Now, I am officially an American Refugee. I’m writing this in the light from a borrowed kerosene heater in a house with no electricity or running water while my family lays around me sleeping in sleeping bags on mattresses laying on the floor. Last Friday I found out what it feels like to be evicted from a house. I realized the levels of inhumanity and callousness as I watched my 9 year old daughter’s expression when I told her we had about an hour to grab everything that really mattered to her so we could be escorted off of our property. It was 16 degrees outside at the time. The Trooper that showed up was polite, you could even tell he felt bad about it. He was just doing his job, trying to keep his family from falling into the same situation I now found myself in. He reminded me the foreclosure had been judged back in August and we were supposed to be out of there long before they showed up. I explained to him that the lawyers for Wells Fargo had told me I was supposed to be served papers again, I was supposed to go back before the judge and explain why I wasn’t out yet. It is an incredibly difficult thing to move to a new place when you don’t have any money to do so. For month I’ve been walking a very precarious tightrope. The place I’m now living is because of a deal I worked out with the property owner. I stay on the property and hopefully my presence deters any more vandalism. Unfortunately it is about 5 miles away from power lines, there is no water heater or permanent heat source in the building we are living in, so I was trying to arrange for that so we could move somewhat comfortably. In fact, because I was trying to save money to move, my truck was repossessed less than 12 hours before I was removed from my house. This is the end of a steady downward spiral since Glenda was killed. The culmination of the end of my old life. It seems fitting somehow, that everything ended at once. So now, I am a refugee. I patched together my old Trooper, hopefully she holds together for a while. I found out yet again I have friends I can count on to help, no matter what. So, we start from the beginning again, rising like a phoenix from the ashes. Perhaps, eventually, the lawsuit against Wells Fargo for the illegal foreclosure of my house will give me some financial compensation, if not spiritual. Two of my cats are still locked in my old house and we have had to watch the oldest one suffer all weekend, her body failing because she was locked outside in a cold cage for hours until I could get back for her.  I begged for more time, 24 hours first, then 12, finally getting them to concede to an hour instead of the customary 15 minutes.  We will survive. We will become a stronger family unit because of this. Losing the house and the car quite honestly seem miniscule compared to losing my wife and their mother. I stand aghast at the inhumanity of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, however, and I shake my head in disgust at a President that promises to take care of his people and then hands vile, despicable companies like that billions of dollars to assist them in ruining people’s lives.  He reminds me of the Caesars of ancient Rome. In their case they realized the Empire was falling so they held gladiatorial games that were ever more extravagant to take the people’s attention away from their miserable living conditions. In his case he hands out free cell phones and promises a stronger, better country while a nine year old girl is escorted out of her house in 16 degree weather. As I said, we will rebuild our lives. We have faith, not in any government or organization to help us, but rather in each other, and our friends. We will survive because of that. I encourage anyone who reads this, liberal or conservative, rich or poor, don’t believe the lies that you are told. There is no help for the unfortunate in America. There is no system that will help you through hard times, no matter how fond they are of telling you there is. There is only vile, cold, uncaring businesses and a government that defends them and hands them billions of dolars so they can spread their greed and corruption further. On the grandest scale no one cares about the suffering of their fellow man, only about the bottom line and the profit margin. If we would not have had this place to go to we would literally be living on the street, or in a tent, possibly staying with friends because we had no place else to go, and no one in any government cares. These are the people who are running for re-election. I encourage all of you as you are heading to the polling place to remember a little girl being kicked out into the cold by the smiling, waving son of a bitch who promised to take care of the American people, who said this sort of thing was unacceptable. Remember her and remove the Caesar before all you have left is to go to the gladiatorial games to forget how bad things really are.

