A Touch of the Bizarre

January 31, 2005

On the radio this morning there was a story about a man arrested for “tampering with evidence”. The story was one of those “breaking news” stories with very limited information. Apparently, or maybe the word allegedly, the suspect in the case cut a pace maker medical device from his dead mother claiming that it had caused her great pain while she was alive. I’m not making this up folks. I’m sure that this will make the weird and wacky sections of the news later on.

Its amazing what you can find when you
go looking for a story at "The Land Fill"

Follow the link for a little Sci-Fi fun.

Henry's GTO

Follow the link to read about "Henry's GTO"

The Organ Donor Program

Follow the link to read, "The Organ Donor Program". It's Sunday; relax, kick back and take it easy for a few minutes. Not everything has to be a serious blog.

Forced to Pay for Illegal Alien Benefits

I got to hear about Arizona Proposition 200 today, haven't heard about it via the regular media, ABC, CBS, NBC, or CNN. I heard about it on a talk radio show while I was on my way to a job. I had to wait to do my research until I got home. Here is what I found in a short amount of time. This should make your blood boil a little more.

“The initiative requires state and local employees to verify the immigration status of people applying for public benefits and report undocumented immigrants or face possible criminal prosecution.Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard issued an opinion that narrowly defined "public benefits" to mean welfare. For example, the Arizona Department of Economic Security administers five programs that are affected by Proposition 200, state officials said. They include General Assistance, Sight Conservation, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Utility Repair, Replacement and Deposit and the Supplemental Payment Program.”, quoting directly from an article written by Susan Carroll and Yvonne Wingett in the The Arizona Republic.

“Attorneys for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the legal advocacy group that sued to stop the government from enforcing the initiative, plan to appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco today or Monday. But state officials vowed that the law will go into effect and said workers will be equipped to deal with the new reporting requirements.”

After visiting MALDEF’s website I found that they were instrumental in helping to keep California on its way to bankruptcy. “One of MALDEF's greatest successes was the final settlement reached in the case Gregorio T. v. Wilson. Under the settlement, Governor Gray Davis and the state of California officially agreed to dismiss their appeal of the district court's decision, striking down virtually every section of California's Proposition 187, which, when implemented, would have denied education, health care and social services to the state's undocumented immigrants. MALDEF is pleased in this victory of basic human and civil rights.”


Proposition 187 was subsequently enjoined from enforcement on November 27, 1995, by Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer of the Federal District Court of California. A second 1997 ruling by Judge Pfaelzer also voided Proposition 187, this time on the basis of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (the Welfare Reform Act of 1996), which overhauled federal welfare benefits, denying them to illegal immigrants. Can you say, “Activist Judges will destroy America long before any terrorist organization will.”?

The case was appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and and was expected eventually to reach the Supreme Court, which was expected to follow Plyler v. Dow, a 1982 case which ruled that illegal immigrants were entitled to state-funded education and other social services. Repeat once more, “Activist Judges will destroy America long before any terrorist organization will.”

If you live in Arizona I would not file the victory away as a permanent one; the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over Arizona too.

I have to ask the logical question, “Why isn’t there some kind of National Proposition 200 or a National Proposition 187 effort in Washington D.C.? I have no issue with the mission statement, “MALDEF is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to protect and promote the civil rights of the more than 40 million Latinos living in the United States.”; except, and this is a major exception, they have perverted the mission to include Illegal Aliens as if they had the same rights as legal citizens. This is not an anti-Hispanic issue at all; it has to do with “legal and illegal”. They would have us to believe that forced values of the Socialist Left are exactly the same as those voted upon by legal citizen’s voter rights. Nyet and Nada to that amigos, or as Vice President Dick Chaney once said, “Go…” From a purely selfish standpoint, I’d like to see a face to face confrontation between MALDEF and the Vice President to help warm up relations with our southern friends.

The Purpose of Government

( Originally written October 25, 2003, which means I need to go visit my folks very soon. A telephone call and a letter are not as good as sitting down to dinner with them. I had a lot of fun with the "links"; that is, all except for the link to the 911 attack which brought tears to my eyes.)

I get a kick out of talking with my sister, especially when it involves government and our mutual distrust of such a powerful entity. I was never a very good student, history and government classes would bore me to tears back when I was in high school.
It wasn’t until I started to understand my role as a citizen, my responsibility to become aquatinted with the purpose of government, that I made it a point to read up on our great country.

I’ve read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights along with some of inaugural speeches. I immersed myself in the writings of Thomas Jefferson, his essays and letters to friends regarding various topics relating to the formation of the basic thoughts, those thoughts that are a part of the originating documents. George Washington’s Farewell Address, where he summoned up his innermost feelings for this great country, should be required reading. I’ve read the Federalist Papers, the writings arguing for or against various institutions that are government.

It is my belief that there are only a few justifiable reasons for having government; the most important being to defend this country from those who would injure, hamper or otherwise destroy it, and then only from those outside the borders of this country. The founding documents clearly convey the message that the citizens may alter or destroy the government, in an orderly manner, by use of their electoral power to change the fabric of law even unto the most basic constitutional issues. If you don’t believe this, take a look at what “activist judges” have been doing for the past forty or fifty years. If we do not hold these folks accountable for their actions and decisions they will have destroyed our country. If we do not constantly compare our present crumbling foundation against a more perfect past we will have lost our bearings and the standards by which to gauge our successes or failures; key word is “foundation”.

