White House Beer Summit

I'm not going to get into the racial aspect other than to say I don't think there was any racial profiling. What I'm more interestied in pointing out is that all the talking heads on TV and the print media are giving kudos to Barack Obama for at least drinking the American beer, Bud Light, at the meeting with the cop and the professor.

Oooops. Anheuser Busch brewing was bought in July 2008 by the Belgium brewer, InBev. Apparently, his staff didn't vet his choice beforehand. Too bad.

Too Late Now But . . .

The population of the United States is estimated at 307 million.
The number of legal US citizens over the age of 18 is estimated at 228 million.

The federal government is spending TRILLIONS of dollars "fixing" the economy while folks are losing their jobs, their homes, their retirement funds, and their healthcare.

Giving each of the above-noted 228 million citizens back just $1 million of their tax dollars would have done more to fix the economy than all the trillions spent so far. It wouldn't have mattered where or how the money got spent. You wouldn't have needed to bail-out Detroit, Wall Street, Fannie or Freddie, or needed universal healthcare.

Such a simple plan. I'm surprised someone didn't think about it sooner. Maybe, just maybe, this whole economy-fixing business isn't so much about fixing the economy as it is about fixing the mistakes of cronies, malfeasance, lining the pockets of lobbyists, and taking us down the road to a socialistic utopia.

California Water Issue Rant

I'm a visitor in a foreign land--California--but being from a high, cold desert state in the West nothing ticks me off more than seeing 1000s of gallons of water being wasted. I've been watching water running in the gutters into the storm drains for a year. Even though the winters here are cool and rainy, the people in the area continue to water their lawns no matter what, even during heavy rain storms. They never stop.

Depending on where you live, you may not see the issue with this. I can assure you that you there is a huge issue here. Fact is that California is a major food producing state. It provides fruits, vegetables, nuts, stock feed, etc. The environmentalists in the state and in Washington DC have successfully turned most of the water off to the farmers. They have effectively shut the irrigation canals down. Fruit trees, fields, and vines are drying up. We won't have any food to eat, but our lawns will be green. Yahoo!

I lived in Washington State for many years. The mere suggestion of exportation of their water to the dry states could invoke a fight. And for good cause. If you've seen the expanses of lawn in California, you have to question why California always needs more water. The farmers are begging for water for their fields, but it seems things like frogs in San Francisco and the useless and over-populated Sacramento River delta smelt have a stronger lobby than the farmers. BTW, these little fishes are traditionally used as bait.

This is a prime example of what happens when bleeding-heart liberal nutjobs like the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Animal Defense Fund, et al can do to affect our way of life. Ask the US Forest Service and residents around Lake Tahoe about all the good the Sierra Club has done as they watched their homes go up in smoke. Greenpeace is a radical group that interfers with legal fishing operations and as a side business allegedly imports marijuana from South America.

There are mountains of information on the green movement and how they affect US food production. All one has to do is go the internet or a public library. Don't take my word for it, go check it out for yourself. I dare you.

Mexican S'mores on the Grill

This recipe is a twist on the traditional s'mores and is great for camping or backyard grilling with kids. You can change it up with peanut butter in place of the marshmallow creme. You can cook in the oven or in a lightly greased skillet. Let your imagination run wild.

* Spread 1/2 of an 8 inch tortilla with marshmallow creme

* Sprinkle chocolate chips over the marshmallow creme

* Crush graham crackers in hand and sprinkle over the the chocolate chips

* Fold the other side over the filling and wrap in aluminum foil

* There is no specific cooking time as it depends on the amount of heat and cooking method. Just wing it.

* Tortilla should be slightly crisp when ready.

Bon appetite!

