Sign on the side of the road in Tallahassee, Florida

[csziggy]

When I first saw it, I expected a Tea Bagger type comment - it had all the indications. Home made, poor color choices, American flag.

But then I realized all the words were spelled correctly and the meaning was completely against Tea Party types:



for whoever put this sign up!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. That is excellent!

Hey, my dear csziggy.......how are your new knees?

[csziggy]

3. I love that sign - stopped on the road and got out in the rain to get

The picture!

The knees are working great. No pain, just stiffness if I sit too long. Friday I did the treadmill for the first time and made .43 miles in 15 minutes. They started me out slow and I never got up to my normal walking speed so I expect I'll do better Monday.

I went in and volunteered with the Obama campaign this past week. They're supposed to be setting me up to do data stuff - not entry but making virtual calling lists and walk lists. I did that last time and know I can do it again.

[freshwest]

2. That told it like it is! That was one awesome citizen there. I love that sign.

[csziggy]

4. This is a blue county - over 60 % registered Democrats

But there are a lot of really right wing Republicans that live here and in the surrounding counties so we get both ends.

I' happy to see a sign like this - it may make some people think more about what they are hearing on the media.

[freshwest]

5. I hope so, too. They need to think about what they're hearing and evaluate it.

It is my hope that they don't really understand what would happen if they got their way, and by that, I mean the ones who want to kill the president and all of that. I know they are afraid and following the road they think they need to go but it is not the truth.

I hope that the person who posted the sign is kept safe after all these things going on in different parts of the country. And you take good care of yourself, too, csziggy
.

[millijac]

10. I'm originally from Taylor Co csziggy

And your sign gave me hope!

I left FL in 80 and have watched in horror as it has turned into a place very different from when I left. My family has become so conservative and, well, batsh*t crazy and militantly Jesusy, that I hardly recognize any of em.

There was a huge sign in Perry that calls for the end to Obamacare although it's one of the poorest counties in the state. My sister's pastor is the head of the local teabaggers. The area is so pollutted by the cellulose industry that scientists believe the dioxin is affecting their cognitive abilities. It's mind boggling

But thanks for this!

P s. I just had one knee replacement last Jan and going for the second in Feb. I can't wait to get on a treadmill again! Good luck.

[csziggy]

12. Taylor County is a world different than Leon

Taylor has a colony of religious extremists as well as the Old South Dixiecrats that became Reagan Republicans.

Leon has a solid group of extreme liberals - the food co-op that started in the 70s is still going strong and the land co-op that began a little later is the home to many political activists. Many of those activists were on my Obama campaign team for the 2008 election.

Even Jefferson and Gadsden counties have started turning more blue - partly because of urban sprawl has sent some Democrats from Leon to those counties but also because the black populations in both counties have begun to really flex their political muscles.

Wakulla is our deep red county - tea baggers galore. It was a major uphill push in 2008 to get volunteers and to keep those volunteers safe when they were canvassing!

P.S. - I got my left knee replaced in May and I was doing so good my surgeon went ahead and did the right one in July. I did physical therapy solid between the two operations and being as fit as I could get made recovery from the second operation easier. So easy in fact, I overdid it and had to take it easy for a couple of weeks.

I'm glad I got both done close together. I wanted to get them at the same time but there were medical reasons not to do that and it's worked out very well for me. Plus, I reached my maximum out of pocket expense with the first knee and shouldn't have to pay much more for the second.

Do as much exercise/physical therapy between now and your next knee replacement - it WILL help! Good luck - it's great to not have pain every time you move, though the new knees tend to stiffen up if you don't.

[millijac]

14. I am encouraged by your thoughts....

My parents are still solid Democrats though, or at least I know my mother is. Everybody else is just nuts. And you're right about the religious extremists. My sister is one. The Taylor County Superintendent of Schools said a few years ago that evolution was a lie because he was born without a tail. Yep, the SUPERINTENDENT. I remember learning evolution with hardly a word of dissent back in the 70's. What the hell happened? When I go home to visit, I have to get away to Tallahassee for at least ONE DAY of sanity. It's the only way I can stay longer than 3 days!

Thank you for fighting the good fight there. Lawton Chiles, Reuben Askew, Bob Graham, LeRoy Collins are giants to me, and my family used to be involved in Democratic politics for years. We've been in Florida now for at least 5 generations or so. I still love her even though I'm horrified by her behavior! Rick Scott? Really?

And on the knees, so happy to hear that you were able to get the other one done so quickly! My doc insists on a year in between, even though I'd love to have it done NOW. I'm still on a cane because the bad one is SOOOOOOOOO bad. But it works out for me regarding insurance and work. My insurance is great, being in MA, so my out of pocket was very little. You are right about the exercise. I'm working on it and know that the more I do now, the less I will have to do then.

The first time I tried to go to the grocery store this spring, I actually stopped and cried. I realized that while the pain in the bad knee was going to drive me back out of the door because I just couldn't go on, there was absolutely no pain from the new knee. It was one of the best decision I've ever made!

[csziggy]

15. Although people here make fun of Florida, there are solid Democrats still

In the state, and a lot of us.

