Beijing, come for the Olympics, stay for the prison food

I'm usually not one for protests, but this is such a good banner.
Just remember, Communism isn't a just another form of government, it is evil.

Caption Contest!

Ok, I'll start.

The President meets with new terrorism czar, announces new campaign aimed at Middle Eastern youth. "We are hopping mad at Islamic fascism"

Happy Easter

Luke 24

The Resurrection

1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " 8Then they remembered his words.

Easter Services in Woodland California

Easter is a great time of year to be living in Yolo County. Today was the first day I put on sunscreen and the first time I felt hot as I put new heads on my backyard sprinkler system. The grass in the yard and on the rolling hills of the Blue Ridge is growing lush and tall. Everywhere you look, you are awash in a sea of green.

For Christians, its the most important day of the year. It is the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. To me, the eggs and bunny's are fine for the kids, although some folks will be offended that people are not celebrating the day as God has intended, with strict adherence to religious traditions and reverence, and I do see their point, but that's not the kind of church I belong to. On the other hand, there are many non Christians who are offended that all of us 'religious fanatics' are spoiling their secular, pagan, springtime ritual. Hey you can't win, but you can smile and say, Jesus loves you, and I'm trying.

At our last Sunday service Ted, who gives our 'news you can use' before we adjourn, said that if you have a tradition of putting on a fancy new Easter dress on your girls and a tie on the boys, go ahead and dress them up, take their picture, and then put them into their regular clothes and bring them to church because we are going to have fun at Bayside's Easter services. The kids have a great time every week, Darin our children's pastor is funny as can be, and the staff in children's ministries really have a heart for service.

If you're new to Woodland or you know you probably should go to church on Easter Sunday but don't have attend a church regularly, please come to one of our services. I promise the whole family will have fun, the music will be upbeat and contemporary, and the message will be thoughtful and inspiring. You will probably see me at the door this Sunday, it our small group's turn to greet and usher.

I won't be wearing my hat, but you should be able to spot me!

The Daily Democrat lifts yet another opinion piece.

Jim Smith is the editor of Woodland's own Daily Democrat. Jim does a good job with his paper, but one thing that makes me a little hot under the collar is the continued practice of lifting entire portions of an opinion piece from another newspaper without referencing the fact that someone else wrote it. Take today's piece from the Democrat's opinion page.

It's ironic that the final nudge to bring race to the surface in this historic Democratic face-off was not innuendo from Republicans or the Clinton campaign but the fiery rhetoric of Barack Obama's own longtime pastor. Obama rose to the challenge Tuesday with a stirring speech, condemning racism without condemning individuals, and calling upon Americans of all races to rise above divisions of the past.

What could have been a political cataclysm was transformed into another opportunity for the first serious black presidential contender to show how he can bridge divides.

We in Yolo County - where there's a schism between Latinos and whites, albeit a small one - can learn from Obama.

It started when the Rev. Jeremiah Wright became a YouTube phenomenon with his rants condemning America and invoking racism - a dream come true for some of Obama's detractors, who had struggled with how to bring race front and center without themselves seeming racist.

Here is the opinion piece from yesterday's Mercury News

It's ironic that the final nudge to bring race to the surface in this historic Democratic face-off was not innuendo from Republicans or the Clinton campaign but the fiery rhetoric of Barack Obama's own longtime pastor.

Perhaps it's just as well. Obama rose to the challenge Tuesday with a stirring speech, condemning racism without condemning individuals, and calling upon Americans of all races to rise above the divisions of the past.

What could have been a political cataclysm was transformed into another opportunity for the first serious black presidential contender to show how he can bridge divides. One speech may not do it, but the address in Philadelphia was a very good start.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright became a YouTube phenomenon with his rants condemning America and invoking racism - a dream come true for some of Obama's detractors, who had struggled with how to bring race front and center without themselves seeming racist. The pastor may yet prove to be Obama's undoing as a candidate.

Notice any similarly in the two?

If you read the closing paragraph in both editorials, it doesn't matter which one, they are the same, you get to this line.

If Obama is, as we hope, the leader who can draw people across political divides to create real change and a renewed optimism in America, then confronting race head-on was inevitable. Perhaps Pastor Wright did us all a favor.

Just who the heck is we Jim? If we is the Daily Democrat, that should tell it's readers all they need to know.

As for Obama's speech, it was flowery, well delivered, whenever he is in front a teleprompter or reading a prepared statement he is very good, but in the end what do we know about Senator Obama and his Pastor, friend, spiritual advisor and one time member of his campaign? Not much.

