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Amiga Christine Russell wrote:

Sloan –

I am sorry to hear what you have heard about the Cuban reef and Gardens of the Queens from a few people. Maybe this is the case. I am always looking for a little ray of sunshine in a murky, clouded, dead ecological system. I still hope it is true. I am a LOGICAL person, I operate on logic, not what I am told by others, by the government, by the news media. It simply makes sense to me, that a not so developed society would not have yet killed everything off and screwed everything up like has happened to so much of the US. Over-development means unhealthy living conditions, poor health and an eventual death to the food chain – of which we are a part. There are many reasons Brian and I have spent well over 10 years researching and traveling, looking for ‘home’. We like what many consider “third” world countries – it often means a much better, happier, healthy life, see end of this email.

We have 5 things we look for in a country: 1. What kind of a political system do they have? Is it safe? Is anywhere safe these days?! 2. The currency. Is it stable? Compared to the US dollar you will get MUCH debate. Some think the dollar is king, others see the world beginning to use other currencies for trade, and leaving the US and the dollar out of those conversations. Some think the next bubble will be related to the market and currencies of the world. Only time will tell. I’m not betting on the dollar long term. I think more like Jim Rodgers – agriculture! You can’t eat money, gold or silver. 3. Geography and climate. We don’t want to any longer live with hurricanes! Nor massive flooding, earthquakes, volcanoes, etc – yeah there are places in the US that maybe have better climate than the Keys, but they don’t have the other important aspects of life we require. And I don’t need someone telling me about the earthquakes in Panama – I know where the fault lines are and I am not worried 4. Affordability. Here is where key west scores a ZERO and much of the US for that – at least once you have discovered, lived in, and enjoyed some other countries. And 5. which can NOT be left out – how do the people of the country being considered as home, feel about Americans – NOT America, but Americans? Actually you should not say you are an American to them, their response is a puzzled look and they will respond we are all Americans, can you not refer to your self as something else? Cental America, South America, North America – all Americans! My friends in Central and South American suggest I am a Norte Americano! Ok but what about the Canadians – oh, they are Canadians – lucky bunch! I do like to through in one more consideration as we have looked for ‘home’ it has to do with spending. What does a country spend on education, the military, and how does their GDP compare with government spending? A country that sees its least fortunate are schooled with a good education as well as free access to good health care – that says alot about what a country thinks of its people and that’s a country I want to call home. Some call that OMG…. SOCIALISM! I call it HUMANITY. Common sense

Sloan – you might find this article interesting and surprising. And in the past year and a half I imagine te gap is only growing:

What’s the happiest place on earth? It’s not the U.S., survey finds
Sep. 16, 2014 at 6:28 PM
Linda Carroll


In yet another demonstration of the old axiom that money can’t buy happiness, Panama and Costa Rica turn out to have the most satisfied citizens even though both lag numerous other countries in terms of wealth, according to a new poll conducted by Gallup and Healthways Global.

After interviewing more than 133,000 people from 135 countries, researchers found the two Central American nations scored highest in three of five elements of well-being: purpose, social, financial, community and physical. Purpose was defined as how well you like the way you spend your days and how motivated you are to achieve your goals, while the social element looked at whether people had supportive relationships and love in their lives. Community homed in on whether people liked where they lived, felt safe and had pride in their communities.
The two remaining elements, financial and physical, focused on people’s economic wherewithal and their health.

Amazingly, the U.S. didn’t make it into the top 10 in a single category.

“This is a multipronged and very comprehensive measurement of subjective well-being and it’s unlike anything undertaken before because of this,” said Dan Witters, research director of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index.
Improvements in a nation’s well-being scores can translate into economic advances, said Peter Chouieri, president of Healthways International.
For instance, “if you raise well-being by one point only, you have a 1 percent reduction in the likelihood of incurring healthcare cost and a 2.2 percent reduction in the likelihood of hospital admission,” Choueiri said. “A 10 percent improvement in well-being translates into 5 percent fewer unscheduled absences and 24 percent lower [rates of employees showing up at work when sick].”

