The Geek Files

Back in the Saddle Again

2009-04-02T16:34:00.001-07:00

Having finally found my blog and blogger voice again after a long absence, I have decided to get back to the work of putting my thoughts and opinions back out in the public eye. So much has happened since my last blog on Nov 14, 2006 .

First thing you need to know is that that date was the last birthday my father celebrated in this lifetime as he passed away on October 17th 2007. He was back then, and still is one of my heroic figures and a great guiding influence in my life. I miss greatly hearing his voice and talking with him about everything (sports, religion, my work, politics).

The GREAT news is that i know that i will see him again in an earth made new at the second coming of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

Work continues to be awesome ... i truly do love what i do as a technical document writer/editor and senior trainer at my company (Volcano Corporation). We make a wide variety of diagnostic devices to assist in inverventional cardiology.

i am blessed with a great many friends both in my home church, my town and county and all over the world as well. I recently started to get back in touch with alot of them via Faceboook (if you don't have it .... GET IT!!!!!).

As i look back when i started this blog i will again be putting down special thanks to different groups of the Armed Forces but i have also decided to add to that law enforcement and public safety agencies who i also believe deserve our constant and unsverving thanks for doing what needs to be done but tht no one else is willing or able to do....

As in that first blog i will be selfish and send my first thanks to the Law Enforcement/Public Safety Agency and their personnel to my local area and give a round of honor and thanks to the men and women of the El Dorado Sheriff's Department (with particular thanks to the Dispatch Center folks (yes indeed there you go Jonsey and crew). THANKS A MILLLION.

So ....with all duu respect and admiration for Sir Elton John let me just re-word one of his songs for a brief monent and say .... "the geek is back!"

At long last .... a new edition of The Geek Files

2006-11-14T20:07:00.000-08:00

Greetings to all and a hearty thank you for not giving up on "The Geek". Things have been very hectic and extremely busy these last six months or so since my last filing; and while nothing has changed i am taking this opportunity to re-acquaint myself to my faithful readers and audience. New things are coming to "The Geek Files" some of you will be pleasantly surprised and happy and others of you will be greatly disappointed and perhaps will take your readership to other, newer, or better blogs .... oy vey as is said by the ancestral homeland or as the French would observe c'est la vie.

To wit .... from henceforth the focus of this blog will be changing and while it will still be a random collection of thoughts those thoughts will be focused more on certain subjects near and dear to "The Geek's" heart and less random than previously published.

For after all what good is a "bully pulpit" if one does not use it????

So as a much admired colleague of sorts would say ...... "Stand by .... for News".

While the political arean will still get its fair share of input and remarks and anything having to do with the wonderful men and women of our ARMED FORCES and their well-being and appreciation of their selflessness and bravery will still be a MAJOR focus of this epic yet understated tome, there will be much more of a focus on at part of my life that while understated so far has always been a major factor in what and why i do what i do including write this blog.

I believe that one can either be bold and unafraid to speak their views or one can hide in the shadows and never let it be known what their thoughts are; one can put forth their point of view and invite conversation or one can be silent .... however if one chooses to be silent then they must be aware that their action or lack thereof carries consequences and risks of never becoming passionate or having their view heard or voiced and they may also never know to what extent their views are shared by others.

It was for this reason that i began "The Geek Files" and it is still to that end that i must now shift some of my focus to a new arena ... a new adventure so to speak in the development of my life, my passion, my calling and my responsibility to myself as it relates to my own feelings and defined measurement of self-worth and self-actualization as well as to the betterment of my community and my world.

If i am (stealing well-known phraseology with pride) to "Be all i can be" i must indeed "stand for something" or conversely fall for anything ...

thus it is that i search for morality, creativity, respect both of others, and from others ....

and so as Yul Brenner so eloquently stated so long ago in the epic C B DeMille extravaganza ....

"SO LET IT BE WRITTEN ... SO LET IT BE DONE!"

Welcome one and all to the new beginnings of "THE GEEK FILES"

Funner Than The Funnest Fun

2006-07-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

So if you go here and read the words you will have just a glimpse of how my week at summer camp really was .... http://www.foxhome.com/ferngully2/html/sing/sing_lyrics2.html

A special thanks to all the wonderful staff and campers at Leoni Meadows for the opportunity to hang out and have fun with a purpose ....

If you love to work with kids -- a week of volunteering at summer camp is just about the best way to relax i can think of.

On a more personal family note for those who do not know yet ... on Saturday July 22, 2006 i became an Aunt for the fourth time to go along with being an Uncle three times ....

So ... please give a rousing GEEK FILES welcome to the newest member of the Hicks family ... Jasmine, born to Jeff and Roshan at 11:34 am (vitals for those into statistics are 8 pounds 11 ounces, 20 1/2 inches long) both parents and baby are doing well ..... (pictures still as of yet unavailable).

Many of my faithful readers have asked why i do not talk at great length of my personal views on many of the world events happening. The biggest reason is that i do not want this BLOG to become a vitriolic (which always seems to happen) sounding board for the many and varied views that i and all of you my readers have. I do, and will continue to speak out on those subjects for which i have a BURNING PASSION; however if i do not feel the overwhelming desire to discuss a subject i will not even mention it in passing.

There will also be topics that i DO have a BURNING PASSION for that will also NOT be discussed in this BLOG. I do not mind sharing my views (just ask my good friend Pete or any of the millions of other people who have been subjected to more than an hour's conversation with me like ... yes you Mister Brownlie with your hand up in the back of the room ....); however my fear with broaching either topics for which there may be massive disagreement or where i am extremely impassioned is that the argument becomes the focus rather than the issue and so, despite possessing the familial genes (as well as the Faded Glory's) of the love of the argument i will more often than not choose not to give voice to the arguments via this GEEK FILES forum.

Hopefully that answers the queries i have recently received regarding opinionated issues.

Also belated shout outs for a Happy birthday to my favorite cousin ..... you know who you are (Sheryl) 7/22 and still OLDER THAN ME ....

please to all my other cousins do NOT write in and complain i can only pick one ....

and also my niece MARCI ....

To close this edition i believe a quote from the movie BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE offered up at this time will be of benefit not just to each of us as individuals but as collective entities throughout human society .....

"Be excellent to each other."

Thanks for listening and as always remember that THE GEEK FILES is brought to you by the letters K and W and the number 7.

Its sum ... sum .... summer time !!!!!!!!

2006-07-06T21:34:00.000-07:00

and we all know what that means .... YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS ice cream, baseball, water balloon fights and SUMMER CAMP!!!!

and so for the second year in a row i shall be traveling this next week to the GREATEST JOB you DONT GET PAID FOR .... at the GREATEST SUMMER CAMP ....

thats right ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, cats and rats and elephants .... truly the 9th wonder of the modern world ..... LMC....

A week at summer camp is more fun than any (and especially this) human should ever be allowed to have .... and NOT just because of the GREAT FOOD .... the atmosphere ... the clean air and trees .... and most importantly for one of my advancing and mature years .... the daily quiet time nap at 1:00 pm.

Its not all fun and games though i do have to talk every day (yea there's a horrible thing huh!!! Imagine having to talk for 5-7 minutes twice a day) ... oh the indescribible pain and anguish of it all.

I know that all of my faithful and loyal readers will shower me with letters of condolence and amazing gifts upon my return and so i thank you all in advance. MONEY is alsays an acceptable form of recoupment after one has had such an adventure as mine.

I have been packed and ready since April just so you know. As always all the gripping details will be made available right here on THE GEEK FILES just as soon as i return.

Oh Padawan Learner ... since you have started your summer festivities at LMC already (and might have missed these) here are a few headlines from around the world ... just for you!!!!

As noted on page 12 of the Sao Paulo Herald ....

É realmente uma coisa sad para relatar que a flor de Orlando está casada ainda muito feliz.

From the Inside fold on Page 2 Section B of Pravda ....

Реально будет унылой вещью для того чтобы сообщить что цветене orlando все еще очень счастливо поженено.

Found on page 17 of Kumhuryet ....

Είναι πραγματικά ένα λυπημένο πράγμα για να αναφέρει ότι η άνθιση του Ορλάντο είναι ακόμα πολύ ευτυχώς παντρεμένη.

and finally from the Amsterdam Daily News ...

Het werkelijk is een droevig ding om te rapporteren dat de Bloei van Orlando nog zeer gelukkig gehuwd is.

I hope you have enjoyed this short trip around the world discovering all the news they care to print.

well its been a fun little bit of silliness tonight .... at least it has been for me!

THE GEEK FILES is brought to you today by the letters M and Q and the number 11.

Good night everybody .... thanks for listening and caring ....

remember while only you can prevent forrest fires ...... only Listerine can prevent the gum disease gingivitis.

"When in the course of human events ....

2006-07-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

it becomes necessary for one people to separate themselves, to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Ã—

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, Ã— That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Yesterday, July 4th, 2006 was the 230th anniversary of the afore-quoted document, and to quote the Honorable A. Lincoln, "It is altogether fitting and proper" that we should take a moment out of our busy hectic and stress-filled hours to reflect upon them and our rights and more importantly our RESPONSIBILITIES to them.

Freedom as many have said is not free but paid for by the blood of patriots, citizens, heroes and ordinary men and women who in times of need do extra-ordinary things and accomplish extra-ordinary deeds.

Men and women of all races, colors, creeds ..... average AMERICANS .... Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen, Firefighters, Law Enforcement professionals, Doctors, Nurses, Teachers, Storekeepers, Waste Management workers, Construction tradesmen, Secretaries .... vocations and avocations too numerous to list them all in a million pages let alone this one small blog ... WE THE PEOPLE .... proud, strong, caring, giving ... AMERICANS--doing what we do best .... dreaming of hope, liberty, equality of opportunity, the pursuit of personal happiness, searching for and providing freedom of speech, press, religion to do ... or not to do ....

This is our day .... a day of independence to be independent and yet to also be depended upon ... by our senior citizens; by our children and grandchildren to keep our world available for their use; by our friends and neighbors in countries around the globe to help in times of need and distress; to those who guard our way of life in the far reaches of the globe keeping watch upon the walls ....for support and grateful thanks for a thankless job WELL DONE.

A day and a time which we should remember and give thanks for EVERY DAY and EVERY HOUR of EVERY DAY .... a day to truly as Benjamin Franklin so eloquently put it "hang together" as one NATION, UNDER GOD (or not if you so believe), INDIVISIBLE ....

A day and a time to together and with each other, EVERY ONE, "pledge our lives, our fortunes and our SACRED HONOR." We as a race of humans, in our various nationalities, cultural heritages, dreams, aspirations and goals are independent in how we get there , where we are going and why we want to get where we are going .... but we are also dependent upon each other ... being part of the whole as the world moves forward.

I am proud to be free to write, and think and speak and worship as I wish; i am proud to have served in duty to my country as a member of its Armed Forces for over 10 years (10 years four months 2 days and 13 hours to be exact) ... i am proud to say that MY country despite all its many faults (and there ARE INDEED MANY) is still the best, brightest, greatest human endeavor ever attempted 230 years strong and still providing that "Shining city on the Hill" .... that place of refuge for tired, poor huddled masses -- with Liberty and Justice (imperfect as it may seem to be) for ALL.

Happy Birthday ... WE THE PEOPLE ..... for that is what makes AMERICA great .... its people!!! WE THE PEOPLE ..... are the freedom and liberty and justice and opportunity and compassion. WE THE PEOPLE ..... will continue to be so for as along as we remember that the SOURCE of all that is good is not the government or some program but WE OURSELVES ... THE PEOPLE ... guided by DIVINE PROVIDENCE .... and LOVE FOR ALL MANKIND.

MAY GOD GRANT HIS RICHEST BLESSINGS TO EACH AND EVERY ONE and CONTINUE TO BLESS OUR COUNTRY.

-- The Geek --

New Beginnings ...

2006-05-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

with appologies to Bucks Fizz ..... especially since i enjoyed their music for many years.

It is however fitting since this past week has been replete with new things ..... old endings and new beginnings.

As most if not all of my regular readers know i do not have children of my own ... preferring to rent them by the hour. I have however, through 15 or so years as a volunteer in various organizations such as 4-H, Pathfinders, Orr's Martial Arts and various other youth activities, collected quite a few adoptee children for whom i feel just as proud of if they were indeed my own.

This past week saw endings and new beginnings for four of them through graduations from 8th Grade and High School (and next week my nephew Philip also graduates from 8th grade).

It is with much pride that i point out to my readers the accomplishments of these wonderful young men and women and say very publically that am very proud of their accomplishments, their excellent characters and their potential for continuing to accomplish GREAT THINGS. They have wonderful families, parents, grandparents, friends and others who have done a truly outstanding job of guiding and framing their lives to this point and they each have committed much time to the pursuit of excellence not only in school activities but community service and life skills as well.

Henry Barnes Tigri .... (Hankster)

you have always been a source of wonderment and laughter. You truly are one of a kind. Together we have shared many a carton of Phish Food, Crunch Berries and movies. Congratulations again on your success as Valedictorian of your class. May your future always be as happy and bright as you are.

Amy Theresa Tigri .... (Aim)

i have watched you grow from a cute little girl into a wonderful young lady. Despite what others might think you truly are kind and caring ... Never give up on your dreams; continue to think positively and you will conquer the world.

PS .... im really sorry that your dog likes me better but Sherman said to tell you that he is really happy to be yours and ever so grateful to be alive.

Christopher Charles Ruller ... (Grand Nagus)

You have come a long way since we first met. It has been my priveledge to watch you grow into a wonderful young gentleman (yes even tough football heros can be gentlemen) and you have succeeded at both -- tremendously well. Never forget that success is mostly a measure of the hard work you put into it and you will win at the most important game of all ... life.

Felicia Lubecki ... (Padawan Learner)

Sorry but i can never remember all your middle names so i left them off. You have a great gift my young jedi friend ... Continue to seek out the best of everything in life and never lose sight of that gift and you will reap GREAT rewards that will last throughout your lifetime. See you along with the cubbies ..... I'll bring the Jambas.

Philip Wesley Horger ... (Pilip Davidovich)

You are an extremely talented young man with unlimited potential to make your world a better place to be. Learn from your Uncle's experience ... life takes discipline, hard work and a constant drive to succeed. As long as you keep God first in all things you can never go wrong.

This week has also marked the end of another year of Pathfinders and Adventurers and to all the staff, parents, young people, volunteers and church family as members of the Shingle Springs Soul Miners i say again thank you for the wonderful year ... each of you have taught me so much over the past four years. I could not ask for a better group to work for and with then YOU!!!

On a more personal note ...

this week also marked an end and new beginning for me as well as my faithful automotive form of transportation since 1997 finally expired after nearly 180,000 miles of use. The "larry-mobile" will be missed by many especially those for whom it meant a smile at the sight of the "I love my permanent make-up" bumper sticker (sorry Tamara ... the free advertizing has come to an end) and the perpetual unwashed state that provided many a budding artist with a pallette from which to create.

The new vehicular modus transportii is off to a great start however there is one small element missing ... a name. Since i so far have drawn a blank (except for calling him Guido after Father Sarducci) and because so many of my faithful readers have in person complained about calling him/her that i will open this new beginning with a naming contest.

and so here is a picture to get you started .... just picture a white exterior with black accents (and light beige-tan interior) instead of the silver shown here ....

LASTLY BUT MOST DEFINITELY NOT LEASTLY ....

as is fitting on this Memorial Day .... please join me in prayerful and solemn rememberance of those fallen in the Service of Our Country ... both those of my personal friends and compatriots ... Mark S. Makowski, Steven F. Parker, 2Lt Dewayne F Danielson; those of whom i know only through their exploits and their honored place in our nation's history; and those thousands upon hundreds of thousands whom are known only to their families and friends. May GOD in HIS MERCY grant each of us PEACE that passes all understanding ... LOVE that truly knows no boundaries ... GRACE to comfort every hurt ... and LIFE lived to the fullest in service to others as those of our fallen brothers and sisters have given ...

IN LOVING AND ETERNAL MEMORY AND GRATEFULNESS TO THEM ...

i remain .... "The Geek"

Mark this date and time on your calendars ..... it may never happen again

2006-04-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

Yes my friends today, May 12th, in the year 2006 AD .... at approximately 1415 hours local Pacific Daylight Time, there occurred an event of not only momentous importance in the space-time continuum but also one of its absolute rarest events too (considering that until that specific moment it had NEVER EVER BEFORE HAPPENED in the entire HISTORY of THE WORLD Part 1 (and Parts 2-present inclusive).

To quote Sean Connery among many others ... "Never Say Never ..." for even the most wildly unimagined things do sometimes defy all laws of logic, physical science, faith and reality all at the same time.

By now of course many of you are screaming at your computer screens ... "Enough with the build-up get to the point;" and so i shall ....

Today for the first time ever the Sacramento Bee and I AGREE editorially ....

WHEW ... i thought we lost you there .... now that you have overcome your shock and are re-reading this having been administered smelling salts by whoever found you comatose and unresponsive, i state again yes it is TRUE .... i agree 100% with the Sacramento Bee in its editorial content and outlook regarding the position of LT GOVERNOR .... to wit i quote in part ...

"... California should abolish the office of lieutenant governor. As former Gov. Pete Wilson once said, the lieutenant governor's main job is "to get up every morning and inquire about the health of the governor." It is a pathetic misuse of taxpayers' dollars."

To read the editorial in its entirety click here .... (free registration required to view).

WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR NORMALLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM .... BUT FIRST A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS .....

This weekend is the annual Post Office Food Drive ... as someone who through the PATHFINDER youth mentoring program organizes a food drive every year, i STRONGLY URGE everyone who reads THE GEEK FILES to sort through your cupboards and pantries and give as large and meaningful donation of non perishable foodstuffs as you can to this worthy cause ... just follow the directions of the program noted below and GIVE A LITTLE ... to SAVE A LOT.

The drive, which collected 71.3 million pounds of food last year, is being held in 10,000 cities and towns in all states. The carriers are asking people to leave donations of items such as canned meat and soup, cereal, rice and pasta, in a bag near their mailbox prior to their mail delivery this Saturday, May 13th, 2006.

and as always thank you for your support ...

GOD BLESS EACH OF YOU, MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES (active, ex, retired, Guard and Reserve) and THEIR FAMILIES and may HE continue to BLESS AMERICA ....

Enough Already ... its not LIFE AND DEATH

2006-03-30T14:56:00.000-08:00

OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER:

the views expressed by THE GEEK are his and his alone. They may or may not agree with yours .... DEAL WITH IT!!!!

With the constant swirl surrounding who did what or when and with whom again stalking the new baseball season it is time for this blog to take a firm stand as regards this. I have been a fan of baseball since before i can remember attending Oakland A's games from 69-present on a regular basis and the occasional foray into Giant's territory as well for at lest one game a season. I love both teams and root for both -- yes even during the inter-league games i want both teams to play their best.

However my enthusiasm has been dampened in past years not because im losing my love for the game but because im losing my patience with people who cant seem to talk about anything except for STEROIDS.

so here is my thought .... I admit it i use steroids and have ever since i was 19-20.... i have athsma and one of my inhalers is a steroid ... its administered by my doctor and i take is as directed. Whew i feel so much better knowing now that all my records that i compiled in my years of intra-mural play with the USAF can get their richly deserved asterisks. I also had knee surgery to tear out and replace the cartilage ... again im glad for the opportunity to clear this up as well.... but wait thats right knee surgery or tommy john surgery or lasik eye surgery those are all medical procedures done under medical supervision but no one is saying that those "performance enhancing" procedures should have records with asterisks.

So here we go again .... having a mostly uninformed or misinformed group of people deciding what is and isn't an accepted practice. "Greenies" were prevalent during the 50s and 60s in sports but you don't hear anyone saying that records of those people should be stripped either ... nor that they are unfit for the hall of fame. Lets face it there are felons in the hall folks ... serious crime felons but no one complains about that.

Its time we all quit trying to make baseball when we were kids seem so much more pure than it really was.... our rose colored view of the past in all its elements is not so much how it really was but how we wanted it to be.

A doctor performing graft surgery so a pitcher can pitch 10 more years is acceptable and no one puts any asterisks on their accomplishments but a player who gets from medical personnel a supplement that helps strengthen muscles or heal quicker is cited and ostracized?????

please say it aint so joe ....

Medical science has progressed steadily since the beginning of time. Today's records are going to be shattered in decades by players with robotic arms laser focusing eyes or advances in nutritional medicine that we have no idea about today just as aerobics were not widely known about in the 40s. It always been this way and it will always be that way. and those of you who think that ball players from the 1900-1930 era would not have taken advantage of EVERY medical advance had it been available in their time are fooling yourselves ... they would have in a heartbeat and everyone knows that too.

Anyway my advice is quit harping about it all and just enjoy the game ..... because in 10-15 years it will be new advances in medicine and if we don't realize that we will be back again griping about how that new generation of player has such an advantage over the players of the 1990-2005 era.

and since its baseball again .... my april predictions ....

AL West - Oakland .... and not just for sentimental reasons.
AL Central - Cleveland
AL East - Toronto
AL Wild Card - New York

AL Champs - Cleveland

NL West - Giants but only for sentimental reasons (i think the LA team really will)
NL Central - St Louis
NL East - New York (ending Atlanta's long run)
NL Wild Card - Atlanta

NL Champs - St Louis

World Series Champs - Cleveland ... thus ending another long drought.

And now a few words about real heroes .... On March 23, 2006 a true American Hero passed away. I was privileged to meet him, shake his hand and give him a salute in August 2004 at the Faith on Fire Camporee held in Oskkosh, Wisconsin; at which he was one of our honored guests. His name is Desmond Doss and he is in the greatest tradition of America a true hero. Winner of the Medal of Honor for action in WWII during the battle to take Okinawa ... thus becoming the only NON-COMBATANT to ever win this nation's highest honor.

