Bring the troops home now?

Most Americans who bothered to watch the President's speech last night had long since made up their minds about the purpose and progress on the war in Iraq. If you supported the war against terror before, you feel justified in your support after the speech. On the other hand, if you are a Moveon/Howard Dean Democrat, you probably didn't make it through the first ten minutes of the broadcast before you threw a Birkenstock at the television, screaming liar.

The Moveonpac.org folks already had its talking points and letters to the editor links up before the speech had aired. What is their Plan? They want to bring the troops home now. Have the UN train the Iraqis. Cut our losses, our presence there is exacerbating the problem, Bush lied! Quagmire!

Nice plan.

I believe the President has an exceptional exit strategy. It is called victory.

Victory is when the Iraqi government has a sufficient force to protect itself from these foreign terrorists. If the United States pulls its forces out of Iraq right before the Iraqi government can defend itself, it will set in motion the largest genocide since Pol Pot in Cambodia. Lebanon will see the Syrian tanks run through the streets as the secret police execute the leaders of the democratic reform movement. The West Bank and Gaza will erupt into a full scale war where thousands of innocents on both sides will perish. Sounds like a great plan.

It just sounds better all the time.

I man, a message and a moment of decision.

Seeing the coverage of what will be Billy Graham's last crusade in the US, I cannot help but recall my experience. I was fourteen when I accepted Christ as my savior. I was taken by my friend to church that summer in Palo Cedro California. The church was called Little Country Church, at the time services were held at the local school gym and were very casual. Shorts and t-shirts were the dress code and all were welcome. I raised my hand and started down the path, it has been a steep and rocky path at times. The first few steps were easy, the next few years, as I became more independent, became very difficult. The path would have been much easier to follow with a guide and encouragement. It tried to do it on my own and that was a mistake.

I say this not to speak of myself, but to illustrate the way that Billy Graham's crusade works. When you raise your hand and walk down to the alter call, you are met by someone who gives you a few words of encouragement and takes down your information. In the next few days there will be a follow up calls from a local church to help the new Christian find a spiritual home.

I read the Times piece on Graham's crusade, the author tries his best to find slick marketing and a alternate motive. When journalists look at some one like Graham and try to find the 'real man' not just the public persona, they are in for a surprise. Graham is the real deal. In a world where the secular opinion of Christians is based on the Jim Bakers and Jimmy Swaggarts, a man like Graham is hard to believe. No scandals, no out of wedlock children, he seems to be just what he says he is, a man sent to spread the word of God to the world.

Billy Graham says he is a sinner, just the same as any Christian. I would like to think a man with the faith Graham's would somehow be removed from temptation and a sinful nature. The reason why Graham's message resonates so well with people is his honesty about our sinful nature. Very refreshing, a honest man with a honest message.

The only credible opponent to victory.

As I look at the recent discussion about the war in Iraq, I find myself trying to determine if there is any entity on earth that could defeat the American Military. I have found two, the extreme left of the Democratic party and the Main Stream Media. These two forces must act as allies for their goals to be met, the goals being the political defeat of George W Bush at any price and a vastly reduced American Military power. I will call them 'The Axis of Self Loathing".

As you hear the left and the MSM punditry declare an official "Quagmire" in Iraq, they are planting the seeds of an anti-war, anti-Bush crop that hope will flourish and be ready to harvest by November 2006 or at least by 2008. By constantly comparing the war on terror with the war in Vietnam, the far left is hoping that the American public will grow tired of the conflict and want to bring our service men and women home. As we get farther removed from the anger and determination that followed September 11th, the 'ASL' are betting on the public getting bored with war on terror, especially in Iraq. I am betting they won't.

America wants to see progress in Iraq, something that gets very limited coverage from the MSM, and is totally ignored by the left. I read my favorite Iraqi blogs and wonder how many in this nation know what is happening on the ground in Iraq. I am certain the number is very low. Not quite 40, I wonder if there were Americans during the battle of the bulge in 44 who thought that we should bring our troops home, the war is being terrible mismanaged and too many of our boys were being killed in a country that had never attacked us? I think there must have been. Pacifists have been around where ever there is conflict.

