Veinte de Julio — Colombian Independence.  Many of my readers know I spent many years in Colombia, South America, making many new friends, adding an international side to my family, and absorbing a culture that has influenced my life and my fiction (some of that “absorbing” came in liquid form, of course–cerveza and aguardiente became an important part of my Spanish vocabulary!).  Colombia’s recent history, from La Violencia to the FARC, right-wing death squads, and the war on drugs, has been filled with struggle.  The income gap there can make Americans stop and wonder what we’re worried about in the U.S.  But these struggles have tempered the steel of the Colombian people, as it has in many Latin American nations.  Let’s all salute the good Colombians on their day of independence!

What a way to celebrate Independence Day!  Congrats to the U.S. women’s team in winning the World Cup over Japan, 5-2, with three goals by Carli Lloyd in the first sixteen minutes.  I expected it to be a lot closer.  Congrats to the Japanese team too for hanging in there the whole game after that initial onslaught.  Everyone showed class, greatness, and awesome sportsmanship.  On to Rio!

The Supreme Court (SC) has made some anti-democratic (note the small “d”) and fascist-leaning decisions in recent years (you should recall that German corporations helped bring Hitler to power—some of those still exist!).  It’s forced a money-race that is tantamount to the rich elites and their toadies buying elections.  Both Dems and the GOP now play the latter game.  Hillary not only leads the small pack of Dem candidates (not that small, but certainly smaller than the GOP clown-contingent), but she also has the biggest “war chest,” AKA financial backing.  Yet she’s still wooing George Soros.

As bad as big money’s presence in American politics has become, thanks to the SC, we don’t need an anti-Citizens United amendment to stop that (it would be nice, but amendments are hard to come by).  We can redirect the money.  Mr. Soros, for example, has put up $5 million to mount legal action against laws restricting voter participation.  You see, the GOP knows they can’t win in a fair fight if everyone votes—demographics aren’t on their side—so they try to make sure all the uncool people, most of them poor and middle class folks, can’t vote against them.  You saw it in Selma and it continues, only it’s more subtle.  In fact, I can say it’s not racial anymore: You’re uncool simply if you vote Democratic.  You’re uncool if you think the rich elites have too much control.  You’re uncool if you think people deserve a safety net when they’re down and out.  You’re uncool if you think that people deserve reasonably priced but quality healthcare.

Of course, it’s the GOP that’s uncool.  In almost every state with a legislature dominated by the GOP, you can see atrocities committed.  Florida’s legislature passed the controversial Stand-Your-Ground law that allows you to blow away anyone you think is threatening you.  They also voted down a Medicaid proposal that would have helped thousands in dire need.  The atrocities happen in the U.S. Congress too, more so now with the GOP dominating both houses.  They don’t seem to give a rat’s ass about what most of the country thinks.  They think they know it all, they have the power, and they’ll make sure it stays that way—Koch brothers be praised.

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While Sen. Rubio’s announcement was overshadowed by ex-Sen. Clinton’s, the senator from Florida’s worries me more.  His party has practiced Orwell’s doublespeak for decades and he continues to do so—nothing new or surprising there—the party of Lincoln’s modern pols aren’t Honest Abes.  But my worry is about the double-image—the good-looking pol with that baby face and shock of perfect hair pretending to speak to a young generation as the prophet leading them into the promised land of upward mobility.  Instead of Moses, he’s the Pied Piper, of course.  He’s suave, sophisticate, and smooth-talking, but the false image of a caring progressive and “man of the people.”

As a writer, I search for the mot juste.  Let’s analyze the word “conservative” and what it means in current American politics.  It used to be that conservative meant someone who believed in the status quo and expressed a reluctance to try untested solutions to society’s problems, especially ones not thought through and analyzed for negative impact.  I recognize that there’s a place for that kind of conservatism—even the most flaming liberal practices some of that in her or his daily life.  The current GOP, especially ultra-conservatives aka Tea Partiers, in their disservice to the middle class and poor and their sycophant service to the one-percenters, has twisted that definition into something ugly, retrograde, and elitist.  That’s Marco Rubio’s true image that he’s trying to hide.  He’s no man of the people; he’s a mouthpiece for the rich elites in America.

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Italy is known for its change of governments, corruption, dalliances among public officials, unions abusing public trust, and ties to organized crime.  Is it any wonder the justice system is completely dysfunctional?  It isn’t alone, of course.  France and Spain and many Latin American “democracies” suffer equally from incompetence and corruption.  I’ve written about Argentina in these pages—their President was just exonerated from killing a special prosecutor on the eve of announcing an indictment against her.  Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru have long battled the often lucrative ties between public officials and drug cartels.

The Amanda Knox case in Italy is just the tip of the iceberg.  For those not paying attention, she’s the perfect example of what can happen when double jeopardy is allowed in judicial proceedings.  Italy’s keystone cops and keystone courts dragged this case on for eight years.  First, she was convicted.  Then she was exonerated.  Then they overturned the acquittal.  Finally, that same Supreme Court that overturned the acquittal closed the case.  I don’t have info on the ex-boyfriend, but the guy who committed the murder is already serving time.  That didn’t matter.  Italian prosecutors, pandering to local pressure groups and media attention like leaders of a lynch mob, went after Knox and her ex-boyfriend as willing accomplices.  Never mind that they’ve been tried for the same crime several times!

