Questions For a Lefty Academic

Geoff is a civil lefty and his wife is clergy so I left him some questions after an anti-war/hate Bush rant on his blog.

I know you don't like our POTUS, Geoff but I think you should read alot further than lefty blogs, maybe Michael Yon, Bill Roggio or Michael Totten, neither are GOP. Why can't you take pride in the fact we freed millions of people from tyrany? Why is it so hard to support our noble efforts there? There are brutal terrorist thugs that want to beat the Iraqi people into subnission , why would you aid them by pulling our security blanket? As a Christian why would you subject your felloow Christians to extinction under islamo-fascist law? Do you believe there is real evil we must fight beyond your percieved evil in the Bush administration? Should we fight against the evil of islamo-fascism and sharia law? Should we protect ourselves and our communities from that threat by all means possible? Should we fight or become dhimmi slaves? Tell me professor, you claim to a Christian apologist, tell me sir how you would reconcile this with your view of the war? Should we abandon the good people that Mike Totten and Mike Yon speak of? Would we really be better off if we ran like beaten dogs in the face of their beliefs? These questions will be posted at my site as well so they won't be lost

I wonder what his answers will be?!?

I can't block the moonbats, the next best thing is to engage in hand to blog combat. The cannon are in place and the barrage is just beginning. Time for the assault of ideas that our founders engendered in America , Free, Brave and Powerful.

Weekend Roundup

As I have written here before that the 'Global Warming ' hysteria from the left is less about the environment and more about controlling people through regulation and taxation. I am not denying that the earth maybe warming a bit considering Chicago was once under an icesheet a mile thick as little as 10,000 years ago and who really knows if a few degree rise in average temperature will be good or bad? What is the mean temperature for a millions of year old piece of space rock anyway? I know one thing is for sure that anytime the socialist left declares anything as settled scientific concensus one's hackles should rise and wonder why all the huff and puff to silence critics. They screech and wail and threaten those that don't agree, threatening "Nuremburgh" style trials or lack of creditation to meteorologists that don't kow-tow to their line. That should ring all bells that it is not settled science and give clues as to their real agenda, controlling the masses.
NRO's Planet Gore blog is always a great place to go to find these suppressed critics and loads of other information on the environment. They lead me indirectly to a great piece in Reason magazine on how the people of the earth are healthier, wealthier and cleaner than ever before by Indur Goklahany. He excerpts some pices from Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" describing Chicago's stockyards at the turn of the last century and rivers that would burn. Young folks today have no Idea how filthy the air was just 35-40 years ago, or that many rivers were near lifeless and a Great Lake, Erie, was near extinction. I remember well rivers you could not eat the fish or swim and they were covered with sores, they now hold Bassmaster tournments on those same waters and million dollar homes dot the shorelines. Growing up in the South's coal and iron ore belt near Birmingham, Al. the Pittsburg of Dixie, I remember the orange gray haze that would cloak the city in the 60s and early 70s by the 80s they were largely clear and we still produced steel. We have more parks, forests that were largely clear cut have returned and along with them their fauna. Yes this happened in part thanks to early activists like Rachel Carson though wrong in many of their assessments sparked a cleaner future, though deadlier for those in the third-world by banning the use of DDT to fight mosqitos and malaria.
I saw a utube video the other day by Penn & Teller after they sent petitioners to a Global Warming rally on Earth Day to gather signatures for a ban on dihydrogen monoxide saying it was used in everything from pesticides to nuclear reactors which is of course true if you know what dihydrogen monoxide is. They had folks signing up left and right to ban it showing how stupid, uninformed and gullible the alarmists and their sheep are. Would you sign a petition to ban this hydro-carbon? Do you know what it is? It is responsible for untold thousands of dead. Should it be banned?

Weekend Rambler

An interesting day for me on the religious front, I have a regular visitor from the local Jehovah's Witness organization, not church. He is a nice guy and knows his job as a JW well and since I am always open to Bible talk, I am polite and chat with him and he stopped by again today. Later, Frank Pastore's latest article at Townhall was posted on "Mormonism: Religion, Denomination or Cult?" in it he also mentioned the JWs as a cult of Christianity as he does the Mormons. An ex-JW agreed and linked to a site from other ex-JWs, Free Minds, so I had to check it out. What I found out is why I called it an organization not a church and now I know how to witness Christ's Salvation to my door knocking friend, that it is open and inclusive to all that believe, not a select few, for Christ died for all of us so that we may Live and that I must gently lead him from the Watchtower. I am the last person their leaders would want in their 'Bible study' as an anti-authoritarian, slightly heretic, free thinker that has read extensively on questions of faith and dogma from Nitzsche to Pope Benedict and was reborn in Christ through intellectual insight rather than emotional search or man's dogma. Christianity does not seek to control or threaten, it seeks to teach the Word of God, it seeks to bring salvation and hope to all that seek His word, not man's doctrine. I work hard, play hard, and pray hard and believe with all that I am and can witness that once you truly believe and let Him in to your soul and take your sin upon Himself, you do your best not to sin . He is there to help, its not a license to sin but a barrier against it as you do not want to increase His burden. Moseanic Law as spelled it out in the Torah lays out what sin is quite clearly and I am a sinner without a doubt and I will have Christ at my side when I cross St. Peter's gate. How do I know this? It's called faith, not religion, and the Bible tells me so. Believe in Christ the Son, worship The Holy Father and be filled with The Holy Spirit. I guess you could call me a pre-church Christian/Jew in my view of the Bible's teachings as a former atheist.

