Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Truck Henge 08
And the non-stop attacks on Sarah Palin and her family continue. Well, let me tell you this about that. Never in my life have I seen such blatant, ah never mind, what’s the point? Besides you guys already know how I feel about all that. Come November 4th, we’ll find who’s promises people bought into. It’s that simple.
It’s funny how we get so worked up and emotional about presidential elections. Both sides want you to believe that if you vote for the other guy, the world’s going to come to an end. We place that much importance on it but then we keep sending the same old people back to Congress year after year to do the same old grandstanding they always do. I’m probably wrong here but I don’t think we’ve ever had a Congress with a lower approval rating. You just watch though, we’ll send them right back in there like we always do and still expect things to somehow get better. Oh well, what are you going to do?
Sorry, that wasn’t even what I wanted to talk about today. I wanted to tell you about a party I went to last Saturday night. Ever hear of a place called Truck Henge?” Truck Henge is located just east of the Oakland area along the Kansas river on a farm owned by a man named Ron Lessman. On the road leading onto the Lessman farm are two row of trucks and busses half buried in the dirt, pointing toward the sky painted with slogans such as “Freedom isn’t lost!” There are signs warning that this area is “Zoned to speak your mind,” and one that warns that a man with his “own ideas” lives here. To understand the meaning behind Truck Henge, you need to understand a little bit about Ron Lessman. First off, he’s probably the most welcoming and generous person I’ve ever met. I’m not sure but if you needed a shirt he’d probably give you his. That’s just the way he is. But here’s the deal, don’t go onto his land and try to tell him how to live. A few years ago he had a run-in with certain Shawnee County officials who evidently didn’t like the way he was living and demanded he change his ways to suit them. To make a long story short, those certain Shawnee County officials lost. And now we have Truck Henge.
Anyway, last Saturday night the Lessman family held their second annual concert to promote the local music scene here in Topeka. Man, what a party it turned out to be. I don’t know , I think they had 8 or 9 different local bands who literally played all night long. And I’m not exactly sure but I’d say there were somewhere between 300 and 400 people there that night. Me being an old guy and all, some of the songs I recognized, some of them I didn’t. It was fun watching the people as they wandered around the farm too. One guy in particular was really craving attention. We called him the fire guy. He’d blow lamp oil onto a torch and shoot flames into the air. Not something I’d want to try but hey, it was kind of cool. Speaking of fires, I’ve talked a little bit about taking my kids camping when they were young. I always prided myself on the camp fires we used to build. My fires might shoot flames maybe 10 feet into the air. Ron’s fire sent flames towering to 30 or 40 feet into the night sky. Very cool. I met a lot of very good people out there at Truck Henge that night. And as far as I know the whole thing went off pretty much as planned.
Once again, I’d like to thank the Lessman family for opening your home to me and my family. And for doing your part to point out some of the positives Topeka has to offer.
You can check out a few pictures of the concert and watch a video I found on You Tube about the story of Truck Henge, starring Ron Lessman himself at: www.rm235.blogspot.com or you can e-mail me at: www.kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
The following is a list of the bands that played in Truck Henge 08 and their web-sites.
Hammerjunk www.myspace.com/hammerjunkrocks
The Hemroids www.myspace.com/thehemroids
Klusterfux www.myspace.com/klusterfux
Wakamojo www.myspace.com/wakamojo
Lazer Panther www.myspace.com/lazerpanther
Shumann's Resonance www.myspace.com/schmannsresonance
Side Effects www.myspace.com/sideeffectstopeka
Mirror image www.myspace.com/mirrorimagetriplets
It’s funny how we get so worked up and emotional about presidential elections. Both sides want you to believe that if you vote for the other guy, the world’s going to come to an end. We place that much importance on it but then we keep sending the same old people back to Congress year after year to do the same old grandstanding they always do. I’m probably wrong here but I don’t think we’ve ever had a Congress with a lower approval rating. You just watch though, we’ll send them right back in there like we always do and still expect things to somehow get better. Oh well, what are you going to do?
