Wednesday, November 29, 2006

What can you do? Yea I am talking to you.

What can one person do? Nothing, not much, a little or a lot. It all depends on the person. What can you do to make just one person's life just a little bit better? Open your eyes, the opportunity to help those in need are all around us if we take the time to look. At my church we are participating in the angel tree program. It is a great program to make sure at least two gifts are given to a child whose parent is in prison.

If you could touch one child's life by giving them a Christmas gift, wouldn't you do that? I don't any extra money for that kind of stuff, I just maxed out my Visa card on a new plasma TV.

What about visiting a senior home and just spending a half hour talking or just listening to a lonely person? I don't want to visit some crusty old person in a nursing home, they smell funny.

How about dropping your spare change into the Salvation Army kettle? I told you, I don't have any spare money.

Could you look through your closets for any old coats or blankets that you don't use and donate them? Hey what's mine is mine Jack, besides that cool leather coat will fit me again after I loose that 40 pounds I have been working on for 10 years.

Ok, can you at least write a letter or call someone you lost touch with, just to say Merry Christmas? I doubt it, I'm awful busy this time of year.

Never mind.

For everyone else out there, the first step is just looking, it doesn't cost a dime. Find a local group you think does good work, what ever your idea of good work is there is someone out there doing it and they could use your help. Call them or just stop in and say 'you guys do good work', you will probably be greeted with a smile and an invitation to join in doing the good work.

I posted this story last year, but I just love the last line so much I must post it again.
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 didn't 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."

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The Iraqi Civil War

If Brian Williams says it's a civil war, then it must be, right?

Mr. Williams is entitled to his opinion as I am to mine. What do I call the war in Iraq?
(drumroll please)
The War in Iraq!

The Kurds would be in favor of a civil war I would think. Let the Sunnis and Shiites kill each other and we will sell our oil and open a Taco bell on every corner. The Kurds are flourishing in northern Iraq, a story that seems to be a national secret that MSM does want to keep from the public. The war in Iraq has too many players to qualify as a civil war in my book, but if you want to call it by that name, by all means do so.

Here is a fact that America will soon have to face. Iran and Syria are real threat to America in the Middle East now that Saddam is soon to have his neck stretched. Iran and Syria are going to attack the US through surrogates sooner than latter. We had better get used to the idea of a regional conflict not just a few car bombs and IEDs in Baghdad. The democratic view that we need to a phased retreat from Iraq is foolish, the Bush administration's assertion that if we give the Iraqi government enough time, they will get their act together is also foolish without addressing the two nation that are shipping terrorists, IEDs and money into the war.

This war is going to get much worse before it gets better. I believe that we will ramp up the fight in Iraq in the short term. Not only to drive out the foreign fighters, but to get ready for an attack on Iran or Syria, or both. Even if the Iraqis produce an army that can keep the peace in Baghdad, without stopping the free flow of weapons, jihadists and money from both nations, the Iraqi government will fall in short order. The Iraqis are in no shape to accomplish this, therefore this will be left to the US and coalition forces to do.

Which brings us to the second problem, the military is in no shape to do any boots on the ground fighting outside of Iraq. That may not be needed if we can pressure the Syrians and Iranians into staying out of Iraq by the use of air strikes. The dictators of both nations have American blood on their hands, its time for them to answer for exporting terrorism around the globe. Kofi and the world press, along with the New York Times will cry to the heavens, but let them.

This is the world we live in. It was not created by George W Bush and Haliburton, it was created by you and I and the rest of the western world standing by and pretending that Islamic fascism was not a real threat until it came knocking on our door five years ago. Ask most Americans what a Sunni is and they will probably tell you that it is a new flavor at Jamba Juice, Americans it seems are too busy to figure out that we are in a war. We want the new PS3 and that promotion at work and a vacation in Fiji, and we want to see the pictures of Britney Spears without underpants.

What do the Syrians and Iranians want? They want us dead, they want to turn you and I and our children into bloating corpses lying about in the street. They won't stop being terrorists if we pull out of Iraq, they won't stop trying to kill us just because we have retreated behind our porous borders. When America is wiped off the map, down to the last man, woman and child, they will stop to take a breath and then start killing each other because, well because they are killers. They love death more than we love life, just ask them.