PS: Frank's article was about Mitt Romney's Mormon religion, frankly, it concerns me little as a Christian conservative. I like Mitt's ability to do the job given him and he is very coservative or the Mormons would disown him. Frank could vote for Mitt and so could Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptists.

From The Front:Updated

The best reporter in Iraq, Mike Yon, has his latest dispatch posted from Bagdad about a Christian University in the heart of the war zone, abandoned nearly a year ago. It is surreal, unscathed, with all books, valuable electronics inplace and untouched since they were left under threat of death. Mike definately deserves a Pulitzer or two for his writing and photography while embedded with our troops, no other journalist has spent as much time walking the line at the front. Go read his post and let the pictures take you there, like him, I believe the prayers of the Seminary staff protected their school, yes, miracles do happen.

My other favorite independant journalist, Michael Totten and his travelling partner Patrick Laswell also have further reporting from Kirkuk, Iraq and their interview with Kurdish Gen. Mam Rostam, Peshmerga strongman, and some more insight into a culture so different than ours. Why doesn't the MSM pick these guys up as stringers? Michael does get a few pieces out through Tech Central Station but not at the level that it should be. This one is a must read about a trip to "Hizbulluhland". in southern Lebanon.

Jed Babbin at Human Events has a great piece up after talking with Gen. Petraeus on what is really happening in Iraq. Progress is slow but moving forward and reflects what I consider our biggest mistake in the prewar planning, a gross underestimation at how eroded the infrastructure had become under Saddam.

My man for POTUS, Mitt Romney, continues to roll out the ideas and has an agenda forming, only Newt Gingrich can compete on this level. I added his sons' blog to the blogroll and requested a crosslink. They just bought a RV to travel the campaign trail and are looking for name suggestions, I posted that it should be "Mitt Romney's Spirit of America". It is a moderated blog so the moonbat trolls need not apply. Wow, what dynamic, energetic family effort can be matched by the other candidates.?

Update: Hmm, my favorite detractors, are way behind me in rank as far as blog popularity by nearly a million according to technorati, several mil in some cases of the most profane moonbats, they have a long way to go to even break the top 1 million. So moonbats, how does that make you feel? I am beating your brains out by hundreds of thousands, I guess playing golf does make sense. They have chased my little white balls around for over a year and still don't understand the game by coming in way over par, the goal is to score low not high in this game. ROFLMAO, they attack me for lack while smelling my exhaust, go figure. Sorry, I do not link moonbats especially stinky ones.
Update:
Bill Roggio reports on a major Al Qaida leader's capture, just chipping away at the infrastructure.

Michelle Malkin has some more moonbat madness, with video.

Don't miss Mary Katherine Ham's awesome Dr. Seuss Parody of Harry surrendercrat Reid to Green Eggs and Ham. One thing is for sure, the GOP ladies are hotties.

Update: I have to wonder why rebuild New Orleans if is going to be fifty feet underwater according to Al Gore in a few years, so why waste taxpayer money rebuilding it? NO is already below sea level, go figure? Call it Socialism at its best, soak the taxpayer for idiocy. That is Al Gore in a nutshell, socialist dictocrat.

Politically And Civically Ignorant

I saw an article today that actually surprised me very little, by Jonah Goldberg, in it he discusses how folks who don't even know who their VPOTUS, 31%, are asked their opinions of politics in random polls. Heck, majorities don't know who the majority leaders are and their opinion is so important these leaders must lead by them. Its sad but I know its true, most folks can rattle of sports, music and TVland trivial gossip and follow their stars with an unbridled passion and for what, entertainment. Is it any wonder then most folks that claim to vote for the democrats tend to be celebrity followers and folks like me that vote republican have never seen an episode of Seinfeld, Friends, or any of other of the slop served by the networks. I have to be really bored to even turn on the TV let alone watch it unless it has a purpose, ie. sports, news, or educational.
These mindless TV drones are then of course going to come to think of their stars as real heroes with an educated opinion and adopt their soundbite talking points as if they were facts. Since they have never seen real experts or heard from them they of course don't exist and should thus be dismissed, nothing illustrates this better than the flap over global warming/pollution. Ah, socialists have always been the masters of propaganda over the mindless held immobile by screen with pretty pictures and ideological voices. Conservatives understand that life does not begin at Cheers and end with Friends and that Sheryl Crow, whoever she is, and Babs Streisand etc. ad nauseum are not diplomats, scientists, or experts and that most are dropouts and failures in the real world so they become caricatures, making a living as poseurs to their adoring public in search of nirvana.
My childhood heroes were folks like Nathaniel Hale, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, Wild Bill Hickok, Annie Oakley, Geronimo and Sitting Bull as I read their biographies. In later years I have met many celebrities mostly from the rock and roll world and never asked for an autograph, they were just like me nothing special other than being good at their chosen trade. I admit that I have never understood celebrity worship or the gossip mill that surrounds it.
The elites that I do care about are the ones that have real power, the power to make and decide the law that I must live under. I know the folks I help elect and they know who I am because I call and email in support of real policy and against any form of socialism and I get responses except from my lefty senators, Boxer and Fienstein.
My fellow conservatives we have a mighty tough row to hoe and the weeds are thick and high, time for slingblades and an aggressive swing to clear the way. Hmm, I have to wonder if the urban moonbats even know what a slingblade is while I know every redneck and hillbilly out there does. I am a redneck political junky and believe me we need Mitt Romney, Rudy, John, Newt, and Fred all in the next administration. I am a Mitt Romney supporter for POTUS because he is by far the best qualified, I could care less if he hunts or not as long as he supports my right to. He knows money and can manage our unreal budget, he knows what we face abroad in islamo-fascism and does not shrink from telling it straight up. He is a family man and knows the value of marriage as it should be, man and woman. He is prolife but understands the POTUS really has no voice in the matter unless a bill comes to his desk for signature. Mitt is the man no matter what the pundits tell you.