Wright's 'fiery' comments don't seem to bother many of the hand picked crowd who listened to Obama's speech. It seems if you hate the right people, whites and Jews, you can be forgiven easily, after all, the US of KKK is the reason black people are stuck in poverty, right?

Obama said "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community," Ok, so you don't like what this guy said, but you can't break your ties from him and his church? After all, he is the Pastor who officiated your wedding, baptized your children, was on your payroll and from whom you took the title of your book.

The argument that everyone would stay in a church where this kind of hate is preached is insulting to me.

If my Pastor said any of these things, I would get up in the middle of his sermon and walk out, then I would wait at his car in the parking lot and we would have a 'fiery' discussion about keeping your hate filled, politically motivated speech out of the Lord's house. If he were not removed immediately, I would never set foot in that church again. Hey but that just me, I'm intolerant of hate speech.

So either Obama isn't serious about 'moving beyond race' or he was using Wright's church as a political tool to garner favor and political power in Chicago as an up and coming politician, or he doesn't really see anything that wrong with his spiritual advisor's teachings.

One or the other, or both.

Can the Democrats please find someone in New York who isn't having an affair?

From the "you've got to be kidding" file.

The thunderous applause was still ringing in his ears when the state's new governor, David Paterson, told the Daily News that he and his wife had extramarital affairs.

In a stunning revelation, both Paterson, 53, and his wife, Michelle, 46, acknowledged in a joint interview they each had intimate relationships with others during a rocky period in their marriage several years ago

Is it a prerequisite to hold elected office in New York? If your not cheating on your wife, you just not reaching your full potential, is that it? You should be able to have it all, a family, a woman on the side, is that the message New York sends to its public officials, or is this just a run of bad apples?

Guitar Hero, bringing back old school Rock n Roll

I will get this out of the way first, I am not a big fan of video games. Of all the things children should be doing, sitting on the floor with a bag of Cheetos, their faces frozen with an a expression of concentration reserved for bomb squad technicians, is not high on my list. If left to their own schedules, most children would spend two thirds of their day bouncing between the refrigerator and the some sort of electronic media input device. Hey, the good Lord made a really cool thing way back when, its called the earth, go check it out. Run on its surface, dig into it, hike to the top of the hills on it, or just lay on your back and let the warmth of the sun shine on your face. Its what kids were meant to do.

With that being said, I have to admit one of the very small positives from the gaming world is Guitar Hero. Where else would a thirteen year old listen to ZZ Top, Carlos Santana, Foghat, The Clash, Lynard Skynard or Cream? Sure there are many new songs on Guitar Hero 2 and GH3, but its pretty cool that they still mix in some oldies and great songs from the 90s as well.

I may ask my son to bring out the PS2 into the living room tonight and challenge my wife to a guitar battle. We are both terrible and if we get through a song on the 'easy' setting without being booed off the stage, its a major accomplishment. I try to keep my competitive emotions in check, but kicking your wife's butt playing "I want to rock n roll all night" is sweet.

A week of kissing up to her is worth the thrill of ending the song in your best 'power stance' and shouting " I freakin' rock!"

Maybe Guitar Hero isn't a positive after all.

Arrg! Hippies!

I am not a big fan of Jon Stewart and the Daily show, bit I have to give a thumbs up when a thumbs up is due.




Code Pink, more nuts than a can of Planter's Cashews.

Yolo County Fairgrounds gets a new CEO.

It looks like the Yolo County Fair Board has named a new CEO to replace Lonny Wunder.

The Yolo County Fair Board of Directors on Monday chose fairgrounds deputy manager Rita Moore to replace retired CEO Lonny Wunder, according to two people with close ties to the process.

The decision - made in closed session at the board's monthly meeting Monday night - was the culmination of a process that began last August, when Wunder announced his resignation after eight years on the job.

This job is not one I would wish to have. Kind of like being Saddam's food taster. Not a lot of upside, besides the paycheck, and downside a plenty.

In an interview with the four-person CEO selection committee on Feb. 15, Moore, of Woodland, said she hoped to improve the fair's relationship with the community.

"We need to mend fences and reaffirm our integrity," she said. "We're a good place, and we need people to know that."

Her plans for the fairgrounds include establishing a foundation to raise money for basic fair operations and future developments, and building a "high-end, multi-use facility" to compete with Woodland's Community and Senior Center and the Heidrick Ag History Center, she said.

Moore, who has been with the fairgrounds for 21 years, said in her interview that she was not looking to make "a 20-year commitment or even a 10-year commitment" to the CEO position, but instead would draw upon her extensive experience and serve "until the ideal person comes down the road.

