Another Red Bites the Dust

The Republican primary has been pure theater at its best. As we approach the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire hopefully the Reds will finally get their act together an move toward nominating someone who will appeal to the Independents and enable them to remove Obama from the White House.

Able Not Cain
Another Red bites the dust, as we keep searching for a candidate to trust
Positions that seemed shiny and bright too soon dull and rust
We will never know if 9-9-9 ever had a chance
But if you are married you cannot seek another for romance.
At least we were spared the Edwards’ love child
Result of politicians’ arrogance run wild.
Politicians without morals or values are the new rock stars
Magnets for groupies near the podium and from afar
After a life of mixing cheese, sauce, pepperonis and dough
Cain sees the light and decides finally it’s finally time to go
Perry was a bright super nova, the Texas Flash
Until the debates disclosed lack of grasp and he crashed
Paul remains the darling of the right, Libertarian to his very core
But now the oceans are no longer invincible moats to protect our shores
It has been a comedy thank God with one person not on the stump
We have been spared the agony of dealing with Donald Trump
The man who saved the Winter Olympics and led a liberal state
And who understands business and jobs and faithful to values and his mate
Yet this bright and honorable man may not overcome the religious right
Yet Independents would flock to his colors on Election Night
Michelle was a rising conservative star
Until her gay bashing went a bit too far
Leaving us with the reptilian equivalent of a cat with nine lives
From his Tiffany accounts to his many wives
Newt is like his reptile namesake newt where after a setback
Whatever lost staff or limbs find a way to quickly grow back
A new Contract with America but with an organization way too thin
At least the words come out as ideas without the normal spin
As we see Obama’s DOE dole out millions to Obama friends
Fast and Furious corruption and perjury growing not soon to end
Any of the candidates could do a better job and the corrupt swamp drain
And end at four years Obama’s failed and divisive reign.
One thing is certain whoever wins when the Reds select
Must appeal to the Indie vote or we will not elect
The other is that all Reds must unite and turn out in droves
Or we will face another 4 years of class warfare and division Obama sows
© 12/3/2011 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Stockton Simpletons

The news out of Stockton California is that the elementary school classrooms cannot display images of Santa. What idiocy. No wonder why those of us paying the taxes to fund bloated pension fund costs feel disconnected and outraged. Who is next? The leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day, the Easter Bunny on Easter or our Flag on Memorial Day, What an outrage. Nothing like pushing a kid into premature adulthood than to destroy a belief in Santa or the tooth fairy as soon as the PC idiots of Stockton can. Along with the parents, the Santa Claus Mall Santas should picket these idiots before their next target becomes our flag on Memorial Day.

Stockon School Simpletons
Children grow up way too fast.
Such a challenge to make innocence last.
Now we hear in a Stockon school Santa's images must disappear.
Along with most likely with all images many of us revere.
Deprive a child of Santa and watch his eyes grow old.
... Loss of Youth for no gifts is quickly sold.
Santa is not Christian;he has been around longer than these insane PC nerds.
I hope the Stockton parents dressed as Santas descend for their voices to be heard.
As a parent I would prefer a six or seven year old with some sense of magic left.
Before to--be--cool TV engineers its youthful theft.
If misguided Stockton does not listen or heed.
Is the Easter Bunny next as the icon our PCs' will weed?
What does it take for this country to come back to its roots
To protest and stymy this insane misguided cultural loot.

Another Red bites the Dust and the field is narrowed. Cain was a breath of fresh air in a politician dominated scene. Know not whether the late accusations were true only that in today's world you must live in a glass office and glass house and be the person without a stone to cast. Otherwise in moments of the piranha press your indiscretions means the campaing will not last. We elect Clinton who the White House stained blue dress defamed, yet an act of misplaced friendship we dumped Herman Cain
Able Not Cain
Another Red bites the dust, as we keep searching for a candidate to trust
Positions that seemed shiny and bright too soon dull and rust
We will never know if 9-9-9 ever had a chance
But if you are married you cannot seek another for romance.
At least we were spared the Edwards’ love child
Result of politicians’ arrogance run wild.
Politicians without morals or values are the new rock stars
Magnets for groupies near the podium and from afar
After a life of mixing cheese, sauce, pepperonis and dough
Cain sees the light and decides finally it’s finally time to go
Perry was a bright super nova, the Texas Flash
Until the debates disclosed lack of grasp and he crashed
Paul remains the darling of the right, Libertarian to his very core
But now the oceans are no longer invincible moats to protect our shores
It has been a comedy thank God with one person not on the stump
We have been spared the agony of dealing with Donald Trump
The man who saved the Winter Olympics and led a liberal state
And who understands business and jobs and faithful to values and his mate
Yet this bright and honorable man may not overcome the religious right
Yet Independents would flock to his colors on Election Night
Michelle was a rising conservative star
Until her gay bashing went a bit too far
Leaving us with the reptilian equivalent of a cat with nine lives
From his Tiffany accounts to his many wives
Newt is like his reptile namesake newt where after a setback
Whatever lost staff or limbs find a way to quickly grow back
A new Contract with America but with an organization way too thin
At least the words come out as ideas without the normal spin
As we see Obama’s DOE dole out millions to Obama friends
Fast and Furious corruption and perjury growing not soon to end
Any of the candidates could do a better job and the corrupt swamp drain
And end at four years Obama’s failed and divisive reign.
One thing is certain whoever wins when the Reds select
Must appeal to the Indie vote or we will not elect
The other is that all Reds must unite and turn out in droves
Or we will face another 4 years of class warfare and division Obama sows
© 12/3/2011 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Libyan Spring Into the Fall

It took 8 months to remove a tryant of 42 years, pulled from a drainage pipe to be attacked then shot. We now await with baited breath the workings of a new regime; whether democracy will prevail. Our Secretary of State applauds our president for his wisdom and insight in the removal of Khadaffi. A bit premature
Who Is Next
Before we all join in Clinton's accolades
Maybe a bit of rain on the Obama parade
Hillary applauds Obama's insight and his lead
My memory is one of dilly dally causing more to bleed
Worse like most Presidents the War Powers Act he ignored
At least to his credit he kept boots off the ground on another far off shore
At last after 42 years a tyrant terrifies no more
Maybe democracy chances might soar
But this exercise of 8 months shows NATO to be a hollow force
Running out of munitions rebel air support needed to enforce
You can run but you cannot forever hide
If the U.S. drones are not on your side.
Iran and Syria still remain as great thorns
The rule of law to completely by both in contempt and scorn
Syria should be next but we not longer have the wealth or the will
So like Khadaffi, Assad without compunction will continue to kill
While Iran despite all manner of rebuke
Continues to pursue building its nukes.
While the Super Committee will not find the means to slash
And our overextended military will become very short of cash
© October 24, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

5 th Amendment Victim

today is the 10 year anniversary of the our war in Afghanistan and the initial suppor to the Taliban of Osama Bin Laden. Fortunately with technology we are kill Al Queda like flies as it should be. Last week we killed two American citizens suspected and probably 99% certain of being involved in terror crimes against this country. Tough deal to support the rule of law and the Constitution. Maybe if we are to portect our long term freedom we leave the capture or kill to the movies. If we can kill American citizens in a car, are anyone of us ultimately safe

Fifth Amendment Still Here?

