Jack:  It is quite a view from here to see what is taking place around the world, as a result of the climate.  It is a result of the changes in the structure of the planet itself.  It is truly less then pleasant for me to see the poor response that is given by leaders, not only of this country but all of the major power centers around the world.  The process of global warming is very, very real.  That it is has been ignored and downplayed by the current administration, is without question frustrating to many. 

Jim:  Yes there are many of the leading scientists that say that is we stop the pollution today, it could possibly continue for ten more years before it would play itself out. 

Jack:  That is probably a very accurate statement.  Yet it is taking place.  It is part of the change that must, I guess, necessarily occur. 

The sudden abandoning of the political ship by those in the Bush administration is intriguing.  Many are leaving, many are planning on leaving.  My friends the other shoe is going to drop very shortly.   The information that is beginning to trickle out of the Bush White House will have a huge impact on the political scene in the coming election.   I watch this and shake my head, because it is all very unnecessary and is all so contrary to the best interest, of not only the American people but the world at large. 

Jim:  But greed motivates a lot of people.

Jack:  Indeed it does my friends.  Greed is the single biggest detractor for the quality of life in this country.  It is an interesting window on the world to watch what has been taking place, not only in the stock market in this country, but in Japan as well.  The infusion of money into the stock market is without question a benefit to those who have much to loose, yet it does nothing for the American citizens.  Except those that have much money invested in the stock market.

Would not those federal funds be better served to lower interest rates on existing mortgages to allow those who are on the verge of becoming homeless to maintain their homes and their standard of living?   Do you know the number of people at this moment in time who have been mislead by those in power to the brink of homelessness? 

Jim:  I would say it’s a great number. 

Jack:  It is a much greater number my friends then you can even imagine. 

Jim:  And you’re right, I don’t understand other then the fact, is the bottom line dollars why the financial institutions don’t say “you know what, we’ll let you refinance at 4% so you can keep the house” rather then boot them out and have a bunch of empty houses. 

Jack:  You must understand though Jim, it is long been the goal of that group that you refer to as the Illuminati, to create just this pallet for the painting of the future.  The system of economy that has been allowed to flourish in this country has created a two class system.  Gone are the days of a true middle class-- it not longer exists.  The average family in the United Sates of America is no more then two paychecks away, from losing everything.  This is a sad commentary.  We live in a land with the greatest resources in the world, yet we have exploited them for the benefit of a few.  We have climbed on the backs of the American family to build the ivory towers of Wall Street.  I don’t know today what I could possibly propose to change things that would not be so radical that the entire system would totally collapse and this is not the answer either.  It is interesting that the words that you hear in connection with this current fluctuation on Wall Street are sub- prime lending.  Understand that it is precisely that type of designation that has lead to what exists today.  The answer to our citizens who struggle financially as a result of layoff, outsourcing, illness, family crisis, has been to cause them the kind of financial difficulties that dig them a hole that they can not get out of.  All it takes is one short run of bad luck to reduce the credit score, if you will.  And once this happens, any one of you in your group or that you know can be reclassified as a “sub-prime risk”.  As those funds now, are withdrawn from the financial markets.  Where do these folks turn? Lending rates have bordered on what was once considered usury to those who have struggled the most, but who have done the most to keep this country safe and alive.  Those wonderful reserve military individuals, who have been ripped away from their jobs and their homes for far longer then they expected will find when they return that their piece of the American Dream has been shattered.  Not because of lack of responsibility, but precisely because they were responsible to this Nation.  This is when we will see a change--as this affects more and more returning service people.  As our military comes home and finds that they can no longer buy a home, or replace their vehicle, the outcry will be tremendous. 

It is a shame.  And the rate at which the bottom is falling out will make the upcoming political season even that much more difficult.  Again, the current administration, the puppet for those who wield the true power in the world, have created a crisis on the eve of selection in the political process to divert attention from so many areas where attention should be given.  It is always my wish to see the America people come away from their state of apathy.  Yet I think it is difficult for even many of the most sophisticated voters to fully understand the game of smoke and mirrors that is being played upon them.  Is there an answer? 

Jim:  Probably not.

Jack:  There is, Jim.  The answer lies in people being willing to stand up and say “no”.  We talked about this last week, in the form of the taxing system in this country, the Internal Revenue Service.  We need to be talking about it in other areas as well.  We need to do away with our current system of prying into the lives of common citizens.  This has nothing to do with the war on terrorism, my friends.  You know it, I know it.  This has to do with keeping the American people disenfranchised and afraid.  No one dare speak out, for fear of being designated as a threat to National Security. 

