Oops!

As most of you probably know, I have a fiction blog as well as this blog. The goal of the fiction blog is simply to entertain. You also know from reading this blog that I have some very strong political views. Lately my frustration over what the Republican Party is doing has made me so angry that it was difficult to think of anything else. I simply cannot believe that the voters are not up in arms over the tactics and dark world the Republicans want to create. This anger and frustration has prompted me to write several political pieces that I posted on my fiction blog. The last of those was posted last week. It was inspired by the brilliant comic strip, Pogo, and as in the comic strip I was thinking of animal characters. In re-reading it I discovered that it was a bit brutal. Apparently others had the same opinion. I did not receive any comments about it, but all the links people had formed to my fiction blog suddenly disappeared. I must admit that posting that satire on my fiction blog was bad manners because it is not what people expect when they visit that Blog. I do not know if the people deleting links to that blog did so because they were offended by my bad manners or because they are afraid of the right wing. Regardless of their motives I am strongly considering deleting some of the political things from that blog. That is why I am now posting the satire inspired by Pogo on this blog. It is as follows:

Oligopolmy Swamp

I recently looked up the Pogo comic strip by Walt Kelly. It was comic strip I greatly enjoyed in years past. The characters and satires were wonderful. The following is my attempt to honor Mr. Kelly’s work by writing something similar, but without the art work and, I must admit, without the brilliance. Hey, we all have to give up something in this economy.

“Oligopolmy Swamp,” the name always brought a smile to the faces of the more prominent citizens there. The only store in the swamp was the Shop ‘n Buy Mart owned by Daddy Swampbucks. Daddy Swampbucks also owned the Crabapple Pie Company, which made the most popular pies sold at his store. The pies were reasonably priced because the little old ladies working at the Crabapple Apple Pie Company were paid in ready to fry opossum legs and the hair nets the ladies had to wear on the job.

It was a cold day by swamp standards. Thick black smoke, caused by burning Cockbros Swamp Moss in stoves made by Cockbros Energy, drifted throughout the swamp. Much of that smoke came from the stovepipe protruding through the tin roof of the Shop ‘n Buy Mart.

Warming him self next to the moss burning stove at the Shop ‘n Buy was Apol Grumpypaws. A blinding flash lit up the store and tossed Apol’s shadow across the room. Seeing his shadow thrown about in such an abrupt manner frightened him.

“Damn! What was Dat?” he asked.

“It’s just the Cockbros dryin’ the moss,” Daddy Swampbucks replied.

“Did one of dere dryin’ ovens blow up?”

“No, they decided the ovens take too long to dry the moss. They’re now dryin’ it by settin’ off the clouds of swamp gas.”

“But dem clouds shift with de wind. How do dey know where da flash of fire’s gonna go?”

“It don’t matter. There’s moss growin’ everywhere.”

“Dere’s also folks livin’ everywhere.”

“Wet as it is here they’ll just get singed a bit. Besides, swamp gas is really bad for you. The Cockbros think the government will even subsidize them for gettin’ rid of it.”

This is when Hog Holler entered the store.

“Say, I just seen ol’ Skunkbutt Doublespeak go inta dat odd, round buildin’.”

“That’s the Cockbros’ new stink tank,” Daddy Swampbucks said.

“Stink tank you say?”

“Yeah, the Cockbros want ‘ol Skunkbutt to convince folks that them tea dunkers are doin’ the right thing if they shut down the government in order to keep it from protectin’ lady parts and the environment.”

“Don’t sound too smart to me,” Apol said.

“You don’t have to be smart iffen you can buy smarts.”

“And rich folks can buy anything dey wants from de government now dat’ city-sons been un-knighted,” Hog Holler said.

Apol looked annoyed. “Dis conversation’s meanderin’ like moss smoke. How’er dem Cockbros gonna buy government subsidizin’ for clearin’ out de swamp gas if de government ain’t open for business?”

Apol’s question went unanswered because there was another blinding flash of fire. Hog Holler looked out the window. He then turned to Apol, who was checking to see if his shadow had returned to its proper place.

“Looks like de Cockbros just burnt de bark off de wall of your log cabin, Apol.”

“Damn it! Dat means I might have to paint de place.”

Daddy Swampbucks looked out the window. He clearly saw how he could profit from what the Cockbros were doing.

“Only the front wall, and I got some dandy paint I can sell you. Iffen you want to buy enough to paint the whole cabin I’ll even throw in a piece of Crabapple pie.”