Father vs. SonA middle aged man has what is called an incurable form of MS. A former working class tax payer all his life now on disability with a not so bright future. Vanderbilt University hospital is trying some experimental procedures and feeding him a diet of very expensive drugs along with the recommendation that he self medicate with a little outside the law help ... marijuana. The man says it's the one thing that gives him relief.
Buying pot is an expensive proposition so he takes a chance, gets a few good seeds and grows 4 plants. There's no profit motive, personal use only and the helicopter jockeys who are now searching the county don't seem to want to fool with small amounts, only big crops that will help justify their existence.Then the father who mows his son's yard finds them. What does he do? Cuts them down and feeds them to his goats.
Understandably that is a depressing predicament for someone looking to ease the pain.
His mother comes over to his house to talk. What reason did she give for the destruction of personal property? Because if he got busted the parent's name would be disgraced. It would be in the newspaper and folks would talk. It's a small county where everyone knows everyone else
What's really bad is that the Tennessee legislature is jerking around with the medical marijuana issue. Debate has been put off again. People who are actually suffering when relief is even suggested by knowing and compassionate doctors be damned. Bible belt politics as usual. There are still too many misinformed closed minded 'voters' who cringe at the thought of legalizing a plant with over 20,000 known uses for the politicians to do the right thing. They think it might cost them a vote or two and get them labeled as soft on drugs. Disingenuous cowards is what I call them.
Corporate predictions ...A conversation with a long time Caterpillar equipment salesman didn't reveal anything new for those paying attention but did give a glimpse of what a very large corporation is conveying to their management.
There is no recovery. At least for the foreseeable future. The word depression is being used. Sales of new product are virtually nonexistent and what sales have occurred this year will be gone as the 'stimulus' money dries up. Further cuts will be necessary and managers are put on notice to plan accordingly.Additional word is that small time contractors who have been in business for many years are going bankrupt left and right. Soon only the 'big boys' will be left and even they will be hurting badly in short time.
Can't get out of Florida ...An 80 year old man and his wife own a farm close by. They have slowly been getting the property ready to move here. They have worked and owned commercial and residential property in central Florida all their lives and want to leave for good but there's a problem.
I asked him why he doesn't sell his Florida property now in case the Gulf oil spill doesn't end anytime soon or the economy completely collapses and the value of all he owns is gone.
His response was that he has been trying to liquidate his properties for over two years. Buyers were interested when he put them on the market in early 2008 but the economy started to fall and there has not been a single offer for anything.
He's active, fairly healthy and ready to finally retire to what he considers a safe place. Fed up with Florida but lacking the money to get out without being able to sell out. Paying taxes for over 60 years, contributing to the economy and never taking a government handout doesn't count for much these days.
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Individual stories in the decline of the America are many and varied. They don't mean a whole lot in the overall scheme of things and that's how it has been planned.
The powers that be twist the statistics, manipulate the money, make laws against the people and think they won't be affected. The 'small people' are expendable.
But the PTB will be affected, it won't be pretty for them and it's just a matter of time.
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