Chiapas, Tabasco, Palenque and other points way South

I just returned from San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas Mexico and the neighboring states of Michoacan and Tabasco. The area is occupied by over 4 million inhabitants and many of them are of the regions' indigenous people, decendents of both the Mayan, Aztec and others, such as the present day Zapatistas.

Traveling with a group of 9 sponsored by The Center for Global Justice out of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. https://www.globaljusticecenter.org Arrangements had been made for us to visit a variety of towns as well as social organizations whose goals were the preservation and protection of the rights of these people. Many of these people still speak only their native tongues and are poorly educated; we were told there were 33 original languages and dialects.

Chiapas is the southernmost state in Mexico, and borders Guatemala. Some of these indigenous areas have been granted autonomy and have their own laws and answer to their own legal systems. Polygamy is an accepted practice in some areas and the problems of alcohol and spousal abuse are of particular concern. We visited the villages of Chamula and Zincantan where the catholic churches have yielded to local customs and the communities are autonomous.

We also visited Oventic which is a Zapatista community where a hoped for meeting and tour was declined due to other commitments by the officials, but a few days later we had an in depth tour of an impressive Zapatista vocational school. The Zapatista, the best known group, are well organized and committed to their autonomy.

Native women are pregnant early in life and the exponential population growth appears to make the possibility of social services and sustained gain difficult. The crowded population has the attendant problem and complications of overpopulation; i.e. slums, drug abuse, lack of services, poverty, pressures, demands on the environment, etc.

At 7200 ft in San Cristobal, tourism contributes substantially to the economy and the markets and street vendors offer a large variety of beautiful hand woven local fabrics. Street vendors are all around, a stop at a sidewalk cafe for coffee will yield a bevy of shoe shine boys, trinket girls, garment peddling women, etc.

I saw a lot of Gringo heavy hippy types, dreadlocks, some clean, some filthy, the works, i wondered where they had gone as I had not seen many in years. 

The entire area is, of course, supported by the agricultural products and agriculture is in trouble in Mexico due to a variety of factors. If the United States reneges on its’ 1994 NAFTA commitment, things could get worse long before they get better. Mexican agriculture has made great changes since NAFTA, such as; since U.S. government subsidized corn (think ethanol) has become cheaper for them to import rather then grow their own, they have changed to other crops such as palm oil from palm trees which in a few years are abandoned as their productive life is over after about 20 years. Subsistence farmers raise family crops of basics, corn, beans= the total protein.

In Morelia, my friends Clay and Dorian Slate told me how planting and production of avocado (nicknamed "oro verde" or "green gold" by locals) trees has replaced traditional crops. As a result market prices are dropping due to increased production as young orchards start to come into production. I have noticed the drop in avocado prices in Dallas for some time.

There are local organizations such as CIDECI-UNITIERRA non profit http://seminarioscideci.org and SIPAZ http://www.sipaz.org working to promote “fair trade” practices to protect the native farmer from middle man exploitation as well as designs by Canadian mining interests on their farms as well as educate the farmer in proper ag practices. If minerals are found on private property they are considered the property of the state to be dealt with as behooves the government and properties can be confiscated with compensation should the government decide to.

The burning of fields continues on a large scale in spite of the environmental hazard, and yes, global warming/climate change is causing concern with changing rain fall patterns. Underground water tables are being reduced greatly in some areas. Areas in Mexico City specifically have had annual drops in surface elevation of up to 9”, sinking due to aquifer draining. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/17/world/americas/mexico-city-sinking.html?_r=0  There are large rivers in Chiapas/Tabasco/VeraCruz drainage area and a great amount of navigable water with aquaculture enterprises such as tilapia.

As you can see, it gets complicated. 

After leaving San Cristobol, i traveled overland through the mountains and jungles to the ancient city of Palenque, capping the trip with visits to Mayan pyramids and palaces retrieved from the jungles. Then a visit to and outdoor museum in VillaHermosa of an even more ancient civilization, the Olmec people, Residents of the Yucatan long before the birth of Christ. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec                                       

After my visit to Ancient Persia last year, the coincidence of visiting an equally ancient unknown civilization on the other side of the world this year, has opened new areas of curiosity and research for me to explore. Don’t be surprised if the next time we meet i have a few tidbits of trivia for you on the subject.

jussmartenuf

Thank goodness I don’t need to be a genius.

