Tulips In the Mountains

Not as big as the ones at lower elevations, but tougher!

An Update on My Stepson

At least one of you has asked about my stepson. He is doing amazingly well. He is living with some dear friends of ours in a mountain community west of Boulder. We are about to take them some food and goodies. He has taken and passed his GED with flying colors, achieving two 99th percentiles, and the lowest he scored on the five tests was 95th percentile. He also took his ACT and scored in the top 24th percentile of graduating high school seniors. Not bad for a homeschooled tenth grader! He will start college this fall, and, believe it or not, he still plans on a career in law enforcement!

He will not be allowed to return home or be around the children in our family until he has completed his treatment program, which will be months from now. He has completed his psych evaluation, and, although we have not yet seen it, his therapist says it indicates he is "very low risk" of reoffending. He took the polygraph test Thursday, and we have not had the results of that either. If the polygraph correlates with the psych eval, then his treatment program will be focused on respecting boundaries. Colleen said the polygraph examiner looked like he, himself, had been through a ringer after the test. I told her I knew the
feeling (spending two hours interrogating any teenager is enough to age one a few years)!

So, now that all of the children have been interviewed, we move on to the next phase. Before I comment on that, let me just say that I would give anything to see the videotape of Sara, our adopted three-year-old. Today she started crying and did not want to go into her Sunday School class. She told her brothers it was because she was afraid "Cheesus was in there." Five-year-old Greg assured her that Jesus is dead (we have to work on that kid's theology). She replied, "No He isn't, He's in here! (pointing down inside her dress). You can see why we heaved a sigh of relief when her interview with the detective was over.

The next phase is when the District Attorney decides whether to press charges or support the voluntary treatment and safety programs he is already participating in. I feel very confident that it will be the latter. But, remember, there is always that picture of the fatigued polygraph examiner gasping for air after the two hour interview!

"He Clearly Felt That He Was In the Right"

Go here to get a glimpse of the thinking pattern of a mass murderer.

Correcting erroneous thinking patterns is one of the most important responsibilities of a parent.

It Must Be A Misunderstanding

Why are terrorists killing Chinese oil field workers in Ethiopia? Varifrank thinks he has it figured out. First you have to "come up with a good eco-friendly, anti-capitalist reason to rationalize the murder of innocent people."

The Mother of All Mother Songs

Mark Steyn does a historical review of songs that serenade mothers. Go here to see what he thinks is the mother of all mother songs.

A Sweet Smelling Mother's Day Bouquet

Mother's Day marks the time when most people in the Denver metro area start planting their gardens. Of course, it will get down below freezing again at night between now and June. I will then be first in line at the bargains, when the plants get marked down to the price where they should have been in the first place.

Another U.N. Farce

The latest corrupt farce at the United Nations: Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe will chair the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development! Prior to Mugabe's dictatorial reign of terror, Zimbabwe's farmers were leaders in exporting all kinds of agricultural products. Now, according to the BBC, "Zimbabwe is enduring the world's highest inflation, at more than 2000%, mass unemployment, and there are widespread accusations of civil rights abuses. On Wednesday it was announced that households in Zimbabwe were to be limited to four hours' electricity a day, between 1700 and 2100 local time."
Via The Corner

They Do Things A Little Differently Down There

Here's something you did not read in your local paper or see on television news. VDARE blog reports that last month Mexican police stopped a truck and found 169 people from El Salvadore and Guatamala. They demanded that the people get out of the truck. When the people were slow to respond, the police gassed the truck, even though it included 26 children, one of whom was pregnant. What do you think the reaction would be in the United States, if we gassed a truckload of illegal immigrants from Mexico?
Via The Corner

Welcome!

I believe these happy flowers are called osteosporum, although the stores call them African daisies. They are not what I think of as African daisies. I have some of those, but they won't be in flower for a few more weeks.

Got the Blues?

The tulips, daffodils, and hyancinths are gone. In their place are the blues, as in violas, pansies, and lobelia.

Facts

Gateway Pundit brings us this video of Barack Obama lying to his Richmond, Virginia audience. The ten people who died in the Greensburg, Kansas twister have now become ten thousand people to the politician the mainstream media loves the most. Unfortunately, to some people, facts are only things to twist to fit into a campaign theme.
I did find some interesting facts about Greensburg. The population of Greensburg as of July 2005 was 1,398, down from 1,574 in 2000. A one thousand pound meterorite from beyond our solar system landed on a farm near Greensburg, and is in the local museum.

