My Complete, Unabridged Log for "Wolf Rock Challenge."

Wolf Rock Challenge: Geocache Find #1600 for Pablo Mac.

Where do I start? How about the first time I saw Wolf Rock, almost exactly 5 years ago, from atop Iron Mountain. From there, my eyes were fixed on a massive rock monolith a few miles to the south. I was new to geocaching back then, when jobthedog and Cache Dawg told me, "That's Wolf Rock. There's a cache up there, too." From that point forward, I knew I had to answer the call of Wolf Rock Challenge, and, since it's the 4-year anniversary since the geocache was found, today was the day.



I had originally planned to go for this cache with deulist, but his plans changed, causing him to have to miss out on this trip. He assured me there would be no hard feelings if I continued as planned, so I went for it. With less than a week to go, jaynes4jesus contracted Wolf Rock Fever, and he was on board with the plan.

We left home in time to start the hike/climb at 0815 (next time we'll start the climb even earlier, as in 0600). When we parked, we immediately realized we were only .25 miles from the cache… well that plus 900 feet of elevation, but we thought, "How hard can that be?" Two days later, as I finally begin to draft this log, I should let my quads tell you how hard it is.

We spent a few minutes looking for Odder's nearby cache, but, wanting to beat the heat on the summit as much as possible, we put that cache on hold until our main objective was in hand. Just a few feet up the trail from her cache (less than ten minutes from the parking area), we met our first "Uh-Oh" moment: the exposed rock runout from the Amphitheater…



… where we had to traverse a steep slope (well, what we thought was steep at that point) across to try to rejoin the trail. After we somehow made it across that first obstacle, we couldn't find the trail, but it wasn't until our return trip that we realized we should have made that traverse straight across the runout, rather than gaining elevation as we crossed it. More simply: when you cross the first rock slope below the Amphitheater, go straight across, and you'll rejoin the trail in the opposite woodline, unlike us, who made it much more difficult by scrambling & scratching our way up, until we stumbled back onto the trail… just before it ended at waypoint #4: the bottom of the only non-technical (but barely so) gully on the entire rock.

Waypoint #4 was where the real challenge started to become evident to us. It didn't seem so hard at first. It seemed like it would only be a matter of making sure of each handhold & foothold all the way up. The problem came from how the slope slowly became less and less steep as we climbed. That may not seem so bad as you sit in your air conditioned home reading this log, but when you're on that rock, climbing deliberately and methodically from hold to hold, and you can see neither where you started the climb or the top, you don't have much to go on. We couldn't see the top until we were almost at the top, at which point we were pretty much freaking out about just how the heck we were going to get back down.

About a quarter of the way up the gully, my Garmin 60CSx got plucked from out of the clip on my waist, and bounced & tumbled about 30' down. I scrambled down to get it, and it was turned off. It turned on just fine, and only suffered a minor scratch in the replaceable screen protector (note to self: install GPS clip on backpack shoulder strap). About halfway up, jaynes4jesus shouted from about 100' above me, "ROCK!" I looked up toward him, and, sure enough, a rock about 2/3 the size of my head was bouncing toward me! It looked like it was going to stay to my left, and I considered just ducking into the mountain and hoping it wouldn't hit me. I'm glad I changed my mind and watched it roll down, because it changed course and went right for my face! I was able to toss my head right and parry the rock away with my left arm (dang - it didn't leave a scar!), sending it out and away from me. I immediately turned my head to watch and listen to it hit below me, but I never saw, or heard it hit anywhere below me (gulp!). I turned uphill and shouted to jaynes4jesus, "That was so cool! Do that again!"

We grabbed a bite to eat directly above the gully climb, then took a few minutes to scope out our scramble along the knife-edge to the cache. We nervously shared a little discussion on whether we would need a helicopter rescue (we were only half joking), and started traversing the slope, just below the knife-edge and directly above the Amphitheater, taking in the unparalleled views all along the way. When we reached the pinnacle a couple hundred feet shy of the cache, the trail ended with a 30' drop to the east. Not wanting to even consider negotiating the 70º bare granite slope above that dang Amphitheater, we crossed over the edge to the much steeper north face and scrambled down a little section of trail that easily (and I use that term loosely) put us at the bottom of that pinnacle, with the cache almost in sight.

The rest of the way to the cache was as straightforward as the previous knife-edge trekking, and we found the cache in terrific shape. The hiker & climber logs were absolutely fascinating to read, and really served to allay our nervousness about getting back down off the rock: if they could do it, we could do it!