As we’ve spoken for the last few years, we have been on the brink of the destruction of the American way of life.  When we first began our dialog, I truly believed that there was more time--and more desire on the part of the American people to turn things around.  We stand at the edge of a cliff that is about ready to break away.  The depression that hit this nation in the 20’s, in nothing compared to what we face today.  The ability to protect this nation from occupation by foreign powers dwindles.  If a situation such as the Cuban missile crisis were to take place today, our next conversation my friends, would be with you were I am.  The gravity of that situation can not be overstated. 

Jim:  The depression that you speak of, yes I can pretty well understand that if something like that were to ever happen again, there wouldn’t be, and I hate to use the word peacefulness, but there was a sense of controlled calm, during that time there were bread lines, yes there were, there was no wholesale insurrections so to speak.  There would be this time.  This time chaos would take over, and again, at that point in time, an occupation by a foreign power would be very easy.

Jack:  Absolutely.  Absolutely.

Jim:  Maybe, or hopefully the American people will wake up with what’s been going on with the China situation between food products and pet products and toys and so that maybe the America people this Christmas will say no more.  It will hurt a lot of retailers, and it will possibly ripple and obviously it will have to ripple into Wall Street, but maybe the American people are getting to the point where they are going to say this is it, we’ve had it. 

Jack:  I hope you’re right my friend.  I hope you’re right.  I would like to think that is the case, and I would like to see less response in China of a violent nature and more education to manufacturing in that country as to the dangers.  Yet there is a fine line between, overprotecting our citizenry and keeping them safe.  Many of the toys that have just been recalled are things that your children played with, are things that you played with.  We had as children toys made of metal, toys with small pieces, toys with sharp edges, baby carriages for the girls that had all kinds of things that could be dangerous, but our response as a nation, our response as parents, was to show the children how to play with toys without injuring themselves. 

Jim:  Yes that’s true. 

Jack:  Yet now, we vilify the Mattel Toy Company and the manufacturers in China for providing that which as a nation, parents purchased for their children because this is what they played with when they were growing up.  Let’s stop trying to legislate common sense, let’s stop trying to protect everybody from themselves, let’s push for personal responsibility, let’s push for honesty in Government.  These recalls are not just a sudden surprising moment on the horizon.  This is not happening just because we’ve discovered it now, it is happening because it is another attempt to vilify a nation and keep the American people focused on something other then what is going on. 

Jim:  This is true, you see the parents don’t worry too much about the toys, they don’t want to take the parental responsibility, yet when the child graduates to a bicycle, their responsibility is there, they teach the child how to ride the bicycle properly.  They put helmets on them now, which in my day in age you would be classified as a chicken if you rode your bicycle with a helmet.  But today’s day in age we have to have wrist guards, and all of that, and I understand that these parent care.  But they still work with the child in learning how to ride that bicycle the proper way, use roller skates the proper way.  And yet in so many areas the parental responsibility is shifted to teachers and we shift it to the government. 

Jack:  And God forbid, shifting responsibility for America ’s children to government has never been an appropriate response. 

We scream in the media and in the halls of the American Medical Association about obesity in our children.  Yet we have cut off funding for athletic programs in our schools.  We have made participation in league sports for children so financially burdensome that the struggling American family can not afford it, so you buy your child a computer or video game.  You appease them with fast food because both parents are working, and there is not time to cook balanced meals.  You tell the child it is “too dangerous outside”, “you must go home”, “you must stay in the house”.  “Play your video games after you’ve finished your homework.  And gee there is left over pizza in the refrigerator”.  And then my friends, you wonder who’s responsible for the obesity in America ’s children. 

Phyllis:  But you can’t blame the government, in all of this conversation. In my mind, it goes back to parents’ refusal to parent.  Now I understand the both parents working, I understand all of that, but parents have willingly given up their parental responsibilities to government, to school.  Lead based paint has been a hazard for years.  How many parents, when they’d pick out a toy for their child look?  They don’t, they just trust who ever has made this, and it’s going to be fine--what ever food is out there is going to be fine because they don’t have the time to parent.  Granted funding has been taken away from a lot of the physical activities for children.  Ok, if that’s happened then whose responsibility is it to make sure that their children are active?  The government says gee we can’t afford to do it anymore.  Then the parents say, “well gosh I guess my child can’t be active, because nobody can make him active”.  Instead of looking at themselves and saying, if somebody else isn’t going to do it, I guess I have to.  But they’re not doing it. 

Jack:  But Phyllis, realistically we have created a society that makes that all but impossible. 

