Peak of Summer Heat: Time for the Yellows and Golds

Trees: One of God's greatest gifts to us.

I found this masterpiece in an old Denver neighborhood.

This pink tree is at the gate to our property. As I have said before, it is my favorite.

Denver's older neighborhoods are lined with majestic trees.

Last Night's Sunset

I Hope Your Day Was Not Squirrely

A squirrel enjoys looking down on me from his perch in a honey locust tree.

Last Night's Sunset

The Beauty of God's Creation

I have been doing some political canvassing in the big city. My camera is always with me. Summer in Colorado is hard to beat.

These trumpet flower vines really spread.

"Consider the lillies..."


Could this be a lemon tree...in Colorado?

Cherries!

Hyacinths in July?

The bees like this one.

Hoax of the Century

Yesterday in Boulder, I spoke with an otherwise sane-appearing man in his late fifties. He told me that 93% of Democrats believe in anthropologically-caused global warming, while only 18% of Republicans believe it. He was telling me this so I would be sure to join him in voting Democrat in November. Actually, it made me quite proud to know that 82% of my fellow Republicans are not swallowing this Al Gore-inspired hoax of the century.

Jon Benet, R.I.P.

Yesterday my work took me to beautiful Boulder, Colorado. This is a photo of the house in which Jon Benet Ramsey was murdered.

Phallic

Thankfully, I don't need Gecko to tell me what this green plant is a symbol of.

Okay, Gecko, What Is It?

It's On The Internet!

I had occasion to do some work today in downtown Denver. The moonbats who are planning protests at the Democrat convention in August are already arriving. They are staking out the best corners from which to yell at people. Did you know that 911 was an inside job, planned years in advance by our president (who was not president years in advance)? "It's on the internet," shouted the loudest moonbat.

One woman was ecstatic that Nancy Pelosi has "cleared the way for impeachment proceedings to begin against President Bush." She wants to get rid of "those people who want war." She asked me what I thought. I said I want to win the war. "Win the war," she screamed. "What does that mean, win the war?" I said it means that we get to stay alive, while the terrorists who want to kill us are, instead, killed by our brave soldiers. She walked away very angry.

The police seemed to be enjoying riding their loud motorcycles by the protestors. I hope they are ready to deal with these fools.

Tonight's Red Hot Sunset on the Rockies

These Alpacas Are Weird

Horse Camp

This week was horse camp. Here is Jon getting ready to jump his horse over the bar.
I was so proud that Sara wanted to try doing as many things as the bigger kids were doing.
"You mean I can lead this big horse around?"
Sara was very reluctant to kick this horse/donkey.
Greg enjoyed himself on several horses.

Jon got to ride this horse who had recently given birth to this colt. The colt followed Jon and mama everywhere.

From Whom Does Our Government Derive Its Powers?

"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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..."
Via Geckofeeder

Fed Up!

Congress, led by Democrats Harry Reid in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives, has a 9 percent approval rating by the American people. President Bush has a 25 percent approval rating. The people are fed up.

The Candidate Mocks The People of America Before The World

Liberal do-gooder Barack Obama wants us all to teach our children to speak Spanish. He is "embarrassed" that Europeans can come here and speak more than one language, while when Americans go to Europe, all we know how to say is "merci beaucop." He is running for President of the United States, and is mocking the people of the United States before the world!

Do you really want to "unite" our country Mr. Obama? One way to do it would be to unite us around a common language. That common language, sir, is English. Do you want our votes? Don't degrade us and mock us with your arrogant elitism. We are actually a pretty decent group of people. You should get to know us, before you do what liberals do, which is try to control us.

In Honor of Mama Bear

On Being Liberal or Conservative

All of the wonderful words of support and wisdom keep coming in from my dear friends in blog world, and are so deeply appreciated by Colleen and me.

Mona Charen wrote a devastatingly accurate book entitled Liberal Do-Gooders. Michael Savage wrote a book entitled Liberalism is a Mental Disorder. Yes, it may be a mental disorder, but it is not a benign disorder, because it involves power and control over other human beings. Every time we give up control to a liberal do-gooder, we lose some of our liberty.

