The beginning of an end

Much change is going on these days in the USA, I think.

The end of governments (local, state, and federal) involvement in charity is coming to an end. My guess is during hard times the taxes we still pay for basic services, like police, fire, clean water, and waste water will bubble to the top of spending priorities. My guess is that is if it doesn't happen where you live, then it will be based upon the votes of those we elect for our future where we live.

Now this idea is not that complicated. If our taxes we pay only offer so much for our elected politicians to expend, just what is their priority. If it means I have to suffer to support some deadbeats, then I have a problem.

All this premise assumes we can still vote to influence our future. If that does not happen, by various means I know about, then maybe we are going to have a revolution, which is a painful process. I sure hope this does not happen.

What galls me, is that where I live on the Cumberland Plateau in east Tennessee, there is a whole class of humanity that now depends on living on the government dole of the last decades, either directly, or indirectly. And when I use the also local charity methods that are more tough love, they, the government dependents, still have choices that avoid tough love, and use them (like the once a month government check). Now that hacks me off, though that is just how it is around here.

Especially when they are so drugged up I have to hear one of my favorite old time movies in French because of their drugged induced boo boo. Even then they could not speak English...mumbling was the best this one fellow could do at 0200 (2 AM), and woke me up to boot to help him. He was one of my charity cases I booted out later. In the end, this fellow just does not want to go to work, like most of us have to do. This, I hate to report, does happen a lot around here. Like I said, I am a tough love kind of person.

Much change is coming...I hope. Why it had to get to this state is another story that will often be reported, I think, and later.

Maybe we have screwed the pooch?

I think most of us in new world America are doing OK. After all we have warmth and food, and public electricity to boot. Even the Kings and Queens of our European ancestors probably did not have it that good even when they were at the top of their food chain.

Now I am beginning to wonder about the classical dilemma of democracy in America. It is when the have nots can vote themselves benefits from the haves, then we are in a pickle.

Here's why I think about this. I, by my personality, believe in and do local charity. So do my local county and state governments, of course using my tax money and the votes they get. I think I am more tough love than the local governments, but of course, that is just me.

What can be frustrating is dealing with those who are deadbeats, that is those who will compromise their integrity in order not to work for a living like most do, and still survive, and even breed. Whether they are born poor, or just choose to live that way, is of course an individual circumstance, in my view. There are just as many females like this as males, in my opinion, and where I live in east Tennessee.

What really galls me is the question I ask? Am I enabling their drug habits, which is my recent experience in east Tennessee. Have you ever heard the old time movie Jeremiah Johnson in French, for example at 2 AM, 0200 in 24 hour time. Or wake up with some drug induced idiot (mumbling to boot) failing to use the remote control for the DVD player, and wanting me to help him. Just so you know, I sent him packing to camp in the barn.

Now I have "consulted" with his local relatives, too. And they pretty much concur, and have done their best too.

Sometimes you just to have to let go, as much as it hurts me to say this. Send them packing I would say. Heck, they might even want to get minimum wage jobs just to survive.

I had a dream, too

I recently had a dream which I actually remember, which is unusual for me. Usually, the dream just disappears in front of me, and I cannot remember it, as much as I want to.

In this dream, I caught two yard invaders, who actually shot at me first. Well, I shot back, and actually killed one, I think. At least he did not shoot at me anymore. The other I deliberately aimed low when shooting back, and still hit him, or he faked it, I just don't know in this dream. Then I called the police. I was shooting a pistol (where it came from I do not know) in this dream, and I consider myself a pretty bad aim, though sometimes I guess in this dream I can hit home.

Two principles follow.

Tell this dream to local criminals and their friends, who I hope will blow the story up, and hopefully keep them away. After all I have about a square mile and a two house compound to protect in rural east Tennessee.

Wish for the best as how our today's elected politicians have their dreams, too. And dang, I sure hope I can vote in the future about who they are.

Are not we humans fickle?

Times do go on, as much as it hurts my feelings.

And much of the hoopla over the terrible earthquake in NE Japan is one thing that is a big deal. But don't leave out other human caused things, like the problems in the USA, or the probable other human caused things, like the bus accident in Brooklyn on I 95.

