Fed Up!

 I'm getting pretty fed up with the beating Governor Perry is taking over Texas' in school tuition for children of illegals. I'll start this by baldy stating that Governor Perry could do a much better job explaining the position. Granted, Perry isn't particularly glib. I do wonder how he would do if the debates were held during working hours. The man was a farm kid, early to bed, early to rise and all that. Some of us are just naturally morning people, I wonder if growing up on a farm reinforced that.

 Anyhow, this is why I'm fed up with this whole affair. A governor, any governor, cannot deport anyone. The Federal government can but won't. This leaves the governors left to deal with the illegals in their states the best way they and the legislatures can. Meanwhile, the feds require that we in the states give medical care, education K-12, equal protection in law enforcement and the courts, etc.

 Now, by my count there are forty-six states that do not border Mexico.  I believe Obama counts fifty-four although the one state of the fifty-eight he hadn't visited might also border Mexico. Still, we can all agree that the great mass of the votes in Congress come from states that are not on that border but do count in setting border enforcement and deporting illegals. Heck, by my count we have NO states bordering Kenya but we can't seem to deport Obama's illegal immigrant aunts, uncles and whoever we don't yet know about.

 I'm pretty sure that if all fifty-seven, excuse me for the Obama math, fifty states put their feet down hard, we could get a handle on the illegals here. Instead, people want to blame the folks living in the border states.

 Now I was last in a K-12 classroom in 1964. So please do not put me down as an expert on education. Still, I have my memory. Well, most of it, since the stroke. Anyway, as I recall, there were two kinds of kids disrupting the classes, making it hard on everyone else. the first kind was the kids who would now be in special education, which was in it's infancy back then. There were special ed classes in the big cities, us smaller towns, well, not yet. There was another kind of disruptive kid, though. the bright kids who were bored. I confess to being in that class. I had learned to read, write and cipher by the time I had finished Junior High. Had there been an exam for a high school diploma at the end of eighth grade I would have passed it, hands down. Unfortunately, that is not, and was not the way the system worked. A kid who left school at 16 had almost no chance for a decent job, couldn't enlist in the Service, much less a smartassed fourteen year old. anyway it was not legal for me to drop out at fourteen, I was really stuck. I was also a huge pain in the ass to all concerned.

 After eighth grade the only reason I was in school was because I HAD to be. Ring any bells? I knew I wasn't going to college, there was no money for that in those days. So, like most of the children of today's illegals, I was bored, uninterested and uncaring. I had maybe three teachers all through high school that could, or would, keep me interested enough to not be too big a pain.The rest of the time, no dice. There were actually a couple of classes where other students helped to keep me in line. Some teachers were smart enough to let me read a book or try to write short stories, others faced the full on rebellion of a bright, bored kid. I spent a lot of time in the Vice Principal's office. The vice principal used to turn an interesting shade of purple when I told him about what I didn't give.

 Now, I'll admit, I'm a mess. And it took a smart judge, a military recruiting office with a quota and The Southeast Asian War Games to straighten me out, even after that it was touch and go. I got my GED in the service. I believe there were five subjects, graded on the percentile system where a 99% was the high score. I scored two of those, and a 98%, and my low score subject, Math, was an 83%. It would have saved the educational system, and me, a lot of grief had I been able to take that test earlier and then do something, anything, but sit in those open-window prisons classrooms. Still, fifty years later than I should have been able to take that test, I guess I'm okay. I hope the vice principal got over it and I hope I didn't damage too many of my classmates too badly.

 What's that got to do with today and the beating my governor is taking? Well, today there are probably no K-12 public schools in Texas without children of illegal immigrants. Some of the children were brought in, others are birthright citizens themselves. Sill others are mixed, children who were brought in with sibling who are birthright citizens.

 Meanwhile our schools cannot ask, much less demand, that children prove they are here legally. Heck, it's hard enough to get them to prove they've had their shots.  (Why we keep having Measles and other outbreaks). In many schools these kids are the majority. Can the children who are actually interested in getting an education help keep other kids in line? Well, there were times in my life it worked.

