tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76806942024-03-13T06:03:47.797-04:00River VicesRobert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comBlogger478125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-15171359739320631382017-12-26T13:07:00.000-05:002017-12-26T13:07:21.018-05:00Portsmouth--Ohio's Opioid capitalHere is a link to a Canadian perspective on opioid addiction in Portsmouth:<br />
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmJEY1CTgKgRobert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-79052534865703728742017-12-19T13:33:00.002-05:002017-12-19T13:49:10.367-05:00Derek Allen Fired Again!<br />
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<a href="https://rivervices.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-carpetbagger-from-piqua-to.html" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">The Carpetbagger: from Piqua to Portsmouth</a></h3>
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<span style="font-size: 13.2px;"> <i> </i></span><i>[A reposting of a 2015 post on the occasion of the firing of Derek Allen as Portsmouth's city manager on Monday, November 18, 2017.]</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: 13.2px; font-style: normal;"> The opening sentence of a report in the</span><span style="font-size: 13.2px; font-style: normal;"> </span><i style="font-size: 13.2px; font-style: normal;">Portsmouth Daily Times</i><span style="font-size: 13.2px; font-style: normal;"> (PDT) by Frank Lewis posted online on 6 November 2015 states, “Portsmouth City Council will take action to authorize Portsmouth City Manager Derek K. Allen to begin to advertise for bids and to enter into contracts with the lowest and/or best bidder for required supplies, materials and services for 2016.” According to the report by Lewis, “Yearly requirements include such items as manhole rings and covers, asphaltic concrete, uniforms for police and fire departments, chemicals for water filtration, police department radio maintenance and other equipment and services.” Lewis then details the costs of the new breathing apparatus the Fire Department needs. “</span><span class="s1" style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">The estimate from Breathing Air Systems lists the original price of $11,842, showing a 16 percent discount, bringing the cost to $9,947.28, less $1,000 for the trade-in of their existing unit, the new price is $8,947.28. Allen said there is an additional cost for shipping and installation of $819 and he is requesting an additional $1,000 for contingency.” Lewis then explains why </span><span class="s2" style="font-kerning: none; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: normal;">the present breathing equipment is obsolete, an explanation which is even more complicated than the financial breakdown, so I won’t reproduce it here. </span><br />
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What I will emphasize here is that one of the important details Lewis failed to mention, even in passing in his report, is that our carpetbagging city manager who will put out for bidding all services and materials that cost $50,000 or more, as required by state law, was himself guilty of violating state law regulating the purchase of materials when he was the assistant city manager in Piqua, Ohio, where he continues to make his home, though his high paying job is in Portsmouth, which is why I call him a carpetbagger. Not only did Allen ten years ago break the law in purchasing $160,000 worth of gravel for a bike path without putting it out for bid, but he compounded his crime by lying under oath when he testified about the gravel purchase. (See the <i>Celina Daily Standard</i> report at the end of this post.) On the basis of his testimony, Allen was convicted of perjury and received a fine and a suspended jail sentence. Shouldn’t Lewis in his story on contract bidding at least have alluded, if only in passing, to Allen’s failure to follow state law about the bidding process in Piqua, where they probably would not hire him now as dogcatcher. Because of the PDT's soft pedaling of Allen's controversial career, as many as nine out of ten Portsmouth residents may have no knowledge of his criminal record, nor of his inability to hold on to a job. Unlike honest investigative PDT reporters who lost their jobs when they reported something they shouldn’t have, Frank Lewis is a master not only of omission but also of innuendo. He knows not only whose toes should not be stepped on but also whose toes should be on behalf of the crooked clique. </div>
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<span class="s3"> For example, on November 4, in reporting on the results of the Portsmouth elections the day before, Lewis did not limit himself to reporting on Tom Lowe’s decisive victory in the Sixth Ward city council race; Lewis also alluded, as he had in the past, to the alleged ganging up by Lowe and Shawn Stratton on the Sixth Ward incumbent Jeff Kleha in the primary election. “</span><span class="s4">Stratton and Lowe were at the center of a controversy in the May Primary,” Lewis wrote, “when they seemingly teamed up to defeat incumbent councilman Portsmouth attorney Jeff Kleha, leaving him as the odd man out. It was that election in which the Scioto County Board of Elections allowed Sixth Ward voters to vote for two instead of one as had always been the practice of the city in previous elections.” The so-called “controversy” arose primarily not because of past election practices but because Kleha had been a political rubber stamp for city manager Allen, who hated to lose him. Because Allen has a history of not being able to hold a job, he needs every city council member in his corner. </span><span class="s3">It was not Stratton and Lowe but the voters in the Sixth Ward who made Kleha “the odd man out,” but Lewis does not see it that way. In reaction to Kleha being voted off city council, there will be an amendment on the March 2016 ballot to outlaw elections in which electors can vote for more than one candidate. That amendment has Allen’s fingerprints all over it. The amendment serves the purpose of further calling into question the legitimacy of Lowe sitting on the city council. The politics of Portsmouth are even dirtier under the city manager form of government than they were under the mayoral form of government. If only there was a Breathing Air System for readers of the <i>Portsmouth Daily Times</i> whose use of smoke and mirrors to mislead Portsmouth residents about the political corruption in one of the dirtiest drug-addicted cities in America.</span></div>
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Tim Loper was elected to city council as a candidate who was strongly opposed to the city’s costly plan to renovate the decrepit Marting building into the new city hall, but once elected as reformer, Loper became a tool of the corrupt clique that controls Portsmouth. The corrupt clique valued Loper so much that they provided him with a sham address in Ward One to allow him to continue on council even after he and his wife moved to another ward. Allen is a far more valuable tool to the corrupt clique than Loper ever was, and the PDT and Frank Lewis in particular will be careful not to step on Allen’s toes at the same time that they will be reminding residents that Lowe, should he continue to act like a trouble-making reformer, had "seemingly" resorted to electoral chicanery to get on city council. If Lowe for any reason does not finish his four-year term, Kleha will be waiting in the wings to be appointed to the city council by the city council, which is how he got on council in the first place. Those foolish four-year terms for city council are what enable the game of musical chairs to be played over and over again. Will we ever have a city council that will allow for the return of two-year terms, which will make recalls and musical chairs a thing of the past? Not when we have the likes of Jim Kalb and Jo Anne Aeh and the convicted perjurer like Derek Allen as city manager. I will end this post by reproducing a story from an Ohio newspaper that, unlike the PDT, does not use smoke and mirrors to protect convicted carpetbaggers.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">From the Celina Daily Standard</td></tr>