How about we brag about ourselves? Especially like how we react to a very bad earthquake in a rural part of Japan. Messing with public electricity is a big deal, for example. Most of us depend on it.

Having lived in Japan for about two years, I would rather be a USA citizen (new world) , than this really great group of people who deal with it in their way.

Our New World America

And it is not too shabby.
Like invest in America today, or it may be too late tomorrow.
This photo I think is from the Williamson County Square (TN) circa 1941.


I suppose most of the people in this picture are dead from old age.
Yet they did things seldom reported these days.
Now it is your choice these days.

Suppose public electricity goes out where you live

Forget all the arguments and politics of why. This post is imagining the impacts if it should happen.

If we don't have public electricity, then things will get pretty hard. After all, our USA was created without public electricity, but I suspect most who use public electricity don't want to go back to that standard of living. But, in turn, those who still live in rural areas may find many relatives from urban areas coming their way. Who knows.

I still use the USMC standard of marching 4 mph, including a 10 minute break every hour. That seems to work pretty good.

Most of us use public electricity routinely, like don't even think about it. Hence, our thermostats always work, and even when we turn on the switch for artificial light, that is expected. And even when we pump gas for our cars, of course all these pumps are electrically powered, too. All of this amazing stuff is less than 100 years old. What a country!

I assume any recovery will happen many ways, but of course there will be a priority system (that is what I would do). I assume the rural area I live in will be last on the totem pole. Hence I just want to use all the old time things, like making acorn coffee, which is pretty good, to me. Anyway, our USA ancestors did OK in their time, and I suspect we USA Americans will do OK, too. I also suspect many adults will not be happy, but most kids will survive just fine.

The unintended consequences of change

The status quo of the last 100 years is changing. The USA federal elections of 2006 and 2008 were good indicators, I think.

The rise of an American third party was obvious to many as a symptom of this coming change. Even where I live in East Tennessee, the often answer to who are you going to vote for President in 2008, was, I wish I had another choice.

Even now so many media people expect the general public to join or let a party represent them, as in somebody else can speak for them. But many just want another way to do things. This idea is a good example of the unintended consequences of change. Ah, the times they are a changin'. And all most people want is to hear the news. Opinions I can go to the local Hardees to listen to. Yep, would you like fries with that order is a joke I often hear about the change going on.

Even the deadbeats will learn about change. The era of the "government dole" will winnow as they have to either go to work for a living at minimum wage, or otherwise try differentiate themselves from the otherwise poor people. Even their relatives will probably give them the boot as the various governments sort out the differences between their role in charity, and the private sources in charity, whom I think are more tough love in their practices. Even where I live in East Tennessee, many present deadbeats think living in a room with common bathroom down the hall is a hardship. Boy, their lives are going to change when they have to live like so many other Americans already live today, and even work to upgrade that standard of living if they don't like it.

One other obvious idea is this change is mostly due to our present hard economic times. I think it is way past that, like the old status quo of having good intentions and voting money towards that intention is now going to be judged by another standard, like performance. Only the voters at all levels can decide that.

This begs another obvious question. Will the USA's Constitution survive in today's times, or will we revert to other ways of government, like royalty. I suspect that it will be the people's way of doing things. Lord hope it doesn't take another revolution, so popular until one has to go through one.

And all I can report is what I think and where I live. I expect there are many more unintended consequences where you live.

And I am a baby boomer, too.

It's fun getting older

First, the obvious downside. I will die before most people younger than me (I am age 62), or so I hope.

By the way, I can be an ungrateful wretch, too. About three years ago I died in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Cookeville, TN, and some well meaning people saved my life and my brain. Good on 'em. But now I have to go and die again, and I just hope the next time will be as quick and painless as the first time. Like I said, I can be an ungrateful wretch, too.

One thing that hurts my feelings is this. When young people ask me what was it like in the "old days", it is both an honest question and reflects my getting older. Even in the last few years I have lied about fighting a dinosaur raptor on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, and the young children then challenged me around the fire. I used as a reference the movie " Jurassic Park", and they all said what is that. Now in fairness, they all knew about the movie the next year. But right then I knew my time had come and gone.

