By

 

James Bredin

 

The UN had a new scandal just about every second day.

Dark details put in the shredder in the usual way,  

Covered their telltale tracks by deleting all the facts,

Threw out the hard drives too and then sat back and relaxed.

 

Designed to keep the peace but the UN loved a little war,

But call them peacekeeping amid battles, bullets, guts and gore,

Wall to wall dictators too, where they came to shout and strut their stuff,

Show the whole world how they can huff and puff and bluff.

 

And that Saddam oil-for-food scandal never occurred,

The thought of dishonesty at the UN should be absurd,

International investigators found nothing worth while,

It was all gone or it was hidden in their usual style.

 

They call it our collective failure -- that trouble over there,

All that killing and failed states in Africa and elsewhere,

We are responsible for it all and therefore we should pay,

As they commit genocide almost every night and day.

 

And that million people killed in Rwanda was our fault too,

Our peacekeepers couldn’t stop the killers and couldn’t subdue,

But the UN kept its good name for those who still believed,

Or those who thought that this time they were not being deceived.

 

Friday, January 26, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

By

 

James Bredin

 

For five minutes every five years we get a chance to change,

Rearrange our pompous politicians, who may be deranged,

But we can’t change the political system of first-past-the-post,

As we watch those erroneously elected celebrate and boast.

 

Canadians don’t realize the problems of first-past-the-post,

Think it’s democracy if elected candidate wins with the most,

But with more than two candidates and combined loosers have more,

As majority try to make sense of the obscure final score.

 

Because they are not represented by the one who was elected,

Their votes were split among the several others they selected,

The system should be changed to proportional representation,

So the votes of the  majority are not lost in frustration.

 

Lots of wasted time and votes as though given away for free,

It should be according to the voters’ preferences -- one, two, three,

Press a button and a computer will say who is elected,

Closer to democracy and what everyone expected.

 

Proportional representation, like referendums and recall,

Not much thought about in Canadian politics at all,

Where lawyers say that Trudeau’s Charter for “EVERYONE” is okay,

Incoming refugees and terrorists all claiming rights to stay.

 

Sunday, January 21, 2007

 

 

 

 

My old nemesis

 

By

 

James Bredin

 

Met my aged nemesis at a pensioners meeting today,

Hatred times ten; hidden emotions still seething away,

Poetic justice as he, in pain, bent over his walker, sore,

He won old battles long ago but now may have lost the war.

 

Our eyes met for a micro second as he scanned the hall,

Remembered his rank arrogance when our backs were to the wall,

He knew and I knew that the cards had long since changed,

The urge to do or say something sarcastic could be arranged.

 

But the urge to demonstrate my revenge had to be curbed,

He would win the game of life if I showed I was disturbed,

Because in life, like chess, certain system rules have to be obeyed,

Both the winners and the loosers know who lost when they played.

 

I just hope he knew the hatred and detestation that filled the air,

As he left early, quickly, quietly, pushed his walker in despair,

A wounded opponent in the game of life from long ago,

No welcome at the pensioners meeting on a quid pro quo.

 

Saturday, January 20, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

By

 

James Bredin

 

Should we believe overeducated bilingual politicians?

Politically correct, appointed to sit on commissions,

Miserable minister or commissioner who swears he is right,

Wants our UN peacekeepers in Africa to find someone to fight.

 

Went down to the UN to impress all those in the Third World,

Was invited to tour the sub-Saharan underworld,

Taxpayers’ money of course and talk of socialist conditions,

Just like Lenin or Stalin in their true communist traditions.

 

Full of their own importance and Trudeau’s Charter of Rights,

Written for all terrorists, feminists and abortionists in sight,

Maybe visit Castro and sing the International once more,

Just because Trudeau and his crowd did it all once before.

 

They would like to raise public awareness for their communist cause,

Never use those words though; it might dampen the applause,

Where referendums or recall of politicians are not allowed,

Nor proportional representation by that Ottawa crowd.

 

 

 

Wednesday, January 17, 2007