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<span class="post-author vcard" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 1em;">Posted by <span class="fn" itemprop="author" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">Robert Forrey</span> </span></span><span class="post-timestamp" style="margin-left: -1em; margin-right: 1em;">at <a class="timestamp-link" href="https://rivervices.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-carpetbagger-from-piqua-to.html" rel="bookmark" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" title="permanent link"><abbr class="published" itemprop="datePublished" style="border: none;" title="2015-11-06T17:18:00-05:00">5:18 PM</abbr></a> </span><span class="reaction-buttons" style="margin-right: 1em;"></span><span class="post-comment-link" style="margin-right: 1em;"></span><span class="post-backlinks post-comment-link" style="margin-right: 1em;"></span><span class="post-icons" style="margin-right: 1em;"><span class="item-action"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=7680694&postID=9133588406686914902" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" title="Email Post"><img alt="" class="icon-action" height="13" src="https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif" style="border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-style: none !important; border-width: initial; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.5em !important; position: relative; vertical-align: middle;" width="18" /> </a></span><span class="item-control blog-admin pid-41859956" style="display: inline;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=7680694&postID=9133588406686914902&from=pencil" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;" title="Edit Post"><img alt="" class="icon-action" height="18" src="https://resources.blogblog.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif" style="border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-style: none !important; border-width: initial; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.5em !important; position: relative; vertical-align: middle;" width="18" /> </a></span></span><br />
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Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-40468030611438029022017-12-07T10:49:00.000-05:002017-12-07T10:58:01.792-05:00Elegy for Christine Keeler<div class="p1">
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VXn_ypiGDFU/Wila3V9B4SI/AAAAAAAAMog/Rwp4JxLgm1Ez-cNJ0mwN4Gfy24Xx0tRqwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Christine%2BKeeler.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VXn_ypiGDFU/Wila3V9B4SI/AAAAAAAAMog/Rwp4JxLgm1Ez-cNJ0mwN4Gfy24Xx0tRqwCK4BGAYYCw/s320/Christine%2BKeeler.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Christine Keeler (1942-2017)</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>1</div>
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Rest in peace, Christine Keeler,</div>
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far from the razor and potato peeler,</div>
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far from the drugged drug dealer</div>
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far from the groper and feeler.</div>
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You deserve a Shelley or Keats,</div>
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not<span class="Apple-converted-space"> a y</span>ours truly who bleats</div>
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like some sore shallow throat<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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who only gets one’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>goat.</div>
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Always a bridesmaid, always confetti,</div>
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always a male Christina Rossetti,</div>
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I dearly wish I had known you</div>
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and in the crisis could have phoned you.</div>
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I wish that I had been your friend,</div>
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and had been there at the end</div>
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to tell you what I wanted to say:</div>
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“Christine, have a great day!”</div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>2</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
Rest in peace, Christine Keeler,</div>
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far from the weasel wheeler-dealer,</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
far from males who cheat,</div>
<div class="p2">
far from gigolos in heat,</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
a poor, pretty party girl</div>
<div class="p2">
caught up in the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>social swirl</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
of London’s libertine<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>nightlife—</div>
<div class="p2">
the bane of the pimp Profumo’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>wife,</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
an uncut diamond in the rough,</div>
<div class="p2">
no lipstick, no powder puff,</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
no glutinous make-up</div>
<div class="p2">
to get dry and cake-up,</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
no stiletto heels to kick up,</div>
<div class="p2">
no husband after whom to pick up.</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
Your complexion was as clear</div>
<div class="p2">
as a baby’s pampered rear,</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<div class="p2">
as white a heavenly cloud<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
as the drab London sky allowed.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fyQfXJJfpXs/Wile9SqQfYI/AAAAAAAAMos/CIADUrMPzoErwk88QQk_6F4OAsYrHDmIwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Keeler%2Bchair.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fyQfXJJfpXs/Wile9SqQfYI/AAAAAAAAMos/CIADUrMPzoErwk88QQk_6F4OAsYrHDmIwCK4BGAYYCw/s320/Keeler%2Bchair.png" width="253" /></a></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="Apple-converted-space"> Keeler striding chair, c. 1963 </span></div>
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-59442634314369299112017-11-03T19:36:00.000-04:002017-11-04T05:13:17.891-04:00HIV/AIDS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F1p7QM4MTJU/Wfz8I3PTdfI/AAAAAAAAMnc/gRK4wX0hpb0eOLAICluLM87E9mlYX1G1gCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-03%2Bat%2B7.28.56%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F1p7QM4MTJU/Wfz8I3PTdfI/AAAAAAAAMnc/gRK4wX0hpb0eOLAICluLM87E9mlYX1G1gCK4BGAYYCw/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-11-03%2Bat%2B7.28.56%2BPM.png" width="313" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The main reason I an not voting for Kevin W. Johnson for First Ward council is that he has HIV/AIDs. His partner died apparently from complications from that disease, and it is possible Johnson himself may die or at least be incapacitated by it. If that happens the City Council will choose someone to complete his four-year term.<br />
<br />
Too often council members for one reason or another do not complete their terms. If terms were for two years, instead of four, voters would have more electoral control. Having council members with HIV/AIDS gives the council rather than voters the decisive voice in city government. HIV/AIDS is a threat not only to individuals but to democratic local government. Electing those with HIV/AIDS to city council borders on political suicide.Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-84865827240362467622017-10-06T14:06:00.000-04:002017-10-06T14:06:14.305-04:00ForeverSpin<br />