This Ladies and Gentlemen is what a REAL HONEST HERO looks like. Our movie stars and sports heros are nothing when compared to Mister Doss and millions of others like him who served, bled and died in many cases for the cause of freedom, the cause of honor, the cause of right.

Desmond T. Doss seemed an unlikely candidate to become a war hero. As a devout member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, he would not drill or train on Saturday because his church recognizes it as their Sabbath Day. He would not carry a gun because he believed all killing was wrong. He wouldn't even eat meat after seeing a chicken flopping around with its head cut off.

23-year-old Desmond Doss entered service as a medic for the 77th Infantry Division. From the beginning, the other men in his company made fun of Doss for his beliefs. Even though he worked long, hard hours to make up for not working on Saturday, the men cursed, ridiculed, and taunted him. Each night as he knelt beside his bunk to pray, the men swore at him and threw their boots at him. When Doss quietly read his small Bible, as he often did, the men cursed him even more. One man even went so far as to tell him that he would personally kill Doss when they got into combat. Not only did the men not like Doss, even though he did nothing to them, but the Army just didn't know what to do with a soldier who would not work on Saturday, who wouldn't carry a gun, and who didn't eat meat. At one point, his commanding officer tried to initiate a Section Eight (unfit for military service) discharge, but Doss vehemently fought the move, saying he really did want to serve his country, he just didn't want to kill. He remained in the Army to the great displeasure of most of his officers and fellow soldiers.

By now, his fellow soldiers were used to his reading the Bible and praying, so it didn't seem unusual when, on that April 29th morning in 1945, he suggested that they might want to pray. They were facing a sheer 400-foot cliff that split the island of Okinawa known as the Maeda Escarpment. It would be necessary to attack and capture this area. The men of Company B bowed their heads as Doss offered a prayer for safety. Then they began to struggle up the sheer cliff face. His unit captured the 400-foot Maeda Escarpment in an incredible sweep in which not one man was killed and only one minor injury was sustained. When a photographer arrived to capture the moment and asked how they pulled it off, Doss' company commander answered, "Doss prayed!"

However on May 5th the tide turned against the Americans as the Japanese launched a huge counterattack. Enemy fire raked Company B and almost immediately 75 men fell wounded. The remaining troops who were able to flee, retreated back down to the base of the escarpment. Left at the top of the cliff were the wounded, the Japanese, and Desmond T. Doss. For the next five hours, while his wounded comrades fought back their attackers, Doss began to lower man after man to safety down the face of the cliff using little more than a tree stump and a rope. Doss said that he just kept praying that the Lord would let him rescue one more man. No one knows for sure how many men Doss lowered to safety that day. The Army determined that this medic, whom no one had wanted in the Army, had personally saved 100 lives. Doss humbly said it couldn't have been more than 50. Because of Doss humble estimate, when the citation for his Medal of Honor was written, they split the difference and he was credited with saving the lives of 75 of his fellow soldiers.

His MH Citation reads:

Desmond Doss, Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. He was a company aid man when the lst Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high. As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them 1 by 1 to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On 2 May, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On 5 May, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.

Other unknown, unsung real heroes are men like Mike Sprouill, Director of the Food Bank of El Dorado County who make it their duty to see that no one goes hungry on his watch; or Officer Jim King (deceased) of the Sacramento Police Department who served to protect his fellow man and the hundreds and thousands like him who patrol our streets in the cause of freedom and peace; women like Mindy Ryan and Lori Bull and men like Howard Bryant and Rich Kubota -- life savers in the medical field; Teachers like Don Lovelace, Jerry Zappia, Marsha McMullen and Marilee Griswold who gave and still give of their best for the youth of our nation.

I have always admired those who were athletically gifted, those who were artistically gifted because i wanted to be and loved to be involved in both sports and the performing arts ... i was never very good though but i played because i loved to ... baseball, football, basketball, acting, singing and band .... yes i was a band geek and even today i admire the actor who can fulfill their role to its utmost ... morgan freeman, clint eastwood, james gandolfini, denzel washington, rene russo, meg ryan, sandra bulllock just to name a few and i greatly admire athletes who can do amazing things that no one else can ... like barry bonds, kobe bryant, wayne gretzky, danica patrick, picabo street, bret favre; but there is and always must be a huge difference between admiration of talent and admiration of character .... REAL HEROES don't depend on talent ... they act on CHARACTER.

A Few Random Thoughts in Passing

2006-03-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

Barney: "Nip it in the bud! You got to nip it in the bud! ... Nip it! You go read any book you want on the subject of child discipline, and you'll find that every one of 'em is in favor of bud-nippin'. ... Only one way to take care of it."

Andy: "Nip it."

Barney: "In the bud."

There was just something about him that made you laugh ... the lone bullet in his pocket, his "me-they" voice lessons ... and a seemingly endless repertoire of facial and body expressions.

As my blog info so politely informs you i am a frustrated comedian. There has always been something about comedy and humor that appealed to me as a communicative forum. this last week the world lost one of its GREAT funny men ... Mr. Don Knotts, forever known to persons of my era and even a few years older as Bernard P. Fife, Deputy Sheriff, Mayberry.

Mr Knotts was pure comedic genius not just in words but in the physical side of humor as well ... one of my favorite physical comedy scenes is the one that featured Barney and a flea-ridden mutt named Blue who Barney was going to turn into a tracking dog. Don Knotts was one of the few who could pull off the scene of gamely yet almost failing to pull the unwilling dog into the office on a leash around the half closed door ....

They dont make them like Mr. Knotts anymore and we are all lessened by his absence. Farewell Mister Limpet ... you truly were one of the best ever.

This next item should make your blood boil over ... i can tell you mine did.

PFC Joshua Sparling of the 82nd Airborne division was wounded in Ramadi, Iraq and while recovering at Walter Reed Medical center was sent a sick "death-wish" card over Christmas. It was the only Christmas Card he received.

As reported on by Michelle Malkin and Sean Hannity there is a growing effort to ask our readers to send your thanks and well wishes to PFC Joshua Sparling or to any wounded military member c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Avenue N.W., Washington, DC -5001. PFC Sparling's leg will have to be amputated below the knee--but he wants to "get back to [Fort Bragg] and "jump right back in his unit (the 82nd Airborne)."

Also please check out Landry's Life for pictures and more in-depth information on how you can send thanks to other service members at home and abroad.

As a proud veteran myself who spent a lot of his time in foreign countries, i can tell you that NOTHING beats knowing that the folks back home support you and wish you the best. Please take a brief moment of your busy life to remember and thank those men and women who stand on the front line of defense so you can ENJOY that busy and free life ....

A few final thoughts ...

All of us lead such busy lives filled with stress anxiety, "running to and fro" and increasing our knowledge as the prophet Daniel records. I know for myself there are many people i KNOW i should call or e-mail or visit but i always seem to be rushing around and never quite find the time. Perhaps you have had this experience as well. I need ... no need is not urgent enough .... i MUST ABSOLUTELY WITHOUT FAIL .... take the time to do the needful things in life.

For many weeks now i have known of an old family friend who was suffering from terminal cancer and though i expressed my thoughts to members of his family and asked them to pass on my best wishes and concerns for them i also kept telling myself i needed to stop by and make that personal visit and contact as well -- but things kept being busy and i never seemed to find the time.

Mister Bob passed away this Sunday past and in his passing MY time for showing him my concern and appreciation for him has also passed and nothing on this earth can ever change that fact and i am left with dealing with the "coulda shoulda woulda" of another missed opportunity to serve and help my fellow man.

and so ... i ask my loyal readership to keep me honest ... remind me of the IMPORTANT things in life ... not the job, not the toys, not the food .... but the people; the friends, neighbors, family and loved ones who truly are the most important thing (or should be) in an otherwise meaningless existence.

I hope that we, all of us, will remember to in the words of the old well worn cliches "strike while the iron is hot" and "seize the day" to accomplish as much lasting good as we can each day and not put it off until the 'morrow.

Silly Rabbit ....

2006-02-19T20:43:00.000-08:00

"Whut we have heah ... is Failure to communicate."

The Preacher once noted that everything in life is not just a vanity but moreso even a "vanity of vanities" and that all the labors of man fruitless in the eternal scheme of time.

Still it is, even to our day, a thing not taken much lightly to be stoic in our own worth and the rightness of our thinking our values our goals. Everyone has their personal set of values, beliefs, standards etc. and in our search for favor and companionship we naturally gravitate to others among us with like goals, standards and values and this is right in that we can gain both approval and support for them and also this keeps us from needless argument and belligerence with those who do not share them.

my point and i do have one, is not so much to say that MY thoughts, values, beliefs and goals are better than anyone else's al though i do truly believe that the indeed are but rather to show by using myself as the test subject that sometimes we focus on all the wrong things or at least not always the important things happening around us.

I am reminded of the lines of the fictional president Andrew Sheperd in the movie The American President who in his fiery last minute press conference speech intoned the following "We have serious problems and serious issues that need serious answers. This is a time for serious people..."

We DO INDEED have serious problems requiring serious answers ...

We have an insatiable thirst for foreign oil fed not just by our usage but also by our absolute inability to either get more and find more at home or come up with alternatives such as nuclear power ,increased hydroelectric power and cleaner more efficient use of coal and a million other ways that no one cares about. Not because the answers aren't out there but because EVERYONE is INSISTING that THEIR WAY is the ONLY WAY and its NEVER gonna change.

We have a retirement plan that is out of money, spending more and needing TONS more while the amount of people paying into the system is about to make a sharp u turn in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION but we can't fix it because to do so will require a radical rethinking of how and who and why and when and the ENTRENCHED POWERS refuse to see what we the people do ... a system that can be so much better

We have an educational system that is not only an economic DRAIN but FAILING MISERABLY in every aspect except for the amount of money being continually thrown at the problem in hopes that t will magically fix all the broken parts. MONEY IS NOT THE ANSWER .... never has been never will be not for education not for anything. SERIOUS ANSWERS that involve parental choice, that reward excellence instead of mediocracy, accountability by students parents teachers administrators and EVERY ONE of us are out there ... all we have to do is let the clean fresh air of ideas and vision go to work instead of hanging on to the FAILED POLICIES of the past and you will be AMAZED at the RESULTS we will achieve. I say YOU will be amazed ... personally i will NOT BE amazed because our country throughout its entire history has not only been on the cutting edge of EVERY GREAT DISCOVERY we have led the world there.

I was a child of the 60s and 70s born in 1961 and i was the greatest cheerleader of AMERICA i knew. During my childhood we not only could do we DID the IMPOSSIBLE ... moon rockets, wiping out diseases, feeding the world while using less land, reaching out attaining impossible heights in medicine, agriculture, freedom from want and striving for equality of opportunity for all. AMERICA then was, as my hero Ronald Wilson Reagan so aptly put it, "a shining city on the hill", we could and DID great and marvelous things and because we are AMERICANS we can continue to do GREAT and MARVELOUS things together if we will but free ourselves from our small-mindedness and entrenched ways so that TRUE FREEDOM of expression and enterprise and intellect can SHINE FORTH across the waves beckoning all to come, come to where the freedom is ....

and in mentioning that we must also realize that we have a serious problem with ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION .... not IMMIGRATION BUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. No nation can long survive if it does not smoothly run under the rule of law. Without the rule of law not only is OUR NATION doomed for the trash-heap of history but the the entire world will soon follow.

The absence of LAWS is not FREEDOM it is anarchy. The PRESENCE OF LAWS and the FAIR, CONSISTENT AND CONSTANT UPHOLDING AND ENFORCEMENT of THOSE LAWS equate to freedom ... freedom from fear of illegal searches and seizures, freedom from worry about being accosted in your own home by those who would flout the laws, freedom from fear that the next step you take out of your HOMES will be the last you breath because of the illegal weapons the gang down the street are about to use on their unsuspecting neighbors.

MY FRIENDS WE NEED SERIOUS WORKABLE ANSWERS not more mindless RHETORIC. If we desire to continue to be the beacon of truth, light and freedom NOW IS THE TIME to quit our petty bickering about did the VICE PRESIDENT INTEND TO SHOOT HIS HUNTING PARTNER, or WHO CAN WE CATCH CHEATING ON WHOM NEXT, or even WHICH HIGH PAID ATHLETE IS OR IS NOT ON STEROIDS or SLEEPING WITH THE WIFE OF WHICH FAMOUS ACTOR ....

lets face facts ... none of those issues really ranks up there with the BIGGIES of LIFE, LIBERTY, THE PURSUIT of HAPPINESS or even those of forming a more perfect Union, establishing Justice, insuring domestic Tranquility, providing for the common defence, promoting the general Welfare, and securing the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity as so eloquently outlined in the GREATEST DOCUMENTS written by mere mortal men.

Reasonable men can and always will reasonably disagree but reasonable men also know that without decisive action NOTHING will ever happen for the GOOD. Edmund Burke's assertion that "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing" is if possible even more true today than it ever has been.

The call of the old typing test line resonates out to the ends of the earth "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country." Who among us will heed and answer the call to SERIOUSLY SOLVE-- not just to finger point ... TO SERIOUSLY ANSWER -- not just in calling names ... to BOLDLY GO -- RESOLUTE IN THE STRENGTH OF COMMITMENT and CHARACTER ...

who will answer in the words of the GOOD BOOK ... HERE AM I, SEND ME.

the trouble with technology is ...

2006-02-13T21:57:00.000-08:00

we become so attatched to it that when it fails us we have no where else to go .. and so for the past few weeks i have had the unfortunate problem of a dead computer and so while many of you might or might not have noticed there has been no recent "Geek Files" to wrap around your brain (or your leftover fish if you print it out). It also has not helped that the writer/editor/owner of the very self-same "Geek Files" has also be extremely busy at the paying job ... you know ... the one that makes everything else possible.

As a writer, this has been frustrating and would probably been completely unbearable except for the fact that the real paying job is as a writer as well -- granted technical writing and creative personal experience writing are at opposing sides of the spectrum but as any writer will tell you ... any writing you get is better than not being able to get any at all.

Of course so many things have gone on in the weeks since i was able to put thoughts down on the blog ...

Another super bowl has come and gone .... and despite leading their opponents in all the categories you would expect from a winning team the Seattle Seahawks will have to try again next year having become this year what is know in any business as "THE EXCEPTION" that makes the rule. They will be remembered in passing years as the FIRST TEAM not to win when they controlled time of possession, turnovers and total offense. People who know "The Geek" know im not a consipracy theorist but i have to say that when not a single picture of any seattle player or coach was shown holding the Lombardi Trophy during the entire first half, you have to wonder just a tad. And just for the record while it was nice of Hines Ward to say that he had a few TDs taken away from him on similar calls like the one that robbed the seahawks ... c'mon Hines be real man 99.98% of the time thats a call that goes against the defensive player especially when both are pushing off each other. As for the replay on the Big Ben TD .... not even Harry Houdini was that good.

As a sports nut, i like any and all sports -- even ones that dont get a lot of play here in the good ole US of A. A lot of that has to do with being in a lot of foreign countries during my ten year stint in the USAF. Cricket, ruggers, footy, darts, auto racing (all of it not JUST NASCAR), aussie rules, i love them all; and none more so than the summer and winter olympic games. So you will have to excuse me for the next couple weeks as i indulge in my every two year festival of athleticism .... Michelle Kwan showed why everyone, even her fiercest competitors, respect and admire her -- they dont seem to make class athletes that way any more much to our eternal shame.

to end this re-vival blog edition lets tie up a few loose ends shall we?

first .... a very belated happy birthday to the OLDEST ... hey welcome to the fifties soon huh bro? ....

then ... GO GLAM!!!!!! did you forget my invitation????

also ... a BIG LEVEL ONE TEAL CONGRATULATIONS to His Majesty Juan Carlos I, King of Spain on a much deserved and timely position of responsibility.

and ... another BIG SHOUT OUT to The ONE, The ONLY ... CUZ .... glad the job is going great!!!!

finally ... a most heartfelt and truly humble THANK YOU, as always, to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces who despite long hours, thankless weeks filled with anxeity, rotten duty stations and intermably long absences away from families and loved ones in lands all across the globe continue to SERVE PROUDLY and HONORABLY to defend us all.

GOD BLESS AMERICA and GOD BLESS EACH ONE OF YOU!!!!

A Patriot's Act ... or One Cukoo Flew Over the Rest

2005-12-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

With all the discussion going on around me about Leaks and Leakers and the like i though perhaps some of my dedicated readership would like to know my thoughts on the subject especially considering that i used to have something to do with SCI Clearances and the like in a previous life ....

so without further blandishment here goes:

i well remember the day i was "let in" on a new classified project which required a special beiefing in addition to my clearance level. I can still remember the words of the Major giving me the briefing as he had me sign the authorization paperwork.

"Unauthorized disclosure of the information you are about to receive may result in the death of you or another person or persons. Do you understand this warning?"

Did i understand it? OH YEAH!!!!!

evan after all these years i still understand it. which brings me to the part of all this i DONT understand. People who leak things that in their mind they feel are wrong or illegal or just might be illegal are leaking to the WRONG people. Every time i hear one of these people called "patriots" or "heros" because they had the guts to spill their guts to a news reporter it makes me MAD. Dont get me wrong if its illegal someone should tell but there is a mechanism (especially in the government) for doing just that in a legal way .... its called the appropriate House or Senate
CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE .... what is so difficult about calling up the CHAIRMAN of the Intelligence Oversight Committee and telling him your concerns (mind you HE has clearance to hear it while your REPORTER contact does not) and the legal method for handling it will be intact.

ANY person having knowledge of classified information who leask it to an unauthorized individual may very well be causing death, extreme hardship, severe bodily harm or many other not so good consequences to totally innocent persons. IN MY BOOK YOU CAN NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER call such a person who would willingly violate their oath in such a manner a hero or patriot.

REAL HEROS and PATRIOTS can and lots of times do DISAGREE with how things are done, and with you and your opinions but they NEVER NEVER NEVER violate the trust and their sworn word of honor ...

A little bit of Mambo #5 ...

2005-12-02T12:52:00.000-08:00

or ... Potpourri vs Con-pourri

First off let me just say that "The Geek Files" has completed its first full year of publication -- My sincere thanks to all of my devoted readership and even those non-devoted ones for your continued support of this grand adventure into web-publication.

and now on to the important stuff....

This Thanksgiving the entertainment world lost Pat Morita ... better known to my generation as both Arnold on television's "Happy Days" and also Mister Myagi from the "Karate Kid" movie trilogy.

For me the quintessential quote has to be that in the scene of KK1 where Daniel is standing in the bow of the boat trying to learn balance but at the same time continually asking when do i learn _____. The reply given i believe would be one that EVERYONE should learn, know and live ...

"First learn balance, then learn next thing."

If we as humans (and i preach this especially to myself) could only learn balance in living without worrying about what's next or rushing off to do a thousand other different things all at once i think we might be better able to deal with the stresses of life. Just a thought....

On a more personal note .... let me offer congratulations to the entire UMHS football program for their outstanding achievements this year and especially a big HIGH-FIVE to the star senior fullback/linebacker ... CHRISTOPHER RULLER ... keep track of those newspaper clippings my good friend and relish the memories -- just dont forget that past successes do not ensure future success they only help make future ones seem accessible and obtainable. The hard work needed to ensure success NEVER stops .... Congratulations on a GREAT season NAVI.

and on a final note for this BLOG edition ... i must return to my first blog entry and again say with great pride and passion ... a HUGE THANK YOU to all the members of this country's ARMED FORCES .... wherever you are and whatever you do whatever branch of service you are in, as a humble veteran I AM and WILL ALWAYS BE proud to call you a brother in arms ... a hero ... a patriot ...

"The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in [this] crisis, shrink from the service of their country. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. But he who stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." -- Thomas Paine, 1776.

Thank you again one and all for your readership and support. God Bless Us, as Tiny Tim was wont to say .... EVERYONE.

Better late than never --- a sure sign you are doing a bit too much

2005-11-21T13:22:00.000-08:00

I have had no time lately to BLOG which is sad in many ways (unless of course you dont like my blogging - in which case you might be happier if i never did).

So before i get too far, i must acknowledge and send the most heartfelt congratulations on successfully completing another year of living to my father .... FRANKLIN L HICKS, SR. Seventy-two years and still going strong (even better then the Energizer Bunny) ....

Next on the agenda is my review as required by contract of the latest movie attended, "JUST FRIENDS".

From the point of view of an objective movie critic and writer i give the movie 1.5 POCKET PROTECTORS on the "geek-o-meter" scale if you are older than 35; my rating for those from age 13-25 planning on attending is 3 POCKET PROTECTORS; for those between those ranges some of you will see and say "Yep ... it was barely worth the extra .5" while others will wonder why it didnt rate an extra .5 -- Oy Vey ..... just remember that i know that i can never please alla the people alla the time and keep on trucking.....

as a personal note on this movie should have been sub-titled "the Life and Times of L. S. Hicks ... talk about reliving your entire life well this was it. I HATED IT PERSONALLY but it was pretty funny sometimes ... WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY too much dependence on physical fighting between the two brothers though .... i mean did it really have to happen in every scene? I dont think so ..... but again maybe thats just me reacting to seeing my life flash before me on the big screen.

Now to the Serious Stuff ......

WE MUST STAY THE COURSE .... as horrible as it is to hear daily of another life lost in Iraq, we must not lose sight of the even more disastrous effects that leaving too soon would have both there , here in America and around the world. If we cut and run no one not a single group trying to free themselves from terror or tyranny will EVER AGAIN trust us to keep our word. You think we are reviled now ... wait until no one can depend on us to stand unwaveringly beside them in the pursuit of freedom ....

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ... law enforcement officers, fire-fighters, emergency services personnel, youth services volunteers, senior services volunteers, homeless shelter volunteers and EVERYONE else who during the next 6 or so weeks will be asking you to help them help others who are less fortunate then yourself.