So, now I'm interested. Donald Trump decided to post this challenge to Obama this morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgOq9pBkY0I

I'm curious to know what my readers think of it. To me, it seems to make perfect, logical sense. I don't find it in any way offensive, no different than someone who has no worries about being the father of a baby would about taking a DNA test. If there is nothing there, then why not come out and show people? It would seem to me that it would be a WONDERFUL stunt, especially this late in the election game. Let's see what you've got, Mr. President. Go ahead and climb that ladder to the moral high ground.. Make everyone below you ashamed that they ever challenged your greatness. You have a chance to stop, once and for all, everyone who has challenged your right to have been elected in the first place. In addition you could be directly responsible for Trump having to contribute 5 MILLION dollars to your favorite organization. Imagine how much that would make the right wing conservatives squirm, if you decided to have him donate the money to an LGTB cause.. If anyone read my blog yesterday I think its pretty obvious what I personally think of you, but hell, I've been proven wrong before. Of course, even if you come forward and meet the challenge I won't gain a LOT of respect, simply because of your 4 year track record, but at least it would prove to everyone without a shadow of a doubt that you have had the right to screw up the country for the last 4 years. But, alas- *sigh* I suspect you won't rise to the challenge. If you acknowledge it at all you will be utterly offended by it, shocked at the audacity of someone to challenge that what you claim is true. You will claim that it is no one's business but your own and you will refuse to compromise your morals because it is below you to do so. You will shake your head and smirk sarcastically and very little will come of it. Your supporters will be behind you, of course, calling Trump names and shifting the spotlight over to everything HE has done wrong over the years because that is the way of small men and cockroaches when a focused light is put on their flaws and accusations. They shrink away and run from the light of truth, trying to hide in the shadows that are cast by others who bask in the same light. Again, I am not a Republican, nor am I particularly conservative in my views, nor do I particularly care for Romney, but I DID notice that when a similar challenge was posted to him he at least produced what was asked for, and there was no monetary gain involved in the question. So, on this particular issue I have to stand grudgingly at Trump's side and ask. If there is nothing to hide in your records then please, step off the moral high horse for a moment, swallow your pride and show the American people that you have every right to be in your position. Prove how wrong we are to be suspicious of a man who has steadfastly refused to produce evidence of his qualifications as opposed to us just taking your word for things. Because honestly, as I pointed out yesterday, to me your word isn't really worth a whole lot.

It occurs to me as the election draws closer that we are a nation doomed to fail. Harsh words, I know, but an unfortunate truth. Simply put, the selections that we have made for our presidential candidates clearly show that the United States is on a path of destruction. I hear my liberal friends not talking about how great Obama is, but instead how bad Romney is. I hear my conservative friends doing the same thing from the other side. I have frequently heard how one side or the other is behind their candidate simply to keep the other one out of office. There is no honor any more. There are no more 'good' leaders. Words like 'Honor' and 'Integrity' have become vilified relics of an ancient and forgotten past.  In fact, if Obama's word was worth ANYTHING he would have had the dignity to not even run for re-election this time based on a statement he made shortly after inauguration. Some of you may remember this quote: "If I cannot fix the economic problems in this country in 3 years I will be a one term President" The statement was not that he would try, or that he would do his best, but that he WOULD fix the problems, or he would not seek reelection. Well, along comes 4 years later and anyone with a small percentage of a brain can look around and see things aren't fixed. In fact, things are much worse than they were before. Now, I'm not pointing fingers saying its all his fault, because its not. What I AM saying is that he blatantly lied to the American people and then chose to ignore that fact. Anyone with a base amount of integrity would have been approached to run for re-election, shaken his head and said, "Nope. I can't do it. I made a direct promise and I wasn't able to keep it. Sorry, but you need to find someone else." Instead, he blames everyone else. He makes excuses. You know what? I don't care WHY you couldn't do what you said, I only care about what you said and what DIDN'T happen. If he was remotely any sort of a creature with a spine he would have shaken his head sadly, shrugged and stepped down because he broke a promise no matter what the reason was for it. This fact, above and beyond any of the other issues, tells me that this man has no integrity. This is what some people want as an elected leader of our country. Now, if this was a statement that had been made during the bid for election, I could forgive it to a certain extent, but it was a statement that was made AFTER he was elected. This type of behavior is exactly the reason I say the country is doomed. We will shatter and fall to pieces as a nation because none of the elected leaders have any integrity or honor. They will make excuses and blame anyone they can remotely get away with pointing a finger at as insurance companies and banks tighten the nooses more and more, large corporations and private interests bleed us dry, chipping away slowly at the ability of the middle class to survive. Would Romney be any better? I doubt it. The difference is he would only have 4 years to do damage to the country, as opposed to 8. Conduct an experiment, it will drive my point home clearly. Take a bucket full of termites and let them go in your house. After 4 years the house will show signs of damage, things will need to be fixed, but it will still be essentially stable. Now- don't get rid of them or fix any of the damages. Let them sit there and gnaw at the structure for 8 years. See how close your house is to falling down. Now, instead, after 4 years remove the termites and put in carpenter ants. They are going to attack different parts of the house. They aren't going to make things better, but at least the damage will be spread around a bit. It truly saddens me that the best we can come up with as what was formerly a strong nation has to pick between the termites and the carpenter ants to work on our house. It would be nice to be able to elect a carpenter instead, someone who was more concerned with fixing the problems, as opposed to taking what they wanted to thrive at the expense of the structure.

