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When I married my lovely and vivacious wife Jenny, I was a city kid (suburbs really) joining a family of farmers.  I sure had a lot to learn, and much of it I learned from Jenny’s Granddad, Elton “Tink” Lane.  He was a great old guy to hang out with – he’d take us hunting to all the best spots, he had an opinion on everything and he’d gladly share it with us, and there wasn’t anything mechanical he couldn’t fix.  I had a lot of memorable times with Tink.

Probably my most vivid memory was one morning Tink and I went out hunting for deer.  We were driving around in his old white truck looking for muleys in the pre-dawn mist when he spotted a few grazing on some wheat and pointed them out to me.  He asked me if I thought I could shoot one through his window.  That would have put the muzzle of my 30-06 about 6 inches in front of his face and ears, which I didn’t think was a good idea so I quietly climbed out of  truck and layed across the hood and bagged one of those rascals – a six point buck if I remember correctly.

Tink died today.   I’m tearing up as I think about him being gone, but as I focus instead on the great man he was and the wonderful time we spent together, the tears go away.  Tink – you are a great husband, father, granddad and great-granddad and I am proud to be part of your family.  You will be missed.

My dad sent me the link to this video with the admonition to send it to as many people as I know.  I usually delete emails like this but I was impressed by this video and inspired.  I hope you are as well.

Next Tuesday is your opportunity to be an American Hero.

Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, actually said:

“You know, but for me, we’d be in a world-wide depression”

This is the same guy who whose home state of Nevada’s unemployment rate was 14.4 percent in September, the highest of all the American states. Same guy who represents  Las Vegas, the city with the highest mortgage foreclosure rate, and the same guy who has presided over a $3 TRILLION increase in the U. S. Federal Debt since the start of this current administration.

Don’t take my word for it.  You can see it here.

And I thought Barack Obama was arrogant.

At a small fundraiser in Massachusetts Saturday, President Obama stated the following:

“Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and facts and science and argument do not seem to be winning the day all the time, is because we’re hard-wired not to always think clearly when we’re scared.  And the country is scared.”

So help me understand.  The Democrats are taking a beating in the polls and appear ready to suffer a massive defeat in the mid-term elections because the American public is not thinking clearly.  If we were, we would see the “facts and science and argument” and understand that the direction this president is leading us is clearly the correct way.

This is arrogance of the highest order!  Our President is so full of himself that he believes he knows better than the American public what is good for us and what is not.  Apparently, he thinks that government control of health care and other major segments of the economy, deficits as far as the eye can see, unemployment stuck at just under 10%, a minimal to no-growth economy, etc. are just what we need.  What hubris!

I heard Ken Blackwell say this on Dennis Miller the other day.  He is the former Ohio Secretary of State, and co-author of “The Blueprint: Obama’s Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency.”

“We have become a culture where making money doesn’t entitle you to it, but wanting money does.”

Sad, but true.  Pitiful.

You have to to love this from the Citizens for the Republic:

I like the Ronald Reagan version better.  For that matter, I like Ronald Reagan’s successful presidency much better than that which I have seen from Barack Obama.

So some wacky pastor in Florida has the idea he wants to “remember 9/11 victims and take a stand against Islam”.  He intends to do this by holding an “International Burn a Quran Day” this Saturday.

This falls in the same category as building a mosque at Ground Zero –  within his right to do it, but not the right thing to do.  All this will do is inflame passions and tensions even more and make our overseas service personnel even more vulnerable as Al Jazeera and other news outlets of their ilk spread this story to the Arab street.

What a wacko!!

ps – didn’t it used to be the Koran?  When did it become the Quran?

I don’t usually like to toot my own horn, but after this past week, I will.

Last Sunday I rode around West Maui – 60 miles of up and down on roads carved into the  side of mountains – about 4000 feet of climbing.  I’ve done it before, but it was fun to do again.  Here are a couple of pics to show what it is like on the back side of West Maui.

This is “the Wall”.  18% grade.  When I looked down at my computer, I was moving at 5.2 mph.

This is typical of the back side of West Maui:

Monday, I did a loosen-up ride of 31 up the west coast of Maui.  Relatively flat – felt good.

Tuesday, the third time was a charm.  4 hours and 26 minutes to climb from the beach to the top of Mt. Haleakala – 10, 023 feet in 38 miles.  What a butt kicker!!

It took 1 hour and 25 minutes to come down and I could have easily shaved 15 minutes off that if I hadn’t had to slow down so often for car traffic.

I took Wednesday off to do a snorkel trip with my lovely and vivacious wife Jenny and Thursday I rode 60 around West Maui again.  Once we arrived back in Dallas Friday, I did another 30 mile loosen-up ride before heading to Wichita Falls for the Hotter ‘N Hell 100.

The Hotter ‘N Hell 100 – what a gas!  I took 8th place in the Cat 4 100 mile race (3rd in the field sprint)!!  Did I feel great!

Overall, it added up to 359 miles, 230 of which were spent in tropical Hawaii with my lovely wife Jenny.  Throw in the successful ascent of Haleakala and an 8th in the HHH – what could be better!

On Friday night, President Obama made the following statement regarding the proposed Ground Zero mosque to attendees at the Iftar dinner honoring the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of prayer and fasting:

“As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable.”

Given the makeup of the audience and the applause this statement generated, it was interpreted he clearly supported placing the mosque at Ground Zero.  If you run a Google search on obama mosque ground zero you will find most of the links indicate his support for the mosque at Ground Zero.

However, on Saturday, perhaps realizing he had “stepped in it”, President Obama “clarified” these comments as follows:

“In this country, we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion. I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there,”

Either President Obama thinks we are so stupid that we need to be re-educated on religious groups’ constitutional right to build a house of worship on private property or he realized he made a political miscalculation regarding the vehemence of opposition to the Ground Zero mosque so he tempered his message.  I think it is more of the latter and causes me to question whether this president isn’t a double minded man.

P.S.  My perspective is that just because someone has a right to do something, doesn’t mean that is the right thing to do.  Building a mosque (named after the great mosque built after the Muslim conquest of Spain) within spitting distance of Ground Zero, where parts of United Airlines Flight 175 landed in the attack, is clearly the WRONG thing to do.

1. Seal the border – with a fence or a wall.  Then add all the electronic stuff then add the Border Patrol then add the troops.  If we are serious about shutting down the border and keeping our sovereignty as a nation, we can and must do this.
2. People who are here illegally can apply to stay as a Legal Resident.  They have 6 months to register and must provide proof they have been here at least 1 year, that they currently have a job, and that they are currently paying taxes.
3. After 6 months, Legal Residents must carry and be willing to provide their “papers” to any law enforcement person who requests such “papers”.  Anyone detained without “papers” will be incarcerated immediately until they are sent home, wherever that is.
4. Legal Resident can NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER vote in an election in the U.S.  Legal Residents are guests within this country and have no say in how the country, state, county, city, school board, HOA, etc. is run.  Anyone here illegally who wants to be able to vote should go home and apply to enter the U.S. legally and follow the proscribed steps to obtaining citizenship.

There are obviously lots of details that would be necessary with this plan – eminent domain for the fence (which I would support), fraud in the system, could the federal gov’t actually manage a program like this, anchor babies, social security eligibility, etc., but this is a start.  The important thing is that it takes the political prize of votes bought by offering amnesty to millions of illegals off the table.

Those are my thoughts – where do you stand on this issue?