Roughstock Journal

Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, oh my!

2011-12-28T09:19:00.000-08:00

With all the talk about California having little input on the presidential primary race, with the nominee almost always being decided before our primary comes due, I am glad about one thing; we are not first. Can you image living in Iowa for the past few months? One can hardly imagine the amount of direct mail campaign flyers you must have received by now. If everyone in Iowa saved them, and put them in a pile to burn, you could probably see the fire from space. How about the radio and television political ads? I would imagine the sales of iPods and subscriptions to Netflix have doubled in Hawkeye state just to avoid broadcast radio and television until after the caucuses January 3.

Mitt Romney is a liberal Massachusetts politician with a dangerous religion. Newt Gingrich is a liberal Washington lobbyist with three wives. Ron Paul is a crazy old coot, emphasis on the crazy part. Rick Santorum is Tim Tebow without the athletic ability, etc.

I am paraphrasing these adds, but I'm sure that these are the messages that are getting out to the voters. As with all politics, we cannot overlook the fact that a good number of people do not pay that much attention to the candidates, and just vote based on what they hear at the coffee shop, at work, or at home. Which maybe why Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee for President in 2012.

Before you go sending me emails about Romnecare, and all the other conservative sins Mitt has committed in the past, I will just tell you this. He is a known quantity. Unlike the numerous "Soup of the day" candidates whose meteoric ascendency to the top of the polls have all been followed with a free fall crash, Mitt Romney has never been everyone's darling. Mitt is pure vanilla. Scratch that, if there is an unflavored ice cream flavor, it should be named after the former Massachusetts governor.

Mitt is about as exciting as finding three, one dollar bills in your coat pocket; sure its nice, but it's only three bucks. Herman Cain and Rick Perry were like finding a two hundred dollar bill in your coat pocket, only to realize that we don't print two hundred dollar bills, and that they are probably worthless. I think the Gingrich campaign will suffer a death by a thousand cuts. He has said way too many outrageous things, taken money from some questionable sources, especially from a conservative's point of view, and frankly the three marriages do say something about his character.

Just for full disclosure, I voted for Mitt Romney in the 2008 primary here in California. Not that I was enthusiastic supporter, I just could not vote for "the maverick" John McCain. To be sure, there are plenty of things that make me squirm a bit about Romney. Sometimes, when I hear him talk, I have flashbacks of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the wish-washy, global warming, ever-increasing government, brand of Republicanism that I have grown to loathe.

The one thing I would bet on is there will be no female co-worker from Mitt's past, coming forward to claim an affair, or that he was busted for cocaine possession in the nineties. He is a clean cut all-American guy, looking to do good. Maybe that, along with his religion, is why the left hates him so. He is not my ideal candidate, but he is a proven quantity. There are no surprises with Mitt.

He is the nice, average looking girl you know will say yes when you ask her to go to the prom, after all the popular, semi-trashy ones shoot you down. You know you will not get past first base, but you will have a good time at the dance, get some nice photos for your mom, and not pick up an STD. (How's that for a ringing endorsement?)

Now, Mitt can give a good stump speech, and he knows how to wind up a conservative crowd, but I know deep down that he will play ball when he gets to Washington. He knows he will have cut a few deals, sign bills he opposes, and water down ones he likes, to get anything through the Democrats in the senate. I know this full well, and that gives me a leg up on the people who voted for Barack Obama last time around. They actually thought that he was going to change the nation, change the world, and make their lives better. I have no such illusions. I am just looking for someone who will do the least amount of harm.

Would I like to have another choice? Sure. The candidate that I most closely agree with, in terms of policy, is Rick Santorum. Will he have a chance to be the anti-Romney choice coming out of Iowa? I think he might. He may grab a surprise third place finish in Iowa, stay alive past New Hampshire, where his pro-life stance will hurt him, and make it onto South Carolina where he may catch a second wind. It's a long way to the nomination, I just think slow and steady wins the race, and the epitome of slow and steady is Mitt Romney.

So we only have a few more days until the Iowa Caucuses, much to the relief of Iowans. Who will come out the winner, who will drop out, will anyone care? Stay tuned.

Three prayers

2011-12-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

I was standing in a waiting room of the south tower at UC Davis Med Center; I was tired of sitting. I had been there for most of the past two days. It was a clear day, a warm day in May. The sun filled the room with light, fighting back against the dullness of the florescent bulbs. My wife was with me, along with my sister and mother. I remember the blue striped shirt my wife was wearing that day. It's strange what your mind holds on to all these years later. I remember I was praying, praying hard.

I remember hearing the overhead page for the Code Blue. It's the call they use to say someone is dying, come quick. That had been two hours ago. I remember praying to God that he let my father live. Let him live, and I promise I will change, I will be good from now on. I could not imagine life without my father; he was such a big part of my life. My mind was running countless scenarios where my father pulled through and my life would go on in a way I understood. Please Lord, don't let him die. I'll do anything you ask, please don't let him die.

I knew by the look on the doctor's face my father didn't make it. It was not a sad look, or the look of apprehension about telling a family the bad news. The doctor had the look of a man who had been fighting hard to save a life for the past two hours, and had lost the battle. I had so many feelings coursing through my body. I felt this numbness, I guess it is like being in shock. I could hear my heart pounding audibly as my mind raced. Why God? Why?

I was in my mid twenties at the time, married to my wife of almost three years, and completely dependent on my father.

Since high school, I had worked for him. I had worked on our cattle ranches, and had just received my real estate license to work at his real estate business. Not only had I just lost my father, I had just lost my employer and benefactor. As we drove home from the hospital that day, I couldn't help but thinking how God had let me down. Didn't he know that I was on my own now? What was I going to do? How was I going to pay for the house I just built? Why would he do this to me when he could have just saved my father and made my life so much easier? Why?

Although I had been a Christian for most of my adult life, I had walked far away from God over the years. In fact, my life looked nothing like the walk Christ would want me to have. I had little responsibility, little thought for others, my life was all about me and what I wanted. Prayer for me at that time was like a 911 call. God, are you there? Something terrible happened, I need your help, get me out of this. This was not the prayer of someone who had a deep relationship with God. This was desperation. This was 'Let's make a deal' prayer.

A decade later, I was at the hospital again, and again, I was praying hard. This time my wife was heading into surgery for an emergency caesarean section. She was seven months along at the time, and for the past two weeks, we had been told we had to do everything to keep the baby inside; she was not ready to come out. That all changed when my wife's platelet count dropped through the floor and her system started to crash.

I remember driving behind the ambulance going from the hospital in Roseville to the one downtown because they had the best neonatal care unit in the area. I remember praying, Lord, I don't know what this is all about, but if it is your will, please let my wife and baby live.

I remember being in a set of medical scrubs, in the surgery room, holding my wife hand as she had her c-section. Her mother, Lois was there too. When they delivered our daughter, my mother-in-law said I should go with the baby, she would stay with my wife. Lois had lost a premature baby once, and thought this might be the only chance I have to see her.

Abigail was tiny, just over three pounds. I thought, looking at her tiny hands and feet, she was too small to make it. I was whisked out of the way as a team of doctors and nurses swarmed over her trying to keep her alive. I was again in a daze, as things and events blurred all around me.

I thought back to my father's death, and how it shaped my life going forward. I had to grow up fast after his death, and I did. We had to sell the house we had just built. We move to Sacramento with a newborn son, a start-up business, nothing in the bank, and not much else. Ten years later, we had a nice little house, my wife was running our business full time, and I was making a good living in the tech industry.

I don't try to guess at God's plan any longer, but at that critical moment, our daughter was in the best place, and in the best hands for a baby in her situation. I continued to pray in those first few hours. Thank you Lord for all the blessings in my life, thank you for seeing us through so far, your will be done Lord, your will be done.

My wife was not out of the woods at this point either. This had started with her having a variation of pre-eclampsia, and she was still having complications. I bounced back and forth between the neonatal unit and my wife's recovery room, giving her updates on little Abigail.

The first few days were the worst. They had to put Abbie on a ventilator, and she had a hole in her heart that they were monitoring, hoping it would close as it should. I have a picture of her with my wedding ring around her ankle; she was that small. There was not a lot of time for sleep that week. After a frightening setback with my wife, she finally stabilized, and now Abbie was our main concern.

The nurses at the neo-natal intensive care unit are remarkable people. I am not sure how you work in that environment without your heart breaking regularly. There were maybe two dozen babies in NICU, many very ill. Some make it. Some do not. It is not a happy place to be for a parent. We listened every day as they would give us updates about Abbie. We would cheer when she gained an ounce, we would worry if she lost one. We spent many hours sitting there, just watching her breathe. In those weeks, I spent more time in my Bible than any time I had prior.

I learned a lot about the nature of God in those weeks. Who he was, about his love for me, his love for us. I kept coming back to a verse in the Old Testament. Numbers 6:24-26. 'The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.' I printed these verses out and taped it to Abbie's incubator, or "the hut," as we called it.

I drew such peace from this verse and the words that were very real to me. In all the chaos, worry, and doubt of those first few hours, days and weeks, I had a peace that I had no right to be feeling. I just knew that whatever happened, God was with me and with my family.

Fast forward another decade, and I find that I don't get too excited about many things. I think I know what's important, and what is just part of life. I think the source of my understanding comes in two parts; my understanding of who God is, and the understanding that material things; houses, cars, career, status, are of absolutely zero value when you are holding the hand of someone you love dearly, praying they will live.

My wife and I have been truly blessed. Our son is now in college, our daughter, once so tiny, is now a head taller than most of her class and is a beautiful, vibrant, ball of energy. Our family has come a long way, and I am certain that without God's love and his strength, we would have fallen apart. While I still have a very long way to go, my faith, and my walk with God are much different than they were as a new Christian.

One of the things that concern me about the American church is the way we present Christianity. We talk about forgiveness, everlasting life, peace, the power over sin, the love of Christ that is ours when we accept Jesus as our savior. These are all true; these are the very essence of being in Christ Jesus. I think where we as the church go astray is the misconception, especially with new Christians, that faith in Christ is a magic force field against bad things happening to us. I don't think we do this on purpose, but we always focus on the positive traits of Christianity, as if we are somehow immune to tragedy and sorrow.

Many who raise their hands on a Sunday to accept Christ, may think that once I am a Christian, all these bad things, all these bad situations will just go away. I don't believe I have read that anywhere in the Bible. Maybe you will be 'unfired.' Maybe the bank will not foreclose on your house as they said they would, or the doctor will tell you that everything is fine now, or your spouse will not move out. Everything may turn around overnight, I have seen it happen; but what if it doesn't? Is God not real then? Does he not love you enough to make your problems go away? This is where new believers need the church to come along side them, for support, comfort and prayer. Powerful prayer.

As someone who would love nothing more than all souls coming to Christ, I think we should tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about what the journey with Christ is all about. Not having gone through seminary, and being a rather poor example of the Christian faith, I may be completely and entirely wrong on this, but here is my 'Idiots guide to God', written by an aforementioned idiot.

God is not a magic Jeanie in a bottle. Yes, he is all knowing, and all powerful, he is not however, ours for the commanding. He is the one who makes the commandments, it would serve us well to know these commandments, and keep them.

I take Jesus at his word when he says, "In this world, you will have trouble." I have had lots of trouble, and I will have more of it, this is certain. The key is to hang onto the next verse, "But take heart! I have overcome the world."

It's not that your life with Christ are all sunny days, filled with fluffy clouds and butterflies. There will be days that make you cry out for his mercy. Days, if left to your own understanding and your own power, would simply overwhelm and crush you. But with God's power, through the Holy Spirit living in you, you will know that ultimately, God is right there with you. He gives you strength when you feel you cannot go on, he gives you peace when you need it most. His heart breaks when yours does.

As you come through the other side of a crisis, you grow closer in your relationship with God, and your prayers seem to change. I still want the outcome I have in mind, however, I understand that there are things that I simply cannot understand, not in this life. I will have to trust God. Even when it makes no sense, even when it hurts, even when it is the opposite of what I wanted. I must trust in God's infinite love for me.

This last prayer is one I hope I have the strength to pray in my next crisis, which is surely on its way."Lord, in all things, I give you the glory. Use me, use this, to bring people closer to you. Lord, lift up your countenance upon me, Lord give me peace."

Skip, the Crack Terrier

2011-12-22T19:27:00.000-08:00

Occupy Cancun

2011-11-19T07:53:00.001-08:00

Can't believe how crazy those people were at club last night. I'll bet we walked past a dozen people passed out on the beach on the way back to the resort.

Dude! It was awesome!

Man, this is way better than the spending Thanksgiving break at Zuccotti Park. I'm glad your mom had an extra suite for us. I'll bet those homeless dudes are freezing their butts off back in New York, but that's the price you have to pay if you want to change the world.

Yea! We're changing the world!

Eject , Eject, Eject!

2011-10-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

Eject, eject, eject! That line come from the movie, Flight of the Intruder. The Navy pilot is giving a ride to a corpsman and goes over the procedure for an in-flight emergency. He tells the doc, the command for eject will be, eject, eject, eject! The doc asks, "Do I say Roger or something?" The pilot replies, if you even say "Huh" you're going to be talking to yourself.

Sometimes you have to know when to bail out before you crash and do permanent damage. At this season in my life, I have reached that point. Don't worry, I'm not going to run off to join the circus, or move to Scotland to distill my own brand of whiskey, I'm just readjusting my priorities.

As a younger man, my life was completely self-centered. To be totally honest, I still fight that trait to this day, and some days, it wins. However, when you're young, your life is all about what will make you happiest in the very near future. By near future, that could be weeks, days, or even hours. What other people are doing, feeling, or experiencing is of relatively little value, unless it's a means to getting that next dose of happiness. If you have kids at home, especially teenagers, you know this all too well. If this reflects your own life, and you are past your twenties, you are doing it wrong.

As you get older, you are supposed to grow up and be 'responsible'. Being responsible, as a wise friend once told me, is being able to choose your response. As life gets more complicated with relationships, work, family, and other things, they all start to bide for your time and attention. This is when 'responsible' feels more like being on the hook for everything and less about choosing a response.

As I approached my forties, I began to take inventory of my life. I hear this is normal, and even healthy. As long as don’t divorce your wife for someone half her age, and buy a convertible Corvette. Knowing that you may have just hit the apex of your lifespan, that you may have fewer sunrises ahead than are in the rear view mirror, can bring you life into focus. It did for me. I wanted to start making a difference in the world surrounding me. I began to say yes to things that I had resisted in the past. Community groups, church, politics, I began to serve on all types of committees, leadership teams, boards of directors and such.

I want to be as clear as I can here, these are all wonderful organizations, and worthy causes. My hat is off to those who serve in these roles. There is a lot of hard work, long days (and nights) no pay, and very little recognition. I hope in the future I can find a balance in my life that allows me once again to serve those around me. Right now, I am turning my focus elsewhere.

In an earlier piece, I wrote about my daughter and how I wanted to spend more time with her as she enters her pre-teen years. When I looked at my calendar before, it was filled with meetings, volunteer days, and other activities. I began to realize how much I rely on my wife when it comes to Abbie. They are two peas in a pod, and while this is great for their relationship, I can't just be a bystander in my daughter’s life. I want to be as involved in her life as I am in my son's life. This will be a challenge for me, as the thought of a car load or house full of giggling, screaming, eleven year old girls gives me the hives.

The other reason for my disengagement with my volunteer activities is a bit more personal. I need to do a little work on myself. Well, maybe a more than a little. That mid life, self assessment left me with a few areas where I need to improve. My health, my spiritual maturity, my family life; I need to invest my time and focus on these things right now. Not that you can ever master these areas, but you only have a limited amount of resources, and when I am spreading myself a mile wide, I find that I am only an inch deep.

To boil it down, I guess I am doing too many things, and I'm not doing any of them well. I hope this winter is a growing season for me; as a husband, a father, a man, and as follower of Christ.

I hope sometime in the future, I can re-engage in some of these areas. This time, I will give the opportunity a very close look, and talk it over with my family. They will have final veto power. For now, it’s out to the workshop; I have a lot of work to do.

A day of days

2011-09-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

Sleep used to be one of my strong suits. Not to boast, but I could sleep with the best of them. To put it another way, if there were an NSL, the National Sleeping League, I would have been a first round draft pick. So it was that morning, my head, buried in my pillow, was dreaming pleasant thoughts, waiting for the rude blare of my alarm clock that I knew would be coming soon, when I dreamt the phone rang. Was I still dreaming?

One of the drawbacks to being raised on a cattle ranch are the calls you get at all times of the night informing you, "Your cows are out." Most of the time it was the CHP dispatch, how they came to have my phone number is still a mystery, but any cattle on Highway 16 between Esparto and the Lake County line somehow became 'my cows'. Having answered many of those calls over the years, I have a strange ability to go from dead asleep, to coherently awake it three rings of a telephone.

A little before 6:00AM, my mother in law Lois called to say that a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York, and to turn on the television. I turned on the news and watched as the events of that horrific day unfolded. We all remember the shock, the confusion, the fear that gripped us as we watched what seemed to be an unending stream of terrible events. It was, as I think back on it, a day of days. A day I will never forget, ever.

With all the images of that day flashing across the television, I could not imagine the experience of being in lower Manhattan that morning to see, to hear, to feel and even to taste the gray ash of those demolished towers. The high definition images from the television or the pixels of a digital photo cannot reproduce the emotion, the terror, the anguish of that beautiful, clear, September morning that devolved into a hell on earth.

It is fitting the ten year anniversary of September 11, 2001 falls on a Sunday. It is the Sunday following 9/11 that I would like to take you back to if I may. Like many other semi-regular church attendees, I am pretty sure I had not been to church in a few weeks. At the time, our daughter was still a toddler, and church was a hit or miss proposition depending on how frazzled we felt come Sunday.

I did however, make it to church the Sunday after 9/11, and I wasn’t alone. I had to park quite a distance away that morning. The church was packed, and you could see the anxious looks on people’s faces. Gone was the friendly chitchat that usually precedes the start of services, in its place were quiet, concerned conversations about the previous Tuesday. Tears were met with reassuring hugs and a comforting word. It is in these times of crisis you find out just how hard you can lean on your church. There were a lot of folks leaning hard that day.

We were attending Bayside Church in Granite Bay at the time, and Pastor Ray Johnston delivered a powerful and very relevant message that Sunday. A message of sorrow yes, but also one of confidence, strength, and hope. A line that stuck with me that Sunday was God is still on his throne. He is still in charge, and we could draw close to his strength in the midst of this crisis.

In places of worship all over the nation that day, uncounted millions emerged from Sunday services with a renewed faith, and a sense of hope in the face a very uncertain world.On this tenth anniversary of September eleventh, I will remember the fallen, the heroes, and especially our soldiers, but I will also take heart that we are still one nation, under God.

God bless America.

DC EARTHQUAKE!

2011-08-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

"And now Wolf Blitzer with breaking news"

"We have reports coming in of an earthquake in our nation's capital. We are trying to get live images to you as soon as possible, but from early reports, we have an artist's rendering of what the damage looks like. Let's show the graphic."

"How terrible! This earthquake happened on a previously undiscovered fault line, it is being called 'Bush's Fault' because of catastrophic damage it has caused."

"Ok, I am getting word that we do have a live shot of the devastation from the earthquake in Washington DC. Here is the live view of DC"

"Hmmm. Things look a bit better than we had feared, but I'm sure there is terrible damage down on street level., Wait, we do have a live shot from the Lincoln Memorial"

"Hmm"

"OK, well I guess we dodged a bullet there. While most of the government buildings are being evacuated and workers are heading home, this could have been much worse."

"Wait one minute, I am now getting word of a giant cat, that's right, a giant cat attacking the Washington Monument. Here is an artist's rendering of the attack."

"As always, stay tuned for more breaking news, as it happens."

Hitler/Stalin 2012!

2011-08-09T05:26:00.000-07:00

I can already hear the keyboards out there clicking away, writing letters to the editor about how I have finally lost my mind. Hold that thought for a minute, you may be right, but hear me out.

No, I am not looking for the next murderous, genocidal, national-socialist leader to nominate for president. Nor am I looking for a mass murdering, genocidal, communist leader to run as vice president. No, what I am looking for is someone who is prepared for, and strong enough to take on, the worst kind of vilification yet to be seen in modern politics. Someone who is ready to be described as Hitler, Stalin, Satan, and even worse, the second coming of George W Bush.

To fix this nation, we need a president with the courage to endure relentless character attacks at the hands of the media, big labor, the beltway pundits and even those in their own party. Someone who will have the strength to tell Americans the unvarnished truth, and be able to take the heat for it. Let me unpack this for you.

Did you enjoy the three weeks of political theater that went on during the debt ceiling crisis? I didn't think so. Let me explain in very simple terms what just happened last week, why we were downgraded, and what it will take to fix this mess we are in.

The federal government is borrowing forty cents of every dollar it spends this year. Let that sink for a minute; forty percent. If the government were a family, they would have a household income of $55,000. However, they would be spending $96,000 a year. They would also be putting the difference, $41,000 (their deficit) on the family credit card. That family credit card (the federal debt) already has a $366,000 balance. Now let me ask you, do you think this family is a good credit risk?

But what about the debt ceiling deal? Didn't that fix everything? Nope.

What happened was the family said they would cut HBO from the cable TV package, but then went out and bought new iPads for everyone. In short, they are going to spend more next year than they did this year, just not as much as they wanted to. To put it another way, this was an ace bandage on a broken leg. No wonder our credit rating was downgraded for the first time in our history.

As disappointed as I am in the Republicans for agreeing to spend more every year than the one past, I am really disappointed in the current batch of Republican presidential candidates. In the weeks leading up to the debt ceiling debate, where were Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty or Michele Bachmann? Anyone who wants to lead this nation in the next four years better have a real plan, and be willing to share it, early and often.

I am sure their handlers, media advisers, and strategists were telling the GOP hopefuls to keep their heads down, let the congress and the president sling the mud and take the heat. That is a huge mistake. What Americans are craving right now is real leadership. What they want is someone to tell them the truth, and to be very specific. We are up to our eyeballs in talking points, generalities, platitudes, class warfare, and slick speeches.

What we need is a presidential candidate to explain how we get from taking in $55,000, spending $96,000, and bringing those numbers into balance. President Obama and the Democrats want to tax the American people up to the $96,000 level, and even higher. The current crop of Republicans seem resigned to keep the built-in levels of increased spending and occasionally trying to take bits and pieces off that growth.

We need a president who will lay out his or her plan to directly to the American people. That plan must be in two parts.

First, we are going to cut government spending back to its historical levels, about eighteen or nineteen percent of our Gross Domestic Product. Every department is going to get a haircut, and it's about time we eliminate some government programs all together. For those of us under 55, the retirement age for Social Security will have to be raised to keep the program solvent, and Medicare will have to be means-tested to continue into the future.

Secondly, we must do everything in our power to get government out of the way of America's small businesses. The private sector must get back to hiring new workers, building new factories, and expanding their markets. The only way we are getting out of this mess is to grow our economy through the private sector. Just think of what a five or six percent unemployment rate would do for our economy. We have done it before, and we can do it again. Like I've said before, you can't print jobs, the vast majority are created by small and medium sized businesses.

We must also simplify the tax code. We cannot have Exxon under Bush, and General Electric under Obama, pay no federal income tax because they can hire better lobbyists than the local pizza shop owner.

None of this is going to be popular with the media elites, newspaper editorial boards, public employee unions, democrats and even some leftover, big-government Republicans. The outcry that will come from these groups will be viscous, backed by hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign cash, and absolutely unrelenting. The Hitler and Stalin labels will only be the beginning of the character assassination heaped upon the person who makes this case to the people. Paul Krugman, Jon Stewart, Chris Matthews and the rest of the gang will be foaming with outrage. But then again, how long can you be wrong, and have people listen to you?

Happy Independence Day.

2011-07-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

What do you remember about Fourth of July celebrations when you were a kid? I am old enough to remember when we celebrated the bicentennial of our founding in 1976. It was a big deal; lots of speeches, the parade of tall ships going through the harbor in New York, and the fireworks shows on TV. Living in a very rural area of Northern California, we had no fireworks displays in my hometown of Oak Run, but we did have a parade. If you wanted to see real fireworks, you had to drive up the road a few miles and watch the fireworks displays of Redding and Anderson from Bullskin Ridge.

July was always a busy month at home. Truckloads of hay from our ranch in Oregon would have to be unloaded in the barns, and there were always cattle to feed in the feedlot. I'm not sure if we did anything special for the 4th, we would have a BBQ and maybe go swimming. As a kid, the Fourth of July was a blur of red, white and blue, firecrackers (if we could get them) and maybe a drive down to Redding to watch a fireworks show from a distance closer than 40 miles away.

This was my understanding of July fourth for most of early life. I had a thumbnail sketch of Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and the Liberty Bell, but that was about it. I didn't know the story behind the events, I didn't know the why behind the what. In that, I don't think I was alone.

As with most things historical, we are doing a terrible job teaching our children about the American Revolution. I believe the root cause lies in the fact we were not taught ourselves. In a recent Marist poll, only 31percent of adults under the age of 30 knew the year in which we declared independence. Only 67 percent knew we declared independence from Great Brittan. Like so much in life, you cannot teach what you do not know. As Americans, we know very little about where we came from. Nevertheless, back to the Fourth of July.

We may look back with hindsight on the Continental Congress' Declaration of Independence and say, well of course they declared independence, America should be its own nation. Oh, if only it were so easy. The struggle for our independence, as well as the very survival of our fledgling government and revolutionary army, was hanging on by a thread as the delegates in Philadelphia met to address the question of independence.

Only by understanding the situation as is stood in early summer 1776 will we be able to appreciate the boldness and courage of what happened on July 4. Commander of the Continental Army, General George Washington was trying to hold off an invasion of New York, as every day more British ships arrived in the harbor. He was low on munitions, flints for rifles, while the British had full command of the sea. On July 2, British General Howe landed 10,000 men on Staten Island, and was expecting 15,000 more. With these long odds, those gathered at Philadelphia knew that the war, their independence, their fortunes, and even their very lives were on the line. It is not a small miracle the Declaration of Independence was signed at all. This was after all, high treason, punishable by death.

By winter’s onset, New York would be lost, Washington would be down to 5,000 soldiers, and the British would be within striking distance of the rebel capital in Philadelphia. One must wonder if the delegates would have signed such a declaration at that time. If you don’t know the story of Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River in the dead of winter with a half –starved, half-barefoot army to stave off certain defeat in the spring, you should learn what they did there. It truly is the stuff of legend.

This July Fourth is almost over and in a few days, the fireworks stands will be taken down, the spent tubes and sparkler sticks will have been cleaned up, and most Americans will start planning a Labor Day party. I wish more people knew what we celebrate on these holidays, but I’m not sure how to get people interested in their history. I’ll bet more people know the name Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, or Casey Anthony, the woman accused of killing her child in Florida than know who Nathanael Greene, or John Adams was.

We must do better at educating our children; we must do a better job of making our history come alive to them. I am open to suggestions, but if our schools fail in this, we must teach them at home. As I stated earlier, you cannot teach what you don’t know, so pick up a few books at the library and start learning about America.

In this, you may come across books written by people who don’t like America very much, Howard Zinn comes to mind, but then again, he was a member of the Communist Party USA , don’t take my word, his FBI file was just released. It’s your choice, you could read Zinn, but I would suggest David McCullough’s 1776 and John Adams for starters. If you want a more complete history, warts and all, read Bill Bennett’s’ wonderful books, America: The Last Best Hope Volumes I & II.

There are countless other great books on every part of our history, but to get a sense of how we became who we are is a life-long journey of discovery; one worth taking.

Happy Independence Day.

18 months; a political lifetime.

2011-06-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

There is a great joke about a kid asking his dad what a light year is. His father, who was not too bright, answered that a light year has a third less calories than a regular year. While we know that a light year is a actually a measure of distance, there are many definition of a political year.

In politics, one year can seem like a lifetime, or it can seem like three months; depending on whether you are ahead or behind in the polls. In reality, a year is very, very long time. Eighteen months in politics is almost too long to measure.

A month ago, how many people thought Donald Trump would actually make a viable candidate for the Republicans? I ran into a lot of them. I would tell them to look past the terrible comb-over and look at what the man has done in the political world. He has given money to Chuck Schumer, Rahm Emanuel, Charles Rangel, Harry Reid and other liberal democrats. That is more than enough for me. Thankfully, his fifteen minutes of candidate driven fame is over. However, for a brief instance, Trump was front-page presidential news.

As the presidential election season kicks into high gear this fall, the race on the Republican side is slowly taking shape. Right now, the media is talking about a weak Republican field and how they are desperate for a fresh face to rally the troops. I must admit that no one stands out as head and shoulders above the rest right now, but the race is still in its 'look presidential and don't say anything stupid' phase. As soon as Labor Day rolls around, people will start demanding real answers, real policies, and digging deeper into the beliefs of the candidates.

So, here is my two sentence recap of the declared Republican candidates so far.

Former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney; A very competent, successful businessman and Governor, but the healthcare plan he passed in Massachusetts will be millstone around his neck. Is the nation ready for a Mormon president, and does that even matter to voters right now?

Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich; Bright, charismatic, idea man, with a very flawed personal life. I think he is in there to sell books and raise his future speaking fee.

Former governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty; Fairly solid conservative, with a good record as governor to fall back on. Not the most inspiring guy in the field, but a solid candidate; he needs money right now to make it in the top tier.

Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum; The social conservative's choice in the race right now. Very outspoken, passionate, and not afraid to mix it up, but he would be trounced in the general election.

Congressman Dr. Ron Paul; Basically a Libertarian running as a Republican. His followers are extremely dedicated, very smart people, and once again, Ron Paul has zero chance of winning. (Sorry Pauliacs)

As for Herm Cain, Gary Johnson, Fred Karger, Tom Miller, Buddy Roemer, Vern Wuensche; good luck fellas, you are going need it.

Who is still on the sidelines? Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is out, New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie is being recruited big time, and there are rumors of a draft Paul Ryan movement in certain GOP circles. There are also many folks who wish Governor Rick Perry was from any state other than Texas. Another Texas governor may be a little too soon for the country. If former Florida Governor, Jeb Bush's last name was Smith, he would be front runner right now. Again, the anti-Bush feeling would be too strong in a general election.

Everyone is waiting to see what former Alaskan governor, and Tea party star, Sarah Palin will do.

I think Christie would be great for the Republicans right now. The man tells it like it is, has no tolerance for BS, and would make whoever comes out of the primary race a stronger candidate for the general election. He may even take the nomination, if the stars align for him. Paul Ryan is great, but like Barack Obama, he has no executive experience. Palin is the wild card, in more ways than one.

If she declares, she sucks all the air out of the room for the other candidates. She goes straight to the top of the polls, and she will be the headline on the front page of every newspaper, magazine, news show, and blog for months. She will also split the GOP right down the middle. The Republican power structure, with the money and political power, will do everything it can to destroy Palin. She will also come under immediate, viscous and unrelenting attacks from the media. She will be a framed as an illiterate, backwoods, she-devil, and that is just from the people at CNN and MSNBC.

Will Sarah Palin run president? I don't think she will, but I could be wrong. Would I vote for her in the Primary? Depends on who is left in the field when California votes. I think Palin could be a great help in the election, raising money, whipping up people who are not politically active right now, but I don't think she has a chance of winning the presidency.

The Republicans are going to make this into a 'you tried the slick, polished novice, why not try someone who has actually created jobs and balanced a few budgets in hard times' contest. Governors Christie, Pawlenty, Perry and Romney can say I know how to get this done, I have the record to prove it. Palin's chances for president took a huge hit when she resigned from 0ffice as Governor of Alaska. We don't like quitters, and whether it's fair or not, she will has that image to overcome.

One thing is for sure, November 2012 is a long, long way away. Remember, in June of 2008, Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton were leading the polls. How did that race work out for them?

Funnel Cloud

2011-06-01T15:15:00.001-07:00

Seasons.

2011-05-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

We all have seasons in our life. Some pleasant and calm, some crazy and tragic, and some are somewhere in between. I have been experiencing one of the latter variety lately.

In many ways, this past year has been one of amazing change. Yet as summer approaches, I find myself right back where I started. It has been a wild, anxious, frustrating, scary time, but also a season of spiritual growth.

Last summer, our family was in negotiations with the County of Sacramento to continue our concession of the equestrian services at Gibson Ranch Park. My wife has been the general manager of the equestrian facilities for eighteen years, and we had been operating without a contract for the past two years. It seems the new parks administration did not know what to do with us.

As a private contractor inside a public park, we were always trying to find ways to bring in more revenue by offering more services, all the while it seems the county was trying to find ways of offering as few services as possible. We had always payed a percentage of our monthly income to the county, so if we were successful, the county made more money also. Seems simple enough, it's called a win-win situation. I guess they don't teach that in public administration or recreational management classes in college.

To the parks department's way of thinking, the only real way to find revenue is tapping the counties' general fund, or trying to pass a new parcel tax. The mindset of each side was foreign to the other. We were trying to offer services the public wanted, in exchange for a fee, and the parks people just wanted to get enough money from the budget to pay for its staff and administration. It's hard to find common ground with so little in common.

It's a shame, but in the end the County closed the park. We had to move eighteen years worth of ranch stuff back to our place in Esparto in one month. Tractors, trailers, hay wagons, horses, cattle, panels, feeders and saddles, they all had to come home in thirty days. It was quite a task. The whole time I was thinking, (while lifting the 200 lbs corral panels) if we have to move all this stuff back, I'm going to cry, or kill someone, whichever comes first.

At home, the fall rains came, followed by a very wet winter. Our fields turned to mud pits, and two barns worth of hay were fed down to the last bale, and then some. The hardest part was losing a few newborn calves and goats with the weeks of steady rain. It was a miserable winter on our place.

In the midst of all this, our son became ill. We had gone through something similar the previous year, but this was different, harder, for all of us. Trying to get a proper diagnosis was a trial of hope, and disappointment. He finished the second half of senior year on home study. In the end, we still do not have a final answer, although he has been doing well for the past month or so. Having a sick child is the hardest thing for a parent, even when that child is six foot three, and two hundred fifty pounds.

Through this past fall and winter, my lovely wife had no full time job for the first time in her adult life. If you have ever met Dawn, you know how much this is outside her comfort zone. She works hard, and she likes stability. This winter, she had little of either. As bad as it was for all of us, this past year was much rougher on her. Looking back, I wish I could have done more for her.

Through this season of our lives, we have some great friends step up to help and support us. We were kept in the prayers of many of our friends at church, and especially our small-group Bible study. Having been through a tough time or two, I am still learning to trust God. Not trusting that He would make things work the way I wanted, but that no matter the outcome, trusting in His love for me. Knowing that love, the love of Christ, gave me peace in the midst of this stormy season. That peace kept me going, as the months past and brought new challenges that seemed to come at us in rapid succession.

So, as the hills to the west turn from green to a dark blonde, we find ourselves particularly blessed once again.

Our family has formed a business arrangement with the new private operator of Gibson Ranch; Doug Ose and his family. My wife is back at work, knee deep in horses, cows, employees, soaring hay prices, voice-mails, emails and chaos. In short, she is back to normal, and loving it.

Our son is finished with high school. He is looking forward to working this summer to buy more guitar gear. In short, he is back to normal.

Me? I guess I am back to normal, whatever that is. For me, normal is just a setting on a washing machine, not a way of life. We even moved most everything back to Gibson, and I did not harm a single person. I am however, taking the month of June off my calendar. With the exception of our wedding anniversary, I am clearing my meeting schedules, and my weekends. I need to find a little quiet time, catch my breath, spend some time with my wife.

I may even find time for a little writing. I hear there is a presidential election coming next year....

The heart of the Republican party in California

2011-03-21T06:11:00.000-07:00

When I covered the California Republican Convention two years ago, the crowd was in a foul mood. Republicans were just digesting the news of former state senator Abel Maldonado's vote to cross party lines and sign onto a tax raising budget deal. The governor had worked out the deal with Democrats and needed one more Republican vote. Both Schwarzenegger and Maldonado would have heard an earful that day if they had the courage to cross L Street and meet up with the convention goers. They did not.

This year, it is hard to get a sense of the crowd; they seem divided. Many in the GOP are uplifted by the national midterm elections, as well as being deeply disappointed with California’s results. While some are buoyed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and his victory with his state's long-term fiscal reforms, many feel another sellout coming in the golden state's GOP caucus. Time will tell.

As this year's convention rolls out of town, many feel two competing emotions, hope and fear. The hope comes in the form of redistricting, and the opportunity to make a deal with the governor for real, long-term budget reform. The fear is Brown will pick off two moderate Republicans in each house in an effort to put a five year extension of higher taxes on the June ballot.

The redistricting effort could make for many more competitive elections in 2012. Last year there were really only a handful of truly competitive seats up for grabs. Both sides poured huge amounts of money into these races. The hope is that many more districts will have new representatives in the next election cycle.

As for the budget deal, that could be a make or break deal for the GOP. Having a handful of Republicans sign on with Jerry Brown's one year of budget cuts, at the expense of extending higher taxes for five years, could make the Republicans a minority party for another decade. If Republicans stay united and force meaningful pension reform, and other long-term budget reforms, in return for putting Brown's tax measure on the ballot, the party could become relevant again.

Pinning your hopes on the backbone of California's Republicans is a three-to-one bet at best. Three being they cave in, one that they hold fast, but at least we are having this discussion. If the voters did not pass 2008's prop 11, just imagine the closed-door meetings Democrats would be having with vulnerable Republicans right now. "Here’s the new map of your district if you vote with us, it's still a Republican majority district, here’s the map of your district if you don't, it takes in this new area and turns your district to a Democrat majority."

Right now, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission is busy drawing those lines; the maps will come out in May. No matter how they draw the new district maps, they will be better than the legislature drawing them for their own political advantage.

As far as Governor Brown's plan to put the tax extension on the ballot, there is an all out effort to get his message out; let the people decide. Okay, I am all for letting the people decide, so let's make this a pro-choice election. Let's have one proposition for the tax extension, one for a spending limit based on the last three-year’s average of revenue, and one for pension reform for public employee unions. Let the people decide! Democrats are opposed to putting these on the ballot along with taxes; I guess they are only pro-choice if that choice is higher taxes.

As Republicans try to come together after a drubbing in the last election, they will have to do a better job at getting their message out. What should their message be? Here is what I think it should be;

Imagine California being one of the best places in the nation to start a new business? What would it look like if California welcomed new companies into the state with incentives, not driving them out with over-regulation and sky-high taxes? What would the unemployment rate be if we sent people to Sacramento who knew how to grow California's private sector economy? What would our housing market look like if the unemployment rate were cut in half? What would the dropout rate, and test scores look like if you gave parents a voucher to send their children to the school of their choice? Imagine a California where we actually tackled our long-term fiscal outlook and put the state on track where the budget is balanced on time and with little effort.

Image that.

Republicans need to start going on offense. If you only speak the local chamber of commerce, small business round tables, and Republican events, you are preaching to the choir. Getting your base out when only thirty one percent of Californians are registered as Republicans, means you lose, every time. Democrats have a thirteen percent advantage right now; you need to move those numbers closer together. You do that by showing up in places you have never been before.

You need to get out, to reach people who don't know you, and don't know your ideas. This may be uncomfortable. This may mean you are the only dissenting voice on a public panel in a liberal town hall. This may mean you are alone in a sea of students at a college campus. This may mean you have nasty editorials written about you in your local paper. This may mean dealing with angry, rude people. That is in the job description of growing into a majority. If you are not up to it, if you don't want get out there and fight this battle of ideas on their turf, then you should not run for re-election. I'll guarantee you will have primary opponent who will.

This could get interesting.

Governor Haley Barbour at the CRP

2011-03-20T00:27:00.000-07:00

I was able to ask a question of Governor Barbour at today's convention.
This is what happens when you give a press credential and a camera to a cowboy.

California Republican Convention, Spring 2011

2011-03-18T06:12:00.000-07:00

It was a cold and dreary day; well it was raining, but far from dreary. As California Republicans come together in Sacramento to meet, many things are stirring in the air besides the rainclouds.

The budget battle still looms as the Governor looks to find two Republican votes in each house to get an extension of the tax hikes from two years ago put on the June ballot. Interesting times indeed. Along with the fallout from the Wisconsin budget fight still making headlines, California's GOP delegates wonder what is next for the golden state.

Francis Chan - The new middle road

2011-03-14T06:47:00.000-07:00

For my believing friends; so simple, yet so powerful. Francis Chan is my mew favorite author. I have read his two books, Crazy Love and Forgotten God. Great reads, but beware, he will challenge you.

Girls.

2011-02-28T05:41:00.000-08:00

I guess I could start with my favorite "how women think" joke, but I will resist for the sake of brevity, and my own personal safety. Say what you will, but the reason these jokes are funny is they are based, in some part, on reality. Women think differently than men do. Go ahead and start writing your letters to me now, but deep down you know it's true. I'm not saying the way women think is better, or worse, it's just different. To pretend otherwise is to deny reality.

I am not saying there are no exceptions to the rule, there certainly are. They are some of the most interesting people I have ever met. However, in most cases, women are wired to "feel" more in their thinking than men. Most men are wired to stay on a linear thinking path, a little more detached from their emotions. Except House Speaker, John Boehner, that guy cries all the time.

If you are already on the second paragraph of your hate-mail to me, just listen for a minute. It's not about intelligence, it's not about ability, it's about how our brains are wired. I have met, worked with, and worked for, some brilliant, strong, successful women. I have also met, worked with, and for, some men who were dumber than a sack full of hammers.

My point is I understand how most men think; I'm one of them. Women on the other hand; I have no clue. Dawn, my wife of 22 years, God bless her, can attest to this fact. Now, add preadolescence to the mysteries of the female mind, and I am so out my league it's not funny. This is where my daughter comes in.

There is a pretty big gap between our children, Steven is 17 and Abbie is 10. Steven and I have a close relationship; we share similar interests in music, guitars, sports and most other things. Abbie is her mother's daughter; they are two peas in a pod. I call her my wife's mini-me. They even look alike, which is good news for my daughter, and they have many of the same personality traits.

They are the true animal lovers of our household. Abbie and Dawn can spend all day out in the barn with the horses. While I love all the critters on our place, being raised on a cattle ranch, their charms have worn off a bit for me. I have the scars to prove it. The closest Steven wants to get to our cows is sitting down at the dinner table with a bottle of A1 steak sauce.

Our family schedule has always been crazy. Being a co-owner of a small business, Dawn has worked on Sundays for many years. Abbie would usually go with her to our business at Gibson Ranch Park in Sacramento. They spent most Sundays together from the time Abbie was a baby. Steven and I would usually go to church, go shooting, watch football, or just hang out together on Sundays. This fall, all that changed. When the park closed this August, we moved all of our animals back home. For the first time in years, I have been able to spend the whole weekend with the entire family. It has been very cool, but we have had to adjust to the new routines.

One thing I am learning about parenting is its ever changing job description. I was getting pretty good at being the game-watching, question-answering, ball-throwing, chauffeur guy. Now I am the ATM/dispenser-of-wisdom-to-be-ignored guy. At least I am for my son. For my daughter, I am not sure what my direct role is, other than being someone to snuggle with on the couch, being the lifter of heavy things, and being the one going outside to find out what made that loud noise at three in the morning

Spending more time with Abbie has been very educational for me. Still, if the kids are doing separate activities, I usually take Steven and Dawn usually takes Abbie. I guess it is just a natural mother-daughter, father-son thing, but I am going to make an effort to change that.

As a father, spending time with you daughter is a big deal. I have spoken to many women whose fathers were not present in their lives growing up, even when they lived under the same roof. It can have a terrible effect on a young woman's self image, and the way she relates to men as she grows into adulthood.Boys and girls need both parents fully involved in their lives. I should be just as involved in Abbie's volleyball as I am in Steven's music.

I have my work cut out for me because Abbie is into everything; softball, volleyball, piano, 4-H, and about a dozen other activities. Steven is into music. Playing, recording, editing, the boy loves music and wants to make a career out of it. They are very different individuals. Both have different talents and distinct personalities. While I can relate to Steven easier, I once was a 17 year old male, I have no idea what it is like to be a pre-teen girl. I guess I'll just have to be the best dad I can be for her. The first step is just being there.

I don’t think I will ever understand Abbie the way I might understand Steven, but that's not what's really important. I’m supposed to love her for the person she is, the person she is growing into, and to be there for her no matter what.

I'm trying to do just that, but I need to try harder.

I can't hear you

2011-02-15T05:51:00.000-08:00

I discuss and debate politics quite often, maybe too often. Over the years, my views have changed as I read, learned and participated in the world of politics. Growing more conservative in my views over the past twenty years or so, I have had plenty of practice debating, defending and rethinking what I believe. This is a good thing. Some of the greatest insights and discoveries I have made came by this process.

Socratic questioning is one of the best ways to uncover how you came to believe what you believe, and whether your beliefs are logical. After all, what good are beliefs you really don't understand, and cannot defend?

Having political discussions at work usually consists of me debating everyone else. That's fine. The truth is the truth, and facts are facts no matter how many people are saying you are wrong. That’s the issue I have the hardest time with. When you debate people who "feel" and "believe" something using their own set of assumptions, along with their own personal facts, the debate breaks down.

When you talk about federal spending and spending cuts with a person who thinks half the budget goes to the pentagon, you are in for a long, frustrating conversation. When you point out that Medicare will be broke in a few short years, the person you're debating says the solution is to put everyone on Medicare and eliminate private health insurance. Oy vey.

To quote the warden in Cool Hand Luke, "Some folks, you just can't reach."

Sometimes, the folks hardest to reach are those supposedly on your side. A great example of this was the first draft of budget cuts proposed by house Republican leaders last week. After winning in November on a platform of cutting 100 billion from President Obama's 2011 budget, the House leadership proposed 32 billion in cuts. Many conservatives hit the roof, myself included.

You don't understand they said, the budget year is almost half over, and the 32 billion was all we could cut right now, blah, blah, blah. Seriously? 32 billion is a rounding error when you are looking at a 1.5 Trillion dollar federal deficit out of a 3.8 Trillion dollar budget. When the stuff hit the fan in Speaker Boehner's office this week, the leadership magically found the 100 billion in cuts they promised.
Now, that is a really big number right? That is going to make a huge dent in the deficit right? No. Let me explain.

If, and that is a big if, the house gets their 100 billion in cuts, the deficit for this year will go down from 1.5 Trillion to 1.4 Trillion. It is like having congestive heart failure, being 150 pounds overweight, and your doctor telling you to lose that extra 150 pounds or you are going to die. Losing 10 pounds in a year is a start, but you should be losing much more, much faster. At this rate it will take another 14 years to reach a balanced budget, let alone reducing our overall debt.

I'm sure even the ten pounds is too much weight to lose for some groups. The SEIU and NEA and every other public employee union will be fighting these reductions tooth and nail. I’ll bet you will soon hear radio ads in scary voices telling you the Republicans are trying to balance the budget of the backs of "X". You name it; teachers, the elderly, children, police and firemen, polar bears, we just can't afford these draconian cuts, call you representative now!

At least that is what they'll say. Just remember, in 2006 the entire federal budget was 2.6 Trillion dollars, with a deficit (the difference between what the government takes in taxes and what they spent) of 249 billion dollars. Ah, the good old days. President Obama's 2011 budget is 3.8 Trillion with a budget deficit of 1.5 Trillion dollars. What the Republicans in the house are asking for is to cut the budget from 3.8 Trillion to 3.7, and the deficit from 1.5 to 1.4, isn't that horrible?

How will the federal government manage?

"Paul's Letter to American Christians" - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

2011-01-17T09:59:00.000-08:00

I have always found the speeches of Dr. King to be inspirational and thought provoking, even if I didn't always agree with everything word he wrote. His thoughts on socialism etc; but his sermons are where I have always found his true fire, and brilliance. Again, even if there are a few thoughts I would love to have discussed with him. Here are few excerpts from one of my favorite sermons, a fictional letter from the Apostle Paul to American Christians.

"But America, as I look at you from afar, I wonder whether your moral and spiritual progress has been commensurate with your scientific progress. It seems to me that your moral progress lags behind your scientific progress. Your poet Thoreau used to talk about "improved means to an unimproved end." How often this is true. You have allowed the material means by which you live to outdistance the spiritual ends for which you live. You have allowed your mentality to outrun your morality. You have allowed your civilization to outdistance your culture. Through your scientific genius you have made of the world a neighborhood, but through your moral and spiritual genius you have failed to make of it a brotherhood. So America, I would urge you to keep your moral advances abreast with your scientific advances."

"I understand that you have an economic system in America known as Capitalism. Through this economic system you have been able to do wonders. You have become the richest nation in the world, and you have built up the greatest system of production that history has ever known. All of this is marvelous. But Americans, there is the danger that you will misuse your Capitalism. I still contend that money can be the root of all evil. It can cause one to live a life of gross materialism. I am afraid that many among you are more concerned about making a living than making a life. You are prone to judge the success of your profession by the index of your salary and the size of the wheel base on your automobile, rather than the quality of your service to humanity."

..."Always be sure that you struggle with Christian methods and Christian weapons. Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter. As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him. Always avoid violence."

You can read the whole sermon here, it would be a few minutes well spent.

The price of advice

2011-01-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

We all receive advice. Sometimes we solicit this advice, sometimes we do not. Usually, it is given free of charge and in most cases; it is worth the price paid. There are the times when you think back on a bit of wisdom you were given and say, that was truly good advice; I wish I had followed it.

The degree to which you follow advice usually depends on who is giving it, and the state of the relationship between you and the giver. Let me explain.

I remember some rather sage words of wisdom passed down to me from my father. Some of which I followed, some of which I did not. Here are a few.

"There are plenty of broke horses in this world, why don't you go find one." This was told to me while I was wadded up in a heap, stuck halfway under my father's truck, after being bucked off a green two year old horse.

"Well, you better learn fast, I want this hillside cleared of brush by noon." After I said I don't how to drive a D-8 bulldozer. I think I was still in grade school.

"What the hell are you thinking; you don't use a gas engine inside a barn full of hay." It didn't seem that stupid at the time, but I was fourteen.

"Don't drink on an empty stomach; you won't worth a damn in the morning." He was right.

His advice was meant to be informational, or inspirational, or something. I took most of it, mainly out of sheer terror. Being a father, he was trying to keep me alive, when he wasn't putting my life in peril. I did learn a great many things from my father, but when I was a teenager, I started to think I knew it all. Fast forward thirty years, and now I am the one dispensing advice to my kids.

I remember a few years ago I was talking to my friend Butch; he asked how old my son was. When I told him he was fifteen, he said, “Walt, you are about to become the dumbest person on earth." Well, at least I was warned.

I believe this metamorphosis happens innocently enough. It all starts one day when your kids find out something you told them is not true, or they know something you don't. The gears of rebellion begin turning.

They think if mom and dad are wrong about this, I bet everything they tell me is a load of beans. When this new paradigm sets in, as a parent you just turned the corner from smart person to dumb person. Enter the know-it-all friend or worse, the know-it-all teacher who finds glee in bursting their young intellectual bubble. In many cases, these new influences are the ones full of beans, but they have convincing arguments, and point to "facts" or other sources to back up the point of view. It can be a confusing time for young people.

This is when their cool, slacker buddy tells them to forget their engineering degree to wander across Europe for a year. Forget about college and go to work for a non-profit so they can help save the world. Conversely, this might be the time when you as a parent tell them they have give up on their dreams of becoming an artist, musician, professional athlete, mime, kangaroo trainer, etc, and get a "real job."

Somewhere in the middle of all this, they ask for advice from people they know and trust. Here is where it gets tricky; sometimes they go looking for the advice they want to hear. Honestly, there are no right answers, but there are some that are far worse than others.

College can be a great decision. However, working as an assistant manager at Taco Bell to pay off your sixty thousand dollar college loan for a degree in art history may not be the smartest move. Earning a degree with "engineering' at the end of it, probably will. Passing on college for a career in a field that you are passionate about is a tossup. If you can pay the rent, and keep the bills paid doing something you love, that is a wonderful thing. When you are sixty five and have no retirement, this might be the price you have to pay for all those years of enjoyment.

When you finally hit twenty five or thirty, you start to rethink the advice you took, and the advice you passed up. I have found the best advice comes from people who have been down the road you are traveling. Or from folks who didn’t and regret it to this day. Sometimes there isn’t any substitute for years of experience from a wise person.

Here are two things I do know; don’t take diet advice from a fat guy, and don’t take financial advice from a guy living in his car.

The new True Grit

2010-12-23T21:04:00.000-08:00

First off, no it's not as good as the original. In some ways it's better. I love John Wayne, and the role of Rooster Cogburn seemed made for him. While I like his lighter, more smart-ass portrayal of Rooster Cogburn, Jeff Bridges is wonderful as the grizzled, worn down, and very flawed US Marshal. As much as I think Matt Damon is a pompous ass hat, comparing his acting ability to that of Glen Campbell's is like comparing LeBron James to me on the basketball court. The role of Mattie Ross is a toss up, I like Kim Darby's spunk in the original, but Hailee Steinfeld's intensity and drive brings new depth to the role.

The new True Grit is darker, dirtier, rougher, more authentic and grittier; definitely a Coen brothers film. There are no back-lot production scenes, everything looks worn out, used up, rode hard and put away wet. You can easily imagine how bad Rooster Cogburn's room in the back of a Chinese market smells. Everyone in the movie, except Hailee Steinfeld, looks like they were dragged face down through a sage brush patch; very real and in desperate need of professional dentistry.

The new film leaves out some familiar scenes, including the final cemetery scene, but replaces them with something even better. It's not as neatly wrapped up as the original, but this is the Coen brothers, and the ending does come full circle.

I really can't say that I like one over the other, although I am so much more familiar with the 1969 version. The new one is, well, it's new. It's kind of like getting a new dog that replaced and old favorite. All you remember are the great times you had with the old dog, never the time he chewed up you new boots. It's easy to find some things in the new film you don't like about , but then again, I have fast-forwarded through the Glen Campbell scenes in the old one too.

Go see it, and keep in mind, the Duke will never be replaced, but I think he would like it.

Cows don't care about Christmas

2010-12-20T06:34:00.000-08:00

I once applied for a position at UC Davis as a farm maintenance worker/reserve milker. I am fortunate I did not get that job; I think the cows are fortunate too. That position went to a full time UCD milker who wanted to do something different, and he was definitely qualified for the milking part of the job. In time, I did get a job in the Animal Science department, and talking to my co workers did nothing but reinforce my belief that the job of a milker is no fun.

When I tell people I live in the country, people mistake me for a farmer. I always correct them saying I have a cattle ranch, therefore, I am a rancher. Then they ask if my cows are milk cows. My answer is always this; do I look crazy to you?

Growing up, we had a milk cow. Bessie was her name, and as cows go, she was a very nice cow. This did not save her from my constant derision and hostile feelings. I hated milking Bessie. Getting swatted in the eye with her swishing tail, having the stainless steel bucket almost full, just to have her step in it or knock it over were some of my least favorite parts of the job. Milking cows by hand should be banned by some sort international criminal court on the basis of its cruelty; to the milker.

Thankfully, I was spared this job by my constant sniveling and complaining, and when the new Albertsons super market was built in Redding, Bessie was retired.

Cows need to be milked twice a day. Rain or shine, flood, famine, pestilence, or alien attack from outer space, the cows must be milked. The job at Davis is a ten hour, four days a week, split shift position. Three to eight, and three to eight. Yes, that means getting to work at 3:00AM, herding the enormous bovines into the milking parlor, prepping their bags, and working them through in groups until all eighty or so have been milked. This should take you to 8:00AM, and then you head home. After a nap, you come back at 3:00PM and start the process all over again until eight that evening. Sounds like fun, right?

This should give you an insight into my choice in cattle operations. My cows are for eating. I raise them, sell them, and eventually they end up in cellophane packages at your local supermarket. All I have to do is feed them. While feeding them is much quicker than milking them, they do need to be fed twice a day in the winter. Winter, as you may know, is very wet. Feeding cows (or horses) in the rain, for lack of a better word, sucks.

We feed with an old ATV that pulls a small trailer. After we load up the hay bales, we head out to the pasture to feed. This should be easy, but it's not.

We are hampered right now with having horses, cattle and a small gang of goats in our pasture. And a llama. I take no responsibility for the goats or the llama; any questions should be forwarded to my wife.

All animals have a pecking order, both inside and between species. On our ranch, the horses, especially Polly the Percheron mare, are on top. The cattle follow behind them in the pecking order and the llama just waits until everyone is finished to sneak a bite. The goats are like an inner-city gang. They all stick together and muscle their way into the middle of the feeding area. When the horses try to run them off, they scatter, only to reform their gang. Eventually the horses just give up and let them eat next to them.

When you drive into the field, the horse come running up and start trying to pull the hay bales off the trailer. Horses have a full time job being nuisances, and they seem to thrive at their occupation. Once you are half finished with feeding, the cows arrive and start scratching their heads and necks on the hay bales, the ATV, and you if you're not careful. Cows are always itchy, I'm not sure why, but it's a fact. The worst part is when the goats decide they want to ride on the trailer and help you feed.

On a regular day, this can be amusing. On a day when it's raining sideways, there's no humor involved. Trying to find the least muddy place to feed, running the gauntlet of kicking horses, scratching cows and hitch-hiking goats, all while be pelted with rain makes for a miserable day. These are the times when you question the wisdom of living in the country. You imagine living a small condo in town. Then you remember having neighbors, separated by a few sheets of drywall, and you come to your senses.

This Christmas, I will be out feeding the cows, although I should admit that my wife feeds the critters more that I do these days. In the winter it's dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home. On my days off my wife makes sure I get back into the rotation. Nevertheless, this Christmas we will open presents, make breakfast, and then head out to feed. Anyone who owns livestock will be doing the same. I hope it isn't raining cats and dogs, but we will go out either way. I am just glad I will not be getting up at 3AM to milk cows. All across the world, and right here in Yolo County, there will be people who will be doing just that, making sure Santa gets has a glass of cold milk for his cookies. Merry Christmas milkers.

