Something a little different

Since it is Sunday and most Christian
religions celebrate the Lord’s day, we
thought to try something different.

We shall talk of our Reformed Intellectual
and Redneck Church of the Almighty Picnic
and Car Show recently held at a secret
location.

Cameras were not allowed to keep the
secret location secret, but we’ll try
and explain the experience.

Since you haven’t been here before,
we’ll give you the nickel tour or our
event. After everyone is here, we
meet in front of the flatbed trailer
which serves as our stage.

Since we couldn’t bring the organ,
our organist, Ms. Elmira Periwinkle
plays ‘Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory’
on an upright piano until the Right
Reverend Billy Bob Worthington-Smythe
III gets to the microphone.

Once he does, he begins the invocation,
which he calls “The 5 things you cannot
recover”. “A stone after it is thrown,
a word after it is spoken, time after
it has passed, and a twinkie after it
is eaten.”

Once the invocation is done, Ms.
Periwinkle entertains us with a rousing
rendition of ‘Beep, Beep’ on the
Steinway as we look upon the rides
of others and Reverend Billy Bob blesses
the cars.

Following a delicious lunch of fried
chicken, cole slaw, grits, greens, corn
chips, twinkies, lime jello, and Kool-
Ade, we take a little time to reflect on
all we have.

The hub caps are then passed through the
crowd for anyone who wants to make a
donation to the church. We never found
one, and Cletus had to drive his Merc
home with only 3 hub caps.

After the trophy was handed out we
had a moment of silence for those who
serve our country, followed by yet
another gathering at the stage.

We all join in a heartfelt rendition
of ‘God Bless the USA’ as a fitting
close to a righteous event.

We’d like to tell you how it ends, but
that is where we woke up.
Comments are always welcome.

Perspective

Just a little something
to think about a hot
day.

Bonus weekend rant

We are mystified that some people are almost
rejoicing over the Supreme Court decision
that Obamacare is a tax. We are going to see
the biggest tax increase in our nation’s
history over this and Congress letting the
Bush tax cuts expire.

We do find it humorous that those who are
pleased at the legality of the bill think
there is something in it for them, are
exempt from it, or opted out of it.

And the walkout of Democrats over the
contempt charges against the Attorney
General just goes to show how far our
political system has fallen. Capitalism
isn’t broken, our political system is.

We suggest that Pelosi, if she can get
the name right, explain to the families
of Brian Terry, Jaime Zapata, and others
that hearings on Fast and Furious were all
political.

Then the Supreme Court ruled on the
Stolen Valor Act and basically turned
lying about military service into an
art form and not a crime. We wonder
what they would say if someone lied
about being a judge.

It seems Obama is worried he will be
outspent in this election by his rival.
The honeymoon is over and it is about
time he realizes the country doesn’t
want someone endorsed by the Communist
Party USA.

We will say it again, we need to stop
the nonsense. If they’re not part of a
real solution, they are part of the
problem so vote them out.

The only recourse we have when we are
dissatisfied with our government is
to vote the offenders out.
Comments are always welcome.

Weekend wanderings

The weekend is almost here, a holiday
is right around the corner, and it looks
to be a hot one.

Brings back memories of when the Merc-
Duece Reunion was at the fairgrounds and
we stood in shade to watch the cars go
by, and either Mel or myself claiming
“he’s got air-conditioning in that one”.

Friday, June 29, is the Friday’s Cruise
on down to Advance at 902 W. Kimberly
Road, in Davenport, Iowa from 5-8 pm.

Friday, June 29 through Sunday, July 1,
is the Goodguys Heartland Nationals at
the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines,
Iowa. For more info go here.

Sunday, July 1, is the Victor Fun Days
6th Annual Car Show,in Victor, Iowa. If
you want more information call 319-647-3688.

Sunday, July 1, will also include sailboat
races at the Lake Davenport Sailing Club at
1 and 3 pm. Since the clubhouse is located
right on the river, there could be a cool
breeze coming in off the water.

Next week the 4th of July is sure to have
a lot of noise. Twice as much fireworks for
the Red, White, and Boom, extra police on
duty, and more heat.

There are a few, but by no means all, of
the events going on around us. If you have
the weekend off, and can afford to do so,
it may be good weekend to stay inside.
Comments are always welcome.

Small healthcare rant

In this post, the terminology and/or the
spelling may not be correct. The simple
explanation is that I am not a medical
professional.

The wife went to the family doctor for a
check-up, and came back with what we
considered some strange news.

We’ve all heard things about what Obamacare
will, or won’t, do. Our doctor told the wife
an interesting thing that we knew nothing
about.