Probably the most interesting fact about Greensburg is something called "the well." It's not just any well. It is the world's largest hand-dug well. When the well was completed in 1888, it was 109 feet deep and 32 feet in diameter. It served as the city's water supply until 1932. The well was covered and opened as a tourist attraction in 1939. Since then, over 3,000,000 people have visited the "Big Well." It was built by crews of twelve to fifteen farmers and cowboys. Read all about it here.

May God be with the people of Greensburg as they rebuild their town and their lives.

How, When, and Where Did They Get Into the United States?

Media coverage of the foiled plot to slaughter scores of our brave soldiers at Fort Dix keeps mentioning the fact that three of the plotters were in the United States illegally. What I want to know is how, when, and where did they cross into the United States? Has anyone read anything about that?

Update: I heard Bill O'Reilly say on his radio show that the illegals crossed into the United States near Brownsville, Texas. Then Bill broke for a commercial, but by the time I was done changing diapers, his program was over. Anyone else hear anything?

Update Two I still do not know how, when, or where they came into the country, but here are a few things they have been doing since they got here

Suspect Dritan Duka has past arrests on charges of disorderly conduct and possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia. He also has six separate speeding and driving with a suspended license infractions, records show.

Shain Duka has past arrests on charges of obstruction of justice, hindering apprehension and making physical threats. He also has five separate traffic infractions. Eljvir Duka has past drug counts and at least two motor vehicle infractions.

Via Andy McCarthy and WABC News
Update 3 Fox News is quoting an unnamed federal drug enforcement officer as saying that the three did enter the U.S. near Brownsville in 1984, when they ranged in age from 1 to 6.
via Michelle Malkin

Victimless Crimes

Instapundit links to a couple of blog posts here and here about whether or not prostitution should be legal. It is interesting that the "victimless crime" argument is always paramount, whether it is prostitution or dangerous drugs people are trying to make legal.

The thing I want to emphasize is this. These prostitutes and drug users have children. The children are the victims. Almost every foster child we have received into our home in the last four years has been the child of an addict or a prostitute, and many times the addict and the prostitute are one and the same person: the biological mother of the child. Every time I hear intellectuals say the phrase "victimless crimes," I want to scream!

How Many Chances Should You Get To Reject And Abandon A Two-Year-Old Child?

Today Linebacker Dude was scheduled for another visit with his biological mom (fourth scheduled visit in six and one-half months; two of which she has shown up for). Guess what? She couldn't make it...again! I plan to raise a little you-know-what with the powers that be. How many rejections is enough?

Unintended Consequences

Today's top story in the Denver Post is about government payments to friends and relatives of people who need child care ostensibly to go to work. A new law went into effect in September requiring those receiving the government subsidies to undergo background checks to ensure that those relatives and friends caring for children did not have criminal records. Guess what? Over seventy percent have refused to have their backgrounds checked!

This must come as quite a shock to the lefties at the Denver Post and at the various Human Services agencies. The Post has been praising the Denver Department of Human Services in particular, because instead of removing children from abusive and neglectful parents, the Department has been placing the children with friends and relatives in their own neighborhoods. That strategy was said to be a model for the nation. Based upon today's headline story, it would appear that the placement of children in the homes of their friends and relatives and in their own neighborhoods may not be such a great idea!

Eco-Criminals

Instapundit links to an article in the Sunday Times that warns about the dangerous environmental effects of large families. It seems we are adding too much carbon dioxide to the environment. It made me so nervous that I loaded my wife and eight children in the van and headed straight to Taco Bell! After a round of burps and farts, we all felt better.

Anti-lock and Key System

It seems that female ducks are staying one step ahead of their male counterparts.

Cinco de Mayo

Here are two links to Cinco de Mayo, one irreverent, and one very respectful and historical.

For me, Cinco de Mayo has a different meaning. Every year on this date I get a phone call from a young woman. When I was her child protection caseworker, Cinco de Mayo was the day the court terminated her parental rights, thereby making her free for adoption at age seventeen by her foster mother. She is now in her mid-twenties. She also calls me on April 22 of each year, as that is the date when the court authorized her to be removed from her "parents." Her mother was a thief, and her stepfather hated her. She was sexually abused when she was younger.

I was the person who investigated the conditions in her home, and was her caseworker from age nine to eighteen, meeting with her at least weekly for all those years. Before she could be placed in a foster home, she was placed in a mental health facility, then a residential treatment facility. I was her main adult support person through all of those experiences. Then, I found a wonderful single woman, who is a doctor. She became her foster parent, and later, her adoptive parent.

