DECEMBER

This is another weird December. Temperatures have been in the 70's and it feels like early fall, or maybe springtime. I saw something on TV about plants breaking out in bloom that should be dried up and brown by now. Mother Nature is being fooled. The weather is definitely warmer. The whole world is in a flux. Don and I saw a couple of trees with pink blooms on them! I believe they were peach trees.

I keep thinking that the Mayan calendar may be predicting the polar shift and wonder what kind of catastrophic effects it could have on the earth. Talk about worrying about inconsequential things. I worried about Y2K like that, too. Do you remember that? Everybody thought, and predicted, that all electronic communications would go down at the millennium and we would revert back to the stone age or something. Boy, that turned out to be a big ta-do about nothing.

When I think about the Mayan calendar and their prediction, in my fevered mind I try to imagine what would happen if there was a swift polar shift. I can see cartoon images of everything flying into the air until the poles shift, and then everything comes tumbling down to earth again. Kind of like turning off gravity. Whoever survives will have to clean up all the damage and then start to rebuild again. We'd go back to the stone ages.

I blame my imagination on years of watching cartoons when I was a kid, and gleaning all the information that is 'out there' on the internet. It's a potent combination.

I get into conspiracy theories and doomsday scenarios. It's sort of thrilling to scare yourself with outrageous dangers that couldn't possibly happen. It's kind of the same thrill as telling ghost stories around a campfire. It's a lot more fun to scare the bejesus out of yourself about something you know isn't true than to worry about the things that can really hurt you.

I've been on earth long enough to have lived through several doomsday scenarios that haven't come to fruition so I don't put much stock in this scare. Chances are we will all wake up on December 21 this year and everything will look the same as it did the day before. Not one rock, or tree, or stream will have moved. Nobody will be hanging in mid-air in a comic imitation of a Wiley Coyote cartoon and the earth will be here for us all. More importantly, we will all still be here ... together. We should make the most of our life on earth and appreciate the things we have, and each other.

It's a lot more fun worrying about the Walking Dead, or becoming weightless, than it is to worry about stocks and the economy or government issues. Something much worse than the end of the Mayan calender may be in store for us as we head towards the 'fiscal cliff'. Our economy could spiral out of control again and plunge into another deep recession. Being the eternal optimist that I am, I have hope. Is anybody else worried about the fiscal cliff?


The country really is improving, whether you've noticed it or not. Work is picking up and companies are manufacturing again. I even heard that the housing market is picking up. It won't be long before America becomes a strong vital competitor in the world market again. This time I hope big business will invest in Americans. 

There's a whole new movement in American labor. Low wage earners who make at, or below, minimum wages are uniting seeking better pay. Small entrepreneurs won't voluntarily increase minimum wages so it is up to the legislators to enact laws increasing minimum wages and guaranteeing everyone a decent salary so they don't have to use food stamps or government funding to survive. There are too many people struggling out there trying to raise a family on an insufficient salary. When the economy improves, it is time to rebuild America's labor force and create a loyal, productive workforce that is competitive  in the world. We can do it, and by golly, we should!

That's what's on my mind right now. What's on yours?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Schylar, Scout, Amanda, Kiersten, Tony, Denise, Todd, Carmen, Andy, Noody, and Carole

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Diane and Larry

RIP
Albert T. Silvers, Edwadene McAllister, Delbert Callahan

REMEMBER

Merry Christmas
Happy Holidays Y'all!

AS ALWAYS

PIO