Blogs, mom and the MSM.

I had an interesting talk with my mother a few weeks ago . We were talking about blogs and blogging. Her first question of course was 'what is a blog'? After a brief description of blogs and bloggers her next question was simple, why blog? My answer was people don't trust the MSM the way they did 30 years ago, they know there is more to any given story than the edited version on the evening news. She asked if anyone reads my blog. I answered that I do get traffic and people comment on some of my posts, so I guess they do.

My mother is in her early sixties, she has her own web based company, a digital camera and a computer, so she is pretty hip. I am trying to get her more involved in the news she consumes. When the MSM puts out a story on a subject that interests me, I start up the search engine to get more information on the subject. The story may be factual but missing the other side of the story. More commonly the source they quote for the opposing side is not directly related to, or well informed about the subject matter. When the facts don't support the view of the reporter, the most important facts are buried in the last two paragraphs.

Mom and my stepfather Paul watch the Fox News Channel and read the local paper. I am glad that they watch FNC in north Idaho because the local news coverage stops at the Montana border. As I have stated in past posts, FNC does have a slant to the right in some of their reporting and opinion pieces, but taken as a whole they give the most balanced coverage in the MSM. My stepfather Paul is a great guy and has helped me move my mom from the darkside, to the fence, and now in this past election cycle she came over to the right side. I can now see where the misguided ideas of compassion in my youth came from. My mother is a very kind and warm person. Like myself, her list of enemies is very short and usually unoccupied. We want to help people. It is very easy to watch the news and listen to left and their MSM chums talk about slashing this program for the poor, or drastic cuts in that program and come to conclusion that republicans are mean and terrible people. It was only in my late twenties that I started to smell what the MSM was shoveling at me.
Why do I blog? To paraphrase Dick Morris' book, because I can.

Valentine's Day, pitfalls and more pitfalls.

Is there a more dangerous day for men than February 14th? I am at heart an incurable romantic, however this day above all others is unstable ground. I have been married for 17 years now to my wonderful wife. The first valentine's days were great, I could have brought home frozen chicken and a box of 'shake n bake' and she would have thought I was a swell husband for just remembering.
As the years pass and most of your good ideas have already been spent like last month's paycheck, the 'shake n bake' sounds more practical all the time. Chocolate and flowers have been done to death, besides the fact that a dozen long-stem roses costs as much as first horse. My wife is not a jewelry person, a fact that I am eternally grateful for. She is also is not into fashion and $200 shoes. Again, thank you Lord.
Please don't get the idea that my wife is as ugly as mud fence. Not hardly. She is actually a very beautiful woman. She works with horses and is outside most of the day. Her idea of fashion is comfort and practicality. When I met her, she was working her way through school as a secretary across from the Capitol. She wore dresses and heels everyday. Today it's jeans and a polo shirt with sneakers or boots. We go out to San Francisco on special occasions and secretly I think she enjoys doing her hair and make-up and wearing a nice dress. I think she enjoys it because she doesn't have to do it everyday. We make quite a dashing couple, she makes up about 65% our dash.
So back to my issue with valentine's day. She does like chocolate, so I am safe with that, but what else to get her? I have been looking for new pup to get her. This year has been a hard one for us. Two of our old cowdogs passed away this year. We are down to one old border collie, Lexi the jack russel terrier (the little ball of hate) and Jake the wonderdog. I would like to find a kelpie-border collie cross. They have been great working dogs, and good pets in general for us. I have not been able to locate one, so I will keep looking. Dinner and a movie isn't very easy, she gets home at 6:30 and we wouldn't get home till after 10:30, and that is very late for my wife.
I get home before her on most nights and cook dinner, so I could cook a couple of very nice ribeyes and send the kids to grandma's house for the night. That is my fall back position if I get stuck.
I just remembered she does want red carpet roses for the front yard, they are not cheap, but at least they will not wilt in a week.
So there is my plan. I will stop by the nursery and pick up a half dozen carpet roses and bring home a box of chocolates, cook a two nice ribeyes and maybe write a nice note thanking her for putting up with me another year.
No problem.

Valentine's day is a piece of cake, what were you so worried about?

Eason Jordan resigns, does it matter?

Late Thursday news came that CNN's Executive Editor, Eason Jordan had resigned. As the bloggesphere celebrates it's latest victory, many more questions arise from the story.

Do the combined resignation/terminations of CNN's Jordan, The New York Times' Howell Raines and CBS's Dan Rather point to a change in the way the MSM will cover the news?
Yes and no. They may change the way report the news, meaning they will be mindful to stay away from certain language and extremist terms to describe republican policies and republicans in general. The problem is, they will have the bias they always carried, they will just get better at camouflaging it.
It reminds me of the discussion going on inside the Democratic party. It is in fact the other side of the same coin. As the Democrats try to find ways to change the language they use when they discuss values and morality, the MSM will try the same tactic. Change the language, keep the mindset.
Will it work? If I were a betting man, I would give two to one that it will not.
The only way for the MSM, the Democratic party, Academia, and Hollywood to get back to the center of this nation is by using the one ideal they champion but never employ, diversity.
Where is the conservative viewpoint at CNN? Sure, you can say the Robert Novack is conservative. He is also outnumbered by 30 or so. Where are the pro-life Democrats at their convention? There are none. Where are the conservative professors or campus movements? They are shouted down and shunned. Where are the pro-life, moral, and religious movies coming out of Hollywood? Mel Gibson had to bankroll The Passion to get it made.
There is only one viewpoint coming out of these institutions, the left's viewpoint.

Eason Jordan should apply at Fox News for his own show, he could be like Gerraldo.
They might give him one.

Capay Valley Almond Blossom Festival - February 27th

As February arrives thoughts in Yolo County, at least the west side of the County, turn to the Almond Festival. Nothing says springtime like the rumble of 5,000 Harley Davidsons thundering through the valley. Most of the old time residents endure the Almond Festival, or get out of town for the weekend. In my mis-spent youth, the kids would take their dirtbikes, four-wheelers, trucks and jeeps and such to the bridge at Guinda. It was a day of underage drinking, mechanical mayhem and counting the Lifeflight helicopter trips as they would take critically hurt people to the nearest hospital in Woodland.
Those days are past, thank goodness. The AF is becoming a tourist event. That is fine, I still enjoy the FFA Breakfast at the Highschool gym. We take the kids to the midway at the park in Esparto. Vendors, pony rides, food of all sorts, the classic car show, they are a wonderful time for all and a chance to catch up with old friends.
The blossoms paint the valley with hues of white and pink. When the weather cooperates, it really is one of the most beautiful places in Northern California.
If you attend this year, please stop by the Java Station at the left turn corner at the end of main street Esparto. Great baked goods and the best coffee in town. Well, that isn't too hard. The Java Station serves the best coffee in the Capay Valley. That sound better.
Hope to see you there.

Aggies Hoops.

I just returned home from taking my son to his(and my) first college basketball game. Being Kings fans and once having season tickets, I was pleasantly surprised about calling the day of the game and getting two seats in the third row just behind the home bench for 20 dollars. We parked off campus and we rode our bikes to the rec hall. UC Davis was playing UC Santa Barbara. The gauchos put up a good fight and made a close game of it, but the Aggies free throws down the stretch and the ability to break the press put the game away in the final two minutes. My son loved it and wants to come back for the last home game Saturday against Cal Poly. As much as I disagree with most of the politics on campus, at least the ones clamoring for attention, I do like the town and the University. I like to take my son to the campus and ride around to show him what college life looks like. I told him tonight that the people that attend this school didn't just pick it because they like the campus or it was close to home. They applied and worked very hard to get into a University. I think I saw the light go on for a brief minute. If I can get him to equate the homework and other unpleasant things that he has to do, with getting into a school like Davis or a more prestigious school, that may turn up the speed on his work ethic.
One can always hope, right?
Must get to sleep, my son has no school tomorrow, but I have to work.
Ah, to be eleven again!

Raising Cristian Kids.

Last night my wife and I attended the award banquet for my son's 7th grade basketball team. The new principal of the school made a few comments about how hard it is for a small private school to compete athletically with the much larger public schools. The 7th grade team did not have enough players and gave a few 6th grade boys the chance to play. Most of the public schools have 50 to 90 players try out for their team. I was impressed with the heart of our team this year, our record was not very impressive, but our boys played every minute as hard as they could.

The principal also made another comment that stayed with me. He said that he was talking to the manager of a local supermarket about a different subject when the manager said that he has always been impressed with the quality of individuals that come from our school. Our principal was taken aback with the comment. The manager went on to say that if he finds out that a prospective employee graduated from our school that he knew he would have a hard working, polite and honest employee. The principal said that the managers comments were a reminder of what the faculty and staff of the school are really there to do. Getting their students ready for the world.

I agree that since most of our children's day is spent at school, the teachers and faculty play a large part in the development of our kids. However the parents must not come to the conclusion that since I am sending my child to a Christian school that they will teach them about morals and character. It does little to have a child spend the day learning about the proper way to behave only to come home to an environment where the parents are constantly arguing, sibling quarreling and TV blaring.

