Worm on the brain?

Well, not exactly ON it, but rather IN it.

Yuck. Ouch.

Yes, a PHX woman had what she was told was a brain tumor, but when the surgeon went to operate on her brain stem, he found a worm. From undercooked pork. Or somebody not washing their hands after they went to the bathroom.

I hope my wife doesn't read this.

We won't go out to eat for a long time :)

Follow the link and read the story, then watch the VIDEO of them pulling the worm out!!!

Tree Houses

That's right. Tree houses. Not that you can build one very easily here in AZ. I didn't see an 'cactus houses' (ouch).



Popular Mechanics listed 10 great tree houses. Check em out.



This one was my favorite. Don't just build a house in a tree, build a castle!

Did I miss something here?

It appears that the CA Supreme Court is going to hear some complaints about Prop 8. Now I thought the whole purpose of a constitutional amendment, was that it creates the highest law in the land (other than the US Constitution) and so becomes the standard by which judges should make their rulings. In fact the whole issue in CA was that the voters had already passed a law affirming marriage between a man and woman, but the CA Supreme Court had shot it down as unconstitutional.

Doesn't the amendment MAKE it constitutional?

Ugh.

Unreal Expectations

I haven’t been watching or reading much news. I have been trying to avoid it. I’m going through a period of political pull back for a moment. It really won’t last long. I can’t help myself in the long run. Right now I am dealing with some family issues, a crazy busy but tenuous work situation, and trying to reorganize my days. I even finished up a fiction book that my son recommended. I wasn’t that impressed with the book, but I was impressed at the reading level of my 8 year old. Geesh. The book was Inkheart and will soon be a movie starring Brendan Frasier. I’m sure we’ll see it. It wasn’t much of a page turner for me and I kept seeing the villains as cartoon characters in my mind for some reason, but it did have a good, although predictable ending.

All of that has kept me out of the Obama glow. I’ve been getting spammed with emails about “Obama coins” and other assorted “memorabilia”. Sorry, it’s just a little nauseating. Not because I voted for the other guy, but because the expectation level that has been set is… well unrealistic at best. During the election Conservatives joked that Obama was perceived as ‘the messiah’.

We were just joking.

I really had no idea that a good chunk of the population was serious. Howard Kurtz has an interesting piece about the frenzy. My favorite quote has to be, “Being cool can really help a new president.”

The depth of the comment is beyond me. I’ll have to meditate on that one for a while.

Have you EARNED your man card?

PM put together a list of the 100 things that a man should be able to do. I heard about this on the radio this morning and the DJs were remarking that they only got about 25%. I'm not too shabby with SOME do it yourself things, so I thought I would at least take the test and see what I got.

Some of them are pretty basic, some are a bit more complicated. A few of the things I've seen, but never done myself (like using a stick welder). I'm pretty sure I could, but I didn't want to count it, since I didn't KNOW I could do it.

I think I can keep my man card, I got an 89%. Not too shabby. I think I'll growl a few times and go rewire a power supply!

Mormons take the heat for sticking by their beliefs

Here in AZ we passed prop 102, an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage to be the union of one man and one woman. In CA it was Prop 8. These are similar to amendments passed in 30 states now. The purpose of all of this is to fight back against ‘alternative lifestyle’ education in our schools and to preserve the definition of marriage.

In any case, the fight in CA was particularly nasty. The LDS church led the way in getting Prop 8 passed.

Watch this commercial put out by a NO on Prop 8 organization.


The Huffington Post has to be one of the worst and most popular left wing blogs. Here is what they had to say about the LDS church and their support of Prop 8.

Yet somehow an economic boycott doesn't feel direct enough; those who team up against gay people must learn that there are consequences.

That's why we are seeking to strip the Mormon church of its status as a religious organization.

I hope that people with healthy levels of sanity prevail. I would hope that the court would support the first amendment. You don't cease to have the right to speak just because you are religious.

