Tuesday, December 23, 2008

...And To All, A Good Night!

There is no such thing in anyone's life as an unimportant day.-Alexander Woollcott


The snow FINALLY melted in front of our house. This is the desert; snow isn't meant to be part of the landscape here. Our house has a northern exposure which taught us a valuable lesson for future home buyers: a home should face south. Our neighbors across the street haven't had ice or snow in front of their homes since 24 hours after the snow stopped falling. The front of our home, however, rarely saw the sun in the last few days; days passed with very little melting occurring on our side of the street. We are happy to report that the front of our house is currently ice free. Let's hope the weather keeps it that way.

We have heard that the front of our home in Utah is packed with snow and that we can't even drive up to the garage. But we think some kind-hearted souls in the community are going to clear a path for us so that we can spend some time there during the holiday. Thank you to the kind-hearted soul(s).

We will be away from the blogsphere until the first week of January. While we spend time with family and friends and receive and give gifts, we are mindful that the season exists because a small baby boy was born in a manger of hay over 2000 years ago. There would be no hope, no peace, no guiding star in the sky if not for the birth of Jesus.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Then They Came For Our Guns...

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." ~ Thomas Jefferson

As you may remember, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the City of New Orleans ordered law abiding citizens who legally owned guns to surrender their weapons to the City, leaving the citizens unprotected against the thugs who were using the chaos of the hurricane to loot and ravage the city. Guns were confiscated, sometimes by force, by the New Orleans' police department and the National Guard. The National Rifle Association (NRA), to which we both belong, filed a lawsuit against the city over the unconstitutional confiscation of lawfully owned fire arms. The NRA prevailed in their suit and a permanent injunction has been issued against the city, the mayor, and the police chief. Under the terms on the injunction, New Orleans agreed to cease and desist confiscating lawfully-possessed firearms from all citizens and to make an aggressive attempt to return any and all firearms which may have been confiscated. This may prove difficult since the police refused to issue receipts for the weapons they confiscated; however, the NRA has promised their support to ensure that all of the weapons confiscated are returned to their owners.

One would hope that the ruling by the court in this case as well as the recent Supreme Court ruling that the second amendment guarantees an individual’s right to bear arms would put to rest the question of the legality of citizens to own guns. However, with Obama set to take office on January 20, our second amendment rights are still on the chopping block. After the Supreme Court agreed that the second amendment guaranteed individuals the right to own firearms, Obama said, "There is an individual right to bear arms, but it is subject to common-sense regulation…” Barack Obama will take an oath of office to uphold the Constitution and during his campaign, Obama’s ads declared that he is for gun rights; however, based on his past words and deeds, we fear that the second amendment will very soon be under attack. Obama’s cabinet picks are left-over anti-gun personnel from the Clinton cabinet. A December 17 post on NRA’s website by Wayne LaPierre entitled “Nothing to Fear?” raises some issues that every American should consider.

"Barack Obama says gun owners have 'nothing to fear' from his incoming administration. But instead of simply promising he won't support new gun-control legislation, which would actually mean something, gun owners get empty statements of support for 'common-sense gun safety laws.' Is a 500 percent increase in taxes on firearms and ammunition a common-sense gun safety law? What about a ban on Right-to-Carry? A ban on the most popular sporting rifles in America? These are just some of the laws Barack Obama has supported in his short political career. Millions of American gun owners disagree that these laws have anything to do with common sense, and that's why they're exercising their Second Amendment freedom now. They're afraid they may not be able to do so as freely or fully in the future. Given President-elect Obama's rhetoric versus his record, gun owners have every reason to be concerned."

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Darn That Global Warming!

Two days ago we posted about the snow that the west side of the Las Vegas valley received. We didn't get any of that snow at our house, but yesterday the whole Las Vegas valley got snow--lots of snow. The news reports are saying that Las Vegas received three inches of snow and Henderson (where we live) received six inches of snow. We've lived in this part of the country for many years, and we've never seen it snow here like it did yesterday. It was beautiful, but folks in these parts don't know how to drive in the snow, so that was a little treacherous. Below are some pictures from our snow day.

