The clown show in Arizona
Still hasn't come to a close.
When will the nonsense stop?
Well, good gracious! Who knows?

A group called the Cyber Ninjas
Is making a horrible mess.
How they could be so obnoxious
Is anybody's guess.

Trying to squeeze blood from a turnip,
They want to show everyone
That voter fraud ran rampant,
When most of us know there was none.

Among the crazy theories
That they have up the *****
Is that the ballots might show
Fragments of Chinese bamboo!

The crazy, preposterous theory
For which they have affection
Is how the Chinese attempted
To meddle in our election.

In states where Republicans won,
Republicans shout out, "Yippee!"
Where Democrats won, however,
The Right says, "No, that can't be."

Matthew Gaetz was joined
By Marjorie Taylor Greene,
The bully who's also known as
The wacko QAnon Queen.

The two showed up at a rally
To offer their support,
Showing how low they'd stoop--
To what they will resort.

Tampering with equipment
With actions so obtuse,
The "auditors" now have put
The voting machines out of use.

This all shows what can happen
When people get their high
Not by believing in reason,
But instead by promoting a lie.

The news of this clown show is spreading.
Moreover, from what we can tell,
You might be seeing the same
Buffoons in your state as well.

-by Bob B (5-23-21)

There is a member of Congress--
His name is Andrew Clyde--
Who in January
Was barricaded inside

The chambers of the House
While thugs were yelling "****,"
As they stormed the building--
The one called Capitol Hill.

We've seen camera footage
Of the despicable scene,
Which will remain in the annals
As one of the worst days we've seen.

Mr. Clyde, however,
Now has a different spin
On what happened that day.
What a mess we are in!

Tourists paying a visit:
That's what they really were,
Mr. Clyde now says.
And many colleagues concur

That they were there to take photos,
Not to storm the halls.
So is it normal for tourists
To **** and wipe crap on the walls?

Is it tourist behavior
To brutally beat the police
Who were defending officials
And trying to keep the peace?

Do tourists normally break
Into buildings? No, correction!
Call it what is was:
A violent insurrection

By people perpetuating
Not the truth but a lie.
Many people were injured,
And some had to die.

Liz Cheney reminds us--
Acting as the town crier--
If we ignore the truth,
We merely embolden the liar.

Orwell warned us how
Scary it will be
When people are told what to think
And lose the right to be free--

When one is told to distrust
What one sees and hears,
Rejecting evidence of
Both the eyes and ears.

-by Bob B (5-18-21)

We’re your friendly Republican
Legislators! Yay!
Whether state or federal,
We are here to stay.
We will change the laws to make
Sure that we maintain
All the power that we want;
We won’t let it wane.

We will use all strategies
To get what we desire--
Even if we have to lie,
Hoodwink or conspire.
If we make it hard to vote,
That will help us win,
As we watch opponents fall
Into a tailspin.

If opponents get perchance
More votes, we won’t grieve,
For we have something really quite
Sneaky up our sleeve.
It will be an obstacle
Easy to surmount:
We’ll find devious ways to make
Opponents' votes not count.

If you look into our eyes
And see we have no soul,
That’s okay ‘cause all we want
Are power and control.
If sacrificing democratic
Values in order to keep
Our power and authority,
We don't give a (bleep).

-by Bob B (3-26-21)

For what occurred on March 7,
There was truly no excuse.
Although the day started out calmly,
Before long all hell broke loose.

The year: 1965.
Selma, Alabama: the place.
Six hundred marchers for freedom
And state troopers stood face to face.

The goal of the marchers was a demand
For equal rights in the voting booth,
For the tight grip of Jim Crow laws
In America was an ugly truth.

The plan: a peaceful march from Selma
To the Alabama capital, where
They would take their grievances
To the governor. What's fair is fair.

Reaching the Edmund Pettus Bridge--
Named, by the way, after a man
Who'd been a Confederate general
And member of the Ku Klux ****--

The marchers stopped. The state troopers
Told them all to turn around.
However, the marchers, one of whom
Was John Lewis°, stood their ground.

