Messages From The Heartland

[Arad-3]

David,
What beautiful pictures. Up here in newYork we are already past full bloom, at least i think so. Some people might feel like we are just at it, but my favorite colors are already gone.

i guess we have to take the good with the bad. As autumn is beautiful we also know what  is to follow. I guess it's ok. they say we are going to have a light winter. Hope so!! Whatever it is we will make it through just like any other year i guess.

Keep up the good work David  I always look forward to reading your blog. seems like there could be a nicer name for it than BLOG! 


Geri

[Lumière]

Current Weather in Indianapolis: Mostly Cloudy    Temp: 40F (4 C)
My Current Mood: Optimistic

I paid my father a visit earlier this afternoon. While I was there, I decided to drive down one of the side streets in his neighborhood in search of some autumn colors.

*sigh*  I love Fall because of all the colorful foliage!  Great pix David. 

[David In Indy]

Final

Indianapolis Colts- 36  Washington Redskins- 22

Indianapolis is now 6-0 (6 wins, 0 losses). This is just the beginning, but we're off to a good start!

   

Way To Go Colts!

[David In Indy]

David,
What beautiful pictures. Up here in newYork we are already past full bloom, at least i think so. Some people might feel like we are just at it, but my favorite colors are already gone.

i guess we have to take the good with the bad. As autumn is beautiful we also know what  is to follow. I guess it's ok. they say we are going to have a light winter. Hope so!! Whatever it is we will make it through just like any other year i guess.

Keep up the good work David  I always look forward to reading your blog. seems like there could be a nicer name for it than BLOG! 


Geri

Geri - I am afraid the same thing may happen here too. Hoosiers always look forward to the autumn colors, but we just had a cold snap here, and I am afraid the cold may finish off the leaves earlier than normal this year. It has been very windy too, and the leaves are quickly blowing off the trees. 

David,

Those trees are breath taking.  I have a maple tree similar to the one in the top picture in my back yard. It might be turned just a little more than the one in the top picture.  I live in east central Kentucky about eighty five miles from Huntington, WVA and about one hundred twenty five miles from Lexington, KY.  Although I live closer to Huntington I have a sister who lives in Lexington and I so spend more time there.  I live about two hundred miles from Cincinnati and about two hundred miles from Louisville.  I think Bowling Green, KY is as far west as I have been in the state by car.  I think I have told you that I have been in southern Indiana but not as far north as Indianapolis but I have relatives and friends all over Indiana.

Congratulations being in Handel's Messiah.  It is one of the great musical compositions of all time.  

Bucky...

Yes, those maple trees are beautiful. We have many of them in this part of the country.   

[David In Indy]

*sigh*  I love Fall because of all the colorful foliage!  Great pix David. 

Thanks for the compliments! Hopefully I will be able to take some better pictures later this week, if the leaves can hang on that long! It's getting really cold here.. much earlier than normal. It should be in the 60's right now (18-19 C). It only reached 42 (5 C) today.

[David In Indy]

Current Weather in Indianapolis: Mostly Cloudy, Cold and Windy   Temp: 37 F (2 C)
My Current Mood: Happy

I'm sorry to bring this up again, but I just can't help it.   

The events of 9/11 gave President Bush the perfect excuse for a power grab, the likes of which this country has never seen before...

-Illegal Wars
-The NSA Domestic Spying Program
-Illegal trolling through financial and telephone records (without the permission or knowledge of private citizens)
-Changing the War Crimes Act and the Geneva Conventions
-Establishing secret prisons in Eastern Europe
-Prisoner Abuse
-Torture
-Allowing the government to hold people indefinately with no right to a court hearing.

We can also add to the list...

-Repeated atempts to oppress gay people with Constitutional Amendments
-Failed Border Security
-Trashing the credibility of our country and isolating us from the rest of the world like never before.

Now President Bush wants to drag the rest of the world down with us.

This is just unbelievable.

How can we, as Americans, possibly feel proud of ourselves or our country? 

And after ALL OF THAT, the Republicans are still attempting to scare us by using "Be Afraid...Very Afraid of Terrorism" tactics in their election ads. Does anyone else see something wrong with this?

Oh yes, President Bush has been very busy...but our Congress hasn't.   