Jonas getting ready to play in the snow



The front of our house. This picture was taken last night while the snow was falling.

Looking down our street - taken this morning. Sandy was wearing her slippers standing on the sidewalk in front of our house when she took this picture. She was praying that she didn't slip and fall. She's very good at that--she practices a lot.

The snow fell steadily all day and into the night yesterday. The Clark County School District even canceled school for today. Kids all over the valley rejoiced--moms groaned.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Who's Going to Bail Us Out of the Bailouts?

Socialism, here we come....

In a supposed effort to "save" the economy and American jobs, the government is moving this country towards socialism as they cry "the sky is falling, the sky is falling." Maybe it is; certainly we're in difficult times. But it's not the government's job to fix it; nor does it seem that any of their fixes are working.

This isn't a fairytale and we're not Chicken Little. It doesn't matter how bad it gets, and it's going to get bad, the government needs to keep to the business of governing and leave business management alone.

The below articles expand on this theme:

http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2008/12/17/postponing_reality?page=1

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/auto-bailout-drives-us-towards-socialism/

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

There's snow in the desert. Yesterday was a wet day in Las Vegas. Parts of the valley saw rain while the northwest part of town saw snow. Snow in Las Vegas isn't that common, especially the kind that sticks to the ground. It makes for treacherous driving, because no one in Las Vegas is prepared to drive in snow. However, the mountains surrounding the valley are very pretty today. The picture below is of the football field at Centennial High School.


We realize that this will look like no big deal to those of you from places where it really snows, but since we live in the desert, it's somewhat of a big deal to us. The link below will take you to an article and photos in the Las Vegas Review Journal newspaper about the unusual snowfall:


This link is to the Las Vegas Sun newspaper:

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Cutie Pies & Not So Much

Sandy's 13-month old grandson, Jonas, is such a sweet little guy. He usually listens when he's told not to touch something, and he even helps with household chores.

However, sometimes there's a temptation that is just too great to resist.

Our Christmas Tree is now on the endangered species list and is being protected by (ironically) Jonas' baby gate.

But, back to politics. Earlier this week, we commented on how corrupt our elected officials have become. Matt Towery wrote an excellent article today on this very subject. He explains that some of our elected officials have an attitude of entitlement, so when they're approached by lobbyists bearing gifts, the elected official's ego tells him that he is deserving of the gifts. Thus begins that slippery slope of the elected representative being beholden to lobbyists and special interests. Please click on this link to read the entire article. http://townhall.com/columnists/MattTowery/2008/12/11/why_more_and_more_politicians_are_rotten_to_the_core

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Selfishly Irresponsible

Are we really going to allow the government to intervene in EVERY part of our lives? Here's a really out-there thought -- why don't we be responsible for ourselves? See link to an article and the article below it:

http://www.theacru.org/acru/lawyers_associated_with_aclu_allies_seek_damages_for_people_accepting_mortgages_they_could_not_pay/

Obama Outlines Plan to Put Every Child Online (PC World)
Posted on YAHOO! Tue Dec 9, 2008 9:37AM EST

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has outlined an ambitious plan to give every child in the U.S. access to the Internet and to connect the nation's hospitals with "cutting edge technology."
The items are part of his plan to generate or save 2.5 million jobs over to the next two years and boost the flagging economy. They were outlined in his weekly video address posted on the Change.gov Web site.

"It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption," Obama said. "Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they'll get that chance when I'm President -- because that's how we'll strengthen America's competitiveness in the world."

He also pledged to modernize the nation's schools, make them energy efficient with new heating and lighting systems and put new computers in classrooms.

He also plans to put Internet connections into schools, libraries and hospitals. The latter is part of a plan to connect the healthcare industry.

"We will make sure that every doctor's office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year," he said.

What was missing from the address, which also touched on improving energy efficiency in public buildings and investing in physical infrastructure like roads and bridges, was how he plans to pay for the improvements. That may become clearer in the coming weeks when more details are promised.