How to lose an election you just won.

2010-12-14T21:59:00.000-08:00

As I sit down this evening to write, the lame duck session of the 110th Congress is considering two big bills. They are trying to pass a 1.2 Trillion dollar Omnibus spending bill, basically a budget for 2011, and then they take up the tax-rate deal the President worked out with congressional Republicans.

The Omnibus spending bill is a 1,924-pages filled with over 6,000 earmarks, totaling in excess of 8 Billion dollars. For the next few weeks, Democrats are still in charge of both the Senate and the House. They are trying their best to get the remainder of their budget-busting wish list passed before the GOP takes control of the House of Representatives in January. This is no surprise to me, the rout Democrats took in November has not made a dent in their philosophy; spend all you can, as fast as you can, and worry about paying for it later. In this case, the Democrats don't even have to worry about being held accountable for this round of reckless spending, they won't be in charge when the bill comes due.

My worry is the Republicans. When President Obama met in secret with the current GOP leadership last week, the President came home with a nice new cow, while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Boehner came home with a pocket full of magic beans. I understand the President can be persuasive, but did he use Jedi mind-tricks on McConnell and Boehner? Why would they agree to another round of non-stimulating stimulus just to postpone Obama's plan to raise tax rates for only two years? Oh sure, they did get a few concessions in the deal, but as soon as word hit the street, Democrats were already piling on Corn Ethanol subsidies, windmill subsidies, rum subsidies, and other pork to gain enough votes to try to get this deal through the Senate.

Do Republicans remember the Pledge to America they took when they were running to unseat Nancy Pelosi and her gang? I certainly do.

Page 21 of the pledge says the Republicans will "Act Immediately to Reduce Spending" and to "Cut Government Spending to Pre-Stimulus, Pre-Bailout Levels." How about "Reading the bill," remember that? You can find that one on page 33 of the pledge. Does any of this ring a bell?

Look, I don't expect much from the Democrats, but if the first votes by Republicans, after the American people put a shot across the bow of the big-spending government, is to increase the deficit, I have absolutely zero confidence in the leadership of the GOP. I have been listening to pundits and talking heads explain why this is a good deal; they fear a government shutdown and negative fallout from an early standoff with the President. Talk about tone deaf; cutting spending is exactly what the country just told you to do.

I don't fear "the political fallout" from a government shutdown or a fight with the President. Just wait until Americans open their paychecks on January 15 and see the Obama tax increases; the Democrats will fold up like a beach chair. Republicans can extend the current tax rates in January when they take control of the House; if you don’t believe me, ask Bill Clinton. When President Clinton says he thinks the Republicans will be in a stronger position to bargain come January, I rest my case.

I know, I know, I don't understand the finer points of legislation, and the inner working of Washington DC. You're right, I do not understand this at all.

No more wild spending sprees, no more non-stimulating stimulus, no more 2,000 page bills passed in the middle of the night. No more.

Get it?

How we learn

2010-12-01T05:34:00.000-08:00

If you go to an office supply store today, you will more than likely see a huge display of new office furniture. They look great, all set up with the fake plants and books on the shelves, like a model home in a new development. You think to yourself, this would look nice in my home office. So you take the tag up to the register and purchase your new modular desk set, with matching file cabinets. To your amazement, the clerk brings out two boxes, the size of a coffee table that weigh eighty pounds apiece, and crams them in into your trunk.

When you open the boxes at home, you find twenty sheets of particle board with a vinyl, wood-grain sticker on one side, and an assortment of pieces and parts. You also receive a set of instructions, written by someone for whom English is a second language.

"Part A going into the Part B screwing tight by application of three of Part C screws," etc. Look,if they are going through all the trouble to ship this stuff half way around the world, is it too much to ask that the instructions make sense? I have assembled a few of these in my day, and I can honestly say the instructions are much better than they used to be. At least today they use pictures.

Computer hardware and software is another story all together. The instructions are in English, or high-tech English to be exact, detailed in every way, and almost completely useless. The instructions are so complex, unless you have a degree in computer engineering given out in the last two years; you are going to have to call tech support to get it working.

Not everyone is challenged when it comes to instructions and instruction manuals. I know people who will open a package, actually read through the entire manual, and referring back to it a few times during the process, will build or install anything the correct way, the first time. I hate these people. I really do.

I learn by doing, or to be more precise, I learn by screwing things up. I have a history of building things only to have to tear them apart, twice, and then rebuild them the right way. It is a bit frustrating, but I have resigned myself to this particular way of learning. As you may imagine, I would not make a good bomb technician, parachute packer, or high-rise building engineer. I am pretty good at thinking outside the box and coming up with new ways to get things done, but the tiny details sometimes elude me. Most of the time it’s messy, but it usually works.

There is another way to learn; by watching other people screw up. Like I said, I am great at screwing things up. You could say I have a black belt making mistakes. However, screwing up office furniture, and Jeep engines are minor inconveniences. I am talking about watching people wreck their lives.

Having seen people make bad decisions that affect not only their lives, but also the lives of their family and friends, has made me very aware of the real life consequences of my own actions. Believe me; I made my share of really bad decisions over the years, and I probably have a few more in my system that will come out somewhere down the line. The point I am trying to make is if there are lessons to learn from someone else’s mistake, learn them well. It is much less painless.

It is easy to armchair quarterback someone's life from afar. There is an endless supply of celebrities who seem to make a career of making destructive choices. It is harder when the people screwing up their lives are close to us. No matter how hard we try, no matter how much we care for a person, we are usually unable to stop them from making a wreck of their lives. It can be devastating. Sometimes, the only possible good that comes out a terrible situation is being able to learn from their mistakes.

From completely irresponsible financial decisions, terrible relationship decisions, or falling into destructive addictions, these are real life situations that are happening all around us. If you spend a few decades on this planet, you will see most everything. I have seen firsthand how to screw up your life with any number of poor decisions, and I have tried to learn from them, and not to repeat them.

There are a few things I don’t want to learn by doing.

Gratitude

2010-11-23T06:44:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgivings past, I have written about the ever changing way America celebrates this holiday. We have certainly strayed a long way from George Washington's original proclamation about this being a day of prayer and thanksgiving to God for the blessing and benefits He has bestowed upon our nation. I'm not sure what giant, cartoon-character balloons, parades and NFL football have to do with thanking God, but I loved watching the parades as a kid and still enjoy the Cowboys game while waiting for the turkey. Anyhow, this year I wanted to talk about gratitude itself, and the many ways it is manifested in our lives.

Giving thanks, being thankful. What do these words mean to you? If someone holds a door open for you, gives you a compliment, or passes you the cranberry sauce, saying thank you is just common courtesy, it is not what we are talking about here. Real gratitude comes when you change the focus of your attention. Real gratitude is turning from the universe of me, to think about others.

We spend most every waking hour wrapped up in ourselves; egocentric in other words. I am probably guiltier of this than anyone. What do I want? How does this affect me? Why is this happening to me? How do I get what I want? These are the questions that fill up our thoughts and take up most of our attention. While it is our human nature to focus on ourselves, here is a question you might want to contemplate this Thanksgiving; how did I get where I am today?

As much as we like to think that we are the authors of our success, everyone had some help. Most of us had plenty, even if we don't realize it. Certainly, there was a lot of hard work and effort, but I could not begin to count the hundreds of people who helped me get where I am today. It is easier to recount the individuals who have helped us out, they shared their love, support, and encouragement, gave us a chance, or gave us a second chance. They have a face, they are familiar to us. Sometimes we forget those Americans who came before us, like our founding fathers and our fallen soldiers, whose shoulders we stand on today. We owe so many, so much, it is good that we should stop and give thanks.

Back to George Washington's point; our gratitude should always start with almighty God. When was the last time you sat down to give thanks to God for the blessings in your life?

Like most families in America, before we sit down to eat our Thanksgiving meal, we will say grace and thank God for our families and the meal. Thanksgiving might be one of times, like Christmas and Easter, where people who normally don't say grace, do it out of a sense of tradition, or because it's a special occasion. Let me pose another question. How would our lives change if we reflected on our blessings, and focused on that feeling at least once a day for the next year? I would bet that small change of perspective could lead to the most content year you may have ever experienced.

This year has been a challenge for many in our community. No matter what life brings us this coming year, turning from the universe of me, to appreciating all the people and all the blessings we have, can make every day just a little bit better. And some days, just a little bit better is what we really need.

I feel so grateful today to have a loving family and great friends. To all the people I have met since I started writing this column, thank you. Your encouragement keeps me going. To those who hate my writing, thanks for keeping me on my toes. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Coach Singletary, watchin' the film....

2010-11-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

Coach Singletary, that was quite an embarrassing loss yesterday. What happened out there?

Well, I don't want to jump to any conclusions, we will have to check the film and see where we went wrong.

Check to see what coach? I mean it's pretty clear to anyone who watched the game, you were beaten in every aspect of the game. Why do you need to watch the film?

Well, we need to watch the film to see what parts of the film we need to watch closer.

Coach, that really doesn't make any sense.

That's why we have to watch the film!

Is there any chance you could watch the film first, and then hold the press conference so you can answer our questions?

We will check the film to see how we can watch it faster, but we'll just have to watch the film and see.

Sanity will eventually come to California

2010-11-09T06:38:00.000-08:00

Americans delivered a message to their political leaders last Tuesday, and here in California, we sent a message too. The message California voters sent to the politicians in Sacramento is; we believe in you to solve our problems, and we gave you all the power you need, so get it done.

Basically, the Democrats just assured themselves a beat-down in the 2012 election. Why? They control everything now. They will not have Republicans to blame in two years. With Jerry Brown sitting in the Governor's seat, Democrats hold huge majorities in both houses, and with Prop. 25' allowing a simple majority to pass a budget filled with higher taxes, Democrats are in complete control of the Golden State. Sound familiar?

If the Democrats succeed in taxing their way to prosperity, they can crow all they want. They will hold political power for generations. By next summer, around budget time, it will become increasingly clear they are not going to succeed. Why? The Democrat's core belief of raising taxes on the "rich" all the while spending money they don't have on programs that don't work has never succeeded, anywhere on the planet. We are about to find out what happens when you take the handcuffs off big government Democrats, backed by public employee unions and liberal special interests, in the middle of recession. This is going to get ugly folks.

As the rest of the country starts to climb out of this economic recession, California will wallow in budget deficits, higher taxes and a continuing toxic business climate. California is borrowing 40 million dollars a day from the federal government to keep unemployment checks flowing. We have sold bonds (borrowed money) to pay for the fantasy of high speed rail, green energy, along with a host of other happy sounding money pits that continue to add to future deficits. California voters have bought into the Democrats' argument that all we really need is never ending stream of ever increasing tax revenues. This scenario is pure fiction, but I guess Democrats can always hope. As I say all the time; hope is not a plan.

Watch the freeways in the next few months; you will see a more than a few moving vans heading out of the Golden State. These are not just backwards rednecks leaving this progressive utopia; many of these folks will be small business owners. You know, the "rich" people who actually create jobs. They will join a not so small group of business owners who have moved to states like Arizona and Texas. These are business friendly states, states who do not paint hard working, successful people as villains who must be punished for their prosperity. They welcome new business to their state with open arms, and they are taking some of the best and brightest from California.

So as business flees higher taxes and crippling red tape, Democrats will be faced with paying back the teachers unions, public employee unions, and the big environmentalist groups with a smaller number of "rich" people to extract taxes from. How will they get all this new tax money? From you and me. Get ready for new taxes on everything. Higher gas taxes, sales taxes, energy taxes, unemployment taxes, car taxes, you name it, and the taxes on it will be going up. Will raising all these taxes bring new jobs to California? According to Democrats, it's a sure thing, you can count on it.

As we have seen from President Obama, Speaker Pelois and Majority Leader Reid, you can print money by the train load, and you can borrow trillions from China, but you can't print jobs. Here is something the Democrats fail to grasp; small business creates the vast majority of new jobs in America. If you want to grow something, grow the private economy. Small business owners are not the ATM for states like California, they are the engine that makes the economy run. Could we not treat them like a piñata to be smacked around until all the candy falls out. Good grief.

The lesson we should learn over the next two years is this; if you have to choose between bigger business and bigger government, choose the one who makes the money, not the one who spends it. The former makes the latter possible, not the other way around.

Gridlock, sweet gridlock.

2010-10-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

Barring a miracle of old testament proportions, on January 3, two thousand eleven, the next congress will be sworn in under new leadership. The House of Representatives will be in Republican control, and even if the Senate remains in Democratic hands, it will be by the slimmest of margins. With President Obama in the oval office for another two years, the next congress will be ruled by one principle; gridlock.

Now before you go getting in a huff, let me tell you why this is not such a bad thing. Gridlock means you have to have both side on board before anything is done. Gridlock means one side cannot push through its agenda unilaterally. Gridlock means the days of Democrats passing Cap and Trade legislation, or mandating twenty percent of America's green energy comes from recycling magic unicorn poop are over. Gridlock can be frustrating at times, but it is a real check on power.

Remember 1992? Remember when President Clinton, with a Democratic congress, governed way to the left in his first term and gift-wrapped both houses of congress back to the Republicans in 1994? For everyone who points to the Clinton era as proof that Democratic policies work, just remember who controlled the purse strings of the nation during those times. It was the GOP. Well, to be exact, it was the real GOP, the ones who actually knew how to cut spending and grow the economy.

All spending bills start in the House of Representatives. Whoever controls the House has control of the nation's checkbook. Remind me again who has been in control of the national checkbook since two thousand six? Oh yea, Nancy Pelosi. How has Nancy done with the national checkbook? Forget the checkbook, how about the nation's credit card? But, I digress.

As much as I like the thought of Nancy Pelosi getting her credit card yanked, here is the real problem with gridlock. Doing nothing isn't a real good option right now.

I know that Republican's will propose spending cuts, and probably pass them in the House. If they get through the rules and procedures of the Senate, they await a certain veto from President Obama. My prediction is the Republicans will pass legislation, President Obama will veto it and the GOP will try to run out the clock until the 2012 election, when they hope to gain back the White House.

I am not sure we can wait two more years to start tackling the structural problems that await the nation with Medicare, Social Security, other entitlement spending. In a year of voter anger, tea parties, incumbents going down to political novices, the only hope we have is the Washington insiders (in both parties ) start getting scared. When politicians have to worry about their constituents anger, that is a very good thing. Scared politicians can actually work through the gridlock to get things done if they know it's the only way to save their jobs.

So how will this new crop of Republican revolutionaries do? Time will tell. Establishment Republicans, like House Minority Leader John Boehner, will try to buy them off them with committee memberships and big offices to bring them into the fold. I hope these new Republicans rally behind new leadership, say Paul Ryan, or Eric Cantor. Republican retreads like Boehner are not the ones to bring independents and Reagan Democrats together with the Republican base to form a solid majority.

To win the back the White House in two thousand twelve, Republicans will have to walk the walk for the next two years. I hope they have comfortable shoes, they will need them.

Waiting in line, made faster by more lines? I'll explain

2010-10-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

Most days I wander through my day oblivious to my surroundings. I know that is a shock to some of you, but I believe many of you do the same. In our modern world, we are constantly surrounded by technology, even if we don't realize it, and even if we hate it.

Having once been a working cowboy, (yes they make horses big enough to haul me around) I have met my share of people for whom anything with a microprocessor is a "gadget" and gadgets are not to be trusted.

A waterproof digital watch with an alarm clock and stopwatch function? No thanks, get that plastic piece of crap away from me. I have a Timex that I bought at a Sears ten years ago, it works fine. A smart phone? I wouldn't know how to turn it on. An iPad? I would never use it ( pssst, what's an iPad? )

Now some of this hostility and apprehension is warranted. When many of these technological breakthroughs came to the market, some we not ready for prime time. A bad first-experience with a gadget that was supposed to make life easier, or replaced something that worked well, leaves a bad impression.

No matter your comfort level with technology, you simply cannot escape it. As I said, it's all around us. The good news is, technology does make our lives better, and I can prove it.

Have you ever heard of Bernard Silver, or Joseph Woodland? I hadn't either until I started doing a little research. These two gentlemen have made an impact our lives in a very real way, and we don't even know who they are. The way we buy things, the way stores stock their products, the way business is done around the world is all made possible by their invention. So what did these guys invent? The barcode.

I know, how does that funny looking little line-thingy on a can of soup affect my life? In more ways that you can imagine. Let's go into a tech-saturated home for a minute. Let's say you want to order a new book or DVD online. You go to a website, buy the DVD, and in three days, or tomorrow if you want to pay the extra shipping, you can be watching your new DVD. Behind the scenes, that barcode is the key to you munching away on your popcorn as you enjoy Die Hard 7.

The retailer puts a product number barcode on the DVD and tracks how many are in inventory, how many are going out that day, how many they need to restock and by when. The warehouse guy pulls the order, scans the DVD, and packages it. The package now gets a new shipping barcode and heads down the road. The retailer, the shipping company, and even you, can track that package through the entire process. That shipping barcode will be scanned a dozen times in different local receiving centers, airports, regional shipping centers, down to the delivery guy, scanning it as he hands it to you while you're still in your slippers.

Without the humble barcode, the selection and availability of every product bought through a retail store would suffer and the price would go up. Efficiency is the name of the game in retail, and barcodes are a primary way to collect, track, sort and manage data. Not to mention how much they speed up checkout! Remember the clerks punching in the price of every item at the grocery store, if you are over 40 you do.

So how about the not so tech savvy guy? Well, that wheel bearing for your combine uses that same type of bar code to get from the factory where it's made to the John Deere dealer and into your hands just in time to finish the harvest. Not bad for bunch of little lines eh?

There are hundreds of technological breakthroughs we use in our everyday lives. Some you will never even notice, and some you say, why didn't I think of that.

So the next time you are in line at The Nugget and someone stops the process to write a paper check, and you start tapping your foot thinking this is taking forever, just think about Bernard Silver and Joseph Woodland. If not for them, a full basket of groceries used to take about five minutes to ring up, if the checker had fast fingers.

Facing the arithmetic

2010-10-09T07:20:00.000-07:00

In the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln was in a terrible situation. The union army had suffered loss after bloody loss and the President had replaced the head of his army several times. Although the union army had vastly superior numbers, better material, and every other conceivable advantage, Lincoln could not find a general to defeat the enemy. After the disastrous rout at Fredericksburg, Lincoln confided to his staff, "No general yet found can face the arithmetic, but the end of the war will be at hand when he shall be discovered."

A case in point; General George B McClellan.

After losing the first major battle of the war at Bull Run, the dapper, highly educated McClellan was named General in Chief. He was the darling of the newspapers, brilliant when it came to organizational structure, and preparing his army for battle, there was only one problem; he was tentative in battle. Always overestimating the enemy's size and strength, he would vacillate and demand more troops and more supplies.

McClellan's failure in the Peninsula Campaign earned his demotion. He was replaced by a string of generals, who were in turn, soundly defeated by the confederates. Lincoln faced the unenviable choice of bringing McClellan back. McClellan reorganized the army and through incredible circumstances, and stout fighting by his men, defeated General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Antietam. With Lee's army in retreat, McClellan failed to pursue the confederates, and they escaped back to Virginia. McClellan could have won the war that day, but he did not, and the nation would suffer through three more years of bloodshed.

Lincoln understood that the war was not about gaining or holding territory, the war would only be won when the confederate army was defeated, down to its last man.

In 1864, Lincoln finally found the general who could face the arithmetic. Ulysses S. Grant was no one's idea of a Major General. At the start of the war, he was working as a clerk in his father's tannery shop in Galina Illinois. His early reputation was one of a hard fighting, simple man, who was prone to drinking. In Grant, Lincoln found the one general who knew how to win the war. Engage the enemy, never let him regroup, and use your superior numbers to the best advantage.

After taking overall command of union forces, Grant was defeated in his first encounter with Lee at the Battle of the Wilderness. The nation waited for another retreat back to Washington, but Grant would have none of it. The next morning, instead of retreating, Grant pressed on toward the confederate capital. He would simply fight the confederates on their turf and grind them into submission. He did.

I know what you must be thinking, “thanks for the ninth grade history lesson, but so what?” I want to talk about this November's elections.

I know who I am voting for and which campaigns I am going to contribute to, but similar to the two thousand eight election cycle, there will many, many new voters going to the polls this year. What will they be voting for, and more importantly, what will they be voting against? Just as people voted for change when they cast their ballot for Barack Obama, this year many will be voting for a change to something else. The Republicans in Washington are licking their chops, as they should be. If the GOP can't win the House this year, they should just go home.

Here is my question; are we going to be voting for the second command of George McClellan, or are we voting for U.S. Grant?

The Tea Party is filled with U.S. Grants. Sure, some of them have rough edges, and they do not have the polish of seasoned politicians, but that is the point. The GOP, and more importantly the nation, needs people who will stand up for the founding principles. Yes, these new Republicans will say some unflattering things, and yes, they will fall into traps set by the media, but they will press forward, always forward. The Washington Republican establishment had better start recognizing the tidal wave of anti-politics-as usual sentiment heading their way, or they will be looking for life rafts when it hits.

When the national party keeps backing the establishment, moderate, GOP candidates against this new breed of Republicans, they are showing how out of touch they are. If we lose a few seats this cycle by backing new blood, we lose them. The worst thing the Republican Party could do right now is to gain control of Congress with the same crew who spent their way right out of power.

There is a political storm brewing out there. This storm is tired of broken promises; it is tired of spending away our children's future. This coming storm wants smaller government, less taxes, and people who are willing to make tough choices, and stand behind them. They are looking for a government that can face the arithmetic.

Have no illusions, if the GOP gains control and actually propose spending cuts, the media and the Democrats will howl with disapproval. This new breed of Republican, the ones who have those Tea Party roots, they can take the heat. The moderate, milk toast, Washington insider Republicans will wilt under the pressure.

Midway through his command, Grant was labeled a butcher, a cold-hearted beast who cared little for the soldiers who were dying. The reality was this; Grant knew what had to be done to win. That is exactly what he did.

Let's vote for a few Grants this November.

The missing ingredient.

2010-09-14T06:05:00.000-07:00

Driving down the road one day, I happened upon a radio program that caught my attention. The guy on the radio was talking about relationships, and how we always want what we don't have. As the miles ticked by, I listened to him recount his college dating experiences. It seems whenever he returned from a date, he would explain to his roommate what he thought the most important feature or trait in a woman was. Every time he came back from a date, the most important thing changed. Looks, personality, sense of humor, warmth, spirituality, you name it; the most important thing seemed to be a moving target.

One day he came back and proceeded to tell his roommate what the latest "most important thing" was, when his roommate stopped him cold. "Do you know what the most important trait in a woman is?" his roommate interrupted. “It's whatever trait your latest date lacked.”
I began to think about this as I continued down the road. The longer I ran that thought through my own experiences, the more it rang true.

No matter how great a person is, every human being has shortcomings, character flaws or some missing ingredient. Everyone; you, me, Mother Teresa, everyone. If you were ever shocked by a marriage breaking up, or a couple who split up when they seemed perfect for each other, you have to ask, what happened? Maybe there was no single incident, or as we hear so often, maybe they grew apart, or fell out of love. Looking back, I wonder if the idea of that missing ingredient came into play.

If you would, please play along with me here. Imagine your perfect mate. Physical attributes, height, weight, hair color, personality, spiritual make up, political views, moral compass, even thoughts on family size. Do you have that picture in your mind? Good; now you have to give up at least two of those things. You still get everything else, just the way you want them, you just have to give up a few of those things from your list. In a few short months, or maybe a few years, how much would you be willing to wager that the things you focus on will be those missing ingredients?

Why do we do that? Why would we focus on the negative when there are so many good things all around us? I understand that people change, and there are some real horse's asses out there, people you should run, not walk away from. However, I know too many wonderful people who have split up, and I find it hard to imagine why. When two people, who once loved each other, look at each other and only see the bad things, and can’t see the things that drew them together, it is very sad.

Like I said, we all have faults; however, we tend to overlook our own faults because we know our intentions and motivations. We don’t intend to hurt people, but we do. When we do hurt someone we ask for forgiveness, or at least I hope we do. When we are hurt, forgiveness becomes a little harder. We stop seeing the good in them, we start focusing on their shortcomings.

So, is it as easy as just looking for the good in your spouse or significant other? I really do think it is a big part of staying happy and staying together. Another big part is not always concentrating on each other's faults. I know I am guilty of this, and I have exactly zero room to complain when it comes to faults and shortcomings. There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t thank God for my wife. If I do forget how lucky I am, and start taking her for granted, it’s because I’m an idiot.

I know she has overlooked many of my shortcomings in our twenty-three years of marriage. I hope she can still find some of those things she once saw in me when we first met. I know I still see them in her. All those little things, those ingredients are the good stuff, the glue that holds us together.

You can spend the rest of your life, searching for that elusive missing ingredient; there are plenty of people who do. They may find someone who has the missing ingredient from their last relationship, but that new person will be missing something different.

If you have ever been drawn into that downward spiral of continually focusing on the negative aspects about the person in your life, take a step back. Take a fresh look. Both of you maybe in this same spiral, and you might have to look hard to find those ingredients that first caught your attention, but they are there. Look for the good, concentrate on that for a while. You may be surprised what you see when you start looking for it.

What would we think about us?

2010-09-10T06:05:00.000-07:00

As I sit down to write this on September 10, 2010, I wonder what tomorrow will bring. Do you remember the outrage, the sorrow, and the shock of that day nine years ago? I am curious if any one of us could have predicted, on this ninth anniversary, what we would be talking about today.

Did you think we be talking about some backwater Pastor of a 50 person church in Florida burning copies of the Koran? Who would have thought the only real debate about building in lower Manhattan would be the discussion surrounding the building of a Mosque?

With the image of the falling towers still freshly burning into your memory on that fateful day, what would you think if you were transported nine years into the future and walked down the sidewalk of lower Manhattan, picked up today's newspaper or watched the evening news? Would you be shocked about what we are concerned with, or would you be more shocked by what we have lost sight of?

Would that transported 9/11 American give a rip about the Koran burning Pastor, President Obama's approval ratings, the start of the NFL season, or the legalizing of marijuana. I am pretty sure they would not. They would be asking, did we kill Osama Bin Laden? Did we kill the rotten SOBs who were behind the attacks? Why haven't they built anything at Ground Zero? Are we even at war? What the hell is going on with you people?

I understand that life goes on and we must look forward, but sometimes I think we would rather believe that 9/11 was some one-off, singular act that we can just choose to forget. If we do forget who attacked us that day, we do at our own peril. The radicals have not gone away, but reading the newspapers and watching the news today, you could conclude that terrorism is a back burner issue.

We are at war, and that seems to get lost in all the headlines screaming for our attention. The soldiers and Marines out on patrol in the Kandahar area are just as brave, just as hot, and just as miserable living out of a rucksack in a tent as the troops who beat back the insurgency in Iraq. When we say, "Never forget" this isn't aimed solely at those who perished on September 11. Remember the troops as well; they are trying to kill those who would love to bring us a much bigger sequel to 9/11.

So, nine years later, I wonder what we would think of us? Maybe some are glad that we have moved on, and have "gotten past" 9/11. For some of us "never forget" is just a bumper sticker slogan. For those who lost loved ones on that day, or any day in the last nine years fighting this war against Islamic radicals, it means much more. It also means a great deal for those who have family and friends serving on the front lines.

I am putting out my flag tomorrow in remembrance, but I also think I will make a donation to Soldier's Angels. As the events of September 11, 2001 fade from our memories, I hope I never forget who is fighting for my freedom today.

The lightning round

2010-08-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't written a piece for a few weeks, but I have a good excuse. Well, not really a good excuse, but here it is anyway. I am busy moving 18 years worth of horse/cow/ranch stuff from our business in Sacramento back home to Esparto. That is a piece for another day, and I assure you, I will write it. It's a case of government mismanagement that should make you pretty angry. I know our long time customers, the local community and most everyone associated with Gibson Ranch are very upset right now.

So, what have I missed? Let me go straight to the lightning round, where the questions and answers come fast.

What's your take on the Ground Zero Mosque?
That is a tricky one for me. Do I think they should build it two blocks from ground zero, on the site where the landing gear from one of the hijacked planes crashed through the roof of the building? No. It is terribly insensitive to the victims’ families, and it is my thinking that the area of impact around ground zero should be treated more like a national battle field. I don't want the Ground Zero Virgin Atlantic store, the Ground Zero Wal-Mart, or the Cordoba Mosque built there. How about just a great big office building with a memorial park around the 16 acre site?

On the other hand, it is private property, and the local zoning agency, even if they are a bunch of hand-wringing, politically correct, ninnies, has approved the building site.

I think the offer to give the Imam another site, a little further away, is the right thing to do, and he should take it. If this Imam is truly concerned with 'building bridges' between our cultures, he won't build this bridge so close to the grave site of the thousands killed by people acting in the name Islam. Maybe he is just angling for someone to offer twenty million dollars for the building and he takes his fifteen million in profit and opens a franchise of Cordoba Mosques around the city. It is amazing how doubling or tripling your money seems to belay your outrage about religious freedom.

