You guys are snorting incense to get high? really?

  I follow a blog called Stuck in Costumes written by Trey Ratcliff. He is sort of my mentor in photography. He posts one photo a day which started me thinking "I" should do that so my photo a day blog is located at

http://melottephotoimagery.blogspot.com/

ANYWAY - he mentioned Glacier National Park which BAM - stirred some memories of when I hitch hiked out to Glacier.  Does anybody hitch any more??

I had never hitched in my life until I decided to hitch out west.  I put my thumb out and for 12 hours - nothing - zip. Was I doing it wrong???  I ended up camping overnight exactly where I had started. The next day I decided to start walking and a cop pulled over and gave me a lift to the next exit.  It was a Sunday morning and a family coming from church picked me up and I got a ride to Beloit.

In Beloit a couple of dudes picked me up and said they were going to California to sell drugs!  SWEET - this will be interesting!!!  But first they had to rob their sisters house in Illinois to get more money.  So after THAT was over we were on the road and about 10:00 at night they whipped out these big sticks of incense and started inhaling . . . . .WHAT???  incense??  Really?   I'm sitting in the back seat and the guys in charge are getting off in incense??  

I lived through the night and decided I wanted to get a different ride.  I "loaned" them $5 for gas (I guess they did not get away with much cash) and stuck my thumb out.

A guy comes to a SCREECHING HALT!  Seems he was AWOL from the Military and speeding across country for some reason.  I hopped in and BAM - we were cruising 90mph until a cop pulls him over.  Next thing I know we are down at the jail house and he is giving me a big box of k-rations and wishing me luck.


So many stories from that trip.  The woman who wanted me to move to Alaska with her, the elderly gay guy that wanted to be "friends" and my hand never left my large knife I had on my leg.  The neighbor that stopped and said "Rod?? is that you?"  "Mrs Petrie"???  Bears mauling campers in Glacier the day before I get there.  Being chased by hotel personnel for camping on their lawn.  Pitching my tent at night on a field of cactus.  Hiding under boxes so the Yogi Bear Campground would not charge me for camping.


Man I wish I had a blog back then. 
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AMYWAY - I had a Columbus Economic Development meeting at Hydro Street Brewery yesterday. I've been helping them get ready as I have 30 feet of their wall under my jurisdiction for my images.  We were meet and greeting people and a guy comes up and says "So you're Rod Melotte" and as normal this could be good or bad.  I say "yes I am" and he says "I'm Daniel Meister". The named ringed a bell but so many people know me but I don't know them  I just pretended I knew who he was.

Wait . . . he starts talking about how it's good that people have opposing views and then it hits me. HE'S THE CHIEF OF POLICE!!! OH NO!!!!!!

As some of you may know, on Facebook the Chief and I don't always see eye to eye on some things and I do ever so much like to throw gas in any fire I see (right or wrong - I love flames). And here he is shaking my hand and sizing me up!

It all went well (as far as I know) and we agreed to disagree and he said there are some posts he has to delete which made me feel better since he never deleted MY posts so I can't be the worst! So all of you that thought I was facebooking from jail last night I was not.

Back to Hydro - soft opening is scheduled for Tuesday if all goes well. 

Once the beer pipeline is in full production they will have 10 taps, plus bottled craft beer, local wine and  local distilled liqueur.   A full grill (12 foot, 700 lb range hood) with deep fryers and all food made will be from local producers including a hydroponic garden in the front windows for herbs.  Brewery is next the the grill because they need venting for the flames.  1 barrel system brewing twice a day.  Mug club and a couple other clubs such as an experimental beer club.  Almost everything was made by hand including tables and if not DIY it was purchased from Good Will or garage sales.  

The 7th Wonder of Columbus

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And finally!

There is nothing better then a rainy day for taking photos.  I  was coming back from anti-malwaring DJs dad's computer (Vista Malware 2010 virus problem) and Market Street Diner had zero cars parked in front of it!  SO - I stopped and took a few shots!

Have a great week - - - - wait - - I never talked about Walker.  Did you know that 29,000 children no loner have health care because of him?  Congratulations on getting 500,000 Recall votes on our way to 750,000.

