What's wrong with this picture???

My husband and I took our often sought-after Sunday sabbatical away from the farm last weekend and as usual, I packed the camera gear.

There is a billboard here in Iowa on one of our frequently traveled routes we use that has gained my attention, but I've never stopped to grab the shot, so here it is:




So, what's wrong with this picture?

I can't think of an appropriate title for this......

I'm too busy gagging myself with a pitchfork every time I read the news, or watch it, for that matter.

I didn't vote for Obama and I didn't vote for McCain. During the primaries, I specifically stated, over and over again- "Barack Obama is WAY too charismatic" and my initial assessment was the dude talks a good talk, but I'm hearing the Pied Piper of Hamlin.

McCain, on the other hand- his choice in choosing Sarah-wink-wink-Palin just confirmed my opinion that conservative, right wing, religious Republicans are simply stupid.

Now, I'm a firm believer that the liberal Democrats are just as stupid as the conservative Republicans. The very fact that Obama's followers (remember the masses of people that followed this dude around?) are still lulled by the sound of Obama's voice, believing that this guy is some kind of Messiah, reinforces the fact that 75% of the American public is uninformed, they don't research their candidates and vote on feelings. How damn stupid is that? In truth, both party messages equal altruism. BOTH parties do in fact force the collective ideal that we, the American citizen, should sacrifice everything we work for for those that have either miserably failed or simply refuse to help themselves.

Republicans believe that we should sacrifice ourselves for their agenda, using religious values (it's the good Christian mindset) as a basis- Democrats believe we MUST sacrifice ourselves for the "greater good", which when looking at the entire picture as a whole, both parties simply believe in the same bullshit, but the majority of voters out there can't see the forest through the trees, given the fact we've allowed our so-called "leaders", which would include state representatives, Congressmen/women, the POWER to make decisions that affect our very existence. Not to mention robbing us of our basic civil and individual rights.

Which brings me to another jaw-dropping conclusion- what the hell does it say about a newly elected POTUS, who managed to lull the majority of desperate Americans, using the theme of his campaign as "CHANGE", "you all want change, I will change things" yadda, yadda- and immediately starts nominating cheaters/liars/scumbags as heads of government "departments". The simple fact that his choices were not fully investigated or researched to insure that the nominees were as honest as Obama likes to portray himself speaks volumes about his integrity as a whole. Taking a critical look at the entire picture, this dude has really gotten off to a very rocky, controversial start in his first uh, 30 days, not to mention 40 days when this "Invest in America" bailout was brought to light.

19% of our taxes are supporting Medicare, Medicaid and SSDI payments- In other words, those of us that are working for a living (which, by the way- none of us know how long we will still be able to maintain employment much longer if we continue to be herded down this path) are paying for the elderly, the disabled and anyone that thinks that the move towards a total "welfare" state is absolute socialism.

When are we going to wake up and get a clue, folks? Isn't it obvious that Nancy Pelosi is running this stinkin' show, not a President that "promised" change? Don't you question that within the first 40 days of this administration there was an 1100+ page "stimulus package" introduced? I mean, who in the hell can put together 1100 pages of a financial proposal in 40 days? It's not just that simple red flag that worries me- it's the PEOPLE who actually believe that this administration is going to change things for the better, even while more and more are losing their jobs, their homes and food costs are rising.

The entire picture as a whole is so stinking simple that NO ONE can see through this disgusting mess and are stupid enough to believe that our government is going "fix" everything. They are going to fix things, for sure- and not in a manner that will be beneficial to anyone but those in control.

My only consolation at this point is that I know I'm not alone with my initial gut instincts, because it's happening.......

Is Rand Revelant?

Obama's Poll Numbers are Falling to Earth (well, duh!)

If those Op-ed's don't make absolute sense to you, then you're beyond help.

Decompressing

There is nothing worse than having to set up workstations in a pharmacy when the store is open for business. Especially when one of those workstations is the register computer. Add in one, single employee that is predicting doom while you're filtering out a dead cable to free up a port on a router, my patience starts wearing thin. Really thin.