The circumstance he used was that if he
were treating a diabetic, and couldn’t get
his sucrose level stable, that he would be
fined by the government if he kept treating
said patient.

It had something to do with the disease
being “unregulated”. It isn’t that the
doctor is doing anything wrong, only that
he can’t get the disease under control.

We would guess this would make the person
with diabetes unwelcome at other doctor’s
offices as they wouldn’t want to get fined
either. So where does this ‘better, more
humane’ healthcare system leave them?

While calling this a death panel type of
decision may be a stretch, it can’t be
good news for anyone who has a disease
that the government would consider
“unregulated”.

And this is supposed to be better than the
healthcare system we had? How many more
little laws like this one are going to force
the doctors to refuse treatment?

So we knew that companies could be fined
for not offering health insurance to their
employees, we citizens could be fined for
not having health insurance, and now we
learn doctors could be fined for treating
us.

Somehow this doesn’t seem like much of a
plan.
Comments are always welcome.

Just thinking

We have been giving some serious thought
to the suggestion we set aside a day to
help others.

Since Shabonee suggested it we have been
letting the idea run on the treadmill in
the hamster cage of our mind.

How about a “Intellectuals and Rednecks
Appreciation Day”? It could be a day in
which we put aside the politics, and just
try to make it the best day we can.

If we come across someone needing help
we could give them hand, see litter in
our city pick it up, or just generally
dedicate the day to enjoying ourselves.

Should we have a meeting and if so on
what day of the week, and where? We
are leaning toward late July or sometime
in August as possibilities.

Our thoughts were to have an informal get
together and see what happens from there.
We think a Saturday might work best,
sometime in the afternoon and possibly in a
park. Nothing has been decided and it is
still just an idea.

There is a rough sketch of what we
think, now we’d like to hear your ideas
on our ideas.
Comments are always welcome.

Who is dumber?

We’ve all heard, or made, the comment
about how we’re the dummies that keep
electing the same inept politicians.
Now we learn that, as a whole, our
country IS getting dumber.

In 2010, the Oklahoma Council of Public
Affairs commissioned a poll of local
high school students. The results were
a surprise to us.

77% couldn’t name George Washington as
the first president and 86% didn’t know
Thomas Jefferson was the author of the
Declaration of Independence.

If these high school students were to
take a citizenship exam, only 3%
would pass.

A recent study claims that our
Congress speaks a grade level lower than
it did just seven years ago.

The study also claims that even with
Congress speaking at a 10.6 grade level,
the average American reads at a level
between 8th and 9 grade so they are
still talking over our heads!

The U.S. Constitution was written at a
17.8 grade level; the Declaration of
Independence at a 15.1 grade level; the
Gettysburg address at and 11.2 grade level,
and Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream”
speech at a 9.4 grade level.

Granted this study is based on reading
ability, and some say that isn’t fair.
We bring it up because we personally feel
as a nation we are getting dumber and
more apathetic.

We have to wake up, educate those who
aren’t, insist on better education for
our children, and elect politicians who
vote the way the majority wishes.
Comments are always welcome.

Reader rant II

We have been offline since yesterday
afternoon and have just now resolved
the problem. It seems our wireless
router goes out more than we do.

Since we didn’t finish our regular
post before the hitch in our giddy-
up, this will be another reader rant.

Now is the time to rant, praise,
offer suggestions, or give your
opinion. Last time we checked, we
still have freedom of speech.

The rules remain the same: no profanity,
no name-calling, and try not to belittle
those who disagree with you. Unless it
is National Pick On Them day and we
aren’t aware of it.

Tomorrow we will have a post about
the dumbing down of America. Until then,
the floor is yours.
Comments are always welcome.

Technicality

We will do one more post on the comment
about if plans for a marijuana harvester
are somewhere within the confines of a
certain local agricultural company.

Most should know that marijuana comes from
the hemp plant. Hemp is also known for its
fibers which are used to make to make
everything from twine to sails.

Since John Deere Co. began in 1837 it is
entirely possible that they do have plans
for a harvester since marijuana was still
legal 100 years later.

We did find a reference to a “hemp harvester”
which is explained in the link under
the Harvesting header.
It also has small pictures of harvesting
with machines during an earlier era.

Another website has pictures of hemp
harvest in 2006. This one mentions a
Massey Ferguson 35 pull type combine.

About halfway down the webpage, the John
Deere 6600 combine is pictured during the
hemp harvesting.

So we would say, if the farmers can rig
something up to make hemp/marijuana harvest
easier, a team of engineers could also. And
someone would have to draw up plans for it.

So technically, if they are using a John
Deere combine to harvest hemp, the company
has plans for that.
Comments are always welcome.

A different side

A humorous look at recent politics.
Comments are always welcome.