Remember also that ours is not to question what they will do with our gift but only to be the giver ... remember also that at this time of year when we celebrate freedom and the giving of thanks for said freedoms that the GREATEST of all FREEDOMS was given to us free of charge and even more importantly without question even when we didnt care if we were FREE and especially if we didnt want to be FREE ....

So give generously not just of your money and time but also of your heart .... share a smile, give a policeman or fireman a hearty "THANKS"; if you know a service member or veteran, snap them a Perfect SALUTE .... it wont cost you anything but you will never be able to calculate in monetary terms the joy and good-will that your simple gift will give to them or how it will grow and spread from person to person ....

I have placed here on the pages of this a couple times before the original Presidential Thanksgiving Declaration of George Washington but it is fitting to do so again and often not just at thanksgiving itself but throughout the entire calendar ....

proclamation of National Thanksgiving

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness." Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

May each one have a Happy Thanksgiving for no matter our personal beliefs each of us has much to be thankful for .... even in the most trying of times.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL and MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS AMERICA ....

"THE GEEK"

wow!!! finally a break in the action ....

2005-11-01T12:39:00.000-08:00

between the middle of October until now i have been swamped with both massive amounts of work, massive amounts of time-consuming volunteer activity with both church and pathfinders and also with the unexpected death of my grandmother and the ensuring aftermath of things that an event of such magnitude provides. However never let it be said that THE GEEK quit writing because he was too busy with everything else. and so .....

Nice to see that the MSM is still alive and bashing .... what bothers me most though is that our PRESIDENT is getting hit from his own side even harder then the opposition ever did. In the wake of his opening dialogue and plans for both tax reform, illegal immigration control, and crisis management all i seem to hear from CONSERVATIVES is how much they hate that it took so long for him to DO anything ..... my advice to all you SCREAMERS (YES DOCTOR SAVAGE THAT INCLUDES YOU!!!) .... give the President a break. Instead of whining about how long it took him to act be grateful that he is TAKING action .... trust me the WORST CONSERVATIVE to MODERATE REPUBLICAN is millions of times better then even the BEST of the OPPOSING SIDE no matter who or what that might be.

LAY OFF THE ATTACKS ON PRESIDENT BUSH (and i might add just for DOCTOR SAVAGE) that means laying off on the SNIDE, RIDICULING REMARKS YOU HEAP ON YOUR FELLOW CONSERVATIVES TOO. Nothing and i do mean NOTHING aids and abets the opposition more then to have inter-familial warfare going on ..... so STOP the FIGHTING AMONGST OURSELVES and get to work putting our bold ideas and plans into action .....

BTW that includes all those in CALIFORNIA who know that this state needs reform but cant stand the fact that ARNOLD is leading it ... GROW UP AND PUT THE PETTY "HATE HATE HATE" stuff behind us and FIX the PROBLEMS or else we will all wind up having to live with the CONSEQUENCES.

The time is now for everyone, as Benjamin Franklin so aptly put it, to "assuredly hang together or else we will all hang separately." With as many entities out there who wish us harm and destruction dont you think its time we all stood together for the COMMON GOOD of the country against all enemies ....

thanks for listening and GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!

UPDATE: Sacramento City council to debate resolution calling for the immediate pullout of troops from Iraq.

PLEASE!!!!!! GIVE ME A BREAK PEOPLE .... can we perhaps discuss the lack of affordable housing or how to fix all the HUGE potholes in the streets or the HOMELESS situation and perhaps FIX maybe one of those before we SPEND hard-earned taxpayer money debating and voting on a resolution that will have absolutely NO EFFECT on the national policy because its a STUPID RESOLUTION that even the most hardened left-leaning liberal recognizes as WRONG?

I never thought i would say this but i agree with ARMSTRONG and GETTY ... its time to replace our disfunctional democracy (which is in name only) with a life-time monarchial appointment.

America ...what a Country!!!!!

2005-09-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

Thank you Yakov Smirnoff ......

but seriously folks America truly is a Great country! In what other country could a small-town small-time, part time writer of an irregularly written Blog become a Powerful Member of the Public Press dispensing wisdom and advice to those who seek after truth?

Thus it was that i found myself in the "Reserved for Members of the Press" section yet again to provide my loyal readers with a glimpse into the little known world of the movie preview .... and so in payment for the ability to see into the future of movies i now present for one and all ... a true and exacting critical review of Thursday night's grand adventure in theater -- the invitation only screening of "The Greatest Game Ever Played."

Directed by Bill Paxton (of Apollo 13 and Twister fame), it was easy for me to see where his directorial genre was influenced by the great Opie Taylor .... while Ron Howard was not mentioned in the credits at all and as far as i understand it had absolutely nothing to do with the film and its making ... even a completely unknowning eye could see his fingerprints all over this theatric adventure.

While the film has a tendancy to go just a bit over the top in the creation of its dramatic themes and situations, that minor disconcerting factor in no way detracts from the awesomeness and spirit of the story of two men who, despite having nothing in common but their common working class backgrounds in a world of the "gentlemen's game, become locked in a parallel sort of universal struggle -- each fighting his own personal and innermost demons and the world around them as well. One the acknowledged "greatest player" of his time (a self-made champion from the wrong side of the class barrier in England) -- the other, a mere boy, barely out of adolescence, fighting not only the class-barrier in Brookline MA in the early 1900's but the disapproval of his father as well.

Each finds himself pushed by the memories of their own struggles and the societal mores of their respective worlds, to accomplish the feat of overcoming all obstacles to be crowned as Champion of the U S Open Golf Tournament.

The true story of young 20 yr old Francis Ouimet's absolutely impossible and immprobable one-stroke victory over his hero and mentor the great Harry Vardon is an absolute MUST SEE for anyone who either loves the sport of golf, or who just wants to see an extremely well-presented film about a heart-warming and true story of two men chasing and achieving their dreams; of true friendships that last lifetimes; and mostly how sometimes all you need to do is play the game of life with all your heart ...not for money, or for pride of country, or even for those who call themselves our friends ... but simply to play ... because we love the game for the game's sake.

Mr. Paxton presents this epic and monumental endeavour brilliantly (the note about over doing some dramatics notwithstanding).

The "Greatest Game Ever Played" opens September 30th nation wide ... if you only see one or two movies a year please make this one of them. I promise you that you will enjoy this film immensely even if you are not a golf or even any kind of sports fan.

I give it Five Pocket Protectors out of Five on "The Geek"-o-meter rating scale.

a few thoughts ... randomly arranged

2005-09-07T17:15:00.000-07:00

First .... everyone reading this needs to take a Miyagi break .... close eyes (unless you are driving), breathe in through nose, out through mouth ... 12 times; trust me your stress and tension will melt away .... so everybody on the count of three ..... one ..... two .... three.

Always remember and NEVER FORGET .... nothing in life is so precious or important as life itself -- especially a healthy and balanced life. Robert Fulghum was in many ways more correct than i would be willing to bet HE ever thought .... nothing beats cookies, milk and an afternoon nap -- yes even in the hectic go-go-go world we live in we all need to take time to enjoy the peaceful quiet of sitting very still, closing the eyes and relaxing for an hour of nap time.

and so a personal thanks to everyone who allowed me the luxury of taking a whole day this last weekend to do just that .... relax and wind down on my birthday!!!

on a personal PS ... there are still hundreds of gifts available for individuals, groups and families to sponsor on the official "birthday wish list" .............ROTFLMHOOL!!!!!!

but seriously folks ... thank you very much for the wonderful relaxing time .... lunch at the Palace in Sutter Creek was great ... the football game was exciting yet relaxing all at the same time and the dinner at Blacksheep Ranch was, as always, SUPERB!!!!

dont worry more randomness is expected ... as always whenever and wherever there is time ....

'Tis the season ....

2005-08-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

The great biblical preacher wrote about the human life cycle ...

that to "everything there is a season ... A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace."

For me personally the last week has been and remains a time of personal sadness. It has seen the loss of two wonderful gentlemen, mentors, who i have been guided by, and been friends with for many years. Men who gave of their time not just for themselve and their families but also for the greater enjoyment and good of their communities, their fellow men and the young people of this Country. It has been a time to remember with great fondness the times spent with these men accomplishing things that for the most part go unnoticed in the hustle and bustle of the world at large.

As is fitting in such times there is also much sadness at the loss of them in the remainder of our lives .... and also fitting that they be remembered in the warmest parts of the human soul for as long as our thoughts remain with us.

People like Dr. Bob Reynolds and Mr. Billy Martin do not unfortunately grow on trees, and as such, are indeed rarities in a world that seems bent on its own rapidly decaying "what's in it for me" attitude ... which gives even more pause to reflect on the true nature of their goodness... a daily walk with the Creator God of the Universe.

and so as the feeling of loss and depression built up within my world ... i discovered again one of the great truths of life .... no matter how rotten and horrible and depressing your life is there will always be someone who has it worse off than you ....

THUS ENTERED KATRINA ....

and suddenly everything changes ..... what seemed but seconds ago the worst day in your life is still bad -- let there be no mistaking -- but it takes on a whole new meaning in the overall "big picture" context of what loss and suffering truly is ... my feeling of loss over two friends is nothing in comparision to losing everything as so many have in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida in the wake of such an almost incomprehensible disaster.

and so i rise to the challenge not only of making myself feel bettter but also of properly memorializing those men who mentored me and befriended not only me but countless others during their lives.

as i challenge myself so i also challenge every reader of this BLOG to do the following four things:

1) take out a checkbook, make out a donation to the charity of your choice involved in disaster relief, ADRA, ARC, Feed the Children, The Salvation Army or your local youth mentoring groups and organizations .... in the name of a lost mentor, friend, family member or yourself ...

2) and when you have finished writing that check or giving that donation write out another check to the same organization or to another similar organization in the name of one of the many many unknown but lost mentors, friends, or family menbers affected by the terrible events of this awful hurricane.

Throughout the Blogisphere today is BLOG Relief Day .... see the following for more information on how YOU can help in this effort ...

http://technorati.com/tag/flood%20aid

http://technorati.com/tag/hurricane+katrina

http://instapundit.com/archives/025235.php

3) take a quiet moment out of your busy schedule and say a prayer to the God or Higher Being of your belief for comfort ... not for yourself but for those who are hurting, lost, missing and greving ....

4) Call, write, visit or hug those you love and care about most while you still have them around ... because the old song lyrics really are true that "you don't know what you've got Till it's gone..."

i realize that this BLOG entry is somber ... but well, as the preacher above declares, for me right now this is a time to mourn .... the great news is that one day soon, i believe, there will be a day when no one will any longer grieve ... when all the hurtful things we live with and experience now will have passed into oblivion for eternity ....

may God bless each of you and your familes ....

Requiem for A Soldier ....

2005-08-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

On December 28th, 1979 as a person of Age 18 years (thusly considered an adult) i stood in a fairly large room in downtown Oakland, California and along with some some 50 of so other men and women of roughly the same age group, raised my right hand and committed myself to the service of my country as a member of our Armed Forces (in my case the Air Force) with that oath given by Major K. J. Morfinski, USMC. I recited that oath of my own will freely and years later repeated the process not just once but twice more.. the second of those times before an audience that included my proud parents ... i suspect that they were much relieved that i had finally found something to do that had a purpose higher than "doing my own thing".

As a previously willing volunteer and participant in the defense of my country i can no longer stand idly by as the courage, honor, dedication and selflessness of its current crop of volunteers is denigrated and disparaged by the far left "anti-war all the time" crowd and its willing accomplices in action--mainstream media.

The oath is quite simple and yet at the same time astonishingly clear and powerful. No one who takes it ever forgets the shiver of anticipation and slight foreboding it engenders that first time you repeat ...

"I, Lawrence S. Hicks, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

and i felt the same sensation both other occasions as well. As i have stated numerous occasions the proudest moments and life experiences were those I experienced as a member of the United States Air Force.

I proudly and voluntarily started my service at a time of great unrest, the Iranian Hostage Crisis was the story of the day ...every day and everyone's thoughts were constantly revolving around the "what if: ... of a possible war. No one coerced me, no one forced me to enlist, and certainly no one forced me to re-enlist not once but twice .... granted there were some who tried to talk me out of enlisting and re-upping as well but it was solely my decision and once made my friends, my family everyone accepted that it was indeed my decision and that that was what i wanted to do .... no matter the potential consequences.

During my time of service i served in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey (Twice), England, and three stateside locations as well as numerous tours of temporary duty in places as far-flung as Iceland, Korea, Thailand, The Philippines and a couple short trips to places in Central America during not so great times.

I was witness to some tragic scenes ... the Beirut Marine Barracks bombing, the raid on Libya and Grenada rescue mission -- both though successful --yet still with many losses, the Panama Campaign to oust Manuel Noreiga, and smaller more personal losses of close friends and compatriots in accidents ... times of sorrow each in their own way.

Yes, i also witnessed triumphant occasions as well ... the landing of the first space shuttle mission after the horrific Challenger disaster ... the completion of numerous jobs well done and new aircraft welcomed into the fleet. Through good and bad times there was always the sense of Mission that needed to be Accomplished, that what we were doing was Good, and necessary for the continued survival of the Greatest Country in the World ... BAR NONE... and i still carry that same feeling of pride when i see another service member in uniform or a veteran of previous service or war ... or hear "God Bless America", "My Country 'Tis of Thee" or our National Anthem and see our flag the symbol of freedom and liberty for every human being proudly displayed.

No, America is not perfect ... there are many things we could do better both here at home and around the world .. but no one no other country ever in the history of mankind has done more to aid and comfort in times of natural disaster ... no matter what nationality or political bent or creed might be present ... still America and Americans always come to the front to offer assistance, help ... whatever we can wherever its needed.

During one my tours in Turkey a devastating earthquake ravaged the area of the then Soviet Armenia ... the USSR ... sworn enemy of freedom and the American Way... and among the first rescue and recovery missions to go into that area was a small band of Proud Americans of the 628th Military Airlift Support Squadron .... yep you guessed it ... American Air Force men and women ....and not a one thought for a second "should we go or stay" we went because it was the human thing to do; the right thing to do; and the American thing to do.

We are after all ... every one of us no matter where we live on planet earth ... members of the human race. Americans and America have never forgotten that fact ... and will not as long as i am able to speak ever forget that fact in the future as well.

Which i guess brings me around to those among us who have a differing point of view than mine ... i grant you the right to have your opinion and in fact i served (as do those who now serve), so that you could enjoy that right ... and had the call come i would have fought whatever foe to protect and defend that right you so often (in my humble opinion) take so much for granted while despising ... YES THERE I SAID IT .... DESPISING ... the very country that grants it to you.

President John F. Kennedy in his Innagural Address expressed America's responsibilities as the bastion of Freedom and Liberty ....

"The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God. We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge—and more. To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do—for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder. Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction. Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah—to "undo the heavy burdens ... and to let the oppressed go free." And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved. All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin. In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe. In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."

I must and in fact do without hesitation agree with the thoughts of Mr. Mark Steyn, columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times .... that there is something inherently muddled in the system where ...

"If a 13-year-old wants to have an abortion, that's her decision and her parents shouldn't get a look-in. If a 21-year-old wants to drop to the broadloom in Bill Clinton's Oval Office, she's a grown woman and free to do what she wants. But, if a 22- or 25- or 37-year-old is serving his country overseas, he's a wee "child" who isn't really old enough to know what he's doing. They're not children in Iraq; they're grown-ups who made their own decision to join the military. That seems to be difficult for the left to grasp. Ever since America's all-adult, all-volunteer army went into Iraq, the anti-war crowd have made a sustained effort to characterize them as "children." The infantilization of the military promoted by the left is deeply insulting to America's warriors but it suits the anti-war crowd's purposes. It enables them to drone ceaselessly that "of course" they "support our troops," because they want to stop these poor confused moppets from being exploited by the Bush war machine.

While peace is preferable to war in a perfect world ... peace at the cost of your way of life, your principles, your foundation of freedom and liberty IS NEVER preferable. All you have to do is look back at World War II and witness the years of appeasement and conciliation that Europe and even yes America gave to Adolph Hitler's Germany to understand that one must NEVER, in the immortal words of Sir Winston S. Churchill "Never Give In... NEVER NEVER NEVER."

War will always have its detractors. War will also never be the first choice of anyone who has served in the military forces ... those who observed from close in its terrible toll, who felt its haunting breath outside our doors ... it is never the first choice ... and yet sometimes it must be that which is chosen.

No mother will ever want her son or daughter to lose their life in battle .. no wife ever wishes that her husband or husband his wife; no brother wishes that fate to a brother and yet still they come ... willingly in service to their fellow man ... volunteer after volunteer .... men women, young and not so young to SERVE ... to SUPPORT and DEFEND ... against ALL ENEMIES ... FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC ... to bear TRUE FAITH and ALLEGIANCE .... SO HELP THEM (SO HELP ME) ...

PROUD ... POSITIVE ... PROFESSIONAL .... those who will willingly sacrifice as did our Founding Fathers before them .... THEIR LIVES, THEIR FORTUNES ... THEIR SACRED HONOR.

it is our duty to THEM to honor them and their sacrifice .... SO HELP US GOD!!!!

All the WRONG moves ....

2005-08-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

with apologies to Michael Kane, Michael Chapman and Tom Cruise.

A few choice Wrong Move Awards to give out today...

To NARAL, ACLU, PFAW and multitudinous other left-fringe organizations ... for their continued unwarranted, unreal and un-true to the extreme degree characterizations of Judge John Roberts.

To KNBR radio and the SF Giants ... for over-reation to the Nth degree and once again proving that the only free speech is that which EVERYONE agrees with ....if even one person thinks they are offended at something you say YOU are guilty of hate, and deemed Satanic ... there is no forgiveness for such In-Satan-ity!

To the Pentagon Lawyers (circa early 2000), Jamie Gorelick, and the US Justice Department (also circa early 2000) ... for insisting that everyone, not just citizens, is entitled to ALL the benefits of citizenship and thusly determining that information on an Al-Queda terrorist cell discovered by a covert intelligence operation could not be shared with the FBI despite the fact that Osama bin Ladin and numerous other radical extremist Islamic groups had already declared war upon us almost a decade earlier ...hey, if everyone is entitled to ALL the bene's just by being herre (legally or illegally) lets just make everyone in the Universe a citizen now and quit worrying about it.

Hello?!?! ... McFly!!!!!!!

2005-08-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

With the failed drug test of Rafael Palmeiro looming so recently in the rear-view mirror of the Congressional hearings into steroid use in professional sports, Congress once more finds itself standing in front of the public yammering on and on to any camera they can find about the injustice of it all and the possibility of proffering perjury charges against the Baltimore first baseman.

To which i respnd much like the young Biff Tanner in the movie "Back to the Future" .... Hello Congress... anyone in there????

Listen you Washington Geniuses ... YOU ELECTED PEOPLE HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO WITH YOUR TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

there is permanent tax reform to be determined ... there is medicare and medicaid reform to be addressed ... there is the small matter of confirming a new Justice to the Supreme Court .... national security and global terrorism threats to be dealt with ... a working and sustainable energy policy to pass to say nothing of addressing dealing with environmental care, roads and highways that need drastic repairs ... dams and rivers that need attention ... social security reform ... an educational system that is failing us all and needs an IMMEDIATE IF NOT SOONER PERMANENT LASTING RESOLUTION ... a drug problem that will either kill us all either through too much using or because we ran into someone who needed to buy more and they killed us for the money ... to say nothing of the ever-present problem of criminals who escape punishment because its too much work or because there is no more room in America's prison system .... an epidemic of HORRIFIC PORPORTIONS where child molesters and extremely violent habitual criminals roam the streets at will with no controls and no PUNISHMENTS THAT FIT THE CRIME ... an ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION PROBLEM THAT NO ONE WANTS TO DEAL WITH ... and the fact that all over the world there looms the possibility of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of nations or groups of people who wish only to eliminate us from the face of the earth.

With all these problems that Congress should RIGHTLY BE ADDRESSING being SWEPT UNDER THE RUG so that a few of them can land on camera to express their outrage at the audacity of Mister Palmeiro to lie and then get caught lying SICKENS ME TO NO END!!!!!!.

Pardon my FRENCH but WHAT EXACTLY IS IT WE ARE PAYING YOU FOR ... YOU BUNCH OF INCOMPETENT BOOBS?????????

Listen ... please because i will only say this ONCE .... STOP PIDDLING AROUND WITH A MILLION UNIMPORTANT THINGS like getting yourself re-elected and especially the steroid thing .... LEAVE THAT TO THE APPROPRIATE LEAGUE to fix on THEIR DIME NOT MINE....

YOU people that we pay to work for us have MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THINGS YOU SHOULD BE DOING and if YOU WANT TO KEEP THOSE CUSHY JJOBS I SUGGEST YOU GET BUSY WORKING ON THEM and FINISHING THEM SUCCESSFULLY, EFFECTIVELY and EFFICIENTLY ... provide for the common defense ... promote general walfare and secure the blessings of liberty to us ... and don't give me that line of unmigitated BS that investigating steriod use and stamping it out has anything to do with the promotion of the general welfare .... that's a crock and YOU KNOW IT!!!!

with all of the TRULY SERIOUS AND IMPORTANT BUSINESS THAT NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION, steriod use in sports ranks MAYBE JUST MAYBE (and im stretching a long way to give you the benefit of the doubt) MAYBE it ranks in at number 673 ON THE TOP 500 LIST OF THINGS TO DO!!!!!!!.

STOP GRANDSTANDING ... WORK ON THE THINGS THAT TRULY NEED IT and leave the unimportant stuff alone or you just might find that WE THE PEOPLE will find SOME NEW PEOPLE to represent us us next time....

HELLO?!?!? McCongress??????

A Week at Summer Camp and Other Stuff ...