Soon the state troopers advanced,
Wearing gas masks and waving their sticks.
They threw some whips and tubing wrapped
In barbed wire into the mix.

Men, women, and children were beaten.
Blood was flowing; marchers were screaming.
Some of white spectators were
Holding Confederate flags and beaming.

That evening, while millions were watching
"Judgment at Nuremberg" on TV,
The movie was interrupted by scenes
Of the brutal assault for all to see.

The day is known as ****** Sunday--
A day that we should never forget.
And yet today the voting rights
Of people of color are still under threat.

When we restrict the right to vote,
Democracy's up against the wall.
No one is free until ALL are free.
Equal rights means justice for all.

-by Bob B (3-6-21)

°American politician, statesman, and civil rights activist who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 until his death in 2020

There's a pandemic that still is not
Under control, and what's more,
A suffering economy
And weather extremes cause problems to soar.

And all across the country we have
Republicans supporting a guy
Who incited an insurrection
By pushing what we call the Big Lie.

Millions of people here are in
Desperate financial straits,
Trying to keep their dwellings and cars
And struggling to get some food on their plates.

And yet we have Republicans
In Congress who would rather waste time
Impudently obstructing bills
To help the people. What a crime!

With so much domestic terrorism
Flourishing and voter suppression
On top of everything else, these
"Leaders" have a strange obsession:

They have decided that it is much
More important to worry instead
About some books by Dr. Seuss
And the fate of Mr. Potato Head!

Listen to them scream about
"Cancel culture" as though it's true--
As though an evil plot exists
To ultimately cancel you.

With such legislators making
Decisions, we're in a real mess.
How strange that foolishness turns out being
The true measure of their success!

-by Bob B (3-5-21)

Two men stopped by a Zen temple
To speak with the temple master, who
They hoped would eagerly share with them
His honest and expert point of view.

The first man said, "I think I want
To move to the local town, so please
Tell me what the town is like.
That will put my mind at ease."

The master responded, "Tell ME about
Your current town. How would you rate it?"
"Ugh!" the man replied. "The people
There are mean and hateful. I hate it!"

The master listened calmly, and then
Shaking his head, he said, "It's clear
From what you have been telling me
That you would also hate it here."

The man bowed and left the room.
The second man entered the room and sat.
He also inquired about the town
And the surrounding habitat.

"Tell me about your current town,"
The master said with a smile on his face.
"The people are nice," the man replied.
"It's a truly wonderful place."

"Ah!" the master exclaimed. "Then from
What you're telling me, I can tell
That you without a doubt are going
To love the local town as well."

-by Bob B (3-3-21)

°An old Zen anecdote retold here in verse

Think back to a year ago
When we had the chance
To slow a deadly virus down,
But some folks looked askance.
The issue grew political
And then we saw instead
That due to lack of leadership
The virus spread and spread.

I received my vaccination.
Now I feel relief.
We have watched the COVID virus
Cause a lot of grief.
As we all get vaccinated
We will start to see
The benefits around the world
Of herd immunity.

As the virus spreads we notice
Variants arise.
But that is how they work, and so
It should be no surprise.
If we don't act quickly now
The variants might start
Resisting vaccines that we have.
But for now take heart.

I received my vaccination.
Now I feel relief.
We have watched the COVID virus
Cause a lot of grief.
As we all get vaccinated
We will start to see
The benefits around the world
Of herd immunity.

So get your vaccination.
Don't give up the fight.
Make the virus go away
By doing what is right.
A little side effect or two
And maybe a sore arm
Might well lie in store for you,
But no cause for alarm.

I received my vaccination.
Now I feel relief.
We have watched the COVID virus
Cause a lot of grief.
As we all get vaccinated
We will start to see
The benefits around the world
Of herd immunity.

-by Bob B (2-28-19)