John Kerry - I apologize to no one

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Here I was thinking John Kerry and I had nothing in common. It turns out that we have mutual friend. My buddy Jeff. When we were in college he taught me the proper etiquette for dealing with the fallout from saying some genuinely stupid. Admit nothing, deny everything, counter accuse. Senator Kerry must know Jeff or the person who taught this technique to Jeff. The problem is it only works on drunk people. Kind of a Jedi mind trick that you can try when all else fails.

All else has failed for John Kerry and he is left trying to move the media's attention from his remarkably offensive comments back to where all the worlds problems emanate from, the desk of George W Bush. If you stand a democrat in front of a microphone long enough, they will eventually let their true feeling be known. That is what happened with Senator Kerry. He is still stuck in the "one, two, three, what are we fight for" mindset of the 1960's. He truly believes the military is made up of high school drop outs and people who would otherwise be in jail. That is a myth put forth by liberals and it is flat out wrong.

I am John Kerry and I am reporting for duty you illiterate peasants.

Hat tip to Gateway pundit.

The leave turn, the cool brisk mornings,,,,it's RIOT TIME!

Yes its riot season in France. Kinda like the swallows coming back to Capistrano, the young, mostly Muslim youth come out in the fall to throw gasoline bombs at the police, burn parked cars and set fire to occupied transit busses.

Riot police reinforcements have been deployed in Marseilles after the latest outbreak of urban violence in France left a woman in a critical condition with life-threatening burns.

The President, Jacques Chirac, expressed his horror over the attack, hours after the woman, 26, and three other people were ambushed by rioting teenagers while travelling on a bus in the southern port city on Sunday night.

The assailants, who some witnesses said were as young as 15, forced the doors of the bus open, spilled flammable liquid inside, and set it alight. There were similar attacks in cities across the country at the weekend, the anniversary of the start of rioting and car-burning that brought terror to cities last year.

Ah, the paradise of socialism. Where do I sign up?


Spilled flammable liquid? What a load of crap. Why can't the reporter just give me the facts? These criminal scumbags didn't 'spill' flammable liquid, they doused the inside of the bus with gasoline and set it on fire and may have burned a woman to death.

I am sure the French will surrender soon.

Eco-idiocy.

Julia Roberts owns a Prius? Yea, and I own ski boots, so what, I ski about every five years. Does that make me a leader or a spokesman for alpine skiing?

Julia Roberts was reported by the TMZ film buffs' website last week to be the owner of a Toyota Prius, the first commercially produced car with a hybrid electric-petrol engine.

But TMZ also noted that Roberts travelled by private jet from Chicago to Los Angeles, consuming 9545 litres of aviation fuel.

Other Prius drivers with a fondness for private jets include Jennifer Lopez and Brad Pitt. The latter's recent private jet charter to Namibia with his lover, Angelina Jolie, burnt an estimated 50,000 litres of air fuel -- "enough to take a Prius to the moon", said TMZ.

I imagine it must be the second hardest job, behind being the presidential spokesman, to be a publicists for one of Hollywood's elite. You live among the eco nutjobs and liberal elite most of the time and they want to know what your celeb is doing to save the environment from this, that or the other. "My celeb drives a Prius." Congratulations, you have just told the world that you client's commitment to the environment is purchasing a $24,000 dollar car.

"But they do care about the environment, they attend all these fund raisers and do commercials for environmental causes." That's nice. If you want to impress me and assuage your guilt, give all your money to Greepeace or some climate think tank. I mean every penny you have and every dollar in your accounts receivable ledger. Sell your mansion in Malibu and the one in Aspen and the one on the French Riviera, and the townhouse in Manhattan, all your holdings, sell it all. Fire the heard of people and assistants that work for you, keeping you from having to deal with that pesky real world.

Do that and then you can lecture me on how we are destroying the environment.

Dad, there's a cowboy at the door.

Don't be alarmed if you get a knock on your door tomorrow in Woodland and you see my smiling mug. I am precinct walking tomorrow morning as part of the Yolo County GOTV machine.

I will be without my cowboy hat, although I might be wearing my GOP cap.

See ya.

Muslin Women - Equal halves or a weapon used by Satan?

Why is it that none of the Muslim clerics who hate the US and the west speak at Rotary Club breakfasts? Why it is always someone from CAIR?

Lets see, what am I supposed to believe?

"Another misconception, Dina said, is the idea that Muslims place women on a social status beneath men." and "Women are actually seen as equal halves of men, as complementary to men."