I see that as my son nears junior high, the peer pressure grows daily. The skater look is in right now, the lifestyle that the video games and magazines hold up as examples of great skaters is a little disturbing. My son received Tony Hawk-underground 2 for Christmas, I told him that I would not get it for him because of the 'tagging' and language in the video game. The game was a gift from his grandmother, so I let him keep it. I don't know if I made the right decision.

His friends are good kids, and in 6th grade they can't get in much trouble. I hope that the lessons that my wife and I try to teach him as well as the example we try to set for him will pay off when we are not around and he is faced with a situation that sounds really fun but he knows is wrong.

I made some good decisions when I was young, I also made some terrible mistakes. I know that both my children will be raised in a loving home with supportive parents, I just hope it will be enough.

CNN's Eason Jordan demands videotape release to clear his good name.

Just kidding, I would like to pose the question, why not?
If were being tarred and feathered day after day by the blogesphere and now that the MSM is starting look into the story, I would be demanding that the videotape of my comments be made public for all to see. If I were innocent.
If Eason Jordan did not say that he thinks the American military is intentionally targeting journalist shouldn't he and CNN be yelling from the tallest tower that it is not true and there is a tape to prove my innocence? Hey, what ever happens in Davos stays in Davos, right.

I really don't care if Eason Jordan gets forced out at CNN. I don't watch their network; unless I want to see Judy Woodruff almost cry on election night. Their ratings are declining and they are playing to a smaller, more liberal audience. Last nights ratings showed almost a 2 to 1 advantage for Fox News. The real scary part for CNN is the younger demographic shows and almost 6 to 1 advantage in a sample this week. The MSM is becoming a reflection of the country, if you are a democrat, watch CNN. If you lean to the right, turn to FNC.
I hope that one way or the other, the Easongate story concludes this week. The MSM's credibility, what's left of it, can't stand the strain.

Superbowl Sunday

I woke up this morning, put on my sweats and headed out the door with Jake the wonderdog to go for our morning walk. Jake has no wonder powers or anything to that effect, he is just incredibly dumb, it's a wonder that he can remember to breathe. So off we went for our three mile jaunt down to the Java Station for a cup of coffee and a bagel to split between us. I remembered about halfway there that the Java Station doesn't open on Sunday till 8:00. Darn it. So we returned to the house to make breakfast for the family. Usually my wife takes my daughter to work on Sundays, but today she wanted to stay with me and my son. My son protested to no end about being home with his sister all day. My son is a great kid and loves his sister as long as she is not bothering him. This rarely happens.
So today I have both kids for Superbowl. Since the game won't actually kick off until 4:30, I am doing chores to break up the seven hours of 'pre-game'. Mowing the back yard again, plant the first spring flowers in the planters on the deck, then hit the grocery store to get my snacks and drinks in case someone stops by.
As much as I like football, unless my team is playing, I can't get too worked up about it.
I hope you have (or had) a great Superbowl Sunday, My kids and I will sit back and enjoy the game and maybe even let Jake the wonderdog inside to watch the Pats beat the Eagles.

I can't possibly drink three liters of sherry.......

Wow, desperate times call for a sherry enema?
The story from Texas is almost too strange to be true.

LAKE JACKSON - Investigators say a Lake Jackson woman caused her husband's death by giving him a sherry enema, leading to alcohol poisoning. The enema caused his blood alcohol level to soar to 0.47 percent — almost six times the legal intoxication limit, a toxicology report showed.

Dang, now I know how to get rid of those two bottles of tequila I have in my pantry.

Ranch branding time is coming, time to shoe my horse.

February can be a very wet and cold month for Yolo County, but this week has been a joy.
The hills are green and lush, the almond blossoms will soon start budding. Hopefully we will have this kind of weather for the Almond Blossom Festival in a few weeks. Springtime also brings a new crop of calves that need to be branded and marked. This is one of my favorite times of the year. With my small herd, it only take a few hours to vaccinate all my cows and brand the calves. I hope I get invited to a few of the larger brandings in my area, or out of my area for that matter.

It has been a while since I had a chance to go to a large branding. I usually start out on the ground crew flanking calves or castrating them just to let the owner or foreman know that I worked cattle before. I have spent the whole day on the ground crew and never complained, it is dirty tiring work, but I love it. I have been to a few brandings where no one wants to be on the ground, everyone wants to rope. This can be a headache and lead to a few hurt feelings. The last thing most cattleman want is a bunch of people with little experience and green horses chasing their stock around the corrals putting a lot of stress on them. This can also lead to very dangerous situations when a 300 pound calf on one end of the rope is going one way, and a bucking (usually riderless) horse is going another. It will almost certainly end up with one or both crashing into the ground crew. It gets a little too western for my tastes.

There usually is a hierarchy to the branding pen. The most experienced hands will start the roping and after they get a good sweat going they will ask someone they know if they want a chance and so on until they get to the people who they don't know and have been invited. You can get a good read on the ability of a cowboy, or cowgirl, by their turnout. If they have a nylon headstall and a brand new rope, watch out. I have also seen a few cowboys show up with all the right gear, a 60' rope and wheelbarrow full of cowpunching stories that couldn't rope a mailbox from 10 feet away.

So I guess I'll get my horse shod and start throwing some loops from my horse, just to make sure he hasn't forgotten what a rope is. I just hope I have someplace to go.

Pelosi & Reid spell out Democratic vision for the future.

( deafening silence )
We hate George Bush and will oppose everything he wants, thank you for watching our response to the State of the Union.

Oh, you want our plan?
We'll have to get back to you on that.

P.S. Get the troops out of Iraq now.

John Kerry,,,,,,,whew, that was close.

I was only able to watch a few minutes of the Tim Russert's show this past Sunday with John F-ing Kerry. What were 57,288,974 democrats thinking? He is Al Gore without the magnetic personality. It's a good thing Gore took credit for the internet, John Kerry would have invented it while on his tours in Cambodia running guns to the Khmer Rouge, with his secret CIA hat. Can this man stop lying to us? The election is over, you lost. Please have a modicum of decency and go away. Tell these stories to your 20 year old interns back in Boston that have no grasp of history, not a national TV audience. There are folks out there who won't let you get away with flat-out fabrication.
The Swiftboat Veterans were told to shut up and go away, you weren't there, oh you were there, well you weren't on his boat, oh, you were on his boat, well, you weren't John Kerry.

I cannot believe that people can't see this man for the fraud he is.

Anita Creamer, bad journalism and intolerance.

Reading this morning's article by Anita Creamer, one could come away with the conclusion that the only intolerant and hate filled people in this land are (gasp) conservative Christians. What hypocrisy.
Creamer's conclusion that Dr. James Dobson was somehow 'outing' Spongebob is false and shows her bias and prejudice against conservatives, especially Christian conservatives.

So SpongeBob's a little light in the loofah.

Dobson, founder of the conservative Focus on the Family group, outed SpongeBob during an inaugural event speech.

"Does anyone here know SpongeBob?" he demanded.

Demanded? Hmm. I wonder if you have audio or video of that clip? Dobson sounds like he is asking a simple question to me. I have googled for an hour and found only one other quote from Dr. Dobson on this; Their inclusion of the reference to 'sexual identity" within their 'tolerance pledge' is not only unnecessary, but it crosses a moral line," James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said in a statement released Thursday.

Maybe the problem here isn't James Dobson issue with using a very popular cartoon character to draw young children to a website that has content that is not age appropriate. Maybe the problem is parents that have watched Spongebob with their children, as I have, and like the cartoon's positive message will have no problem taking their kids to a website that Spongebob endorses only to have the question of sexual identity brought up to their five year old.

Creamer goes on to insult me again with this wonderful line of thinking.

SpongeBob teaches sweet little moral lessons, and he's tolerant of others, which has gone a long way toward turning him into a camp icon among some gay men.

Uh-oh. You see the problem here. Some people have no tolerance for tolerance, and for them, there's no bigger issue.

Way to keep your priorities in line, guys.

Don't place your values on me Anita.

Oh, I see, a Christian conservative cannot like Spongebob because he is tolerant. That is the most insulting aspect to her story. We are all a bunch of bible thumping hicks that are full of irrational fear and utter loathing?. I can't speak for all of Dr. Dobson's readers, but Christians are a very diverse group. Many of the people in my church would not have an issue with the tolerance pledge including sexual identity. I do.

I can't help but wonder how effective a tolerance pledge is? If a child takes this pledge then goes home to an environment of racism and bigotry, is this child going to be inoculated

Respect for others remains the ultimate diss to the especially narrow-minded.

Especially narrow minded, that's nice. Anyone who does not openly celebrate the gay-right agenda is especially narrow minded.? Who is prejudice and intolerance here? I am not intolerant of progressive liberal ideas, I think they are wrong. Going to the extreme, I think Osama Bin Laden's agenda is wrong, evil in fact, does this mean I am intolerant and especially narrow minded? No, it means a disagree with his ideas.

Anita, please let me raise my children. I teach my children about tolerance, respect for others, and keeping an open mind about people and cultures that you are not familiar with. I don't need a 'tolerance pledge' to teach my children that all men are created equal.