As I say and will keep saying, war is a terrible thing, but there is something much worse, loosing a war. Pulling our troops out and coming home will lead to wholesale slaughter in Iraq, a three way civil war and a much stronger Iran and Syria. The Iranian Shai will be fighting the Syrian Baathiss and both will be fighting the Kurds for control of Iraq's oil. Who ever wins, we loose.

There is no other course of action for the US. We must stay, fight and win. Even when Iraq has a suitable military and police force, we will have active bases there, just like we have in Germany and Japan.

Moyers wants ultra-liberal Democracy NOW on PBS.

If you never had the opportunity to watch Democracy NOW on Dish Network, you aren't missing much. The programming on Dem NOW is far left of Howard Dean. I just enjoy watching the distortion and lunacy of their socialist views.

Today I was watching Bill Moyers rail against the right wing republican control of the media, and all branches of government. The partisan rhetoric he spouts is laughable. Just one of the problems with the right wing republicans is the stifling of any and all 'alternate truth'. He said that he is being singled out because he is being a 'good muck-raking journalist'. Here is take on how the extreme right wing is in control.

What has happened now is that moderate Republicans have thrown in the towel. They have no influence in their own party, so the right wingers are driving this.

You are kidding, right Bill? I wonder if you watched the Senate moderates drive the nuclear option debate? Go tell Bill Frist that he doesn't have to worry about McCain, Chafee, Snow, Collins, Dewine and Warner anymore, he is in complete control of the Republicans.

Moyers is a mud-slinging political hack, I don't think the term journalist has applied to Bill for while. Why can't Mr. Moyers just be honest enough to say, I am a socialist. I believe his views fall much closer to socialism than democrat, let alone an independent journalist.

I would like for your audience of listeners, viewers, readers to besiege the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS, and our stations, to get Democracy Now! as a regular broadcast in the programming of public television. I'm serious about this

If you want proof of Mr. Moyers partisan views, just watch Democracy now for an hour. If you think they are fair and balanced journalists, then you will agree with Mr. Moyers that they should be on PBS stations, funded by your tax dollars.

No thanks.

The polls that drive the news, or at least the media's views.

As we see wall to wall coverage of the latest poll showing the Governor approval rating sinking fast, we are also being screamed at by the media, the Democrats and all their minions that the people don't want to waste 80 million dollars on a special election.

Is it just me, or didn't we go through this all during the recall?
The people don't want to waste money on this silly recall, when we have such big budget problems. I remember the headlines and the news stories were almost word for word like this week's headlines. The 80 million (closer to 45 if you believe the Governors numbers) is a drop in the bucket compared to the billions that the Democrats want to spend over the Governors budget.

Most people don't know how much money the State spends. If you asked 100 people at Sunrise Mall this weekend, I would predict 9 people could tell you within 5 billion dollars what we spend. This election will have a very low voter turn out. It will be critical to talk to your neighbors and co-workers about voting.

The future of the State and your checkbook are at stake.

Rancher. Poet. Builder of skateboards.

It is not often when you can truly amaze your children. I had the good fortune to have this happen to me today. When my son and I returned home today, his new skateboard that he had worked for was on the front porch, delivered by DHL by way of E-Bay.

It came unassembled and my son wondered how we could put it together. I took him out to the shop and found my metric sockets and started assembly. He questioned my skateboard building credentials, but I assured him that I had a skateboard once, (a long time ago in a galaxy far far away) and it would be fine. I installed the trucks on the board, it's an Element you know, installed the wheel bearings and wheels then put the grip tape on the deck and trimmed it with my utility knife. I handed it to him after 15 minutes of work and he said, " gee Dad, I didn't know you knew so much about skateboards, you did great".