Sounds like Rita Moore knows what she is in for.

The facilities are in bad shape, the prospect of finding money to fix them will be huge uphill battle. The environmental pot stirrers will be out to get the animal events 'scaled back' and then eliminated because of the threat of ecoli or some other such nonsense. The City would like to buy the property because of its location. Every community group wants to use it free of charge, no one wants to charge admission to the County Fair, we are one the last 'free' fairs in the State.

A giant mess is in store for whoever is going to run the fairgrounds. Good luck to you Rita, you will need plenty of it. I mean it, best of luck, the fairgrounds could be a gem for the County, or it could wither away and become a blight to its residents.

Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island busted for pot possession?

Ginger I could understand, she's a redheaded floozy from Hollywood, but my sweet Mary Ann? I am all busted up about this.


Dawn Wells a.k.a Mary Ann had a bad day.

Under a plea agreement, three misdemeanor counts — driving under the influence, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance — were dropped.

On Oct. 18, Teton County sheriff's Deputy Joseph Gutierrez arrested Wells as she was driving home from a surprise birthday party that was held for her. According to the sheriff's office report, Gutierrez pulled Wells over after noticing her swerve and repeatedly speed up and slow down. When Gutierrez asked about a marijuana smell, Wells said she'd just given a ride to three hitchhikers and had dropped them off when they began smoking something. Gutierrez found half-smoked joints and two small cases used to store marijuana.

The 69-year-old Wells, founder of the Idaho Film and Television Institute and organizer of the region's annual family movie festival called the Spud Fest, then failed a sobriety test.

The Spud Festival? Hey its Idaho, what else are you going to do in the winter, there is only so much knitting and wood duck carving one can do.

Stupid criminal alert, in Yolo County no less.

You know, when ever I am transporting 152 pounds of cocaine, I usually try to stay right around the speed limit, but then again, I am not fond of prison food.

A CHP officer pulled over a woman Monday night near Woodland who was carrying more than $5 million worth of cocaine in her SUV.

Lucretia Iris James, 32, from Washington, was spotted by a CHP patrolman traveling in excess of 90 m.p.h. northbound on Interstate 5 near CR 17 around 9 p.m. Monday.

Two lines from movies of my youth, to quote Tony Montana in Scarface, "dont' get high on your own supply" and to quote Capitan Kirk in Star TrekIV " double dumba$$ on you!"

Does it take one to know one?

It seems that CNN doesn't want just anyone discussing the Spitzer prostitution scandal. A former US attorney, Kendall Coffey was brought on to lend some insight into the possible criminal charges that could be brought against Spitzer and his analysis was pretty straight forward. Except.

Kendall Coffey had to resign his US attorney post after a story surfaced about his biting a topless dancer in a delicate place as he ran up a $900 tab at the gentleman's club. Hey, the guy had just lost a tough case in court and was probably blowing of steam. He should have bought a punching bag and set it up the basement, it would have been much cheaper. How exactly do you spend $900 at a strip club, never mind, I retract that.

CNN does have a big list of experts, although they say they made a mistake inviting Coffey on the air to comment on the scandal. Why?

If you they ever find a television sports announcer dressed in women's clothes, bitting a hooker in the butt, I hope they bring on Marv Alpert for analysis. If the next President of the United States gets caught with his pants around his ankles in the oval office with an intern, I know the perfect guy who is experienced in that field.

Client 9 - Spitzer, will he go into 'bunker mentality' mode?

I remember exactly where I was when I heard the a news anchor on KFBK read the through the Starr reports lowlights of Monica Lewinski's sexual affair with President Bill Clinton. I was driving home from a jobsite on Highway 99 North around Modesto, and I remember thinking, there is no way President Clinton can survive this scandal. Having sex with a 22 year old intern in the White House? Blue cocktail dresses and cigars, all the creepy details of the affair were out for all the word to see.

No way he stays on as President of the United States. No freakin' way.

I was wrong.

Never underestimate the power of the media to rally around one of their own after the initial shock of the story wears off.

I wonder if Eliot Spitzer will hunker down and try to ride this one out too? Don't think its possible? Ever wonder what happened to Larry 'wide stance' Craig? He is still a Senator from Idaho, you and I are still paying his salary. He had the good judgment not run for re election but it still gets me a little riled up that I will paying his retirement pension for years to come.

From most of the talking heads I listened to today, it seems that Spitzer has built his career on ruthlessness and political backstabbing from the time he was AG of New York until today as the Governor. His list of friends may get short very quickly as everyone Spitzer has stepped on, and destroyed on his way to the top starts plucking chickens and boiling tar for his descent back down.