PS: Out of 100 million blogs, I am in the top 1 million, no. 655 thousand and something, better than being in the bottom million, LOL. I guess I have some work to do, go begging for links, LOL. As a citizen journalist,I am actually happy that I have that standing. Goal is to gain the top 500,ooo bloggers, can you help by placing me on your blogroll, I will reciprocate unlesss you are a complete lunatic.

You Better Sit Down

Beale AFB towers in the background, cows and horses if the fore, they fly the U-2 recon planes out of here and the biggest cargocraft, on the rare occasion you can witness the fighter pilots practicing, a very cool site.

I found a use for the shrieking moonbats, I look at who they are currently having a hatefest over and go check the site and as a result have met a couple charming conservative bloggerettes. They can be found at Hillbilly Politics and Bottom Line Up Front. I guess the moonbats, like vultures, have a certain use though they tend to circle the wholesome and conservative rather than the dead and decaying. I have found in my couple years running the Barnyard and a couple running around various message boards beforehand that liberal moonbats are incapable of debating/discussing viable solutions to the many problems we face as a nation if they disagree. Instead they seek to destroy the messenger of the solution they have no viable alternative to with insults and derision. I guess we can make them into useful pawns as those they scream their hate against join together. This is what the left so fails to understand is that us rednecks and hillbillies have roots much deeper than urban liberals though we may be slow growing, oak trees are stronger than weeds and last for generations not political seasons.
I am part of America's heart as a small business owner and the moonbats want to move folks like me to government care and not the self reliance bred from a farming background. I am very fortunate to have that footing that a life on a farm can bring, the basic horse-sense to do the right thing guided by Christ. We know where our roots are and that is in America and we are damn proud of it. We believe that America is special as the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave and we won't take its denigration sitting down.

Some Promised Pictures

I went back to the Yuba Gold Fields today, it is an interesting area.
A couple old scoops from the dredgers, about a 1/4 the size of my truck, a Dakota.

Lake Tahoe is up there, and pushing my telephoto to the limit That is California.

There once was a town named Hammonton down there back when gold was king here. I am standing atop a slag heap, one of hundreds in the area, a man made foothill.

A typical road side sample.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels
were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on
government would be necessary. In framing a government which is
to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in
this: you must first enable the government to control the governed;
and in the next place, oblige it to control itself."

-- James Madison (Federalist No. 51

Congressman John Cambell, a CPA by trade, brings an interesting fact and summation on some of our obscene federal budget and spending practices.

Last Thursday, I wrote a post that provided a telling example of how unwilling the Democrats are to even entertain the idea of spending accountability. During their time in the majority, they have shown an innate ability to question and investigate just about everything going on in Washington, except the prudent use taxpayer dollars.

On the heals of this, a report has been released by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University that shows 87 percent of federal appropriations, $2.18 trillion, are going to government agencies that score "below satisfactory." Not surprisingly, the worst scoring agency in the federal government - the Department of Housing and Urban Development - will probably see one of the greatest, if not the greatest, increase in spending this year under the new Democratic majority. To view the report, click here

That is a big pile of cash just being shoveled like some kind of manure, 2.2 trillion dollars going to overly wasteful and inefficient agencies. That is probably the largest factor in my support for Mitt Romney for POTUS is his ability to make sense of this kind of mess and fix it not expand it or grow it. The lunatic left want to add more agencies, more programs, free healthcare, and save the world from freedom and opportunity to help themselves since the government can do it better for them.

The Democrats have truly become the party of whiny little children with zero foresight only 'feel good now' regulation and litigation in the hopes the courts will side with them since they are unable to win the votes on the merits of their arguments. I for one hope the Democrats keep up the pace, five of the conservative base's biggest issues have come to the forefront, winning the war, abortion and the courts, 2nd Amendment rights, flagrant over spending and grossly draconian leviathan of a tax code.

John is a congressman on our side as chair of the finance committee for the RSC, and a good eye on what kind of thievery hard core pols are willing to attempt, I miss him here in Sacramento, though not from my district, he has my vote and voice. Flag his site and check it weekly at least, especially if you are fiscally conservative and believe the government doesn't need more money it needs reform.

2.2 TRILLION dollars is a lot of greenbacks to cover up a pile of bureaucratic bull droppings and incompetence. The unions must be removed from government, they have undo influence and hurt the free market competition that could bring the cost of government way down and help more than a select few union members known for their corruption. Do it the Reagan way, if they strike, fire them for dereliction of duty and hire private replacements happy to work. The unions are killing California and many of its cities as I type and threatening to release many tens of thousands criminals back onto the streets or not show up for work if they don't get their way and the Democrats here are their bought and paid for pawns.

That once "flower" of American cities, San Fransisco, is now wilted and decaying and a perfect example of failed socialist policies for other cities to look at. Families of all races are fleeing if they are able, the streets have been taken over by the homeless and smell like it, homosexual activists are plentiful and uninhibited to where they do whatever it is they do in the open. Would you want to raise your family there? I have had to work there on occasion, state, city and private, and it is sad. My mother lived there in the glory days and met my father there back when the cool hangout for the ladies was the Officer's Club and the officers were gentlemen, just before the beatniks moved in. It is even radically different since her last visit there in 1980. We don't go there when she visits now, there is still plenty of 'quaint' remaining in California and ample beauty. The Golden Gate will maintain its beauty despite the rot that lies beneath the glow.