We took our time on top, but not as long as we had originally discussed. We wanted to get on with whatever the descent had in store for us, as much ahead of the heat of the day as we could. We got to the top of the gully and immediately realized the potential to miscalculate the approach and wind up descending the wrong gully. We hugged our GPS units and paid close attention to our track log to make sure we went down the only non-technical gully on the monolith.



When we hit the bottom of the gully (waypoint #4), we took a short break in the shade, and continued down, this time staying on the trail. The traverse across the bottom of the Amphitheater that had intimitated us on the climb now seemed like something we could do cartwheels across. As much as we craved the level ground of the parking area, we put forth the effort to find Odder's cache, and jumped into the truck to find a few more caches.

I have travelled challenging terrain before, but Wolf Rock represented a new level of risk that forced me to focus long and hard on each and every step along the way, because the only alternative is great injury or death (or just staying on the couch to begin with). That may be hard for an armchair cacher to comprehend, but this experience is extremely invigorating and energizing.

Wolf Rock Challenge did not disappoint: this is my 1600th geocache find, and it blows every other cache I have ever found out of the water. Thanx for the fun & adventure!



Get the GPS Track Log here.

Apple "MacBook Touch" MultiTouch Tablet Concept

Principles & Values of the 9.12 Project

The 9.12 Network of Principled Patriots is dedicated to 9 Principles, 12 Values, & the Constitution of the United States of America.

The Nine Principles
1. America is good.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

The Twelve Values
1-Honesty
2-Reverence
3-Hope
4-Thrift
5-Humility
6-Charity
7-Sincerity 8-Moderation
9-Hard Work
10-Courage
11-Personal Responsibility
12-Gratitude

Orly Taitz & Major Cook on 0bama's Eligibility

Sonia Sotomayor "I Am A Product Of Affirmative Action"

"I am the perfect affirmative action baby." "My test scores were not comprable to that of my colleagues at Princeton or Yale"!

So we are now going to get a Supreme Court packed with "affirmative action babies" whose intellect is sub-standard.

It's funny, if a white person ever suggests that minorities who got through on affirmative action programs weren't as qualified as their white & Asian counterparts minorities will scream bloody murder. But here is Sotomayor herself - ADMITTING - that her intellect was sub-standard and stating the only reason she was there was because of affirmative action!

I guess the truth is out now.

Barbara Boxer Plays the Race Card Again

Mountain Biking + Geocaching

Are you tired of the same old trails? Are you ready to explore new areas? Using your mountain bike and a GPS, you can hunt down thousands of hidden caches throughout the world while discovering new trails and parks!

Read more.

Visualizing The US Power Grid

NPR has produced an interactive map that shows how America produces and transfers electricity. You can see what our current electrical grid looks like, where there’s solar and wind power to harvest, a breakdown of each state’s power sources, and various proposed improvements to the grid.

The Ayatollahs Have It

I Want to Vacation in Slovenia

Federal Reserve = America's Doom

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks....will deprive the people of all property until their children wakeup homeless on the continent their fathers conquered....The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." - Thomas Jefferson

In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson approved the Federal Reserve Act. A few years later, he reflected:

"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world -- no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."

Geocaching with 4>5!

4>5, a blind geocacher based out of Lebanon, Oregon enjoys his first geocache find with Pablo Mac, Aliex, and Dude of Dude/Sweet!

My Favorite Local Mountain Bike Trails

Singletrack, doubletrack, smooth, rocky, flat, hilly, plus a nice jump area - there's a bunch of variety at the "Dikes" trail system in Lebanon, Oregon.

Al Gore Sued By Over 30K Scientists for Global Warming Fraud

Dude

The Versatility of "Dude."

Mexico Building Walls to Keep Americans Out

Audit the Federal Reserve

Apologist in Chief

By John Steele Gordon

As far as I know, there is no word in English for the opposite of jingoist. But if there were, its entry in the dictionary would belong next to Barack Obama’s photograph. It seems he can’t set foot on foreign soil without apologizing for this country’s past sins and promising that it will sin no more under his leadership. In doing so, of course, he both disses his own country and praises himself by implication.

He apologized to the Arab Middle East in Cairo. He apologized for American carbon dioxide yesterday at the G-8 summit, managing to imply that it is somehow even more damaging to the environment than other people’s greenhouse gases. He has even apologized to the French for American arrogance and dismissiveness. That’s like some weekend duffer apologizing to Tiger Woods for occasionally playing golf.

If Obama has ever had a good word to say about America or any of this country’s myriad accomplishments (like, oh, leading the liberation France in 1944) and uncountable contributions to the betterment of humankind, I must have missed it.