They're on vacation again. Our Congressmen and women make, on average, over $165,000.00 per year, and yet they have worked less than 90 days this entire year. What have they done this year? Name one substantial non pork bill they passed this year. How about last year? Nothing.

And now they're on vacation again. After returning back to "work" from a month long Labor Day vacation, the Capitol building is empty again. This time they are busy trying to get re-elected. They look us in the eye and they lie to us day after day, month after month, and year after year.

I hope you all have your voter cards ready. This will probably be the most important mid-term election in the history of our country.

Let's vote them ALL out of office. We can't do anything about President Bush, but we can do something about Congress. I think we should vote against every incumbent on the ballot. Every single one of them. I think we should send a message to these politicians - they have one term to get it right, or they're out. Period.

Let's do some serious house cleaning on November 7, 2006. It's time to take out the trash.

Lies.
Scandals.
Scams.
Deceit.
Corruption.
... and a bunch of dumb ass pork bills.

That's our government.

I'm sick of this shit.

We're in trouble, folks. We're in really big trouble. I hope you all realize this.

Any American who isn't absolutely and totally appalled, disgusted and horrified at what is going on in this country and the world hasn't been paying attention at all.

We have a slight chance of saving ourselves on November 7th...if we can trust our electronic voting machines, that is. 

Edit: Spelling errors suckity suck suck suck. 

[Lynne]

I already registered to vote at my new place since I moved...I sent that in, even before I changed my addresss with the banks...Don't hate to bring it up again.  It's likely you're 'preaching to the choir' here, but it's still nice to vent and make sure everyone knows what issues are important to you and keep the momentum going.

Go check my blog...I'm psyching myself up to write one heck of a letter.

[David In Indy]

I already registered to vote at my new place since I moved...I sent that in, even before I changed my addresss with the banks...Don't hate to bring it up again.  It's likely you're 'preaching to the choir' here, but it's still nice to vent and make sure everyone knows what issues are important to you and keep the momentum going.

Go check my blog...I'm psyching myself up to write one heck of a letter.

Well Lynne, thanks for that. 

I have also noticed things changing in my home state of Indiana. As you probably know, Indiana is a red state; bright red in fact (very Republican and conservative... in other words, George Bush country).

Even here though, I think things are changing. I hear more and more Hoosiers sounding "Democratic" every day. I think it is probably safe to say Indiana no longer a red state; at least not right now. I'd call it purple.

If Indiana becomes a purple or blue state, the Republican party is in very big trouble.

[Andrew]

Even here though, I think things are changing. I hear more and more Hoosiers sounding "Democratic" every day.

Well that is sure good news.  I was a paperboy for the Indianapolis Times, the struggling liberal daily, when I was in junior high.  I think there were about twenty-five households on my route in total.  One way it was nice - it was after school, and it never took too much time away from other stuff!  A chance for a quick leg stretch after sitting in class all day.  But even then I remember being depressed that it was no contest with the totally Republican Indianapolis Star.  The Times folded a few years after I stopped delivering it.

My father's project fared better.  He was director of the Indiana State Civil Rights Commission during the 1960s, when it was trying to win first employment then housing equality for blacks.  He really saw an amazing turnaround on this issue in just a decade.  As he liked to say, soon after he started his job he was talking with the directors of a local bank who were convening all the officers to decide whether to hire a black applicant for a night mail room position, something they had never even considered doing.  And when he left the job, the same bank had a black vice president.

When it does happen, social change on a particular issue can happen pretty quickly.  Let's hope it's about to!

[David In Indy]

Andrew...

Do you remember The Indianapolis News? Of course it use to be called The Indianapolis Star & News, but The Star was the morning paper and The News was the evening paper. I use to deliver the News when I was a teenager. The News stopped running years ago, but The Star is still going strong.

I also delivered The Topics. Do you remember that paper? It was a weekly paper (Thursdays, I think). I haven't seen a Topics paper in 20 years or more.

I don't remember the Indianapolis Times though. That paper must have went out of business when I was very young.

Yes, the attitude in Indiana is changing, but not for the reasons I would like. Hoosiers are becoming more and more disgusted with President Bush and his stupidity and bully tactics. Indiana is still a very long way from gay rights of any kind.

But like you said, it could happen quickly. As you know, Hoosiers can be very contrary and if they are upset with President Bush and the Republican party, things could change quickly here.