A Year Has Gone By…

It is exactly one year to the day that I began this blog. I have written more than fifty entries. I was hoping to be more verbose, but so much happened that I feel good about the things I did get to write about.

I am right back to the books of Nehamiah and Acts in my Bible reading program (see "Lofty Pressures", 27 July 2008). This has been a good experience for me. Although I cannot say I have read the Word cover to cover this past year, I can say that I have begun a habit. One I heartily recommend.

Many things gave me a lot of joy in the last 52 weeks. Writing briefly about my family and adventures of my childhood were challenging and I hope to write about many more years of growing up in a most loving home (my Dad DID get the green 1950 Ford Convertible). Some have said that flying adventures might be of interest (did I tell you the one about getting all shot up, but never shot down?). That was in my Air Force days, by the way.

Medical things were important and I suspect that they will remain so for the rest of my life. The best part will be trying to trace the $$$$$ spent by Medicare, DeltaCare and me for that last "procedure". Billed and paid for the first time, they forgot to ask if I had received the service. OOOPS! I hadn't been in their care on those dates and the operation hadn't taken place. KACHING! $$$$. There is no sound to a wired transfer. Let's see if I get to pay for it again, now that I've been under the knife. I've pretty much stopped glowing from the radiation and I'm looking forward to being closer to the grandkids. Prostate symptoms are minimal, but don't forget your Flowmax!

Going to church is fun again, provided we're late. It's good for Jeanie and I to listen to great preaching.

This is what I'm suggesting for this new fiscal year (blogger year?). More of the story for the kids and others who might be interested. An exposé (if possible) of the healthcare situation, at least from my perspective and most importantly my views on what the God of the universe is doing in my life and the situations around the world.

We went to church again this morning. You may recall that I mentioned our desire to begin attending a good, Bible teaching church, where the Pastor knew what he was supposed to be doing. It seems that so many churches these days are trying to appeal to the broader elements of society rather than remembering and performing in the manner described in the New Testament. For starters,

2Timothy 4:2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

And of course,

Ephesians 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

Well, anyway, we found such a place and you may also recall Jeanie and I pledged to support and pray for the staff and others in that family. You may also recall (see "Good News!, Sunday June 14, 2009, on this blog) that I wrote,

"I have come up with our solution. We will go to church late. We will leave the house when church begins and arrive in time for the one (hopefully) quiet contemplative hymn or the modern variation thereof which comes before the sermon. We will not be embarrassed and we will give, love and support this church and never speak of this again. Except in the car, afterwards, having arrived on time for some reason beyond my control."

I have to take back that last. I need to speak of it again.

After a marvelous, well thought out discussion and teaching on Romans 8:28-30, we were all contemplating the beauty of God's eternal plan for those of us in His family by our acceptance of the free gift of salvation through the work of Jesus, the messiah. Praying in our quiet time, arranging thoughts in a manner we hope will please God the Father. Meditating quietly on the depth of the lesson we had just heard. Allowing the joy of that understanding to flood our soul and comfort our very core. A great moment for me, one that doesn't come easily to a person such as I am. Then in this beautiful moment of serenity and closeness to God Himself,

BAM!

The drummer hit the bass drum pedal and the bass guitar player created a riff that would be comfortable at a Grateful Dead concert. I actually jumped and my heart reacted for an uncomfortable minute, pounding away as if I had been in combat (I know, I've been there!). What is up with this? Why do we have performance art in the church? How do the musicians get on the platform during the pastor's closing prayer, his intercession with God on behalf of us in the auditorium? Do they think their music is more important than what the pastor is saying to God on their behalf?

Moreover, if we stopped music like this in the church gatherings, would anyone be there? If we limited ourselves to singing Scripturally based choruses, would someone learn some Bible verses? Heaven forbid! Think of the money we'd save in electricity alone, not to mention the cost of an ambulance to take me to the emergency room.

Annie and Ava - BFF

If "Poppie" ain't around and "Grammie's" far away, then it's "Annie" for Ava Suzanne Thompson.

