My "Other" Life

I think most of the people who read my weblog know I write science fiction, and that I've finally begun to have it "self-published" for Nook and Kindle. I write because it helps me forget how badly I hurt from my bad back. Just as you can get lost in reading a good book, you can also get lost in writing a book. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to "get lost" very much in the last few years. Two surgeries, one in August, 2010, and one last week, may make it easier, as both have eased my pain quite a bit.

I'm also not really anxious to make a lot of money writing. I'd much rather be READ than RICH. I give more books away than I sell. I especially like to give my books to people I've met and interacted with over the past 45 or 50 years. I especially like to give my books to people I went to high school with, to those I've served with in the Air Force/Army/Marines, and those I've met and developed a friendship with on the Internet.

That doesn't mean I wouldn't like to make some money at this. That is the true measure of success, I'm told. I don't want to make money off my friends and family, but I wouldn't be unhappy with making money from THEIR friends and family. Word of mouth is still the most successful form of advertisement in any market.

I've edited this post to provide a direct link to my books on Amazon (for Kindle), and I'll keep this post at the top of my website for awhile. I'll try to add a direct link to my books in B&N "Nook" format, once I get the information I need to do it.

For those of you who don't yet know, here are my books, in the order I wrote them, with a brief teaser.

HUKATA(Kindle)

Mankind has wondered about life elsewhere ever since he realized the lights in the sky were other stars. Scientists dedicate their entire career to looking for extraterrestrial life. Professionals in more than a dozen specialties try to envision new ways to contact other civilizations. Nobody expected them to "just drop in".

-- In the middle of the night.
-- Forty miles from nowhere.
-- In a blizzard.
-- By the gross.

When aliens drop in, it can change your life forever.

Jim Frasier simply set out to rescue a stranger who made a wrong turn heading for a ski holiday. Instead, he finds himself trying to cope with disaster on a dozen levels at once. He has to somehow keep 700 aliens from freezing to death. He has to get help, and he knows that if he doesn’t do it quietly, he’ll be overrun by media and the curious. The complications are enormous – Jim has never faced anything like this before. Food for 700 people, with obvious different backgrounds and different nutritional needs, is alone a catastrophe waiting to happen, and that’s just one of many problems he faces. Just accepting these strange creatures actually exist was a major challenge.

Debbie Fontenot, young, deeply battered by a past she'd like to forget, suddenly finds herself shoved into a series of dilemmas. On a professional level, she’s challenged to provide emergency treatment to creatures that are definitely not human, but who, without care, will surely die. She’s confronted on a personal level by events that shove her into the arms of a loving older man.

And John Tolliver, the sheriff of a small, peaceful mountain county, suddenly finds himself not only the center of the most historical event in a thousand years, but is also confronted by murder, mischief, and a plot to steal half the county.

Last Flight from Queensland Station(Kindle)

Queensland station was a nice place, until a rogue neutron star decided to pay a visit. Then the entire civilized galaxy had to pitch in to move the inhabitants out of harm’s way. A few brave scientists, and the crew of the Galactic Communications and Information (GCI) heavy cruiser Excalibur, would remain behind to record the planet’s demise.

Another group, using the evacuation of Queensland Station for its own purposes, plans to make it Excalibur’s final moment, as well. Their failure puts the lives of more than two hundred men and women in great danger, and sets up a confrontation between what some feel is the most powerful non-government group in the galaxy and those that have attacked it.

Last Flight from Queensland Station is suspense, drama, intrigue, romance and comedy, mixed together in a fast-paced, easy-to-read story.

Cynthia(Kindle)

Cynthia Canarias was a nice young girl who'd attended all the "right" schools, learned all the "right" subjects, and always moved in the "right" circles. Cynthia wanted more than just a quick marriage to the "right" person - chosen by her mother - and a long, dreary life as someone's personal possession. When she tried to find a different life, she found out just how poorly all those "right" things prepared her for reality.

Reality turned ugly quickly, and Cynthia found herself thrust into a series of difficult situations that took every bit of ability, skill, and just plain luck she possessed to survive. She and her new friend, her first real friend, Judy Garcia, not only managed to survive, but to end up fabulously wealthy young ladies. Judy also found romance, and began her own family. That was something Cynthia desperately wanted, but it seemed to constantly elude her, until one young man with the courage to persist entered her life. Reality once more interfered, and Cynthia was once again faced with the possibility of a deep personal loss. Fighting for what she wants encounters some complications, including some totally unexpected - and even humerous - ones.

The Wizard of Skye(Kindle)

Jaren Nordreiker was a nice young man from a planet that didn't believe in mental powers - what the rest of the galaxy called "Magic". He'd still found a way to attend the prestigious "College of Magick" on Frome. His newly-minted diploma, even with honors ribbons, appeared to be no help, however, in finding a job in his chosen field, weather manipulation. He'd been barred from joining the Society of Magicians, who control most of the jobs graduates from the College of Magick usually fill.

Finding a job that didn't require membership in the Society of Magicians wasn't impossible, only quite difficult. Jaren finally accepts conditional employment on the strange world of Skye, which apparently won't hire anyone who IS a member of the Society. It's not an easy job. The weather on Skye can be unbelievable at times. His job is made more difficult by another person who unknowingly interferes with his work, and by a growing feud between the Society of Magicians and worlds like Skye.

Kings' Cross(Kindle)

Steve came fully awake slowly. He knew he wasn’t alone in the room. There were at least three other people with him – he could see that many feet. He had no way of knowing if there were more in the room without letting them know he had regained consciousness.

“I think he’s awake,” a quiet, whispery voice said.

“Good,” a more guttural voice answered from behind Steve. “We have much to say to him, and much to discuss.”

“Where’s Tommy?” Steve asked, not moving from where he lay.

“Tommy? Oh, the boy. He’s safe, don’t worry about him,” the guttural voice answered. “You are hungry. You need to eat and drink. When you are finished, we will talk.”

“I want to see Tommy! He’s my responsibility. I’m supposed to keep him safe,” Steve answered.

“Eat, young Marine,” the whispery voice said. “Your young boy child will not come to harm. He is safe with us. Hurry, eat. We have much to discuss.”

Steve realized he wasn’t going to get any further answers, and gradually sat up. The room was small. The seven people in it made it even smaller. One reached down and grasped his right hand, easing him to his feet. As Steve stopped swaying, an eighth person brought a tray of food into the room. Her appearance – she was definitely female – and her clothing gave him is first indication of who had kidnapped him. That knowledge only made him more curious. Why would the Universal Church, known for its peaceful behavior and generous philanthropy, suddenly begin kidnapping people?

Being kidnapped was just the beginning of a new life for Steve, one he’d never have considered before. Only time would tell what that new life would mean, not only for him but for his sister and her husband, his best friend and fellow Marine, Rob Wollcott.

Good advice!

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever read or heard is "when you're in a hole, stop digging". Apparently our government either has never heard that (which I doubt), or they don't care.

The United States is more than $15 TRILLION in debt, and going further into debt at the rate of about $4 Billion a day. The House of Representatives passed a budget back in April, 2011. That bill, along with another twenty or so, still sits on Harry Reid's desk, and he and the Democrats don't plan on doing anything about it except buy more shovels.

The economy is in the tank. The unemployment is officially 8.9%, and unofficially above 12%. The underemployment figure is something like 17%. Every day, however, sees more regulation, more rules, more restrictions that keep employers from being willing to hire, and keeping investors from parting with their money.

I think the best thing the electorate can do come this November is buy a large bulldozer and fill in that hole our current government is digging -- with them still in that hole. Getting rid of between a third and a half of our current bureaucracy would do wonders for job creation, and would reduce spending considerably. All in favor, say Aye, and get behind that dozer!

"What's wrong with you?"

I'm disabled. You can't really tell it by looking at me, unless you catch me in one of those periods where my pain is definitely showing in my face, and even then you probably wouldn't think much of it. Looks, however, are deceiving.

I have a number of problems, beginning with a bad back. I've got problems from my skull to my tailbone. The biggest problem is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis begins whenever the bones or joints have been damaged, and they add calcium in response. I've had two surgeries on my neck to have some of those deposits scraped away, to relieve the pressure. Each time, they've removed one or two disks, and fused the vertebrae together above and below where the disk was. This limits how much I can turn my head, or how high I can look up. The surgeries did relieve some of the pressure (and pain) each time, but it gradually returned.

