I walked around the Village of Mendocino this morning and then went back out to Russian Gulch and on to Jug Handle Creek Beach… We head back home to San Diego tomorrow, and I kept thinking as I walked that I'd find that special place for a photograph that I must have overlooked.  Of course, I went to the same spots where I've stood and aimed my camera on other days, but as always, the special light of "now" was irresistible…

 ...but first, my Journal writing fits better a couple of images I got very early on my walk with Tilly out to the main road for the morning paper.  A couple of torn cob webs glistened like precious jewels in  Mendocino's ubiquitous overnight fog… reminding me that the hopes and dreams of many ordinary Americans get torn by economic realities beyond their control, realities which continue to favor those who are already living the American Dream.

A couple of days ago I attempted in my Blog Post to explain why I line up alongside politicians and social activists who are advocates for the well being of ordinary citizens. The American political environment offers hiding places for self-serving aspirants to elected office who favor creating and maintaining advantages in the marketplace for those they consider to be entitled to “the American Dream,”  people who are already financially secure and can continue to pay for whatever they need or want. 

The Supreme Court’s five majority conservatives have done their part to give the wealthiest Americans almost unlimited power to buy elections.  Now Paul Ryan, on the short list of likely Republican candidates in the 2016 presidential election, has released his latest budget proposal for America.  It has changed little from his earlier versions. His budget favors the already rich and heaps further disadvantage on the poor. His budget begins with a proposal to repeal of the Affordable Care Act ignoring the fact that already seven million people have exactly what the name of the program suggests, affordable health care. He wants to take it away.  His budget cuts $126 billion out of the food stamp program and increases military spending by $483 billion. He apparently doesn’t know, or knows and ignores, the figures showing how many people in the military need food stamps to provide nutrition for their families.  About Medicare, Ryan’s budget proposes privatizing that program. Ryan can't be thinking of ordinary Americans when he wants to transfer to private business a successful healthcare program that serves the country's oldest citizens.