Today was sunny hereabouts, and after voting (my next to last chance to vote for Barack Obama) I happened on some people in the Wildberries Marketplace parking lot, who had the proper eyewear to view the transit of Venus.  They kindly let me take a look, the barely visible dot of Venus at the edge of the Sun. (Though in this telescopic photo it's bigger.)

A tiny farmers' market was also in the parking lot (it will grow as more comes to fruition), and a little girl with purple angel's wings danced in front of the two-piece band.  Nice day.

Not so nice in Wisconsin, where the billionaire forces of darkness won what looks like a clean sweep.  More evidence that the plutocracy could well crush what's left of democracy if the electorate doesn't wake up, or the stars align.  (The view below is from a NASA satellite, a filtered image as Venus approaches the sun's corona.)