April Showers Bring May Flowers

Yesterday we had a couple of strong thunderstorm cells move through our area. Up here on the north side of Houston we got somewhere around 3 inches of rain; but west of us there were folks who got upwards of 8 – 10 inches when a storm settled in and kept pounding them. There were reports of roofs being torn off and windows breaking with gusts of wind in the 60mph range.

The picture shows what we have lined up for today, not as scary looking as yesterday; but has the potential of causing problems since we already had lots of water in the run off systems. I don’t figure on doing much locksmith work; rotten weather puts a damper on making keys for cars.

Speaking of flowers, you might keep Dana, A very nearly tea , in your thoughts and prayers as she is in the hospital with a bum hip. I emailed her flowers, in digital form, as they are stored in my computer to send out when one of my blogging buddies needs them. Originally they belonged to Ethne ; but she stopped blogging a while back.

Never Mind Principles – Just Get Elected

Here’s a line from a FoxNews story by a so called conservative which pinpoints what the term RINO means. The idea was expressed by Steve Schmidt, former top advisor to John McCain during the last presidential campaign. Mr. Schmidt was talking before the convention for “Log Cabin Republicans, a grassroots group of gay and lesbians”.

With advisors like this you can see why so many real conservative Republicans were not thrilled with John McCain heading the presidential ticket in the last election; after all, you are known by the company you keep. If you take that to the natural next level, what does that say about Barrack Obama’s close knit company of friends?

Steve Schmidt pointed out, “If you put public policy issues to a religious test, you risk becoming a religious party,” he said. “And in a free country a political party cannot be viable in the long-term if it is seen as a sectarian party.”

I suppose what Steve Schmidt is really trying to say, “Never mind the principles which define conservatives; try to get along with everyone regardless of how you really feel about their particular state of degeneracy and you might get elected in spite of the “R” next to your name on the ballot.”

It could be said, in a more common tone, “You really don’t believe all the crap in the Bible, now do you?” The average person starts to get a little annoyed when you start trashing their most basic beliefs, “ You believe in God, oh give me a break ; you still believe in eternal consequences for your actions too?”

There has been a concerted effort to separate religious foundations from America for as long as I’ve been alive. However hard the godless try they cannot understand that having solid core values rooted in the Bible does not disqualify a person from being elected to any office here in the United States of America. To the contrary, being of strong character should be one of the first and maybe the most important qualifying test for folks entering into the service of their fellow beings .

I’ll tell you this Steve Schmidt, I believe in God, that Being mentioned in the Declaration of Independence as the Creator. I believe in eternal consequences for my actions and I really do believe the principles taught in the Scriptures are the foundations of our country.

I believe that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that deviant behavior through gay and lesbian relations is an abomination which destroys individuals who chose to participate. The lessons taught regarding Sodom and Gomorrah or any other principles of righteous living are as pertinent today as they were thousands of years ago.


The “in your face” confrontational gay and lesbian politics of the left are an affront to God and have no place in this nation, a nation which He established through divine inspiration given our Founding Fathers. The outspoken gay and lesbian’s efforts serve to identify those who clearly have decided to follow the temptations offered by Satan, which temptations serve to thwart those trying to be obedient to God’s Plan of Happiness .

While I sympathize for individuals involved in self destructive behavior I cannot condone their efforts to inflict such a deplorable state of living upon the rest of our society through legislative alterations or judicial actions intended to destroy the fabric of a God serving public.

In short, I’m one of those radical right wing conservatives Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano fears; the kind of person who poses a real danger to the current administration because I refuse to sit back and let morally corrupted individuals such as Steve Schmidt speak for the real grass roots conservatives. I’m not looking to be popular and my line is drawn in the sand without apology.

Government Licensed Journalists?

FoxNews had an alarming piece on their site this morning which would spell the end of an independent news media. Rosa Brooks, a former journalist for the L.A. Times and member of the Obama administration acting as an advisor to the Pentagon wants to save the floundering media by having “direct government support for public media” and, oh yes, “creating licenses to govern news operations.”

L. Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group, shares my concern.

“"Since when did our Founding Fathers envision that ... you could exercise your right to freedom of speech provided you had a license from the federal government? This is the kind of stuff you have revolutions about," he told FOXNews.com.”

The government has been trimming away basic rights and freedoms a little piece at a time for years. We have become a nation of cowards and fools trading liberty for the promise of safety and security. Benjamin Franklin's warning has been ignored time and time again, “Those who sacrifice Liberty for security deserve neither”.

Next thing you know government will be requiring occupational licenses for bloggers. What’s that you say; a license to express your opinion? What’s the difference between an independent blogger with a politically active site and large media outlets? There isn’t any!

I wrote about the government licensing of the locksmith industry and their continual assaults on private enterprise over the years; but that small insignificant industry take over didn’t seem to bother too many folks. I continue in my attempts to reverse the trend, to what extent is possible, through my individual efforts; however, I don’t have a staff of competent lawyers to file motions before the courts and there’s that minor detail of having to make a living.

Where is America headed when folks sit quietly and watch radical changes to our basic structured society and do nothing? Maybe when you pick up your state owned and run copy of the newspaper, the one where everything has been filtered of anything resembling a critique of the powers in office, maybe then folks will figure out what’s happening to the America of our Founding Fathers; only it will have been too late!

Angel From Montgomery

I had part of an old John Denver tune try to surface from the cobwebs today; wouldn’t leave me alone as I tried to find a copy of it on one of the CD’s in my collection unsuccessfully. I could hear his clear voice singing the chorus, “Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery, make me a poster of an old rodeo, just give me one thing…” and the words to the tune eluded my memory at that point. I looked it up and found several versions on YouTube, none of them by John Denver; but some were quite well done.

I guess I was mistaken about John Denver having written the tune; looks like a fellow named John Prine deserves the credit. That having been said; I still hear John Denver’s voice echoing in the corridors of my mind. The YouTube video down below has the sound which best fits with my recollection of how the song should be heard; thought it was John Denver when I stumbled upon this one.

Angel From Montgomery
John Prine

I am an old woman
Named after my mother,
My old man is another
Child that's grown old
If dreams were lightning
And thunder were desire
This old house would have burnt down
A long time ago

Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery,
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to,
To believe in this livin' is just a hard way to go

When I was a young girl
I had me a cowboy
He weren't much to look at,
Just a free ramblin' man.
But that was a long time
And no matter how I try,
The years just flow by
Like a broken down dam.

Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery,
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to,
To believe in this livin' is just a hard way to go

There's flies in the kitchen
I can hear 'em in there buzzin'
And I ain't done nothin'
Since I woke up today.
How the hell can a person
Go to work in the mornin'
Come home in the evenin'
And have nothin' to say?

Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery,
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to,
To believe in this livin' is just a hard way to go
(Repeat Chorus)

Mozart and Home Security

I don’t know about the rest of you; but something strikes me as wrong with all these Czar appointments, the term Czar sounding like something from the Bolsheviks side of the world. Maybe President Obama thinks we live in the Balkans or some other place where the elite rulers manage the subjects rather than America where government acts upon the direction of the citizenry.

Fox News reported that an Obama’s administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity said, “Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to name Alan Bersin to the position on Wednesday during a visit to the Southwest border.”

{…}

“…Bersin and Napolitano were both U.S. attorneys during the Clinton administration.”

“During his final three years, Bersin doubled as the U.S. attorney general's Southwest border representative, or "border czar."”

We’ve gone from having border representatives to having a border czar; that’s an issue, at least it is with me. One thing hasn’t changed much, the shady dealing we became familiar with under the Clinton administration seems to have morphed into what is now the Obama administration. All we need now is for Sandy “Burglar” to show up and start stuffing important documents down his pants to make the circus act complete.

One of the problems with illegal immigration is the ease with which folks are able to cross the border. The elusive fence which was supposed to be built keeps falling into the category of “castles in the sky”, which castles are fine until you try to move in to them as the saying goes. Build the fence, or better yet, dig a continuous moat the length of our southern border and fill it with nasty predatory beasts like crocodiles or piranhas. Then in place of a border czar we could have a…are you ready….drum roll in 4/4 time…a Moat Czar.

Is “Bite Me” Politically Correct?

I see where Mexico’s ambassador to Spain has his boxer shorts in a bind over, of all things, a hamburger ad which Burger King is running.

Burger King’s “Texican Whopper” is touted, in a Spanish language ad, “inspired by the land where a man ‘aint afraid to sink his teeth into something hot and spicy.”

Let me put this in order of importance; corruption at nearly every level of government in Mexico, drug cartels run the show from behind closed doors, a good portion of the population can’t make a living in Mexico so they cross into America illegally, and Mexico’s ambassador to Spain is upset about a hamburger ad.

“Jorge Zermeño asked Burger King to pull the ad and apologize for offending Mexican cuisine.”

If Burger King hasn’t said it already, “Bite Me!”, and that goes for your little dog too.

Comment Section 101

Folks in small towns don’t need a psychiatrist because if you do something stupid the whole town’s going to know about it anyway; at least that’s what I heard. The same could be true about blogging and the ever present comment section. I enjoy reading comment sections, often times far more entertaining or informative than the original article.

While going over the morning “reads” I ran across a reference library on the subject of blog comments , so to speak, written by Michael S. Malone, which had been linked via Say Uncle. Following the thread of comments became an education in human ego trips. If you have an hour or so to invest try reading all 222 comments to see how it works.

Easter Weekend

I know we’re not supposed to bring it up; but, this is the weekend we celebrate the Savior’s victory over the grave. If it were not for the resurrection of Jesus Christ then His birth, which we celebrate as Christmas, would have no more meaning than anyone else’s birthday. Okay, that’s been covered insufficiently; if you want to know more try reading the scriptures , on to other things.

A good portion of the readership was scared away with the title alone, much less that first paragraph which makes lots of folks very uncomfortable. I heard one of the talk show hosts, I think it was Glenn Beck; but don’t hold me to that, where was I; anyway he was explaining how many folks feel guilty for not attending church all year long and figure they NEED to attend at Easter. His advice was to stay home if that’s the only reason for attending.

He quickly added that the purpose of attending church was to get folks to change their way of living to one more in tune with the way God intended us to live. If all you can do is better yourself on Sunday then that’s a start; but remember the goal is to eventually be in tune all the time, so get Sunday under control, add Monday for a while and then Tuesday and so on until you are a better person seven days a week. Good advice, hard to do; but good advice.

There’s lots of talk about how Christianity is “on the way out”, just a matter of time before it becomes a footnote in American history. Books and articles abound with the decline, almost like there was a betting pool to see who can guess the date, sometime in the near future, when Christianity will have the same number of adherents as folks buying the Boston Globe newspaper. Last time I looked at the Gallup Polls , percentages were about 82% of Americans claimed to be Christians.

I heard a sports figure talking about Nolan Ryan, the Hall of Fame pitcher with a blazing fastball. Nolan had been pitching for many years and had lost some of the zip off that famous fastball, from 96 mph down to 94mph. In a quiet joking matter of fact way the sports figure mentioned that Nolan would be down to 91 mph if he were to keep pitching at age 58. I guess at the rate of decline, the number claiming to be Christians might be down to 80% some time soon; say the year 2050?

Here’s a “change of pace”, a neat segway (sp) away from Nolan and baseball; articles posted by other bloggers. I’ll start with a neat visual by Mover Mike showing what a Trillion Dollars looks like. Thank you, Mike.

Next on the list of wonderful articles would have to be a combined effort from Dana, Principled Discovery , and her daughter, the “Science Mouse”, who posted, a day with the sandhill cranes containing lots of pictures and observations from the standpoint of a young person. I couldn’t resist leaving a comment, in part, “That will get each of you one “atta boy” and a green star on the chart at the front of the classroom.”

Neal Boortz had a neat “citizens who were not going to wait for government to help” article which should make the American Spirit grow. Private citizens finished the project of repairing flood damage which occurred from flooding to Polihale State Park, complete with restoration of a destroyed bridge, in 8 days instead of the 2 years projected and they did it with their own funding and labor. Everyone involved in the project should get a serious and sincere tip of the hat from their fellow Americans; but more especially, teach the government contractors a thing or two about efficiency in action.

Thank goodness the “boys of summer” are back; going all winter long without baseball pushes my limits. The Houston Astros could use a pitcher or two; maybe we could get Nolan Ryan to come out of retirement after having been embarrassed badly by the Cubs , giving up 8 runs in the first two innings of the rubber game to close out the home opener series 1 and 2.

I managed the Point Control softball team , one of Houston’s Finest police league entrants back in 1976. We gave up ten runs in the first inning one time, mostly on sloppy ball handling rather than bad pitching. I told the guys, as they came back to the dugout with their heads hanging pretty low, “That takes a lot of confidence to spot the other team a ten run lead.” I laughed and then encouraged them to have a go at getting back in the game a run at a time. We eventually came away with the win and made it into the playoffs that year.

In case you’ve lost sight of the original message, Happy Easter. Take a moment to thank your Lord for the gift of the resurrection and the atonement. Remember, if it were not for the Easter Bunny jumping over the moon we would have no colored Easter Eggs.