Related post: World’s happiest country? Would you believe Paraguay?
Countries were rated in each category as either “thriving,” “struggling” or “suffering.”
The survey ranked these countries in the Top 10: Panama, Costa Rica, Denmark, Austria, Brazil, Uruguay, El Salvador, Sweden, Guatemala, Canada.

Christine continued:

Looks like many 6 on that list would be considered poor countries – third world countries. Bottom line is money does not equate with happiness The US has much to learn.

Spread your wings Sloan – fly away. Get out of here! Fly away with Kari one day and be much happier than you are here

I replied:

Flying away will require money not presently in hand, and Kari being resolved not to drink vodka, or anything alcoholic, neither of which requires are yet met. I don’t research where I will live, or go. The itinerary is provided by angels. I go where they send me, engage what they arrange for me to engage. Saves heaps of thinking, researching, investigating, planning. I made a huge mistake buying the place on Little Torch Key, which I had rented for $650 a month, open-ended. I thought I was doing the smart thing, investing in a beautiful piece of land, with a building permit, adjacent to a state wildlife refuge, one of the few now yet entirely despoiled parts of the Florida Keys. A quarter of a million dollar blunder. We plan, God laughs. You worry too much, I think. 10 years searching for the perfect new place to live, and you still have not found it, because it does not exist. Even as you kept trying and trying to make Key West the perfect place to live, for you. That will never come to pass, either. All there is, is today. Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. Nobody. But I agree with you, that America is on the skids, and I think it’s far more advanced than is generally realized. A decline velocity has been reached that I don’t see can be reversed, and the velocity is increasing. It’s like a big cruise ship moving foward at sea, it’s mass and momentum will carry it off the edge of the world, regardless of any and all countermeasures now employed. What remains to be seen, are the details, how and when it happens. Nothing I can do about that. Nothing I can do about tomorrow. All I can deal with is what is in front of me today. And it’s a heap. I’m ongoing in spiritual warfare with demonic forces running other people and organizations and governments unaware of what is running them, in most cases. Even as I try to enjoy life to the extent possible. Takes a big sense of humor, given all the other going on. Without a big sense of humor, it would be hell-squared. Angels don’t think like humans, and, because of them, neither do I much of the time. If I could get human thinking out of me altogether, then I’d probably be a lot happier. But then, the point of being human is to experience this life’s various servings; the more varied, the richer the life, I suppose. Kari makes me laugh, a lot. And, sometimes, she does things that being me to despair. But what would I do instead of make a run of it with her, despite the obvious obstacles? Be a monk, again? Not laugh nearly as much, again? Not wanting to wake up in the morning, after turning in at night, again? I am way past thinking anything I do or say will make a difference. I would be insane if I thought what I do or say will make a difference. However, some things must be done simply because they need to be done. So I do them, and try to make the best of it. That’s my simply “theology”, in a nutshell. You want to accelerate, sell all of your Norte Americano reale state, and your Panama real estate, and go where the wind blows you, stopping where you are called or moved to stop, until the wind blows you from there to wherever, again. You will never figure it out by thinking. The mind has no clue what the heart is up to, unless the heart tells the mind what it is. The heart knows everything the mind is up to, and I suppose that sometimes, or often, worries the shit out of the heart, and worse, then the mind does what the heart does not wish to do.
Sloan

Christine wrote:

Sloan,

You are right about a couple of things – “all you have is today – no body knows what will happen tomorrow”. After my experience with the brain tumor – I LIVE FOR THE DAY….. BUT PLAN FOR TOMORROW! One must invest and spend wisely so not to run out of money before they die, but one must also enjoy the present! Also you are correct – I do worry! Too much? There is MUCH to worry about these days, especially if one is paying attention and one wants to preserve what they have as well as find an affordable, happy, place to live – it does take time and research. When I bought in kw 20 years ago I thought this would be where I spent my golden years. Things change. The USA has certainly changed. And kw is nothing like it was when I first started coming here in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I have no regrets, I have made wonderful freinds and done what I can to try to make the community a better place. I think that should be everyone’s civic duty to participate in their community. I’ve learned kw does not want to be anything different than what it is. The newbies with no reference to the past think it is paradise The conchs do not want change. So everyone is happy. The problem is, even if we don’t want change – we get change, and to survive, one has to change with the times – this is where kw has failed. But the economy is booming right now in kw. Some even think so in the US. Life is good today. They are happy.

But something you said I think you were incorrect “I would be insane if I thought what I do or say will make a difference”. Don’t kid yourself Sloan. Even Margaret Mead got it – “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Don’t think you have not made an impression and caused people to change their thinking. Spay Panama has taught me the real lesson of what a group of 30 – 40 individual volunteers can do. Spay and neuter 100,000 animals. Imagine the suffering that has been eliminated with millions of less animals roaming the streets being hit my cars, starving. No, I will NEVER believe one can not make a difference. That is giving up. You just have to pick your battles and I have picked the wrong ones in the past Life is short….on to better projects. I WILL make a difference in this world, it just won’t be here.

“10 years searching for the perfect new place to live, and you still have not found it, because it does not exist. Even as you kept trying and trying to make Key West the perfect place to live, for you,” you tell me. Well, I never tried to make kw the perfect place to live – just a little better. Have I spent 10 years searching for the perfect place? No, but I have spent 10 wonderful years discovering new places and people, and I have found better places to live according to what I am looking for in a country and a place to call home. It only took 3 years to discover and buy in Panama after finding Costa Rica was not what I was looking for – for many it is – not me. Do I expect perfection – well that would be wonderful but utopia never existed and never will, but that does not mean there are not better places I have never wanted to spend my time in one place, I said that even when I bought in kw. I get bored. The world is too big to stand still in one place. I used to be much happier in kw before I discovered Panama and Uruguay – now I know there is someplace better for me. And there are many discovering the same thing – I hope they don’t all come to Panama, at least Uruguay is probably further than they want to move When I lived in Ohio I thought kw was better. Sometimes I think God sent me to kw to appreciate Ohio! Though I still have my home in Ohio, it is not someplace I want to spend more than a month or two a year, I do love my little ravine and stream and all the nature. So where one is happy is all relative to ones experiences. I can’t wait to move on to the next adventure. Others will be happy to remain in kw. That’s what make the world go round

I am glad you have found Kari Sloan, there seems to be more of a spring in your step and your writing. I hope she can work through her demons and you can enjoy a future together.

This conversation could go on forever. Everyone is looking for something different. As the world so drastically changes and at a more rapid pace as time goes on, some people are willing to settle for what they have, where they are. It is the easiest course of action. I have never taken the easy road – I like the road less traveled!

Happiness and the best to you my friend!
Christine

I replied:

Yes, this conversation could go on forever :-).

Not everybody is looking for something different, the Conchs don’t want Key West to change, the newbies think it’s paradise.

I told Todd German a little while ago, the only thing causing me to want to stick here is Kari. The work I was given to do here politically, killed a life-long love affair I had with the Florida Keys. A love affair that cannot be put into words, it was a feeling. And, I don’t see anything in Key West, or the Keys, which changed because I lived here.

The so-called environmentalists wring their hands over what goes on down here, but when a candidate for county commission and mayor of Key West came along, who said Mother Nature trumps everything in the Keys; no more new development, period, the end, the Keys already are way over-developed, and there is no one living here who can stand before a mirror and honestly argue otherwise; get rid of mosquito control, the chemicals are more harmful than the mosquitoes; ban cruise ships from Key West, they are killing the sea …

Well, that candidate was not what the environmentalists wanted. They elected Corporate America George Neugent, for county commissioner, and homeboys Morgan McPherson and Craig Cates, for mayor of Key West.