Where is this money coming from?

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Politicians & The Games They Play

We pointed out in an earlier post that since Obama was elected, we need to keep our eyes on the soon-to-be-in-place government healthcare. We’ve also commented on how detrimental government-run healthcare would be for this country, citing that how this same system has failed in England and Canada. Now, evidently, the media have determined that there is a “consensus” for government intervention on healthcare. It would appear that our elected representatives are blind, deaf, and dumb to their constituents and to the events occurring around the world; however, we believe their refusal to take heed has to do with their desire for power. The more programs the government can control, the more our representatives can flex their political muscles. Please click on link below for full story.
http://www.galen.org/component,8/action,show_content/id,71/blog_id,1126/category_id,0/type,33/

So the governor of Illinois wants to sell Obama’s senate seat to the highest bidder. We fear that the number of corrupt elected officials in this country outnumber the honest ones. Not only are they out for ill-gotten financial gain and fame, but they’ll do anything necessary, including circumventing the law, to secure the political climate that suits them in order for them to reach those goals. We commented on this previously in our October 12 post entitled Modern-Day Highway Robbery. The link below will take you to an excellent article about political games. http://townhall.com/columnists/JerryAgar/2008/12/08/political_games

Friday, December 5, 2008

Harry, Harry, Harry

We live in Nevada. Harry Reid is one of our senators. (Heavy sigh). We hope to change that when he comes up for reelection in 2010. Just for giggles, let's reminisce about some of the things Harry has said and done over the past few years.

Just a few of Harry's quotes:

"...this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything..." ~ Thanks for your vote of confidence, senator. I'm sure the troops fighting for your freedom to make that asinine remark really appreciated your loyalty. We've noticed Harry hasn't said much about the success of the war in Iraq.

"President Bush is a loser." ~ This quote was said to a group of high school students at a school here in Southern Nevada. Guess who really sounds like a loser.

“In the summertime, because of the high humidity and how hot it gets here, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol.” ~ We really take exception to this remark, since this past summer we were tourists in Washington D.C. And could he be any more arrogant?


Things that make you say hmmmm...

Nevada's Lt. Governor, Brian Krolicki (republican), announced several weeks ago that he was thinking of running against Harry Reid in 2010. Coincidentally (for the gullible), Mr. Krolicki has been indicted by a grand jury for misappropriation of funds for the handling of some scholarship money from when he was the state treasurer. Edie has had some experience with grand jurys, and she's convinced that a ham sandwich could get indicted by one. Mr. Krolicki made the comment that he thinks this indictment is politically motivated. Ya think? We hope that the Nevada GOP is doing an exhaustive search to find a republican candidate (in the event that Mr. Krolicki doesn't run) to go up against Harry in 2010, because we Nevadans are more than ready for a change. Now that's change you can believe in!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

A Political Circus

Obama gets his own holiday. It doesn't happen to fall on April 1st, does it?

http://www.nbc13.com/vtm/news/local/article/alabama_county_makes_honors_obama_with_a_holiday/49335/

A little good news: On Tuesday, December 2, Saxby Chambliss, Republican U.S. Senator of Georgia, won re-election. This election occurred after senatorial candidates in Georgia received less than 50% of the vote -- Georgia requires that a candidate wins by more than 50%. So a run-off election was conducted on December 2. We are relieved that Senator Chambliss won. His re-election as a Republican prevents the Democrats from having the 60 votes they need for a filibuster-proof senate. Thank goodness, because Harry Reid's idiocy shouldn't be allowed to run unobstructed -- we're just trying to stop his idiocy from painting all Nevadans as stupid, but Harry's not helping our fight.

Another article defending the Mormons involvement in California's Prop 8:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/12/its_time_to_speak_out_against.html

A great article by Thomas Sowell about Freedom and the confused thinking of the left:

http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2008/12/02/freedom_and_the_left

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

What Happened to We The People?

