Scott and Dot: A Feminist Nursery Rhyme by J.Patrick Lewis

Award-winning poet J. Patrick Lewis was kind enough to let me post a “feminist nursery rhyme” that he wrote at Political Verses.

Scott and Dot

by J. Patrick Lewis

Scott and Dot ran up the hill
as fast as they could go.
Dot ran downhill very fast
and Scott ran very slow.

Scott said he was being nice.
He wanted Dot to win
“because she’s just a girl.”
Dot said, “Okay, let’s go again.”

Dot ran up the hill and down,
and said there was no joy
in running twice as fast as Scott
“because he’s just a boy.”

And here’s a parody of a nursery rhyme I wrote. It was included in the poetry anthology My Cat is in Love with the Goldfish and Other Loopy Love Poems:

Jack and June

by Elaine Magliaro

Jack and June went to the moon,
Crash-landed in a crater.
Jack broke his nose and seven toes.
(He’s a crummy navigator.)

Jack cried in pain. June tried in vain
To soothe her injured mate.
She bound his toes and kissed his nose
And asked him for a date.

Jack and June began to swoon…
Fell mad in love and they
Returned to earth, their place of birth…
And wed the very next day.

Merry Christmas!

I'm sorry that I've neglected this blog for several months. I hope to get back to writing political verses again in 2011. 2010 was a very busy year for me.

Happy Holidyas!

Giles Corey: An Iron Man Who Was a Victim of the Salem Witch Hysteria

My first guest blogger post is now up over at Jonathan Turley's blog.

Giles Corey: An Iron Man Who Was a Victim of the Salem Witch Hysteria

Some News

FYI: I've been asked to be a guest blogger on Jonathan Turley's law blog next week.

In his post, Introducing Our New Guest Bloggers, today, Professor Turley wrote the following:

I am happy to report we will be implementing another one of your suggestions for improving the blog. Various people suggested a year ago that we have guest blogging to allow regulars a chance to make entries on the blog. With my upcoming speech in France, I thought it would be a great time to try this out for a week from October 31st to November 6th. I have selected three of our best known and most respected regulars: David Drumm (aka Nal), Elaine Magliaro (aka Elaine M) and Mark Esposito (aka Mespo).

You can read the rest of Professor Turley's post here.

You can read Jonathan Turley's biography here.

Lewis Black on Glenn Beck and His Terrible Affliction

Glenn Beck has been in the news a lot lately because of his “Restoring Honor” rally that was held last weekend in Washington, D.C. I couldn’t resist posting a video of one of the funniest Back in Black segments that I’ve ever seen on The Daily Show. In the segment, Lewis Black claims that Glenn Beck has Nazi Tourette’s Syndrome.



And here’s a Countdown video in which Keith Olbermann fact checks a tale Glenn Beck told about the Washington Monument at his “Restoring Honor” rally:



A Little Glenn Beck Couplet

The blather of Beck
Is nothing but drek!

Sarah Palin's Geography Song: Fifty Nifty States

I know I've been neglecting my Political Verses blog in recent months. There have been lots of things going on in my life--including my daughter's recent wedding.

I came upon the following Sarah Palin's Fifty Nifty States video that was a segment on Jimmy Kimmel's show. I thought people might enjoy watching it.


Fifty Nifty States

A Chicken for a Checkup: A Poem about Sue Lowden

I'm sorry that I've been neglecting my Political Verses blog lately. I've been working on other writing projects. Sometimes...a news story cries out to me--and I can't ignore it. I just get inspired and HAVE to write a verse about it. Such is the story of Sue Lowden who is running against Harry Reid in the Nevada senate race.

Lowden, a former beauty queen, thinks SHE knows how to solve the problem of rising healthcare costs: BARTERING for doctor's services. Some folks call her idea "chickens for checkups." Here's a segment on Lowden from a recent Rachel Maddow Show:


A Chicken for A Checkup: A Poem about Sue Lowden
by Elaine Magliaro

“Drat!”said the doctor.
“Drat!”said the nurse.
“Our healthcare problems keep getting worse!”

“Oy!” said the doctor.
“Oy!” said the nurse.
“Here comes that lady with a chicken in her purse!”

“A chicken for a checkup?
Sue’s a nincompoop!
Does she REALLY think that I'm C. Everett Coop???”

More on Sue Lowden and Chickens for Checkups

From Daily Kos
Lowden: Let them Barter with Chickens, or Let them Eat Cake?
by mcjoan (April 23, 2010)

Does Sue Lowden really think that a system of barter can really replace the complex healthcare fee system in the U.S.? That doctors who accept chickens or house painting as a form of payment can pay their office staff, or their rent, or their utilities, or for the medical equipment they need through bartering with vendors? We don't know, because she hasn't been asked that. But chances are, she really doesn't have a particular depth of knowledge in how the healthcare system works and what the deep-seated problems within it are if she can glibly offer up bartering as a remedy.

Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/4/22/859713/-Lowden:-Let-them-Barter-with-Chickens,-or-Let-them-Eat-Cake


From Huffington Post
Chickens For Checkups? Democrats' New Website Mocks Sue Lowden For Barter-For-Health-Care Proposal (4/21/2010)

Sue Lowden, a Republican candidate challenging Majority Leader Harry Reid for his Nevada Senate seat is refusing to back down from an earlier suggestion that America consider a medical barter system as an alternative to current health care solutions.

On Monday Lowden took the idea one step further.

"Before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor," Lowden told a local news station. "They would say I'll paint your house."

Now, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has launched a new website to ridicule Lowden for her support of the bartering proposal.

The website, Chickens for Checkups, calls Lowden's health care barter system "an old-timey solution for a modern problem," and says that such a program would ask Americans to "barter with their doctors for health care with things like chickens and house painting," items she referenced on a local news program.

Read the rest of the article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/21/chickens-for-checkups-dem_n_546762.html


Visit Chickens for Checkups.

Bring a Chicken to the Doctor

Chicken Song & Dance