Trump and Hillary do not know what Free Trade is, and they hope you don't either.....

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Thoughtful international trade practice or Tomming like any common demagogue to the poor union workers who have been sold out by mean old businesses?  What is this debate or discussion about?  Both of these horrid candidates are counting on what they sense is the stupidity and ignorance of the electorate.  

    Mr. Trump, and to all those who believe that Free Trade has anything to do with the movement of American companies to foreign operational venues, please consider these facts:

     (1)   The vast and overwhelming majority of jobs that have been lost in the Rust Belt's auto industry have been transferred to Confederate States.  Why?  Because there is a better labour environment in the South.   The people there have a better work ethic.  They might move a bit slower, but they take and give orders without the need for some sloth of a union thug "looking out for their interests".

     The tax structure for companies and wage earners in the South is much more favourable for the productive than in the North.   Before the nationalisation of General Motors and Chrysler the valiant union workers were being paid, with benefits and secondary costs paid by the company, something along the lines of 70.00 yankee dollars per hour to bolt bumpers on Oldsmobiles.

       (2)     We are told that "the big companies want to send all the jobs to Mexico".  We are told that the Mexican workers are paid "less than five dollars per day and have no protections and work in sweatshop conditions in the auto manufacturing plants".  We are told that "the Mexican workers have no labour unions to look out for the workers' interests.   And we are told that "...the Mexican workers have taken all the jobs Americans used to do in Flint and Detroit". 

     Once again, many if not most of the jobs lost in the Rust Belt went to the American South.  They did not "all go to Mexico" or even Red China.   Expansion of operations and other strategic considerations both by Mexican and American heavy industry essentially created a huge number of semi-skilled and skilled blue-collar jobs.   While this was going on, direct American automotive production workers numbers increased from 600,000 to 900,000 during the past six or seven years.

     

     Mexican autoworkers' numbers, for instance, have increased from around 40,000 before NAFTA to nearly 400,000 at this time.   They all have unions,  known as "white unions" (the kind the government and the socialist international people hate) that are established by the companies, and then run entirely by the workers.   Nothing made by human mind or hand is perfect, but the rank and file semi-skilled and skilled line worker in Mexico much prefers this "employee association".   Benefits have steadily increased, along with wages, to the point where the average wage and benefit package for a four-day, forty-hour week in an auto factory in Mexico is around 400 dollars per week....an unheard of sum, even when adjusted for anything....even 10 years ago.

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     The Texan working at the Toyota Factory in San Antonio makes considerably more, of course, which is interesting because this is a totally new industry for Texas....the ground-floor to exit-door production of a motor car or truck.   It looks like this for about 4,000 Toyota employees:

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas Salaries in San Antonio, TX

Job Title	Texas Salary	Location
Production Team Member - Hourly	$22.23/hr	San Antonio, TX Area
Team Leader - Hourly	$25.09/hr	San Antonio, TX Area
Engineering Specialist	$70,182/annum	San Antonio, TX Area
Specialist	$64,742/annum	San Antonio, TX Area

  

     This wage structure in Texas places folks very high on the socio-economic totem pole.  While we have and 8.25 per cent sales tax, there is no corporate or personal income tax levied by the Republic of Texas against her citizens.  

     It should suffice to say that some of these vehicles are exported to Mexico, some have Mexican and Japanese parts, and most are marketed in the United States and Canada.   The movement of this production is aided substantially because there is only inventory and laden to be considered, and no thought has to be given to quotas, duties, tariffs, etc.   We have other facilities, such as a Ford assembly and finishing plant in Arlington and they ship everywhere, and they have a similar wage structure.

         One might also consider that very high end vehicles are shipped directly into Mexico by train and tractor/trailer rigs from the Northern States.  Vehicles such as the Escalade, various Lincolns, and the like used to carry a tariff of 300% of the MSRP sticker.   With NAFTA that tariff went by the wayside.

     Another thing that is certain....the movement of American manufacturing entities into Mexico and other such places "offshore" began long, long, long before the initial efforts to establish a free trade zone between Canada, Mexico, and the United States.   It was a long-time dream of various of the "California Republicans"such as a fellow by the name of Ronal Wilson Reagan, numerous Texans of various degrees of importance, and major agricultural operators throughout the American Southwest.