 Now, I'll say it again, I'm no educrat. I do know what one kid, bored and stuck in a classroom with no hope of doing anything with an education after learning to read, write and cipher, can do to the atmosphere in a classroom. So, the Texas Legislature, not really as liberal a body as, say, California, passed a law, trying to give these kids that they cannot, and the feds will no, deport, a reason to stay in those classrooms. The Texas Governor, who cannot, and the feds will not, deport these kids, signed that law. I do not know whether Gov. Perry really likes that law or if he just saw how overwhelming the margin was and knew that a veto would be overridden.

 I do know that the reason we ware stuck with all these kids, and their parents, and Obama's scofflaw relations, plus God only knows who else, is not because of anything Perry, or Brewer of Arizona, or even Gov. Moonbeam of California is doing. Nor Governor Martinez of New Mexico. Funny, as different as California and Texas are, the answer to those kids in the schools is much the same. Well, except that the kids in Texas do not fly the Mexican flag over Old Glory.

 Immigration is a federal issue. There are, by my count, fifty Senators and four hundred and thirty-five reps. Only eight Senators are from states that border Mexico. I submit that if the rest of the residents of the United States are sick of illegals they would force the feds to do something effective about making them stop coming and the ones here to go home. 

 Dear rest of the country. Since you will not, or can not, force your congressional reps to make the United States first control the borders and next, deport the illegals, stop jabbing the state governments who do the best they can with a problem they did not cause and have no way to cure.

 Dear rest of the Republican candidates. Please stop beating up the only man in the pack who is having to deal with a problem he did not cause and has no way to cure. Maybe the Legislature of the State of Texas is wrong. maybe Perry should have vetoed the bill and lost whatever political capital it would have cost having that veto overridden. I don't know, and we will never know. What we do know is that the entire nation has let the political class in Washington ignore it's responsibility And we're stuck with it. Nobody more than us on the border.

 Instead of beating up on Perry, hold your own congresscritter's feet to the fire. Demand meaningful border enforcement. And not a wall, Perry is right. A thirty foot wall would mean a lot of thirty-five foot ladders. Some places would need good stout fences, other places boots on the ground, still others, the desert is all we need with some eyes in the sky and some helo born BP Agents. Demand that the electronic verification of social security numbers actually work. make it really possible for an employer to check if a job applicant is really allowed to work here and then make a meaningful punishment for employers who break the law. Do something intelligent about anchor babies. For that matter, do something intelligent about anchor nephew Presidents! Oh, heck, demand Congress do something, anything intelligent about anything.

 In other countries, is a child of an illegal entrant a citizen of the country the parents are from or of the country they are in illegally? I ask this, I do not know. I do know that Mexico's laws about citizenship and illegal entry are draconian. Yet they demand that ours are ignored. I do not know why we are so eager to embrace other country's laws on anything but this.

 Please don't think this is an endorsement of Perry for President. While I will say he's head and shoulders above Obama, he is not my very first choice. My favorite is Palin, although she's been demonized so badly her chances are few. I really like Cain although government is a skill and Obama is proving that it's a skill one learns by doing. (Actually I'm not sure Obama is capable of learning at this point.) Although I also remember living through the Carter presidency where he proved that being a governor does not always mean one has the skill to govern. I would have to hold my nose awfully hard to vote for Romney. Gingrich is a really smart guy who ought to be in a think tank, thinking, when he's not playing with his harem.Ron Paul? Well, he's RON PAUL!  I still don't like him much.I like a lot of his supporters less. Bachmann? Oh, please. The rest of the crowd? Welcome to Munchkin Land.