Does he hate the country he leads? No, of course not. But Obama, like so many on the Left, is predisposed to see his country’s faults rather than its virtues, its failures rather than its triumphs. In this he reminds me of some parents. They love their children, they just expect perfection from them. Therefore praise is never called for and criticism is constant. Their children, unable to meet their parents’ unmeetable standards, have anxiety-ridden, unhappy childhoods. And later the parents — their children grown up and gone — wonder why the kids never come to see them.

I wonder whether this is an element in Obama’s falling popularity. America is not a jingoistic country. But it is a great and a good one and its people know it. Someone should tell the President.

Socialism 100

This just in via email:

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked, and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan." All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade, so no one would fail and no one would receive an A. After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great surprise, they all failed, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

"DAYAM - She's Mighty Fine!"

Ruth Bader Ginsburg & Eugenics

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she was under the impression that legalizing abortion with the 1973 Roe. v. Wade case would eliminate undesirable members of the populace, or as she put it "Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of."

Continue reading here.

If you're not familiar with the term "Eugenics," start here (sit down first).

Best Pickup Line Ever: "Want to go Geocaching?"

Seen on Reddit:

So I'm in the hallway of my apartment locking the door when the freaking hot girl from down the hall walks past and asks me what I'm up to. I tell her "not much, just getting ready for a Sunday afternoon drive to do some geocaching". Then she gets interested and tells me that she has heard of geocaching before and always wanted to try it out. A few more exchanges about the details and she still sounds interested. Out of nowhere (subconscious part of the brain I guess) I ask her if she wants to tag along, telling her that it shouldn't take more than 45mins-1hr. At this point I'm trying to comprehend what just came out of my mouth but I heard her say "sure, let me go get my sunglasses". Somehow I was able to calmly wait in the hall for the 30 seconds it took her to come back; sort of felt surreal at the time. We got downstairs and hopped in the car. Fortunately she tended to run the conversation so I didn't have to worry about coming up with things to say. After the 15 minute drive to the approximate location of the cache I handed her the GPS and told her that she was in charge. Definitely a premeditated decision because I knew that she would probably need instruction on how to read the GPS. It provided a great opportunity for me to talk/instruct on something that I knew. After 10 minutes of walking we got within a couple of yards of the cache and began searching for it. I found it under a chunk of tree bark and called her over before fully unveiling it. I signed the logbook and re-hid the box. We trekked back to the car and began to drive back. (should have done a tic search, damn) Conversation on the way back was a little bit less rigid and more relaxed. We pulled up to the apartment complex about 50 minutes after leaving. Then we walked up stairs and told I her that if she wanted to, I would probably be going out again next weekend, or that she could go running with me in the evenings if she liked running. She bit off on it, we're going running together tonight!

Non-Sustainable & Non-Recyclable

Special Commentary from United States Senator Jim DeMint

A few months ago, I was on CNN talking about the future of the Republican Party. As I always do, I predicted that we could certainly regain our national majority, if we first rally around our great, unifying principle of freedom. The anchor cut me off: “What the h--- does that mean? … Freedom?”

Anyone wondering why America is losing its freedom can find an answer in that question. After all, how can we preserve and defend freedom if we don’t even know what it is? To help remind Americans of our shared heritage of freedom and to rally them to reclaim that heritage for ourselves and our children, I wrote a book, out this week, called Saving Freedom: We Can Stop America’s Slide Toward Socialism.

Freedom is not a gift from government, but a right given to us by God. We believe that every human being is endowed with “certain unalienable Rights,” including “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” In 1787, our Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia to forge a new system of government, designed to “form a more perfect union” and guarantee Americans, in the words of Ronald Reagan, “the maximum of personal liberty consistent with order.”

Paramount among the reasons this system succeeded in America was our political and religious culture that accepted the inextricable connection between personal freedom and personal responsibility. It was understood that, for every question in life not answered by government, individuals, families, and neighborhoods must work out answers for themselves. The Founders knew that the natural order of things was for government to expand at the expense of personal liberty, so their Constitution was based on an implicit bargain – the less government does for you, the less government can do to you.

Today, our once-limited federal government has betrayed those founding principles. It tries to be all things to all people, yet despite its good intentions, government action usually does more harm than good. Look around: every system Washington touches – health care, education, energy, infrastructure, mortgage lending – quickly begins to break down. In some recent cases, including the automobile bankruptcies and the Wall Street bailouts, even the rule of law itself has been subordinated to the good intentions of politicians and bureaucrats. And yet government’s solution to the problems it causes is always … more government. To solve problems created by government’s role in our schools or health care, Congress now proposes a complete federal takeover of these systems!

