Dark events cast dark shadows, darker than the night, unrelieved by dawn. Large shadows and small shadows, energetic shadows and indecisive shadows, all moving fitfully across our limited field of vision, indistinguishable from the dark, miasmic mist rising from the fetid swamp.

What do we know of past events
What of all future discontents
Knowing we naught of present tense
Only the shadow knows
Shadowy figures in the dark
Silent so that the dogs won’t bark
Carefully voiced the hushed remark
Options lined up in rows
Options the public will not see
Actions the shadows will decree
Followed by who knows what will be
Darker the shadow grows

The United States and Israel recently held a top secret missile interception test over the Mediterranean, which was, of course trumpeted by the White House as a complete victory for the Obama Administration in that it showed to Iran and others that the Israel rocket, the Sparrow, could shoot down an incoming missile. But everyone knew that, for a Russian spy ship was in the vicinity, capturing all the telemetry, so whatever it was, secret it was not. Which raises the question, what was the real purpose of the test?

Whose eye is on the sparrow
Whose vision is so narrow
That tiny birds like sparrows loom so large
Perhaps an interception
Or possibly deception
We know not and know not just who’s in charge
The Israelis aren’t saying
Who sits by and who is playing
Or just why whatever flew or why it did
Our directed gaze so narrow
That a Ouija board or Tarot
Could not answer questions carefully so hid

We live our lives unseen, hidden from Creation. Would the world and our imperfect perception of it be any different if the sun had indeed circled the Earth as many once believed? Would the dawn look any different? To ask is to answer, and therein lies the truth of life and destiny. The truth is not vouchsafed to us, there is only doubt and dim and fleeting glimpses of the wonders of Creation.

How wondrous is the stately tree
A lake, a glen, a meadowlark
A frozen stream, its icy banks
Concealing creatures with life’s spark
A consciousness of who they are
And where they are in God’s great scheme
All are alive, and such as we
Together share in Heaven’s dream
We walk the Earth and stride the stars
Imagination’s silver ships
Will take us where the distance becks
And shower nectar on our lips
The universe’s magic glow
The beauty of its wondrous mien
Is ours to share with all who live
And who, like us, live all unseen

It appears Senator Cruz and the GOP rebels have dragged the Republican congressional leaders kicking and screaming into a fight for the life of the country. Speaker Boehner now says he was for fighting the socialist takeover of the country all along, and I’ll take him at his word, but actions always speak louder than words, so we’ll be watching him, as he has been wont to flutter in the past. Boehner and the Republicans must fight, and they must fight now, or the country is forever lost to the radical Left. Just remember, Mr. Boehner, you are only on retainer.

It’s a no brainer, Mr. Boehner
Yes you must stand up and fight
Here’s your explainer, Mr. Boehner
We are in for a long night
We’ll be the gainer, Mr. Boehner
So we beg you do what’s right
I’m no complainer, Mr. Boehner
Just turn out the White House light

King Barry the First gnashes his teeth in rage at the infuriating way them dirty rat Republicans refuse to surrender, refuse to give up the fight against Obamacare, refuse to raise the debt ceiling and give him a blank check to add on more debt, refuse to call or text him begging his forgiveness. I spoke to him briefly, and this is what he said

My email server always says
I have no messages
And even though I am the prez
I’ve angst and stressages
I check my smartphone frequently
To see if there’s a text
Perhaps one written piquantly
 I’m really getting vexed
That Mr. Boehner gets my goat
He won’t cave in at all
I even sent a little note
I even made a call
These jihadists, these slimy Pubs
Obstructed me for days
But I will show them where it rubs
And change their filthy ways
I’ll win this one, this shutdown war
I’ll make them crawl and moan
And then I’ll even up the score
I’ll not answer the phone
 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat, Nevada, has raised the hate decibel to new levels in the Senate, calling Republicans the vilest names possible, and so hate-filled has the Democrat rhetoric become that it approaches the level of hatred not felt since just before the Civil War, when a Democrat Senator beat a Republican Senator senseless with his cane. We have come to that. The problem is the Dems believe only they have the truth and the way, and now that they have the power as well they are determined to keep it, at whatever cost to the country. And to keep the power safely in their hands they are depending on Senator Harry Reid to hold the Republican challenge at bay. We shall see if this particular Reid may be broken.