Sorry, that wasn’t even what I wanted to talk about today. I wanted to tell you about a party I went to last Saturday night. Ever hear of a place called Truck Henge?” Truck Henge is located just east of the Oakland area along the Kansas river on a farm owned by a man named Ron Lessman. On the road leading onto the Lessman farm are two row of trucks and busses half buried in the dirt, pointing toward the sky painted with slogans such as “Freedom isn’t lost!” There are signs warning that this area is “Zoned to speak your mind,” and one that warns that a man with his “own ideas” lives here. To understand the meaning behind Truck Henge, you need to understand a little bit about Ron Lessman. First off, he’s probably the most welcoming and generous person I’ve ever met. I’m not sure but if you needed a shirt he’d probably give you his. That’s just the way he is. But here’s the deal, don’t go onto his land and try to tell him how to live. A few years ago he had a run-in with certain Shawnee County officials who evidently didn’t like the way he was living and demanded he change his ways to suit them. To make a long story short, those certain Shawnee County officials lost. And now we have Truck Henge.
Anyway, last Saturday night the Lessman family held their second annual concert to promote the local music scene here in Topeka. Man, what a party it turned out to be. I don’t know , I think they had 8 or 9 different local bands who literally played all night long. And I’m not exactly sure but I’d say there were somewhere between 300 and 400 people there that night. Me being an old guy and all, some of the songs I recognized, some of them I didn’t. It was fun watching the people as they wandered around the farm too. One guy in particular was really craving attention. We called him the fire guy. He’d blow lamp oil onto a torch and shoot flames into the air. Not something I’d want to try but hey, it was kind of cool. Speaking of fires, I’ve talked a little bit about taking my kids camping when they were young. I always prided myself on the camp fires we used to build. My fires might shoot flames maybe 10 feet into the air. Ron’s fire sent flames towering to 30 or 40 feet into the night sky. Very cool. I met a lot of very good people out there at Truck Henge that night. And as far as I know the whole thing went off pretty much as planned.
Once again, I’d like to thank the Lessman family for opening your home to me and my family. And for doing your part to point out some of the positives Topeka has to offer.
You can check out a few pictures of the concert and watch a video I found on You Tube about the story of Truck Henge, starring Ron Lessman himself at: www.rm235.blogspot.com or you can e-mail me at: www.kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
The following is a list of the bands that played in Truck Henge 08 and their web-sites.
Hammerjunk www.myspace.com/hammerjunkrocks
The Hemroids www.myspace.com/thehemroids
Klusterfux www.myspace.com/klusterfux
Wakamojo www.myspace.com/wakamojo
Lazer Panther www.myspace.com/lazerpanther
Shumann's Resonance www.myspace.com/schmannsresonance
Side Effects www.myspace.com/sideeffectstopeka
Mirror image www.myspace.com/mirrorimagetriplets
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The Bridge To Nowhere
Not that it makes any difference but I’m going to throw this one out there today just for the fun of it. You’ve all heard about the famous “Bridge to Nowhere,” right? We keep hearing Obama and the left-wing bloggers, you know, (the experts) constantly criticizing Alaskan Governor, Sarah Palin for supporting the bridge before she voted against it. You know the drill. It’s funny that no one ever mentions that Obama and Biden both supported the exact same bridge from the get go. But hey, why let facts get in the way of a good political attack strategy, right?
First off, the supporters of this project went about it all wrong from the beginning. If they’d just asked for my help, I could have told them how to get it done and by the time they were through they could have been heroes. I’ll get to that later though.
Be honest. Other than knowing it’s now known as the “bridge to nowhere” what do you really know about the thing in the first place?