 Actually we have a very strong bench, Rubio and West, both need executive experience, Rubio more than West, at least West has commanded. West's soldiers and a lot of veterans would charge Hell with a leaky canteen cup of warm water with West in the lead.Those guys and Lousisiana's Jindal, that feller up in Wisconsin giving the government worker unions fits, yes, a very deep bench for 2016-2020. Thing is, we've got 2012 to win and win it we must if we are going to save the country withot a war. Of the crowd that has declared, Perry is still my favorite, if only because he's done a pretty good, though not perfect job here.

 We have two problems, the Washington Republicans and the Democrats/ national media. The Washington, or establishment Republicans don't much like Perry, they're committed to Romney like they were committed to McCain. We saw how well that worked. The establishment Republicans also have this dream: someday, if they just promote the Republican that the media says they like in the primaries, the media will treat him nice in the general. We saw how well that worked in '08. Couple this with a national media that will say anything to make a Dem look good and a Republican look bad. And it works. nearly half of the country believes that Palin actually said "I can see Russia from my house ." This makes for an uphill battle. Our advantage is that, as much as they try, Obama can't run too far from his own record.

 All I know for sure is that we have to end the circular firing squad of these early debates. Oh, and when, oh when, are we actually going to have debates for the Republican nomination with questions and moderation by Republicans?

  Not, Politics, family: Robin, our number two boy out east in NASCAR country, living near the Charelotte Motor Speedway called last night. They're pregnant again. The baby is due in late March, early April. They're just about old enough to where increasing age might be a concern. Those kids are the ones who, although they graduated from a Church of Christ school, Harding University in Searcy Arkansas, converted to the Catholic Church. Kind of simple why, Robin's wife Meleah is blind. Of the various parents involved in the education programs they were in for their boys, only the Catholic parents were of any help, the way Christians are supposed to act with their brethren and sisteren. So, Meleah converted. Robin got the last word in, he said, yes dear. Now Meleah is more Catholic than the Pope. Anyhow,we're praying this one doesn't end up a miscarriage like the last one. Although, really, four boys is enough. Although we wouldn't complain if a girl comes along. Anyhow, please, Lord, a healthy baby, if that be your will. (Lord, with Meleah bein' blind with four boys, one autistic, they do have enough troubles. So, a little luck here, please.)

 Speaking of a little luck, Stephanie called, one to the twins that just had their birthday. Anyhow, she (or her hubby who plays with things) found what might be a lump in her breast. She has an appointment tomorrow. Of course after breast feeding three boys (and probably one husband some) there are things in breasts that kind of feel like the lumps that give trouble. Anyhow, Lord, if we haven't already used up all our good fortune so far...Thanks.

Rain!

 We're finally getting a little rain, don't know that it's going to be enough to calm the fires down but I'll take whatever we can get. I'm sure it won't be enough to drop the burn ban but there is supposed to be a little more later in the week. Thank you, Lord.

 In other news there seems to be a flare up over some vile talk by Mike Tyson, a vile person. There seems to be two camps. One camp wants to spread the vileness because it is about Sarah Palin, the other wants it stopped because it is vile. And, yes, if Tyson had said what he did about any other woman i strongly suspect it would have been shunned. Had he said such things about Hilary Clinton, what would the reaction be?

 I have made at least one reader somewhat uncomfortable in my near constant refrain suggesting revolvers over autoloading pistols for defense. This reader had a revolver and now owns one of the better autoloaders but is somewhat nervous and kind of misses her revolver. Well, I miss every firearm I've ever traded or sold, except for that one Charter Arms Target Bulldog .44 Special that went BANG! sometimes and click other times.

 Make no mistake, one of the better of the bazillion self stuffers out there is fine for anyone who takes the trouble to learn their gun and practice with it until every control is ingrained. And THERE is the advantage to the double action revolver, there is only one control. Whereas each autoloader has several different control mechanisms. Every law enforcement agency I ever heard of had a huge uptick in negligent discharges when they switched to autos. And the odd  phenomenon of forty-fifty or even more rounds fired at one suspect, often with no hits or only one or two is a direct result of those autoloading pistols. These half trained jokers might not know what those funny shaped  widgets on the top of the gun are for but they durned well know what that little curved disgus at the bottom of the gun is for. Just a note to civilians: do not empty a fifteen round mag into one bad guy, or the empty space around him. The city and county fathers would rather spend any money for training on new offices for themselves so they have their lawyers defend what those same lawyers will try very hard to put you in jail for. (Boy, that's a long sentence, oh well, it's almost bedtime.

