A Ponzi Scheme

Be not ye judge, lest you be judged
That wise old saying’s never budged
Yet the government attacked Madoff
For ripping all his clients off
But to others and myself it seems
They run the biggest Ponzi scheme
They collect from Peters to pay Paul
With no chance to repay at all
This scheme in Ponzi purity
We call Social Security


Mdailey
02/11/09

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from profit.

Who Wants to be Paul

You can't legislate poor into freedom
By legislating wealthy to pay
What someone receives for not working
Another must work for all day
The government can't give away something
Without taking it from some other guys
You can't give to Peter without robbing Paul
No matter how hard Congress tries
And when half of the people are thinking
They don't have to work to survive
Because somebody else is out working
And the government always provides
Then the other half gets the idea
That working's not worth it these days
Because somebody else gets the paycheck
And not working is really what pays
And that my friend is where we are heading
The end of the nation - that's all
You can't multiply wealth by dividing
And nobody wants to be Paul


MDailey
03/19/09

To paraphrase Dr. Adrian Rogers, past president of the Southern Baptist Convention …

Dear John

I’m writing “Dear John” letters to John Deere
I can’t afford the gas hikes and continue to farm here
So I’m writing “Dear John” letters to John Deere

John, you’re quite the fashion statement in your yellow and your green
You’ve seen me through the good times; you’ve seen me through the lean
You’ve always been there for me as I plowed the field
You deserve the accolades for every yearly yield
But, John, we must part company despite our wondrous past
For, John, you have depleted me, I can’t afford your gas

I thought that this would end it; I thought my thoughts were clear
I thought we would part peacefully; the end was Oh so near
When I wrote this “Dear John” letter to John Deere

But letters can’t convey the heartache that I feel
Through all those years together – the wounds that will not heal
For letters are mere word groups and simply can’t replace
The finality of endings that takes place face to face
So I’m out here with my John Deere, the key within my hand
I turn it, slip out of the seat, and walk away a man

Oh, he’ll find another farmer who can afford his bill
I’ll see him on another farm parked up there on a hill
The yields won’t be as profitable as when we were together
And I’ll think about him often but I know it’s for the better
I’ll have to go back farming as my forefathers did back here
And forget the years together that we had – me and John Deere

Mdailey
06/02/08

Written last year but just as meaningful today as it was back then.

Madoff Gets 150 Years

Madoff’s Benz, his boats and trailers
Will be sold, so say his jailers
His Steinway and his silverware
Worth 90 grand’s beyond compare
His houses in Palm Beach they say
Will bring in millions auction day
And that Manhattan penthouse dwelling
The US Marshals will be selling
Coupled with that East End house
Leaves little for his grieving spouse
She gave up claims of 80 mill
But she has millions even still
The Madoff’s forfeit all it seems
That came to them through Ponzi Schemes
But even with all assets sold
He’ll be locked up until he’s old

Mdailey - 6/27/09

Governors Gone Bad

With one more governor apologizing for his discretion's, I thought I would remind you of one of the better stories of a governor that strayed.

Governor Spitzer


As far as these sex scandals go
Governor Spitzer’s is one for the show
With Silda, his wife, by his side
He says he has nothing to hide
I admit that what I did was wrong
And my tenure as Gov won’t be long
But the details I won’t be revealing
Just think of my poor wife’s poor feelings
Respect my position, it’s a private matter
I simply won’t tolerate this idle chatter
But the critics say they got him this time
He is known in the book as just John # 9
They say he has used this service before
To pay for Kristen, a high priced young whore
He wired her money, asked if she had the time
To bring her sweet self across the state line
And the Feds say that doing it in just this way
Is a criminal offense and someone has to pay
He paid 4300 and left after two hours
He didn’t bring candy and he didn’t bring flowers
He didn’t bring anything that they could tell
But a good reputation that’s now shot to hell
The “Sheriff of Wall Street” when he burst on the scene
And Hillary Clinton called him “Mr. Clean”
But maybe poor Hillary just had her fill
Of Governors gone bad – look up her husband Bill


Mdailey
03/11/08

NSA’s Domestic Spying

NSA’s Domestic Spying Grows as Agency Sweeps up Data

NSA’s Domestic Spying

Big Brother’s alive and still kicking
With communication links they are picking
While the Pentagon killed it
When Congress willed it
At NSA it’s still up and ticking

It’s been debated in Congress for years
It’s one of the public’s great fears
But NSA says that spying
Is simply denying
Conspirators shifting their gears

Our privacy as been invaded
The critics’ reports have thus stated
But NSA won’t back down
After all that they found
Their appetite’s hardly been sated

mdailey

Hire Felons

One solution to government staff shortages: Hire felons!
When it comes to hiring, the federal government prides itself on reaching out to disadvantaged segments of society: veterans, people with disabilities, and more recently, retirees. So why not felons? The chairman of the House subcommittee on the federal work force thinks it’s a good idea.

