Back on full surveillance, different candidates – same problem

IMG_8304Last night I finished up restoring full surveillance to the chicken coop and run.  The camera we have installed under the raised platform was offline until I got a new cable to replace the one the mouse chewed through.  The under deck camera immediately proved useful last night where it once again caught the big field mouse trying to figure out how to get to the chicken feeders that we now started hanging high in the air each night.  I have not figured out if the mice are still getting in via a tunnel system.  There are no holes directly around the coop structure so it makes me think they have dug a much deeper, longer tunnel somewhere.  My hope is the longer we keep food out of their nocturnal reach the sooner they will decide to relocate somewhere else.

Today another chapter in the most unusual winter weather I have seen in this area will be written.  This morning it is warm and humid but a summer style storm is predicted to roll through mid-day which will bring in more typical cool winter weather for the next several days.  I hope we can get at least a few weeks of more normal winter conditions before Mother Nature once again cranks up the muggy meter for at least 6 months.

I saw that Donald won the Nevada primary easily yesterday, continuing his momentum towards winning the Republican presidential nomination which seems surreal.  Ironically, although Trump and the guy I am pulling for, Bernie Sanders, have vast differences in their political ideas and personalities they do share a common problem if either becomes the President, Congress.  The ideas and promises that both candidates are throwing out there are things that different portions of the population want to hear and presumably want implemented.  However it seems that a lot of people are forgetting that outside of a relative few circumstances, a President needs the cooperation of Congress to get anything substantial changed or done.

Since Congress is filled with a bunch of lifetime politicians that have been bought and paid for several times over by huge corporate special interest dollars, the odds of anything changing is actually quite small.  The only real path to change is an overhaul of thinking not only in the executive but also the legislative portion of the federal government.  With all of the focus on the presidential race in 2016 the public will likely rubber stamp through the majority of the sitting congress which will ultimately lead to a big pile of nothing in the end.

Campaign finance reform and an implementation of term limits for congress is the first step towards lasting, real political change actually occurring.  Big money doesn’t want that of course so it will never happen. That is the sad reality of our political system and something that is pushed into the background behind all the pomp and circumstance, just like the puppet masters want.