I also had surgery on my lower back to correct "severe spinal stenosis". That's where the vertebrae grow extra bone, putting pressure on the spinal column and the nerve roots that come out between the vertebrae. The surgery helped a lot to relieve the lower back pain I had, which had become permanent, and unrelieved. I still get it from standing, walking, or moving, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was before the surgery.

My osteoarthritis is everywhere. There's not a joint that doesn't have at least some minor problems. One of my Air Force doctors said I was the first person he'd every heard about that had osteoarthritis of the collarbone. In addition to the osteoarthritis, some of my joints are "blessed" with bursitis and tendonitis, too.

I also have a problem called neuropathy. Neuropathy (literally "nerve pain") is where the nerves are being trapped, rubbed, or pressed by the arthritic build-ups around them, or the excessive movements of the joints. The same problems that cause neuropathy also cause numbness, tingling, "dead" places where I have little or no sensitivity, and lack of coordination. One major problem I'm having right now is trying to discover whether particular problems are being caused by my osteoarthritis, or by diabetes, which can also cause neuropathy.

Another problem I have is degenerative disk disease. This is usually caused by the disk tissue not getting enough nutrients, and they dry out, compress, and even deteriorate ("degenerate"). That puts pressure on the spinal joints as the disks degenerate and the vertebrae rub together ("bone on bone"), or where the facet joints (the joints holding the spine in place) are strained. This, too, causes pain.

I also have Type II diabetes. I'm not taking insulin yet, but I do see that in my future, and perhaps not too far in my future. Diabetes does quite a number of things to your body, including causing degenerative disk disease and neuropathy, especially in the upper and lower extremities (arms and legs).

I also have a problem called sleep apnea, where I literally stop breathing for periods from thirty seconds to two or three minutes while I'm asleep. I've only found out recently that sleep apnea is a serious condition, and can cause loss of brain cells and memory. Luckily, it's not that hard to treat.

I have a few other problems, too. Some of them stem from the problems I listed above. Others are caused just from getting old (I'm 65+). One of the problems is tinnitus and hyperaccusis. Tinnitus is a ringing in the ears, and hyperaccusis is pain caused by noise above a low background level. They're both problems for which there is no cure, and very few successful treatments. I also tore the cartilage in one of my knees, and had to have surgery to have it corrected. That knee allows me to forecast weather changes far better than any meteorologist! I also had carpal tunnel surgery on one hand, and probably didn't need it - the real problem was some of that neuropathy I mentioned earlier. I also had to have cataracts removed from both eyes due to a nasty virus I caught somewhere.

My biggest problem is just plain old pain: headaches caused by nerves in my neck being pinched, pain in my upper arms, pain in my legs and feet, and pain in my neck, mid-back, and lower back from my spine. On a good day, I'll hurt for about six hours, reduced by medication to something I can tolerate. On a bad day, I never stop hurting, the pain medication I take reduces the pain to maybe half of what it is at the worst, and bad days can run together for more than a week.

I'm not going to 'get better' - ever. All of my problems are more or less permanent. I move in the opposite direction, since many of my problems are degenerative in nature. I've learned to live with my problems for the most part, except when they're really bad and not responding to medication. Luckily, or by design, I have a very high pain threshold, and I can still take care of myself, and do a few things around the house. A lot of the times, however, when I'm not on Facebook, when I don't update my weblog, or I don't respond to emails, it's because I just don't have the energy or clear enough thinking to do so. Pain can make you very, very tired!

I appreciate people saying they "hope I get better", but it's not going to happen. Just forgive me when I get grouchy and irritable, and smile and ignore when I screw something up. That's the best thing you can do for me!

Time to issue an untimatum.

It's becoming more and more obvious that the Professional Political Class - from both parties - aren't listening to "We, the People". It's time to get their attention. Here's my open letter to both parties:

Listen, Jackasses, both Donkeys and Elephants,

It's obvious you only play lip service to our Constitution, and to the people it was created to provide governance of. You're playing the part of King George III and the British Parliament under him. We, the People, didn't like that the first time, and did something about it. Either return, as PARTIES and individuals, to the limits of our Constitution, or we'll be forced to do something about it again.

We don't need to use the force of arms to throw you out. We can use two very powerful tools: our vote, and our pocketbook. You felt the first part of that with the "Tea Party Revolution" over the past two years. So far, the Tea Party has backed the Republican Party, attempting to use it as a vehicle to affect change. It's become obvious, however, that the "movers and shakers" of the Republican Party haven't gotten the message we've been sending. There is nothing keeping us from divorcing the Republican Party and creating our own. There is a large enough grass-roots movement there now to make that work, to provide candidates at every level of government, and to support those candidates in their quest for office. Political parties aren't sacrosanct - just ask the Whigs, if you can find one.

The second power we have is the power of the pocketbook. We can not only withhold funds from your "reelection campaigns", but also from those rich and powerful that support you for personal gains. There are usually alternatives for everything, and the Internet allows us to communicate those alternatives to one another. Just to show you how that works, I've owned a number of General Motors products over the past 55 years, but I will NEVER buy another one. If 50% of the Tea Party members and associates refuse to buy GM, I'm sure their sales will drop - perhaps enough to throw them into bankruptcy again, this time without a government bailout.

We can do that with any company, large or small. For every member of the Tea Party that's active, there are a dozen of us working in the shadows to support them. We're a lot more powerful than you think - if that thought process actually applies to any elected member of Congress.

We're tired of having to hold our nose when we vote for YOUR choice of candidate. We're tired of seeing our wishes and desires for smaller, cheaper government ignored. We're tired of lying, stealing, backstabbing, deal-making, and cronyism that passes as "business as usual" in our government. We're tired of an out-of-control, unrestrained bureaucracy making rules that hit us in the pocketbook, or in our freedoms. We're tired of government at every level ignoring the limits our Constitution places on it. Many of us have fought for that Constitution, and hold it sacred. Obviously, few in Congress do.

Of course, if it does come down to the force of arms, remember that there are 40 million of us, and most of us own guns of some sort. Depending on the Armed Forces of the United States may not be practical, since their commitment and primary duty is to "SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO BEAR TRUE FAITH AND ALLEGIANCE TO THE SAME". They may not be on your side.

This is your last chance. Either shape up, or find out how the Dodo felt.

Disrespectfully,


Michael A. Weatherford
Old Patriot
MSgt, USAF, Retired
Colorado Springs, CO

Tallbloke Tort Action

One of the many people I keep track of via their weblogs is Roger Tattersal, who posts as Tallbloke's Talkshop. Roger was visited by the Norwich constabulary a few nights ago, and had some of his computer equipment taken, with the promise that all would be returned soon. This is in response to "Climategate 2", the release of another large data dump from "FOIA", an unknown person who apparently doesn't like the downright fraud being committed by many of the people associated with "climate science", including Phil Jones and Michael Mann. These new emails and other data provide additional information that "Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming" (CAGW) has no basis in science, and is nothing more than a fraud to perpetuate and expand the authority of the United Nations over everyone on the planet. Tallbloke is suing a particularly nasty and libelous blogger at another blog that all but charged him with being one of the "thieves" that took the email information from the University of East Anglia and posted it on a Russian server. Since the post was both libelous and defamatory to Tallbloke's reputation, he is suing for damages. If you wish to help out, click on the link. It will take you to Tallbloke's blog, where you can both read some very interesting things the lame-stream media won't talk about, but also help by clicking the PayPal button and making a donation to Roger's legal fund. I hope that "discovery" during this trial brings even more derogatory information about the "team" promoting CAGW to light.

I do wish that someone in the United States would bring RICO charges against all the "team" members in this country. Even if they weren't convicted, the "discovery" phase would destroy the entire fabrication that is CAGW.

"Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Change" is a Fraud

Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Change (CAGW) is a fraud. More and more evidence of this is surfacing, yet tens of millions still believe it. Why? The major reason is a lack of understanding of atmospheric science and just plain general knowledge. I'm going to try, in this post, to provide the necessary information to allow anyone to understand why CAGW is not, and cannot, happen.