Hire Felons

There’s a shortage in our workforce
That must be filled I fear
To fill it then we must divorce
Some things we hold quite dear
We must look at what they’re doing
Today – not in the past
Or the felons will start suing
If they’re not part of our cast
Disadvantage segments of society
Once caught but now released
Should be held in high propriety
Discrimination ceased
So what if they picked pockets
Or held hostages for fun
We should let them work on rockets
Let them design a soldier’s gun
Let them first work in the mail room
Then if I may be so bold
To let them work on tail booms
They’re safe or so I’m told
And all of this is guided
By all our Congressmen
So when they are indicted
They’ll get out and work again

So support your local Congressman
If just to stop their yellin’
You’ll know the who, the why, the when
So hire the poor felon!

Mdailey
02/22/08

Palin in a News Release

Palin, in a news release
Said “knocked up” jokes just had to cease
The latest was the final straw
She said it was a bit too raw
But really between you and me
She needed the publicity
Her rating as a running mate
Had slipped a bit too far of late
The pollsters say her flame’s run out
She wants it known beyond a doubt
That when Obama’s done, we’ll see
She’s the darling of the GOP

Mdailey - 06/16/09

Seeking a Federal Job?

The government should do more to assure individuals with criminal records that they are not barred from certain types of federal employment, lawmakers said on Tuesday.
At a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, members of Congress said hiring ex-offenders could help many of them as they re-enter communities and also help government as it addresses impending staff shortages.
"The fact is that we as a country and employer continue to fall short in our attempt to eliminate barriers to employment for ex-offenders," said subcommittee Chairman Danny K. Davis, D-Ill. "Aside from select branches of the U.S. military, there is very little evidence that the federal government is availing itself as a legitimate source of employment for ex-offenders."

Commentary Du Jour

The Government should do more to ensure
Criminals with records don’t have to endure
The red-tape and rules that are often obscure
When seeking a job with the Feds

‘Cause jobs with the Feds has got this allure
Of perks and a pension both somewhat grandeur
And these are the things they would like to procure
When seeking a job with the Feds

So Senator Davis’s issue du jour
Is moving these criminals from jobless and poor
To good government workers so safe and secure
When seeking a job with the Feds

So what if the guy was a sly saboteur
Or was making a living with a fake signature
Let’s list on his resume “entrepreneur”
When seeking a job with the Feds

But I think this movement is strictly manure
Like covering a donkey in a gaudy velour
Or trying to make sense of a non-sequitur
This seeking a job with the Feds

Mdailey
06/12/08

Blagojevich

Ex-Gov Blogojevich is back in the news these days so I thought I would share a few of the poems I wrote about the man and his situation.

Perks Works

It had to happen, someone snitched
On Governor Blagojevich
It seems he’s offered up the seat
Obama had to those who’d meet
His ever generous asking price
And throws in perks to meet his vice

His wife, she needs a job that pays
Somewhere in the 100 Ks
And he would like due compensation
For all he’s done for this great nation
You see the way the whole thing works
He gets the job who gives the perks

And Pres-Elect Obama claimed
He has no say in who is named
But just last week, his right-hand man
Said he and the Gov worked hand-in-hand
To fill the vacant Senate seat
Now from this statement he retreats
He says that’s wrong; he’s been misquoted
This is on the Gov he noted

But Governor Blagojevich
Is not the first to scratch this itch
Chicago there in Illinois
Has used the “perks game” to employ
And empty jobs go to the able
Who press the perks under the table

Why the mayor it is often said
Was elected by the dead
And the last Gov is now in the pen
For bribes and things he did back then
And somewhere in this Illini drama
Sits our Pres-Elect Obama

MDailey
12/09/08
==========================

Old Fashioned Graft
(Illinois political scandal)

