OKAY, WHICH IS IT?

I realize that things are getting fairly skimpy in the mainstream press.  Layoffs, downsizing, and–you know–saving money.  But it’s starting to get ridiculous.  Some cases in point:

Two stories in the same newspaper –on the same day.  First headline: Winter holiday anti-DUI campaign nets 57 arrests in Butte County.   Second headline:  Butte County logs 92 holiday DUI arrests.  I never did find out which story was right.  Okay, which is it?

Here’s another from the internet’s Money News.  Euro UNLIKELY TO LAST THE DECADE.  Same internet page: Euro is world’s MOST SOLID CURRENCY.  Okay, which is it?

From the Sacramento Bee, a news story about the inclement weather in southern California:  Branches from one falling tree hit Greg Mora’s car.  Mora SUFFERED A GASHED FOREHEAD.  NO INJURIES were reported from the toppling trees.  Okay, which is it?

And finally, this gem:  Two stories, same subject, two different news sources.  From the Sacramento Bee dated December 10th:  For the sixth year in a row, MORE PEOPLE LEFT CALIFORNIA FOR OTHER STATES than came here from them, according to the Department of Finance.  But on the very same day in the Chico Enterprise Record, there’s this from the Associated Press:  California’s population grew less than 1 percent in the last fiscal year as FEWER PEOPLE MOVED TO OTHER STATES.

It certainly gives impetus to the ol’ saying “Don’t believe everything you read in the newspapers –or on the internet for that matter.

LAND OF FRUITS, NUTS…AND POTHEADS

It was an interesting election  few years back.  That’s when California voters went to the polls and voted “yes” on Proposition 215.  It was called “The Compassionate Use Act.”  It allowed people who were knocking on death’s door the legal right to smoke a little pot to ease their pain.  After all, taking morphine might cause them to become addicted during their final days on this planet.

Californians…being sympathetic to those in pain, overwhelmingly approved Proposition 215.  Of course there was no organized opposition to the ballot measure.  Who in their right mind would want to prevent someone with terminal cancer from leaving this world in pain.

But a strange thing happened following that election.  Californians revealed that we live in a very sick state.  There are more sick people in this state per capita than any other state in the union.  It also revealed a new source of income for doctors.  You see, in order to legally get high on pot, a person has to have a note from a doctor.

Today, anyone with an abscessed tooth, a bad back, athletes foot, a headache, a hangnail or hemorrhoids can get a note from a doctor granting the “patient” permission to legally get high (as long as the “patient” can cough up the hundred bucks or so to pay the doctor.)  When it comes to renewing the permission slip, that’s another fifty bucks.

In a college town like Chico, California, that permission slip and it’s annual renewal has generated mucho bucks (under the table?)for local doctors (who apparently aren’t paid enough for heart transplants to make their yacht payments.)

Proposition 215 also opened up other avenues to generate revenue.  Advertising.  In this college town, the Chico News and Review is a weekly newspaper which carries advertisements for the “medicine” being sought by so many “patients.”  The “medicine”…with such names as Super Lemon Haze, Pineapple Skunk, Headband, and Crack.

Daily specials are also advertised with special “sales” except the word “sales” is never used.  It’s still against the law to sell marijuana. The terms to avoid such breaches of the law are “transactions” or “donations”.  For example, one such advertisement states “Greatly reduced.  Suggested donation $135 per ounce.”  Another offers $8 off any ‘transaction over $25.  And still another offers a free gram with any transaction.  Still another advertises a delivery service only.  How cool is that!

Yes, Proposition 215 changed everything, proving once and for all that Caliornia is not just the land of fruits and nuts.  It has become the land of pot heads.  It’s illegal to light up a Camel in public in so many places, but it’s okay to light up a joint (as long as you’ve got your permission slip.)

 

 

DON’T ASK – DON’T TELL (Part 2)

I’ve slugged this as Part II because I’ve already written my thoughts on the subject.  (Part I was published on February 12, 2010.  You can read it by checking the archives column on the right side of your screen.)  For those of you that don’t want to maneuver through the archives, let me just repeat the final paragraph from Part I:

If allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military becomes the norm, I foresee a major exodus from the military followed by an immediate drop off of new volunteer recruits.  How then, do the services reach their enlistment goals each year?  The only solution will be a return to the draft.