My wife was the school psychologist who first made the call to me to ask if I would investigate the conditions in the home (we were not married to each other at that time). The date the investigation began was September 9, 1993, and, yes, we get a phone call every year on September 9, too.

Lilacs Up Close

Lilacs Beginning To Bloom

In Your Easter Bonnet

Leaves For Sale, Cheap!

Soft Yellow, Trimmed In Pink, Or Soft Pink, Trimmed in Yellow?

Baby Tulip, Mama Tulip

1 Out of 168

Linebacker Dude's biological mother was scheduled to visit him for the third time today. She was a no show. Human Services is only asking her to show up for one hour per week to visit with her son. She has lost parental rights on all of her other children. One hour per week, out of 168 hours in a week, and she cannot make it? No wonder he is so cold and rejecting when he sees her. He has been there and done that too many times!

Okay, I'll Take His Brother!

Via The Splatter Zone and MSNBC comes this story with a happy ending. Guys, are we really this interchangeable?

Leadership and courage

Maggie's Farm connects us to this tale of courage and leadership by a high school student in a Wal Mart parking lot.

A Sting On the Perpetrators of the Latest Fraud

The Classical Values blog has photos to show that the honey bees have not vanished.

Sauntering Among the Flowers

Hanging out with Linebacker Dude, who is actually getting a tiny bit of appreciation for flowers. Since I won't let him pick them, he tries to blow them, like a dandelion gone to seed. Actually, his favorite thing to do is to wander (saunter, MizzE?) out into the middle of the street to see if I am really correct that the cars will hit him.

It Was Worth A Try!

Today was a special day for our foster daughter, Viola, whom we call Vi Vi. Her relatives arranged for her to be baptised. However, soon after she got home, five-year-old Greg announced, "Dad, the baptism didn't help Vi Vi; she is still hitting people!"

Difficult Times

My family has been going through hell for the last week. It all started a couple of months ago, when my stepson, who will be eighteen in August, came to my wife with a request. He told her that he wanted to get some help for the intense anger he felt toward his biological father. My wife, Colleen, made an appointment with a therapist.

In the very first therapy session my stepson gave the therapist details of sexual, verbal, and emotional abuse he and his two siblings had suffered while living with his father. Colleen had been driving weekly from Steamboat Springs, Colorado across two very high mountain passes to her job as a school psychologist in a rural mountain county just west of the Denver metro area. The three small children were left at home with their father, while she supported the family. Colleen and I were married eight and one-half years ago. Her marriage to the children's father ended after an incident in which her first husband was convicted of false imprisonment of Colleen (not allowing her to go to the aid of her crying daughter), (until she whacked him with a hair dryer and got free of him and took the three children to a shelter).

My stepson told his therapist that his father would instruct him to fondle his toddler sister while father watched. In the second therapy session, the therapist and my stepson called the authorities in Steamboat Springs to report this sick S.O.B.

However, my stepson still had more he wanted to get off his chest. He confessed to his therapist that when he was fifteen and his sister was thirteen, he persuaded her to engage in some mutual touching of private parts. Both were fully clothed. He has apparently been experiencing tremendous guilt and shame, and needed to tell someone. It happened only that one time.

The therapist immediately reported my stepson to the police and social services, and demanded that my stepson resign his positon as lifeguard. My stepson has been a lifeguard for over one year. On two separate occasions he has saved the life of a child (two different children). He is very proud of that. He had decided to pursue a career in law enforcement, because he likes protecting people. This lifeguard job is the second job he has held. The other was at a bagel restaurant. In that job he got up at five a.m. to make bagels, and loved the responsibilities involved in the job, as he does the lifeguard job.

The other demand made by the therapist was that my stepson not be allowed to return to our home until the investigation was completed by police and social services. So, for the last six days and nights, my wife has been staying with him in a motel that is costing us an arm and a leg.

His next step is to undergo a "risk assessment," to determine whether he is a low, medium, or high risk to the community. As I understand it, the risk assessment is like a very thorough psychological evaluation. The police detective will file his report to the D.A., who will decide whether to file criminal charges against my stepson. His sister has no memory of the incident that he shared with his therapist. We will be getting therapy for her, too.

My wife is utterly devastated by this whole experience. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us to make wise decisions in the best interest of all of our children.

This Can't Be Good

Ann Althouse links to this New York Times article alleging that our honey bees are vanishing.