Rod

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Hydro update and FOX News mixes up Palin for Fey - OOPS!!

My brother sent this - a new license plate he saw 

Illinois – Where your governors make your license plates.
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The Republicans  have a pretty big problem.  Yesterday I said that someone besides Romney and Newt might emerge as the GOP candidate, so to continue that thought . . . . .

Romney - conservative voters don't like him because he is too middle of the road, not conservative enough. That is why he is losing in all the polls, he is not enough RIGHT.  Newt on the other hand is liked by conservative voters but here is the problem. 

Most Americans hate Newt. Independent voters LOATH him.   There is no way in hell Newt can beat Obama.  Romney has a much much better chance of beating Obama but . . . he is not liked.  So the GOP's leading candidate with all of his skeletons in the closet is a sure loser in the BIG election. 

Then there is this whole getting out of Iraq thing.   I'm against it.  We are leaving 16,000 school teachers and infrastructure workers and so forth to the protection of the Iraq Army?   I know that all Obama is doing is fulfilling a Bush doctrine but leaving a rather large group of Americans without any U.S. protection seems like we're rolling the dice.

You might say leave Iraq to the Iraqis but they are on the worlds largest oil field that is right next to Iran who would love to control it.  Iran COULD make our gas prices jump to $10 a gallon!  It's all about the oil.

Of course if Cheney had HIS way we would have a regime change in Iran.  He said yesterday that when Iran got our spy drone we should have bombed them.  Yea - good call. They are the bad guys for downing our spy drone.  sigh!   OH - Newt also is all for a regime change in Iran.

OH - one thing about Newt!  He vows to support a federal gay-marriage ban, vigorously opposes abortion, and wants to defund Planned Parenthood.  Gingrich has been married three times and has copped to serial adultery in his past, has pledged to "uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others."  He's taken a "no-adultery pledge". I think his first two wives are saying - A LITTLE LATE FOR THAT ONE!!
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Hydro Street Brewing.  Talk about a DIY Brewery, they should have their own reality show!   Sandye and Aaron are doing an amazing job.  Things are shaping up with inspections coming soon.   I believe Monday (??) is still the official quiet opening as long as inspections go well.  

I'll have eight Columbus images on their big wall but I had some problems yesterday. Seems part of their wall is made of reinforced depleted uranium or something.  I was drilling away and at one point my drill, instead of going INTO the wall just stopped and just tickled it.  Barely made a mark.  WTF!   Have to go to Plan B.

This is one of the images I'm putting up in the brewery

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Did you see FOX News now says that Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and the rest of the Muppet gang are "actually part of a liberal media plot to "brainwash your kids against capitalism."".  That muppet movie is opening all sorts of doors we don't want to have opened.  For instance  There is a pig engaging in an interspecies relationship with a frog.  OH  MY  GOD!!!

And then there is FOX News who was reporting that Sarah Palin said she was 50/50 on entering the Presidential Race and then showed a clip with Tina Fey by accident.   



Ummmmm . . .. that is Tina Fey on SNL!!!  Fox is unreal!  Not actually news at all, more entertainment that some people THINK is news!

Anybody else see how video games have REALLY gotten so much better in the last tear?  WOW!  Seriously dude!

It took Modern Warfare 3, 16 days to have ONE BILLION in sales!

And finally - which poster is better- Dark Knight Rises! 

Or The Amazing Spiderman

Rod

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Packers, Braun, Sandusky, GOP

Happened again - lots of stuff to comment on Sunday night and all gone Monday morning.

Anyway - Jerry Sandusky -sigh - did he REALLY say that "if any other kids come forward I will turn myself in".  WHAT??  Seriously?  You do know that MIGHT sound bad right?   And when asked if he liked little boys he said "I like boys AND girls".  REALLY?  Perhaps you should consult your lawyer from time to time.

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Ryan Braun - SHIT!!  that is how I feel.  I was with Elwood when DJ commented that Braun tested positive and honestly, I was in denial.  TYPICALLY when something like this happens, news does not come out until there is a final hearing.  But ESPN wanted to get the scoop and came out basically saying Braun is guilty until proven innocent.  ESPN has become a tool.  They sat on a tape of child molestation for 10 years (was it Sacramento?) saying "we did nothing legally wrong.  How about morally wrong!!!!!

