Our finances are a disaster at all levels: Federal government, automobile manufacturers, other heavy industry and family as well. The federal government is carrying the biggest debt load in history, and no one seems to notice. General motors and Ford are going under. Many families have staggering credit card debt in addition to a second mortgage on their homes. However, I describe only the visible portion of the mammoth financial iceberg that threatens to freeze our economy and paralyze the nation.

I have a series of questions about all sectors of the economy, and I wish I could assemble a group of experts on both sides of the fence that divides our country into conservative and liberal camps, and force them to work together to compose answers to my questions that might be put into actual practice in order to save us from disaster.

The List

1. How can we wage a war with proper (in house) finances that do not contribute to the Federal governments mounting mountain of debt? See the following.

a. U.S. National Debt Clock
b. Investopedia
c. A Pedestrian’s Guide to the Economy

2. Mr. Bush has cut Federal taxes at the same time that the Federal government spends more money than it takes in. In order to try to slow the Federal deficit, he must cut spending in programs that directly effect the middle class: Social Security, Medicare, education. What other methods might he use to stimulate the economy instead? The amazing thing is that a Google search provided very little current criticism of the current deficit and few ideas as to how to curtail it. Check the following.

Forbes

3. Why are the nation’s major auto manufacturers in such dire financial circumstances?

a. Are the CEO’s of Ford and General Motors at fault?
b. Are the nation’s tariff practices at fault?
c. Are America’s workers at fault?

See the following.

a. General Motors
b. Turnaround Management Association
c. Natural Resources Defense Council

4. How can we save the nation’s auto manufacturers?
5. What makes it practical for companies to out-source jobs? How do we stop this practice?
6. Who is at fault for the nations escalating credit card debt: the consumer, or credit card companies? How do we help the consumer get out from under his/her mounting credit card debt? How do we prevent the issue of credit cards to those who can least afford them?

Of course, I haven’t written any questions that address the underlying philosophical issues, because those are best addressed once national finances are in order. However, I can say that a large part of the problem is due to personal irresponsibility at all levels. Federal government, the President, Congress, and Senate must shoulder responsibility for inappropriate response to the rising national debt, and inappropriate international monetary and economic agreements and policies. The CEO’s of the nations corporations are responsible for taking larger and larger compensation for less and less active and accountable corporate leadership. Stockholders are responsible because they do not demand that CEO’s and corporate boards be answerable for inappropriate and insufficient leadership. Additionally, the average American family is responsible for it’s share in profligate spending.

I promise to add more links as I have time to research them.

Please E-mail me at

ZacSfuts@Comcast.net

with comments.

(Note the new address. I am no longer at AOL.)

. I have removed Comments because unscrupulous persons were using that part of the “blog” to advertise their products and services. If you have legitimate comments, I hope you will communicate these directly to me.

Forgive me for not writing, Dear Journal. I’ve been looking at property – traipsing all over the county – all except Palm Beach itself (for obvious reasons). I began my search by looking at Websites. For instance I went to HomeGain, but soon found that it was easier to work with an actual agent. The experience has shown me that real estate here is expensive, and I'm exhausted. In the evening I crawl to Subway or Pizza Hut tor a fast meal, crash in bed, watch TV and fall asleep.

I'm taking a break tomorrow, and I promise I’ll write a thorough entry. In fact, I’ve been ruminating on the economy, so perhaps its time for me to insert soapbox diatribe number 186 on the financial state of the nation.

Tomorrow then.

Please E-mail me at

ZacSfuts@Comcast.net

with comments.

(Note the new address. I am no longer at AOL.)

. I have removed Comments because unscrupulous persons were using that part of the “blog” to advertise their products and services. If you have legitimate comments, I hope you will communicate these directly to me.

Once again the warm tropical air is back. The past few days have been in the upper seventies and low eighties. Absolutely wonderful! I took a walk the other evening along the intercoastal waterway at sunset and took this photograph.



Palm Beach County doesn’t seem as crazed as Fort Lauderdale, though people drive just as badly, perhaps worse. There are all the arrogant “gen X” and “Y,” kids, as well as the “boomers,” all of whom drive as though South Florida is one BIG demolition derby. I also see many people that appear to be of my generation bent over their steering wheels, and most of these seem to be completely oblivious to other drivers. Ah, darn – I’m writing a diatribe about terrible drivers and I must apologize, dear journal. Back to Palm Beach County.

