I have decided not to run for office this cycle.
I will dedicate my time to my local cause.
I have a ten year urban renewal plan that I embarked on over two years ago and will focus my efforts on that.
I am 8 months behind schedule and over budget.
All private money.
Wish me luck My plan offers a pathway to prosperity from the paycheck to paycheck all the way down to the homeless.
My plan involves private sector investments with an objective not of building but rebuilding.
Stay with me.

I have an incredible story to tell but just not sure where to start.
My Nephew was born with acute Cerebral Palsy.
We never thought he would live past six or eight years old.
He just turned twenty eight years old.
I am so proud.
1/? Having a hard time typing. I'm in tears.
His name is Jesse.
He has never walked, sat up, fed himself or uttered a single word in his life.
Twenty eight years.
Sounds like a terrible way to live, I know.
Our family has had many discussions over the years.
2/?

Democrats will call me uneducated.
Okay.
I grew up in the cornfields, bean fields, and hay fields.
Not much money. Eight kids.
Grew our own vegetables. My Uncles raise cattle and hog.
Butchered hog and chickens every fall.
Beef went to the butcher.
But I'm uneducated.
1/? We were not poor. We went on a vacation every year. Usually historic sites and museums.
National parks. Always educational.
Always a different state,... and of course all the states in between.
Each state was different and I loved it.
But I'm uneducated.

My Father had knee surgery, again.
He is 87.
My family has a huge panic attack.
Talking about selling the house and moving to assisted living.
Back the shit up. Has any one asked Dad?
What the hell happened to a lift or a ramp? So we had an emergency family meeting on Zoom.
Have you ever done this?
Zoom?
Very cool.
Five of my siblings plus Mom, six if you count my Brother Darryl who made a five second cameo but, I digress.

Was just reminiscing about an eight year old boy lost in the forest.
That boy must be eighteen or twenty years old now.
An eight year old boy comes to the edge of my camp and says, "Excuse me sir. I seem to be lost."
Dammit. I am cooking dinner. I had a steak on an open fire.
Come on in boy have a seat and tell me where your parents are.
Couldn't name the place but could describe it.
I assured him I knew right where it was and was just about to put the finishing touches on my steak.
The lip quiver.
Then the tears.

I have followed politics all my life.
Got active in 1995.
Got frustrated and gave it all up.
I headed for the hills in 2000,
Oregon Cascade Mountains.
No phone.
No TV.
Minimal radio.
Five years I disconnected with society in general. In 2005, I went home for my Parents 50th Wedding Anniversary.
My Family insisted that I get connected,
I have a huge Family.
2006 was my first time on the world wide web.
I was astonished at the wealth of knowledge.
And I was incredibly distraught with the state of our nation.

Two white guys and two Mexicans walk into a bar.
Bear with me. This is a true story.
Mondo an Tito, they preferred the term Texicans, Broken Neck Bob, and me.
Bob actually did have a broken neck.
This was just days after Hurricane Andrew in Miami. We drove from Naples to Homestead to help assess damage and possibly help clean up. Our only pay was to be in the scrap and scrap was paying well.
Holy Fuck!
The place was a mess. Never seen anything like it.
The devastation was beyond belief.

Ive seen police brutality.
Tuscon. Early 1994.
My best friend and I were out bar hopping with a buddy of our. We were heading up 1st Ave towards the Miracle Mile. Our buddy decides to show off how fast his truck it.
Really stupid.
We got lit up. Tuscon PD acted very professionally.
They arrested our buddy for DUI and sent us off hoofing it.
My friend Jeff wanted to watch the tow truck hook up in case of any damages that might occur so he stopped across the lot and I kept going.

I poured concrete in Tuscon in the early nineties.
We would start the pour at 6 am and if all went well, I was on a good crew, we would be done by one in the afternoon. Sometimes earlier.
We were that good.
100 plus yards every day. The form crew was a different story.
More like boot camp. They put in their full eight.
I'm done for the day and they still have another two hours.
I would drive by and wave with a cold beer while they were toiling and they would flip me off and cuss me out.
It was all in fun.

I did some work for a family in Florida years ago.
These people had money the likes of which would make Beverly Hills look like skid row.
The staircase in their beach cottage was over $600,000.
They stayed there 3-4 months out of the year.
I made a lot of money off them. Every year they would redecorate. Only the best. They would walk on the carpet for a few months and that's it, it's used. Replace it.
Drapes, paint, furniture, and on occasion, even the counters and cabinets. Understand, custom cherry wood cabinetry with granite counters.