

There is nothing we can do but keep on fighting it.

FOX Trolls and Foreign Policy

 

FOX News brand conservatives have all been up in arms;

Angry at Obama - claiming his discretion harms

Our war on extremists who use violence as their tools.

They insist he use the word "Islamic" but they're fools.

Make this a religious fight and world consensus fades.

Countries in the region, who remember the Crusades,

Want to join a war on terror - not one on Islam.

Why would he offend our strongest ally - the imam?

Most imams say terrorists are  un-Islamic thugs

Murdering in Allah's name... Not worthy of the rugs

Where they kneel for daily prayers or else they would have heard

With their gruesome actions they're perverting Allah's word.

We're all hunting brutal killers, call them what you will.

President Obama's showing diplomatic skill

Using nuanced language to achieve a common goal.

I guess that's too subtle for your average FOX News troll.

Unsolicited Advice re: ISIL

President Obama says, if we intend to win

In a war with ISIL, some ground forces must go in.

U.S. boots on foreign ground to call in missile strikes;

Hunting down the vermin no one in the region likes.

ISIL threatens more than Middle Eastern countries, too.

Wish we had another choice, but I don't think we do.

When recruits they've trained go home, who knows what they've got planned?

Easier to kill them while they're in a foreign land.

I've got zero sympathy for those who've joined that group;

Don't care if they're stupid kids who ISIL sought to dupe.

Proud to be barbarians; they've advertised the fact...

Now we'll have observers there to catch them in the act.

We can't bomb a movement but adherents we can kill

And, with spotters on the ground, the more of them we will.

ISIL, time and time again, has proven it deserves

Our full force and fury.  I would call up the Reserves.

Je suis Ahmed

 

Muslims are offended (not a shock; they always are)

Saying, once again, that Charlie Hebdo's gone too far.

Can't portray the Prophet on their cover... That's a sin.

I think Charlie had to - or let terrorism win.

Followers of Allah and the Prophet also say

How are they responsible for ISIL, anyway?

Claiming double standards when we ask them to condemn

Terrorists whose targets, up to now are - mostly - them.

Problem is; these criminals are acting in their name.

Muslims don't agree a strain of Islam bears some blame:

Thinking lack of education, poverty, and strife

Are the only reasons young men choose to take a life.

I agree; those play a part in helping to recruit

But, when Imams preach that choice, these finer points are moot.

Islam may be peaceful but its angry youths are not...

That should be their focus - Not what cover Charlie's got.

Je suis Charlie

 

"God is great," scream terrorists as they prepare to kill;

Claiming that their crimes are an expression of His will.

Preaching retribution; ideologies of hate...

Seems to me the god they follow isn't all that great.

I would never worship any god who says that I

Must become an instrument for innocents to die.

Any god so cruel and petty's not the one for me

('though he seems to fit these brutal killers to a tee.)

Terrorists insist they want to see God glorified;

But a god who's truly great is only horrified

When they slaughter people as a way to spread The Word...

That must be the worst excuse that S/He has ever heard.

Dear ISIL Girls... Really?

Had a recent spate of random terrorist attacks - 

Soldiers killed in Canada; a nut case with an axe -

ISIL doesn't know their names, and neither do they care;

Without even common ideologies they share.

It sure isn't Islam that these idiots fight for,

Nor is it for territory on some foreign shore,

Nor is it for human rights or common decency;

Only thing in common is barbaric lunacy.

ISIL's p.r. makes their war with Syrians and Kurds

Look as if it might be fun for Call of Duty nerds;

Guys who live in mother's basement and do not have friends,

Open to the nihilistic message ISIL sends.

What I do not understand, however, are the girls.

Knowing that these guys are rapists, murderers, and churls;

Holding females in contempt and selling them as slaves,

Why on earth would women choose to join them in their graves?

Whacking Moles

Critics are complaining that Obama's stated goal -

Going after ISIL - is like playing "Whack a Mole."

First we hit al Qaeda hard - invade Afghanistan;

Hit again when they reorganize in Pakistan.

Hammer them in Africa; they pop up in Iraq.

When they crawl out of their holes we take another whack.

'though the critics have a point, it isn't quite the same...