First, we need to know something about the atmosphere. Here is the chemical composition of Earth's atmosphere, from About.com:

This is composition of air in percent by volume, at sea level at 15°C and 101325 Pa.

Nitrogen -- N2 -- 78.084% (78%)
Oxygen -- O2 -- 20.9476% (21%)
Argon -- Ar -- 0.934% (1%)
Carbon Dioxide -- CO2 -- 0.0314% (0.03%)
Neon -- Ne -- 0.001818% (0.002%)
Methane -- CH4 -- 0.0002%
Helium -- He -- 0.000524% (0.0005%)

As you can see, Carbon Dioxide is the fourth most predominant gas in the atmosphere, behind Argon, but makes up only 3/100 of a percent of all atmospheric gasses. Methane, another "greenhouse gas" makes up 2/10,000 of a percent.

Next, we need to know about the so-called "greenhouse effect", and how it works. We also need to know how the name is misleading, and what actually takes place.

The way a greenhouse works is that it allows sunlight into an enclosed space, where the air is warmed to above what it would be outside. The reason the heat is trapped is that there is little or no air movement. Some greenhouses augment this by having a 'thermal trap' that absorbs visible light energy, converts it to long-wave thermal energy, and 'traps' the heat until the sun no longer strikes the surface before re-radiating it. The Earth's atmosphere does something similar. From CO2 Science:

The mechanism by which carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere is commonly referred to as the "greenhouse effect." Stated very simply, carbon dioxide, or CO2, is nearly transparent to the solar radiation emitted from the sun, but partially opaque to the thermal radiation emitted by the earth. As such, it allows incoming solar radiation from the sun to pass through it and warm the earth's surface. The earth's surface, in turn, emitts a portion of this energy upwards toward space as longer wavelength or thermal radiation. Some of this thermal radiation is absorbed and re-radiated by the atmosphere's CO2 molecules back toward earth's surface, providing an additional source of heat energy. Without water vapor, CO2, and other radiatively-active trace gases in the air, the planet's average temperature would be about 34°C cooler than it is at present.

Note how the explanation includes ALL greenhouse gasses, including water vapor. This is very important. Water vapor makes up 95% of ALL greenhouse gasses. Carbon Dioxide is the next most prominent greenhouse gas at 4%. All others - about 20 - make up the last 1%. The Earth's average temperature without greenhouse gasses would be 34 degrees Celsius cooler, or about 14 degrees BELOW zero Fahrenheit.

We know approximately how much energy is re-radiated from CO2 back to the Earth, and how much is re-radiated into space. Recent findings, however, show that the Earth is losing more heat (about 40% more) than estimated based on current heat-loss determinations. The science isn't completely settled yet, but the main reason for additional heat loss may be from water vapor, which has a much larger "window" of infrared ratiation.

We noted above that water vapor makes up 95% of all greenhouse gasses, with CO2 a distant second at 4%. There are problems with using carbon dioxide as a "driver" of warming: the effects of CO2 are logarythmic, not linear. Here are a few links to people who explain this a lot better than I can:

Dr Roy Spencer
The Tucson Citizen
David Archibald at Watt's Up With That (an excellent source of all things related to global climate change).

So, carbon dioxide does NOT drive temperature increases beyond about 500 parts per million (PPM). The IPCC and most "climate scientists" get around this by saying that CO2 causes some increase in temperature, which causes more water vapor, which raises temperatures more. The problem with that is that water vapor forcing is more often negative than positive - that is, it DECREASES temperature by increasing cloud cover (thus increasing the amount of solar energy reflected back into space) and by cooling the air in general by precipitation.

Another major problem with blaming "climate change" on human burning of fossil fuel is that we add so very little to the atmosphere - less than 3% of all the CO2 added. I used to think that 3% of 4% (the amount of human-created CO2 versus the total amount of CO2 in all greenhouse gasses) was a ridiculously low number, and it is (it works out to about 0.12%), but that's the wrong way to look at this. We need to look at the total amount of CO2 increase within the entire atmosphere! That makes the formula 3% of 0.03%, or 0.009%.

The bigger problem is some pretty shoddy science has been used to attempt to scare people into believing in a doom-and-gloom scenario. Let's begin with the most important one: what is the "normal" temperature of the Earth? That temperature has ranged from about five degrees Celsius (5C - +41F) during Ice Ages to about 26 degrees C (+79F) before the last Ice Age started.

Harping on the role CO2 plays does nothing to explain the Earth's current climate. The only reason "climate scientists" are harping on it is because it's something we ARE contributing to, and it's something they can BLAME US ALL FOR, and therefore, enhance their own personal power and prestige. The truth is, we really don't understand much about climate, or what affects it. We THINK we know what causes Ice Ages, but we're not certain. We THINK we know what causes interglacials like the one we're currently in, but we're not certain. In fact, the number of things we're not certain about is extensive:

• We really don't understand the sun and solar cycles. We know the sun is a variable star, and that solar output varies by anywhere from 2% to 4%, but we don't know why, what triggers it, and what the overall effects are on Earth or the rest of the Solar system. We have some ideas (hypotheses), but we're not CERTAIN. Some of the questions we don't have complete - and sometimes even partial - knowledge of are what causes sunspots to form or not to form, how do sunspots affect the Solar Wind, the magnetic field of the sun and Earth, how much do they contribute to total solar variance, especially beyond the visible spectrum. We're just beginning to determine if galactic cosmic rays affect the Earth, especially cloud formation, and how. We haven't begun to determine if space dust has an effect on the sun, or what that effect might be. We're beginning to study coronal mass ejections (CMEs) more closely, but we haven't even begun to determine if (or how) they may affect day-to-day weather or long-range climate.


• We're just beginning to research how much cloud cover affects the Earth's climate, and how. We've made the first tenative studies of how cloud formation moves heat from the lower troposphere to the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. We're only now beginning to recognize the importance of cloud cover as a feedback mechanism, and how it works. We still have a long way to go before we can say we're CERTAIN of how clouds affect long-term climate, or even day-to-day heat distribution.


• We're still in the early stages of knowledge about our oceans, and how they control not only climate but weather. We're just beginning to acknowledge the large roles played by the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO), the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) not only on short-term weather changes but also on long-term climate variations. We still have much to learn about the Deep Ocean Circulation System and how the oceans store heat and carbon dioxide, among other things.


• We are still "barely walking" in our understanding of the entire CO2 cycle. We have a glimmering of knowledge of how CO2 is sequestered in soil and water, how plants utilize CO2, how they respond to increased levels of CO2, how much CO2 is sequestered by growth worldwide, and a number of other factors. There is still much to be learned. We do know that plants respond positively to increased CO2, but not how much CO2 this actually sequesters on a planetwide basis. There is still much that needs to be learned.


• There are dozens of other items that affect overall climate that haven't been looked at closely enough yet. These range from the Earth's rotation (Is it speeding up, or slowing down? How does that affect climate?), the location and strength of the Earth's magnetic pole, the "wobble" in the Earth's geographic pole (and thus solar inclination), the effects of the gravitational fields of the Sun and other planets, the eccentricity of Earth's orbit (what causes it, how significant is it, and is it changing, and how much, if it is), how ocean-spreading, surface and undersea volcanic action, changes in coastline and ocean currents, airborne aerosols, and a dozen other things affects long-term climate, and how all of this interacts.

Using Dick Cheney's words, there are "known knowns" about climate, and "known unknowns". There are most probably a few "unknown unknowns" yet to be discovered as well. There are quite a few things we're fairly certain of, such as CO2 has been far higher and somewhat lower in the past than it is now, that CO2 levels usually FOLLOW warming by about 700 years, that below about 140 ppm all plant life on Earth will die, and that most of the records used to look at previous high and low temperatures are "proxies", and some are quite POOR proxies. If you're a true climate scientist, there's quite a bit to learn. If you think the "science is settled", you're NOT a scientist.

Three more things need to be said. The first is that there is no direct evidence that human burning of fossil fuel will create a catastrophic runaway climate. This only comes from computer models, and as one "climate scientist" said in one of the just-released Climategate 2.0 emails, "none of the models really work". The second thing is that the models only provide "evidence" of catastrophic global warming if EVERY feedback mechanism considered provides a positive response. Since we've already seen that cloud cover and cloud heat transfer provide a NEGATIVE feedback, there is no reason to put any credence into "global warming" scare tactics. Finally, according to satellite records there has been no net warming since 1998, even though CO2 continues to build up in our atmosphere. None of the models can even begin to explain why that has happened.