Update:(hat tip to Hugh Hewitt) The al qaida jihadi islamo fascist's are planning and want a Hiroshima sized attack on the West. Would you submit or be more determined to fight? Japan was close to defeat, and is a small island nation with few natural resources and we are not. We stood down the Soviets, we can stare down the Persian theocrats. Funny, there once was a time when the French Foreign Legion was the refuge of true freedom loving mercenaries. Hugh's follow up broadcast links are here.

Update: Thanks to a moonbat's hatred I found a fellow conservative blogger, Amy Proctor, with a very good site! It had to be, my detractors hate her as much as me. Hey Amy, they are cowards when confronted.

Searching the Great Unknown

So moonbats, you were crying about my moderating my comments section, brownshirt and communist were a couple invectives thrown at me for moderating your insanity, funny that when I drop the fence they fail to show. They know that their posts will prove me correct in my assessment of them, cowards that they are.
Us rednecks call it catfish bait.

Weekend Rambler

An Old Wells Fargo station from the Gold Rush.

I took a little exploratory trip to the Yuba Gold Fields a few miles away, it was a gray and misty day and I had cabin fever so why not, besides why own a 4x4 if not to go splashing down unmaintained roads in the rain. Access was more limited than I had hoped for from looking at the maps of the area.Wild flowers were abundant on the piled tailings of the dredging operations that took place in the Yuba river during the gold days and I will go back on a more photogenic day for some pictures as this rain will help the flowers along even more. It is an interesting contrast.

Meanwhile back in the present exploring that information frontier of cyberspace I came along this great piece by Fred Kagen at the Weekly Standard, it is long but worth the read for anyone interested in progress in Iraq. His answer to both questions "Can we win?" and "Can we lose?" is yes and lays it out by the facts on the ground. I know we can win and we must for it is pure evil we are facing and that is what our troops are saying as well, that is why they volunteer to go back time and again even the wounded fight to heal so they can rejoin the battle to protect the innocent from the horrors of that evil that has become islamo-fascism.

Michelle Malkin has been taking emails from the military community in response to Sen Harry'Retreat'Reid and his "We've lost" comment and posting them, fun reading if you are a right thinker.

Hugh Hewitt is all stoked and full of steam at the airing of the psychopathic murderer's final tirade of evil by the MSM, most notably NBC. I agree as we got a copycat in my county and a lockdown of two school districts here in California soon afterwards, after some meth-head threatened to beat the VT atrocity. The authorities got the psycho and my applause to them. This insane sicko will now be a poster boy for the sick evil that will come from it. I for one would rather be charged with unlawful gun possession on campus than be gunned down without a fight.

My man Mitt Romney, keeps impressing voters as they get to know him through his truelly modern and unique web outreach and impressive stump speeches. Rudy and Mitt were both well recieved in Greensboro, SC. while Sen "no show"Mcain skips another important GOP convention in an important early state. His supporters were not happy. The Townhall fox Mary Katherine Ham has an interview with Mitt posted as well.

Fred Barnes at The Weekly Standard also highlights Steve Hayward's video "A Convenient Fiction" that I linked to via NRO last night. I could not say it better.

Have a good week end!

PS: A Barnyard welcome the The Huntress

On Climate Change

NRO has a great video link up in The Corner and Planet Gore, here, and here,

Eyes In Iraq

Well another pair of eyes to be exact, as last night was my first visit to Patrick Lasswell's site, Moderate Risk, some impressive independant photo-journalism if you ask this Goat. I love reading posts from folks like this that actually risk something to get out a story with out putting a target on their back either, to an extent. I don't look to the MSM for stories like those told by independant 'real' journalists living with the Iraqi's and Iraqi bloggers themselves. Its the least I can do for these folks like Patrick, Michael Totten, and Mike Yon that have spent years abroad absorbing the culture of their surroundings, to spread their stories. Their reporting is as important if not better than that from the MSM. Visit their sites and contribute if you are able, they rely on private funding not the MSM so their story won't get filtered and distorted.
Michelle Malkin and her "Hotair" project is also an awesome source of info, as anybody that would come to the Barnyard should already know.

Hey moonbats, I threw the gauntlet down, do you have the cajones to pick it up? I somehow doubt it as every post you make will only prove me correct. I challenge you, go for it. Do you have what it takes? I will ignore inane snipes, have you got an argument? You want to be a critic, go for it, if you have the balls.

Posts From Iraq

For a while now I have felt Mike Totten provides some of the best Western insight into Middle-Eastern culture, something many of us in the West have so little knowledge of. Mike will take you into the streets, souks, and bizarres and show you the Iraqi countryside, so much like California's. In his latest post he takes you to Kirkuk, an oil rich city that could rival Dubai, Bahrain, or Kuwait as a glissening modern city and instead thanks to the rot of Saddam's tyranny is nothing but a vast bombed out slum. It is Kurdish and if they get their way it will become that shining city for all Iraq to look upto.
Though I greatly admire Mike Yon and Bill Roggio for the work they do as independant journalists, they imbed with the military and are thus under their cloak of protection, Totten ventures out into the public with an interpreter and driver and little else though he sticks to the calmer regions. He has lived in the Levant and knows the customs and how not to stick out as an American so he gets stuff other MSM jounalists will never get and delivers a feel of the people that goes way underreported.
Mike Totten's compatriot Patrick Laswell has posted video while wondering around a souk, an open market like those favorite Al Qaeda targets in Bagdad, in Suleimaniya. From what Mike has posted about Kurdistan it sounds more like NoCal and our quaint towns and villages replete with history though ours is far less deep and intriguing. I must say that Iraq has moved into my top five countries that I want to visit along with Israel, the British Isles, Australia, and Thailand, as repository of unimaginable history from the earliest days of the written word. Egypt should be included in any Mid-East tour as well, I should add. My reasoning, Britain for golf and history, Austalia for eco-tourism, Thailand for culture, food and eco, Israel and Iraq, history and Christian religious pilgramage but alas that is still a dream.