Travel to Iran: Ripe For The Picking

I recently returned from having spent 12 nights and 13 days in Iran.

That makes me an authority  on the subject since so few living Americans have ever done so.
I could sit down with Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and at least 98 if not 100% of congress and explain why and how things are as they are.

Many would not want to believe me because they have a great deal of vested power in their political positions they want to protect and have villainized Iran to the point of wanting war with them.

There is a strong undercurrent of hate in this country that is focused on religions other than Christian as being evil. Some of the politicians use this hatred as a focusing point to hold power. Hitler used the Jews the same way. He was said to have said something to the effect that had he not had the Jews he would have had to invent them.

This hatred, along with a double dose of ignorance, effects and affects itself in our foreign policy.
We get a lot of hatred in return. Hatred is an emotion, not a cognitive process.

In psychology there is a phenomenon known as the Karpman Triangle and this triangle consists of three parts. One is the Persecutor one is the Victim and one is the Rescuer.  A persecutor does not have to be a person, it can be a place or a thing but we need one for there to be a victim.

Now that we have a victim we need a rescuer. That is the weakest position to be in, the one with most consequences to pay.

Games don't have to be bad, but political games wind up that way, unless.....

A rule of the game is that games are played out of a state of awareness. People are unaware that they are in these games. A state of awareness in necessary to save yourself from the cruel game.

What goes on with Iran vs the western world goes back 2000 years before the United States with all its exceptionalism existed.

Religion plays a major role in all our lives whether we like it or not. The United States was founded on freedom of religion and also freedom from religion.

When i was a child in Sunday school i found myself stumped on how god could change Lott's wife to a pillar of salt for looking over her shoulder, yet in the alter above was a sign that said "God is Love".  This conundrum helped to free me from religious dogma and the bias, prejudice and arrogance that so often accompany it.

Everyone knows the bible and the koran were written by men, not by an unseen being. A human being wrote it and the bible is full metaphors and analogies. It is too difficult to think about mortality when everlasting life is the desire. Is it not possible that we came from eternity and we will return there?

Therefore religion is a powerful force in our society and our politics.

Politics, by the way, were first. The religions came along later and each had to blend in to gain strength in the established culture. And gradually it has come to theocracies in some places.

This is the world today, the game that is being played uses countries as players, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran the U.S. and assorted Allies.

You can only see all this if you step out of the game. Take your emotions out of it an become an observer.

There is no reason for Iran to like us, yet they do. We overthrew their democratically elected government in 1952 and installed a dictator, the Shah. A despot. A deal cut with the petroleum industry in both the U.K. and U.S. and our leaders, Eisenhower and Churchill.

We supported Iraq's invasion of Iran in 1980. We attacked out of trumped up fear and greed their neighbors both to the West and East, Iraq and Afghanistan and threaten Iran with war if they build a nuclear weapon to defend themselves.

Iran has signed a nuclear treaty with China, Russia, England, Germany, the European Union and the United States. Our current presidential choice is between people who want to tear it up or want to keep it. A simple decision if you are not eaten up with hate and fear, they are emotions and religion is emotional.

Hate and fear are what a lot of our politicians preach. Part of their gospel to sway the flock toward their vote for salvation, all under the banner of god.

Can you imagine an atheist getting a fair shake if running for office? I cannot.

Stop being afraid, stop being angry, they are emotions, not cognitive processes, and we become able to step out of the game and observe what is going on without the emotion.

It is time to step out of the game, use our heads and seek a lasting peace with Iran, the people there desire it, the Ayatollah will ultimately listen to the will of the people, in the meanwhile we need to give him reason to believe peace is possible. Peace with Iran is a low hanging fruit, we need to pick it.

We're the Sea Bees of the Navy

Today is an anniversary date. I guess everyday is, of a sort, but this one is special for me.
On April 1, 1945 the United States armed forces began the invasion of Okinawa.
Okinawa was the last major obstacle in the Pacific sweep of American forces in their battle against the Empire of Japan.
This was the largest amphibious invasion in the history of the world (Most folks think the Omaha beach D-Day invasion of France was the biggest, it was super big and also ran by the Sea Bees but Okinawa was the biggest). Okinawa was to be the staging point for the American invasion of the Japanese homeland. In Japan the population was being readied to fight to the death against the American invaders.
A giant armada of ships, planes and personnel gathered off shore and the logistics of the plan was to be handled by a newly organized unit of the navy called the Construction Battalions, or C.B.'s for short and Sea Bees for insignia. They had to get all those supplies of ammunition, food, medical supplies, and equipment to build airstrips, etc. ashore, right?