Bottom line; you have the right to build it, it' just not the right thing to do. Not by a long shot.

What do you think about President Obama's "Recovery Summer?"
Who ever came up with that idea should be fired immediately, if not sooner. 14.6 million People without jobs and an unemployment rate of 9.5% does not a recovery make. At this pace, if we borrow and spend another ten trillion dollars, we might get back down to 5% unemployment in a few years. The people know who owns this economy now, and his name isn't George Bush.

What about all the combat troops leaving Iraq?
I guess it is a good news story, but it really isn't a true story. The fawning media is reporting all the combat troops have left Iraq, and President Obama has kept one of his campaign promises. I don't know who is happier, the people at MSNBC or the insurgents who want to topple the Iraqi government.

In fact, we still have 50,000 soldiers stationed in Iraq. Barring a miracle of biblical proportions, a considerable amount of them will remain in Iraq for the foreseeable future. Basically, the combat brigades have been reassigned with new designations. The 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division is still deployed in Iraq; they just call it an Advise and Assist Brigade. Same soldiers, same weapons, different name. Nice try, but it kind of reminds of the aforementioned recovery summer. Call it whatever you want, but it is what it is. As long as the Iraq government squabbles, fights and creates a leadership vacuum, we will have to prop them up, or watch the country completely collapse. I would love to see all our troops come home, but unfortunately, we are there for the long haul. You can call the troops there peacekeepers, ambassadors of good will, or The Salvation Army, but the fact remains, Iraq is still a very dangerous place.

Last question; what do you think about the November election, will the Pelosi, Reid and the Democrats lose the Congress?
Ask me on Halloween, but right now it doesn't look good if you have 'D' next to your name. I would say the GOP gets the House of Representatives for sure, and comes very close in the Senate. Let's see if the Republicans can actually come up with a message that resonates with the voters other than "we are not Obama." We saw how well that worked in the last election when Democrats ran on the "we are not Bush" platform. You can win an election, then what?

Cutting spending, reducing the growth of government, if not an outright reduction in size, is great to talk about, but much harder to do. It takes a political will, a good deal of courage, and a tough chin, because it is going to be a fistfight when you start taking even a little slice off someone sacred cow. I hope the Republicans are up to the task. We will see.

The upgrade generation

2010-07-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

I am old. Not, moss growing over me as I sit in my rocking chair decrying all these new-fangled inventions old, just middle aged old. I am, however, old enough to remember when the things you bought would last. It’s not that you didn’t want to upgrade to something newer, it’s just the thing you bought was well made, still worked, and you really couldn’t justify upgrading it. This concept is completely foreign to most people raised in the computer/cell phone generation.

See if this sounds familiar. You can’t wait for the two year contact period to end so you can get the free upgrade on the latest and greatest new smart phone. Remember when you upgraded to your current phone? Remember how this phone was so great, so superior to your old phone? Now, it’s just a phone. It doesn’t have the ability run the coolest new applications, or apps as they say, and it doesn’t stream live video. No matter. Twenty months ago, it was the latest, cutting edge device, and it was free when you signed up for a two year contract. Now, it’s a piece of junk.

The same goes for gaming consoles. I’m old enough to remember staring in awe at the white dot flashing across the screen of my Pong game. Then came all the gaming consoles. Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Playstation, Xbox, and now, Wii. If you have a Playstation1 today, it might as well be a boat anchor.

Don’t get me started on computers. My laptop I bought back 2003 is a doorstop. Actually, I upgraded the software, and until recently, it still did some of the accounting work for my church. It is almost useless now. It still runs fine, it’s in great shape, but the technology has evolved so rapidly, it's now functionally obsolete. The dual processor PC that I bought two years ago is showing its age, as the once lighting fast processor speed and vast memory are now just enough to keep up with the latest software.

If it has a central processor, you had better enjoy fast, because soon it will be off to the high-tech scrap heap. For my son’s generation, this is this way the world works. You buy it, use it, and start looking for its replacement immediately, or at least in a few months. This was not always the case.

Before, iPods ,iPhones and iPads, there were radios, rotary phones and books. A transistor radio would last decades. If you go to a Goodwill store, you can probably pick up an AM radio made in nineteen seventy-four. Take it home, plug it in, and it will still work. If you had one those heavy, Bakelite rotary phones from the nineteen sixties, you could hammer a nail into the wall or crush the skull of a burglar with the handset, and it would still work. On my bookshelf, I have a pocket Bible given to me as a gift. It was printed in nineteen thirty four. It still works too.

Being in the telecommunications field, I have to stay up on the latest technology. Nevertheless, I am also a fan of artisanship, craftsmanship, of finely made things, things that will last generations.

I have a Winchester shotgun that is twenty years older than I am. I refinished the stock last year and it looks wonderful. It will last a few more generations, and break a few more thousand targets if I take it out the safe enough times. I have a saddle that was made for me seventeen years ago; it’s just now getting broken in. If I could find a nineteen forties era Martin guitar, or a nineteen sixties Fender Stratocaster, or Gibson Les Paul, I would sell all three dogs, both cats, and a few cows, to buy a handmade guitar like that. Well, I would have to clear it with the boss first, but she knows how much I would love to have one.

In our single serving, microwaved, high-speed data driven world, is there still an appreciation for well-made things?

Do you ever look at a piece of handmade furniture and appreciate the detailed joinery, how every piece was hand fitted, shaped, sanded, and rubbed with eight coats of finish, to get it just right? Can you look at a nineteen fifty nine Chevrolet Impala, or a forty nine Mercury Coupe and enjoy the lines, the style, the beauty of a classic car? Have you ever taken the time to read a poem by Whitman, or become wrapped up in a book by Falkner? Can you stand at the foot of a stone bridge and take in the imagination of the designer, the skill of the stonecutter, the hand fitting labor it took to make that bridge, one hundred years ago?

I hope we are not becoming so caught up in the next new thing, the latest improvement, the newest wonder-gadget that promises to make our life better, or more likely, to keep us entertained, that we forget the simple beauty of a well made thing.

A sure bet.

2010-07-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

I have never been a big gambler, although I do remember my first trip to Reno as a high school senior. At seventeen years old, I was six feet tall, two hundred twenty pounds and looked much older than I was. My father, for reasons I still haven’t figured out, gave me some of his winnings and turned me loose to gamble. Those first few hours, I was struck with an unbelievable run of beginners luck. I had no idea what I was doing, but I had chips all over the craps table and kept winning with the longest odds. At one point, I had over a thousand dollars in front of me, and thought I had found my new occupation; professional gambler. I was wrong.

Somewhere around three in the morning, I had lost most of the money, but still had a few hundred to take home. My next trip to Tahoe a few years later, when I was twenty-one, I lost all my money in the first twenty minutes at the casino. I had to spend the rest of the day walking around South Shore with just the lint in my pockets. It was great lesson for me to learn. The odds are always with the house.

Casinos are built not on luck, strategy, or skill, but on built simple mathematics. The odds are always with the house, even with the “best” games, your disadvantage is just a little smaller. People continue to gamble, even when they know the odds are against them, because they do have some chance of winning. However, the longer you play; the odds will always catch up to you.

What about a bet where the odds are 100 percent against you. Would you still make that bet? If you were certain to lose, would you go “all in” and bet everything you have?

With that end in mind, I would like to ask a question. I believe it is one of the most important questions you can ever answer. How will I spend my life?

I’m not talking about a career or a profession, I am talking about how you will spend the minutes, hours, days and years that will make up your life. What will you spend them on?

As human beings, we have a one hundred percent fatality rate. We are all going to die. There is no way out of this wager, we cannot elect not to play, we are in this game from the day we draw our first breath. Our bodies will all return to the earth in one way or another. All the possessions we have acquired over the years will be passed down, sold, or simply thrown away. Every physical thing we hold as important, or essential, will become meaningless to us. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, “I've never seen a hearse heading to the cemetery followed by a U-Haul trailer.”

This is the wager we are making, every day when we wake up. We seem to be betting that all the stuff we have, all the money we saved, and all the good times we chase after will mean something to us when we come to the end of our lives. This is a suckers bet.

Having had the privilege to officiate the funerals of a few friends, I can tell you from experience, what matters most is what you do for others. With your family, your friends, your community, or your world; do you make a difference? Do you spend all your time, talents, efforts, finances and attention on yourself, or do you leave any room for others?

I know people who spend their entire lives with the goal of an early and comfortable retirement. They work hard to build that 401k so they can one day relax and “enjoy life.” Their focus is spending as much time as they can, doing whatever they want to do. Golfing, traveling, a beach house, collecting classic cars, gardening, or just watching the sunset each evening. This is how you are going to spend your life? What a waste.

As I said up front, I’m not much of a gambler, but If you want to make a wager, how about this. When you are lying in a hospital bed someday, and the doctor is giving you the bad news, I’ll bet the BMW in the garage, or the size of your house will not matter to you at all. What will matter is the peace that will come from knowing you did right by people, that your life had purpose. That you made a positive difference with the people around you, and especially with those you never met.

Sure, you can leave your fortune to charity, or have a lecture hall named after you at your alma mater, but it isn't the same as being actively engaged in making someone's life better right now. Religious or atheist, whether you believe in an eternal life or not, what you do on this planet matters. There are an unlimited number of organizations that would love to have some of your time, talent, and yes, financial support. There is also the neighbor down the street who is going through a tough time, the young person who needs a positive role model or mentor to help them, or a child living in desperate poverty whose life you could change forever with the money you spend at Starbucks each month.

Find a way to contribute to others. Find a way to spend some of those those precious days in a way that lifts others up. This is not about guilt. This is about making the most of your life by helping others. This is about living your life to its fullest.

Why elections matter.

2010-06-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

This week brings the confirmation hearing of President Obama's nominee for Associate Justice to the Supreme Court. The nominee, Elena Kagan, will undoubtedly be a fitting replacement for Justice Paul Stevens. Stevens was one of the most liberal members of the court, and Kagan seems to be cut from the same cloth. Although her paper trail is a bit harder to track than most nominees are, I am certain the President and his team have done their homework and know the views of Ms. Kagan quite well.

The theatrics of the nomination process are now in full swing, as conservative members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will be trying to get Ms. Kagan to own up to her liberal views. This is nothing but politics, and anyone paying attention knows it. From a political standpoint, the nomination is brilliant. Kagan has never served as a sitting judge, has very little in the way of legal writings, and has a very narrow paper trail that could be used against her. She does have reams of paper from her time as an Associate White House Counsel and policy adviser to President Clinton, and in current roll as Solicitor General for President Obama. However, if you think the Clinton library is going to make her solicitor’s documents public, don't hold your breath.

From all indications, Ms. Kagan is an incredibly smart person. Professor, Dean of Harvard Law School, and her time working in two White House administrations make for an impressive resume. She is nowhere near my choice for an Associate Justice, but she is the President's nominee, and he won the election. That is the long and short of it.

Elections matter.

There was a time, not so long ago when the President picked his nominee, and unless there were huge red flags, allegations of corruption, mental capacity, or shady dealings in the nomination process, the President's pick would be seated on the court. This is not the case today.

Ever since the nomination of Robert Bork, and to a lesser extent Justice Clarence Thomas, these nomination hearings have become very contentious. Robert Bork had mountains of past decisions and opinions as a circuit judge, Solicitor General, as well as being an anti-trust scholar. During his confirmation hearings, Bork was very candid. He answered the probing questions with his honest opinion. Basically, he hung himself with a rope of his own making.

Elena Kagan once thought the Bork hearings should serve as a role model for the process. She thought his honesty in answering direct questions was very educational, and helped the committee come to an informed decision. I doubt there will be much openness or very many direct answers to the Senator's questions when she in front of the committee this week. This is the game where you try to get the nominee to give that one juicy sound bite so you can beat them relentlessly with it for the remainder of the hearings.

With the last three Justices taking the place of their similar-minded predecessors, the balance of power on the court has remained the same. It is a four-four split, conservative and liberal, with one Justice, Anthony Kennedy the one swing vote.

Barring a conservative justice retiring during the Obama presidency, when Justice Kennedy retires, that is when you will see the no holds barred, battle-royal to replace that all important swing vote. Whet that day comes; the confirmation hearing of Elena Kagan will seem like a taffy pull.

The better angels of our nature.

2010-06-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

Last night I took my wife out to diner and a movie to celebrate our twenty second wedding anniversary. I'm not sure how twenty two years has slip passed me, but they surely have. I remember being nervous going out to dinner with my future in-laws to announce our engagement. Some days it feels like we have been married for four or five years. Nothing is ever perfect and there are those days when I feel like we have been married two hundred and twenty two years also, but those days are few and far between. It has been a great ride.

While we were at dinner, a young Marine and his family were seated behind us. We listened as the waitress would bring their meals and tell them someone wanted to pay for their dinner anonymously. The next time she would come by, she said three people now wanted to buy their dinner. The Marine, in his dress blues, must have been twenty years old with his new baby. More than a few people came up to shake his hand and thank him for his service.

Some of my friends from the Vietnam war era, tell me of coming home during the war to terrible looks at best, and downright hostility and abuse in some cases. No matter how badly they were treated, they love to hear stories about situation like the one we encountered last night. I would not surprise me that some of the people offering to buy that young Marine dinner wore that same uniform in a different war, in a different time.

It gave me me hope that people still care about the ones who fight for their freedom. God bless that young Marine father, I hope he makes it to his twenty second anniversary, and many more.

600 days later, what have we learned.

2010-06-22T05:32:00.000-07:00

This weekend will mark 600 days since Barack Obama was elected as the forty fourth President of the United States. So, what have we learned about the man since that shiny, happy day in November 2008?

President Obama does hold one rock solid belief. What exactly does the President believe in? He believes in the power of government.

Whenever there is a choice between the private sector and government, the private sector loses. No matter what the problem is, the solution must be more government. Even if government created the problem, the solution is more of the same. Unless we are talking about the military. That type of government is bad, and kept in check at all times. It seems to be only form of government the President does not believe in.

Name your crisis, from the economy to the gulf oil spill, the President will always reach for the same tool in his toolbox. It is obvious government is the only tool in his toolbox; because it is the only one he knows how to use. The problem, as everyone outside of Washington and faculty lounges knows, is government is not a very effective tool. The larger the agency, the less able it is to adapt, learn, or even function in some instances.

Most of us know this instinctively. If you own a business, you could probably go on for several hours retelling stories of bureaucratic nightmares, red tape triplicate, and higher fees to support the ever-growing sea of cubicles. The President has no experience with the private sector, except as a source for campaign cash and tax revenue. If he did, he would know the only way out of this recession is private sector jobs. When you see growth in small business payrolls for three or four months in a row, that is when you will see the economy turn around.

For those of us who tried to explain this back in 2008, the current stream of never ending bad news is not surprising, in fact, we predicted it. If you never started a new business, made a payroll, or tried to figure out if you have enough money to pay your quarterly taxes, you are going to be painfully ignorant about the very engine of the American economy. We are paying the price for that ignorance right now.

I know many of my friends who voted for President Obama tell me this is still all Bush's fault and I should give the guy a chance. I guess I have to sit back and watch the President borrow and spend our children and grandchildren’s futures to pay for the one-size-fits-all solution that is bigger and bigger government. No thanks, if we start now, we might be able to turn this ship around. It all starts in November, which means it we need to get moving today.

Fathers Day - more like Labor Day

2010-06-12T06:01:00.000-07:00

Father's Day is coming up this Sunday and with it, sons and daughter will be searching for a present for dad, if he is lucky, or maybe a goofy father’s day card. I don’t need a new tie, and I have aftershave, so this is what I would like to receive from my kids; A card listing three things I am doing well in their lives, and three things I need to improve. No presents are necessary, although I would not turn down dinner at Vince’s if it were offered.

Here is the thing about Father’s Day; it should be a day to celebrate the meaning and importance of fatherhood. Being a father for your children is an occupation, not a title. Just as you would for your career, being a father is something you should work on continually. Improving your skills and capabilities, trying to become a little better every day. It's not easy, but nothing important ever is.

With all the broken homes, single mothers, and blended families out there today, the traditional role of a father seems to be more of the exception rather than the rule. Many stepfathers I know are more of a father to their stepchildren than their biological one ever was. No matter what your situation, here is the deal; if have a child, you have a job. Some days it is frustrating, patience-testing, nerve-rattling, thankless, hard work. Some days it consumes your every waking thought, and some days it’s just being there for them.

I love my job as a father, I really do. Not that my children are perfect, they are not. Not that I am some super-dad who always gets it right, I don’t. We still struggle through the tough times, disappointments, report cards, messy rooms and theatrics. However, as a father, I would not trade one hundred tough days for one fewer of the "great days." The great days are the ones that will stay with you forever. If you haven’t had one in a while, try to catch your children doing something right. It’s amazing how just appreciating them, and loving them for who they are, can turn an ordinary day into a great day.

As fathers, whenever we get together, we complain about how much money we spend on our kids. All kidding aside, for all the money we spend on our children, the one currency we may not be as generous with is our time. When your child grows up, they will probably forget all the hi-tech gadgets you bought them, the latest fashions they no longer wear, but they may want to know why you didn’t spend more time with them. As a father, that question hurts, and it should.

Spending time with your children is critical. If you have crazy hours, or a career that takes you away from home; when you are with your children, be fully there. Live in that moment. Listening to what they have to say, even if it doesn’t make a lot of sense, it lets them know they are important. If you don’t give them your full attention when you are together, believe me, they will get your attention in other less desirable ways.

So this Sunday, I hope you get to spend some time with your children. Accept any present, eat any breakfast they fix, even if it's awful. Besides, who doesn't need a "World's greatest Dad" coffee mug? I hope you have a happy Father's Day, but I really hope you have one of those great days.

Decorating your conversation

2010-06-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

I love a good euphemism, as well as metaphors, idioms, and other handy expressions. I do get them confused, as I do with most grammatical rules of our language. However, if they are particularly good ones, I will try to file them in some dusty corner of my memory to use again. They can be organized by the time period they came from, geographical region, nation, culture, and by varying degrees of vulgarity. If indeed you could call it an art, I have known a few artists who have mastered this particular medium.

One thing to consider when using these expressions is you have to have the right audience. If I tell someone who grew up in the 1940s, “that game was for the money, marbles and chalk”, they would know it was for everything I had. If I said it to a high school student, I would get a blank stare. Some of these expression are rural, some of them are urban, and many of them are downright hilarious.

Growing up in the country, I did not have close contact with our extended family, but I do remember Uncle Vern. He wasn’t really my uncle, but he was close family friend and loved to tell stories. His stories were filled to overflowing with colorful expressions, metaphors, puns, hyperbole, and some not-so-appropriate language sprinkled through it all. I would listen for hours.

My most memorable Uncle Vern expression described a person who was very nervous. He would say, “That guy is fidgeting around like a three-legged cat trying to bury his (poop) on a frozen pond.” Thinking of that phrase days later, I would be laughing to myself at the dinner table with my parents looking at me as if I had lost what little mind I had left. “Dumb as a sack full of hammers” was another one, along with, “ugly as a mud fence.” Gosh, I do miss Vern. That man could decorate a conversation.

As descriptive as these phrases can be, they sometimes raise more questions than they answer. For example, just how long is a coon’s age? How much is a butt-load? Why would you try to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear? Have you ever seen a blind squirrel, let alone one with a nut? Why is the grass always greener on the other side if the fence, did you forget to water the lawn?

My friend and I once weighed a butt-load of hay; just for your information, a butt-load is 6 and half tons.

It seems that today, the way to decorate your vocabulary is to curse. I haven’t watched MTV since I was in high school, (yes, they had MTV back then and they used to actually play music videos) but I hear that the MTV Music Awards show was laced with over 100 four-letter words and the sensors only caught 70 of them. I guess that is what passes for entertainment, but it makes me a little sad.

Don't get me wrong, I have spent years in the construction industry with people who held a black belt in profanity. While I try my best not to curse, I do let a few slip out when I do something really stupid, which is often. Heck, some of my favorite expressions cannot be repeated in polite company. However, using the f-word three times in a sentence is no substitute for being witty or clever. Crack open a dictionary, there are thousands of verbs out there; use them.

I am still on the lookout for more of these. I find that most of them come from older friends who heard them growing up. Do you have any? I would love to hear them, especially if there is a story attached.

Is your church male friendly?

2010-06-01T06:04:00.000-07:00

A very interesting thing happens across America each Sunday. The coffee maker brews a fresh pot, and the kitchen is bustling with activity. Mothers scurry to comb unruly mobs of hair, find missing shoes and get the kids ready as they head off to church, alone. They leave their bathrobe-clad husbands behind to watch the ball game or sleep in.

Some guys have a regular tee time setup on Sundays with their friends while the rest of the family attends church. Why is that? Are men not as spiritually connected as women? Are there too many distractions on Sundays for men to be pulled away from their recliners and big screens?

I am not sure about the first question, there are times when the playoffs roll around when I will stay home and get the bratwurst ready for kickoff. Then Tony Romo throws three interceptions, and next week I am back at church. However, there is another question to ask; are most of today's churches men friendly?

Something is keeping men away from America's churches. In evangelical circles, women make up 53% of church attendees. Those figures are from Pew Research, but I have seen many churches where the women outnumber the men two or three to one.

The church I attend has a pretty good mix of men and women, young couples, singles, seniors and kids. I think that is why it is growing. Some churches I have visited are attended by mostly elderly women with a few men sprinkled through the pews. I cannot help to think these churches are not going to be around in a generation.

Many churches today have an almost feminine character to them. Not that there is anything wrong with that. In fact, that compassionate, caring, empathizing, relation-based emotion is part and parcel of who Christ wants us to be. However, there is another side of a church's character that cannot be left out. This side is where men can find that connection they seem to be lacking. This side is all about strength, service, action, fellowship, being a better man, husband, father, oh, and a lot of fun. That's right, I said fun.

Having just returned from our men's retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains, I can attest that church can indeed be fun. If it doesn't kill you that is. Fat guys should not play 9 games of outdoor volleyball, work out with weights, and play relay games for a few hours if you have not laced up your cross trainers in few months. After a dangerous amount of Ibuprofen, I was walking again and able to enjoy the second day.

Your church may not have a specific Men's ministry, or you have tried it in the past and it kind of withered away. Please try again. Men need to feel they have place in their local church where they are free to be men. Keep the grunting and scratching to a minimum, but guys like to do guy stuff. We are planning a day at the River Cats, trap shooting, indoor cart racing and we try to have a men's breakfast with a non-cardiologist approved menu each month.

What ever it takes to get that new guy plugged in. I have made some great friends through church. Friends who are helping me become a better father, husband and person. I continue to be a work in progress, but finding a safe place to connect with other guys who share the common goal of being the best person they can be is priceless.

Is it too much to ask?

2010-05-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

So, you walk onto a car lot looking for a mid-sized sedan. You have done a little research and you have narrowed it down to the Honda Accord and the Chevy Malibu. The add from the car lot showed a Honda and a Chevy, but when you get there, you find a lot full of rental-return mini vans.

The salesman strolls on up like your long lost high school friend and says he'll find the "perfect car for you."

"So where are the cars in the ad", you ask?
"Oh, don't worry", he says, "These mini vans are just like the Accord and Malibu."
"But I don't want a minivan, especially a rental return" you reply.
"These are better than the Accord or Malibu, trust me." He says smiling.

What if you stopped by Starbucks on your way to work for coffee and a scone only to find that they have changed the menu.
"Sorry, we don't have coffee today, but how about a nice plate of spaghetti?"
"It's 6:30 in the morning, I want coffee, not spaghetti." you say.
"Well, spaghetti is a better way to start your morning."
"But this is Starbucks." you insist.
"It sure is, would you like a Joan Baez greatest hits CD with your spaghetti?"

Some times all you want is what you want.

I feel this way about politics. I felt this way in 2008 when I wanted to vote for a conservative presidential candidate, and they gave me John McCain. I am having flashbacks right now in regards to the upcoming gubernatorial primary. I really want a fiscal conservative on the ticket in November because we really need one right now. We need a conservative to save our state from drowning in this sea of debt and higher taxes.

Am I going to get my wish? Nope, I am going to get a mini van, with a side of spaghetti.

Believe me, I have read the campaign mailers, and I have met both Meg Whitman and Steve Poisner, and I am still looking for a conservative. Don't get me wrong, I know that Whitman and Poisner are the best candidates to defeat Jerry Brown, but just for once I would like to win or lose with a candidate I believe in.

I know there are many folks backing the Whitman and Poisner campaigns, some are my friends. But is it too much to ask for a Republican candidate who has not given money to Barbara Boxer as Whitman has, or Al Gore as Poisner has? I can overlook a few mistakes, we all make them. A bad vote on a controversial piece of legislation or backing a liberal member of your party in a primary race, but giving money and support to Barbara Boxer and Al Gore? Really, these are my choices?

The Democrats have been in control of both houses of the legislature since 1996. That's 14 years of spending, taxing, borrowing, then more spending, taxing and borrowing, followed by a bit of borrowing, taxing and spending. California's unemployment rate is around thirteen percent, and people are screaming for change. This could, and should, be a very special opportunity for conservatives here in the golden state, much like Republican Chris Christie was for New Jersey.

Come June 8th, Republicans will go to the polls and chose between the two front runners hiding behind the label of conservative. Being the stick in the mud I am, I will be voting for Bill Chambers. Who, you ask? He is a railroad engineer from Auburn and a very down to earth guy. I know he has no chance against the two dot-com millionaires, but I am pretty sure he has never endorsed Barbara Boxer or Al Gore.

It's the terrorists stupid

2010-05-04T11:10:00.000-07:00

Let me ask you a question. When you first heard of the attempted car bombing in Times Square, did you ask yourself; I wonder if it was a Buddhist? Probably not. Why is that? Why don't we equate Buddhism or Hinduism with terrorism? Why doesn't the thought of Mormons or Baptists committing such an act flash into our mind? For most of us, we don't think of these religions committing terrorist act because it doesn't make sense.

Most of us know that if there is a terrorist attack in America, it is more than likely the perpetrator will be a radical, Islamic male. Well, unless you work for the government or MSNBC.

If you work in the US Attorney General's office or the Department of Homeland Security, your first thought will probably be; it must be a member of the tea party. If you work for mainstream media, you are probably a little disappointed that the Time Square bomber turned out to be a Muslim man. MSNBC's Contessa Brewer let the cat out of the bag when she said what most on the left were thinking. "I get frustrated...There was part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country." It’s nice to know that MSNBC has taken sides in the war on terror.

Through very painful experience, Americans have experienced many acts, and attempted acts of terrorism, carried out by people who profess faith in Islam. I fully understand that the vast majority of Muslims here and around the world just want to live their lives, and raise their families. I know that every time a Christian says something stupid, or commits a terrible act, the media is quick to beat the story into the ground. So I do understand how it feels to be painted with a broad brush. However, if anyone I met started talking about committing acts of terrorism in the name of my religion, I would strongly rebuke them, and if I thought they were serious, I would report them.

Since 911, we have seen the DC sniper, the shoe bomber, the LAX shooter, the military recruiting center shooter, the Fort Hood shooter, the Christmas Day plane bomber and now the Times Square bomber all attack this nation. What do all these folks have in common? Were they all members of AAA or radical fans of the Minnesota Golden gophers? No, they were all Islamic terrorists here in America. How many more are waiting for their chance to attack?

But don't worry folks, the government is busy tracking the real potential terrorists; angry tax protesters at the tea parties. At least Contessa Brewer should feel better about that.

here we go again

2010-04-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

Just when we were getting back on speaking terms with our friends and family members after the divisive health care fight, we are now heading into another battle. Illegal immigration.

Can I just sign up for a root canal without Novocain instead?

I can already hear the cries of racist, bigot and anti-immigrant being hurled at me. The last one is my favorite, anti-immigrant. Sure, on my father's side, I can trace my family back to 1731 in Maryland, and that is pretty cool, but even he emigrated from Ireland. On my mom's side, my great grandfather received his US citizenship in 1932. So as the great grandson of Issauro Vieira Silveira, I am a product of immigration and proud of it. But none of that matters.

If I had just received my citizenship yesterday, I would be labeled a racist and bigot if I dare oppose open borders. That is the way the progressive movement works today, prey upon people's fear of being called racist. It makes your opponent go on defense. That play from the left's playbook has worked for quite a while, but I wonder what will happen this year?

I will admit, the left has a huge home court advantage with the media. Just like the tea party folks this year, those who oppose open borders will be smeared as violent, right-wing extremists, ready to blow up buildings if they only had the smarts to mix the chemicals. I can almost write the script for you now. The nightly news will pick out the most extreme "spokesman" from the crowd and make him the poster-child of the movement.

The networks will do prime-time programs detailing the plight of illegal immigrants here in the US. They will focus on the sad cases of people who just want escape the poverty and corruption in Mexico. They will ask, what do we do with the millions of illegal immigrants here, although they will not use the term illegal immigrant, they prefer plain old immigrants or if pushed, undocumented workers.

To me, this is a simple question, one that must be asked and answered. Do we believe we have a border between our sovereign nations, and do we believe there is a legal process in which to become a citizen? Yes or no.