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<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wcde6HycMlU/WdZOe1EOC2I/AAAAAAAAMmw/lRYqRjAvok0LyFBdEWkTP_9r0OxTHRt-ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-10-05%2Bat%2B11.22.07%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wcde6HycMlU/WdZOe1EOC2I/AAAAAAAAMmw/lRYqRjAvok0LyFBdEWkTP_9r0OxTHRt-ACK4BGAYYCw/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-10-05%2Bat%2B11.22.07%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="p1">
It's an apt symbol for our civilization.</div>
<div class="p1">
It spins round in circles forever,</div>
<div class="p1">
like the earth about the sun. </div>
<div class="p1">
Not only patriotic, it’s clever.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
<div class="p1">
And not only that, it’s metal,</div>
<div class="p1">
hard, irresistible and glistening,</div>
<div class="p1">
as bullets are frequently fatal</div>
<div class="p1">
and ears are designed for listening.</div>
<div class="p1">
Listen, listen closely, can’t you hear</div>
<div class="p1">
it spinning, spinning, spinning?</div>
<div class="p1">
"In God We Trust, have no fear.</div>
<div class="p1">
We’re<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>winning, winning, winning."</div>
<div class="p1">
Our deliverance is heaven sent.</div>
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<div class="p1">
It’s the Second Amendment.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-32136464217023563132017-10-05T20:04:00.000-04:002017-10-05T20:04:42.131-04:00Vote Against Property Tax Levy<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Below is a copy of a letter Jane Murray sent to the Portsmouth Daily Times with her recommendation to vote against the proposed property tax levy on the November ballot. I heartily endorse her recommendation.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> Robert Forrey</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-4f97d986-edd4-3d80-d212-c5cddc726531" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">October 06, 2017</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Letter to the Editor</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Portsmouth Daily Times</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I urge all voters to vote AGAINST the proposed property tax levy on the November ballot. It is to fund the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Adams, Lawrence and Scioto Counties. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why should we property owners pay for this? As far as I can determine, this Board merely contracts with other organizations to provide services. Those agencies are able to write grant proposals for drug addiction. The funds available are ever growing. The function of this board has been superseded by the Counseling Center and others so ADAMH should cease to exist – not ask for funds from property taxes.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We property owners who pay our taxes in Scioto County should not be asked to pay for drug addiction services. The former Executive Director of the Counseling Center, Ed Hughes, stated in a public meeting that his agency brings drug addicted people from around the state to our little community. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vote AGAINST the proposed property taxes that will cost $100 on $100,000 assessed value per year.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jane Murray</span></div>
Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-39592419725075347982017-09-30T11:34:00.000-04:002017-09-30T11:34:11.535-04:00The White House<br />
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<span id="goog_537781095"></span><span id="goog_537781096"></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vgeszUoxQNE/Wc-ukiCU_SI/AAAAAAAAMmI/H4H-3ih_ZIk680ZzKGLXjAjb3be6oQtOwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-30%2Bat%2B10.05.43%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="460" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vgeszUoxQNE/Wc-ukiCU_SI/AAAAAAAAMmI/H4H-3ih_ZIk680ZzKGLXjAjb3be6oQtOwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-09-30%2Bat%2B10.05.43%2BAM.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Elden House, built 1853</span><br />
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<br />
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The house has a secret</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
that it cannot tell,</div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
a secret that, if revealed,</div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
would break the spell</div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
cast when it was built<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
in eighteen fifty-three,</div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
north of the Mason-Dixon,</div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
in the era of slavery.</div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The dark secret skulks<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
behind a white exterior,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
a secret that’s never</div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
been revealed before,</div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
and never will as long</div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
as the color line persists</div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
and as long as this historical</div>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
white house poetically exists.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-36714286941264911312017-08-31T13:21:00.000-04:002017-08-31T13:21:39.904-04:00The Conniving Councilman, the Perjured Puppet City Manager, and the Sociology Professor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-27iSWID0JVE/Wag5JT3D3oI/AAAAAAAAMlQ/Y1PYrDknn2sT0WnrjMwWTiw8qRpFnPpDACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-31%2Bat%2B12.26.35%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-27iSWID0JVE/Wag5JT3D3oI/AAAAAAAAMlQ/Y1PYrDknn2sT0WnrjMwWTiw8qRpFnPpDACK4BGAYYCw/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-31%2Bat%2B12.26.35%2BPM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Conniving City Councilman Kevin W. Johnson</div>
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It is reported in the <i>Portsmouth Daily Times</i> that Portsmouth City Manager Derek Allen (<i>below</i>), a convicted perjurer, claims he is swamped by his work load and needs an assistant.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Is he telling the truth? If he lied under oath in Piqua, what whoppers might he tell in Portsmouth where he is not under oath?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I have previously pointed out that Allen is really a part-time city employee who lives a couple of hours drive away from Portsmouth in Piqua, Ohio. If he moved to Portsmouth full-time, maybe he would have more time to devote to his job . He was previously the city manager of Piqua until he lied under oath and was fired. How in the world did a convicted perjurer from Piqua<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>end up as city manager of Portsmouth?<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hx3T-wNBEGY/WahA-0CPQQI/AAAAAAAAMlo/l4tletHud2g4lgHcfa8CyOas392ElmuwgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-31%2Bat%2B1.00.24%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hx3T-wNBEGY/WahA-0CPQQI/AAAAAAAAMlo/l4tletHud2g4lgHcfa8CyOas392ElmuwgCK4BGAYYCw/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-31%2Bat%2B1.00.24%2BPM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Derek Allen in a trash selfie</div>