You’ve probably heard that it was just a bridge to connect the mainland to an island that had just 50 people living on it. Anyway, that‘s the story I‘ve always heard. But the main reason for the bridge was to replace the ferry that currently connects Ketchikan, Alaska to the Ketchikan International Airport on Gravina Island. Ketchikan International is the second largest airport in Southeast Alaska and handles somewhere around 300,000 passengers a year. But we never hear that part of the story do we? It would have provided better and safer service to the airport and provided more opportunities for development of large tracts of land on the island, you know, ”economic development.” Again, no one wants to talk about that now do they?
The bridge was to be nearly as long as the “Golden Gate Bridge” and a little taller than the “Brooklyn Bridge” It had to be this tall to allow for ship traffic because it would cross what’s known as the “Tongrass Narrows” part of Alaska’s Inside Passage. The proposed cost of the project was just under $400 million. Now I don’t claim to be an expert on bridges. In fact all I really know about bridges is, well, nothing. But it doesn’t sound that far out of line to me. Let me ask you this, isn’t it a Governor’s job to improve whatever parts of their states they can if given the chance? Makes sense to me. When it became apparent the funding had dried up and that the Congress and the media were spinning this to make Alaska look bad Palin had no choice but to change her position and stop the proposed bridge project. To do otherwise would have been, well, stupid. What can I say?
There were two ways this bridge project could have flourished but like I said before, no one asked me. So here goes. Instead of building a bridge to improve safety and to provide better service to the Ketchikan International Airport and allowing for more economic development on Gravina Island, they should have said they building it to save the poor, helpless “Polar Bears” who are dying at an alarming rate because of global warming. It wouldn’t have mattered one bit that the polar bear population is thriving and has been steadily growing for the last three decades. The Democrats and left-wing bloggers, you know, the “experts” would be falling all over themselves to get their names attached to this one. You know, for the moral reasons they’re so strong on.
And if that plan failed to gain the needed traction to move the project forward you could always build a “late-term” abortion clinic on Gravina Island and you could build any bridge, at any price you wanted. Just something to think about.
Think I’m out of line? Tell me so at www.rm235.blogspot.com or you can always e-mail me at:www.kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
First off, the supporters of this project went about it all wrong from the beginning. If they’d just asked for my help, I could have told them how to get it done and by the time they were through they could have been heroes. I’ll get to that later though.
Be honest. Other than knowing it’s now known as the “bridge to nowhere” what do you really know about the thing in the first place?
You’ve probably heard that it was just a bridge to connect the mainland to an island that had just 50 people living on it. Anyway, that‘s the story I‘ve always heard. But the main reason for the bridge was to replace the ferry that currently connects Ketchikan, Alaska to the Ketchikan International Airport on Gravina Island. Ketchikan International is the second largest airport in Southeast Alaska and handles somewhere around 300,000 passengers a year. But we never hear that part of the story do we? It would have provided better and safer service to the airport and provided more opportunities for development of large tracts of land on the island, you know, ”economic development.” Again, no one wants to talk about that now do they?
The bridge was to be nearly as long as the “Golden Gate Bridge” and a little taller than the “Brooklyn Bridge” It had to be this tall to allow for ship traffic because it would cross what’s known as the “Tongrass Narrows” part of Alaska’s Inside Passage. The proposed cost of the project was just under $400 million. Now I don’t claim to be an expert on bridges. In fact all I really know about bridges is, well, nothing. But it doesn’t sound that far out of line to me. Let me ask you this, isn’t it a Governor’s job to improve whatever parts of their states they can if given the chance? Makes sense to me. When it became apparent the funding had dried up and that the Congress and the media were spinning this to make Alaska look bad Palin had no choice but to change her position and stop the proposed bridge project. To do otherwise would have been, well, stupid. What can I say?
There were two ways this bridge project could have flourished but like I said before, no one asked me. So here goes. Instead of building a bridge to improve safety and to provide better service to the Ketchikan International Airport and allowing for more economic development on Gravina Island, they should have said they building it to save the poor, helpless “Polar Bears” who are dying at an alarming rate because of global warming. It wouldn’t have mattered one bit that the polar bear population is thriving and has been steadily growing for the last three decades. The Democrats and left-wing bloggers, you know, the “experts” would be falling all over themselves to get their names attached to this one. You know, for the moral reasons they’re so strong on.