As a kid growing up on a ranch, I never knew skateboards existed until a new kid from LA showed up at school one day with some cool contraption that had little wheels attached to a piece of wood. That was about 1977. I wanted one in a bad way. My mother, wanting to know where I would ride it, balked at the idea. We owned 6,000 acres, but my entire sidewalk surfing would have to be contained on our only sidewalk, about 30 feet of concrete. I begged and groveled until we bought one in town. I could only ride it at school on the basketball court. That is until one of my buddies broke his arm and skateboards were not be ridden at school, and that means you mister. Skateboarding was a crime, well maybe not an official crime but it was not allowed on the grounds of Oak Run Elementary.

I remember the time my friend and I were skateboarding home one day from school. It was about 6 miles or so down hill most of the way. I am not sure if I have even been more terrified in my life than riding down a half mile hill at 35 miles an hour, too scared to get off because of the great speed, and too scared that I was going to be run over by the logging truck that was following me blowing his horn.

I soon gave up my dreams of being a Lord of Dogtown and went back to my life of chasing cattle and throwing rocks at frogs. Oh, but for a time, I was just as cool as any kid in LA. (well, at least I thought so)

You city folks and your automatic sprinklers.

Back, after a long weekend of irrigating. I know that some of you city dwellers may be asking how it could take all weekend to irrigate. 27 acres is why. Let me give you just a little taste of the Hell I call flood irrigation. It starts when the new neighbor who moved in from San Jose wanted to irrigate his pasture. He calls the local flood control/ irrigation district and orders three cubic feet of water per second to start at 5:30 am. The water tender opens the water gate at 5:30 sending the desired H20 down the ditch to points unknown to him, that's his job, he just opens the valve at the canal and goes to his next stop. It is the land owner who makes sure that the water goes through all the ditches that lead to his place so he may irrigate, sounds simple huh?

It is a relatively simple chore of closing the valves that divert the water flow to other ditches so you get the water you paid for. The first neighbor he flooded out was my father-in-law, who had just trenched all the water and electrical line to his barn and trenched out to the tail water ditch for the rain gutters on his barn. When the 3 feet of water came down his field it back flooded all the trenches in his barn and made a huge mess.

The next victim in the flooding was my friend Mark, the regular ditch tender who was moving cows over the weekend. His pasture had cattle on it and they stomped some new mud holes around his place.

Meanwhile back to our new friend from San Jose, he has been waiting for two days now and just has a trickle of water, he orders more water. The ditch tender opens the valve to let out 5 feet of water and whatever had not been flooded soon became a lagoon. That leads me back to my place. I live one field over from my new 'buddy'. When he finds out that he needs to do a little more that just order water and realizes that he is flooding everyone, he asks for help.

The new ditch tender shows him how to open the vavles and close the splash gates to direct the water to his field. Here is the problem, when he opens the valve that leads down my ditch, there is a tremendous amount of water backed up in the main ditch. There must have been 6 cubic feet of water coming through the ditch that is in my front yard. I have culverts in the ditch for my driveway and they can't take that amount of water. My front yard start to flood, that is where my septic system is. I call the water district guy and have him the water off until my 'buddy' can figure this out. The regular ditch tender, Mark, comes by the next morning to restore calm and show the city slicker what to do.

After my 'buddy' is done with his pasture, it is my turn. I ordered three feet of water and started at 5:30 Friday night and ended around 1:am Sunday. Checking the water involves the four wheeler and a shovel. I did get to use my new LED headlamp at night to make sure all the irrigation checks were getting watered and moving splash-gates. I am whooped by Sunday morning. I did make it to the 10:30 service at church and then went home to collapse on my couch.

I have yet to meet my buddy, I have been over there a time or two and have met the renter he has. But I believe I will tell him that they don't make an automatic timer for flood irrigation.

Take a friend to reality day.

Perhaps you have participated in a take your son or daughter to work day. I am of the opinion that these days are helpful to the parent, beneficial to the child and a pain in the butt to the employer who looses close to half of that employees productivity for the day.