Climate HAS changed over the last 100 years. Climate ALWAYS changes. Human beings HAVE had an influence on some climate change. Land use - from agriculture to forestry to building houses and cities - have all affected change. We grow grass in a desert. We turn parts of the Great Plains into cities and even forests. These changes are regional, and small. In fact, most changes Man has made to climate have been regional and small. The big changes are primarily governed by the sun. We just haven't learned all the different ways yet.

Letter to my Congresscritter

Here's a letter I'll be posting this afternoon to my Congressman, Doug Lamborn. Feel free to use any or all of it for your own letter. The fraud of catastrophic, anthropogenic climate change MUST be stopped before it destroys our future.

Dec 1, 2011


Dear Congressman Lamborn,

I have currently read less than ten percent of the latest "Climategate" emails, and less than 70% of the previous release. Even so, it has become blatantly obvious that climate "science" is not as settled as many would have us believe, and that the "anthropogenic signal" is neither as strong as it has been portrayed to be, nor as "dangerous" as the "true believers" espouse. The one certainty I have acquired from my readings of these emails and other information is that the Environmental Protection Agency's ruling that carbon dioxide is a "pollutant" is both scientifically wrong and politically indefensible. Any regulation based upon that ruling is also indefensible.

I know you don't have time to keep up with all the information currently available, and the tons of additional information that is constantly being generated. I do believe, however, that this subject is something that must be dealt with, and that someone on your staff should be tasked with openly, honestly, evaluating this data. There is every indication that not only fraud but slander, libel, and the deliberate destruction or misrepresentation of data has taken place, including such acts at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU).

While it would be "nice" to have a totally reliable, pollution-free, low-cost source of electrical energy, the technology just isn't currently available, and probably won't be for fifty years or more. The current Administration's attempt to force the issue has resulted in extensive fraud, graft, and outright theft, and has failed miserably. We truly do need a national energy policy, but that policy will require that we continue to use oil, coal, and natural gas for the foreseeable future - possibly for another century or more. Nuclear power, especially thorium reactors, may be one key to a carbon-free future, but obviously solar and wind will only be capable of supplying a small percentage of our needs. In the meantime, government action is only delaying our achieving any sort of energy independence and killing jobs.

I'm a disabled veteran with a chronic pain problem, so I can't be much help with keeping track of this for you. I do recommend, however, that this is something that could be "crowd-sourced" here in Colorado, for little or no cost. I'm sure that there are many others who would be willing to devote a small portion of their time to tracking what is being written about climate science, and keeping you informed. There are also another dozen topics that could equally be crowd-sourced to your advantage, including environment, jobs, the military, infrastructure, and government over-reach. You may also wish to discuss some of these ideas with your colleagues in the House of Representatives.

In the meantime, here are a list of sources that can provide anyone interested with links to both sides of the climate debate:

Honest, open debate
Watts Up with That http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/
Climate Audit/Steve McIntyre http://climateaudit.org/
CO2 Science http://www.co2science.org/
Bishop Hill http://bishophill.squarespace.com/
Bob Tisdale http://bobtisdale.blogspot.com/
The Air Vent/Jeff Id http://noconsensus.wordpress.com/
Icecap http://icecap.us/
Dr. Roger Pielke Sr http://pielkeclimatesci.wordpress.com/
Climate Skeptic http://www.climate-skeptic.com/
Dr. Tim Ball http://drtimball.com/
Tallbloke's Talkshop http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/
Jo Nova http://joannenova.com.au/
The Chiefio - E. M. Smith http://chiefio.wordpress.com/
Global Warming Policy Fndn. http://thegwpf.org/
Dr. Roy Spencer http://www.drroyspencer.com/
Dr. Judith Curry http://www.judithcurry.com/
Science & Environmental Policy Proj. http://www.sepp.org/
Science & Public Policy Inst. http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/

"Consensus-driven Science"
Real Climate http://www.realclimate.org/
Sierra Club http://www.sierraclub.org/
Union of Concerned Scientists http://www.ucsusa.org/
Science of Doom http://scienceofdoom.wordpress.com/
Tamino's Open Mind http://tamino.wordpress.com/
Skeptical Science http://www.skepticalscience.com/
Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/
NOAA http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html
Natural Resources Defense Council http://www.nrdc.org/

Sincerely,


Michael A. Weatherford
MSgt, USAF, Retired
Colorado Springs, CO

This man humbles me.

I'm copying this in full from Donald Sensing's post I read this morning. This Christian pastor has been sentenced to death for his belief. This man is a saint.

Written in June 2010 by Pastor Yusef Nadarkhani while imprisoned in Lakan Prison, Iran, for refusing to renounce his Christian faith and adopt Islam. Translated from the original Farsi.

Dear brothers and sisters, Salam

In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am continuously seeking grace and mercy to you, that you remember me and those who are bearing efforts for his name in your prayers.

Your loyalty to God is the cause of my strength and encouragement. For I know well that you will be rewarded; as it’s stated: blessed is the one who has faith, for what has been said to him by God, will be carried out. As we believe, heaven and earth will fade but his word will still remain.

Dear beloved ones, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of a few verses, although you might know them, So that in everything, you give more effort than the past, both to prove your election, and for the sake of Gospel that is to be preached to the entire world as well.

I know that not all of us are granted to keep this word, but to those who are granted this power and this revelation, I announce the same as Jude, earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.

We are passing by special and sensitive days. They are days that for an alert and awake believer can be days of spiritual growth and progress. Because for him, more than any other time there is the possibility to compare his faith with the word of God, have God’s promises in mind, and survey his faith.

Therefore the true believer does not need to wonder for the fiery trial that has been set on for him as though it were something unusual, but it pleases him to participate in Christ’s suffering because the believer knows he will rejoice in his glory.

Dears, the “ judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”

Therefore those who are enduring burdens by the will of God, commit their souls to the faithful Creator. Promises that he has given us, are unique and precious. As we’ve heard he has said: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

How can it be possible for a believer to understand these words? Only if he is focusing on Jesus Christ with adapting his life according to the life Jesus lived when he was on earth. As it is said, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.”
Have we not read and heard: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there are who find it. Many attempt to flee from their spiritual tests, and they have to face those same tests in a more difficult manner, because no one will be victorious by escaping from them, but with patience and humility he will be able to overcome all the tests, and gain victory.

Therefore in the place of Christ’s followers, we must not feel desperate, but we have to pray to God in supplication with more passion to help us with any assistance we may need. According to what Paul has said: In every temptation, God himself will make a way for us to tolerate it.

O beloved ones, difficulties do not weaken mankind, but they reveal the true human nature. It will be good for us to occasionally face persecutions and abnormalities, since these abnormalities will persuade us to search our hearts, and to survey ourselves. So as a result, we conclude that troubles are difficult, but usually good and useful to build us.

Dear brothers and sisters, we must be more careful than any other time, because in these days, the hearts and thoughts of many are revealed, so that the faith is tested. May your treasure be where there is no moth and rust.

I would like to remind you of some verses that we nearly discuss everyday, (Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven), but as long as our human will has priority over God’s will, his will shall not be done. As we have learned from him in Gethsemane, he surrendered his will to the father, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

What we are bearing today is a difficult but not unbearable situation, because neither he has tested us more than our faith and our endurance, nor does he do as such. And as we have known from before, we must beware not to fail, but to advance in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, And consider these bumps and prisons as opportunities to testify to his name. He said: If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

As a small servant, necessarily in prison to carry out what I must do, I say with faith in the word of God that he will come soon. "However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Discipline yourself with faith in the word of God. Retain your souls with patience. For there is no man who does anything in secret, and he himself seeks to be known openly.

May you are granted grace and blessings increasingly in the name of Lord Jesus Christ.

Yusef Nadarkhani
Lakan Prison in Rasht

Please, anyone who reads this, keep this man in your prayers.

Still rearing children.

My 65th birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, and my wife is several years older than I am. My birthday is a good time to reflect on where we are, and where we're going. The one thing that stands out is that, after 45 years, we're still rearing children.

