by Roger White
“Oh, I used to be disgusted,
And now I try to be amused…”
—Elvis Costello
“Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes.”
—Commander Buck Murdock, Airplane II, The Sequel
Floating far above the clouds somewhere over the Great Plains, a gargantuan monolithic door composed of a mysterious synthetic skin slides silently up, and the great silver 
mothership swallows a lozenge-shaped shuttlecraft.
Reconnaissance Specialist Zorbum 9Smith exits the shuttlecraft and immediately reports to Captain Vnnn-pu. After the traditional Andromedan earlobe-sniffing ceremony of greeting, Specialist 9Smith readies for the debriefing.
“9Smith,” Captain Vnnn-pu mindmelds, “your mission was to observe this planet’s most advanced, most powerful nation and report on your impressions of its culture. What are your findings?”
“Honored Captain, if you would open your mind to Subchannel Y, I have prepared a Mental PowerPoint presentation,” 9Smith melds. “I believe you will be most intrigued, as was I. Please disregard those first two slides. That is me at a ritualistic labor ceremony of the Western world.”
“What is this ritualistic labor ceremony called?”
“The happy hour,” 9Smith reports. “Work force representatives convene at small, local shrines to partake of what I can only presume are holy elixirs, plot overthrow of their labor overlords, and perform pre-mating functions with work force representatives of the opposite sex.”
“I see. The gyrations are quite peculiar. And what is that device on your subcranium?”
“That is termed a lamp shade,” 9Smith melds, referring to his notes. “Apparently, this is a sacred crown worn during the advanced stages of the happy hour ceremony.”
“Good.” Captain Vnnn-pu nods, mentally smiling. “You must have gained their trust to be honored so. And your report?”
“This is a land of many ironies, Captain. And I know how a good irony sets your drachio-chords to vibrating.”
“Yes, yes. Juicy irony.”
“Observe your mindscreen, Captain. These are just a few examples:
“In this culture, personal vehicles that would save the most currency for drivers—vehicles the earthlings have finally invented to run without using deceased dinosaur fluids—are priced out of reach for those drivers who would need the currency savings the most.”
“Most odd,” Captain Vnnn-pu notes.
“It becomes worse,” 9Smith melds. “Domestic energy alternatives, such as solar panels, energy-efficient windows and doors, and appliances that cost the least currency to operate—and even longer-lasting, currency-saving light-producing modules—are the very things the poor among this society cannot afford.”
Captain Vnnn-pu mentally sighs. “Continue.”
“It seems that humans who operate their personal vehicles the fastest on earth streets and highways are generally the humans least qualified to drive at any speed.
“Further, the media with the most power to influence humans in this culture—movies and television—and would therefore obviously hold themselves to the highest standards of storytelling, worthwhile entertainment, and adherence to the principle of doing the most good for the most people, instead regularly produce such products as ‘Booty Call,’ ‘Dude, Where’s My Car?’, ‘Deuce Bigalow,’ ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians,’ and ‘The Jerry Springer Show,’ to name just a few.”
Captain Vnnn-pu shudders, his drachio-chords humming.
“Also, professions that have the potential to make the most positive impact on cultural progress—such as teaching—are consistently near the bottom of the human pay scale, while those who play children’s games for a living make millions of earth dollars per year.”
“Astounding.”
“What’s more, these fully grown children-men are idolized and revered by most everyone in the society—namely the males—despite the children-men’s propensity to disregard the society’s laws and morés, injure one another and themselves with firearms, ingest illegal 
performance-enhancing substances, and generally behave like preteen humans.”
“I must sit,” Captain Vnnn-pu admits. “My drachio-chords. Go on.”
“Those humans with the most varied and abundant life experiences, who would be revered and honored by any thinking society—the elderly—are by and large relegated to the shadows, often to die alone, in poverty, or in dormitory-like detention centers known as care facilities.