Phyllis:  Of course.

Jack:  And this is the point, well I don’t disagree with anything that you have just said, in fact I agree strongly.  But you must understand that this pattern of conditioning has been going on from government and the cooperate power that exists in this country.  This has been building since the 1940’s--the shift away from secure jobs, the shift away from responsible labor unions, the shift into requiring both parents to work.  All of these things have overwhelmed the American family.  And as the American family is overwhelmed, it is easy to see how they can be so easily misguided.  Again to go backwards, it’s not likely absent a major catastrophe.  If there can be a shift taking place, it will take as long for that pendulum to swing back as it did to get here.  So if you stop and believe, as I do, that this pattern began in the late 40’s, and it has taken approximately 60 years to get to this point, I wonder if there will still be a United States of American in 60 years. 

Jim:  I agree with you.  The other night Phyllis and I were sitting out front, and the new neighbors, their children were riding their bicycles and the young girl down the street, who is new to the neighborhood, and she came up, and I had to sit there and say, “this is wonderful”.  Even though it is hot outside, it is wonderful to see these kids at least riding their bicycles and doing something outside, talking with two old folks and thoroughly enjoying each others’ conversation.  We’ve lost that.  We’ve lost that tremendously in this country.  Maybe it’s because their family can’t afford the Nintendos, and the computers, and the computer games.  And that’s ok.  But their children were outside getting exercise, they were out interacting with each other and with the neighbors.

Jack:  There is a shift in ideology taking place.  And you will see many begin to go back to that mode of thinking.  You will see the positive that will come out of this lending crisis, in lowering the expectations of the American family, which may, in turn, allow for parents not to rely fully on two incomes in the future.  So for all that I have spoken of the negatives of what is going on today the window of opportunity to shift our expectations and shift our methodology has never been more present then it is right now.  Right this instant.  There is hope--but not if we keep going the way we are.  Those people who are beginning to wake up.  Those people who are beginning to pay attention to what they are hearing from the candidates who seek public office.  Those people who are saying, “you know I’m going to be out on the street unless something happens".  Who can I vote for that understands this?”  This is a window of opportunity my friends. 

And I didn’t mean to sound so negative but sometimes you have to paint the canvas with black before you can begin the process of illumination. 

Jim:  You’re right, I agree with you the black, the grey has got to be there so we can see the color more.  If the American people will start to wake up to what’s going on in the broad picture, yes they’re very much concerned with their little in-house dilemmas and dramas and I understand that but, they’re not looking at the overall picture of what the influence of this financial crisis, this mortgage crisis is.  It is better from my point of view, for the Federal Government to buy all the houses that are vacant and give them to the homeless so they have a place to stay rather then have empty homes that are filling with cockroaches and deteriorating. 

Jack:  That’s a big step Jim. 

Jim:  Yes.  We do it though with agriculture. 

Jack:  But yet you must understand, and while I’m not discounting what you’ve said, you must understand that will lead more and more to the one thing that we do need to step away from, and that is, the sense of entitlement.  Why should the vacant house next door to you be given to a homeless individual while you struggle to pay your mortgage?  There’s got to be a balance.

Jim:  I agree.  Yes I swung the pendulum far.  But the entitlement is there with the agriculture department.  We buy tons and tons of butter, tons and tons of dried milk, and have it in huge warehouses.  FEMA has now I don’t know how many tons of ice they still don’t know what to do with from Katrina.  Ok, give it to the homeless, give them something to eat, give them something to wear.  But, no, we can’t do that because they have to make certain qualifications, but half of them don’t even have a place to stay let alone to put down a residence to start the qualifications. 

Jack:  Exactly. 

Jim:  We pay the sugar growers a premium to keep the price of sugar up.  Well I’m sorry, I’ve been in construction all of my life, pay a premium for me to build a house, and I’ll build them till they are going out of style, and the Government can buy them all.  That’s the attitude in the agriculture department, and it bothers me. But it’s been that way since the 40’s, since the depression. 

Jack:  But Jim, let’s bring out that illuminating brush again.  Paint with me if you will a picture of a corn field in Southern Illinois that once was being used as feed corn that has now been appropriated for ethanol manufacturing.  Look at the neighbor’s field that the government has paid this individual not to farm for 30 years.  Now let’s pay that same farmer a subsidy for a year or two, to make that field productive again.  To plant more corn, to increase the production of milk, the production of beef, the production of poultry.  All of these things my friends can be undone in a matter of a very short period of time.  It’s just a matter of subsidizing the family farmer to farm, rather then not to farm.  And we can make a great stride in turning this country around.  Make it profitable for the American people to become again invested in the process of the land of this country. 