Conservatives come across as grouches, because we just want to be left alone to pursue our interests. Liberals pride themselves on being open to new ideas. Conservatives appear closed to new ideas, but it is because they do not want someone to steal what they work so hard to achieve. The older people get, the more they want to keep what they have worked for. However, many of us, because we like people, make the mistake of voting for ideas that sound good, but end up causing all of us to give up power and control to liberal do-gooders. Power and control ends up being what liberalism is all about. It is not benign. It is a deadly cancer that is quietly spreading throughout our country.

How can it be stopped? Younger people want to try new and different things. Only experience can teach them the consequences of making decisions that allow liberal do-gooders to take more control of their lives. Luckily, many of our younger people are the cream of the crop in our country. I am thinking of those who are serving in our military.

Our sixteen-year-old said to Colleen yesterday: "See, Mom, I told you God was going to come through for us. You just have to have more faith!"

Know When To Hold em, Know When to Fold em

Eight-year-old Jon loves a good laugh. When the investigating caseworker was fishing for things to use against us, Jon decided to try to make her laugh by telling her how he loves to ride the goats. "They go fast when we pull their tails or poke em in the balls." Needless to say, we sold off our entire goat herd to alleviate any concerns the caseworker might have. Actually, we could not part with Gigi, the female brown boar goat Jon may show in 4H.

Enjoying Gardening

The front rock garden is coming along. The rocks are really there to prevent our Burnese Mountain puppy from napping on the flowers in the moist dirt!

I am really enjoying the bright fuschia blooms on the cacti near our front gate.

The Western Sky on the Fourth Of July

On the Fourth of July I could see that God had something special planned for the skywatchers.
Sure enough, the colors were magnificent, and the fireworks paled in comparison.

Ride to Your Heart's Content!

All of the kids have been riding. This is Jon on Metallica.

Tonight's Sky

Notice how this tree is trying to follow God's rainbow in tonight's sky?

Support

I've been talking to lots of people about what happened to our family. One lady told me I need to start connecting to Liluth, who, as she explained to me, was actually Adam's first wife. She didn't cowtow to Adam, and became involved in darkness, growing horns. I told this kind lady thanks, but no thanks, we have had enough contact with darkness this week to last a lifetime.

An NRA member actually made me laugh. He said next time I should "drag em inside," and not ask them to leave the property. Why? "Because blood cleans up much easier inside the house than outside." Of course, he was joking, and his wonderful sense of humor was just the therapy I needed.

But no one I have met compares to the support given to us from our wonderful blogging friends. Your kind wishes are just so very appreciated.

Moving Forward

Dear readers,
Colleen and I have had a devastatingly sad experience with the foster care system. We are still in the midst of it, so I cannot write about it now. We understand now how Thomas Paine and the others felt; how they were willing to risk everything for liberty. We rely on the promises of God and move forward in good cheer, vigilance, faith, and love.

Profitable

Rush Limbaugh has signed a new contract with Clear Channel for $400 million through 2016, including a signing bonus worth nine figures (that would be at least $100,000,000.) I guess I am going to have a hard time convincing Rush to run for president, since that pays a mere six figure amount of $400,000 per year, although there are some perks, I hear.

The New York Times Magazine is going to say this about Rush on Sunday.

Character

I find it impressive that John McCain does not use his personal heroics for political gain. Abraham Katsman, writing in the Jerusalem Post tells us more.

"How aware is the public that McCain has raised seven children? Or that he adopted his two oldest sons as small boys (children from his wife's prior marriage)? Or that he has raised a Bangladeshi girl with severe health problems adopted from Mother Theresa's orphanage? Or that his own sons have served in the military, including in Iraq?

It's widely known that McCain, a Navy pilot, was shot down, captured and tortured by the North Vietnamese for 5 and a half years - an episode worth a forthcoming column all its own. But few are aware that he refused early release until all the POWs captured before him were freed, and that he refused special treatment offered once it was discovered that he was the "crown prince" (the son of the admiral in charge of the Pacific Fleet) because he wouldn't provide the enemy with any propaganda victories.