So. here it is…eleven months later.  Where do we stand?  The democrats and even some Republicans are still hell-bent on opening up the military to homosexuals.  I would venture to say that the majority of those pushing the agenda have never served, didn’t want to ever serve, hold the military in contempt, and don’t give a damn about the results of their misguided agenda.

Results of troop surveys reveal that congressional repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell will severely impact recruiting, retention, unit cohesion and morale.

In a recent hearing on the issue, Senator John McCain warned that hundreds of thousands of valuable soldiers could flee the military because of what homosexual activists are demanding.  He said “If 12.6 percent of the military left early, that translates into 254,600 men and women who would leave the military earlier than planned.  Do you think that’s a good idea to replace 265,600 troops in a time of war?”

Bob Maginnis, military analyst added “Twelve point six percent is just the people who said they WOULD leave.  If you add in the number who said they MIGHT leave, you get 23.7 percent.  That would be 528,000 when you count active duty and reserves.”  Those statements from those “in the know” underscore my prediction contained in Part 1 of a mass exodus from the military should the homosexual acvists get their way.

It would be wise to remember the words of Lt. Colonel Oliver North who said “No nation has ever had a better military than today’s all-volunteer U.S. Armed Forces.  The best trained, best equipped, most experienced.  But now, there are those who intend to put the capabilities of this extraordinary force and our nation’s security at risk–just to carry out a radical social exeriment.

Not By Fire – But By Ice

While hosting a radio talk show during the decade of the 90;s, I interviewed an author who had written a book entitled “Not By Fire, But By Ice.  I wish I could remember his name.  The book might still be available on Amazon.

The author was adamant that an ice age was coming.  At the time, the world was hearing all about global warmng and how we were all about to die fromthe heat, or die by drowning as the glaciers melted.  Yet here was an author who wrote words to the effect “hold on…wait a minute…you have it all wrong.  We’re gonna’ freeze to death.”

It was an amazing interview that went well beyond the usual  thirty minutes I allowed for guests.  That author got a full hour of the three-hour program.  I’ve never forgotten that interview because the topic was so unusual.  An impending ice age at the same time the world was being warned about global warming.

So, here we are as 2010 comes to a close and we’re being told 2010 was the hottest year on record.  That alone is an outright lie, but probably enough to give media reporters a story that’ll help sell newspapers.  Imagine my surprise while reading the Sunday Sun of London.  Let me just share with you this one paragraph:

   First the good news.  These bitter winters aren’t going to last forever.  The bad news is that they will go on for the next thirty years as we have entered a mini ice age.  So says author Gavin Cooke in his book “Frozen Britain’.  He began writing it in 2008 and it was published last year when experts were scratching their heads at the cause of the bitter winter of 2009/10 which brought England to a standstll.”

So, while the experts were scratching their head, the global warming zealots decided they’d better change the words.  Now they call it “climate change.”  How convenient is that?  The climate has changed since the beginning of time.  Oh, there are a few ‘Johnny-come-latelytypes that still subscribe to the term “global warming” but it’s a pretty hard theory to sell when it’s ten below zero.

Searching newspapes around the globe today, here are a few headlines I’ve underlined for the purpose of this article:

     London Daily Mail:  Christmas Threatened as Big Freeze Death Toll Rises.

     Florida Sun Sentinel:  Fort Lauderdale Breaks 169 year old cold record.

     AccuWeather:  Big Upcoming Snow Dump For East Coast.

     Deep Freeze Threatens Florida Strawberries.

     Bitter Cold Blast All the Way To Florida

     More Flooding, Crop Damage as Heavy Rains Again Hit Australia.

Now the question is, has any of this caused any of the global warming alarmists to change their views?  Absolutely!  According to the London Sun Sentinel, the names include international climatologist Mike Lockwood of Reading.  In 2007 he said the cyclical change in the sun’s energy was NOT responsible for climate change.  In April this year, writing in New Scientist magazine, he did a U-turn and said it was.

After a study, he and hs team concluded that recent cold British winters have coincided neatly with the biggest fall off in the sun’s activity for a century, contradicting the accepted theory that carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases are likely to warm our climate.

Will this new information put a stop to the global warming hoax?  Nope!  Why not?  There’s no money to be made by such an admission.

THREE GREAT MINDS

Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.