     Some companies from Japan, Europe, and the United States had been active in establish significant brick and mortar factory outlays even during the Depression, and then again during the post World War II period,  followed by another spurt in during the late 1960s through the early 1980s.  This was long before NAFTA (or the Tratado de Libre Comercio - TLC as the Mexicans call it).   Caterpillar, Ford Motor Company,  International Harvester, Zenith, John Deere, and many others had established wholly Mexicanised, independent operations in Mexico during those times.  McCormick and many others had been there forever.   American agricultural operators had been "doing" onions, tomatoes, okra, and mixed vegetables in several places deep in the interior of Mexico from the 1930s.  In the 1960s companies like the Green Giant and Bird's Eye among others began setting up advanced quick-freeze operations with the intent of selling both to the Mexican market and the United States and Canada.

     In to-day's terms we are looking at perhaps an outlay, in 2016 dollars, of what would have been around 1,000,000,000 (one billion) American Dollars.   All of that, plus the "twin-plant" operation starting in the late 1970s was already very much in place, and was having a profound effect on the Mexican economy as well as the American and Texian entities. By the time NAFTA had been approved, the build-up of cross border industrial and commercial activity was already "....gone 500 miles":

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     Then come the pundits, observers, charlatans, demagogues, know-nothings and other assorted experts.   Plants were shutting down in the United States and moving to other places in the world.  Much of the reason was because the American corporate income tax was either the highest in the world or among the highest, and the higher it went, and the more shrill scavengers such as (Sir Edmund) Hillary and Father Obamaham would shriek about ".....make the rich pay their fair share, and the banks and corporations as well....", the faster capital was  frozen up or moved off-shore.

     American business faced headwinds in its own country that curtailed research and development, reinvestment, and other things such operational impediments that caused many businesses to simply re-establish in other parts of the world.   The Great Leveler who intends to teach Free Traders a lesson they will never forget brings his really hideous campaign caps from some place that labels its products with the phrase "Made in China" (aka - Red China).

     As we took note, his most recent project of "Making America Great Again" had to do with a place way, way over in Eastern America, called Scotland.   It is his way of bringing investment and "job development" back to America, we presume.

      Further, the problem with the border, and the building of The Wall is another ploy of demagoguery that places Mr. Trump in a peculiar position.   On the one hand he wants to control the border by preventing the insertion of illegal aliens over that border, and he proposes a military grade wall.  It cannot be done.   The loons from the Earth First Movement, and the Symbionese Ecology and Immigrant Rights Coalition, and the ACLU, and Occupy Every Street will all be out in force.   The Obsolete Press will rally the masses to the commons, the cities, and the fields to vandalise and blockade every effort to build the Wall in a place where a mommy Gila Monster once laid her eggs.

     Mr. Trump, as a consummate self-absorbed egomaniac, has done as Father Obamaham has done, when he pronounces with shouting intonements that "I will build the Wall and make the Mexicans pay for it.....the Mexican Government will pay for it....count on it."   In so promising, he is stating that he will rule by executive order, as would any king, and only the Great Beelzebub knows how he will cajole the "Mexican Government" to pay for such an undertaking.  If it were not so sad it would be laughable.

     Now in quick order.   Canada and Mexico both have a positive balance of trade with the United States of America.  Neither has a positive balance of trade with the Republic of Texas.   Why?  Because we are better, smarter, and just too cool to bake biscuits?  Not really.  Mexico and Canada's populations, combined, come up to half of what the population of the United States is.   They can sell more to us than we can sell to them because we have a bigger market.  

     We sell more heavy equipment to Mexico and Mexico sells a lot more agricultural stuff, such as avocadoes and mangoes and the like.   Most of Mexico has what we jokingly refer to as a 400 - day growing season.   Their harvests have been increasing markedly during the past twenty years.  About a fifth of their production is designed for export, and almost every pound they export the Gringos buy because of it fair price and high quality.   Mexican qualities even in manufactured things they produce have gone up due to the NAFTA.

      At times the Gringos sell eggs by the millions, flown in on UPS and/or FEDEX 747 air-freighters when Mexico's large supply can't quite keep up with domestic demand.   Sometimes Mexico exports natural gas and electricity to us in Texas, and then there are times when we sell natural gas and electricity to them.

