Keeping Up On What’s Going On In The World Is Serious Business

It’s important to focus on the major news stories

That assault us every single day

Like immigration reform and --- hold on: the guy

Behind the Manti Te’o hoax is gay?

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/31/us/manti-teo-hoax/index.html

67% Of Texans Favor Impeaching Obama

Statistics along these lines suggest the folks

Living there quite soon are

More than ready to change Texas’ nickname

From Lone Star to Loon Star.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/poll-67-percent-of-texas-republicans-favor-impeaching

Bipartisan Immigration Reform (Finally) Looks Promising

This is extraordinary --- a very big deal and what

Republicans hope to see

Is Hispanics sneaking across political borders and

Switching to the GOP.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/28/politics/immigration-reform/index.html

Berlusconi Has Kind Words For Former Fascist Dictator

Silvio, trust me: it’s a big problem --- not

One that’s remotely teeny ---

To reach back to the last century’s pages

So you can praise Mussolini.

A lot of us are hoping this will wind up

As your final finito

And you’ll soon be history like your old

School paisan Benito.

Your reinterpreting history has a way of

Making the most basic facts hurt:

In other news, your dyed hair will look

Lovely with any blackshirt.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130127/DA42MUS82.html

Major TV Shake-up

This unquestionably marks

The end of an era

This parting of the ways of

Fox News and Sarah.

Dreams of political greatness

Are now kaput --- note

How a once bright light dims

And becomes a footnote.

Cancel the parades

Call off the flotilla:

Forget ever having

Heard of Wasilla.

Like Romney, Netanyahu Was Caught Off Guard In Election By His Pollsters’ Skewed Data

Completely depending on internal polling

In the face of an imminent loss

Of electoral seats --- or an election --- is
Just whole lot of mishegoss.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/01/my_god_could_this_be_true.php?ref=fpblg

Military Lifts Ban Against Women Being Allowed In Combat

This development is an extraordinary change and one

Could easily argue this situation

Will have an immediate impact on Jessica Chastain’s

“Zero Dark Thirty” nomination.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130124/DA40OHQO1.html

 

Mitt & Ann Romney Travel To DC This Weekend

If some of you reading this now are at all like me,

You may possibly try to think

Of who they are but draw a blank, which is why

I’ve included a Wikipedia link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_romney

Fox News Hires Rove Through Next Presidential Election

Insiders claim that “Bush’s Brain”

Is surely going to be expected

To spend the next four years proving

Obama wasn’t really reelected.

The further speculation regarding Mister Rove’s
Specific upcoming chronology

Is on 2016’s election night, Megyn Kelly will offer 
A full and complete apology.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130118/DA3SK8D01.html

Don't Forget Your Monkey

                                                              

This was inspired by a story

in 2009 that ran on KCET

in Los Angeles.

*                      *                      *

In North Hollywood, California

Is Madison Middle School:

Something once happened there

Which was rather cool.

35 students took some time off

And flew across the nation

To be among the freezing millions

At Obama’s inauguration.

The brainstorm of Terre Fallon

Who teaches language arts

Will remain forever in all of

These kids heads and hearts.

Fallon asked for corporate help

To finance this expedition

But no corporate help showed up

To aid them on this mission.

Fallon luckily had a Plan B

Which turned out to be dandy:

The kids would raise the money

By selling bars of candy.

Car washes added more funds and

These efforts were so energetic

Other teachers made donations who

Had become quite sympathetic.

(There’s a good lesson here for the

Times we live in ---

The things we earn are better than the

Things we’re given.)

These students come from modest means

And I should’ve already stated here

They also got trip money from their folks

Many of whom immigrated here.

Cindy Rivera has El Salvador roots

And as she did her packing

She realized that her one suitcase had

Something that was lacking.

A stuffed animal, a personal favorite

To take on her first trip from home

And bringing this little creature along

Is what inspired this poem.

Cindy has Obama’s glow of Hope:

She’s perky, bright and spunky

And she told her Dad that she really

Wanted to bring her monkey.

           

*                      *                      *

A lot of people don’t dare to dream

They settle for what’ve they’ve got:

This choice they’ve made eventually

In their stomach becomes a knot.

But people like Cindy, Edwin Lua

And also Jennifer Tran

Know at their young ages to believe

Not in “I can’t” but “I can.”

As we head for the stars, we want

Something familiar to bring

With us on this uncertain journey

That makes our hearts sing.

*                      *                      *

Wish a wish, pray a prayer

Take a chance, dream a dream

Walk the walk, talk the talk

Dare to try and make the team.

Believe in belief, trust in trust

Embrace the new and funky

Be bold, don’t put your life on hold

But don’t forget your monkey.