What will it take for us to wake up?

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Get along little doggies

Once a year we take our calves to the auction, since my cows calve in the spring, we wean them in the fall and take them to the sale. My wife and I just beat the rain that started just as we closed the trailer door. We had some great looking heifers this year, and when we ran two ranches it was easy to wean the heifers, let them mature a while and breed them to another bull at the other ranch.

We don't have our fences up at the Esparto place so we took our heifers to the sale. They will make someone a great group of mother cows in a few years.

I enjoy the fall but I am looking foreword to spring calving and branding time. Now I just need to start riding my new horse. He has never seen cattle before and it may get a little western the first time I throw a rope off him. Hmm, I may ask the new owner of my old horse if I can borrow him for a day, that sounds a bit safer.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Little old lady from Antioch

My Grandmother's new car.
A 2007 Toyota Corolla LE

Gram is a very spry 88 years old. She is sharp as a tack and a wonderful woman. She also has a 1983 Ford Taurus that is leaking enough oil to cover three sea otters a day in 10W-40. Luckily the Taurus is not a boat or the EPA and Greenpeace would slap an injunction against Gram. I received a call from my mother who said I should call Gram and help her buy a new car. I did, and I did.

With a handful of sale adds from Toyota dealers in hand I drove down to Gram's house and went shopping. The local Toyota dealer, a small lot who cannot compete with the huge automall dealers would not match the price offered in the adds. With no trade in, no financing, and no upsale on an extended warranty or security system, the dealer had no motive to sell the car.

Most of cars on add are loss leaders, not that the dealership 'looses' money on them, they just don't have any 'gross profit' at that price, so the salesman only make a 'mini' or minimum commission of $100 or $150 dollars. The dealership will make a little money or break even on the car with the dealer holdback and unit sales incentives, but the salesman and the ASM or closer, don't see any of that money.

I must now make a most shameful admission, I once sold cars. I know, I know, and you call yourself a Christian, how could you possibly sell cars and sleep at night? That is precisely why I quit. I worked for two weeks, sold 6 cars and made a nice paycheck, and I did it without screwing anyone. But the whole point of car business is built on taking advantage of people with little or no information. If you don't know how much the dealer paid for car, what the options cost, what APR you qualify for at your bank and what the wholesale value of your used car is, you are going to get hammered by a salesman with a friendly smile and a line of BS.

Here are the Cowboys car buying tips.(this is not legal advise, just some pointers)
Use a free service like Edmunds to find out what the dealers cost is. This is not exact, but it's pretty close.

Call your bank or your Credit Union and have them pre-qualify you at a few thousand dollars over what you think the car will cost, just to have a little breathing room. Get the APR and the length of the term you want so you can tell the finance person that you will arrange financing yourself. If they don't finance directly with your bank or credit union they will make you sign an 'either or contract'. If you don't get your financing in place in 5 days, they will finance it through their lender, usually at 15% interest, so don't tell any fibs to your bank about wages or leave out your child support payments or you may get stuck with the dealers 15% plan.

If you don't know what rate you qualify for, the dealer will tell you that with your credit, you qualify for X% APR, you probably qualify for an APR 2 points below that, and if you take the dealers rate, they will sell your loan at the lower rate and pocket the difference. If you want to know who make the big bucks at a dealership, look at the person who sits at the finance desk, they set the interest rate, they sell the extended warranty and the other huge profit items.

If there is any way to do it, sell your used car yourself. The dealer will give you a few thousand less than they will get at the dealer auction, that is way below wholesale blue in most cases. If your upside down in your car, owe more than it's worth, suck it up and drive it, the dealer will roll your negative number into the price of the new car and you will be in the same boat again. It can be a viscous circle, after a two or three of those, you will be paying 21% interest on the car because you will be trying to finance 120% of its value. Stop digging.

Anyway, back to Gram and her new car, we drove down the road to another dealer who had the car she wanted on add, I avoided most of the BS and we were out the door in a little under two hours. That may seem like a long time for a cash deal, but that is about as quick of a car deal as you can get.