I have been watching the "America at a Crossroads" series on PBS and have been impressed so far with how it has dealt with radical islamist, neo-fascist jihadism. They have not tried to gloss over it to much at least as I expected them to being as liberal as they are at PBS. Tune in, it is worth watching.

Update: Sadly tonight's is anti-semitic and fails to recognize there was never a Palistine and Israel fits within their historic region. I take my fairness compliment back!

PS: A tale of two houses, one green gasbag Al Gore's, the other President Bush's Crawford Ranch, from The American Thinker.

A Small Glimmer Of Light

The Supreme Court upheld the Federal partial-birth abortion ban, a victory for life in our culture of death, and a small victory for the beleaguered Bush administration. He signed the law and appointed two constructionist justices that voted in support of it, social-conservatives can take some heart but their battle is a long one. Of course the moonbats on the left are snorting mad but who cares? These are the same people that want the terrorists to win in Iraq and to see America humiliated on the world stage.
Why do they want this? To set up their New Socialism regime in Washington. Our left supports eugenics just as the Nazis and Socialists of old did. Our left wants the government to run the most intimate detail of our lives, our healthcare, just like the socialists. They want to take away our guns so we can't resist them when they raise taxes through the roof and seek to steal private property or protect ourselves from miscreants, just like the socialists. They want to control our birth, education, where we live, work and how we commute between them, what we eat, drink and breath, what we listen to, read or view, in short control our lives from birth to death as if we are incabable of those decisions.
A decade ago I would have been considered center-left politically now that I have moved to the right and our left has run for the weeds of socialism, I am now a right-wing extremist. I am heartbroken(snort) that my detractors, moonbat troll brigade, MTB, hate me so much that they visit dozens of times a day and regularly post long fiskings of my posts. I was touched(snort) that one, a supporter of child-molestors, actually felt sorry for me, All they are able to do in these fisking is insult me and correct my lack of spellchecker use, they cannot debate the ideas as Newt Gingrich has demonstrated. I am going to lift the moderation on the comment section just to demonstrate. I'll get 'cute' snide, inane comments, nothing with any meat to debate.

Atrocity At Virginia Tech

Gun Free Zone equals a Free Kill Zone, 32 dead, 27 wounded some critically as some nut goes bezerk on campus with noone able to stop him with equal firepower. Anyone that has been to this site before knows this countryboy strongly supports our right to carry. This is horrible and my prayers for the families and students have been flowing since I first got word but have had trouble finding words to express the rage this kind of atrocity brings up in me. This was a deliberately planned and well executed with a 50+% kill ratio, he would have gotten the guns no matter the laws if he was this determined. V Tech is a gun free zone so he had a free kill zone with not even a lawfully armed janitor or teacher to oppose him and possibly lessen the carnage.
Where have we come as a people that a gunman can walk onto a college campus and shoot sixty people with out being atleast bum rushed? Have we lost our cajones? I know this, my niece not only will know how to use a firearm effectively, she will carry one! I have faced down guns and knives, two gunmen ran with nothing, I took a knife and pistol off two others and I left another scene. This is the last straw folks, the gun control lobby is going to come full steam with a new load of fuel and we gotta be ready to stop them. An armed cowardly theif or thug will not chance going after an armed citizen that fears for their life or their family's. As a member of one of America's oldest families,1623, personal defense against criminals and an oppressive government has been long bred into my blood and the 2nd Ammendment stands in testament to that fact, the right to keep and bear arms.
I have posted before I attended a private highschool that tought riflery, and I know for a fact room3 had a sizable arsenal overseen by a former Marine Sgt. and that fool would have barely had a clip emptied before that SGT would have taken him out with a ready .44 mag and a deerhunter's eye. I know because that SGT is my late father and that was his reaction when I asked after Columbine. I have been shooting since I was 4, got my first .22 at 10, .20 gauge shotgun at 13 and have been instinct accurate with a pistol since 13-14, no need to aim. I tripped out an exAF-MP with my handgun accuracy and safe practices.
We can never completely stop the whackos but limiting my right as a law abiding citizen to own guns is not the answer. We actually serve as a limiting buffer to the pathos that run through our open society.