I was just sitting here listening to some music and it suddenly occurred to me. This country needs some heroes. I don't mean sports figures doing lines of cocaine behind the bleachers, or weaselly politicians making up any lies they can as they go along just to get people to follow them blindly, I mean actual heroes. Those larger than life individuals who, throughout history, have had the courage and conviction to stand up for what they thought was wrong and fix it, through whatever means were necessary. When did heroes go out of fashion, anyway? Was it around the time that wimpy became sensitive? Maybe it was around the time that 'Politically Correct' became the new norm and people started being afraid of saying anything because it might be construed as offensive to someone. When did being weak become an attractive trait? more importantly WHY did weak become an attractive trait? We've traded our black and white heroes for fifty shades of grey. Maybe I'm a throwback, perhaps somewhat of a barbarian. I smoke and I drink whiskey and I think that when someone does something wrong they should be punished for it, more to the point, they should be brave enough to stand up and accept that punishment. People don't do that anymore. They look around and peek and snivel and listen at keyholes to find someone else to blame. Our heroes have traded in their cowboy hats and six guns for polo shirts and excuses. Some people say that we're advancing as a race because of that. Personally I think we've lost more that we can possibly imagine. We're losing a vital part of ourselves through endless amounts of litigation, counseling and this crazy idea what 'we must all just get along'. The unfortunate fact is that we haven't advanced far enough to 'all just get along' yet. That thought only works if there are no more bad guys. The world is still full of bad guys. Now though, thanks to these strange new standards we raise THEM up as heroes. Whoever can get away with more wins. I think maybe it starts early, in school now. It used to be that when there was a bully on the playground it would be only tolerated for so long and then they would end up getting punished for it, many times when someone was just sick enough of being bullied that they finally stood up and defended themselves or those who couldn't for one reason or another. Back in the day I suspect many long term life lessons were imparted on the school playground. Now we have 'anti-bullying coalitions' that have staged wonderful campaigns to 'stop bullying'. Kids are taught from the time they go to school that bullying is bad and if they see it they should tell a teacher. Well, great thought- except it doesn't work. The bullies just get sneakier about it. Whatever drives them to behave the way they do hasn't CHANGED any, they just have to become more intelligent and work around the system. (I suspect the ones that get REALLY good at it grow up to become lawyers and politicians) but in any case, when the opportunity arises they still go back to whatever drives them, except now they are even WORSE because they've learned how to scheme and plan much worse instances of bullying instead of just slamming a kid against his locker and demanding his lunch money. Now they're more likely to follow their perspective target home and knife him in a dark alley. The other side of this coin is the victim- Children are told to not fight back, no matter what, and are actually punished as much, or more than the bully themselves if they deign to defend themselves. They are told to 'tell someone' if something happens. In essence, the courage to stand up for themselves is being bred out of children. Little Johnny finally stood up for himself and faced his fears and the bully has instead become Little Johnny bravely ran to the teacher and cried for help. We have effectively created an environment where everyone is dependent upon the magnanimous Authority to save them and that its bad for them to stand up for themselves. They should let the Authority figures do it for them and protect them so all can get along in peace and harmony. Not such a huge leap to see why our society is becoming weak and pathetic, is it? Now, I'm sure there are those of you who will be entirely indignant and say I'm absolutely wrong about my theories. Well, that's very possible and you are more than welcome to your own opinions. However, I WILL point out, in defense of my observations, that when I was a child, back in the dark ages before anti-bullying programs, there were no metal detectors in school and no one I knew was ever shot or stabbed. There were a few miserable days (Yes, I WAS bullied occasionally as a kid) but the thought committing suicide because no one would save me never even crossed my mind. Problems came along and were dealt with, just like in real life. Its just a crazy thought, and likely one that doesn't fit well in the modern mold of today's 'poor me' society, but maybe its time to teach kids how to be heroes again, instead of victims.