The "Can Do" people.
I was a 9 year old street kid in a small town in Kansas, Independence to be exact. A kid with an older and younger brother and a Mother all faithfully waiting for our Father and husband to return from the war. Last we had seen of Dad was when we put him on a train for the West coast. He was in full dress uniform and we were some proud. We had no idea where he was going beyond there, it was all secret. Loose lips sink ships.
I remember the day well, I also remember being gut afraid we would never see him again, but that was each our private secret.
Little did we know that he was among that armada of ships and men, just waiting to storm the beach along with thousands of other patriots.
And storm it they did and conquer they did as 82 days later enemy resistance ended. You don't know that you don't know Jack.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa
The Greatest Generation is what Tom Brokaw called them.
I am a product of that greatest generation and i am sick to tears of the belly aching, whining, stupid politicians and their ignoratnt followers who are in a constant stir about how terrible things are in my country.
This is the greatest country on the face of the earth, and when a politician lies and panders to his base that our country is not great or only a shadow of our past greatness, he or she can go straight to hell.
The constant lies and distortions of politicians that scream "be afraid, be very afraid, but stand behind me, i will protect you if you only vote for me" is repulsive. These people are not patriots, they are fear mongers, they are traitors. Traitors to the tradition of "Can Do" the Greatest Generation established.
So let me wrap it up with this: If all anyone can do is complain about our country, leave it. Go to someplace they think better and take their third rate politicians and negative crap with them.
America is already great.
Thank you my Sea Bee Dad, and thanks to all the others who gave whatever was necessary to make this great country what it is, a country where even low life lying politicians and pseudo patriots are free to speak their minds, even if they are dead wrong.

I'm Baaaaack And I Have Stuff to Tell You

Sorry to be so long but a lot has gone on and there is a lot to catch up on.

Since we usually carry on in a political bent sort of way and most of us are quite full of hearing about Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, i did not want to be redundant.

As usual the best Republican candidate (Kasich) no longer has a mathematical chance of garnering enough delegates before the convention in Cleveland so let's just skip on to the Dems.

But i need to talk about Bernie and Hillary as one of them is going to be our next president and we need to make an informed decision as who to pick.

There is no doubt both are the best qualified of the 4. Trump has very few qualifications outside of being over 35 and a natural born U.S. citizen (glad to get the citizen thing out of the way first thing).
As far as Cruz goes, he can get only radical right wing Republicans to vote for him, those who would not vote for Jesus if he came down from the cross and declared himself a Democrat, which of course would be his party of choice.

Everyone know why they hate Cruz immediately? Because it saves time.

Over most of the last three decades we have had a belly full of conspiracy theories about Hillary. That she was a criminal in the Whitewater investigation, yet she was exonerated. It was insinuated that she was responsible for the death of one of Bill's staff that committed suicide. That was totally debunked. Then the issue about Benghazi which has been cleared by a Republican committee itself, even though the balance of the Republicans choose to ignore the findings. And now the e-mail issue which has been under the microscope by the F.B.I. for some time and no decision yet.

But why bother, the shrill voices of the right have no kind word for a single soul that does not subscribe to their desire to kill social programs for the population.

Then we have Bernie. Steadfast, resolute.

Do you hear anyone else telling you "the system is rigged"? That is the truth. Wall street and the
You heard about the Carrier Air Conditioning factory that is closing and moving 1,400 jobs to Mexico didn't you? Be aware that is because Wall Street has profit numbers they have assigned to Carrier and they don't give a hoot that our jobs are moving out of country, they are promoting it, for profit.

So when you hear of how Wall Street invests in America, don't you believe it, it is exactly what they want you to think and Bernie is the only one telling you who the real villains are.

Get out and promote his cause, because it is your cause.

If you don't know that, you don't know Jack. And Jack is back.

America: Who Runs This Country?

Plagiarism abounds. All you have to do is take a hiatus for a while and someone tries to steal your thunder. I googled up my name and found someone else who picked it up, more than likely because it is unique, clever and says sooooo much. I guess it is not illegal for someone to name their child after me.

Anyway, I am still here and will ignore the plagiarist as i have no time for copy cats while the real deal is available.