Even Ellis Island had a process, with interviews, exams, and they turned many away.

As the government of Mexico slowly sinks into a power struggle with the anarchy of the drug cartels, the violence and chaos is spilling over the border into places like Arizona.

I hear a lot of talk about comprehensive immigration reform. If you haven’t figured this out already, and most people have, comprehensive means amnesty and citizenship for the millions of illegal aliens already here in the US. That is what it meant when President Bush introduced it years ago, that is what it means today. Whichever party can deliver amnesty and social spending programs to these millions will have a very loyal voting block for generations to come. This is about votes and political power as much as anything else.

How about this for a comprehensive immigration solution; a nice big fence first. I am willing to discuss some sort of way to deal with millions here, but only when we have secured the border. Don’t we have tens of billions in unspent federal stimulus money? I can hardly think of a better way to spend it. If we are not going to credit it back to offset the trillion dollar deficits, let's put a few hundred thousand workers back to work building walls and fence.

The Democrats are always telling us how much they love the work programs of FDR’s New Deal, let them prove it. We already borrowed the money; let’s put it to good use for a change. Wow, who knew big government was so useful?

Fame, power and the human condition

2010-04-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

As I sit down to write this, Eldrick Woods has just finishing playing golf at the immaculate and meticulously manicured, Augusta National golf club. Watching the highlights of The Masters golf tournament, one might get the impression that Tiger Woods is back, and has put his public relations nightmare behind him. Not so fast.

To be sure, there are hundreds and thousands of Tiger's fans who are following him on the course, cheering just as loud as they ever did. Unless there is another monumental lapse in Tiger's behavior, fifteen years from now, after a few more major championships, people will say that Woods was the best golfer the world has ever seen. However, his public image, an image just as meticulously crafted and maintained as Augusta's greens, will forever carry a tarnish that can never be polished off.

I remember seeing Tiger when he was about 13 or 15 years old on TV, and I was amazed at his talent. He seemed like a great young man who possessed everything needed to be a sports super star. In the first years of his professional career, Woods was a machine. Win a few golf tournaments, practice, make a few television commercials, win another tournament, repeat. He kept his private life private, as he constructed a professional image that drew corporate sponsorship dollars like no one since Michael Jordan had.

Today, I guess everyone is asking the same question; why? Why would Tiger Woods jeopardize everything he has?

The frailties of human nature, especially the human male, are not a mystery to most of us. As men, we know that no matter how good our lives are, no matter how much we love our families, we are surrounded by temptation. The temptation of more, better, perfect, pleasure, they are all out there, and we are bombarded with their message in every type of media we encounter. So why do some men submit to these temptations, while others are tempted, but turn away? In my case, that answer is easy; my wife knows how to shoot.

Given the choice, I'd take a 5-iron to the noggin over a .38 caliber slug any day.

No one can know for sure what caused Tiger Woods' moral implosion. Nevertheless, I would bet that he didn't start down this dark road of infidelity knowing he would end up here. We never do.

The one thing about success, especially at a super star level, is you start believing too much in your own abilities. The mental discipline, the focus, the decision-making abilities you used to succeed in your profession seem like they allow you to do whatever you choose. So why not choose a little fun?

Why not go back to the hotel with this beautiful woman? You have the discipline; you can have this one sinful treat, just this one time. You can have this one little weekend together; you have the strength to stop any time, right? You can have this one relationship outside your marriage, and maybe one other, you deserve it. I can have these two separate lifestyles, one for the corporate sponsors, my public image, and this one where I can do whatever I want with whomever I choose. I can stop at any time, I can.

To quote scripture; Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. (For some reason, the King James version seems to hit he between the eyes)

Many a politician, celebrity, athlete, pastor and postman have fallen from grace, telling themselves they can stop any time. When we convince ourselves we are strong enough to go down this road, just a little way and then turn back, we are heading for a fall. The distance we fall, and the damage we cause, is only a matter of when we are caught. Thank your lucky stars if you do catch yourself taking that off ramp and veer back onto the straight and narrow in time. You are fortunate indeed.

So, Tiger Woods is back playing golf. This may be the one place where he feels in control right now. I once was a big Tiger fan. The things he can do on a golf course are amazing. That concentration, that focus, and his natural talent are all things to admire in a professional golfer. As a person, I cannot quite bring myself to root for him. I don't know if I ever will.

I am all for forgiveness and second chances, but when you screw up this badly, when you have been living 180 degrees away from you carefully managed public image, you need more than just a press conference to make things right. Either your marriage and your children are the most important things in the world, or they're not. If you never played another round of golf, you would still have more money that ten people could spend in a lifetime.

I'm sure you are sorry that you were caught, but it seems like you have turned that famous focus and discipline into rebuilding your public image, not rebuilding yourself as a person. This could be a golden opportunity to become a great person, not just a great golfer. I know the latter pays better than the former, but I guess we all have our priorities.

If Tiger goes on to break Jack Nicklaus’ record for major championships, I will tip my hat and say, he is the best golfer to have played the game. He could be so much more.

What is a citizen?

2010-03-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

What is a citizen? That is a tricky question. Everyone used to know the answer, today I'm not so sure.

I believe that in our quest to produce "well rounded children" we have forgotten to teach them something very essential; what it means to be a citizen of the United States. Do not confuse “citizen” with a legal standing, or a label to be thrown around in an election year. By citizen, I mean a person who understands who we are as Americans. A citizen understands not only our rights, but also our responsibilities. A citizen understands our history, warts and all. They understand the ideas behind our founding, and the origins of democracy and western civilization.

No matter your ethnic background, the nation in which you were born, whether you can trace your family history back to American Revolution, or you were recently sworn in as a new citizen, you need to know a few basic things about America. In order to function as Americans, we all need this same basic understanding of where we came from, and who and what shaped us. In short, we need to know our history.

We need to know a little about the Greeks and the Romans. We need to understand the origin of western law, philosophy and science. We need to understand a bit of European history. The Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and the Age of Enlightenment. We need to know who the Puritans were, and why they left England for the new word, to start this little experiment in religious freedom we call America.

We need to know who the founders of America were, what they believed in, what they feared, and why they wrote the Constitution the way they did. We need to know what the Constitution says, and what it does not say. Why they chose this form of government. We need to know the meaning of free-market capitalism, socialism, communism, and fascism. These are not meaningless labels; they are difference between being a citizen, and being a subject.

A great deal can also be learned by studying military history. From Alexander to Napoleon, from Alcibiades to the Duke of Wellington, from George Washington to General David Petraeus, all these men had a profound impact on our world. We need to know the stories behind places like Saratoga, Shiloh, The Somme, Bastogne, Guadalcanal, Inchon, Ia Drang, Kandahar and Fallujah. The sacrifices our men and women in uniform have made, and are making, have secured our freedoms. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and even the freedom to walk around without a clue.

We need to know when we head to the mall and see a half million square feet of retail space, or see a grocery store teaming with fresh produce and meat, these things didn’t just get here by accident. We need to know if you work hard, really hard, you can achieve great things in this country. We need to know when we go the polls, if we don’t like the folks running the government, we can throw them out, and they will go. We need to know that for society to function, the citizen must be informed and involved. As I like to say; the world is run by those who show up.

Being a citizen of the United States carries some responsibilities, although you would not know that by today’s society. Today, we have two or three generations who believe their rights come from the government, they don’t. I am not sure what part of “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights” people do not understand these days, but it they are slowly losing touch with what being a citizen is all about.

If we are to stem this tide, I believe we must start with this generation of children. How do we instill this sense of citizenship in them? That is the question we need to answer, and fast.

A good day and a good night's sleep

2010-03-23T21:29:00.000-07:00

For any of you out there wondering if I was under a suicide watch over the Obamacare vote this Sunday, let me put you at ease. Sunday evening came and went, and when my head hit the pillow, I was at peace with the world. I had a very long, very tiring day, and I could not have felt better.

The reason for my contentedness come Sunday evening was twofold, the first was the great service at church, a message that really spoke to me, and the other was the realization that my son Steven is growing into a fine young man.

We woke up at 5:30AM on Sunday and headed to breakfast. It is kind of a treat, for getting up early on the weekend, and we always go to Country Waffle. We ran into my friend Doug who is a usual there for breakfast on Sunday. We talk about life, politics and kids over California omelets, pancakes and coffee.

Our worship leader, Peter, had asked my son to play guitar at Sunday service and this weekend was his turn to play. My son was a bit nervous at first, he has been playing for a few years now, but playing to a full house at church is different from jamming to Metallica in your room. I try to help with the setup team on the days when Steven plays. I seem to be my son's personal road crew anyway, so I might as well be useful setting up the stages and tables for church. With everything set up, sound system dialed in, it is time for one last run through of the play-list and then the doors open for the first service.

Like every proud parent, you always think your children are special, they have special talents, they are going to do great things, etc. If your child has ever gone four-for-four in a baseball or softball game, won the spelling bee, or brought home an all A's report card, you know the feeling. Watching my son play on stage with a group of very talented musicians, and holding his own, is a wonderful feeling.

After church, and a short nap, we headed back into town for our church's youth group. They are starting a new youth band and just to give the kids a taste of what it will be like, some of the worship team, along with Steven, jammed for an hour or so. After the youth program wrapped up, the guys played a few songs and then just went free form. “Just play something in E”, they told Steven and he started playing some lead guitar licks with the band. Another very cool time for both of us.

On the way home, we talked about guitars, music, God, and what it means to become a man. Steven loves music, he lives for it. At times, I wish he loved chemistry as much as music, but that is not the way he is wired. He is my artist. I don't know if I will ever get him on a horse again, or go duck hunting in the pouring rain with me, but I will always enjoy watching him play. I especially love the times when we play together; I just wish I were good enough to keep up with him.

When we came home around 10:00 that evening, I was exhausted. I heard about the vote in the House and began to think of what it all means, and then I remembered something; God is still in charge. As I faded off to sleep that night, I understood how much I love my family, and how much greater God's love is for me. I slept soundly Sunday night.

The time for talk is over?

2010-03-16T06:10:00.000-07:00

In the past week or so, I must have started writing three or four pieces on the sham, masquerading as the deal to pass Obamacare. I have written on themes from how America has gone from the land of the free to the land of free stuff, or asking people to point out exactly where the "right" to health care is found in our Constitution. Each time I finish a piece, I realize that nothing I write will make much of a difference. I seem to be the guy crying wolf, and all the smart people say there is no wolf, and even if there is, the wolf probably won't eat all of us.

If Nancy Pelosi and the gang in DC have their way, they will throw the rules away, and pass a bill without voting on it. Then they will amend the bill they didn't pass and reconcile it, etc, etc. Everything I know about how a bill becomes a law I learned from the 1970's animated ABC program School House Rock. Maybe they left out the part on how to "deem" a bill passed from that show. In any case, I guess it's good to be the king, or queen.

Let's imagine that this bloated monstrosity of a health care takeover actually passes. How many people will dance in the streets, rejoicing that they now have free health care? I'm sure there are many of the President's supporters, the true believers, who think are going to have free health care as soon as the ink is dry on this legislation. Boy, are they in for quite a surprise. Its four years of new taxes before any of the "free" stuff kicks in, it's how they skewed the numbers to make it look cheaper than it really is.

Let me know when you folks finally realize the limitations of the government. Until then, the time for talk really is over. You folks are not listening, you are not paying attention to the facts, you are still stuck in some imaginary world. A world where the government is far more efficient and effective than the evil corporations. A world where politicians don't lie, or say anything to stay in power, a world where facts, rules, and people are manipulated until they fit into the master plan.

So, I guess I am writing to the rest of you, those with a fair grasp on the realities of the world. If this debate is about lowering costs, Obamacare doesn't. If this debate is about covering everyone, Obamacare doesn't. If this plan is about saving Medicare, Obamacare doesn't. This is thousands of pages of bureaucratic double speak, written by trial lawyers and about twenty other special interest groups to make sure they still get their piece of the pie. If Obamacare passes, it will have effects no one, and I mean no one, will fully understand for years.

Speaker Pelosi says she has the votes, we will see. If the Democrats don't have the votes by Easter break, they may just hide out in Washington DC. The last thing they want is to come home to an outraged constituency, again. If you thought the August recess was messy, wait until Congressman Mike Thompson holds an actual, open to the public, town hall meeting on health care. But what am I saying, he isn't going to face his constituents in an open setting. The consent of the governed is just a phrase in some old, faded document somewhere in a museum.

Sticks and stones

2010-03-07T17:50:00.000-08:00

I was sitting down at my computer, having coffee this weekend,when Bill Weir from ABC’s GMA Weekend interrupted my nice quiet morning. After a report about the shooter at the pentagon being angry with the government, he brought on an "expert" Brad Garrett and they both proceeded to label people who disagrees with Democratic administrations as right-wing and mentally ill. I cursed at the television, so I guess I am guilty as charged.

This was just too much to take.

As soon as the story came in, the main stream media jumped on it, labeling the shooting as another example of anti-government, right-wing extremism. John Patrick Bedell, the right-wing extremist, was about as right-wing as Joe Biden. Even with a day to get the real facts behind Bedell's history, did the MSM tell you he was a registered Democrat? That he hated President Bush, and was a 9/11 conspiracy nut? Nope. It doesn't fit the media's agenda. It seems if you are a medical marijuana smoking, registered Democrat who spends him time trying to figure how Dick Cheney blew up the World Trade Center, you get lumped into the angry, anti-government, tea party movement. Great job people.

I hear a lot of talk about why the MSM is losing readership and viewers by the bushel basket full. Here is my take on the subject. You suck at your job.

Anyone who disagrees with your politics is not only wrong, but their views are extreme. I grow tired of hearing you are politically neutral journalists. That ship has sailed my friends, you have been riding the Obama Hope and Change express, with first class accommodations, for a few years now. It's no wonder Fox News is absolutely killing CNN, MSNBC and the rest in the ratings. It's not that they are straight down the line, objective journalists, I don't think such a thing exists, the reason Fox News is beating its competitors, three to one in some time slots, is they give you both sides of the issue.

The same can be said of the print outlets. When I see an Associated Press byline, I know I will have to research the story myself to know what really happened. The AP generates much of the content in local newspapers all over the nation, and that's a shame. I am sure the AP reporters can type 95 words per minute, and know every rule in the Chicago Manual of Style for writing properly formatted stories, the problem is their ideology. They bring it with them to every story they write.

If you attend a tea party, you are part of the angry right-wing extremist movement. If you oppose President Obama's health care take over, you are an angry right-wing extremist, and probably racist to boot. Many liberals have told me the reason I don't like the President is because he is black. That gets my blood up. That makes me angry.

Barack Obama's skin color and ethnicity makes zero difference to me, absolutely zero. I look at the man's track record, his policies, and the people he surrounds himself with. The President gets a failing grade on all three from me. The people who make these claims regarding race are usually the ones who know very little about his proposals or facts surrounding the issues. It's just easier to rebut your argument by calling you a racists. You hear the same thing on MSNBC. Here is some free advice to all the progressives out there; don't put your values on me.

I'm sure that in a nation of 300 million, you will find every sort of crackpot imaginable, on both sides of the political spectrum. When progressives commit atrocities, the media will try to gloss over their liberal backgrounds. The mentally ill professor who shot her colleagues at the University of Alabama loved President Obama, she was obsessed with him. Does that make every professor with an Obama/Biden bumper sticker a threat to our nation? No, it doesn't. It just means one crazy person committed a crime.

During the Obama Presidency, there will be a right-wing wacko who commits some horrific crime against the government. In a nation our size, it is bound to happen. However, instead of generic portraits of extremists, the MSM will do one-hour, prime time shows detailing the background of this person, along with every group they associated with. If there is a photo of this person at a tea party, the media will make him or her the poster child of the tea party movement. But I will bet you haven't heard about the man in a wheel chair attacked by a SEIU union members at a health care rally this past August. The media's double standard at its finest.

As the President and Democrats in Congress make their final push for the government takeover of our health care system, I am sure tempers will flair. People on both sides of the issue are passionate about it, and there is a tremendous amount at stake with this vote. I wonder if how many times will hear or read "angry mob, or anti-government extremists" in the next few weeks? Remember when all the anti-war activists were marching in the streets? I guess dissent being the most sincere form of patriotism only counts when you are protesting President Bush.

Even numbered years

2010-03-03T05:10:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I wish I lived a place so remote, no one could ever find me. I dream of a small cabin in the woods, with no mail box, no phone, no TV, no Internet, just me enjoying God's splendor. Kind of like the Uni bomber's cabin, without the manifesto and explosives. This scene seems particularly appealing to me in election years, right about June and then again in November.

If you haven't noticed, along with pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, the election cycle for 2010 has started in earnest. My mailbox now contains one campaign mailer a week and I am getting at least one phone call asking to contribute to someone's campaign. As for email, my inbox is now being filled at a rate of seven or eight per day.

One thing about being a political junkie, I get email from everyone. If you write to your local congress critter about an issue, you are now on their email list. I'm not sure how candidates find me, but I know what Steve Poizner, Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, Chuck Devore are doing every day, even if I don't care to know.

Each week I receive solicitations from every political action committee imaginable. The NRA, National Republican Congressional Committee, pro tea party, anti tea party, even the Sierra Club, a while back. How I made it on their mailing list is a mystery, probably one of my friends playing a trick on me, and them. I cannot understand how the US Post Office is going broke with all the political junk mail being sent out by the metric ton.

I guess all this direct marketing works, why would they do it otherwise? I understand that to run for a statewide office takes millions of dollars, but whatever happened to getting in front of voters and answering their questions? Whatever happened to holding town hall meetings? Why do I need ten or twelve pieces of glossy literature telling me a certain candidate stands for truth, justice and the American way, while their opponent likes to kick kittens for fun?

Why not let your results speak for your abilities. Flowery speeches and focus-group approved messages seem to be the way to win an election today, but the only way to know what you stand for is to look at your past results. Do you have any real results, or do you talk one way on the campaign and govern another way in office? Are you part of the problem, or part of the solution?

To all the office seekers out there, let me save you a bulk-mail stamp or two. If you want my vote, come get it.

You know where I live. If you want my vote, why not show up for a town hall meeting in Woodland, or better yet, a debate with your opponent. If I can’t count on you to show up and listen to my concerns when you want something from me, my vote, I doubt you will listen to my concerns once you get into office.

We live in a representative republic. If you want to represent me, you might want to know where I stand. You can't do that with a mailer.

Spring Cleaning

2010-02-22T20:37:00.000-08:00

I realize the calendar still says February, but when I have to mow and spray around my barn every two weeks to keep the grass from overtaking the ranch, my thoughts turn to spring. I do enjoy spring, or at least the concept of spring. The green grass, the almond blossoms, the sight of wobbly-legged newborn foals, calves and lambs. I love these things, I am less enthusiastic about the mud.

Some people dream of buying a summer house on the beach when they win the lottery, not me. I am going to buy one hundred truckloads of gravel to make sure every square foot of my place that isn't lawn, driveway, or pasture is buried beneath six inches of crushed rock. Our back entry, or mudroom as we like to call it, is cluttered with the family's mud covered "outside shoes." Eventually, we will put our outside shoes away when the seven-day forecast shows a lot more pictures of the sun than it has pictures of rain. Until then, watch your step coming in the back door.

I started my spring cleaning a little early this year. I was finding pieces of scrap wood in my barn when I grabbed a rotten plank of wood flooring and pulled it up. Big mistake. I pulled on the next one and it came right up too. Two hours later, I had taken a twenty by twenty foot section of forty-year-old floor out of my barn. I didn't mean to, but some of best work happens by accident.

Isn't it funny how when we get in "cleaning mode" it is hard to stop. Once I get dirty and have a head of steam, watch out. If it isn't nailed down or painted, it might get thrown out.

I often wish I could do this in my personal life. I sometimes think about the things I do out of habit, or just because that is the way I have always done them, and I wonder if I could change them. I think about all the stuff that clutters up my time, my thoughts, my energy and my life. I ultimately conclude that I could use a good spring cleaning myself.

I am guessing at one extreme, I could spend all my time in deep contemplation, thinking about God and the universe, and how big He is and how small I am in comparison. It would not be wasted time to be sure, but I am not going to do that, and I know it. At the other end of the spectrum would be watching Olympic curling on TV. I actually spent thirty minutes watching grown men slide a polished rock on the ice, and steer it with little brooms, in a game of frozen shuffleboard. I will never get those thirty minutes back.

I have found audio-books and podcasts to be a great way of using the hour I spend in the car every day to keep my mind busy with useful information or inspiration. I am trying to read more these days, and to continue writing. Sometimes I write a blistering rant about something that has twisted my tail that day, but then when I am done, I read one more time, and then delete it. Anger is another thing that clutters up my life. I have to work on it constantly or like the weeds around my barn, it will take over.

I have also come to the realization that I need to clean up my calendar by way of reducing some on my commitments. Not that the organizations I volunteer my time to are not important, they are, but I need to focus my attention on one or two and pull back from the rest. Being stretched a mile wide leaves you an inch deep. That is not how I want to serve.

Maybe one quiet evening this week I will get out one of my notebooks and write down two columns. One side being the things I can throw out. The other side, things I need to concentrate on, to make me a better me. A better idea would be to have my family fill out the columns; I will bet their lists would be a lot different.

The new language

2010-02-14T06:55:00.000-08:00

At times, I forget that not all of us share that same political history. Being in my mid forties, I remember coming of age politically in 1980. The year of Reagan and Carter. For some of you, you were in your mid forties when that election occurred. I am constantly astounded that many of my friends and co-workers were not yet born in 1980. It is a sure sign I am now, officially, old.

Many of my younger friend's knowledge of politics starts at Bush vs. Gore, and some only started paying attention with the Obama campaign. Getting involved in politics at a young age is kind of like dating in junior high. You are all emotion, everything is new, and you believe most of what you hear. Then, you get your heart broken, you gain a little experience, and the next time out, you look before you leap.

Many Americans, having felt anger at George W. Bush and the Republicans, turned to Barack Obama and the Democrats. A year later, they have taken a new stance on politics and politicians. A pox on both your houses.

Like Mercutio, in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet-after paying the ultimate price for two quarreling families' disagreement-he cries out three times, a plague o' both your houses! In our modern vocabulary, it would roughly translate to this: to hell with all of you politicians.

So where does that leave us in 2010?

For me it comes down to a simple question. Whichever party understands it, and answers it correctly, may not only win this election cycle, but also win control of Congress for a generation.

The question is this. Why do we live in one world, while Washington lives in another?

In our world, we are told when money gets tight; you cut back, sometimes way back. Sometimes when things are terrible, you lose things you worked very hard for, your new house, your new car. Sometimes you have to get down to the bare essentials in order to stay afloat.

In our world, we are told that if we work hard, come in early, stay late, give more than is expected, we will be rewarded. Sometimes we skip that family vacation to get a work project finished on time. Sometimes we work on our own time at home to make our job easier for everyone at the office. Sometimes we go to school at night in order to finish that degree, to work our way up the ladder.

In our world, we are told that we need to follow the rules, at all times. Sometimes we have to put off buying a needed item, from a washing machine, to a new service truck, or hiring a new employee so we can pay our quarterly taxes on time. Sometimes we deal with mountainous stacks of applications, forms, regulations, impact studies, frivolous lawsuits, inept bureaucrats and endless agencies with their hands out when we try to start or expand a small business.

Then, there are the folks in Washington DC.

In Washington DC, they tell us when times get rough, they are going to borrow and spend their way back to prosperity. Sometimes they just crank up the printing press as if it were Monopoly money. Sometimes they borrow trillions of dollars from foreign countries, money that will be have to be paid back by people who are not even old enough to vote right now. Sometimes a draconian cut, just means they are going to reduce the amount of increase in that spending program.

In Washington DC, they tell us the rich need to pay their "fair share." If you take huge personal risks, start a new business, work 60 hour weeks for a few years, hire employees, plow every penny back into your company, you are now "rich." Your reward for your success? Higher income taxes, more government regulation and maybe even a brand new carbon tax.

In our world, when you do not pay your taxes, your assets are seized and sold, but you do get three square meals a day, in prison. When the DC crowd does not pay their taxes, they are reelected, or they get a cabinet position.

The rules that we live by out here in our world: live within your means, work hard, be honest, do right by others, are so far removed from the thinking in Washington DC, and Sacramento for that matter, it’s as if we are speaking a different language. This language has found its voice in the Tea Party movement.

Those in leadership positions of both parties, who dismiss the Tea Parties across the nation as just a bunch of malcontent, right wing extremists, do so at their own peril. You don't understand them because you don't speak their language. You may be in need of an interpreter, let me help.

The language is very similar to English, it goes like this.

When they say stop spending, they mean stop spending. When they say we are taxed enough, they mean we are taxed enough. When they say they don't want a government takeover of the health care system, they mean don't want a government takeover of the health care system. When they say they are they are tired of politicians talking one way to get in to office, then doing the opposite when they get to DC, well, you get the idea.

Whichever party understands that Washington needs to be brought back into the real world, wins. The party that understands the solutions that work out here, will work in Washington, wins in November. It also helps if you understand the new language being spoken by the electorate.

Will they get it? Stay tuned.

So, how's that working for you?

2010-02-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

If you have ever seen the Dr. Phil show, you will recognize his catch phrase. He usually asks this question right after you explain the manner in which you have been dealing with a problem. Okay, I know it's a loaded question. If your way of dealing with the problem were working, you wouldn't be talking to Dr. Phil about it. However, it's a great question because it turns your thinking back on itself. It makes you open your mind to new solution, or at least it should. However, there are some hardheaded people out there. People like me.

Just about the time I think I have this whole, husband, father thing figured out, I fall flat on my face. Again.

Being a man, my default setting is, if things seem fine, they must be fine. If my wife isn't telling me I am screwing up, she must think I am doing a good job, right? If my children don't run away crying when I talk to them, I must not be doing a terrible job, right? Wrong.

Being the sexist pig I am, I will put this onto simple stereotypes; Men are to relationships, what women are to checking the oil. As long as the car starts, and there are no horrible grinding sounds coming from under the hood, the engine must be fine. Actually, my wife is much better at checking her oil than I am at checking our relationship. That is a good thing for her car, not so much for her.

Guys, let me clue you in here. Most of the time, things aren't "fine." Even when she says, things are fine. Fine is like a codeword for, "are you really that dense?" Now I will admit that men hear what we want to hear, and when we hear things are fine, that is usually a relief to us.

Most men, myself included, look upon a face to face talk about what's wrong with our relationship in the same way we would an IRS audit. If we do talk about it, we will take the first item that comes up and say, "yea, I am sorry, I'll work on that." We really don't want to peel back the months, or maybe years of pent up frustration. Too messy, too much danger, too much pain.

Back to Dr. Phil. So, how's that working for you? In most cases, not so well.

Similar to not checking the oil, by the time you actually see or hear a problem, it might be a very big problem. One that could have been prevented if you had done some preventative maintenance. Like the old Fram oil filter commercial, you can pay me now, or you can pay me later. I have seen what the cost is when you ignore a problem; I don't want to be in that situation again.

If you don't spend much one on one time with your spouse, I would advise getting out of the house and going to a nice, quiet spot. It may be dinner and a movie, or it may be just a empty parking lot where you both can really throw a fit without anyone you know seeing you. Whatever works for your situation. One thing I do know, one date night or one yelling match will not solve the problem. A lot of stored up emotion takes time to come out, and there may be a few rough times before it starts looking better.

In my experience, when you find out how badly you have been screwing things up, no matter the faults of the other party, you will know what you need to do to make things right. The problem I have is, after things truly work their way back to being fine, I tend to relax a bit. I start to revert back to my old behavior, because I am a guy, and not a very bright one at that.

Maybe I will get a life size cardboard cutout of Dr. Phil to put on my closet door, with a sign that says, "hey jackass, how's that workin' for ya?"

Will America hit the snooze bar?

2010-02-02T06:49:00.000-08:00

From the left and from the right, pundits, politicians, activists, and the grumpy guy down the street are always saying America had better wake up. If you are on the left, you were decrying the pending doom of our planet due to man made global warming, or how we could never win the war in Iraq, if you were on the right, you were predicting a titanic increase in spending, deficits, and government regulation. No matter where you came down on those issues, the refrain from both sides was, "Wake up America!"

The only honest assessment I can give you is this; Americans enjoy their slumber.

Sure, the alarm goes off from time to time, and we are jolted from our dreamworld, at least for a short time. However, in the end, we roll over hit the snooze button. Why do we do this? My short answer is this; paying attention is hard work.

It is much easier to come home from work and turn on your favorite sitcom or drama, sit down in from of your computer, or put in that DVD from Netflix. Who wants to read a piece about a Senate hearing on this, that, or the other? Who wants to read about the city council, or board of supervisor's meeting? Who want's to keep track of just how much of your money was promised to someone else today? Judging from the tremendous amount voter apathy, and the vast numbers of those who don't understand the issues, not many Americans are awake right now.