Taking a child to your workplace exposes them to the real world. A world where "wouldn't it be great " meets, you better have this on my desk by Friday or else. In other words, reality. Even if the employee shifts down a gear to explain the world they work in, the child still gets a backstage pass to what will be like to be a responsible citizen.

I propose a new day, Take a friend to reality day.
You may have to do this on a weeknight or over a weekend, but the premise is this; take them away from their televisions, away from American Idol, away from CSI and get them to pay attention to the real world around them.

Show them what is happening in Darfur today, right now as they sit on their couch, thousands are being killed. Show them that the radical Islamic terrorists were there long before we invaded Iraq, and they want to kill you and your children. They will not stop wanting to kill you if we shut down Guantanamo Bay and turn it into a Baskin-Robbins. They hate America and Americans. They hated us when Bill Clinton was President, they will hate us when President Bush leaves office. They are not going away. If we bring the troops home, they will still attack us. I guess that would mean we would have more troops at home when we have to implement Martial Law after they start blowing up our schools and shopping malls, but I would rather kill the terrorists over seas than here at home.

Show them that they need to pay attention to what is going on around them. When they say, politicians are all the same, agree with them. Yes they are, they all think their ideas are right and the other guys ideas are wrong, you must do your part and find out who is one the side of truth more often. I would show them Kos and the bunch on the left to find out what the other side thinks. Tell them to look at both sides, follow their logic down a path guided by the reality of the world we live in and see which America they want their kids to live in.

A secular, socialist world where the churches are empty and the Government is seen as the solution to all your problems. Take a look at Europe for where this logic leads you.
Freedom means, free to smoke pot, free to demand someone else pay for whatever you want and freedom from religion anywhere at anytime.

They may choose to live in a world where America is strong, our people have a good idea about right and wrong, and freedom means security, a strong military, a sound economy and freedom of religion.

Or maybe they make another bag of popcorn and turn on Desperate Housewives.

Air conditioned to death.

A copy of the letter I sent to Senator Durbin today. Hat tip to Little Green Footballs

Dear Senator Durbin, your comments on the senate floor today causes me to question your knowledge of history.

You said

"When you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here-I almost hesitate to put them in the RECORD, and yet they have to be added to this debate. Let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. And I quote from his report:
On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold. ..... On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor."

"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime-Pol Pot or others-that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners."

You must be kidding. There is a museum near your offices, it is called the Holocaust Museum. It is located at 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, SW Washington, DC.

I don't remember seeing the part where the Nazis air conditioned people to death.

I am not Jewish, I did not have any relatives killed in the Nazi concentration camps, the killing fields of Cambodia or the Gulags of the Soviet Union. I am just a citizen who knows partisan rhetoric when I hear it. I cannot imagine the outrage of your constituents you did loose family members in these genocides.

California news media, liberal in a good way?

I was listening to Eric Hogue talking to Daniel Wientraub from the Sac Bee today. The Insider was commenting on the views inside the editorial department at the Bee and why the paper is sometimes critical of the labor unions in California. His view, as I understood it is the liberal views of the editors are intact, they just think that the re-distribution of wealth from the rich to the poor is being hijacked by the labor unions. The money the State seems to take in is not going where the it should go. True liberals, stil love the unions, but want to put the poor first.

I am not sure that I disagree with this concept, if you accept the fact that re-distribution of wealth is inevitable. Living California, I am sure that until new district line are drawn, the democratic controlled state legislature will continue and even expand their efforts to confiscate as much wealth as possible from the top tax-payers in our state.

A very interesting conundrum the left-leaning MSM is in, does it call out one of their own, the bloated unions, or does it stand by their big labor friends at the expense of the needy?

Naw, they will just keep slamming Ahhnold.

Yolo County Registrar to residents; I will let you know if you can vote.

Some time ago I read a story from the Woodland newspaper The Daily Democrat, or as we call it, The Daily disappointment. It featured a story on Freddie Oakley, the County Registrar.

