Now tell the truth...Isn't that just a fine looking motorcycle?

Let me be honest:  I own Victory motorcycles.  I own 4 of them.  I own a 1999 Cruiser, a 2000 Sport Cruiser, my wife owns a 2001 Sport Cruiser and I own a 2002 Touring Cruiser.

I know what you are saying.  Why does one guy need so many motorcycles.  Well, I don't.  I just stumbled into good deals on them.  Honestly, The 3 I ride all together cost less than a fully decked out Harley.  And I will kick a Harley's butt up and down the road.

And MY bikes are "The Other American Motorcycle".  Made in America, designed in America...OWNED in America,  There is a higher percentage of American made parts in my bikes than in a Harley.

OK...enough.

But the bike above is not even one of mine.  It is not even a Victory.  It is a Kawasaki Drifter, and it is one sweet looking bike.

If I ever bought another bike, it wouldn't be a Harley.  It seems to me that you lose a bit of edge if grandmothers can buy dog sweaters with your bike's logo on them. 

Honestly, I like these bikes.  I like them enough that I am beginning to have a bit of an itch. 

This from m good friend Bill:

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old Texas rancher, whose hand 
was caught in a gate while working  cattle, the doctor struck up a 
conversation with the old   man.

Eventually the topic got around to Nancy Pelosi and her elevation to 
speaker  of the house. The old rancher said, "Well, ya know, Nancy is a 
"post turtle'."

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a "post turtle" 
was.  The old rancher said, "When you're driving down a  ; country road and 
you  come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post 
turtle."The old man saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he 
continued  to explain.

"You know he didn't get there by himself; he doesn't belong there; he 
doesn't know what to do while he's up there; and  you just want to help the 
dumb animal get  down."

I received this in email today:

A man from Topeka, Kansas decided to write a book about churches around the country. He started by flying to San Francisco and started working east from there.  Going to a very large church, he began taking photographs and making notes.  He spotted a golden telephone on the vestibule wall, and was intrigued with a sign that read, "$10,000 per minute."
 
Seeking out the pastor, he asked about the phone and the sign.  The pastor answered that the golden phone is, in fact, a direct  line to Heaven, and if he pays the price, he can talk directly to God.
 
The man thanked the pastor and continued on his way.  As he continued to visit churches in Seattle, Salt Lake City, Denver, Chicago, Milwaukee and around the United States he  found more such phones, with the same sign, and the same explanation from each pastor.
 
Finally, the man arrived in the great state of Texas. Upon entering a church, behold: he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign read: "Calls: 25 cents"!?  Fascinated, the man asked to speak with the pastor.
 
"Reverend, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I have found this golden telephone, and have been told it is a direct line to Heaven, and that I could use it to  talk to God.  But in 20 other churches, the cost was $10,000 per minute. Your sign says "Calls: 25 cents".  Why is that?  
 
The pastor, smiling benignly, replied: "Son, you're in Texas now, and it's a local call."
 
May the LORD bless your day.

If you haven't got anything planned, or even if you do, the 4th of July would be a wonderful day to get the kids and the wife and head to the range and exercise YOUR Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Maybe you go a couple of times a week, or maybe it has been a couple of years since you have been, but taking the family out and making them more comfortable and capable with firearms will be a fun and educational experience.  I took my 14 year old daughter out a couple of weeks ago and she just enjoyed the heck out of it. 

If you have never taken them, it is an even better time.  You can discuss the reasons why our Founding Fathers felt this was a vital part of their own freedom, and why it remains so today.

Heck, you may never have been yourself.  Well, it will never get any cheaper nor more important than 4 July, 2007.  There will be lots of stores open that would be glad to sell you ammo or even a shiny new gun for you, your wife or even the kids.  I very much support the local stores in your own neighborhood, but often even Walmart stocks guns.  If you have never bought a gun before, you can't go wrong with a new Marlin Model 60 22 rifle or maybe a Ruger Model 10/22.  I recommend the stainless for ease of maintenance, but the blue guns are sweet, also.

Don't think about it, just get up and do it.

And let me ask you to do something else.  Post something similar on a couple of other websites.  Or maybe even a link to this one.  It would be great for the country if the turnout was so big you had to spend a few minutes chatting with your neighbor at the range before you and your son or daughter got a chance to punch a few holes.