As in all of Southeast Florida, Latino culture is a strong influence. However, this area seems to be more stratified according to socio-economic factors. Palm Beach itself is the quintessential upper class enclave. At the same time, local tour guides point out that Jupiter Island at the North end of Palm Beach County is the most pricy piece of real estate in the entire United States. I drove up there myself yesterday and was impressed by the ten-mile stretch of estates, most on parcels of land ten to twenty times the size of the average property at Palm Beach. Of course, I drove to Palm Beach itself and went to the Flagler Museum. The museum was originally named Whitehall and was the home of Henry Morrison Flagler, the man who single handedly developed the East Coast of Florida, and created the Palm Beach winter social season of the Gilded Age.

On my second day here I again drove North to Jupiter and climbed the more than one hundred steps to the top of Jupiter Light House. I had to stop constantly and rest, but once at the top I was rewarded with a spectacular view South to West Palm Beach, and North into Martin County. The lighthouse is on Jupiter Inlet where the gray but clear water of the Loxahatchee meets the green water of the Indian River, the two mingle together, and then empty into the emerald green waters of the Atlantic. It is here that Florida projects farthest into the Atlantic Ocean, and closest to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. While at Jupiter Inlet I visited the Loxahatchee River Historical Society, and an exhibit of photographs of the river by Clyde Butcher. Butcher works with a field camera like Ansel Adams did in the Western United States, and like Adams work, the detail and range of value in Butcher’s photographs is staggering.

I spent my third day looking at condominiums in the area, and discovered that prices and taxes are as high as anywhere else in Southeast Florida. Property taxes run about 2.5 percent of the property value, so on each one-hundred-thousand dollars of property, one can figure taxes of two-thousand-five-hundred dollars. It looks as though I will have to spend more than I planned if I want to live anywhere along the Southeast coast.


Please E-mail me at

ZacSfuts@Comcast.net

with comments.

(Note the new address. I am no longer at AOL.)

. I have removed Comments because unscrupulous persons were using that part of the “blog” to advertise their products and services. If you have legitimate comments, I hope you will communicate these directly to me.

Wow! The weather has been changing almost every day. We have an 80-degree day and then huge thunderstorms followed by a cloudy, windy, chilly day, then back to another 80-degree day. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. I can handle 65 degrees for a high, because at home in January it can be 0 degrees. I did talk with Ruth on the telephone yesterday, and she says they only had one really cold morning recently (17 degrees). She said it’s been mostly low 40’s to 50’s, raining, cold, and damp. I’m glad I’m here! I continue to take photographs of Florida’s plants and flowers. They are stunningly beautiful.

Pink Hibiscus



Fort Lauderdale has a different feel than Miami. It doesn’t seem as sheik, or quite as large. The beach has a wonderful serpentine wall, about two and one-half feet high. It runs along the sidewalk and has neon tubes in a narrow niche that change color on the sidewalk side. Traffic is impossible, with crazy drivers who don’t use turn signals, charge across three lanes of traffic, back and forth in front and behind so much that I sometimes feel as though I’m at an amusement park riding the bumper cars. People go through red lights as though the light were green. They’re also rude. In one situation I was doing the speed limit and happened to be in the way of a maniacally speeding vehicle. As the "lady" (I use the term loosely) zoomed around me, and then crossed over two lanes of traffic in front of me, all with no turn signal, she gave me the bird. It’s a wonder there aren’t wrecked vehicles all over the roads.

I had a terrible time locating the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of South Florida, but finally found it through “Google,” listed among many other centers in Florida. It is located at 1717 North Andrews Avenue. There is a SAGE or seniors group that meets Wednesday at 1 PM, and both men and women on Thursday at 1 PM. I didn’t have time to investigate these, but if I decide to settle in the area, I will definitely take a close look, and probably become a member. However, I have the feeling this city is way too crazed, and expensive for this old, shy, and introspective Pennsylvania Dutch man.