Gram is happy, the dealership sold a car and I am glad she has a nice car that she can drive without worrying it's going to leave her stranded.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Small towns, sportsmanship and 4 seconds.

This is a great story about how making a difference in one young man's life can lift up everyone in two small towns.

From the Daily Democrat.
On the evening of Friday, Nov. 3, on a cool night in Chester, this group of young men and coaches did something so profound, it still brings tears to the eyes of many of us here in Chester.

The Esparto JV team, out in front by three touchdowns and only 4 seconds left on the clock, demonstrated incredible sportsmanship through the unselfish act of letting a very special kid on the opposing team score a touchdown.....This past Friday in Chester, with virtually no time on the clock and Esparto leading 26-6, Coach Mike called a play they use in practice called "Alex Right," a way for Alex to participate and score TD's in practice.

The quarterback threw the ball to Alex just off right end and with his teammates and crowd yelling at him to run, the referees allowing minor infractions to go uncalled, the Esparto players trying hard, but not too hard to catch Alex, all turned out to be a story-book finish to a game that hadn't gone our way. The fact that they had just lost didn't seem to matter to the Chester kids as they put him on their shoulders in the end zone or as they ran as a group back to the 50 yard line to shake hands with the Esparto team.

As you can imagine, there wasn't a dry eye in stands as parents and classmates watched a very special display of sportsmanship and compassion....

Heather and I just want to say thanks to the parents for raising such great kids, thanks to the coaches for grasping an opportunity to teach a valuable lesson, thanks to the school for putting such a great team of young men on the field and thanks to the town of Esparto, you should be very proud.

We have been so moved by what has happened, Heather and I are going to create a $1,000 scholarship to be split each year between the two schools. This scholarship is to go to the senior football player that demonstrates the highest levels of sportsmanship, provides leadership to his teammates, mentors the younger players and has committed to going onto college. The scholarship will be called "It only takes 4 seconds."

GLEN and HEATHER LONG
I always liked the town of Chester, I am going to have to visit next summer to go fishing and to say thanks for raising great kids yourselves.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Gay penguins and other such nonsense.

Maybe you have seen the story about a children's book with the title "And Tango Makes Three".

I must first admit that I have not read the book and cannot substantiate the content myself, but from the news reports, the book seems to tell the story of two male penguins who adopt a young penguin to raise. It is said that the tale is loosely based on a real life incident at New York's central park zoo.

Some folks want the book removed from public school libraries, some embrace its gay adoption overtones, I am not ready to go march on the library to demand it be thrown out, I just think it should have a sub title like' how two daddy penguins raised a chick together', I may want to steer my kindergartener away from that one..

My main concern would be that my four or five year old would check the book out, read it, and come to me asking why the two daddy penguins are in love with each other?

That is not a discussion I want to have with my four or five year old just yet.

The GLBT activists want homosexuality taught as early as possible in our schools, it seems they feel if they can get their message out to children that a homosexual lifestyle is normal and acceptable, those children will grow up to have move favorable view of that lifestyle.

I have this conversation with friends and co-workers all the time. I don't care what you do behind closed doors, if you are an adult you want to have sex with an adult of the same gender, have at it, I could care less.

The problem I have is when you tell me I have to celebrate your sexual habits or be labeled a homophobe. Not that I care what you label me mind you, a homophobe is someone who feels scared or threatened by homosexuals, I don't feel threatened at all, well maybe by these guys. If you want to define yourself by the way you have sexual intercourse, you are selling yourself short. But that is your business. Don't make it mine, and please keep your propaganda out of my children's books.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Sony PS3's on sale now at.....

I'm sure they are for sale somewhere, on sale, now that could be bit harder to find. You may have better odds finding an unopened bottle of Chivas Regal at Ted Kennedy's house.

One of my younger co-workers said he stopped by to see his friends on his way home last night. The friends had been camped outside an electronics store since Wednesday. The plan, as I understand it, is to purchase a PS3 and then sell it on EBay for eleventeen gajillion dollars. As of Friday night, most of the PS3s are going for under $2,000. Lets see, waiting in line in a sleeping bag for two days plus the cost of slurpies, nachos and assorted fast food for the opportunity to pay $600 buck plus tax and then pay EBay a commission to sell the thing, what is the hourly pay for the whole ordeal?