This brings me to the past weekend. I went to visit my folks living in Florida; taking advantage of a last minute airfare deal and was able to save quite a tidy sum. I made sure to arrive at Houston’s IAH airport a good hour and a half ahead of my scheduled flight in order to pass through the necessary security.. The cowardly act of terrorism inflicted upon our soil on 9-11-2001 brought into focus the fact that the United States of America is vulnerable to attack. I am grateful to our elected and appointed officials for taking steps intended to prevent, or at least deter any similar attacks.

The security agents looked over my photo identification and made sure that it matched my boarding pass, the screeners made sure that I didn’t set off the metal detector and used some fancy technology to peer inside my carry on luggage. I would have to say that their efforts would catch most dangerous items or cause a person intent on doing harm to recalculate their evil efforts.

My experience on the way back at Palm Beach International airport is the reason for my concern. After having gone through the same basic screening as I mentioned above, there were secondary invasions. I call them invasions because they went beyond any possible security screening; these were invasions of privacy and dignity. I watched as rubber gloved Gestapo trained guards removed individuals from their seats; individuals who had already “passed” the previously mentioned screening measures. There was no particular reason for these extra searches, what we call probable cause here in the United States of America. These traveler’s names had come off a randomly printed list. They were searched with a fine tooth comb of electronic gadgets while their personal belongings where taken out of purse, wallet and overnight bag one item at a time. This was all done in plain view of any and all who might want to observe. I watched as one passenger’s undergarments were picked from his luggage, held into the light where they might find a hidden hand grenade or machine gun. The indignity of it might have been excusable had there been probable cause to believe that that individual’s actions or recoverable intelligence history indicated a threat; however, no such information or action was the basis of these searches. The security personnel smiled and carried on conversations much like a barber with a new customer passing the time in idle chit-chat.

When I was working in the jail as a police officer in the early 70’s I met a NASA physicist . He’d been arrested for disorderly conduct. ( He’d taken his son to put him on a Greyhound back to college. The bus had been overbooked and so they tossed his son off. He lost his cool and one thing led to another…) Anyway, I noticed him right away, sitting in the drunk tank, the proverbial square peg in a round hole. I started a conversation with him after looking at the booking slip showed NASA as place of employment.

He explained that his job had to do with those cameras, the ones that could take a picture of the football’s laces from 25 miles up. I mentioned that the Academy of Sciences had been sending me a monthly publication full of interesting scientific articles; a courtesy membership given to me by my grandfather. The NASA fellow assumed, wrongly, that I understood the math as he rattled off formulas for achieving orbit, compensating projectile mass with fuel consumption with its own added weight and on and on. I had to explain that I was not good at math. He paused and then pointed to a wino lying on the floor.

“That fellow weights, oh, about a hundred sixty five, sixty six pounds. If we were to place him in a payload for orbit it would take…”, figuring the added fuel as he looked at the chalkboard floating in his head. He had spoken loud enough that the wino’s ears had picked up on our conversation. The wino began to ease away, sliding backwards to a corner of the holding cell. “You aint putting me in no space ship!”

I think I’ll read some George Orwell and relax, then watch that movie, “Enemy of the State”, before drifting off to sleep. I sure hope that’s a weather satellite passing over just now. Go Big Brother; save us from ourselves.

The Race Trump Card

“I gotta go find me a turnip truck!”, I’m trying to sound like John Kerry gittin a huntin license. If I found me a turnip truck to git on I could then fall off that truck and hit somethin and wake up to smell the roses. Okay, I’ve pushed ignorance to its limit.

The Democrats have been using the Black people of this country for so many years, call them Afro-American if it makes you feel any better. In either case these Black Americans, for that matter, all Americans should have had their fill of being used by now. I don’t have the statistical data in front of me; however, it is safe to say that the Democratic Party relies on the fact that a huge majority of Black Americans tend to vote for Democrats. I did not say that these Black Americans support the Democratic Party, only that they tended to vote that way.

I am at a loss as to why anyone would vote to elect people who clearly do not have their best interests at heart. To put it bluntly, liars are going to lie. The Democratic Party has nothing in common with America or its ideals. I have mentioned this in other articles; the Democratic Party of today has almost nothing in common with the Democratic Party that John F. Kennedy was affiliated with.

This might turn a few heads; but John F. Kennedy had more in common with Ronald Reagan than any of today’s so called Democrats. Just look at the message JFK was putting out, “Ask not what your country can do for you; but what you can do for your country.” It’s one of the last times you will find that stance taken by any Democrat. The prevailing wind has a most definite Socialist odor to it. What’s the matter, can’t find any ripe tomatoes? You bunch of sissy men!

They have to resort to obstructionist tactics to prevent honorable people from being placed into positions of trust. As John Kerry laughably stated, “There isn't anybody in the United States of America who doesn't admire Dr. Rice for the journey she's made, for what she represents. And is she qualified for the job? Absolutely, of course she is, absolutely qualified. The president has a right to make a choice. But our votes also have to count for something.” The hypocricy of the Democratic Party’s stated claim to support Blacks and Women followed by their actions should be clear to anyone. Why is it that skin color should make any difference at this stage of our nation’s history; because hypocrisy demands it.

