We are the World

Isn't this charming? This guy is riding his horse across country to show just how nice people really are.

And he is willing to let the newspaper run a story because he would like "a national firm" "grab hold" and pony (sorry) up some funds.

Here is what he says, the lovable old coot.

Winston-Salem Journal | Destination: N.C.: Rancher rides the back roads to document rural U.S.: "

“The diversity he has unveiled is a lot of forgotten heritage in this country. It’s a great eye opener for anybody who runs into him,” she said.

Mention diversity and Inman talks about the retired rancher in Idaho who he considers “a true image of America with his honesty and hospitality,” or people he’s met working multiple jobs to make ends meet, or another Idaho rancher e-mailing the progress of the journey to his son in Iraq.

“There is nothing like riding across the nation to learn about the people of this country,” he said.

Inman has Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and most of Kansas behind him. Ahead are Missouri, Tennessee and North Carolina.

The Inmans often rely on strangers since they don’t have national sponsors to underwrite them. Sometimes it’s a meal, a place to sleep, some cash or donated feed for Blackie, who daily eats about 20 pounds of high-fat feed.

“Do I wish a national firm would grab hold and help out? You bet,” he said. “I don’t want it too easy; I just want it a little easier.”

Inman ticked off a list of what’s been bad about the trip - temperatures ranging from 108 degrees to freezing, pesky insects, water shortages, crossing mountains and desert and riding in a lightning storm. People aren’t on the list.

“I haven’t run into any bad people,” he said."

I am sure that the good people of Idaho are diverse. Some are Klan, some are White Aryan Resistance....

Anyway, Mr. Inman might consider taking his good times roadshow down to New Orleans, where a couple of good people were shot "execution style"* by some other good people and had their bodies dumped on the side of the interstate.

Georgia men were shot "execution-style'' before being dumped along I-12 in St. Tammany

Each still had one bullet lodged in his head, and parish Coroner Dr. Peter R. Galvan handed them over to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office for analysis.

"It was execution style, obviously premeditated and planned," Galvan said.

Ayala, 30, is from Gainesville, Ga., but Alonso's age and specific address were not made public. Alonso had a tattoo depicting a rose with a dagger cutting through it on his upper, right arm.

Phone calls began flooding 911 dispatch about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday as westbound motorists first noticed Alonso, sprawled a few feet from the road, a half-mile west of the I-12/Louisiana 21 interchange near Covington.

Then three minutes later, passersby came across the body of Ayala, dumped west of the I-12/Louisiana 1077 interchange, less than a half-mile from the Tangipahoa Parish line.

The coroner said the men likely were shot several hours before they were discovered. They could have been shot as early as 10 p.m. Tuesday, Galvan said, based on the amount of still-undigested food in their stomachs.

*isn't the phrase "execution style" rich? We are all supposed to know what this means, I guess because the public readership is so read up on Stalinist execution styles. Meaningless here in the goodpeopleland, of course, where execution style is more like frying an egg (in the case of the electric chair in sunny FLA) or pulling like the plug on a drugged vegetable like Terry Schaivo.