Ann Barnhardt - Rock Star!!!

Okay y'all - if you haven't run across this lady and her blog yet, do yourself a favor and check it out. (Hat tip to Scott - thank you sir!)

http://barnhardt.biz/

She has a great video on there right now where she takes Lindsey Graham to task for some assinine comments he made Sunday morning.

Ann goes on to take on Islam head on.   I know some politicians *say* they will confront something "head on" but not like this.   She states in one post "Frankly, I'm terribly disappointed that not a SINGLE musloid here in the United States has made ANY attempt to rape and behead me." and in one of her videos she shows that the bookmarks in her copy of the Koran are strips of raw bacon.    Ann Barnhardt doesn't pull her punches when she gets to Mitt Romney ( "Romney is about as much of a conservative as Barbara Streisand. Romney is prettier." ), Obamacare, (and the other myriad atrocities of this administration), Global Warming, etc.

If you have any doubts where she stands on the 2nd Amendment, she has posted some cool pictures of her pink AR and a hotlink to her duracoat guy in Wisconsin.

Finally!   Something that is politically sound, well thought out and not politically correct - if you need to find me at lunch I'll be reading http://barnhardt.biz/

Freedom's Fight

A few posts ago, Northwest Minuteman pointed me to the blog Freedom's Fight

Freedom's Fight is a regularly updated, thoughtful blog and reading it has been a joy. You should *really* go over and check out Freedom's Fight. I've added them to my "Found on the Blogosphere" section.

Please feel free to comment with links to other good blogs. Because of past "flaming" I now moderate comments so it may take a few hours before your comment shows up.

"We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." Benjamin Franklin in the Continental Congress just before signingthe Declaration of Independence, 1776.

Weekend Review

Okay I've had a couple tough weeks at work and today was no better. (btw Boss, if you're reading this, then that comment about work was just "dramatic license")

Also profound loss has recently been a significant part of the lives of those closest to me. It's not easy to watch those that you love the most suffering. Unfortunately this is part of our lot in life. But I won't get too morose. Between all the intense emotions (not just the suffering) that I've been close to during this month, I have found myself unable to muster a good political rant.

On more than one occasion this month I have started a blog entry and found myself so distracted by life that I couldn't even put a paragraph together.

I'm sure I've got something in the email box that is sufficiently "rant-worthy". More later.

Hectic Day - But I asked for it

[Sunday] This day has been hectic (starting entry at 1:00pm - i'll finish it later tonight - maybe) but it beats having to get up WAY BEFORE the chickens to catch an airplane that leaves at 5:30am tomorrow morning. I complained enough ( you know - in a "nice" and "professional" way :-) last time I traveled that this time they gave me the option of flying out the night before.


One problem - our local international airport only has 3 flights a day to Houston. These would be: 5:30am, 11am & 6:40pm.


[Monday] Wow! It was so nice to be able to take my time coming in to the hotel last night. No panicky, rushed feeling "I'mgonnabelate, I'mgonnabelate".


Last night I took a leisurely, unintentional scenic turn on the way in, then I stopped at a little out-of-the-way eatery for dinner. (that would be a euphemistic way to say "i got lost". poetic, doncha think?)


Anyway, today [Monday] I had a good day of meetings, I have felt rested all day and I think that I'll retain more than I would have if I'd caught a 5:30 am flight this morning. Right now it's 10:30pm and I'm about to turn in - just have to get to my room. (We're staying in a big name hotel but there is no wireless access outside of the lobby so here I am, but that's a rant for another day)

Time Traveling and Day of the Dead

Okay, I know, I'm like way behind schedule posting. My problem has been that I'll start a post and not be able to finish it (normally because I find something interesting on Wikipedia or Yahoo! News) so this is what I'm going to do.

With this version of "time traveling" (strictly forward and linear - shucks) I'm just taking advantage of the fact that I started a post several days ago. I'll go ahead and finish the blog entries that I started and post them ASAP and hopefully I'll get caught up to the present! Right now it's November 12 but I'll finish this post for November 1 - Dia de los Muertos.

Day of the Dead...keeping the tradition alive

From Articulos en Yahoo!

Toys are brought to the cemeteries as offerings to deceased children and Tequila, Mescal and Pulque, traditional Mexican liquors, are common offerings left on the graves of adults.

My wife (born and raised in Mexico) finds it humorous when people are surprised that the offerings are gone the next morning. She told a group of our friends that all you have to do is hide and watch. A short while after dark you will see vagrants eating the food, drinking the liquor and taking the toys.

Some have said that it is very important to keep these traditions alive as part of Hispanic culture. I know this is not the most "PC" thing to say but personally, I find Dia de los Muertos creepy. I guess it is realistic in it's fatalism but it's still creepy.