GOP Lincoln Day Dinner In Iowa

So far Rudy, Mitt, an unknown John Cox, and Mike Huckabee have spoken and all had pretty much the same thing to say, Mitt has gotten the most applause and only full house standing ovation so far. Rudy did make an interesting comment, a quote from Reagan to never speak badly of a fellow Republican and that every person following him was qualified to be POTUS and far better than any of the candidates on the other side of the aisle. I like Gov. Huckabee alot as well, very personable. John Cox is one of the founders of the Club For Growth and confirmed what ground Rudy and Mitt had already covered. Conservatism is alive and well in the GOP. Gov. Gilmore, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, Gov. T. Thompson and John McCain are coming up.
update: Tom Tancredo as usual is single issue, illegal-immigration, I agree with him to an extent and have contributed to his congressional campaign in the past. I like Tom alot but he is really hardline on the issue, not a politically winning one, good speech though and echoing the top two, Rudy and Mitt and gets a standing ovation.
update: Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore is next, a rock-ribbed conservative as I hear. I know little about him but it seems his resume is deep as is our GOP field of candidates, a good thing. Same conservative message as Mitt and Rudy with good personality and presence. OOps, he violated Reagan's Rule not to speak ill of your fellow republicans with a shot at "Rudy McRomney" saying they are not conservatives, I would beg to differ as he has not mentioned anything they didn't.
Update: Sam Brownback was his typical very pro-life religious self, not a bad thing but very little policy that actually a POTUS can persue.
Gov. T.Thompson is definately animated though I know nothing about him at all. He's good with the crowd and has some good ideas and an accomplished record as a governor. He is a good speaker and could gain some traction if Fred Thompson does not enter, same basic theme that Rudy and Mitt set though. I could easily cast my vote for him in the general election if he beats Mitt in the primary. He would make an great VP as a voice for the administration, I like the animated energy.
Senator McCain, plays followup and has little ground left to cover and opens with some self-deprecating humor that he is so good at. I don't have to go over why conservatives have a problem with John but he is a great American and solid conservative with a rigid backbone for national defense and success in Iraq and the greater war against the jihadis and would get my vote if he is the nominee of my party, though I would be holding my nose over his maverick ways within the GOP. He is right on the money on the war and has been from the beginning.
I cannot express how impressed how I am with all our GOP candidates, a group of great American patriots and the finest I have seen in the quarter century I have been voting. All of them have their strengths and weaknesses but not when it came to the conservative message of the Reagan Revolution. As y'all know this country boy is a Romneyite and this showing by our candidates made me proud to be a Republican as Tommy Thompson forcefully declared.

Friday Frolic

Here is my half-penny on the whole Imus affair, what he said in its context was wrong and a bit tacky considering who he was referring to, top collegiate atheletes playing for a National Championship but not worth being ruined over. Critics and supporters alike have pointed out the plethora of this language among the hip-hop crowd and there is a difference, the women the rappers are referring to are whores, short and simple and for them to rap about being surrounded by them is just being honest and not very complimentary. I despise rap, but I have worked as a roadie during my younger days as an aspiring rock guitarist and know what the "scene" is all about. These groupie "hos" are just that, tramp filth, I know, I have met them, been friends with them, some actually smart girls with hots for rock stars and no morals and hooked on cocaine among other things. What the rappers rap about is the reality of what they see and it ain't good, it ain't pretty and they are making major money from the angst they see and communicating it in a way many can't understand.
Enter poor Don Imus trying to be funny and hip, playing off his guest's words, in his way screwed up, one because he is white and two, he forgot the lesson of the greatest sportscaster ever Howard Cosell who was the first loss in the PC wars with Jesse Jackson, white males cannot be hip or cool. Don Imus is a bleeding-heart liberal that has done tons for under priveledged kids and even he can't escape the hammer. Even Rutger's coach said " We are on the road to forgiveness...Let the man have some dignity".
Yes, our daughters and nieces have a vicious world to enter, lets just teach them what "Ho" or whore means and let us also teach our sons and nephews that girls/women are truelly our most wonderous half, that they make life complete. I say wonderous not just for their beauty but they are freaking impossible for the male mind to understand, I mean being able to create life inside her is pretty amazing. The rappers are describing the sluts "nappy-heades hos" around them it fits, let our little ladies know what they are describing. A profile of the young ladies on Rutger's basketball team hardly meets that definition, I give those young women and their coach very high marks for class, that is where to point our young ladies. Teach them to rise above the hos and pimps, our culture sure ain't going to do it.

Thursday Thinking

Ruh Roh, smell the burning gears, Mitt Romney has managed to position himself well in competing with the Obama and Clinton fund raising machines, matching Barack and beating Hillary in primary funds, while smoking the GOP competition. I have been a Mitt fan since my seemingly lost coblogger, Lisa, pointed me in his direction well before the '04 elections. As each day and UTube video and blogger post passes I become evermore convinced that this the man we need to run the USA as POTUS. Of all the contenders and wanna-bees only Newt Gingrich will be able to actually debate Mitt at the idea and solution level. The left in this country seriousely fear both of them as they have no solutions of their own and bashing a problem solving solution without an alternative is a rather weak position to run on. Increasing our taxes is not a solution! Mitt has signed the No Tax Pledge, no Democrat has.
Let's see, the Democrats want to lose a major war to hurt a sitting President and tax us into socialist oblivion. Mitt wants to beat the Islamo-fascists, reduce our tax burden and bring efficiency to the beaurocratic nightmare that is "The Swamp".
Go Mitt Go

I Have To Laugh

The scandal hunters on the left continue to exploit the Mitt"the hunter" Romney non-story, if the truth be told. I am a life-long hunter and gun owner and support the NRA though not a member. I have not been on an active hunt in a decade but that does not postclude me from joining the hunt if I was able to. If you can hit a rabbit with a .22 , you have been hunting and know how to handle a rifle, likewise , if Mitt can bag a few quail after a hiatus, that again shows he knows what guns are about, he hit birds not friends. I admit I sit the fence between allowing well qualified citizens the right to own fully-automatic weapons and a limited assault weapons ban. As Newt said he would be uncomfortable with his neighbor having such, and so would I. I would not be opposed to him owning a high caliber bolt action or semi auto, despite what it looks like. There is a big difference in a belt fed .50, or even auto 7.62 NATO ar16 and my deer rifle, just in looks alone. I support gun education, and if the government is required to pay for abortion as a right. I want my Desert Eagle .50 and AR16 as my Constitutional Right for the taxpayers to fund it under the Second Ammendment. I want taxpayer payed for personal security, I am a taxpayer that has payed for that allotment from the treasury. I will take a class if needed but I want my government guaranteed firearm, after all it is in the Constitution. I went to a high school that had riflery as an optional class and I don't miss rodents and ferral cats in my gardens. The MSM's and some blogs fascination with this is warped, we don't care as long as we can keep our guns! Go Mitt Go!