Once again we with Predators have shone
A terrorist has no bodyguards, you are always alone
This has been a ten year war with sacrifices beyond belief
Families and loved ones struggling through times of grief
Forces of terror always wanting to slaughter innocents on our shores
Brave men and women another tour to pull a bloody oar.
We killed Bin Laden and unlike the thousands blown into pieces and bits
Buried him albeit in crab heaven according to Islamic writs
But he was not a citizen only a terrorist that needed to die
But now we have taken one of us with a missile over a Yemen sky
Only before in the movies or the books of fiction best
Do we allow our government to kill without 5th Amendment test
We all wish to rejoice but maybe with a slight warning chill
Which of us may be the target when without trial our government wishes to kill.
© Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet October 7, 2011

Shades of Contra

It seems like only yesterday in a jungle closer to home than most of us would like to admit, our government was in the Contra drug business, selling drugs that flood the streets of America in exchange for weapons for the Contras against the Sandinistas. And today we have Fast and Furious running guns across the border to find their way into the cartels and murder scenes including one of our one. We also have the spectable of an Attorney General who may have committed perjury. It is a sad sad day for American Juirsprudence and this Alaskanpoet was kept in plausible denial by his Attorney General who for a whole host of reasons should at the minimum be fired.
Know When To Holder Know When To Folder
Eric Holder needs to be fired and charged--no slap of hand rebuke
Running guns is so serious, you do not only read about the nukes
The G letter is not just about a spot
This is where governments come to rot
Maybe the memos talked about cars going to Mexico for nagauhyde
I do not believe it any more than Xerxes could with whips stop a tide.
Unless this man who has shed its impartial core
Was too stupid to in the rain know when to close the door.
He testified under oath and this poet believes he lied
And one of our own gunned down alone on a border died
Perjury for a lawyer or an AG should be the most heinous sin
Where else does the rule of law have any chance to begin
I hope our President in such details as running guns to cartels
Has not an idea that such a stupid idea would exist.
An being an accessory I would not support
But how could Holder not know of all the reports
When do men of character who are sworn to the law protect
Man up and with remorse admit a decision I will always regret?
When do we once again accept responsibility and not toss blame
To avoid our actions that besmirch and our integrity defame
Holder must be a smart man but if memory fogged and not clear
Obama's last acts in his only term will be a pardon so he will not fear.
(c) Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

911 REMBRANCE LT. HEATHER ''LUCKY'' PENNEY

As we approach the 10th anniversary of 911, more instances of courage come to light. We all know of the courage of the passengers of flight 93 not willing to die like sheep but as warriors. Until yesterday most of us did not know of LT. Heather "Lucky" Penney a female F-16 fighter pilot based near Washington D.C. Two fueled but unarmed F-16s were on the tarmac, one of them hers. Ordered into the air without time to arm to find and destroy Flight 93 which had just turned around and was heading back to D.C. to probably crash into the White House. She immediately took off to find it and try to bring it down by crashing her plane into it and taking her life but preserving hundreds of civilians in 93's intendend target area. We may be fixated on the finer things of life, but we are not a paper tiger and whatever softness we may have is shed when the uniform is put on. God bless all our troops and thank you now Major Penney. You may be "Lucky" but this nation is also lucky to have you on our side.

LUCKY PENNEY
Sadly, history has a way of repeating itself as lessons learned soon fade
Just look back to that December peaceful day shattered by a surprise raid
Ships at rest at anchor, guns capped and ammo under lock and key
The Rising Suns lifting off the decks more than 200 miles away at sea
To in complete surprise to dive down to strafe, bomb and sink
Leaving thousands dead and wounded along with our innocence in a short blink
As the torpedoes exploded and the ships rocked in flames and shook
An unlikely hero, blazing down Zeros, Dorie Miller trained only as a cook
As so on this 911 reflection day it should come as no surprise
That lessons learned on that day faded into demise
Three planes had hit and 93 was believed to be inbound
No fighters in the air only two F-16s fueled and on the ground
No time to arm, only to launch and 93 to find and destroy
Even if your own plane is the only weapon you can employ
We have known our civilians in the past are viewed as soft but in uniforms turned into steel
Ready to face any danger and harm any enemy can seek to deal
Add females to that mix especially those with blonde hair and Colgate grin
Heather “Lucky” Penney a new Kamikaze flying out determined to win
Not afraid to die only afraid to screw the mission up and fail
Ready to bring 93 down by crashing into the cockpit or tail
And add to the list lest the forces of terror are too prone to forget
The passengers of 93 whose sacrifice 93’s plans to crash into DC were upset
© September 10, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

Hoffa Takes Out

This muse has bemoaned the creation of yet another nation, one Red and one Blue and the complete abandonment of hope that change would be there by prooving the Kerner Report wrong and electing a Black-American president with ideas of change. What a waste;we are polarized more so than in all of our history other than the Civil War. The rhetoric from Maxine Waters that the Tea Party should go to hell, to Andre Carson, a member of the Black Caucus saying the Tea Party members in Congress want to see Blacks hanging from trees, to the latest challenge from Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. warming up the crowd before Obama on the need to "take out these Tea Party s.o.b.s" i.e. kill
Time to stop this rhetoric nonsense; words inflame and the fragile thread of rationality and civilty are quickly torn assunder.

WHEN UNIONS WANT TO KILL CAN YOU SAY NO

It is a rare day that a President changes his spots
His record should all future promises completely blot
No wonder Obama's record at a debate will be the empty chair
Any one supporting is way too partisan and way too rare
And so the winds of recovery beclamed and no job recovery tack
What's left but to slander, smear, lie, and always, always attack
From Tea Party wanting blacks to be hanging from the trees
To Hoffa in a rage take out these Tea Party s.o.b.s
Maybe the slang and euphemism have changed
But take out means killed and if so this Obama supporter is deranged
The souunds of silence instead of great outrage and disgust
No wonder why more of us each day Obama we do not trust
Know not what and at this stage do not care what the speech will reveal,
Only perhaps our last chance to mud place into a bin and seal
The Teas have put country and generations unborn above party lines
Time to stow the mud and smear, debate the issues and stop the rabid whines
It is a rare day that a President changes his spots
His record should all future promises completely blot
No wonder Obama's record will be the empty chair
Any one supporting is way too partisan and way too rare
And so the winds of recovery beclamed and no job recovery tack
What's left but to slander, smear, lie, and always, always attack
From Tea Party wanting blacks to be hanging from the trees
To Hoffa in a rage take out these Tea Party s.o.b.s
Maybe the slang and euphemism have changed
But take out means killed and if so this Obama supporter is deranged
The souunds of silence instead of great outrage and disgust
No wonder why more of us each day Obama we do not trust
Know not what and at this stage do not care what the speech will reveal,
Only perhaps our last chance to mud place into a bin and seal
The Teas have put country and generations unborn above party lines
Time to stow the mud and smear, debate the issues and stop the rabid whines