And if that plan failed to gain the needed traction to move the project forward you could always build a “late-term” abortion clinic on Gravina Island and you could build any bridge, at any price you wanted. Just something to think about.
Think I’m out of line? Tell me so at www.rm235.blogspot.com or you can always e-mail me at:www.kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Small Towns
Obama just doesn’t get it, does he? He doesn’t understand that when he looked down his nose and mocked Sarah Palin for being the Mayor of a “tiny” little town of 9,000 people somewhere in Alaska, he offended a hell of a lot of people.
He offended the Mayors and the people who live in these tiny little towns all across America. Who does he think lives in those tiny little towns he mocked? Millions of American’s, that’s who and they vote. For the most part, they’re just people, people like you and I. They’re people doing the best they can with what they have to work with. In these small towns you’ll find farmers and ranchers. You’ve got your rough necks and construction workers, plumbers and electricians. You walk into the hardware store and they know you by name. In most cases a guy can get a haircut without making an appointment ahead of time. You have your policemen and women and there’s a good chance the Fire Department is made up of volunteers who drop everything at a moments notice to help someone else. There are teachers, doctors, and nurses. Every little town has their lawyers, City Councils, and Mayors to deal with. It’s probably just me but it seems like Churches are more important to the people who live in these small towns he looked down upon.
People from small towns deal with the same issues as people everywhere. They have good times and bad. If you’ve got business in a small town during football season and their high school is playing an away game, you’d better get it taken care by at least noon. A lot small towns will literally shut down to follow their kids to wherever they’re playing. Yeah, it’s that big a deal.
They deal with death, taxes, marriage and divorce. They have hopes and dreams and don’t really like anyone telling them how to live. Some of them hunt and fish. Some of them like to race their stock cars at dirt tracks all across America. You know, kind of like snowmobile racing, only it’s not so cold. These are the people Obama tried to marginalize in his attacks against Sarah Palin.
You know, Obama doesn’t like aknowledge the fact that Sarah Palin is the current Governor of Alaska. And when he does, he does his best to portray the entire state of Alaska itself as insignificant because of it’s population. That’s funny too. When Obama and Al Gore were screaming about us all dying in ten years because of global-warming, Alaska was hailed as the most important place on Earth.
Obama you can say what you want. You can claim she’s inexperienced and not ready to lead till you‘re blue in the face. But the fact that you and your handlers know Sarah Palin has the support of 80% of the people she represents tells me you know exactly how much trouble your campaign is in.
Oh yeah, Governor Sebelius. I know I’m not the first one to talk about the speech you gave in response to the one Sarah Palin gave at the Republican National Convention. And I know I’m not the first one to point out the hypocrisy of your comments. I thought it was a little ironic for you to criticize her speech because she was just reading something written by someone else.
Whatever Governor, the speech Sarah Palin gave that night at the Republican National Convention was delivered with the excitement and passion that ignited the biggest political firestorm in a generation. The prepared speeches you “read” Governor are dull and boring and they inspire no one. That’s the difference Governor. Believe me when I say the Conservative movement is alive and well all across America and we’re here to stay.
Want to join in on the conversation? Go to www.rm235.blogspot.com or you can contact me by e-mail at:wwwkevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
He offended the Mayors and the people who live in these tiny little towns all across America. Who does he think lives in those tiny little towns he mocked? Millions of American’s, that’s who and they vote. For the most part, they’re just people, people like you and I. They’re people doing the best they can with what they have to work with. In these small towns you’ll find farmers and ranchers. You’ve got your rough necks and construction workers, plumbers and electricians. You walk into the hardware store and they know you by name. In most cases a guy can get a haircut without making an appointment ahead of time. You have your policemen and women and there’s a good chance the Fire Department is made up of volunteers who drop everything at a moments notice to help someone else. There are teachers, doctors, and nurses. Every little town has their lawyers, City Councils, and Mayors to deal with. It’s probably just me but it seems like Churches are more important to the people who live in these small towns he looked down upon.