Tattoo Shop Details

One of my favorite black and white movies with Clark Gable was, Teacher’s Pet . He’s a hard nosed news paper editor and knows how to get the most information in a small space because the paper doesn’t make money from extra words that could have been used for advertisements. He goes head to head with a journalism professor, played by Doris Day, at the local college. She wants students to do “think pieces” full of emotion to set up the story. The link gives more details along with a short movie clip.

There was an “almost story” about a killing at a tattoo shop in the news this morning. I say almost because the basics; who, what, when, where, why and how didn’t quite make it into the article. What was the name of the tattoo shop? The dead person’s name wasn’t given; next of kin may not have been notified, so they get a free pass. Going past that; was he or she going in for a tattoo, running from someone, going to rob the place? White, Black, Asian or is that important for this story? What part of the body got hit by the gun shot(s)? What kind of clothing was he or she wearing; or, since it’s a tattoo shop, perhaps clothing was optional.

You might be chuckling about that last line, “perhaps clothing was optional”. There used to be a tattoo shop at the corner of Commonwealth and Westheimer here in Houston. I walked in to see the owner about the possibility of letting us put a police fund raising gum ball machine in the entry way; part of a “get to know the folks you police” kind of social meeting. There was a contest to see which officer could place the most gum ball machines; but that’s another story.

When I walked in there was a very shapely woman without a stitch of clothing bent over a chair getting a very flattering rose tattoo on her backside. She seemed quite comfortable, things as they were, with a cop standing there talking to the fellow embroidering her flesh with a rather attractive piece of art; a rose by any other name is still a rose.

I was distracted from my line of thought and was quite surprised when I was given permission to deliver the familiar gum ball machine. Some times I miss being a cop and the interaction with the community, going to art galleries or what ever.

In a related story covered by KPRC, I learned the name of the shop, that the victim was the owner/artist, how many customers were in the shop at the time of the robbery, the number of suspects, the get away car’s description. I went back to see how the Chronicle had updated the information and found a bit more; but not nearly as much as with the KPRC report. I guess it’s just another murder in Houston, no big deal.

Odds and Ends

I was leaving a building this morning and noticed a lady about to get into her bright red BMW convertible. The car was polished to the “9’s” and I couldn’t resist saying something to compliment her neat looking set up.

“You might as well let me call a cop to write you a speeding ticket as hot as that car looks”. Most folks would smile and glow a bit; not this lady.

“I already got a speeding ticket down the street on my way here”. Oh, well; the car really did look great.

The other night we got to watch the grandkids and the first thing JJ noticed was the green CERT hard hat which Lucy earned by completing the first responder’s course. There’s a strapped on flash light so you can keep both hands free to work while directing an intense beacon of light. JJ knew right away that it had to be a mine digger’s hat, perfect in case we had a cave or a mine nearby.

Lucy suggested a walk to look at the bridge which was nearing completion ; the ribbon cutting ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. JJ had the hat just in case they stumbled on to or into a mine he’d be ready. Jocelyne was just as excited at the sight of JJ wearing the mine digging hat. “We have one!” she wasn’t sure what we had but what ever it was we had one.

They spotted several man-hole covers and drain entrances; but JJ was told they weren’t mines and that he shouldn’t go down there because of the snakes. Having a mine digger’s hat complete with lamp is important; more so than I ever would have imagined.

If you’re a fan of Rush Hour movies, in the second Rush Hour, Chris Tucker’s character takes Jackie Chan to a “brother’s” billiard parlor/bar. Tucker’s use of the language between brothers, unacceptable in our PC society of mixed races, is interpreted as, “While in Rome…” Jackie Chan attempted to establish a conversation with the bartender and called him over with the exact same vocabulary.

“What’d you just say?” Too late and not having a clue as to why the “brother” was angry, Jackie repeated the same phrase and nearly caused a riot; bar stools flying, billiard sticks broken and anything else not nailed down; all because he used a grouping of words which sounded a whole lot like, “What’s up Mine Digger”.

This afternoon I was picking up something at one of the parts departments of a car dealership and happened to notice how an avid fisherman sees life. The antenna on his pickup truck had been made to look like a fishing rod complete with reel, line and even a fish hook that looped into the line feed loops. I gotta’ get some of these for some folks I know who’d rather take the day off and get fired rather than pass up a chance to go fishing.

Let’s Be Nice?

Listening to the Glenn Beck program on the radio turned one of my hot buttons on a while ago. Glenn has the 9/12 project , a reference to the united will of Americans the day after being attacked and which I think is a step in the right direction; however, today he was talking about a big “tea party” get together in San Antonio; but that’s not what got my hot button lighted.

He kept going on and on about showing up to shout about what’s right, not to make this a political bashing about one political party or another. This tea party should bring us together with what will make things right.

Where’s my friend Jack Hecker when I need sound effects? Jack could make the perfect, “Wrong!” sound effect for folks offering a plausible answer and yet far enough off the mark as to make a gong sound or that annoying power grunt, similar to when a child has been forced to swallow bad tasting medicine; only much more pronounced and directed.

The purpose of a tea party is to show government just how close we are to burning down the town and then hanging all government representatives responsible for enslaving the citizenry. Government should be brought to the realization that normal happy citizens are ready to move toward mob mentality; and, mob mentality isn’t pretty, it isn’t nice and it tends to get out of control in a heartbeat.

The Boston Tea Party was an act of civil and criminal disobedience which led to the closing of Boston Harbor and eventually to the war of independence. Are we supposed to gloss over an ugly part of our history in order to propose our modern day tea parties are afternoon social gatherings, our tea cup in hand to offer a show of solidarity; give me a break!

Don’t ask me to be a Pollyanna, a person with positive solutions and thoughts while attending a tea party intended to scare these usurpers into backing off or doing what they already know should be done; positive solutions and thoughts are for a different stage and time, not at the tea party. I want each government representative and bureaucrat to look into my eyes and see the anger which has been choked off or held down and is now about to boil over.

I want my government representatives to familiarize themselves with that human emotion which we all possess, to know how close this country is to that unpredictable violent edge which civilized people discipline and manage to control; that such civility is being pushed to the limit and when the most civilized citizen’s veins start popping it should be a sign that chaos isn’t far behind.

T C Jester Bridge over Cypress Creek

The work is nearly completed, only a few minor details left prior to next weeks opening of the bridge which will connect FM 1960 with Cypresswood via T C Jester.