Sorry I haven't posted i a while, Things have been beyond hectic around here. As anyone who reads this knows, I have to get out of my house due to a foreclosure. Well, after looking everywhere around here I found a place. It is an abandoned property up in the mountains and I will have a chance to stay there as a caretaker until the place sells. This is an AWESOME thing even though there is no electricity, heat, the water heater has been removed and I have to supply my own liability and renter's insurance- Thus problem 1. I was planning on moving my wood stove up there and using it as a primary heat source. Here begins the stupidity of modern insurance. Since the place is more than one (1)!!! block away from a fire hydrant it is essentially uninsurable if I decide to heat with wood. Scratch the free plan. So.... on to step 2. Instead of being able to buy a decent generator I now get to instead spend a bit over 1000$ (Closer to 1500 by the time the dust settles) an a Toyo fuel oil stove, then get to deal with the added expense of fuel oil deliveries. I'm still waiting on a modified quote for the insurance going THAT route, I may be able to get it now, but who the hell knows how expensive insurance will be. Anyway- Life is a balancing act, full of frustration and despair, but I refuse to fall off the tightrope. I'm clinging like a three toed sloth with tendenitis right now, but I'm still hanging on. My point in telling this story is this, though- How exactly did we get to become a society that is SO screwed up that someone who is doing their best has to overcome this obscene list of constant challenges? I mean, really- The bank refused to work with me so I had to find another place to live with winter coming on, I couldn't find a NORMAL place because rent was far to expensive for me to afford and according to the people with government rental assistance the waiting list is MONTHS long, even if I COULD have found a place they likely wouldn't have let my animals stay there anyway ( I know, some of you are asking why the animals are so important. To you I say- Read some of the older blog posts, I've tried to explain it) - so I find a place that, while not perfect, is someplace where we can be warm, dry and reasonably secure and then the insurance nazis won't let me move there because there likely isn't a FIRE HYDRANT within 60 miles of the location. I mean. come on, People! Has ANYONE else noticed the pattern here? I have been fighting banks, government and large corporations simply to try to exist. Not to live in the Waldorf, not to milk the system, merely to survive. I live in the freaking bush in Alaska and I'm going through this, I can't imagine what you poor saps down in the lower 48 have to deal with. Life has gotten crazy, complicated and impossible simply so the rich folks can get richer and the political machine can keep grinding on, spewing its filth and lies like toxic waste. I picture a perfect political cartoon in my head that I would LOVE to see if anyone on here knows how to draw. A steamroller labeled 'big corporations' driven jointly by both of the political candidates as it rolls slowly over whatever remains of this country, crushed and flattened people and families in its wake. See? If I could draw I would be a cutting edge satirist! Instead I suppose I'm stuck being a frustrated citizen who vents on an anonymous blog. To quote a Pink Floyd song this morning- Welcome to the Machine.

I finally had to log out of Facebook for a while today. The amount of political BS on there finally pushed me over the edge. Its unfortunate, I use FB to talk to a lot of people very close to me, but I just can't handle the amount of hatred that is showing itself.What I don't understand is why? Typically, historically campaigns have been all about fans of either candidate spouting how great their chosen person is, arguing against the policies and stances of 'the other guy' and continuing this ad nausea until the election is over. This election is different though. I see insults being hurled back and forth, but very little to say why people think 'their' guy would be a great leader. There are jokes, slams, insults- Nothing seems to be out of line anymore. I have seen multiple posts (Sorry any liberals reading this, but you guys are by FAR the worst) calling for Romney to kill himself, calling for Romney to die, referring to Romney with frequent expletives beginning with 'F'..  These are the people who claim to be the 'educated' ones, who pride themselves on being 'free thinkers'. They proudly put their hand over their heart and pledge allegiance to a man instead of a nation while they fly vile parodies of the American flag proudly and don't see a thing wrong with altering the symbol of our nation with someone's face. At this point my greatest hope is that Alaska will make the decision to secede from the union. I don't want to play anymore. Both sides are cheating, the game is rigged and the only winners are going to be the ones who did the rigging. I've come to the conclusion I was born a couple of hundred years to late. I would much rather have lived in a period where there was honor and a certain code of behavior as opposed to increased technology and a general vileness and lack of honor which is considered normal.