"Oakley said she would not hold a special election unless ordered to do so by a judge. The special election will cost Yolo County about $300,000 at time when cash and resources are especially tight. Statewide, local governments will shell out about $70 million."

She is the poster child for the liberal cause. I won't carry out my constitutional duties unless I get an order from a judge? I would like to see the org chart for the county registrar to see just when it was placed under the judicial branch of government. Why does she think she gets to choose who to obey?

"I'll defy this governor," she added, "but I don't know if I could defy a Superior Court judge."

Mrs. Oakley must have her eyes on a bigger office than County Registrar, that's fine by me, she should run for any office she would like, unless a Republican is the new County Registrar, that person may not put democrats on the ballot unless ordered by George W Bush. Her and her husband's thoughts about the HAVA funds are laughable. She mentions Kevin Shelley concern over the Diebold machines. Maybe the Oakleys should have been looking into the use of HAVA funds for Democratic Party uses. (allegedly)

If the machines are misused, they assert, it can only be because of malign interference. Well, it seems to us that in these perilous times times malign interference is a very real threat. California's secretary of state, Kevin Shelley, apparently shares our concerns

Just a thought Mrs. Oakley, keep your personal politics away from your paid duties.

And now a word from the dog.

I would like to thank my owner for the opportunity to guest blog for him. To protect my identity, I will call myself Jake, the wonder dog. I am a 63 year old black Labrador retriever. That's 9 years old to you humans.

Some of you only know the Yolo Cowboy through his rants and writings on The Roughstock Journal. I would like to shed some light on his personal life from someone who knows him well.

First of all, he is forgetful. I cannot tell you the times I have sat on the porch with my stomach growling because he forgot to feed me that night. Some who look at me could not tell that I have missed meals, but I have. He is also obsessive - compulsive. I put my snout on his arm, he moves it off, I put it back he, he takes it off. I don't understand this behavior, this is how I share my feelings and he doesn't think my drooling snout should be anywhere near him. He is also lazy. Lazy big time, when I want to hunt gophers, he wants to sit inside and blog or watch the news.

Dad, as I call him, does not see the benefit of my gopher hunting, especially in the front yard. I try to remind him that our soil is heavy and has quite a bit of clay in it, a good dose of aeration would do it some good. He may be good with horses, but the boy just don't understand proper lawn care. I have heard him mention that I was supposed to hunt pheasants, ducks and geese. I have tried these activities and have concluded that gunfire, cold weather and getting up at 4:30 am is not something I wish to do. Walking from the porch to the front yard to catch a gopher, now that's hunting.

Dad's other pets that actually live inside the house, the Jack Russell Terrier, who, pardon my language, is a pain the butt, and the Cat. The Cat's name escapes me right now but she is a strange creature to be sure. I don't see her much, she has the idea that I want to chase her and she runs by me on the porch to escape to the great outdoors. I could care less. Cats, for the lack of a better word, suck.

The terrier, Lexi, is like a tick that burrows under your skin just under the collar. She seems to be the Princess of the house. She sleeps on the bed or in the clothes basket while I sleep in my molded plastic doggie-igloo. Lexi gets all the good table scraps, and most of the attention. When she helps me execute a pincer movement against the dreaded gopher hordes, I get yelled at, she gets a bath and goes back in the house. There is no justice in this world. Small dogs, for the lack of a better word, suck also.

I would like to close on this note. The Yolo Cowboy gets a pet satisfaction rating of 7 1/2.
He is ok by me. Ooh, gotta go, I think I smell a gopher in yard.
Thanks for time, Jake

How big is your world?

We had a guest speaker at church this morning from Larry Martin VP of Education at International Justice Mission. Mr. Martin started his comments with a reference to our world and how big it is. He said that when he gets up in the morning he is concerned about himself. He goes on to say, on a good day he concerns himself with his family, and on a very good day he might concern himself with people he knows and people he likes or people who like him. That was said tongue in cheek, but he also reminded us that world view is all too common in our country, our community and our church.