Even fewer seem to know that those years were a fraction of a 22-year Navy career. Although broken and battered, after his release from Vietnamese captivity he went right back to the Navy, where he continued to serve for an additional eight years.

[...]

Anyone can talk about "supporting our troops"; the McCains serve. McCain's father and grandfather were respected American admirals. Of McCain's four sons, three have gone the military route. One was a Navy pilot like his father, one enlisted in the Marines at age 17 and recently completed a tour in Iraq, and one is completing his education at the Naval Academy (raising the strong possibility that, for the first time in half a century, the United States will have a president with a son at war).

Yet, likely because of those same values, McCain maintains a strict code of silence about his sons' military service, no matter how legitimate his pride or politically useful their military status. Through 2007, McCain was the strongest Senate advocate of vastly increasing troop levels in Iraq, strongly influencing the administration's wildly successful "surge" strategy.

Yet McCain never brought up his own son's service in some of the roughest areas of Iraq. His principled refusal of political advantage from his son's Iraq service extends to refusal even to be interviewed on the subject, or to introduce his son to campaign audiences.

Also little-known is the story of McCain's youngest child. As a result of a 1991 Cindy McCain visit to Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh, the McCains adopted an infant daughter dying from a host of health issues. The orphanage could not provide the medical care needed to save the little girl's life, so the McCains, already the parents of six children, brought the child home to America, and paid for desperately needed surgeries and years of rehabilitation. That child is their teenage daughter Bridget. In fact, there was a second infant girl brought back from the orphanage that the McCains saved. She ended up being adopted by one of McCain's aides, Wes Gullett, and his wife. "We were called at midnight by Cindy," Gullett has stated, and "five days later we met our new daughter Nicki at the LA airport."

Via Atlas Shrugs

Illegal immigration is back in the news.

John McCain gave a speech to the National Association of Elected and Appointed Latino Officials the other day. McCain, referring to the adult individuals from Mexico who have chosen to illegally enter our country, said, "We must also understand that 12 million people are here, and they are here illegally, and they are God's children." As Tammy Bruce points out, "the word "children" conveys an image of helpless innocence. Which of course isn't the case; illegal immigrants have made an adult decision to enter the country illegally. To call them "children" is deceptive and condescending."

Why doesn't McCain talk about the number of American women who are getting knocked up by illegals, and having the American taxpayers pay for the health care of those children and mothers through the various social welfare programs of our generous country?

Did you read about sanctuary city San Francisco? They are paying for airplane tickets to send back to Central America dangerous drug dealing criminals who are members of vicious gangs that terrorize American citizens. The criminals reload with weapons and drugs, and come right back to wreak more havoc and reap more profits from their criminal activities.

Yesterday 34 people were indicted in a suburb of Denver for importing illegal drugs from Mexico. How much? Four million dollars worth of cocaine MONTHLY! Large amounts of marijuana were also brought into the area. The law enforcement operation was called "Operation Shoestring" to reflect the shrinking budgets for enforcement of drug laws in Colorado.

Bullseye!

From Confederate Yankee:

The Saddest Thing About Barack Obama's Available Military Expertise...
...is that though he has Wes Clark in his corner, the only person he knows with the experience of getting a bomb on target is Bill Ayers.

A Tipping Point

Today was the "State of the City" address by the mayor of Denver. A singer was introduced "to sing our national anthem." Instead, she sang "the Black National Anthem."

People are outraged! There is going to be a tipping point, at which people are going to rebel against the political correctness that has a stranglehold on our society. People are afraid to say anything that will offend anyone. They know they can be fired, if the offended person files a complaint. The anger out there is palpable.

A Farmer in the Dell

Via Theo Spark

Cartoonist Nails It

Via Theo Spark

North Korea blows up its nuclear reactor cooling tower. Does that mean we are now down to a table of one?

Via Theo Spark

"This Isn't The Man I Knew."