2005-07-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

Truly more fun than any human should legally be allowed to have ....

http://www.leonimeadows.com/ for more information. Special thank you to the executive, support and counselor staff this year... you are tremendous!!!

and so back to the grindstone .. blogging should pick up more often now that i am off special assignment and vacation .... for those hoping for more today ... sorry .... ill be back on later to give my thoughts on whatever tickles my funnybone later.

I could not have said it better myself ...

2005-06-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

in response to the "American Gulag" comments seen so prevalently on the nightly news of late ...

and so i will quote at length someone who said it all a whole lot better ...

"Men volunteer to fight, bleed and die for the United States of America because she is the last, best hope for peace and freedom on earth," he said. "They consider the evidence that America has pushed back the veil of tyranny and saved countless millions of men, women and children from imprisonment, torture, starvation, humiliation and brutal death. And they act on that evidence, knowing that the blood of free men is always the price of freedom. While critics jabber about global diplomacy, these men step into the breach to shield us all from the peril of our naiveté about the so-called 'basic goodness of humanity'. These men don't think America is perfect, because they know the evil that lurks in each of our hearts. But they devote themselves to preventing untrammeled wickedness from roaming the earth. Their heads are clear. Their hearts are steadfast. And their sense of duty has shut down gulags, death camps and dictatorships for nearly a century."

and send my grateful thanks as one of those "men" many years ago who didn't do it for the money and the glory because there wasn't much of each of those things anyway ..

please visit http://www.scrappleface.com/MT/archives/002220.html for the complete and unedited original .....

The Envelope please ...... and the award goes to

2005-05-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

It was the middle of September 1971 when at age 10, this budding young history buff and political junkie first took pencil and paper and wrote to then president Richard M. Nixon. i was fascinated with the world of politics and wrote asking probably way too many questions regarding his views on public policy both within the US and around the world.

Back then i wrote to almost every elected official and as many conservative and liberal think tanks and groups as possible getting their various views on different pieces of legislation or asking what they thought about different subjects ranging from who would win the sports crowns to social security, the Vietnam War, taxes, poverty, the space race ... you name it i probably asked everybody about it.

I was also one of those who kept up with every twist and turn of the 1972 campaign, the break-in, and the entire Watergate scenario as well as the on-going war in SE Asia. The war, mostly due to my dad traveling over in that part of the world on a semi-regular basis, and everything else because i was so caught up in wanting to become a US Senator myself (hey i was young and foolish what can i say).

I was also one of those who cried when Mr. Nixon resigned -- not because i thought he had done nothing wrong ... i was just sorry to see him go out like that ... it seemed such a waste.

Like everyone else i have done my share of speculating in regards to the identity of "Deep Throat". my best guesses were that it was either Ron Zeigler or Henry Kissinger. Kissinger because i believed he was just Machiavellian enough to think he could pull it off and play the part of power broker and Zeigler because he seemed like such a sincere and honest guy who seemed ill at ease having to trot out the same balderdash day after day... well today i have been proven wrong.

Yes the best kept secret of the last 30 or so years has finally seen the light of day. "Deep Throat" has been unmasked as W. Mark Felt, formerly the #2 man at the FBI. Boy was i off-base, but i always figured that it HAD to be someone within the White House itself. Its a good thing i wasn't in the intelligence business back then .... OY VEY!!!!

As secrets go this was one of the all time greats ... attracting almost as many conspiracy buffs and theories as the Hoffa disappearance and just as many that were totally nuts too.

Now truly, the game is up and all of us who in our spare moments kept digging and searching to try and find the "last great clue" to this particular "hunt for the grail" will have to find other secrets to pursue ... ah well it was great fun while it lasted.

In the grand scheme of things seen from 30 or so years in the future now.. who "Deep Throat" really was does not seem that important -- AND IT ISN'T -- compared to the war on terrorism, the great and growing problem of illegal immigration and out of control federal, state and local spending of tax revenues without a seeming concern in the world for the ultimate consequences.

It did however serve its place in our national psyche -- a little light jazz so to speak in an evening of classical symphonies. I shall miss the friendly and sometimes not so friendly debates on the merits of this or that possibility .. but most of all i shall miss the mystery of "Deep Throat" much more.

While it is in some ways nice to finally know for certain who it was, i feel also a great sense of sadness that the mystique and passion of the search for the "Deep Throat" grail has also ended.

For me the best part of not knowing was that at any day you could discover the final clue that proved it was or was not your "guess" ... and in a way almost reminiscent of an Olympic athlete at the end of their career ... it is the "game" I will miss most.

For some Richard Nixon will always be the epitome of evil; for others he will always be a beacon of hope and possibilities ... for me i will always remember him as the first president i ever talked to via mail and while he was a flawed man in many respects, he had many many moments of greatness as well .... and so as this last and hopefully final chapter of the Watergate saga comes to a close let me end with this as my parting to a decent but deeply troubled soul ... who touched a part of a young boy's life with words of kindness and encouragement; advice and a bit of humor.

May the roads rise to meet you.

May the wind be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

The rain fall soft upon your fields

And,until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

May the lilt of Irish laughter Lighten every load,

May the mist of Irish magic Shorten every road,

May you taste the sweetest pleasures That fortune ere bestowed,

And may all your friends remember. All the favors you are owed.

Thank you, Mister Nixon for inspiring what still is a most avid and important part of my life today ... way back there in 1971.

Update 6/2/5 - Having now been asked by numerous people to comment on the hero/villian status of Mr. Felt i give my personal opinion.

As a sworn official of a Federal Law Enforcement Agency he should have followed established procedures for reporting of wrong-doing through official channels which as always have included going to the congressional committees which oversee or relate to the ares of business. If Mister Felt was of the opinion that he could not approach his superior (Attourney General John Mitchell), he should have at the very least made contact with the commmittee chairman and ranking minority member of either the Senatorial or Representative committees dealing with or having to do with the Department of Justice to explain his concerns or evidence of wrong-doing in accordance with lawful rules and governing regulations.

To circumvent the established procedures and disclose confidential or sensitive material to persons not needing to know such material (unauthorized disclosure) was then and is now a serious breach of trust, not just to the person being circumvented but also to the American people as a whole.

If i, as a member of the Armed Forces, had done such a thing i would have been subject to a courts-martial even if there were mitigating circumstances involved. Such mitigating circumstances, while they may be used in the determination of punishment rendered, do not make the breach of rules and regulations any less unlawful.

There is a right way of doing things and a wrong way of doing things. Mister Felt chose, in my humble opinion, the wrong way of trying to right a wrong. He should not be lauded for his intentions but rather rebuked for his actions. In doing what he did in the manner he did it he became a law-breaker just as much as Mister Nixon was for what he did. We are after all a nation of laws which are and of right ought to be equally applicable to every citizen.

In summary, good intentions coupled with wrong (and unlawful) actions do not make a right situation any more than bad intentions coupled with wrong (and unlawful) actions do.

Memorial Day, Part Two ...

2005-05-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

unknown soldiers

and remember to take some time today and say a prayer of rememberance and thanksgiving in memory of those unknown and unheralded whose blood has bought your freedom as Americans...

Memorial Day 2005

2005-05-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

Old Glory

I am a proud veteran of the United States Air Force. Memorial Day has always held special significance to me from the first time i can remember going with my dad to McClellan AFB where he worked and especially after i joined up in December 1979. My father was a civilian but he spent quite a bit of time in Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand during the Vietnam war as part of the rapid aircraft maintenance team. I have always been a proud supporter of the men and women of the military since i was very young .... and it continues today as today's armed forces men and women, our true heroes along with fire and public safety and law enforcement men and women, are the best of the best of the best America has to offer. It is for these fallen heroes, men and women such as Iven Kinchloe, Glen Edwards, Chesty Puller, the crews of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, the astronauts of Apollo I, for men like Walter Reed, and the incredible "bastards of Bastogne", the men of D-Day and those of Chosin Resovior, Ke Sanh and the A Shau valley, it is for the memory of the marines of Lebanon 1983, the brave men of the Iranian Hostage rescue attempt, of those from Son Tay, Grenada, and the wilds of the Argonne Forest. It is for every fallen winner of the bronze star, the silver star, the purple heart and the Medal of Honor .....
This day is for remembering all of our heroes .... those that everyone knows by name .. men like Lance P Sijan, Gus Grissom, Leonard Wood, Pat Tillman ... men who lived and died fighting for what they believed was the right and what they believed was best for America ...
and for me it is also a day for remembering those that no one knows about ... men like Sergeant Stephen "Fess" Parker, Lt Ron Periard, Capt. Mark S. Makowski ... men i served with and knew who also gave to their country the fullest measure of devotion ... their lives.
and for me it is also about those men and women who served bravely and honorably who still are among the living .... for my best good friend Mike Meyers, and Rudy Zayas, for my MTI Ron Ash; for Ben Bailey and Sue Colon and General John Farrington, Colonel Marlan Kitchen, TSgt Jim McClain and Jimmy Deaux ... for Betty Jean Poos and Diana Boudreau, and Elizabeth J. McNeil-Moore and Charles Moore, for everyone of my former compatriots in arms .... this is your day the day when i as a grateful citizen pay my respects to each and every one of you from the Revolutionary War right down through today's heroes in Iraq, Afghanistan, those serving on ships at sea, at lonely listening posts in the hinterlands or the wilds of downtown Los Angeles. To each man and woman who has ever served or are still serving ... from this proud veteran and from my heart i say THANK YOU .... God Bless You and Your Families .... and may God continue to bless this great land of America.

Its Memorial Day .... America be thankful and proud of your sons and daughters ... and may we never forget the TRUE MEANING OF THIS DAY.

Action ... This Day! Action!

2005-05-24T12:09:00.000-07:00

sometimes it seems that the "free-er" we think we are the less free we actually are. Do we really as Americans believe that we are as free as we think we are or do a lot of us just pretend we are because to admit that we are not as free as we think we are would be to deny the basis of everything we think we believe in?

our whole society is built on the concept of freedom (supposedly) and yet every day we compromise on that freedom either by direct choice, by default, or by representational choice.

As an example i believe that everyone should be free to be whatever and whoever they want to be so long as it does no one else any direct harm .... yet i restrict my own freedom by choice through belonging to groups and associations that have set standards of conduct or standards for membership or standards of whatever else (dress, behavior, temperament, age, etc. [You fill in your favorite restriction here] .... and i do all this by direct choice because as i determine within my own mind, the benefits of compromising freedom of action or thought etc. are more valuable (or perceived to be more valuable) then insisting upon my total freedom of action or thought.

we also agree by default to limit our personal freedom to do as we wish (again within the stricture of "first do no harm") by not taking a more active role in public policy debates or by taking personal action regarding things we care deeply about. Most of us tend to belong to the vast grey muddled-mass who live by the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil and do the same with the good too" philosophy of "if it doesn't directly affect me -- don't involve me" theory.

i am more and more tempted to try to live more like those of whom Theodore Roosevelt spoke so eloquently when he penned the words:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

"Man in the Arena" Speech given April 23, 1910

and again in the same vein:

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. "

too often it is the fear of being seen as different, the fear of ridicule, the fear of being cast out or reviled that keeps even the seemingly mightiest of us standing silent on the sidelines of life imprisoned by those fears and limited by them thusly in our freedoms and because not everyone will approve or perhaps no one else will approve of our actions we remain chained even at the price of our own personal happiness.

too often as well we as Americans are wont to exclaim as did the Pharisee's and leaders of the Jewish nation in New Testament times (and i will contextually paraphrase for our times) ...

"but we are Americans and have always been free .... and have never been slaves of anyone."

Yet we are slaves to fashion, slaves many times to "keeping up with the Jones'", slaves to the telephone, the television, the computer, the commute, the [_________] (you fill in the blank). and despite knowing deep in our hearts that we are so enslaved we keep on fooling ourselves and rationalizing it away because we are safer and comfortable just being .... not rocking the boat or making waves or forbid making a determined stand regarding things we care about without FEAR but rather acting upon our principles ... still we sit patiently for someone else to do the hard work of making the first move or starting the ball rolling while we test the current and prevailing winds of fashion or opinion before deciding if we will get on the bandwagon or watch it roll on without us and meekly accept whatever outcome is ultimately decided upon.

Sir Winston Churchill, i believe, said it better than most ...

"The price of greatness is responsibility. "

"It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required."

as also did his contemporary in time Franklin D. Roosevelt:

"First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. "

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today."

"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds."

Truly the only freedoms worth having are those which are worth fighting for, striving for, working for and yes even dying for....

so what is it that is most important to you??? freedom of thought, freedom of action, freedom of [_____________] (again you insert yours here).

Is is worth putting your time and effort into it even if not a single other person in the entire universe agrees with you?

If it is not then continue as at present ... unimpeeded and unencumbered.

but if it is, then there is but one course that you MUST take .... ACTION THIS DAY!!!!

The Carnegie Course in Reverse or How NOT to win friends and influence people

2005-05-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

There will be no disclaimer in this blog entry. I AM OUTRAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Freedom to speak our minds is a God given right of all citizens however there are occasions when one should follow the advice of Mister Lincoln and "...remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

I have for very many years enjoyed the wide variety of products produced by the PepsiCo company; however as an extremely OUTRAGED and INSULTED AMERICAN VETERAN i will NEVER DRINK A SINGLE DROP or otherwise spend ONE SINGLE PENNY of my money on ANY of their products so long as Ms Indra Nooyi remains connected in any way (active or inactive) with them.

You want to see America give someone the middle finger Ms Nooyi? I believe you are going to see MANY OUTRAGED AMERICAN CONSUMERS DO JUST THAT TO YOU AND YOUR COMPANY.

a brief aside to the CEO of PepsiCo .... fire her within minutes or get her resignation within seconds and you may survive .... do nothing and you will LOSE MILLIONS of customers... of dollars ... and most importantly of hard earned public respect.

Ms Nooyi's commencement address at Columbia University's School of Business can only be described as boorish, incredibly arrogant and patently offensive. Is America perfect??? NOT BY A LONG SHOT. Is America literally and figuratively giving the rest of the world the middle finger? NOT BY A LONG SHOT EITHER.

To say that the only impression that we give to the rest of the world and the only thing we care about doing is giving them that middle finger as she so eloquently states as her main point in address is as ludicrous as far right extremists insisting that ALL MUSLIMS are EVIL or extreme leftists insisting that EVERY ONE who wants to limit illegal immigration are RACISTS. Its not true and she KNOWS it or should ... Especially given her position as CFO of PepsiCo.

HOW MUCH HUMANITARIAN AID HAVE PEPSICO'S AMERICAN EMPLOYEES GIVEN LAST YEAR TO VARIOUS CHARITIES MS NOOYI????

The fact is, that if AMERICA IS GIVING SUCH A HUGE MIDDLE FINGER TO THE REST OF THE WORLD HOW COME EVERYONE WANTS TO BE HERE AND BE AMERICAN????

The fact is WHO ELSE BESIDE AMERICA GIVES MORE AID TO EVERYONE IN NEED??? The answer may surprise you Ms Nooyi ..... NO ONE!!!! ... not even all those other finger continents combined have ever matched the kind, amount and willingness of AMERICA to HELP OUR FELLOW HUMANS.

I spent 10 years in the USAF and have been involved in many humanitarian relief missions and I AM OUTRAGED THAT YOU MS NOOYI CAN WITH ONE HAND TAKE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN PAY AND BENEFITS FROM AMERICA, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE GREATEST EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM WORLDWIDE FROM AMERICA and with the other hand give you own MIDDLE FINGER SALUTE to us in return.

No, Americans are not perfect (no one no matter what country they are from is); yes i have personally seen many many instances of UGLY AMERICANS throughout my ten years of traveling around the globe; but i have also seen MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MORE kindness, generosity, assistance, aid, food, medicine, and personal sacrifice from AMERICA then anywhere else too.

Ms. Nooyi, you have every right to say what you believe, you have every right to feel any way you wish; but if you were honest with yourself and TRULY BELIEVED that AMERICA IS JUST A BIG MIDDLE FINGER STICKING STRAIGHT OUT SAYING [Expletive deleted] TO THE WORLD, you should give back every dime you have earned, refuse to be a part of it ANYMORE, resign your cushy position and find a place to live in one of those other GOOD FINGERS.

Come on i dare you ..... put your convictions and words where your money is ....

PUT UP OR SHUT UP. BUT DONT EVER BITE THE HAND THAT GAVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU HAVE

and

NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE EXTREMELY OUTRAGED AMERICAN CONSUMER.

The letter that started it all ...

2005-05-10T23:18:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Tolerance ...

2005-05-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

As a service to whose who may not yet know or realize this Web-blog now presents the following historical, completely accurate and overtly truthful Public Service Announcement:

The Constitution of the United States of America - Preamble

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Notice that it does not say "we the people who think other people should agree with us or shut up, or get out or stay away" nor does it say "we the super educated and highly intelligent people" or even "we the people who only care about what interests us and to heck with the rest of you" but rather "WE THE PEOPLE" (inclusive of everyone -- even the idiot that lives next door to us who voted for the "other" guy the last 100 election cycles).

"Bill of Rights - Amendment I

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."

and again Notice that the amendment is very specific in that NO LAW shall be made regarding establishment of a particular religion -- so that EVERYONE can have whatever religion they want even if they don't want ANY -- especially if they don't want any i might add. and yet it also protects those that do want a particular religion or set of beliefs for THEMSELVES. as regards speech again NO LAW shall be made which abridges the freedom of ANYONE and EVERYONE from saying what they feel or believe even if they are complete ninnies in your (or my) estimation. Freedom of speech is not just something we have and others can have if they agree with us but rather it is , should be and MUST BE for everyone -- NO EXCEPTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

By now, i am sure that some of you are saying "What in the world has gotten under his bonnet?" well its very simple .... my home town newspaper yesterday in the letters to the editor section contained a letter so filled with hatred and mean-spiritedness regarding what the author of the letter determined was an episode of "hate speech" that it made me very angry.

Did the letter writer have the right to say what he said? ... yes by all means they have the complete freedom of speech to say anything and everything they wish about a subject or person (within the court-ruled upon exceptions for libel and slander and hate speech as well.

and so my anger is not that he can say it but that he said it. As i read his diatribe (see picture accompanying in its own section for details). what got me so angry is the fact that he believes the subject of his letter should NOT have the right to say what he believes or feels because it so vehemently disagrees with the letter writers point of view. As a consequence of this blatant disregard for the rights of others to do the same things we are free to do i have taken the unprecedented step of writing my own letter to the editor (which i may and probably will post later as well).

It pains me greatly that we as plain old ordinary people to say nothing nothing of being proud free American people have gotten so entrenched in our ways that we cannot even politely agree to disagree and still remain committed to the common cause of AMERICA with those who have differing viewpoints than ourselves without resorting to name-calling and spewing vitriolic words at each other via print or in person.

I realize that non-religious types have a real problem with "being hit over the head with religion" in their estimation and i will grant you that some religious people i know are WAY WAY WAY over the tops sometimes (in my estimation) however if we take the time to try to look at the situation from the other persons view we might discover that the religious person has a deeply-felt calling to "proclaim the gospel in all the world" which means even you mister non-religious; and the religious person may discover that miss non-religious is just as serious in their NON-BELIEF in religion as they are in their BELIEF and perhaps just perhaps they could agree to disagree and let it end at that.

that is the wonderful thing about freedom .... everyone is entitled in our system to the right to life, liberty and the individual pursuit of THEIR PERSONAL HAPPINESS whatever that might be to them ... to pursue without fear of ridicule, intolerance, hatred, violence and forced behaviors. GOD BLESS AMERICA because of this and even if you are reading this and you don't believe in GOD ... he is still to be blessed because without that enduring belief in HIM this country would not exist as it is today.

there is only one reason that untold millions continue to try by whatever means possible, legal and illegal (more on that later too), to come to America .... its because we above all other nations and all other peoples have agreed for more than 225 years (almost 229 to be exact) that FREEDOM is worth living for, fighting for, and dying for. I will say again, the proudest moments and years of my life were those i spent in the US Air Force helping to defend my country ... and still today the greatest Americans i know are those who continue that service.

and so my fellow Americans ... its high time we quit with the harsh rhetoric, the acidic backbiting, the shameless affrontery of "one-upsman-ship" and remembered that like it or not we are all in this together and if we cant agree to at least peaceably disagree we will in very short order lose EVERYTHING that past generations so graciously gained for us with their blood, sweat, tears and as Thomas Jefferson so aptly put it "pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor" to ensure for this and all future generations as well.

may we all agree that America is worth saving and put aside our petty bickering and even put aside our SERIOUS DIFFERENCES and work to ensure that Lincoln's nation "of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Troubling Thoughts by "The Geek"

2005-04-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

with respect to SNL's Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy ....

i'm a bit worried. On things i would normally be in favor of, i see great potential for abuse and a trending toward a slippery slope that i'm not sure we really want to go down in the long run no matter how advantageous it might be to us in the short-term benefits-wise.

For example i believe that a president (any president) should be able to put people in positions of responsibility that he trusts and knows will be effective; however, i am not sure that i can support the call to eliminate the filibuster either. The slippery slope of "majority" rule running roughshod over the minority is one that personally worries me greatly. One of the reasons a republic was selected as our means of governance was to protect against tyrannical despotism and unfettered popular democracy both. The personal freedom each of us has to think, say, and do as we believe right even when no one else does was so important that it merited its own resolute and permanent section of our founding documents within the Bill of Rights.

