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