Between the Tea Party Birther who so ignorantly “accused” the president of HAVING AN ARABIC MIDDLE NAME (like it’s a crime?) and the plethora of poets who aren’t listening to anyone besides The Three Stooges (Moe – Sarah Palin; Curly – Glenn “Mr Potatohead” Beck; Larry – Rush), it’s time for some Fair And Balanced poetry!! Amy
THE CYCLE OF MISINFORMATION
An Austrian and a German walk into a bar
and put their heads together
Repeat the falsehood often enough
and it becomes the truth
especially if the public is so distracted by their
financial misery that they will believe anything
blame anyone
for their problems
A Texan and a Texan walk into an office
and put their heads together
Make one Texan from Wyoming, repeat, rinse
and it becomes a ticket
especially if the public is so confused by ballots that
they will believe anything Diebolt says
agree with anyone
so long as their fortunes are safe
An African American man walks into the White House
and the cockroaches are no longer afraid of the light
Say the president isn’t American, isn’t a Christian
and it becomes the truth
especially if a draft dodger and a college dropout say so
and the public is so willing to believe them
and the Lady in Red says “You betcha!”
And now the debt from the war
that was put on a Chinese credit card by the Texans
(in place of real homeland security, like health care
and educating our kids)
Is blamed on the new president (doesn’t he know his place?)
because they can and they own the media
and most self-aggrandizing Christians don’t have Muslim friends
As someone once said,
It’s so heartening to see one prejudice
replaced by another
(c) 2010 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
Sharp Little Pencil 
Barbara Ehrentreu
Amy!!!
Such an honest poem so full of the truth!!! I loved it!!! Is this an answer to Ralph’s poem on PA? Because I also wrote my own, but it’s way more ambiguous.:) I concentrated on the election cycle and the emergence and subsequent squelching of hope. We must continue to write the truth so that it will always be out there for the ones who might be wavering. We can’t get the Tea Partyers, but we can keep the ones we have.:) Keep writing through!!!
Sharp Little Pencil
It was two-fold, Barbara, and thanks for the compliment. It was answering Ralph’s poem with POETRY, as promised; it was also a silent plea to others that they keep their comments to a minimum. A quick acknowledgment of Ralph’s poem, along with other compliments, etc. is all I did. Hope others see that and follow the lead.
I saw your poetry as well, and true to form, it was excellent. Yes, this election cycle will be interesting. They finally did away with our foolproof voting machines in NY to install (ugh) electronic ones, but at least NYS held out for the kind that have a paper trail attached, so even if it’s hacked, we have backup. Ask reps from your state to follow NYS’s lead. It’s one of the few smart things our legislature has done lately.
leesis
you know as an outsider looking in, watching the States at the moment it’s like one big mental holding of breath.
Who will win…and what will this mean for the future of the rest of us in the world?
I can only pray that there are more like you Amy and that they can stop what looks errily similar to the extreme Muslim…tea cups is it?…what the???
leesis
oh…and the fact that there seems so many women at the forefront makes an old feminist sad!
Sharp Little Pencil
Yes, red dresses. Long, blonde hair. Women who are similar to the white men they defend: Rich, “I’ve got mine” types. Especially irking are those who cry “Lord! Lord!” in church on Sunday and proceed to shit all over the homeless, those without health insurance, undocumented immigrants… all the while hiding behind their female identities as a shield, so they can call their critics “sexist” when it’s convenient. (My hubby is a pastor – we’re United Church of Christ, old Congregationalists, almost as far to the left as Universalists in social justice.) THanks for pointing that out, Leesa! Amy
Sharp Little Pencil
I’ve always held that George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden are very much alike. Both born to privilege, both abusing their wealth (although it seems Osama was a better business owner than George, who couldn’t even hold a baseball franchise together), and both extremists in the religious sense.
In the meantime, you have 60% of Americans getting their news exclusively from Rupert Murdoch’s media Frankenstein, FOX News, which touts that potato head Glenn Beck and also has Sarah Palin as a… commentator? I don’t know, a something. She is dangerous – a charismatic idealogue as well as a f***wit
I’ve marched; I will march again until the US is out of the Middle East. Our kids are eating sand and taking bullets for NOTHING>
Tilly Bud
This is an angry poem and it works.
Sharp Little Pencil
Yeah, I am known as a bit of a ranter when the cause is right and the timing deems it necessary! Thank you for really getting to the heart of it; glad you said it works, because that’s the best feedback one can receive! Peace, Amy
Jingle
powerful words.
hope you well.
Sharp Little Pencil
Are you psychic? I’ve just been through a mini-depression. You made my day. I think you’re an empath!! Love, Amy
Jingle
http://jinglepoetry.blogspot.com/2010/09/monday-poetry-potluck-kings-queens-and.html
link your poems to our potluck if you wish,
Thanks!
Sharp Little Pencil
Please let me know how to do this. I’m pretty savvy with computers, but the whole linking thing is a mystery, so if you can help me with this, that would be heaven. Thanks, Jingle!
Peace, Amy
uponthewingsofnight
I have some poems that are like this one, ranting about our current state of political affairs. I share your thoughts regarding Faux News and the talking heads within. My friend Kevin from college had a very simple question for people like that…you don’t really believe that shit, do you? Anyway, excellent rant, my friend. Brett
Sharp Little Pencil
Ha! You know me well. And what can we do about it? For one, ask the FCC to revoke the license for “Fox News” only. Except they already informed me that anyone can out-and-out, knowingly lie and still call it NEWS. This policy came, of course, under the Bushistas, when Colin Powell’s son Michael got the cushy job of head of the FCC. And the memo came to me SCREAMING, ALL IN CAPS, WHICH ANNOYED ME NO END. You know? Really. Amy
uponthewingsofnight
I say that the person in charge of the FCC should be me. At least I have a degree in mass communications and experience in radio. Hey, the country could do worse than me. Brett
Sharp Little Pencil
I agree, Brett. You’d get them straightened out!