 Arr! Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day! I'm not sure of the exact etiquette of this momentous day but it ought to include something fun.

 Oh, and more importantly: Happy Birthday Michael and Stephanie!!!! Yes, our twins turned 35 today! So, now that you two are old enough and we can prove you are natural born citizens, which one of you will run for President? Here's my plan: I'll be your campaign manager. We'll collect a humongous campaign chest and then run...for the border. Except we'd never get away with it, both those kids are so honest and upright that they sleep standin' up.

 Oh well, happy birthday, kids we love you.

 Anyhow, we got a little rain.

Scattershooting While Wondering Whatever Happened To Ed McGivern

 So Bachmann is running against vaccinations now, or at least the ones ordered by Rick Perry. Funny how that works. The folks over at Redstate mentioned how she never raised a peep over her own state's coercive vaccine program.

Here is what I know, and remember I'm not a doctor, my scientific education, such as it is, is from the University of the Public Library and Used Book Store. Gardisil protects the patient from a particularly nasty cancer, IF it is administered before that patient becomes sexually active. Please remember that phrase "before the patient becomes sexually active." This vaccine is somewhat expensive, I read where it costs some $360.00 for the series. The common health insurance does not pay for this vaccine although it would if it were mandatory, therefore the ill fated executive order. This executive order carried an opt out clause where parents who believe that their daughters would forgo sex until they turn thirty could say no.

 This somehow became a big effin' deal as the Vice President is wont to say, no one is exactly sure why. There are no reported incidents of horrible outcomes from this vaccine.  And, since very few of our innocent little daughters did forgo sex until they turned thirty, including mine (thanks for the grandsons, Steph) it would be nice if the foes of this overturned executive order would debate it on the medical merits.  Now I could be way off. It is possible that there are hidden dangers to this vaccine, young women growing a third leg or, perhaps, a trunk-like appendage down there. I haven't studied this as much as I might have if Gardasil had come along when our little girl was of the age the vaccine must be given.

 All I know for sure is that the percentage of girls who sit down with their parents and discuss becoming sexually active just before they do is kind of small these days. Perhaps it has always been small.  I went through high school just before the sexual revolution (darn it!) and even back then there few of us who graduated virgin. Of course that was pre-Pill days and I gotta say, even fewer of us who wanted to graduate virgin.

 Anyhow, say what you will about that executive order, Gov Perry is the best of the lot of declared candidates. I really like Cain but his chances are slim and fat and Slim caught the 4:32 Greyhound outta town. Perry has been Governor for ten years, ever since GWB resigned to take the big job. Although some folks in the big cities like to fear the theocracy we haven't had organised gay bashes down here. No one has been forced into any churches where they are forced to handle snakes. The biggest danger anyone faces from our Texas churches is a car wash or, if you get sick and we hear about it, a couple of covered dishes and some prayers. And some of those covered dishes? Heck it's worth gettin' sick.

 Few people, today, remember Ed McGivern.   Born in 1874, he died in 1957. During his lifetime he became the king of the pistol. A sign painter by trade he graduated from a university back when no one majored in politically correct angry studies. Perhaps it was because he lived in Lewiston, Montana he became interested in shooting.  A somewhat younger Elmer Keith had the same interest. Elmer was a cowboy and hunter, with far less education but between those two old westerners, they stood the world of handgun shooting upside down.

 Ed was not much of a hunter with handguns, his main interest was the use of the handgun for police and for armed self defense. McGivern taught himself to be so fast with handguns that he often broke the timing devices of the day. One of his records that still stands today is five shots in 45/100s of a second, the shots could be covered by a silver half dollar. He did this, twice.