The realtor took me to Wilton Manors, the gay male Mecca, yesterday. One condominium we looked at is being built on the site of the old train station. The apartments are beautiful with marble floors and baths, gorgeous fixtures in kitchen and bathroom, all top drawer. However, speculators have purchased them using interest only mortgages and forced the prices through the roof. A two-bedroom condo with a view of the courtyard, restaurants, shops, and pool is going for over $800,000, a ridiculous price. The apartments are jammed in over top retail establishments, chock-a-block with each other, and I just can’t imagine living with all those people smashed into such a small space. Ah well, its not in my price range anyway, so I guess I’m just envious. Most of the area looks like a 1950’s type development with small three bedroom ranchers on little one eighth to quarter acre lots. These sell, depending on whether or not they’ve been rehabilitated, for one half million to a million and one half. There was absolutely nothing that I could afford that approached habitability.

I didn’t stay in Fort Lauderdale, opting for less expensive digs in Dania Beach directly below “Fort La-di-dah” as I’ve taken to calling it. Dania is a small town that looks forgotten, but cool, with a laid back but worn 1920’s look to it. Immediately below is Hollywood, where I went for a walk last evening on the asphalt-walk next to the beach. It was crowded with obviously middle class family type people, restaurants, bars and stores. It had a honky-tonk feel to it, sort of like a Wildwood, New Jersey in the tropics.

I’ve gone on line here and checked the gay male scene. Seems there are thousands of 20 something to 50 something guys with computers on the make. According to their photographs, most of them are related to Adonis, and they are willing to perform every sexual act known to man, and some that most of us have not discovered. I didn’t notice any posting by men over 60, though I expect no sexist gay man would be willing to admit to such an advanced age.

Please E-mail me at

ZacSfuts@Comcast.net

with comments.

(Note the new address. I am no longer at AOL.)

. I have removed Comments because unscrupulous persons were using that part of the “blog” to advertise their products and services. If you have legitimate comments, I hope you will communicate these directly to me.

The Cavalier Hotel on South Beach





I moved from the Fontainebleau to a Hampton Inn near the airport several days ago. It’s much less expensive, about one-third the cost. The bed is much more comfortable. The room is cleaner and the furniture newer. I have all the ancillary amenities I had at the Fontainebleau, including the morning paper delivered to my door and wireless Internet service. True, I lost my view of the aqua colored Atlantic Ocean, and the huge pool with waterfalls and grottos, the palm groves and garden like grounds. Nevertheless, it’s a good tradeoff.

About Miami itself, I took a cab to South Beach the other day, and walked around Ocean Drive taking pictures of the Art Deco hotels. There were fewer people about than I expected, but the cab driver, a native of Honduras said that it gets “crazy busy” at night, and stays that way till the wee hours of the morning.

“They walk in the streets, them young people, and you can’t hardly drive,” he said.

The city looks bigger than it is, like there should be at least 2 million people here. Instead, the population is only 362,000 according to the 2000 census, perhaps 380,000 in 2006. It’s a modern skyline, definitely of the twenty-first century. And, it feels like a city in another country because more than 68 percent of the population is Latino. I hear Spanish as often or more than I do English. That would upset most of my peers back at THE BIG NEEDLE, and it would definitely drive Ruth (my daughter) mad, but I like it because it gives the city a more cosmopolitan feeling. The Spanish speaking people are from all over Latin America. They're friendly and courteous, but they drive like maniacs. Many restaurants specialize in Cuban and other Latin American cuisines, and I’ve enjoyed these. However, there are also restaurants with Pacific Rim, French, Italian, American, and other cuisines, and some that specialize in hybrid combinations. I've found the food in these restaurants to be delicious if a bit expensive for my Pennsylvania Dutch taste.

I’ve included one of my pictures of the Art Deco district and of course, earlier in January I had incorporated a picture I took of South Beach and the aqua, Caribbean like Atlantic.

I’ve looked at houses and condominiums in the greater Miami area, including South Beach. I can just barely afford a one-bedroom condo on the bay side of the island at South Beach. That’s not big enough because I hope I’ll have family visiting and staying with me as often as possible. I especially hope to have Adam, my gay grandson visit. I know he’ll enjoy South Florida, and he might just meet someone he likes down here. He works so hard that he doesn’t have time to look for that special person at home. Vacations here would do him good.