It is a rare day that a President changes his spots
His record should all future promises completely blot
No wonder Obama's record will be the empty chair
Any one supporting is way too partisan and way too rare
And so the winds of recovery beclamed and no job recovery tack
What's left but to slander, smear, lie, and always, always attack
From Tea Party wanting blacks to be hanging from the trees
To Hoffa in a rage take out these Tea Party s.o.b.s
Maybe the slang and euphemism have changed
But take out means killed and if so this Obama supporter is deranged
The souunds of silence instead of great outrage and disgust
No wonder why more of us each day Obama we do not trust
Know not what and at this stage do not care what the speech will reveal,
Only perhaps our last chance to mud place into a bin and seal
The Teas have put country and generations unborn above party lines
Time to stow the mud and smear, debate the issues and stop the rabid whines
© 9/6/2011 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

rhymes for the newsworth times a kastia curve

Whew, Irene with its deaths and flooding has now left and horrors Kastia is now there on deck to replace. Weathermen are talking about curving that may send Katia to the right away from our shores, good thing as more rain we cannot take. If you are going to talk baseball speak it right. A right hander's curve moves to the left and down but his screwball moves to the right and into the cold waters of the North Atlantic.
NAME YOUR PITCH
Irene has lost her punch and has been removed from the mound
Leaving billions lost and flooding water to abound
A reliever called Katia is on a slow stroll from the weather gods pen
Today only a question of where, no longer a question of when
The winds of Hell reach out to howl and to lash
Trees and buildings downed and to crash
The news is that she may "curve" off to the right
And die a slow death away from land on a September night
A curve and slider would break to the left and drop
Bringing death and destruction to swamped lands hard to stop
Time for the weathermen to with words refine
Trying to keep this storm on the proper line
Pray to the ghost of Hubbell and to the Big Blue memories of Fernando and Mike
That the weatherman can call the only pitch that we would all like
It's a screwball, dear writer and not a curve
Off into the Atlantic for the respite we now deserve
© August 31, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Rhymes on the Newsworthy Times Obama Reading List

I have always known the President takes a vacation in August well-deserved, but never knew his reading list was observed. it is a tradition and we learn our President while chilling on the isle of the rich, brought only fiction to read. I read 2 books a week and would never complain on one's reading list, but in the times of chaos, I am surprised that the list was not full of books on economics and how to create jobs. Tragic, to see the "leader" of the world out of touch, out of reality, and forgive my bias hopefully serving only one term.

To Read At The Vineyard
We are slipping into a double dip recession
Jobless rates soon to near the depression
While the Big Blue parties on the isle of the rich
the rest of us slide into the jobless ditch
yet we learn of Big Blue's reading list only fiction
Nothing on how to cure our nation's spending addiction
enjoy your reading list Big Blue on the isle of the rich
As your connect with the rest of us continues to unhitch

Rhymes on the Newsworthy Times Syrian Sorrows

World Humanitarian Day and in Syria they are again falling in the streets. Strong words, and more words from U.S. lips to somehow convince Assad to loosen his grip. We are lucky that tryants like this we would have to in our lives face. The only fear,we encourage to forces to arise, into the streets and then to their surprise we are not there, only words and all soon to demise. This guy is a killer, just like his father and he is not our friend. How about a cruise bouguet to hasten his end.

Syrian Nonhumanitarian Dreams

Another day of misery in Syria as 18 were shot
A tyrant who will not loosen his strangling knot
World Humanitarian Day and Assad seeks to kill
While the West in Libya no more patience, no more will
We cannot all be our brothers' keeper but how do you sit back
Innocents in the streets fodder for the snipers' gun to track
Words inspire, light the democracy fire, but end on a funeral pyre
Since we cannot add another front and get stuck in a killing mire
Obama finally speaks and the words are rugged, the words are tough
But Assad knows he lacks the spine, lacks the lasting stuff
So into the streets pushed by our words into the snipers' lines
Time to reflect on Pax America's grand design
As a world policemen we no longer have the wealth
But maybe on a world vote to remove, we can use the stealth
Assad is like J.K. Moody, it is time to go
Maybe a few seeds of democracy might sprout and grow
If and only if the world votes the same way to decide
Time to send in a B-2 and give this killer his final ride.

Rhymes on the Newsworthy Times Dream Act

Today, August 19, 2011, is World Humanitarian Day, hard to believe watching the slaughter of fellow species in Syria, Libya, or Afghanistan and Iraq. At list some glimmer of hope in that we celebrated the concept of humanity. Here at home some 300,000 illegals mostly young men and women who were brought here by their parents as small children, many of whom are in college or the military or in productive jobs face deportation. Congress turned down the Dream Act but today the Obama Administration ordered the review of all such cases as if the Dream Act were in effect which means that all but the felons may stay here. If we do not know the meaning of assimilate, all of us should look it up...securing our border and removing any significant portion of illegal aliens with roots here is a pipeline, even more so with an Administration that seems disconnected with the struggles of the American populace: My thoughts follow

Hummanitarian Dreams
Today is World Humanitarian Day
Time to reflect as passions join the fray
It becomes very difficult to deport
Young men and women dragged as children past the border fort
Especially those who have put their lives on the line
Dodging the bullets, IEDs and unexploded traps and mines
Or the college students seeking to enhance their lives
To deport back to countries most difficult in which to survive
This Administration with its jokes on alligators and moats
Lacks the will to secure the borders and turn away the boats
Unless Mexico gets its act together and starts producing more jobs than bodies and drugs
We will be swamped by those seeking to better, mixed in with the thieves and thugs
If we can assimilate under one flag, one language and one set of common ideals
It should be a goal to achieve, a worthy and productive real deal
But Congress is the only place to make that choice
Not a disconnected President loosing his right to be America's voice
© 2011 Michael P Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Sarah Palin To Run Or Not To Run

The Alaskanpoet as you may know grew up in Alaska in a small fishing village Petersburg on Mitkof Island at Prowley Point at the northern end of the Wrangell Narrows. But he also went to high school in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, home of the Vikings and located some 50 miles south of Sarah Palin's birthplace of Sandpoint Idaho (also by quirk of fate where my father spent most of his career in the Navy during WWII before being finally shipped to participate in the invasion of Okinawa). Another quirk, my mother after retiring took courses at North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene where Sarah attended before transferring to the University of Idaho. So while this poet has never met her, somehow feels connected. Here is the Alaskanpoet's advice to her which I sincerely hope she listens to.
Sarah Time Fold
Sarah, I grew up in Alaska and seined for six years
Sarah, here is advice I hope you can hear
Maybe Wasilla Alaskans so near to Anchorage lose their edge
When the winds of adversity blow they move from the ledge
But the Alaskans in the Narrows with LeConte's bergs to dodge
Are fearless and from a goal very difficult to dislodge
Sons and daughters of Petersburg are Vikings in name and in fact
Displaying the sense of honor and character you so sadly lack
We may not be able to see Russia but there is no fish we cannot net
And most of us live our lives without quitting, in honor to never remorse or regret
Book notwithstanding, caribou kills notwithstanding, as a President you would never be fit
It is time to move to Arizona, time from the list of potential candidates gracefully and finally quit
Michael P Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet © August 12, 2011