Try and make other employees happy by getting the workstation you used to keep the business operating, returned to their desk and they decide to start whining about a printer not working all while you're jumping around making sure that the new workstation you just set up is connecting to the server and all the software and I'm to the point I'm ready to literally beat the crap out of that particular whiner. On top of slapping the living shit out of Miss Gloom and Doom that refuses to just shut up and do her job. Considering everything is back up and running normally, I took a day completely off.

I even went to another county, packing up the camera & lenses. And it was a perfect day, almost 60°, sunny and went to visit my husband's cousin, who happens to be a poet, schizophrenic and a very interesting to share space with. I've been wanting to pick up some copies of her published collection of poetry, so had a great excuse to go see her. I am now the proud owner of a lovely book, signed by the author and the best part is she would like to use some of my photographs in her upcoming book about mental illness in her family.

Both of us found this to be a very interesting building

Crap job on the tuck pointing, though :^(

Pounding my point.........

This was just sent to the Iowa State Senate:


I am writing to you in response to the law that has been proposed
yesterday, Feb. 4th. regarding bicyclists and their safety. The reason I'm voicing my opinion on this is simply because it appears that only the bicyclists are the priority when it comes to "rights" on the road/streets/highways. Where in this proposal are any "rules" being addressed to the cyclists?

As much as I appreciate the very idea of bicycling and would never want to end up hitting one, I want to express my concerns over the bicyclists arrogance and refusal to move out of the way when vehicles are approaching on the rural highways. Every year, we have the our own county "event" here and have also had RAGBRAI go through our area in the past. I want to express to you that the residents of our area do indeed make every effort to give them plenty of room to get around them, etc.

However, the cyclists do NOT give any regard to the vehicles that come up upon them, refusing to move out of the way, taking up the lane on a two lane highway, 3-4 across on winding, hilly areas, causing any traffic to slow down until we can pass safely. I cannot express to you how many times I have come upon bicyclists during these "events" and even though they realize that vehicle traffic is approaching or are right behind them, they absolutely refuse to move over to the shoulder area to allow a vehicle to get around them. Again, why aren't these issues being addressed also? Where is the common sense of this entire proposal? All of us pay road taxes and we are all responsible for the safety of others, much less the safety of ourselves as a whole. However, I don't see anywhere where this proposal states anything about enforcing the bicyclists to use some sense when using the highways in any area (rural or urban) to watch for and give the vehicles room to pass them safely. All of this is focused on making the drivers of vehicles responsible for bicyclists that refuse to use any intelligence for their own safety. In other words, this legislative proposal opens up a can of worms that will present the possibility of frivolous lawsuits because the cyclist has more rights than a vehicle on the highway/street. Allow me to expound upon the very idea that I'm not stating that vehicles have more right of way, but mine and others experience(s) during RAGBRAI and other local cycling events has been frustrating when having to cope with a mass of bicycles on the highways.

In my opinion, this latest action and proposal give bicyclists MORE rights to the highways, thus putting them in extreme danger, than making them responsible for using some common sense for their own personal safety.

I personally invite each and every one of you to come to our county during one of these "bicycling events" and take a vehicle tour following the designated route during the event. What stands out to me at this point, is the fact that this proposal does NOT incorporate ANY "rules" for the bicyclists to follow or heed to, such as "if vehicles are approaching from behind, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY". Very few bicyclists take those of us that have business and other needs to attend to when traveling the highways while they are present, specifically during these "events". I can't expound enough on the danger they present to themselves when they are on a 2 lane highway on the downside of a hill or on a curve, a vehicle approaches them from behind and we are braking suddenly because they do NOT move to the side to allow safe passage.

On a personal note, I do slow down as most of the general population of drivers do here. Anyone in their right mind would never want to hit a cyclist, yet vehicles are not given any courtesy during these times of bicycle events and I will add, RAGBRAI cyclists are the most obnoxious of them all. During the last RAGBRAI event, the route that followed county road X-xx through our county, cyclists were observed stopping and relieving themselves in our corn fields and other private properties. This in itself is disgusting behavior and it seems that the
revenue that is produced for the counties involved is more important than simple respect and courtesy of the communities that host them. I thank you for your time and hope that you will take some of these points into consideration when this proposal comes up for legislation.