As we are blessed to watch Ava some days while Noelle or Scotty are busy with other things, all one has to do to get some quiet time and calming down in the house is listen for those words of wisdom from Ava "Watch Annie"!

She goes into Andy's old bedroom and gets the three plastic chairs, brings them to front row center (two feet from the screen). Invites some teddys and doggies to sit down with her, and gives me about fifteen seconds to get it going or it's "WATCH ANNIE!"

We've watched it at least five times this past week. One good thing amongst many is the fact that it is a fairly good movie, with what I call "hummable tunes" (unlike church - another blog entry). To hear Ava sing "Tomorrow" is priceless (even if I am the granpa). The fact that I have only seen five different segments of the movie helps too, I haven't actually sat down with Ava and watched it from start to finish. I should, I guess to get the context of all of these great scenes in my mind.

For me, Carol Burnett steals the show as the alcoholic and "needy" Mrs. Hannigan. With lines like "I never could understand why anyone would want to be an orphan", and "I thought orphans were supposed to be boys!" coming from Albert Finney, the whole movie is worth watching, HMMMM, maybe five times a week.

Ava thinks so.

Father's Day

Well, here we are. I was trying to think of a way to include all of us Wilson fathers so everyone will know where they are headed. Andy is the lucky one, he missed the Wilson nose. What shall we imagine that Isaac and Braden will look like when they are fathers? This post does work as a time machine of sorts to get us to thinking of how we never stop growing, we never stop aging, until we stop. Life is just that cycle, there is nothing new going on, just things going differently.

2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
3 What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun?
4 ¶ One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever.
5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose.
6 The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit.
7 All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again.
8 All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 ¶ That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after. (Ecclesiastes, chapter one)

If you get a grip on this portion of Scripture, the life you lead will take on new meaning. The only lasting efforts are those designed to accomplish God's purposes for eternity.

Seeds

I made it. Some of the worst is over and I can relax now and hope that the prostate cancer bug is being bugged by my newly acquired radioactive demeanor. I do not glow all that much. The biggest downside to all of this is limited contact with the grandkids and those folks who might become pregnant for one reason or another (hopefully, it's the one reason).

I had a good experience and very limited discomfort. The biggest problem with having things like this done to your body lies between your ears, not your hips. I have posted a picture of what radioactive brachytherapy seeds look like, compared to a penny. Then if it all works good, there's a picture of my very own seeds now in place. Other things are pictured there, as well. The catheter, some bony structures and other mystery parts. This should satisfy those of you who want to look. I'll refer you to the picture.

The hospital folks were most hospitable (as they should have been after all) and they were able to use up paper faster than Delta Airlines did (does). When we left, we had been asked the same set of questions at least four times and each person dutifully entered my answers into the computer and had it printed out somewhere. I would like to have the sticky label franchise for this hospital too. Everything that wasn't bolted to the ground seemed to have a label of some sort on it (often more than one) and anything I brought with me was quickly labeled (myself included). It all must have worked because I left with all of my belonging and some new good stuff to keep.

They gave me a lead-lined bag to put any radioactive materials I may "pass" in. I'm not sure what one does with them then, but there's probably a label stuck to the box the bag came in that tells me in six different languages. Of course retrieval is through the use of a fine sieve. I am committed to "passing" through this device for quite a while now. When this is over, it will make a fine kitchen utensil. OOOOPS! no one will ever enjoy my cream of leek soup from now on.

The catheterization experience is one I'll speak to men about over cigars and brandy. Who invented Vicodin anyway? Enough said.

In case anybody ever reads this, and cares - I'm fine. The cancer is almost sure to be eliminated and good times are on the horizon. Tonight there'll be white wine (did I tell you about grüner veltliner?) and good chinese leftovers.

Oh, and the half life of the radioactive seeds is about ninety days, pretty much the same for the chinese foods.

Stop!

Ok, here's the thing…

DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT, go to the internet and google the name of the medical procedure you are about to have that afternoon. Twice now I have not followed my own good advice. You blog fans may recall that I googled "chemical stress EKG" back in April and came up with much more than ANYBODY would want to know about the chemical part of that search. It turned out to be correct information, but not what was in store for me. I was allowed to get one more sleepless night out of it, thank you very much. The test came out OK, and the Doctor signed the release form and paid his airport fees for the month.