Every election cycle, we hear one side or the other declaring a mandate from the people. Really? Even in the last election, where we were told about this huge influx of newly active, informed voters, the actual turn out was about 56% of eligible voters. That was only up a few percent from the last election. I'm not sure you can have a true mandate from 52% of the 56% of eligible American voters. This goes for Republicans as well as Democrats. If the GOP makes some headway in the 2010 election cycle, the plaques on the offices in DC will change, but I have to wonder if there will be any real, fundamental change until Americans start showing up, awake, informed, and in larger numbers.

We see a bit of this in the Tea Party movement, and in the last few statewide election in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts. But a word of caution, as much passion as there is in these grass roots efforts, I remember the legions of Obama volunteers, meeting in homes, on campuses in 2008. They thought they were going to change the world too. What a difference a year makes.

You may ask, so what do want me to do? I work all day, come home, make dinner, make sure the kid's homework is done, and the laundry gets from the hamper to the washer. Where am I going to find the time to become informed? I don't know, most everyone has these same responsibilities. I would suggest that becoming informed is not that hard a task if you are willing to take a few minutes each day to make it happen.

In some ways, I miss the days of political ignorance. I just went along living my life, hoping some jackass behind a mahogany desk would not screw it up too badly. When I really started looking at the difference between my gross pay and my net pay, that is when I started to ask, who are these people, and what the heck are they doing with my money?

Here is your first assignment; know the players. This is a vital first step, one that many politicians hope you never take. Start locally and go up from there. I don't live in an incorporated city, so I don't have a city councilman or mayor to worry about. Living in Esparto, my first representative is Duane Chamberlain, the 5th district supervisor for Yolo County. From there I go to the State of California, and my local Assembly district, District 2, and Assemblyman Jim Nielsen. Then up to the State Senate, District 5 and State Senator Lois Wolk. The to the Governor.

Okay, get up and stretch for a second, we are almost done, now on to the Feds. My local Congressman in the 2nd District is Wally Herger, then on to our two Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. From there it goes to the President of the United States, Barack Obama.

Who knew there were so many people to complain to?

The first step is knowing who they are, then what they are doing with your money and freedoms. Next comes working to support or working to replace them as your representative.

The non-realignment of America

2010-01-25T17:04:00.000-08:00

If you remember this time last year, the nation was beaming like a child with a new puppy. Well, at least 52 percent of voters were beaming, along with the Washington press corps, most newspaper editors, 90 percent of university faculty, and all the baristas at the free-trade coffee houses.

They were absolutely giddy with excitement over the election of President Obama. Gone were the dark ages of the Bush years. The isolation of America would end as we assumed our rightful place as citizens of the world. The problems of America would be solved with the sheer power of the Obama intellect. Radical Islam, Iran, al-Qaeda would all succumb to the power of Obama's diplomacy. Not everyone was quite this bad, but many people invested too much hope in the presumed genius of this one man, and only now are they seeing through the hopey-changey messages into the reality of our situation.

Anyone who did not see this coming, well let's just say they may have been swept up in the mania.

Along with the true believers, there was another large block of the electorate who voted for President Obama. These people were not struck by his pure awesomeness, they were angry with George W Bush and the Republicans who had abandoned their principals. They thought they would give this new guy a chance, heck, Obama could hardly do worse than the big spending Republicans had. Besides, candidate Obama was talking about bipartisanship, transparency, not raising taxes on anyone making under $250K, and listening to the people, what's not to like?

A year down this road the first group, the twenty five percent of the public who adore Obama, almost to the point of worship, are still on board the hope and change express. Even as it is goes skittering off the tracks. The other twenty five percent who voted for the President are now coming to the realization they have been taken by a smooth-talking, inexperienced, idealistic, Chicago politician. For all the promise and potential they saw in candidate Obama, the actual policies of this President stand in stark contrast to the promises of the campaign trail. No one likes to be taken.

This will not come as a news flash to most of you, but when you run as one thing, then govern as another, people get angry. When the policies you enact do not deliver on your promises, but in fact make things much worse, people tend to get very angry. Which brings us to the last three statewide elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

If you also remember back to this time last year, you will remember the pundits and the main stream press decrying the death of conservatism and the Republican party. My, how a year has changed things. If you had asked any ten people on the street, on inauguration day, if they thought there would be Republican governors elected in Virginia, in deep-blue New Jersey, and a Republican elected as Senator in Massachusetts, they would have laughed, and rightly so.

Everyone is trying to read the tealeaves of these elections, and make some sort of determination of where the voters are headed. I loved watching MSNBC on the night Scott Brown was elected. I thought Chris Mathews was going to cry, and I was waiting for Keith Olbermann to explode in fury. They think the reason Republicans won these statewide races is due to Democrats not being liberal enough! Talk about blinded by ideology.

On the other hand, Republicans are thinking they just need to say, I am not Obama, and they will win this November. Just as the elections of 2006 and 2008 proved to democrats, being against something is not the same as being for something. Republicans are poised to make huge gains in the 2010 election cycle, but as I like to ask, then what?

If this last election cycle has taught us anything, you had better say what you mean, and mean what you say. The days of big spending, big government Republicans is over. A new crop of young, conservative leaders is coming of age, and if you are a Republican incumbent, you had better be ready for a primary fight. Many in the Republican leadership say that a safe Republican seat should not be contested in a primary fight, I say that is a load of manure. To steal a line from Scott Brown, these seats do not belong to you, they belong to the people. As hard as it is to imagine, we might find someone with better ideas, who is better connected with the people back home. It's called representation.

The 2010 election, as well as the 2012 cycle will be all about ideas, not personalities. Whoever has the better ideas, ideas that resonate with America, ideas that have a proven record of success, will win. Many in the GOP have forgotten these ideas; Washington DC thinking has corrupted them. They need to prove themselves to their constituents, not by words, but by deeds. The back room deals, the 3AM votes to the highest bidder have not gone unnoticed. If they talk one way at home, and vote another way in DC, they will be joining ranks of the unemployed.

Many people misinterpreted the election of Barack Obama. 2008 was not a realignment of American politics; it was one part anger at the previous administration, one part fatigue for an unpopular war, and one part bait-and-switch from a very polished Chicago politician. Throw in the huge home-field advantage of a fawning media and it not surprising in the least Barack Obama was elected. That was then, this is now, America is waking up.

The only hope Democrats have of saving a majority in Congress is.... well, I'll let them come up with their own strategy. Maybe more spending, more government, and more rights for terrorists will be a winning strategy for 2010. Good luck with that.

Power poles, they are not for driving over..

2010-01-25T11:36:00.000-08:00

So, I walked out of my house at 5:55 this morning, and the sky turned blue. I thought it was a huge lightning strike nearby, but there was no thunder and the power immediately went off. I figured it was a PG&E pole knocked down or a blow transformer. I drove down 23 to 86A when I saw the driver in front of me go around something in the road, it was the power pole and the lines were hanging over the roadway. I put on my hazards and called 911 to report it. I couldn't see a car or any tree limbs, I thought that was kind of odd. When I hung up with the dispatch operator, I turned around to head back, that is when my lights hit the car, what was left of it, sitting out the field about 75 yards away. I could see the driver was still inside so I called back to 911 and told them to send help. I walked out to see if the driver was hurt.

Other than a cut on his head, he seemed fine. Thank goodness for his airbag, it saved his life. The car was totaled. He said he works at the casino in the surveillance department, I think he said his name was Brian? He has an English accent, I think. Anyway, he must have been flying down the road to end up that far out in field. There is a debris pattern of scattered plastic, various car molding and trim pieces, hub caps, and about 100 Cds out in the field.

Glad he was okay, the EFD was on scene in about 5 minutes, so I went to work, with my brand new New Balance shoes looking like giant balls of mud. Oh, and I had a 7:00 work order in the brand new grad school. I'm not sure the sink in the bathroom at work will ever be the same, but my shoes look better.

Crashing through rock bottom

2010-01-11T06:25:00.000-08:00

Everyone has faced some sort of self -inflicted trouble in their lifetime. For most people, myself included, we can listen to all the advice, all of the folks trying to tell us how badly we are screwing up, but we just don't want to listen. We know deep down we are screwing up. However, human beings can rationalize their way into any type of behavior, no matter how destructive. With enough self delusion, we can justify anything.

Anyone who has had a friend or family member with a drug or alcohol problem, or any other type of addiction can tell you, when they are in deep, they have to hit rock bottom before they will change. Here is the problem, how do you know what rock bottom is? What may shake your being right down to your core, may not phase another person. We all have different levels of rock bottom.

For some, just one bad or even uncomfortable experience is enough. A youth caught shoplifting, and is allowed to sit in a detention cell to contemplate his new hobby for a few hours, may lose the desire to see the inside of a police car ever again. One of his peers may look at the experience as no big deal, and continue on that path, right into prison. Like I said, rock bottom has many forms.

If we turn this analogy toward California's budget, we can see this play out on a much larger scale. The politicians under the dome in Sacramento have been through Juvenile Hall, County Jail, State Prison and for the past two years have been in super-max, solitary-confinement cell. Nevertheless, they still think they are innocent. They are quick to lay out a laundry list of reasons why they are not responsible for creating this mess. In other words, it’s not my fault, I was framed.

As California voters, we are also responsible. We keep giving them get-out-of-jail-free cards. These come in the form of state bonds and by reelecting them back to Sacramento. How any of these people have kept their jobs is truly amazing, or at least it would be if they did not sit in hand-crafted, safe districts. If these politicians were our children, we would let them sit in their cells to finally find rock bottom. Instead it is us, their tax-paying constituents, who are facing rock bottom.

Under the leadership of this group, they have spent us into massive debt, driven private businesses away from our state with higher taxes and crushing regulation, and now we are dealing with an unemployment rate over twelve percent. We are also staring at a looming twenty Billion dollar deficit.

The state legislature, along with the Governator, refuse to recognize rock bottom every time they hit a new one. Each year, they resort to one-time budget gimmicks, temporary accounting tricks and massive borrowing to balance the budget. And that budget, filled with incredibly optimistic forecasts is only good for three months, until the next quarter's revenue figures come in, and the budget is shown to be the sham it is.

The politicians have busted through the last three rock bottoms only to find new ones. 2010 is it, this is bedrock, there are no gimmicks left, and California’s bond rating is at junk-bond status, the lowest of any state in the union. Well, that is not entirely accurate, we are tied with Louisiana for the lowest credit rating.

Now is the time to admit to ourselves what our state has become, and we must have the courage to change it.

So what do we do? First, if your current legislator voted for this last budget deal, send him or her packing. Hey, good luck getting a job in the private sector now that you have done your best to drive private sector businesses away from our state.

What am I saying? Any legislator that does lose their seat will just change hats and become a lobbyist working the other side of K Street. Be that as it may, vote them out. They are not serious about fiscal responsibility; they are only concerned with keeping their campaign contributors happy. This must change if we are to revive our anemic economy and get private sector businesses to not only stay, but expand in California.

Okay, now for a little homework, fire up your computer this week and go to Followthemoney.org. Once there, type in your city or assembly/senate district, then look for the top contributors. It is very enlightening. You will see who your local politicians truly represent, and in most cases, it isn't you.

Is this the year we send a message? Is this the year we stop complaining and get involved? Is this the year we look past the millions spent on TV advertising and learn the facts about who is really running the show down at the capitol? Is this the year we say we have had enough?

Global Warming Alert! We are all going to die!

2010-01-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

From frozen iguanas, falling from trees.....

Heh, heh...

75 million? Woops, how about $400 million

2010-01-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

When Attorney General Eric Holder told everyone he was going prosecute KSM and his buddies in New York, the initial price tag was $75 million.

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said Wednesday that the office of the New York police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, had told him that if the Sept. 11 trial lasted a year, the cost of providing security could top $75 million, largely in overtime pay for the police. Mr. Holder assured Mr. Schumer that he would urge the federal government to reimburse the city for such costs.

But two months later, the price has jumped to $400 million and counting. Oh, I cannot wait for this crowd to run our health care.......

dan

2010-01-05T18:20:00.000-08:00

The Department of Unsecurity

2010-01-05T11:54:00.000-08:00

I am often asked, what will it take to wake people up when it comes to our national security? I am of the opinion it will take us having to remember a few more dates on the calendar that we don't right now. Much like September the eleventh used to be just another day to us.

I thought in the weeks following 9/11, we were as close as a represented republic would come to implementing serious, common sense security measures. We knew who are enemies were, and we knew what motivated them. We understood the next threat would most likely come from younger, radicalized Muslim men. However, as the weeks grew into months, with no successful attacks on our soil, large portions of our government began to change their focus. They turned away from public security, to security with an emphasis on public relations. Thus began our foray into unsecurity, as I call it.

Unsecurity happens when the people in charge of security are more concerned about "backlash" and not offending certain groups of people, rather than actually preventing the next terrorist attack. In this new politically correct world of unsecurity, we cannot even call things by their proper names.

Why is it when Muslim Jihadist, Nidal Malik Hasan goes on a murderous rampage at Fort Hood, the media does not call him a radical Islamic extremist, or an Islamic terrorist? He is just "troubled serviceman" or a generic "gunman." When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Muslim Jihadist from Nigeria, tries to blow a hole in the side of a passenger jet over Detroit, he is not called a terrorist, he's just a guy with bomb, "the failed plane bomber," and the act of terrorism is a "crisis."

The head of our unsecurity department, Janet Napolitano now uses the focus group tested "man made disasters," that sounds much better than terrorism, right? Oh, and by the way, they have scrapped the term "global war on terror," now they call it an "overseas contingency operation."

I have just one simple question to ask. Are we at war right now, and if so, with whom?

I was never been a big fan of the term global war on terror, I would prefer using the term war against radical Islam. That is in fact what it is, and who we are fighting, but overseas contingency operation, are you kidding? That sounds like a back-up data storage plan for a fortune 500 company.

Back to our new department of unsecurity. Are we paying extra attention to young men coming in from Muslim countries or carrying passports from Muslim countries? If there are rules that prohibit this, the rules should be changed, now. Whether you want to admit it or not, there is a very accurate profile for terrorists. We know this profile through painful experience, and terrible loss. Look, unless we to strip everyone down and make them fly in hospital gowns, we need effective screening. We need an effective, common sense ways to look at a 150 people in line and figure out who needs a closer look.

Let's stop frisking grandma and 9 year old girls while we let the 25 year old from Nigeria, who bought his one-way ticket with cash, and had no luggage, stroll right past the screening area. I understand the benefit of random screening, if all the attention is paid to one particular profile, al-Qaeda could change its appearance and bypass scrutiny. However, when we ignore a proven profile, we are ignoring a proven threat, and it is going to get us killed.

How many dates on the calendar will become ingrained in our memories before we stop hiding behind political correctness and start protecting our citizens from those who wish to murder us?

Where good intentions fail, personal responsibility is the answer.

2010-01-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

This is a pretty impressive lady.

Yea, but isn't she a Democrat? Yes, but I don't care, I care about results. Party labels don't impress me as much as they once did. Can you deliver results, real, measurable results that are in line with my values? That is what is what is important to me.

She is offering 40% pay increases and wants to pay her teachers six figure salaries, so why is she so hated by the teachers unions and big education interest groups? She is making teachers responsible for results, asking them to give up tenure to enroll in a performance-based salary scale. A results-oriented pay structure scares the stuffing out of most teachers, along with most everyone in the public sector.

President Obama should have this lady on TV once a week, but she is bucking one the President's most powerful and influential lobbying groups. Rhee's ideas are what candidate Obama proposed to middle America when he was running for this job, I wonder why he is not embracing this idea of personal responsibility now?

Please take a few minutes to watch her recent talk, very interesting.

100,000 visits to my blog

2009-12-24T08:06:00.000-08:00

You know, when I started this blog a few years ago, I never thought I would ever have 100,000 visits. Some are looking to an article I linked to, or a photo I posted, and some are regular readers of my ramblings. Thanks for stopping by.

I know some blogs have 100,000 hits a day, but I don't mind, I would keep writing if no one read another post. Writing to me is part therapy and part creative outlet.

So what was the 100,000th visitor reading? My post of how to suck up to your wife. How appropriate.

I will take this time to thank my wife for no throwing things at me from the bedroom when I am clicking away on the keyboard at 11:00PM.

Thanks again for stopping checking in.

Do you suffer from a "Drug Problem?"

2009-12-24T08:01:00.000-08:00

There must be a sea of ink written about the true meaning of Christmas in newspaper columns by now. I am going to resist my natural inclination to continue this tradition, and instead write about investing. Not a 401K or an IRA account, but the investments we make in ourselves, in our relationships, and the currency for this type of investing, your time.

If your IRA is anything like mine, the past few years have seen the balance in my account go up and down, and down, and then down some more. But what about your spiritual account? How is it doing?

If you have not thought about your spiritual account in a while, or even contemplated having one, you may want to use this Christmas season to do a little internal audit.

In your daily life, how often do you think about spiritual matters? Are you making any deposits in your spiritual account? Is your spiritual account overdrawn? I know mine can be. It seems when I get up in the morning, I immediately start thinking about my problems, or things at work, or even looking forward to the weekend ahead. My mind starts grinding away in the here and now. Don't get me wrong, there are some here and now issues that do take careful consideration and events that need planning, but if I spend all my time wrapped up in these worldly matters, where does that leave my relationship with God?

Wouldn't it be better to start your day, everyday, with a spiritual jump start? I'm not talking about an hour on your knees in prayer, although the benefit of that one hour would be paid back ten-fold if we would make that big an investment, but let's start small. Let's start with that walk to the shower, or pouring that first cup of coffee, or whatever makes up your normal routine. How about this as a very small, first step. Give thirty seconds of your time to acknowledge God, and the blessing in your life. Then another thirty seconds to pray for the coming day, and for the insight and direction in facing the day. That's it, just one minute, about the time it takes to make toast, but that minute could make a tremendous difference in the way you go through your day.

Once you start investing into your spiritual account, even in a small way, you can start looking at investing a little more currency in your account. How about an hour or so on Sunday? That's right, I'm talking about church. Okay, I know I am going to lose many of you right there, but stay with me, there are many wonderful churches in our area. Find a place that meets your needs, a place where they teach the Bible in a relevant way, in a way that speaks to you. Find a church with music you like and friendly people who you would want to get to know. If the first one you check out doesn't feel right, check out another one.

This weekly, corporate worship, meaning large group worship, is essential to your spiritual growth. The personal relationship you have with God is the most important, but being part of a larger group of believers, people you can lean on, learn from, and serve with is a big part of developing your faith. In many local churches, they have small-group Bible studies, they can be a great way to dig into your faith. I love my small group, they are wonderful folks who have become great friends to my family.

I know, I know, some of you have a "drug problem," you were drug to church every Sunday as a kid and hated every minute of it. It can leave a bad taste that last a lifetime. I understand this, but please, give church another chance. You may be surprised what you find there. Hey, they let me in, and if they let me in, they will let anyone in. It's not about being perfect, or about judgment, or guilt, it's about second chances and third chances. It's about love and grace. God's love and grace.

In this Christmas season, I would like to remind you that while the world likes to measure our success by our bank statement, the size of our house, or the car we drive, these things are purchased with cash. They can come, and they can go just as easy. The investments I am talking about, these spiritual investments, grow in a direct correlation to how much time we invest in them. I think spending time with God is the best investment you can make. It makes your faith stronger, it makes the relationship with your family stronger, and it keeps you focus on the things that truly matter.

Time is our greatest currency, and no one knows just how much of it they will have. How are you spending yours?

Here is hoping you and yours a very, merry Christmas.

When the world won't stop

2009-12-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, the sun will rise. Just as it has for eons, just like it did today. The world will awake to another day, and people will stumble into their routines and their busy lives as if nothing happened. People will walk from the parking lot to their offices, check their email, say hello to their co-workers and finish that second cup of coffee. Just as if nothing happened. How could they know, how could they know this is not just another day?

For you, this has been the day that you never thought could come. It is a day that doesn't seem real, but it is, it is all too real. It is the most painful day you have ever experienced. The most painful thing you can even imagine. The loss of a child.

Your world, as normal as it ever seemed just a few days ago, is gone. Gone forever. It has been replaced with sorrow, anger, doubt, and an empty feeling in the middle of you that you cannot seem to fill. In that void are phone calls you never thought you would have to make, and decisions you never thought you would have to decide.

Friends and family want to help, but they can't fix what needs fixing, they can't heal what is hurting. No one can make this right, not this. You feel like you life will never be right again.

All you want is for the world to stop turning, for time to stop, just for a few days, just for a few hours, just until you can get your head around this terrible thing. But you can't, you can never understand this. Why? Why now, why him, why so young? There are only question, no answers.

People will say that as time passes, the sorrow will slowly go away; and it will, to a certain point. That deep, immediate sorrow will diminish over time, only to be replaced with a longing for what could have been, what might have been. A life that touches yours at such a base level, at such a elemental level, will stay with you forever. This will be the day you measure ever other day against.

Every joy, and there will be joy in your life again, will be measured against this terrible low. Every low, and you will have your share of those too, will also be measured against this day. But that is for another day. .

Forgive the sun for rising today, it does not understand. Forgive the world for going about its day, the world does not know about your loss. Forgive you friends and family for not knowing what to say, or what to do to help you. Forgive God, this was not His doing.

It may not seem like it right now, but you will get through this, even when all you want to do is cry. So go ahead, we will be crying alongside you.

For Rendell and Jasmine, in memory of Esius.

Hide the decline

2009-12-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

With the UN's Copenhagen climate change summit fast approaching, how about this for an inconvenient truth, the "settled science" of man-made global warming is unraveling because the scientist have been cooking the books.

How many times have we been told in the past decade if we don't act today, not next week or next year, we will have gone over the tipping point and the earth would be irreversibly destroyed by global warming? We should be cooked to medium-well right now if these predictions were accurate, but they are not. Just in case no one has told you, and it is a pretty fair bet they haven't, the global temperature has actually gone down in the past decade.

How is this possible? China is firing up two power plants each week, and building them for nations all over Asia. Eighty percent of China's power comes from coal, and coal is evil, right? Didn't I read in Tom Friedman's Hot Flat and Crowded, that when we put carbon into the atmosphere the earth gets warmer, and that is indisputable? Hmm.

Did we all stop driving cars 1998? Did we stop burning coal, cutting down rain forests and all go vegan in the late nineties? It must be Bush's fault somehow; he hates polar bears you know.

For all the "settled science" out there, have you noticed that in the past few years the new buzzword for the environmental crowd is now climate change, not global warming? The high priests of environmental science had to stop using global warming as a means to scare us. It is pretty hard to scare people when your global warming conference has to be canceled due to a blizzard.

So why has the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) been hiding the decline in global temperatures and destroying the raw data? Cold, hard, cash. Your cash. If you haven't figured this out yet, the whole climate change scare is a money play, plain and simple. Carbon credits, carbon taxes, Cap and Trade, if you just listen to the folks at the forefront, they want to use global warming to create the largest redistribution of wealth in history. The idea of carbon trading was created with the help of Ken Lay. Remember Ken Lay, from Enron?

Many smart people, with good intentions, have been snookered into believing that driving your car, mowing your yard with a gas powered mower, buying a new HDTV, and using incandescent light bulbs are equivalent to drowning polar bear cubs with your bare hands. Don't worry, there are actually more polar bears on the earth today than there were 30 years ago, but the global warming crowd suppressed that information too.

So where do we go from here? Good question. First, let us get scientific with our science. In science, I was always led to believe you go in with a few assumptions, and you let the data lead you to the facts, whether they support your assumptions or not. However, climate change science seems to have become more of a religion than a scientific pursuit.

Hey, let's invent the "carbon footprint" to make people feel guilty about living their lives and ignore that gigantic ball of burning gas at the center of our solar system. Let's not talk about the reduction in solar radiation in the past decade, we can't tax the Sun, we can only tax people.

There is an unlimited amount of grant money, publicity, Academy Awards and Nobel prizes out there for anyone who can write a research paper claiming humans, and more specifically Americans, are causing the earth to warm. If you produce a study saying the only way to fix this mess is some type of Cap and Trade scheme, well then, you get on CNN and the Today show. If you actually follow the data and find there are many other factors that affect the global temperature, then you are labeled a climate change skeptic.

Look, I believe the earth's temperature could start warming back up this year. It could also decline for another decade, or another century. The only truly settled science is this; the earth has been much warmer than it is right now, and it has been a lot colder. The earth's climate changes, and it will continue to change, no matter how many awards Al Gore receives.

Black Friday

2009-11-27T14:16:00.000-08:00

Thankful for Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T11:48:00.000-08:00

In the days when personal computers were the size of an American Tourister suitcase, I remember taking one of the first online personality tests. My friends answered the questions on my survey first, and the results did not reflect my personality at all. So I answered the questions, and we all agreed that the personality profile was much more accurate. The ability to be honest with one's self is important in many aspects of life. We have such an ability to deceive ourselves, as well as the rest of the world; it's amazing we are able to function at all.

Of all my quirky personality traits, and I know it sounds strange, but I am grateful for my sense of gratitude. I am not sure how much of these traits are learned behavior or if it's just how we were made, but I think it must be a bit of both. I remember back in my younger years, I took many things for granted. I expected that things should always go my way and I would become upset or depressed if things did not work out the way I planned. The more success I achieved, the more I thought I deserved, and the more I wanted.

It is so easy to become complacent with our current situations in life. Our job, our spouse, our children, our health, everything that makes up our life right now, as mundane an unglamorous as it seems, are the very things for which we should be grateful. Don't believe me? What if they were all taken away from you tomorrow? Somewhere, maybe just down the street, someone is going through that very situation right now.

How many of us just expect to have our job waiting for us when we show up? How many of us have walked into our place of employment only to be told that we need to go home because our job had been eliminated? Been there, done that, walked out with a cardboard box with my personal belongings. Talk about a bad day.

Now you may be thinking, I wish I could get away from everything in my life. I hate my job, my spouse, my kids are brats and if I could walk away, I would. The world is full of people who have done that, only to find in a few short years they are stuck in another job they hate, with a new spouse they can't get along with and kids that are driving them nuts. Maybe the problem is they can't look past their problems to see the blessing in their lives.

As I sit down with my family this year for Thanksgiving, if I begin to complain about anything, I hope someone will give me a kick in the pants. I have a great family, a good job with co-workers I consider friends, a roof over my head and most importantly, a relationship with a loving God.

From a personal standpoint, I am still a mess. But I keep working on many aspects of my personal life, trying to become a better husband, father, and certainly a better Christian. For all the faults I still possess, ingratitude is one I am working hard to eliminate.

I know that the blessing I enjoy right now have been the result of so many people in my life who have helped me, stuck with me, believed in me, encouraged me, gave me a chance and even a second chance when they didn't have to. Thank you, one and all, and thank you Lord for putting these people in my life.

Happy Thanksgiving.

A place for everything and everything in its place.

2009-11-21T08:27:00.000-08:00

Having been out of town for the first serious storm of the year, I missed a few things. I hear the October storm was a bad one, with strong winds and almost two inches of rain in a few hours. While we need all the rain we can get after three years of drought, the first rain always brings some surprises. I find that the first good rain serves as a wonderful memory jogger. This is how it plays out at my house.

Did I bring any firewood up to the house or is it still in the woodpile? Did I leave those bags of redi-mix concrete outside the barn or did I put them away? Did I leave my bucket of fencing tools on the ATV trailer? Did I move the BBQ under the eves? Did I roll the windows up in the truck? Where is my rain gear?

You get the idea.

A transition must take place between the end of summer and the onset of fall. Some people plan this transition. They have a checklist of things they must put away, store, cover, and protect before the first storm clouds peek over the horizon. I hate these people.

These are the same people who have the pegboard wall with all the tools outlined in felt pen, like some sort of hardware crime scene. They probably have cutting boards marked for vegetables, poultry, beef, and "other." They are the people who have the original box that everything they have ever purchased came in, and they put it back in that box when they are done using it. Cmon', where is the fun in knowing exactly where everything is?

These people will never know the excitement of dashing through house trying to find your camera when you are late for your flight. They will never learn how to make a slip-n-slide out of a blue plastic tarp and a hose because you can't remember where you stored the real one.

No, they will always have everything in its place, but they will never know the thrill of chasing the patio umbrella across the back yard on a dark, windy night because you forgot to take it down in October. It's a shame, I mean really, what a dull existence.

I may try to find some sort of happy medium between these two extremes. This year I am going to break with my own personal tradition and put up the Christmas lights right after Thanksgiving. I will not put it off until the week before, like I normally do. I will also use the next sunny weekend to cut a load of firewood. This year I may, and I shudder just thinking it, have all my shopping done, the tree up, and the decorating done by the first week in December.

Yes, this year I will get everything done early. On the other hand, I might just relax and go shooting.

Now where did I put my .308 ammo?

An early Thanksgiving

2009-11-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

Is it just me or have the major retail stores skipped over Thanksgiving this year and have pushed straight on into Christmas? It seems I was just watching my daughter carve her jack o lantern last week and now I am supposed to be whittling down my Christmas shopping list? Is it too much to ask for, taking one holiday at a time?

Can we have the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving, please? It is one of my favorite holidays. Okay, so I love turkey and pumpkin pie, but there is much more to Thanksgiving than a big meal with family and friends. It is a time to take account of all the things in our lives we are thankful for. There is even a 30 days of thankfulness going around on Facebook, and I am glad to see people counting the blessing in their lives, even if it's on a social networking site.