AAA Fades Away

The drama in Washington over the debt ceiling has kept this muse actively tweeting and commenting on Fox, Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, etc. A playground of 535 spoiled children in a fantasy world of spending cuts measured against projected increases not reductions. The tab for such foolishness will be billions in increased interest costs. Unless the Super Committee of 12 works a miracle, I am beginning to feel like the starving Pilgrims facing a Thanksgiving with no friendly Indians in the forest to bring platters of food.
AAA Fades Away
After all the drama and "hostage taking" the debt deal has flopped
Our S&P AAA credit rating has just been dropped
It is enough to make this poet gnash his teeth and weep
To be on a par with the Kiwis and their millions of sheep
What about 4 trillion in spending cuts did we not hear?
Clear and present warnings repeated only to fall on deaf ears
Billions more of interest added to the recession's curse
But what may follow is a fear that is even worse
This drop may be just the first of many and not be the last
Our days of a dollar currency standard may be long since past
Only hope our gang of 12 are the brightest and the best
And can find the 2 trillion in cuts and this spending surge begin to arrest
© August 6, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

Rhymes on the Newsworthy Times a Deficit Deal?

This muse is almost rhymed out, weeks of chaos to the brink and after if we get to pop open the corks, the champagne will be bitter not worthy of drink. Over a year from now with more debt and a most likely higher interest rate, we be facing the very same problem---a veritable Groundhog Day that will destroy our future. My hope is that the Tea Party continues to grow free of the disease of co-optment and principles becoming sacrificed to what is a very lucrative career.

Tea Leaves Readings
Where there is not a will there is no way
The dragons to be faced we cannot slay
Some may say this is a start
Others the nation is further apart
My quiver of arrows that slice and rhyme
Is empty, what could be a bigger crime?
This muse is almost completely rhymed out
So horse he can barely speak must less shout.
God help us when the Tea Party members in 2012 return
How much fuel to the torch of spending control will still burn
Only one way to survive for the wicked, lazy or even fiscal devout
You cannot long on the field of battle stay with only bugles and shouts
With shifting friends or allies or principles that fade
Flags of honor to the ground too quickly laid
One way and only one way we must now quickly enact
Amendment to the Constitution to balance the budget and revenues capped
For when the flame of public service becomes the most secure career
Our wallets are gone and we should be in a world of increasing fear
(c) August 1, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

SPIN NO MORE

i do not know about you, but this muse is disgusted over the inability of Congress to reach a resolution of the debt ceiling crisis as is even more disgusted over the inability of the Senate to even rationally discuss a Constitutional Amendment to control spending and balance the budget. Senator Boxer's position is consistent with her idealoge nature but Senator Feinstein where is the rational thought that makes reds like me vote for you. Are there no Blues in the Senate with courage to address this problem. Mr. President can you rise above your need to be reelected
SPIN NO MORE
As this nation approaches its fiscal debt ceiling brink
Nation is in total suspense as to which side will blink
A constitutional amendment to balance budgets is a forlorn hope
Not with Reid’s Senate attaching its hangman’s rope
Even if a few Blue Dogs put country ahead of Reid
Too long before we would get the fiscal restraint saplings from the seeds
Reid/Boehner are both in terms of solving the deficit a joke
Phantom cuts in spending; we will still be under a crushing debt ceiling yoke
Obama speaks of compromise but look beyond his words
He will do anything to have his reelection assured.
He faces the strikes of unemployment, Obamacare and gas through the roof
A perception that Washington does not care and he is way too aloof
He cannot add another strike of deficit ceiling and expect to win
But now time to put election aside and terminate the spin
If he refuses then the Reds extend more and take the high road
Making sure when the fall arrives the public knows it has been snowed.
© July 29, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

Kindergarten Follies

we have had to endure another weekend of dashed hopes and dreams as our leaders in the Congress and White House have apparently failed to come to an agreement over the debt ceiling and deficit reduction. I suspect that most if not all of us have had it. It is bad enough Space Americana has been ceded to the Chinese as the Shuttle Program with the last flight of Atlantis has faded into the sunset. we now face the end of Dollar Americana as we approach the potential of default on our obligations. Pax Americana is not far behind as Obama is doing everything in his power to extract U.S. military from Iraq and Afghanistan. Pray for maturity on both sides and pray for it now.

Kindergarten Follies
The weekend has evidently come to an end without a deficit deal
The rancor and bickering leaving scars that may never heal
Never have I seen such partisan stress
Children in kindergarten throwing names with little success
One can argue about loopholes and corporate jets
Class cards that allow us to the major issues forget
We have gone on a spending binge
The fragile recovery soon to unhinge
Maybe it is the voters' fault
But we can not elect guardians of our nation's vault
Or worse regardless of their goals, the office quickly corrupts
Never ending fires to find election money in state of constant erupt
What was a sense of service has evolved to a well paid career
Human nature, our Blues and Reds will do anything to keep their benefits held dear
If our leaders we fundementally cannot trust
To live within our means as the budget they bust
Then we must our Constitution amend as we will not destroy the printing press
Spending caps and revenue caps to the urge to spend and tax suppress
Let the states decide but a Reid stands like the French at Verdun
It will not pass, we must keep any sense of fiscal sanity on the run
So little time, the egg shells spread in pieces too many to count
Our financial problems are not getting better and continue to mount
Put them back in the room, let the cameras roll
Stop their salaries, non stop meetings no matter the toll
Come to an agreement that no one totally likes
But in at least in a small way slowing the red ink to breach the dike
And send the amendment to the states
This muse fears the future for his kids that now awaits
(c) Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

Chrysler Reborn

News today is that the U.S. Government has sold its stake in Chrysler to Fiat who will now become the majority shareholder of Chyrsler with the UAW holding over 45% of the shares. Treasury seemed proud of itslef that although the stockholders, bondholders, and creditors of Chrysler were pretty much wiped out, it lost only a billion dollars on its investment as a bailout of the Chrysler. Will be interesting to see if Fiat is able to keep the company afloat and prosper. It will be even more interesting to see in a much larger bailout, how much more we lose in General Motors.
Hope you enjoy the poetic commentary.