No room at the Mayflower
No myspace page picture
No one twisting no arm
While trying to get richer
No one out of the closet
No one in someone’s bed
No crack or cocaine
No one left somewhere dead
No one gambling no fortunes
No one blackmailing friends
No one bible thumping
To justify ends
We’ve got those with goodies
Stating their need
And those that are crooked
Paying for greed
There are no free lunches
All things come with a price
Well respected crooks
Treat honest folks nice

So - no honest people
Are getting the shaft
What we got here
Is just old fashioned graft

Mdailey
12/10/08
========================
Blagojevich Spoke to the Senate

Blagojevich spoke to the Senate today
He thanked them for letting him have his say
He gave them his side of the story - his way
When Blagojevich spoke to the Senate today

When Blagojevich spoke to the Senate today
He claimed that no crime had been done
They had no real evidence, there was no smoking gun
And the tapes that they had listened to
Were just how these things were run
When Blagojevich spoke to the Senate today

When Blagojevich spoke to the Senate today
Though he had skipped the hearings all week
He asked to bring in some witnesses
Who on his behalf would speak
So that sooner rather than later,
Their votes he would somehow tweak
When Blagojevich spoke to the Senate today

When Blagojevich spoke to the Senate today
He was met with uncomfortable stares
They didn’t applaud when he finished
They never got up from their chairs
They simply went on with their business
The decision was finally theirs
When Blagojevich spoke to the Senate today

When Blagojevich spoke to the Senate
You know they went over his speech
They wanted to set their positions
So a fair and true verdict they’d reach
And so after his long dissertation
A vote was then noted by each
And Blagojevich walked from the Senate
For they unanimously voted – IMPEACH!

Mdailey
01/29/09

Bernie Madoff

I just got back from a 5-mile walk (ain’t retirement grand). Somewhere along the walk, Bernie Madoff got into my thoughts and by the time I got home – this is what I had

A Fool & His Money

Bernie Mad-Off with more than he should
The G-men knew he was up to no good
He couldn’t pay off though he promised he would
A fool and his money are parted

“I pity the fool” said old Mr. T
I guess that he pitted the others like me
Who gave Bernie their money and just let him be
A fool and his money are parted

Bernie bought art work and furnishings grand
To maintain the image that he was the MAN
It was working for him just as he planned
A fool and his money are parted

Now Bernie was thinking he hid it all well
Gave some to others and said not to tell
When the G-men came calling he said “Go to Hell”
A fool and his money are parted

So they went over his books, these trusty G-men
Took smoke and mirrors to the courthouse and then
Sent Bernie away to the old State-House Pen
A fool and his money are parted

Mdailey – 05/19/09

Congressional Earmarks

The government complains about earmarks - the president against congressional earmarks and congress against presidential earmarks. Both are right and both are wrong. Here are two views i put to poetry.

During his final State of the Union address, Bush announced that he would veto all future appropriations bills that do not cut in half the number and cost of earmarks. He also issued an executive order on Tuesday directing federal agencies to ignore all future earmark requests that are placed into committee reports and not brought to a vote.


Executive Order – No Earmarks

Bush – he is wily. Bush - he is wise.
Bush – he is on to those earmarking guys
In his State of the Union he said (and I note)
They’re putting in things without getting a vote
We’re funding studies on nits, nats and gnomes
And forgetting about all those folks without homes
We are funding pet projects that help select few
And telling the homeless they’ll have to make do
Now in his last years he’s just had his fill
I mean 9000 earmarks worth 7 plus Bil
But Congress ain’t buying his pious remarks
The kettle is black – the tunnel is dark
His records atrocious with earmarks galore
If we had 9,000 he probably had more
We can’t believe that he has the brass
To stand up and question the laws that we pass
But the guy does have brass, you’ll have to give credit
He stood up to Congress on TV and said it
You can ignore all the future earmarks
If they weren’t voted on, then we won’t build the parks
We won’t fund that study on endangered species
We won’t do research on the gas in cow feces
West Virginia won’t get a world class this or thats
And Alaska won’t study a fix for their gnats

But Congress by nature is certainly bound
To find a way under - over - around
So that maybe by next year when Democrats rule
Congress is back with their earmarking tool

Mdailey
01/30/08
=============

Iowa Earmark

The 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Bill that President Obama recently signed includes an earmark of $1.8 million for the Agriculture Department's Swine Odor and Manure Management Research Center in Ames, Iowa, whose "multidisciplinary research teams generate and integrate knowledge for evaluation and development of new management practices that minimize nutrient excretion, malodorous emissions, and the release of pathogens into the environment as well as have a positive impact on livestock health."