Braun - weirdness reins.  His first test was higher then anybody has EVER tested.  Twice the largest readings ever recorded.  Braun head should would have been four times it's normal size.

I got bored

 His second test - ZIP, NADA, NOTHING.  Does that not seem weird?  Yet ESPN took a poll and 83% of people taking the poll say their opinion of Braun has changed!  GUILTY until proven innocent.

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Packers - BORING!!  Being what arguably could be the best team in NFL history is boring!  No one even talks about the Packers - it's like they are in a different league.   OH - if only the Packers had Tim Tebow instead of Aaron Rogers.  After all - Tebow has lead the Broncos in four straight 4th quarter comebacks!   How many games has Rogers had comebacks in in the last 18 games - ONLY ONE!!!   Wait.  In the last 18 games the Packers have only been losing ONCE in the 4th quarter.

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Ohio - OOPS - GOP in Colorado really screw up!

In the Colorado redistricting battles the GOP attempted to go for it all and challenged the redistricting maps of the commission because they were not drawn the way the GOP preferred, totally pro Republican everywhere in the state.

The Democrats also presented an alternative but because of their laws, the Commission then proceeded to draw up a third map, which made the GOP howl because it is actually considered to be ruinous of the GOPs attempt to take over the legislature. So they went to court.

The GOP rejected the Dem alternative despite it being the 50-50 point in the opinion from a GOP perspective and they took it to the Colorado Supreme Court. The GOP filed an amateur hour brief and the Court then decided to impose the Commissions map rather than the Dem map, all because the GOP launched a legal challenge in the first place.

The GOP ability to win the state senate has evaporated and they might now lose seats now.  The GOP continues to trip over themselves, and these guys want to lead our country?
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Once Upon a Time - what a great show that is! If you have not seen it it's pretty darn good.

Another good show is Hell on Wheels

 I truly believe we are in the Golden age of TV programming.  There are some really really good shows out there, Documentary's I have never seen such as what happened the 24 hours AFTER Pearl Harbor - fascinating!! 

Plus - Thursday Night Football will start in week one next year - NFL 3 days a week!!! 
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Will Mitt's $10,000 bet be the Howard Dean moment of the 2012 elections?  I have mixed reaction.  IF, IF Obama loses the election Romney would be my choice to run the gov (odd, he was the whack job candidate 3 years ago and now he is the most sane?) .  HOWEVER - Newt?  I think there are SO many skeletons in Newts closet he does not stand a chance of winning. 

According to the FiveThirtyFive website which forecasts elections - " there is a small but nontrivial chance that the Republican nominee will be someone like Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty or Chris Christie."

mmmmmmmm Jeb Bush!!!

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Walker Ain't So Bad and C'mon Columbus Journal!!!

So I was emailing and talking to my brother about Walker and I was not getting the type of response I was expecting. I started to get worried that he had gone over to the dark side with him being a high flying businessman with his own multi-layer company and so forth.

But then I realized . . . . he lives in Illinois.

About that same time I was playing online poker and a guy asked if Wisconsin was still going to RECALL our Governor and I said yea. Another guy pipes in and asks why and I said in a nutshell, corruption. He says "corruption?" "You guys don't even know what corruption is". He was from the Dominican Republic or something.

Anyway - thinking of my brother who is the Melotte of Melotte, Morse, Leonatti, Parker and his flat landness I realized we here in Wisconsin have it pretty easy.  Look at Illinois and THEIR Government.

Since 1973 they have had FOUR Governors actually serve jail time and two others that were acquitted. One of those acquitted by a jury was rather odd as eight of those jury members, after the trial, received sweet State jobs. That almost sounds fishy doesn't it.  In that trial the defense lawyer, a former Illinois Governor stated that "the governorship has the divine right of kings." Sounds like something the current Cheese Pharaoh would say.

