Our area is poor, there is little work. What work there was has been farmed out overseas by and large. Over the years many children, friends of my own, have walked through our doors hungry. One little girl in particular had a momma who turned tricks just to make ends meet. She became addicted to drugs and no longer remembered or cared why she started prostitution and so began to neglect her children.

This one of her kids used to come by our house having not eaten for two and sometimes three days. Other children in the area suffer from the type of malnutrition from lack of protein and overabundance of cheaper starches. So of the hungry kids that come by regularly I would make sure to get some hamburger or fish in them. In the Spring we have fresh milk. And always some greens from the garden. Eggs too..

Lately though protein on our limited budget has been hard to come by. Animal feed prices are going up thanks to the politics of BigOil, and so my meat herd has been greatly reduced just to get by. I've found a great substitute just in case any of you are helping your stricken communities by feeding people even less well off than you. I've begun buying edamame in bulk, roasted and dry like peanuts. A small handful, about 1/4 of a cup, provides 25% of the daily recommended need for protein. I try to keep a carton of it around in the entertainment room and when the kids come by they can just snack at will and without knowing it are sustaining their malnurished bodies.

(For those who aren't familiar, “edamame” is immature or green soybeans. Soy is a rotation legume crop that farmers often use to fix nitrogen back into depleated soils, so it's a double-plus.)

So even if the super-rich are whining about how they cannot afford their sixth yacht, We The People can put our money where our mouths are. If nothing else we can lead by example. I'm not out bashing down the doors of Congress with a battering ram; but just a tale of a carton of roasted edamame beans might be the light knock that opens the door ajar.

Politics are often nauseating. They insult our intelligence and all the while claim legitimacy, in spite of their sordid origins..

This race-circus has about run its course. There are only so many times you can whip a subject before the subject becomes calloused and numb.

The proof is always in the pudding. It's not just blacks that suffer nowadays though, our growing numbers of working poor of all races vs a small minority of filthy-rich is the new “race issue” of the day. Unfortunately the way we will all become equal is being equally smashed under the thumbs of the very wealthy and the amoral policies they continue to promote at the expense of “the little people” and the environment.

I applaud Congress for shutting out the lights on the henchmen for the filthy rich, the GOP, that stayed after like pouting little babies who thought they could whine until Nanny Pelosi gave them back their oil-bottle. Her grit and determination reminds me of the controversial, but damned effective Maggie Thatcher, former Prime Minister of England.

We need to see more grit and delivery like this when it comes to the disenfranchised. It almost brought tears to my eyes. It has been decades since I've seen elected democrats stand up and turn the lights out on GOP pressure. This type of confrontation is healthy and reminds the GOP that there are limits to their never-ending tactics to secure wealth at the expense of the masses..