For this American NOTHING ELSE and I DO MEAN NOTHING ELSE is as important to a person then their personal freedom of thought, speech, action .... NOTHING. Everything we do to try and improve on our way of life and how we will try to govern ourselves MUST take this into consideration and in no way abridge upon its sacredness to the individual -- or as the attributed quote to "Gray Grantham" from the movie "The Pelican Brief" so distinctly put it ... we must protect to the greatest extent possible the "rights of the individual above all else".

in the same vein i am greatly troubled by the current trend especially among religious leaders that we should "forget" those things we DO NOT have in common and come together for the good of all by focusing only on those things we DO share in common. To me this appeal strikes my heart as being akin to ... stand by for the SHOCKER ... communism where every one is treated the same and everyone has the same ideas and acceptable thought. To ask for example a Seventh-day Baptist to ignore the differences between themselves and Southern Baptists or Lutherans and come together and concentrate only on what they share in common (or vice versa) is to deny the validity of those differences and in actuality eliminate those differences despite the fact being that those DIFFERENCES are what makes a Seventh-day Baptist who and what they are just as it makes the Lutheran or Presbyterian different and in effect what they are. At what cost do we value our sincerely held differences of opinion? How much does our individuality really mean to us ... if, in order to have peace among our neighbors, we must agree to be the same as everyone else then our principles truly do not mean what we think they mean -- in fact if we sell our individuality and principles for such a cheap price as "convenience" or "security" or even "temporary peace" then they really are not principles worth having are they.

I believe that Sir Winston Churchill said it best in his speech to his alma mater, The Harrow School, in 1941 when he spoke thusly:

"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. "

Our individuality of thought, word and deed is without doubt the MOST PRECIOUS of all rights granted to man by HIS CREATOR. Nothing else should ever get in the way or be allowed to weaken that right.

In closing i will submit that the opinions expressed herein are my own and that they are not necessarily those of the management and staff of blogspot.com or of anyone else. I am reminded of the words written and sung by Billy Joel ... "You may be right ... i may be crazy. But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for."

As always rebuttal opinions are graciously accepted here at The "Geek Files" ... you have 10 seconds to respond.

A Few Words of Explanation ....

2005-04-20T18:29:00.000-07:00

As some of you may have noticed it has been almost a month since my last blog entry .... my how time flies when you are having fun NOT!

i thought it might be prudent to give my loyal readership some insight to my blogging habits ...

first of all, i NEVER blog if i am on a house-sitting job ... something about using someone else's computer to spout my own personal opinion of things just strikes me as somewhat strange ... so i dont.

secondly, i NEVER NEVER blog if i am not feeling good enough to finish what i might start ...

thirdly, i only blog if something catches my eye or ear that is of tremendously vital interest to me....

so there you go .... three rules of blogging from your friendly GEEK.

However since i have started this blog let me just say a few words about some recent and extremely important (to me at least) events ....

to wit .... i have found myself unable to stop the aging process and discovered this past April 2nd that it has been 25 very very short years since i graduated from High School and having never been to a single class reunion since that time i did indeed choose to go and see a few of my fellow young classmates. It was a beautiful day to be in Healdsburg, CA .... perfect weather and so great to see all those faces with whom i spent time so long ago. Tony and Karen if you ever read this just let me say for the record that you both did a FANTASTIC job of making everything work; and for the rest of my classmates who were able to attend ... it was great to see you all again and relive some of the experiences we shared back in our wilder and more reckless youth ... for those i did not get to see who might , just might, read this ... see you in 5 ... and Steven ... thanks for insisting that i had to go.

The cool thing about reunion weekend was that it so neatly coincided with the start of my very favorite time of year in all the world .... thats right BASEBALL SEASON!!!! ... and while i know that some 11-13 games have now been played let me just say that my predictions are as follows ... AL: Red Sox, Twins, Athletics and Angels will make the playoffs this year ... sorry Yankee fans i think this year is gonna be a downer .... i also think the Twins will break through this year to be AL Champs. In the NL i see the Braves, Cardinals, Astros and unfortunately the Dodgers making the playoffs with the Cards winning the NL crown and beating the Twins in 6 games for the Title ... oy vey ... whats a Giant fan to do not only do we NOT make the playoffs but our sworn arch-rivals will do so at our expense ... gonna be a long summer Boomer .... especially for the orange and black.

On an even closer to home note though, i do forsee that the Sacramento River Cats will again win both their AAA division and also the PCL Championship despite having to give 7 or so of their players to the BIG CLUB again this year ..... but things could always be worse ....

BTW if you have never been to a minor-leage baseball game and you live either in a town where one plays or you have one in a nearby town take advantage of that and take a trip to the ball yard nearest you ... its GREAT FAMILY entertainment and at an excellent price in most cases ...

PLAY BALL!!!!

i fear that the time has come for this edition of "THE GEEK FILES" to quote the immortal words of P-P-P-orky P-P-Pig and say "That's All Folks" ... for today ....

i hope you tune in aqain next time when you'll hear my sister Melissa say "What???? You're quitting already? Are you Nuts???? You haven't even written a thing about the new pope or the ethics hearings or the filibuster in the senate ... What kinda political and current events blogger are you anyway? Get back in there and BLOG!!!!! ... BLOGGGGGG!!!!"

Good night folks ... its been fun .... thank you thank you very little .... i'll be here through Thursday .....

A pox upon me ....

2005-03-22T16:38:00.000-08:00

so there i was .... filled with vim, vigor, and vitality and trying my best to MAKE someone see things my way.

The very thing i have been so vehement about being the "wrong way to act"in my latest writings is exactly what i was doing MYSELF.

Therefore i must as a matter of principle and holding to my own personal code of conduct publically and sincerely apologize to LaShawn Barber for my actions. They were course, callous and in the light of her heartfelt request totally uncalled for.

I do not wish to ever insinuate that my way of viewing things is the only right way they may be viewed.

I hope that all of us wil continue to see God's guidance in our daily activities and that we may always treat each other with respect and graciousness.

I remain your humble servant.....

THE GEEK

Free Exchange of Ideas Alive and Well ...

2005-03-22T12:29:00.000-08:00

Call me crazy but ...

even though i have disagreements with many regarding the tactics and strategies revolving around the Terri Schaivo case one thing i see as a positive in all this is that especially among conservatives is that we are still willing to engage in the free exchange of ideas ... (see LaShawn Barber's site for a great example) even when we disagree with each other for the most part it has been civil and informative and even educational...

for me i am reminded of the old Supertramp song which in part says:

"Now I believe in what you say
Is the undisputed truth
But I have to have things my own way
To keep me in my youth"

"Now some they do and some they don't
And some you just can't tell
And some they will and some they won't
With some it's just as well"

So long as we can maintain civility of words and actions in the free exchange of ideas (agree or disagree with them as we may) our Republic will continue to, as Ronald Reagan so aptly described it, stand as "a shining city on a hill" continually beckoning and drawing all of humanity to share in its light, its warmth, and its sanctuary.

No matter our disparate belief systems so long as we the people remember that it is all of us who are "we, the people" and continue to respect one and all we will not only survive but thrive.

Giving Credence to the Opposition

2005-03-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

Lets get the disclaimer out of the way first shall we ...

I am a conservative who believes in very limited government especially as the government has power to control and dictate to me what my personal life and decisions should be regarding myself, my family and personal belief systems. I am also personally a pro-life person who would not choose to terminate anyone's life without their consent or let mine be so terminated. However i do have written documents specifying that if i am unable to live without being totally dependent on either machines or other people to continue living exactly what measures are to be taken and which are not.

Having said that i also realize that MY personal beliefs are just that ...MY beliefs. They are not always the beliefs of any other person and that means that i must also fully protect their belief to do things differently than i would do in order that MY beliefs are protected. To me that is the core tenant of Conservatism ....

I may not like your beliefs, i may think them weird, outlandish and downright crude however i MUST protect your right to have them or else i risk my right to have MY beliefs as well.

Which brings me to the point of having to vehemently disagree with a great many of my conservative friends and persons i admire over the tragic case of Terri Schaivo.

I believe that what many conservatives have been advocating and cheering over the weekend as the unprecedented step of the congress stepping in and changing the rules of law in mid-stream is wrong and will eventually due to the "law of unintended consequences" turn around and bite us back harder then we would ever have thought or desired.

Conservatives have always stood on the unbending principle of "The Rule of Law" and many of us have been very vocal over the last decade in denouncing those of the liberal side in their attempts to circumvent, go around, twist, parse, maneuver and otherwise manipulate those laws and rules into what they wanted.

My friends you cannot have it both ways .... many times i have said those very words to my liberal acquaintances and now unfortunately i must say them to my conservative friends. We are either for the rule of law or we stand for nothing except for what we accuse our opposition of .... an ever-changing notion of whim and popularity and emotion.

The case of Terri Schiavo is not difficult to follow .... nine times within the Court system of Florida it has been tried and re-tried and each and every time the ruling has been the same .... we may not like it but there it is .... under the rule of law. In eager zeal to "right" a terrible wrong (as we view it) many conservatives are being seen as willing to abandon those principles we hold to be true ... and in the course of doing so giving comfort, support, and credence to the opposition that we are no better than they are .... we also are willing to abandon principles of our core beliefs in order to "win no matter the cost" ... the rule of law be dammed.

We as conservatives will not continue to win and change hearts if out of one side of our mouths we scream that the best government is one which leaves personal decisions up to the people involved and out of the hands of an over-reaching government while at the same time using the other side to scream at an even higher level that the Government MUST take this decision out of the hands of the responsible legal guardian and the responsible legal entity (in this case the state of Florida) and change the rules in a completely unprecedented manner and transfer it to a different authority so that we can get the ruling we want (regardless of the consequences down the road).

James Madison said

"The sober people of America are weary of the fluctuating policy which has directed the public councils. They have seen with regret and indignation that sudden changes and legislative interferences, in cases affecting personal rights, become jobs in the hands of enterprising and influential speculators, and snares to the more-industrious and less-informed part of the community." Federalist Number 44, 1788.

We should as caring, compassionate and principled conservatives try to change the laws we see as wrong or unjust but we should NEVER try to circumvent in unprecedented manners such as are being tried to change rulings arrived at justly just because we do not agree with their outcomes.

Another blow to personal responsibility ....

2005-03-17T08:46:00.000-08:00

its all inside ....

No not at JC Penney but rather inside the California State Legislature .... striking another blow to personal responsibility and making it even more difficult for businesses to want to sell their products here or even do business in the state ....

Yes my friends the paragons of public protection are at it again .... all the gory details can be found here ....

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_0901-0950/sb_942_bill_20050222_introduced.pdf

Senate Bill 942 which will make cigarette manufacturers responsible for the littering habits of the users of their products.

First the disclaimer ...

I AM NOT A SMOKER. SMOKING IS A FILTHY HABIT. I personally believe that everyone should try to quit, however if someone CHOOSES to smoke knowing the risks (and anyone born after 1956 is well aware of the risks) more power to you, HOWEVER -- DO NOT EXPECT ME TO PAY FOR YOUR BAD CHOICES .... either now or in the future.

Having said that, the idea that somehow the product manufacturer (of any product) is responsible for the disgusting habit of throwing the leavings of the used product away in an illegal manner (we do have laws against littering) is absolutely one of the Top 5 BIZARRE, IRRATIONAL and IDIOTIC to ever come out of Sacramento (if not THE TOP) ... and that's saying something folks.

For those who will say well its just BIG TOBACCO and they can afford it .... I will counter with the argument that this is just the first step down a VERY SLIPPERY SLOPE and that it is is not that far from say next targeting the Candy Manufacturers because John Q Public throws them away in the same fashion at almost as great a rate.

At what point does it become the responsibility of the manufacturer to be responsible for ANY action of the purchaser ... Especially when the manufacturer has no idea which of its ultimate customers is doing said illegal activity. will the state now also go after manufacturers of couches (i saw four discarded along the road i travel to work just this morning) or microwave ovens (two of those on this one stretch) or snack foods of all varieties (too numerous to mention)....

For the past 14 years until November 2004 my family and i and other friends were part of two groups that participated in the Adopt-a-Highway program.

As an aside, i highly recommend this program if you are looking for something worthwhile to do and get a little exercise at the same time. If ever you want to see just how much stuff of all kinds is thrown out of vehicles or left along the side of the road ... take a walk one day and you will be amazed.

The point however, should be to enforce the laws on the ACTUAL perpetrators of the illegal activity. Trying to hold cigarette manufacturers liable for the actions of some (but not all) users of their products would be like trying to hold Ford Motor (or every other automobile company) liable for the medical, liability insurance and related costs of accidents caused by drunk drivers.

At what point is the ACTUAL PERSON doing the illegal activity actually responisible for dealing with the consequences of their actions??

If this bill passes (and with the super majority of liberal members in the California Legislature it probably will pass easily) every business owner will have reason to fear that their business will be next in the hit parade. Lets face it people ... the state needs money and they will do anything no matter how illogical, idiotic or asinine to get it .... COMMON SENSE BE DAMMED FULL SPEED AHEAD!!!!

Please, call or write Governor Swarzenegger; call or write your state senator or assembly member ... the ridiculous-ness MUST STOP before all of us suffer irreversible damage.

and now a brief word ...

2005-03-16T13:31:00.000-08:00

it has been a while since i posted ... mostly due to the combined effects of being away from my computer house sitting for friends, swamped at my regular job with an inundation of work, trying desparately to balance my free time amongst the many volunteer activities i am a part of and an 11-day long severe migraine headache.

Just a brief aside but if you have never experienced a long-lasting headache you have no idea of the pain and inconvenience it causes .... if you are experiencing long-lasting headaches ... PLEASE see your medical doctor or chiropractor ... many thanks to Dr. Del Hatton of Placerville Chiropractic for eliminating MY pain.

So much has happened since i last logged on and i will not attempt to cover it all however i will say that it seems that there is a whole lot of "freedom" happening in the world and while i believe that freedom is a good thing .... there seems to be a movement in the US toward "unlimited and total freedom" without respect to rules of law, societal norms, what is best for society and most importantly what is inherently right or wrong.

I will blog later with more details but let it be known to all who read that there are things happening which have riled me up ....

Beware the "riled up" common man for he is what makes things work or not work....

Its All About "ME" Syndrome

2005-02-15T19:21:00.000-08:00

n. the condition of being or feeling of being of overinflated importance to the continued workings of the universe despite being truly only a small, insignificant bit player in the entire grand scheme of things.

In recent weeks there seems to have been an inordinate amount of cases of Its All About "Me" syndrome especially among the members and apologists for the mainstream media. While i fully appreciate their positions, i am reminded that no matter how hard we wish for something not to be happening or not to be true ... 99.999999% of the time it is.

Old line media took another hit this week with the resignation of Eason Jordan, over the remarks he made at a symposium in Davos and also over similar comments and statements he made all without supporting or substantiating collaborative facts or evidence. The facts surrounding the case are well established at Hugh Hewitt's site, Michelle Malkin's site and Captain's Quarters among many others including the aptly names but soon-to be-needing a rename www.easonjordangate.com.

Needless to say the old line media are a bit flomuxed regarding all this. The greatest cry from most quarters of their ranks being either the infamous fingers and hands clasped tightly over the eyes and ears so as not to see or hear what was going on or the other favorite trick of the "victim" classification the loud screaming "ITS NOT FAIR"!!!!

For those who have not yet enjoyed the rich and wondrously enlightening "Blog" by Hugh Hewitt which will tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the important and almost instantaneous change in the information superstructure, it is highly recommended that you DO NOTHING ELSE until you have read, devoured, and assimilated all its treasures ... even if you are not a Blogger, but are only a consumer of news, information, and evertyhing else that is LIFE on planet earth, this book will help you to understand how the information superhighway has changed and continues to change right before your very eyes -- and how you are and can play a vital role in those changes.

If you are a Blogger or thinking about starting one, a businessperson, a user of the internet, or you just want to know how things in today's world are operating and you have not read it yet ... DO NOTHING ELSE UNTIL YOU READ IT.!!

For those people who just cant stand the thought of buying a book by such an out in the open and proud of it conservative member of the center-right you can still get the gist of Hugh's book regarding the rapid change taking place in almost -real time by taking a first read or perhaps a re-read of the great book on change by Spencer Johnson ... "Who Moved my Cheese". Although i must sound a note of caution to the obvious suffers of Its All About "ME" syndrome ... its all about change and adapting to it not about food.

It too, is a great read and again filled with terrific insights on adapting to changes in life, work, family, whatever it is you are involved in. Change is inevitable in our world and only those who can quickly adapt to changes around them and anticipate where they might be leading will in the end be secure, happy and contented.

In an ever-changing and challenging era of instant communications around the world, the adage that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result" is more true now than ever.

Some will complain that the rise of instant communication will also cause a rise in instant condemnation or in the calculated attempt to "get" those you don't agree with by searching and publicizing every indiscretion no matter how petty and small it might be in order to make your case for ruination of your intended target and therefore will mean that less and less people will dare to speak out.

I could not disagree more .... in fact that part of communication (the multitudinous amount of individual and personal opinion on every subject under the sun) is i believe the only part not to change. Even before the advent of the internet and blogging, people were free to talk -- agree, disagree, hotly contest anything and everything spoken, sang, written in every form of communication known to man.

My maternal grandfather, Leon Gardner was a man of very well known and well advocated positions on every subject and there was nothing he liked more than "discussing" them with everyone around him ... if you agreed or disagreed with him it didn't matter ... what mattered was the free exchange of ideas.

Now grandfather also thought that many of his "discussion" partners were, well to be charitable, he called them "ninnys"; but that never stopped him from allowing the discussion of their opinions to take place ... when the discussion was over he would merely say ... well even a fool is allowed to have his opinion of things no matter how stupid or wrong they might be.

In fact my grandfather loved "discussions" so much that there were many times when i personally witnessed him argue both sides of the issue ... switching back and forth as well in the arguments ... especially if he thought that his discussion "partner" didn't know a hill of beans about the subject. He was never one to simply roll over on someone or crush them needlessly ... it wasn't so much about wining (although he cared deeply about that as well) ... but i believe the greatest joy he received was from the experience of the "arena" the act of open discussion ... of putting forth ideas and defending them -- in other words the wondrous-ness of the argument.

I submit that the instantaneous-ness of available mass communication will greatly increase the size and scope of an informed populace ... and yes i do have rather a lot more faith in my fellow humans than many on the liberal left (and yes to be completely fair many of those on the conservative right as well) who will try to claim that those who are of the other end of the spectrum will only read those sites and such information as they agree with (while subliminally saying that they are better then that because they will read everything and still make an informed decision to maintain their "open-ness" of beliefs despite the inordinately huge amount of bias and disinformation being bandied about).

There are two things that i believe in so passionately that it would take mountains and mountains of information and evidence well beyond merely a reasonable doubt to the contrary to make me change my mind about them:

The first is that young people (12-20) are inherently smarter and more aware of events, their personal belief systems, circumstances, and happenings all around them and are also much better prepared to deal with them (and in fact already are dealing with them better) than we adults will ever give them credit for being.

The second thing is that every human being WANTS and DESIRES as a natural part of being a human to be informed; to make for one's own self the determination about what and who they are and what and how they will believe. And i believe that the great majority of them want also and desire more than anything to succeed at that goal of self-determination and self-awareness that no matter how many left, right, center or impossibly out in the far reaches of the universe sources of information they read most, if not all, will find that they believe some, disbelieve others but that all are at least worth listening to or reading or at least understanding for the simple point of keeping your own tightly held beliefs current and defensible.

Yes, i admit i do read lots of information from all across the left-center-right spectrum and i still carry on proudly the family tradition handed down by my grandfather of never finding a discussion i didn't want to be a part of no matter my views or even the views of the others in the discussion or the subject matter for that matter. The trick is not to get such an inflated idea about your own importance or indispensability that you lose all perspective.

There are far too many celebrities (and many such more politicians and would-be politicians) who wrongly think that because they are who they are, that they are somehow more important; or that because they played a certain character in a play or movie or have written songs about such things that they are then EXPERTS in those ideas, or situations the character was in. Does this mean they automatically are not experts though ... NO. They are simply one more voice in the discussion, no more an expert on the subject naturally then the people who went to watch them play or act or write.

Every one of us in an expert only in their own experiences (and then again maybe we still are not experts) ... perhaps we are merely bit players even in our own personal drama known as "life as we know it and experience it."

In the end i believe that the writer known as "The Preacher" hit the nail on the head when he examined life and found that it was "vanity of vanities, all is vanity ... indeed all is vanity and grasping for the wind."

None of us is so important and so indispensable that we will not suffer what is our lot in life -- to whither as the "grass which is here today and tomorrow is cast on the fire."

Bloggers (no matter their belief system), i believe, have a much better grasp of that reality as it touches on the theater of the mind and in the thoughts and processes of our beliefs and ideas and dreams than those of old line media because we have not been told from day one that we were special.

We, as normal humans living our mostly satisfying yet unremarkable lives, know that we are all just as equal as others .... only those for whom life has been one endless "god-like" existence will have trouble learning to become equal.

I am reminded of the great commandments written by the newly freed inhabitants of George Orwell's brilliant book "Animal Farm"

as they were originally spelled out:

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.

and how, due to their own self-importance and their desire to ensure their superiority, the leaders and elites of that supposedly "equal" society changed them at will and whim until eventually all that remained was one which read:

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

No one should presume that they have all the answers or that all their answers are the one true correct answer (ESPECIALLY ME) ...

Yes, each of us should strive to give their best to the edification and education of everyone else by thought word deed and example but never by force of will or of any other kind. We should rather, as another great writer, the Apostle Paul, explained to his audience in Philippi "have learned to be content whatever the circumstances."

The Geek File Blog Military Units of Recognition:

United States Air Force - 55th Wing, Offutt AFB, Nebraska

United States Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Katmai Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

United States Marine Corps - Marine Air Control Squadron 2, Detachment Bravo, MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina

United States Army - 44th Medical Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

United States Navy - US Naval Hospital Sigonella, Italy

offhand mumblings .... on Super Sunday

2005-02-06T21:58:00.000-08:00

rhetorical mumblings mostly ....

is it just me or were there a lot more shots of President Clinton than there were of President Bush in today's super bowl?

why is it that today is the day everyone had huge projects around the house which always seem to happen just on super sunday?