The environmentalists thought I was not paying attention? They thought I was not seeing them for what they really were? They thought I was insane, because I kept saying angels tell me what to do and correct me when I don’t do it to suit them?

I would have been insane, Christine, if I had thought they really were environmentalists, if I had thought they really wanted to go down the road less traveled by. They tried to go down both roads, which reminds of Jesus telling someone in the Gospels: You cannot worship two masters, you cannot worship God and mammon.

The truth is, there is not one environmentalist in the Keys. Not one.

Anyone who drives a car down here, or a moped, or rides a bus, is not an environmentalist.

Anyone who lives in a non-solar-residence home is not an environmentalist.

Anyone whose residence does not reuse rainwater that lands on the roof is not an environmentalist.

Anyone whose residence does not have compost toilets is not an environmentalist.

Anyone whose residence does not reuse grey water for irrigation is not an environmentalist.

Anyone who does not grow his/her own vegetables and fruit, and catch his or her own fish, chickens, lizards, snakes, bugs to eat, is not an environmentalist.

Anyone who used a cess pit or septic tank or a toilet connected to a sewer line that ended up discharging treated waste water into the ground water under the bedrock is not an environmentalist.

Anyone who catches and releases fish for sport is not an environmentalist – that’s torture, of the fish.

Anyone who fishes for profit, without regard to depleting fish stocks, is not an environmentalist.

I could go on and on.

The reef died here because people lived here.

The fish stocks were depleted because people lived here.

The sea if full of flesh-eating bacteria because people lived here.

All the talk about invasive species – plants, reptiles, fish – ruining the Keys – hilarious, when the talk is coming from the invasive species that wrecked the Keys and the ocean.

Well, I got up on my rocky horse, and now I’ll get off of it, for a while. I have to have some fun swimming against the current all the time, or I’ll go insane.

Christine wrote:

We are all to blame in one way or another for the environmental problems of the world and the Keys. But some humans cause much more damage to nature than others. Contrast those who sail and have a much lighter footprint than the diesel guzzlers with 3 huge engines hanging off the stern, or the God awful fuel sucking race boats that I see will be at Faro Blanco soon. It’s a mentality I thankfully don’t understand. Sort of a redneck thing like – Nascar! The dirty cruise ships spewing into the air and water – and people breath it, swim in it and call this paradise? This year I have never seen so many private jets flying in to kw – the entitiled who think they have the right to abuse the earths resources and think nothing about the ugly wars for oil or Haliburton and corporate american greed which cause death and destruction. I am probably most angry with corporations, the federal government, and the criminal politicians who allow nature to be raped for profit. What happened to this once great country, it is so sad But a cleansing will come. I think the US economy will ‘adjust’ within the next few years, but unfortunately it will effect the entire world – we are so interdependent these days. Some more independent (third world countries) will fare much better than others, and Mother Earth too will one day take back what is hers, I have no doubt. I sometimes wonder if that is what sea level rising is about, or all the flooding, the tornadoes, the excessive winters – the world is changing so rapidly in more ways than I care to think about. I can not even begin to imagine what it will be like here in the Keys or the US in 10 years. It is depressing if you think too much about it. The lemmings don’t think about it – they just keep marching, not thinking, looking to the future. They think we are too big to fail, or that the government is going to save them. Really?!
It IS going to be interesting

Paradise lost? But with every loss, there is an opportunity.
Smile Sloan – it is going to get better, if you just plan for the inevitable.

I replied:

Whenever I plan, God laughs.

Later in that day, I bumped into Christine out and about on our bicycles, and we had a nice chat. I said I was thinking her and my latest emails should be published. When she spoke of an impending failure of the American economy and currency, I said sooner or later that might happen, and that’s what she sees happening, then she should sell all her American real estate and get rid of all her American dollars and put it all into something else and get herself to some place she thinks will be safe.

