What am I looking for in my next President?

A true conservative. Smaller government, lower taxes, an honest to goodness wire and concrete fence along our border with Mexico - all the way from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, someone who will fight the terrorists even when it becomes unpalatable to the public and someone who will veto every bill he thinks is bad for America.

I don't need a moral example to follow, I don't need an academician who can write an 1,100 page position paper on the global implications of a shift in power of the German Parliament and I don't need a moderate in conservative wrapping paper.

July fourth can't get here quick enough. In response to a tepid field of Republican candidates, rumors that Fred Thompson is going to announce his candidacy for President has been greeted warmly in conservative circles. My circle being one of them. Now before the opposition research comes back and finds that Fred scored with the entire Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders squad after a night of body shots at Hooters, let me be the first to say, I am not really interested in the man's personal life.

I have been a supporter of President Bush, I haven't agreed with him on all issues, on some I have strongly opposed him. I think he is good man, he goes to church, he believes in Jesus Christ and yet he is trying to sell us down the river with this illegal amnesty deal that will make the Mexican border look like the Oklahoma land rush of 1889. I do think he understands the threat posed by radical Islam and that goes a long way in my book, but at a certain point I have to say enough.

This Immigration Bill is all broth, no meat. A tiny fraction of real fence. The 'triggers' are not serious, they are not defined as to who will process these 12 million illegal aliens, who will perform the background checks and no special consideration of granting a temporary work visa to illegals from nation who have a history of sponsoring terrorism.

A promise of a few hundred miles of fence that will never be completed, a promise of background checks, a promise to punish employers who hire illegals, in case you were not around for it, this tale has been told before. I was there for that amnesty, the flood gates opened and have never closed.

I don't have a problem with Mexicans, I always said that if they threw off the corruption that plagues every facet of life in Mexico, they would be a power player in our hemisphere. The people are hard working, they are devoted to family, they are mostly religious and the country has vast amounts of natural resources. They should have a booming economy, but they don't.

If we could stop the flood of illegal aliens across the border long enough for the 12 million or more that are here now to absorb into the fabric of America, that would be great. You want guest workers, ok, you want more legal immigration from Mexico, great. Lets do it in a way where we don't swamp our schools, our hospitals and our cities with a never ending tide of people with no money, who don't speak the language and want government services.

The democrats are banking on all these illegals becoming loyal voters, I don't know what the President is banking on. If the only way to save Social Security is by bringing in amnesty induced workers to pay for the baby boomers retirement, tell us, we big boys and girls, we can handle the truth. If native born Americans are not having enough children to pay for our increasing welfare state, tell us, we can have a 'war on childlessness' if I can coin a phrase.

All I want is a real debate. You can call me a bigot and a nationalist or whatever the codename is for anyone who dares ask a pointed question about a truly flawed piece of legislation that will change the face of our nation for generations, but I want to know why we are doing this.

Fred, do you have a comment?

Thompson, speaking at the National Restaurant Association annual show, said the bill will not win the support of the American people because they don't trust senators' promises to block illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border into the U.S "Nobody believes them. It goes to the bigger issue of the lack of credibility our government has these days,"

Bingo

I have a fever, and the only perscription is.....

MORE COWBELL!

The former California teenage surfer turned al Qaeda propaganda chief, Adam Gadahn, repeated his threats to kill Americans on a new tape posted on the Internet Tuesday afternoon.

Wearing a white turban, beard and glasses, Gadahn issued what he called a set of six "legitimate demands," saying, "We don't negotiate with baby killers and war criminals like you, Bush."

The first thing we demand is,,,,, is MORE COWBELL you infidel swine!

Ok, so I made that last part up. And I may have doctored the photo just a bit.

For Sale, 5 acres in Crawford Texas. Seller motivated.

Cindy Sheehan is going home and getting out of the public eye. She is selling 'Camp Casey' near the Crawford Texas summer home of President Bush.

Camp Casey has served its purpose. It’s for sale. Anyone want to buy five beautiful acres in Crawford , Texas ? I will consider any reasonable offer. I hear George Bush will be moving out soon, too...which makes the property even more valuable.

I wish her the best, stop laughing, I really do. Reading her DK post it seems evident Cindy is loosing her grip on reality and sees nothing but horror after horror, conspiracy after conspiracy being perpetrated by and on America.

Good-bye America ...you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.

If there is a person who needs serious professional help, it is Cindy Sheehan. I hope she seeks that help and embraces it.

If not, she will be back in the spotlight soon, ranting about the coming Haliburton takeover of the supreme court or standing next to Hugo Chavez as he burns down the last opposition newspaper in Venezuela.

Please Cindy, just go back home and work on yourself for a while.