Sincerely,

Moi

I wonder if I'll get a response...........

Here we go again..........

RAGBRAI (Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) is coming back to SE Iowa and the best news is they'll be further north of our area than the last time they biked through here.

I don't have any problem with people who like to ride bicycles, what I do have a problem with is their lack of phucking manners when it comes to their stupid mindset that they own the highways and business as usual is taking place where their planned route is occurring every stinking year, but the natives who live here can't get around the jerks and get on with our lives, fcol. I also have a problem with assholes that have no respect for our roadsides and fields, taking liberty to urinate, defecate (no kidding, they will shit in your cornfield) and absolutely refuse to move over when the local residents have to navigate OUR roads to conduct our daily business. Every year when this event occurs, I think "Death Race 2000" and start thinking about "points". LOL

These people have less respect than leather-clad bikers on Harleys. I'm not kidding. It's like they have this overblown sense of entitlement when they bike from town to town and the only real reason any community on the route puts up with these idiots is probably due to the revenue they generate, which if anyone really did do some serious accounting, cleaning up after them is more of a headache than what they feed into the local economy. And most of them are just sheer, unadulterated jerks. Come up on them on the highway and they don't even have the courtesy to move over to the side of the road, allowing local traffic to get past them.

Last time they went through our area, I made the conscious decision that if the trip was ever routed through here again, I would personally make it a point to clean out the feedlots, cruise down the highway with the manure spreader and oopsie........ hit the wrong lever. Think liquid green shit, smeared all over the blacktop. Riding a bicycle through a cowshit covered blacktop would be such a deserved "gift", considering they don't mind trashing our roadsides and crops with their waste.

On a national note, I'm still laughing my ass off over the recently ousted EX- Gov of Illinois. Watching this debacle during the last few weeks has been some seriously good entertainment. I'd really be curious to know what drugs he's getting his hands on, given the attitude he's been displaying over some fairly serious charges. Either he's inherently STOOPID or he's totally psychotic. Or both. Arrogance is always a clear indicator of stupidity and he has been proving my point all along.

Bye, bye Rod and don't let the door smack you in the ass. I'm sure you won't be missed and now you can go visit Dubya in Texas. The two of you ranting your deluded bullshit with each other would make for a really good sitcom. We'd all just have to either drink ourselves into oblivion or smoke some excellent hybrid bud to actually understand what the hell the two of you would be babbling about.

Charleston, I miss you so............

Last week, we finally left the farm and headed south, all the way to the Battery in Charleston, SC. I have to wonder, why do they call it a "battery"? Does it have something to do with that area taking a hell of a battering during both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars? That's gotta be it.

Before we started our less than well-planned road trip, we made a detour to Lake County, IL, to visit a few friends and drop some late Christmas gifts off and picking up a few ourselves..... which leads me to reflecting upon what a sick pup I must really be, considering some of my long time friendships and the gifts they pick for my spouse. You know, the "birds of a feather" thing.

One word: Flarp

This has to be the best stress reliever ever invented and if you are under the age of 3, you can't have any.  It's a crying shame that one probably could not get this product on a flight, only because it would sure make a boring flight a ton of fun. It would certainly guarantee you the entire 3 seats across for yourself, if not half the plane. Next time you visit Walgreen's, purchase all they have and you've got next year's stocking stuffers covered! This is definitely a toy for big boys, ages 47-61.

You get the general idea, right?
(take note, the dude who started this fun is NOT depicted with these other 2 boys)

So, from the State of Illinois, where I managed to blow at least 2 tolls (yeah, I gotta go pay those online, fcol) all the way to South Carolina, every so often, I'm listening to faux flatulence. I will admit, I have my own jar of the stuff, I'll definitely report any commotion I can cause next time I'm standing in line at the local supermarket on a Friday night. The true challenge will be keeping a straight face.

We also have the strangest karma of any two people on this planet- we left in snow and bitter cold weather, the crap followed us all the way to Charleston and when I commented that we "brought it with us", some were actually IMPRESSED with it and one looked at me like I was a freakin' alien, asking me to "take it back with you", which ironically...... we did. I did not want to leave Charleston, it was warm there. They have beaches, we are land locked morons and the closest thing we get as far as huge bodies of water is when we have biblical floods. Okay, they get hurricanes- we can deal with that. We get tornadoes, less warning and hey- tornadoes are unpredicable. They whip around the area when they touch down and no one knows where it's going to hit. At least hurricanes blow in one direction and if you just have your head buried in the sand, you don't deserve to evacuate when you're told "this one is a category 4".