What Washington refuses to understand is that government systems will always fail because they are not free. Private schools perform better than public schools. Private health insurance provides better care than government programs, and controls its own costs. And on and on. Without the competitive pressures and transparency of a free market, government agencies have no motivation to improve their services. After 10 years in Washington, I have concluded that both parties are slow to recognize this one simple fact: freedom works, and government doesn’t.

That’s why I wrote Saving Freedom. Washington simply will not change on its own. To change our politics, we first have to change our culture. We need to remember that freedom demands responsibility. We need to reject politicians who promise us something for nothing, and instead take back both our freedoms and the responsibilities that go with them. We must not only end our growing dependence on government; we must become independent in our own right.

Given the space and choices to make our own decisions, whether in education, health care, civil society, or in business – the American people will thrive, as they always have. But the political class in Washington will not easily return the power it has taken from us – we must take it back, in two ways.

First, we must remake America’s culture of responsibility: in our family life, in our communities, and in our businesses. We must prepare our nation for its rebirth of freedom, so that when government finally does begin to change, our culture and economy can hit the ground running.

And second, this cultural renewal must assert itself in the political arena. Elected politicians are only as unresponsive as their constituents allow. They know that every letter and email and phone call represents hundreds more just like them. They know that Big Government’s worst enemy is an informed citizenry, ready at the next election to punish anyone who infringes on our God-given and constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms. Get involved, and I promise – we will see results.

Freedom can be saved, but it can’t free itself. Like the patriots of Bunker Hill and Philadelphia, of Gettysburg and Normandy, our generation must now take up that banner for ourselves. Saving Freedom is never easy, but it’s always worth it. Please read Saving Freedom and join the fight!

Obama Nazis Stop July 4th Tea Party

"We The People" Stimulus Package

Movie featuring GEOCACHING!

Canadians to Americans: Don't make your healthcare like ours

A Pony

New MacBook Pro Delivers Email In Person

Ahmadinejad Breaks His Silence

Microsoft Can't Innovate to Save Their Lives

From Wired:

Kayak, the popular multi-airline airfare search engine, thinks Microsoft Bing’s new travel search engine looks so much like its own that it’s confusing Kayak users. The travel search company sent Microsoft a legal letter last week telling them to cut it out.

Continue reading here.

Life On Venus?

I Will Never Again Complain About My Job

Psychological Profiling Via Twitter

Communication is a window into a person’s mind, and the way a person talks can tell you a lot about how they think. Linguists have developed two methods to decoding the written word into a meaningful profile of a person’s cognitive processes.

Read more here.

Post Turtle

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

Eventually the topic got around to Obama.

The old rancher said, "Well, ya know, Obama 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 rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, and he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with."

0bama's Civilian Security Force

"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

Dear 0bama

Mr. Obama:

I have had it with you and your administration, sir. Your conduct on your recent trip overseas has convinced me that you are not an adequate representative of the United States of America collectively or of me personally.

You are so obsessed with appeasing the Europeans and the Muslim world that you have
abdicated the responsibilities of the President of the United States of America. You are responsible to the citizens of the United States.

You are not responsible to the peoples of any other country on earth. I personally resent that you go around the world apologizing for the United States telling Europeans that we are arrogant and do not care about their status in the world. Sir, what do you think the First World War and the Second World War were all about if not the consideration of the peoples of Europe? Are you brain dead ? What do you think the Marshall Plan was all about?

Do you not understand or know the history of the 20th century? Where do you get off telling a Muslim country that the United States does not consider itself a Christian country? Have you not read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States?

This country was founded on Judeo-Christian ethics and the principles governing this country, at least until you came along, come directly from this heritage. Do you not understand this?

Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia is an affront to all Americans. Our President does not bow down to anyone, let alone the king of Saudi Arabia. You don't show Great Britain, our best and one of our oldest allies, the respect they deserve yet you bow down to the king of Saudi Arabia . How dare you, sir! How dare you!

You can't find the time to visit the graves of our greatest generation because you don't want to offend the Germans but make time to visit a mosque in Turkey . You offended our dead and every veteran when you give the Germans more respect than the people who saved the German people from themselves. What's the matter with you?

I am convinced that you and the members of your administration have the historical and intellectual depth of a mud puddle and should be ashamed of yourselves, all of you. You are so self-righteously offended by the big bankers and the American automobile manufacturers yet do nothing about the real thieves in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses,
and the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do you intend to do about them? Anything? I seriously doubt it.