Yesterday, Christine wrote:

Sloan –

It was really nice seeing you today.
I like you without the beard – your much younger looking.
More respectful looking – not that people like us care about that

Have not seen Todd in ages – please say hello.

C

Yesterday, Christine sent a political IQ test, which had been forwarded by our amiga Kay Thacker on Key Largo, who had received it from someone else:

Hey Sloan –
ONE of the problems in this country is that people are not informed and do not pay attention to what is going on!
Take the test. Share with your readers so they can take the test. Then let’s share our scores
Have a good day!
C

I replied:

Hi, Christine –

I missed two of the questions, where do most Americans have to indicate they have health insurance?, I said when they change their address, correct answer, when they file their taxes; and the number of women on the US Supreme Court?, I said 2, correct answer is 3. I haven’t had to file a tax return in years, not enough earned income. Spank me for missing the number of female justices. I was advised by the test results genie, “You scored better than 63% of the population, below 23% and the same as 14%.” I think that’s in the 78th percentile, a C + – scandalous for a US Presidential candidate.

Maybe they should have asked a question or two about America at war. Say, did the person taking the test support America’s wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq? The answers would have told me more about someone taking the test than all the other questions combined and added up and squared.

Had interesting conversation on the shuttle bus today headed back up to Cudjoe Key, with a man wearing a Vietnam veteran baseball cap, with captain bars on it. Said, in Vietnam he was in the Army Engineer Corps, drove a bulldozer and backhoe, built bridges and dug ditches. Said, Vietnam was about rubber trees and oil, mostly rubber trees. Said, the private militia in America won’t let President Obama declare martial law and use his military to do it. Said, the military is only 3,000,000, the militia is 6,000,000, or more. Said, thanks to Internet, the militia knows where every US military personnel and his/her family live, and for that reason the military will not support martial law. Said, the militia has some crazies, but most are not. Said, the militia now making its own guns and ammo. Agreed with me, America is headed toward civil war sooner or later. Said, the militia is ready.

I wonder how he would have scored on the political IQ test? I wonder if he would have cared how he scored? I imagine he would have gotten all the questions right except perhaps the Pakistan woman.

Ciao ~

Pissansky

P.S. Idiot, I didn’t think to tell the Vietnam vet militiaman that I am a candidate for US President, or to give him a goodmorningkeywest.com business card, and tell him to read all about our conversation in tomorrow’s Good Morning Vietnam knock off at goodmorningkeywest.com. Dang, what an idiot.

And while the topic is hot, a link to this beauty plopped into my Facebook account today:

‘I’m not giving him a pass’: Obama ‘Hope’ poster artist said president didn’t come close to living up to his expectations

• Shepard Fairey was shocked Obama supported drones, domestic spying
• Said he believed the president lacked courage in the White House
• But Fairey believes entire system ‘needs an overhaul’ and that money should be taken out of politics
• Also said many Americans are ‘ignorant or lazy’, placing blame without doing their own research or taking any action

By ANNETA KONSTANTINIDES FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 23:23 EST, 29 May 2015 | UPDATED: 07:32 EST, 30 May 2015

Almost seven years after the famous Barack Obama ‘Hope’ poster was first revealed, the artist behind the iconic image believes the president hasn’t come close to living up to his expectations.

Shepard Fairey said he was shocked Obama would support drones and domestic spying and that he thinks the president has lacked courage during his time in office.

But Fairey, 45, also believes Obama has ‘had a really tough time’ in the White House.

‘I think he finds himself in a position where your actions are largely dictated by things out of your control,’ the American street artist told Esquire.

‘I’m not giving him a pass…but I do think the entire system needs an overhaul and taking money out of politics would be a good first step.’

Fairey, who called Obama a ‘quality human being’, also said he agreed with Hilary on ‘most issues’ but that the entire campaign finance structure angered him.

