November 2, 2007

Dear Friends and Voters:

A few weeks ago, I had the occasion to rent Mel Gibson's latest release, "Apocalypto." The movie details one young Mayan's struggle to escape from capture and return to his young pregnant wife. Not very exciting stuff to most Americans. But there is a lot more to the movie than merely one Indian tribe killing another in barbarous fashion.

The movie begins with a quote from the late historian, Will Durant. It reads:

"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it destroys itself from within."

He was right. Looking deeper into the movie, one can see the moral decline of the once-great Mayan empire. Its declining state made it ripe for conquering by the Spanish conquistadors. Yes, there were other factors. However, if the Mayans and Aztecs and other tribes were not in such state, they could easily have overpowered the relatively few number of Spaniards.

One can look beyond the Mayans. The same thing happened to the once-mighty Roman Empire. It extended from Britain in the north to Africa in the south; from Spain and Portugal in the west, to Turkey and the Mid-East. The Roman army was a force to be reckoned with by ancient standards; for awhile it ruled what was then considered the extent of the ancient world. And then it all came crashing down. Emperors fought and struggled to preserve or regain the territory. Constantine realized that the old Roman empire was crumbling. After he came to power, he had the smarts to get out and founded Byzantium, taking whatever nobles and riches were left. Although the Roman Empire in the form of Byzantium survived another thousand years in the east, the western Roman empire was defunct and sacked numerous times by the Gothic tribes from the north.

The reasons for the fall are simple. No money, endless wars, moral depravity and attempts to defend or preserve the crumbling empire. Are own culture is no different. Just look at the drivel on television.

We, as a people, are more concerned with the identity of the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby, Paris Hilton's brief stay in jail, Brittney Spears' custody battle or Lindsay Lohan's trip to rehab than we are with the destruction of our civil liberties, the looming insolvency of Social Security or other pressing issues. We are wearing out the printing presses (metaphorically speaking) printing money, thereby devaluing our currency even more than before. US dollars do not have clout anymore throughout the world and for the first time, Canadian dollar is valued higher than the US dollar. And we are an empire, keeping our military presence throughout the world. Not to mention being embroiled in an intractable civil war in Iraq as well as Afghanistan, with no end in sight as former General Ricardo Sanchez recently stated.

As my neighbor asks, "what can we do?" I don't have the answers, but more and more people are waking up. And they are not just waking up. Some are even fighting back. Say what you want about the 9-11 Truthers, but they are starting to confront those in authority. They are not buying the official government version. Sure, every group has some members from the lunatic fringe. And every group has its agent provocateurs who are there to create chaos and keep the group neutralized and harmless to the real boys in power.

Yet, one need not accept every facet of their conspiracy theories to know that something is wrong with the official version. Watch just a few minutes of a controlled demolition and compare it to the fall of the World Trade Center and see with your own eyes instead of believing what you have been told, especially by those in charge. Scientists and engineers are in this group, not just grungy young people who come from Rent-a-Mob. These people are not crazy. They know that something is wrong. That is why the 9-11 Truthers are starting to fight back and confront the architects of these fabrications, people like Norman Podhoretz, David Rockefeller, Bill Clinton and even Bill Maher. We need more people like this to stand up and take charge.

I wish I could say that things are better in our own state. We have three individuals running for governor on the Republican side. They have been referred to as "The Three Stooges." That is an insult to Larry, Moe and Curly. At least they were funny! These people are not. We are attempting to evaluate their fitness for governor, and one candidate has stooped to attacking my significant other, "Max." Do you mean to tell me that there are no other issues in this state that are so pressing that the very first thought is to attack Max? Is Max that important that you, have to work in that nasty comment? Others have called you "Spongebob" and I can see why. And to think this guy was once a justice on our state Supreme Court.

The other candidates do not fare much better, as they appear to have more money than intellect. And on the Democratic side, the candidates remind me of children in kindergarten with a childish argument of "Did not! Did too!" over some issue awhile back. I have not even bothered to follow their follies other than to provide myself with occasional amusement. One would think that we would have better quality to choose from than this.

The race for the US Senate is not immune either. Senator Dole is seldom in this state unless it is at a military or photo op function and convenient. She has not done anything except act as a rubber stamp for President Bush while the Republicans were in power. She has not done much since then and we would be well rid of her. In fact, she could be beaten by the right kind of candidate. Unfortunately, we are not going to get that in this election cycle, as the Democrats have virtually conceded the seat. The Democrats could not find anyone, not a single soul, to run against Dole. Finally, a banker named Jim Neal stepped forward and announced. As soon as he had done so, the Establishment wing of the Democratic Party had a "V8" moment and woke up. For those who think that the Progressive side of the Democratic Party is in charge because Jerry Meek was elected, think again. The Establishment consists of money people and the money people call the shots. Jerry and the party boys dance to their tune. And it became painfully evident in the Jim Neal case.

You see, Jim Neal announced that he is gay. I don't care if he is gay. Who he sleeps with is none of my business as long as he gets the job done and is genuinely concerned for the welfare of the citizens of this state and is not a do-nothing rubber stamp like what we have now. But the Establishment was horrified at the thought of a gay man in Congress. Can't have that! So they went into action and pressured state Senator Kay Hagan to run.

As Jim Neal stated, "we don't have coronations" in this country. No, we don't. We have elections and the more talented people who run for office the better. However, it is very hypocritical of the Democratic Party to put up a candidate against him solely because he is gay. Had he been straight, this never would have happened and the Establishment should rightfully be ashamed.