July passed in the blink of an eye. Although we enjoyed the visits of family and friends, the month brought with it hopes and expectations that were dashed by the prison administration.

This was to be the month, finally, that Corey hoped to transfer closer to our home state of Washington, to a minimum security Camp at Sheridan, Oregon, after over 7 years here in southern California, for the final few years of his encarceration. The Bureau of Prisons states in its policies they will always try to place an inmate within 500 miles of his home(Corey was placed 15 HUNDRED miles from his home) - you know, because they also claim to believe how important it is for an inmates morale to place him close to supportive family and friends. Of course they also post propoganda like “Preparing prisoners for successful re-entry” and “Bionics” - BOP shorthand for “Believe it or not we care” (seriously??!), on their prison walls, but hopeful and anticipatory as we allowed ourselves to be, we’re not stupid, so plan B was GOI - “get over it” when it fell through. Most of Murphy’s Laws apply to this draconian world and I‘ve become familiar with so many of them..."If something can go wrong, it will go wrong"..."if there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong"...or "if you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop"...so apropos.

As I started this post with, the month brought dashed hopes and expectations, Corey will not be transferring to Oregon. Just as he was denied two years ago, the facility found a way to thwart his efforts once again.

Immediately upon digesting the news, pondering it, my wonderful, always optimistic son signed up for another Long Distance Learning class and requested a list of books as it appears he’ll be at this establishment another year for now. Almost without missing a beat, he put old plans to rest, and moved on with new ones.

And Rod and I move forward with our plans, setting our sights to relocating back "home" (somewhere in Washington State we expect) a little further down the road as well. We are just fellow travellers, and adjust our plans as things change, as they can and often do on this journey.


Patience: A minor form of despair disguised as a virtue. ~ Ambrose Bierce

IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION -

With many of the republican presidential 2012 candidates making their bid, including the names of those who declined (Trump among them), I found myself wondering who, besides the Incumbant, President Obama, will run on the Democratic ticket? I was disappointed to learn that to date, “formally“, so far, there is only one challenger - Tony Randall, a former REPUBLICAN. Upon googling this name, which until today I’d never even heard of (have you?), I learned some unsettling facts…Randall is an ardent, militant in fact, pro-life activist. An example befitting that description is he plans to spend 3 million dollars for a 30 second ad during February 2012 SuperBowl depicting graphic photos of aborted fetuses. Mind you, I’ve also read Randall doesn’t hold a shadow of a chance but concerns are that by opposing this candidate (and those particular views) could cost Obama a significant chunk of his base. Personally I don’t believe this, I think polls have shown pro-lifers do not make up the majority on this issue.

The candidates “speculated” to run on the Democratic ticket include these unlikely names - Alvin Greene (please, you’ve got to be kidding me, really???!!!), Mike Gravel, Senator of Alaska and Alan Grayson (previous Senator of Florida) who I would personally support. I would support Grayson over Obama in a minute. You can google this man easily enough so I won‘t list his views or qualifications . But sadly, the list is short indeed of candidates, even of those “speculated to run“, at least when compared to those stepping forward and announcing (and those speculated to announce) their candidacy in the Republican party. THAT list is long - Michelle Bachman, Hermann Cain, Newt Gingrich, John Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Fred Karger, Andy Martin, Thad McCotter, Jimmy McMillan, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Vern Wuensche, and Tom Miller. Add to this the long list of “speculated candidates, another dozen or so candidates (including Sarah Palin), and I have to wonder what the Democratic party has in mind. Seriously, is Obama the only REAL offering we will be given?

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right. ~H.L. Mencken, 1956