Remember that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right, and one you could lose if you don't exercise it and remember it when you next vote.

 

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

I can say it no better than this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEJfS1v-fU0

Last week I was visited by someone with the US Senate, looking at my post about contacting Senators concerning the hopefully now killed immigration bill.  Honestly, I felt a bit honored.

Today, I was visited by someone with the US House of Representatives.  They looked at my post concerning contacting your elected representatives to protest the possibility of the Not-So -Fairness Doctrine Bill that would pretty much eliminate Talk Radio.

Today, I do not feel quite so honored.

After all the negative comments in the last week about Talk Radio and all the idiot listeners (that is you, by the way!) it is clear that the left is now going to do all it can to just shut down talk radio. 

We need to turn your attention to this new bastardized bill and let your elected representatives know that we won't stand for it.  We elect them to represent us.

Let us all make sure they do.

These Senators voted for cloture on the immigration bill today. These Senators revived a DEAD bill. These Senators do NOT deserve your support. This vote information came from The Cajun Maverick:

http://cajunmaverick.blogspot.com/2007/06/amnestyimmigration-bill-cloture-roll.html

The 64-35 roll call by which the Senate voted to reconsider a bill to grant legal status to millions of unlawful immigrants.

On this vote, a "yes" vote was a vote to resume Senate debate on the bill. A "no" vote was a vote against reconsidering it. Supporters of the legislation needed 60 votes to bring it up again.

Voting "yes" were 39 Democrats, 24 Republicans and 1 independent.

Voting "no" were 9 Democrats, 25 Republicans and 1 independent.

Democrats Yes:

Akaka, Hawaii;
Biden, Del.;
Bingaman, N.M.;
Boxer, Calif.;
Brown, Ohio;
Cantwell, Wash.;
Cardin, Md.;
Carper, Del.;
Casey, Pa.;
Clinton, N.Y.;
Conrad, N.D.;
Dodd, Conn.;
Durbin, Ill.;
Feingold, Wis.;
Feinstein, Calif.;
Harkin, Iowa;
Inouye, Hawaii;
Kennedy, Mass.;
Kerry, Mass.;
Klobuchar, Minn.;
Kohl, Wis.;
Lautenberg, N.J.;
Leahy, Vt.;
Levin, Mich.;
Lincoln, Ark.;
Menendez, N.J.;
Mikulski, Md.;
Murray, Wash.;
Nelson, Fla.;
Nelson, Neb.;
Obama, Ill.;
Pryor, Ark.;
Reed, R.I.;
Reid, Nev.;
Salazar, Colo.;
Schumer, N.Y.;
Webb, Va.;
Whitehouse, R.I.;
Wyden, Ore.

Republicans Yes:

Bennett, Utah;
Bond, Mo.;
Brownback, Kan.;
Burr, N.C.;
Coleman, Minn.;
Collins, Maine;
Craig, Idaho;
Domenici, N.M.;
Ensign, Nev.;
Graham, S.C.;
Gregg, N.H.;
Hagel, Neb.;
Kyl, Ariz.;
Lott, Miss.;
Lugar, Ind.;
Martinez, Fla.;
McCain, Ariz.;
McConnell, Ky.;
Murkowski, Alaska;
Snowe, Maine;
Specter, Pa.;
Stevens, Alaska;
Voinovich, Ohio;
Warner, Va.

Others Yes:

Lieberman, Conn.

Definitions. Use them if they seem appropriate:

From Dictionary.com.
Scoundrel: an unprincipled, dishonorable person

From Wordnet.
Treason:
1. a crime that undermines the offender's government
2. disloyalty by virtue of subversive behavior
3. an act of deliberate betrayal

 

Make Entering USA Difficult

Physical Barrier
Barrier should be minimum 20' reinforced concrete construction
Should extend 10" underground, with deep-set posts every 50'(?)
Pour reinforced underground channel and posts, slotted for pre-cast panels
Razor-wire atop.

Access
Provide 4 lane divided highway (ie. Interstate Highway) along barrier to provide ready transit to and between barrier surveillance outposts.

Secondary Barrier
Provide second barrier, 20' minimum chainlink with razorwire atop.