 When Ed's shooting career started to gain some notoriety a Philadelphia businessman name Walter Groff became Ed's patron. Ed, between making a living as a sign painter and his constant shooting, had no time to handload his ammunition. Groff sent him caseloads of the stuff.

 His fame spread so fast and wide during the '20s and '30s that when a bad guy came to Lewiston to rob the bank the police showed up. The bank robber took hostages inside the bank The Chief of Police sent for Ed. Ed buckled on his Smith and Wessons in his buscadero rig and ambled on down to the bank. The Police Chief shouted over his bullhorn that Ed McGivern was on the scene and, if the robber didn't surrender he was comin' in after him. The robber surrendered. No one was hurt. A perfect example of the proper use of the gun. It's always best to be so good with the gun that one does not have to fire. Kind of like Ronald Reagan and the nukes.

 Ed was one of the first to tout the .357 Magnum revolver as a police round. A short time after the .357 was out he had studied it's use for long range shooting. A short time later Ed proved that a man standing six hundred yards away would be in range.  No, Ed couldn't hit him every shot but the guy would be huntin' cover.

 Ed was just the opposite of the movie cowboy. Standing only five feet, five inches Ed was kind of portly his whole life. Shortly after his five shots in 45/100s of a second arthritis forced and end to his shooting career. Ed was fifty-eight when he set that record.

 Ed's book, Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting is still in print and still packed full of useful lore for the student of the gun. And, if ever you get a chance to see one of those grainy old black and white movies of Ed's exploits, well, they're just as amazing now as they were sixty+ years ago. One wonders what he could do with, say, a fifteen shot Glock. Although back then Ed, or Mac to his friends, could shoot a revolver faster than the self loading semi auto could cycle. 'Course, that was a six shot revolver. "Course only hits count. From the reading I've done lately most police departments would be better suited if they went back to issuing those old, obsolete revolvers and spend the saved money on ammunition and training. Too many of today's police think they can miss fast enough and often enough to win a gunfight. Sigh.

 Ed had much to do with a couple of handgun stock design that are still in use today. And much to do with handgun sights.

Ten Years And Nothing Much To Say.

 I was sitting at my desk, as usual on the computer. I had not known of blogs yet, I read Drudge and otherwise I was mostly on various shooting bulletin boards. I was a co-moderator on one, of the handloading section. Linda Lou was sleeping still. Tuesdays were my day at the range so I was trying to do my little stint when someone posted something about an airplane hitting one of the Twin Towers. I wondered about it, thinking it was something like a small plane, after all, jetliners have too many systems to make sure they couldn't hit a big building.

 I turned on the teevee with the sound down so it wouldn't wake Linda Lou and continued my BB duties while keeping one eye on the teevee. The talking heads were yammering when, behind them on the monitors, the second plane went in.  That's when I knew. We were at war. Actually we'd been at war ever since the "students" took over our embassy and captured the people in Iran. That gelding Carter did nothing, of course. And when the bombings in Beirut killed our Marines (and those French soldiers), we still did nothing. There might have  been a reason for that, Reagen was busy pulling down the Soviets. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, though, there was no excuse for ignoring the fact that a fairly large percentage of the world's billion and a half Muslims want us dead.

 Here is the tragedy of this war, a far greater tragedy than the three thousand dead on 9/11/01, we still do not know how large a percentage. Someone in our laughably named "intelligence community" might know, for sure if they do know, they are bound not to tell us. Why? I dunno. Maybe it might upset someone. Who knows, it might scare us. After all, we are a bunch of hothouse flowers in the 21st Century. My father was allowed to know of the Rape of Nanking, where Japan let her soldiers run wild. Today we can't even see the footage of the men and women jumping from the floors above the fires on the Twin Towers.