A 'vox blogoli' response to Jonathan Rouch.

Thanks to Hugh Hewitt for the platform;

Jonathan, I learned early on that when someone insults you or gives you a back handed compliment and then says "just kidding" when you confront him, that person has just told you exactly what he thinks.

My two cents: "Better they [religious conservatives] should write anti-abortion planks into the Republican platform than bomb abortion clinics" is not a sentence I would have included if I had thought harder about it. It shows carelessness on my part, always blameworthy in a writer.

Your remarks do not show carelessness, they show your unconscious bias and prejudice towards Christian Conservatives. I have read your piece in full and have come away with many more questions than answers. Here are few.

The 2004 post-election maps, which looked almost identical to the 2000 ones, further entrenched the conventional wisdom, to the point where most newspaper readers can recite the tropes: red America is godly, moralistic, patriotic, predominantly white, masculine, less educated, and heavily rural and suburban; blue America is secular, relativistic, internationalist, multicultural, feminine, college educated, and heavily urban and cosmopolitan. Reds vote for guns and capital punishment and war in Iraq, blues for abortion rights and the environment. In red America, Saturday is for NASCAR and Sunday is for church. In blue America, Saturday is for the farmers' market (provided there are no actual farmers) and Sunday is for The New York Times . An odd thing, however, happened to many of the scholars who set out to map this culture war: they couldn't find it. If the country is split into culturally and politically distinct camps, they ought to be fairly easy to locate. Yet scholars investigating the phenomenon have often come back empty-handed.

Where did these scholars look?

If you want to find the red state/blue state phenomenon you may look no further than Yolo County. A largely agricultural county near Sacramento, it is also home to UC Davis. The people's republic of Davis as we call it here in the country is not as 'progressive' as say UC Berkeley, but it is cobalt blue. Some 7 miles away is the City of Woodland, population 50,000 or so. The 62,000 folks in Davis voted for John Kerry in 51 of 52 the precicts. In Woodland, George W Bush carried 16 of the 29 precicts. President Bush won the vote in Woodland by a 53% - 47% margin, very close to the national average. In Davis, well let's say they will host the winter Olympics in Hell when Davis goes republican. Thanks to the liberals in Davis, Yolo County goes blue.

To Mr. Rouch's point that it is just a political divide and not a cultural one, a dark blue Davis resident has nothing in common with the construction worker or cattle rancher from the Capay Valley. Likewise the construction worker isn't going to the gay pride day march or the earth day celebrations in Davis. In my County, 20 miles may just as well be 2,000 miles. Take any Davis student or professor and transplant them to the east village and they would be very comfortable. Take that same person and transplant them to a cattle branding on a ranch just a few miles away and they would go into shock and run screaming as fast as their Birkenstocks could carry them.

Two different worlds in the same County.

As for your claim of independent voter status, I will tell you for whom I voted in the past 5 presidential elections, will you?
I'll wager you lunch at the best (only) restaurant in town that we have not voted for the same candidate once.

Starting a new book, without finishing the last one.

I now have 4 books I am trying to finish right now. I started on the first a month ago and since then I have purchased half a dozen others. I can't stop myself from reading the dust cover or just the forward, I find myself two chapters in and then stop after I realize I need to finish the other books I have started. It must be a sign of some sick twisted affliction I suffer from. Or I have a discipline problem and suffer from being a lazy slacker. I am trending toward the lazy slacker diagnosis.
Are there any others commitment phobic readers out there?

An attention span is a terrible thing to waste.

Are we seeing the last gasp of the Democratic party?

Ladies and Gentleman, I give you Dr. Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National committee. Please tell me that will be the headline next month, pretty please with sugar on top. I cannot think of a more polarizing, unstable, liberal, scare the hell out of the red-state-voter, person to lead the Democratic Party. Well, maybe one, but I don't think Michael Moore will give up his multi-million dollar career making fraudumentaries to run the DNC. Besides, Christmas is over and you have to be thankful for what you have. Howard Dean will do just fine.

Having been a Democrat in my youth, I see the method to their madness. The Democratic leadership can't come to terms with the fact that more people like Republican ideas. It is that simple. If I hear the 'we didn't get our message out' line one more time I will laugh. Your message came through loud and clear, with extraordinary help from the old media. America heard your message and a majority rejected it.

Let's look at the modern face of the Democratic leadership. Who do you see on TV?
Barbara Boxer, Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, Harry Reid. Are these the people who will win over the red-state voters? Can they bring back the cultural moderates who voted for Bush in 04?
No.

Look, I like fire and brimstone conservative speakers who pull no punches and call it like they see it, but do I want these people the face of my party? No, I want to send Governor Schwarzenegger and Rudy Guiliani out to speak with Katie Couric and Larry King. You may call it bait and switch, but it's not. The Republican Party is far more inclusive than the Democrats. How many pro-life speakers were on stage at the Dems convention? Zero.
How many pro-gun rights speakers were on stage at the Dems convention? That's right, zero.

Here is the Canary in the Democratic coal mine, Michael Newdow, and the ACLU. When ever he files a motion to stop any and every form of religious expression from taking place in the public arena, who supports his efforts? It's not the GOP that's for sure. Taking the cross off the Los Angeles seal? It is not Republicans behind that effort either. The Democratic party doesn't get it. These are the issues that people remember, they do not care about an appropriations bill or an up-down vote on aid to Honduras, they care about people changing the America they grew up in.
Pretty simple stuff. But hey, us ignorant serfs and peasants can't figure out all that 'important stuff' like social security and Iraq, so I guess we have to go with what we know. We may be stupid, but when a school tells a history teacher that he can't teach about the declaration of independence because it mentions God, well we understand that just fine.

The Democratic Party is past the crossroads, it took the wrong turn years ago, the only hope they have is to look at the map and make a U-turn. Hitting the Nitrous button when your heading in the wrong direction doesn't get you back on track, it just speeds you further in the wrong direction.

The Red Bluff Bull Sale, I spent a week there one night.

Ah January, it ushers in the new year and all the events that come with a new start. The new year's resolutions that by this time of the month have become new year's suggestions. The promise to start this project, or finish that one. January is full of lists, promises, and for me the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale.

I have been going to the bull sale for twenty years or so, more if you count the times I went with my father when I was a boy. For Muslims it's a pilgrimage to Meca, to Christians it's a trip to the Holy land, to Cowboys, well to Cowboys there is nothing quite like The Palomino Room on Friday night of the bull sale. In my younger and wilder days, I would show up on Thursday of bull sale week with nothing more than my bedroll and 100 dollars spending money and come home broke on Sunday with a smile on my face that would last for a month. No hotels rooms, no warm showers, just a bedroll in the horse shavings and cold hose to wash the hangover away. Ah the good ol' bad ol' days.

About ten years ago, I brought a friend with me to the bull sale. We had a blast and the next year , we invited about two or three more, this year I bet half of Yolo County will be there. I bought a Brangus Bull up there two years ago, and I believe that is the only animal I have purchased. In the past I have made a point to leave the Gelding Sale long before I was intoxicated enough to bid on a $20,000 horse. It truly is a cowboy's paradise. You can purchase a finished bridle horse, a fantastic stock dog, and a range ready bull for $50,000 or just walk through all the exhibitors, watch the horses work and talk to some great people and never spend a dime.

If you have been to the sale, please post a comment.

Make your own damn sandwiches.

Sometimes living in rural community has it's own special challenges. Case in point, newspaper delivery. I was making breakfast for the family this morning and wanted to read the Sunday paper. As I looked out on the driveway, no paper. This is not a unique experience. Out here in the sticks paper delivery is about a three week career. With the price of gas I guess there is not much profit in this endeavor.

Having not thrown out Saturday's paper, I sat down to see what I may have missed. What I found is the best story I have read in the Sacramento Bee in some time. The column is written by Tim McGuire called 'More than work". It had a great story about a priest who fed the homeless with PBJ sandwiches. I googled around and found what I think was the original story.
Here is an excerpt-

Now, let me conclude by telling you a true story I heard this summer that continues to haunt me for a variety of reasons- many of them related to these remarks. My wife and I heard a speaker at Chautauqua tell the story of a friend of his who happened to be a priest. They had been friends for many years but in recent years they have been living a couple of hours apart and therefore did'nt get to see each other very often. But, still they stayed in touch.
In his parish the priest had organized a hunger center and apparently they specialized in providing sandwiches for the homeless and for those who needed a meal. I believe it was referred to as the "sandwich ministry".
Fairly recently the speaker had learned that the priest was suffering from a serious and fatal disease. Indeed, he knew and everyone else knew that his death was very near. The speaker wanted to see his friend one last time so he arranged to visit him. They spent a good day together and the speaker had an opportunity to see the "sandwich ministry" and was very impressed by it. When he returned home he wrote a note to the priest and included with it a check to support the sandwich ministry.
Within a few days two things happened. First, the speaker learned that his friend, the priest, had in fact died. But, second, at that same time he received an envelope in the mail with the name and address of the priest as the return address. Clearly the priest had written whatever was inside just before he died.
The speaker opened the envelope and unfolded the letter. As he did so, the check he had written and sent to the priest fell out and onto the floor. When he looked at what the priest had written just before he died, he read these words: "Make your own damn sandwiches."