Jean and I became the permanent guardians of Timmy back in July of 2009. Timmy was a part of our lives, and living in our house, off and on for another two years before that. He's now 6 1/2, and will probably be with us for another few years, if not until he's 18. My youngest daughter wants to adopt him, but she's got a lot of issues to get through before she can. We'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, Timmy is ours. He calls us Grandma and Grandpa, since that was the way he knew us before we became his guardians. We don't intend to change that.

Jean and I are both retired, and have our physical problems (getting old seems to increase the frequency and extent of such problems). We're not doing as much as we want in showing Timmy the world around him, but we do go and do fun things with him. He's really having fun with "his" garden this year. I'll write more about Timmy as the year progresses.

Garden update

We're finally seeing some produce from the garden, but not an overwhelming amount (except for zucchini - that always overproduces). Our only doubts now are whether we'll have enough warm, sunny days to get everything that's currently beginning to produce to finish the project. It's already starting to be cooler in the mornings.

Our garden has done two things we wanted it to do - it gives Timmy a better idea of where food comes from, and he's trying new vegetables. He still won't eat radishes (the few we've harvested have been hotter than average), but he's tried zucchini and raw green beans. He can't wait until we get some more tomatoes so he can eat them. I doubt we'll get any pumpkins, watermelon, or cantaloupe, although we do have the vines growing everywhere they can.

We have one ear of corn on one corn plant, and that plant was actually planted by a squirrel! We have fox squirrels in the neighborhood, and my next-door neighbor feeds them corn on the cob. The squirrels of course bury the corn for the winter, and sometimes it grows. We have corn plants in several places in the yard that were definitely not planted by any of us.

We planted tomatoes late, but they're finally beginning to produce more than one or two fruit each. We're going to try to plant earlier this coming year. This year we had a freeze on the last day of May, and had to replant. I've found a couple of ways to keep our new plants from being frost-bitten, so we should have a longer growing season next year.

We had a disappointing time with carrots, and the sunflowers are just now beginning to produce heads.

The blackberries I planted ten years ago for my wife are doing well this year. Last year's crop was fairly poor, but we've gotten three or four quarts from the canes this year.

Our big worry now is an early fall snowstorm. I've seen snow in my back yard as early as August 29th. If that happens this year, it will probably mean the end of our gardening until next year.

It's almost August already.

The summer has seemed to fly by this year. It's almost August already! I need to take some photos of Timmy's garden and upload them on Facebook. Some things are doing well, others are not. Unfortunately, with my bad back, I haven't been able to help him as much as I'd like, and his garden needs a major weeding.

We've managed to pick about a half-dozen tomatoes, and there are more growing on the various plants we have. The Romano plant is covered with small tomatoes, but none of them have ripened to the point where they can be picked. We bought bush green beans, but one of them turned out to be a pole bean plant. Luckily we've managed to get it to go up a piece of chain we had nailed to the fence. The beans are growing, but they're still only an inch or two long. It'll be mid-August at the earliest before we'll be able to pick any. One of the things that I had hoped is actually happening - because Timmy is growing green beans, he's more willing to eat them now. I hope to do that with two or three other food items we have growing.

There have been a couple of radishes that have gotten large enough to pick and eat, but Timmy still won't try them. I haven't pushed very hard - radishes are an acquired taste. Besides, that leaves more for me! 8^)

We have one zucchini growing on one plant. The other four plants have tiny zucchinis, but the blooms haven't opened on them yet. The pumpkin plants are sending out runners, and the male flowers are beginning to bloom. The cucumbers, cantaloupe, and watermelon are also beginning to send out runners, but there aren't any blooms yet. We're going to have to have an exceptionally long growing season this summer to get anything, but even that is a lesson to be learned.

Repeat after me: CUT GOVERNMENT.

I'm getting sick and tired of "politics as usual" in Washington, DC. We need a budget for fiscal year 2012, which begins in 39 days. The President's budget proposal was so horrible it was voted down 97-0 in the Senate. Yet the Democrats have refused to even bring an idea to the table. There's a reason for that: they believe as long as we don't have a budget, they can push "continuing resolutions" that do nothing but either maintain the current high level of spending, or push it higher. In a just world Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi would now be swinging from a rope tied to a lamp post in Washington, DC, along with about 70 of their fellow Democrats. Unfortunately, we don't live in a just world, but our current insane one.

Since the House of Representatives, the US Senate, and President Obama can't seem to find a plan hidden in plain sight, I think it's up to us, the American people to "suggest" one for them. Here are some ideas to start with.

1. Cut Spending. The United States does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem. The Government currently "borrows" $.43 out of every dollar it spends. Most of us have to live within our means - we can't afford to spend more than we take in, or we go to jail. We need to curb how much our government is spending. The "Cut, Cap, and Balance" law doesn't do enough. We have to do more, and we have to do it immediately. Here are my recommendations. Each of these should be submitted to the entire House and Senate for a roll-call vote as a separate bill, with no amendments or changes.
   
   
   
   • Cut the amount of every payroll or retirement check the Government issues by 2.5%, from the President to the lowest-paid private or civilian worker. Make the cut temporary, until the US government is operating in the black again, then reinstate the pay incrementally over a two-year period. Pay interest on the reduced pay at 3% per year.
   
   
   • Phase out, over a six-month period, all government subsidies to industry, including agriculture. Retain the crop insurance support, so farmers won't be driven into bankruptcy during bad weather. Include phasing out support to National Public Radio, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Science Foundation, and any other subsidized group that is not essential for the safety or security of the nation. Include subsidies to the Post Office and AMTRAK. Slash redundant staffing and operating expenses accordingly.
   
   
   • Cut duplicate offices and their personnel. The Government Accounting Office and several other government agencies have identified dozens of duplicate, wasteful, and in some cases, outright useless offices. Close them down, and slash the redundant staffing and operating expenses accordingly.
   
   
   • Set a scientifically upper limit to regulatory actions on air, water, and soil - setting limits to no more than 1/2 of the amount considered harmful to plants, animals and humans in a natural environment. The Environmental Protection Agency is trying to get one stream in Colorado "cleaned up", when 99% of the pollutants found in the river are of natural origin, and cause no harm to people or the biosphere. This kind of "over zealousness" is taking things to extremes, cost more than they're worth, and are fraudulent and wasteful. The entire "carbon dioxide is a pollutant" meme is a fraud, and any actions taken to "reduce" such emissions are fraudulent. Stop them, and the expense of "monitoring" sites for compliance. I am sure there are other regulatory agencies with equal problem areas that need to be addressed. Slash the redundant staffing and operating expenses accordingly.
   
   
   • Establish limited, written authority for each and every regulatory agency within the government that CANNOT be exceeded except by approval of 2/3 of the House and Senate, and only for a limited time not to exceed two years, with a maximum of one renewal. Slash the redundant staffing and operating expenses accordingly.
   
   
   
   


2. Reduce the size and scope of government. Government is too big, costs too much, does too much, and interferes too much in the daily lives of its citizens. That needs to end immediately.
   
   
   
   • We need a law, and possibly a Constitutional amendment to FORBID the government from writing any law that cannot be applied to every person, company, place, or organization equally.
   
   
   • The government MUST end immediately all union activity on the part of government workers. Such activity is both unnecessary and unconstitutional.
   
   
   • Establish immediately a non-partisan board to examine EVERY law, rule, regulation, or edict from the federal government, determine its purpose, usefulness, effectiveness, and cost, and make one of the following recommendations: end it, establish a sunset date for the law to be discontinued, establish that it is necessary based upon one of the government's ENUMERATED responsibilities, or that it needs to be altered, amended, or corrected, and why.
   
   
   • Reduce significantly the size of the Executive Offices. Administrative bloat has been carried to extremes, especially in the current Executive. We have too many unelected administrators, too many levels of (mis)management, and too high a cost for too little results. Eliminate or combine offices to reduce excessive staff and their associated cost, improve efficiency, and reduce expenses.
   
   
   • Eliminate, or at least reduce, unfunded mandates on cities and states. The Federal Government has no business telling cities and states how to operate, what to do, or how to do it. Cut the funding to the agencies given "oversight responsibility" for these unfunded mandates.
   
   
   • Start paying down, and eventually pay off, the national debt. Establish by law that the only two reasons the United States Government may borrow money is to wage war or to combat a natural or manmade disaster that affects a minimum of 1/4 of the nation or its population.
   
