I am a cowboy!

Those of you who are fans of the comedian Bill Engvall, understand the humor in the title of this entry. I challenged the Tail of the Dragon and survived. Let me tell you, that road is no joke. My concentration lapsed just for a moment, and I was instantly on the other side of the road. I had too much speed and overcooked the corner, then I target fixated on the ditch. I tore my eyes away and forced myself to look through the corner and pulled it back together and made it through, but it was a pucker moment to say the least. The picture to the left is a close-up of the tree of shame where chunks of crashed motorcycles are placed to appease the dragon, a lot like throwing virgins into volcanoes and the like. That road is the reason I bought a motorcycle, I just didn't know it at the time. It is without a doubt, the most fun you can have on 2 wheels. I have lots of pictures so look for more posts very soon!

318 turns in 11 miles, WOW!

The roads are wet, thunderstorms loom in my chosen path, but when has it been easy to slay a dragon? Well, slay is a bit strong, I'm just trying not to get my butt chewed off. I'm headed to the Tail of the Dragon this morning through some beautiful state parks and Kentucky countryside, my trusty steed packed to the gills. With a little luck and if the weather holds, there will be several hundred good miles of riding, my longest trip so far. Wish me luck!

What's a little touch up?

Many of you were aghast at the idea of Reuters using doctored photos sold to them by people who obviously had an axe to grind, and most of you were not surprised when it came to light.
I started collecting a few photos before the scandal surfaced and Reuters was forced to remove all of the photos by the offending "journalist". But what about the every day pictures, not doctored ones, but pictures that have an obvious bias?

Was this Reuters shot of the Vice President taken with the word "retire" accidentally in the background? The shot of the President was clearly unflattering but yet it was published, very disrespectful.

I submit that it's not the blatant forgeries that show the bias, that just shows sloppiness. It's the day to day pictures that tell the real story. To be fair, I also searched Reuters photos of Bill Clinton and lo and behold.... they were all complimentary. What a surprise! No contorted faces or suggestive words in the background. Just a lot of lip biting and adulation. Let's face it folks, Reuters, AP, UPI etc. are all littered with libs and it shows in their reporting. If a picture's worth a thousand words, these suckers write the Encyclopedia Britannica.