The quote stays with me "Make your own damn sandwiches"
sometimes the tragedy is far away and making out a check to Worldvision is the best thing to do. But there are so many instances where warm bodies doing hard work can make such a difference in our local area. Giving is great, but doing helps both the giver and the recipient.

Do you watch CNN?

I was flipping between channels the other night watching the various network's coverage of the tsunami aftermath when I noticed CNN had preempted it's regular broadcast in favor of CNNI.
Wow.

CNN International should rename it's network to Al Jazeera West. I know that my friends on the left think that FOX News is a right-wing church organ, and from time to time , I see the news anchors slant their reporting to the right. But the main difference is I see it and recognize it. When I ask liberals about CNN or the legacy media network's coverage, they don't see the slant. They will not acknowledge it, they don't see any slant because it fits their view of the world.

If I were ever appointed to run the FCC, I would make the networks run a scroll below the talking heads and anchors stating who they voted for in the past 5 elections and a 'score" from the ACLU and the NRA. At the very least you could reasonably assume if the person talking about news story had a bias. They do a similar thing with financial advisors that talk about stocks and mutual funds. There is a disclaimer on the screen that must say if the advisor on the show owns that particular stock or fund.

Can you imagine Judy Woodruff''s score?

Tens of thousands are dead, let the eco-spin begin.

The old media is awash in stories from agenda driven journalist bent on using this tragedy to further their cause. Can we please stop blaming American capitalism for the deaths of people half a world away.
The real story of this event will start making itself known in a few days. As thousands of coastal inhabitants start dying from drinking contaminated water, cholera and typhoid. This situation will get much worse before it gets any better.

I would like to find the UN bureaucrat that had the gaul to call our initial 25 million dollars contribution to the UN relief fund 'stingy". I would like to yank his diplomatic credentials and send him back to Norway to find a real job without a US taxpayer funded expense account. Please show me a successful UN led program. Please?
Haiti? No.
Rwanda? No.
The Congo? No.
Oil for Food? Oh hell no.

A question for President Bush. When will we stop sending the UN money?
We fund about 22% of the UN budget, the most of any nation. Let them keep bad-mouthing the United States, but without using our money to do it.

Let us put that money to good use. Send it to Worldvision.

Tragedy strikes, the people of the United States respond.

Unless you have been in the County lock-up drying out, you have seen the story about the tsunami that has left 22,000 plus dead. My prayers to the families of the lost and missing. As Hugh Hewitt has suggested, please give to Worldvision, they will be need more than we can imagine.
I wonder how hard currency financial aid will come from the EU or Arab nations? I know that the people of the US will do most of the heavy lifting in this crisis, like most others that have come before. The 'Great Satan' helps more of the starving and stricken people on this planet that anyone else. Why? It must be because of the guilt we feel for driving SUV and hogging all the resources in the world. Or just maybe it is because we are a kind nation founded on Christian principals. My vote is for the latter.

Please give. Tonight, far away a father combs the beaches looking for his lost children. He does not care about politics or the Kyoto treaty, he just wants to hold his children again.

Christmas, from a saddle.

I have tried over the years to keep a personal tradition. A Christmas day horseback ride. In my home growing up we opened our presents Christmas eve night. I loved waiting in my room to hear Santa land on the roof with his sleigh. I would hear footsteps on the roof and what seemed like three hours later, my mother would tell us to come in and see what Santa brought. I would later figure out that Santa's reindeer don't wear cowbells and the thought of my father running around the house clanging the cowbells while my Mom put the wrapped presents under the tree stills makes me chuckle. The best part was on Christmas morning, the parents can sleep in and the kids can wake at any hour and go outside and spend the entire day riding their new bike or skating or what have you.
When I met my wife and started going to her house for Christmas I was shown the other, more traditional way to open the presents. Christmas morning everyone gets up, the kids who will not stir any other day of the year until 8:00 am will wake at 6:05 and start pestering the parents to get up and start opening presents. Everyone stumbles to the tree and the paper storm starts. Then there is clean up, breakfast, a shower and then by 10:30 you can start playing with your toys in ernest.
Now that I have grown, I still love Christmas. My wife has won the battle and we open our presents on Christmas morning, but I do get to have some time for myself on that day. When we lived on the ranch, I would saddle a horse just after the presents were opened and ride for a few hours by myself. I don't think there is any better decompression for me than a quiet ride alone. Time to think, time to reflect, the rhythm of the hooves on the ground, the feeling of the horse moving under you is unique. This year we are going to the snow on Christmas day. We will go tubing with the family and have a picnic lunch in the snow. I am looking forward to it, but I will have to put off my ride until Sunday morning after church.

College Terrorism?

Frontpage magazine reports a disturbing piece about the College Republican Club at UCSF.

Tolerance? Peace? Free Speech? Oh, don't be silly, Republicans don't deserve any.
The left in this country wants to call themselves the party of free speech?

What a joke.

Agnostic? Secular Liberal? Merry Christmas anyway!

I spent the past few hours Christmas caroling with my local 4-H club through the town of Esparto, the kids had a great time and the residents of our small town enjoyed the entertainment. I am sure this would infuriate the ACLU members in our town, if we had any, a government supported youth group singing about Christmas!

How dare these rural hillbillies take our tax dollars and use them to celebrate a religious event. Start plucking the chickens and boiling the tar, we need to run these Jesus freaks out of town.

The people who want to eliminate all symbols of religion from public view are the same ones who rail at conservatives for not celebrating diversity. Let me give you a little something to chew on. Secularism is a religion too. Just look at the way the secular left in this country views the role of government. To them it is the way, the truth, and the light. The courts and the law have replaced God and the Gospels. The model that they want to emulate is socialism, if not out-right communism. Just ask any member of the ACLU, after they have had a few too many glasses of chardonnay.

The reason behind this pursuit of the all powerful government? The more powerful the government, the less powerful the citizens that inhabit that nation will be. If on the other hand, the rights of the people come from God and it is the job of government to protect and not to infringe upon them, the citizens remain free. Free to practice their religion, free to check the staggering growth and power of the government. Free to pursue life, liberty and happiness.

When George Bush outlaws all religions except his brand of Christianity, then I will be out in front of the Whitehouse with my picket sign, or rifle, marching on Washington. Short of that, this is still a Christian nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

Have a Merry Christmas, while you still can.

Hogue vs. Williams - a Sacramento street fight

While I love a good debate, I am getting rather tired of the media mud-clod throwing match between KTKZ's morning host Eric Hogue and KFBK's evening host Mark Williams. While I do support Eric's side in this ongoing feud, I do wish both would get on to more important items, the upcoming media battle over Ted Costa's Fair Districts plan as one example. The Sacramento Bee's staff will be looking for ammunition to debunk any effect from talk radio, they will use the feud to undermine the influence both shows may have in the battle for the hearts and minds of the listening public. Lets agree to disagree. If there is another mud-clod thrown, duck. The capitol region listeners and blog readers deserve better.

Too smart for our own good?

I am sure that for as long as people have pondered things, people have pondered weather humans have grown too smart for our own good. I am sitting down at my laptop listening to Sheryl Crows' greatest hits on my headphones so as not to disturb my wife, blogging on the internet, sharing my random thoughts with people around the globe.

What would my grandfather think of that? Would he think it was even possible?

I often thought my father's generation saw the most change. My father was born in 1915, he rode a horse to school, lived through the depression, built PT boats during WWII, saw the advent of passenger air travel and a man walking on the moon through a device called television.

I was born in 1965, I remember Neil Armstrong's walk, remember listening to Walter Cronkite tell is how many US soldiers were killed in Vietnam that day, watched the "duck and cover" films about what to do in the event of a Solviet nuclear attack, saw the same Solviet Union die under it's own weight without a shot fired, bought a commodore 64 and thought it was pretty cool.

I now ponder what my children's generation will see? It is my hope that his generation will do wonderful things. Every son is sure that they are smarter than their father, every father is sure their son is a hopeless slacker. Every generation thinks the next will learn from their mistakes. I pray my son learns from our generation. The biggest mistake that I can think of right now is forgetting that there are people in the world that want nothing more than to see and your family dead. Democrat or Republican, a member in good standing of Greenpeace or the NRA, a pacifist vegetarian or a beer drinking redneck, they want to see you convert to their radical form of Islam or die a horrible death. That is a cold hard fact.

It would be nice if we could convince these people that we are not evil, but it's not going to happen. They want to send everyone back to the 14th century. That would be a bad thing. Although I would stop getting SPAM and popups, I would like my daughter to go to school and have the right to vote and run for the presidency. We have the means to make the world a better place, the technology, the most productive and creative workforce the world has ever known. What are we doing with these gifts? What does the world see when they think of American products?
Porn and fast food more than likely.