So good luck being a parent in your own right. After all, you will do it your own way. And listening to your own ancestors will help you, I think.

Last getting older comment. I presently live in an 100 old time place on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. My mission statement to myself was to make it a living museum for my descendents, and provide them an opportunity for them to live like fellow Americans lived even 100 years ago. I suspect most adults don't like it, though kids will thrive. After all, just being able to turn on the thermostat is a pretty good deal. Plan B is to put in wood into the wood stove, which is an imposition to most these days, since one has to maintain the wood stove heat overnight.

To put things in one's perspective, I personally have lived in a canvas tent with a dirt floor in Korea up near the DMZ (for months) when it never got above freezing for over a month. Hence I think where I presently live is at least better, like more comforting, than fellow Americans who live in Nebraska, or New England, for example.

These are times to write home about

The times they are a changin'. This title of an old Bob Dylan song it seems has changed to less liberal themes than I think he intended when he recorded this song back in the early 1960's.

And I think change is constant. What I note is that the rate of change is increasing, and at a faster pace. Hence somewhere in the future, like 2050, when some young people then ask you what it was like in the old days, you are really in a good position to report what you observed and lived where you lived at the time.

At least that is my method. And using this method, I am worried about the next 5 to 10 years of change. The main good news, is that you can report it as you see it, either now or in 2050.

Here in the USA the obvious usual worry is about our budget (federal, state, and local). But I have another question that is seldom reported. What happens when inflation goes back up to like the 18% it was under Carter, and our pay remains frozen? Does that mean people won't loan us money to finance our federal way of life? And what happens let's say in 2025 when our young people then have to work 2 or 3 months a year just to pay the interest on our National debt?

I am age 62, and hopefully will check off the net before then. Call it avoidance if you will, which is pretty much what it is.

I am particularly galled by those who call for USA military action in the present Libyan debacle. When I hear people say the USA is the most powerful nation on the earth, which it still is I think, don't they know that the USA has much less military resources than, say 20 years ago. So when the USS Kearsarge, for example, sails towards Libya, the USA is losing an asset in the Afghan and Iraq areas, and that will hurt there. And these people have families, too. So dredging up another group of Americans to deploy there from the USA has impacts, too.

Like I said, these are times to write home about.

The status quo has changed. And we had a lot to do with it.

Voting with my pocket book

A recent light bulb went on, to me. Until this "light bulb" went on, I thought I had to assume and take about any insult and lack of service, including what I paid for.

Now I am beginning to think maybe many others think like me. Hence, in this idea, just vote with your pocket book and wait, and see what happens.

Let me provide some stories.

My local USPS (US Post Office) fellow would not walk the last 20 yards to deliver a package, which I paid to have delivered. I later found a note in my mailbox saying to hike or drive the 2 miles to the local post office, and back, just to get the widget I had ordered and paid for. Now, being a good local citizen who does not want to put anyone on report, and having bitched to local post master, he brought it out to me. Forget that UPS and Fedex and my local Mexican maid routinely do the same thing, like come the last 20 yards. When I later confronted the postmaster (in a nice way), he suggested there were union rules involved.

So I called Amazon.com to try put me a no USPS shipping list. I was told that was not possible.

So I no longer shop with both, or use their shipping methods. Now that is voting with my pocket book, to me.

Now it gets worse. I live in east Tennessee, but have land in the Nashville metro area (middle Tennessee). Now to even use their legally required and provided GIS (Geographical Information System) I am having to kiss the tail of some young person who is probably not from there, just to get some simple GIS data. And I still pay taxes, which I think, still helps pay their salaries. They can run me off, all they want, but in the end I have a pocket book, too. Even the old time water board leader fellow, a retired vet, suggested when he died other outsiders would take over. That did not bother me as long as they provided a service. I listened, and now I also get to vote with my pocket book.

Let me go on. I recently ordered a widget through some firm not local. Now 17 days into trying to get it returned (which has failed so far), and not even being able get Netflix, which I still pay for but get no benefit, now I wonder why?

