Show of hands if you don’t recognize the country we’re living in today.  I readily confess to a certain naivety that common sense and conscience and human kindness and the assumed belief that someone will rise from that mysterious place that champions mysteriously arise from is imminent.  Historically, however, that would be folly.  We find ourselves fully engaged in the shameful and shameless phase of dismantling 242 years of the grand idea that a new nation, based on the wild notion that people of all races, (sadly, exclusive of Native American races), religions and ethnic and social ideologies could meld into a fluid, yet cohesive union of equal footing and opportunity and respect for all who wish to join it.  It has, without question, been a long and mighty struggle, steps forward and back, but mostly, well-worth the effort.  Today, on this otherwise unremarkable October Sunday, I fear the United States of America has irreversibly lost its mojo.  Can we begin to vote our way out of this next month? I want to believe so, but the dark forces at work have manipulated the evenness of the playing field, altered the definitions of truth and justice, right and wrong.  Simply, (I am nothing if not overly simplistic), the imbalance of wealth, the all and nothing bottom line between have and have not, has, without concern for human or environmental consequence, rewritten the rule book to always favor corporate greed.  The relentlessly corrupt campaign, by shadowy groups with lofty, patriotic sounding names, that plays on the fears and prejudices of people eager to fall in lockstep toward their own demise is in full force.  I admit to giggling at such despicable antics from the fictional Frank Gallagher, but the shamelessness of our truth-free President or puss-faced Lindsey Graham or nine-chinned Mitch McConnell, or the misrepresentative of Maine, Susan Collins, (sorry, that just makes me feel a little better), is no laughing matter.  There are real evil forces afoot.  And today, that evil is the Republican Party that is fucking with your health and wealth, your private parts, your innermost thoughts and any hope you may hold for a brighter future.  “Why?”, you may ask of Chicken Little.  “Exactly!”, I reply.