I did it to myself again when I googled "brachytherapy images" Tuesday morning, preparing for this blog entry. Trust me, HEAR? do not do this. Not even if it is "splinter removal". Although come to think of it, that's not a bad idea for some 'cause you might read about what Jesus had to say about it.

41 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Luke 6)

Anyway, I began to look at the images and couldn't make it past the first few before I closed the page. So, forewarned is forearmed, or something like that. Got it? Don't do it.

Good News!

I am most happy to report that Jeanie and I went to church this morning. Yeah! That's right, church. We manifested ourselves to others as a part of the "Big C" Church and worshipped God in Spirit and in Truth. You have to know (if you know me at all) that I was glad to find myself in church with folks who are as interested as I am in finding out about God and most importantly, His Son, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. Alleluia! The message, from the short letter written by Jude (Jesus' half brother) was great and Pastor Dave J. did a wonderful job of relating the Scriptures to our current needs and proclaiming the Lordship of Christ as well. The time spent studying went quickly and before you knew it, it was time to go.

I'm about to drop the other shoe.

Jeanie and I are old (as some may know). We like music of many kinds and listen to some things here at home or at least recognize the good stuff on the wireless or played on the iPod. That said, we still have a hard time coming to grips with having been disenfranchised from our worship experience during the instrument playing/chanting portion of the service in most of the "modern" churches of today. The music (I don't want to call it that, but I can't come up with a more descriptive term) in churches these days seems to be simply performance art. I would guess that fewer than a third of the congregants were singing along with the instrumentalists, however, most gave hearty applause when each song was over (hmmm, I just began to wonder WHY they were clapping). Anyway the loudness of the instrument playing was such that we sat in the back row and I looked at the floor most of the time.

I have come up with our solution. We will go to church late. We will leave the house when church begins and arrive in time for the one (hopefully) quiet contemplative hymn or the modern variation thereof which comes before the sermon. We will not be embarrassed and we will give, love and support this church and never speak of this again.

Except in the car, afterwards, having arrived on time for some reason beyond my control.

Now, I Understand…

An Easily Understandable Explanation of Derivative Markets

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit. She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later.

She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around about Heidi's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Detroit.

By providing her customers' freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Heidi's gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral.

At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then bundled and traded on international security markets. Naive investors don't really understand that the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics.

Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar. He so informs Heidi.

Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Since, Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and the eleven employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS drop in price by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.

The suppliers of Heidi's bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms' pension funds in the various BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.

Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multi-billion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from the Government. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers.

Now, do you understand?

Rufus Newton Wilson

This is a picture of me with a member of the "greatest generation". His name was Rufus Newton Wilson, and he was born in November of 1921. He died February 17, 1945, he was, like so many, taken away from us in the prime of his young years.

It looks like he is in the U.S. Army's Aviation Cadet program when this picture was taken. I suspect that it was in El Monte California, probably in 1943 or 1944 (do I look to be about five or six?). El Monte is outside of Los Angeles, east, on the way to San Bernardino. There was a pilot training base at March Air Field during the second World War. You'll note the military attire for both of us in one picture and the natty white shirt and blue short-pant suit in the second. I have often wondered about the prophetic nature of this picture. Me in military attire, idolizing my cousin, never imagining what he'd go through in a few short years. I have waited too long to do this research. It is late in the day right now and I'll have to continue tomorrow. Needless to say, his life was ended in Europe, when his aircraft was shot down by hostile fire. I don't know where for sure. I'm not sure what kind of aircraft it was. More later about Rufus - my hero.

¿Where's The Beef?

For dinner last night we had the salsa (see yesterday), guacamole (made with the salsa) and carnitas (my effort to reduce carriers of the so-called "swine flu"). Everyone seemed to like the combo, so I'll let you in on the secret to a great carnitas. What is it? Time. Four hours or more, to be exact. The recipe is pretty simple.