They have harbors, ships, really cool old houses with southern charm, excellent food (eat in the "hole in the wall" restaurants), best seafood chowder I've EVER tasted and they know how to cook with pecans. No, the pecans were not in the chowder, but trust me, pecans incorporated into chicken, balsamic vinegar, fresh spinach and cranberries all wrapped up is something to die for. Or kill the cook for the recipe. Needless to say, the cook is still alive and I didn't get the recipe.

Summertime in Charleston is not an option, we deal with heat indexes over 100° and extreme humidity, minus palmetto bugs (seasonal cockroaches in droves......), but spending the months of December to March in Charleston is looking pretty damn good, only because it is now 24° here and hey, we might make it to just about freezing tomorrow. I just have to figure out how to end up in one of those really cool homes built in the 1700's, complete with gas lights, chimney(s) and some bitchin' wrought iron all around my entryway and garden.

Like this

I guess I'll have to photograph some of the goodies I brought back with me (later, I have crap to get done). And next trip? Screw that driving down the interstate with a million semi's, chain restaurants that serve heart attacks on a crappy plate, shitty coffee and motel rooms that at even at $100.00 are still crappy motel rooms. I'm flying, blowing that cash on more nights in an old hotel with a concierge in the historical district and spend a couple of nights with my shutter wide open here

With all these dead people.

4 More Days

And the chimp is out of the White House. According to CNN, 17-25% of Americans are incredibly STOOPID, because that particular percentile range of citizens still believe that Dubya has managed our gov't effectively and also believe he united us as a country. Either these people drink beer for breakfast or simply need some chlorine in their gene pools.

As for the 60% of us that believe that declaring war in Iraq was a mistake, 40% agree that monkey-butt leaves a less than desirable legacy, there is a definite 28% that know he's the worst POTUS in history. Count me in that percentile.

George W. Bush is by far the worst President to ever deliver ANY speech, butchering not only the English language, but consistently managed to puke out sentences that sent a resounding, repetitive message:

I'm really, really stupid, I didn't pay attention in class and I have no clue what I'm talking about.

We all know that every POTUS have speech writers to assist in their public verbal displays of leadership, or "State of the Union" telecasts and this moron either ignored the material he was given to follow or simply cannot read for comprehension.

Who can forget the ridiculous comments over the last 8 years, such as:

• "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs
  aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country."

• "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" (Obviously, you didn't learn a thing, attending one of the best learning academies in the country couldn't nurture what little intelligence you were born with)

• "I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft." (Last time I looked, there is only one internet)

And this one really stands out as the most telling of his true motive at hand:

• "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never
  stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and
  neither do we. Think Homeland Security.........Big Brother is right up your ass performing a continuous colonoscopy all in the name of our nation's uh, security.

Nothing is going to magically change in 4 days, the powers that be will still continue to create chaos in order to maintain their positions, the new POTUS is not our Savior, which will prove to be a very rude awakening to so many people that still cling to the belief that one man can save us all, change the state of the so-called American Dream that has been chipped away at and destroyed insidiousy for the last 40 years by greedy, ambitious politicians and lobbyists- all wanting more and more for themselves all while widening the great divide between the haves and have nots.

The quicker the Roman Empire falls, the faster we can rebuild and open our eyes to what the core of the destruction has been and hopefully change our thinking in just who we really want working for us, because we're so stupid as whole, we've been working all along for the government all while assuming that government would take care of us.

It's time we started taking care of ourselves, take that stand and quit behaving like a society of lemmings.

It is high time that government worked for the people and change the status quo. See ya, Dumbya- I am one citizen that will NOT miss you in the least, nor ever believe any shit that spewed forth from your mouth. You ARE the worst POTUS I've ever had to endure and I'm jumping for joy that I will never have to watch you or listen to your incessant stupidity again.