   
   
   
3. End government support to those who will not support themselves. We make welfare too easy to get, too easy to manipulate, and too convenient for those that engage in fraud, waste, and downright theft. This needs to end immediately. At the same time, there does need to be a safety net. That net should be operated by civic, social, and religious groups, with some support from government at the State level.
   
   
   
   • The federal government should provide limited support in the form of block grants to the states to cover welfare, including Medicaid, however, each function and every operation should be reviewed and audited frequently to determine (1) if it is actually providing a useful service that helps people help themselves, (2) is an efficient use of government funds in support of the health and well-being of the recipients of such services, (3) the activity is not redundant to the point of fraud or waste, and (4) there is no better way to provide the support. Such support should be limited to the level necessary for the individual to reach a point where they no longer need such services.
   
   
   • People with permanent, non-self-inflicted disabilities should be provided for as is currently done through Social Security, plus whatever assistance can be provided at limited cost by the state and local governments and civic, religious, and social organizations. Contributions from non-federal groups should not be used to deny or reduce federal support payments.
   
   
   
   
4. Change the tax laws to eliminate deductions, special favors, and other non-equal tax laws. Here's a flat minimum tax plan that will work:
   Earned income between:
   $1 – $25,000 – pay 1%
   $25,001 – $50,000 – pay 2.5%
   $50,001 – $100,000 – pay 5%
   $100,001 – $250,000 – pay 7.5%
   $250,001 – $500,000 – pay 10%
   over $500,000 – pay 12.5%
   
   If you earned $800,000, you pay 1% on the first $25,000, 2.5% on the next $25,000, 5% the next $50,000, 7.5% on the next $150,000, 10% on the next $250,000, and 12.5% on the $300,000 above $500,000. This way, everyone pays the same tax rates, regardless of how much (or how little) they earn. No deductions! The only excluded income would be disability income and a percentage of retirement income (say, the first $45,000, indexed to inflation). The tax form would be about the size of a postcard, and anyone with a calculator could figure their taxes in about three minutes. Here are some other suggested tax laws:




• Consider interest, dividends, capital gains, and all other forms of income simply as earned income. Allow one-time transactions such as a home sale, inheritance, or other unearned income to be spread out over ten years.


• Phase out the corporate income tax on businesses over ten years. This will provide sufficient time to determine whether personal taxes need to raise.


• Evaluate every other form of government income (land sales, land leases, oil/gas/mineral leases) to determine if the current level is sufficient or too high. Establish a flat import duty of 2.5% of all imported goods to be used to establish, maintain, and/or enlarge ports and harbors, and to build and maintain the infrastructure to support them. This money cannot be used for anything else except to reduce the national debt, and then only to a maximum of 25% of the gross funds, only with a 2/3 approval of the House and Senate, and only for a maximum of three years out of every ten.


• A federal excise tax on "luxury items" of up to 10% may be authorized, with the income going into the general fund. The excise tax should be graduated in increments of 2.5%, for luxury items valued at up to $10,000 (0%), $10,001-%50,000 (2.5%), $50,000 - $250,000 (5%), $250,000-$1,000,000 (7.5%), and anything over $1,000,000 at 10%.


• Any other tax legislation must be approved by 2/3 of the membership of the House and Senate, must establish specifically what the tax will be used for (NOT the "general welfare"), why Congress has the authority and the need to establish the tax, and a "sunset date" when the tax will expire.

That's a start. I'm sure there are other ideas out there that can also help get us out of our current debt problem.

If you agree with what I propose, please copy this into an email and send it to your Representative or Senator. Add any additional ideas you may have, or comments on what I suggest as you see fit. Our government is a spendaholic. It's time to cut them off and dry them out, before we're all in the poor house. We need to start today.

Creating jobs, killing debt

Nobody in Washington, DC, is really serious about cutting the national debt. If they were, they'd be introducing simple things that could do it every day. Instead, they're trying to do everything in one bill. Personally, I think that's stupid, unproductive, and impossible to do. We need to see single bills, each doing something to cut the debt. Here are some ideas:

Cut regulation. Over-regulation costs the US economy over $1.5 TRILLION every year - about the same amount as the deficit. Trying to reform it all at once would be a Herculean task at best. It would be much easier to pass one piece of legislation that would eliminate one bit of regulation, or a few related items. Do it again, and again, and again. Pretty soon, most of the unnecessary regulations will be gone.

Cut spending. Again, not all at once, but one tiny bit at a time. Trim $20 million here, $15 million there, $45 million over there. Do the cutting of a single amount in a single bill.

Cut taxes, and simplify the tax laws. Re-define "earned income", and tax only earned income. Quit taxing social security and unemployment. Don't tax capital gains separately from earned income. Reduce the income tax laws down to where they'll fit on a single sheet of paper. It can be done, but a lot of fat cats will scream. If the US goes bankrupt, most of those fat cats will end up being hanged. The sentiment is out there, and a bankrupt nation will see a fit of anger not seen since the Revolution.

Eliminate Obamacare. It's not only unconstitutional, it's unsupportable and unaffordable. It's also one of the biggest things holding up hiring today.

Reduce duplication of effort among national offices. I'm sure there's enough to do some serious whittling away at the size and scope of the bureaucracy. Start with President Obama's 'czars'.

Stop subsidizing EVERYTHING. We can no longer afford it, most of it ends up as waste, and it does little or no good. The savings from eliminating the bureaucracy supporting such subsidies would be significant in itself.

End all public service "unions". They're nothing but an attempt to govern from behind a false front. There is no legitimate reason for a public service union but to scam the public.

Change public service retirement rules. Too many people are allowed to retire too early, and to get retirement pay they've not really earned. Also, don't allow any public service retiree, other than the military, some law enforcement personnel, and those in physically demanding jobs to collect retirement pay before age 65.

Accept that there is no such thing as a cut 'too small to matter'. Every dollar spent is one that was forcefully taken from a taxpayer. No government has a right to any citizen's money, and any money they do take needs to be spent wisely and frugally, for something that legitimately supports the overall health and well-being of the ENTIRE nation, not a specific person, or a particular class of people.

Quit trying to do 'social engineering'. A government created to secure the rights of its citizens has no business doing it, no one's given the government the permission to do it, the government is usually wrong in what they try to do, and they're so ham-fisted doing it that they cause more problems than they solve.

Get government out of the way. One of the biggest reasons today's unemployment is so high is that planners in private enterprise have no idea what tomorrow's going to bring in the way of new regulations, new taxes, new requirements, and new limitations. No one's going to hire in that kind of environment. As President Reagan proved in the 1980s, when government gets out of the way, private enterprise will expand, hire, and grow. When it does, tax revenues will also grow. Anything else is stupid.

These are generalities. I'm sure that 90% of all US citizens between the ages of 15 and 105 could provide specifics for each and every one of these topics. Let them! Ask them for ideas, sift through them, take the ones that will work, and implement them. Stop trying to run the government as if it, or any member of it, is omnipotent. It isn't. Get the American people involved, and accept their ideas. You'd be surprised at the results.

Paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson, the largest government the citizens should ever allow is the minimum government that can satisfy their legitimate needs. Anything else is fraud, waste, and abuse. End it now.

My favorite time of year.

This month marks my favorite time of year, when the winged elm in our back yard blooms. The blossoms open at night, and the smell can literally stun you. The only problem is watching out for all the bees! It's a beautiful tree, the shade it provides is fantastic, and the smell puts roses to shame.

Timmy's Garden update

Today is the last day of June, and I thought I'd catch everyone that's interested up to speed on how Timmy's garden is doing. The whole idea of the garden was hopefully to get him to eat more vegetables, as well as for him to know where vegetables came from. We haven't started harvesting anything, so I can't say it's a success yet.

We now have pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloupes, zucchini, and acorn squash up. Some are doing very well, some (most notably the acorn squash) are just breaking ground. We have corn growing everywhere. The two biggest cornstalks (knee high) aren't in the garden, but elsewhere. We think some of these were planted by Timmy, and some by a squirrel that lives next door. The corn we planted in a specific spot isn't doing very well at all. The first beans we planted are growing, but only seven hills out of 24 came up. The second planting, 16 hills, have 15 growing. The sweet peas are growing in several places, and the radishes are growing like weeds (so are the weeds). The sunflowers we planted on the south side of the house aren't doing well, while the ones we planted next to the fence (on the south side) are doing great! Timmy has two cauliflower plants up, but they're barely two inches high. The tomatoes are beginning to have more blooms on them, and we may be eating tomatoes from our garden by mid-July -- if the squirrel leaves them alone.