Heaven forbid the use of the word ignorant and Black in the same sentence; its politically incorrect, maybe even a felony in Blue States. When are you going to wake up and vote these liars out so that you, as an individual American citizen will gain those freedoms, the ones that come from Heaven, not from any government agency, when are you going to realize these freedoms in actuality? Since I am not planning to run for office, local or national, and I do love tomatoes; thrown or grown, it won’t matter that much how I polarize a segment of the community too ignorant to think for themselves. I’m a White Anglo-Saxon American with mostly European heritage; to hell with that, I’m an American with pale skin that burns in the summer. I have neighbors with varying shades of skin, some much lighter and some much darker. It should make us all stand up and take notice that the Race Trump Card is still being employed by any party, Republican, Democrat, or any other party to divide and cause such dissention among Americans.

To those with a knowledge of the scriptures, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

Hillary Clinton - Can we serve two masters?

Can we serve two masters? “If we try, we may be sure of one thing—that our master will not be the Christ, for He will not accept us on those terms.”, quoting from a General Conference talk given by Mark E. Petersen, “We Believe in Being Honest,” Ensign, May 1982. I ask again, can we serve two masters; as I have been reading all about the recent remarks made by Senator Hillary Clinton regarding abortion rights and tolerance towards people of faith. I went back and pulled up Elder Peterson’s talk and pulled out some of the meat. Please take the time to link to the 2nd talk listed by this particular "windowed" URL and then ponder the fact that things which are true are constants while things which tend to change from moment to moment tend to expose something else.

“What do you think of present-day people who masquerade in the robes of hypocrisy and use deception and misrepresentation to gain advantage over others, sometimes robbing them of all they have?

What do you think of those whose word is not the word of honor, and who think nothing of cheating at the first opportunity?

Do we understand the gravity of the sin of dishonesty? It is not only unchristian, it is anti-Christian—it is anti-Mormon—it is anti-Christ!

Whether it be lying, or cheating, or robbery or deception; whether it is in the home, in business, in sports, or in the classroom; dishonesty is completely foreign to the teachings of Jesus.

If we do not recognize this, we are blind indeed.”

Turning to a more current article from the Washington Times, I read,

“Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is staking out centrist positions on values issues that helped decide last year's presidential election, positioning herself to the right of her party's base on abortion, faith-based initiatives and immigration.

In the past few weeks, the New York Democrat has embraced the role of religion in addressing social ills, decried abortion as "sad, even tragic" and complained about the influx of illegal aliens — all stances that run counter to liberal party leaders, but which are popular among voters.”

"Yes, we do have deeply held differences of opinion about the issue of abortion, and I, for one, respect ( oh, really?) those who believe with all their hearts and minds that there are no circumstances under which any abortion should ever be available," the former first lady said.”, quoting from the article, “Hillary in the middle on values issues”, by Joseph Curl of the Washington Times.
“But Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said voters are "smart enough to be able to look at people's records. I mean, they did with John Kerry.", as the last line of the article wisely pointed out.

Who Were These Men?

Yesterday I wrote a blog, So Help Us God, regarding the omission of that line from the WWII memorial in Washington D. C. Interestingly, today I found an article on Fox's Web site; a favorite site for all of us Hitler Loving Conservatives, aimed at the same basic thought. I had already gone back and linked the title bar to that story when I felt my own anger rise once more. Here is part two...

Who Were These Men?

I watched a movie about a down and out lawyer, “The Verdict”. It has a quality to it, something that transcends the time period in which it was made. There is no doubt that Paul Newman performed to the best of his ability, ever; but that is not why I am writing today.

There was a small part played by Lindsey Crouse, in the role of Kaitlin Costello Price, a former nurse who was a star witness against some doctors. These doctors actions had destroyed a life through their neglect along with the career of Kaitlin Costello Price. The key evidence was a standard admittance form which showed that the doctor in charge of administering the anesthesia had not bothered to check if the patient had eaten within the prescribed time period to permit such medication. After everything had gone wrong and because of this error, the doctor had forced the nurse to alter the original form. They had to change history to make it look like the doctors had performed within the acceptable framework established. The nurse knew that such action was wrong and had taken steps to protect herself by making a Xerox copy of the original document prior to making the alterations and kept it to herself.

I visualize the image of the angry young nurse as she voiced her frustration that had been held back for many years, “Who were these men…”, railing against a system that would put dishonor above honor and lies above truth, “…Who were these men? I wanted to be a nurse!” ( I hope I paraphrased close enough, not having the script in front of me. )

Fast forward to reality; “Who were these men…I wanted to have my children grow up where the history of our nation was properly and faithfully recorded…Who were these men who took away precious truths, any and all reference to our Creator, to God to anything that might sound like religion? Who were these men…?”

They are robbing us of our heritage, and in doing so, stealing our future. Our currency has “In God We Trust” or at least it does for now. Most of the buildings in Washington D.C. have references to God, the Bible and even angels emblazoned in their stone foundations. Our children’s textbooks; the keepers of knowledge, the link from one generation to the next are being altered to meet some tapioca pudding version of muddled points. Each successive generation has access to fewer important facts and explanations, lost information regarding religious freedom, oppression from government towards those who have faith in God, historically significant reference to the fact that God is the source of human rights which flies in the face of the current indoctrination that government supplies these rights. I used the word lost improperly; these facts and explanations are being thrown away intentionally; after all, there can be no competition in the arena of government issued rights. The “state” takes the place of God in any communist run country and that is the goal of these men who have to change history to make it look like they are right.