Yesterday we wrote about the attacks that have taken place against the Mormon Church because of their stance on marriage being defined as between one man and one woman, and we posted links to a couple of good articles on that subject. We read another good article, written by a Jewish Rabbi, on the same topic. The link below will take you to that article.
http://www.lawatchdog.com/RabbiShifren-WeAreAllMormons112008.html

We’ve stated several times how important it is to be informed about politics and about the Constitution of the United States, so we will be prepared and armed with the necessary knowledge to fight for our rights that are being threatened daily. Walter E. Williams wrote an article today for Townhall.com that details how ignorant “we the people” have become about basic civics.
http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/12/03/ignorance_reigns_supreme

We love this country and realize how important it is to be vigilant everyday in fighting for the rights for which our founding fathers fought. The main weapon we need in our arsenal is knowledge, so we’ll be aware when our rights are being threatened. The more we become informed, the more we’ll realize that we’ve been slowly losing our rights over the course of several decades. Read up on the history and the making of our country and compare that with current events and then stay informed. Contact your elected representatives as soon as you’re made aware of yet another piece of legislation that will slowly usurp our freedoms.

The government will continue to sanction and legislate away our rights in the name of political correctness, hate crimes, and terrorism. Don't let them scare or shame you into giving away your right to choose. This article is titled "How Democracies Perish" about a British man who was detained by police for nine hours because he spoke out against the government leader. It can and will happen to people in the United States, too: http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2008/12/02/how-democracies-perish-british-edition/

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

First They Came For the Mormons...

An Ugly Attack On Mormons

Regular readers are aware that we belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka The Mormons. Speaking only for ourselves, since we are not official representatives of the Church, we believe that people are free to decide the type of living arrangement that they choose, and we believe in equal rights for all people, including civil unions and other legal steps that would allow unmarried partners insurance and death benefits. However, we also believe that God intended the sacred covenant of marriage to be between one man and one woman. Opponents of California’s Proposition 8, which defines marriage as between one man and one woman, have not only attacked the Mormon Church verbally and in writing for their beliefs, but have also vandalized Church buildings, and in one instance set a Book of Mormon on fire and left it on the doorstep of one of our temples. They are also questioning in the court system the tax exempt status of the Mormon Church. Ironically, 70% of the black community voted yes on Prop 8, but we have yet to see any backlash against them. Other Christian churches also supported a yes vote on Prop 8, but the Mormons are taking the brunt of the hateful rhetoric from those who supported a no vote on Prop 8. Jonah Goldberg wrote an excellent article on this topic for the Los Angeles Times today. The link below will take you to that article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/la-oe-goldberg2-2008dec02,1,5061334.column

Another good article on this same topic was written by Kathryn Jean Lopez for the November 26 issue of Townhall.com. The link to that article is below:

http://townhall.com/Columnists/KathrynJeanLopez/2008/11/26/mormons_in_the_crosshairs

Monday, December 1, 2008

This and That

We celebrated Thanksgiving at our home with friends and family. Sandy's granddaughter was able to fly from North Carolina to be with us -- we're always happy to see her. Thanksgiving was nice but it seems that we spend hours cooking and then cleaning up for about 30 minutes of eating. Not sure about the wisdom of this practice, but we do enjoy the leftovers.

As we get nearer to a new year and a new president, here are some things to watch for in 2009:

~Universal healthcare

~More bailouts

~Harry Reid is going to re-introduce an amnesty bill for illegal immigrants.

~U.S. troops may be deployed inside the United States as part of homeland security. The federal government is constitutionally not allowed to deploy troops on their own people. The only troops who can be deployed within the states are National Guard troops, and they can only be activated by state governors. If the federal government begins to deploy federal troops inside the United States, we will all need to take a stand and fight against it. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/30/AR2008113002217_pf.html

~Change you can believe in. Didn't Obama run his campaign on making changes and getting away from the old Washington way of thinking? This article is by Democrat Strategist, Kristin Powers http://www.nypost.com/seven/12012008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/theyre_ba_a_ack_141654.htm