     Common shoppers and tourists coming from Mexico buy tonnes of stuff along the border.  In McAllen, San Antonio, El Paso, Brownsville, and Laredo alone their purchases total up one side or the other of 5,000,000,000 (five billion) American Dollars per annum from Mexican cross-border, as well as deep interior Mexican touristic and business visitors.   This sum is not included in calculations by American analysts as part of the import / export mix.   The Mexican economics gurus tabulate hotel receipts of probable American clients to a degree....they do it by sample and projection....and that amount is also exempted from the amount of "cross border or American international tourism" income.

     The Mexicans export several thousand categories of products to the United States, much of it coming over the many bridges we have here in Texas.  They also import several thousand categories of goodies.   We do the same with them.  The trucks never cease....some heading north and others heading south laden with wants and needs of people and businesses on both sides of the frontier.    Much of this activity....the large majority actually....has occurred since the passage and implementation of NAFTA.   The graph below will give some general idea of how the selling and buying by each nation from the other has exploded in the time since NAFTA was implemented.      

1985 : U.S. trade in goods with Mexico 

NOTE: All figures are in millions of U.S. dollars on a nominal basis, not seasonally adjusted unless otherwise specified. Details may not equal totals due to rounding.

Month	Exports	Imports	Balance
January 1985	1,135.4	1,303.3	-167.9
February 1985	1,117.1	1,501.6	-384.5
March 1985	1,260.9	1,698.2	-437.3
April 1985	1,236.7	1,937.0	-700.3
May 1985	863.3	1,327.5	-464.2
June 1985	1,377.3	1,719.6	-342.3
July 1985	820.3	1,708.0	-887.7
August 1985	1,405.7	1,461.0	-55.3
September 1985	1,015.7	1,479.4	-463.7
October 1985	1,170.8	1,562.7	-391.9
November 1985	1,214.1	1,647.1	-433.0
December 1985	1,017.4	1,786.3	-768.9
TOTAL 1985	13,634.7	19,131.7	-5,497.0

2015 : U.S. trade in goods with Mexico 

NOTE: All figures are in millions of U.S. dollars on a nominal basis, not seasonally adjusted unless otherwise specified. Details may not equal totals due to rounding.

Month	Exports	Imports	Balance
January 2015	19,100.7	22,256.0	-3,155.2
February 2015	18,108.6	22,711.8	-4,603.2
March 2015	19,835.7	25,648.4	-5,812.7
April 2015	19,998.4	24,701.8	-4,703.4
May 2015	19,606.6	24,482.9	-4,876.4
June 2015	20,448.7	26,920.6	-6,471.9
July 2015	21,074.3	24,784.2	-3,709.9
August 2015	19,536.7	24,695.7	-5,159.0
September 2015	19,486.1	25,330.3	-5,844.3
October 2015	21,163.6	27,672.0	-6,508.4
November 2015	18,869.0	24,050.2	-5,181.2
December 2015	18,516.8	23,154.0	-4,637.2
TOTAL 2015	235,745.1	296,407.9	-60,662.8

     One can note that we are now doing in a month what we used to do in a year,  each way. The same case is roughly true with Canada - Mexico, and Canada - USA, and Mexico/Canada - Republic of Texas.   These figures, I believe, have been adjusted to constant 2015 dollars.

     We would like to point out that in terms of employment, one thing that is not counted here is the number of Americans and Texans who are employed legally in Mexico, directly and indirectly due to this movement of goods and services between the United States - Texas and Mexico.   That number is thought to be around 60,000 individuals.  The wages and benefits drawn from such employment and/or contractual services provided by individuals are not computed in these trade stats.  Conversely, the number far exceeds that of the number of Mexicans who are working directly or indirectly in the United States or Canada due to the NAFTA - TLC.

    While there are deficits, we have explained that the impact upon economic activity brought on by the increase of trade with Mexico and Canada has employed many times more Americans than those who have been displaced by the disparity between buy / sale numbers between the three nations.   The "displacement" of autoworkers jobs, for instance represents the shift from the labour union dominated North to the right-to-work States in the South.   The fact is that many, many more employment opportunities have been created by the increase in trade, due to the free trade policies brought by the Treaties than have been lost.