There is a section of guard railing which separates the pedestrian walkway from vehicular traffic that should be completed tomorrow and I noticed the traffic lights were being worked on at the Cypresswood intersection.

This falls under the category of “Curse and Blessing” as it will make it possible for us to get to destinations north quite easily while at the same time it will increase traffic through the middle of our neighborhood considerably. I’ll lobby the traffic department for installation of a four way stop, either at Ivy Falls or at Autumnbrook by the park, to slow traffic coming south; before someone gets seriously injured or killed.

Lucy and I enjoy evening walks, this bridge having made for a wonderful chance to observe Cypress Creek which runs along the back of our sub-division. I wish they’d put sidewalks along both sides of the street leading up to the bridge since they already have the pedestrian sections built in; maybe that’s a project scheduled “down the road”.

General Conference Weekend

Twice a year the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints holds General Conference . With the modern technological advances available throughout the world many more are able to enjoy talks given by the First Presidency and other leaders of the Church.

I found a neat “ children’s pack ”, a way to help young people enjoy quiet time by coloring or doing puzzles especially made for General Conference. I looked the pack over and thought it would be nearly as much fun for adults so you might want to get another box of Crayons and print out a second set of pages. Thanks and a tip of the cap to Jen.

Edited same day:

One of Lucy's friends sent the following joke:

President Thomas Monson was returning to Salt Lake City after a speaking engagement and when his Plane arrived there was a limousine there to transport him to his home.

As he prepared to get into the limo, he stopped and spoke to the driver. 'You know' he said, 'I am getting pretty old and I have never driven alimousine. Would you mind if I drove it for a while?'

The driver said, 'No problem. Have at it.'

President Monson gets into the driver's seat and they head off down the highway. A short distance away sat a rookie Highway Patrolman operating his first speed trap.

The long black limo went by him doing 70 mph in a 55 mph zone.

The trooper pulled out and easily caught the limo and he got out of his patrol car to begin the procedure. The young trooper walked up to the driver's door and when the glass was rolled down, he was surprised to see who was driving. He immediately excused himself and went back to his car and called his supervisor.

He told the supervisor, 'I know we are supposed to enforce the law.. But I also know that important people are given certain courtesies. I need to know what I should do because I have stopped a very important person.'

The supervisor asked, 'Is it the governor?'

The young trooper said, 'No, he's more important than that.'

The supervisor said, 'Oh, so it's the president.....'

The young trooper said, 'No, he's even more important than that.'

The supervisor finally asked, 'Well then, who is it?'

The young trooper said, 'I think it's Jesus, because he's got President Monson for a chauffeur!'

All the way to the Supreme Court?

Here’s a tip of the cap to OneNewsNow.com for reminding me of a case set to go before the Men in Black; still shaking my head when I read the information supplied. The case going all the way to the Supreme Court has to do with a young school girl having been strip searched because the administration was fearful that she had brought prescription strength ibuprofen to school.

“The New York Times says the case will require Supreme Court justices to consider the "thorny question" of just how much leeway school officials should have in policing zero-tolerance policies for drugs and violence.”

{…}

“"But the fact is, whenever they do these strip searches -- in this case to a 13-year-old in the eighth grade -- and literally do a very humiliating body-cavity search, or something akin to that, it seems to cross the line to go into areas where school officials should be regulated by the Constitution," he states.”

Doesn’t this pretty much answer its own questions regarding policies which include the thought process, scratch that; policies which include the lack of a thought process by having Zero Tolerance as the guiding force? I’ll go a step further and ask the question, why has this case gotten all the way to the Supreme Court?

The 9th Circus Court actually ruled properly; the Constitutional rights of the young girl were violated by the school district. The administration refused to accept having been put in their place and have pushed it along with bags and bags of taxpayer money to throw around on ridiculous law suits. These school administrators appear to be blinded by their own lust, perhaps a poorly chosen word under the circumstances; their own cankered and distorted view of authority over those in the prison system they call public schools.

That doesn’t say much about the sanity, integrity or stability of the folks along the way who have heard the many presentations which at one point must have had at least one reference to something once called “common sense” or “legitimacy”. I’d bet their history curriculum doesn’t teach American History, Tea Parties, and certainly nothing about individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Well, dang me for bringing up a dead horse like common sense. I’d forgotten how it was buried years ago; my apologies for even considering that such an approach to real life situations might have avoided this entire incident.

Submitted for your perusal , (You should hear the voice of Rod Serling’s dry invitation to ponder that which is presented through the senses, distorted in time and space accompanied by deep and foreboding background orchestration ) in the stark reality displayed through the purity of a black and white television, a society in which individual liberties have been exchanged for the false promise of perpetual safety. Here is a utopian landscape of the imagination which can only be obtained through total subjugation without regard for compassion, dignity or even legitimacy. This evening’s performance should awaken your faculties of the dangers when thinking is replaced by zero tolerance policies. I give you, “Strip Search”. You are about to enter… The Twighlight Zone .

Push the Button!

If you like Jackie Chan movies you’ve surely seen the Rush Hour series. There’s one in which the daughter of an influential Chinese dignitary gets kidnapped. The little girl has a vest of explosives rigged to go off, the detonator held by one of the bad guys. When “every thing goes down” and all involved are within range of the blast, her father, the police and all the bad guys too; there is the taunting by the little girl to her captives, “Push the button”. She knew there was nothing to lose by being courageous.

Today’s bad guys are sitting in the House of Representatives and Senate. They are systematically replacing the free market system which made America the most powerful nation in the world, replacing capitalism with socialism. Along with that they are destroying our currency by printing worthless trillions of dollars which will eventually make the dollar worthless. Each and every act shows their contempt for American principles as they ignore the Constitutional protections put in place that would prevent them from doing exactly what they are doing.

At the top of the list of bad guys would be President Barack Obama; following his playbook to install a form of government alien to American thinking. This pack of rats is holding all of America hostage with “crisis” after “crisis”, all the while perverting American foundations which once were protected by the Constitution and Bill of Rights into some form of totalitarian socialism that Comrade Marx would have been proud of.

I was looking for something entirely different in my archive files and happened to glance at an article I posted two years ago, April 2007, How to Murder a Socialist . Please take a moment to read (Okay, that should have given you time to read the other rant.) and then follow my instructions to the letter.

There is an emblem at the top of today’s piece, the now famous Obama campaign button. I want you to print out a copy, then cut it out into a nearly perfect circle; use rounded Kindergarten approved scissors since the only folks hanging with me to this point could only be Republicans, not just Republicans but Conservatives at that, and therefore unable to use sharp pointed scissors. Now place the button on the desk in front of you. “Push the Button! Come on, Push the Button!”