“Get this, the humans who vie for public office are most interesting. These humans claim to have ‘the average Joe’s values at heart,’ yet they are generally among the most very wealthy and privileged among them. From my observation, the average human citizen wouldn’t have anywhere near the financial means, the family pedigree, the television actor’s visage, or the innate ability to switch sentiments on a whim as do these humans. A most perplexing and frightening breed.”
“Who are these humans?”
“They call them politicians, Captain. A most untrustworthy type, yet the humans bestow upon them the most power of all, it seems.”
“And this ‘average Joe?’”
Specialist 9Smith mentally shakes his subcranium. “Apparently, not the brightest of creatures.”
“Please, the drachio-chords.”
“Lieutenant Kranki-5, please get the captain a container of neep juice.”
“Is there more?”
“Oh, much, much more, Captain. I will relate only a few, however. This one possibly intrigues me the most. The very nature of accruing wealth is quite obviously tipped in the favor of the already-wealthy humans.”
“What is wealth again, 9Smith?”
“The accumulation of personal currency. Unlike Andromeda, sir, where every citizen is guaranteed equal access to life necessities, here one must earn and trade currency to ensure continued sustenance, care, and shelter.”
“Most curious.”
“It is a true subcranium-scratcher: The cycle of wealth begetting wealth and poverty begetting poverty appears solid and unshakeable. For the large part, it appears the wealthy human tribes will always be the wealthy, and the same with the poor humans. Any real attempt at wealth-sharing appears lacking.
“Also, human corporate leaders—bosses, they are called. In companies large or small, these are the very humans who have no need to park closest to the building because no one apparently cares if they are tardy. Yet, oddly, these are the humans with the most convenient vehicle parking spots.”
“Bosses, eh? Perhaps bosses cannot walk so well.”
“I do not know. But in a related observation, these bosses many times are given personal vehicles free of charge, when their ability to purchase such vehicles is many times greater than those humans who appear to work longer hours and park much farther away.
“Continuing, humans have more work-saving devices and more automated systems than ever in their history, yet this generation seems destined to work many more years of their lives than several generations previous.”
“And why is this?”
“It all has something to do with some dreadful collision.”
“Collision?”
Specialist 9Smith refers to his notes. “Yes, a terrible crash on, let’s see here, Wall Street.”
“Strange. Proceed.”
“More is known now among humans about health and nutrition for young humans, and more affordable access to quality choices for human children is available to more families than at any other time in human history, yet childhood obesity and diabetes appear to be at epidemic proportions—and human childhood hunger remains a problem.
“Additionally, with the advent of cable and satellite, humans now have thousands of television wavelengths available for viewing every night, yet when one mindmelds with the 
humans, it appears the choices of quality programs are nowhere near as desirable as, say, A.D. 1962—when one could choose from among “The Andy Griffith Show,” “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” “Gunsmoke,” or “The Ed Sullivan Show” from among the three network channels the humans had then.”
“Andy Griffith. Was he a great leader?”
“On the local level, yes, Captain. Apparently an outstanding officer of the law.”
“Please, no more, 9Smith, no more. Anything positive to report?”
“Well, yes. One of the culture’s leaders here announced that humans may soon be able to keep their shoes on when they arrive at air travel centers.”
“Shoes?” Captain Vnnn-pu queries. “Why on Andromeda would the humans need to take off their shoes at air travel centers in the first place?”
“It’s a long story, Captain.”
Roger White is a freelance writer living in Austin, Texas, with his lovely wife, two precocious daughters, a very fat daschund, and a self-absorbed cat. For further adventures, visit oldspouse.wordpress.com.
oldspouse 
Lit Lovers Rejoice! Sir Archie Ferndoodle Rides Again.
28 Marby Roger White
Fellow time/space voyagers and other occasional devotees of “This Old Blouse,” I am more tickled than a coffee can full of dung beetles to announce the return of my dear friend, back-porch expectorational master, and legendary raconteur of the obsequious and purulent, Sir Archie Ferndoodle (applause, applause, applause).