How many days do I wake up and think only of myself? Even when I think about my family, I find myself thinking about how their situation effects me, not what may be best for them. You could sum this type of myopic view of your surroundings as selfish and I don't think that would be too far from the truth. Being selfless is not something we value so highly as a society anymore. Sure we say 'good for you' when we read about someone doing great work for their community or cause, but we don't take the time to reflect on what we can do. More importantly, we seldom think that there is anything we should do.

Today, as I look forward to summer and all the distractions that come with it, I want to find places where I can make a difference. It may be finding a youth group that needs help one night a week, or a senior center where I can volunteer. If I can enlarge my world from the guy in the mirror to my family and then my community, maybe one day I can look out on the world with a new view.

A selfless view.

Cinderella Man, four stars.

I had the chance today to watch Cinderella Man. Even if Russell Crowe threw a phone booth at an hotel employee, it does not detract from the wonderful story of James Braddock. When I hear people talk about twenty percent of children go to bed hungry in America, I have to ask if they really want to say that children are starving in our country. This film depicts the depression in a very real way, through the eyes of one family who seemed to have a good life going for them and had it all evaporate in two years.

Braddock did not turn to a life of crime, he did not protest and smash windows or burn cars, he kept on working. He had to swallow his pride and ask for charity from his friends and former boxing associates and sign up for Relief to keep the lights and heat turned on. What an incredible story, it almost makes me ashamed to complain about any apparent wrong I suffer or bad break I endure.

How lucky we are.

Anti-American Boutique, going out of business, everything must go!

Victor David Hanson's piece on the emergence of China as a world power that will soon make other countries long for the days of American running dog capitalist friendship.

Those who now malign the imperfections of the United States may well in shock whimper back, asking for our friendship. Then the boutique practice of anti-Americanism among the global elite will come to an end.

VDH is by far one of my favorite writers.

Things a guy should know how to do. Part one

From time to time I think about things. I know that is a dangerous proposition for a guy with little higher learning, but in any case, I was reading something today that made me think about what we know how to do. In a functional way, what can we do as average people living in America today?

I am sure that any list put together must be geographically unique, it make sense that a 40 year old man that lives in Waverly, Iowa must have a different skill set that a 40 year old man from Manhattan. I will only speak for men in this post since I am one.

So here is my first list of "Things a man should know how to do to in America".

1. Shoot a rifle with competence.
2. Know basic first-aid and CPR.
3. Start a fire without matches.
4. Read
5. Drive a car with a manual transmission.
6. Defend yourself.
7. Swim.
8. Jump start a car.
9. Sew.
10. Cook.

I know that these skills seem very rural and low-tech for some of you, but keep this in mind, if the lights ever go out for a year, or you get run off a snow covered road, down an embankment and are stuck there for a week. Or find yourself in a desperate situation, these kinds of things can save your life.

I will head you off at the pass with #9.
Sewing up a wound or repairing a sail could be the difference between living and assuming room temperature.

Feel free to add yours to the list.
I will have other list to follow, including top ten thing you should know how to do with - women, (get your mind out of the gutter Moos), in the City, when dealing with dishonest people and others as they come to mind.

Germany denied a seat on the UN security council, but there is this.....

Looks like Germany will not get it's seat at the UN's security council, but I have good news. No I didn't save a bunch of money on my car insurance, Germany will set up drive-in wooden sex garages for the world cup soccer matches next year. A estimated 40,000 prostitutes will flock to Germany for the world cup.

That is one way to combat double digit un-employment.

Go away, before we taunt you again!

Where did this lady come from? In the era of peace love and understanding in the EU, Miche'le Alliot-Marie wants to spend the money it takes to build up the EU military to the levels of the US. While I do believe that it is absolutely necessary to have an effective military force to defend your national interests at home and abroad, the socialist welfare state that exists in most of the EU cannot survive if military spending triples. One must be strong and the other weakened, or both will be weak and ineffective. The socialist welfare in the EU is failing in it's current structure, while it's military force is rather anemic.

