In Memoriam - Senator John S. McCain III

 

With the passing of a patriot like John McCain

My hopes for the country that he loved went down the drain.

No one else has shown the courage he showed 'til the end;

Few have tried to reach across the aisle and make a friend.

(My dad shared a room at the Academy with John

And the stories of the escapades those two went on

Kept us entertained and made me love John even more...)

Would have made a better President than Bush or Gore.

Sixty years of service to the country he adored;

I'm sure heaven has already welcomed him aboard.

He was an example to us all throughout his life.

Praying for his friends and family and lovely wife.

Dear Mr. President; Wish You Were Here?

Should have stayed in Massachusetts, Mr. President;

Here, on Martha's Vineyard, where your 2 weeks "off" were spent.

Skies are blue and cloudless and the weather's, finally, warm...

But you're back in Washington and face a nasty storm.

Tear gas clouds from Ferguson are drifting down your way;

Turbulence across the pond as borders start to fray,

Plague winds out of Africa, a Middle Eastern front,

With you at the epicenter - where you'll bear the brunt

Of the rain of fecal matter critics throw at you,

Blustering in outrage at 'most anything you do.

Come on back to Massachusetts.  Stay 'til Labor Day.

(I'd still be exhausted...  That's a lot of golf you play.)

Not as if you don't deserve it.  If we're keeping score,

You've had less vacation time than most who came before.

Not as if you're really out of touch so don't feel bad...

W. took twice as many days as you have had.

Dear Border States... Good Luck With That

There's been a major surge in unaccompanied children detained at the U.S. border.

 

If you've been a parent, think of how bad it must be

When the situation makes you grab your child and flee.

Kids as young as 10 have been arriving on their own;

Children, far away from home... They're frightened and alone.

Coming here because they've heard we have to let them in

And, until their case is heard, they'll get to live with kin.

That would not be incorrect and they can thank George Bush.

Now Obama's looking for a way that he can push

Legislation through a Congress that's completely stalled;

Though aware that Immigration must be overhauled,

Still they will not touch it with the mid-terms underway.

Thus, according to the law, the refugees can stay.

Tell that to the angry mobs in all the border states

Who say that they've got enough, already, on their plates.

'though they make a valid point it doesn't change the fact

President Obama cannot make the Congress act.

Dear Mr. Cheney et al. - You're Kidding, Right?

Former Vice President Dick Cheney

ISIS is establishing a modern Caliphate

Based upon fanaticism...  Isn't that just great.

Thank you Bush and Cheney; you guys kicked the hornets' nest,

Certain that America was right and knew what's best.

Ever since, the region has been going up in flames.

Now Dick Cheney's claiming it's Obama who he blames.

It was not Obama who invaded on a whim;

I cannot believe the gall of Cheney blaming him.

This war has been brewing for a century, or more.

It's about religious sects and settling a score.

Once dictators fell, removing pressure from the lid,

Experts warned some countries might explode - and so they did.

All the blood and treasure spent on playing global cop

Didn't make this process one the U.S.A. could stop...

But, to say Obama caused the current Mid-East mess,

Means you're badly misinformed (by FOX, would be my guess.)

The 2nd Term Curse?

What can I say?  I'm a political junkie.

On the Sunday morning shows they talked about a curse;

Said that second terms, for Presidents, are always worse.

Often plagued by scandal - back as far as Jefferson -

Almost makes you think terms should be limited to one.

They could not explain the curse, and yet, it's proven true.

Here's what I don't understand; what did Obama do?

Didn't sleep with interns nor trade hostages for guns,

Didn't wire tap our phones nor commandeer our sons.

Didn't change the "talking points" as it was, falsely, claimed.

Guy who ran the I.R.S. was someone George Bush named.

Neither he, nor Eric Holder, hassled the A.P.

Yet, Obama's demonized throughout the G.O.P.

"Ten times worse than Watergate" and Bachmann would impeach.

This all seems political to me - an over-reach. 

Party not in power wants the other side to squirm.

Not the most auspicious way to start a second term.

Across the Pond - Iraq: Lessons Learned

(Photo/Scott Nelson/Getty Images)

10 years after Shock and Awe and here is what we've learned,

Lessons that our military's lives and limbs have earned:

Don't invade until you've finished in Afghanistan.

If you do - don't throw away your post-invasion plan.

Be concerned when someone like Don Rumsfeld starts to smirk.

Don't disband their military; put those men to work.

Be aware that, sometimes, other people might have lied.

Don't install a government because they take your side.

Don't expect to change a culture that is not your own

Just because you get their brutal tyrant overthrown.

Don't suppose the war is over once that tyrant's caught.

Don't proclaim your mission is accomplished when it's not.

Lessons we have yet to learn are: how to walk away,

Where to find the billions that we're gonna have to pay,

Where those weapons of destruction were and where they went...

Seems to me those billions could have been more wisely spent.

Race for the White House - Across the Pond

Photo credit:  Associated Press

President Obama has received some recent flack;

Once again, the target of a partisan attack.

Romney says the choice to kill Bin Laden was a snap...

Angry that Obama seemed to take a victory lap.

I did not see any ships or flight-suits on the man,

Just a simple speech he gave while in Afghanistan

Where, again, he thanked the troops; saluted SEAL Team 6.

While, at home, Republicans got in some dirty licks.

Romney once claimed capturing Osama wasn't worth

U.S. forces trying to move heaven and the earth

Going into Pakistan; but - now - he says he would.

Won't acknowledge that the President did something good.

Mr. S. accuses me of favoring a side.

It is his opinion every politician's lied.

Says the fact Republicans, of late, have made me nuts,

While forgetting Democrats all hated Bush's guts,

Means I'm being partisan; as bad as FOX and Friends.

I think he's too cynical, for one side clearly bends

All the facts to "talking points" they parrot endlessly.

"Spiking footballs"? They should check the mirror, seems to me.