I did find larger condominiums in other areas of Miami that I can afford to purchase, but some of these weren’t gated, and others just didn’t appeal to me, and / or they looked run down. So, I guess my next stop is Fort Lauderdale, and the largest concentration of gay men on the Eastern seaboard, or so I’m told. Not that thousands of young gay men can be of interest to me at my age. I’m also sure that very few if any of those young men will be interested in a date with an old Pennsylvania Dutch fart, and the possibility of meeting gay contemporaries is close to nil because not many men survive to be my age. Ah well...


Please E-mail me at

ZacSfuts@Comcast.net

with comments.

(Note the new address. I am no longer at AOL.)

. I have removed Comments because unscrupulous persons were using that part of the “blog” to advertise their products and services. If you have legitimate comments, I hope you will communicate these directly to me.

Despite, or perhaps because of my last, cheerless and downright depressing two entries, “Robertson Says God Gave Sharon the Stroke,” and “Alito Senate Hearings…” I will move on to a more fascinating, and cheerful one, dear Journal.

The entrepreneur, Richard Branson has created the company, Virgin Galactic, and they have contracted with the state of New Mexico to build a spaceport in the Southern part of that state, near Truth or Consequences.

Virgin Galactic also revealed that up to 38,000 people from 126 countries have paid a deposit for a seat on one of its manned commercial flights, including a core group of 100 "founders" who have paid the initial $200,000 cost of a flight upfront. Virgin Galactic is planning to begin flights in late 2008 or early 2009.

*


I’m thinking of putting in a deposit myself, but by 2009 I will be 90 years old, and perhaps in no shape to take a flight into outer space. I’m sure I could manage it now. I’m in great shape for my age. I walk extremely fast, about one mile every day. I lift light weights and swim at the Lancaster Racquetball and Health Club. Perhaps I should make a reservation. If I did, I’m sure Ruth (my daughter) would be apoplectic.

Besides, my foil man looks as though he’s already to go on a space flight.

You can also visit the Virgin Galactic Website.

I'll have more about my visit to Miami in the next entry.

*Virgin Galactic to Offer Space Flights, Associated Press on "Spcace.com," http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/virgin_space_040927.html, viewed Friday, January 13, 2006, 9:18 AM.

*Virgin Galactic: The logical next step. Paul Rincon, BBC News Online science staff,
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/virgin_space_040927.html
Monday, Sept. 27 2004, viewed Friday, January 13, 2006, 9:21 AM EST.



Please E-mail me at

ZacSfuts@Comcast.net

with comments.

(Note the new address. I am no longer at AOL.)

. I have removed Comments because unscrupulous persons were using that part of the “blog” to advertise their products and services. If you have legitimate comments, I hope you will communicate these directly to me.

Here I sit in my hotel, watching the Senate hearings on Judge Samuel Alito. He’s smooth. He’s cool under pressure. I can’t help myself. I don’t like him. The following are excerpts quoted from an Associated Press article by Jesse J. Holland.

Answering his first series of questions Tuesday, President Bush's nominee said the Constitution protects the right to privacy and the court in general should follow its earlier decisions rather than be moved by public opinion in controversial issues such as abortion.

Senators who have met privately with Alito, 55, say he told them that his 1985 written comments maintaining there was no constitutional right to abortion were only part of a job application for the Reagan administration, which opposed abortion.

He wrote in a separate legal memo while at the Justice Department that the department should try to chip away at abortion rights rather than mount an all-out assault.

As I read I can’t help but think that his current statements avoid the actual issue. We do not need to discuss public opinion as the majority of Americans do support a woman’s right to choose. It is the vociferous minority of evangelicals who do not.

As I have also stated in the past. This issue is not black and white, and to reduce it to a dichotomous pair; abortion v. a woman’s right to choose does an injustice to having an actual conversation about the issues surrounding abortion. Unfortunately, the pressure is on, and Judge Alito will probably be voted into the Supreme Court where he will sit on the bench for the next thirty years, and whittle away at a woman’s right to choose.

You can go to the Senate Judiciary committee’s Website, and watch the hearings. Judge for yourself.

Holland, Jesse J., Alito Says He’d Keep an Open Mind, Comcast.news, http://www.comcast.net/news/index.jsp?cat=GENERAL&fn=/2006/01/10/300787.html, Associated Press, Tuesday, January 10, 2006. Viewed Tuesday, January 10, 2006, 10:36 AM EST.