Take (purchase, really) a three pound or so boneless pork shoulder or "butt" or whatever they call those things. You know what I mean. Place it in a dutch oven (I use our old, 40 years plus, pot we got as a wedding present). Quarter a large onion or two and put them in, also, 2 cans of "Ortega" green chiles, four cloves of garlic, smashed, four bay leaves, a generous amount of fresh ground black pepper and a can of chicken broth. If you like it spicy, you can put a fresh jalapeño pepper, cut in half lengthwise. Place the pot, uncovered in the oven set at 350 degrees. The broth may or may not cover the pork, it doesn't matter. Let it cook for an hour and flip the meat over. Another hour and it might start to come apart a bit. Try to pull it apart, as the desired outcome is a sort of "pulled pork". Work with it for the next couple of hours, pulling the meat apart and stirring in the brown parts. The whole thing will start to dry out a little. You may want to add a cup of water or so in case it's not getting tender and pulling apart. Ideally, when it's cooked you'll have a pot of meat all shredded, the onions and chiles will have disappeared and there will be crispy bits throughout. It's good. Typically you don't need to add salt because of the sodium in the chicken broth.

We serve it as a filling for soft tacos with beans and a bit of shredded cabbage with guacamole, salsa and cheese. I always put some of the meat in the beans to help season them.

Enjoy!

Fulfilling My Promise, ¡Olé!

When I started this effort to chronicle whatssup, I promised that, on occasion, I would include some Wilson family recipes. Today, this has been fulfilled in your sight. Preparing these things are pretty much by memory for me, but every now and then I'll get the instructions out and see where I'm at as far as doing it correctly. Sometimes I change the recipe. Today is

¡SALSA!

The funny thing about this method is that many people think they can't find the tomatoes it takes to make it look and taste so fresh. Secret Numero Uno, "BUY CANNED DICED TOMATOES"

So here's the recipe. Good luck.

Dave’s Salsa fresca...

Salsas are personal sauces used for everything from a dip for chips to seasoning guacamole, to spicing up grilled shrimp. My salsa recipe seems to have evolved from a simple tomatoes and jalapeño mix to what was (at least when I made it last time) a more complicated sauce.

I like to use tomatillos as well as red tomatoes as a base. This is a personal preference. The tomatillos bring a certain “zing” which takes away from the sweetness of the tomatoes. Well here’s how I did it last time. I’ll mention certain techniques which seem to help speed the process up and keep the number of dishes to a minimum. Now that I’m writing this down, I may have to do it the same way twice, just to see if this is truly a recipe, or not. Enjoy.

Equipment I use...

A large (12” diameter, 5” deep) bowl

A medium colander which will fit down inside the bowl

I say medium because it’s not a coarse colander like you’d use for draining pasta, and it’s not a fine one like you’d use for sifting flour or other dry ingredients. It all depends on how “chunky” you want the finished product to be. The colander is used for draining the juices that come out of the tomatoes. If you want a really liquid salsa, skip the colander, it’s just something I like to use. The large bowl allows the salsa to spread out and drain efficiently.

A “cuisinart” food processor fitted with a metal blade.

I suppose you could use a blender, but it might be more difficult, since you’d have to scrape it down much more often during the process.

Ingredients...

Four or five medium sized ripe red tomatoes, whatever looks best in the market. Actually, I have been using canned “diced” tomatoes lately and they seem to work just fine when there are few “real” tomatoes available.

About six or seven small (about the size of a lime) tomatillos.

Look for very firm, almost hard tomatillos. Make sure the “parchment like” outer covering has not deteriorated too much. The covering should be split in several places, allowing you to see the fruit inside. Watch out for soft spots on larger fruits. Check for undocumented residents. I have found that roasting these at 400 'til some color appears and then "deglazing with a little water to get the burt sugar, makes for an interesting addition.

You want about one-third tomatillos, two-thirds red tomatoes by volume.

One medium onion

Four cloves of garlic

One jalapeño pepper (seeds and pith removed for medium heat)

One-half of a bunch of cilantro leaves, not too many stems - not italian parsley!