Nothing better than the cold, crisp sheets of your own bed

After any trip of three days or more, nothing feels quite like the crisp sheets of your own bed. Having returned a day early to avoid the zoo on the roadways tomorrow and to get some work done around the house, I am very happy to be crawling into the California King. pillow top, soft yet firm, luxury that I am so familiar with.

No matter how they try, the four inch foam pad of an RV bed isn't quiet the same.

Small group update

Tonight was our 5th small group study in the 40 Days of Community we are following at our church.

I had more than a few anxiety attack over hosting our small group, but those fears had been swept aside, replaced by feelings of fellowship and excitement. Our group has one more meeting left in this series but we have all decided we will continue with our group and hopefully grow even larger. We are having a dinner after our last 40 days study for all the family members of our group as well.

We are planning all sorts of outreach to our community and have completed a few as a group all ready. We are on roll and don't want to stop. We are praying for God to put people in our path and in our hearts that need his love, and to help us find ways to make that love evident. To steal a line from Phil Vascher, "There is no happier place than the intersection of God's will and your giftedness."

Please don't take this as a 'look at me, aint I great' story, to the contrary, this is not about what we are doing, it is all about what God is doing. It is easy to get busy with life and never get around to reaching out in a spirit of love to others around us. A small group is a great way to plan, brainstorm, organize and actually do some of those things you have always wanted to do, if you could only find the time. One night a week, 90 minutes is all it takes to bring many different talents, resources and gifts together for a common purpose, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ without using words.

I would recommend this to anyone who is going to church and finds themselves disconnecting from their faith or wants to grow in their faith. It has made a real difference in my life.

Safety Underwear, I'm sure Al Gore has a pair.

For the man who has everything, here is a unique gift idea.
A perfect complement to your tinfoil hat, safety underwear to protect your,,,,, boys from cell phone radiation.

I guess its better that an aluminum foil jock strap and hopefully much more comfortable.

If you need proof that we have long since reached the apex in our climb towards civilization and are rapidly speeding down the other side, here it is.

Civil War church service

Sunday we are heading back out to the Civil War re-enactment at Gibson Ranch Park in Sacramento, Elverta actually. The service is usually open only to re-enactors but this year the public will be able to attend.

The weather is great this year, for a change, and the cannons are LOUD!

Come out at see a piece of living history this weekend, the kids love it.

5 Years left to save Earth!

Oh please.

Our planet is just five years away from climate change catastrophe - but can still be saved, according to a new report.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warns governments have until 2012 to "plant the seeds of change" and make positive moves to limit carbon emissions.

2112? Why not 2011? Why not 2088? Only five years? From today or from January 1st?

But the Climate Solutions document says technologies already available could be harnessed to produce enough sustainable energy to power the planet while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60-80%.

Dang, why don't we do it if its so easy? Where is their detailed plan? Oh yea, it must include crushing all privately owned automobiles and demolishing all US factories replacing them with anarcho-syndicalist communes. What about the developing super polluters like China and India? Are they going to buy into this new plan?

"We can slash carbon emissions and meet global energy demand without resorting to the red herring of nuclear power.

Oh, so as long as we don't use carbon free nuclear power we can save the world, right? If they are so concerned about saving planet, why do they oppose a safe, clean and plentiful, carbon free technology like nuclear power? Maybe they could buy and extra decade to save the world if the embraced nuclear power.

Oh this just in, maybe the scientists who claim the 'Earth is to end in five years so give me another 10 million in research grants' have found that when you make stupid prediction that scare the crud out of people and they don't come true, you look like the southbound end of a northbound horse.

Climate Momentum Shifting: Prominent Scientists Reverse Belief in Man-made Global Warming - Now Skeptics
Growing Number of Scientists Convert to Skeptics After Reviewing New Research

Oh for the love of Cavemen everywhere.

Stephen McPherson's office at ABC Television;

Ok, thanks for coming everyone, first off, we need to pick up the ratings for primetime. I need ideas, lets think big, lets think outside the box. Who is the Billy Ray Cyrus or the Spice Girls of 2007?

Billy Ray who?





Is that the dude with the sick mullet? That dude rocks. I mean the song sucked, but the hair was tight.



Uh, yea. So, who do your friends think is going to be the next big thing? What's hot with your demographic?



Our what? Hey dude, when do we get paid again?



Right after this brainstorming session.



Cool, I need to pay my sister for rent, she's like, going to kick me to the curb if I don't give her some folding money.




Dude, I feel ya. Totally.




Uh, yea, back to the TV guys, what's hot, what's the coolest thing on the internet right now?




Those pictures of Britney Spears without panti..




No, besides that. We would be violating every rule the FCC has if we showed those photos.




