Happy Memorial Day

Thank you to all of the service members and their families for all of their sacrifices they have made in serving and protecting our nation. Special thanks to all of those who have given their last full measure.

Texas Hold 'Em Tournament

I played in a Texas Hold 'Em tournament last night, with a bunch of friends of a friend. There were thirteen people in the tournament, and I came in third. I think I could have done better, but by the time we combined the survivors from the two tables, 2 guys from the other table had managed to accrue big stacks. those were the two guys that beat me.

It was a lotta fun...it's been a while since I played any poker.

"...We are the freest and most prosperous county the world..."

Fred Thompson on Memorial Day.

Thompson on Immigration Last Night

H/T: The Corner

Open Thread!

What the hell, everyone else is doing it........

Update: I have written about the season finale of Heroes in the comments....

Language

The English language is interesting in it's wide use of colloquialisms. Many of them are used as insults, and many of them eventually enter common usuage.

For instance, just now, on a network, national broadcast news show, a female anchor referred to a convicted child molestor as a scumbag.

I wonder if she knew that a scumbag is a used condom?

Immigration Deal

Well...it looks like the bastards are going to do it again. Amnesty. That means that not only the 12 to 20 million that are already here get to stay....but each one of them is going to be bringing at least 4 to 5 members of their family here to live with them. 100 million poor, uneducated, non-English speaking, largely rural peasants will be added to our tax burden.

Public education as we know it will end here in the Southwest. It simply will not be able to absorb the burden and any non-Hispanic with any sense will pull their children out. We will soon have a permanent underclass comprised of poor Hispanics with barely a middle school education. Currently less than 68% of those who enroll in Mexico's schools finish 9th grade, and less than 35% finish 12th grade. These are precisely the poor peasants who are coming here illegally. Believe me when I tell you as a middle school teacher, these results are persisting among their American-born children. It is simply a part of their culture.

Whole cities will become virtual Mexican enclaves with practically no English used. (I predict that soon some cities will conduct all of their official business primarily in Spanish, with English translation used as needed....Santa Ana will be among the first)

There will soon be demands that Spanish become an official language of this country. Mexico will treat those living here as Mexican citizens, allowing them to vote, and even representation in the Mexican government. (This has already begun)

But the worst thing? The worst thing is that this will not solve the illegal immigration problem. Twenty years from now we will have another 20 million illegal immigrants, and another push to legalize them. Only this time, the activists will have even more power, and the deal we cut will be even worse.

Update: By the way, this invasion, (because that is what it truly will be) will be meet by violence. But it's not going to be the hillbilly white good ole boys everyone thinks......it's going to be the inner city Blacks who are going to resent the usurpation of their neighborhoods, low wage jobs, and government handouts.

Update II: This says all that needs to be said.

Cash Cab

The best game show on television, without a doubt, is The Cash Cab. I love that show! Especially when they screw up, and he kicks them to the curb!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all the Mom's out there.

You have a tough , and largely thankless job. But some of us still appreciate all that you do, and realize how important you are.

Update 5/19/07: For some reason I'm getting several google hits for this image. I wish to make it clear that this is not my work product, and I found it myself by searching google. My use of this image is in no way an attempt to profit from, or claim, another person's work.

Another Sign I'm Getting Old....

I was out in the yard with my yard guy talking about future projects when I tripped and fell when going down one of my slopes. Now I'm a big guy...and I have a lot of grey hair...but this guy was acting like I was a basket case. You can tell he thought I had broken something., or done myself a serious injury. I will admit the experience wasn't pleasant...but I'm not that far gone.


Am I?

Giuliani, Abortion and the Soul of the Republican Party

Rudy Giuliani made a bold statement this week. He basically said , "Yes, I am pro-choice. Deal with it...if it is a deal breaker with you, so be it.". Kudos to him for his honesty.

The question now becomes, should it be a deal breaker? First a little history.

The Republican party was formed in 1854, almost exclusively because of the issue of slavery. The Whig Party and the Democratic Party had split into northern and southern factions over the issue of slavery. The northern branches of these parties joined together and a new party was formed. Thus from the very beginning, the soul of the Republican Party has been about freedom, dignity and the value of human life.

The issue of abortion is directly comparable. Those in favor of slavery argued that Blacks were not fully human; those in favor of abortion argue that the baby (or fetus if you prefer) is not fully human. Slavery advocates argued that the Constitution protected their right to own slaves (specifically the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment...and remember at one time the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with them); abortion advocates also rely on the Constitution to protect them (though in this case it is vested in the entirely invented penumbra of privacy). The two worst decisions the Supreme Court have ever handed down (followed quickly by the recent Kelo case) were attempts to protect these two institutions: slavery and the Dred Scott decision;
abortion and Roe v Wade.

Abortion politics comes down to a very basic issue. Is the baby (fetus) human? If it isn't (and honestly I don't see how you can logically make this arguement, but millions try) then abortion is just what abortion advocates say, a simple medical procedure. If the baby (fetus) is human, then the abortion industry is a human tragedy every bit as terrible as slavery and genocide. People see Giuliani's position as the moderate one. I don't. To me, the moderate position is to return to the pre-Roe status quo and allow the States to decide. The Republican Party currently supports letting the States decide. I personally would support an amendment to the Constitution that outlawed abortion except to save the life of the mother.

So yes, Rudy, it's a deal breaker for me. I can never vote for you for president. I hope it never comes to that, because I doubt I will be able to vote for the Democrat either, so I will have to throw my vote away on a write-in vote. I'd support you for U.N. ambassador in a second though.

I don't think Giuliani should be kicked out of the party. I do believe in a big tent. However, in order to remain true to the soul of the party, to the values of human life and human dignity, the Party must reject the pro-choice position.

Newtonian Air Conditioner

My air conditioner must have been boning up on its Newtonian physics lately. When it's off, it won't turn on. When it's on, it won't turn off.

Damn universal education.

Fire

There has been a pretty large fire in my area today. It's been burning for several hours. I snapped some pictures a couple of hours ago when I was checking to see things. There are no police cars or fire engines in my neighborhood yet..so we're still safe. Everything smells like smoke though.

The first photo is closer to my house. It's about a half mile south of my house, and I am looking south. The hill this fire is on is seperated from the hill my house is on by a four lane road. The fire never jumped the road. The second photo is almost 180 degrees from the first one...and I am looking north. None of the houses here were burnt, but the brush all around them was.

I'm Baaaack!

Well...my old computer died last Friday afternoon...or at least is in a coma. So I finally got the time today to go out and buy a temporary replacement...until I either get the old one fixed or buy a new one.