So Help Us God

I got an email from an old friend of my father, I call him Uncle Jim. It was about a trip that was made to see the WWII monument that was recently dedicated in Washington D.C. The email was written from the perspective of a younger person, someone who was of the Baby Boomer generation who had not been present during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous “Infamy Speech”. He was enjoying the inscriptions that had been carved into the monument, allegedly the entire context of that speech, when he overheard an older woman exclaim that she had noticed a very important omission in the words from that speech.

“She was suddenly angry. "Wait a minute, she said, They left out the end of the quote."They left out the most important part. Roosevelt said "so help us God." "You're probably right," her husband said. "We're not supposed to say things like that now."

"I know I'm right," she insisted. "I remember the speech." The two shook their heads sadly and walked away.

Listening to their conversation, I thought to myself, "Well, it has been 50 years. She's probably forgotten.", quoting directly from the email message.

Rather than take the information as gospel, I decided to research the famous speech. I went to The University of Oklahoma Law Center web site and read the entire speech and sure enough, parts of the original speech had been omitted from the memorial.

” With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.”

Another interesting point; I also had checked out a site, “History Matters” and found that they had their own “cliff notes” version of the speech, which purportedly was a transcript of the very same speech, but never mentioned the weightier parts of that speech at all.

It would seem that History can only be entrusted to those who care enough to include God; those who would have it their way are changing it at every opportunity. I would hope that such changes, when noticed, will shoot up yet another red flag to those who care about such things, “so help us God”!

How to Beat a Traffic Ticket

I was going to save this story for later on, that is until I went to see my chiropractor this morning. I got a good look at my x-ray's, the ones taken yesterday. Since this is a new chiropractor for me I was going through the "getting to know you" stage. "You have a very interesting x-ray", as she pointed out that my heart is not left of center as with most folks. I thought to myself, "that explains my conservative leanings". We got to talking about traffic tickets, that I was a retired police officer and I promised that I would post this for story for her staff.

How to Beat a Traffic Ticket

Making the transition from the Police Academy to actually working as a line officer required additional training. I was fortunate to have been given the opportunity to ride with several veteran officers while learning the streets. One of those officers gave me advice about writing traffic tickets that stuck with me. He said, “After you have the violator pulled over; look at the driver’s license. If it’s their birthday; cut ‘em loose and wish them a happy birthday while asking them to be more careful.” Then he added the second part, “… or if they give you an excuse, regardless of how much you believe it; if the excuse is different than any other you’ve heard, cut them loose too.” In the overall scheme of things it made sense. It was downright awe inspiring and kept traffic violations in their proper perspective.
After a few years of stopping folks for running red lights, expired license plates and illegal turns I had heard most of the excuses. “Officer I had to go to the bathroom really bad”, or, “I’m late for traffic court” had been used too often. Every now and again I would hear one that touched on golden, “I just washed my car and was going fast to help dry it off”. That worked the first time; unfortunately the same fellow enjoyed washing his car and drying it on a regular basis.
I thought about all the varied reasons I’d heard and had to come up with a “Grand Prize Winner” of all excuses; the very best weighed out over my twenty years of service. The trophy would have to be awarded to a garbage truck driver. I’d stopped him for running a red light at the intersection of Westheimer, eastbound where it crossed Commonwealth. It was in the middle of our Houston summer and it must have been well up into the 90’s. When I say he ran the red light, he ran it by a good margin, six or seven truck lengths. His luck meter must have been set close to “divine intervention” that day as his garbage truck cleared without a fatal accident. I pulled him over a block or so down the road and could see that he was sweating profusely. His dark brown skin made the beads of sweat look more like motor oil as they ran down his face. I approached the cab and kept an eye on his movement; his bending suggested his reaching for his wallet, his own eyes in contact with mine.
“I sure am sorry about that, Officer.”, he blurted out as he handed me his license. I glanced over his license and took out my ticket book. “Could you write fast, Officer? I’m on an emergency run.” The words came out as naturally as a child asking his father for ice cream.
“Hey, I didn’t know. Be more careful.” I handed his license back and motioned for him to proceed down the road, all the while trying to keep a straight face. I was walking back to my unit when the clincher remark hit my ears.
One of his co-workers in the front seat next to him exclaimed in disbelief, “Can you believe; he bought that sh…!” I could contain myself no longer as I let out a huge belly laugh and waved back at the two, still watching me in their side mirror.
I suppose I’ve ruined yet another great excuse for the next garbage truck driver who finds himself pulled over for having run a red light. “Try to be more careful and have a good day.”

Roll Call Inspection

The following story is dedicated to Senator Boxer and Condoleezza Rice as the confirmation hearings take on the appearance of a hockey game. Just in case, the point of this story is, "Lighten up", its only a game.