Freshly ground black pepper (about a half teaspoon, or to taste)

Salt to taste (about a quarter teaspoon, probably more)

Dried Mexican oregano (about a quarter teaspoon, rubbed between hands), or some cumin - this according to taste, one or the other.

Lime juice

Method...

Quarter onions, tomatoes and tomatillos and process separately in cuisinart ‘til desired “chunkiness”. This will probably take several batches in the machine. Don’t crowd the ingredients. Process until the mixture looks like a really watery green/red oatmeal. As the ingredients are processed, put them in the colander to drain, if desired. In the last batch of the tomatoes to be processed, include the pepper, garlic and cilantro and process a little finer. Don’t put these into the colander. Pour the finished salsa into a bowl and add salt, pepper, lime juice, stir and let sit for a while, adjust salt.

As we approach California's most important , biggest money-making, most accepted nuevo holiday (if you read the newspaper advertisements), I'll post some more recipes. By next Tuesday, the cinco, you should have enough info for a complete California meal!

I hope you took the time to look at the YouTube video I posted yesterday. It is important. Please look at it and send it around to your friends.

Panting, and I Don't Mean Dockers…

I'm still here. A word to the wise, be sure you have the correct MEDICAL term for what you're purchasing at the clinic before you look it up on the internet.

That said, I'm still here.

So, the procedure they told me I was to experience was the EKG where they "chemically" induce stress and your heart thinks you're running, but you're laying on a table. Bad news.

The EKG I got this afternoon was the old fashioned kind where you walk, then run until your heart gets to about 140 beats per minute or so (sort of like the way Jack Bauer's is all of the time). Once you reach that rate and sustain it or more for a minute, the tech comes in and shoots some radioactive stuff in an already placed IV. Apparently this stuff radioactively "stains" your heart in a way that can be photographed (actually you radiate the "film" somehow) and viola! they can see your arteries, etc. on your heart without the invasive angiogram methodology. Good for them. I'm glad that someone invented this thing.

It was an interesting way to spend an afternoon.

The alternative had been of course, equally nuclear. Seed implant - don't ask where. But now I am waiting for the doctor to call or the website to be updated. I guess if they don't call me ASAP, I don't need a triple bypass on Friday. That's good news because I was going to make carnitas and have a marguerita or two over the weekend because of the upcoming national holiday here in Norte California.

More on this part of my saga vitae later. Let's all be sure to watch this UTube video. Promise?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-3X5hIFXYU&feature=email

Thanks for your prayers and concern.

Somehow, I Knew This Was Going To Happen…

A few minutes ago, they called and cancelled everything. EVERYTHING! It wasn't because I've suddenly been found to be healthy, no, it's because I've suddenly been found to be less healthy - all over again. It seems that there wasn't a time for me to have the stress EKG I told you about last week. So, without that test, and its attendant review, there is no surgery. When I calm down, I'll let you know what's happening. Right now I'm trying to understand why there are so few people in Santa Cruz who can run one of those stress EKG machines.

I am a real fan of the scenario which keeps me safe and healthy. Safe, in this case. Obviously, I'm not very healthy.

Well, the good news is that I don't really need the surgery (seed implant) right away. We found the anomaly very early.

The bad news is that it has been rescheduled for late June. JUNE! Holy Cow, another six or more weeks of restlessness and then all of those Doctor appointments all over again. How's that for taking a bite out of summer? Don't even mention my budget. Maybe I can get a discounted re-visit rate when it comes time to have some more of those fifty dollar a minute visits.

TGIF

Fridays are always weird. Everyone who works on a more or less "normal" schedule looks forward to Fridays because it means that Saturday is next (DV). When I was working, both as a heavy equipment operator for Delta Airlines and as a pastor, the week-ends were not necessarily a time of rest or "honey do" lists. In the airline business most days are like any other days. In the preaching business, Saturday means that Sunday's coming! Has the Lord spoken to you yet? I'm happy to report that I got the preparation for Sunday's services done early - most of the time.