Factoid : Global Warming

In order, the biggest contributors to global warming are:

1) Oceans

2) Dying vegetation

3) Animals

4) Volcanos

Per the National Center for Policy Analysis, 95% of all CO2 is produced by nature, NOT man. I don't know what you were taught in biology class, but I learned that plants use CO2 and produce oxygen for us to breath. Surprise! CO2 is plant food, not a pollutant. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are currently at the lowest levels ever found in history as discovered by ice core and soil core samples.

This ain't rocket science, kids. It is basic biology and geology however. Environmentalists use climate data spanning the last few hundreds years. Geologists use data spanning thousands of years. The data speaks for itself.

Who is trying to deceive us and for what reason?

Freakin' Out

Why, oh why did I look up? There it was with its slightly smaller friend just waiting to drop. I had the Battle Royale last evening with these monsters. I was armed with Windex (couldn't find any bug spray) to poison them and the pooper scooper pan to whack 'em plus a golf putter for good measure, and it still took me nearly an hour to kill them. I couldn't remember seeing spiders like these before, so I got on the web (haha) and looked them up. OMG! Who the hell knew that there were Brown Widow Spiders? The female was huge--bigger than any Black Widow I'd ever seen. Her body was the size of a medium green grape plus the legs. These creatures are the same color as the stucco on the house. I hope there are no others. Somebody needs to call the bug man.

Spider Update

Bug Man cometh. He must have been feeling my anguish because I didn't call him. He confirmed my spiders are Brown Widow. He even showed me one hanging on the coach light. He says they are not poisonous. Hmm . . . word on the Web (pun intended) is that they are poisonous but not aggressive like their cousins the Black Widow. He said the locals call them Sun Spiders because they don't hide like the Black Widows.

Doin' the Icky-Spider Dance again.

These Cats Got It Goin' On. Where have you heard this music?

GM aka Government Motors

Hey! Look at the new GM family of cars coming to a dealership near you. These are just working models and not yet on the production line. Please note the built-in teleprompters on the blue model. Isn't it amazing what wonders will be coming out Detroit now with the government running General Motors!

True story . . . on my 6th Christmas, my parents gave my brothers and I these cool toy cars. An Isetta (the red & white one above) and a car similar to a 1925 Chevrolet Grand Touring Car convertible. I was given the Isetta and begged to trade for the Touring car which my brother got. I cried, "But, I don't want that funny-looking little car." Odd how old impressions stick with you through your entire life. I still don't want a funny-looking car.

I've learned to be a little more gracious toward the gifts I've been given since then.

Zula

Isn't this a great photo? It speaks to a different time and place. Note the bobbed hair and "spit curl" peeking out from under the sombero, the moccasins, and what must be red lipstick. I've imagined the tie around her neck as dark blue or black and the sash at her waist as multi-colored or varigated. I hope it was bright colors. This photo was taken on a ranch in Texas circa 1920. The young woman is my great-aunt. Out of the 1000s of photographs I have, this is one of my top 10 favorites.

Don't Stone the Messenger

I've always had a lot to say. Some folks would suggest I have too much to say and wish I'd keep my thoughts to myself. Those are the ones who disagree with me. Others have encouraged me to speak out more often. To tell the story. To give my thoughts and opinions.

The fact is that most of what I've really wanted to say I did keep to myself. You know, it's that "no confessions, no admissions, no photographs" thing. I've never kept a diary or journal primarily for the same reason. I didn't express myself because I didn't want something I said to later come back to haunt me. In some cases, I didn't want to hurt someone's feelings.

Did you know that some companies are now demanding, as condition of hiring, that the potential employee provide their URLs and passwords to their social networking sites? What! It isn't enough that they do criminal and financial background checks? I'd call this an invasion of privacy or at the minimum voyuerism.

I can't and won't say that some of what I have to say won't be offensive for a variety of reasons, but it is not my intention particularly to do so or to be shocking. I'll publish here whatever I deem fit whether it is related to current affairs, religion, family, social issues, or politics. I currently have no specific issue to address by creating this blog. For this reason, this could become an interesting experiment, so hang on and enjoy the ride. . .