Now, you’ll have to have other buttons held in the ready; God help us if the orderly transfer of power went to that idiot Bidden; because, when his button got pushed, the next President of the United States would be Pelosi. That may be the most terrifying thought I’ve had all day.

I read somewhere, can’t remember how many times the email was sent or how many different folks sent it; but it had to do with how “history had been made by a Black man being elected to the Oval Office”. That wasn’t the focus of the email; it went on to wonder why nobody was making a big deal out of the fact that a brain dead moron was now the Speaker of the House, third in line to the Presidency under our Constitution.

Universal Health Care

No, we don’t need Universal Health Care or what ever the “progressives” wish to call the all inclusive mandated medical coverage for everyone. What we need is to enforce the laws in such a way as to leave health care as a viable and affordable service for citizens who live here legally; that means closing the borders and then finding the illegal aliens and send them packing, that includes the so called “anchor babies”.

Not so long ago I took an ambulance ride, a nine mile trip to the emergency room. The bill for this service was $ 1,100.00, which included my $ 100.00 deductable; insurance paid the rest, paid it without contesting the amount. “Insurance paid the rest” means we all pitched in a portion of our money because that’s how it works; it wasn’t “like, free man”. Why so much; recognizing the advanced equipment and quality personnel who did a fine job of getting me to the hospital alive?

After having seen the bill which came in the mail a month later, I made it a point to call and thank them for doing a great job. I then explained how, in the year prior to my medical emergency, I’d booked round trip air fair from Houston to West Palm Beach, considerably more than the nine mile jaunt to the E/R. “For those living in Rio Linda”, as a well known radio talk show host likes to say, round trip means I took off in Houston, landed in West Palm Beach and on a later date took off from West Palm Beach and returned to Houston. The total bill for the round trip air service, which included a meal in both directions came to right at $ 200.00 because I took advantage of an empty seat which would not have been used had I not filled it at the last minute.

You and I both know the answer; that $ 1,100.00 ambulance bill included many “free” ambulance rides taken by folks who could not pay, many of them illegal aliens. Ambulance companies, much like emergency rooms, are not in a position to turn away those in need and the cost of business must eventually be reckoned with or the next time you call for an ambulance you’ll have to settle for Yellow Cab or maybe the Metro Bus because there won’t be any ambulances left in service.

“Give me a lever…”

I’ve been taking my time with Horowitz’, Unholy Alliance; it’s not a book written merely to entertain and deserves more than a cursory glance as the pages unfold. The information hits a place in my awareness, something akin to the way the Spirit testifies of the truthfulness of gospel doctrine. I find this interesting since a majority of the arguments given by detractors of America have to do with our being the “Great Satan” of the world, reason enough to destroy anything which is American or which might be attributed to our foundational beliefs.

In Part III of his book, an explanation struck me as more important than others in the book; it quoted Archimedes, the Greek scientist, “Give me a lever and a place to stand on and I will move the world.” In the same paragraph, “The radical Islamist believes that by conquering nations and instituting sharia, he can redeem the world for Allah. The socialist’s faith is in using state power and violent means to eliminate private property and thereby usher in the millennium”.

I see a couple of key words which run counter to my beliefs which center around something called the “agency of man”, not only the general grouping of mankind; but to individuals involved in the process of living out mortality. When groups have to conquer others to institute laws which are highly restrictive to keep the “people in line” such as sharia or violent means to eliminate private (individually owned) property, little red flags start waving.

To be sure, all three forms of government; radical Islam, the socialist/communists and the religious right (Judeo/Christians) are faith based and require a certain adherence of/by its followers. Then it becomes a matter of “choice”, pardon my sense of humor, as to which religion one will align his/herself.

Perhaps the word “choice” isn’t exactly the right word since under radical Islam everyone is subjected to sharia law, the law of Allah their god. The same holds true for the socialist/communists who subject everyone to powers of the State regardless of individual desires since it is all for the good of the collective and individual liberties must always be relinquished in order to progress toward that eventual Utopian State in which all are equally provided for; the State being their god so to speak. In the Judeo/Christian faiths individual’s have Agency or choice, a gift from God, to either progress toward what ever may be obtained, or not progress, which Agency or choice is protected from arbitrary governmental interference through the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

In the United States of America the Constitution and Bill of Rights provide a framework whereby individual Agency is protected as God given rights; these rights are set down in writing and differentiated from government powers or entitlements which may be granted through acts of government. This acknowledgement on the part of a group of men, our Founding Fathers is that all liberties, agency and rights spring from our Creator and not from government. It sets our nation above all the others on the face of the earth. Is it any wonder then, that those who wish to destroy America have made attacks on the Constitution and Bill of Rights a primary target?

Horowitz quotes Marx, “Religious suffering is at one and the time the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of a soulless condition. It is the opium of the oppressed”. We are to believe from this famous quote that, “religious belief is a response to the suffering caused by private property, and a mask that obscures its practical causes. The revolution that removes the cause of this suffering will also remove the religious beliefs it inspires.”

It seems I’m singing to the choir when I say that America is a nation defined and set apart by God Himself for the purpose of showing mankind how it should be done, how it can be done and how it is done. But there are those among us, high ranking individuals who will tell us differently, we have separation of church and state; find it in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights if you can. It’s not there because what we have is a nation founded by wise men who listened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and followed those promptings when they wrote down our founding documents.

Douglas Callister once wrote, referencing Psalm 53:1 , “The fool proclaims in his heart that there is no God, but our eyes, hands, hearts, and souls unhesitatingly testify to the contrary.” In that same piece of wisdom he later included:

“Our entire perspective of ourselves, our worth, and what we can make of our lives is altered for good when we come to understand that we are God’s children and that we can become like Him.”

The foolish men who deny the workings of our Creator in the formulation of America’s basic documents have never realized who they are, their birthright and the importance of doing all that can be done to make America work the way it was set up to work. Some of these fools do so out of ignorance while others are just rebelling in the same manner which Satan did. They would have everyone be miserable, the same as they are; but since they claim there is no God there is no Satan either, how convenient.

We have been shackled by a term “separation of church and state” to advance the concept that America was never to be thought of in religious terms; a lie from the lips of those who have perverted the statement to leverage, as Archimedes so wisely stated, a place to stand on and move the world. If we buy into the lie, separation of church and state, then we also must buy into another facet of the delusion, that our founding documents were not inspired by our Creator. Those who intend to destroy America must destroy the foundations of our nation by convincing enough of the citizens that our nation is built on sand ( lies) rather than upon the Rock (God). Take that out for a spin and see what happens.