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Because the conniving Portsmouth city councilman Kevin W. Johnson is the kingpin of Portsmouth politically, it is he more than anyone who turned Allen into a puppet city manager. As long as Kevin W. is the councilman for the First Ward, and Donald Trump is the president of the United States, the devil is<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>well represented at the local as well as the national level. But registered voters in the First Ward, of which I am one, have a choice in the next city election. Sean Dunne (<i>below</i>),<span class="Apple-converted-space"> a First Ward resident and </span>a sociology professor at Shawnee State University, is challenging the convicted perjurer Allen. Without the conniving Kevin W. to back him, Derek will be done and Dunne will be First Ward city councilman.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h_jIyicGGmE/Wag8p0RELgI/AAAAAAAAMlc/2PxAt98OKfImtSx70km8pSTgUrYryMDGwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-31%2Bat%2B12.41.30%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h_jIyicGGmE/Wag8p0RELgI/AAAAAAAAMlc/2PxAt98OKfImtSx70km8pSTgUrYryMDGwCK4BGAYYCw/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-31%2Bat%2B12.41.30%2BPM.png" width="353" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-converted-space">Sociology professor Sean Dunne</span></div>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span>
<span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></div>
Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-78633916465737849252017-08-16T17:36:00.000-04:002017-08-16T17:36:39.515-04:00Statues of Limitations<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w_gMIkoMvaY/WZSgSxHPmfI/AAAAAAAAMk0/qeqe-D4hW80q08s8fCG6bwcSlMFKmaQcACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-16%2Bat%2B3.37.12%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w_gMIkoMvaY/WZSgSxHPmfI/AAAAAAAAMk0/qeqe-D4hW80q08s8fCG6bwcSlMFKmaQcACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-16%2Bat%2B3.37.12%2BPM.png" width="388" /></a></div>
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<br />
The controversy connected with Confederate statues and memorials recently erupted in violence at Charlottesville, Virginia, where a woman died and a number of others at a rally were injured after being hit by an automobile driven by a twenty-something reportedly white racist male who is being held without bail. We have had for many years what is known as "road rage," but the Charlottesville fatality resulted more from what could be called "race rage."<br />
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Located on the northern side of the Ohio River, which unofficially marks the boundary between the vaguely defined northern and southern United States, Portsmouth, Ohio, has one prominent statue, erected in 1879, which commemorates the first Union soldier from Scioto County to be killed in the Civil War. The Portsmouth statue, on a pillar worthy of Caesar Augustus, stands high over Tracy Park, near downtown Portsmouth, facing the Ohio River and Kentucky, which may be just a coincidence.<br />
<br />
As a so-called border town, Portsmouth had southern sympathizers and the Ku Klux Klan, as I pointed out before in <i>River Vices,</i> was active in the town well into the twentieth century. Hell, the KKK was thriving in northern Ohio for a time. KKK membership was not limited, to use another racial stereotype, to rednecks. It seems very unlikely that the Tracy Park Union statue is in any danger of being pulled down. But we live in an increasingly rapidly changing, some would argue, alarmingly deteriorating times. Some towns in the South and possibly elsewhere, according the<i> New York Times, </i>have already passed ordinances and provisos that prohibit the removal of statues and memorials from public places, offering some legal protection for sacred carved cows.<br />
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Who could have imagined just five years ago a Donald Trump, a psychopathic narcissist, as he has been analyzed, perhaps in part because of his flamboyant blond wig, being elected president of the United States? I still wake up some mornings thinking it's just a bad dream. The possibility, as hard as it now is to believe, is that there might someday be a statue of President Donald Trump in Tracy Park, and in hundreds of other American parks and plazas. It's within the realm of possibility, particularly if, like President Lincoln, he becomes a victim of "race rage."<br />
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<br />Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-40969082743394566022017-08-06T13:45:00.000-04:002017-10-06T13:59:13.733-04:00Lili St. Cyr<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r-ZvhfO6Pss/WYdQQRMjehI/AAAAAAAAMkU/fPQ8lyURF1wOFOw0wjYBJyVD1FemXJ05QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-06%2Bat%2B1.07.42%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r-ZvhfO6Pss/WYdQQRMjehI/AAAAAAAAMkU/fPQ8lyURF1wOFOw0wjYBJyVD1FemXJ05QCK4BGAYYCw/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-06%2Bat%2B1.07.42%2BPM.png" width="276" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The crush he had on Lili as a kid</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">he kept secretly to himself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">He kept her photo hid</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">up on his closet shelf,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">where it was long forgotten,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">until now, an old man,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">by time downtrodden,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">he dreams of her behind her big fan.</span></div>
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For the Wikipedia entry for St. Cyr, click <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili_St._Cyr" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-88452032729491417452017-08-04T09:49:00.000-04:002017-08-04T17:33:05.943-04:00Truculent Trump<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4IVR5ozP510/WYRtcVlmQyI/AAAAAAAAMjo/r3VDJLDJMKkfIfsFCRdFUBGY-LHUPgr0QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-04%2Bat%2B6.50.48%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4IVR5ozP510/WYRtcVlmQyI/AAAAAAAAMjo/r3VDJLDJMKkfIfsFCRdFUBGY-LHUPgr0QCK4BGAYYCw/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-08-04%2Bat%2B6.50.48%2BAM.png" width="298" /></a></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>I recently perused <i>A Book About Words</i>, published in England in 1865. The curious latter-day Calvinistic thesis of the book is that words, reflecting the evil proclivities of human nature, tend to become negative and consequently “degenerate.” It occurred to me that at least one fairly common word, <i>trump</i>, may be undergoing an accelerated degeneration because of the the controversial career of Donald J. Trump, the truculent, dysfunctional 45th president of the United States. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The noun trump has as one of its meanings, according to the Third Edition of the International Merriam-Webster Dictionary (1968), “a dependable and exemplary person.” “He’s a trump,” are words of praise. But that sounds like the antithesis of what Donald J. Trump has unfortunately proved to be. It is trump as a verb that seems more appropriate for our president. Trump. As a transitive verb, to trump means to get the better of, or to override, as a trump card can in cards. To trump also means, more specifically, to get the better of someone, which might be described as Donald Trump’s modus operandi.<br />
Trump tried to get the better of the reading public by claiming to be<br />
the co-author of <i>The Art of the Deal</i> (1987). Trump’s putative “co-author” Tony Schwartz claimed—and he was backed up by the publisher—that Trump had nothing to do with the writing of <i>The Art of Deal</i>. Trump continues to claim he did. Since lying is an integral part of “the art of the deal,” Trump naturally would lie about his part in the writing of the best selling book. One does not have to have a Ph.D. in psychology to see that the Donald is as incapable of writing a book as he is of thinking straight. If “the Donald” exemplifies anything, it is mindlessness. Trump acquired that nickname earlier in his loopy career. The word donald is not listed in Merriam-Webster, so I’m not sure why the nickname “the Donald” has stuck, though it might in part be because of Trump’s resemblance to Donald Duck, particularly in that cartoon character’s temper tantrums.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">"Who sez I colluded with the Russkies?"</span></div>
