Dueling Shadows

The posting is a bit late; this was my first opportunity.  As I posted earlier, my postings will be spoadic while I’m in the Far East.

Something surreal about last night’s debate
Tim Kaine and Mike Pence facing off in their match
They’d lunge and they’d parry, repost, sometimes late
But neither on other had scored a true touch

Their shadow opponents weren’t under this roof
And these were their surrogates fencing away
Mike Pence scored on style; Tim Kaine scored on truth
But little more’s known of them, end of the day

Truman and Johnson and Ford were VPs
Before being President. Veeps really matter
Their only debate should relate to  deeds
Instead of them fencing the other one’s shadow

10/5/16

Debate Number Two

 

Debate number two between Clinton and Trump
A rehash of what they’ve both said on the stump
Trump dodged every question no matter from whom
Still claiming the nation is all doom and gloom

And Hillary dodged a few questions as well
Regarding the handling of all her Emails
But most of her answers were cogent and clear
Ignoring Trump’s snide interruptions and smears

So what did we learn from debate Number Two?
As far as facts go we learned little that’s new
One thing was apparent, though, through the debate
Trump hasn’t the stuff to become head.of state

10/11/16

Reoublican Blind Eyes

Republican blind eyes are opening wide
Ears that were deaf are beginning to hear
GOP regulars switching their side
While Trumple die-harders are switching their side

Whenever we think Trumple’s lower than low
So disgusting he’s been, Trumple worse couldn’t be
Comes along a recording from some years ago
That reveals Trump’s depravity for all to see

I find it depressing to be witnessing
The death of the old GOP bit by bit
The tenets it stood for disintegrating
Being led by a man manifestly unfit

10/10/16

Kampuchea Blood Bath

Kampuchea, a country of peace and of beauty
We toured the two temples: Phnom Pros and Phnom Srey
But in Ugly Times Khmer Rouge had the duty
To kill people there every day after day

And how could this happen in modern-day life?
Where slaughter’s the path to political gain
Kampuchea was weakened by civil war strife
Khmer Rouge was the victor, Pol Pot at the reigns

Pol Pot (Salot Sar) promised greatness again
With backing from China his was the true path
Great death and destruction all during his reign
He murdered in millions, his five-year blood bath

10/8/16

Absurdity

 

 

Today on Ha Long Bay where fish boats sail
We met South Africans, Australians, Vietnamese
Although from different continents they hailed
They had one thing in common, if you please

Who is this Donald Trump, they’d ask and grin
And how could you Yanks nominate this bloke?
It’s scaring half the world that he might win
The other half considers him a joke

What could I say? This is democracy
Our Congress has been grid locked, now, for years
Trump shook Republican complacency
Appealing to the people’s vail of tears

Inside the States we’re caught up in this race
We cannot see the forest for the trees
But stand-back looking from a distant place
Absurdity describes what others see

Holocausts

 

Holocaust
Hiroshima below us yesterday
As from Japan we airplaned to Hanoi
‘Twas Harry Truman made the fateful choice

Holocaust
And Shimon Perez left us yesterday
Politically he fathered Israel’s bomb
Most years of ninety three he worked for peace

Holocaust
The Nazi gassing chambers, Hitler’s deed
And from the ashes birthed the Israel state
Now Palestinians still wage his war

Holocaust
We’re in Hanoi. We see a land in peace
But thousands killed each day; we were at war
Decision makers: Johnson, Nixon too

Holocaust
Cambodia, so many thousands shot
In Killing Fields mowed down by K’mer Rouge
We didn’t intervene – not politic

Holocaust
In Libya we chose to intervene
Averting genocide, Khadafi’s plan
Obama, Clinton made the moral call

Holocaust
Now Syria, a raging civil war
Assad and Putin’s bloody power play
The children of Aleppo pay the price

Holocaust
There’s ISIS and the list goes on and on
Where innocents are murdered just like that
Where Presidents hard choices have to make

Holocaust
It’s time for us to make our choice again
Of whom we’ll trust the nation’s choosing to
Reducing risks of future holocausts

View From Thirty Thousand Feet

 

At thirty thousand feet, nine hours remain
Japan, we’ve still four thousand miles to make
That’s time enough to probe within my brain
And contemplate this race, what is at stake

A fraction of our people feel left out
Frustrated, seems they just can’t get ahead
Dissatisfied and vaguely filled with doubt
About their future. They want change instead

A fraction of our citizens recall
When times were terrible, not long ago
They lost their jobs, their homes, their savings all
They welcome the recovery, ‘though it’s slow

One camp wants change no matter who’s the source
They’re easy prey; they’re ripe for any ruse
Trump paints their world as bad, but then, of course
He is the one to fix it, should they choose

By Clinton, things are better than before
But still they have a long way yet to go
And she’s the agent they’ve been waiting for
She knows the ropes and she can make it so

And then there’re those behind the candidates
Who raise the dough; who strategize the race
It is their job to paint their person great
While labeling the other a disgrace

And then there are the candidates themselves
One deeply flawed but talented in ways
That do endear him to his following
He is their champ, Trump cons them with his play

And Clinton much maligned, unjustly so
For being female, strong, uniquely smart
She can’t be trusted everybody knows
Just stay at home and play the woman’s part

Change is not a goal in of itself
Change from what to what one needs to know
With Trump uncertainty, no inner self
With Clinton, steady, forward as she goes

We’re still at altitude; one third remains
And that’s a metaphor, where this race is
The stakes are chaos versus steady gains
The title, President, don’t let be his

There Are Things

For the next three weeks my wife and I will be touring in the Far East: Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangkok, Thailand to be exact. Part of that time we will be cruising on the Mekong River.  As such my postings will be a bit sporadic but I intend to keep up with the US political boiler pot and continue writing to the extent I can.  In writing this poelitic I couldn’t help but think about smart people like Kellyanne.  Please periodically go to the blog site, http://poelitics.net to view the latest comments as well as corrections I make to the poelitics.

There are things that make me happy
There are things that make me sad
This debate evoked a strange emotion
Sad and happy both at once I had

I was happy Clinton pulled a Clinton
She decisively trampled Trumple down
But the people that saddened me so strongly
Were his workers who’d put him on the throne

9/27/16

Better Luck October Ninth

Hang down your head Don Trumple
Hang down your head and sigh
Midway you seemed to crumple
Better luck October ninth

Hang down your head Don Trumple
Soon you may realize
Poll numbers might now tumble
Since you told so many lies

You thought that you could wing it
Clinton prepared a lot
You really didn’t swing it
Presidential you were not

One hundred million viewers
Witnessed tonight’s debate
Millions of them were newbies
They will likely seal your fate

Hang down your head Don Trumple
You’ll spin that you did best
Clinton was on a rumble
Surly shut you out this test

9/26/16