In that spirit, there is a special event coming up this weekend I wanted to share with you. This Sunday, November 22nd at Bayside Church of Woodland, they are holding their Heroes Weekend service. It is a chance for our community to give thanks to all those who serve us the line of duty. There will be special presentations, music and as a way to say thank you, each department will be receiving a donation to their favorite charity.

The Woodland Police Department, Yolo County Sheriffs Department, Woodland Fire Department, California Highway Patrol and the emergency dispatch center, these are the people who come to our aid when trouble hits. It's not very often you get a chance to say thank you to these folks, and this will be a wonderful opportunity to do just that.

If you have children, this Sunday will be a very special time. Barring any major disasters or events, all the departments bring out a few squad cars, mobile command units, fire trucks and this year, it sounds like we will have an actual Black hawk helicopter land out by the football field at Pioneer High School.

If you only make it to church on Christmas or Easter, you should try to make it out this Sunday to the Pioneer High School Theater for Heroes Weekend. The first service is at 9:15AM and the second service is at 11:00AM. Come out and say thank you to the people who put their lives in danger everyday to serve us and our community.

Walt goes Inside the Actor's Studio

2009-11-16T18:47:00.000-08:00

Tonight we have a special treat. Tonight the Actor's Studio turns its spotlight away from film and Broadway to look at a very unique individual. Father, husband, writer, rancher, musician, lay pastor and amateur demolition expert, Walt Lucas.

Thanks James, this is unexpected indeed. I'm still not sure why you are here to be honest.

We do not limit our search for talent to Hollywood and New York. Inspiration is where you find it, Mr. Lucas. As Allen Ginsberg said "inspiration is just a feeling of heightened breath or slightly exalted breath, when the body feels like a hollow reed in the wind of breath."

.....Okay, whatever you say James. Please, call me Walt.

Let me start out with the usual questions. At what age did you feel the call to perform?

Um, I don't really know, I guess I have always felt like I could perform in front of people.

Do you feel at home in the spotlight?

No, I am actually quite nervous just before I speak or play music in front of a crowd.

And you never caught the acting bug?

No. I did play Bob Cratchit in a Christmas play in elementary school, but that was it.

Most of us know you through your writing, your blog and the guest opinion pieces you write for the local newspaper. How did that start, the writing?

I don't know really. I love to read and the more I read, I began to appreciate good writing and good writers. When I would read an article in the paper, I would get upset at the dumb things people would write. I thought to myself, heck, I could write a better piece than that, so I started my blog. It was fast, easy and free so I began to write at The Roughstock Journal under the name of Yolo Cowboy.

How did you come up with your nom de plume?

My what?

Your pen name, Yolo Cowboy.

Pretty easy James, I live in Yolo County and I am, or at least have been, a cowboy for a living.

Splendid.

........

Where do you see you writing taking you? Is there a novel in your future, a screenplay perhaps?

Uh, I don't think so. I usually just write about what is happening in the world around me, what is going on in my life and try to pass along some of the lessons I have learned the hard way. I figure even if I don't learn from my mistakes, maybe someone else can.

How magnanimous.

.....

We will close tonight by asking the questionnaire made famous by the Frenchman, Bernard Pivot.

.....

What is your favorite word?

Colloquialism. It just sounds cool.

What is your least favorite word?

Multiculturalism.

What turns you on?

Passion.

What turns you off?

People who won't bother learning the facts when they argue with you.

What sound or noise do you love?

I love the rhythm of a horse's hooves and the creaking of the saddle when you ride. I also love to my kids sing when they don't know I am listening.

What sound or noise do you hate?

Nancy Pelosi's voice.

What is your favorite curse word.

I hope my mom doesn't read this James. I try not curse, but if I do smash my thumb or drop my keys into lake Berryessa, again, I would probably say - Horse$#it.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

I have always loved music, I would like to produce music in a studio.

What profession would you not like to do?

Press secretary, for any politician. Lying for a living would kill me in a month.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Well James, I do believe Heaven exists and when I arrive I would like God to say, well done my good and faithful servant, but He probably won't. He will say, it's a good thing you are a friend of my Son, because without Him vouching for you, it wouldn't be pretty.

Thanks for sharing with our students.

Winning the small battles.

2009-11-15T17:18:00.000-08:00

Every few months the Men's group at our church's gets together on a Saturday morning. We go around the room and share a bit of what has been happening in our lives, we always have a good breakfast, and we usually finish with a special guest speaker. This past breakfast was special, not only because Roger made ribs for breakfast, which were great, but the guest speaker was one of our own. Darrin Williams is relocating to the Midwest and this was his last men's breakfast with us.

One thing about our church, we are a little 'outside of the box', as the ribs for breakfast would suggest. Darrin started his talk with a short video presentation. Not many church groups would start a devotional time by showing a few minutes of the movie Gladiator, but it was great. Trying to get men to pay attention on Saturday morning is hard enough, but when you start out with Gladiator, it makes it a bit easier. Darrin's message spoke about the way we view our spiritual lives. Not as one epic struggle but as many small battles. We learned how to win those battles, using strength and honor.

Strength and Honor, why are these traits so important in men, and why is it important that you strive for both, not just one or the other. Strength without honor is pride and selfishness. It is using your power to have things your own way. Having honor without strength means you will be honorable, which is good in itself, but you will not be able to make a strong impact. We need both in our lives if we are to become the men we were made to be.

Honor is doing the right thing, but how do we do that?

I know what I should do, what I want myself to do, but many times I fail and end up doing the exact opposite. When I fail in some part of my walk, the next failure seems more certain. I gave in the last time; I will probably give in the next time. It is almost as if you have a spiritual momentum. When you are heading in the right direction, one stumble can lead to two and then three, and soon you are heading in the wrong direction.

Strength or better-stated, spiritual strength comes when you allow God to use His strength in your life.

When I rely on my own strength to run my life, it usually ends up in disaster. Like most men, pride is how this manifests itself in my life. As soon as I start thinking, I am going to do it my way, and I don’t come to God in prayer before a big decision or when I am in a crisis, it ends badly. I have had enough practice doing things the wrong way and paying the price for those decisions, you would think I have learned by now. However, like so many of us, I am a slow learner.

No matter what direction we are heading right now, we can draw upon two things to win the next small battle, strength and honor.

As the saying goes, I can resist everything, except temptation. No matter what area in your life you struggle with, if you can break this big fight into small battles, you can prevail. I am going to win this time. I am going to resist, using God's strength to do what is right, what is honorable, right now. The other part of this strategy is to flee from temptation. There is no shame in running away when it comes to spiritual matters. Many times, I have been in a bad situation that I should have seen coming, that I did see coming, but I did not run away from it. Sometimes not putting yourself in a compromising situation, not showing up to the battle is the best plan.

So how we develop honorable and strong spiritual habits? We draw our strength as Christians through spending time in God's word. If you are not spending time reading the Bible, through a small group study or just on your own, you are losing some of that spiritual strength you need to win the next battle. Fellowship with other Christians is also important. I always feel uplifted after church, or after my small group Bible study, my spiritual batteries are recharged. I seem to make better decisions, more Christ-centered decisions.

To summarize, break up the big fights into small battles, flee from temptation and develop strong spiritual habits through spending time in God's word and fellowship with other believers.

We are going to miss Darrin, his wife Lisa, and their two boys. They have been a blessing to our church and in our lives. Good luck Darrin, strength and honor my friend, strength and honor.

History; ancient and otherwise

2009-11-03T07:40:00.000-08:00

I remember as a high school student reading about Columbus, our founding fathers, Lincoln and FDR. At the time they seemed as distant to me as if I were studying Greek mythology. As I grew up, I began to understand what was happening around me would someday be taught in a monotone voice by a seemingly disinterested teacher to even more disinterested students as history.

It is a rather hard idea to grasp as a sophomore in high school, but it is true nevertheless; history is happening every day. Students give your thumbs a break from texting for a moment and try to remember just one or two things about what is happening in the world right now. Even if your world view changes in the years to come, just remembering how you felt about what is happening today may give you an insight to balance what someone writes in a textbook or newspaper years from now.

This coming Monday, November 9th marks the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. For those of you in high school, let me put this event in context for you.

Imagine for a moment out there in the world is a very real, very large, very militaristic, and very evil nation who has vowed to defeat your way of life and conquer your nation. Imagine that for as long as you can remember, you have watched the flickering, grainy images of "Duck and cover" a short film on how to protect yourself from a Soviet nuclear attack on your city by getting under your desk. Imagine that same nation is expanding its reach across the globe and there are those inside your country who think Soviet Communism will ultimately overtake American Capitalism and freedom. Imagine a world with two competing ideas, two very different ideas on the best way forward for the human race. One that focuses on individual liberty and freedom and one that emphasizes the collective good of "the state" over the individual. Imagine you are right in the middle of that battle, and there is no clear favorite.

That was what it was like to be alive in 1989. For many of us, the center of this battle, this Cold War, was Berlin in West Germany. Not the bustling, prosperous Berlin of today. This was a city divided into two parts, West Berlin, a free democracy, the other surviving under the oppression of its Soviet masters back in Moscow. The wall separating the city was not put up by the free citizens of West Berlin; it was built to keep the oppressed people of East Berlin from escaping.

While everyone had an opinion as to what to do about the cold war, not many had a clear understanding of the stakes, and the real differences between the two ideas at the center of the struggle.

Ronald Wilson Reagan was a man who understood this struggle and more importantly, he understood that we could win, we must win. Twenty two years ago President Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate, the dividing line between East and West Berlin and called out the new soviet leader.

The infrastructure holding up the Soviet Union was a rotten and ready to collapse. From the outside, the facade looked menacing and impenetrable, but underneath was a crumbling foundation. It is not clear just how much of this was known outside of the Soviet establishment, and many folks have claimed that we just needed to give it a push and the evil empire would come crumbling down. In hindsight, I don't think that is right. No one knew how vulnerable the Soviet Union was at that point, Reagan just knew the west needed to push because it was the right thing to do.

I remember many criticized Reagan for even talking about pushing back against communist aggression. When Reagan called the Soviet Union the evil empire, there were those in the media who were terrified that we were provoking our mortal enemy. This actor turned trigger-happy politician was going get us all killed, that is what elites in the Washington thought. President Reagan stood up to the Soviets because we were right and they were wrong.

Right here is where your civics teacher will stop and point to the sins of America, from slavery to the unjust treatment of Native Americans to the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. Guilty as charged. America is not perfect, it simply the last best hope for freedom loving people around the world. I often quote the late Democratic Senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan "Am I embarrassed to speak for a less than perfect democracy? Not one bit. Find me a better one. Do I suppose there are societies which are free of sin? No, I don't. Do I think ours is, on balance, incomparably the most hopeful set of human relations the world has? Yes, I do."

Now for a confession; early on, I was not a fan of Ronald Reagan. I was still young and naive, dreaming of a world where everyone would learn to get along and we could settle our differences by talking nice. In other words, I was a Democrat. Reagan opened my eyes to the realities of the Soviet Union by telling me who they were, what they stood for, and conversely who we were and what we stood for. Warts and all, Reagan truly loved this nation and wanted to show the rest of the world what is possible if you unleash people to pursue their dreams, free from an oppressive state or an overpowering government. What can I say, I was young.

Reagan's speech aimed at the new General Secretary of the USSR contained a clear and concise message.

There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate.

Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate.

Mr. Gorbachev -- Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Even Reagan's own State department guys did not want him to mention the wall in his speech, too inflammatory, too confrontational; this was not talking nice.

In two short years, on November 9th, 1989 the collapse of the Soviet Union was well underway and the Berlin Wall was torn down by jubilant Germans from both sides. The reunification of families separated for decades by this concrete barrier was a scene that flashed around the world. The world learned that day to put their faith in freedom.

As we look back on that day, let's remember it was not about armies as much as it was about ideas. It's not that Reagan was right about the wall, or the fall of the Soviet Union, it's that Reagan was right about America.

A political earthquake.....

2009-10-31T08:55:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I pay way too much attention to politics. Case in point; the Republican candidate in the upcoming New York 23rd Congressional election, Dede Scozzafava, has dropped out of the race, leaving the late-entering Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman with a clear path to win the vacant seat.

Scozzafava, who in most other areas of the country would be considered a Democrat, was the choice of the local county Republican committee, after four internal ballots put her on the ticket as the GOP candidate for Congress. The local ranks of Republicans were outraged with the choice and decided to back Hoffman under the Conservative party banner. After the three-way race with Democrat Bill Owens tightened to the point where Hoffman was out polling Scozzafava, she decided she could not compete with the flood of cash coming into the race from Republicans across the country backing Hoffman.

I commend for getting out of the way, but her career in the GOP would have been over if she had stayed in and allowed a Democrat to win a seat that should go Republican. With Scozzafava's pro-card check, pro-union and pro-choice views, I would be willing to bet money that she will be back in NY politics soon, but maybe as a Democratic.

Newt and the GOP insiders were tone deaf in this race and the early backing of the RHINO Scozzafava should be a warning to leaders in the Republican party. The people will not blindly follow whoever the GOP sends up as a candidate. The candidates had better have the right ideas, not just an "R" behind their name....

Esparto Homecoming

2009-10-30T22:55:00.000-07:00

The Spartans (from Esparto) played a great game. You could just see that with a four-man bench, the boys ran out of gas in the second half. Here are some highlights....

Aaron Rome going vertical, unfortunately in high school football, this is a penalty.

Here is Roman Reyes putting the Esparto boys up by 6 in the first quarter.

And it wouldn't be a football game unless you have the cheerleaders.....

That is it for the EHS home games. Kind of like a Cubs fans, there's always next year. Now I have to get ready for basketball season. Say a prayer tonight for the East Nicolaus player injured in the fourth quarter, looks like a few months in a leg cast for him.

Dirty Jobs and other worthwhile endeavors

2009-10-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

While walking through campus last week, I was swallowed up in a sea of students making their way from one class to the next. In this flood of young faces, you could imagine that many of these students will go on to become very successful. Likewise, it was not terribly hard to imagine that more than a few were just wasting their parent’s money or piling up a mountain on student loans with not a lot to show for it. Knowing a few students who have just graduated from UC Davis, as well as my wife who is an Aggie alum, I understand the hard work that goes into earning that diploma.

It does make me wonder how many of these successful young adults could actually survive a week of hard labor. Not a week behind the counter at Subway or Starbucks, but a week with a landscaping crew, a plumbing contractor, or working on a farm. Not that I am playing a game of class warfare, pitting blue collar workers against their white collar counterparts, I am simply wondering if people today understand the value of hard work.

If you ever wonder why I started working in the communications field, it was a direct result of my previous employment in the concrete cutting and breaking industry. I guess you could call me a hypocrite, but at age 30, I was standing on a scaffold, in the rain, operating a concrete saw thinking that there had to be an easier way to make a living. Fortunately, I found one. Whenever I start thinking that I have had a particularly tough day at work, I just remember those 12-hour days loading chunks of broken concrete into a wheelbarrow. My "tough day" seems to melt away with a little perspective.

It seems with all the technological advancements we have in our modern world, we still have not found a way to replace every hard or dirty job in America. That I think, is not such a bad thing. There is a feeling you get at the end of a long day, with your shirt soaked through and your boots covered in dust, which some people will never experience. That is a shame.

I worry sometimes that we are raising a generation who could not plant a tree from a one-gallon container without watching a YouTube video on the proper procedures, buying a new pair of gloves, kneepads, and a fiberglass handled shovel from Home Depot. Are we becoming a nation of people who have to call a plumber when the toilet backs up? Maybe there is a YouTube video for that too.

I guess not everyone has the everyday skills our parents had; maybe that is a good thing, maybe not. I guess if you make enough money, all the skill you need is the ability to find a handyman and write a check. That is a handy skill to have, if your bank account can back it up.

Having been raised on a cattle ranch I spent my youth chasing cows, stacking truckloads of hay and building fences, pipelines and barns. Doing these dirty jobs as a kid was wonderful experience when I went out into the world. Can you operate a backhoe? Yes. Can you drive a dump truck? Yes. Can you weld and run a cutting torch? You bet.

Many of you who grew up in the city had different experiences, and while you probably never had your arms inside a cow's private parts trying to pull a calf, I'll bet you have stories of helping your father re-roof or paint your house, or some other dirty job that you remember fondly. Well, you remember it fondly now, at the time I will bet your feelings were a bit different.

Being able to complete a hard task is a good thing, and I believe it may be something you just can't replace with success or income. I guess the more you earn, the less hard work you have to do, but there is that special feeling you get after you finish a hard job. If you have never experienced that good night's sleep after a long, hard day, you just won't understand.

Just because you can....

2009-10-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

I am probably going to step on some toes here, but I would rather take some heat for putting my nose in your business than writing a flowery memorial service for a teenager.

You have to keep your kids from drinking. Even if they hate you for it.

Yea, I did it when I was a teenager, and I am damned lucky to be alive. You probably did it too, and you might say, so what, kids are going to drink anyway, you can't stop them. Well, maybe that's true, but if you condone or enable underage drinking, you are making a terrible mistake.

This issue came to everyone's attention at Esparto High School in the past few weeks and I do not want to stir that pot or even address that particular situation. The point I am trying to make is that teenagers are more than capable of making terrible decisions all by themselves, and adding alcohol to the equation increases the chance of a poor decision becoming a life altering or life-ending decision by a factor of ten.

If you have been around alcohol for any length of time, you have seen people, adults, make terrible decisions and do stupid things. If you were out with me in my younger years, you would have seen me make some stupid decisions. I also did some things that I am ashamed of to this day. The fact that I am here, and not dead or in jail does not mean that it was okay; it just means that I rolled the dice and my number did not come up. Others I have known have not been as fortunate.

I remember a couple who were three years ahead of me in high school. They were involved in a drunk driving accident where he was killed and she was paralyzed. She ended up graduating from a wheelchair with my class after the accident. I also remember the group of Woodland High kids who were involved in a graduation week accident at "second beach" out in Knights Landing. This is not a "valley problem" or a Yolo County problem, it touches every area, every race, every economic class, it touches everyone.

People aged 12 to 20 years drink 11% of all alcohol consumed in the United States. That is shocking, at least it should be. The younger kids are when they start drinking, the more likely they are to binge drink. Now that is truly frightening.

I remember my parents allowing me to drink in high school, and I thought at the time I could handle it. I was young, strong, bullet proof, and nothing bad would happen to me. Boy was I wrong. As my son has grown older and faces these decisions, I make sure he knows where I stand. I have told him on more than one occasion that if I lived my high school years over ten times, I would surely die in six of them. If just one of the thousands of decisions I made in high school went the other way, I would be dead or crippled or worse, I would have killed or injured someone else. I shudder just thinking about living with the knowledge that my mistake, my stupidity changed or took another person's life.

That is what we are talking about here, life and death. It's not that you allow your kids to have a beer when they are at home. It's the fact that by doing so, you tell them it is okay for them to drink. I don't care if you threaten them with a beating if you ever catch them drinking at a party, or getting behind the wheel after they have been drinking. The point is, you are telling them that drinking is okay under the right conditions, and for teenagers, it is not okay. You are also teaching them that you have to have a cooler of beer in order to have a good time. That is a lesson they take with them into adulthood; it's a lesson you don't want to teach them.

High school kids may have adults sized bodies, but their decision-making abilities are just not there yet. One drink leads to two, two drinks to three and so on. People do things under the influence of alcohol that they would never do sober. I am talking about boys and girls here. It may not be a car accident that changes their life, it might be giving in to teenage urges and teenage hormones, it may be giving in to the peer pressure of drugs, it could be a thousand things that they would never do when sober. A terrible decision once made, is made. There is not reset button.

But you say, it's only beer, or I only let them drink when I am here to watch them, or its better that they drink here than somewhere else. Talk to a parent who has lost a child as result of underage drinking. I'm sure they would say do everything you can to keep your kids from drinking. Even if it means that you are the bad guy, or you have to give up being your kid's friend. You are the parent, even if you are not the best role model when it comes to alcohol, give your children the chance to grow up and make their own choices, as adults.

If you say it's none of my business, you can tell me to get lost. But I do not want to see one of my friends lose a child, or start that child down a path towards alcoholism. Being a kid is tough enough as it is. Let them grow up.

Update

2009-10-19T18:19:00.001-07:00

All things are well at Casa de' Cowboy. Almost. My son seems to back to normal, or at least normal from him, but my wife and daughter came down with the bacon flu while I was hunting. I am trying to wash my hands often and have not kissed my wife since my return. Yea, I know, lucky for her.....

Thanks for all the prayers and support for my son and our family.

1,000 miles and just down the street

2009-10-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Having just returned from my long awaited hunting trip/vacation to visit my family in north Idaho, I am drawn to the similarities between our two small towns. Although Bonners Ferry is a bit larger than Esparto, driving down the main street of Bonners is like driving through any small town in Yolo County, or America for that matter.

Esparto has our local eateries like the Burger Barn, Hog Canyon Deli and Los Tios, Bonners Ferry has the Badgers Den, the Chic-N-Chop and the Friday night all you can eat fish fry at the Three Mile Cafe. The vehicles you see in town are very similar, with the exception there are more white Chevy trucks than white Ford trucks in Bonners. I guess farmers like Fords and loggers like Chevys, or they need a Ford dealer in Bonners, or both.

Having traveled to quite a few small towns in my time, one can meet the people, look at the places and the scenery but never really connect, because you are an outsider. This trip was a little different, not only did I have my mom and sister to show me around, I had a guide, a local.

My sister's fried Roy is the very definition of a local. Roy knows everyone, and everyone knows Roy. Even though my family has been in the Bonners area for almost 15 years, they are transplants, Californian transplants. They get along fine up there, but not everyone does.

As you can imagine, there is quite a stigma attached to folks who move up to Idaho from the golden state, and with good reason. Californians looking to "get away" from the rat race, escape to small towns in other states only to find the simple life found in places like Bonners is just a little too simple for them. They want to have all the conveniences, amenities, and culture they are accustom to, in a town of 2,000 people.

The local population is not very interested in how things work back where you came from, in fact they would rather you keep your ideas to yourself. If things were so great back there, why did you move up here? Small town people have an independent streak in them. They are slow to embrace change; in fact they want nothing more than to be left alone. This is true in almost every small town in this nation.

Not every small town longs to be just like Davis, California or Madison, Wisconsin. They really don't care if you have a PhD in city planning and want the city to revamp the downtown for better flow. They would just like you to go back to your custom built home and learn how to shovel the snow off your roof so you quit calling your neighbor for help every time it snows. We got along just fine before you folks moved up here, thank you very much.

As I said, I was fortunate to have a hometown guy showing me around so I was not too worried about being pegged as a Californian. I tried my best not to say Dude, and I was wearing my Carhartt jacket and Wranglers along with my hunting boots. I even bought a package of Red Man chewing tobacco. My north Idaho camouflage was complete.

Together, Roy and I ran errands in town and like most small towns, you couldn’t swing a dead cat around without hitting someone Roy knew. I think I met at least 10% of the greater Bonners Ferry population. At Far North, the local sporting goods/gun store, I met Chris and the gang. On Wednesday evening, my sister Lisa and Roy took me to Mountain Springs Church. It was a very nice service and I met some of my sister's friends. She loves introducing me as her "baby brother", but she did cut my hair while I was there, so I was on my best behavior.

On Friday night after the fish fry at Three Mile Cafe, we all went to the homecoming football game. The weather had warmed up from the teens to the mid 50s and although it was chilly, we all stayed warm in the stands as the Bonners Ferry Badgers beat the team from Kellogg. The football game was very similar to a game at Esparto, only colder. The kids from the high school look just like the kids at any high school in our area. Sure, there are many kids in Carhartt coats and blue jeans, but there are many wearing Famous Stars or DC shirts and hats with skinny jeans and even a few Goth kids. I guess if you have MTV in your town, that sets the fashion, and everyone from Malibu to Montana dresses the same.

I came home this weekend to temperatures in the 70s and my wife and daughter just getting over the flu. I was glad to be home, but I was also a little saddened because I had such a great time with my mother and sister and my new friend Roy. I hope to be back next year for hunting season and to see the family again.

By the way, before you start looking at real estate ads, Roy said to make sure I tell everyone that the hunting stinks, the town is full of backwards rednecks, and it snows every day from August to May. You really would not like it…..

The battles you fight on your knees

2009-10-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

Anyone with children would probably agree, having a seriously ill child is one of the hardest things we have to deal with as parents. I cannot even begin to understand how the loss of a child would tear you up inside.

Experiencing a medical crisis of your own is hard enough. The thoughts of what would happen to your family if you were suddenly gone from the picture, the idea of your children not having both parents to help raise them, it is very sobering stuff. When it’s your child who is sick, the feeling of helplessness seems to overwhelm all others.

A while back I wrote about lines in the sands of time, and how there will always be another one of those days lurking out there, waiting. My advice was to live for today, let those around you know how much they mean to you. I think that advice is still sound. One thing I would add is to be thankful for the ordinary days. Those ordinary days are so easy to overlook. It's just Thursday, it's not my birthday, there is nothing important on my day planner, I am going to work, the kids are going to school, it's just Thursday.

Our son has been feeling pretty bad for two weeks now and we have been back and forth to the doctor a few times trying to find out what is making him so tired. Last Thursday my wife and I were told about a one centimeter "shadow" on our son's CT scan. It ceased to be just another Thursday right then. A million questions went through our minds; a thousand scenarios went through our minds as well, not many of them pleasant. It would have been easy to give in to those fears and allow them to take over the next few days, and I admit that they were always in the back of my mind, but I tried to stay in the moment. As we scheduled a follow up MRI for Monday, the uncertainty of our son's situation was the hardest part to deal with.

I can't imagine going through times like these without my faith. These are the battles that are better fought on your knees.

In the past I had used God like a 911 call. Hello Jesus, come quick, I'm in trouble. Then I would start to play “Let's make a deal” with God.

God, if you get me out of this, I will do whatever you ask. At that particular point in time, I meant it. If God would have faxed down a contract, I would have signed it. However, when the situation improved a bit, I would start to renegotiate the contract. Lord, I know that I said I would go to Borneo to do mission work, but my kids are in school, and I just got raise at work. I'll do what you want me to do later, okay?

While I still might make this plea today, having a deeper, stronger relationship with God helped me in ways I didn't understand, until now.

The one thing that kept going through my mind during those long days was a passage from the book of Psalms. "Be still and know that I am God." The knowledge that whatever happens, good or bad, God would still be there and He would still love me and my son was a great comfort. I don't know how I would have made it though without it.

One of the goals I had for this year was to take the family to Yosemite and for my son and I to go see a baseball game. We are now two for two. This past Saturday a large group of friends from the valley went to the last home stand of the Oakland A's. My son, who was still feeling very tired, said he was up to it and we spent a wonderful day tailgating and then sitting in the warm sunshine of the left field bleachers. The shadow on his CT scan was far from my mind most of the day.

Be still and know that I am God.

Some of my friends knew about our situation and we spent the better part of Monday emailing and taking calls from friends and family waiting for the results of the MRI. I did not tell many people because we didn't know anything, and I didn't want to have everyone worrying all weekend, sorry mom. We received the news late Monday that the MRI was negative. The relief we experienced was palpable. It was as if a large weight was taken of our chests ad we could take a deep breath again.

We are still awaiting more tests and so our relief is tempered, but as before, we will pull together and get through this. I know one thing, if we ever get back to that place where I start to think the days are ordinary; I hope someone will remind me that every day is a gift from God. It is up to each one of us to make it something special.

Be careful what you wish for....

2009-09-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

Many folks in the higher circles of the GOP are giddy with the possibility of a major realignment in the American electorate. In these next two election cycles, the Republicans could make real gains in both houses of Congress, take back a few governorships and stop the Obama hope and change express cold. All of this is well and good for the Republican pundits and campaign managers, but I have a question. What then?

The Democrats were sure, once they rid the White House of George W. Bush, the world would be righted by the sheer power of Barack Obama's genius. Woops. Very large, very complex, and systemic problems require drastic action and bold, honest leadership to fix.

Bringing about a fundamental change of this magnitude will require something I believe the American people have lost their taste for; pain. We want someone to fix the problem without paying the price in discomfort. We want someone to make it better, without changing it. We want a dentist to fix 20 years worth of dental problems with no shots, no drilling and very little inconvenience. We want hope and change, not pain and change.

This is a trap I hope the GOP will not fall into. The trillions in new spending and the industrial sized debt the President is piling up for our children will not lead to prosperity, they will lead to ruin. The American people are finally awakening to the sticker shock of this and are standing up to say, enough. So what happens if we give the purse strings back to the Republicans? Are we so certain this short walk in the wilderness has been long enough to drive out the big-spending habits of the Hastert/DeLay Republicans? I have my doubts.

If there is to be real, meaningful solutions for our nation's fiscal outlook, it will take more than a repackaging of old ideas. It will take a revolution in the way Americans think about government; what it should do, and more to the point, what it cannot do. To lead that revolution, we will need leaders who tell the public what the real price of reform will mean; sacrifice.