What about the U.S. House members passing out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff members - on top of the $2.520million in automatic pay raises that lawmakers gave themselves? I understand the average House aide got a 17% bonus. I took a 5% cut in my pay to save jobs with my employer.

You haven't said anything about that. Who authorized that? I surely didn't! Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over an eighteen-month period, that's $45 million more than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie executives have already been awarded $51 million - not a bad take. Who authorized that and why haven't you expressed your outrage at this group who are largely responsible for the economic mess we have right now.

I resent that you take me and my fellow citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you idiots do. We are watching what you are doing and we are getting increasingly fed up with all of you. I also want you to know that I personally find just about everything you do and say to be offensive to every one of my sensibilities. I promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that you do not get a chance to spend two terms destroying my beautiful country.

Sincerely,

(supposedly drafted and sent to the White House by a 4th-Grade Teacher

Muslim Demographics

1920's Film of the Grand Canyon

Worried About World Order

From SantaMariaTimes.com

One end of the political spectrum is anarchy, the other totalitarianism.

Since our nation’s founding, and because of events like the Depression, WWII and 9/11, our federal government has been moving from an unintrusive type toward total control, and now that there is one party with absolute power, we are headed there at break-neck speed.

The government has gained control in the banking, credit and automobile industries. The stage is set for gun confiscation, with introduction of a resolution (HR.45), which would put gun owners on a federal registry. We have the right to bear arms to protect us from the government. A future terror attack could bring martial law and confiscation.

We’re at the cusp of having government in total control. We cannot express an opinion that might offend, nor can we move freely — think Adventure Pass and new passport requirements — nor can we succeed without guilt; making a profit is being vilified.

The government has a relentless goal to make us equal through an ever-progressive tax system and entitlement programs, whose real purpose is to redistribute wealth and secure voting blocks. Think Joe the plumber and Karl Marx. We’re heading into the new world order, as our government signs treaties that would surrender sovereignty and allow a migration from the south that is diluting our culture.

What amazes me is that we got to this point by use of the ballot. Ignorance is lack of knowledge, and complacency is when we just don’t care — and that’s is what the power-mongers want. If you care about the country, your children will grow up in then get educated, and vote for candidates and propositions that can turn us around. Why write your senator or congressperson? Do you really think they will listen?

Hal Madson

Santa Maria

May 31, 2009

Craig T. Nelson: I'm going to quit paying my taxes

Digitize VHS Tapes to your Mac

Pablo Mac on Another Blog

I was invited to be an author on the "The ORIGINAL Operation Twitter Tea Party" blog. We are trying to expose how MSM (Mainstream Media) have once again lied to the American people by claiming that all the Tea Parties are not derived from a grassroots movement, but rather planned and executed via well-funded Republican concerns. We know where the Tea Party movement started: an innocent Twitter conversation, which carried over onto a blog, and then exploded into the Tea Party movement we all know and love so well.

Granny & The Snob

Why Convenience Stores in Israel Don't Get Robbed

We Might Need to Lay Off André

"Don't Like Abortion? Don't Have One"

Talking Points for Life

Fifty Dollars

Via Email:

I recently asked my friend's little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day.

Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, "If you were President, what would be the first thing you would do?" She replied, "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people."

Her parents beamed.

"Wow! What a worthy goal," I told her "but you don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and rake my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house."

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?'

I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.'

Her parents still aren't speaking to me.

Moonbat Mugshots

What do all these fine, upstanding citizens have in common?

The Homes of Al and George

Al Gore's home:
---------------
A 20 room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas.

In one month this residence consumes more energy than the average American household does in a year.

The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400 per month.

In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home.

This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern 'snow belt' area, it's in the South, right outside Nashville, TN.


George Bush's Home:
-------------------
Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university.

This house incorporates every 'green' feature current home construction can provide.

The house is 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest.

A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground.

The water (usually 67 degrees F) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer.

The system uses no fossil fuels such as!! oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system.

Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern.

Waste water from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern.

The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house.

Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.

This house is a ranch near Crawford, Texas

Crappy Jobs

Make Mine Freedom

"Make Mine Freedom" delivers a vitally important message. Produced in 1948 at Harding College in Searcy, Arkansas, at the beginning of the Cold War, it underscores how utopian fantasies can lead to extreme forms of statism. Exposing the poisonous effects of collectivism and its appealing philosophy, this animated short film explains why American free enterprise is the antidote to the tyranny of the government-issued "-ism."