Ebay Experience

I have several one of a kind pieces of kiln formed functional glass artware tp sell and would appreciate any Ebay seller tips my readers might want to send. It looks pretty straight forward though I am a total rookie on this field. Does anybody have any advertising experience with massmailing and its return on the dollar?

Blessed Monday

I take it as Blessed coincidence that my shop started construction today on its new building. It is not a huge space rented from some landlord, it is a small humble shop on my property. I need not a glossy storefront if my work proceeds me as it does. My goal is simple, as I have no children of my own, it is for my niece to have the chances her mother and uncle did not. She is now four and her father decided he was unhappy being married in some mid-life whoopity snit, the poor girl doesn't know what to think, thank the Lord her Grandmother is a constant. My parents gave me a solid footing from which to build and invested in my future even to this day as I launch my own business.
We all know the family is the nexus of prosperity and happiness, a mom and dad working hard to provide for the richness of that family. Richness is not money, it is the bond a family has through the Lord that nothing can take away. A farmer's work ethic born from survival and dedicated to the Lord provides more lessons than could ever be written here, perhaps we should all study that ethic a bit closer?!?

Masters Sunday

The greens of Augusta showed their teeth this year, combined with cool windy conditions the players really had to grind hard and ultimately the course won with an over par score. It was the wildest leaderboard I can remember and it was fitting that Zach Johnson, a strong Christian, held on to win on this Easter Sunday. He acknowledged that it was Christ that held his nerves together in interviews when he walked of the course and again in venerable Butler Cabin as he accepted his Green Jacket and a big fat winners purse, perfect for the young family man. I had been watching him play recently and had been very impressed with his patience and grit and now I know why. In contrast, Tiger was forcing everything like he expected a different result and I heard the GD curse several times from him, as a result he struggled. I look to see Zach on top of many more leaderboards to come as well as several other of the rising crop of new players that can keep up with Tiger off the tee.
It was nice to see the world's best humbled by the hallowed course of Augusta National and makes us hackers feel a little less foolish in our foibles.

He Is Risen

Good Friday

The Crown of the King

The Final Blessing

The reason we that believe have life and hope beyond the here and now. Today we remember His sacrafice as well as that of His early disciples for without their Witness and sacrafice for the Lord, Christianity would never have been given Life. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter and Paul wrote it into history and gave their lives and freedom for it. We must all pick up our own cross and follow that narrow treacherous path and just as Christ recieved help, He is there for us always.

Images are from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in downtown Sac'to, I was involved in the removal, restoration and reinstall of these windows ans thus got a first hand view.

Ahh, The Masters At Augusta

Bobby Jones' tournament on the most beautiful and challenging of courses that the greats of golf walk, it has become Tiger's arena for some of the most incredible golf since Jack himself stalked those hallowed fairways. I was a sceptic at first, but noone has transformed the game like Tiger has, not even Arnie and Jack. Tiger brought the tiger that fuels great atheletes around the world, dedication and a Jerry Rice like work ethic, to golf. No physical game challenges an individual like golf does, personal experience tells me as much. Golf is not an easy game especially on the courses the big guys play on and this is my favorite challenge to them, Augusta National, the emerald jewel of golfdom, stateside anyway begging pardon from St. Andrews of course, azaleas and redbuds and perfectly manicured fairways and greens.
Tiger is four strokes back with a fresh crop in front of him, he is in the hunt and stalking hard if his flatstick and driver get in tune watchout, he knows the course well.
I play well enough to keep me at it and know that practice is the only way to improve and practicing good technique is even more important. Here is a thought to leave fellow golfers with, 18 shots are hit of the tee, 60+ are on and around the green, keep that in mind if you want to bring your score down. Watch Phil, Tiger, or any of the greats and tell me I am wrong?
Besides the Masters does anything signify Spring and Summer than minor league baseball on the radio? I hate that my very good local Rivercats fill the A's roster as a Braves fan but I will root for them anyway, go Sacramento Rivercats!

Oh Boy, Obama

Barack just hit Hillary with a left hook she never saw coming and the numbers are astounding, 100,000 donors and 25mil raised with around 23mil for the primary race. Folks, these are unreal numbers this early in a race, the number of donors is twice Hillary's and three times that of Mitt Romney the GOP leader with 20mil raised for the primary from 33,000 donors. With Edwards and Giulianni at 15mil and McCain at 12mil the race in both parties just got much more interesting.
Here's how I score it, Mitt's numbers reflect a strong network with deep pockets and serious commitment that Mitt is the best man to lead America into the future, a man of vision and accomplishment as a leader and problem solver. Barack's numbers reflect a deep dissatisfaction over the status quo in Washington and the desire for a fresh face, though Obama has carefully covered his extreme leftist views with well crafted oratorical retoric, he's a lefty socialist, pure and simple, appealing on the surface, so was his socialist mentor Saul Alinsky. Obama has tapped Howlin Howie Dean's nutroots very effectively and we saw where that led, though I doubt Barack will howl for us.
Senator McCain is done and the MSM thinks it is his support for the war when in fact that is all that keeps him viable in the GOP, McCain/Feingold, Gang of 14 and McCain /Kennedy is what torpedoed that boat before it left harbor. The same goes for Hillary despite how much money she has, the negatives are way to high and neither she nor McCain is a fresh face any longer.
Mitt and Barack will be on their respective party's ticket, Romney/F.Thompson vs. Edwards/Obama.
What do you think?