The new political season is upon us, early as it is, the airwaves abound with Trump-isms and i am not about to down the man as he is a refreshing change in the hum-drum from the usual suspects. Just yesterday i saw where it is 168 or 186 days away from the first primary in Iowa, where this time last election cycle Michele Bachman and Rick Santorum were leading the polls, giving us a good indication of what the Iowa Republican Caucus represents in the way of reality.

But i want to talk about more serious stuff. I watched the first FOX debates along with 24 million other people, and yes The Donald did enhance my attention.

Trump with his Mensa Muse Rudi Giuliani

At this time he leads the polls followed closely by Doc Carson. Where are the true hawks? Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina bloviator,  has dwindled to last place and now has zero percent of the polls. How can that be? Maybe because he did not whine loud enough when they took down the Confederate Battle Flag after the slaughter of 9 South Carolina peaceful citizens? Rick Perry's donors have all rode off into the sunset and Gilmore (who?) has dropped off the chart.

But enough of the small talk. One thing that was common in the debates was that there was no talk of the main issues facing America's Middle and down classes. Of course they all wanted to help the common man by doing away with the Affordable Health Care act, watering down or even killing social security for our children and grandchildren, importing more foreign specialists rather than educating our own while sending anchor babies back to where their ancestors came from, increasing spending in order to send our young men and women to war with Iran all the while defunding government and ignoring our infrastructure, but beyond that they miss the point entirely. Correction; "miss the point entirely" should read "ignore the point intentionally".

The Donald told everyone how money buys favors in politics and anyone who does not understand that does not know jack. Billions can buy favors unlimited and this bunch of candidates is on the take big big time.

While Republicans, invoking the name of Reagan (not quite as much as the name of God yet more than Jesus), always say Washington is the problem and then trick voters into sending representatives to Washington who make sure it does not work properly, which makes it a self fulfilling prophecy.
To find the real problem is real easy: Follow The Money.

Multiple choice questions:

1. Who sends our jobs overseas? A. Government B. Corporations C. Disney cruise lines?

2. Who hides Trillions in overseas tax havens ?
A. Corporations B. Government C. Mitt Romney D. A great many of American "Industrialists"?

3. Who tries to buy elections in this country?
A. Sheldon Adelson B. Charles & David Koch C. Rupert Murdoch D. All the fore mentioned E. a burger flipper?

$30.3 Billion Oligarch Sheldon Adelson

3. Does money A. trickle down from Apple to its consumers or B.  trickle up to apple from its consumers? C. same question about Exxon, GE, J.P. Morgan, Citibank and more.

4. Who pays a higher percentage in taxes (Income + Payroll)? A. An independent house painter B. The National Football League C. a  Wall Street Billionaire?

5. Is Climate change A. a conspiracy of atheist scientists  B. an inconvenience to the hydrocarbon producers like the Koch brothers that Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma gets his money from? C. a signal to buy heavier wool clothing? D. A signal to buy lighter cotton clothing?

How you doing so far? Get my drift? This total bunch of losers hoping to run our economy do not even know what the problems are, so it is impossible for them to fix them. Failed policies repeated do not a winner make.

Does this give you a clue as to why Bernie Sanders is drawing standing room only crowds everywhere he speaks?

You don't have to be real smart to answer the above, you have to be jussmartenuf,  like me.

I told you i would be back and i am. Watch for my next epistle,  so you can say "you know jack".

WHOA!

i read the news today, oh boy!

It is really hard to make something important interesting, then all of a sudden something happens to change that.

Justice Clarence Thomas

The supremes really surprised me. i take that back. Only one of them. Chief Justice John Roberts proving he was jussmartenuf by siding with the four other sensible justices was a surprise. Roberts was an appointee of George W. Bush and i expected him to vote against this mostly Democratic legislation.

Justice Anthony Kennedy was a bit of a toss up, but he went hard right, after all he was appointed by Reagan and thinks corporations are human beings.

Justice Antonin Scalia was not in doubt, he voted to make George W. Bush president by cutting off the recount of voting in Florida in 2000 while Gore was ahead overall in the 50 states by more then half a million votes. He is a registered Republican who accepted an offer from the shrill Michele Bachman to speak to Tea Party new comers in congress and was a duck hunting buddy of Dick Cheney. No surprises there.