    To end up with this overview, we are in favour of strict immigration and naturalisation control, and enforcement of existing laws and established rules concerning such matters.  While we oppose, in general terms, the construction of a physical wall between Mexico and the United States  and Texas and/or Canada and the United States, we urge and support the establishment of a much more muscular interception and enforcement posture on the Frontiers.  In these days it is only rational and correct to avoid committing, essentially, National Suicide by the system we are now suffering.
     We also wish, urge, demand,  jump up and down shrieking and screaming, that "refugees" such as those dissolute broken up families and pseudo-families who arrive from Central America be intercepted and immediately turned around, at whatever expense to Central America.   At a minimum, 90% are arriving due to a carefully crafted plan engineered by marxist elements in the United States, many of  them associated with entities that once could be respected such as Catholic Charities (presently rotted out from the inside with Liberation Theology nutters) and within the structure of the Executive Branch of the United States government.  The simple notion that an all-powerful, chief-executive-officer sitting in the White House can deign to order a change in a law or the establishment of what is essentially a new law should send people to the barricades and cause the arrest and confinement of such a Peronista and/or Castroite inspired maniac.

     The Central Americans should and must be "turned around".  They are not "immigrants" or "migrants".   They are invaders and will quickly come under the control of Mara Salvatrucha (and similar) gangs and other criminal pursuits once they are ensconced in some shadowy corner in Peoria or big city barrio.   Likewise, we stoutly oppose, in the strongest terms the introduction of "refugees" from the Middle East save for those who are Christians, Jews, and others about whom there is clear and evident danger of their extinction.
     
      The Muslim cohort of the displaced people are certainly more characteristic of "colonists" than refugees.  While our experience with the Muslims in this country has been not terribly negative, it has become increasingly that which is found in Europe.....with whole large sections of major cities that are essentially "sovereign islands" where the culture, traditions, and expectations of the host country are not permitted.   It has been demonstrated over and over that, while the majority of Muslims in the United States are not disposed to violence, there remains a certainty of their approval of changing laws, conditions, and requirements that will permit the replacement by Sharia Law over the present English / American Common Law precepts we now enjoy.   It is also clear that there are large percentages of very militant Muslims ready and very disposed to murder and destroy, all infidels and heretics who will not sincerely convert to Islam.

     We are already heavily infiltrated with radical Ishmaelite terrorist moles, as well as Red Chinese moles and plants who have been inserted into this country for various reasons, none good.   We do not need more.   Every photo of the crowds at the gates that Obama says are just families, women and children, just like our own always seems to be made up of huge majorities of males aged 15 to 50 who are either cowards running from the obligation to defend their country / people, or they are plants from al Qaeda and ISIS who are hoping to blow the guts and brains out of Europeans and Americans and their children.

     There is no law or constitutional requirement that requires this Republic and its citizens to commit suicide.

    With the Mexicans and the Canadians we can argue, disagree, agree, and come to reasonable outcomes.   We do it daily, millions of times.   We work well together, and we have many, many more compatibilities than differences.   We must move wisely between the arguments and choose from the truths those arguments present, and discard the falsities.  To do otherwise is folly.

Enough for a while.   We prepare to return to our little mud-hut on the skirts of the Sierra Madre Oriental, somewhere deep in Nowhere, Rural Mexico.
El Gringo Viejo

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The Buzzards Are Circling Ever Lower - 31 December 2013

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    The buzzards are circling ever lower, bringing notions and ideas about which El Gringo Viejo can write.  Our dialogue may start again soon about the future of Texas now that a bit of normalcy is returning to the schedule.  We have had a large and pleasant contingent of visitors....all family of direct relation....and all complex and interesting people.  Ranking police officers and agents, executives, computer engineers, education professionals.  Their children were included, of course, mainly coming to do obeisance and recognition of the Matriarch of a small but terribly accomplished group of descendants.

     The folks are Latin with a large Anglo overlay, and they have a decidedly traditional bent and political drift that is decidedly to the right.  All of that is good, but there is the fact that those people used to constitute a good majority of the Latin population in Texas, but now they are outnumbered by the people who demand that provision must be made for their existence from the larder of others.
     Working where they work, and following the guidance of their method of being raised, El Gringo Viejo will assure any reader that their last concern in the world is about "immigration reform" and/or any form of legalisation for illegal aliens or any kind of accommodation that disregards the value and sacrifices of those people who complied with the law as immigrants.   In the case of these visiting family members who are my wife's blood relatives and their spouses...they are all colonials, save for the spouses.   The spouses are native Texians by many generations.