If we give in to the efforts of the socialist/communist movement private property will be done away with, the suffering caused in order to obtain private property will no longer exist and therefore the need for God and the notion of religion will all disappear as figments of diseased minds under stress give way to rational like minded thinking. The State will provide an equal share of wealth to its subjects, why fight the inevitable?

In a perfect world…isn’t that how it goes in the dreamed of Utopia the left promises will be there? In a perfect world everyone will have what they need; but who decides what that level of need is? Better yet, when productivity drops below a level capable of sustaining the needs and desires of so many, where will the wealth come from, the wealth necessary to drive any economy regardless of what you call it? There won’t be enough to go around and the system will eventually collapse like a house of cards.

If radical Islam has its way everyone automatically lives under sharia law and bares the consequences regardless of their individual belief that such laws are just, much less that those enforcing them claim sharia law comes from Allah. Is there really a choice given; totalitarian government through socialism/communism, totalitarian government through radical Islam’s sharia law or the democratic process afforded citizens of the United States of America under God’s protection of individual rights and the Agency of man?

So who is the Great Satan of the world? A short history lesson is required and then you can decide for yourself. Read from the Pearl of Great Price, Moses 4:1-4:

"And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.

2 But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.
3 Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;
4 And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice. "

Some of you may not wish to accept the words from a book you are not familiar with, try the New Testament, Revelations 12:9

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

They both say the same thing; Satan, the father of all lies, wanted to keep mankind from having the God given gift of Agency, the right to chose and for this he was cast out of the presence of God. Agency must therefore be a most treasured gift, one which should be guarded, more than gold, more than silver or any of the riches to be gained; Agency, once lost is gone forever. The socialist/communist movement would have us believe that Agency is a delusion, the product of a diseased mind, a mind so perplexed at having to obtain private property that it created the idea of religion and God so as to ease its pain. If you believe that I have some beach front property in West Texas up for sale; don’t bother with the fine print, just sign on the dotted line and it can be yours.

Radical Islam and the socialist/communist movement would have you believe that America is the Great Satan, reason enough to destroy it from off the face of the planet along with Little Satan, Israel. If it weren’t for America there would be no oppression in the world, only peace and good will among all mankind. Once again, if you believe that I have some beach front property in West Texas up for sale; don’t bother with the fine print, just sign on the dotted line and it can be yours.

What exactly constitutes the definition of Satan, in case my references to scriptures are in error? Is it the land where individuals have Agency to chose the way they distribute their income, to actually own property, to donate to the charities of their own choosing, the land where an individual may join a religion which fits within the scope of his or her beliefs even to the point of having no religion or is it because we are able to lend our military strength to smaller countries which are powerless to oppose totalitarian regimes bent on forcing individuals into slavery conditions and absolute poverty? Which of these definitions of the Great Satan fits the United States of America?

How long are we going to let the anti-Americans among us, those who claim to be Americans but who hate everything America stands for; how long are we going to let them deride and destroy that which is sacred, our Constitution and our Bill of Rights? Yes, I said sacred, as in from Above; turning to the Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, section 101:

"According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;
78 That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.
79 Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.
80 And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood."

On a daily basis our House of Representatives and Senate, our Judiciary and Executive Branch knowingly violate the very foundations of America. These traitors to liberty continue to trample over their oaths of office to uphold the Constitution and do so with impunity. Are we to let them grab powers never intended to be wielded by elected representatives of a free nation, a liberty loving people without reminding them that they were put in office to serve us not for us to serve them?

I’m tired of the bad taste in my mouth each time I hear these usurpers, these liars and thieves explain how one socialist program after another is supposed to heal the broken dreams of America. The dream that is America works, it has been proven to work if we would only use the framework originally provided and quite trying to make us a third world totalitarian state in which everyone becomes enslaved equally to the burdens placed on them by elitists who have no intention of relinquishing their elevated positions to the proletariat.

pAriAh

Yea, I know; that looks a bit off, and I did it for a reason. The classic definition of pariah would indicate a person in exile or someone to be avoided; perhaps the character from Lil Abner, the one with the black cloud and lightning following him where ever he went would fall into the category.

One fun movie to watch is Pure Luck with Martin Short playing an unlucky soul who learns to live with it; just don’t stand too close or it might rub off. There really are people who have incredibly bad issues to deal with.

I read where a fellow in Japan is the only certified survivor of both Atomic bombs during WWII. I was a member of the science club back in high school; but how many folks would hold up a hand signifying they were Atomic bomb survivors, much less double dippers?

“Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip on Aug. 6, 1945, when a U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the city. He suffered serious burns to his upper body and spent the night in the city. He then returned to his hometown of Nagasaki just in time for the second attack, city officials said.”

This is the kind of stuff Sci-Fi is made of, poor quality faded color films made in Japan showing cardboard cities, model railroad track with toy trains zipping towards the ocean with a backdrop of mountains painted on a sheet of canvass. There are at least two American scientists to aid the research team who stumbled upon the “monster” while drilling into the deepest regions in search of renewable energy supplied by the molten core.

At some point in the movie, in case you’re wondering where all this was going, a voice from the past reminds everyone of the horrors of war as “grandfather” speaks to the ever present newspaper and local news station announcer; usually grandfather is blind, in a wheel chair or sitting in an old folks home set aside for WWII survivors missing arms, legs and skin worthy of the poor color film. His voice carries a hushed story of the day he lost his wife and pet goldfish as their house erupted in flames leaving him the way he is today.

Then the camera shows the ground cracking and the wing tip of Rodan, Godzilla or Mothra; panic strikes and hundreds if not thousands of citizens attempt to flee the city into the pastoral refuge of the nearby hills. Some get stepped on, others incinerated by the radiation blasting from the beast's mouth and the never ending tragedy of war is presented for our entertainment. Eventually science wins the day; but it is only a temporary victory since man has forever altered the natural environment when he unleashed the atomic virus on what lies below.

(Photograph is of a Hydrogen blast off the Bikini Atoll)

Presently Reading - Unholy Alliance

A couple of books I’d ordered earlier in the month arrived this afternoon. I’ve plunged into David Horowitz’ book, Unholy Alliance; subtitled, Radical Islam and the American Left. My understanding of the folks who have aligned themselves with our enemies, my opinion or call it what you will, these folks should be classified as Anti-Americans; calling them the American Left elevates them to a level they don’t deserve.

This is when the battle cry, “McCarthyism” is shouted by the unhappy throng of protestors who heard about my comment while attending a symposium at Columbia. One and a two and a three, “McCarthyism”; the only way these intellectuals can silence the truth is to shout it down, “McCarthyism”; this is just another witch hunt so the capitalist pig war mongers can drop bombs on innocent sheep tenders.