Via Theo Spark

Wouldn't This Be Amazing to See?

Via Theo Spark

Is America Really That Bad?

Do the majority of Americans think America is so bad we need a messiah for a presidential candidate? If so, how did we develop such a negative view of our country? True, every MSM newscast features some terrible thing about what's happening in our country. However, I thought the majority of Americans did not pay much attention to the news.

Yesterday I was joking with a sales clerk in a thrift store. She had made a mistake, and was jokingly hoping she would be fired for her mistake. I told her that a lot of successful people have been fired many times during their career. I made the mistake of mentioning Rush Limbaugh. She expoded! "There is only one man on earth I hate more than that man, and that is that doofus in the White House!" She went on to say how Bush has wrecked this country. I was in a hurry to go get our foster baby from a visit with his bioparents, so I only managed a feeble "Oh, I don't think things are so bad." I think the woman is probably still on her rant 24 hours later.

"Beware anyone who sets himself up to be a country’s savior, especially a Marxist."

Via theo spark
The title for this post is a quote from the wonderful blogger, Neo-neocon. She writes about the African thug dictator/murderer, Robert Mugabe, who has run the former country of Rhodesia into the dirt. Rhodesia was formerly known as the jewel of southern Africa, exporting food to other nations. Now known as Zimbabwe, the people of the country are incredibly impoverished.

Mugabe was an anti-apartheid champion. I guess because of that fact, no African leaders stand up to him. I do not see any American leaders doing anything, either.

Whom did you think this post was going to be about?

Developers, Obama, and The Poor

Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama has benefitted mightily from developers of slum housing in Chicago. Tony Rezko, now in prison, was the first to provide seed money for Obama's political career. Allison Davis, Obama's boss at the Chicago law firm, quit the law firm and became a developer, benefitting from over $100 million in government subsidies. Obama remains a strong supporter of paying developers with your tax money.

The Boston Globe has done a fabulous job documenting the connection between Obama and the slumlords. But, what about the people these government subsidized programs were supposed to help? What is it like to live in these buildings, which were built in Obama's state senate district by Obama's developer cronies? Here are some of the things the investigative reporters from the Boston Globe found.

"Nonetheless, the buildings deteriorated badly. The problems came to public attention in a dramatic way in 2004, after a sport utility vehicle driven by a suburban woman trying to buy drugs struck one of the buildings, causing it to collapse. City inspectors arrived in the ensuing glare, finding a long list of code violations, leading city officials to urge the federal government to seize the complex."

"In the midst of the uproar, a small group of Lawndale residents gathered to rally against the Democratic candidate for the US Senate, Barack Obama.

Obama's Republican opponent, Alan Keyes, trailed badly in the polls and was not seen as a serious challenger. But the organizers had a simple message: Cecil Butler had donated $3,000 to Obama's campaign. Habitat had close ties to Obama. And Obama had remained silent about Lawndale's plight.

Paul Johnson, who helped to organize the protest, said Obama must have known about the problems.

"How didn't he know?" said Johnson. "Of course he knew. He just didn't care."

As a result, some people in Chicago's poorest neighborhoods are torn between a natural inclination to support Obama and a concern about his relationships with the developers they hold responsible for Chicago's affordable housing failures. Some housing advocates worry that Obama has not learned from those failures."

"About 99 of the units are vacant, many rendered uninhabitable by unfixed problems, such as collapsed roofs and fire damage. Mice scamper through the halls. Battered mailboxes hang open. Sewage backs up into kitchen sinks. In 2006, federal inspectors graded the condition of the complex an 11 on a 100-point scale - a score so bad the buildings now face demolition."

"The same exact people who ran these places into the ground," the private companies paid to build and manage the city's affordable housing, "now are profiting by redeveloping them."

Obama claims not to be aware of the deterioration of these mismanaged projects. He just didn't know, even though they were in his disrict. He just didn't know.

Socialism does not work, folks. It has never worked anywhere on earth where it has been tried. However, it does work for the politicians and bureaucrats who advocate for it and administer it.
Via Neo-neocon