Why don't they think of the medicine and food we send around the world? When there is a natural disaster, who gives the most? The people of this nation are the most generous when it comes to the suffering of the needy. I should say that some of people in this country are generous. The American Christian, regularly maligned by the mainstream media and the liberal left are the most generous and the best friend of the poor anywhere in the world.

In our quest for new technology and a quicker buck, we have lost sight of what is most important. Leaving our children a better world than the one we inherited. A world without terrorists nations operating openly. A world where basic freedom is embraced. A world where America is looked upon as the greatest force for good. Let's start with a better America, one with a little less Hollywood and porn and a little more Christian faith.

Peggy Noonan

Reading this week's column, I find myself wishing that Peggy Noonan were my neighbor. I am reading her book "A heart, a cross and a flag" right now. It is a series of her weekly columns from the year after 9/11. What a great book, I am giving it to my son to read after I finish. We will have a great time talking about each chapter.

The average guy.

Who is this mythical person? There is a lot of buzz surrounding the average guy. I hear about his television viewing habits, how many pounds of red meat he eats in a given year, and for whom he voted in the last election. There seems to be no end to the amount of data gathered from this person. But lost in all the data gathered and examined is his character. What kind of man is he? Is he honest? Is he kind? Does he cheat on wife? I wonder who I am sharing this country, and the highway with. One can only answer the question by looking at who you see in your everyday life.

Living in Yolo County California, I will concede that my viewpoint may be a bit skewed, but this is my view of my common man: He is not very concerned with the world outside of his workplace, his house or his children's school. This is not a criticism of him, he thinks that he controls very little of his life.

He works hard everyday. On Monday morning, when most sales reps and office dwellers are nibbling whole-grain muffins and sipping their venti mocas listening to the sales manager or department head groan on about what needs to get done this week, the average guy has been at work for three hours and is looking forward to lunchtime. He is concerned that just one more screw-up and he will be fired. He is powerless to change the day to day events at his company, so he goes along with the tide trying not to be noticed. He has learned that a nail sticking up gets pounded down.

When he is at home he tries to relax. This sometimes means not playing with his children, just blanking out in front of the television for an hour or two. He is paying more interest than he should on his credit cards, his home mortgage and his car loan. It's not that he wants to pay more, he just gets lost in all the lingo of personal finance and thinks that the person on the other side of the desk is going to screw him anyway. He does not save enough. When he gets to the end of the month, there is not much ‘extra money” laying around.

He loves his wife, although they don't have many conversations about how they are doing in their lives. They are doing alright, just as good as their neighbors anyway. They don’t go out on dates anymore, they both have to work. When they do get time away from the kids, they feel exhausted. He has not cheated on his wife, sure he has thought about it, but he know his wife would take everything and leave him. He is satisfied with a little flirting at the bar or at the store. He just wants to know he still has it. His kids are pretty good kids, they don't get picked up by the police and they are still in school. He would like to know more about what they think and how they make their decisions, but they don't talk much anymore. They ask for money to go out on the weekend, but they haven't sat down at the dinner table and spoke about life for a long time.

He doesn't care about politics. Once every four years he may go to his local polling place if he really likes a certain candidate or really hates one. He does not watch cable news on a regular basis. When he does, he sees two people on the show and they each tell a story that is opposite from the other. He thinks that these two guys went to the best colleges and they can't agree on what to do, so how should I know? He wonders why the host of the program doesn't tell one of them they are full of beans and tell the viewer why they are wrong.

He doesn't care about the Supreme Court as long as they don't take the pledge of allegiance out of the schools. He couldn't tell you what congressional district he lives in, although he may know the name of his representative, maybe. He has never met his local congressman or woman because they have never come to the small town he lives in. He wonders if his elected officials know anything about his daily life? He would like to ask them where does all his tax money go? He sees the City, County, and State employees driving new cars and trucks while he drives his 6 year old truck with 160,000 miles . When he goes to the city he sees the new three story City office building and he wonders what that must have cost?

He drinks beer during the week and something a little stronger on the weekends. He knows he should quit or at least slow down to just the weekends. But wherever he goes, someone is offering him a beer, or a Jack and Coke. Everyone he knows drinks, his friends and his family. This must be normal, everybody does it.

He is on the whole an honest man. He tells the cashier at the store when she gives him to much change back. He pays his taxes, but if he could find a way to pay less with a slim chance of getting caught, he probably would. It is his money after all.

So what can I say about the average guy in my world?

He is a good guy. He could be so much more, but then again, couldn't we all?

How thankful are you?

(I wrote this almost 20 years ago. Funny how so much has changed, and how much hasn't)

As Thanksgiving approaches, newspapers and blogs are filled with stories written by people telling about what they are thankful for. Many columns are written with wonderful style and prose, with good reason, this is the time of year to reflect on the blessings we hold dearest. My blog for Thanksgiving will touch on this theme also, maybe from a slightly different point of view. Are we thankful enough?

I can only speak on this subject from my own perspective. I could write about what you should be thankful for, however to do this I would have to burden you with my values. You may not, and probably do not, share my values.

Am I thankful enough for the blessings in my life? Not by a long shot. My life, as cluttered as it is with all the trappings of this modern life, is one that 95% of the people that inhabit this globe would trade for in a minute. I am reasonably healthy, the only health problems I currently have or am likely to have are of my own doing. I am never in want for food or clean water. I have a home that keeps me warm in the winter and cool in the summer. I live in an area of the planet that is free from war. I can walk down my street, and with the possible exception of getting hit by a bingo player on the way to the casino, I am perfectly safe.

 
I am married to a wonderful woman. She, like me, has her faults and areas to improve upon. Taken as a package, she is a better wife than I deserve or should expect. I have two great children. My son is 11 years old. He has a very kind soul. He will someday be much larger than I am. Six foot three or four, as the doctor has told us. My daughter is now four, she is a bundle of energy, and cute as can be. She will give me my heart attack, of this I am sure. Our two children are great kids, all though there are challenges and disappointments along the way, they have made me grow as a person and a father. I love them dearly.
So how do I show thanks for all the blessing in my life? I Complain.

 
Do I tell my wife that I love her everyday? No. Do I tell her how much she means to me, and that I would be miserable without her? Not as often as I should. I spend my life thinking about the things she does that I don't like. What about my children? No matter how wonderful my son is, I want him to be perfect. I know that if he tried as hard as I would like him to, he could be a better person. I want the Bs to be As, I want him to keep his room spotless. 

When I stand back from myself, I ask why I don't demand more from myself? Why am I so hard on my son when I should be doing much better running my own life? As for my daughter, she falls under my wife's care more than mine. My wife takes her to school and picks her up. My daughter would much rather spend the day with my wife than me. I love her, but she is Mommy's girl.

I don't think of myself as a bad parent, and if you asked the people that know me, they would say that I do a pretty good job. What I need is change of perspective. I need to stop concentrating on the negative, and start looking at the positive. I am trying to change these habits, however hard they are to break.

November, pheasants, coffee and good friends.

November is special, no other month brings back more memories for me. I love the crisp fall air, the first morning I step out my frontdoor and see my breath brings a little smile. My wife loves the warm weather of summer. If she could find a place that never gets below 75 degrees, she would move there. While I enjoy the warm summer nights on the deck with the barbecue going, there is nothing better in my mind than putting on a wool shirt and loading up my Labrador for the opening day of pheasant season.

The smell of gun oil on my Browning gives me a satisfaction that is hard to put into words. I search around the shop for my hunting vest, looking through the pockets to see what type of shells are there.

If they are low-base 8s, I remember last year's quail hunt down by Cache Creek. The excitement of a bursting covey as they scatter to new cover. The nod of the head given when you make a nice double. Those 8s may be from a late season dove hunt on a ranch that belongs to my friend's grandfather. I'm taken back to the kitchen table at the ranch, talking to my friends grandfather about life, cattle or his service in the Navy before and during and after WWII. My friend and I talk to both his grandparents for an hour or two over coffee, not because they let us hunt there, because they are good people and good company.

If I pull out a handful of high-base 6s, those must be from last year's pheasant season. My lab Jake has completed his metamorphosis from a bird dog to a gopher dog. The blame is mine. In my youth I hunted with my first lab, a yellow lab that I named Buddy. During my college years I spent many more days in the field than I do now. Buddy and I would hunt the ditches and barley fields around the County. Most days were unsuccessful if you base success on how many birds were taken on that particular day. When they are judged, as they should be, on the pleasure that comes from being in the field with a good dog, those days are priceless. I take no credit for the hunting ability of Buddy, he was great dog and we spent a lot of time together, time hunting. I do take all the blame for Jake, my current black lab, for being the out of shape, gopher killer that he is. When I came home today I found the garbage can knocked down, and the trash scattered all around. Jake the gopher killer strikes again.

November also brings the first of the holidays to us. Some people will say that Halloween starts the holiday season, I do not. I have never had family come from out of town to go trick-or-treating. Thanksgiving is possibly my favorite holiday. The Dallas Cowboys play in the afternoon, and the game is over just about the time the turkey is ready. The adults (myself included) sit in the kitchen and drink a fresh cup of coffee while the children play in the front room. We talk about politics and the plans for the ranch. We talk about the people we miss, those that could not make the trip from out of state this year.