Jim:  I understand what you are saying.  Part of the problem that I see is, for the last 40 years, the main stream thrust of the United States says, get out of the factory, get out of the farms, and start to get a college education so you can become very intelligent.  We have lost a tremendous work ethic. I see it in construction on a daily basis.  We’ve lost the ability of the young people, and part of it is because they see their father and mother struggling on the family farm when the children see that they can go to college and become a computer engineer or whatever, and not have to work half as hard as my parents and make far greater income. We’ve taken away the incentive to take over mom and dad’s farm.  When Phyllis and I lived in Michigan before we moved here, there were, I don’t know how many farms that were bought up by Mahogany farms to raise nothing but Angus cattle.  These small family farms disappeared. 

Jack:  But the time is right to see them emerge again Jim.  Because as you saw within your own neighborhood something at the primal core of the American people is yearning for those times again. It will not happen over night but you will see a shift more and more away from the major urban areas, more and more back to the land.   Those ideological teenagers of the 1970’s as they move toward their later years in life are beginning to recognize what it is that they turned their backs on and yearn for that sense of connection once again. 

Phyllis:  That’s hard to envision, since we drove up north and saw this huge community of houses back to back, side to side, front to back, huge, and most of them are owned by people of exactly of the age that you’re speaking.  For them to make a shift back to a simpler way of life, that’s going to be a huge shift because they’re the ones that are in these mega communities where they never have to leave, everything’s provided for them right in this city with in a city. 

Jim:  In their remote control world.  They go in the house, carport, garage, with a remote control, they don’t come out.  I just purchased two games, and one is mine, and I guarantee you, I’m going to have that out front and when those little kids come by I am going to teach them to play that game.  Because that’s what we need, we need the community, where maybe the kid can’t play baseball, maybe he can’t play football, but this company deals in yard games.  And we need to start bringing some things like this back.  Yes families can’t have a horse shoe pitching in their front yard, but this game is similar, it can be set up in 30 seconds. 

Phyllis:  But see what that’s also going to entail is parents coming out of the house into their front yards.

Jim:  Absolutely.  Right.

Jack:  But do you see how easy it is to begin the shift? 

Jim:  I do.  I couldn’t believe how many yard games that this company produces.  Of course the sad part about it is that they are all made in China .  But you know, at least if we get the people off, pardon the expression, but off their asses and outside to talk to each other we can start turning things around. 

Jack:  You’re on the same track Jim that countless others in this great nation are on.  Remember that--remember that these ideas--this commitment to community that you speak of, doesn’t stop here.  You may not hear about it, but it’s happening in St. Louis , in Chicago , in Boston , in Miami , it is taking place.  The pendulum is beginning to swing and it’s the efforts of this type that will save the American way of life.  It will take time, it will take sacrifice, there’s no question, but it will take place.  I know…

Jim:  I can see things like this game, I can see teams being put together tournaments, like they do in Chicago where my daughter’s boyfriend is from, and they’re big there.  But they are big in the bars, because the guys that don’t want to shoot pool, they can do this.  But this is a way in which families could come out and support their own little kids, because they can’t play baseball or football or whatever, but they can throw a beanbag, where they can do something like that.  Tournaments can be, could be put together.  Maybe that’s one of the things that I need to do with the foundation, start looking at things like this. 

Jack:  It maybe the time to shift your focus for your foundation is now.  But my friends, I think our time for today should end, much as I could keep talking for hours, I know that there are other things that await you today. 

One thing I would like to revisit when we meet again, is some thoughts that I’ve had on health care in this nation. That was my intention today, but as is typical of an old politician I allowed myself to be side tracked. 

Jim:  Well that’s ok.  We had many great issues to discuss.  

Jack:  My friends I thank you again for a wonderful opportunity.  And I hope you understand my painting with the black brush, so that we can start beginning the process of illumination.

Jim:  Right.  I understand that.  Yes.

Jack:  And this is why I appreciate so much your willingness to sacrifice time on Sunday mornings for this work to take place because there are many in your group who do not understand that process.  And they would simply perceive my words as negative because they would turn off before they heard the other side.  And this is precisely what is going on in the minds and the hearts of the American people today.  They begin to turn off, when they see what they perceive to be negative.  And they loose the ability to see the true spirit of the American people, which is to take that negative as a back drop for positive change. 

Jim:  Yes. 

Jack:  Thank you my friends.

Jim:  Thank you. We appreciate your insight.