Chrylser Reborn
Before we stand up and cheer and pop the corks on iced champagne
A moment to reflect when market forces are no longer free to reign
Chrysler was sinking until the government began to bail
The mantra of we could not let our auto industry be driven off the road to fail
Bond and stockholders and creditors however were fair game
To the union demands the administration never tamed
Security thrown out the window and the UAW got a lion's share
No question of whether it was proper, right or the remotest fair.
Fiat now owns a majority with the UAW in second place
In Obamaspeak, losing only a billion is a victory we should embrace.
You have to admire Fiat or really pity
To now control Chrysler in the Motor City
With union costs still too high and margins in a squeeze
While all around, the economy begins to wheeze
If Mussolini could to his credit get the Italian trains to run with the clocks
Maybe the union stranglehold Fiat will be able to finally unlock.
If not in the dark of a moonless night
Move the company next to Boeing with little union rights
The only job security, the only real unemployment cure
Are profits on the increase and felt to be secure
© July 21, 2011 Michael P. Ridley ala The Alaskanpoet

Amend the Constitution

The ongoing debate or lack of meaningful discussion thereof on the debt ceiling and the deficit has gone on for months in an atmosphere almost surreal as we move closer and closer to default and a debt the cost of servicing of which will consume most if not all of our discretionary budget. Obama seems interested in playing the old Chicago hardball game, threatening to withhold Social Security checks and railing against the corporate jets and oil companies. The Blues and Reds in House and Senate are not without blame either. This muse is convinced that we will never curb spending as long as we have the ability to borrow and live beyond our means, regardless of who is in power. Unlike the states even California to one's great surprise, cities, counties, boroughs, and families who must balance their budgets and make hard priority decisions, Washington appears to be incapable of doing that. My suggestion follows; hope the Blues in the Senate have the courage to join the House in passing a Constitutional Amendment in a veto proof fashion.

Amend the Constitution
There is a solution to the deficit that has just about the same or less chance
Of a Don Quixote spearing a windmill with his tattered and rusty lance
The message loud and clear we have again and again heard
Somehow, someway it is the growth of spending we must curb
Expecting Reds and Blues to curb spending is like pouring from a bottle an alcoholic a drink
Then after he has finished, expect him to pour the rest of the bottle down the sink
It will not happen as long as the recipients of spending marshal their forces or PACS
Not a chance in hell spending in any meaningful manner will be cut back
We need a constitutional amendment that we cannot spend more than in taxes we make
Coupled with a limit in terms of GDP on what the tax man may from us take
It may be a hope forlorn with the Senate in the control of the Blues and Obama with a veto pen
But if we do not follow this path and soon, the debt ceiling will have to be raised again and again!
Until interest eats up all our revenue in the taxing vault
And this country pulls a Greece and goes into default
© July 17, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

My Kingdom for a Budget

I am certain that most of us have lost all patience over the inability of Congress and the White House to come to a meeting of the minds to resolve the financial chaos that faces us. This Alaskan is a Red and is absolutely shocked almost to the point of being at loss to rhyme ( that takes a lot) over the President's performance. Other that shifting of blame he thus far appears so out of his league it is frightening. The government is like a Moose and the Cookie--feed him a tax increase and he will want more but my God with the President playing the greedy oil company card even though the dollars to the oil companies are miniscule, the Blues should have given in on that issue in exchange for the Obama administration granting licenses to drill. The more I watch this spectacle and the corruption of politicians over time to maintain and preserve their career, the more I am convinced, today's problems notwithstanding, that the Greeks with the idea of election by lot had the better idea. Hope you enjoy:

Shame on Blues, Obama and Reds

After weeks of drama the final act seems about to be played
After weeks of shouts, pouts and tempers frayed
Who knows what the outcome will be of discussions behind closed doors
Only we are getting closer to a nation’s insolvency shore
One of the most important issues to face this country in many years we must solve
Relegated to the appearances before the talking heads and the press to resolve
It looks like we may get only a debt ceiling raise
Reds, Obama, and Blues should be condemned not praised
Obama for being completely over his head
Too quick to play the class taxing card instead
And to discover the press conference to Reds berate
As the deficit monster grows larger and does not abate
The Blues for hiding their heads in the deficit sands
Unable to admit spending is completely out of hand
To have supported the trillion phantom shovels creating a few meager jobs
With a debt all generations' futures they have just robbed
And failing to come to grips of the burden of ObamaCare on those who hire
And why it's now impossible to add jobs but rather to status quo or worse to fire
To the Reds who had right and reason on their side
To let Obama deftly shift the tide
Corporate jets and oil company gifts
While the economy and jobs in downward drift
This should come as no shock
Ceiling raise notwithstanding, Moodys our credit rating should drop
The only way sanity of a fiscal sort can ever be obtained
So simple like to stay dry you come out of the rain
A balanced budget Constitutional amendment we must ratify
Any talk of spending cuts is merely talk and mostly blue sky

(c) July 15, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

Hunger Strikes ala Belfast and Bobby Sands

The recent news in the L.A. Times is that inmates at California's maximum security prison Pelican Bay are on a hunger strike because of inhuman conditions there (locked in their cells for all but one and one half hour a day) and requests for something so basic as one phone call not a day but a month. What is even more amazing is that inmates in at least one third of California's overcrowded non rehabilating prisons failing in almost every sense of the word in terms of recidivism save one creating huge salaries and pensions for the correction officers and huge contributions to Democratic campaigns, to the major detriment in this budget challenged austerity to our schools. After reading most of the comments which seemed pleased the inmates might starve themselves to death and thereby save the state money, I wrote this
Hunger Strikes
A bleeding heart liberal the Alaskanpoet is not
But to jail a man in isolation until he rots?
Isolated from all human contact seems somewhat inhumane
How long does it take to wither away most of one's brain?
Pelican Bay inmates may be a threat to themselves and to the guards
But only an hour a day to walk in the prison yard?
The news of a hunger strike should cause us to pause
Is it the gasping of last resort, the grasping of straws
Or like the seed of a flower crawling upward through the concrete
A sign that a human spirit even in the most evil felon is hard to defeat?
We cannot treat humans as animals good only to cage
And expect that some of our own humanity is not erased from the page
If they are serious at Pelican Bay and with resolve
Our disgust of mollycoddling should soon dissolve
Like the English Lion in Northern Ireland brought to bay
Not by bombs but by death by hunger strike by Bobby Sands and nine other jailed members of the I.R.A.
This is not about in prison the lack of ice cream or strawberry cake
No a much larger piece of our own humanity is at stake.
Prison even Pelican Bay should be less of punishment and more a symbol to deter
And since no felon ever expects to be caught, some rehab efforts to habits cure
Unless each inmate will never again see the light of day outside a prison cell
He will be released with revenge and new skills learned for future more violent crimes to excel
Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet (c)July 5, 2011

Rhymes on the Newsworthy Times Weiner Resigns

Watching the chaos, scandal, greed, and the whole rainbow of human weaknesses and emotions, for a poet is like putting a kid in a candy store--there is such an overwhelming amount of material to rhyme about. Weiner's case is tragic yet so predictable. From the first denials and defiance, to the increasing revelations, to the treatment option, to a porn star, to his fellow blues fleeing from him like rats on a sinking ship to a final tearful resignation in the mosiac of a newly pregnant wife. It must be that power in addition to corrupting all but the rarest must teach them to hold themselves above the law. This Muse feels for his wife and unborn and hope with treatment his addiction is put in recovery.