One more go on. I have been arrested three times for the same thing in my local county. Even the last time, the police apologized, and brought me back. So much for the effects on my Family, which are obvious to most. But so called jack leg boots coming into my home on a late Sunday evening and waking me up (like 2300) is another example. And this has happened to others, if you believe the local newspaper. I still got a County tax bill, later, by the way.

Last, and in your local area, I suggest just to vote with your pocket book, and see what happens. You might be surprised.

Words mean things

To me there is a swirl of word things around me. To simplify things, in my military mind, words mean things.

And I don't think we humans have changed much in the last 2,000 years; but at age 62 I have also seen changes in my lifetime that disturb me about our political American culture. And these changes are not about the status quo, but in words meaning things.

Now I think it is time to even speak about things like morality, ethics, and even political correctness.

Now I think most are not surprised by a candidate for any office claiming and saying about anything in order to get elected. Most voters know to take it with a grain of salt. But when they continue, if elected, to rule by lies and subterfuge and too many obvious reverses, then that is different in my lifetime, I can report.

Even more so I am bothered that those elected and those appointed by them take oaths so casually, to include the inauguration of our Federal President in front of our whole Country. Even signing documents about disclosure and avoiding purchasing conflicts of interest seem above the law to so many. Even more, too many elected and even appointed people saying they will not enforce a law previously voted on and signed by an executive disturbs me. This idea smacks of royalty, which is not the USA I want and am willing to pay taxes to. After all, these people may be in the executive, but they are not the judicial, another branch of government in the USA.

Now I accept an appalling amount of ignorance in our elected politicians, whether I like it or not. In fairness some are smarter than others, and I guess and hope most are pretty hard working. But when I read reports about federal elected politicians, or their staff members, wanting to check on railroad schedules from California to Hawaii (across the Pacific Ocean), or Senator Charles Schumer saying there are three branches of government, the Senate, the House, and the President, then I am at best disappointed, and wonder what I can do, other than vote, of course.

All this ignorance has nothing to do with ethics or morality I would also say. Whether one is smart or dumb, educated or not, experienced or not, being honest (ethical and moral) is a simple way to rule in the USA.

But the alternative of things like lying, as in doing some simple kind of debate point or method in order to advance one's cause, is something I suspect most of our Moms and Dads did not teach us, or even encourage us on. After all peoples' lives are at stake as goes ruling, and helping a business succeed is crucial to keeping so many of us being gainfully employed.

I often wonder what times were like during the fall of the fall of the Roman Empire; or more "recently", the American Revolution against England. I suspect things are different now, though I will never know and will not speculate on.

So I expect some kind of uniquely American and New World way to go forward, with much pain in the process, and where words mean things. The status quo of the last 100 years is changing, right in front of us. In Apollo 13 talk, anarchy is not an option, and never has been. Citizens will step up and be guided in ways other than what is happening these days; that is they will act in their self interests for their Family and where they live. And I expect the anchor to all this will be words meaning things, at least more than seems to have been happening in the last half century.

The power of video

You can believe it or not. I don't believe most contrived and presented pictures. You may. Like I said, I don't, and take things with "a grain of salt", an old time expression. And I know how to do Photoshop stuff (including videos), like many of us.

In the old days (like since WWII), most video was TV delivered, like over the over the air networks. Now the internet and cell phones have made video another way to "report". Check out YouTube for example. But even before then, the power of video, and pictures in general, was well known. Even in the "old" days we all who went to the movies would often have to watch Real Tone movies about current events. This idea later expanded to even when "news" gained 15 minutes a day in the evening USA national TV after people came home from work, to include Huntley Brinkley. That period was the first time I heard my mother fart.

Later things "progressed". Even CNN and many other 24/7 news channels entered cable TV systems. Now where I live in east Tennessee, I still wonder why I can't get just the channels I want to want and do watch. I still have to buy packages, including things like CNN and MSNBC, which for my politics, I abhor. I asked a lawyer lobbyist 1st cousin who attends to the Tennessee legislature about this, and his opinion is that it was their decision.

Now I have been a Marine recruiter in Kentucky a long time ago, and I think I understand the basic principles OK. I've even had a lot of training is this area.

