Baby it's cold outside! & that ole Mercury retrograde...

Welcome to the Sunshine State!   LMFAO!  You really have to admire the fortitude of the noble surfer!  BTW, that is Deerfield Beach~!  GAD!  (I have a football game to attend outside today... omg!)

 Mercury, planet of communications, business expedience and smooth relationships is in retrograde.  Tread lightly!!!  If a political screw up is brewing, it will explode during a Merc retro!  

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  Ya see?

This is an election year.  A dang vital one, considering the issues facing us concerning our American economy and our planetary health.  I think most of you out there who peek in and read these blogs, or those of us who maintain blogs, represent the committed politico’s of the street level who take up the standard and march towards election wins every time no matter the Republican cannon fodder.   [My meaning is that many of us make the effort to stay educated to the issues and stay prepared to go and vote.  Some of us are committed to working for the process in our chosen political party.]  While we are not immediately responsible for the mechanisms of change in our political structure, we are the ultimate force of change as the voters who show up to campaign and ‘bring the vote home’.   I’m usually blogging from this perspective.  A good percentage of the independents and much of the youth vote that came out so vastly for the last Presidential election (and it’s smart to remember that a good slice of them were dedicated to Hillary, only ‘throwing in’ for Obama when, at the DNC, she hardily cast her support for him) are in a very disappointed or absent of care state of mind over the upcoming Congressional elections.  While President Obama has been inhibited by the mop up of eight years of a bloody, high school level (if that) governance of our country… let alone the unchecked power grabbing corruption on Wall Street for big business that has plotted more American governing than ever before…  he has unfortunately succeeded in alienating much of left leaning youth voters and the established liberals of the Democrat Party.  They feel abandoned and used.  And it’s not even vague to understand why.  The unions are steaming mad.  Pile onto that the outrageousness that has evolved into the standard GOP.  There are historical compliments to this kind of de-evolution of a political party (by the way… generally the Republicans) but there is no precedent for the kind mayhem that has erupted in the last 13 months, much to the benefit and instigation of the 24/7 news we (btw, the only advanced society on the planet to have this kind of social addiction – with Japan in the a hurry up second) are subjected to and are addicted to.  (I freely admit my own.) 

Where do we actually stand in the upcoming elections?  I don’t think any analyst or even that bright young prognosticator statistician who compliments Olbermann and Maddow can actually plot the upcoming elections.  We do have a horserace underway… and not the usual at all; for instance, take into account the Teabag nutters.  They are raising merry hell down here in Florida!   While Meek tries to marshal his political capital and present himself…(gad! Where is his Party backup?) Rubio trounces all over Crist with his Teabag mentality and issue baiting right wing nutter support system [most who are ardent Glenn Beck-ers].  It’s so depressing to watch this hijacking work so successfully.   Translate: Florida is still highly peopled with Crackers!  Still, it could hand over another Democrat win!  And now the state's economy, sadly depleted and verkempt of a real job market, is facing billions of loss in the fruit business.... witness our glacial jackets to preserve the fruit for fast picking and almost certain spoilage en route to the marketplace.  Lions and tigers and sea turtles! OMY!  Gumbo Limbo Nature preserve in Boca Raton was overwhelmed with keeping the sea turtles from perishing last night.  Well look, our blood thins down here and we just aren't really prepared for these kinds of  (wait for it...) snow flurries!    

Elsewhere on the planet...

A bygod real deal Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (a ten member panel) appointed by Congress is scheduled to begin public accounting Wed / Thursday of this week.  In what is sure to be a highly visible session, four of the big banks / financial systems are under gosh wonders what kind of scrutiny: JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and BofA.  We need to hear the detailed truth on how the banks have gamed the public... Matt Taibbi is working his ass off trying to inform the public!

I'm against all policies of "too big to fail"... how about you? 

Up in Massachusetts the unthinkable is looming on the horizon... Martha Coakley, MA-AG is running the Democrat ticket against Repub Scott Brown and he's razor edging more votes in an independent poll.  I don't like Martha Coakley... I'm disappointed that she has squeaked into this slot.  She's no liberal, a back slider in political promises and haughty to boot.  (She's was not forthcoming on the gay marriage vote and she has worked to keep the Patriot Act in law, finding it "absolutely invaluable in streamlining convictions").  I don't like her even a little bit. 