Weiner, Weiner Texting Eater, Had a Seat and Couldn't Keep Her.
After a web of lies and deceit
Bobbing and weaving to stave off defeat
With Pelosi and Obama blowing taps on his career
Eyes like deer in a headlight frozen by fear
Treatment was his last card to play
Trumped by Ginger Lee, a great porn star lay
With a wife devastated and a baby in the womb
His status as Congressman is now in a tomb
Weiner finally quits and a House career is dead
Please pray the final straw was not Ginger Lee with Gloria Alred?
Some of us shudder from her images with Meg's illegal maid
Unleashing the dark thunderstorms on Meg's political parade
There are no winners in this tragedy save possibly two
Certainly Alred as she again successfully the cameras woo
The other Ginger Lee who will be paid more to go bare
And even more for whatever lurid stories she can share
Like the California streets which are now no text zones
And Metrolinks where cell phones must be left alone
Since none of us are free from sin enough to cast the first stone
Office holders should all trade in their smart phones
And place Parental like controls on their internet use
To be free of the temptation of sexual abuse.
(c) June 16, 2011 Michael P. Ridley The Alaskanpoet

Rhymes on the Newsworthy Times Brown Veteo

California in recent years has been put through fiscal hell and its taxpayers, vendors, and workers have had to endure purgatory of the worst sort in some years accepting IOUs because the State had not adopted a budget. Battle lines and trenches across the aisle, each blaming the other as deficits were closed with "smoke and mirrors" This year the chaos started all over but somehow our legislators buried the hatchet and actually passed a budget, a budget which the Red cutters and the Blue taxers most have both found unacceptable but they compromised as passed it anyway. So what does our governor who has never met a payroll in his life and has maybe 2 years in the private sector as a lawyer do? He vetoes the budget so he force upon us a special election to raise taxes which given our economy should fail, all the while our schools are held hostage to the greed of his biggest pac supporter the Correction Guards who staff our bloated and overcrowded prisons:

The Fat Lady Has Sung
We thought at last the Fat Lady had sung her song
But no our Governor has proved us wrong
After years of budget deadlines missed
State sinking into a partisan abyss
Vendors receiving not checks but ious
Not the Golden State we all once knew
Assembly & Senate filled with corpses of compromise
Gridlock growing as partisan hands are tied
Blues & Reds pass a budget none of them like
Brown in his "wisdom" tells them 2 take a hike
Vetoes the budget 2 push tax hike voter vote
Another challenge 2 our frail recovery boat
Higher taxes will be voted down 2 defeat
Employers continue 2 vote with their feet
Worse since a budget was passed legislators pay not cut
California will sink further in its job killing rut
Will be an exciting period but one we should all dread
Rue, rue the day Meg's illegal maid reached out 2 Gloria Alred
No matter what will be the spin
we all lose & the correction unions win
After the election sans budget back 2 square 1
State in chaos under an even larger fiscal gun
Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
(c) June 16, 2011

rhymes on the newsworthy times ryan royal

California is plagued with gang killings often, way too often, innocent bystanders killed by stay bullets lethal for over a mile. In today's news I see that sadly we are not alone and other communites face the scrouge. In Lynnwood Illinois a young basketball player, a star on his team with most likely a future in at least college ball and a ticket out of the poverty that chokes many black neighborhoods, Ryan Royal was killed by a stray bullet coming out of a Sweet 16 party attended by 100's of his classmates. Hit home since he has the same first name as my son. Hearts go out to his family: these thoughts came to mind:

Sweet 16 and Never More to Be Kissed
The news in illinois is very sad, very grim
When a basketball player leaves the safety of a gym
Where he probably like a Jordan could fly
Or like an Eaton block shots into the sky
Or like a Stockton or Nash he could assist
But on a party night Ryan's body a stray bullet could not resist
Sweet 16 Party in an earlier time--bring on the kiss
But on this night a life ended by a stray that did not miss
Outrage that with a stray bullet a life ends
What other message to our gangbangers do we send?
Settle disputes not with gun or knife
Appeal to mind and heart and not take a life
Somehow to the male warrior genes of "honor" and turf
You are chained to the gun like land to a feudal serf
We can flood police onto the streets
But a gang code of violence will not retreat
Time to put them into a Coliseum like gladiators of a different age
To blaze away until there are no other gang members to fuel their rage
If that is viewed as too extreme
Then to a rifle range of Marines
Learn to shoot straight when you decide to kill
Innocent bystanders then are not added to your butcher's bill

(c) June 6, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

Rhymes on the Newsworthy Times

rhymes on the Newsworthy Times Alec, Ken and Mitt

Maybe since i have always worked since I was 16 even while attending Stanfblord and Yale Law School I have tended to be economically conversative with have spent most of my formative years and summers in Alaska socially liberal and libertarian. One of my pet peeves has always been the very liberal tilt of Hollywood and the respect given to many of the actors and actresses as being experts usually not obtained with any experience or learning but rather a good role and a good script. Alec Baldwin whom I believe to be very good actor but asea when it comes to politics, posted on the Huffington Post a blog about Mitt Romney and why his Twitter comment on "Ken" might have been misunderstood given the limit on characters. The poem was prompted; hope you enjoy it. As always if you like brevity 240 iams always found on twitter.com/alaskanpoet

Alec, Ken and Mitt
This muse never thought he would see the day,
Until maybe very old and very gray
That a liberal celebrity made expert only with scripts
Attracting like media to record all words from his lips
Would make an observation that as a muse I will affirm
Twitter's limits on bits will make most writers squirm
Baldwin in today's Romney blog
Brings his Ken comment out from the truncated fog
Mitt is the real deal, if he can get by the rabid primary right
Who has the right stuff to bring us out of the deficit and recession long nights.
We have crossed the creed barrier with JFK
Ferraro and Palin put the gender demons at bay
Obama has to our credit put the race barrier to rest
We should also be able to Mormon fears also arrest
Only one regret as a member of Stanford class of 69
Mitt after a mission came back not to the Farm but BYU for his student time
Leaving the Cardinal without another alum to the Depression memories of Hoover remove
If he could solve the Winter Olympics before the snow melt, in 4 years this mess he should improve
Alec nice blog though I hope the Obama Blues remain peacefully asleep and content
And you have more Doolittle-like roles rubbing off so your liberal leanings might somewhat relent.

(c) June 5, 2011 Michael P. ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

rhymes on the newsworthy times imported farmed fish

Alaska is my spiritual and iambic home where I grew up before it was a state in fishing village Petersburg where I was lucky enough to have a divorced father who lived there for 50 years, a pioneer, and who invited me back as a teenager at age 16 to fish on a salmon seiner which I did for 6 summers. With those earnings I was able to pay my way through Stanford and most of Yale Law School. Alaska rightfully so althought it has many hatcheries releasing millions of salmon each year into the wild, and in the process depriving many a bear of another meal and a male his only fling in life before he rots and dies, constituionally outlaws farmed raised fish. The news on the FDAt not testing for hormones, antibiotics and pesticides and all manner of deadly toxins in imported farmed raised fish is very troubling. How can we buy from a nation for example that sends our infants toys laden with lead. This was prompted:

RAISE THE ALARM WHEN IT COMES FROM A FARM
My comments try to be unbiased and with iambic, a different way to air
An Alaskan perspective growing up in fishing village I wish to share
Fishing in Alaska, like Maine, New England or the Gulf in waters sometime unforgiving
Is a way of life to be preserved, not just another way to earn a living
A farmed salmon dyed red compared to a king or sockeye grilled with seasoned baste
Is like eating with a head cold or swollen tongue there is nothing to savor or taste
It was bad enough the FDA was considering to alter farmed raised salmon genes
The news today makes you believe imported farmed raised fish is a new Soylent Green
Eking out a living with poverty pounding at your door without rest
Safety rules in the way our Asian fish farmers could care less
Pesticides, hormones, and God knows what in our imported farmed fish
Not what should be on our table no matter how cooked as a healthy dish
If you want to see quality go to Alaska and see the seiners, gillnetters and trollers unload
Packed in ice, or in seawater chill, freshness is the only code
Or go to the Ore House at the mouth of the Gastineau
Partake of the salmon grilled and feel the taste buds flow
Then pile into the streets and on the internet raise the alarm
If FDA will not test, ban imported fish from foreign farms
Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet
(c) May 18, 2011

Rhymes On The Newsworthy Times True Lies II

The announcement by Maria and Arnie of separating after a marriage of 25 years was a bombshell; but the news today of the existence of a ten year old he fathered with a member of their household staff was like an abomb. It is not for poets sermonize only to herald the events of note as we trudge along our path of destiny to inspire, outrage, bring laughter or sadness or whatever human emotion is then touched by poetry. None of us men are without fault, but those of us who are not athletes, politicians or movie stars sphere of influence and role modeling is quite small. Maria and her four children deserve prayers and the fifth child also whose affection of a father will miss.
TRUE LIES II
The news on Arnie today is more than sad
We find he is also a "love child" dad
Are there any left among us who can restrain
The urgings and needs of our little brain?
What seemed to be a shock completely out of the blue
Now seems clear like the dropping of the other shoe
Like the CIA agent with unknowing wife in True Lies
While governor the people were spared from this surprise
A politician's personal life is supposedly not the voters' concern
No matter what sense of morality and ethics they chose to spurn
He ran in 2003 as a father of four with a loving wife at his side
Now we know a child of two, existence pushed aside
We know not whether the child knows his father exists
Or understands why the lure of office is too hard to resist
Only spare me the sequel of True Lies with this sordid deed
And the ego of office that is too powerful a seed
Hearts go out to Maria and her children four
All wondering "were we not enough why did you need more?"

Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
May 17, 2011

Rhymes On The Newsworthy Times-Bin Laden Killed

The news we have been waiting for almost 10 years was received tonight. Not the size of VJ Day celebrations but the spontaneous scenes outside the White House brings tears to your heart. What a different night than that miserable night in the desert when Carter authorized a raid into Tehran to try to rescue our embassy personnel which attempt ended in disaster and loss of American lives. God bless those brave men of our special ops. If I were Ayman I would be on the move, for he is next.

You Cannot Run, You Cannot Hide

At long last, chalk one up to the good guys
After 10 years it was Bin Laden's day to die
Many more details are yet to be revealed
Rangers, special forces, Deltas and Navy Seals
Waves of joyous people with flags coming into the street
On this day the dark forces of terror go down to defeat
The rest of Al Qada will not lay down their arms
Many still will succumb to a now "martyr's" seductive charms
The jury is still out with respect to Pakistan's aide
God bless those brave soldiers who undertook this raid
To Ayman open this message, it should be quickly read
There is no safe haven for killers, you will soon be dead
Obama had it correct, he had it exactly right
Muslims are not our are enemies, not dark forces of the night
Al Qada is no more Islam than is the Pope
Only Koran corrupted gutted of its message of hope
One Nation, one God under the Star, Crescent and Cross
Tonight we thank Him for Al Qada's loss
(c) May 2, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Rhymes For The Newsworthy Times 86 Deja Vu

Whether you liked or disliked him, Ronald Reagan was a man of principle and not ashamed to utilize force to protect American interests. In 1986 American GIs were killed in a terrorist bombing in Berlin traced to Qaddafi. Reagan did not hesitate and he did not warn--he sent in naval air strikes to attack Qaddafi's compound with weapons far less "surgical" than they are today. Unfortunately, even in the days before WikiLeaks, Qaddafi was tipped off and was not present but supposedly his family members were and his daughter was killed. 25 years later it's deja vu and we are trying the same thing, killing supposedly his family members but not him where the threat to our national interests is problematical at best. The sounds of silence from Congress on the usurption of its powers to declare war are deafening. History will judge our current President and his use of force. It may be too soon to comment, but poets have a hard time remaining silent especially as Homer aptly showed when the dogs of war are let loose.
1986 Deju VuWe may have come a long way with a surgeon's knife
Saving adjacent tissue while saving the patient's life
But in the field of a weapon's surgical strike
Great room for improvement and a lot not to like
We have learned nothing since 1986
When Reagan a terrorist attack we tried to fix
The surgery failed, the patient lived and his daughter had to die
Once again scrub down and with a scalpel too dull
Kill his son and daughters and as to him the result is null
Maybe the innocents died and maybe they did not
But why did we get ourselves into this growing rot?
We have not been attacked; our security is not at risk
But Congressional authority under the carpet we seem to whisk
Bad enough a leader we are still trying to kill
Worse where is the joint resolution, the joint bill?
If these acts were under Bush, the hue and cry to impeach
Would be louder than a tsumani crashing on the beach.
The world will be a better place if Qaddafi is overthrown
But not if to do so our Constitution and international law stripped to the bone.
(c) May 2, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

Rhymes On The Newsworthy Times Royal Wedding

On Friday, April 29, 2011 Prince William and Kate Middleton move down the aisle to be wed at Westiminster Abbey. So many of us here are enthralled over this ceremony and will be up at 4:00 to watch. Why? maybe its that we long for the sense of dignity and grace from our elected leader so lacking since probably the time of George Washington. Sadly even on this best day are current office holder has not one ounce of the grace and dignity and honor exuded by the Queen, who visited Stanford when I was on the Board of Trustees. I was not one of the select few to meet her but from the reports of those who did, her presence in a quiet way filled the room. Prince Charles unfortunately with his adultries cannot hold a candle to the Queen and his wedding gift to William and Kate should be his renunciation of the the throne on the Queen's death. The news and video of Prince William, son of Dianna wading into the crowd shaking hands prompted this: hope you enjoy

A ROYAL WEDDING
A Rose Parade it is not and rain may on the morrow fall
But crowds are now staking places along the Wall
Diane runs through half his genes willing to into crowds mingle
Prince William shaking endless hands to awe and tingle
All the Rose Queen and her court would do is wave
Those Brits who pressed his flesh for a moment to forever save
There will be horses and marching bands
A procession watched by millions in many lands
True, no Badgers or Horned Frogs and no floats of flowers towering into the air
But a royal carriage of history carrying the dreams we all wish to share
Our distant cousins, even if not blessed with Pasadena's no rain shield
Deserve our applause for a true romance of a young couple to be sealed
The Sun now daily sets on the British Empire but not on Friday morn
After the failed marriages the trust in the Windsors now to be reborn
Unlike a President or a Prime Minister, a King must above all place
Honor and integrity and role model high above politics so squalid and so base
A soon king-to-be, an aging Charles should take this hint
And not taint the royal thorn with his kingly stint
The Candle in the Wind in the Abbey will not flicker out
Finally and sadly without her, the Windsor ship seems to be turning about
A two cake wedding and a dress even WikiLeak cannot reveal
Kate and William, may your marriage 60 years from now be the lasting deal!
(c) April 28, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