Your family is really old Florida! My dad's family moved to Florida in 1925 - GrandDad was a mining engineer, as is Dad. It's sad that the old Democrats are gone. Spessard Holland was a friend of our family and I remember him standing up for what was right. Grandmother taught Lawton Chiles in Sunday school - Chiles was another of our good governors. My husband's brother helped get Bob Graham elected (he'd been volunteering for Democrats since Eugene McCarthy).

Unfortunately, Dad turned conservative and voted for some of the worst politicians in my lifetime. That's why no one in the family has told him that now that he no longer has a driver's license he won't be able to vote this time around.

The Florida Democratic Party is a disaster and has been for at least a decade. pRick Scott won because Alex Sink ran a terrible campaign. I tried to volunteer with her campaign and they told me they had no office in Tallahassee?!???

It is lovely to be able to get around without pain! So far my main problem is that I have no endurance, but that should change as I put more time in on the treadmill. I bought an old exercise bike, but I hate the type of movement in my knees and hips so I may get rid of it (I only paid $65 for it) and look for a treadmill for home.

My doc was going to wait three months between surgeries but at the first post op visit after I got out of the rehabilitation hospital, I was getting around so good he went ahead and scheduled the second surgery. With our crappy insurance, I needed to have both in the same year and he took that into consideration.

I had no choice - I'd been bone on bone for a decade on the left, for seven years on the right. I could not stand a cumulative total of an hour a day - could not stand long enough to load the dishwasher or to cook. I tried therapy last winter and at the third visit the PT discharged me and told me to get knee replacements as soon as possible before I lost any more strength since I could not do even non-weight bearing exercises without pain.

I'm looking forward to hiking again and maybe getting back to working with my horses!

[millijac]

16. I was sick over Alex Sink. I know about bad campaigns.

Two words. Well four words.

Martha Coakley. Scott Brown.

And I had forgotten about Spessard Holland. Wow. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting on my grandparents laps in the basement of the old courthouse and watching the votes being tabulated. I can still smell the place.

Regarding your physical condition, I cannot imagine what you went through. I only started with symptons 5 years ago, but it progressed so rapidly that we were forced to replace them now. Truly, I cannot imagine going through that for a decade. I've only had a couple of years where I have been forced to drastically decrease the quality of my life and endure such pain. I was so depressed, wondering how I was ever going to be able to endure years upon years of the pain and immobility and still work. That you had to go through that for that long is just mind boggling. I am so very sorry.

It is wonderful that now you can have a life again! I've already told everyone I know, next summer, if the other knee feels as good as this new one, then I'm having a huge party and we're going to DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY!

What makes it worse, is that my "husband" is 20 years younger and although he is usually so patient and understanding and has taken such wonderful care of me, I hate that he has to have a partner who limits what HE can do as well. And I know he must cringe every time we go somewhere and I have to pull out this damn cane. I know I do. I'm burning the thing when I'm done!

Walk on sister, walk on!

[csziggy]

17. Sink's campaign barely did any advertising and none until after the primaries

It was nuts - Scott and his cronies were spending millions, fighting Sink before the general and Sink kept "holding her fire" until way late.

I don't know who might run for the Democrats nest time - I hope someone that will actually FIGHT for our state. But the Florida Democratic Party is such a mess I can't imagine who that might be.

The worst part about my knees is that I had other medical problems in that ten years, one thing after another. And even now that my knees are good, I need to see a neurologist for some upper back problems that got worse while I was using a walker.

For my husband's birthday, we're going for a birdwatching hike, so I need to get up to at least five miles on the treadmill! But he wrenched his knee last year at DragonCon and may not be able to keep up with me, LOL!

My PTs keep saying I will be dancing soon - that will be a trick, I never could dance.

[Brigid]

6. I'm not entirely comfortable with . . .

The sentiments expressed in this sign. There is no context here; it says nothing about who is in office. What if it is another George Bush?

[Qutzupalotl]

7. I'm with you. It goes too far. Sounds too much like Republicans in 2004.

Something I'd rather not see play out for any party.

[csziggy]

8. The elected President deserves support no matter who they are.

Our system is not designed to have periodic revolutions, no matter what the Tea Baggers say. We've survived bad presidents, even George Bush, without having to overthrow them.

Even as much as the right wing hated Clinton, back then they still used the legitimate means provided in the Constitution to attempt to remove him. That the Tea Baggers are advocating overthrowing the entire US government now indicates that they have no legitimate reasons for impeaching President Obama and that their hatred for him is irrational.

Edited to add: "Support" does NOT mean we have to agree with or support all the actions of an elected President, just that we use legal means to resist, not advocate revolution or assassination.

[mindwalker_i]

9. I actually disagree with it

If "support" means what it seems to mean (cheer whatever the current president does, don't disagree), then it's completely contrary to what this country was founded for. I will support what I agree with, bash what I disagree with - Bush should be arrested and tried for torture, and a whole lot of bankers should also be arrested for fraud. I don't agree with Obama's giving them a free pass. However, I support him for his economic policies (mostly), and against Mitt.

To blindly support any president is anti-democratic. The whole idea is that the people being governed disagree and try to fix stuff, by electing someone who shares their beliefs.

[treestar]

11. Right wingers deserve that

After the way they talked to us during the Shrub Administration!

[Kteachums]

13. Amen! Right On!