We all knew well in advance what Clarence Thomas was going to do, he was going to vote exactly as his wife "Ginnie" instructed him to do if he knew what was good for him and if he wanted dinner on the table, etcetera. After Clarence found out his moves were not cool enough for Anita Hill and wound up with "Ginnie" the die was cast.

You remember Ginnie, she is the jerk who had the audacity to call Anita Hill and ask her to apologize for not liking her hubbies vulgar advances. Click on the above links in case your memory need refreshing. Virginia Thomas is a product of the uber right wing nut faction of the Republican party. Her curriculum vitae includes stints as a consultant for former house leader and radical Tea Party spokesman Dick Armey. You remember Dick, he is the one who called  Gay congressman Barney Frank "Barney Fag" and then said it was just a mispronunciation. Barney said that was funny, no one ever referred to his mother as (Mrs.) Elsie Fag.

After her stint with the vulgar homophobe Armey, she moved on to the conservative "think tank" (bit of an oxymoron there) Heritage Foundation. You remember them, they are the ones who originally recommended the individual mandate that Romney used when he created "Romneycare" for the folks in Mass before he was against it for the rest of us. Then she became the head of the conservative lobbying group she dreamed up called Liberty Central. All of this and still Thomas would not recuse himself from the decision rendered today from the Supreme Court. This creep made it onto the supreme court by a vote of 48 against and 52 for. Some of the "fors" were misogynistic Democrats who preferred to believe the lies written about Anita Hill by David Brock, who was a conservative lackey who has since admitted he lied to support a right wing Murdoch conspiracy to ruin Hill and picture her as less than a lady. In atonement Brock has created the web site Media Matters, a site that exposes political lies and distortions.

But enough of hypocrisy and political double dealing.

Minutes after the decision was made public Mitt Romney made a 4 minute and 11 second address in which he used the term "Obamacare" 18 times. Now wouldn't you think anyone running for the Presidency would be smart enough to know that was not the name of the case involved? It is the Affordable Care Act, people. Affordable Care, key words that Romney hates because they have a nice ring to them. Romney also made a couple of very untrue statements, kinda like he was a Sarah Palin or Glen Beck.

Romney used the phrase "Obamacare" 18 times because much of his base stupidly hates our president and he wants to feed that hatred as he hopes it will help him get elected. If you don't know that you don't know jack.

Bottom line is this: the Roberts court today passed down a decision that is a God send for all Americans whether they realize it yet or not. Hopefully this is a stake in the heart of the heartless who wish to deny their fellow citizens healthcare, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The opponents of this bill will continue to waste precious time beating their gums about a done deal. Their main avenue of attack will be to say it raises taxes on the middle class and small business. It involves only businesses with over 50 employees who should already be covering their employees and gives those companies tax breaks for it. Also it involves individual responsibility which is usually a Republican talking point. Besides anyone who has insurance is not affected nor are those who cannot afford it.

Next we need to see that there is a medical community to support the care of all the newly insured. And regarding immigration, did you know there are almost 50,000 Indian doctors practicing in the U.S. now? But that is another story.

In the mean while we are on the right track, not perfect like single payer, but on the right track, and i will be back, trust me.

Blaze

Happy Memorial Day and God bless all those who have gone before us.

Certain things stand out in my memory. If anyone were to ask me what was my favorite movie it would be impossible to choose just one because there are soooo many really good ones that have been made.

From all those movies, there have been certain lines that have really stood out. All of us would probably agree that "make my day" or "I'll be back" are a couple of them.
One of my very favorite was from a film made in 1989 that starred Paul Newman as the flamboyant governor of Louisiana, Huey Long, and Lolita Davidovich as his sweetie, Blaze Starr.

As i remember it, Blaze was a young girl leaving home to make her way in the world as a stripper in New Orleans. Blaze sought the wisdom of her Mother before leaving and asked her if there was anything she could tell her that would help her along the way. Her mother told her "Blaze, Honey, never trust a man who says trust me".

Great line.

I seldom go the movies any more. Maybe 4 or 5 times a year. I went to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" several weeks ago and it was a winner, looking at contemporaries of mine dealing with the discontents of aging. Penelope Wilton in a supporting role should get an oscar.  But this is not to be a movie review.