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[Note from Steve: Maybe the timing of this seems off…consider it corn beef and cabbage leftovers….]

Item: The new traitors.  I’m not going to pussyfoot around this issue.  While I abhor the general tone of New York’s leading rag, The Daily News, I’ll agree with its recent headline: the forty-seven (47) senators (nearly the entire GOP majority) are the new traitors in America.  Arrogant, egotistical, and uncouth, they have trampled on the U. S. Constitution, period.  I quote Article II, Section 2, Clause 2: “The President…shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur….”

That clause doesn’t say that the Senate has any power at all when it comes to initiating and pursuing treaties, which makes sense because the President and Secretary of State handle foreign policy and the President is Commander-and-Chief, traditionally the one who has to initiate peace in time of war.  These 47 GOP senators are traitors to the Constitution—their only job is to advise (the President doesn’t have to take their damn advice, ever!) and finally approve.  Their horning-in on the peace process with Iran is treason, plain and simple.

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One of the most exciting Super Bowls ever, right down to the last seconds.  I really thought the Seahawks had it.  A great show by two great teams and a fiesta for adrenalin-seeking sports fans.  Any team could have won this one…as it should be when two teams get this far.  Most of the playoff games this year were spectacular–excitement mixed with strategy in America’s unique game.

Now, back to writing….

Hillary, Jeb, and Mitt.  Old duffers in the Senate and House.  Most of the SC judges.  Naughty or nice, they’re old.  But are they effective?  Do they have enough stamina to continue a political life?  And, most importantly, why aren’t younger people stepping forward?  Even Barbara Bush wondered about that, specifically why someone else besides the Clintons and Bushes couldn’t run for president.  My ponderings are more general: is politics so tainted that people can’t even imagine running for office?  Maybe people just don’t want to subject themselves to the electoral process, which has become beleaguered by political infighting and mudslinging.  Another way to put it: you have to be a mentally challenged masochist addicted on power to yearn for public office these days.

I’ve been elected a few times—“volunteered” is the better word—to club positions, committee chairs, even a department head, and I always had more regrets than rewards.  Any leadership position requires a tough skin; it’s usually a thankless task where you often feel like the target in a pub game of darts, the latter the barbs directed at you as you attempt to do your job.  I can imagine those bad experiences magnified thousands of times, even for local and state government positions, let alone national ones.  It’s become so bad that only “experienced people” (read: old has-beens) can stomach it.  And we pay the price for that in our Western democracies.

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We’re into 2015 a few days now, so two questions come to mind: Will you look back on 2014 positively?  Will you look forward to 2015?  Depending on your political proclivities, you’ll believe Congress will be worse, stepping up its war against the middle class and poor, now that the GOP controls both Houses; Obama and the rest of the executive branch will muddle along and maybe the economy will improve in spite of what anyone does; and the Supreme Court will continue to wage class warfare too by hiding behind an 18^th century interpretation of the Constitution.  Or not.  So, let’s not worry about the political world.  Many of us, in fact, would prefer to ignore ALL the politicians.  More a look ahead to what needs to be done, the following topics are more interesting than pure politics…and politicians.

Economy.  Despite handwringers and naysayers, the economy in 2014 did pretty well.  The horror felt by big oil and gas stockholders at plunging gas prices, mirrored in giant swings on the NYSE, couldn’t match Putin’s as Russia’s oil-based economy started to tank.  (Maybe the Soviet Union only fell because Russians, including their inept, Mafia-don-like leaders, don’t understand capitalism?)  Why the American economy even worries about big oil and gas now is beyond me.  The real JRs of our country are rapacious, energy dinosaurs, so their companies deserve to go under, but that shouldn’t affect the rest of the American economy anymore.  I smell a conspiracy.  The Wall Street bankers’ celebration of too-big-too-fail might be contagious.

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While I’ve tried to portray something about what awaits a veteran when he returns home in some of my books (the homeless man Walter Jones in The Midas Bomb, my detectives Chen and Castilblanco, and, more recently, Mary Jo Melendez of Muddlin Through, are some examples of characters who are veterans—Walter and Mary Jo both talk about a wounded vet’s problems with homecoming, for example), my personal experience with veterans has been via what they tell me, my relatives and friends.  For example, one life experience I will always treasure is tutoring a blind veteran in Spanish so he could finish his psych degree—he wanted to help other vets.  I probably learned much more from Richard than he learned from me.

Just from Richard, two uncles—one Navy man and one Marine in World War II—and from a nephew who served in the Army in Iraq, I was able to determine that (1) the horrors of war they experienced are hard for anyone to imagine who hasn’t experienced them, and (2) physical wounds are all too often trumped by mental ones.  I can’t remember ever hearing the acronym PTSD in relation to Vietnam vets while that war was going on, but Richard’s blindness wasn’t his worst affliction, which is why he wanted a degree in psychology.  Back then, and even going farther back in time to WW I and II and the Korean War, the official attitude respect to mental problems from the Defense Department was pretty much, “Man up and get on with your life,” but, like Walter’s case, this isn’t a slam dunk.

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