Why am I writing thus, asks one or another of my loyal readers? Well, the week started out slow as I related yesterday, but Friday's pace picked up considerably. I took the EKG. Turns out there's stuff there you don't want to hear about. So I have to go to another Doctor (a favorite pastime) to get some more checks (and write some more checks, no doubt). I need another stress EKG to clear me for surgery. This was determined Friday afternoon. There are no techs available to give me the test on Monday. Wednesday is the procedure at El Camino Hospital, and Tuesday is the day for "colon cleansing" with the magnesium citrate oral solution. So picture this, dear readers, a stress EKG whilst clensing one's colon - what fun in store!

Will I be cleared (in more ways than one)? Keep tuned in.

Slow Week at the Office

This week seems to be dragging by. Maybe it's because of the bad start (losing at Bocce, again), or the schedule of doctor appointments. How many times can one be briefed on what's going to happen and how many forms can one sign that lets everybody out of any responsibility for most anything? The only one who seems to be left with any accountability is me. That accountability, of course, is to pay. And pay. And pay. Does anyone ever pay the first bill that comes in for a medical procedure? I hope not. I'm still getting bills for the things that were done to me last October. Double entered, computer glitch, wrong account numbers, it never seems to come to an end. I can see now why a friend quit his medical practice when the paperwork became more important than the patients.

Now here's an interesting thing to make the week more complex. They (the schedulers of all things medical) just called (between the words "important than" and "the patients") to cancel everything. All the surgery. All the post-ops. All the colon cleansing (yes!!!). All the sleepless nights (well, probably not). It seems that during my slow week participation in an EKG yesterday, I have heart stuff going on. Too bad for me. Good for the doctors, the sailboat store and the local Porsche mechanic.

I'm writing this "tongue in cheek" of course. I have every confidence in my Doctor's expertise. My urologist is a very nice guy, and his staff is most hospitable (is that a play on words?).

Whoops! They called again and everything is back on. Especially the sleepless nights.

Amnesty For Illegal Aliens - a good idea? !

Obama Seeks Amnesty For Illegal Aliens
By Chuck Baldwin
April 21, 2009


This column is archived at
http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/c2009/cbarchive_20090421.html


One of the greatest disappointments expressed by former President George W.
Bush was his inability to provide amnesty for tens of millions of illegal
aliens. But as is so often the case, the departure of one Presidential
administration and the advent of another Presidential administration seldom
means great change, loquacious rhetoric by the current President
notwithstanding. The plan to provide amnesty for illegal aliens is a classic
case in point.

President Barack Obama is determined to succeed where G.W. Bush failed.
According to many published reports, he fully intends to grant amnesty to
tens of millions of illegal aliens. In fact, granting amnesty to illegal
aliens is on Obama's short list of priorities. That short list includes the
nationalization of America's financial systems, the nationalization of
America's healthcare and energy systems, expanding the wars in the Middle
East, strengthening and increasing global agreements and associations, gun
control (perhaps using international treaties where congressional
legislation has failed), and amnesty to illegal aliens.

Watch for Obama to make a full-court press for an amnesty proposal next
month. He has already appointed working groups to study strategies.
Administration sources have said Obama wants amnesty legislation on his desk
by this fall at the latest.

One way Obama is preparing the path for amnesty is contained in the massive
stimulus bill already passed by Congress and signed into law. According to
USA Today, "Tens of thousands of jobs created by the economic stimulus law
could end up filled by illegal immigrants, particularly in big states such
as California where undocumented workers are heavily represented in
construction, experts on both sides of the issue say.

"Studies by two conservative think tanks estimate immigrants in the United
States illegally could take 300,000 construction jobs, or 15% of the 2
million jobs that new taxpayer-financed projects are predicted to create."

What both Presidents Bush and Obama (and John McCain, too) refuse to
acknowledge is the devastating effects that illegal immigration inflicts
upon the overall health and safety of the people of United States. In strict
financial terms, the numbers are staggering.

According to research by Frosty Wooldridge, over $2 billion is spent on food
assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for
illegal aliens every year; $2.5 billion is spent on Medicaid for illegal
aliens every year; $12 billion is spent on primary and secondary school
education every year for children here illegally (and most cannot speak a
word of English); $17 billion a year is spent on education for so-called
"anchor babies"; and $90 billion a year is spent on illegal aliens for
welfare and social services. Add all of the various costs to U.S. taxpayers
for illegal aliens and the total is a whopping $338 billion each year.