This came from Dina El-Nakhal, a nice young Muslim woman at a Rotary Club Meeting this week in Woodland.

Or do I believe this guy, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali?

"If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat?

"The uncovered meat is the problem."

The sheik then said: "If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred."

He said women were "weapons" used by "Satan" to control men.

"It is said in the state of zina (adultery), the responsibility falls 90 per cent of the time on the woman. Why? Because she possesses the weapon of enticement (igraa)."

So who is telling me, an infidel cowboy in Esparto, the truth?

It seems likely that inside the US, the young woman at the Rotary is truly speaking about the Islam she knows and loves. The problem is outside the US, where the sheik's view of Islam is just as known and loved. That is the Islam I am worried about.

The folks from CAIR remind me of 'Baghdad Bob'. Remember Saddam's minister of 'the things you are seeing on TV aren't really happening' or whatever the guys title was. CAIR wants you to believe that all Muslims are just like them, happy people who mean us no harm and want to be left alone to worship a religion we don't understand much about. The problem is there are a few million Muslims in the world who want us dead. That is a fact. They wanted is dead before 9/11, before the war in Iraq and before we changed the formula in Classic Coke. They hate us because they have been taught to hate us by their parents and grandparents.

How many Muslims were killed last year in the US by Jews and Christians who just wanted them dead because of their religion? Anybody? Anybody?

What about Seattle? Oh yea, that was a Muslin nutjob gunning down Jews because, well they are Jews. Or the Muslim grad student who rented an SUV and tried to kill as many students as he could at UNC to protest the treatment of Muslims around the world? Those are just the ones off the top of my head.

I have an idea, why not send the folks from CAIR back out into the Arab world to teach and inform the rest of their Muslim brethren that we here in the US are not the Devils that the local cleric down at the mosque says we are. And while you are at it, try telling that to the folks down at the mosque here inside the US. That would have more of an impact than getting on TV every time a Muslim goes nuts and shoots up a Jewish school, demanding that the local police do all they can to eliminate any anti-Muslim backlash.

A long time forgotten.

A long time forgotten, the dreams that fell by the way.

Do you have dreams that fell by the way? I do. I believe we all do. Some silly, some unbelievably unattainable, some that would have been fun to experience, some that would have ended tragically because deep down we are still the imperfect beings that we are.

I had the good fortune of having my friend Larry go with us on our last hunting trip. Larry is in his late 70's and is retired from a career in law enforcement and a stint in the army. Larry had lived his life, he will not be getting the cleaning deposit back when he is through with it. After a day of hunting in the mountains, we would sit back around the campfire, having an adult beverage and swapping stories. I asked Larry if he had any regrets, or an opportunity that he passed on that he now wishes he had taken. He told us that he had an opportunity to be a game warden in the area where we were now hunting, Modoc County, he said he thought that would have been great. He also said that you never can tell how things might have worked out. All in all, he had no regrets.

I remember one piece of wisdom Larry gave my friend Dan. They were deer hunting and they had both killed nice bucks the same day. That night as they watched the sun set, Dan was saying what a perfect day they had, Larry agreed and then said that too many people spend their lives trying to relive that day or time in their life and are miserable as a result. I thought about it and I agree.

I remember going to the Stonyford Rodeo as a young man. Not that I went to the rodeo mind you, I have only watched it once in the six or seven trips I have made. The Stonyford Rodeo was just an excuse to spend the weekend at East Park Reservoir, camping with my drunken friends. The first few times I had a fantastic time, at least the parts that I can remember. The last time I went, the crowd had changed, it was younger and probably just as loud and obnoxious as we were at that age. I havenÂ’t been there in years, if I do go back it will be for the rodeo. The point is, you can spend years chasing your youth. Drinking yourself into a stupor in your 20's is dumb, doing it in your 30's is ridiculous and sad. If you're over 40 and still drinking yourself into a stupor, brother, you have problems and need real help and fast.

I enjoy the good times as they come. I just don't need the sensory stimulation of being in the front row at a Van Halen concert. I get a great feeling watching my children grow and experience things for the first time. A party in the back yard with my friends or spending a day hunting with son is wonderful. I also enjoy a beautiful sunset, or just a quiet time alone in prayer. My idea of a good time has changed over the years.

Well, maybe one more Van Halen concert, if they ever bring back David Lee Roth.

Angry? Yes. Not voting? Are you kidding?