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey Compares Obama’s Health Care Plan To Fascism

I’m not making this up & have provided a link

So you don’t have to Google a

Guy who doesn’t know that it’s rather unwise

To mix politics and arugula.

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-whole-foods-mackey-fascism-obamacare-20130117,0,4828712.story

Republicans Mourn Giving Up Their Debt Ceiling Hostage Plan

Like kidnappers kicking it old school who

Threatened Getty-like to mail back an ear

They realized that Plan A won’t work and

Then had to sheepishly declare an all clear.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/01/gop-de-escalates-debt-limit-fight.php?ref=fpa

Postmortem On Judd Apatow’s Disappointing “This Is 40”

The message moviegoers

Seem to have sent would

Suggest disinterest in any

Suffering in Brentwood.

NRA Warns Members That Taking Back Guns Could Be Coming Next

This isn’t true but Obama’s thugs

Have been ordered today

To soon be prepared to confiscate

Wayne’s La Pierre’s toupee.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/01/nra_confiscation_email.php?ref=fpb

NRA Says “Attacking Firearms” Isn’t A Solution

The fierceness of the NRA’s panic at

Legislation suggests this lesson:

Churches worship various gods but

They worship Smith & Wesson.

To obtain they protection they seek

(I’ll offer this advice gratis)

Maybe the NRA should go ahead

And apply for church status.

Yeah, I know, it doesn’t make much sense

As a gun-lovers methodology

But this is the kind of thinking that’s helped

The supporters of Scientology.

Forget the second amendment! The NRA’s

New plan will have hinged on

Not guns but on how their religious beliefs

Are wrongly being impinged on.

This kind of bold thinking outside the box

May allow them to survive this test

And gives new meaning to “Praise the Lord

And pass the” --- you know the rest.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/nra-responds-to-obama-attacking-firearms-is-not

Another Thought About Glenn Beck’s Planned Libertarian Community In Texas

It feels like a cult &

Suggests jeopardy:

(Boxes of Kool-Aid

Sold separately.)

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/17/glenn-becks-utopian-community-a-place-called-independence-u-s-a/

Glenn Beck Plans To Build A $2 Billion Libertarian District In Texas

What a wonderful thing! The timing’s perfect.

This retreat will be a sacred

Place filled with God-fearing patriots: call it a

Gated community of hatred.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/glenn-beck-planning-to-construct-2-billion-libertarian

Dallas Tears Down Ex-Home Of JFK Assassin

Who cares if Oswald was part of a vast plot

Or if he was just a loner?

The man took out a Democratic president &

Was also a gun owner. 

The NRA should’ve bought this building &

Engineered its redesign

So that it could become a place of worship:

A sharpshooter’s shrine.

That is absolutely the kind of structure that

Now should be there

Which is why so many are so disappointed

In Wayne LaPierre.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130115/DA3QBN6O2.html

Another Thought On Gun Control

Since there are so many gun owners

Who simply love to shoot

And use their weapon of choice as

A manly substitute

Whatever plans now being made for

Proposed legislation

Must surely try to openly address this

Specific situation.

New laws will result in gun shops across

The country having begun

To post signs saying, “Your Penis Must Be

This Big To Buy This Gun.”

FDA Suggests Women Take Smaller Ambien Doses To Avoid Automotive Difficulties The Next Morning

This potentially could cause Sanofi (who

Makes the drug) much woe and

Result in a car issue that I call DLLL ---

Driving Like Lindsay Lohan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/health/fda-requires-cuts-to-dosages-of-ambien-and-other-sleep-drugs.html

A Thought On Gun Control

Most rabid gun lovers from

Salem to Salinas

Act as if the government wants

To take away their penis.

Bonds, Clemens & Sosa Get Hall Of Fame Bum’s Rush

Baseball now needs a new Hall Of Fame

Where standing ovations and hugs

Await all those players known to have

Used performance enhancing drugs.

Barry, Roger and Sammy won’t again

Ever care about Cooperstown

Once they’re told all of the details about

The new hall called Doperstown.

Competition is also fierce but entrance

Over there ultimately hinges

Not on home runs or batting average but

On having embraced syringes.

All of their exploits out on the field will

Have a chance to be protected:

This is how a shot in the arm (or lower)

For baseball will be injected.

http://news.yahoo.com/bonds-clemens-rejected-no-one-elected-bb-hall-190532089--mlb.html

Tricky Dick’s Political Career Was Launched With Covert Help From The L.A. Times

Nixon’s anxiety about entering politics

Disappeared and he became calmer

Realizing he had a loyal confederate in

A Times staffer named Kyle Palmer.

