OK. Time to play Can You Spot the Unintentional Irony in the Photo?

[arely staircase]

[slackmaster]

1. Government created trees, fasteners, pluming and electrical supplies, etc.

And phones.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. And I don't sell to cops, teachers, firemen...

... nor do I sell to customers who get federally insured mortgages.

[dragonlady]

11. Excellent point

The business world is very complex and interdependent, and government is a large part of it.

[my2sense]

2. Paved street?

and electric power...

[arely staircase]

6. ding ding ding

the big guvmint highway, which im sure this rugged indiviualist does not use.

[NYC_SKP]

17. Maybe his customers come in the back way on 4x4s and snow machines with truck nuts hangin'!

That's what I'm thinkin'!

[HopeHoops]

23. Truck nutz aren't that bad. I think they're sort of funny. I'm waiting for truck c***s.

I have NO idea how they'd pull that off other than a visit to the local porn shop.

[NYC_SKP]

28. Oh, we have them in California. They're call snappers.

I got one on my Prius!

/-)

[arely staircase]

36. your making that up, right? nt

[NYC_SKP]

40. I am. They're actually called "Rams' Heads":

[arely staircase]

41. +1000 nt

[HopeHoops]

46. Okay, I need a pic for that. Are they "fresh red snappers"?

The question dates back to the mid 70's when my friends and I were at a strip mall. There was a fancy restaurant in mall and this REALLY attractive young woman in a miniskirt (too old to even consider any of us, but that basically means 19) came out and wrote the special on the a-frame chalk board out front on the floor - "FRESH RED SNAPPER" with her rather miniscule hinter region pointing directly at us. We all completely lost it.

My wife won't let me get one of those (or truck nutz for that matter), but I'd still like to see the link. There's no way in HELL I'm going to run a Google search on "snapper". There won't be any water turtles for at least 30 pages of results.

[NYC_SKP]

48. They're all pink inside.

OK, if this subthread offends ANYONE, I swear I will post it all in Meta and change my sigline to a animated gif of an excited Tapir.

[HopeHoops]

49. No, no, no, and no - in that order. Just PM me with a link. I might buy one anyway.

For my bicycle.

[NYC_SKP]

51. That's ILLEGAL!

You can't buy them.

You have to woo them.

[HopeHoops]

54. Nah, I've already got one of those. I'm talking about the "truck nutz" type.

[NYC_SKP]

55. Read up thread...

I was making it up...

But there SHOULD be a product like that, and "snapper" would be a GREAT name for it, don't you think?

[HopeHoops]

60. "Snapper" would be perfect.

[brewens]

53. I owned a cafe on highway 28 in eastern Washington state. It was

right on the main route to Grand Coulee Dam, a good tourist draw. We were doing well, partly because of the traffic to the government project on the government highway. A screwjob by the seller and severe spike in fuel prices during the Bush administration caused us to shut it down.

We now feel pretty good about not buying the place because we dodged the Bush economic disaster. The real estate crash would have screwed us. We had felt we were getting the property for cheap enough to just sell it off if the cafe didn't do well and still turn a tidy profit. That would not have worked out well.

[MADem]

56. That was my first impression, too...

Though the owner of the store is such a moron that he may not have taken advantage of a public education.

[DCKit]

62. Dig it up and cut him off from the commons. nt

[KurtNYC]

4. The conduit is hanging off and probably a code violation?

[arely staircase]

7. no i was thinking the highway in the back but good catch

be cool if he got a fine.

[KurtNYC]

19. He is telling the world "I built this without help" and

Pictures of his sign go viral to thousands of people and there it is... hanging conduit with 120vAC running through it to that reverse lit sign. AND he sells to contractors and electricians who could fix that.

I just picture him muttering and putting the conduit up like that "damned government electrical codes can't tell ME what to do..." Gzzzzzzzaaaaaapppp!!!

[Mosby]

52. the problem is the exposed wires

Going from the junction box to the sign.

[HopeHoops]

24. It looks like it's within code. The sign is screams "I'M A STUPID FUCKING DICKHEAD!"

[gollygee]

5. Dunno. Phone number, electricity, paved road all = infrastructure

That's all I've got.

[kentuck]

8. No homes...

No lumber or hardware.

No government = a lot less homes?

[zzaapp]

9. Ass - Gaster ?

[NYC_SKP]

18. You don't wanna know. It's a digestive issue.

Do not EVER stand directly behind Ray Gaster.