White Privilege!

The University of Denver, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Metropolitan State College, Regis University, the Gay and Lesbian Fund, along with several other sponsors, have just concluded a three day conference in Colorado Springs on White Privilege! Among other things, the conference addressed religion and other systems of privilege/oppression.

A Confederacy of Asswipes?

The New Editor links to a story in the Washington Post about some of the more rabid members of the Global Warming religion. Sheryl Crow wants to restrict the amount of toilet paper you will be allowed to use to one square per trip to the restroom.

A Cold-Blooded Killer

Here is a New York Times story that gives some details I had not seen about the Virgina Tech killer, whose name I will not mention in my blog.

New Beginnings On Saturday

More tulips and more gold alyssum showed up today.

Our ACLU Culture Combines With Our Corrosive Passivity

One of the most insightful things I have heard or read so far in the aftermath of the spree by the murdering punk in Virginia was uttered this morning by Bill O'Reilly on the Laura Ingraham radio show. O'Reilly laments the "ACLU Culture," whereby the individual evil person's rights are protected, but the rest of us are at risk. Mark Steyn speaks of our corrosive passivity. A deadly combination!

Today's New Blooms

A New Kid On The Block

This little male kid was born this morning. Five-year-old Greg is his owner, and he has named the little fellow "Noisemaker." Noisemaker is a Boer goat. Can you believe how big he is on day one?

Counting Rings

Jon and I decided to go across the street and count the rings on one of the trees that was destroyed. I counted forty-nine rings. Forty-nine years of growing destroyed in one afternoon.

Spring Flowers Still Sprouting

Blue daisy-like flowers growing amidst soon-to-be orange poppies. Purple flowers I dug up from a nearby creek and transplanted a couple of years ago. They will soon be commanding center stage in the curbside garden on the north side of the house.

"Candy!"

Back from visit with greatgrandmother. When we told Dude about visit with grandma, he said, "Candy!" Sure enough, she had a ziplock bag of cookies, and he went to her. When the visit was over he again came running at me full speed with an ear-to-ear grin.

Steyn and Coulter Get In Last Words On the Imus Firings.

As one might expect, Mark Steyn and Ann Coulter each have unique takes on the Don Imus firing; both use humor effectively.

Of Victims and Virtues

Michael Barone is one of my favorite authors. He has written a piece today at Real Clear Politics. It is absolutely the best writing I have ever read from Barone.

Meanwhile, Gagdad Bob today posts about victimhood, too. He, as always, has some unique perspectives on the subject. These two posts complement each other nicely.

Our sincere prayers for all of the people who were truly victims of unspeakable evil at Virginia Tech University.

Destruction

More new life sprouting and blooming. But across the street workmen are cutting down two majestic and magnificent alanthus trees, otherwise known as tree of heaven. Can you see the man high up in the tree? Most of this tree had already been cut down before I took the picture of the workman in the tree. The picture at the top shows the "progress" that had been made by 4:30 in the afternoon.

When I asked why they were cutting down these wonderful trees, they said, "Orders." The orders came from the woman who owns a rental agency. Since the renters allowed the trees to reproduce too thickly, she ordered that the two parent trees be cut down as well as all the baby trees. The trees were not sick; they were so healthy they were reproducing like, well, like alanthus trees! It just makes me ill. The next thing on the agenda is to spread herbicides all over the large property!

Alas, we can now see the half-underground house owned by the rednecks, who have been foreclosed on, after losing out to the yuppies in court. And, we'll have more sunshine, since the trees were directly east of us.

Feelings Versus Accomplishments

Today in kindergarten five-year-old Greg was supposed to fill in the blank with the word "hug." Here's the sentence. When someone is sad, give them a ____ to make them feel better. Greg's word? "job". I guess we are just not putting enough emphasis on feelings. Can you tell whether we are Democrats or Republicans?

The Puppies and Their Mama Find Homes

It is a beautiful Spring day. People are starting to come to buy the puppies. While they look at the puppies, mama dog finds a warm, cozy place where she can also get some nutrition!

The Secret To Happiness

The morning is still fresh, and five-year-old Greg has made a discovery. With great enthusiasm he announces, "The microwave is an oven! You can set the timer just like on the other oven!"

If you can get excited about discovering truth, no matter how small, you are well on your way to a happy life!

