The Mayan Calendar be hanged, it's the monumental idiocy of the American Empire we need to worry about!  President Obama just signed into law a measure which gives him, should he choose to use it, and any future President, too, the power to detain indefinitely  any American Citizen under the jurisdiction of military courts.  One needs little imagination to realize where this strike on the American Constitution and the Bill of Rights could lead.

   And of course, we are on the Eve of the Iowa Caucuses.  Seldom have a more diverse group of posturing fools been on display as represented by the Republican Candidates:  Mitt Romney resembles  Richard Nixon on meth in his manic-eyed desire to reach the top.  Rick Santorum has abandoned his harsh delivery of the past, and is now said to be "surging," despite his 16+ point defeat the last time he ran for office.  Governor Rick Perry has settled down and exudes  Texas charm, but holds some kind of record for executing people in his State, whether or not evidence was valid. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich blustered onto the national stage again promising to attack only one Candidate, President Obama, and never a fellow Republican, but as he rose in the polls, he was attacked, and now, short of cash, he has responded  . . . to no avail. Representative Michelle Bachmann, bashed for her early gaffes, has become a solid campaigner as her poll numbers have tanked. And he man who probably meets a real conservative's requirements, Texas Representative Ron Paul, has been widely dismissed, but still is within a whisker of winning the Caucus vote.

   The one who is most competent among these stumbling figures is John Huntsman of Utah.  Huntsman, a family man beyond reproach, is personable, truly intelligent, and always fully prepared.  Whenever asked a question, he gives frank, detailed answers based on his long experience and excellent perceptions.  He, of course, is a former Governor of Utah and a recent Ambassador to China. I have no doubt that he would best President Obama in every debate and win for the Republicans, going away.  Yet, by the latest polls, he ranks  last with a "0" following.

   If anyone needed a good reason to vote for Obama, cowardly though he has been in face of the greatest combination of financial and foreign relations  challenges we have ever faced, the above thumbnails should decide the issue.

   Oh, and former candidate Herman Cain is about to announce that he is forming "A Movement." It is hard to figure how the Movement will work, or what makes Citizen Cain tick.  I had thought him a stalking horse for fellow Georgian, Speaker Gingrich.  And I still may be right.

  And yes, the Republican National Committee will launch tommorow  a campaign to impeach President Obama.

  That's almost about all we need.

  "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." -- H.L. Mencken. 

  The moaning has subsided somewhat.

  Here in San Francisco, we may be getting some rain soon, in a very dry season so far.

  And in my Home State of Ohio, a second recent earthquake was recorded yesterday, in the Youngstown area, near the homesteads of old friends and the Love of My Life.

  Fracking Ohio!

  Macresarf1 would write no more this day.