I found a dozen or more packets of seeds around the house and the garage, left over from attempts at gardening in 1996 and 2001. We planted all of those in one small area about 18" wide and 7' long. You wouldn't believe how many of those seeds have sprouted, and are growing - sometimes better than the ones we planted in Timmy's garden.

One thing we planted from seeds dated 2001 were "Birdhouse" gourds. We planted ten seeds in two areas, hoping at least one of them would germinate. So far, nine have started growing. We'll probably try to transplant a few of those plants elsewhere, but at the moment we're letting them grow where they are. Those, as well as most of the other "old" seeds we planted and that are growing, were all from Ferry-Morse. I guess their "guaranteed to grow" label is true.

Hopefully we'll get some rain this week. While I water the plants every other day, a good soaking rain would do far more good.

Reducing Government spending: some recommendations.

I've been working on this for quite a while. I think I'm ready to post it online, as well as sending it to my senator, congresscritter, and a few others. I'll try to keep things neat. This will be a cut and paste operation, so there may be a failure or two.

Reduce or eliminate at LEAST half the regulatory burden the nation operates under. It's nothing but an unreasonable drag on the economy. The best way to do this is to state unequivocally that ALL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES must reduce their regulatory burden by 50%, and tell them they will have their budgets cut accordingly.

Eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts.

Eliminate the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Eliminate funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Eliminate funding for farm subsidies on all farmers earning (not profits, earnings) more than $2 million a year, and ALL corporate farms. Establish provisions for rescuing farmers from being shut down due to national disasters such as floods, drought, etc., but not from bad management.

Eliminate the ethanol subsidy, and subsidies on solar and wind energy.

Require the Department of Energy to actually do something useful, like approve new nuclear reactor designs, or be eliminated.

De-fund Obamanationcare.

Shut down and phase out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and Sally Mae.

Cut all government payments to individuals by 2.5% across the board: that includes ALL salaries to government employees, elected and appointed officials, payment to retirees, and Social Security payments, Presidential compensation, and all cabinet-level posts and below. Do NOT cut disability payments.

End public employee unions, they're unconstitutional. ALL public employees serve at the convenience of the government. There is no such thing as a guaranteed government job, nor should there be. Unionization of government employees is a farce.

End the forced unionization of the railroads, the Jones Act, and Davis-Bacon.

Eliminate ALL of President Obama's "czars". There is no provision in the Constitution for them, and no need. The Cabinet is supposed to be his "advisors". He doesn't need double the number, especially with the poor "advice" his "czars" have given him, and the expense of their offices.

Reduce the size of the Federal bureaucracy by 10% across the board. The only exception would be the size of the Armed Forces, the Coast Guard, and the non-administrative positions of the Border Patrol, Immigration, Customs, the FBI, and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

STOP all payments of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to illegal aliens and use the savings to enhance border security.

Eliminate at least one-half of all unfunded liabilities imposed on state and local governments.

Re-establish congressional control of government agencies such as the Environmental "Protection" Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Security Agency, NASA, NOAA, and the rest of the alphabet soup of government agencies. Establish operating rules that are consistent, scientific, and reasonable. Cut funds accordingly.

End the subsidy to Amtrak. It either stands on its own, or it dies. Eliminating unreasonable union rules that make passenger service unaffordable will do wonders for making passenger service more affordable. It may not be enough, but that’s tough. We can’t afford to subsidize white elephants.

Why do we have all of these independent agencies, with the bloated bureaucracies they generate, instead of having them as part of one of the established Departments? I’ve made recommendations.

Independent Agencies and Government Corporations
“Independent establishments are created by Congress to address concerns that go beyond the scope of ordinary legislation. These agencies are responsible for keeping the government and economy running smoothly.”

Congress created them, Congress needs to clean them up. I’ve recommended either putting them under the appropriate (to me) Department, or eliminating them.

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Department of the Interior
African Development Foundation
State Department
AMTRAK (National Railroad Passenger Corporation)
Eliminate.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
National Directorate of Intelligence, along with many others.
Commission on Civil Rights
Health and Human Services
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Labor Department
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
Labor Department
Corporation for National and Community Service
Labor Department
Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia
??? Congress has abdicated most of its responsibilities for administering the District of Columbia. They need to re-assert them under a central agency UNDER the Legislative Branch.
Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
Defense Department
Election Assistance Commission
I haven't decided on this one yet. It probably should go under Justice.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Department of Interior.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
Department of Labor
Export-Import Bank of the United States
Commerce Department
Farm Credit Administration
Agricultural Department (Commerce and Industry)
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Commerce Department
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Treasury
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
This and the Election Assistance Commission can be combined.
Federal Housing Finance Board
Eliminate.
Federal Labor Relations Authority
Labor Department
Federal Maritime Commission
Commerce Department
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
??? Health and Human Services?
Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
Interior
Federal Reserve System
Treasury
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board
Treasury
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Commerce
General Services Administration (GSA)
Keep independent and separate.
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Move to Interior
Inter-American Foundation
State
International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB)
State
Merit Systems Protection Board
Labor Dept.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Either give it a real mission, or eliminate it.
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Combine with Institute of Museum and Library Services under Interior
National Capital Planning Commission
See "Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia"
National Council on Disability
Labor
National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)
Commerce
National Endowment for the Arts
Eliminate
National Endowment for the Humanities
Eliminate
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
Labor
National Mediation Board
Labor
National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK)
Eliminate
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Commerce Department
National Transportation Safety Board
Labor
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Energy Dept for now, move where Energy ends up.
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
Health and Human Services
Office of Compliance
Justice
Office of Government Ethics
Create Office of Congressional Oversight and Management. Include this, Office of Personnel Management, Office of Special Counsel, Office of the District of Columbia (and all District government supervisory functions), etc.
Office of Personnel Management
Same as Office of Government Ethics
Office of Special Counsel
Same as Office of Government Ethics
Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive
Homeland Security
Overseas Private Investment Corporation
State Dept, or eliminate.
Panama Canal Commission
Eliminate - we no longer "own" the Panama Canal, and we should quit trying to undo Jimmy Carter's blunder.
Peace Corps
State Department.
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Labor Department
Postal Regulatory Commission
Congressional Oversight & Management
Railroad Retirement Board
Eliminate at the same time the union requirement for railroads is eliminated, merge with either Social Security or other government retirement accounts.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Commerce
Selective Service System
Defense
Small Business Administration (SBA)
Commerce
Social Security Administration (SSA)
Labor
Tennessee Valley Authority
Interior
U.S. Trade and Development Agency
State
United States Agency for International Development
State
United States International Trade Commission
State
United States Postal Service (USPS)
Commerce

I'd appreciate comments or feedback on this.

Books online

Just a quick post to say that I've uploaded three of my books to the Amazon Digital Editions (Kindle) self-publishing program, and one to Barnes & Noble's NookBook program.

"Cynthia" is available from both programs. Amazon Kindle also has "The Wizard of Skye" and "Last Flight from Queensland Station" available. I hope to have two others ("King's Cross" and "Hukata") available in the near future, and all available from both locations by the end of March.

Cranking up the economy.

I think any halfway intelligent person can build a better plan than the one President Obama is working on right now. Here is mine:

1. Cut spending. Half or more of it's a waste anyway.
2. Fire the "Czars". They only get in the way and cost far more than they're worth.
3. Reduce taxes, especially those on business and investment.
4. Reduce the regulatory burden. It costs us over $1 trillion a year.
5. Reduce or eliminate most of the burden on developing domestic energy production.
6. Allow more drilling, faster.
7. Speed up the approval for nuclear energy plants.
8. Reduce the regulatory burden on the development of domestic mineral resources.
9. Quit the stupidity of CO2 being a "pollutant".
10. Reduce or eliminate farm subsidies, especially on ethanol.
11. Reduce the power of labor unions and their drag on the economy. Why are the railroads still saddled with a 1942-era Executive Order requiring them to be unionized?
12. Start fighting wars to WIN, not "tied". Build up the national defense structure to where we can fight two wars simultaneously without being totally dependent upon the National Guard and Reserves. We're going to have MORE wars in the future, not fewer.
13. Restore public confidence in the voting process by actually prosecuting voter fraud, instead of sweeping it under the rug.
14. Secure the borders and start cleaning house of all the "undocumented immigrants" - i.e. illegal aliens. We have a process for immigration - strengthen it and ensure it's followed.
15. Cut the size of government by at LEAST one-fourth. We have far too many "civil servants".
16. Stop putting burdens on the states they didn't ask for, and can ill afford.