A Tale of Two Women

Neda Soltan was the young woman shot to death by Iranian Police in 2009 during demonstrations against corrupt elections that kept Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power. The photo of her bleeding to death in the streets has become a symbol of resistence in theocratic Iran. Today the State Department released a report of wide spread human rights abuses in that country. We are portrayed by Iran's leaders as the Great Satan. Iran by us (althogh not as fervently by Obama) as the Axis of Evil. Go back 41years to Kent State on May 4th and you find the photo of Mary Ann Vechio, a 14 year old runaway, screaming over the body of Jeff Miller shot dead by Ohio National Guardsmen seconds before. Maybe it is only the leaders who are the Great Satan or the Axis of Evil, and the youth much more common. Hope you enjoy:

A Tale of Two Women
When will the bearded theocrats ruling with iron hands
Wake up to the revolution that is sweeping their lands?
The youth do not want to put their personal lives on hold,
Waiting for the Hidden Inman to return to the earthly fold
If Caesar and God one seeks to merge
Free expression and thought one must purge
Along with all manner of any earthly joy
Even a girl's walk in a street holding hands with a boy
The Great Satan and the Axis of Evil we are portrayed
Images from which we both in the past have not strayed
Kent State- Images of a screaming young girl with a student dead at her feet
Tehran--Images of a wounded young girl bleeding out in the streets
40 years apart the youth are much closer than one might think
Hopefully the theocrats will see some sanity and blink
As Iranians, especially women, rise up no longer serfs
To regain one's humanity and freedom’s rightful perch.
The Arab Spring that has swept the Arab shores
Where each minor concession brings out the cries for more
Though the men who rule cannot to Western music dance,
If they are smart, they will step aside and let freedom advance.
If not, their days are numbered as the youth will prevail
They will not put up the theocratic tyrants’ 24/7 mental and social jails.
(c) Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
April 19, 2011

Innovation Secrets

After near threat of government shutdown and days of drama, the remaining 6 months of 2011 how have a budget with a miniscule reduction in expenditures. Better yet it would appear that we are all safer now because Congress will soon take a recess. One the Democratic House members in the debate this morning was bemoaning the loss of innovaation. Here's the Alaskanpoet's take of how to innovate.

Innovation Secrets

As a Stanford grad I have seen the Winds of Freedom blow
The sparks of thoughts in white hot glow
Its HP garage now turning out Googles of ideas
But Stanford or its ilk may not be the only panacea
To the simple fact that with our wages we cannot compete in terms of cost
If not armed with an army of inquiring minds, our children's future will be lost
But like the farmer who eats his seed corn to prevent an early grave,
We are doomed if our government overspends and will not or cannot save
We must also solve the paradox that those whom society most detests
Continue to prosper and climb far above the rest
We cannot follow Dick the Butcher's recipe for success
But we can elect and appoint lawyers far, far less
This should all heed what should be the primary law of the land
We will pass no law so written that a lawyer is needed to understand!
(c) April 14, 2011 Michael P. Ridley aka The Alaskanpoet

A Tale of Two Tyrants

To a casual observer our foreign policy is in shambles and in the Arab Spring we are being lapped daily if not hourly by events we seem not to understand, predict or know how to respond even if only a knee jerk. Obama decides Khadafi must go then departs, then warns we will use all force to protect civilians but not ground troops, and after cruise orchestra tries to unload command and control to the French and Brits. Ali in Yemen is killing civilians left and right and is probably a stronger supported of Al-Quaida, but we do nothing. Libya has oil the West needs and Yemen has sorghum which the West does not. If Obama does not have the skills to manage foreign policy and military matters when will the lights go on so he will augment his team? An Iambic commentary:

The Sands of Confusion

It is a tale of two nations and so easy to become confused
In one, we support the leader with unbridled enthuse
In the other, Obama tells him it is time for him to go
Then leaves from the sound bite stage
Sure enough his jets and tanks act in unchecked rage
Too late cruise missiles descend in a mini fireworks show
We support Yemen’s leader when his military will not
Hard to be a general when civilians keep getting shot
One leader holds al-Quaida in great distaste
The other cheered when Hussein put Kuwait to waste
True, in revenge, one leader brought down a Pan Am jet to the turf
But the other stood aside as the Cole suicide skiff went plying through the surf
Yet Ali we support as his generals bail
And Mouammar we subject to the cruise missiles’ hail
Now Mouammar sits on huge pools of oil,
While for Ali the lands yields little no matter the toil
Do we have any idea of the rationale for courses we take?
Whether under missiles or civilian protest the sands of both quiver and shake?
Is Ella live or is it Memorex as the glass quickly shatters
Is it oil or do our principles really matter?
Hard to tell but sand shifts and can become very quick
Bogging us down like a rerun of a sick, bloody Vietnam flick
(c) March 22, 2011 Michael P. Ridley

Where Have All The Poets Gone

Our news is delivered in clipped prose by media biased to the core with teleprompters that make them appear brilliant and commented upon by the talking heads, interrupting and talking over each other. This Alaskanpoet is going to review the Charles Osgood tradition and bring back the commentary the way it must have been done thousands of years ago, when events were recorded and brought back to life by muses. I will still tweet daily with the new art form in a 24/7 world---a 140 character byte poem on an event of the day. Hope you enjoy

Madison Warriors
The Kerner Report mourned about two nations, one black, one white.
It is now crystal clear that it was only partially right
It is time for us once again to mourn
For another two nations are being born
A public sector entrenched with huge union coffers to spend
To elect those who will insure their bloated benefits do not end
Madison is one of the first shots from a modern day Concord
Where rational discourse has been put to the union sword
It is almost like Stalin's order of "not one more step back"
Not a penny shed of the benefits most in the private sector lack
Images of the statehouse halls with throngs demanding any cut's defeat
If more beards and farsi signs, likeness to an embassy seized would be complete
A President who but weeks ago at a tragic service in Tucson
Seemed a unifying force to shed the hate and for healing to move on
With a deficit growing by billions each and every week
Blames the Badger Reds for the deficit relief they try to seek
The Blue leaders in a bus flee across state lines to hide
Heads in the sand, maybe Madison's red ink by magic will subside
Make no mistake, no matter what the media spin
Madison is the first battle of a war we taxpayers must win.
We have already seen a seizure of government in reverse
Flee the state and you eliminate the power to mend the purse
Look for the Union Label—lyrics of a pro union tune
Now worn by elected Blues, as we dance our way to ruin
(c) 2011 Michael P Ridley aka the Alaskan Poet
haracter byte poem on an event of the day. Hope you enjoy