Not being involved in New York politics, I can only assume that 'couldn't have happened to a nicer guy' is being toasted around the trendy bars of Manhattan tonight.

I feel for his family, as a political spouse, it comes with the territory, but the kids can't pick their parents.

Living in a shipping container?

Looks pretty cozy, the Dutch seem big on the idea.

They are making, not only single family homes, but entire apartment complexes out of cargo containers.

Why not? Insulating them would seem to be the big drawback, a sweat box in the summer and a refrigerator in the winter, but with rigid foam insulation today, these problems are fixable.

When did the Tacero dorms at UC Davis go Gaza?

Who was making bombs in their dorm room?


It's not Hamas, it's not Hezbollah, it's not al Qaeda, its this goofy looking white dude.

First-year economics major Mark Woods, 18, of Torrance, Calif., has been booked into Yolo County Jail on charges of possession of chemicals to make explosives and possession of explosives on school grounds, said UC Davis Police Captain Joyce Souza

By the way, when did Carrot Top start attending UCD?

I know its serious, making bombs is bad, even for fun.

As a dumb kid I pulled many bullets from their cartridges to gain access to gun powder. The frogs and muskrats in our streams came to learn that when the kids with the matches and coffee can comes walking down the hill, you better find a place to hide. I came close to blowing up my fathers shop when I found out about oxygen and acetylene. I was not the smartest youngster growing up, but then again, where were my parents? I know if I saw my son walking out of the shop with a black garbage bag filled with highly volatile gas, I would ask some pointed questions.

I am living, and I mean just barely living, proof that idle hands are the Devils workshop or at least his work bench.

I don't know if we will ever get the story from Mr. Woods as to what exactly he was going to do with the explosives in question. It could be way to make a great YouTube video if you had say, the twenty foot high pile of cow manure stacked behind the Tercero dorms at the school dairy, or he could be a truly messed up young man with evil on him mind. I'm hoping its the latter, exploding the manure pile at the dairy would be something I would have done if I had enough cartridges or acetylene.

But then again, I never claimed to be the brightest bulb on the strand.

PU,G&E?

Cow power, I like the name, I like the concept. PG&E is recovering methane from manure holding ponds and converting it to natural gas.

PG&E customers will now be able to get natural gas from cow manure for the first time.
In a ceremony at Vintage Dairy, a 1,700-acre dairy farm in Riverdale, not far from Fresno, officials from the utility, the state's Department of Food and Agriculture and the Energy Commission joined David Albers of BioEnergy Solutions Tuesday to turn a valve that will send the first of 3 billion cubic feet of natural gas a year into a pipeline.

That's enough gas to create electricity for 50,000 California homes, and comes from 5,000 cows.

The potential for turning waste to energy is vast. "There are nearly 2 million dairy cows in California," said Jennifer Zerwer, a PG&E spokeswoman.

PG&E calls it "cow power," capturing methane released from covered lagoons of cow manure and sending the natural gas into pipelines where it'll be burned to generate electricity. It's all part of a state-mandated push to get more energy from renewable sources.

I'll bet the environmentalist will be freaked out by it. Methane from cows is killing the planet, just ask the environmental fanatics. In a world where we are constantly bombarded by the professional alarmists in the environmental movement who claim America is killing the planet and we all need to do something to stop it, one wonders if they will get behind this, clean, green and abundant source of domestic energy?

In Davis its easy to find a bumper sticker on the back of a Prius telling the world "NO BLOOD FOR OIL", I wonder if we will see this bumper sticker "COW POOP FOR PEACE" or "YOU CAN'T GO GREENER THAN COW POO" or "COWS, SAVING THE PLANET ONE COWPIE AT A TIME".

I doubt it, but who knows, one day I could be a methane millionaire.

Interesting thoughts on John McCain

The Llama Butchers is one of the sites I visit every day. Who knew attorneys could be so funny.
They also have a serious side and that is where this post came from. I have similar feelings towards Senator McCain, he is an honorable man and a pain in the butt to Republicans from time to time.

Let Hillary and Obama get personal. Let them get nasty. It will only make them seem pettier and less serious. And if that’s all they’ve got, they’re in trouble eight months from now. Because McCain won’t just stand there and take it. He’ll give it right back, but no one will fault him for it. And he’ll come away from it looking like the good guy.

Fans of the movie "Road House" know that Dalton the ass-kicking bouncer's default mode was to "be nice". It garnered him respect. Of course, when nice no longer worked...