Please E-mail me at

ZacSfuts@Comcast.net

with comments.

(Note the new address. I am no longer at AOL.)

. I have removed Comments because unscrupulous persons were using that part of the “blog” to advertise their products and services. If you have legitimate comments, I hope you will communicate these directly to me.

Once again, the evangelical preacher Pat Robertson has demonstrated his belief that he has personal knowledge of God’s will. I have had conversations with enough evangelicals at THE BIG NEEDLE, to know that most of them believe they also have a direct line to The Almighty. Robertson, at his Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach also said last Thursday, January 5, 2006, that God was punishing Sharon because he had divided Israel, giving part of it to the Palestinians. In practically the same breath, Robertson claimed to be a personal friend of Sharon, having prayed with him approximately a year ago.

What’s the old saw about friends and enemies?

During his discussion Robertson also referred to the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 and stated that God arranged for that to happen because Rabin was also trying to divide the land between Israel and Palestinians. Interesting statements in that both Rabin’s and Sharon’s proposals, were/are meant to stabilize the region, stop the suicide bombings and military retaliation, ultimately, to reconcile Arab and Jew to the fact that they have common ancestry (Read your Bible o ye fundamentalists!). Palestinians and Jews have lived in Palestine as far back as Biblical times. Abraham’s (Abram’s) father was not a Jew. Instead, he made idols for worship by the proto-Arab/Jewish population in Babylonia. Abraham gave land to Isaac (my namesake) and Lot (Abram’s son and nephew respectively) and they went in separate directions. Everyone knows the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, or, rather everyone thinks they do. However, that is another issue. It is necessary here, only to say that Lot through incest with his daughters, sires Moab and Ammon, who become Israel’s arch enemies. Thus, it appears that Lot is the progenitor of the Arab world. Isaac is the progenitor of Israel. All of this happens because Abraham must divide land among his family so that each branch may survive.

Robertson’s statements are divisive. His actual intention is not the geographical integrity of Israel. Rather, he would make the world and God perform according to his own preconceived anachronistic evangelical notion of God’s word, based on the ancient necessity that each family group within a tribe have enough land to sustain itself. However, it is only a part of the purposeful distortion of actuality in order to support a divisive view of the world that would have us all destroyed in the impending evangelical apocalyptic conflagration.

Some of my all knowing evangelical neighbors at PRICKLY NEEDLE MANOR actually believe that the Bush invasion of Iraq, AKA known as The Second Gulf War, should it escalate to include all of the Middle East, and finally the world, is just God’s decision to annihilate the world in the great and final battle, Armageddon. In that view, Bush is acting under God’s direction to bring about the end of the world!

Thank you God, for not allowing me to have such bizarre misconceptions about my own importance in the universe.

I have Arrived in Miami

I’m treating myself to two nights at the Fontainebleau, and then I’ll go find cheaper digs. My room is costing a small fortune, and it’s not that great. However, I’ve walked through the coconut groves and gardens behind the hotel, and looked at the magnificent pool with grottos, and waterfalls and I know that I’m in a tropical paradise. I walked to the beach behind the grove, and my eyes practically jumped from my head when I saw the aqua colored Atlantic water. It looks like the Caribbean. I’ve included a picture of South Beach and the beautiful Atlantic beyond with this entry.

However, It’s not warm here right now. The locals tell me that it does this during January. They say that it may be in the mid to upper seventy’s for a few days, and then a Canadian front comes through, the temperature drops to the low sixties during the day, and the low forties at night and the natives go into hiding for a few days. To me it feels like a wonderful fall day in October back in Lancaster County. The air is cool, and crisp. I feel exquisitely alive as I explore this incredible city. I’ve been taking photographs everywhere I go. I’ll write more about Miami later, Dear Journal.



Miami’s South Beach


Please E-mail me at

ZacSfuts@Comcast.net

with comments.

(Note the new address. I am no longer at AOL.)

. I have removed Comments because unscrupulous persons were using that part of the “blog” to advertise their products and services. If you have legitimate comments, I hope you will communicate these directly to me.

My apartment is locked tight, hot water turned off and the Big Needle administration is notified that I’ll be away for at least one month. Ruth threw a fit. But, I left Lancaster yesterday, my car packed to the gunwales.