 Our soldiers are frustrated, America does not seem to know we are at war with an implacable enemy.  Perhaps it's because we aren't reminded. When was the last time anyone saw the Arabs dancing in the streets in "Palestine"? They danced when the Towers fell. They dance when Arabs kill women and children in Israel. Yet our media doesn't show this. Why?

 Ten years ago I watched the Towers fall. I watched New Yorkers run, terrified. Today those same New Yorkers side against our ally, Israel. Even the Jews vote, overwhelmingly for Obama, the most anti-Israeli President since the gelding Carter. As a matter of fact he might beat the gelding Carter.

 I watched the Towers come down and then, as the teevee kept repeating the same things, over and over, I packed my stuff and went to the shooting range. And regretted that I was way too old to go back into uniform.

More Pictures

 Oh boy! Here I am at Linda Lou's comfuser where all the pictures are. Let's see if I can post a few before she wakes up and chases me off. Well, I got this far.

 In other news, why are the Republicans of the House putting up with that petulant punk coming into their hose to insult and belittle them? Last I checked Congress was a separate and co-equal Branch of the government. Why is Boehner simply not telling Obama that as a married man he doesn't have to go to the House of Representatives to be insulted, he can go home? I'd never make it in politics.

Dear Sarah

 Okay, Sarah Palin had her big speech. She  wowed the crowd. Her supporters are all over the Intertoobz with how rousing the speech was. Undecided conservatives, not so much. Trouble with the speech is that there was nothing, again, about her plans for the 2012 election cycle and it's getting past time she decides and declares.

 I am a Sarah Palin fan, I think she did a fine job up in Alaska and if not for that strange quirk in Alaskan political law where anyone could file an ethics complaint and the Governor had to fight it on her own dime, with no help from a legal defense fund and no penalty for filing a frivolous complaint.. In any other state she would have been able to finish a term. I really love the way a bitter minority of lefty Dems came close to bankrupting her family and then got to sneer "quitter" at her.

 Having said I'm a Palin fan, more important, I'm an American and, I'd like to think I'm a patriot. We have an administration that through incompetence  or malice is destroying the country. Or perhaps I should say incompetence AND malice, seein' as how they can't even manage to promote a gun smuggling scam.without getting caught, The Democrats keep waving Nixon and Watergate at us, um, how many Mexicans and how many Border Patrolmen were killed during Watergate? Too bad we don't have a free press in this country.

 Anyhow, Sarah, the leader of this bunch of yahoos claims to already have ONE BILLION DOLLARS so that he can keep using Air Force One for his vacations. I do not think we'll be able to match that money.For all the talk about rich Republicans the big money people sure tend Democrat. Democrats love poor people, that's why their policies make so many. I digress, again. Anyhow, if we cannot match the Donks dollar for dollar we must do it with people.. And that's where you come in, Sarah. You've tens of thousands of loyal, articulate and committed supporters. I do believe that the Obamanauts will be tepid in their efforts, everything Obama promised to end, hasn't. Everything he's promised to fix has gotten worse. I am also convinced that the Arab Spring will blow up on him by the election.

 Sarah, we need those supporters of yours working in campaigns, now. If not in your campaign, in Perry's or Cain or SOMEBODY! Decide, Sarah. Either run or endorse. Or beg your supporters to sign on to congressional, Senate and state races for now and give us a date for a presidential decision.

 Sarah, you did a lot of good in a short time in Alaska. Until you were tapped by McCain for the Veep spot you were popular with everyone up there for redoing that big pipeline deal. You went after crooked Republicans as well as Donks, it's like you never were a part of the old boy network. Of course I figured that part out as soon as I first saw your picture. (I'm old, I ain't dead) While I'd love to see a Palin presidency and a Palin Justice Department going after all of those hogs that were first piglets when they got up to the public trough, I can understand if you don't wish to go through the wringer.And I won't blame you for wanting to spare your family.