      One young mother, working in a public school environment at a fairly high level for her age, points out bluntly that 97% of the problems in the school stems from beings who are drawn from "families"  that are dissolute.   She pointed out that she had to deal with a mother who was just as profane, threatening, pushy, and illogical as her children.   She did say that she had had occasions when a grandmother would call to apologise for the incivilities committed by the mothers and the grandchildren every now and then.
     That is a sad situation, because it means that at one time a large part or the whole of the family was integral, and in two generations it had deteriorated to a cheap replica of Jersey Shores and the Jerry Springer Show meet Molly Cyrus and Lady Gargle.

     Any effort to try to reach my wife's "people", who are also my people,  as "Hispanic voters" will be mildly offensive at best.   These are that plurality who do not want central government "help", and they surely do not want to be lumped into a group that includes parasites as a group identifier.  We cannot win and then govern with "safety nets", "head starts", and 2 year paid vacations for the slothful.
     And as far as not hurting anyone's feelings in the Republican primaries, it would be difficult to surpass the dirty, foul things done by the Bush supporters and the Ford supporters before them in 1976 (when the Whigs won the GOP nomination) and 1980 (when the right wing crazies and 'issues' voters won the GOP nomination.   In 1976 Ford lost, running as a fair an reasonable guy...and also as an incumbent of sorts.   In 1980, Reagan won, running as a liberator and a restorer of great things lost and/or damaged by Carter and the ever increasing encroachment of government.   Reagan won in a landslide. And he did it again, four years later.

     Therefore, to avoid the syndrome of nominating useless "moderate" and "reasonable" and "reach across the aisle" candidates as was King George I in 1992, and Bob Dole in 1996, and John McCain in 2008, and George Romney in 2012 we must approach the GOP matter with arched backs and tails puffed up, and the wild look of a cat ready for battle.   Name a moderate as your Republican candidate for President, and it results in a a GOP disaster. 
     The reason King George the First won in 1988 is because he essentially postulated himself as "Reagan's Third Term".   For his re-election effort he was banking on having won a significant War against Saddam Hussein and had an economic situation that had begun to improve even with the return of many troops into a sluggish economic situation.  The campaign was  lacklustre, against a low-class shyster governor of Arkansas, and a lunatic billionaire who had made a lot of money by working for the central government, computerising the IRS, among other things.    King George I looked at his watch during the debate, was remembered not for defeating a tyrant who had invaded a weaker neighbour, but for breaking his "No New Taxes...Read my lips." pledge during his second acceptance speech at the GOP National Convention.   How's that reaching across the aisle stuff working out for you now, King George the First?

     This is not said in any really scornful way, but in sadness.  What good does it do to appease tyrants or bend to the will of Congressional Democrats who want to put someone else's money where their mouths are?  Each sees "being reasonable'' as weakness.   King George the Second gave geezers their "free pills" and was scorned by all...left and right.   He thought that he could buy the affection of the left and the understanding of the Right.   Twice wrong twice. 
     With tyrants and Congressional Democrats, there is only one objective.  They want control, and that requires the destruction, perhaps total destruction, of the opponent,   While they are doing that, it is necessary among the leftists to always accuse the opponent of being guilty of doing something of which he is innocent, but also of which the accuser is purposefully guilty.    Spending in a profligate manner comes to mind....as well as trying to register non-existent and/or unqualified electors   and/or any other of a number of voters' rights violations while accusing the GOP of "voter intimidation".

     It is time that Americans who desire to save and restore the Republic to be unyielding in their fervour.   Enjoy a Happy New Year's beginning with this view of a good Britannic and somewhat patriotic Scottish Statement....perhaps in the recognition of Scotland's separation and increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom on an amiable basis...perhaps even as a member of the Commonwealth.





Feliz An~o Nuevo! Let us redouble our effort in defence of liberty.
El Gringo Viejo

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Without Shame, I Post....a word from the Anglican Curmudgeon's Bank of Oldie Goldies

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     We are not big fans of this kind of copyright invasion and general laziness, but at times it is quite necessary.   That is good, because I am invasive as well as quite disposed to suffer from attaques of lassitude.   What follows in blue type is extracted from a post from a very tired and overworked attorney and Orthodox Christian man.

     I refer, of course, to the Rabbi of my intellectual Temple as my life interfaces with the Cosmos.  He and a certain Mr. Finch, and a buddy in Extreme North Texas we code name El Zorro, and a very few others pretty much make of this eccentric old curmudgeon's posse.  