Okay. Here it is. The long-awaited "Blog Action Day" post.

1) Plant a tree.

2) Give yourself a hug.

Don't you feel better?

Blog Action Day (BAD) Reminder

Today I received an email from "The Blog Action Day Team" (BAD Team) Now Blog Action Day (BAD) is up to "over 7,500 bloggers!" so i guess it really is officially a "movement".

The email contains a link to another Blog Action Day (BAD) video and a "What Type of Blogger Are You? " quiz.

Here is my badge for taking the quiz




It says I'm a "Purist" b/c I have no ads (i'm in this for the sheer joy, not the money) an "Expert" b/c I've been doing this over a year and I'm involved in more than one blog and "Undiscovered" because I don't have 1000's of readers.

This is so par for the course. The fact that it's only a "quiz" (not a test) let's you know this is gonna be pretty unscientific but the fact that the answers are given as extremes is exactly what one would expect from alarmist environmentalists who would rather "have a movement" than pay attention to the facts.

A few facts:

On at least two occassions (one known as the Medieval Warm Period and one as the Holocene Thermal Maximum ) the planet has been significantly warmer than it is now. And you know what? The polar bears did just fine. (they're still here, aren't they)

Oh well, if you're still having trouble sleeping because of your imagined "environmental guilt" then go buy yourself some Carbon credits.

(um, if buying Carbon credits actually helps you sleep better then maybe you need some professional help :-)

All I got was a lousy PG?

When I told the "Rating Widget" to rate my blog it gave me a PG and said that it was based on the appearance of the following words:

gun (7 times)

kill (1 time)

Well obviously I'm not talking enough about the SECOND AMENDMENT. Yes, sweetheart, the first amendment gives you the right to call the President a fathead (or whatever). But (while you are harping about your favorite section of the Bill of Rights) don't forget that it's the Second Amendment that guarantees that you can keep the other nine amendments.

Stuff I forgot

It has occurred to me that I neglected to mention (in my September 3 list of all the "online" stuff that I do) that I also "maintain" a website for my parents (although it's not updated as often as it should be) and I am on the "Website Committee" of my state professional organization. I know what you're gonna say but we are working on it.

And right now I need to quit "blogging" and finish the presentation for tomorrow's church service.

I must quickly mention that we were invited to the home of some really good friends to help them celebrate a birthday and I believe I met a new friend or two. We had a great time hanging out with our friends and talking.

Life is good.

Why I don't "myspace"

Who has time to "myspace"? According to wikipedia, as of September 8, 2006 (yeah, almost a year ago) there were 106 million MySpace accounts. As I heard it stated the other day, if MySpace was a country, it would have been the 11th largest country on the planet. At the rate MySpace was growing then, it would have somewhere between 75 - 85 million more accounts by now. So one could say "How could almost 200 million people be wrong?"

Well, I'm not saying that they're "wrong". But I am saying that I have too much electronic "stuff" in my life already.

email
GoodReads
Blogger
UltraCorps - electronic RPG
Wikipedia
Google Earth
MapQuest
YouTube
eBay
NewsMax
(seems like I'm forgetting something)

Offline I have church committees and that annoying but necessary activity know as "Work"

Yup, my plate is full - sorry MySpace.

Old Friends

This morning we postponed leaving on vacation so that we could go have coffee with some old friends. They're not old - they're younger than my wife and I, but we've known them for seven or eight years.

We had a really nice visit but I can't tell you their names or where they live or even show a screenshot from Google City Lights of their "neighborhood" at night.

Why all the "cloak and dagger", you ask? Let me put it to you this way - we were talking about blogging and net stuff and when I mentioned the name of my blog the man said "It'll probably be blocked". Even though I sometimes find the ACLU (and their ilk) annoying, THANK GOD for differences of opinion and freedom of speech in the USA! And for the 2nd Amendment - that's the one that protects all the rest.

They say "You don't know what you've got until it's gone" - I sincerely hope that this (very comfortable) next generation learns the value of their freedoms before it's too late.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Two reasons for this particular post:

1)A couple different times I've had one friend or another ask me something to the effect of "Do you have to be so political?" or they've just come right out and said "You're too political." But it has been my experience that once people understand why I feel the way I do, then, oftentimes they no longer see me as being "too political". (This doesn't work 100% of the time but most people get it)

2) Several people close to me either are in the long process of legal immigration / naturalization or they have already come through the arduous process of legal immigration /naturalization to the USA. Interestingly enough, my acquaintances who are legal first generation immigrants rarely question my political zeal. Go figure.