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Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-1900976821121833522017-07-09T11:17:00.000-04:002017-07-09T11:17:05.975-04:00Tobacco<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NJVJ-Wm-yOE/WWJGhUZZQ6I/AAAAAAAAMi4/27sjCmtGWEomAjAeA7BWpwpnbmzYCUb1wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-07-09%2Bat%2B11.05.51%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NJVJ-Wm-yOE/WWJGhUZZQ6I/AAAAAAAAMi4/27sjCmtGWEomAjAeA7BWpwpnbmzYCUb1wCK4BGAYYCw/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-07-09%2Bat%2B11.05.51%2BAM.png" width="293" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I’m here to tell you, of this have no doubt,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">smoking becomes what your life is about:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">smoking in bed, before sex or after,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">in the throes of tears or peals of laughter,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">smoking while soaking in the tub,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">whether broke or rolling in clover,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Of this, please, entertain no doubt:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">that’s what smoking is really about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">You may be happy and photogenic,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">but tobacco is carcinogenic.</span></div>
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-36055306352727638332017-07-02T09:31:00.000-04:002017-07-02T09:31:00.219-04:00Pixelated<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-suXYeAMGN9w/WVjzb8GyMrI/AAAAAAAAMiA/SpQPp0uNZ98MNxvr7XQ5LDNLlult0tAxgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-07-02%2Bat%2B9.20.59%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-suXYeAMGN9w/WVjzb8GyMrI/AAAAAAAAMiA/SpQPp0uNZ98MNxvr7XQ5LDNLlult0tAxgCK4BGAYYCw/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-07-02%2Bat%2B9.20.59%2BAM.png" width="280" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"> The back of a Google Pixel</span><br />
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Each morning, in foul weather or fair,</div>
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I still walk down to the river</div>
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to make doubly sure it’s still there,</div>
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still flowing resolutely east to west,</div>
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dividing Ohio from Kentucky,</div>
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the liberal North from the conservative South</div>
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as far as my bleary eyes can see,</div>
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and even farther for the hawks on high.</div>
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When I’m assured nothing’s changed,</div>
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that no tug’s pushing four long barges</div>
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against the flow, as if deranged,</div>
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I turn to the business at hand:</div>
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my Google Pixel, with messages</div>
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that tell me what the day presages.</div>
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-79485044293654299022017-06-30T11:00:00.000-04:002017-06-30T11:00:26.013-04:00There was an Old Woman<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ruVYlW7ZZvg/WVZk46CGhhI/AAAAAAAAMhk/VFHp_SsjHMUFk0-7rGMC1HL9tYvoNfSZACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-30%2Bat%2B10.47.28%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ruVYlW7ZZvg/WVZk46CGhhI/AAAAAAAAMhk/VFHp_SsjHMUFk0-7rGMC1HL9tYvoNfSZACK4BGAYYCw/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-30%2Bat%2B10.47.28%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Who in their right mind wants</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">to bring a child into this world</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">in which not only tropical fish</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">but coral reefs are imperiled,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">in which global warming</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">like when “the experts” predicted</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Trump would definitely lose?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Have mercy on your grandchildren</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">by not having children of your own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">What did Eve need with progeny</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">when she already had a crazy bone?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">And why didn't that woman in the shoe</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">cook all her kids in a mulligan stew?</span></div>
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-68277482927151662552017-06-29T16:13:00.000-04:002017-06-29T16:13:01.821-04:00Golden Shower<br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">"An uncorroborated report circulated by U.S. intelligence alleges Russian security agents watched Trump engaging in perverted sexual acts.”</span> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">News item</span><br />
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He’s a joke from Berlin to Beijing, </div>
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this fool who’s our president,</div>
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who’s persistently pissing</div>
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into, not out of, the tent,</div>
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which is not surprising.</div>
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Not only does he not know</div>
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Berlin from Beijing</div>
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but his ass from his elbow;</div>
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and it may happen now and then</div>
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that he not only gets (ahem)</div>
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pissed off <i>at</i> bloody women<br />
but gets pissed on <i>by</i> them.<br />
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Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-57418641345269744002017-06-27T13:13:00.001-04:002017-06-29T15:37:09.697-04:00Our Smiling Shitty Manager<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bldlWy_21tQ/WVKEtR0LuqI/AAAAAAAAMg4/O2bVf4Qb2V8SttlmAUirMs9xapLStYEBgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-27%2Bat%2B12.14.19%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bldlWy_21tQ/WVKEtR0LuqI/AAAAAAAAMg4/O2bVf4Qb2V8SttlmAUirMs9xapLStYEBgCK4BGAYYCw/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-27%2Bat%2B12.14.19%2BPM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">What is Portsmouth's shitty manager, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">surrounded by trash, </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">smiling about?</span></div>
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Portsmouth’s Shitty Manager, Derek Allen, is in the news again (click <a href="http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/16964/homeless-outrage" target="_blank">here</a>), not for perjury in Pequa but for <span class="s1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">attacking the homeless on his Facebook page. Allen has put his foot in his big mouth dissing the poor and homeless as lazy panhandlers living in a tent city in Portsmouth. The story </span><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: "arial";">includes what might be the most telling photo (a</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: "arial";">bove)</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: "arial";"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: "arial";">of Allen's</span><span class="s2" style="-webkit-text-stroke: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: "arial";"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: "arial";">career in which he </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: "arial";">beams stupidly, surrounded by the trash of tent city, posing in a selfie like </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; font-family: "arial";">a happy pig in a heavenly sty in the sky. <i>Et tu</i>, Porky?</span></div>