The artist said he believes that system narrowed the field of candidates dramatically, based on who has the ability to raise a lot of money – and gives the donating lobbyists, special interest groups and corporations a disproportionate amount of power.

But it wasn’t just Obama or the campaign system that Fairey had biting words for.

‘I hate to say Americans are ignorant or lazy, but a lot of them are ignorant and lazy,’ he said.

Fairey believes much of the country is ‘uneducated and complacent’, calling out people who blamed Obama for things but didn’t make it to the ballot box in the first place.

‘There’s a lot of finger pointing,’ he said.

‘And very little action and very little research into the dynamics that created the situation that they’re unhappy about.’

In 2012 Fairey was sentenced to two years probation and 300 hours of community service after he destroyed evidence and created fake documents in a lawsuit against the Associated Press, who claimed he had used the organization’s picture of Obama and had infringed on their copyright.

P.P.S. In a dream around dawn today, I was watching a football game. The Boston Patriots were one team. Two of its quarterbacks, the first white, the second black, didn’t get the job done. Then, Richard Nixon, dressed in a business suit, standing on the Patriots’ sideline, was told to go in and play quarterback, and he ran toward the dressing room to suit up. Although Nixon is remembered for Watergate, when he ran for president during the Vietnam war, he kept saying he had a plan to get America out of that war, and that, in my opinion, is what got him elected. After he was elected, he got America out of Vietnam. Then, the North Vietnamese finished what they had started before America went in there to try to get Vietnam’s rubber trees and oil.

When Barack Obama campaigned in 2008, he made plenty of indication that he was going to get America out of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and he did not deliver.

If elected President, the first order I give after being sworn in as Commander in Chief, is for American troops, spies and diplomats to leave Iraq and Afghanistan ASAP, and return to America. What happens after that in those two countries is those two countries’ business.

Waiting on Cudjoe Key for the shuttle bus yesterday morning, a younger woman who tends bar in Key West and I talked a bit, and somehow the conversation got around to Martians, maybe I said I was one. Then, I said, Martins are here observing us now, because they don’t want Earthlings coming to where they live. The young bartender said, “Who could blame them?”

PPPS. Last night, Todd and I watched “Cleanskin” on his TV. I think it’s a darn good provocative treatment of England’s war with radical Islam in England, and what caused it. I think America is moving toward a similar war in America, for much the same reasons. But in America, it is not just radical Muslims who want to go to war against America, and I imagine most of them are, or were, Christians.

Just as I finished writing that, I saw this Facebook message from Todd :-). I will ask Todd to print it out so I can mail it to Kari, for her to ponder and share with the ladies in the jail. Kinda doubt it would get through to President Obama and ex-President Bush, if I sent it to them - too subversive :-), maybe especially too subversive for Christians, which they both claim to be. Hmmm, didn’t Jesus say in the Gospels, “Hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will clearly enough to help your brother remove the speck from his eye?” I don’t suppose this would get through to any radical Muslim leaders either, or to any world leaders, or government officials, except maybe Pope Francis might get a chuckle out of it.

• 

  10:14am

  Todd German

  Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson, May 25, 2015 Via @GoComics

  One of the many great comics you can read for free at GoComics.com! Follow us for giveaways & giggles.

  www.gocomics.com

clv0528c

I dreamt last night that Todd was giving me something. Tally ho! It was but a mere dream. But then, a number of other of my dreams last night were pretty rough on me, and when I woke up from them, I did not pretend they were just dreams. I knew they were messages from the angels for me to seriously consider and guide me in what I posted today at goodmorningkeywest.com. All of my dreams are advisory. Has been that way almost 30 years. That will continue, regardless. Imagine a US President guided by Jesus, Archangel Michael and Magdalene Melchizedek in his dreams. Then imagine a shot-dead by an American Christian US President.

sloanbashinsky@outlook.com