No, I think McCain’s instincts are right on here. Bill Cunningham’s support of McCain wasn’t genuine. He went to that rally despite his disdain for the candidate. His opposition to the two Democrat nominees was genuine. And that’s what drove his emphasis of Obama’s middle name. It wasn’t out of bounds. Hussein is the man's middle name, after all. But it wasn’t necessary either. McCain responded out of conviction, not fear.

John McCain has a long way to go to convince movement conservatives to not just vote for him, but to back him enthusiastically. He gets this. But there are some places McCain is just not willing to go. He made that clear.

If Republicans make this election about ideas – as Reagan did – then they can persuade plenty of voters to their side. Maybe they can pick up a few Senate and House seats too.

Read the whole thing.

This is going to be fun to watch

Could this be the night? Could this be the night the water flows over the bulkheads on the 'E' deck, dooming the Titanic? Could it?

I was going to start in on a list of movie plot lines that culminate in disaster, but the next movie was Dracula, and the stake through the heart reference seems a bit out of line.

I have never liked Hillary Clinton, either as a person or politician. That is pretty hard for me to say because politics is a contact sport and you need to throw a few elbows if your going to get the ball, but Hillary and Bill are the Tonya Harding of politics. No holds barred no rules, no class.

There will always be a few rabid groups on each side who go way over the line, MoveOn and Code Pink on the left and Pat Robertson and his ilk on the right, but the Clinton machine complete with the 'bimbo eruption' team is a dynasty when it comes to playing dirty politics.

Karl Rove plays to win and will twist a few arm until they yell uncle, but Clinton Inc. will publicly ruin a person's life, or several, who have damaging stories to tell about the Clintons. Their path to office is strewn with ruined lives of political enemies, business partners, former friends and of course, Bill's lady acquaintances.

So will it be tonight? I don't know. I still think Barack Obama is a formidable candidate, but he just might have a lot of explaining to do when it comes to how he was able to buy his mansion. Hillary may just stick around and see if the smoke coming from Chicago has a few flames attached to it.

Wouldn't that be great? Barack goes on to win the nomination, Rezcogate actually gets some real media coverage and he is told to give up the nomination for the good of the party and with that deal, he secures DNC backing to keep his seat in the Senate, and Hillary gets the nomination.

Hey, stranger things have happened.

I love politics.
UPDATE Hillary wins the Buckeye State and Texas.

The pumps seem to be keeping up with water, she might just stay afloat. The SS Hillary may make it to port after all.

Holly the Christmas goat and Roxie update

Not many of you have this kind of scene out your back door, but then again, how many of you would want to?

Yes the two most recent additions to the ranch are doing well and getting along splendidly.

Capay Valley Almond Blossom Festival, 2008

What a difference a week makes. Last Sunday was wet and gloomy and the almond blossoms were still in the budding stages. Today was bright and sunny with many of the almond orchards in bloom. If you didn't get a chance to make it this year with the rain out last week, here is just a part of what you missed.

Downtown Esparto with all the food and wall to wall Harley Davidsons.

The Esparto Fire Department/Athletics Boosters is the place to be for Tri-Tip sandwiches and a cold beer, if you are so inclined and have a designated driver. The police were out in full force today, and baby let me tell you, they were open for business.

The Carshow is always great, I am a Chevy muscle car fan and there were Camaros, Corvettes and a few Bel Airs as well.

Being Yolo County, the redneck tradition seems to have Wrestlemania type sleeper hold on some of our residents.



Next up, the small town of Guinda.

The Guinda Fire Department is where you stop if BBQ oysters and shrimp are your thing. The boys do a great job.

Turn left at the corner store and you will find the Western Grange hall. Crafts galore and more food, my daughter bought two peanut butter cookies and ate both of them, that was not fair, I love peanut butter cookies.


The Security at the 4-H petting zoo is formidable, he looks like you owe him money.

The local blacksmith was on hand to personalize his handmade items, he is truly an artist.


The final stop on our trip up the valley ended in the tiny town of Rumsey.



Rumsey, home of the famous Rumsey Ribs



The Shane Dwight Band was very good, Rock and a little Blues thrown in made for a great time.



Inside the craft fair and silent action at the Rumsey Hall



The famous Rumsey Ribs, big suckers aren't they?

Well, that is about it. It was full day, we came home about 3:00 to mow the lawn and let the dogs play. Classic cars and the rumble of Harley Davidson V-twins will continue to roll by my house as the Almond Festival winds down.

I hope you make it next year.