Roll Call Inspection

Night shift for the police department was more relaxed than any other shift. That included mandatory inspections, a formality that was nearly non-existent on nights. I can remember officers borrowing hats or nightsticks from officers getting off of evening shift out in the hall just so they’d have the proper equipment for a few minutes. At least it was that way until Sgt. Kennedy transferred in.
Sgt. Kennedy came to us from the other side of the city where it was even more relaxed. His hair was much longer than Department guidelines would allow, even for night shift. It might not have been an issue except that we’d also gotten a new shift commander, Lt. Crawford, who was in every way a product of the “spit and polish” generation.
I was sitting in my regular seat, the center of the back row, while Sgt. Kennedy was reading the nightly bulletins from the podium. Lt. Crawford sauntered into the room and placed himself directly behind Sgt. Kennedy. After all the bulletins had been read and signed Lt. Crawford announced that he’d noticed how SOME officers had strayed from Departmental guidelines in grooming habits and there would be a formal inspection in two days. Lt. Crawford made his announcement, all the while looking at the back of Sgt. Kennedy’s head; not specifically mentioning anyone by name and yet making his point quite clear. It made for a rather awkward moment that would have to be addressed.
My personal grooming habits had not changed much from the days when I was in the academy. I considered my overall appearance satisfactory; possibly exemplary. While preparing the night of the intended inspection I took a good look in the mirror after putting on my uniform. I thought a little mustache wax might add to the general effect. I looked around but could not find any. I rummaged through a drawer and could only find some Halloween make up that had been saved in a zip lock baggie. There was a container of black mustache “enhancement” base that I concluded would have to suffice. I stroked it liberally into my mustache. I noticed immediately that the black contrasted with my own natural brown pigment; however, it would not wash out and tended to smear rather than come off. Time was running short and rather than panic I decided to have some fun. I was two weeks from retirement, a little mischief might be just the ticket. I dipped the brush into the enhancement base and formed an exquisite “Jerry Colona” style handlebar mustache; painting areas of my face that had never had hair with the thick medium.
“Dad, you’re not going to work with that, are you?”, my son asked as he got a good look..
I made it a point to enter the station via the back door, not wishing any supervisors to see me, at least not until inspection time. If I was going to have some fun, let it run its full course. I motioned for the desk officer to hold his tongue as he gasped.
I found my regular seat as my fellow officers entered the roll call room. I made sure that they would play along. The K-9 unit officer next to me was busy removing dog hair from his trousers until he happened to get a look at my “creation”.
“Hey man, I got nothing to worry about now!”, he blurted out and left the matted dog hair on the other half of his trousers. At ten o’clock Sgt. Kennedy walked in, sporting his new haircut, well within policy. He never looked at anyone while going over the bulletins. He then began assigning each officer to his respective beat, whereupon he had to look at each officer for acknowledgement. “Stern, Five Frank Twenty Six.”, he glanced in my direction reflexively since I normally sat in the same place.
“Oh, shi…..”, was all he could say. He quickly looked down at his clip board; praying that something there would help him. Lt. Crawford had been sitting in the very last chair on the back row, waiting to have formal inspection. Several officers had blocked his line of sight from me; at least until that moment. Lt. Crawford, sensing something amiss, leaned forward and turned in my direction. I was all smiles, silly mustache and all. The entire roll call room exploded in laughter.
“I guess that about takes care of the inspection.”, Lt. Crawford breathed out in a sigh. “Stern, I’d like to see you in my office after roll call.” Sgt. Kennedy swallowed hard as the rumble of laughs settled out. I swallowed to clear my own worries about what I had done, still mildly confident that my two weeks until retirement would count for something.
“Promise me you won’t do this again?”, there was a pleading in Lt. Crawford’s demeanor. He hoped the prank was a one time ordeal.
“You have my word on it, Sir.” It may have been the best thing that could have happened around our station. Lt. Crawford had made his point about following policy without having to be too hard nosed, Sgt. Kennedy was out of the spotlight and able to retain a semblance of dignity and the troops had a good laugh. My only regret; I wish someone had taken a picture.

See, I told you 

How observant are you?
Hidden in this picture is a real Tomato Fairy
Follow the link for the story.

Tomato Garden

Found it!
I'm the formerly skinny guy; 2nd row left side.
1976 Point Control Team Picture

There is a "Country Newspaper" style
short story, "Looking for an Old Photograph",
for this picture, just follow the link
Sometimes dreams really do come true.

Maureen Dowd is a Big Zero

January 22, 5002

I was never good at math, being dyslexic has its draw backs. When I was taking accounting in college I found that I was constantly putting numbers in backwards which made for a difficult time. At least with a wrod processor I can see those errors right away, at least most of the time. I got away from accounting in my junior year and joined the police department to “make the world a safer place”; actually, I look good in blue and the city furnished me some nice shirts and pants. Where is this going?

Maureen Dowd wrote a nasty column where her twisted sense of reality was aimed at Condoleezza Rice. It will never matter how rotten Saddam Hussein’s rule over the country of Iraq was, or that the U.N. resolutions meant nothing, or that thousands of Iraqi citizens were murdered; no, none of this was important to Ms Dowd. Those weapons of mass destruction never existed, at least they were never proven to exist. All we had were the “lies” that George W. Bush used to get us into a war, “lies” that Condoleezza Rice was instrumental in providing. It’s a good thing Ms Dowd is so capable, after all, she backed John Kerry’s bid and we all know how important John Kerry’s word is. I don’t recall reading Ms Dowd’s full expose on John Kerry’s mental lapses; but then again, I may have been in a coma for a year or two.
“If you multiply 1,370 dead soldiers times zero weapons of mass destruction, that equals zero achievement for Rice, who helped the president and vice president bamboozle the country into war.”, is Maureen Dowd’s answer to why liberals have trouble thinking in the real world. Then she goes on and on with some asinine math tutorials to invoke humor; at least that’s what I thought she was after.

“The administration needs a lesson in subtraction. How do we subtract our troops and replace them with Iraqi troops while the terrorists keep subtracting Iraqi troops with car bombs and rocket-propelled grenades?”, well at least she called them terrorists; the use of the term insurgents lends them the credibility that they served their country in some honorable way at one time.