She did make one statement that made me laugh.

We are currently at the same technological level as the United States - if we want to stay there, we have to do a lot more," Alliot-Marie said. "That is the price for being not just an economic power, but a political power.

I hope she is not referring to the state of military technology. I want to see the French stealth fighter-bomber.

I say go for it. Build up your military force to a level where the US can re-deploy its forces to other places, say the Middle East or the Pacific rim.

Dean is crazy, but remember, hardmoney fund raising is only part of the picture.

As I giggle at Howard Dean's spiral into another dimension of lunacy, I am wondering out loud if he maybe crazy like a fox? Could this Republican bashing that seems to be hurting the DNC's fundraising among center left democrats, be aimed at another group? George Sorros and the other billionaires that eat up this hate-speech up could be the real target. In fact a few large 527 donors could easily surpass what the DNC raises in hard money. Could he be whipping the far left's deep pockets into action? Could be.

I don't think this strategy would pay off for the DNC. The problem is money doesn't vote, people vote. While your fundraising chests may be full, if your party's message is way outside the political mainstream, you will not get the swing vote in America. With roughly 10% of Americans that are truly swing voters, I don't think that calling Republican evil will win may converts.

al-Qaida in my backyard?

Lodi, a hotbed for Islamic terrorist? Sounds like it.

One of the men arrested, 22-year-old Hamid Hayat, is accused in a federal criminal complaint of training in an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan to learn "how to kill Americans" and then lying to FBI agents about it.

His purported training included explosives and weapons instruction and using photographs of President Bush as targets, court documents indicate.

As most of the attention focuses on the 22 year old suspect, Hamid Hayat, I want to look closer at the other two men arrested, or at least one of them. It seems like one of the men arrested is an imam at the Lodi mosque. Muhammed Adil Khan may have been under the FBI's nose for quite some time.

The meeting started off with a recitation from the Koran by Imam Adil from Lodi and an English translation by Imam Luqman of Sacramento. CAIR-Sacramento Valley Executive Director Basim ElKarra conducted the proceedings

I have two predictions to make. We will be attacked by these sleeper cells here in the U.S. soon. When that happens, the left will go into super-spin mode to ban all semi auto guns in the US. If one of the terrorists starts shooting up a pizza parlor with a legal, semi-automatic firearm, the next day, the MSM will run stories on how easy it is to acquire these terrible weapons. It will be an all out assault on our second amendment rights for the illusion of safety.

I hope I am wrong on both predictions.

Schroeder to Chirac, don't let the people vote stupid.

As the EU constitution goes back to Brussels for a re-write, the French and German press are slamming Tony Blair. Makes you want to go hmmmm.

Newspapers in Paris and Berlin said Prime Minister Tony Blair had undermined the French and German leaders by ignoring their appeals to move ahead with the referendum despite its rejection by French and Dutch voters in the last week.

I thought that all parties had to ratify the constitution for it to become the law of the land? How does Blair's reschedule of the referendum on the EUC undermine the French and German leaders?

I love how Germany handled the EUC vote, parliament voted on it's ratification, not the people. You just have to love socialism.

Everything is ok. That's a good little peasant, now shut up and eat your gruel!

An American in Paris

Priscilla Laliss is an American living in Paris or was in November 2004. Here is her story.

Ah, I can still feel it now. It was 1999 and I'd just arrived in Paris. Bill Clinton was President of the United States and France and the U.S. were still best friends. When I spoke with my American accent people asked me if I were British. I'd get annoyed and say No, I'm American! I meant no offence toward the British. I was just proud of my American heritage.