They will have to tell American's, vote for me, and it will hurt for a little while. Vote for me and I will spend your money as if it were my money. Vote for me and together we will have to make some difficult choices. Vote for me and I will promise to help fix these very large, very complex, very expensive problems, once and for all. Vote for me and you may be sorry when I cut some money from a program you like or receive a benefit. Vote for me and we will make many people angry, but we can look our children in the face and know we did the right thing for them.

Would anyone run a campaign like that? Who would say government is too big, tries to do too much, and it costs entirely too much? It will certainly not be the Democratic Party. Not now, and unless they rein in the progressives and revert back to the party of JFK, not ever. So, that leaves us with the Republicans. Not the 2000-2006 Republicans, but the 1994 Republicans, if there are any left.

Does anyone have the conviction to run as a candidate saying the government is not Santa Claus? I do not know. I do not know if anyone has the courage to say, we are going to reduce the size of government, not slow the growth, but over the next four years we are going to reduce the size government by 4%. One percent a year and everyone will need to take a little less. Defense, Education, Interior, even Social Security and Medicare. Everyone needs to be smarter about how they spend the taxpayer’s money. Everyone talks about waste, fraud and abuse, and the only way to find it is to make the bureaucrats account for every dollar, every full time position, and every check they hand out. It works in the private sector; it should work for government as well.

My fear is the Republicans will be swept back into power without truly repenting their past fiscal sins. Right now we need fiscal conservatives, and lots of them. After the 1.5 to 1.7 Trillion dollar Obama deficits this year, it won't be hard to say we will cut the deficit in half. That will be easy. We need someone who will explain, and then reverse, this huge government expansion before we go over the cliff that is surely coming.

That cliff is demographic in nature, and numbers do not lie. The massive flood of baby-boomers who will be coming into the Social Security and Medicare systems in the next two decades will break this nation, plain and simple. When you hear any politician say that SSI and Medicare will cost X amount in the next ten years, ask this one question. What will it cost in twenty? The first decade will be no picnic, but when the main surge of boomers hit their 70s and 80s and begin fully utilizing the Medicare system, those two government entitlement programs will take up the majority of our national budget.

So what can we do? I wish I knew.

In one respect, the President is right about health care, doing nothing is not an option. With Medicare going broke in the coming decades, the answer is not putting everyone on it, or something similar to it. The answer is not promising even more 'free' things that we simply cannot afford. The answer should be personal responsibility. Part of the answer should be tort reform, so doctors do not give you a myriad of unnecessary scans and tests in the hopes they will not be sued. Part of the answer should be using medical savings accounts to put you in charge of your heath care dollars. Part of the answer should be means testing these programs. Part of the answer will be vigorous, and I do mean vigorous, enforcement of Medicare and Social Security fraud. There will have to more ways to save money, and they will have to be found, fast. These answers are not going to popular, but the alternative is much, much worse.

If we keep electing people who say they will not cut anything, we will get what we deserve, a complete shutdown of the system. No more checks, no more care, no more 'free' anything. One day all the hospitals who accept Medicare patients will have a padlock on the door and a sign on the door saying come back in four months when the new fiscal year starts, we are out of money. All the SSI checks will stop and everyone will cry bloody murder. We are facing that reality in a few decades, if not sooner.

If Republicans think they can fix this with a few minor tweaks, they are sadly mistaken. If Democrats think they can tax their way out of this demographic noose, they are mistaken as well. The solution will be two fold. Grow the economy, and that means growing small businesses as well as reducing one of the highest corporate taxes in the industrialized world. The other part of the solution is going to be a smaller government footprint. However, even those who want smaller government are going to be upset when their benefits are reduced. Trust me; they will want you to cut off those "other guys" not my benefits.

Whoever takes on this problem had better be prepared for town hall meetings that make this summer's look like a Girl Scout bake sale. It will be ugly.

So, who is willing to say, follow me and feel the pain? The better question is, would you vote for that person?

I know, I am so ashamed

2009-09-17T22:35:00.000-07:00

ACORN's "Cash for Chlamydia" program

2009-09-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

Do you smell something? I believe it’s the dead horse I was beating a few weeks ago, but darn if it doesn't require another good whooping.

The main stream media has a giant blind-spot when it comes to scandals involving Democrats, so they can think of me as one of those curved mirrors on the passenger side of your car. My message is simply this; "Your demise is closer than it appears."

I know the MSM is going to give President Obama and Democrats a pass on almost every mistake, miscalculation and scandal, but the latest ACORN videos have made an end run around the MSM and people are asking where were CNN and the New York Times on this story. ACORN, at last count, has taken 53 $Million in tax dollars, and would have been eligible to receive much more through the billions in Community Development Block Grants found in the stimulus bill. The GOP tried to keep any stimulus money from going to ACORN earlier this year, but every Democrat in the Senate voted that amendment down.

Then a series of undercover videos were released. I guess the Democrats ultimately could not defend sending taxpayer dollars to people who would gladly give you advice on the best way to set up and tax shelter your underage prostitution ring.

(I do not condone graffiti, but this makes me laugh)

I can hear the liberals screaming that posing as a pimp and prostitute with a hidden camera is gotcha journalism, and should not be taken seriously. I guess you never heard of 60 Minutes, or Dateline. Undercover journalism is only acceptable when it steers clear of liberal groups and politicians, right?

ACORN, once untouchable and completely unaccountable, has finally been unmasked for the liberal boondoggle of corruption it is. I am sure that within any organization you will find some folks who are fine people, with a genuine desire to help their community. It is now plain as day that many others think ACORN is a place where you can be paid to stick it to “the man.”

Don't want to pay your taxes? No problem, ACORN can help you. Don't have a job and want a home loan? No problem, ACORN can help you. You want to be paid for turning in voter registration forms using names from the phone book? No problem, ACORN will pay you.
Oh, by the way, has anyone seen Attorney General, Eric Holder? He must be busy.

So here is my question. What do think would happen if this scandal had been with an organization supported by Republicans?

It would be wall-to-wall coverage. There would be a reporter behind every shrub and bougainvillea at GOP headquarters jumping out to ask Republican leaders what they knew, and when knew it. I don't see that happening here, in fact the MSM has tried its best to ignore this story. They finally had to report the story when the fifth undercover video was released showing ACORN employees actually offering advice to undercover journalist, posing a pimp and a prostitute, on the best way to smuggle underage girls into the country for the purpose of prostitution. He even offered to help them. Talk about customer service....

Those of us on the right have known about the corruption in ACORN for years. Maybe the
MSM is afraid to go after groups like this because they fear their reporting would be labeled as racist. This seems to be the standard operating procedure. If anyone questions your minority-based group, hit them with the R word. There is nothing like the charge of racist or bigot to scare even the largest news outlet into looking the other way. After years of doing it, the MSM does not even bother to look at groups like ACORN anymore. Too much trouble, too much downside possibility.

So what other scandals and stories are out there? A better question is who will break them? Will it be the MSM with a newsroom full of professional journalists, or will it be another couple of college student?

Crude? Yes, but oh so true....

2009-09-12T10:59:00.001-07:00

From the DC Tea Party today....

Straight news

2009-09-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or have the major news outlets simply looked at the demographics and tried to carve out a market for their product, rather than just covering the news in a straightforward way? By any measure, this is not a new phenomenon. Before our nation was conceived, we can see how ideology was the driving factor in the newspaper business. Before the Declaration of Independence had been written, there were loyalist newspapers and pro revolution newspapers. Each paper would print stories 180 degrees apart from the other while covering the same story. As I am always fond of saying, you are entitled to your own opinion; you are not entitled to your own facts.

I am just old enough to remember when almost every local newspaper and local television station received most of their content from news wire services. The Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, they had the reporters on the ground in every major city and when a story broke, the local reporter would write it up and send it over the wire to news outlets who paid for the service. You had to trust the wire story because there was no real way to fact check it in time to make your deadlines.

That is not the case today. With the interconnection of the news, there are multiple sources, multiple reporters, and the almost infinite information that can be researched, and sourced on the internet. Just as the centerpiece document of Dan Rather's report on George W. Bush in the Texas Air National Guard was proved a forgery within hours; it doesn't take much research to find the truth, or at least the other side of the story. Unless you are not looking to find it.

Never has the mainstream media put its blinders on as they have for President Obama. They just do not want look under the hood. The scene from Star wars comes to mind. "These are not the droids you are looking for", says the President. "These are not the droids we are looking for," says the New York Times.

We understand that President Obama is their guy, it is not a secret, but can we at least have someone in the Washington press corps do the job they are being paid for? That job is not going to cocktail parties and taking free tickets to the Kennedy Center, that job is to be the eyes and ears of their readers and viewers. Maybe they forgot this principle, or it simply is no longer being taught at Columbia’s journalism school. Less than a year ago, any statement coming from the White House or the President was treated as a lie that needed to be proven true. In this task, the mainstream media were tireless, and I say, good for them. Under President Obama, the administration’s message is indisputable and any attack on the President’s message is treated as a lie.

Take the recent resignation of green jobs czar Van Jones. While everyone else who was paying attention knew the facts surrounding Obama’s friend being a “9/11 Truther”- you may not want to actually sign those petitions if you want to hold higher office Van- and his radical Communist past. Most in the media were willing sit on the story to protect the President from any further damage, especially with the President taking the heath care debate into a full court press.

If you think I am just making this stuff up, I am not. Read the 2005 piece by Eliza Strickland titled “The new face of environmentalism.” Van Jones is a self-confessed Marxist, Socialist, whose participation in fringe left-wing groups reads like Fidel Castro’s resume, minus the political executions and oppression.

Which brings up the question, did anyone in the mainstream press bother to look at the mountains of information available on Jones? It certainly doesn’t seem like it. For those who think Fox News and Glenn Beck are the Devil, know this; if the media did their job, Glenn Beck would not have one. The reason conservative news outlets exist is the fact that people are tired of hearing only one side to the news. I know I am. When I see the byline of AP or Associated Press, I know the story I am about to read will be slanted to the left. Every once in a while I find an AP story that strikes me as straight down the middle, just presenting the facts without an agenda. Those stories are striking because they are the exception rather than the rule. What a shame.

If you read the white washing of the Van Jones’ resignation today, you will hear term like “Swift Boated.” How laughable. If by Swiftboating you mean telling the truth about a radical, Marxists, 9/11 Truther appointed by the President to the higher circles of government, then yes, Van Jones has been swiftboated. If you mean he was slandered by unfounded rumors and innuendo, then no, he was not.

Before you comment, please do a little research, and I don’t mean on the Daily Koz.

Football in a small town

2009-09-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I had a rooting interest in a high school football game, twenty-six years to be exact, the game and the atmosphere has changed little. No matter the size of the school or the town, a Friday night game under the lights is a special thing.

The girlfriends of the players wearing the jersey numbers of their sweethearts, the grandparents cheering in the bleachers, the parents pushing strollers carrying the next generation of football players and cheerleaders, these sights are universal. I always thought if you wanted to teach a foreign visitor about America, take them to a Friday night football game in a small town.

High school football is a competitive, strenuous, disciplined, strategic game with controlled violence. It's no wonder the Birkenstock wearing, Prius driving people look down on it. It's no wonder the rest of us are drawn to it. I was reading a piece in the Wall Street Journal about football of all the things, and found this quote by former Notre Dame Coach, Lou Holtz;

"You aren't entitled to anything. You don't inherit anything. You get what you earn—your position on the team," Mr. Holtz said. "You're treated like everybody else. You're held accountable for your actions. You understand that your decisions affect other people on that team…There's winners, there's losers, and there's competitiveness."

Last night's game in Esparto was a study in the struggles and changing fortunes found in football. Last year was last year, and unlike politics, there are no incumbents. The Spartan junior varsity went undefeated in 2008; the varsity did pretty well also, 5-5 I believe. This year both the junior varsity and the varsity were man handled by their rivals from Winters High. In both games, it seemed the Spartans just didn't have the horses.

Many of the starters from last year's undefeated JV team are now juniors, leaving a depleted roster of experienced players. This year's juniors are getting their first taste of the speed and hard hitting of varsity football. Not to say this season is over, far from it. The coaching staff will get the best out of the players, and the players will grow into their new roles.

Even though both games were blow outs, it was still great night because the teams didn't quit. I know they felt terrible, and I remember that feeling from my playing days. Seeing the frustration and dejection on their faces, I wanted to jump over the ropes and tell them, it would be all right. I wanted to tell them, you gave it everything you had, and no one can ask anything more than that.

Sometimes your best in not enough, in football and in life. Either you can shrink from a loss like the one they suffered last night, or you can dig down deep and find something you did not know you had inside you. That is football, that is life. Here’s hoping the Spartans bounce back and a few young men step up to help their teammates become better.

As I walked along the sidelines, I ran into a bunch of my friends, even a person I played softball with 20 years ago. On Friday nights in the late summer and fall, all you have to do is follow the glow of the stadium lights and you will meet just about everyone. This was especially true last night if were in line at the snack bar. It seems this year the Esparto Boosters were told they must use a cash register, instead of doing what had been working for decades. This caused a single choke point in the concession process, and the line to buy a hot dog or hamburger looked like the lines to get toilet paper in Soviet-era Moscow. I am not sure how much money was lost last night because of people just giving up and heading back to their seats after waiting in a unmoving line for fifteen minutes, but I am sure more than a few folks did. I think this falls under the, it may not be perfect, but let’s not replace it with something worse, situation.

All in all, a wonderful evening. Both teams shook hands after the game and I saw players from both schools talking with each other as they left the stadium. Some of them are friends from 4-H and FFA. They have learned to play the game the right way, play hard, but leave it on the field. You did your best and you can hold your heads up, but don’t be surprised if Monday’s practice is a gut buster. Good luck Spartans, can’t wait for the next home game.

What I learned on the way to the ER

2009-09-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

I like to call it an episode. It sounds much better than an Atrial Flutter type of tachyarrhythmia. Don't worry, I'm not going to die. Well, actually, I am, we all are, but I don't think this is going to do it. The repercussions of scaring the hell out of my wife on the other hand, that could prove to be my undoing.

I am a guy, and guess what, we don't want to face the fact that we are mortal. We lived this long ignoring all the little '"episodes" we have had in the past, this one will go away too. Except this one didn't.

As I woke this morning I could feel my heart playing what felt like the beat to a Metallica song, something around 135 beats per minute. I have had this feeling in the past and it usually sorted itself out by the time I hit the shower. Having taken a few days off preparing the funeral service for my friend Phil, I knew we would be behind at work. I didn't want to call in and leave the guys shorthanded again. I drove in and found myself at sitting at my desk, but feeling terrible. As we were heading out the door I started to sweat and get a little light headed.

Having the image of two grieving children from yesterday's funeral fresh in my mind, I decided that getting a new internet connection installed in Vorhies Hall was a little less important than my two kids, and went to my supervisor. I told him that I hated to be a whuus, but I really think I needed to see by a doctor. Steve drove me to Sutter Davis Hospital; after I found out that UC Davis' Employee Health only takes workers comp cases. As we drove along, Steve told me to call my wife, and another co-worker called me to remind me to call my wife, which I did. I checked in with the triage nurse, and she found my heart rate around 138, so was taken inside to the ER.

Have you ever been the only person on a car lot and had three salesmen giving you their undivided attention? That was me. I think they wheeled one guy out while I was there, so I was the main attraction. The IV went in, electrodes were attached, auto blood pressure cuff went on and everything started beeping, and whirring. The doctors and nurses huddled around the high-tech gadgetry to assess how my heart was doing. Like I said, it was a slow day, and I almost thought they were wishing for something exotic or cool to have befallen me. To my relief, it was only Atrial Flutter. As a consolation, a pretty young nurse said that it was a gorgeous flutter, so I had that going for me.

My supervisor Steve was the only person in the waiting room so they usher him back, and we talked about getting old, and how much it,,,, well, how much it sucks. My wife is usually pretty solid when it comes to dealing with illnesses and injuries. She has seen me run over and flipped upside down by a bull, kicked in the chest by a Clydesdale, and bucked off more horses than I can remember. She usually comes over and asks if I am all right, and then she tells me how funny I looked with my arms and legs flailing around as I flew through the air. As soon as she saw me hooked up to all the monitors, she started crying. I introduced my wife to Steve and Steve fled the scene as if he left something burning on the stove.

After an hour, and doctors and nurses coming by about three minutes to see if any really cool was going to happen, I was released with instructions to go see an electro cardiologist next week. Kind of sounds like a doctor who could also wire a new 220 electrical outlet for your clothes dryer.

I am home now with instructions from my doctor, my wife, my mother in law, my pharmacist, and about ten friends to REST! However, I am easily bored, like a four year old at fine china shop. I figured that I could do a little writing without exerting too much effort.

The last few weeks has shown me and my friends just how precious life is, and while I like to think I am smart enough to learn from watching, nothing quite focuses the mind like thinking your next breath could be taken in heaven. I guess I should pay heed to my own sermons and writings. So, I will.

I wanted to take the time to let you know how much fun I have had rolling through this thing called life for the last 43 years. Sure, there have been setbacks, tragedy, and loss. There has also been enough love, fun, laughter, and companionship to last three lifetimes.

To my friends, and you know who you are, thank you. I have enjoyed all the times we had together, even the trying times. You have helped me grow as a person and I hope I didn't get you into much trouble with you spouse, or parents.

To my family; I love you so much. Not just for things you have done for me, not just for the things you have said to me, but for simply being who you are, and allowing me to love you. If my next breath comes in heaven, know this. Have no regrets. Any problems that we ever had between us were most likely my fault. I know you love me, and that is more than enough. Know that I am at home, and at rest with my savior. I will be there, waiting, but don’t come too soon. God has plans for you, just as He did for me.

Here is hoping for another 43 years, but hey, life happens.

Who am I to argue?

2009-09-02T21:55:00.000-07:00

Holes in the ground

2009-09-01T21:37:00.000-07:00

Not many people know about it, but back in 1991, then owner of the Sacramento Kings, Gregg Lukenbill was building a 100 million dollar multi-purpose stadium primarily to lure major league baseball to Sacramento. When high priced 'personal seat licenses' failed to sell, and with another investor bringing the River Cats here from Vancouver, the baseball park at Arco died a quiet death. The hole where construction began is still there, just north of Arco Arena. The weed covered outline of a ball field with its cement foundations make the site look like a new age archaeological dig.

The ability to see what could be, when everyone says you're crazy, is an integral part of the American fabric. Some dreams are fulfilled, some just leave holes in the ground. So it is with our lives.

When I look back on all the ideas, relationships, business ventures and journeys of self improvement I have started in my life, I see quite a few holes in the ground. Some just rough outlines that were never fully started, some were almost completed and stand as monuments to my inadequacies or to this thing we call life.

We all have holes in our lives that we will never completely fill in, and smooth over. They are a part of what makes us human, what makes us who we are. As with anything in our life, too much emphasis directed at our past, especially our past failures and traumas, can suffocate our future.

When you live as though everything would have been great, if only this had happened, or conversely had this not happened, it can keep you looking backwards. It is hard to see your future when you are a imprisoned by your past.

Yesterday is past, tomorrow is just a promise, you only have today, so start digging. If you fail, so blinkin' what? Big deal. Better to find a hundred ways not to do something and finally achieve success, than sit there looking at your shovel never really living.

Time to make some new holes.

The Friday afternoon dump and a welcome vacation

2009-08-24T21:08:00.000-07:00

If you follow politics at all, a phenomenon takes place on a regular basis in Washington D.C. It’s the Friday afternoon dump. When politicians have bad news to report, they break the story on Friday afternoon when everyone is heading out for the weekend. It's kind of like dropping off your report card on the kitchen table as you head out to stay at your friend's house for the night.

President Obama just dropped off his spending report card as he left for vacation. How were his grades?

"Needs improvement" does not seem to be strong enough.

"The Obama administration will raise its 10-year budget deficit projection to approximately $9 Trillion from $7.108 Trillion in a report next week, a senior administration official told Reuters on Friday."

This is future debt, not the $7.4 Trillion national debt we already owe. That is a total of $16.4 Trillion in ten years. It makes you yearn for the good old days, when deficits were measured in billions.

A great analysis from columnist to the world, Mark Steyn:

"Meanwhile, in Brazil, India, China, Japan and much of Continental Europe the recession has ended. In the second quarter this year, both the French and German economies grew by 0.3 percent, while the U.S. economy shrank by 1 percent. How can that be? Unlike America, France and Germany had no government stimulus worth speaking of, the Germans declining to go the Obama route on the quaint grounds that they couldn't afford it. They did not invest in the critical signage-in-front-of-holes-in-the-road sector. And yet their recession has gone away. Of the world's biggest economies, only the U.S., Britain and Italy are still contracting. All three are big stimulators, though Gordon Brown and Silvio Berlusconi can't compete with Obama's $800 billion porkapalooza. The president has borrowed more money to spend to less effect than anybody on the planet."

Now there is a call by US commanders for more troops to immediately be sent to Afghanistan. Isn't it strange that the anti-war crowd is so silent today? Last month in Afghanistan, the US lost forty soldiers. Forty brave, young Americans and their sacrifices hardly get any coverage in the mainstream media. Remember when the MSM were showing every smoldering bombing site in Iraq? Remember them giving a nightly update of every soldier killed? That was a different President and a different war. To Quote Cindy Sheehan, "The 'anti-war' 'left' was used by the Democratic Party. I like to call it the 'anti-Republican War' movement." Stop the presses, I actually agree with Cindy Sheehan on something.

For those who sent care packages and wrote letters to the troops before, it's time to double down. They need to know we support them and we stand behind them. Republican, Democrat, Independent, Peace and Freedom, or Decline to state, these men and women are our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, neighbors and friends. There are many groups out there; Soldiers Angels.org, USO.org, or Anysoldier.com. Get in touch with these groups and make a difference.

When the President and Congress come back from their recess, there will be many things left on the Democrat's legislative agenda. They will try to force some form of health care reform bill through the Senate and onto the President's desk. They need a victory on this one, even a tiny victory. However, the road does not look any smother for Democrats even if they do get a watered down bill passed. They will then take up even more unpopular legislation. The massive energy tax, better known as Cap and Trade, will again swamp the D.C. switchboards with angry constituents, and if that were not enough, the President wants to take on comprehensive immigration reform.

Stay tuned folks; this is going to get messy.

Take your daughter to work day.....

2009-08-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

Makes me think of Matt Rexroad taking Abbie to a Board of Supervisor's meeting......But who would play Darth Vader?

Lines in time

2009-08-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

We live each day in adrift in a sea of time. The hours, minutes and seconds pile up until they reach a full day. The days pass by to make up our work week, then our weekend and so on. Time is, by its very nature, linear. A point in time once past cannot be turned backwards or repeated. As humans, and certainly as Americans, we draw lines through time as we try to make the most of this precious commodity.

There is an entire industry devoted to "Time Management." We all have a calendar on our refrigerator or some other conspicuous place to mark down vacations, birthday parties, anniversaries, doctor's appointments and all the rest. However, calendars are for mere amateurs, to really carve up time you need a day planner or an application for your iPhone that electronically tracks every minute of your time and devotes it to some purpose.

This thing called time will run our lives if we let it. We can only try to divide it up and draw lines through it so we can know what happened, what is happening and what will be happening. Divide and conquer, so the theory goes.

No matter how full our kitchen calendar is, no matter how many important dates are written in the small squares, there are other lines in time that do not show up, but are more important to us. They are lines in time that changed everything.

While I actually do remember our wedding anniversary, and our children would never dream of letting us forget their birthdays, May 17 is not marked on my calendar, but it is a day that changed my life forever. I can divide my life at that point in time. Everything before that was before, and everything after that day was after. It was the day my father died. Along with meeting my wife and the birth of our children, I can't think of another event that fundamentally changed my world as much as that day. The hard part for me was, I never saw it coming.

Two days before my father was fine, two days later I was sitting in a car driving back home over the Yolo causeway trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do now. I had been working for my father since I was old enough to ride a horse. As I said, that day changed my life and while it was painful at the time, it made me who I am today, for better or worse.

Here is the catch; I have another unseen line in time coming, and so do you. A line in time that will again divide my life into what happened before and what happened after. A telephone call from the doctor telling me I have cancer or someone I love has some dreaded disease. A call from the CHP telling me a loved-one has been in accident, or someone calling my wife telling her I was hit by a casino bus. It could be a million things. Whatever happens, I will lean on my faith, my family and my friends. I just want to make sure I let everyone know exactly what they mean to me while I can.

I would give anything to have ten minutes with my father that week before he died. I would tell him how much I love him, and even give him a piece of my mind about some of his many faults. As much as I want to, I cannot. However, there is one thing I can do, talk to the people who are still in my life. I love my wife and my kids and I tell them that I love them all the time, but I don't recall the last time I grabbed them, held them tight, and told them how much they mean to me.

This has been a rough couple of months for some of my friends. One death, one deer versus Harley accident and a friend is fighting for his life right now with a failed heart. In a close community, we are all trying to reach out, as best we can, to make these difficult situations a little easier for our friends. We all have our busy lives and the pressures that come with it, and we can escape from these hard times into our daily routine. For those living through these challenging times, what has happened to their loved one is front and center every waking moment. All we can do is try to be there for them. I remember my tough times, and the people who reached out to me, it made a difference.

I guess my point is none of us is guaranteed tomorrow. Do not let another day pass before telling those around you how much they mean to you. Call your family, if you have something to forgive or something to be forgiven of, now is the time. An old friend who was a big part of your life, call them. Go hug your kids and tell them how much you love them. Right now, not tomorrow, not this weekend, now. There is nothing more expensive than regret.

Democrats go home to explain the government takeover of the health care system

2009-08-09T08:03:00.001-07:00

Nancy, Did you see Rush Limbaugh out there?

Limbaugh? No.

Good, for a minute there I thought we were in trouble....... let's go

So populism and community organizing are bad when they're against your programs?

2009-08-08T08:52:00.000-07:00

You have to love the left. Really, you do. They are so much fun to watch when they are in charge. When liberals or 'progressives' were out of power, they organized union labor activists, environmental activists, pro-abortion, gay rights, and whatever 'cause of the day' forces they could muster to march, protest, write letters, and interrupt public meetings. It was just fine when liberals organized and protested. Protest is the highest form of patriotism! It's the power of the people! It's the will of the nation! It's a grassroots movement!

How the language changes when circumstances are reversed. Today, when regular citizens show up in huge numbers to oppose fundamental and ruinous changes to the medical care Americans receive, the progressives label it 'Astro-turf.' I mean, who could oppose such an effective, efficient, and fiscally responsible entity like the federal government running our medical system?

So why are Americans so upset with Obama-care? Bait and switch.

Sure, it's easy to tell everyone I am going to make sure the 40 million people who don't have health insurance receive coverage. Everyone says, yea, do something about those people. However, if you were listening closely to what candidate Obama was saying, and were not sucked into the hopey-changey rhetoric, you would have known this was coming.

Americans wanted health insurance coverage for folks who do not have it. Take care of them, but do not change my health care. I like my doctor, and my small co-pays, and my prescription drug coverage. Don't change my health care; just do something for those other people. That is what America thought when they elected President Obama, change the bad, keep the good.

The President, ladies and gentlemen, does not want to fix American health care, he wants fundamentally change how we receive health care. He and the liberal/progressive elements in Congress want to eliminate private health care insurance and ultimately replace it with a single-payer, government run health care system. No amount of elegant, legal, and technical talking points about "keeping what you have" can stand up to the what is written in black and white in the two House bills being debated right now.

When the president says you can keep you private insurance, you can keep your doctor; he is parsing his words so very carefully. If you have private insurance coverage through your employer, and you lose your job, presto, you are now permanently in the "qualified plan" or public option system of limited care. If your employer looks at the $1,000 per family he is paying for your private insurance, and the subsidized cost of the 'public option' is $500 per family, you going to get the limited care public option whether you want it or not. If your private insurance makes any changes to your policy, co-pays or deductibles, you will have to move into a qualified plan. So I guess if you never change jobs, never change coverage, never change doctors, never change providers, you can keep your private insurance. Good luck with that.

The public option of government run health care will not be anything close to what we have now. Please spare me the "we pay more for health care and our system is 37th in the world" speech. Why is it billionaires and regular folks from all over the world come to America for our 37th best health care? We pay more, because we earn more, and we also get more. You can make statistics say what ever you want, but when it comes to life-saving medicine, people leave their socialized-medical utopias to come to America.

Every government run health care system has to keep costs down by rationing health care. It's just a fact. If you are seventy one years old and need a hip replacement, sorry, you're not contributing to the system, so you get pain medication and mandatory end-of-life counseling. Long waits, for less care, fewer doctors and fewer choices isn't something Nancy Pelosi and President want you to know about. And we haven't even mentioned the trillions of dollars this will cost, or the 500 billion in cuts to the Medicare system.

Therefore, when congressional Democrats come home to angry constituents, it's not astro-turf, it is as real as it gets. The government screwed up the housing market by requiring lenders to give mortgages to folks who had no business owning homes, subsequently, our home prices plummeted, our home equity disappeared or we lost our homes to foreclosure. We are still reeling from that government induced calamity. If the government screws up our health care, I don't even want to think of the consequences.