For me, November is like the smooth surface of a lake. When you look at the surface you see your reflection, and your surroundings. But if you get a bit closer and look from a different angle, you look through the water's surface to what lies beneath.

Torch the barn and kill the rats.

Notice has been given to the high ranking bureaucrats in the State department. The Clinton administration's good old boy network is getting the message, your time is up. Your failure in North Korea and around the world has been noted. You may now take positions as professors at Harvard and Berkeley, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.

Pink slips will be hot off the laser printer for the Clinton Era clones at the CIA. Have a nice life at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, your paper's slamming the Bush foreign policy will be more than welcomed. Say Hello to Richard Clarke.

Fox reports that Condoleezza Rice will take the reins at State. Her second in command, Stephen Hadley will take over as the National Security Advisor. While I do like Colin Powell, he and Donald Rumsfeld did not see the world through the same lens.

More to come.

Arafat is dead, drinks are on me.

Can we stop with the 'news coverage' of Yasser Arafat's death now, please. Do we have to see the coffin of this terrorist paraded around on a French military jet on his farewell tour? Where is the news story? There is life and death battle going on in the streets of Fallujah, where our Marines and Army forces are cleaning out the terrorists. Let's focus on that, I would rather see the MSM slanted story on the slaughter of innocents than watch a millionaire terrorist's corpse fawned over. The Sacramento Bee front page today has two stories on Arafat's dirt nap. Maybe they forgot today's date. November 11th, Veteran's Day. A story honoring veterans is on page A9.
Even the Daily Democrat, the local woodland paper, pays homage to our veterans on it's front page.

I don't want to sound cold hearted about Arafat's death, but we may finally have a chance at peace in the Middle East. A slim one at best, but a chance none the less.

My thanks to America's veterans, no matter what your service. From a Ranger on D-Day to a supply clerk in Oklahoma in Dessert Storm. Thank you for your service.

No Global Test for the next congress.

The Main Stream Media has had a chance to digest the President's victory for the past week. What have they concluded? If the President does not cave into the Democratic minority's list of demands, he has lost his mandate and has failed to bring the nation together. As we like to say here in Yolo County, can they smell what they are shoveling?
The President has a wonderful opportunity to bring the nation together, not by implementing the policies of the loosing party's platform, but by reaching out to conservative and moderate democrats. With a 'coalition of willing' in the Senate and the House, the President can accomplish the job the majority of Americans want to have done. The MSM and the Democratic leadership want to make the President pass a version of John Kerry's 'Global Test' before they will come together to pass legislation and judicial nominees.

Margaret Thatcher once said; "To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies."This is exactly what the Democrats are asking the Republican majority and the President to do in the name of unity. I for one am not buying this bill of goods. In fact, I won't even lease it. There are approximately 100 outcomes that follow this line or reasoning, 99 are very bad. The remaining outcome is based on the assumption that Democrat's policies are the best for America. As I think on this further, let me restate my opinion, all 100 are very bad. The President has extended his hand across the isle in the first months of 2001 and after 9/11, only to get thrown under the bus by a very bitter Democratic leadership.

Carl Rove retold just one example of the hypocritical behavior of the Democrats in congress on the November 7th broadcast of Meet the Press with Tim Russert.

"I remember well after 9/11 sitting with the president and a leader of the Democratic Party talking about the economic stimulus package. The president said, "Look, our economy's been hit hard on 9/11. We need to do something to jump start our economy. You know, my advisors at the Council of Economic Advisors tell me the number one thing we can do to jump start the economy is A." And this Democrat leader said, "Well, Mr. President, I can't get the votes for A, but I can get the votes for B." And the president said--listened to him and several days later laid out his package and included as one of the principle elements of it B. And that Democrat leader immediately went out and criticized it. And, you know, I was angry at the time. I remember the president saying, "Look, that's the way the town works. Let it go."

I hope that President Bush tells this Congress that he is leading this nation in a new direction, you can get on board or get out of the way.

Putting tusks on a jackass just won't do it.

As I listen to the democratic pundits and MSM gather up the broken pieces of their 2004 campaign, they still don't understand why they lost. How could they. The problem, as they see it, is voters did not feel comfortable with the way democrats talked about religion and values. I listened to one after another of the democratic brain-trust say that if they just learn how to talk about God and morality in a way that doesn't offend these religious wakos, we will win in 2008.

I don't know what kind of work you as the reader do for a living, but lets say you are an auto mechanic. You know about cars, you like cars, they are part of your life. Now let's say there is someone that wants to sell you something, and this person, who does not know much about cars, believes that if he learns to talk about cars, you will buy what he is selling. Would that be very effective?
"Mr jackson, I see your driving a Ford Mustang, I own one too, I just love it, its a four wheel drive Mustang, with a Cummings diesel engine. Can I interest you in voting for me?"

The Democrats cannot or will not realize that people that hold values and religious beliefs at the heart of their being are not fooled by charlatans. As I write this, I must point out that hundreds of thousands of good folks did get suckered by Jim and Tammy Baker. However the Bakers were good Christians, they were just corrupted by power and greed. A similar situation has infected the Democratic party leadership.

As I posted previously, the Democrats must find in their party, religious, security minded, real people and put them in positions of real power. It will not do to have Deepak Chopra come to democratic leadership retreat and teach them how to talk like a real religious person. I think that is exactly what the dark blue elitist will do. It will lead to another crushing defeat.

I know democrats, I used to be one. I live in dark blue county of a dark blue state. There are moderate democrats that believe in God, would not abolish abortion, but cannot be in a party that fights for partial birth abortions. They are for a strong national defense and helping the most in need, without punishing the success that drives our economy and provides the jobs that everyone wants. The democrats will be shocked to learn that these leaders will be found in the Baptist churches of the south, and the fundamental churches of the Midwest, just the places they need help.

Will they do it. No

Why, they will have to something very fearful for the democratic leadership, willingly give up power in the short term to gain back the trust of Americans for the long term. This means telling the American public that we think Michael Moore is terribly misguided, and we do not think he speaks for our party. That means telling NARAL and NOW to shut up and lobby behind the scenes. Tell them that they will have to deal with a ban on partial birth abortion if they want any chance of saving Roe v Wade as the law of the land. This means telling Senoirs that social security as you know it will be changed because it has grown from a safety net designed to help fill the gaps in your own retirement plan, to a system that most of you think is your retirement plan. We know this will not be popular, but it is either a leaner more efficient form of social security or one day the checks will just stop coming.

Now that I think about it, there is no way the Democrats will do it, or if they did, no way the MSM would go along with it. OK here is plan B, listen to Schumer and Polosi and run farther to the left, all the way off the map to land of Howard Dean and Michael Moore.

I will pull up a chair and watch the train wreck.

Democrats loose big, will they comeback in 2006?

As word comes in that Senator John Kerry has called the President to concede the 2004 election, one must look at the two parties to see where we go from here. Republicans will no doubt feel that they have won a decisive victory, not only in the Presidential election but picking up 4 seats in the Senate and at least four in the House of Representatives. John Thune defeats former Senate minority leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota for the topping on the sunday.

Now that the picture comes into focus, a few questions need to be answered. Will the GOP drive a hard right leaning agenda through the Congress by picking off moderate democrats? Will the democrats make the same mistake they made in 02' when they lost and picked ultra-left Nancy Pelosi as the face of their party in the house? Those question will be answered soon.

If the democrats want to get back into the game, here is the way they can do it.
Find a base that is not divided before the race starts. Early in 2004 it was very clear that the democrats had placed their bets on groups of voters that contribute the vast majority of their time and treasure. These groups are the labor unions, both public and private, the pro-choice lobby, the anti-war movement, and the life long democrats that vote democratic because their parents had.

Most democrats that I know are not as liberal as the leadership of the democratic party by a factor of three to one. While they will say that they are pro-choice, they are not for partial birth abortion. They will say that they are for higher taxes on the rich, but they want their taxes lower. They don't like the war in Iraq, but they don't want to surrender and bring the troops and the terrorists home to America. Finally, they will say that they don't care what goes on the privacy of people's bedrooms, but they are not for gay marriage.

If the democrats want to win back the White house or even make gains in the congress, here is how they can do it.

Get used to loosing for a while.

The only way the democrats can pull them selves out of the huge hole they are in is to find out where the public is and find a way to out popularize the GOP. Here is another way to look at this, if you fight a war every four years with the same allies, and you keep loosing, find different allies. Tell the leadership of NOW, and NARAL that partial birth abortion is loosing them elections and supreme court justices. We want your money and your support, but if you don't change your position on this one issue, we won't be seen with you. Tell the public and private union bosses, hey, we fought for you on the baggage screeners after 9/11 when the nation wanted politicians to unite, and we were seen as partisans hacks not patriots. Tell the Howard Dean environmentalists and pacifists that we want your money and support, but we can't lock up the Anwar oil reserves when we are telling voters that the war in Iraq is a war for oil.