Back here in FL we are collecting the dead street dragons and pythons... they are over abundant, still, baby it's cold outside!  While iguana's are not part of the natural ecosystem here in south FL, they have been introduced as pets, who when attaining an inconvenient size are let loose into the neighborhoods.  I've enjoyed them coming into my backyard to spar with each other on the frangipani tree or the poolhouse shed.  It's awful to see them drop in the cold...
Elsewhere, on Thursday last week, a meeting of government to initiate some action from local and state government over a statewide no. 1 environmental issue: the River of Grass.  The Everglades Coalition met to discuss the ever elusive restoration and need for state and federal monies to reclaim the Everglades.  On the agenda was the need to build reservoirs and water treatment areas.    [The political heavyweights scheduled to speak at the Everglades Coalition conference include: Sen. Bill Nelson; Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, who is running for governor; the state’s top environmental official state Mike Sole, who heads the Department of Environmental Protection; and U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Interior Thomas Strickland, a top Obama administration environmental official.]  Sun Sentinel Sunday 

In Miami, the Eye on Miami blog gave a grim accounting of this...read it!
Another 'hot topic' here in Palm Beach is the opening of yet another 'pain management' clinic which is just the front for a "pill mill"... something the county is working overtime to condemn and close.  With addiction rates rising due to economic and cultural woes, nation wide, the clamp down of thinly veiled dealers of drugs is being pursued strenuously by the West Palm Beach courts.  New laws and crackdowns on unprescribed drugs has created a positive reinforcement of a clean / sober community.  Something invaluable to the prevention of so many crimes.  The flip side of it all is those who are genuinely seeking out something to help them combat work relative and chronic pain, without abuse issues, who are unable to seek medical care due to the cost of it and lack of health care coverage.  (Ah, that would be me.)  Being listed as a criminal for not having a prescription for a pill or two is unfair and overkill.  The courts are tasked to address the issue en masse and to that end they are way overdoing it, leaving otherwise law abiding citizens disadvantaged due to high health care costs in the lurch.  Shame...man.  Shame.  

Another national theme; the race question and debate over the movie AVATAR is making news.  It would seem, folks would just like to fight over race.  Myth is the enduring recycled theme of multiple culture... and the recurring hero theme prevails in all culture and race on the planet.  Like the resurrection god theme of Judeo / Christian cultures.  Or the sun god status instilled within all cultural myths across the planet.  These are the stories of our Ancestors and they transcend all race difference to endow humanity.  I like to think that the brilliance of reminding us of our common nature and common need for acceptance and nurture is the goal in the storytelling of AVATAR.  Also the added feature of bringing a spotlight onto those who grasp political / military power and careless greed as a lifestyle in world, at large, today.  These are the 'enemies' of our cultural and planetary future.  The complaint by certain minorities (which are not so much any more, in USA) is that the central myth contains the ancient white man saves Indigenous Peoples theme... well, I'm not buying into that.  I'm thinking that it's about one man (race aside) who chooses to change his mind about greed and genocide for personal profit (there's a good white man theme!) and realizes we are all sacred.  I said SACRED... as in life is sacred.  Evolution!  GAD!  Shame on the public who snatches this movie as an anti-moral theme!  It's also telling that 'whiteman' themes are published and turned into movies... where are the Latin, African, Celtic, Maya (oh...the Jesus fella Gibson made that one!), plenty of American Indian redemptive hero / heroine themes have been chronicled... I mean, why pick on the latest commercial success?  Because it gets attention.  I don't find any validation in it.  That AVATAR reflects the current social morays between American politico's is more valid.  I hear that the CGI in the film is not to be missed.  It's been cast out there that the movie just doesn't free itself from 'old Hollywood formulas'... well, the truth is, Hollywood works within the realm of myth.  Myth is transcendent in it's time stop, but the Hero story is constant.  Luke Skywalker is Wakova, etc.  It is the story of humanity.  Our challenge, especially in the reality of the first African American President, is to evolve our ideals beyond racial boundaries and into the grace of common humanity.   The process continues....folks should take another look at "I Am Legend" or catch "Book of Eli"...humm?  
Mercury... it throws out monkey wrenches as it likes....