Tag Archives: people

Politics

Promise

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Jack Kennedy held out the promise of a new generation of enlightenment, but he didn’t get to finish the deal. His untimely demise, 45 years ago today, shocked and saddened us all. Whether for good or bad, his legacy lived on for too few years under another administration’s hopes and dreams.

Now, a new administration has presented us with a promise of hope during a much-different time. While there may be very few parallels to be drawn between the Obama and Kennedy administrations that are appropriate for today, I for one do believe that the beginning of a new era of enlightenment has taken hold. Only time will tell whether I am right or wrong.

Hope springs eternal.

Politics, Stupidity plain and simple

Congratulations President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama

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Here’s hoping the good will generated by his election continues well into the future.

UPDATE May 24, 2012: Good luck with that so far. Continued imprisonment without benefit of trial for its own citizens and those of other countries; ongoing aerial nightmares in the form of drone attacks on its own citizens in other countries and around the world in Pakistan, Yemen and others; the stupidity of ongoing and continuous wars in Afghanistan and other countries; a meaningless constitution that has been shredded and will continue to be downgraded to a “nice piece of paper”; and on and on.

Nice.

Pix, Short trips

Bronco busting

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I almost didn’t see this sculpture, given its distance from the highway and its color that matched the background where it was placed. Having caught it out of the corner of my eye, but traveling too fast to stop, I instead pulled in on my way north.

The sculptor is Bob Scriver, and the sculpture is a version of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s official belt buckle. Helena’s Montana Historical Society has a bronze version.

Bronc rider
Bronc rider
Blog tribulations, Stupidity plain and simple

Trolls ‘r’ us

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Here’s an addendum to my original post on internet trolls.

The New York Times online has a seven page discourse on modern-day trolls and their absurdities. From that article you’ll find that trolls have graduated to an ever more mean and hateful presence, even making fun of and encouraging suicide.

Even if you only get as far as the first page, you’ll find it enlightening and disheartening.

Link to full New York Times article here.

Long trips, On the road, Politics

Convention for the masses

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I’m in Huntingdon, and I’m checked into a hotel where there’s a Democratic “revival” of sorts going on. When I saw the banners and signs I thought I’d be out of luck for a room. Wrong.

Several times, while strolling between floors, I made some inane elevator comments about candidates and electioneering slogans, but there were only half-hearted responses, sans smiles.

These Democrats don’t appear to have much of a sense of humor. No surprise, I guess, given the tone of the times and how much their elected representatives have been kissing Republican ass in Congress since 2004.

Perhaps they thought I was a Republican stooge. Again, no surprise, given the times.

Drifting and dreaming

Dick Drost – Oddity

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Allow me to reminisce for a moment, if you will…

I’m covering some old territory here when I used to ride south to Florida in the early 80s. I remember stopping on the east side of Chicago for gas. I asked the attendant (yes, they had gas jockeys back then) for a quick place to eat. He told me about this truck stop down the road on the 65, just off of U.S. 10, called Naked City. Of course, I just had to check it out. It was in the middle of a nudist club, and the staff were members of the club. It wasn’t anything special, other than an oddity. The owner of the place, Dick Drost, was later charged with exploiting children in California.

Naked City closed in 1986.

Dick Drost, former owner of a Roselawn, Illinois nudist camp called Naked City (previously known as Zoro Nudist Camp), promoter of Mr. and Miss Nude Teeny Bopper Universe Pageants, and proprietor of Naked City West in Southern California was booked on 5 felony and 4 misdemeanors charges on April 7, 1990 in Riverside, California. — Naked City’s Dick Drost

Encounters

Bushed*

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* Canadian slang: mentally unbalanced as a result of prolonged residence in a sparsely inhabited region.

There was a bike parked by the ATM, and when I walked inside an old-timer in a well-used riding jacket was in front of me. After he left I picked up my cash and walked back outside, hoping to catch him before he got back on the road.

He had a French accent, and it sounded vaguely Quebecois, so I babbled something incoherent in French about Quebec and being far from home. He corrected my misconception by telling me he was Belgian. So much for my fine ear for languages and accents — but then, I don’t know any Belgians. He wasn’t insulted in the least by my assumption. He probably felt sorry for my lack of conversational French.

He was from Silverton, Colorado and was headed north to Alaska. He explained that Silverton was the kind of town that you just had to get out of when the snow melted. As isolated as Silverton is in the southwest corner of Colorado, I can understand that perfectly.

In Canada, it’s called being bushed.

We both laughed as he told me about the people in Silverton who couldn’t understand why he would want to leave the place once the snow melted and spring began. After all, they said, winter is over and now there’s no reason to want to leave.

Right.

Those long, cold winter nights, when the snow starts falling and it doesn’t end for a week. When hauling your ass out of the house to go for groceries is a drag. When all you see are the same people day after day after day. When the only topic of conversation is the spring melt. When false spring arrives and gets your hopes up, only to be dashed when the thermometer goes back down below zero and it snows again.

Now it’s summer, the roads are open, and they all lead somewhere else. That sounds to me like a perfect reason for an extended road trip on a motorcycle.