Alan Keyes: Stop Obama or U.S. Will Cease to Exist

The Strangest Secret in the World

Great moments in Democrat Racist History: Truman

If You Want Your Kids To Avoid Swine Flu…

… don't let them do this:

POTUS & TOTUS: Conflict of Words & Actions

It never gets old watching our Usurper-In-Chief (POTUS) fumble & bumble with his Teleprompter (TOTUS):



Hey, 0bama: a real & candid conversation with us legitimate Citizens of the United States of America might improve your approval rating (currently lower than George W. Bush's at his 100-day mark).

Flutter: The New Twitter

Obama's Teleprompter

Seen On Craigslist

To the Guy Who Tried to Mug Me in Downtown Savannah night before last.

Date: 2009-03-23, 3:43AM EST

I was the guy with the black Burberry jacket that you demanded I hand over, shortly after you pulled the knife on me and my girlfriend. You also asked for my girlfriend's purse and earrings.

I hope you somehow come across this message. I'd like to apologize.

I didn't expect you to crap in your pants when I drew my pistol after you took my jacket. Truth is, I was wearing the jacket for a reason that evening, and it wasn't that cold outside.

You see, my girlfriend had just bought me that Kimber Model 1911 .45 ACP pistol for Christmas, and we had just picked up a shoulder holster for it that evening. Beautiful pistol, eh?

It's a very intimidating weapon when pointed at your head, isn't it? I know it probably wasn't a great deal of fun walking back to wherever you'd come from with that brown sludge flopping about in your pants. I'm sure it was even worse since you also ended up leaving your shoes, cellphone, and wallet with me. I couldn't have you calling up any of your buddies to come help you try to mug us again.

I took the liberty of calling your mother, or "Momma" as you had her listed in your cell, and explaining to her your situation. I also bought myself and four other people in the gas station this morning a tank full of gas on your credit card. The guy with the big motor home took 150 gallons and was extremely grateful! I gave your shoes to one of the homeless guys over by Vinnie Van Go Go's, along with all of the cash in your wallet.

I threw the wallet in a fancy pink& nbsp; "pimp mobile" parked at the curb after I broke the windshield and side window out and keyed the drivers side. I called a bunch of phone sex numbers from your cellphone. They'll be on your bill in case you'd like to know which ones. Ma Bell just shut down the line, and I've only had the phone for a little over a day now, so I don't know what's going on with that. I hope they haven't permanently cut off your service.

I could only get in two threatening phone calls to the DA's office and one to the FBI with it. The FBI guy was really pissed and we had a long chat (I guess while he traced the number).

I'd also like to apologize for not killing you and instead making you walk back home humiliated. I'm hoping that you'll reconsider your choice of path in life. Next time you might not be so lucky..

P.S. Remember this motto...... an armed society is a polite society!

Is Tim Wood Wrong?

By Tim Wood
Professor of History at Southwest Baptist University
Bolivar, Missouri


I am a student of history. Professionally. I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied it all my life. I think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into sharper focus.

Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten – fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.

We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back. Why?

We learn that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has 'loaned' two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom, or why, or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700B we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of 'we the people', who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not.

We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why? We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and we no longer teach our founding documents, showing why we are exceptional and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, and school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?

We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so 'controversial' that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one woman!). Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago? We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then allow mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, Social Security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government, and our education system is worse than a joke. (I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about.) The list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth. It is potentially 1929 x ten. And we are at war with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same religion, an enemy who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.

Now we have elected President a man no one knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska . All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling, if not downright scary. Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a 'mandatory civilian defense force' stronger than our military for use inside our borders. No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over, and then demand he explain it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more important to the media.

Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: change. Why?

I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now! This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.

And that is only the beginning.

I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed. He edged his way onto the political stage through great oratoryand promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his 'brown shirts' would bully them into submission. And then, he was duly elected to office as full-throttled economic crisis was at hand [the Great Depression]. Slowly but surely he seized the controls of government power, department-by-department,person-by-person, bureaucracy-by-bureaucracy. The kids joined a Youth Movement in his name, where they were taught what to think. How did he get the people on his side? He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless, and goodies for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in their country, across Europe , and around the world.

He did it with a compliant media. Did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and change. And the people surely got what they voted for. (Look it up if you think I am exaggerating.)

Read your history books. Many people objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and made fun of. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though.

Don't forget that Germany was the most educated, cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And in less than six years --- a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency --- it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to hell is paved with them.

As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and ignoring what is transpiring around me.

Some people scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both. Perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe, and why I believe it.

I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am.

Are You Inspired?