What do you think? Hmmm, 15 -18 dollars an hour?

Now that is good money for a high school kid or a twenty something slacker if they have the venture capital to make the deal happen.

Maybe I am all wet on this one. Its not stupid, its capitalism at its finest, with just a bit of foolishness thrown in for good measure.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Monty Python, the Holy Grail and just being silly.

Some folks, including my wife and son, do not find Monty Python entertaining in the least bit. I however, laugh until my stomach aches.

Directed by;
40 SPECIALLY TRAINED ECUADORIAN MOUNTAIN LLAMAS
6 VENEZUELAN RED LLAMAS
142 MEXICAN WHOOPING LLAMAS
14 NORTH CHILEAN GUANACOS(CLOSELY RELATED TO THE LLAMA)
REG LLAMA OF BRIXTON
76000 BATTERY LLAMAS FROM "LLAMA-FRESH" FARMS LTD. NEAR PARAGUAY

and

TERRY GILLIAM AND TERRY JONES


I started a new job soon after I returned from my hunting trip. As it turns out I am working with a friend whom I had worked with at another company years ago. He is rather silly, we have been working together for the last week or so and it is just like old times. We spend the day working and reciting lines from movies and changing the lyrics to songs. We are both way too old for this type of behavior, but we are having a great time. MP's Holy Grail is one of our favorites.

ARTHUR
I am your king!

OLD WOMAN
Well, I didn't vote for you.

ARTHUR
You don't vote for kings.

OLD WOMAN
Well, how did you become king, then?

ARTHUR
The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite,
held Excalibur aloft from the bosom of the water to signify by
Divine Providence ... that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur ...
That is why I am your king!

OLD WOMAN
Is Frank in? He'd be able to deal with this one.

DENNIS
Look, strange women lying on their backs in ponds handing out
swords ... that's no basis for a system of government. Supreme
executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from
some farcical aquatic ceremony.


ARTHUR
Be quiet!

DENNIS
You can't expect to wield supreme executive power
just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!

ARTHUR
Shut up!

DENNIS
I mean, if I went around saying I was an Emperor because some
moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, people would
put me away!

I am chuckling as I write this post.
If you don't like MP's humor, I suggest this, go out into forest, then you must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest ... with a herring!

Al-Jazeera English, if only they could they lure away Keith Olberman.

I thought that market was already taken by CNN International and PBS?

Al-Jazeera, the Arab news network the Bush administration says is a tool of al-Qaeda, will launch Wednesday its English version, which will be available in 70 million households worldwide.....Dave Marash, a former ABC Nightline correspondent who'll co-anchor a daily newscast, says Al-Jazeera got a black eye from the Bush administration for airing Osama bin Laden videotapes and live reports from Fallujah, Iraq.

Al-Jazeera reported news in both cases, he says, and its journalistic "aspirations, tactics and techniques" are like those of any mainstream news outlet. "No holds barred, political ideology, party affiliation. When people actually see the product, I think a lot of that (criticism) is going to go away."


Oh yea, no ideology or party affiliation? That's right, we don't belong to party, we just hate America first, last, always and with a zeal you won't find on CNN. Maybe that should be their new tag line.

"Al-Jazeera English, we hate America, first, last and always" or
"Al-Jazeera English, free press paid for by the Emir of Qatar" or
"Al-Jazrrea English, Jews and Christians need not apply"

Saturday, November 11, 2006

How do you work this evil little contraption?

I just received a 4GB iPod nano for my birthday. It looks cool, but when I plugged it into my laptop it wanted to download iTunes and thought, sure, I have heard good things about iTunes. I just didn't know it was 35 freakin' megabits! I am one of those tortured few who do not have access to broadband, and when the rain comes, dial-up performance drops down to about 34k. How does a two and half hour download grab you?
I'm all set to go right? Wrong.
I need to download a software upgrade. No biggie right? Wrong.
25 freakin' megabits and almost two hour later, I have what I think is all the 1's and 0's I need to make this thing work. Almost.