And I think I "know" a lot about "propaganda". I used these principles all the time. I am as good as any Nazi, I would think. This included exploiting video, back then. After all, I had a quota to make for that month.

Now I advance to today. I still only believe about 10% of what I read, and at best 50% of what I see, to include video. So if you want to be an informed USA citizen about what is going on, for real, then good luck. There are other sources, thank goodness, paltry as they are. And video stuff is suspicious, at least to me.

Even look at the composition of any video you see. For example, is it an area shot or a more focused local shot. Anyway, I think this way. Maybe you should, too.

Now the "news" people who present their news should be subject to the American Sherman Antitrust Act, which will probably never happen. But I also predict many subscribers and voters will vote with their pocket book, to include even the recently reported item that Newsweek magazine sold for $1. After all, why should I pay for other humans giving me their opinions? I can go to the local Hardees at breakfast time and coffee club for that, for example.

So what is the value of video when you watch it however. I would say be careful, like most I think.

Are we being exploited?

In my mind exploited means being taken advantage of.

Those running for elected office may not be acting in our interests, like be a representative, but more acting in their interest and intentions. However you think about this, your answer does affect our human future.

This is a worldwide idea, and problem I think. The common theme I read about is "democracy", whatever that means in one's own country, or even my local County in the USA. Even local sharp fellows have tried to steal an election, using computers of course. And all I want to do is have my vote count.

And even politics can be hard ball. Like one method is to impugn your opponents credibility. That has seemed to work in our human past, at least in the USA.

But how about "our" future, not some politician's future?

After all, most humans just want to work, and promote and defend their family's futures. This idea has little to do with "democracy". After all there are alternatives, like tribal leaders; even dictators and royalty. The key point to me is listening to the ruled, however the government sorts out. I am confident all these kinds of governments know how to listen. And some do better than others.

So are we being exploited? I think so.

How are we people going to sort it out? I don't know for sure.

All this turmoil in the USA was and still is predictable

Here's why. Humans are being themselves, which is mostly selfish. And some are worse than others. All want to do well for themselves, their families, and their grandkids that they know right now. Whether they loan money, rate the credibility of the borrowers, or simply just work to get through life (like be warm and fed), we are all human in how we think about things and make decisions.

It is the predictable decisions that makes things so...predictable. Even two or three years ago, Moody's, one credit rating company that does this for a living, predicted the down rating of the USA's ability to borrow in 2016. And while that was an opinion, it seems to have made a point to me.

The logic line I follow is twofold, both folds human. When governments can no longer borrow like in the last many decades, then people will lose jobs, and even schools and police protections may shut down. And two, when the loaners start imposing their conditions, then voters are no longer in charge.

Now then can we local voters even decide as to how our future goes? After all, if there is not enough money for all good intentions, then what will locals vote for as to be represented for their benefit? Think priorites in this case. And I still think we can vote, and help it count.

There is a worse logic line I have thought of, and hope never happens. Suppose all the borrowing continues, somehow, and in the future when our kids or grandkids grow up and find out they have to work for two or three months a year just to pay the interest on the federal debt, and can't even buy a house because they can't afford the house payments after satisfying all that the present generation is borrowing on, then I predict generation warfare, whatever that means. After all they want to have families, too.

Now I cannot predict the future at that level, but it is a good guess that things are going to be painful here in the USA. And some places will be more painful than others. Even where I live in east Tennessee I suspect times are going to get harder in 2012 and later. I am weird enough (age 62) to still appreciate all the public electricity benefits we have today, which may decline in the future if our elected governments have their way. And my military retirement payments (all electronic will also suffer, I suspect). I would say come arrest me, but then maybe this option will become unaffordable to state and local governments. Now I am just speculating, but the point is what I think is predictable is coming sooner than Moody's 2016 estimate.

And we USA humans did it to ourselves so far, including our votes so far.

And I really don't want to go through anarchy, again. Try exiting a hotel in Istanbul in ways just to keep from being shot. I can be devious, too.