Sir Archie has a rare treat for us in this installment. In his inimitable style, the Fernman has taken several classic tunes from the songbook of popular culture and rendered them as his own, with updated, shall we say, acerbic lyrics so pertinent to today’s manic milieu. Or something.
Disclaimer: The Spouseman—and the newspaper/periodical/bathroom wall compendium in which this diatribe appears—doesn’t necessarily agree with the views and opinions of Sir Archie. He is his own woman, and we bear no responsibility or legal burden for his espousings. So there.
With this heartfelt caveat (and sincere attempt to head off legal action), I give you Sir Archie’s renderings. By the way, it’s important to keep the tune of Archie’s specific song choice in your head for these to make any sense whatsoever. If that is, indeed, possible. So. Archie’s first offering is called “Ivanka in the White House”:
Ivanka in the White House
(to the tune of “Drive My Car” by The Beatles)
(verse 1)
“I asked my girl where she wanted to be,
In New York City or in D.C.,
She said Daddy, I wanna be near you,
In the White House with Jared the Jew.”
(chorus)
“Ivanka, you can have the West Wing,
We’ll set you up with all of your bling,
You can sell your furs and your rings,
And Dad will tweet for you.”
(verse 2)
“Barron’s got a floor to himself,
With a team of counselors for his mental health,
But Melania and I aren’t sharin’ a bed,
So you could move in with me instead.”
(chorus)
“Ivanka, you can have the West Wing,
Or you-know-where, I won’t say a thing,
Damn, it’s so good to be the king,
And Putin, I owe you.”
“Tweet, tweet n tweet, tweet, yeah!”
Um, ok. For his second favoring, the Fernman has rendered this ditty entitled “Perry in Charge”:
Perry in Charge
(to the tune of Tom Jones’ “She’s a Lady”)
(verse 1)
“Well, I’m the Energy Top Dude,
And now solar power’s screwed ’cause oil’s my cash cow,
Yeah, I ran for president,
I told Donald to get bent, but that’s all past now.”
(chorus)
“I’m Rick Perry, woah, woah, woah,
I’m Rick Perry,
Those rumors are false, ’cause I’m no fairy,
And I’m towin’ the Trump line.”
(verse 2)
“Well, I’m not sure what I do,
But I think I make the rules on nukular weapons,
But this can’t be as hard
As Dancing with the Stars, man, I was steppin’,”
(chorus)
“I’m Rick Perry, woah, woah, woah,
I’m Rick Perry,
Renewable power’s our adversary,
Let’s build that pipeline.”
And last, and surely least, Ferndude gives us “Lysergic Wood,” which he says is his ode to psychedelic substances:
Lysergic Wood, An Ode to LSD
(to the tune of The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood”)
(verse 1)
“I once ate a squirrel,
Or should I say the squirrel ate me,
He showed me his brain,
We baked it into a nice quiche lorraine.”
(chorus)
“We smoked purple crayons,
As the walls melted into the sea,
Then Timothy Leary appeared
And said why’d you take three?”
(verse 2)
“I played canasta with Jesus,
His Holiness beat me two games out of threezus,
Then me and the squirrel flew to Mars,
But squirrel wasn’t squirrel, he was Pat Benatar.”
(chorus)
“We smoked purple crayons
As robots made love to the cow,
Then Hunter S. Thompson said man you’re in big trouble now.”
(verse 3)
“And when I awoke,
I was in a cell with a large man named Mel.
He kept pinching my ass,
Dear God from now on, I’m sticking with grass.”
Roger White Sir Archie Ferndoodle holds an associate’s degree in comparative limerick studies from the University of Southern Panama’s Correspondence College. Sir Archie’s classics include “Oh, Staff Sergeant, My Staff Sergeant!,” “Why Is the Man Always from Nantucket?,” and perhaps his greatest epic, “The Squirrels Stopped Talking to Me Today,” For further adventures, visit oldspouse.wordpress.com.
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