I would hate to think that those were our own soldiers blowing up police stations with car bombs or National Guardsmen dressed up in bed sheets wearing C4 explosives around their chests when they go to dinner so they can murder our own troops. Of course you can never be too sure just how far our President will go to keep us at war; isn’t that what Ms Dowd is saying?

Directing Traffic in Houston circa 1976

Follow the link to read Chapter One
of Pecaw's Gift, a novel that I wrote
many years ago.

Magic Key Blanks

If all I did was blog about politics life would get downright dreary. Today I will share something a little lighter. Some of you may consider this to be "Outer Limists" material; but, I assure you that it is factual.

Magic Key Blanks is what I have called this:

Most folks have been locked out of their car or house at one time or another, its part of being a member of the human race. A momentary distraction and its too late, the door has closed, your keys on the other side. The invention of locks was supposed to keep out the bad guys; funny how that works.
Over the years I’ve come across a variety of interesting approaches to lock outs that cause one to wonder. I showed up to unlock a fairly new Cadillac parked in a lady’s front driveway. I took a few moments to inspect the vehicle; taking special notice of what appeared to be fresh damage to the weather stripping of the passenger side window. I asked how there happened to be long jagged cuts the entire length of the weather stripping. “My neighbor was trying to help me open it. He had a bow saw blade; you know, like a Slim Jim.”, smiling at me as if I thought that had been a great idea too. This same lady called my office and wanted to claim that I had been the one who destroyed her car; turns out her neighbor had also unhooked all the linkage rods in the door; neither the locks nor the door handles functioned at all.
Most of the time its easier using a key; otherwise when you bought your new car, the dealer would issue you a coat hanger and a short piece of wire to hot wire it. This sort of logic baffles many people, especially the large primitive gorilla types who want to throw a brick through the window just to see if they can do it on the first try.
I was taught how to read a key’s profile; similar to reading music; only instead of notes, the information is translated into depth and spacing of cut. Locksmith work, when performed properly is a form of entertainment; similar to a good magician doing close up card tricks, you can watch all the moves and never quite figure out how he did it.
Jim Reed, the locksmith who taught me during my apprenticeship, used to tell the customer that he needed to “talk” to the car to obtain the necessary information prior to cutting the key. He employed his thick East Texas accent and humor just like a magician uses patter to force a smile even from the most frustrated sole. Jim would kneel down next to the car putting his ear against the door lock. He would nod his head, jot down some numbers, nod some more until he had the customer grinning at his silly stunt. Anyone knows that car locks can’t talk; all the same, Jim would then take a key blank and show that it had no cuts on it. He would then place the blank key into a manual key clipper, one designed to originate that particular brand of key; squeeze the handle as he clipped each individual cut along the length of the key until it was finished. Actually, before he ever started to “converse” with the lock, Jim had glanced inside the passenger compartment and studied the profile of the door key long enough to ascertain the exact cuts. The “blow off”, as carnival workers would call it, came when Jim placed the finished key in the lock. Rather than turn the key and open the door, Jim would shake his head and grin, pause and say, “No need in me doing all the work…”, step back a bit and point to the key while he guided the customer’s hand onto it, “…here, you do it.” Invariably there would be some hesitation followed by a gasp of amazement when the key turned in the lock.
I had a chance to use my key reading abilities one afternoon. I parked next to the target vehicle and before I had stepped from my own truck I read the perfectly silhouetted door key hanging from a ring of keys in the ignition switch. It came to me that it was time to use those new “magic keys”, the ones that were made out of some space aged alloy metal that forms itself inside the confines of the lock. I walked to the back of my truck and clipped out a working door key before I greeted the customer. He had not seen me prepare or cut the key, possibly expecting me to use a Slim Jim or some other car opening tool. I explained that I had recently attended the locksmith convention where I had purchased some new and fairly expensive experimental key blanks developed by NASA. I told him that his car would be my very first chance to try them out the “keys that cut themselves”. I pulled a blank key from off the key rack and showed it to him. I palmed the shown key; switched and inserted the finished product key into the lock.
“No way!”, his wide eyed expression was instantaneous.
“It takes a couple of minutes for the chemical reaction to work.” I tapped the face of my watch, placed my index finger close to the edge of the key pretending to notice that it was getting too hot to touch. I then stepped back so that the customer and I were both next to each other watching the magic key do its thing. Two minutes went by and I made sure that the key had “cooled off”; wouldn’t want to burn my fingers. Jim Reed would have been proud as I handed off the actual turning of the key.
“You’re sure its cooled down?”, tentatively reaching and yet stopping short of touching the key. I nodded and assured him that it was ready. As he turned the finished key he blurted, “I hope only qualified locksmiths can purchase these. Just think what a crook could do with something like this!” To this day he could pass a lie detector test; pity the next locksmith who hasn’t stocked his truck with these new space age keys and only has a Slim Jim.

Politically Correct Vs From the Heart

January 20, 2005

One of the best examples to underline the difference between Politically Correct Statements as opposed to From the Heart Outpourings can be found in the Inaugural Prayers that were offered today. I stood listening in my living room as the day’s events were telecast from Washington D.C. I had a gray remembrance of a prayer given at the last inaugural, a pastor from Houston with a fire in his soul as he pleaded with God for our nation and our leaders. I wish that I had a copy of that prayer in my file folders.

Today’s opening prayer was; how should I put it without sounding harsh, let’s just say it was forgettable. It had nothing to offer, nothing that might offend, nothing worth including in its pretense as a prayer. It was Politically Correct.