And, for my DC friends, even I have biked the C&O Canal bike path all the way from Cumberland, Md. to Georgetown, DC, twice. I have even paddled the lower Shenandoah in flood stage, and was scared to death when it met the Potomac River, and the standing waves were such that I had to look up to the crests. I have even fished both Forks of the Shenandoah River, but I'll always remember catching hellgrammites for bait on the South Fork. And I have many many other stories, some going back to post Civil War observations, and even more modern trips like on the Yakagany in PA.

So I don't think DC is like Rome in its' end. We new world humans are better than that, I think.

But stand by for heavy rolls.

It will be a better world in the end, including the USA. After all, the old world has its problems, too. But the interim is going to be painful, like being hungry and cold. But if this forecast becomes what happens I would rather be in the new world USA than anywhere else.

Just another report from Monterey, Tennessee

First a perspective. Monterey is located in east Tennessee on the upper Cumberland Plateau. It is a nice place to live. Almost most humans up here are white, mostly I would guess from Scotch-Irish descent. Racial prejudice is tough against blacks (which are few up here), unless they excel in football. High school and middle school sports are a big deal, including girls basketball. There are even a lot of college girls scholarships to college if they are good in basketball. In geography terms, Monterey is about halfway between Nashville and Knoxville, TN. The altitude here is around 1900 feet, so it is cold here, too.

The drug problem here is horrible. Having lived elsewhere, my guess is that we locally are about average, which is a sad state of affairs.

Let me define the local drug problem, as I see it. Some girl (age 40) gets an inheritance check for $25,000, and goes through it in three weeks. A lot of pills around here go for like $80 dollars a pop (about six months ago). Many are dying early, so that appears to be a self correcting problem.

Now the good news. Compared to some other places I have lived, this is an OK place. My local county and city property tax bill is about $4800 a year.

Now the bad news. A lot of people live off the government dole, and maybe even some charity stuff.

The obvious, to me, debate, is this local "poorness" do to inheritance or even circumstances , or just plain laziness, like go get a job like most of humanity tries to do. In the meantime, just breed kids and let the government pay for it (like a once a month check).

Here at Monterey these days, I think there are a lot of low life and also well intended humans who rip us off as well as compromise to exist on the government dole. Now that upsets me, mostly about the kids they breed.

So I wonder locally how helping poor people works out in the end. Right here being a tough love kind of person is my choice, both in those I vote for and how I might contribute. Of course most don't like it.

For sure I will not, or hope I don't help contribute to maintain somebody's drug habit, especially if they exploit their kids. I offer as evidence, up here of course, going to the Crossville Flea Market and observing the women who are chubby, pierced, and tattooed, all getting in vehicles better and newer than I can afford. Now that upsets me.

What's wrong with wanting to be warm and fed?

The simple answer is nothing is wrong with humans being themselves.

My guess is also simple. Enough lightweights that are comfortable in their own lives are willing for the rest of us to suffer. And so many of these lightweights are just that. I still wonder who pays for all this life style they might enjoy right now? I sure hope is not some government using legally collected tax payer money to pay their way to pontificate their opinion, while I suffer.

What really worries me about my families future's is the impacts of the lightweights now voted in (like our President in the USA), and all these similar lightweights he hired. It even bothered me a lot that so many or our elected Congressmen (and their hired staffers) a while back still wanted to know things, like the train schedule to Hawaii.

People are already dieing even here in the USA. When Parkview Hospital in Dallas, Texas has to suffer from an electrical blackout, that is poor performance for fellow humans in dire straights. I still appreciate being able to turn "on the switch" and have the lights come on, even where I live in Eastern Tennessee.

Another worry is about some local "kids" who are now in the military and deployed overseas, like in Afghanistan. I fear for them for the simple reason of: what would I do is some foreign invader took over my local town? To me, obviously, I would fight.

Even "more" is the thought that some lightweights may send some of my family in their cause.

Like I said, most of we humans in the USA just want to be warm and fed during our winter time. Now that principle is pretty heavy weight, to me. It is kinda like paying taxes for obvious reasons to so many Americans.

When the poo poo hits the fan

Then new world America, like the USA, is probably a good place to be. Of course some places will be better than others, but compared to other World places, there is hope here. No wonder so many still want to emigrate here. There are poorer choices for family and children's futures. Said another way, we have our own problems, too. But so do others.