The one inch screen is now telling me not to disconnect thr nano from the computer, but it seems locked up and just sits there, laughing it's little Steve Jobbs giggle at my stupidity. I look at the apple logo as the nano mocks me and begin to wonder if the bite in the apple is meant to signify the amount of your total sanity these evil little devises must take from you before they succumb to your will and play music.

Just before we load up the car to go to dinner, I just unplug the darn thing, restart my computer and plug it back in. Hey it works!

I am now going to buy the car adapter to play the evil device over my truck's radio. If I have to take out the engine and re-install it to get the nano to work correctly I am going down to Cupertino to strangle the fist pony-tailed Apple employee I find.

Deap breaths, go to your happy place, go to your happy place....

Thursday, November 09, 2006

34 and 37% turnout?

I am not one to point fingers, but what in the wide wide world of sports is going on in Riverside and Orange County?

County Precincts--- Reg'd Voters--- Ballots Cast ---% Turnout
Riverside -1,282 ------------754,986 --------260,591 -----------34.5%
Orange ---2,054 -----------1,497,365 -------559,511 ------------37.4%

I know Arnold is not your favorite kind of Republican, but what about Tom McClintock? He lost the election by just over 300,000 votes. If you had gotten off your rear ends and voted at least as well as we did Yolo County (52%) you would cast another 352,000 votes. I know I am being simplistic, not all those votes would go to Republicans but you get the idea. I know its easy to get discouraged but your GOTV effort sucked.

Hopefully in 2008 we will have Republicans you can get behind, but don't make me come down there.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

Daniel 5:27

First and few questions need to be answered and then we can look to the future.

So why, why Cowboy, did the Republicans loose control of the House and most likely the Senate in last nights election? Simple, they deserve to loose. If I had to use one word to describe congressional republicans it would be arrogant. The Republican leadership in the House and Senate became fat, dumb and happy, not to be confused with 'fat, drunk and stupid' that would be Ted Kennedy, and he won last night.

After September 11th 2001, the congressional republicans rode the wave of patriotism and resolve of the American people to gain seats in the first mid-term election and again in 2004. This support for the party was interpreted as support for each individual member of congress. In their arrogance they overspent, underworked and above all would not listen to the people who elected them. After a few years in office and a few re-elections under their belt, the republicans lost touch with America and filled their own heads with happy talk.

They love me, my constituents won't care if I take money from lobbyists and funnel it to my family members. They won't care if I vote to increase spending across the board. They won't care if I create a huge Medicare entitlement that will strap future generations with ever increasing debt. They won't care if I look the other way at members of my party who are crooked or perverted. And they certainly won't mind if I turn my back on the President and the people to side with democrats on critical issues like warrentless wiretaps, terrorist detainees and judicial nominees. My people love me.
Wrong'o.

While the media and the left will point to losses like Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania and say that Americans soundly rejected conservative ideals, don't let that fool you. Santorum ran into a buzz saw of anti-republican sentiment, an opponent with great name recognition and an electorate that wanted change. In fact, if you look at a good portion of the democrats who took seats held by republicans they are socially conservative, pro-life and pro-gun rights. Not exactly Pelosi liberals. Not a single seat that changed hands was taken by a democrat who ran on a platform of higher taxes, immediate withdrawal from Iraq and gay marriage. To be honest, it was hard to tell where some of these democrats stood on any issue, other than my opponent supports Bush and he knows Jack Abramoff. That was enough to win against republicans who spend like drunken sailors and who have the backbone of a jelly donut.

So what now? I have been thinking about the realities of the next two years. I cannot of course see into the future, however there are a few certainties that will come to pass. The first reality is amnesty for illegal aliens. The second will come sometime around the first of April, that will be buyers remorse. I give the honeymoon with Nancy and Jack Murtha until the end of March before we get the first of many, and I mean many, investigations. The first couple will be low hanging fruit. These will take the form of easily proven wrong doing by republicans in congress, the administration and Pentagon. Then the witch hunts begin. With a few scalps hanging from their lodge poles, the democrats will over reach and they will over reach big time.