The book will do one of two things for anyone reading it. Those who understand what America stands for will get angry; agreeing with the content. Those who hate what America stands for will get angry for being shown for exactly what they are, enemies of freedom willing to destroy the only nation which supports their freedom to belly ache and moan about how bad our country is.

I’ve an associate who stops by occasionally to put me to task. One of the lines drawn in the sand which bothers this person can be found at the opening page of Part One: A Defining Moment.

“Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.” - President George W. Bush, September 20, 2001

That having been said; I’ll restate what I started with, “My understanding of the folks who have aligned themselves with our enemies, my opinion or call it what you will, these folks should be classified as Anti-Americans; calling them the American Left elevates them to a level they don’t deserve.”

Now I can go finish the book; don’t bother me for a few hours.

Find at Least 6 Differences

I don’t know how many of you read the funny paper each day; there’s one in which two seemingly identical pictures are placed one above the other, the challenge being to find at least 6 alterations or differences. Here’s the one from today’s Houston Chronicle; have fun. Before my eyes started getting older the challenge was a little easier; now I find myself lifting my glasses slightly to raise that portion at the very bottom of the lens where the magnification is maxed out.

With all that’s been going on around us, I wondered what kind of a drawing I could come up with to bring into focus the alterations or differences I’ve observed in the workings of America over the past 50 plus years. I’ll have to work on this one; but here would be some of the items which could be used:

American Flag with 48 stars changed to 50; or the ever popular 57.
American Flag flying in the breeze from a flag pole changed to one on the ground being set on fire or stepped on.
Picture of Constitution hanging on wall changed to empty picture frame.
Bill of Rights hanging on wall changed to shredded document on the floor.
White President in the White House lying to the public changed to Black President in White House lying to the public.
Official Seal of the President of the United States changed to the “One’s Seal”.
Dollar bills with the words Silver Certificate printed on them changed to reflect fiat money.
Sign next to a gas station showing price per gallon $1.29 changed to $3.99.
Oil well pumping on a hill missing in the updated picture.
A large airplane off in the background flying over with Continental Airline logo on its tail changed to a military aircraft with a Hammer and Sickle on the tail.
A line of folks waiting to get into a department store changes to folks waiting in the unemployment line.
A factory with smoke stacks in operation the gates open with signs of production changed to locked gates and no smoke to indicate a closed factory.

These just came off the top of my head; the list could go on and on with a little effort. I’d like to see what some of you come up with.

I Don’t Make Keys for Dumpsters

I got a call late yesterday, a referral from one of my regular customers, to make a set of keys for a 1985 Buick Regal. The car business has been slow and it would be nice to have a job lined up early. This morning I drove over and gave it a quick look while one of the employees explained how they wanted to make a total restoration from the base layer of paint on up; but first they needed a key.

The seats had been unbolted and formed a heap in the center of what used to be a car, the rest was discarded lumber, drywall material, straw and spider webs. I explained that he should have told me over the phone that I’d be making a key to a dumpster and saved us both a wasted trip, “I don’t make keys to trash cans or dumpsters.”

“What do we do now; we still need a set of keys?” I pointed out where the steering column had been broken by thieves at one time, patched over with a piece of aluminum covering material and the after market quick release steering wheel that had been slightly crumpled in some long forgotten traffic accident from years ago.

I went over their dream of a total restoration and suggested they toss out the damaged steering column in favor of one in better shape from a junk yard, one that would come with a set of keys to the ignition switch and in that way avoid having to make keys. They’d already expressed how the total transformation would include getting rid of door locks and handles; sleek and activated electrically by a remote keypad.

As I got in my truck to drive away I made a final suggestion, one which flew past their ability to digest. “Why don’t you get some gasoline and a box of matches, set it on fire and from the ashes it will be reborn and you can call it a Phoenix.” I know; that was a waste of time; but it seemed like a good fit.

Mesmerized Was A Really Bad Movie

Lucy brought home some “cheap” movies the other day from the grocery store’s mark down table; twenty five cents each and I think we over paid at that price. I watched the first one this evening when I figured out there wasn’t anything worth watching on the cable channels either.

Jodi Foster and John Lithgow, if you happen across this short article I have a proposition for you, a “deal you can’t refuse”; that large lump under the covers might be your favorite race horse’s head. Each of you send me a crisp twenty dollar bill, “no more no less”, as Alfred Doolittle would have said, and the DVD gets nuked in the microwave.

This isn’t blackmail, at least not in the normal sense; this is a professional courtesy presented to folks who have climbed high in their field as actors and would prefer to have some of their earlier miserable attempts forgotten, destroyed or otherwise removed from the public domain.

The alternative would be for me to crank up the DVD copier and start mailing free copies to movie critics who might not be as generous. The only reason I watched it to the end was so I’d know for sure I’d seen it and would never be tempted to watch it some night when the cable went out.

I have folks who stop by my blog, evolutionists, who claim we all climbed out of the slim way back when. They would say the only reason apes evolved into humans was so their opposing thumbs could be aimed down for this movie.

Stephen over at Hold the Mayo has t-shirts and bumper stickers that say, Socialism Sucks . If he’d seen this movie there’d be someone up all night printing new t-shirts and bumper stickers, “Mesmerized Sucks almost as bad as Socialism”.

Sometimes you throw the book away

I read in the Houston Chronicle where a DUI crackdown landed the groom in jail on the night his wedding as he left his own reception. Last time I looked, “Up against the wall and spread ‘em”, wasn’t part of the wedding ceremony.

“…a family friend who has known Puckett for 10 years, said he strongly believes the law should be enforced, but that in this case the police displayed a lack of discretion toward the couple.”

The problem with some police officers is they never road with a seasoned veteran in their training phase, one who could teach them how to show discretion while at the same time enforcing the law. I’m not saying the officers did anything wrong; please don’t misread what I’m saying; from what the report showed the letter of the law was enforced.

I had a senior officer explain an interesting perspective on law enforcement the first month or so I was wearing a blue uniform for the Houston Police Department. I couldn’t tell you his name; but what he said stayed with me the whole twenty years I was on the street.

“If you stop someone for a traffic violation and they hand you a valid driver’s license which happens to alert you to the fact that it’s their birthday; wish them a happy birthday and let them go on their way with a simple warning.” That was the first part of the rule; one which sounded fairly innocuous.

“If you stop someone for a traffic violation and they give you an excuse, one which you have never heard before and regardless of whether or not you believe it to be truthful; let them go on their way with a simple warning too.” How’s that for a neat change of pace?