The republicans have discovered the big secret in our new political world. Clear, simple stands based on values. American values, not european values, not socialist values, not the new-age secular values that people find interesting but don't want to use to change the nations direction.

Why do I want the Democrats to come back to the center from the ultra-left edge of disaster?
Unity, the unity we need to win the war on terrorism that will be with us for generations. When America looks at two parties that reflect American values separated only by two different ways to get there, people will unite behind either party, no matter the victor.

Half way home and still up in the air.

Dateline Esparto; 7:45PM
Bush up in the electoral college, Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania still undecided. I am waiting as fast as I can.

Volunteer to be a poll worker. Spongebob needs help.

Will Spongebob Square Pants decide the election this year? The Democrats hope so. Voter fraud is being taken to a new level by the left in this election. Maybe they will make it an Olympic sport on 2008. With groups like Acorn and the George Soros backed ACT and MoveOn registering voters both animate and inanimate this could get very messy.

Yea, but what about those evil Republicans and their intimidation tactics?
May I see your ID?
I don't see your name on the official voter role?
Are you registered to vote in this precinct?
I show you as being an absentee voter, would like a provisional ballot?

Yes, all very intimidating questions. Here's a thought. Register before the deadline, use your real name, and then show up at the right polling place, show your government issued ID and vote, once. That's all there is to it. Millions of Americans have done it. It works.

Dan Rather's strike pre-empted. October surprise fizzle.

Dan Rather must be popping blood pressure meds like Pez. After the Texas Air National Guard story was proven to be false, he throws Mary Mapes under the bus to keep his job. Now CBS has George W Bush right where they want him, they are going to put out the 'October Surprise' story Sunday on 60 Minutes to finally kill the Bush re-election campaign. Woops.
One, no two problems with that strategy, first the NY Times won't sit on the story until Sunday and pre-emp CBS by running the story Monday. Second, the story is proving to be just as misleading. They must have forgotten about the embedded NBC journalist who was with troops when they first went into the Al Qa Qaa. The Kerryspot has posted emails from soldiers in the 101st Airborne. They confirm that the 380 tons of 'UN sealed' explosives were not there when the soldiers entered the depot.
" The Commander on the site had complete real time intelligence on what to expect and possibly find at the Al-QaQaa depot. The ordinance in question was not found when teams were sent in to inspect and secure the area. When this information was relayed, Operational plans were adjusted and the unit moved forward. Had the ordinance in question been discovered, a security team would have been left in place. " The Times and CBS may have blown it. Or an even worse thought, The Times put the story out now because they knew it was a looser, they are saving up the real October Surprise until November 1st.

Was I this bad when Clinton was in office?

Cruising through some random blogs last night I found a few that fascinate me. One guy can not write the word Republican, he uses Republuicscum. The war was thought up by Haliburton, Bush is Hitler. Nice.
There are a few others that made me laugh, and also made me wonder if I sounded this bad during the Clinton years. I don't think I was as hateful and vindictive as these folks seem to be. Sure I find a few right-wing bloggers who could use a sedative and some anger management classes, but nothing like the number of lefties out there.

During the Clinton administration, I was more upset by the main stream media than Bill Clinton. The bias that they showed toward the democrats was astonishing. If nothing else, the media bias drove people to talk radio and the internet in droves. I listened to Rush when he was right here at Sacramento's KFBK. I loved listening to Rush debate the Mayor of Davis once a week on the local television news, it was quite enjoyable. As Rush is fond of saying, liberals are the funniest when they are out of power. It is true, one look at the tenor of the left in this election will tell you how desperate they are. Their desperation drives them like an addict chasing down his dealer.

I still say that President Clinton was the best pure politician I have ever seen. However the nation does not need the best politician, it needs the best leader, and Bill Clinton for all his charm and warmth was not a good leader. He was a populist weathervane, what ever direction public opinion was blowing, that's where he was. A great strategy for being re-elected, a terrible strategy for leading a nation in a time of growing danger.

I confess that when Clinton won a second term, defeating Senator Bob Dole in the most inept campaign run in my lifetime, I did think this country would go down the tubes. It did not. The Clinton 90s were a great time for the market and for the tech sector, which in turn drove the market even higher. The problem was when the tech bubble burst, it left the market and the economy with a huge hangover. A hangover that was handed over to President Bush in 2001. I rode out the tech bubble with my company in Sacramento, we were 18 months or so behind the bay area in feeling the effects of the tech bust. As the tech companies were fighting to gain capital and marketshare, more that a few were cooking the books to show ever increasing profits. As long as the market kept rising and the stock prices rose, who wanted to investigate these cash cows? Who wanted to make waves? Certainly not the Clinton administration, not the Reno Justice department, not Rubins' or Summers' Treasury department. Nope, lets just slide on out of here and toss the keys to this mess to W and his crew.

It is my opinion that our system is broken, most Democrats and Republicans are addicted to the power and influence that is our political system. I fear without some type of change our electorate will become less involved, more apathetic and we will soon be at the mercy of just the ultra partisans. We may already be there. What will fix it? I don't know. Term limits? I am not sure. The problem is, as bad as our system is, it is still the best system in practice anywhere on the globe.

Encumbered by idoits, we pressed on........

Thanks to Hugh Hewitt

I have read most of the great vox blogoli submittions on Hugh's site. There are many funny, brilliant, and a few disturbed individuals out there. I would like to thank Hugh, or more likely Duane, for posting my blog on the subject. As the bloggeshere takes off and forms the third branch of the media, bloggers will act as the conscience of the media. Print and broadcast media will continue to blur the line between opinion and real news. Bloggers will check the facts and find the stories that they hide in the back pages, with the facts and maybe that one sentence that should be the headline.

I recently posted a letter I wrote to my local paper on an opinion they published about the assault weapons ban. The local paper stole half the article and the headline from the Denver Post.
I told a friend about the 'facts' that the paper used and how I pointed out their inaccuracy. He told me something that I still think about. He said that you can see how wrong they are on this story because you know something about the subject, just think about all the other stories they write that you don't know as much about. They are probably just as inaccurate.

This is where the bloggers are such a great resource, out there in cyberspace there are experts in so many fields that when a MSM reporter exaggerate or just flat out lie about something, they will point it out.

Why vote for Bush?

This is a very easy answer for me. It may be harder to see viewed through the prism of the mainstream media. Here are a few examples of the differences between these two men.

George W Bush is a real person. He is less concerned with what people think about him than what they think about the country. He really is comfortable with real Americans. He owns a Carhartt jacket and it is worn in and well used.

John Kerry is a caricature of himself. Depending on what battleground states he is in, he is many things to many people. He was raised on a farm, he is an avid hunter and would not think of taking your guns, and he is strong on national defense and always has been. I just wish people would smell what he is shoveling.
I wonder what his Massachusets constituents feel about the new and improved John Kerry. They must wonder, who this guy? Where is our Fifth Avenue, Kennedy Center, French-speaking elitist?

George W Bush is a proven leader. You may not like all his decisions, but he does not shrink away from making them. He will listen to all sides of an issue, them make the decision that he thinks is best for the country.

John Kerry has never held an executive position. He has never been CEO of a large company with a payroll to meet. He has never been Governor of a state where you have the final say in passing laws and making budgets. He has been a Senator. In his 20 years as Senator from Massachusetts where is his record of accomplishments? He is just one of 100 votes in the Senate, he can afford to be wrong, and he is wrong far to often. Being wrong post 9/11 can get us killed.

George W Bush does not give a rip about what the U.N. thinks we should do. This is a very good thing. The U.N. is one of the most corrupt organizations in the world. The U.N. is not about bringing peace to the world, it is not about spreading freedom across the globe, it is about money. Your money as a matter of fact. The United States is the largest financial contributor to the U.N., and has been every year since its creation in 1945. U.S. contributions to the U.N. system in 2003 were well over $3 billion. Think of the U.N. as a huge bureaucracy with great pay, great benefits, and no accountability. You get to make 10 or 100 times the salary you would earn in the real world. If you know who to talk to, you can get millions in kickbacks from Saddam through the oil for food program. I think sometime after the election the mainstream media will finally acknowledge the Oil for Food story. The whole story about the French, Russians and Germans along with U.N. officials receiving millions in bribes to undermine the sanctions that John Kerry holds in such high esteem will come out. Kerry’s position that the sanctions would hold Saddam in check will be discredited.
John Kerry wants the U.N. to grade our ‘Global Test’ before we take military action.

George W Bush thinks that you can send your money better than the government. This year’s Nobel Prize winner in Economics thinks that the Bush tax cuts did not go far enough, he thinks they should have been larger. I agree, the way to grow the economy is to let people have more of the money they earn. We know the best way to spend it, we will buy houses, cars, computers, go on vacations. Actions that create demand for jobs.
John Kerry thinks he is much smarter than you, if he can take the majority of the money you earn, he will give to the people that really need it, government employees. He will grow the Government, not the private sector. That’s great if you want to be a drone in the big hive of a bureaucracy. Not so great if you own a small business, or work for one.

I could go on and on, but I hope you get the big picture, John Kerry will say or do anything to be elected. George W Bush is a proven leader.