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-80880100262824450112017-06-25T15:09:00.000-04:002017-06-25T15:09:27.824-04:00The Double-edge<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YbRT44N_phc/WVAFbHIVbNI/AAAAAAAAMgY/Nj2nISoQwwA5A26GJGXW4TyuUbS6ZaHQACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-25%2Bat%2B2.38.58%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YbRT44N_phc/WVAFbHIVbNI/AAAAAAAAMgY/Nj2nISoQwwA5A26GJGXW4TyuUbS6ZaHQACK4BGAYYCw/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-25%2Bat%2B2.38.58%2BPM.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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The double-edge of old age</div>
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is that you forget so damn fast.</div>
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You no sooner turn the page</div>
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than you forget what you read last.</div>
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The novel renews itself </div>
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by escaping from the past.</div>
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Books put in their place on the shelf </div>
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decline politely to be typecast.</div>
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It’s as if you can live</div>
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life over, barely remembering,</div>
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as if memory’s a sieve,</div>
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flowing, not dismembering.</div>
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You see, you can relive the best</div>
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and bury the very worst,</div>
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pass the hardest test</div>
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and stand not last but first.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Your heirs might sadly think</div>
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that you’ve lost your mind,</div>
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or taken clandestinely to drink,</div>
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wondering if your will's signed.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It’s really none of the above.</div>
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You still have all your marbles.</div>
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Your heart sings like you’re in love, </div>
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but your brain sometime warbles.</div>
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It’s not that you’re breaking laws</div>
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which old age is absently abetting.</div>
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It’s that the past’s not what it once was</div>
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and needs a hell of a lot of editing.</div>
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-45808758602669392392017-06-23T14:37:00.000-04:002017-06-23T14:45:24.715-04:00Avocado Cantata<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5SN_5levL1g/WU1dLO8zL_I/AAAAAAAAMf4/uD51lXZFsSgA4wvhgqJVL9iqJFrk2NCPACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-23%2Bat%2B2.23.41%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5SN_5levL1g/WU1dLO8zL_I/AAAAAAAAMf4/uD51lXZFsSgA4wvhgqJVL9iqJFrk2NCPACK4BGAYYCw/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-23%2Bat%2B2.23.41%2BPM.png" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i> Still Life with Apple and Avocado</i> by Dan Haraga</span><br />
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I had my first avocado in Las Vegas </div>
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around 1953 when I was hitchhiking </div>
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from Boston to sunny San Diego.</div>
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I had just turned twenty-one as I recall.</div>
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I was a college student in Vermont</div>
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majoring in English literature.</div>
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I’d never seen an avocado before</div>
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having grown up blue collar in Boston,</div>
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nominally Irish-Catholic,</div>
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I had eaten potatoes aplenty</div>
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until they were coming out of my ears—</div>
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boiled, baked, mashed, sliced, fried—“variety</div>
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was the splice of life,” my queer uncle said.</div>
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Not that he’d ever tried avocados</div>
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or anyone else in my family.</div>
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My reaction to my first avocado</div>
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was that it had no taste at all, nothing.</div>
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You had to develop a taste for it.</div>
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At least that’s what i told myself at first.</div>
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It was like chewing a lot of nothing.</div>
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I thought of it as “Vacant and voluptuous.”</div>
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That was the English lit major speaking.</div>
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What kind of poem might Keats have written </div>
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about the avocado? “Hail to thee, </div>
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Alligator Pear, puzzling forbidden fruit!”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Adam would have decried its tastelessness, </div>
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Eve snickering at the sour face he made</div>
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when he bit into it for the first time.</div>
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I developed a taste for them that summer</div>
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in San Diego where they were a staple,</div>
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Mexico being the world’s major source. </div>
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An avocado afficionado, </div>
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I moved to San Diego with my B.A.</div>
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from Middlebury in Vermont</div>
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to pursue a Ph.D. at U.C.S.D..</div>
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writing my dissertation on </div>
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“Keats’ Unconscious Craving for Avocados.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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I credit my advanced age to exercise and diet—</div>
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of which avocados were the staff of life.</div>
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“I’m eighty-seven going on nine-hundred,” </div>
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is what I say when asked how old I am. </div>
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But the truth is avocados and age</div>
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became much too much of a good thing.</div>
