More mindless mental meanderings from a middle aged Mainah:

1) We own one of those newer cars that has electric/electronic bells and whistles up the proverbial exhaust pipe. Something that really irks me is the following; Its snowing, the roads are like driving on a mixture of brown sugar and motor oil spread upon glass, in other words its slippery, it Maine, we can deal with it. Well I have determined that our car was probably designed for people from the Caribbean driving it in their homeland. Here I am attempting to go up Main Street in Ellsworth, slippin and sliding..having a grand old time and I hear a ‘ding’, looking down to my control panel (sounds fancier than dashboard) there before me is a little car all over the road with tire tracks behind it like the driver had a BAC of .30! Oh for Lords sake people, I kinda figured out it was a nightmare drive, and then “ding”! How demeaning.....I’m buying a horse, and a snowmobile suit. 2) While attempting to keep my car from shooting off the road and wiping out untold amounts of leftover Christmas decorations spread across this winter-wonderland I made an observation; everyone and their brother decided to go out for a jog in the blizzard. Here I am trying not to slaughter a very tired Rudolph display when lo and behold some healthier than I person comes tearing out of a drive way. He waved and smiled I waved…sort of. OK I envy everyone who gets out and jogs, really. If I attempted it in July I would be shuttled off to my Orthopedic Dr’s office for another round of Synvisc/Cortisone “cocktail” injected into my knees with Dr. D. using a needle the size of a number 10 ET Tube! Where were these joggers in July, hell where were they in October! All I can think of is the severe oxygen depletion they suffer. There…Peace out!

One Last Rant...riiiggghht!

MAN, I have a problem, not unique to the human race I might ad. You see, when someone ticks me off (can you tell who?) I tend to go full throttle. And then..BAM, I hit the wall. Well, I can’t quite see that wall yet. People are ticked at this dude, why did we end up with him…Marden’s not paying him enough? Oh well..I will calm down, for now. Problem is he is too big of a target now that his stupidity has gone viral..now its Time magazine material. This dude is either gonna sink us or we will be pulled from this cesspool sensation and smell like roses. Too early to bet quite yet. Check back later..see ya! Peace.

Whats With All This Creative Artsy Crap!?!?

Warning: In this post I mince no words seeing some of my FB friends seem it necessary to obscenely express their thoughts Yet another entry from the Mad Man From Maine’s Manifesto. Well at least that is what a lot of people evidently think when they see me post. Come to find out there are a lot of narrow minded individuals that walk amongst us. People fail to see just how inclusive art is in their every day lives. Without art, there would be no creativity, there would be no news, paper or otherwise. There would be no radio because it takes creative people to bring us technology. Through out history, art has provided us with illustrations for news articles, Winslow Homer’s engravings of turn of the century events. How about Matthew Brady’s photographs, some of the earliest known of Civil War battleground scenes. What is the definition of photography…any guesses? Painting with light. Oh, wait, that makes it just a “fucking painting” then…hmmmm. One gentleman, (used very loosely) made a quote of “Its just a fucking painting, get over it..) This same gentleman proudly displays photographs of his scale model boats he builds, of which I admire because of the talent it takes to do such. Does this make them just a “f**king model”…no, and I will defend him on this point. I paint in watercolor, acrylics and oils. I do block prints, I have carved decoys and songbirds, I have worked in stained glass, I have been a photographer for over 45 years and I love making noise on a guitar. I am a creative individual and proud of it. On the other hand I have poured beer in pizza joints and wrestled with some of the same I served, I have cooked, I have worked retail, I have set tons upon tons of monument stones after being up all night helping to embalm corpses, I have dug nasty ass drunks out of wrecks and provided care and compassion to the same as an EMT and I ran a jail, which was the best education you can get. You learn that all of mankind is not popped out of the same mold, people make mistakes, good people as well. I have worked daily for the past 23 years with the elderly and disabled..my extended family. So, where do I go from this rambling diatribe…..you can blend everyday workers with the creative and be a productive society. Lets face it folks, with out art and creative individuals your lives would be snot, plain and simple and any intelligent human being arguing the point is hopeless. I pity their feeble lives and pray they see the light….it makes life worth living..try it. Peace!

Frances Perkins...Did You Know??