So when times get hard, like harder than today wherever you live, come here (legally) and make things happen. That, in my mind, is pretty much the best part of the USA New World idea. And we humans have so many problems wherever we live, to include our own Family problems, and even things more simpler like enough food to eat, or just being warm in the winter, will come up, I suspect.

Part of whatever transition occurs will probably be a change in the "status quo". After all what has gone on in the last 100 years, including old ideas like the Durand Line, are simply for their time, but not our time. Just imagine the friction that will occur, which is simply human to me.

In the meantime, are we willing to fight for our USA New World ideas, like some people will die, and we have to pay taxes to finance all this?

Right now I do not know the answer, in my mind.

Make up your own mind when the poo poo hits the fan.

When east meets west

Which is better for we humans, today, I just don't know.

Now as a westerner, I sure like the idea of the vote. I just want to influence my future, hoping the vote helps. But having lived around the world, there are other eastern human type ways to do the same thing, I also hope, and recognize them.

So my idea, today, is just to recognize the vote ( a western idea), and then let people sort it out where they live. Others may disagree. Propaganda comes to mind. These days in the West I think it is called marketing.

Change is always tough for we humans, where ever we live.

And some times change is well deserved, I think. And it is also often painful. Even some devious people will take advantage, which often lasts as long as 100 years before a human correction occurs.

What seems simple to me is that nobody wants to be cold or hungry, whatever our government happens to be at the time while we are alive. And most want to be happy, to include their immediate families. The rest of the problems are lower in priority, I also think

Stand by for heavy rolls

While it is an old time maritime term, it still applies to the ships of states these days. And many of these "ships of states" are going through status quo changes. Much is exhibited or reported by the news media, but most, in the end, is just human type stuff. By that I mean many will roll against the changes that are affecting them, and this whole status quo change is going to take a long time, like more than a decade. After all, dinosaurs didn't die easily. Neither would I.

And then many just want to be warm and fed by themselves. Now that is pretty simple, but is not automatic, it seems, depending on where you live.

And even in the USA many people still wear extra clothes in the winter just to keep warm. That is normal to so many people throughout our human world, I think. A smaller portion of humans may discover this, again.

Another heavy roll, the big one I think, is what happens when other humans just won't loan the borrowers money anymore, for their own selfish reasons. This will be an example of a heavy roll, and probable change in the status quo.

The good news is where is a good place to be if this kind of scenario even happens. The answer to me is the "New World". In the new world, I suspect, all the best human ideas will bubble to the top, even while the old time dinosaurs slow the process down. It will all sort out in the end, and whatever emerges will be different from today. And don't forget the "loaners with money" are still around; and our population is still growing.

The last heavy roll I imagine is the happiness factor. To me it is just good health and self respect. And I imagine, like even today, that is what is going on and will happen as much in the future, in its own human way, and depends on where one lives as to how it sorts out. It will sort out differently, I think, like some tribes or cultures are better than others.

OK, get sick if you want too

So many in the USA are used to being able to go to a doctor, and getting a prescription from them, to heal our bacterial diseases.

Yet there are so many other diseases we can get, including viral and fungal. There are even prions from 'mad cow disease', for which there is no cure these days.

I myself think about all this, and make my own decisions. My bottom line is to be conservative. So for me I won't eat any meat that includes anywhere where prions might lurk, like pig brains, squirrel brains, or any kind of cow that includes brains or even spines, like even T-Bone stuff. And one cannot cookout prions with heat, like works for bacteria, viruses, and even fungal stuff.

So much my mother's mother making scrambled pig brains and eggs for breakfast. I and my brother would lie to her back then "as to why we not hungry", which I am sure she saw right through.

Now in fairness, our USA beef industry has done a lot, as well as our USA Federal government, dating back to the 1990's. So probably most food things are safe to my health, to include our export of our beef. Yet I choose to go another way. And there are many other good choices I trust more. All are good choices, so this is a good problem.

So today, make your own choices about what you eat; the medicines you take; the vaccines you may take and even introduce to your kids; and what even you are willing to vote for, like draining malaria wet lands.