     The Rabbi is not a rabbi, but rather an expert on the interfacing of the canonical and secular law, and how such laws and rules interact.  He is profoundly intelligent, studied, and experienced. At this point he has tired a bit.   The sails have gone limp, and for good reason.   He, as I, resorts at times to calling up from his body of works a post from his past publications.   Perhaps it is to rest between rounds in the ring of life.   Perhaps the ''little grey cells'' need rest.   Perhaps it is even a bit of dispair.   Who among the OROGs does not feel a bit of despair. 

     We vigorously recommend that the OROG read the Anglican Curmudgeon's most recent post from 14 June 2016 - "Don't Support the Media's Memes".   It refers to the frustration of having to endure the ignorance, stupidity, and  duplicity of the anti-firearms segment of our present society. 

    It was noticed that just before that post was what we famous blogspot bloggers call a "repost".  It represents the fact that we are out of time, out of breath, or just flat out of steam.   El Gringo Viejo demands that everyone read the entire "repost" titled On Faith - and the Dark Side, reposted on  9June 2016.  We have taken an extract from that repost that entertains this reader, because it relates to the ancient middle English just before the publication of the first, inspired composition of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, an Holie, Catholick, and Apostolic Church.   Invest of time for reading.....2 minutes and 45 seconds.   It includes the following:

Here begin Mr. Haley's comments:
     
.Unless -- unless -- well, perhaps it is worth a try, should this post ever make its way into your hands.

Should that happen, young man, please remain open to a possibly new experience of something that is very, very old. For I am going to take you far back in time -- to an age when the churches were musty, and smelled of wax and incense, and mould and dung and who knows what else. I hope that the words I am about to quote will do the feat all by themselves.

For they are old words, from the middle of the sixteenth century. Some of them may look strange to you, because the spelling differed back then, but that very spelling is part of the experience I want to try to share with you.

Picture yourself as a medieval knight, in England, in 1550. Normally you would be in armor, but for this occasion -- the wedding ceremony in the manor church of your lord and master, as he marries another lord's daughter -- you have doffed it, and are instead in full formal livery. You are right up there in front as the priest begins to intone the words of the ceremony ... [close your eyes for a moment, and use your twenty-first century technical skills to put yourself into the picture] ...   

Ready? Begin:

DEERELY beloved frendes, we are gathered together here in the syght of God, and in the face of his congregacion, to joyne together this man and this woman in holy matrimonie, which is an honorable estate instituted of God in paradise, in the time of mannes innocencie, signifying unto us the misticall union that is betwixte Christe and his Churche: whiche holy estate, Christe adorned and beutified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought in Cana of Galile, and is commended of Sainct Paule to be honourable emong all men; and therefore is not to bee enterprised, nor taken in hande unadvisedlye, lightelye, or wantonly, to satisfie mens carnal lustes and appetites, like brute beastes that have no understanding: but reverentely, discretely, advisedly, soberly, and in the feare of God. Duely consideryng the causes for the whiche matrimonie was ordeined. One cause was the procreaciion of children, to be brought up in the feare and nurture of the Lord, and prayse of God. Secondly it was ordeined for a remedie agaynst sinne, and to avoide fornicacion, that suche persones as bee maried, might live chastlie in matrimonie, and kepe themselves undefiled membres of Christes bodye. Thirdelye for the mutuall societie, helpe, and coumfort, that the one oughte to have of thother, both in prosperitie and adversitie. Into the whiche holy estate these two persones present: come nowe to be joyned. Therefore if any man can shewe any juste cause why they maie not lawfully be joyned so together: Leat him now speake, or els hereafter for ever hold his peace. 

And also speakyng to the persones that shalbe maried, he shall saie. 

I REQUIRE and charge you (as you will aunswere at the dreade full daye of judgemente, when the secretes of all hartes shalbee disclosed) that if either of you doe knowe any impedimente, why ye maie not bee lawfully joyned together in matrimonie, that ye confesse it. For be ye wel assured, that so manye as bee coupled together otherwaies then Goddes woord doeth allowe: are not joyned of God, neither is their matrimonie lawful.

Can you even begin to grasp the kind of minds who would receive this speech as perfectly ordinary, understandable, and normal, young man? For in their world, they did not decide their own reality. No, their reality was God-given: it came from outside themselves, they were born into it, and they lived their entire lives inside its sheltering folds.

For them, God made their world, and that was the end of it. They stood in fear and awe of it, even as they exercised man's dominion over it. (And so there were lords, knights, serfs and peasants -- yes, I know. But God knew, as well, and God settles all accounts on the day of judgment. Thus, it is not for you to criticize, or to fret over, or to use as reason to abandon the faith.)