See Wooldridge's research at

http://www.newswithviews.com:80/Wooldridge/frosty225.htm

In addition, according to Robert Rector, a scholar at the Heritage
Foundation, each illegal alien household will cost the American taxpayers
over $1 million dollars over a lifetime. This figure is derived from a
meticulous calculation of immediate services received versus any and all
taxes paid.

See Rector's report at

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/10/opinion/main2667167.shtml

Add to the financial costs of illegal immigration the cost of criminal
activity perpetrated by illegals, and an even grislier picture appears.

Over $4 million a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens; 29% of all
prison inmates are illegal aliens; 13 Americans are killed EVERY DAY by
drunk-driving illegal aliens; Latino gangs, such as MS-13 and the 18th
Street Gang, are now found in at least 37 states; and in New Mexico, nearly
half of jail and prison inmates are illegal aliens.

Additionally, FreeRepublic.com recently released FBI statistics showing that
95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles during the First Quarter of 2006
were for illegal aliens. 83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix were for
illegal aliens. In Albuquerque the percentage was 86%. The Most Wanted lists
in those three cities found that 75% were illegal aliens. In the southern
Border States, illegal aliens perpetrated 53% of all investigated
burglaries. Plus, 71% of all apprehended stolen cars in Border States were
stolen by illegal aliens.

Furthermore, according to Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa), illegal aliens
murder 12 American citizens EVERY DAY. Put that murder statistic in
perspective: illegal aliens murder more Americans EVERY YEAR than the total
number of U.S. soldiers that have been killed in Iraq in over 5 years of
fighting.

See Congressman Steve King's report at

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/ia05_king/sp_20060503_stats.html

In addition, according to Dr. Deborah Schurman-Kauflin of the Violent Crimes
Institute (VCI), "there are approximately 240,000 illegal immigrant sex
offenders in the United States. This translates to 93 sex offenders and 12
serial sexual offenders coming across U.S. borders illegally per day."
According to Dr. Schurman-Kauflin, illegals "averaged 4 victims per
offender. Nearly 63% had been deported on another offense prior to the sex
crime."

Dr. Schurman-Kauflin concludes her report saying, "Illegal immigrants who
commit sex crimes first cross the U.S. border illegally. Then they gradually
commit worse crimes and are continually released back into society or
deported. Those who were deported simply returned illegally again. Only 2%
of the offenders in this study has no history of criminal behavior, beyond
crossing the border illegally. There is a clear pattern of criminal
escalation. From misdemeanors such as assault or DUI, to drug offenses,
illegal immigrants who commit sex crimes break U.S. laws repeatedly. They
are highly mobile, work in low skilled jobs with their hands, use drugs and
alcohol, are generally promiscuous, have little family stability, and choose
victims who are easy to attack. Their attacks are particularly brutal, and
they use a hands-on method of controlling and/or killing their victims."

See Dr. Schurman-Kauflin's report at

http://www.drdsk.com/articles.html#Illegals

Mind you, this is only a small sampling of the carnage, both fiscally and
criminally, that illegal aliens inflict upon America. And yet, G.W. Bush,
John McCain, and Barack Obama still desire to provide amnesty and permanent
U.S. citizenship to illegal aliens. And unless the American people again
rise up to defeat these forthcoming amnesty proposals, that is exactly what
will happen.

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The Heat Is On

This morning it was eighty some-odd before nine AM. It's 97 on the deck right now. I'm not too sure that's accurate, but one thing is sure. It is warmish here on the Central California Coast! When the weather gets this way (and it often does) all you can do is wait for the sun to decline a bit and that heat goes right away and the cool sets in. Meanwhile watering and sweating are the things to do. I guess they are related somehow. We played Bocce again this morning and lost, again. Stupid game. I think my winter "beach bocce" really screwed up my "official court bocce". Is that believable? I'm sticking to it.