Please be patient, my Son would like to speak.

Hi, Steven here. I think its not fair that any student from kindergarten to College should have to go to School 5 or more days a week. I think any Student should only have to go to School 1 or 2 days of School maximum. Personally I think that only 5 Classes in School are useful, Bible Class to boost your knowledge about God, Writing because if I didn't know how to write I couldn't give you this important message today, Math because almost whatever you do you have to think about it, History because everyone needs to know about the word's and Americas past, issues and celebrations. And also P.E. because it is very important to stay in shape.


If you aren't completely bored yet, I'd like to comment on one more issue. Prices of anything and everything. I recently went to a music store with my dad. I'm a big fan of music but CD's are just too expensive, I now realize why people Download songs from the Internet, it's pretty obvious that nobody wants to shell out $20 or $30 bucks for a C.D. No one has figured out yet that if you make stuff cheaper people will buy it. Well that's it for me thanks for reading.

I am posting this under protest, while I do acknowledge my son's right to free speech, it is after all my blog.

Help save Happy!

As a small rancher here in Yolo County, I can see both sides of this issue. The issue in question is whether a donkey braying in the night is worth $100 per bray? Happy is a 7 year old donkey that lives in Placer County with his owner Lisa Carpenter.

When you live in a rural community there are things that must be willing to accept. Livestock noise is one of them. When my neighbor weans his calves, they ball all night long. When my other neighbor sells his hay, the trucker comes at 3:45 am every week and loads the hay so he can get to Petaluma by 6:00 and beat the traffic. Does this wake me up? Yes. Do I like it? No.
This is the trade off I am willing to make not to hear bass thumping music coming from across the street every Friday and Saturday night.
I hope Lisa and Happy prevail in court, and I hope her neighbor gets some sleep.

Bush eats Kerry's lunch in third debate.

Bob Schieffer, a graduate of the Dan Rather school of un-biased journalism, did his best tonight to get John kerry over the hump, but to no avail. Any clear thinking pundit must score tonight's debate as a win for bush, with style points going to Kerry for not looking like this. The President laid out his vision of the future, rejecting the carnival barker hype of John Kerry.

"Step inside the tent! Give me your credit card before you go and I will amaze you with free healthcare for every human in the country, a free college education, more social security than you can ever spend! John Edwards and I will even cure all you people in wheelchairs, we guarantee it. Don't worry, we will only charge the top 1% . Oh and by the way Dick Cheney has a gay daughter."

Just wait until the Visa bill comes. You think your bank has hidden fees? When you put the most liberal Senator and a trial lawyer in charge of the tax code, hold on to your wallets.

The Presidents comments on faith were fantastic, he laid out his faith without sounding like a religious fanatic, as the MSM often portrays him.

Bottom line, big win for George W. Bush.

Democrats and voter fraud, just like peas and carrots.

Drudge reports a Denver TV station finds democratic voter fraud running rampant. ACORN, a left-wing group if there ever was one, states they were victims of the fraud as well.

A quote from the article; Some of the registration drive workers earn $2 per application or about $10 an hour. One woman admitted to forging three people's names on about 40 voter registration applications. Kym Cason says she was helping her boyfriend earn more money from a get-out-the-vote organization called ACORN or Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. ACORN works with low or moderate-income families on housing issues. Cason said her extra registrations earned her boyfriend $50

Gerald Obi says workers pressured him to keep registering to vote so they too could earn extra cash. When asked how many times he had registered this year, Obi said, "about 35 times."

In Cleveland Acorn strikes again.

I once heard that if Hillary Clinton ever runs for President, some of the democratically held areas will have a 112% voter turnout. I believe it. Is this what John Kerry talks about when he says that he will make sure that minority voters will not be turned away from the polls by Republicans this year.

I could take up three pages of news articles on democratic voter fraud, here is a link of Kerry's troops getting out the vote.

Time for change, loose change that is.

If you are new my post you may not know that I have just started my new business. My current cash flow seems to be trending to an outward flow, and money is tight. The Presidential race seems to be tightening also. I am sending a check to George W Bush today, in addition I have another idea. I have large coin jar that I empty my pockets into every night, there has to be $100 or more in there. I usually take it to the coinstar location at my local supermarket and turn it into cash, for 5% of the gross.

I recommend everyone that hasn't maxed out their Presidential limit to get out those coin jars, or cans, or cigar boxes or whatever you have that loose change in. I don't want to hear about 'that's my beer money' or some other lame excuse, take those coins in and get that money to George W Bush. Together we can make the difference. These next three weeks is where we can put Kerry away!

French Oil Company bribes, Russia, and Iraq.

It seems like some of the "Oil For Food" boys had better start checking their six. The police are right behind you. In an article from the Australian Financial Review, the French oil giant Total is under investigation from French police. Moscow News also reports that Total made millions of dollars worth of bribes to Russian and Iraqi officials. Could this be the beginning of a major effort to prosecute the UN's O.F.F. program? One can only hope.

Great post as usual from the Kerry spot. Maybe we did kill OBL in Torra Borra, has anyone seen him on video tape in two years?

Kerry call for the United Federation of Planets to pass his test.

John, it's not how you say it, it's what you say. Defending his "Global Test" remark, Kerry has upped the ante on the President by now asserting a inter galactic test.
"But I can do a better job of protecting America's security because the test that I was talking about was a test of legitimacy, not just in the globe, but elsewhere."

Call Jean-Luc Picard, and Jacques Chirac, and get Kofi to order up some espresso, we have to cram for our test!


I can't wait for tomorrow.........

Kerry's "Plan" is a house of cards. Watch as they fall.

Let me get this straight, Kerry's wants to get the UN fully involved in Iraq. How can Kerry get them to jump into the Suni triangle, because of the respect and good will he has for this outstanding organization.
Based on their past performance, if the UN were to get its hands on any power over Iraq what would they do? They could bribe the terrorists under a new "Oil for democracy" program. I wonder how much it would take to get Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his boys to go back to their houses and make nice? 1 million dollars apiece? 5, 10 million?

Maybe Kerry can get France and Russia to send troops to Iraq if he convinces the UN to fire up the Oil for food program again. With the millions in kickbacks and bribes paid to Saddam and his buddies in the UN, they know the program would mean hundreds of millions more.

Kerry's other point he "won" the debate with, we should sell Iran nuclear fuel rods. Is this man insane? Does anyone else smell Madeline Albright here, or is it just me? The Clinton administration did such a wonderful job with North Korea and it's nuclear program, everything was just fine until we found out that the communists were cheating! Now they have several working nukes, way to go Madeline.
Wait just a minute, it's Iran on line one, they say to shove it.

As the wheels come flying off Kerry's plan one by one, it makes me think that people must see through this guy right? Lord I hope so.

Time for a change in District 5?

I was checking in on the current race for 5th District Supervisor for Yolo County when I started looking into the incumbent, Lynnel Pollock. I have known her son Brad for years and think he is a great guy. I have issues with Lynnel's position on a few things.

Ms. Pollock serves as Yolo chair for the Bill of Rights defense Committee. A liberal group that is bent on gutting the Patriot Act, the very means to defend this nation against terrorism. Check out their links page, if these groups represent the values of the 5th district, then I am moving. I have not seen Attorney General Ashcroft digging through my garbage or tapping my phonecalls. Maybe I am just not looking hard enough. She signed the Yolo County Resolution for this group and that disturbs me.

In an interview in 1998 she said of the new casino expansion "It's exciting that they will add a nice restaurant in the area. I'm sure a lot of local people will go there," said Lynnel Pollock, the Yolo County supervisor whose district includes Rumsey. She also sits on a council that negotiates issues with the tribe.
"The biggest issue out there is traffic. It's a narrow, winding road, and there is a lot of traffic on it, but the tribe has been very good at continuously making access to the casino smoother and safer," Pollock said.

Traffic a problem, no kidding. I am glad that the Casino is making nice turn lanes in front of the casino, the problem is the 13 miles of narrow winding roads that lead to the casino. The compromise deal to expand the casino and to allow serving alcohol was not in my families best interest. When asked about the deal, Ms Pollock had this to say. `We have done the best we could, said Supervisor Lynnel Pollock, who teamed with Supervisor Mike McGowan in the negotiations. `Now, it's up to our constituents to examine the agreement and see if we've addressed the issues that are of concern to them. I know that it is not an easy negotiation to make, the casino can do just about anything they want on their land. Getting funding to expand roads is a good start, but they have built the new casino now, the traffic is worse, they are serving alcohol, and where are our widened roads? If it takes the tribe one year to build a giant new hotel and casino, why can't we have a major road construction project going at the same time?

Certainly Rd 23 has not been touched. This road is becoming a popular shortcut around Esparto for casino patrons and locals alike. I have had three people run their cars into my irrigation ditch in the past year, this is the ditch that sits about 90 feet from the road. One guy sheepishly told me that he was going about 80 or 90 when he lost control and flipped his car into the ditch. Two were from the bay area going home after a long night of gambling.

If Lynnel wins it will not be the end of the world, things will go on as usual, the problem is they are usually getting worse.