As I write this, I am angry. My anger comes from a few different sources and both targets are at the opposite ends of the political spectrum. The first source of my anger is indeed part of the dreaded 'Republican backlash'. I am still fuming about the moderate republicans giving cover to the democrats by opposing the administration's detainee treatment program. I am angry at the administration's late to the party attitude on border security. I am angry that Mark Foley is a drunken pervert and wasn't caught sooner. I am angry at that it took an election year for the Republicans to actually pass any type of spending discipline, and a weak one at that. Yes, I am angry at Republicans.

I am also angry at the way the media covers the Republicans missteps, mistakes and just plain stupidity. Do a search on the Washington Post for Mark Foley scandal, 337 hits. Any stories on Harry Reid and his land deal? 16 hits. The playbook is classic, just like the DUI story days before the 2000 vote. Suppress the conservative voter turnout and the Democrats win.

So here I am, sitting in my semi-comfy Office Depot chair 16 days away from the election, am I really contemplating sitting this election out? Am I going to show those damn Republicans how the cow ate the cabbage and let them loose this election so we can do a little purification of our ranks for 2008? Not on your life.

If Keith Olberman thinks I am sitting home on election day to protest my displeasure with Republicans he needs to put down the crack pipe and get back to someplace resembling the real world.

I will be walking precincts next weekend and sending what money I can to where it will do the most good.

Speaker of the House Nancy?
I shudder at the thought.

My mail box is getting full.

Is it just me or is everyone sending voter guides and mailers to every living human with a mail box?

I know a few folks running for office this year and the amount of money it takes to run a congressional campaign is staggering. I often wonder if the mailers and the yard signs are products of habit. That's what you do when you run for office, you mail unsolicited cards to registered voters and put up yard signs. Habit.

I know name recognition is a big part of the game with most of the electorate. If they know your name you have a huge leg up on your opponent, unless your name happens to be Mark Foley.

Why not spend an evening at every volunteer firehouse, school, senior center and taco truck in your district. Sure you are going to get the one or two moonbats at every event. But I would spend time in every place that holds more than 20 people at least three nights a week until the people are sick of seeing you in their town. The may get tired of you, but I bet they will know your name and know you position on the issues.

I know its easier to mail out glossy card stock pamphlets and pound in a few hundred yard signs, but how does that make you any different that the guy you are running against? Gas is getting cheaper, two dozen donuts and a pot of coffee don't cost much and talking is free. Meeting with the chamber of commerce in a town or city is great, but I would ask those folks to hold an 'ask your candidate' night at their home or local fire station. Answer the dumb questions, but get people thinking about one man or woman. The person they vote for. If they have met that one person, they may feel connected to their government just a little bit more. That is the first step.

When they start asking what you can do for them, answer like Ronald Reagan "I can't do a damn thing for you if I don't get elected".

What did I miss?

Like a bad rash, I have returned.

I came through the door last night about 8:00, said hello to the family and headed straight for the shower. After a debrief by the wife of the events I missed while I was away, I gave her the high and low points of my trip and went to sleep. For any of you who have spent a week or more sleeping on the ground in a freezing tent, you know the joy of slipping between the cotton sheets of your own bed. I am just now getting to my bags for unpacking and laundry. Yes, I am being lazy today, if that's ok with you. Or even if its not.

I did not get a buck.
Am I disappointed? I little.
Did I have a bad hunting trip? Not at all.

When my friend Mark picked me up at my house and we drove my Jeep onto the car trailer, we had hopes that we would be able to get into some tight places that we could not reach with a full size pickup. That was the plan. The plan started coming unraveled around the town of Maxwell when one of the wheel bearings on the trailer started spewing white smoke from the left side. Crud. On to plan B.

We decided the best course of action would be to limp the trailer back to Mark's house in Arbuckle and proceed to Alturas to meet up with the rest of the party at our friend's house. We gathered my gear from the Jeep and headed back up the road towards Modoc County. I kept telling myself that when it comes to deer hunting there are the essentials and everything else is just makes the trip more comfortable. The essentials are - rifle, ammunition, hunting license and deer tag. I made sure those went inside the pickup and threw the rest of my gear in the back.

We spent the night at my friend Stig's house in Alturas. He moved from Yolo County last year and knows the area we would be hunting. I could have used a good nights sleep but Stig wakes up at 4:00 every day, so I joined him for breakfast and we talked about his new place and life in Modoc County. Before he left he gave us some much needed fire wood and we drove up into the Warner Mountains in search of a good spot to camp.

We found a great spot back in the mountains to make camp. This little stream was a few hundred feet from camp and we would find deer grazing there in the mornings as we went for water.