Ponder those words of ceremony, and savor them. They are soundly based in Scripture -- in the "faith once for all entrusted to the saints." As such, they are part of your heritage -- receive it or not.

May they bring you back from the dark side -- that is my fervent prayer.

    Thanks for reading Mr. Haley's excellent work.  Go and sin no more, enjoy life, and try to figure out why (Sir Edmund) Hillary has not been in prison during the past 25 years.   We urge that you all check the last three or four postings of A Gringo in Rural Mexico for other salient and temporal commentary.

El Gringo Viejo

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A Bit of View of the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre "en plena flor"

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     We are including a few housekeeping photos of the Quinta de la Sierra Madre (our little mud-hut hideaway on the skirts of the Sierra Madre Oriental deep inside of Mexico).   The rains of May were generous and well timed, and our neighbor from the Hacienda de La Vega next door to us took a few shots to forward to us so as to give the OROGs and other visitors some idea of how dense the foliage and growies become in this locale.

     The trick is, of course, to prune gently and often, so as to be prepared for these very seasonal and predictable rains.   The moisture along with the heat of day and cool of night produce a growing environment that is all but perfect.   Without further ado:

This is a "before" picture from around
 very early Spring of 2012
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     So as to allow the OROGs and other visitors an idea of how our horticultural efforts have progressed, we are posting this slightly dated picture to the left, that shows a "nice enough" array of plants and flowering goodies, primarily dedicated to the attraction of hummingbirds and butterflies.

     The next pictures show how the grounds appear after the application of about 19 inches of rain in a month and half (mid-April) through the month of May.   These rains are, once again, seasonal, and at times reach up into the 25  - 30 inch level for the first annual rainy
season.

      Some years back, I believe it was 
2004, we had a year's total of 108 inches.  That was when we took relatively meticulous records of rainfall totals.   We also had almost continuous trouble with a leakey roof which we finally resolved, much to the credit of our Majordomo, Alvaro and his brother Constancio. 
     On the picture below the OROG can see the "tunnel effect" for which we have worked so long to install at the Quinta.  As one moves around, during 10 months of the year, our little hideaway has several series of arched greenery that give the appearance of tunnels leading to and from various destinations on the grounds and down to our Rio Corona, about 200 yards distant, on the south edge of our property.

The wooly nature of the Quinta
during this rainy period.
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     These pictures were taken right around 14:00 hours, CDT, so it can be seen that the "long west-facing corridor" is totally shaded. At the carport, one can see Sergeant Major Alvaro's auto, parked therein.  
     Alvaro's political preferences are displayed on the rear windshield.  He has steadily become more of a "Republican" (Partido de Accion Nacional - PAN) over the years with us, and helped in the successful campaign of the last elections that were carried heavily by the PAN from governor on down to dog-catcher throughout  the State of Tamaulipas.   It was the first loss for the "government party - PRI" in a century.   And it was a rout.

 Guera, the Rhodesian
 Lion Hound  

     On the right one might recognise one of our neighbour's dogs.   She is a massive, tranquil, 93 pound, Rhodesian Lion Hound, also known as a Ridgeback.  She took a liking to one of our best clients who is also a member of the family, in that he is the father-in-law of my daughter.
     Not so long ago...two or three months....Guera came sauntering up and flopped down at my fellow father-in-law's feet, while he was relaxing in one of the massive rustic rocking chairs that are built to induce sleep.   My guest was whelmed by the dog's attraction and loyalty to him.   He and I both are decidedly cat people, although we have two "perros de plants" (dogs of the property).  We also have three cats, who also bothered their visitors, begging kitty-candies, and seeking chin-scratchings and other attentions.
     During the above identified gentleman's week-long stay, this noble hound would accompany him on treks to the Rio Corona and other destinations as if they were long-time friends.   This is very uncharacteristic for this dog, and for Rhodesians in general.   They are not mean, to be sure, but they are also not very outgoing.  While saying that, Guera's brother, Bin Ladin III ( Number I was born on 11 September 2001) is a bit on the mean side, even all-but-eviscerating his brother about six months ago.   Now they get along swimmingly, but whenever I am over at the Hacienda de La Vega, one eye is always on Bin Laden III.

El Gringo Viejo

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TEXIT? Is it not time?