Frances Perkins, the first female member of the Presidential cabinet, had an unenviable challenge: she had to be as capable, as fearless, as tactful, as politically astute as the other Washington politicians, in order to make it possible for other women to be accepted into the halls of power after her Perkins would have been famous simply by being the first woman cabinet member, but her legacy stems from her accomplishments. She was largely responsible for the U.S. adoption of social security, unemployment insurance, federal laws regulating child labor, and adoption of the federal minimum wage. Perkins is depicted in a mural displayed in Maine's Department of Labor.Maine's Republican governor, Paul LePage, has ordered the removal of the mural. A spokesperson for the governor said they received complaints about the mural from state business officials and from an anonymous fax charging that it was reminiscent of “communist North Korea where they use these murals to brainwash the masses.” Paul LePage also ordered that the names of seven conference rooms in the Department of Labor, including one named after Perkins, be changed. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Perkins

Welcome To Slate Rock and Gravel

We are now living in a State that is being run by an individual that has NO respect for the citizens he is working for. Remember, your money along with mine pay his wages, he is OUR employee. Last week in an interview in reference to his having a mural removed from the Department of Labor’s hallway, when a protestor mentioned peaceful protest when it came time, Lepage said, he would like to see the idiots try it.. This man is our Governor, granted the past one was no winner, but I refuse to let this individual call himself my Governor. His supporters say ‘look how well Marden’s turned out under his rule’..sorry folks but I live in the State of Maine, not some surplus salvage yard. NOW, over the weekend, Lepage had the mural removed because “citing complaints from several members of the public, including one who said the images were reminiscent of “communist North Korea, where they use these murals to brainwash the masses.” “ OK now, just how stupid does this dolt think the people of Maine really are!? “several members of the public’ were upset? Any wages that IF there were complaints it was some greasy wheels that walk the halls of Augusta and not the guy making minimum wages? He did not have the cajones to have it done when someone was around. This is not a democratic society we are dealing with here, and please save me the blah blah rehotoric of this it what Maine really needs. I thought Maine might stand a chance of becoming a progressive state…..nope, get back to work at Slate Rock and Gravel with Fred. It’s where we are all headed. .

Po Maine

We just got out from under a Governor that was a financial disaster for the State and now we under the control of, in my beloved wife’s description, Fred Flinstone. In the past no one wanted to do business in Maine, and now someone with a Neanderthal-like mind set is leading our fair State down the path to make us look like a pack of street thugs, which should really draw people here to help the economy. You don’t have to be a Harvard educated paid mouthpiece to see what’s going to happen…he needs a keeper..or at least a muzzle.

The latest is that BPA, Bisphenol A, (“concerns about the use of bisphenol A in consumer products were regularly reported in the news media in 2008 after several governments issued reports questioning its safety, prompting some retailers to remove products containing it from their shelves. A 2010 report from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised further concerns regarding exposure of fetuses, infants and young children. In September 2010, Canada became the first country to declare BPA as a toxic substance. In the European Union and Canada BPA use is banned in baby bottles”.~Wikipedia) has shown little damage other than proving that is might cause women to grow little beards.

Now, let us ask, what reason would Fred have to block such a bill in the State of Maine other than possible out of state interests that might loose Maine money,“influencing” him. And well all know Fred’s out of state interests that have benefited his family, Florida comes to mind. Just ask his daughter/employee.

What’s next..oh yeah… cigarettes are good for you!

We are headed down a precarious rocky road and the driver is at the wheel of his bumble-mobile….hope his co-pilot Barney is holding on! You Go Fred…back to school.

WHAT THE F**K!?

WTF! I have come to the realization that cell phones are now to be considered a life sustaining necessity to be able to function in today’s society. Yes, I do have one, and guess what? I use it to make occasional necessary phone calls. I like the idea of having one for emergency situations, key word emergency. Now it seems that if someone under the age of 35 does not have one in constant use it’s a mortal sin and said non-user should be publicly stoned to death, or at least till their minutes run out. When I have someone in to speak to me in the office and they sit in front of my desk texting, giggling like a 11 year old girl and not responding to ACTUAL human conversation I feel the urge to grab their phone, stomp it to pieces and then shove all remaining parts up their ass..all at once. Am I a prude, no, just someone that was raised to respect the people around them and also how to participate in the soon to be long lost art of ‘conversation’, the person to person, face to face stuff ya know!? Gotta run, my phone is ringing..the one with the archaic phone line that plugs into the wall…remember those?