        Thomas Jefferson

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and gospel of envy.  It’s inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.

       Winston Churchhill

Respect for religion must be reestablished.  Public debt must be reduced.  The arrogance of public officials must be curtailed.  Assistance to foreign lands must be stopped or we shall bankrupt ourselves.  The people should be forced to work and not depend on government for subsistence.

           Cicero  60 BC

WORLD SERIES –of spitting

If you’ve ever watched a basketball game on TV, you might have noticed the athletes never spit on the floor. Tennis players never spit on the courts. Golfers never spit on the greens. But baseball athletes are notorious for spitting. They’re notorious for crotch grabbing. They spit in the dugout…and spit on the infield…and in the S…S.and scratch their crotches (mostly while on base.)

I’m not much of a baseball fan except for the World Series. But I don’t watch the games to see which team scores the most points by running across home plate. I watch the World Series to see which team spits and crotch-grabs the most.

I still haven’t figured out why baseball players spit so much. It must have something to do with helping their team win. Why else would baseball players do it but basketball players don’t. If basketball players started spitting on the hardwoods, I’m sure it would change the dynamics of the game. Professional golfers would change the dynamics of their game if they started spitting on the fairways or greens…because the first golfer who hocked up one would finish out the round minus a few teeth.

Baseball players are the champions of spitting! As I watch the current World Series, I’m counting the number of times each team’s players spit and/or grab their crotch. By the time the World Series is over, one team will be crowned World Series Champions for having won the most games in the 7-game series….but one team will take home the crown for the most spits and most crotch-grabs.

I’ll tally the number of spits and crotch-grabs of each team and declare a champion. It matters not to me which team wins the most games or scores the most home runs. I’m just not that much of a baseball fan. I’m a football junky (which explains why I have omitted the fact that football players do a lot of spitting too….but they’re excused.) I would never write anything to demean football teams (unless it’s the Oakland Raiders.)

　

　

　

SENDING A KILLER TO CONGRESS?

It seems rather strange heading into election day knowing that all the candidates on the ballot are crooks! I make that statement based on all the campaign ads hitting the airwaves and mailers hitting the mailboxes. Based on the ads, it seems that every candidate is either a drunk, an adulterer, a thief, a puppet for special interests, a Muslim, a Christian, an Atheist, a Witch, and on and on it goes.

Having an interest in politics since the age of five (at which time I campaigned for Franklin Roosevelt while pulling my little red wagon along 2^nd street yelling “vote for Roosevelt” — the campaign trail being only a block long ‘cause my mom wouldn’t let me cross the street) I must admit our current election cycle is the dirtiest that I’ve ever encountered.

It was former president Bill Clinton who coined the term “politics of personal destruction.” It was bad back then, but it’s worse now. It appears to me that the only way to win an election is to demonize an opponent even if it means playing fast and loose with the truth. Truth is the first casualty in an election season. There may be a tiny element of truth in a negative ad….say…..one percent, while ninety nine percent are absolute lies.

 Here’s an example of how that works: Say, John Schmuck is running for Congress. He’s clean, articulate and honestly believes he can do a good job in the office he seeks. His opponent, suffering in the polls has to do something to destroy Mr. Schmuck. He creates an ad accusing Schmuck of taking campaign donations from special interests out of state. Turns out, the donation of ten dollars to Schmuck’s campaign was from his grandmother, who lives out of state.

That’s how it works! And it gets worse in the final week before the election. A candidate who is the target of a negative ad has no time to respond. So just remember, if you hear or receive a flyer in the mail stating “Do we really want to send a killer to Congress”, that “killer” was merely caught on camera, SWATTING A FLY….but that part was intentionally left out.

* * * * * *

　

　



LIPS OF A FOOL

It seems to me, President Obama, while on the campaign trail will say anything just to make a “sale.” Remember the promise of “100 percent transparency in my administration.” And how about the promise of five days of public comment before signing any bills. Then there was “I will remove earmarks for pork projects before signing any bills.”

All of those “promises” were broken of course. Now he’s campaigning for Democrats hoping to shore up their decreasing chances at reelection. At one campaign stop, Obama said “When you want to move forward in your car, what do you do? You put your car in D. When you want to move backwards, you put your car in R.”