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 THE HOUR COMETH AND NOW IS:

    As most all know, we are very much committed to the idea of proceeding with an amicable withdrawal from the American Union.

     In short, the American nation we once knew is willfully casting its fortunes with a woman who is a proven narcissistic, self-absorbed, factory of conceit. She is also a serial, chronic, and pathological liar. Perhaps the best thing that can be said of her is that she is a dedicated marxist in terms of what she expects for the common class, and a raving Robber Baron opportunist when it comes to the operation of the highly suspect, probably totally illegal, and certainly unethical and immoral "Clinton Foundation". The rest of this paragraph concerns itself with all those things she has done for women and all those battles she has fought for making the village inhabitable for the reverse re-transgendered and unemployed college graduates.

     We refrain from commenting on what she has done to make the village uninhabitable for the normal, productive, self-reliant class of people who just want the government to do and not do only what is prescribed and proscribed by the now-neglected American Constitution.

     We have little or nothing to say about a candidate who is clearly assumed to be a great business leader, tactician, and strategist. We recognise Mr. Trump as a pushy, spoiled brat who could whine about how a whippersnapper a little more than half  age and experience could best him in the collection of "after-delegates" during the primary process.

  Trump's lack of knowledge, expertise, and deductive acumen in this matter prove that his wattage, as well as his "class", is lacking. Instead of correcting the deficiencies of his campaign mechanics,  he began to brand Ted Cruz as "Lyin Ted". Cruz neither lied nor stole, but by the time the FOXNews network was through with Cruz, the real liar Trump was well on his way.

     This shows that Trump's cunning relies solidly upon the whitetrash-like sneering insults, strutting, taunting, belittling name-calling much like a fourth-grader. He seems to thing 'when in doubt always sneer, shout, belittle, attack on a personal basis, overstate, repeat repetitively and generally provide what seems to be the opening scenes from some All-Star Wrestling event. This type of show is designed for people with low intellectual wattage.  They like it, they think the blood is real. That is the Trump Way.

     Trump deserves extra respect points for being able to say two or three things in one paragraph, and repeat those things repetitively, perhaps three or four times within one breath, and then contradict those same words later in the same paragraph. When asked about this or that "misstatement" he has been known to state the next day that he never said such a thing, "Never".

      When shown the video that reveals a person who looks like Trump, speaking in Trump's voice at yesterday's 20,000 person Rally of Droolers, Trump can say, "I didn't say that. What I said was......". Marvelous.

     We now have a mass of people supporting (Sir Edmund)Hillary who have no idea what a Republic is. We have a mass of people supporting Trump who are just as vacant as the intellectually challenged as well as scholastically challenged who can rally around a campaign slogan like "HOPE and CHANGE" and "Making America Great Again" or whatever. Only the Great Commander of the Cosmos knows what (Sir Edmund) Hillary's campaign slogan is, could be, or should be: perhaps "Lying About Corkscrewing into Kosovo and Dodging Sniper Fire is Proof About Whatever or Something!!!".

     And, perhaps, I am just saying: If we have painted ourselves into this corner due to the complete intellectual breakdown, and complete apathy now rampant in the United States concerning free enterprise, industry, motivation, self-dependence, reverence for the greater good and for charity of private origin, States' Rights and Local Control....then there is no further reason to go forth.

      Texas, with all its warts and scars, remains a hallowed place. With 27 identifiable ethnic / national groups within several racial groups living in substantial harmony over the past six or seven score years, we have proven that we have World Class qualifications to take our own path. We would wish to control our own immigration matters, our own form of taxation, our own form of educational systems, our own form of medical remedy and analysis, as well as our own system of justice. We can take care of ourselves.

      We are tired of the AFDC multigenerational slavery you have offered to those from whom you buy your votes in the United States of America. We have tired of your habit of sending intolerant demands down the pipe to us, such as who, what, and when somebody can do whatever in a public....or even private...restroom, for the love of Pete.

     We, in Texas, are generally....perhaps I should say....are overwhelmingly dedicated to work, play, family, church and/or hobbies and/or philosophies, and/or material and spiritual betterment as we move through life. We are simple, and we are very complex.   With fewer than 30,000,000 people our Gross National Product is the equivalent of Mexico's or Canada's.

     We, once again, point out that we would like to begin the process that will accommodate an amicable separation of the Republic of Texas from the American Union.

El Gringo Viejo

Brexit? Did Britain win?