Money, money, money, money....

What it must've looked like back in the day when riverboats dotted
our lil' piece of the Mighty Miss.
Blue skies and a tranquil view...is it...
Notice the smokestacks in the background,
that's near where I live, as the crow flies.

Yup, these are the ways of America today...
huge corporations are allowed to pollute the skies
with little regard for the people that live nearby.
Grain Processing Corp.

My Dad worked here back in the day, a polluting mega-corp,
whose tax base runs a city council.
Temp Employees now too run the show,
locking out long time employees to bring in cheaper labor,
expendable types that have no incentives to work hard at their menial jobs.
Notice the blue cloud...

This is the cloud that envelopes the South end of town,
the river valley, where years of workers have built their homes
to be close to the river and the rail and the agriculture.
The blue collar worker...sigh...

The thick air clouded my lungs, as I took these pictures
and a haze formed under the brilliant blue sky
drifting over the fields of what they call 'the island'.
This is the river valley where the famous Muscatine melons
are grown. Not really an island, but is mostly
sand from ancient river shores. Three miles down this road is where I live,
so the pollution is seen daily from my kitchen window,
I'm just thankful that I don't live under the cloud.
HOWEVER...
I have my own polluting demons, I live under the flight path
of our municipal airport, whose corporate jets fly in and out all day,
leaving traces of toxic jet fuel in their wake.
Agriculture that is still allowed to aerial spray, surrounds me
and the coal fired ash dump is only 5 miles as
the crow flies, wind-born pollution is everywhere,
you can't hide from big money!