Electronic Surveillance
Lights
Cameras
Infrared sensors
Motion sensors
Satellite surveillance
Drone surveillance
Tunneling sensors

Manpower
Increase Border Patrol
Station military for ARMED patrol of both sides of the barrier
Encourage Minuteman type involvement.
Use arrested illegals as workforce for building barrier, roads, other facilities

Eliminate Incentives to Come

Deny Services
Eliminate federal services
Eliminate federal funds to state and local groups that continue to provide services

Deny Citizenship
Deny citizenship to children if both parents are illegal

Penalize employers
Penalize companies like $10,000 per day per illegal
Penalize individuals like $1000 per day per illegal
Penalties to go to funding other parts of the program

Catch Violators

Federal efforts
Empower federal officers
Eliminate federal funds to state and local groups that do not cooperate in efforts

Bounty hunters
Empower bounty hunters to identify illegals, $500 each funded from penalties

Punishment of Violators

Heavy punishment for illegal criminals
Hard or support labor for arrested illegals.
Use labor to BUILD the barrier, roads, other facilities, etc.
Use "tent-type cities, but instead use individual chainlink cells

Not to be repetitive, but I named this blog purposefully.  It is time to see which of our elected representatives are going to fish and which just want to cut bait.

I hear coments from Trent Lott and Lindsey Graham bemoaning bemoaning the influence of Talk Radio. 

Helloo???

Do you KNOW who listens to talk radio?  Conservatives, by a factor of 3 or 4 to 1 I understand.  These are your constituents you dolts.  Are you just stupid, or do you actually think you can look us in the face and snub us?

Well, here is my pledge:  You vote for the immigration bill and *I* will do what I can to make everyone know the traitors you are.  I will do MY best to try to make sure you go back to beeing a shoe salesman or whatever you are better suited to doing, as you are obviously politically inept/

I ask the public:  Is there any wonder why the Democrats embarassed this sorry lot of RINOs last election?

Well, I am not surprised, and I agree with Rush Limbaugh.  I am tired of carrying your water.  Vote like a Democrat and I will treat you like you deserve.

Are we clear?

Comprehensive immigration reform:

Wow, that sure has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Like most Americans, it kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy. Taking care of business, but at the same time being compassionate. What a great feeling.

Well hog wash.

If you want buy-in from the public, you need to do one thing: Stop the barbarians at the gate. Keep the Mongol hordes at bay. Shut out the vandals.  OK, that is really 3 things, but nonetheless.

To bastardize Ronald Reagan:

Mr. Bush…Put Up That Wall!

I have said before that I am an engineer.  Hence, I am just smart as all get out.  Probably way smarter than most Americans, right?  I should be a Senator or something, but I digress.

Please note that I am not an enviro-geek.  In fact I like to pollute about as much as anybody, and I am unappologetic about that.

Anyway, I have looked into this bio-fuel thing.  I have convinced myself that alcohol fuel is smoke and mirrors.  It costs a lot, expensive to make AND causes all our other food to go up in price.  Does this make sense?  No, it does not.

Bio-diesel, on the other hand is, in technical terms, way cool. 

You, or I at least, since I AM a very smart engineer, can make bio-diesel in your kitchen at home.  Now this is probably not a good idea nor a good place to start a refinery, but the chemical process is that simple.  Nothing exotic, no high pressures, no high temperatures.  Like I said, it is way cool.

And it can be used in your diesel vehicle with absolutely no changes made to the vehicle.

Now there are a bunch of folks who go around begging (or stealing) waste oil from restaurants.  Oriental restaurants are supposed to be best, no joke.  Doing that, you can make bio-diesel in your garage for literally cents on the dollar compared to petro-diesel.

Like most Americans, I am not planning on doing this.  If I can buy petro-diesel for $3 / gallon, my time is better spent buying diesel rather than making it.  BUT, it is entirely possible to make bio-diesel on a wholesale basis, using used oil or even new oil that is purchased for the purpose.  New vegetable oil is going to run you about $2 / gallon.  If you look at some of the attached links, you can buy commercially made bio-diesel for about $2.75 a gallon, or about the same price as petro-diesel.

But the fact is, bio-diesel is a commercially vialble fuel today and it is expanding.  There are 2 plants coming on line in the Houston / Galveston area that each double the national production capability of bio-diesel.  And there are more on the way.

Note that there is the real possibility of recovering oil from oil-rich algae.  Estimates indicate that bio-diesel from oil-rich algae could provide ALL the fuel requirements for the USA if 4% of land area were converted to grow this algae.  Understand, that is not just all diesel requirements.  That is ALL fuel needs.