The "Santa Cruz Sentinel" published a listing of the County Employees' salary structures. It was the most downloaded data on their website. Ooops! It's gone. They took it off. That website is no longer available. It is not in our vast archives (all the way back to 4 April 2009?) Food for conspiratorial nuts such as my self.

But my efforts are not going unnoticed. I made another listing or watch notice. This time from the DHS. You can read it here…

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/14/federal-agency-warns-of-radicals-on-right/

You can read it here also…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/14/homeland-security-report_n_186834.html

What a great day!

What Makes Life Fun…

On tax payment day, the hooplah in my house wasn't about that $$$$$ going North to the Department of the Treasury in San Francisco (I assume that somehow it will go east for further distribution), but the lying persona of those who will take their cut, and pass it on to others who will do the same until $$ gets to veterans and others for whom it was meant.

Lying? Harsh, Dave, sez you. An observation of the truth, sez me. Take for example the funnest thing around right now…

The White House is denying that the president bowed to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at a G-20 meeting in London, a scene that drew criticism on the right and praise from some Arab outlets.

“It wasn’t a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he’s taller than King Abdullah,” said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"The White House is denying", did you read that part? People can't make this stuff up folks. Truth is truly stranger than fiction. To deny that this is a picture of someone bowing is just silly. The fact that he bowed is not the important part. The fact that the government has to prepare a statement saying that your eyesight is failing is what's so sad.

Check out this URL:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/04/obama_bows_down_to_saudi_king.html

Tell me what you see in the video.

How Did It Get To Be Tuesday?

Well, I was going to try to include something here that might interest my extended family and all those who might stumble across this blog. I didn't do all that well. The first thing was that I got so excited over it being Easter, that I was stunned to realize that it was also my mom's one hundred, first, birthday! Yea! Cake and Champagne all around. Of course, Mom has been with the Lord since the early eighties, but there's a strange sense of peace to think of all that she (and my Dad) continue to mean to me. Weird, huh? Hey, I'm seventy something, looking at various operations this month on assorted protuberances (prognosis good, BTW) and yet I think of my folks almost everyday. What a blast. Will my kids think of me? I hope so. I know so.
It's funny how Easter meant something more to me this year than it has in years past. It could be that I'm still reading the Bible, cover to cover, and have slogged my way though the Pentateuch. Another funny thing happened when I read…

4 Then the LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.”
5 ¶ So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.
6 And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day.
7 Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.
8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended.

From Deuteronomy 33

I cried, yeah, actually cried. You figure it out for yourself. It's important. It was life changing for me.
So any way, that said (one of my new favorite things to write), how 'bout that Obama man? I never though I'd be singing his praise, but I'm very glad for any part he may had had in authorizing the neutralization of the pirates in the waters off Somalia. Now if only he'd continue showing some grit towards all of the rest of the world. Oh sure, there'll be collateral damage, but if you believe that our cause is just it has to be done. Collateral damage is more important to those of us who have tasted combat than it is to those of you who might write about it, condemn us for it, or advocate dialogue with the PTBs. A great fear, but it cannot dissuade the warrior from his task. More tomorrow. Perhaps a reflection on my sending the government a check for my net worth, including a self addressed, stamped envelope for any change to be sent back.

I Can't Sleep Anymore…

I promised myself that I'd wait the full one hundred days before I commented on the state of the union. It is going to be hard.
Things worth noting are piling up so fast that I probably will miss something and thence be evermore thought of as inept. Maybe I'm held in that esteem already.
When folks spend more time worrying about the new format of the "facebook" social networking site than they do about whether we bow low to a Christian/Jew hating king, there is something wrong. Maybe they have lost all hope and are resigned to having as many "friends" as they can get while the gettin' is good. The facebook site certainly promotes the superficial. I have to admit that I have an account. Won't you be my friend?
That said, won't you also consider a serious hour or two a week wherein you faithfully pursue some knowledge that will assure your eternal destiny? Less than two percent of your week's time, twenty minutes a day, will yield benefits that far outweigh a "drink" invitation or being "superpoked". If you're spending more time with facebook than you are in the Word of God, you need to re-evaluate your priorities. God is real. He will not be mocked. He loves you, but He's astounded that you don't know why.