The Fine Art of Politics

I listened closely to an interview today by Peter Boyles with former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb. Webb is a master politician, who knows what to say to get reelected again and again. On illegal immigration, he says with deep sincerity, "We need tougher restrictions at the border." In the next breath he says, "We should not have policies that discriminate against an individual because of his ethnicity." That way, he can get the Hispanic vote and do absolutely nothing about the individual who is here illegally and committing crimes. Because of his tough talk about border restrictions, he also gets the votes of other voters. I guess that is the fine art of politics!

Whom Shall We Follow?

Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald makes some good points in writing about the Imus controversy. He points out that Imus has for many years been tearing down people with his humor, yet that has not stopped a long parade of luminaries from appearing regularly on his show. The list includes John McCain, John Kerry, Tom Brokaw, Joseph Biden, Chris Matthews, and Tim Russert. To quote Pitts directly,

Don Imus ought to be ashamed of himself, but no more so than Kerry, Matthews, Brokaw, Biden and anybody else who lacked the wit to understand that the willingness to offend in and of itself represents neither courage nor authenticity. The question is, what are you offending for? If you are pushing boundaries, what are you pushing them toward?

It is painfully clear that Imus was pushing toward nothing, unless you count the gratification of his own ego and misanthropy.

What's sad isn't that he was willing to lead in that direction. What's sad is that so many of us were willing to follow.

So, if we are going to be followers, whom shall we follow? George Will writes in the Washington Post about a man whose courage, determination, and class still stand out sixty years after he became the first black man to be allowed to play baseball in the major leagues. Will points out that

Robinson changed sensibilities, which led to changed laws, which in turn accelerated changes in sensibilities.

Jack Roosevelt Robinson's middle name was homage to the president who said "speak softly and carry a big stick." Robinson's deeds spoke loudly. His stick weighed 34 ounces, which was enough.

Going Around In Circles

My energies are going to tax preparation, so the pack has not expended anywhere near as much energy as they could have if I had not been so preoccupied. Therefore, let's play "Ring Around The Rosie, A Pocket Full Of Posies." Here are the vertical and horizontal results.

The Use of Language

After being gone all morning, I walk into the house around noon. Three-year-old Sara greets me, then asks, "Dad, can I have another popsicle?" I respond, "How many have you had?" She answers, "Well, I haven't had five!"

What do you think? A career in politics maybe?

Blood In The Water

Now that Don Imus has been fired, the media is all abuzz about what is racism. Did you see the O'Reilly program the other night when O'Reilly's producer confronted Joanne Ostrow, the t.v. columnist for the Denver Post? Ostrow accused O'Reilly of "spewing racist bile" because he uses the term "illegal alien." Ostrow claimed superiority because she uses the term "undocumented worker," although now some of her older columns have been dug up in which she used the term "illegal immigrant." The term "alien" is the traditional term that has been used for decades. Recently, however, there have been movies about aliens, and those give the term a new popular meaning. Oh, and by the way, they are often not "undocumented;" very often these individuals who illegally come in to the United States have forged documents in their possessions.

Of course, the left, as personified by Ostrow and the Denver Post, love to group people together under politically correct terms invented by the left. Seeing people as individuals on a case by case basis just does not occur to them. When they refuse to face facts, such as the fact that cities like Denver have a sanctuary policy for all "residents," they resort to calling people who do not use their politically correct terms "racists."

One local talk radio program host, Peter Boyles, says that the politically correct leftists now see "blood in the water," as a result of their victory in getting Don Imus fired. The Denver Post and The Rocky Mountain News are supposedly rivals competing against each other. Yet, today both papers prominently featured the same column by "guest" commenter Bill Menezes. I have never seen both papers feature the same column before in the 37 years I have been reading both papers, so I would say that Boyles is correct in saying that they must see blood in the waters, meaning that they want to piggyback on the Imus firing and get some local scalps, and Menezes cast the net broadly, including local talk radio hosts Dan Caplis, Jon Caldera, Bob Newman and Boyles as people who use "falsehoods and ethnic smears" on their programs.

I do not always agree with Pete Boyles, but I listen to him regularly because I know he is a fearless searcher for truth, as are Caldera, Newman and Caplis. I applaud Bill O'Reilly for not just lying down under the politically correct runaway train. O'Reilly is doing the right thing in pursuing people like Ostrow and exposing them for what they are: people who throw around terms like "racist" when they cannot back up their own positions with facts. It is time for Boyles, Caldera, Caplis, and Newman to fight back like O'Reilly. The claims made by Mr. Menezes are completely unsubstantiated libel. I doubt if he will have the courage to come on those programs and make his false allegations face-to-face.