The Fair month of August

I have been a fan of the state fair since I was a kid. I have missed the Wisconsin State Fair less than a handful of times in my life. County fairs are wonderful but there is something magical about going to West Allis and chowing down all day...The New Berlin Lion's Club Corn Roast, Sheboygan Brats, roast pig on the spit, pig races, and of course creme puffs.

My favorite for many years was an indoor petting zoo. Every year someone brought a pair of the world's largest rats. The latin name begins with a 'C'. Their names were Fred and Ethyl. They were 60-70lbs. ---not something you wish to see in the wild.

The Fighting Bob Fest is coming September 10 at the Baraboo Fairgrounds. Several people from the Oshkosh area are going including me. If you would like to carpool/drive/ride feel welcome to come along. About 4,000 folks did that last year making it larger than any political gathering in Wisconsin in years. They expect more this year. The all-star line-up is:
http://www.fightingbobfest.com

Social Security is 70 on Sunday. Many do not know that it had it's roots in Wisconsin. Go here:
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/topics/socialsecurity

My oh my---Have you filled your tank lately? Gas is still about a nickel a gallon in Bagdad. Somewhere between there and here a middleman takes a cut. I found the middleman. Pass this on to your friends so they know who gets the money:
http://www.aztlan.net/oiltanker.htm

To the death.

Dog Days

I enjoy picking up the Scene Magazine, -you know, the free one at the exit of many stores. The Scene is an excellent local rag. It reminds me of reading Isthmus in Madison in the early 70's. Isthmus has become a bit stale and mainstream. The Scene is better reading in 2005 than Madison's Isthmus. It is much more edgy than Isthmus. I hope it stays that way.

Great concert last Thursday at the Leach. The band before Pat Benatar had the most atrocious engineering imaginable. The EQ was way out of whack...no discernable bass, screamy screechy highs with distortion where no distortion belonged. I can't comment on the band. The engineer simply did them in. The sound was excellent from the moment Benatar began.

The Downtown Art Walk was great last Saturday. Once the sun began to dip in the west the streets rapidly became full. The drums by the sundial were really cooking up a storm. It was an extremely professional performance.

Internet chatter about peak oil continues to reverberate daily with talk about $5 per gallon gasoline this winter and much more. My favorites of the last week are these...

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0804-26.htm

http://www.kunstler.com/spch_hudson.htm

This last one I check almost every day:

http://www.fromthewilderness.com

or it's mirror site:

http://www.copvscia.com

Support the People in Uniform

A person in Oshkosh had the temerity to question the support of the troops. Find me someone who doesn't support the troops.

Well. OK. Dubya Bush and the Republicans have cut support of veterans in the last 4yrs. out of five.

Doug Boone and others have collected 1,1912 signatures to bring the troops home as of last Friday. The death toll in Iraq of U.S. troops just topped 1,800 today. Time to bring the rest home while they are talking and walking. There is nothing about freedom going on in Iraq. Get used to it!

What do the soldiers think? Read some letters in the armed services magazine Stars and Stripes:
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=30636

Peace.

Drugs, Murder, and Armored Vehicles

Wow! CAFTA passed by two votes. Yippee! This has got some people dancing in the streets. Those 'Some People' are the owners of the large pharmaceutical concerns. This is amazing news. Somewhere in the Central American Free Trade Agreement is fine print which calls for drugs distributed in Central America to be of the brand name Rx-type. That's right folks. No generic drugs for you!

This is a death sentence for hundreds of thousands of humans from south of the border. How in the hell could anyone with any kind of a conscience legislate the murder of incredible numbers of people?

To understand this story of murder by slime-ball con artists filling their pockets with money go here: http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0801-07.htm

Did I mention that one of the largest Rx concerns in the world (Eli Lilly) is owned by the Republicans including the Bush and Quayle families and friends? These pieces of slime are murderers...period.
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Winnebago County has purchased an armored vehicle...value $180,000.00. Something to do with Homeland Security. Portholes for guns, and all the trimmings. Just who are they going to use this on??? They apparently used this twice already. Are the terrorists that close to Oshkosh?

Peace.