I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

This is what crazy looks like

Guts galore... brains... not so much. A surfer takes a 40+ foot wave.

... and YES he did bail just after these pictures were taken... NO he isn't dead, just REALLY beat up and has some torn muscles...

Hopefully it didn't hurt the few brain cells that he had.

This one is worth a read

Very interesting editorial in the American Spectator.

It's a little paranoid for my tastes... but a good warning to keep your eyes open and your wits about you.

Can a government where the executive, legislative and judicial branches are all controlled by the same ideology, even the same group of people, really hold each other to the intended checks and balances?

I guess we'll find out. Let's hope it's not too hard and too long of a lesson.

My Representative Speaks for Me

I am very proud to say that my representative is Jeff Flake. He was one of a few Reps yesterday who had no cause for concern (he won 62 - 35). An editorial from him was published in the Washington Post this morning. I've included it below. I think Jeff would be a great House minority leader moving forward. It will be interesting to see how the shake up goes.

A Way Out of the Wilderness
Well, we Republicans have just made history.
Not the type of history we wanted to make, mind you, but history nonetheless.
Not only did we lose the White House but, after losing our House and Senate
majorities in 2006, we followed it up last night with even steeper losses in
Congress.In January, Democrats will enjoy lopsided congressional ratios not seen
since the 1970s. Let's face it: We Republicans are now, by any reasonable
measurement, deep in the political wilderness.The temptation for Republican
members of Congress today will be to assume the role of the post-Watergate
Republicans of 1974 and accept minority status as a permanent condition. Indeed,
the terrain is more difficult for us now than it was in 1992. Then,
Republicanism was still largely defined by the Reagan years. Today the party is
defined in the public mind by the Bush presidency. We've got a steep hill to
climb.Much of the backroom maneuvering and media speculation in the coming weeks
will focus on identifying new standard-bearers for the party. This is important,
and after a second straight drubbing, the House Republican leadership should be
replaced. But the far more critical task is determining what standard these new
leaders will bear.I suggest that we return to first principles. At the top of
that list has to be a recommitment to limited government. After eight years of
profligate spending and soaring deficits, voters can be forgiven for not knowing
that limited government has long been the first article of faith for
Republicans.Of course, it's not the level of spending that gets the most
attention; it's the manner in which the spending is allocated. The proliferation
of earmarks is largely a product of the Gingrich-DeLay years, and it's no
surprise that some of the most ardent practitioners were earmarked by the voters
for retirement yesterday. Few Americans will take seriously Republican speeches
on limited government if we Republicans can't wean ourselves from this insidious
practice. But if we can go clean, it will offer a stark contrast to the
Democrats, who, after two years in training, already have their own earmark
favor factory running at full tilt.Second, we need to recommit to our belief in
economic freedom. Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" may be on the discount
rack this year, but the free market is still the most efficient means to
allocate capital and human resources in an economy, and Americans know it. Now
that we've inserted government deeply into the private sector by bailing out
banks and businesses, the temptation will be for government to overstay its
welcome and force the distribution of resources to serve political ends.
Substituting political for economic incentives is not the recipe for economic
recovery.Most House Republicans opposed the recent bailout and will be in a
strong position to promote economic freedom over central planning as the Obama
administration stumbles from industry to industry trying to determine which is
small enough to be allowed to fail and which is not. Since timetables will be in
vogue, perhaps Republicans could even insist on a timetable for getting the
government out of the private sector.There are, of course, other pillars of the
Republican standard -- strong national defense, support for traditional values
and the Second Amendment -- but these are not areas where voters question
Republican bona fides. In any event, as we have seen over the past several
months, economic woes tend to subsume other concerns. We shouldn't complain. We
can now play our strongest hand.In some respects, raising a new standard was
made easier by yesterday's rout. The Republican Party is not bound by
election-year promises made by its presidential nominee. More important, the
party is finally untethered from the ill-fitting and unworkable big-government
conservatism that defined the Bush administration.This is not to say that it
will be an easy transition. Congressional Republicans picked up some
unattractive habits over the years in an effort to hold on to power. Whether it
was relying on the redistricting process to help us choose our constituents,
using the appropriations process as an ATM or passing legislation -- such as a
generous prescription drug benefit and a bloated farm bill -- to pacify
individual constituencies, these habits and voting patterns will be hard to
break.But there is reason for Republicans to feel optimism. Politically, America
remains a center-right country, and America loves a chastened and repentant
sinner. As surely as the sun rises in the east, the Democrats will overreach.As
long as we Republicans are willing to admit our folly, get back to first
principles and work like there's no tomorrow, we've got 'em just where we want
'em.