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I regret living as long as I have</div>
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and being crazy about avocados</div>
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from which I want an eternal vacation.</div>
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Even without any major illness,</div>
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life in the end is a pain in the ass</div>
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and I refer not just to hemorrhoids.</div>
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Global warming is now a reality,</div>
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not just a stark, hellish hypothesis.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The shelf life of picked avocados is brief</div>
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in contrast to which apples are Methuselahs,</div>
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but in global warming an avocado</div>
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is like a snowball in hell or a popsicle</div>
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in a pizza oven in Pensacola.</div>
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A peeled avocado is fresh as long</div>
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as a firefly’s flash lasts, which is about,</div>
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roughly speaking, 0.76 of a second.</div>
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The edibility of peeled avocados</div>
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can be lengthened with refrigeration</div>
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and polyethylene food wrap.</div>
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But what’s the point of it all?</div>
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Of life I mean, which will become</div>
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intolerable in the lives of our children,</div>
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which I thankfully have had none.</div>
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It’s a small consolation but I don’t</div>
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have to think about progeny</div>
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roasting in Canada and Siberia</div>
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which will be crowded with refugees</div>
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and where avocados will be sold</div>
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on street corners because in</div>
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tropical climates they will grow</div>
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profusely as fruit on trees,</div>
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which is what they can’t help being.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Robert Forrey</div>
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Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-78033300147121510632017-06-20T11:30:00.000-04:002017-06-20T18:01:09.219-04:00Somersaults<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ogvHecR3P9c/WUk-bt27WJI/AAAAAAAAMfc/MNkRHjT-WdEHKOvfMwEEZkh9UWwHFiUewCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-20%2Bat%2B11.15.07%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ogvHecR3P9c/WUk-bt27WJI/AAAAAAAAMfc/MNkRHjT-WdEHKOvfMwEEZkh9UWwHFiUewCK4BGAYYCw/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-20%2Bat%2B11.15.07%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">She was so unlovable the birds</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">would stop singing when she was near,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">parrots be at a loss for words,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">and blue skies would turn drear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Spring would come late as possible,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">and summer seem so very far</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">and winter even more terrible </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">than March in Antarctica.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Personally she was a wet towel</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">who was rarely ever in fashion.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Her smile was more a scowl</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">and worst of all she was never fun. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">But I loved her madly, for all her faults,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">which I proved by doing somersaults.</span></div>
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-39425637430350300932017-06-07T21:28:00.000-04:002017-06-07T21:28:51.041-04:00Structure and Meaning<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z2Zse37VM5I/WTgjCqzMBKI/AAAAAAAAMeI/-Yie03aGSwEX7SUdgVWVEX4yD2-A9v3JQCK4B/s1600/Photo%2Bon%2B4-12-15%2Bat%2B9.15%2BAM.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z2Zse37VM5I/WTgjCqzMBKI/AAAAAAAAMeI/-Yie03aGSwEX7SUdgVWVEX4yD2-A9v3JQCK4B/s320/Photo%2Bon%2B4-12-15%2Bat%2B9.15%2BAM.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 14px;">selfie</span> <br />
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Thinking a lot about suicide</div>
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gives his life meaning and structure</div>
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separates the ephemeral from the puncture</div>
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that caused the crash fifty-two years ago</div>
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that killed his mother and brother</div>
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but left him unscathed with hardly</div>
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a scratch, just an inane ability</div>
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to recall the moment of impact</div>
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his VW bug colliding head-on </div>
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with the fucked-up scrap iron truck </div>
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that was in the wrong lane</div>
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because of the puncture</div>
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that caused him to lose control</div>
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with only one headlight</div>
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which made him think he was about</div>
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to hit a stupid motorcyclist</div>
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when normally he was trying</div>
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to refrain from swerving into</div>
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some unlucky son-of-a-bitch</div>
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who woke up that morning</div>
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without any inkling that somebody</div>
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namely him, who felt thinking a lot</div>
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about suicide gave his life</div>
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structure and meaning, was going</div>
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to crash into someone without blinking.</div>
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-49901969266033878952017-06-07T08:29:00.000-04:002017-06-07T08:29:48.606-04:00Doubting Mantis<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e0oTIJjkKxc/WTfrjV2fp7I/AAAAAAAAMdc/nj6YyenPsvIu6GhH81nR4KwTq5K-P8sdQCK4B/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-07%2Bat%2B8.00.50%2BAM.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e0oTIJjkKxc/WTfrjV2fp7I/AAAAAAAAMdc/nj6YyenPsvIu6GhH81nR4KwTq5K-P8sdQCK4B/s320/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-07%2Bat%2B8.00.50%2BAM.png" width="320" /></a><br />