Supermodel Kathy Ireland Tells Why She Became Pro-Life

Former supermodel Kathy Ireland tells Mike Huckabee about how she became pro-life after reading what the science books have to say.

The Truth About Facebook

Future Mac & Future PC

Suzanna Gratia-Hupp Explains & the 2nd Amendment

Watch the entire video, because the most important part of Ms. Gratia-Hupp's message comes at the very end.



On Wednesday, October 16, 1991, Hupp and her parents were having lunch at the Luby's in Killeen. She had left her handgun in her car to comply with Texas state law at the time which forbade carrying a concealed weapon. When George Hennard drove his truck into the cafeteria and opened fire on the patrons, Hupp instinctively reached into her purse for her weapon, but it was in her vehicle. Her father, Al Gratia, tried to rush Hennard and was shot in the chest. As the gunman reloaded, Hupp escaped through a broken window and believed that her mother, Ursula Gratia, was behind her. Hennard put a gun to her mother's head as she cradled her mortally wounded husband. Hupp's mother and father were killed along with twenty-one other persons. Hennard also wounded some twenty others. As a survivor of the Luby's massacre, Hupp testified across the country in support of concealed-handgun laws. She said that had there been a second chance to prevent the slaughter, she would have violated the Texas law and carried the handgun inside her purse into the restaurant.

Source: Wikipedia

Caught With My Pants... Up

My son and I were out for a bike ride with some buddies, and we happened to come across a certain bathroom implement just in the nick of time. Little did I know (but should have expected) that one of my so-called "friends" was a little quicker on the camera than I anticipated.

I can neither confirm nor deny any amount of artistic license regarding whether this photo was actually staged and/or I was or was not actually performing the action(s) implied in the above photo.

0bama Walks His Water Dog Bo

Helped Bust Some Minors in Possession

Star Spangled Banner Played by Ted Nugent

Time for T.E.A. and a Fair Tax

by Chuck Norris

Tea time anyone? I hope you've joined one of the thousands of T.E.A. (Taxed Enough Already) parties or Fair Tax rallies meeting across the country on April 15 to protest the outrageous government spending, the deepening of our national debt and the subsequent taxes that are forthcoming because of it. This is a nonpartisan time to rally around like-minded citizens and declare that we're tired of the same old political rhetoric, and we want a better way.

I personally encourage everyone to voice to their representatives that we need to return to a taxation system similar to that established by our founders. They did not penalize productivity through taxes the way we do today. They had no Internal Revenue Service. They believed in minimal taxation.

* They did not pay income taxes, which were prohibited by the Constitution;

* They did not pay export taxes, which were also prohibited by the Constitution;

* But they did tax imports. The founders believed in free trade within our own borders and a system of tariffs on imported goods.

Read more here.

Hungry for Dominos?

2009 Tax Day Tea Parties

Find one near you and participate:


View 2009 Tea Parties in a larger map

Had Enough Bad News?

0bama Thinks "Austrian" is a Language

US Navy Seal Snipers

Barack 0bama: President Pantywaist

President Barack Obama has recently completed the most successful foreign policy tour since Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow.

“Rules must be binding,” declared Obama, referring to the fact that Kim had just breached UN Resolutions 1695 and 1718. “Violations must be punished.” (Sounds ominous.) “Words must mean something.” (Why, Barack? They never did before, for you - as a cursory glance at your many speeches will show.)

If you thought the world was a tad unsafe with Dubya around, just wait until President Pantywaist gets into his stride.

Read more here.

The Drug Problem in America

(Author Unknown)

The Drug Problem in America

The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question, ”Why didn’t we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?”

I replied: “I had a drug problem when I was young”:

I was drug to church on Sunday morning.

I was drug to church for weddings and funerals.

I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather.

I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults.

I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn’t put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.

I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profane four-letter word.

I was drug out to pull weeds in mom’s garden and flower beds and cockleburs out of dad’s fields.

I was drug to the homes of family, friends, and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood; and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.

Those drugs are still in my veins; and they affect my behavior in everything I do, say, and think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin ; and, if today’s children had this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place.

OSU Students Plan Gun Rights Events

From the Corvallis Gazette Times

A student group at Oregon State University plans to promote gun rights with activities next week, including a rally for the right of concealed handgun license holders to be armed on campus.

The rally, featuring Portland radio commentator Lars Larson, is set for 5 p.m. April 16 in the MU Quad on campus.

If the license holders carry pistols, they will violate a university rule against guns on campus.

“The idea would be to get the university to confront the issue,” said R.J. Friedman, president of the College Republicans at OSU, the group organizing what it calls “Second Amendment Week.”