[zzaapp]

25. NEVER!!! lol

[4_TN_TITANS]

42. DUzy!

At least I laughed....

[zzaapp]

43. Thanks, I'm glad someone caught it.

[tridim]

10. I wonder if he knows that he may lose half his customers?

I guess he'd rather remain willfully uniformed and racist instead of keeping his store in business.

[arely staircase]

13. i think its in south carolina so sadly, he probably won't

he might lose his african american customers but they may know what he is like and not shop there anyway.

[kentuck]

12. The lumber industry was subsidized by the US Government?

[arely staircase]

14. i was thinking the highway that runs right in front of his store nt

[Sheepshank]

15. Did he make his own sign?

Is he taking business deductions? Is he writing off the cost of a sign?

[Enrique]

16. I bet they got even more direct help than the road

we've seen several people claim they got no help and then it turns out they got plenty of help. Direct help, in the form of checks from the government.

Not to mention government contracts, which often provide a substantial part of contractors' business.

[NightWatcher]

20. that idiot's from my hometown

makes me proud to see that kind of rampant ignorance

[HopeHoops]

27. Does the word "Morans" come to mind?

[hobbit709]

21. Stupidity isn't painful enough. If it was, there'd be a lot less of it.

[HopeHoops]

22. Minor detail that it's on a highway? That sign has "Don't Shop Here" written all over it.

One of our local businesses had their sign reading "Let Freedom Reign" after the shrub wrote that blunder on something. Again, "Don't Shop Here".

[HopeHoops]

26. It looks like a place where you can order 400 2x4s for delivery and end up with six 1" dowels.

[justiceischeap]

29. I wonder if he gets tax breaks for being a business owner

That's government help isn't it?

[monmouth]

50. Or perhaps he obtained a Small Business Loan..LOL..n/t

[bahrbearian]

30. What is his area code?

[NightWatcher]

35. 912 it's in Savannah, Ga. lets all give him a call via the telephone lines that he didnt pay for

[arely staircase]

39. let's call him and tell him to fix the hanging electrical conduit nt

[muntrv]

31. "No gubmint employees allowed in my store."

[berni_mccoy]

32. The Chinese Gov't Subsidized the Company That Made his "I built this business..." flag?

[JohnnyRingo]

33. It says "If you're a Democrat, shop elsewhere"

No matter who helped him build his business, he's dismantling it all by himself. No doubt, he'll blame sluggish sales on the president next year.

What a dumbass

[muntrv]

34. "Forget that I'm on a gubmint built highway, I did this myself!"

[YankeyMCC]

37. National Forests n/t

[Wait Wut]

38. The freedom of speech that this tool obviously enjoys...

...provided in part by government employees, our US military. The miracle that he spelled everything correctly, I assume a gift of government employees, our public school teachers. And, when his business catches fire because he's built without the benefit of building to code, government employees will rescue his dumb ass.

[Festivito]

44. If we rob him, he cannot call the police, take us to court, drive on a road to catch us.

Looks like he benefited from rural electrification.

Who says he owns that place?

Is that fence at a property line? Who says that's his property line.

[tandot]

45. His supplies just magically appear on his shelves without ever touching a public road

Also, his customers magically appear in his store without ever using public roads. I wonder if he has any customers who are employed by the Government.

Also, where does he get the lumber from? Government land?

Someone should investigate if he ever got a SBA loan from the Government or is getting any special tax breaks.

[arely staircase]

47. good point about the lumber

you know some of it came from state or national forests.

[librechik]

57. I just keep laughing about how proud this moron must feel

since he can't use any of his one brain cells.

[rock]

58. Nice sign

I wonder where he learned to spell.

[JBoy]

61. I note Mr. Gaster attended Armstrong Atlantic State University

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ray-gaster/14/3a3/46a

Ray Gaster's Education
Armstrong Atlantic State University
BS Business, Management/Marketing

1970 – 1972

And it appears that Armstrong Atlantic was founded back in 1935

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Atlantic_State_University#History

Armstrong Atlantic State University was founded as Armstrong Junior College in 1935 by Mayor Thomas Gamble.[2] Gamble pursued the issue during the height of the Great Depression to benefit Savannah's youth and the community, as well aid in stimulating the local economy.

So Mr. Gaster is the beneficiary of government stimulus.

[reflection]

63. It's always a good time for this picture

http://www.flickr.com/photos/constintina/3453797182/