That’s an interesting way to try to define the difference between Democrat and Republican, but I found a much better way. It’s found in the Scriptures. Specifically Ecclesiastes 10:2 where it reads “The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the LEFT. The lips of a fool will swallow up himself.”

WELL I’LL BE DOG-GONNED!

Surfing the net can be interesting, boring, enlightening, fascinating and/or surprising. Such was the case when I came upon a web site with this address: A-CAN-CHA-DESIGN.COM.

Being a curious sort, I decided to log into it. It was there that I found a website where dog owners, breeders and just plain dog lovers could find goodies related to their specific breeds. For example, I’m partial to German Shepherds, having been a military dog trainer for many years.

The web site showed beautifully crafted, colorfully embroidered German Shepherd heads on fleece jackets and T-shirts. Every breed recognized by the American Kennel Club is represented. While browsing through the site, it was like I’d found a giant toy-store devoted to dogs. But that wasn’t all.

The web site was started by Candice Wolf (known to me as “Candy” Wolf.) Candy was one of my staff trainers at my dog training school Bruce Sessions’ Canine College in San Diego. That was the decade of the 1970’s following my 20 year retirement from the U.S. Navy.

I hadn’t heard from Candy since I departed San Diego and headed to Nevada to train the North Las Vegas Police canine corps. So, imagine my surprise running in to her on the web. That’s what I meant when I said surfing the net can be interesting, fascinating, enlightening…..and surprising.

Candy is still training dogs, but now offers dog owners even more of her talent by providing colorful embroidery that can be affixed to dog sweaters, coats and even that jacket you’re wearing. Why not check out the site for yourself. You’ll find it a http://a-can-cha-design.com

The Liberal Follies

It amazes me that left-wing liberals (and first cousin environmental wackos) continue to come up with cockamamie schemes which get off the ground only to come crashing back to earth. Their problem is…..they never follow through in their planning, to the final conclusion. Their plans may look good, sound good, and make ‘em FEEL good. And that’s where it ends.

Let me give you some examples: California’s environmental watchdog, known as CAL-EPA decided to set an example by making the Cal-EPA building “environmentally correct” by installing waterless urinals. 56 of the urinals were purchased and installed in the building. The cost? $25,000.

The objective? Saving 1 million gallons of water per year. Once the fan fare and ’going green’ media hoopla died down, the complaints began pouring in. Hundreds of ‘em. Complaints of sticky floors and bad smells. Finally, the green team at Cal EPA surrendered and ordered the urinals removed.

In Seattle, the town council squandered five MILLION dollars of taxpayer money. The council purchased five automated public toilets. The fancy toilets were to be placed in neighborhoods where drug users, transients, prostitutes and homosexuals congregate. These fancy johns weren’t “pay to operate” either. They were free. A gift to the destitute from the city. It made city officials ‘feel good.’  At first!

Problems began showing up almost immediately. Those who DID use the facilities left so much trash around, the automatic floor scrubbers wouldn’t work. Prostitutes, druggies and homosexuals found immediate use for the privacy behind the locked doors. But, it got SO BAD, even the destitute refused to use the facilities which became a health hazzard.

The city council decided it wasn’t such a great idea after all. So the question became…what to do with the five automated toilets. Answer? Sell ‘em on eBay. The toilets cost one million dollars apiece. Starting bid on eBay? $89,000.

Then there’s “paper or plastic?” By taking the plastic, we were saving the trees. Okay, so we’ve saved a bunch of trees, but look what plastic bags have done to our landfills, creeks. So now, it’s back to paper bags (at a price) or cloth bags. San Francisco has become the first city to outlaw plastic bags –period.

How about those wooden baseball bats in our schools. Oh…they require trees to be cut down in order to be manufactured. Replaced by aluminum bats. Injuries to kids skyrocket.

Then there was the idea of dumping millions of old tires in the ocean to provide habitat for fish. The tires scrubbed the ocean floor clean including coral and the fish didn’t want anything to do with ‘em. The fish left. The tires stayed, until the U.S. Navy was called in to retrieve ‘em all.

 I’ve often shined the light on the subject of the “best laid plans of mice and men.” Ideas that politicians, bureaucrats, environmental wackos and others come up with which end up biting everybody else in the butt. One would think they’d eventually stop all this nonsense, but unfortunately, it’s not in their character. THEY want to “feel good”.   WE have to pay.