Something stinks in Iowa and it’s not just the cows and swine
It’s this earmark for Ames Iowa that quickly comes to mind
When the common man’s life savings are quickly losing ground
With banks and businesses failing and finally closing down
And unemployment statistics are surely on the rise
We are spending millions (1.8) to study some cow pies
Just to minimize excretions and malodorous emissions
And the release of pathogens in the air and the herds healthy conditions
With bail outs in the billions, millions ain’t that much
But to counter Mother Nature through research is out of touch
I’d rather spend the millions (and I guess it’s just my quirk)
Shoring up the businesses and getting folks back to work

You see, I grew up in the mid-west; grandpa worked at the Stockyard Bank
And when I’d go to visit, I’d complain about the ‘stank’
And Grandpa’d put his arm around me and said let tell you Sunny
That smell is what the farmers call the real smell of money
While the smell is still obnoxious I understood just what he meant
The smell was the smell of hard work, and hard work pays the rent
Let’s not worry about excretions and smells that hit our nose
That’s just the way God planned it; that’s just the way it goes
Let Mother Nature handle this as she has throughout our past
And cows and pigs and all livestock passively pass gas

Mdailey
03/23/09

Hilary Clinton

I wrote a number of poems on Mrs Clinton during the campaign. i am not sure i ever trusted her or Bill for that matter.

CLINTON SUPPORT


Hill and her Bubba say “I’ve got your back”
To Obama and all of the Democrat pack
But their rousing endorsement just seems to lack
Commitment from Bill on the floor

He’s not starting fires – just stirring ember
About what he thinks will occur in November
If Barack is the candidate right now here in Denver
And folks we have seen this before

McGovern told Eagleton back in 72
One hundred and ten percent is what I’ll give you
Together we’ll make all of your dreams come true
Then he told him to simply drop dead

And what about Teddy in the 80 campaign
He didn’t want Carter to win once again
When that didn’t work, he caused Carter such pain
And that’s what the Democrats dread

The Clintons – strange bedfellows in the Democrat’s bed
Are always about getting themselves ahead
And it doesn’t matter what they have said
Or who they proclaim they are for

But there’ll be no sign of a frontal attack
They’ll make believe they are part of the pack
But Obama’d be smart to watch his own back
For Clinton’s a real carnivore.

Mdailey
08/27/08
==============

I’ve got a thing for Ms Clinton


You’ve got a thing for Obama
You sing of a mighty big crush
But I’ve got a thing for Ms. Clinton
And this thing is just making me gush

Chorus
Yea I’ve got a thing for Ms. Clinton
She’s hot – what a fox
And its loving I’m hintin’
Yea, I’ve got a thing for Ms. Clinton

Obama – he’s young and good looking
His politics off to my right
But Ms. Clinton – now she’s got it cooking
And I’m eating there most every night

Chorus

Obama – well he’s just a child
Who hasn’t seen much of this world
But Ms. Clinton – now she’ll drive you wild
Once her old flags come unfurled

Chorus

Minority votes – yea he’ll get some
But my Lady gets some of that too
Her personal life may upset some
But me – well I’ve thought it all through

Chorus

So when you get to the election
Think over these things that I wrote
There’s Obama and then there’s perfection
Ms. Clinton, she’s getting my vote!

Chorus
Mdailey
02/22/08
============
Hillary, Hillary

Hillary, Hillary, what have you done?
You’ve hinted the campaign could end with a gun
And that’s the main reason you continue to run!
Hillary, Hillary, what have you done?

Hillary, Hillary, what did you say?
Bringing up Bobby’s fateful June day
Thinking this campaign could go the same way!
Hillary, Hillary, what did you say?

Hillary, Hillary, what should we do?
Forgave you your past – forgive this one too?
Let bygones be bygones - give the devil her due?
Hillary, Hillary, what should we do?

Hillary, Hillary, shame on you, shame!
Your apology never even claimed blame
You didn’t mention your victim’s name
Hillary, Hillary, shame on you, shame!

Hillary, Hillary, what happens now?
Another excuse with no exit bow
How much more can we take, I mean Holy Cow!
Hillary, Hillary, what happens now?

Mdailey
05/24/08