The closing prayer was refreshingly firm and direct. The pastor from Houston, the same one from 4 years earlier, was quick to point out that the United States of America has no defense without God’s help. He asked God to bless everyone with that understanding and at each opportunity thanked God for our freedoms. Every fiber of my being was charged as he closed his prayer in the Name of Jesus Christ. There will, no doubt, be those with no faith or of other faiths who will claim to be offended by this man’s solid and bold statements of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord of this world. I thank God that there are men who have such strength as to stand before all, friend and foe alike, to proclaim from the top of any hill, the eternal truths which are a part of our foundation as a country.

I am sure that all of the transcripts of today’s events will be available in archive form somewhere on the internet, through the local newspapers or even national magazines next week. I wonder how many editorials will be consumed with this one sticking point.

Transcript of George W. Bush address to the nation:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,144976,00.html

(does not include entire proceedings.)

Disenfranchised Voters Take Heart

I’ve been going over the information coming out of Washington State concerning their hotly contested Governor’s race. After having recounted the ballots for yet a third time, the first two showed the Republican to be the winner, while the third hand count provided a win for the Democrat. It does appear that many of the regular voters had been disenfranchised from the voting process. According to some of the voting irregularities uncovered so far in King County alone; there were only 45 votes cast by persons known to be dead and buried included in the total county wide voting tabulation that far exceeded the available registered voters. I think it terrible that the rest of the known dead and buried voters were kept from casting their important vote. The futility of the Republican contestant should be obvious; anyone with a sense of history knows that the “formally living” always vote a straight Democratic ticket.

John Kerry’s Dream for America

This is on the front page statement for John Kerry’s web site.
“Your involvement counts now more than ever. The Bush administration is advancing a right wing assault on the values and ideals we hold most deeply. Healthy debate and diverse opinion are being eliminated from the State Department and CIA, and the cabinet is being remade to rubber stamp policies that will undermine Social Security, balloon the deficit, avoid real reforms in health care and education, weaken homeland security, and walk away from critical allies around the world.
This is not a time for Democrats to retreat and accommodate extremists on critical principles -- it is a time to stand firm."

Just exactly what is a right wing assault on the values and ideals we hold most deeply? Is this an assault on abortions, the issue of same sex marriage or simply the acknowledgement that the United States of America was founded by principled men who trusted in God? Does the honorable Senator from Massachusetts; pardon me while I put my head into the trash can and wipe, I must state for the record that there are no honorable Senator’s from Massachusetts, does he claim to have found some “values” worthy of supporting for more than a few minutes? This is the same man who claims to have voted to support the funding of the military in Iraq just before he voted against it; all in the same sentence.

John Kerry sounds like an old 8 track recording going over and over the same songs; telling us that Bush will destroy Social Security, keeping the health care system privatized rather than being a government entitlement is a heartless capitalist policy to exclude the less fortunate, home security is nothing but racial profiling intended to keep minorities in their place and pumping up the dead horse of world unity with every breath.

How about an honest definition of the Democratic Party, not the myth; but the true nature behind the name tag? If John Kerry and the rest of his group of like minded folks are so proud of their agenda then why don’t they just come out and call themselves what they really are; the Socialist/Communist Party, or is that one of those politically incorrect tags? These people preach the idea of share and share alike when what they really mean is take from those who have and make sure some of it gets to those who have less; pure socialism.

Instead of calling abortion murder these socially conscious folks call it “a woman’s choice” and those who question such a decision are callous judgmental right wing extremists. Those who tend to have core values and agree with President Bush must be rubber stamps for the administration; how else could they go along with such ridiculous programs? Equality based on race and sex are good shouting points except the Bush administration has well educated Blacks, even a Black woman, oh my, and several Hispanic judges are up for approval. The only reason they are not “seated” is because their names are being held up by Democratic Senators; not because they are not qualified to do the jobs they were picked to do, rather, because these particular minority individuals refuse to fit the mold of a down trodden victim of society. Quoting Senator Kerry at the confirmation hearings for Dr. Rice, “There isn't anybody in the United States of America who doesn't admire Dr. Rice for the journey she's made, for what she represents. And is she qualified for the job? Absolutely, of course she is, absolutely qualified. The president has a right to make a choice. But our votes also have to count for something.” Senator Kerry doesn’t even understand what confirmation hearings are about.

Healthy debates are so important that our children in school are not permitted to hear anything that might run counter to the “theory of evolution”; which is now being taught as the “fact of evolution”. The high courts have seen fit to inflict an interpretation of the Bill of Rights to prohibit religion; specifically Christianity, and ignore the historic documentation that reads exactly in opposition of the facts. Where does it say that there is to be a separation of church and state; it doesn’t, not anywhere. This prevarication has been repeated so many times as to be accepted. This country was established by men who wrote God into our very foundation. How is it that such clarity of thought can be perverted so easily?

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Do you see the words, “separation of church and state” in there? I do see that the High Courts have made it a point to prohibit the “free exercise thereof”. How can this be?

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html

The answer to all of my questions regarding the Democratic Party of today is simple.
There is an agenda which they are following, quite well from the way things are going.
It can be found in a book written by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist Manifesto. It has been said that the Manifesto is the second most published manuscript, coming after the Bible. It is no wonder then, why these folks get so upset at the prospect of any competing ideology being offered in the Public Schools, why there cannot be any prayer in the Public Schools and why it must only be the State to whom we are all indebted.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/keller5.html

The facts be known; President George W. Bush is doing his dead level best to defend the original core values of the United States of America. The assaults to those core values; the ones that should sound warning bells and wave red flags, these are being waged by the Democratic Party, the ACLU and yes, John Kerry and his followers. If John Kerry had his way we would be called, “The United Socialist States of America”.