We set up both wall tents and my dome tent, we had planned to use the big wall tent as kitchen and dining hall if the weather turned bad but after the first night's rain storm it was clear and cool all week. We spent the rest of the day looking for deer sign and a good spot to hunt for the morning.

Mark and I ran into a few does and fawns on opening day but no bucks. The next day we hooked up with Dan and Larry and decided to walk a ridge down into a valley. That was a good idea. Mark and Larry killed nice bucks about forty yards from each other. When we finished skinning and dressing the bucks and had them wrapped in deer sacks we stopped and had a toast to 'bucks in camp'.

The next few days I hunted with my friend Dan. We hiked, walked and stalked the Warner Mountains without seeing a legal buck for a day or two. At that point we decided to go check his cows down in Madeline. It was a two hour drive from camp down dirt roads with small sections of asphalt thrown in to break up the dusty, bouncy trip. We found most of his cattle at a small windmill in a high dessert meadow. I love the high dessert, some people see sage brush and rocks, I see the beauty of it. We counted the cows and calves and wrote down the ear tag numbers and went back to Stig's house for a real shower.

The next day we set out to hunt a small piece of unburned timber close to where Larry and mark had shot their bucks. As we finished our hunt I decided to see if there was anything back on top of the ridge and Dan was waiting below as I saw the flash of horns that belonged to a big buck go crashing down the side of the ridge. I knew the shot had to be Dan's and I went down to see if he had gotten a clean shot. He did. This was the only buck I saw on the trip. I was only able to see the top of his head for an instant before he ran down the hill, but I a glad that Dan was down there, I doubt if I would have had another chance at him.
I was now the only guy in camp without a deer. Every buck our party had taken was within one hundred yards of me. I had just been on the wrong side of the ridge or pushed the buck to the shooter. Oh well, I still had a few days to hunt.

I must have walked 20 or 30 miles in the week at over 6,000 feet in elevation. I came down from a hike to find a truck parked at the bottom of the hill and talked with two hunters. They said they had watched me walk down the ridge and through a small valley, but I didn't push out any deer. The one guy said I was 'the walkinest fat guy' he had ever seen. I said thanks, I think.

The next day Dan and I drove into Likely for grub. Likely is small town, and this is coming from a guy who lives in a small town. Likely is a bar, a cafe and a general store. It's just like the town I grew up in, minus the bar and cafe. On the way we were held up by a local traffic jam. An outfit was pushing a few hundred cows and calves down the road. We stopped and offered the cowboys a cold one, but they said they would wait until they were finished. It reminded me of being a kid pushing cattle down the road, smiling at the city folks who were furious at us for using 'their' road to move our cows.

The last evening I had decided to take more pictures of the trip. I always wish I had taken more photos that I did on any trip and thought this might be my last chance. I took this shot of Eagle Peak and slid the camera back in front pocket, at least I thought it was pocket. It wasn't.
My Kodak Easyshare CX7530 went crashing down the thirty foot cliff I was sitting on and I was sick. I though I had lost all the pictures of our trip and I spent the next hour walking up and down a freakin' cliff trying to find my camera. Just about dark, Mark came to pick me up with his truck. I told him what happened and he started climbing the rock face to see what could find. He found my camera snagged on a log in the rocks, it still worked. We drove back to camp in a great mood. I didn't get a buck, but I did have the pictures of our trip. Those seem to last a lot longer than the venison.

I may post more photos of the trip if I get permission from my friends to put their mugs on the internet.

Light Blogging? No Blogging!

This may be my last post for a fortnight. I am heading out on a hunting trip for 10 days and being the procrastinator I am, I have so much to do.

Tune up and service the Jeep.
Finish packing my hunting gear.
Finish packing my camping supplies.
Watch the three movies I rented Monday. ( what was I thinking )
Find my darn polypropylene long underwear.
Snowseal my boots.
Ect. ect.

I am hunting the north east corner of California.
The weather is going to be nasty for a while but is due to be clear and cold next week.

I will be miles and miles away from a computer, and besides, taking my laptop to deer camp is a sin, I am not sure if it is mortal sin, but I am not willing to take that chance. That and the fact my friend Dan would surely use it to drive his tentpegs into the ground. He is a deer camp purists. I will have to hide my all-in-one shampoo conditioner from him. He never misses a chance to ridicule a fellow camper from a breach of etiquette.

I will return the 14th or so with a scuffy beard, a nice buck in the freezer (hopefully) and some great stories to tell you.

See ya!