For Beauty's Sake

Yosemite Falls , yes it could be taken from Tolkien, the Valley is like that. Heck, if natural global warming hadn't occured this glacially carved valley would still be under ice as it was a few thousand years ago, the "Treants" don't lie. When it comes to this park, I am very well versed as a climber, patron and devotee.

Must Read: The Trouble With Islam

In today's OPJ online a former member of Jemaah Islamiya, a terror group, Tawfik Hamid unloads on our loony left in the West on how they help the radicals and hurt the reformers in Islam.

Not many years ago the brilliant Orientalist, Bernard Lewis, published a short history of the Islamic world's decline, entitled "What Went Wrong?" Astonishingly, there was, among many Western "progressives," a vocal dislike for the title. It is a false premise, these critics protested. They ignored Mr. Lewis's implicit statement that things have been, or could be, right.
But indeed, there is much that is clearly wrong with the Islamic world. Women are stoned to death and undergo clitorectomies. Gays hang from the gallows under the approving eyes of the proponents of Shariah, the legal code of Islam. Sunni and Shia massacre each other daily in Iraq. Palestinian mothers teach 3-year-old boys and girls the ideal of martyrdom. One would expect the orthodox Islamic establishment to evade or dismiss these complaints, but less happily, the non-Muslim priests of enlightenment in the West have come, actively and passively, to the Islamists' defense.
These "progressives" frequently cite the need to examine "root causes." In this they are correct: Terrorism is only the manifestation of a disease and not the disease itself. But the root-causes are quite different from what they think. As a former member of Jemaah Islamiya, a group led by al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, I know firsthand that the inhumane teaching in Islamist ideology can transform a young, benevolent mind into that of a terrorist. Without confronting the ideological roots of radical Islam it will be impossible to combat it. While there are many ideological "rootlets" of Islamism, the main tap root has a name--Salafism, or Salafi Islam, a violent, ultra-conservative version of the religion.

Read the whole thing, its very enlightening.
Update: Katherine Jean Lopez has more disturbing news on the subject.

In a case in which a Muslim, Moroccan-born 26-year-old mother of two was petitioning for an expedited divorce from a man who had beaten her and threatened her life, Judge Christa Datz-Winter denied the woman's request, a woman who already had a restraining order on her husband after police were called last May because he attacked her. The reason for the injudicious divorce denial? The Koran, the judge said, instructs that "men are in charge of women." She explained further that the couple hails from a "Moroccan cultural environment in which it is not uncommon for a man to exert a right of corporal punishment over his wife."

Hugh Hewitt will have more from his interview with Frank Gaffney this evening. I am currently listening to it. Don't miss Mary Katherine's great post and watch the video of an interview with UPI reporter, Pamela Hess about her experience in Iraq, she has some other great stuff liked as well.

The Money Primary

This really just inside baseball political news, and as expected Hillary broke all the records with about 26 mil. in donations and 10 mil left from her Senate purse what is not disclosed is what is primary election and general election donations. The difference is the general funds have to be set aside and returned the donors if the candidate does not win the primary and she was collecting both. Obama did well also predicting over 20mil again the split is not made clear between the funds and John Pretty Pony reports about 13mil plenty for a strong campaign. The rest of the DNC candidates reported less than 10mil, still enough to be heard, though and no Freds or Newts on hold.

On the GOP side, my man Mitt whipped all of them with 20mil in donations for the primary run alone, and 2.3mil of his own money as a loan to build initial infrastructure to raise money and campaign. This means he has more available for the primary than any of the others, Mitt is a money man and this will be spent wisely as the campaigns switch into high gear. Rudy did well at 15mil 10 of that in March alone as he was slower to organize and Sen. McCain at 12.5mil as the supposed front runner of the MSM is dead and dieing fast though that is enough to raise a ruckus which he will do. The rest of the field is under 10mil with Newt, running a very unconventional campaign, and Fred Thompson also with huge popularity in the GOP as yet undeclared/declared. They are a big factor if they get in.

Hillary's main problem is she also leads in unfavorability polls with half of voters saying they would never vote for her including 17% of her own party. Be honest, if she was not married to Bill Clinton she would be a typical overachieving housewife/attorney doing very well but not this well. The only GOP candidate to rival her in this area is Newt Gingrich with a high national unfavorability rating. The difference is Newt has positions, very clear ones, on all the issues and not just an opinion but detailed solutions and clear goals for the future and it ain't socialism.

I know Hugh Hewitt is trying to arrange an hour long conversation between Newt, Mitt and Rudy for his radio show in the very near future, Newt was all up for it, I know Mitt will be as well, Rudy will probably as well. That will be an hour of radio worth listening to. I love Newt's proposals for a debate format, nine ninety minute, only time keeper moderated, conversations between the presidential candidates, think Lincoln vs. Douglas, in the last nine weeks leading to the general election. I like it so much the primary contenders should sit down at a round table for some timed but unmoderated conversations once a week or couple weeks, perhaps on Cspan, throughout the season. Face to face conversations on the issues not made for consultants "debates" would help seperate the wheat from the chaff. Funny thing is, I have read bloggers on both sides of the aisle that are far more articulate in the issues than the pols they support. Somehow I doubt the Democrats would agree to that level of exposure of their eurosocialist, multi-cultural trainwreck of a plan for America, in otherwords, the end of America as Washington, Lincoln and Reagan dreamed it could and can be.

Sorry, no time to fill in the hotlinks yet but I will, dedicated webusers know where to go.