Better still, the one other person who was

His de facto Times handler

Was even higher up the paper’s food chain:

Publisher Norman Chandler.

But pendulums shift & Nixon later would

See that things had gone bad

For him when he had become the target of

Times cartoonist Paul Conrad.

His initial Times benefactors made sure that

Nixon for a while would stick around.

His later Times detractor made a career out

Of having this president to kick around.

http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2013/01/09/how-richard-nixon-happened/chronicles/who-we-were/?utm_source=Nixon%20piece%2C%20Nixon%20event%2C%20India%2C%20Greenhouse&utm_campaign=10%2F26%2F12&utm_medium=email

New Televisions Will Allow Channel Surfing With Hand Gestures, Not A Remote Control

I don’t mean to stand in the way of change

Like some Luddite martyr

But instead of “smart TVs” I’d rather see

Viewers getting smarter.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130109/DA3MBL001.html

L.A. Icon Huell Howser Dies At 67

Look over his long career &

What you’ll likely see is

Huell may have been the guy

Who invented gee-whiz.

He only seemed like a rube

Heavy on the aw shucks

But he managed to make

An awful lot of sawbucks.

Sincerity will always be mocked

And fodder for hazing

But the force of his personality

Simply was “A-mazing!”

Like “Lonesome” Rhodes in Kazan’s movie

Huell was never cowed:

He stood out in every room he entered, never

Just a face in the crowd.

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2013/01/links_on_the_death_of_hue.php

Al Gore Sells Current TV To Al-Jazeera, Could Make $70 Million In Deal

That really is a lot --- no, make that

A ton --- of money, so one

Has to be impressed because that

Channel’s watched by no one.

This certainly proves that Gore’s a genius.

It’s not even mid-winter, yet

I’m thinking maybe he was smart enough

To have invented the internet.

First Entry In A New Notebook For A New Year

The pages flip with cooperation of

Index finger and thumb.

A purr of flickering whiteness ---

Respectful, quiet, numb.

It’s way too soon now to divine what

Kind of year it will be:

The handwriting isn’t yet on the wall

Where anyone can see.

A prayer descends like a shadow

Eager to be bestowing

Strength to deal with whatever

Spitballs fate is throwing.

To Someone I Never Saw & Will Never Meet

(It appears that the final chapter of yet another

Southern California bookstore will soon be written.
I used to hang out there pretty regularly and wrote
this poem a few years ago after a memorable visit.)

Cliff’s Books: a used bookstore

in Pasadena, California.

The middle of a lazy afternoon

in the middle of March.

I’m browsing in the back of the store

with my back to the front of the store.

I’m thumbing through a collection of poems that

a student who became an activist in the 1960s

and then a cultural commentator in the 1980s

wrote in the 1970s.

Its only saving grace is that it’s

both age & decade-appropriate

in its colossal pretentiousness.

I hear someone walk in & approach

the gray-haired man at the front desk who’s

a) extremely knowledgeable about books

b) helpful as well as friendly and

c) is not Cliff for whom the store is named.

The female customer

is audibly brunette.

Young Woman: By any chance,

are you hiring?

Older Man: I’m afraid

not.

Young Woman: OK … Vroman’s Bookstore is

nearby. Do you think they might need anybody?

Older Man: I’m afraid

I don’t know.

Young Woman: Oh. What about Book Alley? They’re

a little east of here. Think they might be short of staff?

Older Man: I’m afraid

I don’t know that either.

There is a brief

but decisive pause.

Young Woman: You’re afraid

of a lot of things, aren’t you?

The Older Man laughs.

So does the Young Woman.

Such sly impertinence gives me

hope for the future.

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2013/01/bookstore_on_the_edge_cli.php

Christie Blasts Boehner For Delay On Sandy Relief Bill

I wish I could spy on their next meeting

When they go mano a mano:

It will look like George Hamilton getting

Roughed up by Tony Soprano.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130103/DA3INEDG0.html

From My Hometown’s Recent Crime Blotter: Altadena Thief Steals New & Old Testament

The local police are probably going to suspect

An atheist who really needs his vision checked.

Or perhaps he’s a believer who has some disenchantment

With regard to the “Thou Shalt Not Steal” commandment.

http://www.altadenablog.com/2012/12/crime-blotter--1.html

Unintended Consequences Of New Technology In Hollywood (Vol. 17)

This has turned many horny male producers

Into an everlasting grouch ---

Auditions being done on Skype have killed

The old-school casting couch.

Pondering How The “Fiscal Cliff” Problem Was Handled

We tell our kids not to delay doing their homework
Plan ahead, don’t make it a nail-biter
Yet here is the government of the United States and
It’s basically pulling an all-nighter.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130101/DA3HGIMO1.html