Gun-rights supporters say state law gives the Legislature the sole right to regulate concealed weapons in Oregon, which creates a conflict with rules against guns on state college campuses.

At Western Oregon University in Monmouth, a student with a concealed handgun license was detained in January after he was found with a pistol and a knife. But when he was later suspended for the rest of the academic year, the action was based only on the knife and a rifle in his truck, sidestepping enforcement of the no-gun rule against a concealed handgun license holder.

At OSU, Friedman on Tuesday announced a week of activities related to the Second Amendment for Monday through Friday, April 13-17.

All week the College Republicans plan to sell raffle tickets for a rifle to be donated by the Philomath Gun Shop. The actual rifle won’t be hand for the drawing in the MU Quad at 4 p.m. April 17.

“I want to be able to finish my education,” Friedman said in reference to not wanting to violate any campus laws. The junior from Los Angeles is studying political science.

Also on April 17, the club has arranged for a free class for students of the kind required for getting a concealed handgun license, to be at 5 p.m. in Withycombe Hall.

Friedman said he planned to take the class, then apply for his license. He turned 21 last September.

Also during the week:

• Republican state Sen. Jackie Winters of Salem and Oregon Republican National Committeeman Solomon Yue are to speak at the MU Lounge at 5 p.m. Monday.

• Republican state Sen. Brian Boquist of Dallas will speak at MU Room 209 at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Female Drivers

10 Signs that your Online Friend is a Pervert

If you like playing tricks, being anonymous or pretending to be someone else, the internet can be your own, private playground. This is why people have screen names that have nothing to do with their given names and even use avatars, their virtual equivalent in a virtual world. Although these are usually fun and harmless activities, they also present a twisted opportunity for individuals with less-than-noble intentions. Perverts and online child sex predators, for example, frequently use these methods to find their victims. So if you’re having some second thoughts about your new chatmate, consider these 10 signs that your online friend just might be a pervert:

1. He knows he’s dealing with a child but he continues to communicate with you anyway.

Read more here.

Always New Caches To Find

The Science of Cow Tipping

The Tea Parties are Coming

The TEA parties are coming to a city near you. This is the chance to get out and show WHY this country still rocks the damn world and to show the socialists who are trying to make us mundane that THEY are insane.

Read more here.

Seven Reasons Barack Obama is not a Christian

There is a spiritual emergency in America.

Barack Obama is in the process of trying to recreate the Christian faith in his own, very liberal and unorthodox image.

Built on a foundation of radical Black Liberation Theology, theological liberalism and post-modernism, Obama is undermining historic, biblical Christianity while claiming his is a Christian. In the process, he is defaming the Christian faith.

By declaring he is a Christian, yet denying Christianities most essential truths and traditional morality, Obama is associating Christ with some of the most wicked practices imaginable, all of which are condemned in the Bible.

By any historic or biblical standard, Barack Obama is not a Christian.

With his incredible celebrity status, Obama's ideas about spiritual matters have become very significant, and they are very dangerous.

Now, more than ever, Christianity is under attack from without and within. We need your help to stand for Christ.

Read more here.

Obama Has No Bona Fide Christian Testimony

Can You Spot Nancy Pelosi?

Here's to You, Mister Jefferson

Obama is Associated with Black Liberation Theology

"From My Cold, Dead Hands"

… a New World Order is emerging…"

0bama Bows to Saudi King

US President Barack Obama, center, back to camera, greets King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, center, before the official G20 leaders group photo with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at London's Buckingham Palace, Wednesday, April 1, 2009.

President Obama greeted the king of Saudi Arabia with a full bow from the waist yesterday, a move one commentator described as a violation of protocol and not worthy of the office he holds.

"I am quite certain that this is not the protocol, and is most unbecoming a president of the United States," writes Clarice Feldman in an American Thinker commentary.

Americans do not bow to foreign monarchs because that act signified the monarch’s power over his subjects.


The action appeared especially awkward since among the dozens of world leaders and their spouses, handshakes abounded, but there appeared to be no other bowing in the room.

Read more here.

Moodle on the iPhone

I'm looking forward to the day we can readily deploy Moodle courses on the iPhone.

Obama Affirms Muslim Prayer

DeLorme Updates GPS Devices with "Tuppahware Detection"

DeLorme, the leader in mapping and GPS technology for serious outdoor adventures, today announced an update for its Earthmate PN-40 and PN-20 handheld GPS receivers. The update, which has been a closely guarded secret, adds the Tuppahware Detector—this trailblazing tool gives hard-core geocachers the edge they need in the field.

Read more here.