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The form precipitation took—</div>
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a pitiful, will-o’-the-wisp mist—</div>
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would have disappointed even</div>
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a dyed-in-the-wool optimist.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So a Mantis praying</div>
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for the end of the drought</div>
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looked like a grasshopper</div>
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discombobulated by doubt.</div>
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<br /></div>
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-32883032604414016672017-06-04T00:30:00.000-04:002017-06-04T00:30:04.537-04:00Sonnet on Sunday<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q__a325DFcw/WTM9Z7ytJrI/AAAAAAAAMdM/Zo4I516CbYwXI-XbUqLjQ6ks1_i9F1RJQCK4B/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-03%2Bat%2B6.50.08%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q__a325DFcw/WTM9Z7ytJrI/AAAAAAAAMdM/Zo4I516CbYwXI-XbUqLjQ6ks1_i9F1RJQCK4B/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2017-06-03%2Bat%2B6.50.08%2BPM.png" width="400" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Billy Sunday Preaching</span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Like Clark Kent in a telephone booth,</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;">Billy’s favorite colors were red, white and blue.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;">His favorite truth was the gospel truth—</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;">he was one of Our Pilot’s great ground crew.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;">If he did not know what the future would be,</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;">or what each wrinkle in time’s brow portended,</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">he nonetheless knew with great certainty </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">it would be what the Good Lord intended.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;">If anything ever appears amiss,</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;">Billy said it was just the perspective.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;">First turn a bit that way and then turn this</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;">until you see the corroborative.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;">Nothing’s impossible for a man of faith</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;">provided he believes what the Good Book saith.</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-43105427021444862662017-06-02T04:27:00.001-04:002017-06-02T04:39:24.868-04:00Obscene Jester<br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">"Mr. Met's Obscene Gesture Makes </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Crazy Season Even Crazier."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> <i>N.Y. Times</i></span><br />
<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mr. Met gave fans the finger?<br />On this let us not linger.<br />Yes, he has a big head,<br />But he’s not brain dead.<br />And furthermore, unlike Trump,<br />He doesn’t fire the ump.</span><div class="p1">
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-51881857316438730352017-05-30T10:38:00.000-04:002017-06-02T17:07:06.102-04:00Discrimination in Arkansas?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"> </span>Last night I watched a 1944 Hollywood movie <i>I’m from Arkansas</i>. It is what was called a “B movie,” meaning it was low-budget, made to satisfy the film appetite of the large movie going public of that era. If there was a double feature, it would have been the B rather than the A attraction. There were no well known actors or actresses in it. The leading character was played by Slim Summerville, hardly a star, though he appeared in about a hundred silent and sound movies. That's him in the lower right-hand corner of the poster above.<br />
Only after I watched <i>I’m from Arkansas </i>did it occur to me that there were no black characters in it, not even in menial roles as servants, not even the face of a black or two in a crowd scene. Arkansas is not in the deep South. like Alabama or Mississippi, where blacks are a large minority. But Arkansas is a border state and had about a 15 percent black population in the 1940s. Why then was there not one black in I<i>’m from Arkansas</i>? The director, Lew Landers, was from New York City. He had changed his last name, presumably because it sounded Jewish. It is unlikely he was prejudiced against blacks. Since blacks were confined to menial roles, maybe somebody decided it was better to have no blacks than menial ones, such as the appalling racist black stereotype Stepin Fetchit, billed as “The Laziest Man in the World.” <br />
Lacking the lazy black stereotype, what <i>I’m from Arkansas</i> does have is an incredibly lazy Appalachian father and son pair, the father played by Slim Summerville and the son by a cretin-looking young actor. When I arrived in Portsmouth back in 1989, I recall a Portsmouth resident observing that Appalachians, or "rednecks," were the last American minority that you could still make fun of without fear of criticism. <i>I’m from Arkansas </i>ridicules Appalachians as if they were all palookas. What's a palooka? You can see for yourself in the 1934 movie <i>Palooka</i>. Both of these movies are available on YouTube.<style type="text/css">
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</style>Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7680694.post-87164215310560246922017-05-28T10:06:00.002-04:002017-05-28T11:15:26.027-04:00Post Trump Stress Disorder<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Melania Trump's colorful, $51,500 jacket</span></div>
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As is generally known the acronym PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I saw recently online the christening of <i>Pre</i>-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the need for which arose because we have as president of the United States a mentally unhinged man who illustrates vividly the expression "there is no there there." We wait from day to day to wake up and read what crazy thing the unpredictable Trump has said or done the day before. So perhaps we should speak of both a Post and Pre-Trump Stress Disorder. Trump recently impulsively went on a European extended tour to distract from the encroaching calamity surrounding the goings-on and "gonnections" (to work in the Great Gatsby) of his White House adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is the husband of Trump's daughter Ivanka. The issue with Jared, or one of the issues, is his possible political and/or financial collusion with the Russians. In spite of the fact that Trump visited the scowling Pope to sponge on the Pontiff's piety, Trump's trip did nothing to quell the Jared Kushner controversy, which might lead eventually to Trump's impeachment or resignation.<br />
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It is not just Trump and Kushner who keep us wondering what the <i>New York Times</i> will be reporting next about Trump et al. Trump's wife Milania's mania for clothes, and her frequent changes of expensive costumes, provides grist for the media mill. The minx's colorful puffy jacket alone, which looks like a giddy eskimo getup, caused a sensation. It reportedly cost in excess of $50,000 in spite of not having a scintilla of mink, let alone an inch of chinchilla. There were reports early on that early on in her career Milania had been a high-priced prostitute, but the press respectfully, perhaps out of deference to the oval office, refrained from repeating that rumor. But what male politician has not had to be a high-priced prostitute in his rise to higher office, at the same time keeping any cross dressing jackets and Weinerish sexting tendencies in check?<br />
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<br />Robert Forreyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14780462765344523151noreply@blogger.com