When will Terry Bradshaw do us all a favor and follow Dan Rather into the retirement home? or is it just me that finds him totally annoying?

Will Super Bowl XL be 6 hours long like this one or does it just seem to increase time-wise by 30 minutes or so every year? or will they really go long because it is a "Zero" year celebration?

and what is it with this reluctance to have a defensive MVP .... surely Rodney Harrison had more to do with the Patriot win .....

and speaking of Birds how many people around the US are eating TONS of crow regarding the effectiveness of Terrell Owens??

A personal note to Freddie Mitchell .... "dude .... remember its always best to boast AFTER the game not before ...." Also a note to Al Davis .... TAKE NOTES!!!!

Congratulations to both Fox and the city of Jacksonville on the great show .... even my mother was pleased and she rates the Halftime shows very strictly.... (It really is the only part she cares about) ... this is the first in a long time that she liked so GREAT JOB on behalf of my mother Roberta ...

Also just a note to whoever planned the National Anthem portion of the Pre-game show .... TOTALLY AWESOME .... i thought the selection of honorees from WWII and also the salute to today's heroes in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Southeast Asia Tsunami Relief efforts was superbly done and most appreciated by myself and the two other veterans i was watching the game with. VERY WELL DONE.

as a further tribute to the men and women of our armed services i offer this thanks to the following units ....

US Air Force - 124th Wing (ANG), Boise, Idaho

US Army - HHSB 1-190th Field Artillery Battalion (NG), Billings, Montana

US Navy - USNS Indominitable, NAB, Little Creek, Virginia

US Marine Corps - 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, Camp Pendleton, California

US Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Cimarron (WLR-65502), Buchanan, Texas

God Bless ... Keep the Faith ... Lest WE Forget ....

Conversation with The President ....

2005-02-03T22:26:00.000-08:00

Thirty years ago a young boy in California became interested in politics, world events and most importantly in writing down not just his own thoughts and beliefs but also in trying to discover what others thought ... especially others already involved in politics, policy making and governmental affairs.

Thus began a journey which would see him write letter after letter to senators, representatives, presidents cabinet members and other political and government leaders. In his letters he would ask what their views on subjects ranging from the then Vietnam War to health care, from personal questions regarding their free-time activities to their thoughts about sports, music, movies and almost every aspect of life in America.

In all the years between 1969 and 1979 he learned all he could and in fact he was at one point in his life nick-named "The Senator" (among others not to be mentioned here) due to his intense interest in all things political and of course his stated occupational goal of one day being an elected official.

In 1980 he entered the military service and for the next 10 years, 4 months and 2 days served on active duty in the United States Air Force ... much of that time spent serving in foreign countries.

Even through those years he still maintained an intense interest in political events and affairs ... and an interest that he still lives and breathes to this very day.

He has also been throughout his entire life an avid student of history... the history of mankind; the history of people ... especially in how people relate to each other ... to their governments ... and how those governments relate in turn with each other and with every person as well.

As i have grown from that young boy into my now middle-aged hood, the greatest change i have found in all that time is the attitudinal change that has taken place in the people whose job it is to keep all of us informed of the important things, the surprising things, and even simple and mundane things ... the journalist.

After giving this subject a great deal of thought i have come up with the answer i believe fits the question of who is to blame for the shift in focus and attitude among so many members of the American press corps towards their own government, their own country ... the country from where they derive not only their living but also the only country that guarantees complete and total freedom for them to do their jobs ...

The answer is .... Richard M. Nixon.

Yes ... i believe it all comes back to rest on his drooped yet uplifted (with hands in the ever-famous twin "V for Victory" wave) shoulders.

President Nixon was the first president i ever wrote to and from 1969 to 1975 i sent many letters his way asking all sorts of questions and he always had a letter sent back .... i admired him for his opening of China back then and also for his handling of the Soviet Union ... BUT it is still HIS FAULT that we have the situation we have now.

Mr. Nixon was many things to many people and not all of them were good. Even at the young age of 10 as i was in 1971 i knew that he could be charming and yet he also had this unequaled ability to attract the scathing wrath and ire of a journalist as easy as a dog attracts fleas. in general they hated him and he of course hated them right back ... in fact i think he hated them even more than they did him and i know from watching him interact with them and from some of my personal questions to him that it was always a point of honor with him to NEVER back away ... NEVER give in ... and NEVER EVER let them EVER think they had won or beat him down.

My personal favorite president also had his share of "bad press" ... as a young man growing up in Northern California i knew a lot about Ronald Reagan even before he made himself a household name in the mid-seventies ...

It was my very great privilege to not only serve in the military under his presidency but also to personally meet him on numerous occasions both personal and business. He was an extremely good listener ... and questioner ... and on those occasions when it was a personal chat you could tell that he truly was interested in YOUR thoughts and ideas ... and the press hated him as well.

It always pained me to read or hear or see so many American journalists belittle, ridicule and demean him both behind his back and also to his face. and yet he never quit doing what it was he felt was the right thing to do ... the right things for America ... for our future and even for those who despised him so vehemently.

Today as i write this i wish it to be a message of hope to our latest "hated" President

Mr. President ... i know you probably get a lot of advice from folks who write you and i also know that a lot of it is probably stuff you already know or already heard but as my wise father once said to me ... "Son ... you can never hear good advice too many times" and so i wish to give you what i think is good advice.

The first piece of advice is a quote from another president who also spoke at great lengths regarding freedom and liberty and doing the right thing no matter the obstacles:

"The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just." - Abraham Lincoln

Secondly i would ask you to remember the words of the one man who in my humble opinion saved all of humanity by sheer force of will during World War Two ... British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill .... in a speech to the students at his alma mater, the Harrow School in 1941 ...

"Never give in, never give in, --never, never, never, never,-- in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. "

and later at the ending of that same speech ...

"Do not let us speak of darker days; let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days -- the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must thank God that we hace been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race."

and while he was speaking to the British people then, i firmly believe that these words are just as true ... just as accurate ... and just as appropriate to be spoken of we the American people in the year 2005.

The third piece of advice i would like to give you Mr. President is this:

"Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have." -- Ronald Reagan

The fourth piece of advice comes from the man i consider to be the wisest of all i have ever known ... my father Franklin L. Hicks, Senior, who always reminded me that "you can never go wrong if you always do the right thing.".

In closing Mr. President, i leave you with a few thoughts and words of my own ...

Doing the right thing may never be popular, and there will always be lots and lots of other people who will not like you no matter what you do or how you do it ... the thing to remember about all that is that -- it really just doesn't matter if they do or if they don't ...

As long as you can look those who depend on you to do the right thing squarely in the eye and say as did the aspotle Paul "i have fought the good fight, i have finished the race, i have kept the faith" you will always be a winner.

Freedom and liberty are not free gifts ... someone must struggle and fight and bleed and die on occasion to ensure that others may live to enjoy those things ... It was my greatest joy in life to be a member of the United States Air Force for 10 years .... to serve alongside some of the best human beings ever born ... and i know that today despite all our shortcomings that our best, brightest, and bravest still serve ... proudly standing on the lonely outposts guarding and protecting our way of life ... our liberty and our pursuit of happiness ...

today's special thanks to our military go out to:

United States Air Force - 6th Air Mobility Wing, MacDill AFB, Florida

United States Marine Corps - Communications (G6) Division, HQ, Marine Corps Forces South, Miami, Florida

United States Coast Guard - USCG Cutter George Cobb, San Pedro, California

United States Army - 492nd Transportation Company, 24th Battalion, 7th Transportation Group, Fort Eustis, Virginia

United States Navy - USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) ... congratulations and welcome to the fleet.

God bless all of you ... and may we at home do everything in our power to ensure that their sacrifice is not made in vain.

Separate yet separate??? ... Vox Blogoli 05-1

2005-01-26T13:32:00.000-08:00

While many (if not most) of the facts, figures and statistics cited by Jonathan Rauch in his article "State of the Union - Bi-polar Disorder" are accurate it is the small details which belie the split personality not the grand overview.

For example he states that "If the country is split into culturally and politically distinct camps, they ought to be fairly easy to locate. Yet scholars investigating the phenomenon have often come back empty-handed." While that is on the surface a statement one would think is easy to track and substantiate it is in its very vagueness leading to an inaccurate view of the actual situation.

As an example i believe that if a poll question was sent out asking the question "should America fight poverty?" i believe that you would get no difference of opinion or much opposition from anyone no matter what their ideological bent. As a nation (generally speaking) that is a core belief and value we all hold ... where the split comes is in the details of precisely what form and functionality that "fight" will take on.

It is in the details of the how, where, when, what , why, and who that Americans become fractured into the so-called red and blue factions. Anyone who can think structurally and critically knows this and understands that this is the "crux" of all political, moral, social and ethical situations we face.

Those who believe that government should handle and fix the poverty question are going to differ in their approach and recommended "solutions" very much greatly from the approaches and "solutions" of those who believe that fixing or eliminating poverty is a function better suited to an individualized approach.

The split personality is in the micro-system not the macro-system Jonathan .... and strangely enough you almost nailed it when you quoted Alan Wolfe's comments found in his book One Nation, After All .... "The two sides presumed to be fighting the culture war do not so much represent a divide between one group of Americans and another as a divide between sets of values important to everyone." but then you seemed to just pass right on by without ever noticing that THAT ONE POINT is THE POINT.

The difference that divides us will always be in the details .... and it is that factor of life and living within America that makes us as great a nation as we are. While there are BIG issues with BIG DIFFERENCES as well, the greatest splits will always come and be most noticed (to individual people if not the MSM), within the details of the issues and the proposals for their resolution. This to me is what makes America ... America; ... the freedom of the individual citizen to hold and act upon the CONVICTIONS of THEIR CONSCIENCE. While i must admit that i cannot find much personally in common with those on the left of the spectrum, i would rather that they be given the opportunity to voice those views than risk having my freedom of "expressiveness" be halted. Disagreement in details is not, in and of itself, a bad thing ... but rather should be looked upon as an opportunity to more fully explain ones own views better and reflect on any commonality found between the two divergences.

I am reminded of the adage (and the country song) "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything" ... It is the courage of convictions that makes America ... America .... not the courage of appeasement.

Speaking of courage .... today's thanks to our courageous men and women of the Armed Services goes not to specified units but rather to all of the family members, friends, acquaintances and neighbors of the 31 Marines killed in the helicopter crash in Iraq this morning .... the sacrifices of our men and women fighting for freedom and liberty will never be forgotten ... God Bless you all.....

we hold these truths ....

2005-01-25T19:29:00.000-08:00

without doubt some of the greatest writings ever are those which American citizens have come to know as love as part of our National Heritage .... The Mayflower Compact, the declaration of Independence, out Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln's second inaugural Address, JFK's inaugural Address, FDR's Declaration of War against Japan, Martin Luther King Junior's Mountaintop and I have a Dream speeches, Ronald Reagan's Tear Down this Wall .... those of us who love and study history have been priviledged to read and in some cases experience for ourselves the stirring calls to action, the pleas for restraint, hope for our future, and remembrances of our roots ....

this week i was priviledged again to hear what i believe future historians will call one of the greatest ever given .. the vision of freedom and liberty encompassed in President Bush's second inaugural Address .... the call to action on the part of every man woman and child who lives in freedom to help others achieve that goal for themselves .... because as Mister Lincoln noted so long ago ... and Mister Jefferson before him ... freedom and liberty as a right are granted not by other men but by Man's Creator .... the life liberty AND the pursuit of happiness are among those things that all possess that no one can ever take away ...

and after hearing that speech i was shocked to hear so many of the liberal and democratic party complain that they did not understand it ... which made me wonder if they do not understand life ... liberty ... pursuit of happiness and the establishment of that right for ALL NATIONS and ALL PEOPLES how can they understand anything?

Is life and liberty such a difficult concept? IS the dream of freedom for EVERY HUMAN so complex as to only be understood by those of the Genius caliber?

Being a Simple concept does not mean the concept is stupid or will not work ... after all ... the dream of manned flight was a simple concept .... a more complex solution to achieve but as a concept it was a brilliant yet simple idea .... one that has transformed our universe.

The wisest man who ever walked this earth had a simple solution for the problems he encountered in his daily journey .... in one of his most famous talks he stated it thusly:

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

and further on he gives this conclusion to life ....

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Centuries later the greatest being who walked the face of the earth told his followers simply... "you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." He also gave them a simple rule to to follow for happiness ... "You shall love The Lord Your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your might and your neighbor as yourself."

Since that time .... the world over every religious leader, every philosopher, every wise man has echoed those words ... the universality of what is known as the Golden Rule is unmistakable ....

Christianity
All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:1

Confucianism
Do not do to others what you would not like yourself. Then there will be no resentment against you, either in the family or in the state. Analects 12:2

Buddhism
Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. Udana-Varga 5,1

Hinduism
This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have them do unto you. Mahabharata 5,1517

Islam
No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. Sunnah

Judaism
What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. Talmud, Shabbat 3id

Taoism
Regard your neighbors gain as your gain, and your neighbors loss as your own loss. Tai Shang Kan Yin Pien

Zoroastrianism
That nature alone is good which refrains from doing another whatsoever is not good for itself. Dadisten-I-dinik, 94,5

The Golden Rule ... simple, yet indestructible ... concise and invincible ....

Upon such simple things as this rest the entire foundation of humanity and life itself. So also is the vision of freedom and liberty and justice for ALL a simple concept ... simple, yet unmistakably grand and glorious ... and worth much more than gold ... silver ... diamonds ... and all the material wealth one could ever gain.

Only of liberty and freedom is it said:

Patrick Henry - "Give me LIBERTY or give me death"

Albert Einstein - "Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in FREEDOM."

Aristotle -"The basis of a democratic state is LIBERTY."

Carl Schurz - "If you want to be free, there is but one way, it is to guarantee an equally full measure of LIBERTY to all your neighbors. There is no other."

Lord Acton - "LIBERTY is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end."

William Hazlitt - "The love of LIBERTY is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves."

Richard Baxter - "In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, LIBERTY; in all things, charity."

John Milton - "Give me the LIBERTY to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all LIBERTIES."

Jean Jacques Rousseau - "To renounce LIBERTY is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even its duties .. to remove all LIBERTY from his will is to remove all morality from his acts."

Cicero - "LIBERTY is rendered even more precious by the recollection of servitude."

Woodrow Wilson - "The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political LIBERTY."

George W. Bush - "Americans are a free people, who know that FREEDOM is the right of every person and the future of every nation. The LIBERTY we prize is not America's give to the world; it is God's gift to humanity."

John Stuart Mill - "Everyone who receives the protection of society owes a return for the benefit."

John Adams - "LIBERTY, once lost, is lost forever."

Nothing on earth is more valuable, more needed, more desired, and more important than LIBERTY and FREEDOM.

We, as the freedom loving, freedom aspiring, freedom granted people of America "hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are LIFE, LIBERTY and the pursuit of HAPPINESS"

not just for the select few but for ALL the WORLD .... now and forever.

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., and as expanded upon by former Oklahoma Representative J. C. Watts Jr; we all as Americans should have a dream that everyone rich or poor, American or citizen of other countries should be afforded the freedom and liberty to be accepted or not accepted; judged rightly, due not to skin color, national origin, ideology of our convictions, but rather and only on the CONTENT of our INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER.

and since we are talking about LIBERTY here is a special thank you to the men and women of our armed services who daily preserve, protect, and defend our liberty and freedom ... sometimes at the very price of theirs ... and their lives.

Today's Roll of Honor:

US Air Force - 100th Communications Squadron, RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom

US Army - Detatchment C, 38th Personnel Services Battalion, Bamberg, Germany

US Navy - USS The Sullivans, DDG 68, Mayport, Florida

US Marine Corps - Marine Wing Support Group 17, Okinawa, Japan

US Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Bollard, New Haven , Connecticut

Boxing Day

2005-01-19T13:40:00.000-08:00

wow .... and what a lovely conversation that was too! (heavy sarcasm intended) ...

just got off the phone with Senator boxer's Sacramento area office where strangely they believe that what the Senator said was that Dr. Rice's feelings and quotations about the war were only about WMD period.

when informed that the Senator's direct quote was "the bill that was voted on was about WMD PERIOD" and that as a constituent i was wondering when the Senator was planning to submit a public apology for lying regarding this i was informed that she probably would not be making one but that her office would be glad to pass on my request for one to the senator.

isnt there something we can do to make a rule about stupidity being a disqualification factor and recall her?

shouldn't vitriolic hatred be an impeachable offence???

Better than the Governments 5-star rating ...

2005-01-14T21:34:00.000-08:00

had the pleasure of taking in the Movie "in Good Company" (PG-13 for brief nudity, secual content and language) as a member of the press corp this Thursday ....

The movie stars Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johannson .... this is a movie that both MANLY MEN and CHICKS alike will like. if i had a five-star rating system like the government does for its crash tests this movie would get a 6... it is both funny and poignent; cute and serious; thought-provoking and hilarious ... and all during the same scene. It will make you re-evaluate what it is to be a success but at the same time you will walk away uplifted and happy. The only dowside is the brief but unnecessary "ba" shot of Dennis Quaid when his character crashes his own surprise party unbeknownst to the guests and one additional "annotomically correct" reference during the obligatory "old guy-young pup" advice session but other than those two very minor points definitely a worthwhile move to see ....

RatherGate III - The Aftermath

2005-01-12T20:56:00.000-08:00

It pains me to start this blog by saying that i EMPHATICALLY MUST strenuously disagree with my esteemed colleague and fellow blogger Hugh Hewitt .... but i must be true to a higher cause and calling even than agreement with one of the LEARNED ONES.

To call what the Independent investigators of what i call RatherGate III put out in their final report a WHITEWASH is an injustice of the most egregious sort.

As any good student of literature will tell you a Whitewash is a rather inept rendering of a paint job put on by the likes of Tom Sawyer ...

This report on the other hand is a brilliantly executed forgery of a prized Picasso or Faberge by comparison.

First the report would have us believe that while the CBS Gold Standard is "Fairness and accuracy" and further that while this was "not the case in this instance" there was no bias or evidence that inaccuracy was planned .... HOW DARE THEY!!!!

In the Webster's New World Dictionary of American English (Third College Edition - Deluxe Color Edition) under the word fair is found the following meaning ... # 6 "just and honest; impartial" and immediately followed in the antonym section are seen the following opposites "prejudiced and biased" ...

Also in the same dictionary under the word accurate (accuracy) is found the following meaning ... "Precise, free from mistakes and errors" ... with accuracy specifically being a "quality or state of being exact or accurate"...

How then do the perpetrators of this report justify that while there was an absence of fairness and accuracy (for this read a "presence of prejudice and bias") as well as a state of being or quality of inaccuracy (read error-filled and full of mistakes) .. that they could find no proof of bias??????

In the famous words of Gary Coleman ... "WHAT YOU TALKING ABOUT WILLIS? ...

The only and i do mean only reason for hope i have that this will be stalked until dead is that i believe most Americans will read it and split a gut with laughter at the very thought that the MSM actually think we the people will buy this insipid garbage disguised as "truth in reporting".

A Whitewash Hugh? no .... what they hope is to sell us a wrecked junk-yard residing AMC Pacer by advertising it as a mint-condition brand new BMW 320i and hoping against hope we won't notice the difference when we see it or drive it.

and i know ... Why RatherGate III you ask??? .. why yes ... Rathergate I was the now infamously discredited "THE WALL WITHIN" (which of course both he and CBS still stand by as true, accurate and historical but which has been shown many times to be precisely the OPPOSITE ... false, mistake-filled and hysterical) and RatherGate II his illustrious walk-off empty mike event (and the famous G. H. W. Bush tete-a-tete follow up).

and now on to more pleasing tasks .... a thanks to some special people in our military ...

US Air Force - 95th Air Base Wing, Edwards AFB, California

US Army - 155th Brigade Combat Team, Camp Shelby, Mississippi

US Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Alex Haley, Kodiak, Alaska

US Marine Corps - Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, MCB Lejeune, North Carolina

US Navy - Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 40, Okinawa, Japan

Its not the land of Fruits, Nuts and Flakes for nothing ...

2005-01-06T18:45:00.000-08:00

California is a wonderful place ... lets face it where else can you go snow-skiing in the morning, mountain climbing in the afternoon and take a moonlit walk on the beach in the evening after eating at a cozy little hide-away ... no other state has as much to offer as California does in art, entertainment, sports, culture, luxury, natural beauty and the truly great life. Like Achilles we have only one flaw (but it truly is fatal) ... we have more than our share of truly out of touch people ... those we used to call the granola people when i was a young man.... and unfortunately we still have at least ONE too many .... and so i offer as Visual Exhibit #1 ... the Queen of Granola ... US Senator Barbara Boxer ...

On behalf of the millions who did not vote for her i apologize to my fellow citizens ... please do not think ill of ALL Californians because of her ....

But i do have to say i think the best line came from the Ohio Representative who said that she had constituents who lamented:

"'Stephanie, I did not get my vote counted. My vote did not count. I was denied the opportunity to vote.'"

my question to them and to Representative Jones and Senator Boxer is: How do you know your vote was not counted? Did you see someone tear your ballot up? Did you see the machine shut off just as you were casting your vote?

Ms. Jones may i ask for substantiated proof of these allegations? It is all together too easy to make such blanket statements ... the proof is in the pudding, though, as they say ... so Ms Jones ... name names .... show tallys ... PROVE IT WITH FACTS .... not rhetoric. Heck i can say my vote wasn't counted too especially since the people i voted for didn't win ... but i know better ... i know that my vote went in but the person i voted for JUST DIDN'T WIN ....

PS .. No it was not you MS. Boxer .... just in case you MISSED it earlier ....

The unfortunate thing for America is that we have gone from a society where you played by the rules and were mannamimous in victory and gracious in defeat into a society where "its not my fault" "they cheated" "how can 35 million people be so stupid" and "I'm suing" are the watchwords of the day .... when supposed Liberal thinking minds can and do say with all candor that the only reason the "RED" counties and states voted that way is because they are ignorant and bigoted.