William G. Stratton was Governor '53-'61 and was acquitted on tax evasion. Then his successor, Otto Kerner, Jr. was convicted of 17 counts of bribery, conspiracy, perjury, and income-tax charges and spent three years in jail. After getting out of jail he became a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

His successor was Dan Walker who was involved in the Savings and Loan scandal and convicted of federal crimes related to fraudulent loans to himself. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.

BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE

A decade went by and then George H. Ryan became governor and spent four years in office. He was convicted in 2006 of corruption related to his time as Illinois Secretary of State in the 1990s. Seems commercial driver's licenses were issued to unqualified truckers in exchange for bribes, and one of the truckers was involved in a crash that killed six children. He is still in prison.

And then there is our buddy Rod Blagojevich, George Ryan's successor. Rod will be spending the next 14 years doing hard time (yes, hard time, not the plushy jail time, if you are convicted for more the 10 years you get actual hard time in a real prison, plus, you spend the first few years doing the BAD jobs).

So in Wisconsin we can complain about Walker but don't complain to Illinois.  Also - Illinois has no limit on how long a guy can be Governor. In fact 14 states have no gubernatorial term-limits.

‎315 E. James Street

Columbus Journal.  

I'm really hoping the Columbus Journal will post an article about this recall. The local high school newspaper has had more news about this then the Columbus Journal.  If the Cbus Journal is a true newspaper they should have both sides. After all they gave a Republican a 1/4 page article about why the budget needed to be put through, should not the OTHER side have the same rights? 

I read the Journal every week and they seem to be looking for news, THIS IS NEWS!  How many times in American history has there been a Recall . . . .well . . .California has had 32 but they are not of this world.  There have only been two successful Governor recalls in American history.  This is a first for Wisconsin and a newspaper has NO NEWS??  

This IS news, you are a newspaper.  You guys are being beaten by high-school kids. You want people to read your newspaper? this is a gift, this is news!!   Sure 50% of the people that read the paper will not like the article but 50% will!  Don't ignore, inform!  or we can continue to look at more photos of people with big checks and where the next pancake breakfast will be or hospital news.

sigh!

Rod Melotte

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Taking the "e" out of eMail

Lots of stuff to say but a catastrophic cranberry juice incident has taken the "e" out of my keyboard. In order to type an "e" I have to POUND it. This is very aggravating.

So today I'll be brief with more tomorrow.

1. MISSING CAT. Have you seen this cat?

 

Lost somewhere near the downtown area. Her name is Nala.  I don't have who to contact but if you do find her and if Joy Hall reads this give me a phone number to contact information. 

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The Columbus Journal is refusing to give equal time to the RECALL people.  All they want to do is express their views in an adult manner but it seems only Republicans can have their own column in the newspaper.  I guess they don't want to have both sides expressing views.

More on this when I have an "e".

If you want to sign the RECALLS (I feel that that word should be all CAPS - why is that?) - 15 E. James street (the below building) is the place to go.  Very friendly place and they will walk you through the process.  NOTE - Columbus is a City, if you mark TOWN the signature will be tossed out! 

They have gotten 1700+ signatures but few from Columbus which is really a slightly liberal town.  No one knows about the place - PLEASE spread the word.  I was there for about 15 minutes and 4 people  stopped from all the small towns in the area because they drive past and see the signs but if you are not driving by you will not know it.

Clyman?  Two Hancocks? but no Fort Atkinson!!

LIKE - Columbus-Fall River Grassroots Recall Walker on Facebook!

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Lastly - Walker signed a bill yesterday saying it is now legal to kill a human in Wisconsin. Not totally unlike Texas where you can legally kill girl scouts selling cookies if they ignore a the "no solicitor" sign (this actually happened).

Now the person has to be entering your house.  When I lived in Madison a woman entered my house once on a hot summer morning about 7:00.  Just walked in accidentally through the open screen door.   I believe she was like real drunk . . . . I could have legally killed her!  Awesome law!

Cheers
Rod

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Burn'in down the house!

Can you say 18 IN A ROW??