I Have A Dream - The Challenge

January 16, 2005

While attending my several meetings at church today I was given a challenge by one of the speakers, “If you were to give a talk in these turbulent times, and the subject was, “I Have A Dream”, what would you include in that talk?” That is a fairly straightforward line drawn in the sand. I love a good challenge, it must run in the blood or something.

I took notes and heard some interesting thoughts and they all kept pointing in the same direction; take that challenge and put it to task. A little later in my block of meetings I heard from someone I admire and consider well balanced, “The purpose of a religious discussion is served best when we clearly and courteously present our beliefs”. I have been taught that the spirit of contention has no place in any discussion regarding religious beliefs; something which is in line with what our Savior taught throughout His ministry.

During the Sunday School lesson I also heard that, “One of the keys to faith is knowing the true nature of God”, which is attributed to Joseph Smith Jr., the first Prophet of The Church of Latter Day Saints. Most Christians have been taught that God is all powerful and is everywhere, can dwell in your heart and in general, remains a foggy or nebulous image as far as his physical description goes. We are taught in the Bible that we are created in His image and so somewhere in our mind we attempt to put all this together, without much success, as we attempt to justify and join those ideas. For the Non-Christian I can only point the way to my own set of Scriptures, invite you to read them and evaluate the information that is provided therein. We, all members of the human race, are indeed fortunate that a young boy knelt down in prayer one day and sought answers to many questions he had regarding religions of his day. On that particular day he was given the opportunity to see the Father and the Son, embodied in flesh and bone in their individual bodies. Joseph Smith’s testimony of this meeting is recorded for anyone with a desire to have a better understanding regarding the true nature of God. A complete version of this is available in the Scriptural account as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith – History. http://scriptures.lds.org/js_h/1

When I pray to my Father in Heaven I find it ever so important to understand that I am indeed created in His likeness; having been given valuable information that was gained because of the strength and faith of young Joseph Smith. I am grateful that my Father in Heaven has provided wise council for my benefit through the Scriptures; to include the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, the Doctrine and Covenants and through living Prophets who continue to plead for us on a daily basis. I am humbled by my understanding and my acceptance of knowing that there is a Plan of Salvation large enough to include each and every member of the human race; from the first man, Adam, all the way until all of the Scripture’s promises have been fulfilled. I am thankful that Father has shown compassion on us all by permitting His Only Begotten Son to intercede for us, an atonement for any sin that we relinquish unto Him and repent of, even Jesus Christ, to walk among us; knowing full well the terrible injustice that would befall the Savior of this world at the hands of corrupt men.

When Dr. Martin Luther King shared his vision, “I have a Dream”, it was intended to reach all of mankind, to enter the soul of each person so that they would understand that each one of us is a child of our Heavenly Father, that we are responsible for each other’s well being and that the power of faith is a powerful tool in bringing about those changes necessary for God’s children to live in peace. What a beautiful vision of how it could be, how it should be, if we but live the way our Savior, Jesus Christ, taught in his short time here on Earth. I have included the URL to take you directly to the original speech as it was recorded along with its transcript.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/Ihaveadream.htm


The challenge of “What would I put into a talk on, “I have a Dream”, can be found here in my answer. It is my challenge to anyone who comes upon this short essay to ponder it’s meaning, it’s content and to investigate those ideas which I have shared. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Other People’s Money

January 15, 2005

I watched a movie that had the title, Other People’s Money, with Danny Devito as a sharp Wall Street businessman who made his fortune by using Other People’s Money. It was a summary of the capitalistic system in which we operate here in America. For all of our flaws, and there are enough to go around, our capitalistic system is by far the best. The rest of the world has tried various forms of socialism and they have all failed.

Next week there will be a Presidential Inauguration held in Washington D.C. George W. Bush will be sworn in for a second term and following that ceremony there will be all manner of celebratory parties. According to most news sources those festive parties will cost about 40 million dollars. That is a lot of money to spend on parties; however, since the money has been donated from the private sector it really is none of my business how much they spend. I get a mildly annoyed when I see how much money is spent to pay for professional athlete salaries, Hollywood movie stars and similar outrageous expenditures. I know how hard I have to work to make a living, much less a fortune to squander on exotic sports cars, wild parties or a vacation home in the mountains.; but its not my money so I shut up about it.

I heard a spokesman for the Democratic Party ranting on about the wasteful spending issue for all the Inaugural Parties as if it were taxpayer’s monies being wasted. ( Did I say Ranting?) “That money could have been spent to fully equip the military, put proper armor on every Hummer that is in harm’s way, feed the orphans from the tsunami, rebuild towns and on and on. About the only thing left off was that line my mother used on me when I would try to skip over my broccoli. “Young man, there are starving children who are dying and you want to throw away good food.”

The government has figured out a way to get a good portion of my money to pay for some fairly extravagant stuff; stuff that I would not have raised my hand up and boldly asked to be a part of, funded programs to find out the sleep habits of homosexual monkeys who have recently been shipped from one zoo to another where the walls are a different color, things like that. I may have exaggerated a bit; but you get the point. Millions of tax dollars are spent on pork barrel projects to make some congressman or senator look good to his constituency. These are dolla