Now this gives me pause.  tick, tick, tick.   OK.  This is also way cool.  What this makes me realize, and I knew it already, is that even if it costs $4 / gallon or $6 / gallon we will have fuel in the future.  Allrighty then.  As Steve Martin said in "The Jerk":  "Ohhh.  It's a profit deal!  The pressure is off."

Below are some links that tell you how to make diesel yourself or how to buy it yourself.  Read it as it is the wave of the future.

http://www.biodieselcommunity.org/index.php

http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/fuelqualityguide/#

http://www.houstonbiodiesel.com/index.htm

http://www.saferenewables.com/

http://www.brownfieldbiodiesel.com/wst_page2.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algaculture#Biodiesel_production

 

 

 At least I am.

 I have been a loyal Republican for lol these 35+ years, even before AI could vote.  I remember AuH2O...do you?

 But I am mad as hell.  We, the conservative voters in the US have made it overly clear to our elected representatives that WE DO NOT WANT THIS IMMIGRATION BILL.  If they vote it in, despite our please, I promise I will punish them.

 If my Republicans are going to vote like Democrats, they might as well be Democrats.  At least that way I know where I stand.  These same elected representatives depend on the short memories of voters to vote on whatever they wish, believing that by election time we will forget.  And that has generally been the case.

 But, in case you didn't know (and apparently those in Washington don't) THAT is why Republicans were dis-elected last time.  NOT because of the War on Terror aka the War in Iraq.  It was because the Republican officials had emasculated themselves wholesale.  Conservaive voters have gotten fed up with RINO's (Republicans In Name Only)claiming to be conservatives to get elected then becoming indistinguishable from Nancy Pelosi or Ted Kennedy.

 So, my fine RINO representatives, here is my pledge, and I do not make it lightly:  If you vote for this blasted immigration bill I will work to defeat you at every opportunity.  I will donate money to your competition, in the primary and in the general election.  Not only will I not vote for you, but I will hold my nose and vote for a Democrat before I will vote for a RINO that votes in this traitorous manner. 

 Mark these words well:  Voting for this immigration bill will be the end of the Republican party as YOU know it.

 

Twenty Simple Rules of Life in Texas

1. If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive pickup with a 12-pack of beer and a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.

2. Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store.

3. Remember: "Ya'll" is singular, "All ya'll" is plural, and "All y'alls'" is plural possessive.

4. Get used to hearing, "You ain't from around here, are ya?"

5. Don't be worried at not understanding what people are saying: They can't understand you either.

6. "Mom'n'em" is not one person. When someone asks, "How's your Mom'n'em?" They are referring to the whole family.

7. Be advised that "He needed killin'" is a valid legal defense.

8. If you hear a Texan exclaim, "Hey, y'all, watch this," stay out of the way. These are likely the last words he'll ever say.

9. When you come up on a person driving 15 mph down the middle of the road, remember that most folks learn to drive on a John Deere and the rest learned to drive while road hunting in the back roads. In both cases, this is the proper speed and position for that vehicle.

10. Do not be surprised to find that 10 year olds own their own shotguns and are proficient marksmen. Or that their mammas taught them how to shoot.

11. Shakespeare is a rod or a reel, not a writer.

12. Duct tape is not only part of every survival kit, it is the whole kit.

13. Rasslin' is not fake. Don't dare whisper otherwise unless you want a kind-hearted Texan to fix your busted head with duct tape.

14. Grapefruit is not a substitute for biscuits and gravy.

15. Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Elvis are good ole boys. Jeff Gordon isn't.

16. Turkey hunters actually curse Noah for letting coyotes and armadillos on the Ark.

17. If you hear a turkey gobble, get out of the way. Some Texans view that sound like pay-off bells at a slot machine.

18. Don't be surprised if an obituary mentions that the deceased requested to be buried in his four-wheel drive truck because, "It ain't never been in a hole it couldn't get out of."

19. "Ya'll come back now, ya hear?" is a temporary statement. We love Yankees to visit, but damn Yankees are those who decide to stay.

20. If you decide to stay in Texas and bear children, don't think we will accept them as Texans. After all, if the cat had kittens in the oven, we wouldn't call 'em biscuits.