The second part of this buyers remorse will be the chairmanships that will go to people so far out of the main stream that you can't cover up their true colors with all the makeup at MaxFactor. Just wait until the old guard liberals get on the Sunday shows and tell America what they actually believe. After two years of listening to the liberal leadership of the Democratic party like Nancy Pelosi, Jack Murtha, John Conyers and Charles Rangel, the folks who voted for change will long for the days of Bill Frist.

By the end of 2007 the democrats in red states will start running for cover. I predict the Nancy and Jack show will not be popular in red districts and they will not be stumping for these new democrats.

There is an opportunity for the republicans to clean house, starting with new leadership. If they elect a painted up version of the same pig that just got it's a#$ kicked, they will be digging a hole they will not get out of. What they need is conservatives who are, well, conservative. Leaders with fire in their eyes and a spine to look Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in the face and tell them to go pound sand. Leaders who inspire the nation, not the people who have been in Washington the longest. Republican would do well to listen to the people who voted them into office. Ask them who they would like to see in a leadership position. That would be refreshing.

We will see.

Monday, November 06, 2006

10,105 phone calls made Sunday.

That amazing number is from the small town of Woodland in Yolo County. Today we are over 6,600 hoping to get to 7,500 calls made by local Republican volunteers. This is what grass roots, pointy end of the stick politics is about. We are sure the Governor will be re-elected, these calls are to get the base out to support the down ticket races. Yolo County is a small, agriculturally based county with three small towns and a university that make up most of it's population. At just over 185,000 people, the local Republicans have made an estimated 100,000 calls this election cycle.

Who are these Republicans you ask? Everyone. High schoolers, seniors, men, women, grandmothers and even a few skateboarders. Watching some of these people keep three phones going at one time is amazing. I can only handle one call at time, but I make up for it by being slow. These folks also walked precinct after precinct dropping off voter information. I would like to be walking tomorrow getting out the vote, but I have to work.

Win, loose or draw, come tomorrow, these people, your neighbors and friends, will have made a difference for California.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Gloom, despair and agony on me.......

Those of you old enough and with bad taste will catch the Hee-Haw reference.

I have been watching a bit of the news coverage this weekend, it seems that the predictions are anywhere from mildly bad to downright disastrous for the Republicans this Tuesday. I know the pollsters are hoping for a low conservative turnout, but I still think we have a great chance at keeping the Senate and fighting chance at the keeping the House. It still hinges on the GOTV effort in the last two days, I just hope the polls don't keep you from calling and door knocking the last 48 hours of this campaign. I am meeting tomorrow night for the last strategy session before the election with our local republican group. I hope we can turn out enough republicans to get some down-ticket GOP victories here in California and locally.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Ted who?

A brief note to the democrats, when you are trying to pull off a sex scandal on the eve of election to suppress the evangelical vote, you might try naming someone the average evangelical has heard of. Ted Haggard? Whatever.

I see that CNN is going into full scale republican bashing mode early. "Broken Government" is being aired back to back tonight. CNN, fair and balanced as usual.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Don't sit home this weekend!

Ladies and Gentleman, may I present Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

The pollsters have built in a 4 to 7 percent voter turnout advantage to the democrats in many of the polls you see. They are confident that conservatives and value voters will stay home on Tuesday in protest or with a sense of apathy. It is up to you and me. Literally you and me to get republican voters to the polls on Tuesday.

Imagine the fever swamp, Tim Russert, Wolf Blitzer, the rest of the MSM pundits asking how the polls could have been so wrong and when will the investigation start into electronic voter fraud perpetrated by Rove and Diebold. Isn't that, along with your very safety, enough to let the grass grow for an extra day to walk a precinct? It takes about two and half hours, it's great exercise, as well as a lot of fun. Walk two or three, man the phone banks down at you local republican headquarters, or if you hate walking or talking on the phone, drop off some pizza or coffee and bagels at headquarters to help out.

The 72 hour push is make it or break it time. As Hugh says, what ever the problem is, electing more democrats is never the answer.