 You, Sarah, I'm not afraid of. I believe that if you got into the race and found you were too far behind to win the nomination, you'd send your supporters toward the most conservative and patriotic Republican.. I further believe you would lead the mighty Palin Legion toward the 2012 election with the same spirit and joy you've shown since you burst on the national scene.  Sarah, we need that legion working now. If McCain hadn't bellyflopped in the late stages of the campaign you'd be ready to run for the Presidency from a nice Veep spot.. And I think you'd tie those jug ears in a knot if you had to debate him in '12.

 Please. Sarah, run or endorse.

What Happened To My Blogroll?

 The dog ate my blogroll, Well, that's one excuse. If I were a Donk I could blame George W. Bush or the Koch brothers. It's Dick Cheney! He's got my blogroll tied to a chair and is torturing it! Oh NOES!!!!111!!!

 I dunno, really, my last post was dark blue lettering on a dark brown background for some really odd reason. So I thought I was following the directions and ended up with my blog with no left sidebar and the blogroll gone. So, I followed more directions (I thought) and now I have two sidebars but no blogroll.  I really blame a combination of my lack of computer savvy and this new function of Blogger that I must use to post anything.

 In other news I have a couple more pics  here of the birthday boy and a small fraction of the 827,462 children that were in that little room with us. I have more pictures but it takes a while to move them from there to here and then download and upload.

Water Does Not Flow Uphill

 Rick Perry is not pro-illegal immigration even if he's not in favor of a Great Wall of the Southern USA. He has no problem with fences along the border but we need to understand that we ain't gonna get a big wall. For one thing, a big wall would kill agriculture in south Texas and ranching in southwest Texas.

 You see the border with Mexico in Texas is along the Rio Grande. That, dear readers, is a river. You can't build a big wall along a river where everyone down there has their livestock drinking. Nor do irrigation ditches do real well going over walls. I think I remember something about water not flowing uphill real well. I do believe they used to teach that in schools.

 So, Perry wants to try something besides the big humongus wall that we flat ain't gonna get. Sure, we can build fences, even walls in places like San Diego, California and in the city limits of El Paso, Texas, places like that. Other places, well, how about we let the Border Patrol do their jobs? How about INS actually deport people? How about we fire immigration judges that forget who they work for? How about we fire the Homeland Security Director who does not know who she works for? How come I had to show a valid social security card in order to work when there are a bazillion illegals happily working? It's pretty easy to check legality these days, everything is computerised.

 Rick Perry want the federal government to lock up illegals until they're deported. He wants illegals to know that they actually can face prison time for, among other things, repeat border jumping. Perry is in some amount of trouble for saying out loud what we already know in our hearts. He says that if we did build a thirty foot high wall along the whole southern border it would just cause a big run on thirty foot ladders. He knows that there isn't a week that goes by without news of a border crossing tunnel bringing in drugs, illegals and other fun things.

 Nobody on our side is in favor of illegal immigration. The first thing to do is to get a government that obeys the law.

In more important news, here is a picture of Josiah and his Momma at his fifth birthday party.This party was held about a four day wagon trip if the creeks aren't over the fords. We forget how spoiled we are with the automobile and the paved roads. Anyhow the trip was only about an hour and a half and might have even been shorter if no for having to wander around a big mall looking for the place. This was some Pizza, game and noise palace I assume it is something like a Chuck E Cheese but I can't really say having never been in one of those. Thank you, Lord. Anyhow the first thing we did was to go up into the adults only room. This was not like the rooms in some of the seedier bookstores of, say, the 1980s but simply a room walled off from the bactieria gardens where the grownups could wait for the little party rooms to become available. Now these little party rooms are not the ones in those bookstores of old but simply rooms where twenty to, I dunno, maybe fifty kids and adults could sit and eat, open presents and have other, juvenile fun. So, anyhow, we waited for our room, then went down and ate some bad pizza and watched about twelve thousand kids in a small room. Then we drove home.

 Update, 1:45 AM, 9/5/11

This picture is Karson and Stephanie. I knew that. It goes to show that I should not ever touch a keyboard.