As i mentioned in a previous post, i start most of my days before daylight with a large cup of French roast and my email. i get a lot of email. From friends and family of course, and a good bit of news reporting, every major newspaper in the world is available for reading. i usually spend little to no time on the stock market and sports, as i prefer world and national events, social issues.  Some of the websites are interactive so i can even throw in a comment now and then if i wish. If i am not careful i spend too much time reading people argue with each other, kind of a you said, no you said, fest. A bit Jerry Springer even. i could cliche you and say it breaks the monotony, but i have no monotony.

A lot of the comments are from people that are reasonable and thought provoking, but there also is a fringe element of anger and hatred that is exchanged that is remarkable. A lot of the articles are sometimes predictable; there are Tom Friedman, Robert Reich and Paul Krugman, then there are Erick Erickson, Charles Krauthammer and George Will. That pretty much covers left to right, but not the far far right. There are other brilliant writers outside of the mainstream, I delight in finding them. Mark Ames is one and i have a link for you after this bit of repulsive trivia.

The far far right or the fringe does a disservice to intelligent discourse. I don't want to have anything to do with people like Charles Worley, the Baptist Minister in North Carolina who last week said they should take all the lesbians and put them behind one fence and the "queers and homosexuals" behind another fence, and humanly drop food into them till they die off. You saw it. You heard it. Here it is if you can stomach it.  Worley sermon. (please use the printed link to connect to video as the one posted somehow was removed, probably by the source.)

Disgusting people like Worley are totally irretrievable, completely out of the main stream and will not change, don't waste time trying to communicate with them. They are the fringe right that always vote Republican and most Republicans cannot stand their hateful positions. After all, if you can't trust your preacher who can you trust. These people and anyone who really believes Obama is not a bona fide United States citizen are just too far stupid to communicate with. Don Trump wants you to trust him. George Will said Donald Trump is a "bloviating ignoramus with a very low IQ". You hit a home run on that one, George. Trump doesn't know Jack

You gotta be jussmartenuf. We all understand that nothing is free. It all has to be paid for. No free lunch unless you're buying drinks or rolling the dice. There is a great sum of money out there, enough to go around, but it doesn't and we all know why. A lot of folks can't see through the smokescreen put out by biased sources. Can we really trust the sources we gather from?

Money is basically made only three ways: 1. You work for it; you paint a house, you wait on customers, you go to your office every day and keep books, teach pathology or teach school, etc. 2. You put your money or others money to work; a 401K, investment in your own lawn service or lash salon, or gamble the stock market. 3. You make money off of people; you hire a salesperson who sells your products at a profit, you pay people to do work and create a profit for you. (Of course you can inherit it, but someone had to make it first.)

So let's visit a bit about an article by Mark Ames who i mentioned above. i think it is interesting and provocative to reasonable people of all political persuasion.  It is all about how the Russian economy was looted by the ruthless oligarchs that developed when the socialist system in Russia privatized. The looting of billions and the suffering and death of hundreds of millions was the result. It goes on to tell of oligarchs here in the US who are looting our system with no reprisal. These are leading pillars of industry. You will see the parallels to our society today, they are there, shadows in our system that need light shined on them. Who are the other oligarchs in our society? Read oligarch and come to your own conclusion.

May i say at this time, i have close friends and people that i admire who are of all political persuasions, but they are not of the radical fringe. Virtually all Democrats want fiscal responsibility same as Republicans. Heck, even the right wing Forbes states that Obama is the smallest government spender since Eisenhower, would you believe it, what with all the false information being spewed by ideologues. Who ya gonna trust?

Virtually all Republicans want all our citizens to have preventive and rehabilitative healthcare along with prosperity. But we cannot simply austere ourselves into prosperity. I think the Republican party has abandoned more than half of the Republicans that belong to it, or at least abandoned them on critical social and fiscal issues. Republicans themselves decry issues such as the personal freedoms many of their party wish to destroy. So my Republican friends, let me tell you what you can do about it.

Abandon the Republican Party, at least for now. To support it is to support the radical fringe that is so vile. The party is immobilized by the radical fringe that is so angry they cannot think clearly. Join the independents and Democrats in voting for Obama this November. You know he will listen to us and you know Grover Norquist will not. Let's put America back on the right track together. The oligarchs have us divided over issues that are red herrings. Together we can focus on the social issues like health care for all and fiscal issues. Corporations and the oligarchs who control them make billions and pay little or zero taxes. We all know that is a truth, many say so themselves. We can dump the members of congress of both parties who are oligarchic puppets.

But we must do this together, we're all in it together. Out of many, one. Think about it

I'll be back. Trust me.