Still some interesting things happening

Obviously the presidency has been decided. Like our current government I plan on watching the next group and tracking them to see what they are up to. Always a good idea.

But some interesting elections are still on going. Four senate races are still close. Reps lead in all four. The closest one is in MN between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. Are you serious? I guess the same people that elected Jessie "the Body" Ventura as governor would only be living up to their reputation if they put 'Stu Smalley' in office. I'm still pulling for Norm.

Probably the most interesting race is in Alaska. Stevens, having recently been found guilty of uh, graciously accepting all kinds of... gifts that people just left at his house, is WINNING! And most likely will win. So what happens then? Well, that would mean another election in Alaska.

Can you see it coming?

Yup.

Good money says that the election would be between the Dem candidate that Stevens just beat and our former VP candidate Gov. Palin. She has already indicated a strong desire to stay in national politics and in Washington. Taking Stevens disgraced seat and doing some 'mavericky reforming' would be a good start.

The people that say politics is boring aren't paying attention.

I'm exhausted

Wow, what a couple of days.

Brandi started her new therapy in Scottsdale on Monday. We are very optimistic that this will be a great thing for her. She's really a trooper. It has been 11 months now since she had the worst back episode of her life that landed her in the hospital for a few days. Please be praying that this therapy will be effective and have great long term benefits. Thanks so much to all of the friends and family that God has put into our lives to help get us through this. We really couldn't do it with out you guys. Four days of therapy, every week, for six weeks.

Some really tough news coming out of work in the last couple of days as we frantically try to fill a req for a much needed technician before they completely slam the door on any hiring. Mandatory vacations. How can you mandate 160 hours of vacation in 5 months, when most of your employees only acrue 120 hours of vacation in a YEAR?

I talked to our financial guy yesterday. He said invest in guns, ammunition, seed and fertilizer. Something about the return of the hunter/gatherer society... Guess he isn't too optimistic about the government solutions to the financial mess so far.

The boys finished up their baseball season with a LATE GAME (oh joy). It started at 7:30 and ran until almost 9. It has been a great season. The kids have really learned a lot about the game. The coach has been absolutely awesome! Definitely a best case scenario there.

We seem to finally have crawled out of our three weeks of sickness. It started with a nasty cold that went through the ranks, followed by a touchy stomach bug. Jacob was declared well yesterday and allowed to leave the house for the final baseball game of the season.

Something else happened yesterday too, but I can't think of what it was... hmmm... it'll come to me....

But it's not just coal!!

The McCain team is hammering Obama right now for a quote from a January article. Here is the quote that they are using:

"If somebody wants to build a coal power plant they can, it's just that it will
bankrupt them because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that
greenhouse gas that's being emitted,"

It's not really shocking if you follow the cap and trade program that Obama would support and that the Dems are almost certainly planning within the first few months of his presidency. I've written about it before here.

The sad thing is, that McCain supports the cap and trade program as well, although I think he wouild be slower to implement it given the economy.

When the bill hits the floor, it will be up to average citizens to call and fight it tooth and nail, regardless of who is president. It will throw our economy into a depression. It will make EVERY SINGLE THING you purchase more expensive by massive amounts.

All for warm feelings about a green planet and Al Gore's hype about global warming. It will cost jobs, it will cost our economic security, and it will cost lives in impoverished nations around the world.