People from small towns deal with the same issues as people everywhere. They have good times and bad. If you’ve got business in a small town during football season and their high school is playing an away game, you’d better get it taken care by at least noon. A lot small towns will literally shut down to follow their kids to wherever they’re playing. Yeah, it’s that big a deal.
They deal with death, taxes, marriage and divorce. They have hopes and dreams and don’t really like anyone telling them how to live. Some of them hunt and fish. Some of them like to race their stock cars at dirt tracks all across America. You know, kind of like snowmobile racing, only it’s not so cold. These are the people Obama tried to marginalize in his attacks against Sarah Palin.
You know, Obama doesn’t like aknowledge the fact that Sarah Palin is the current Governor of Alaska. And when he does, he does his best to portray the entire state of Alaska itself as insignificant because of it’s population. That’s funny too. When Obama and Al Gore were screaming about us all dying in ten years because of global-warming, Alaska was hailed as the most important place on Earth.
Obama you can say what you want. You can claim she’s inexperienced and not ready to lead till you‘re blue in the face. But the fact that you and your handlers know Sarah Palin has the support of 80% of the people she represents tells me you know exactly how much trouble your campaign is in.
Oh yeah, Governor Sebelius. I know I’m not the first one to talk about the speech you gave in response to the one Sarah Palin gave at the Republican National Convention. And I know I’m not the first one to point out the hypocrisy of your comments. I thought it was a little ironic for you to criticize her speech because she was just reading something written by someone else.
Whatever Governor, the speech Sarah Palin gave that night at the Republican National Convention was delivered with the excitement and passion that ignited the biggest political firestorm in a generation. The prepared speeches you “read” Governor are dull and boring and they inspire no one. That’s the difference Governor. Believe me when I say the Conservative movement is alive and well all across America and we’re here to stay.
Want to join in on the conversation? Go to www.rm235.blogspot.com or you can contact me by e-mail at:wwwkevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Sarah Palin
Didn’t see that coming, did you? Neither did Obama or his handlers. You know what I’m talking about. I’m talking about Obama turning on the TV last Friday, you know, the day after his big speech and not being able to find his smiling face anywhere. It was all Sarah Palin.
You can say what you want about McCain. But you gotta admit, McCain sucked every ounce of energy there was right out of what should been Obama’s big day with the announcement of his VP pick, Sarah Palin.
Like a lot of people, I thought for sure he’d pick Rommney. He’d have brought economic experience to the McCain campaign, that’s about it. We’d have to listen to the non-stop attacks on his Mormon faith again for the next two months. Yeah, like a lot of fellow Republicans, I‘d already decided to vote for McCain. Believe me, it wasn’t so much a vote for McCain. More than anything, it was a vote against Obama. Still, at the end of the day, I figured Obama would end up being our next President.
All that changed last Friday, didn’t it. Think of it this way. The right feels exactly the same way about Sarah Palin as the left does Obama. And here’s the deal. It’s not just me either, there’s millions of us. You guys have your rock-star, now we have ours. You know, maybe that “old, white-haired dude” can pull this thing off after all.
Is she qualified? I don’t know. To tell you the truth, I knew she was the Governor of Alaska, But that’s about it. I do know that because of her, the Obama campaign is in full blown panic mode. And the attacks on her and her family have just begun. Go ahead and attack her on the grounds that because she’s a woman and a mom she wouldn’t have time for the job, especially since her youngest child was born with down-syndrome. See how far strategy gets you. Besides, isn’t that way of thinking exactly what the left has been fighting against all these years. Talk about hypocrisy. The were quick to point out that her husband got arrested for DUI something like 20 years ago. It’s funny too, about the same time her husband was arrested on alcohol charges, Obama was snorting cocaine. Evidently, that’s okay though.