I know I’ve shared this before; here it is again for those who may have missed it. I had a call; actually I was dispatched several times in one night to the same apartment project regarding a loud party disturbing the neighbors. The first time I showed up I warned the parties involved to turn down the music as it was in violation. The second and third times I had to be more than a little inventive; I failed to mention that this was a wedding party and instead of renting a hall these folks had a boom box and several vacant parking places to use as a dance floor.

Instead of writing tickets or hauling anyone off to jail I reached into my wallet and pulled out a $ 5 dollar bill, walked over to the bride and pinned it on her wedding dress. I asked the mother, sitting there with great concern as the “law” had shown up, if it would be permissible to have a dance with her daughter to celebrate the wedding.

After the dance was over I explained that due to the hour of night the music would have to be turned down, opening my wallet to show I had no more money to buy some time for the party. Enforcing the law requires more than a ticket book and a jail; there are time when you have to throw the book away.

They Got It Right and They Got it Wrong

One of my favorite movies has to be Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye explaining his thought process at every turn, “On the one hand…and on the other…then again…, all the while the camera somehow removes him from the situation visually as if to stop time. In this morning’s Houston Chronicle Mike Tolson has an interesting insight as to how the criminal justice system handles very minute details, Appeals court grants new trial for condemned Houston man .

On the one hand, according to the article, the suspect admitted everything necessary for a conviction and yet; on the other hand, the second part of the process, the punishment phase may or may not have had a significant legal blunder, one which gave the defense and the convicted murderer a chance to “beat the rap”. “If I were a rich man, a divvy, divvy, divvy do; all day long I’d…”

“(District Judge Jim) Wallace and another judge, Lon Harper, split pre-trial duties before the start of Haynes’ 1999 capital murder trial in the death of police Sgt. Kent Kincaid, with Harper presiding over the voir dire process in which potential jurors are questioned individually by prosecutors and defense attorneys.”

The first part of setting up grounds for a retrial, does State law provides for such a split; can one judge hear the pre-trial voir dire process, knowing that a different judge will be in attendance for the rest of the judicial proceedings? I am not given the answer, at least not from previous experience and not entirely through the information in today’s story; however, logic tells me the answer. The State Court of Appeals, mentioned as part of the justice system having heard the appeal, did not toss out the original findings of the District Court. A division of duties between judges, one only hearing voir dire, presumably to insure that important process is handled within the framework of our laws, is within the accepted day to day operations of the justice system.

“But the 5th Circuit panel said there was no way for Wallace or state appeals courts to determine from the printed trial record whether the defense objections had merit. And because Wallace had not witnessed the questioning, his ruling cannot be given the deference it normally would, the panel said.”

“It is clearly established that the cold record cannot accurately reveal the demeanor of live trial participants,” the opinion stated. “We cannot correspondingly apply . . . deference to the state court, because the state courts engaged in pure appellate fact-finding for an issue that turns entirely on demeanor.”

Here’s where the 5th Circuit panel got it right and wrong, both at the same time. In their reasoning they pointed to the “cold record” and correctly state that such a “cold record cannot accurately reveal the demeanor of live trial participants”.

What they neglect to include in their reasoning was how Judge Lon Harper had observed and could reveal the demeanor of live trial participants; the records were not “cold” and therefore should have had no sway in the 5th Circuit order for a retrial. Judge Harper observed and insured equal, impartial and accepted voir dire proceedings as part of his lawful duties; at the first sign of any deviance from accepted lawful proceedings he would have, by law, been required to halt the trial and start the entire process over.

The 5th Circuit has re-written a long established and accepted portion of human conduct within the frame work of the criminal justice system which, at one time provided a reasonable amount of weight for human observation by officers of the court, to include judges, who are well aware of each aspect of their duties. Had the 5th Circuit stated in their review that either judge had not been alert or carried out their individual duties, then and only then would this case have had merit. (Grammar check keeps insisting I put a question mark after the word “merit”; oh well…)

For anyone looking at the old adage, “Better a guilty person be let go than an innocent man be imprisoned”, then look elsewhere. This particular convicted felon never at anytime denied his involvement; he and he alone shot and killed a police officer. The impaneled jury which heard the evidence and determined the penalty phase came up with a verdict based on what they determined to be valid observations. The only issue the defense claimed was worthy of a retrial was a technical issue, an incorrect technical issue at that. Sorry, 5th Circuit, you got it wrong in the long run.

Diurnal and Plagiarism

What are the odds of those two words, Diurnal and Plagiarism, showing up in the same sentence much less as the title of an article? Going through the comic strips this evening I ran across one of my regular reads, Funky Winkerbean. The teacher pointed out how one of the students had used a word in a paper he’d turned in; but apparently had no idea what the word meant.

There’s a strong possibility the student plagiarized someone else’s work; never mind that the student happens to be a comic strip character. Plagiarism is the act of including someone else’s creative writing within the body of your own work without properly acknowledging the original source; in short, it’s the same as stealing.

Teachers have tools at their disposal which are able to detect “borrowed work”. One simple way, as shown in the comic strip, would be to recognize the student’s inability to explain what had been written by virtue of the level of vocabulary or sentence structure. The internet has provided additional tools which are able to instantly compare previously acknowledged works and spot duplications or modest alterations of some other author’s original work. The solution being self evident, document and annotate any and all borrowed work and avoid the appearance of impropriety.

“A little bird whispered in my ear”, forgive the old worn out excuse line; but in a delicate and on going situation it sometimes is wise to pretend ignorance of facts, anyway, “A little bird whispered in my ear”, about a reversal of sorts in regards to plagiarism. Rather than a student being “caught red handed”, in this instance it was the other way around.

There was a serious paper turned in by a doctoral student a year or so back which somehow was copied by folks in a position to take advantage of the student’s article. The interesting part occurred by pure chance when the doctoral student attended a lecture only to find her paper being presented by those giving the lecture, almost verbatim; without any acknowledgement or annotation as to the true author of the work. I’m sure there had to be a proper explanation; but as most students will agree, “The dog ate mine”, won’t float.

In case you’re wondering, Diurnal: Active in the daytime; in zoology it has to do with animals which are active during the day, as opposed to nocturnal creatures. In botany it describes flowers that open during the day and close at night. Another meaning of Diurnal: The book of worship in the Roman Catholic Church, a book containing the material for daily prayers and worship.

How unfortunate; the folks holding students to an honor code lack the integrity and character they presumably are attempting to instill. All I can say for the thieves who stole a creative piece of writing from a student; hope you say your daily prayers and obtain some measure of forgiveness, after you complete the process of repentence.