These moles want to hurt us and the fight is not a game.

True, these guys are vermin who we'll have to hunt and kill

And this infestation will keep spreading there until

Countries in the region put their differences aside;

Muslim leaders find a way to heal their great divide.

If they cannot pull together things will fall apart...

Still, our coalition to fight ISIL is a start.

Enemies of enemies could, possibly, be friends;

That's the only way extremist terrorism ends.

ISIL's "Second Message to America" - A Reply

Steven Joel Sotloff, the 2nd American journalist to be murdered by the Islamic State as a "Message to America."  (Photo/mashable.com)

ISIL sent a second, brutal message to the States;

With the death of Steven Sotloff, they've just sealed their fates.

If we weren't determined to hunt down the group before

There is now no question of us evening the score.

Sotloff and James Foley may have both been men of peace

But (though ISIL has more hostages they won't release)

We are left without a choice - eliminate the threat.

Think we're doing damage now? You ain't seen nothin' yet.

'though Assad may benefit (he's fighting ISIS, too)

If they flee to Syria, the U.S. must pursue.

President Obama, get that coward in the mask...

Find a way to make them pay.  Is that so much to ask?

Not So Far, Far Away

Israel has called up reservists and positioned tanks along its border with the Gaza Strip. (Photo/Courtesy of TimesofIsrael.com)

Israel's preparing to invade the Gaza Strip;

Planning to impose a peace by tightening its grip.

After 3 Israeli teens were murdered - in revenge -

One young man was burned alive; Hamas swore to avenge

Terrorism by some Jews on Palestinians,

Claiming that the vicious few make all barbarians.

Growing anger in the streets became a major factor;

Hamas fired missiles at a nuclear reactor.

Israel believed it had no choice and fired back.

Eighty Palestinians were killed in the attack.

Airstrikes in the hundreds have been going on all night.

Missiles out of Gaza have been shot down in mid-flight.

But, if even one gets through, those tanks are bound to roll

And it's Palestinians who'll pay the highest toll.

The Israelis also lose for, as they tighten grips,

Fast and far away the hope for peace between them slips.

#BringBackOurGirls

(Photo/Courtesy of KCCI)

'Bring us back our stolen girls,' Nigerians demand.

They've accepted offers to let others lend a hand;

But the girls have been dispersed, now kept in smaller groups,

Some in other countries - where it's hard to send in troops.

Boko Haram just released a video today;

Shows about a hundred girls and some were forced to say

They embraced their captor's faith...  Rejected education

(Something most of us would do if in their situation.)

Terrorists are saying that they'd like to make a trade.

They'll release 100 girls they kidnapped in the raid

If Nigeria will free some guys they've got in jail...

Pretty bold from men who've got the whole world on their trail.

Benghazi's Smoking Gun

An excerpt of the "TalkingPoints" e-mail on Benghazi that's being called a "smoking gun."

Seems an e-mail that is being called a "smoking gun"

By Republicans (still mad Barack Obama won)

Caused the Speaker of the House to call for a review

Because folks in Congress don't have better things to do.

What it is they hope to prove I still don't understand;

Do they think we should have known what terrorists had planned;

Or has all the furor over this gone on so long

Just because, one Sunday morning, Susan Rice was wrong?

The Boston Marathon Bombings' One Year Anniversary

Marathon survivor and Chelmsford native, Jeff Bauman, just released a new book.

 

Just a year since Boston was attacked - but it feels longer.

Terrorism didn't win...  It only made us stronger.

'though we saw the worst of man we, mostly, saw the best.

Cowardice of 2 young men made heroes of the rest.

Strangers rushed to render aid to victims of the blast;

I have never seen so many people move that fast.

We will always mourn the three who died that April day;

That's a sense of loss and grief that hasn't gone away.

Yet, how many more were saved by strangers from the crowd

Rushing in to help the wounded?  They made Boston proud.

Didn't hurt that local hospitals are world renowned;

Better care for trauma victims couldn't have been found.

On this anniversary I dedicate my rhyme

To those brave survivors; praying that they'll heal with time...

Knowing that - for them - a single year is not that long;

Hoping they will lean on us, 'cause we are Boston Strong.