Uh, what about the cavemen dudes from that insurance commercial?




Those dudes rock, they're all like, I'm all mad and stuff cuase people think we're stupid.





Yea, I love those guys! Like the one in the airport when he sees his poster and is all checkin himself out, that one's cool.




You know the song, the 'everywhere I go' song from that commercial, dude, thats my ring tone!




Tight.

Camping, on Memorial Day?

My daughter wants to go camping on her Birthday. It is close to the Memorial Day holiday so we have bent to her will and will be packing up the camper and heading out on the holiday weekend.
My wife's parents live across the street and will be feeding the dogs and such, it is nice to have someone right there to keep an eye on your place when you're away, we do the same for them.

So why have I given in to this obvious lack of reason? My daughter is cute.
Thats pretty much it.

My wife tried to find a campground reservation in every nation forest in northern California to no avail. I came home on Saturday and started looking off the beaten path, I had to way off the beaten path to the goat trails to find a spot to camp away from the crowds. I found one.

No, I'm not telling you where it is. Lets just say it lies between two volcanoes and has more cows than people. My kind of place.
The kids will love the water falls, lakes and forests. I will try to get some reading in.

I feel more relaxed just thinking about it.

The Hippes are comming, the Hippes are comming!

Actually, they are in Davis already. Yes friends and neighbors, its time once again for the Whole Earth Festival.

Now, before you go off thinking I am a loud critic of these folks, let me assure you, I like them. I do.

They take me back to my youth where once upon a time someone came up with the bright idea of selling 5 acre parcels of red dirt covered in manzanita brush and poison oak to unsuspecting hippes fleeing the hustle and bustle of LA. I am not sure why you would want to build a geodesic dome or put up an army tent on a brush pile in northern Shasta County where temperatures reach 109 in the summer and it can snow in the winter, but I guess it was better that living in your parent's basement enduring the torture of Perry Como on the 33rpm stereo.

Anyhow, these people would set up their camps and 'live off the land', or so they thought. One day during the summer, I was irrigating our lower meadows when the irrigation ditch stopped flowing. I told my father and we went to see if the water meter gates had been shut up at the head end of the ditch. Nope, the water was still flowing into the ditch at the head, so where was the water going? We drove through some of the back roads to find a guy with a plywood house had borrowed a backhoe from a neighbor and was damming up the irrigation ditch and diverting it through his property. My father was far from amused. After notifying the rather dirty and bearded hippie, who was wearing cut off shorts and no shoes, that the water in the ditch belonged to the land owners who had purchased the water rights for it, my father told him to remove the dam from the creek or my father would be back with his D-8 Caterpillar to remove it. The guy agreed to remove the dam and my father let him put a small gas operated pump in the creek to get water for his house.

The Hippies were generally nice people although a shower now and then could have done wonders for their public relation efforts. Most of them just wanted to raise a family, grow some dope and be left alone. The school I attended was 50 kids k-12 so we knew everyone. I had a few friends whose parents were 'free spirits' and spending the night at their house was as interesting as it was educational. A 2" pvc pipe and a wooden pallet makes a good shower, but it is cold, maybe the lack of hygiene has something to do with that.

I remember one summer the Hippes decided to have a 'Woodstock Light' on 640 acres of BLM ground where we had our cattle. About 300 to 500 hippes came from all over to drink lots of beer, smoke lots of dope and have sex anywhere they could find shade. That was definitely educational to a 14 year kid ridding his horse, chasing cows, to see women with no clothes on walking though the hillsides picking flowers.

Back to Davis. I walked through the Whole Earth Festival Friday night and while most of the booths were closed, I did see at least half a dozen places selling hemp clothing, along with crafts, jewelry, workshops on how to be a peace activist, and three stages of music and crowds of old, young and everything in between dancing and singing. Lots of kids and dogs as well.

I even saw a distinct and rare subspecies of Hippie, the drum circle hippies. Alas, I had no camera.

So if you feel the need to buy an organic hemp shirt to go along with your tie-dyed tank top, run, don't walk to the UC Davis quad and relive the 60's with those who were there and those who wished they could have been.

Dear Mr. Dork

If you haven't seen this, you should.

Two questions for you.

1. If you don't attend church, why not?
2. If you could give advice to the people who run your local church to make it better, what advise would you give them?

Is it Friday yet?

Wow, what a week. I have been as busy as Al Gore buying carbon offsets.

Bible study, small group, and getting ready for our mens ministry monthly breakfast.
Throw in work, painting the kitchen, getting my new couches and hauling the old ones to our youth group's new facility, I am bushed.

I need some down time, but alas, there seems to be none on the horizon. Friday can't come soon enough.

Maybe I'll chuck it all and raise alpacas.


Maybe not.