Welcome to the Third World... America

America, the third world country.  Welcome to our humble land, we hope you enjoy your stay.  Oh yeah, if you hear gun shots, hit the deck.

America... The Nation of Extremes

Over the past several decades (at least three), the American political and social landscape has become more radicalized in its nature.  Right down to the simple things are causing people to take radical stances.  I mean right down to a simple, stupid statement.  If one of the last two Presidents of the United States pointed at a barn, Bush said it was red, liberals would be screaming that the barn was not actually red, but some shade of it, like Vermilion.  If Obama said the barn was Scarlett, conservatives would scream it was red.  Pretty simple stuff right there.  The damn barn is red, we don't need to fight over it for three weeks, develop some twisted conspiracies about how the barn was actually white, but someone painted it after the President said it was red.

Homelessness

Photo by Deb Holman (Duluth, 12/13)

As we sit here in the midst of a deep freeze, last night it was around -10, tonight it will be around 0, and tomorrow it will again be around -10, all before the wind chill is taken into account, I want to talk about something that really bugs me.  That is homelessness.  This is about as good of time as any to sit down and discuss it.