Archive for January, 2016

Those Damn Emails! (Limerick)

Saturday, January 30th, 2016

I’m so sick of the news stories meant
To defame Mrs. Clinton with bent,
Sleazy headlines and lies
Told to make you surmise
That her emails were “secret” when sent.

Pity The Poor Pundits (Limerick)

Saturday, January 30th, 2016

I’ll say one thing for Donald Trump: He’s great at changing the rules and perplexing the political pundits.

Sheepish pundits are wiping their brow.
From “The Donald,” they’re having a cow.
They’ve been robbed of convictions;
When asked for predictions,
They groan and then beg, “Please, not now!”

Palin Goes “Rogue” With Trump (Limerick)

Tuesday, January 19th, 2016

Sarah Palin’s and Donald’s toxicity
Are now linked. What a dose of duplicity!
She endorsed him in Ames;
Trump is great, so she claims,
But I’ll bet she’s just starved for publicity.

Frankly, They’re Lying (Limerick)

Tuesday, January 19th, 2016

You probably know this old chestnut of a joke: “How can you tell when a politician is lying? When his (or her) lips move.”

Here’s my own slightly less cynical lie detection technique:

How do you know that a politician is lying? The word ‘frankly’ comes out of his/her mouth.

Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina seem especially fond of the word ‘frankly,’ but they’re certainly not alone in having that ‘tell.’

Pols frequently telegraph lies.
For example, I’m quick to surmise
That a whopper’s about
To be told by some lout
When he uses the ‘frankly’ disguise.

Trump Joins The Make-Believe War On Christians (Limerick)

Monday, January 18th, 2016

Trump BS of the Day:
“Trump calls for Christian unity at Liberty U.
‘Other religions, frankly, they’re banding together,’ he says. ‘We have to unify.'”

Trump panders at Liberty U,
Says what “under siege” Christians should do:
“Band together” like other
Religions. Oh brother!
Trump just loves spewing statements untrue.

Rand Paul’s Anti-Trump Stump (Limerick)

Friday, January 15th, 2016

Rand Paul Headline of the Day: “Rand Paul To Spend His ‘Every Waking Hour’ Trying To Stop Trump. Republicans will get ‘slaughtered’ if Trump wins, he says.”

Though Rand Paul remains hot on the stump,
He no longer is seeking a bump
In his race to be prez.
Instead, Rand Paul says
That his goal is to stop Donald Trump.

Limerick Ode To Ted “Everyman” Cruz (Limerick)

Thursday, January 14th, 2016

Headline of the Day: “Ted Cruz Didn’t Report Goldman Sachs Loan in a Senate Race.”

“I’m a populist guy to the bone.
I got all that I have on my own.”
That’s the message Cruz flacks,
Leaving out Goldman Sachs
And that million-buck Senate-race loan.

Be Careful What You Ask For (Limerick)

Wednesday, January 13th, 2016

I’m amused to see that the rich Republican beneficiaries of ‘Citizens United’ are rather unhappy these days:

“Major GOP donors and fundraisers are wondering whether they’re wasting their money on super-PACs.”

“It’s ‘free speech!’ Let us spend to the max!”
The Supreme Court said “yes” to those hacks,
To the GOP guys
Who thought this was wise:
Buy elections with billionaire PACS.

Having gotten the ‘right’ they demanded,
Any SuperPAC donor who’s candid
Says “My giant transmittal
Of bucks bought me little!
What a waste! Why was ‘free speech’ expanded?”

Could The Birthers Be Right About Cruz? (Limerick)

Tuesday, January 12th, 2016

How ironic! According to Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, the very type of constitutional “originalist” judge that Ted Cruz says he’d appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court, is the very sort of judge who’d deem Cruz unqualified to be president by reason of his Canadian birthplace.

Trump’s Birther attack on Ted Cruz
Seemed, at first, like some dumb Donald news.
But a judge of the sort
Ted Cruz likes would retort:
“Call Cruz ‘natural born?’ I refuse!”

Here’s Tribe, as quoted by The Guardian:

“…the kind of judge Cruz says he admires and would appoint to the supreme court – an ‘originalist’ who claims to be bound by the historical meaning of the constitution’s terms at the time of their adoption – Cruz wouldn’t be eligible because the legal principles that prevailed in the 1780s and 90s required that someone be born on US soil to be a ‘natural born’ citizen.”

“Even having two US parents wouldn’t suffice for a genuine originalist. And having just an American mother, as Cruz did, would clearly have been insufficient at a time that made patrilineal descent decisive…”

Limerick Ode To Hypocrite Ammon Bundy

Wednesday, January 6th, 2016

Ammon Bundy, one of the leaders of the Oregon armed federal-building-takeover, is militantly against the federal government … except when he needs its help:

Ammon Bundy decries and bemoans
Fed’ral rights to the land the gov owns.
Yet he’s pleased to exploit
And extremely adroit
At fed-subsidized small bus’ness loans.

Here’s an excellent Mother Jones article about Ammon Bundy and his SBA loan.

Limerick Ode To Double Standards

Tuesday, January 5th, 2016

This armed occupation is whack;
The militant Oregon pack
Is called “peaceful” and gets
Kid-glove treatment. All bets
Would be off, were those terrorists black.