Friends it does not have to be this way either ... but then again just as i wrote that .. i realized that unfortunately YES IT DOES ... because you see until personal responsibility is brought back into the fabric of American values and American lifestyles we will continue on the slippery downward path of always blaming others for our mistakes. our actions (or inactions), blaming them for our difficulties, for our inability to succeed.... so long as WE as AMERICANS continue to look away from personal responsibility we will continue to be pulled further and further into the abyss leading to anarchy.

and it begins with each of us ... as individuals who determine to be responsible for our own actions and activities and then by our votes to insist theta our representatives are also accountable for theirs .... It will take much bravery on the part of many who will not survive the political battles ahead ... MANY sacrifices MUST be made and WILL be made ... Or if not we are doomed to being even more irrelevant on the world stage than is Benin or even France.

and now a big thank you to those daring and resourceful men and women of our ARMED SERVICES ... who by the way continue to serve and fight and die yet who are in a lot of cases too unimportant to have their votes counted too ... or am i asking too much Senator Boxer or Representative Jones?

U S Air Force - the men, women, Cadets, faculty and staff of the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado ... Aiming High .... into the Wild Blue Yonder

U S Marine Corps - 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, Marine Corps Base Hiwaii, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii

U S Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Wyaconda (WLR-75403), Dubuque, Iowa

U S Army - 254th Base Support Battalion, Schinnen, The Netherlands

U S Navy - the men,women, Midshipmen, faculty and staff of the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland.

My continued thanks to all of you and your families for your service, your dedication, devotion to duty, honor and country and your sacrifice....

2005-01-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

Sherlock Holmes, feline investigator extraordinaire, peruses the latest "Hugh"-done-it bestseller.

2005-01-05T22:38:00.000-08:00

where in the blog is BLOG?

a little traveling music please ...

2005-01-05T20:48:00.000-08:00

first of all let me say that i have missed blogging since Christmas mostly because of recurrent back pain that has caused me GREAT discomfort.... however like Gene, and Roy and Tom .. i'm back in the saddle again ... out where a friend is a friend ... and so to business ... so much has gone on since i last posted and since a new year has come since then let me give out a few awards for outrageous behavior at the beginning of the new one ...

The I CANT BELIEVE ITS NOT BUTTER award goes to the Archbishop of Canterbury ... who in his remarks regarding the Tsunami said that it made it hard for him to believe in God ... why is it that everything that goes wrong is God's fault ... even among religious leaders?? Come on people ... in the words of the CHURCH LADY can you SAY SATAN????? He must be having a field day getting God to take the blame for the worlds troubles while he goes on about his business of causing destruction completely untouched. Note to the Anglicans ... is belief in an evil power too much to ask??? How do you think we got in this mess in the first place??

The LET THEM EAT CAKE (I MEAN CROW) award goes to Mr. Hugh Hewitt .... say what you want about USC ... they can definitely play a little football .... as opposed to those "wait until next year" Ohio teams he's always promoting ....

The WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG award goes to the Democratic Congressional Caucus ... who despite the will of the people still insist that their guys won ... again .... I guess its all that new math they are paying for with our educational funding (you know the billions that are paying for US students to test worse then almost EVERYONE ELSE) .... i guess if you need to find an additional three million votes you should invite everyone to vote by using the county elections office as your address like some did in Washington .... (Dis) Honorable mention in this category goes to the Democratic Senatorial Caucus which is bound and determined to thwart the will of the people and the election results by continuing to REFUSE to allow judicial nominations to come to a floor vote .... and to think i used to want to be a senator once upon a time in my life (i would have been a republican one) ..thank God i grew out of it ....

The (SOUR) GRAPES OF WRATH award goes to Norm Coleman ... who using every ounce of wit and repartee at his disposal gleaned from years in school studying journalism and years as a practicing journalist and columnist ... had to resort to innuendo, name-calling and veiled sexual references in lieu of a logical rebuttal to the folks at POWERLINE .....

ok enough of that .... on to bigger and better things like the BLOG contest .....

I have sent in my nominations .... also posted here above ....

Military units of the Blog .....

U S Air Force - 182nd Airlift Wing, Greater Peoria Airport, Peoria. Illinois

U S Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Polar Sea (WAGB-11), Seattle Washington

U S Marine Corps - 2nd Force Service Support Group, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

U S Army - 4th Finance Battalion, Fort Carson, Colorado

U S Navy - USS John S McCain (DDG 56), Tokyo, Japan

A great BIG HAPPY NEW YEAR and wishes for a successful and peaceful 2005 to all of you.

Freedom to be ... or not to be ...

2004-12-23T21:01:00.000-08:00

i have spent almost three days now in contemplation of this blog ... because it touches on everything we as Americans hold dear .... including the right to agree or disagree about everything in it ... and so first the disclaimer ... it is not my intention to offend anyone by what i say here or to embarrass or hold them up for ridicule ... however i also believe that we must call, in the vernacular "a spade a spade" and if as the old saying goes ... "the shoe fits" ... i will only accede to saying so in all kindness and with the aforethought not to say that my way of seeing this is right and yours is wrong; but merely to express my personal thoughts using the God given freedoms of speech and expression inherent not only as guaranteed to every American through our constitution and bill of rights, but also to every human as granted by Almighty Creator that is God, no matter of what nation they are part.

and so to begin ... i received from my friend Marsha, an e-mail regarding elimination of crosses from all Federally -owned property which posed the situation of how to remove all the crosses from the federally-owned cemeteries in which brave souls who fought for freedom lie interred and asking the question of when the insanity of erasing from the public view all vestiges of Christianity would cease.... a few minutes later i received another e-mail from her asking me what another friend she had sent the e-mail to was trying to say in her reply ...

this then is the background from which this blog is written ... i will be quoting from the e-mail from the other friend in red text color. My own words will be in black color and material from additional or supporting sources will be denoted in blue type.

Pam writes

being an American i value and have defended our civil liberties on active duty for eight years and for a very long time in civil service. A major tenet of our freedom is our right and expectation for the federal government to keep its tentacles out of our churches, mosques, synagogues and mandirs. I am becoming more and more offended by the arrogant assumption that we all must worship the same way and believe the same things regarding religion or else we are un-American.

I also am a veteran of ten years of service to our country and also spend a great deal of my time involved in volunteer activities with the young people of this great nation and also agree that freedom of religion is a major tenet of our rights. In fact i made my very first public speech on this very subject as a 7th grade student at Buckeye Elementary School in 1975 (back in the days when you could mention God and religion in schools without fear of being hauled away as a subversive or fascist). I make mention of this fact because ever since those days it has been ONLY one group who has been determined to FORCE their set of values upon everyone and it has not been CHRISTIANS .. rather it is and has been the secular-humanist civil libertarians who have insisted that only THEY KNOW WHAT IS BEST and "correct" and that without them we would continue to be ignorant, bigoted, racist, homophobes; and therefore to be correct we must NEVER NEVER OFFEND ANYONE or do anything that might even possibly remotely have even the slightest speck of potential to offend ANYONE. As a defender of "religious freedom" since an early age i can unequivocally state that the first amendment to the constitution does not say FREEDOM FROM RELIGION but rather FREEDOM OF RELIGION.

Despite recent attempts by the leftist civil libertarians to insist that the founding fathers were not Christian or even believers in God or that they would insist on an absence of all religious discourse in the public forum is both completely ludicrous and totally and patently FALSE.

A quick glimpse at the Founding Fathers reveals that not one of them was a non-believer and that they were overwhelmingly of various Protestant faiths (two were Roman Catholic). Quite the contrary to being anti-religious they were firm believers in God but also firm in the belief that ALL beliefs and systems should share equal respect and acknowledgement ... again not freedom FROM religion but freedom OF religion (although those who wished to be free FROM religion could also practice those beliefs without fear, without ridicule, without inferiority). ALL religions (not the establishment of a state religion as in England) but the freedom to choose your own and feel free to celebrate it in whatever manner seemed fitting ... EQUAL RESPECT not AVOIDANCE and SUPPRESSION, equal respect and openness ... INCLUSIVITY not EXCLUSIVITY. Freedom for all yet not at the expense of their own beliefs that we were founded under the guidance and care of a SUPREME GOD ..

Take for example the declaration of President George Washington proclaiming a national day of thanksgiving:

General Thanksgiving

By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America

A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and

Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness"

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us. And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

(signed) G. Washington

Source: The Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, October 14, 1789 (via Hugh Hewitt)

Again Pam writes:

To co-mingle a politically-motivated entity such as the federal government with the activities and interestes of spirituality and religion with all its myriad forms and persuasions is very dangerous and very un-American at least it used to be before THIS ADMINISTRATION.

Unfortunately only in recent times has it become unfashionable and EVIL to mention religion or religious beliefs (especially the Christian belief). Every president, senator, congress member and every other elected official in both federal, state and local offices has taken an oath of office which affirms his agreement to preserve protect and defend the constitution .."so help me God." So too did i, as i stood, in Oakland, California on January 14th 1980, with 63 other persons of all races, colors, creeds, lifestyles, economic and social strata, and gender as we pledged to serve OUR respective services and OUR country and defend that self-same constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Again i must restate the obvious that we operate under the freedom OF religious thought and belief not freedom FROM those beliefs. In point of fact it is only the Christian faith that seems to be drawing the ire of those who wish to eliminate it from the public discourse, debate and view. Immediately after the tragic events of 9/11 when it was feared that Muslims might be targeted for increased vigilant oversight the civil libertarians SCREAMED at the top of their voices the charge of "PROFILING" don't you dare.... Why for example is it that a Menorah in celebration of Hanukkah is permissible on the lawn of City Hall in Los Angeles and of other cities but a Nativity scene is not?? Is this not, according to civil libertarians, a violation of "separation"? The answer is given that it is not because Judaism is a "minority" religion and therefore to be protected from the evil majority which seeks it out to destroy it (that being Christianity); according to again the cries from the civil libertarian crowd. Just as minorities cannot by the same token be racist or bigoted (according to the same crowd) because "the oppressed peoples cannot be evil only their oppressors."

again from Pam's e-mail:

And yet one group seeks to impose its ideas on all. Where do they get off complaining about being denied imposing their symbols on what should be common ground (a neutral ground). Have they no compassion or compatriotism for everyone else? When someone else allows their personal beliefs, especially beliefs considered extreme by the majority of the people to influence government policy a crime has been committed against democracy. This is what i mean when i say that there are those who would impose their ideas on everyone else. Yes this is fascism and to read its definition is to describe what is occurring in this country now. Establishing a state religion - BAD. Equal treatment for all religions - GOOD. Tolerance for all religions - BETTER. Acknowledgement and respect for all religions - BEST.

Where is there ANY proof written, unwritten anecdotal or otherwise that this administration or Christians either as a part (individuals or whole groups) have advocated, insinuated or in any other way, shape, form or even a wisp of any way shape or form one religious form of belief above or over any others and not been either respectful or tolerant of diverse belief systems? the answer of course is NEVER but not to hear the leftist civil libertarians tell the story...

At no time in recent history, have Christians (or this government) said that EVERYONE MUST be a CHRISTIAN or they are not equal as citizens. In fact it has only been the very same leftist civil libertarians who have consistently insisted that EVERYONE MUST ACT as they deem correct ... it is the "politically correct" crowd, not the Christian, that seeks to impose their values, their dogma, and their way of life upon the rest of us. Is it the Christian who is jumping up and down screaming that it is WRONG to wish others a HAPPY HANUKKAH"? Is it the Christian who is insistent that Kwanza be eliminated as a separately referenced holiday in favor of a universal covering of "Happy Holidays"? NO! NOT EVEN CLOSE.... it is the "liberal" defender of "rights" who insists that schools ban singing of spiritual Christmas carols such as "Silent Night" and that any such celebrations be called "holiday gatherings" or "Winter Festivals" ... Is it the Christian who is suing the County of Los Angeles to remove the image of the pagan goddess Medea from the seal of the county? NO! Again, it is those gallant defenders of the public, the ACLU, which is suing not to remove the goddess from the seal but rather seeking only to remove the small cross on the top of the picture representing the "Mission" in the name of tolerance. Christmas, being a Christian holiday, is EVIL ... and in their viewpoint MUST be like everything else which mentions the Christian God, ELIMINATED not tolerated; ELIMINATED not treated in an equal or neutral way; ELIMINATED completely from the public discourse, thought, policy and view no matter that in point of fact being far from, as Pam writes, "especially beliefs considered extreme by the majority of the people" it is rather that over 80% of the population consider themselves to be of the Christian belief. Now i have to say i was not the GREATEST Math student (all i did was get straight As) but even i know that 80 percent is far from being a "Minority" no matter how you try to slice and dice and parse it.

It is not Christian beliefs which get the preferential treatment but rather every other belief system to the EXCLUSION of Christian values and beliefs. Two years ago, the United States Justice Foundation sued McNair Elementary in Petaluma on behalf of a parent (religion unspecified) who said that students should not be allowed to celebrate "El Dia de los Muertos" the "Day of the Dead" because the holiday was religious. Richard Ackerman said the women they represented was upset because the school supported the Day of the Dead celebration even as it banned Christmas programs on the basis of their religiosity. They lost when the Sonoma County judge hearing the case ruled that the Day of the Dead was acceptable to celebrate as a cultural event. In the end Ackerman said "Christmas was (and still is banned) and Day of the Dead went forward.

The wonderful thing about America is that it is the most welcoming, most inviting, most unjudgemental, most tolerant and most of all the best place (THE ONLY PLACE) where ALL are created equal ... where our creator-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of each individuals pathway to happiness (no matter however or wherever) that journey may go are GUARANTEED ... "FOR ALL" no matter if rich, poor , Christian or Atheist, Muslim or Jew, Hindu or Buddhist, native-born citizen or recent immigrant ... YOU are covered in that "FOR ALL" no matter who you are .... Not because we have guaranteed freedoms "FROM" speech, "FROM" assembly, "FROM" the press or "FROM" religion but because we have freedoms "OF" those things and also freedoms to "NOT OF" those things if we so choose.

Like it or not, agree with it or not ... the facts of the matter are this: We (THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA) are a nation founded on Christian principles, Christian values, Christian morals and Christian Beliefs ... we are a nation which is still founded on those very "self-evident" truths to this very day ... WE are a nation of primarily Christians who reach out to every other belief with acceptance, with respect, with tolerance, as Abraham Lincoln so nobly stated "with malice toward none, with charity toward all" truly respecting and accepting every other type and form of belief (or un-belief) system not by "taunting" them with the superiority of our beliefs but with the same rights for them to be "free to be or not to be" ... free to practice ... free to observe ... truly "FREE" to be whatever, and whoever, and whenever, and wherever as they and all of us as individuals feel is right ....

Only of America can this be said ... only in America can this be factual and true ... only in America where "under God" we live "with liberty and justice for all."

to close i shall remind myself again of the oath i took as a young 18 year old ... to well and faithfully execute the orders of the President of the United States and the officers and superiors over me and will to the best of my abilities, preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States against ALL enemies, foreign or domestic ... so help me God.

Yes, Pam, our religious freedoms are a most important tenet of our being but only so, as we continue to remember why they are there and also to remember all the other important rights we so greatly and graciously enjoy in, as Michael Medved so aptly puts it, "the greatest country on God's green earth."

Tonight as i contemplate which units of our military to select for individual thanks i am driven with the thought that EACH AND EVERY PERSON serving today needs to receive from me an individual THANK YOU ... and so tonight instead of indivudal units from each branch i wish to personally say "thank you" to every living veteran who ever served this great nation either in times of war or in times of peace; to every wife, mother, father, brother, sister, husband, grandparent, neice, nephew, son, daughter, aunt, uncle and friend of every fallen veteran "Thank you" for the sacrifice they made so that this wonderful country "of the people by the people and for the people should not perish"; to every man and woman (and through them all their family members and friends) currently serving and wearing with pride the uniform of our military services, wherever you are "Thank you" and "May the Lord bless you and keep you, May the Lord shine His Light upon you, May the Lord be gracious unto you, and grant you the blessings of Peace now and forever more." AMEN.

some holiday reading ....

2004-12-21T19:21:00.000-08:00

May i recommend the following as a partial list of excellent reading material for the holiday period including Christmas, Hanukkah and the New Year....

First start with "How the Irish Saved Civilization" and follow it immediately with Thomas Cahill's other books in no particular order "The Gifts of The Jews", "Desire of the Everlasting Hills" and "Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea" all extremely well written books on how we got to where we are and who helped get us there....

Also very high on my must read list this year "The Book of Honor" by Ted Gup ... the fascinating and true stories of the men and women behind the CIA "Stars" ....

A MUST read and MUST buy for anyone into politics is "Never Give In!" the best of Sir Winston S. Churchill's speeches, edited by his Grandson Winston S Churchill.

Sports fans who have not yet SHOULD read "Moneyball", by Michael Lewis, the authoritative tome of the building of the Oakland A's baseball team of the 2000s ... especially since the re-tooling of that team is so much in the forefront of today's sports news.

On the lighter side i heartily recommend any and all of the "Uncle John's Bathroom Readers" a must for trivia buffs who have very little free time to read ....

literary classics that are always up for a re-read or DEFINITELY a FIRST READ include "Doctor Zhivago" by Boris Pasternak, "The Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann and "Abraham Lincoln" by Carl Sandburg ... in the case of Lincoln a MUST in my opinion for EVERY American junior high and high school student without exception.

For military buffs .. may i recommend "Beyond the Wild Blue Yonder" by Walter J. Boyne ... a fairly comprehensive history of the United States Air Force.

I shall offer two more selections just for general principles which i have not yet read but are most DEFINITELY my next two purchases ... the first is "The Bounty" by Caroline Alexander, about the famous mutiny aboard His Majesty's Armed Transport .... and the second is "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" by Arthur Herman.

Happy reading and remember to tell a friend or buy any of these as either a gift to someone special or for yourself ....

and now just what everyone has been waiting for .... this BLOG's Military Units of Distinction ....

the envelope please ................................ (drum roll)

US Air Force - 355th Wing, Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona

US Marine Corps - D Co., 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, Twenty-Nine Palms, California

US Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Willow (WLB 202), Newport, Rhode Island

US Navy - USS Nevada, (SSBN 733), NBK Bangor, Washington

US Army - 20th Engineer Brigade (Combat) (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina

once more into the breach dear friends .... THANK YOU from the bottom of this citizen's (and fellow veteran) heart.... in the word of Sir Winston S Churchill ... "NEVER GIVE IN"

A follow up on death ... and taxes

2004-12-21T08:46:00.000-08:00

OK .. reading through my missive i notice that it is not necessarily reasoned but rather impassioned ... no biggie as it it my opinion and only my opinion and dissenting opinions are welcome ... however on my way into work this AM there was a short blurb about how it will be approximately 5 years before ANY appeal of the Peterson case is actually heard due to a MASSIVE backlog of cases up for appeal ... its no wonder our justice system is wacky ....

So in the interest of helping things move along more smoothly why cant we the people install a judicial appeal board of say 7 members whose job would be to review these cases for appeal and be provided with the authority to make their appeal decisions stick ... with the codicil that one final appeal would be granted to the Supreme Court. This board would consist of retired judges (4 of them), two retired lawyers (one defense lawyer and one prosecuting attorney) and a plain ole folks citizen ... they would be appointed (one each by the governor, lieutenant governor, senate pro tem leader, speaker of the assembly, minority assembly leader, senate minority leader and the chief justice of the State Supreme Court) and then elected to a four year term and subject to the same term limits (and removal) as the constitutional officers of the state. their sole purpose in life would consist of judicial review of appeal cases. Staff would be provided for their use but these positions would be stipend (per diem) based.

again .... just an idea but i think it is one whose time has come a long time ago ....

now holding to rules and regulations .... here are this blog entry's military units for thanks ....

US Air Force - 821st Air Base Group, Thule AB, Greenland

US Navy - USS Winston S. Churchill, DDG 81, Norfolk, Virginia

US Army - 3rd Brigade, 87th Division (Training Support), Camp Shelby, Mississippi

US Marine Corps - MALS-12 (Marauders), 12 MAG, MCAS Iwakuni, Japan

US Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Barracuda, Eureka, California

Give me liberty or give me death?????

2004-12-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

Given the recent State of California Vs Scott Peterson verdict and sentence there has been quite a bit of talk around the old water cooler (or at my work place the old coffee pot) regarding the justice or injustice of the death penalty and its effectiveness or ineffectiveness as either a rehabilitative or deterrent factor and of course its monetary costs/worth to society as a whole.

To that end i offer my own personal view which i hope will be a reasoned argument and which of course is always open to discussion, comment and dissenting opinion.

To first give a background i will first dispense the truth that i am indeed pro death penalty. However as it is presently constituted it does us no good. I am a firm believer in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, after a trial by ones peers who having taken an oath before God to render justice and also in the truest sense of Western law and thought every citizen's right of appeal to higher authority for redress if applicable.

What we have however in the American Justice System is neither American, Justice or a System but rather a complete and total foul-up of the entire works ... Rendered only as bad as any well-meaning group of lawyers on all twelve sides of an issue can produce.

The first error of course is in the new definition of "peers" where it seems that both sides of the argument try their hardest to stock the jury pool with malleable moldible persons without regard to trying to get the "best" people who can think and reason and truly digest the tons and tons of information being shoved at them in order to come to a well-reasoned decision. I first found this fact out when i personally was selected for jury duty and when i arrived and filled out the questionnaire and started the process of weeding down the pool ... was dismissed by the prosecution lead for and i quote "perhaps being more knowledgeable about the whole trial process" then she was - she being new to prosecutorial workings.