Get this, they’re trying to make a moral issue out of Palin’s 17 year old daughter being pregnant. The irony of that just cracks me up. All I’m going to say is that at least she’s not going to abort the baby just because it’s an incontinent time, you can take it from there.
What do the issues they’re bring up mean? To me it means a hell of a lot about her character as a person, a wife, and a mother. Her family is no different than that of millions of families all across America. I know how disruptive a DUI can be to family. They’ve had to deal with their teenage daughter getting pregnant and like any good mother, she’s standing by her daughter’s side. As a family, they’ll deal with it as it comes because that what a family does. To me, it means she’s just like you and I. She’s one of us. And how this can be seen as a bad thing is beyond me.
It’s hard to explain. But because of the naming of Sarah Palin as McCain’s VP pick, I’m actually excited to be a Republican again. Something else to think about. Let’s say McCain does pull this one off. How does a 2012 race between Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton sound? Damn, this thing just keeps getting better.
You can contact Kevin McGinty at his online blog at: www.rm235.blogspot.com or by e-mail at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
You can say what you want about McCain. But you gotta admit, McCain sucked every ounce of energy there was right out of what should been Obama’s big day with the announcement of his VP pick, Sarah Palin.
Like a lot of people, I thought for sure he’d pick Rommney. He’d have brought economic experience to the McCain campaign, that’s about it. We’d have to listen to the non-stop attacks on his Mormon faith again for the next two months. Yeah, like a lot of fellow Republicans, I‘d already decided to vote for McCain. Believe me, it wasn’t so much a vote for McCain. More than anything, it was a vote against Obama. Still, at the end of the day, I figured Obama would end up being our next President.
All that changed last Friday, didn’t it. Think of it this way. The right feels exactly the same way about Sarah Palin as the left does Obama. And here’s the deal. It’s not just me either, there’s millions of us. You guys have your rock-star, now we have ours. You know, maybe that “old, white-haired dude” can pull this thing off after all.
Is she qualified? I don’t know. To tell you the truth, I knew she was the Governor of Alaska, But that’s about it. I do know that because of her, the Obama campaign is in full blown panic mode. And the attacks on her and her family have just begun. Go ahead and attack her on the grounds that because she’s a woman and a mom she wouldn’t have time for the job, especially since her youngest child was born with down-syndrome. See how far strategy gets you. Besides, isn’t that way of thinking exactly what the left has been fighting against all these years. Talk about hypocrisy. The were quick to point out that her husband got arrested for DUI something like 20 years ago. It’s funny too, about the same time her husband was arrested on alcohol charges, Obama was snorting cocaine. Evidently, that’s okay though.
Get this, they’re trying to make a moral issue out of Palin’s 17 year old daughter being pregnant. The irony of that just cracks me up. All I’m going to say is that at least she’s not going to abort the baby just because it’s an incontinent time, you can take it from there.
What do the issues they’re bring up mean? To me it means a hell of a lot about her character as a person, a wife, and a mother. Her family is no different than that of millions of families all across America. I know how disruptive a DUI can be to family. They’ve had to deal with their teenage daughter getting pregnant and like any good mother, she’s standing by her daughter’s side. As a family, they’ll deal with it as it comes because that what a family does. To me, it means she’s just like you and I. She’s one of us. And how this can be seen as a bad thing is beyond me.
It’s hard to explain. But because of the naming of Sarah Palin as McCain’s VP pick, I’m actually excited to be a Republican again. Something else to think about. Let’s say McCain does pull this one off. How does a 2012 race between Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton sound? Damn, this thing just keeps getting better.
You can contact Kevin McGinty at his online blog at: www.rm235.blogspot.com or by e-mail at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net
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Solo Expedition...
I haven't really talked about it much but every other weekend I usually head out by myself. It's usually the day I seek out new fis...