Big Government has many needs
To which the GOP accedes
That can’t be bought with colored beads
Constituents to feed
The Dems think only their good deeds
Are proof against encroaching weeds
And so continue what succeeds
That is their holy creed
But no one knows where progress leads
When hard times comes one eats the seeds
The danger signals no one heeds
It’s all just fraud and greed
A true blue Dem has heart that bleeds
And unaware the rot this breeds
All hanging by the tinny screeds
Of the thinnest kind of Reid

No one takes Obama’s phone calls any longer, so diminished is he in the eyes of the leaders of the world, both free and unfree. Allies treat the president of the United States with disdain, and enemies treat him with contempt. Barack Obama, prowling the darkened corridors of power late at night, remembers an old World War 1 ditty called Hello Central, Give Me France, and decides to try it. He sings

Hello Central, give me France
I want to talk to Pierre
I know he’s busy, I just took a chance
He’s the only one who seems to care
I called Mr Putin but he’s out of town
And Angela likewise as well
Yes no one will talk to me, that’s why I’m so down
And Central, I’m lonely as hell
I even bought an iPhone so I’m now in the loop
The world must know I’m still standing tall
I want to talk to all the guys and gals in my group
But Central no one answers my call
Oh Central
Yes no one ever answers my call

For almost eight decades American presidents bestrode the world. Names like Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, the Bushes and Clinton spoke with authority because of the unparalleled military and economic power of the United States. It took Obama only six years to completely erase eight decades of American hegemony. Presidents, Prime Ministers and potentates everywhere have always had shadow cabinets. The United States of Obama may be the first to have a shadow president.

Where once the giants strode the globe
With scepter’d mace and purple robe
With Kissingers for acolytes
The country slept well through the nights
But now poor Barry sits in gloom
Still the smartest in the room
How could he not, for it’s his call
The room has Kerry, Rice et al
With Hagel, Biden standing by
Watch undismayed the country die
Dim shadows all of giants past
The days go slow but years go fast
And so we come now to the end
The cliff is looming round the bend
Yet gods still walk the city walls
And long before the country falls
The strong return to save the day
And Barry’s shadows swept away

The Republican Party was founded for the purpose of ending chattel slavery in the United States, slavery defended to the death by the Democratic Party. The Civil War was not so much a war between North and South as between the Republican Party’s ideal of freedom and the Democratic Party’s ideal of slavery. But that was then and this is now. The Republican Party no longer has the will or the leaders to fight against the present day economic and cultural slavery the Democrats have imposed on the country. A few Republican Senators have sworn to fight the good fight, but will they fight or will they cave? Who knows. But this fight might be their last chance to keep the country from going over the fiscal and cultural cliff. Obamacare is only one of the many monstrous intrusions by the Federal Government into the private lives of ordinary Americans, but it is the final step in complete government control over the entirety of our lives, and if it is not repealed the country will be forever changed. Obamacare is a boil that must be lanced.

How often must I write or care
About a health plan that’s unfair
I sit in front of walls and stare
At shadows as they dance
That punishes the young in health
By taxing them, a fine in stealth
That drains away the country’s wealth
And yet there is a chance
That God or someone higher up
Will take from us this froth filled cup
That gives us gruel on which to sup
A boil that we must lance
And tell Obama, “Say goodnight,
We’re turning out this goddam light
And yes I do enjoy the sight
Of you without your pants”

Pundits speak sonorously and portentously of the upsurge in recruiting al Qaeda and its Somali affiliate al Shabaab will experience as a result of the bloodshed and mayhem caused b y the attack on the upscale Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya. They predict that disaffected youth will flock to the al Shabaab colors, eager to partake in the fun. I dunno. I spoke to a disaffected young man shortly after the attack, and he said he was joining his brothers, that the cries of the victims sent a tingle up his leg. I pointed out he was not Somali, and asked what common cause he had with al-Shabaab. He said

I went to public schools where teachers
Told of evils here at home
Where my browser’s bugs had features
Even with my Google Chrome
Every movie is the same old
Every tv show the same
iPhone5 right off became gold
Apple thinks my life’s a game
College was a big disaster
All my profs were reds or queer
Telling me I’m my own master
But making their intentions clear
My life was worthless they confided
Full of froth and empty views
Every thought I had one sided
Colored by the evening news
That is why I’m now Somali
Blood and mayhem! What a show!
Be there in a flash, by golly
But my mom won’t let me go