So to remind myself (and for the benefit of my friends who may not understand) how our system of government is supposed to work here in the US of A, and why our system of government works so well (even though it doesn't look like it sometimes), I will be presenting a series of posts on the Constitution, traditions and some of the reasons behind our patriotic ideals.

Happy (early) Fourth of July!!

Happy Birthday NRA

It's not really a "birthday" for the NRA but, according to my blogspot control panel, this is my 150th post. I wanted to pick something special for this "milestone" post (i'm so self important :-) so I chose one of the most outspoken defenders of the 2nd Amendment, and by extension, one of the most ardent defenders of the Constitution, the National Rifle Association.

The National Rifle Association has quite a presence on the internet. There is the main site here, and the not-so-flashy "home" page here. And many sites that I won't take the time to list here. Anyway, I'm making today official "Kudos to the NRA day".

Many people know that Charleton Heston (star of stage, screen and television - think Moses) was a member of the NRA but a lot of folks don't realize that, if you're a member of the NRA, this also puts in the same organization as J.C. Watts (former football star and Congressman), Tom Clancy (famous author), Charlie Daniels (of the Charlie Daniels Band), Karl Malone (basketball star), Tom Selleck (another movie and TV star - you should see Quigley Down Under), and me, among others luminaries.


Have a Happy Politically Incorrect Day ! (i wonder how much a pistol shaped cake costs?...)

Burger Fink

For quite some time my wife has been telling me that she wants a laptop. Now don't get me wrong, she's not a "gimme, gimme girl" - she hardly asks for anything. And I know that a laptop is something that she really can use to help her prepare and organize things for her job and her volunteer activities. A while back I bought her a nice desktop from a friend at a "going out of business" sale. Its a nice machine, but not very portable. So we had decided that Tuesday she would go get a laptop computer.

This morning, we took the new laptop to a local burger joint with a Wi-Fi hotspot. (You see, there's this old line from the Wizard of Id comic strip "The King is a fink!"; and most everybody in my family has sort of a warped sense of humor so, for many years, "Burger Fink" has been sort of a running joke in my family.)

After a quick call to my IT guy, we were able to get the necessary download [did I mention that i HATE Windows Vista?] and now we're back in the land of wireless 'net and I can get my goodreads fix from home again.

koloradokid on xanga

Thanks Manda, this guy is TOO COOL! Ya'll have to check out his entry on May 1. The pic at the top is great but go down about two-thirds of the way on the page and read the entry (still on May 1) entitled "This about sums it up".

Worth the time to read

i've been doing more blog reading than blog posting lately and during today's late lunch i want to share a blog with you that never disappoints.

Not Ready For My Burqua

enjoy

Lost in Translation

Today was a really great day with an awesome Sunday School class (could i clone myself so i can attend both the classes i want to?), great worship and super messages. My friend Johnny spoke this evening on Post-Modernism. [i can read your thoughts] - well, you see that was the whole point - if we are going to effect our culture we have to understand our culture.

The District Assembly was way cool - Dr Rick Rigsby was one of our speakers - he rocked the house. [Awesome] so naturally i bought his book (signed, thank you very much :-) i ate too much chocolate (if such a thing is possible), rested well (and much) and didn't check my email from Tuesday afternoon until just a couple hours ago.

Okay, the "translation" bit. At the assembly i saw some old friends and met some new ones. Wednesday night, several of us were seated around a table and the couple to my left were valiantly trying to have a conversation with another couple at the table but the first couple speak only Spanish and the second couple speak only English. Long story short - the background noise (the dinner conversations of several hundred people), our table's proximity to a large speaker (belting out Bavarian folk tunes - not a joke) and our juxtaposition at the table all made it quite "interesting" for me trying to translate for the two couples. Hopefully, not too much was "lost in translation".

Now, after taking three days off from work i can hardly wait to see what Monday brings (and i *know* some of the machinery at work is on the fritz (and i was having so much fun in Austin that i forgot to go to Red's Guns ;-)

Coming back from the assembly, we stopped for gas (and the obligatory potty call) and one of my friends said "Hey, i heard some people talking the other day... - what is a 'blog'?". i just told him that i would have to come over to his office one day and show him. Sometimes i feel like a (very inadequate) translator between generations...

You know, this month i had every intention of blogging at least two or three times a week. Well that didn't quite go as planned. And May doesn't look any better.

Almost a Year Bloggin'

My first "official blog post" was last year on April 22.

somehow i have this feeling that if i don't mention it now i won't remember it until sometime in late June or something.

This the internet toy that i've been playing with lately. Click here to see the Internet Archive and Wayback Machine. Today i watched "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" - i guess it was scary for a 2 inch by 2 inch, black and white, silent movie. (But it was free :-)