Then there is the whole mess of the difference between "legal" evidence and "plain old facts" ... now this is not to say that the Law Enforcement folks can just go out williy-nilly and seize anyone and anything and "Manufacture" evidence but it also does not mean that evidence found that "technically" might be prejudicial or inflammatory or for lack of a better word be a little in the "grey" area should be totally disregarded either.

As in all things there must be equal bearing to the complete record on both sides being brought into play for as a much wiser soul than i stated "truth is like a coin in that there are three sides to it ... the face, the reverse and the area in the middle where it mostly lies.

Both of the above areas MUST be corrected if we are ever to actually have the loyal citizenry believe again that the system works ... both for the victims of crime and those accused of those crimes (who may or may not be guilty as charged).

Sentencing must also be kept free of restricting influences ... such things as preset terms are great as GUIDELINES for a jury to consider however jurors must be able to weigh in their own minds the severity and mitigating circumstances and come up with THEIR recommendations free from the stultifying efforts of both sides to propose and in many cases "force" juries into compliance with "standardized" and "inflexible" sentences (by both sides i mean all three of course ... defense, prosecution and judicial).

and then there is the appeals process ... the longest and most drawn out part of the whole. This is REALLY where the system stinks of rotten fish .... especially in death penalty cases where the state pays for BOTH sides of the argument in the vast majority of cases ... arguing for the prosecution (as the state should do as representative of the victim) but also paying for the argument AGAINST ...its enough to almost make me WANT to become multiple-personalitied ... at least id have some clue as to the logic behind it all.

When did it become the "burden" of the prosecuting entity to have to support and pay for the opposing side in a case that they won in the trial?? and yet in death case after death case ... the state is picking up both sides of the bill. THAT MUST END .... it should have never begun ....

Limits should also be placed on the number of appeals one receives .. there is no justice in the endless filing of appeal after appeal after appeal ... Every death case gets an automatic appeal to begin with and the accused/convicted should get ONE more and only ONE more after that ... PERIOD.

Effective appealing will still weed out the minute number of false "positives" (also known as mistakes) from the system but the limitation on the number of times a case may be appealed will also allow for the "execution" of the rendered sentence in a timely manner as well. Thereby allowing the victim or family of victims to see that justice truly does prevail in our system ... because frankly im not sure it does prevail the way our system currently operates.

When convicted prisoners have more rights and better living conditions then the defenders of our freedoms do, SOMETHING is TOTALLY WRONG .... there is no excuse for that situation to continue in its present course ... to take just the Peterson case in mind it will be most likely that 25 years from now Scott will still be living (not a comfortable life but a life to be sure) at the expense of the taxpayers of California (including but not limited to the family of his victim who with every year's income tax pay of their funds to keep appealing the sentence they so richly deserve to see carried out.

If i were the Rocha family i would scream a HUGE FIT ... that MY taxes would be going to pay to keep my daughter's killer both alive and appealing the sentence handed out. IS it just me or is there SOMETHING TOTALLY SCREWY ABOUT THAT KIND OF JUSTICE????

If we are going to keep the death penalty .... and most Americans say they want it ... LETS REALLY HAVE ONE ... ONE that WORKS and actually GETS USED. As another very wise man once said to me ... "Son, either fish or cut bait.... cause you can't do both at the same time". NOW is the time we MUST decide what we are going to do .... it is long overdue ... one way or the other, the time to choose and ACT DECISIVELY on THAT CHOICE is NOW.

and now on to better and more useful things such as a hearty thank you to those persons serving in our military ... the guardians of our freedoms who willingly give up some of theirs for a time in order to ensure that the rest of us will NEVER have to give up any of OURS ....

US Air Force - 49th Fighter Wing, Holloman AFB, New Mexico

US Army - 1st Personnel Group, I Corps, Fort Lewis, Washington

US Navy - VFA-151. CW2, NAS Lemoore, California (USS Abraham Lincoln)

US Marine Corps - 6th Communications Battalion, Brooklyn, New York

US Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Hickory, Homer, Alaska

Please remember this Christmas to give a special thanks to the members of these units both current and former for their dedication, service and sacrifices to their nation ...

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL and A HAPPY, SAFE, and PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!!!!!

In search of ....

2004-12-14T22:00:00.000-08:00

... the real Christmas story.

According to the powers that be at both Newsweek and Time through their cover stories, the FACTS of the case cannot be proven and therefore it MUST mean that the case is therefore FALSE and WITHOUT MERIT.

The question one must ask is why, if in non-religious writings a writer is believed even without corroborating evidence, cannot the same standard be applied to religious writings such as the Gospels.

The answer is plain ... both from scripture and also from the writings of biblical scholars and theologians. The scriptures plainly tell us that light cannot exist with darkness neither can faith survive hand in hand with unbelief ... one cannot serve two masters ... either one believes wholly and folllows the scriptures in truth and as truth or one does not believe; and as diametricly opposed opinions never meet neither can the deliberate and consciously choosing unbelievers meet the the truth and recognize it.

Society today is all about freedom ... freedom from right and wrong .... freedom from personal responsibility ... freedom to "do what is right in their own eyes" without suffering or accepting the consequences of those actions. Scripture plainly also states that "the way that seemeth right unto men" inevitably ends "in the ways of death". Only by casting dispersions, insults, doubts, innuendo and outright bold faced lies upon the truthfulness and veracity of Scriptures can the secular humanistic individual ease his own conscience into submission and peace.

A noted religious author once put it this way regarding those of unbelief ...."The Word of God (Biblical Scriptures) is plain ...the testimonies of His Spirit call attention to the Scriptures which points out your defects of character ... therefore you do not heed them. In order to justify your carnal and ease-loving course you begin to doubt whether they are from God. Those who seek to lessen the faith of God's people are fighting against God. It is not the instrument that you slight and insult but God Himself."

and so the question remains ... will the articles in Newsweek and Time serve the purposes for which i believe they were written -- that purpose being to give credence to the "anything goes", "there's no wrong answer", "if it feels good to you do it", "no one is to blame" mentality and modus operandi of the world at large? Unfortunately the answer is yes and gratefully also no.

The believer belives without having to see proof because of his faith ... faith being from God, if continually cultivated in a personal relationship with HIM, will only grow stronger and stronger and thus continue to build within the BELIEVER an even more impregnable fortress of hope and joy and love and faith in God from which nothing, as the Apostle Paul so eloquently stated, "can separate us."

The same unfortunately is also true of the unbeliever. We humans are a very proud and stubborn race... tending to become defensive when challenged. The secular portion of society will also continue to harden their stances, build up their forces and work at all cost to remain if not totally God-less then most definitely try to make God "less".

Rules have consequences ... a society with less rules has less consequences ... more freedoms ... less responsibilites ... it is this force that Christians are fighting ... it is this force that is determined to lessen the humans dependence on an external God by substituting in its place an internal "personal" god ... the god of human nature.

If we believe that the Bible is true and truthful in all aspects the outcome is known ... in the end God wins ... "do it yourself" loses ... but it is not going to be an easy and quick battle and victory ... it will in fact get even more intense the nearer to the final judgement we come.

and now the Military Unit Thanks of the Blog ...

US Air Force - 52nd Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem AB, Germany

US Army - 3rd Recruiting Brigade, Fort Knox, Kentucky

US Navy - USS Oklahoma City, SSN 723, Norfolk, Virginia

US Marine Corps - VMFT 401, Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, Arizona

US Coast Guard - Coast Guard Station, Oregon Inlet, North Carolina

May God by His Grace grant each one of you serving this Great Country Peace, Love Hope, Joy and Thanksgiving at this the Christmas season.

and may every veteran, every serving member of our armed forces, and our nation's leaders be blessed as well this Christmas with every good and perfect gift ... God Bless you and continue through his mercy to bless America ...MANY THANKS FOR A JOB WELL DONE!

Why is it ....

2004-12-10T20:53:00.000-08:00

Why is it that we can always do things over and over and over but somehow FAIL to do them right the first time because we are so busy ...

human nature being what it is im sure we have all had those kind of days .... HURRYING inevitably leads to inaccuracy ... and inaccuracy leads to HUGE problems ... is it really so important to have IT NOW, RIGHT NOW even if its not completely done or totally verified? Has the lure of FILTHY LUCRE become so great that we cant or shouldnt take the time to do whatever it is we are doing right? or have we (and this includes ME) just gotten so lazy we don't care? Whether in business, or our personal lives will we really lose SO MUCH by taking our time and doing it RIGHT than we will by having to do and re-do and re-do ???

speaking just for me ... i think it is about time I DID it right rather than first in a lot of things in my life ... so bear with me and keep me honest (you people i rely on for this KNOW WHO YOU ARE and also know WHAT YOU NEED TO DO) ....

Personal responsibility for our actions (or lack of actions as well) is not just something we need to TALK about we also NEED to apply it in a practical sense as well.

So ... as an early Yew Year's resolution suggestion may i suggest (and in my case --demand of myself) that every one of us here on PLANET EARTH in the coming year try their best to live up to the following ...

as originally written by Mister Richard Bach in his book "Illusions", (you young people go read Jonathan Livingston Seagull first then ask questions!) ....

"Live never to be ashamed if anything you do or say is published around the world--even if what is published is not true."

Wouldnt the world be a much more wonderful place??? The golden rule is not just a Christian experiment ... every known belief system shares that simple respectful code in its own way ...and so in the words of BILL AND TED ... "Be Excellent to each Other!" We are after all the only "brotherhood of man" we will ever have ... lets make the most of it shall we?

In this spirit of togetherness and caring ... especially at this SEASON of GIVING ... remember those around you who have less or are struggling .... give a little something of yourself to someone else .... you will be amazed at how much better off YOU will be because of it.

It doesnt even have to be a BIG thing .. a smile for the harried store clerk or the postal worker ... allowing someone else to take your place in a long line ...

Have you ever bought the groceries for the person ahead of you in the supermarket? If you want to see someone break out in wonderment and thanks ... the next time there is a senior citizen ahead of you at the store ... pay for some of their groceries ...

AND YES i have and YES it made her day ... a wonderful way to share with a stranger the SPIRIT of CHRISTMAS .... ALL YEAR LONG .... ALL LIFE LONG!

and speaking of strangers and people you will never meet who DESERVE special THANKS remember to thank the local law enforcement and fire and emergency medical people you see as you travel around day to day ... lets face it they do a job that MOST of us WOULD NOT do ... and they do it well ....

which brings me back to my special thanks to the brave men and women of our NATION'S ARMED FORCES ....

This BLOG's units of special recognition are:

US Air Force - 2nd Bomb Wing, Barksdale AFB, Arkansas

US Army - 10th Aviation Brigade, Fort Drum, New York

US Navy - Naval PostGraduate School, Monterey, California

US Marines - Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion, Company D, Fort Gordon, Georgia

US Coast Guard - Coast Guard Air Station, Traverse City, Michigan

PLEASE REMEMBER THESE and ALL OTHER MEMBERS OF OUR ARMED FORCES and THEIR FAMILES .... thanks to them and those who have served before WE ARE FREE!!!!

I will close with another final thought from Mr. Bach ...

"Here is a test to find out if your mission on earth is finished .... if you're alive, it isnt."

2004-12-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

im the one on the LEFT

and now a word from our sponsors ....

2004-12-06T22:16:00.000-08:00

enough of the steroid talk already .... If an individual wants to take the personal responsibility for his/her actions and take steriods to in some way increase their potential performance ... so be it. JUST DONT WHINE if after your career is over you suffer the unforeseen or adverse consequences of YOUR actions. For those who swear that it taints records i say if a person was using something that was not illegal during the time they were using it ... live and let live. Now if it was banned already and they continued to take it -- thats a different horse and should be dealt with by each individual sport or activity in their own manner -- more power to them ... To those who will say "but we have to do something or all our young people will be taking them i say "Hello can you say PARENTS??? COACHES??? hey if you are a parent and you kid is taking steriods and youd dont want him too, use your PARENTAL VETO and say "do sterionds or anythine else illegal--No sports" or no whatever it is they are really into .... its called GROUNDING ... worked for me and my siblings ... trust me it will work for your children too .... but it all comes back to taking RESPONSIBILITY .... Coaches can ban youth from playing if they are juicing as well and parents should be adult enough to accept the rules as rules. and that goes for everybody. but like i say ... enough talk about the steriod issue ....

lets get to more fun things .... like the unfairness of the BCS system where only in America can you be ranked 4th for 9 weeks and after the last game still be ranked 4th but not get to go to the Big Boys bowl games like CALIFORNIA or even worse go undefeated the entire season and still not make the championship game despite being in the conference that is universally acknowledged as the toughest in the country like AUBURN .... Please NCAA can anyone there inside of FOOTBALL spell P-L-A-Y-O-F-F T-O-U-R-N-E-Y-M-E-N-T? I know that NCAA Basketball and Baseball can and for you bowl purists it can all be done within the BOWL FORMAT ... goodness knows there are enough BOWL games between now and Jan 4th to put at least the top 16 teams in a winner take all single elimination BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP .. with the winner being a REAL champion and no one getting thrown a PENALTY FLAG.... come on NCAA get with the program and give all us football fans a REAL system ....

and while we are venting here about inaneness or is it insaneness??? lets take REALITY TV and put it where it really belongs .... SOMEWHERE ELSE .... because even though it says its reality TV ... lets face it its NOT ... not even close ... I personally have never watched a single minute of a single reality TV show .... my exposure is only due to the teasers and trailers but if what is on the trailer teaser is any indication of the REAL-NESS ... ive seen more reality in a fake mink stole then in any of these WAY TOO MANY reality shows. In deference to my sister who patiently tries to show me the reality and difference between different shows i will grant her that THE AMAZING RACE seems to be at least the closest to real life of any of them ... but even that is stretching it a bit too far in my view.

WOW!!! I feel SO MUCH BETTER now ....

Speaking of REALITY here are some real military units and outstanding citizens that deverve our unwavering and unlimited thanks for their service and dedication to the protection and service of all of us ....

US Air Force - 22nd Air Refueling Wing, McConnell AFB, Kansas

US Army - 18th Medical Command, Republic of Korea

US Navy - USS Ronald Reagan, CVN 76, San Diego, California

US Marines - 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Camp Pendleton, California

US Coast Guard - USCG Cutter Galveston Island, Guam

.... MANY THANKS for YOUR BEING BRAVE, DEDICATED, DEVOTED TO DUTY AND COUNTRY .... and may your families also be thanked for their sacrifices on behalf of the rest of us .... GOD BLESS!

Books .... and medical 'juana

2004-11-30T13:53:00.000-08:00

First i must answer the Great One's query regarding books worth reading a second time posted at his website a couple days ago ....

To date i have found only one book (both fiction and non-fiction) that i HAVE NOT been able to either finish reading or never wanted to re-read again ... that one book being "Sheba" by Jack Higgins. I have immensely enjoyed ALL his other books and have read and re-read them many times but that one tripped me up. As to other books both fiction and non-fiction i find that by reading and re-reading over and over again i am always made aware of small details i missed or that in my re-reading made a much bigger impact the second or third time through ... its like movies which i also watch over and over ... each time i see them i catch nuances and themes that i passed over lightly the time before but there is always SOMETHING that catches me in a new way or new light every time through them ... maybe im weird (those who know me are cordially invited not to comment on this fact) or am i?

Your bookish thoughts welcomed ....

Medical 'juana .... with the Supreme Court hearing arguments and with my hometown being in the process of trying to start its first "medical pot" store ... i offer one common man's opinion ...

The highest laws of the land are put there for specific purposes .... as our Constitution so eloquently states "... in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..."

as a common defence, insurance of domestic tranquility and promotion of general welfare system we the people have allowed certain of our individual liberties and rights to be subject to the adage of "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one". We have done this in issues of moral right and wrong (such as limits regarding the legality of bigamy/polygamy, child abuse, threats against another's person or property, etc.), on public safety issues (such as legal limits of blood alcohol while driving, extra penalties regarding hate crimes, etc.), and on issues affecting maturity of intellect and thought (limits on voting age, driving age, marriage age, even limits on libelous, slanderous or dangerous speech, etc.) when those issues are of such import to the citizenry as a whole. As the highest law of the land the Federal statutes protect each of us no matter what state or county we actually are in and rightly all other levels of laws are subject to the Federal limits ESPECIALLY when those laws or restrictions deal directly with domestic tranquility, common defence and general welfare. As a nation we the people either directly through constitutional amendments, or through our elected representatives have determined limits on individual freedoms when the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few -- or the one. I am no more free to shourt "Fire" in a crowded building or threaten the life of a publicly elected official or any other citizen without acceptance of the consequences of my actions then i am to murder, steal, or betray my country ... all of these actions have been deemed to be outside the permissible limits of "acceptable behavior" consistent with the rights and responsibilities of citizenship -- and rightly so. Unlimited freedom without responsibility and acceptance of consequences leads down the short slippery slope to anarchy. As responsible citizens we willingly subject ourselves to limits on our freedom in the name of the common good.

It is the opinion of this common man that the medical use of marijuana falls squarly into this category. I will readily admit that it serves the needs of the few and the one who receive benefit from it; however, its potential to greviously harm the needs of the many -- especially the youth of our nation GREATLY OUTWEIGH its beneficial aspects. No one can dispute the findings of study after study outlining the dangerous effects on brain function continued use has on the human being; no one can dispute the findings of study after study outlining the "gateway" potential and reality of marijuana use in leading to misuse of other illegal and even more dangerous substances. We prohibit polygamy on the basis of moral right and wrong and it is right and good that we do so ... despite the needs and wants of a few; we prohibit the abuse of children as a moral right and we are right and good to do so ... despite the wants of a few. When an activity has a much greater potential for harm to the common good, common welfare, common defence and domestic tranquility then it has as a potential for "good", it is right and good that we proscribe and prohibit its use and function.

Marijuana has a much greater potential to be misused and lead to a disolution of the common good, common defence, common welfare and domestic tranquility than it has right now as a proven beneficial substance. As such, until such time as WE THE PEOPLE, in totality, either by direct vote amending such laws as exist through the constitutional process or through the votes of our elected representatives, change existing Federal laws banning use of marijuana, NO lover level of laws should be legal and binding and all such lower level laws that DO exist should be overturned by the Supreme Court.

as always opposing viewpoints cordially welcomed....

and now for today's Military Thank Yous:

US Air Force - 39th Wing and 628 Air Mobility Support Squadron, Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. this is another "selfish" thank you as i was proud to have been able to serve in both these units during my term of service.

US Army - 278th Armoured Cavalry Regiment, Knoxville, Tennessee

US Navy - The Officers and Crew of the USS Thach, FFG-43, San Diego, California

US Marines - 2nd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

US Coast Guard - The Officers and Crew of the USCG Cutter Razorbill, Gulfport, Mississippi

May GOD BLESS each of your and your families as you continue to serve and sacrifice for your country. THANK YOU!

a few thoughts on thanksgiving ....

2004-11-24T19:57:00.000-08:00

If you have not been there yet you MUST go to Hugh Hewitt's website for the greatest words ever written about Thanksgiving by President George Washington in his proclamation. Try as i might i cannot believe that that resolution would ever pass through Congress today ... much to our eternal shame.

Since this will be MY thanksgiving message and post, it is fitting to thank God here for the benefits I so greatly enjoy, job, family, health, happienss, and above all the benefit of being an American. I consider it a true blessing that i am still priveledged to have both my parents still living as well as all of my siblings, first cousins, one grandparent and all my aunts, uncles, neices and nephews except for three (two uncles and one nephew) ... considering the state of todays world that is remarkable.

I am also priveledged to have GREAT friends ... you know who you are ... all four of you.!!!!

It is also fitting here that in todays post i announce a new feature which will be a regular occurance in all my future posts. A thank you each week to the members of one unit of our incredible and brave military forces. I am a veteran of the US Air Force having served for Ten years from 14 Jan 1980 to 16 May 1990. I still consider that to be the GREATEST thing done in my life.

I will admit that this first unit does indeed have a bit of a selfish tone to it as my First thank you is to the current and former members of MY first unit the 552nd Air Control Wing ... i will always treasure my time spent there and know that those current members are proudly, positively and professionally upholding the honors and traditions of those of us who went before them.

My first Navy salute is also a selfish one as it is given to the men and women of the USS McFaul, on which my nephew Jonathan L Hicks is currently serving. He being from an Air Force family he is the only member who chose to jump ship so to speak.

My Thanksgiving inagural salute to the Army goes to the officers and soldiers of the XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, NC. For the US Marine Corps i proudly salute those who serve or served with the II MEF Special Operations Training Group. Coast Guard salutes for this initial word of thanks go to those serving on the USCGC Marcus Hanna.

And lastly on again a very personal note a special word of thanks to the members of some now defunct units whom i had the distinct pleasure to serve with, those of the 63d Military Airlift Wing, the 10th Tac Recon Wing, 527th Aggressor Squadron, 1st Tac Recon Squadron. Gentlemen and Ladies -- THANK YOU ... for the good times ... for the hectic times ... and for the sad times and lost comrades .... LEST WE FORGET.

In all things, give thanks .....

The Z Files - Thoughts of a common man

2004-11-23T20:51:00.000-08:00

first some thoughts on the long overdue retirement party for Dan Rather .... and then again perhaps just the thought that this event is so long overdue is all that needs saying here.

As you will note in coming weeks i am center-right fiscally and center-center on most csocial issues. However you wil also find tha ti have very little patience for those among us who believe that their superiority is due to breeding, education, wealth or social standing. A co-worker of mine who is extremely liberal but describes himself as a thinking liberal is a classic example of this ... the day after the election his only comment to me (not knowing where i live) was tht the reason that middle america and especially the inland portions of California voted for W is that they are mostly ignorant because they do not have the vast variety of sources for informmation like they do in the major matropolitan areas of the country and of the state.... it is this ARROGANCE which makes me take time to blog what will become random thoughts of a common man. I hope you will enjoy ... agree or disagree if you will and i welcome disagreement but please remain civil.