The Indianapolis colts and New England Patriots hold the record for longest winning streaks at 21. The Packers will break the all-time NFL Record IF they beat The Lions on New Years day.
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I had the opportunity to attend a house burning. Here in Columbus to help the fire department they have a random drawing every year and the family that get's the closest to the number has their house burned down. Now don't get upset as this spurs the economy and gives the fire department. It was one of Walkers ideas to create jobs.

JOSH - BEHIND YOU - LOOK BEHIND YOU!!!!

Who brought the marshmallows

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Friday night I went to The Harmony Bar in Madison a middle class working trendy left leaning CHEERS type place with awesome food.  I was meeting some long lost friends.  We had played on the same softball team for 21 years in the #2 league in Madison.  The team was the thing that tied us all together and started 1976. 

Well!  As I was waiting a father brought in his maybe 5 year old and as they passed the pool table the kid stopped in his tracks, looked at the table and said "DADDY, WHAT IS THAT"  Dad says "It's a pool table".  "WHAT DOES IT DOO!!!"

a little while later dad with daughter and kid come out to look at the table.

"But, where do the balls GO!"

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So - since Cain has "suspended" his campaign (is this like hiatus?) the beneficiary seems to be Newt who is the greatest threat to the institution of marriage in human history.   Let's see, he divorced his 1st wife on her death bed so he could marry his mistress, who he later cheated on and divorced so he could marry the current Mrs. Gingrich, his Tiffany's Princess, Callista.

MAKE HER STOP!!!! 

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An Oldie but goody

BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II

USA Ranked 4th

After determining the Big-12 championship game participants, the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.

"Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudentenland and continuing into conference play with defeats of Poland,France, Norway,Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only home losses came against the USA and Russia; however considering their entire body of work--including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule (SOS)-our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking."

Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated :The US only had two major victories--Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren't influenced by head-to-head contests--they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event."

German Chancellor Adolph Hitler said "Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 France in only six weeks." Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn "style points" to enhance Germany's rankings. Hitler protested "Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces."

The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented"France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking, they only fell to # 2."

Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines. United States coach Harry Truman was criticized for bad taste for scheduling a "politicking" during the halftime of the Germans bombing of Great Britain. A US fan also made the point that "The German's got too many style points for their sexy offense which continues to obliterate weaker opponents and show off their might after the battle is won. But what about defense ?
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Wisconsin was the only state with a statistically significant decline in employment

Hey - you know those pro-Walker ads you are seeing on TV telling us how much good he has done for the school system? What they are not telling you as those teachers are from CHARTER schools which are not subject to all of these government rules (like teaching birth control and science). And in four states, Wisconsin included, a Charter School is a for-profit company. They can teach students anything they want with no restrictions but their main goal, is to make a profit.

Don't get me wrong - I'm actually not anti-Charter schools. But taking away from public schools to fund Private I believe is wrong.

OH - and a study came out looking at the Walker budget. There was a choice, lay off 1,500 government employees OR a 7.7% pay cut. Here are some numbers.

For a public sector worker making average wage/salary the loss of take-home pay is $3,949 or about 7.7%. This is what Walker did. Well, that 7.7% equals $1.42 billion of take-home pay that was removed from the Wisconsin economy.  Of course laying off 1,500 employees, if each made $946,000 a year, then it would have been equal. Perhaps there are a number of public servants that make that much.

And according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics- "Wisconsin was the only state with a statistically significant decline in employment". 

BUT - Walker says Wisconsin is finally back on track because of his leadership!

Well - he is getting help from Obama as the health care industry in Wisconsin has been one of the only leading sectors in jobs creation.

One of the big big problems with the economy as a whole is that people with college degrees have a typical 4.3% unemployment. The problem is non-college degree people who are11.5% unemployed.

Where are these jobs?? Overseas. Trek in Waterloo manufacture most of their bikes in Taiwan and China. Why not the U.S.???  People keep wanting jobs and then companies go overseas and call themselves American companies?  

Trek - Waterloo

sigh.  So really, when you "buy American" you really have to wonder WHAT is American. I certainly thought Trek was an American company. They sort of are I suppose.  They just make most of their bikes NOT in America.

truth be told I have a Giant road bike which is made in Taiwan, Netherlands, and Mainland China.

Rod

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