For almost two years I've been walking around Paris hoping no one would ask me if I'm American - half praying that they'd think I'm British again. I'm no longer wearing my Old Navy tee-shirt on American holidays. I've delicately put my flags in a safe place, and I tell my husband to speak to me only in French when we're out in public. I've taken these drastic measures not because I'm ashamed of being an American, but rather because I can't explain to French people why Americans went to Iraq, why President Bush might even get re-elected, or why the price of oil is more important than the price of a baguette.

I am shocked that Mrs.Laliss did tell the Parisians that you would still be living under the Third Riche, or eventually Soviet communism if it wasn't for the United States. I don't know where her lack of history comes from, but she must be a product of our public schools. As for her assertion that it was all about the price of oil, that's laughable, have you seen the price of crude oil? For more on that check out a post from last year.

As for why we went Iraq, the WMD intelligence was wrong. Not only the US, but 30 other countries though Saddam had a working WMD program. Two of those countries were his Arab neighbors. We were wrong, but we are there now, and no amount of hand wringing and protests will change that. We must win, if the President looses this war, we die, yes that includes you in the blue states. Now how about quit your complaining and help us win.

Another brilliant solution to a non-existent problem.

My father learned to read. He rode a horse to school and once took his pet bobcat to class and it slept by his feet as he did his school work. That was in the 1920s and early 30s. It seems that children did just fine leaning to read by phonetically sounding out words until they became proficient. But then came the 60s and 70s. Everything that was old and boring was out and could be replaced by something 'new and improved'. A story from the UK.

A seven-year study showed that pupils at schools that taught intensive phonics instead of the official method were an average three and a half years ahead for their age in reading and one year and eight months ahead in spelling by the age of 11.

Children from disadvantaged homes did as well as those from richer backgrounds and, far from falling behind girls, the boys were 11 months ahead in reading at the age of 11 and 8.6 months ahead of them in spelling.

Not only do they have a generation of children who are far behind in reading and all the problems that comes with their struggles in other subjects, the liberal spent hundreds of millions of dollars to screw these kids up.

If it aint broke, break it, then get the rich to pay for it. Then when it doesn't work right, get the rich to pay for it to be returned to it's original condition.

The beacon of the liberal left is getting dimmer every year.

How many times have you debated a friend on the left who points to Europe as the model of what the US should strive to become?

What part of double digit un-employment, sky high taxes, and low productivity that leads to protectionism and to a future where their children cannot compete, is so appealing? Even the Times has taken off the blinders at least for today.

Their population is decreasing. That is bad. Why? When you have 1/3 of the population soon to be over 65 years of age, in a welfare state where the number of productive tax paying workers is actually shrinking, that is a recipe for disaster or revolution. I actually think that in ten or twenty years the young people of Europe may actually look towards communism as a viable alternative to the failed socialism they have grown up with.

Besides, Che Guevera t-shirts are great for picking up chicks.

My dream job, (snif) gone before my eyes.

I wonder if this will make it into Hugh's revised version of 'BLOG'?

100k a year for Bo, Luke and Daisy Duke.

Class of 2005, a word or two if I may.

This morning I was driving back from a meeting listening to Eric Hogue on KTKZ. At one point in his show he was making a reference to the Roseville High graduating class speakers and who they would be quoting in their remarks. I believe some of the 'historical figures' that will be quoted include Cinderella, Pocahontas, Jimminy Cricket and another that slip my mind.

He asked for any words of wisdom for these high school students ready to be set loose on the world. I called in with a quote from my father, who in his own rural wisdom said.

"When someone says you have great potential, its another way of saying you haven't done squat"

So graduates, take heed from this piece of useful advice. Right now on a couch somewhere in their parents basement sits a 31 year guy eating a bag of doritos and blogging about how he could have done a better job directing 'Revenge of the Sith'. He has been to about four junior colleges, trying to 'find himself', attended three weeks of ITT Tech but just couldn't get with all that programming stuff. Now he sits in front of his computer trying to find someone to dazzle with his keen intellect. Do you get the picture?

That kid, when he graduated from high school, had a lot of potential.

Go out and do something, even if you fail.
Like Nike says, just do it.