        I'm sitting here drinking a cup of Chai, listening to the wind rage outside and thinking. It can be an interesting pastime, thinking. Something people don't do nearly enough of anymore. People seem to talk a lot, voice a lot of opinions, make a lot of posts on Facebook (Which I am also REALLY guilty of, by the way) but they don't seem to think. When I do this my thoughts run all over the place, usually ending up taking me off on some crazy adventure or telling me a story. Well, I AM a writer, after all, so I suppose that's natural. On this particular day, while drinking this particular cup of chai, my thoughts were running along the lines of politics and the world at large. Mostly how we've come to be where we are as a world. Now, I know I talk a lot about US politics, well, at least about how I think they SHOULD be, but lets look at the world for a minute. What would happen if we took all the BS away and looked at things logically? I saw a post on Facebook earlier with a picture of a knight Templar wielding a huge mace and a caption which stated 'We're back" That honestly made me sad to see. That simple picture told me that humanity hasn't managed to progress in the last oh, 1000 years or so? (No, its not an exact date, but its a LONG damn time ago) Humanity is still fighting the same war of faith. The funny thing is, we're fighting over two religions that both ESSENTIALLY say the same thing. In a thousand years we, as humans, are still fighting over which one of us is more right about which way is the better way to live in peace and harmony. Does anyone else see the irony in that? If anyone can fill me in on exactly what is going on I would love to hear it. Not the usual "well, they did THIS so we did THAT" kinda stuff, but what is actually going on? Is it the fact that we honestly, when all the rules, policies and beliefs are stripped away, just LOVE to fight with each other? That we will use any excuse possible to do the most atrocious things to each other in the name of.. whatever we decide to use to justify our cause? Is it about money? Maybe you can believe the tinfoil hats and its about power. Someone wanting to 'control the world'? Wow- what a CRAPPY job that would be! WHO in their right mind would want to rule the world? We can't even seem to get little bits of it right. That was always my problem with super-villians in comic books. Imagine taking over- ruling the world with an iron fist. Mua ha ha! Victory is yours! So.. what then? You still have to KEEP that power once you have it. You would have to deal with endless paperwork, subjugated peasants coming in at all hours of the day and night, begging for food, asking you to settle their petty squabbles.. Ech. So what's the plan, super villain? Do you make all of your subjects exactly the same? Do you give everyone technology or take it away from them? Are some areas of the world your favorites? I can't even imagine the stress being King of the world entail. See, these are the strange thoughts chai and high winds and rain bring on. I realize exactly how much I don't understand and, not understanding I can't say if its wrong or right. It seems like everyone loves to have their political opinions, but then they just gloss over the bad stuff that results from the good stuff they want.
     I've had people ask me what I would do if I had my way- How I would fix the problems of the world. The simple fact is that I have no idea. I mean, I have a COUPLE of ideas that might get the ball rolling, but as far as fixing everything? That would be tough. Not really all that hard in an objective, logical, make the problem go away sort of way, but tough because everyone clings SO tightly to their opinions of things. Lets look for a moment at what's going on around the world. Muslims are reacting violently to (theoretically) some silly movie made by some silly people who had an opinion and decided to share it and release it to the world. Now, our logic would dictate that it would be a normal thing to be angered if someone else 'dissed' your religion of choice. In most of the world there would be strongly worded letters sent, perhaps a boycott, even a protest at the opening with charismatic people standing up and shouting and some chanting and maybe a sit in and bumper stickers sold.. Radical Muslims are convinced its okay to kill over it. My personal opinion of that behavior is that the rest of the world should get together and deal with them harshly for that. Not out of a sense of vengeance or retaliation, merely because it is not acceptable behavior when we are all pretty much stuck on the same rock and are forced to co-exist. To me its no different than dealing with a school bully on the world's playground. Instead we apologize and make excuses and do our best to appease them, which only serves to make things worse. Find a school bully sometime and apologize to him because you MADE him take the skinny kid's lunch money, then make 4 other kids give him THEIR lunch money and watch how he behaves the next day. They need to be slapped and punished and told that their behavior is entirely unacceptable and won't be tolerated. If they don't like it they are as welcome to build a spaceship and leave this communal rock as anyone else is.
          It seems to me that the most dangerous person in the world is someone who is convinced that they are right. As soon as they make that decision, that their way is 100% correct and everyone else is wrong you end up with huge mounds of problems. That's what happened with Hitler. I'm sure he didn't wake up every morning and look into the mirror while he trimmed his sporty little mustache and cackle with glee saying to himself "Mua ha ha.. I am THE most evil man in modern history!" No- he was convinced he was right in his beliefs. I'm sure he thought he was the good guy and was willing to kill as many people as it took to prove it. Thinking that you are right, completely, totally, 100% right about ANYTHING will always lead to a fight. It removes any and all options. Once you are right either everyone HAS to agree with you or you are willing to die (or kill) for your beliefs. When you are right no other opinion can coexist with yours because it is automatically then wrong. Actually, I suspect that is what the whole 'turn the other cheek' thing in Christianity is about. You can be a devout member of a religion and still acknowledge other religions.(Or at least other people's rights to believe differently than you do.)  Its okay. I will guarantee whoever your higher power of choice is doesn't care. If He, She, It or They did they would likely have rained hellfire and 3 week old rotten shrimp on their enemies by now. Anyway, I've rambled enough for today. Have a great day, hug the people you love, twice if you REALLY love them, and keep an open mind. Use your hands to cling tightly to the things you believe, instead of using them to strike out at someone who believes differently and maybe we can start a trend. Who knows- Maybe if we keep trying we'll eventually get it right.  Peace.