“Daddy, you’ve been sick, and you’re only just getting better.”

“I’ve been putting this off for months, Ruth.”

“Have you thought this through? You’re 86. You’ll be all alone on the road and in Florida. What if something goes wrong?”

“Something could go wrong right here in God’s country.”

“But we’re set up to handle it here. You’re in a place where you can get emergency help immediately.”

“Yes. You’re right, but should I die here, I won’t have done this thing I want to do, daughter.”

“And, you’ve opened a new account and moved a small fortune into it.”

“Ruth, we’re not rich. I don’t have a small fortune.”

“But, why?”

“In case I see something I like, I can buy it and live in it.”

“You have your own apartment here in Pine Needle Manor.”

“It’s too cold here.”

“You’ve stood the cold all your life.”

“So, now I’d like to have the opportunity to enjoy warmth and sun during the rest of it.”

“You’ll be so far away, Daddy.”

“But, Just think of it. In the middle of the winter you and Sam could come to see me and leave the snow behind.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Yes it is. And, I’m going, Ruth.”

“You’re like a stubborn child. I should have you declared incompetent.”

“You can’t. I’ve had a psychiatric evaluation, and I’m saner than you.”

“You faked it. You didn’t tell him about your aberrations, Varnastrama, Stephen Gulliver, and the foil man.”

“How do you know?”

“Oh, come on, Daddy. No psychiatrist is going to think you’re sane with all that stuff swirling around in your head.”

“ I’m just creative. And, I’m going to Florida. Let’s try to stop the bickering so I can leave on a comfortable note, Ruth.”

That’s how it went. I know I can expect further problems as I sail on down the road, mixed metaphor and pun intended.

My grandson, Ruth’s son, Adam (He’s the middle school science teacher.) called before I left for Florida and during our conversation said, “She’s the one who should be declared incompetent. I love my Mom, but she’s more than a bit crazed.” And, that is pretty much the way I feel about Ruth too.

Wish me luck, dear Journal.


P. S. I'll write as a find hotels with a computer station, and Internet access.


Please E-mail me at

ZacSfuts@Comcast.net

with comments.

(Note the new address. I am no longer at AOL.)

. I have removed Comments because unscrupulous persons were using that part of the “blog” to advertise their products and services. If you have legitimate comments, I hope you will communicate these directly to me.

I didn't get to go to Florida after-all!

Instead, my Christmas was a waste as I got a nasty flu-like cold, and spent the major portion of the past 9 days cooped up in my apartment and/or in bed. Ruth buzzed around like a mother hen, chicken soup and the works. Of course, no mother hen in her right mind would make chicken soup, so the metaphor is a bad one. Nevertheless, she was cluck- cluck-clucking around the apartment more often than I would have liked. She even took time off from the family dinner at Orchard Hill Farm on Christmas day to make a visit and try to cheer me up, a hopeless task when I don’t feel well.

*

“I’ll just leave this tray with your soup and medicine on the table next to your bed, Daddy.” (I’m always “Daddy” when I’m being patronized, or when Ruth wants something.)

“But I don’t like chicken-corn soup. Why couldn’t you just make regular chicken vegetable soup?

“Because we are Pennsylvania Dutch, and we make chicken corn soup, not chicken vegetable soup. Besides, you didn’t complain last month when I brought you that half gallon container full of the stuff.”

“I wasn’t sick then. Anyway, I pawned most of it off on Jim, Peter and Myrtle.” (I know, I know, I am a mean old bastard to Ruth sometimes.)

“Well, eat it, darn-it! It is good for what ails you, which is more orneriness than cold.”

She stomped out of the bedroom, and I heard my old Hoover vacuum cleaner grind into full rug-beating gear out in the living room. I did eat the soup, that is, all but the corn, which I separated and left behind at the bottom of the bowl.

Anyway, have a

Happy New Year 2006

, dear Journal!

*Borushek, Allen. Calorie King. http://www.calorieking.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeID=571. Viewed Monday, January 2, 2006, 10:54 EDT.


Please E-mail me at

ZacSfuts@Comcast.net

with comments.

(Note the new address. I am no longer at AOL.)

. Note that I have removed "Comments," as unscrupulous persons were using that part of the “blog” to advertise their products and services. If you have legitimate comments, I hope you will communicate these directly to me.