That didn't even take me five minutes. I'd bet that if these suggestions were implemented, even if only 50% of them were implemented, or if they all were only halfway implemented, our economy would BOOM.

I'll elaborate on what I mean for each of these in a later post.

Smitty

My father-in-law, Clarence Smith, died October 10th, 2010 - 10-10-10. While we weren't always on the best of terms, we had many enjoyable times together. Regardless of the personal feelings between us, I have nothing but the deepest respect for him, and for what he accomplished in his life. I'm going to miss him.

He was "Smitty" to his friends and co-workers, and eventually to me as well. There was no better friend on this earth. He was constantly helping out others, especially with their automobiles. He was an exceptional mechanic, not only with cars, but with anything mechanical. One of his friends jokingly told me one day that he was certain Smitty could rebuild a B-25 from nose to tail - in flight! At least, I think it was a joke. Seeing some of his handiwork, I'm not so sure any more.

Our relationship got off to a terrible start right from the beginning, the night I asked for his daughter's hand in marriage. He yelled and screamed at me, but in the end gave me his daughter, to whom I've been very happily married for almost 45 years. The years in between were a see-saw: from being an unwanted appendage to being someone to be proud of - and back again. One major problem between us was that we had far too much in common, and were too much alike - strong-willed, stubborn men. Gradually, however, we got to where we actually enjoyed each others company.

Smitty put in more than 20 years in the Air Force, including tours during World War II and Korea. I spent 26 years in the Air Force, including a tour in Vietnam and almost 10 years in Germany. He contracted malaria in India, and nearly froze in Korea. One of his early assignments was to Panama, which also happened to be my first overseas tour. We had many similar experiences: he was stationed in El Paso, I spent time in Alamogordo. He was stationed in northern Texas, I spent a year in Oklahoma, not too far north of there. He went to India, I went to Vietnam. He belonged to SAC the last seven or eight years of his career, I was stationed at Offutt AFB, SAC Headquarters, three times during my career.

We did do things together, many times. We rode the D&RGW narrow gauge from Durango to Silverton together. We went fishing together, at a number of different lakes. We went cross-country skiing together, and visited many of the less-well-known attractions of Colorado. He even got me inside the missile production facility at the Martin Company where he worked, and showed me around. Unfortunately, except for a brief time in the late 1970's, my Air Force career took me away from Colorado, and visits were few.

Smitty began working for the Martin Company shortly after he retired from the Air Force, and spent thirty years there. He worked his way up from the manufacturing floor to a position of quality control, and worked on quite a number of the space-related aspects of Martin's production. His first job was with the Titan missile system, and he continued with that program through the Titan 4. He was associated with the Mars program, the sun-shield for the Spacelab, and lastly and most importantly, with the X-24B program, where he was the senior quality-control engineer. That's quite an accomplishment for a man who ran away from home to join the Army at 16, with an 8th-grade education. By the time he retired from Martin, he had expanded his education through self-study to the point where he had the equivalent of at least a bachelor's degree.

He even made the cover of Aviation Week! He's the guy at the far left on the ladder.


Smitty will always be for me the epitome of American exceptionalism - no matter where you start out, where you end up is only limited by your willingness to work toward your goals. We've been privileged as a nation to have people like Smitty among our citizens. I had the special privilege of being a part of his family.

We'll all miss you, Smitty, but we're a little better for having known you.

No excuses, or too many?

Life has been a roller-coaster for us over the last three months, and I haven't even THOUGHT about this blog.

I had surgery August 26th to have some problems with my cervical (neck area) spine corrected. The fusion I had done back in 1990 had deteriorated, and the C5-C6 area was no longer fused. The surgery corrected that, and also fused the C6-C7 disk space. The C4-C5 fusion was still intact, but the new surgery expanded a two-level fusion to a three-level fusion, with corresponding loss of range of motion in my neck. The doctor also put in a titanium plate to ensure a better fusion this time. Prior to the surgery, I was having headaches almost constantly. Afterwords, the number has dropped to one or two a week. I also don't have as much pain in my shoulders and neck area as I did before.

My wife's father went into the hospital in late September, and we had to make an emergency trip to Ruston, Louisiana. I was still in a neck brace, and couldn't drive. My wife and youngest daughter did all the driving. The trip is a two-day marathon each way. We only spent a single day with Smitty before lack of money drove us back home. At least Timmy got to see his great-grandfather one more time (this makes twice...), and at an age he might be able to remember him. Smitty died October 10th. He was 91 years old. I plan to write more about him in a later post. We weren't able to make the trip back south so soon, and didn't get to go to the funeral. It was physical problems more than money that kept us from going.

I got my neck brace off October 8th, but still had a long list of restrictions (no lifting of more than 5 pounds, no prolonged sitting, etc.) on me. I've finally had a few of those restrictions eased, but none of them are totally lifted yet. Maybe when I see the doctor again in January...

About the same time Smitty died, we found out that one of our friends from the 1970's, Roberta Clark, was in the hospital in Denver with a terminal illness. Jean went up there to see her three times, but I was still having problems with long drives, and wasn't able to go. Roberta died in mid-October, about ten days after we learned she was in the hospital.

I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes last February, and was doing pretty well on the medication I was taking until about the end of October. About that time, Walgreen, where I get my medication, changed vendors. My blood sugar has been bouncing up and down ever since. It hasn't gotten completely out of hand, but it's about 30 points higher than it was before the change. With the increased blood sugar level has come more pain and more foot problems. Apparently, something called "Diabetic neuropathy" is to blame, along with some just plain old-fashioned osteoarthritis, which I've had problems with for 30 years.

I used to get Ultram, a prescription pain reliever, in bottles of 720 for three months from the Peterson pharmacy, with three refills - a year's supply. Things have changed since those days, and now I can only get a month's supply at a time, with no refills - apparently to cut down on the abuse and resale of this very strong medication. I need it too much to do anything but take it, but we all pay the price for those that abuse medications. I at least now have things set up so that I can get a refill without having to make a doctor's appointment. Twice each year my pain level goes up significantly - in the fall and in the spring. I guess the change in weather patterns has something to do about it, but it's decidedly present. My pain level during six to eight weeks before the winter sets in more than doubles. The same thing happens in the spring, before summer kicks in. Luckily my pain doctor understands this, and is willing to work with me.

I saw my pain doctor Friday, and he and I discussed my lower back problems. He told me that I have "significant stenosis of the L5-S1 area", which is causing my pain. I hope to have him do something about it next year. I want to wait until after the summer, so I can take Timmy fishing. We only got to go three times this year. I should feel better, with my neck problems not causing me as much pain as it did this year.

Jean has back problems, too, although not as bad as mine - thank God! Unfortunately, every time her stress level goes up, she gets stress-related migraine headaches from her back. She's had them a lot the past three months, as you can imagine. She had to do ALL the driving for at least six weeks while I was wearing my neck brace, then her father was sick and subsequently died, then we learned about Roberta. She started having really bad migraines when we returned from Louisiana. This was one of the main reasons we didn't return for the funeral. Timmy started to kindergarten the week after my surgery, and Jean had to drive him to school and pick him up - I wasn't allowed to drive. Timmy does show some signs that the abuse he suffered back in 2007 has caused some developmental delays, and we've been taking him to physical, occupational, and speech therapy at least twice a week. All that put a much greater amount of stress on her than normal. She's finally, in the last week or so, begun to recover from the two previous months.

We've been worried about Timmy's school progress, but the last couple of weeks have been filled with one surprise after another. We can definitely tell he's learning, and more than just what he's being taught in school. He hasn't learned to read yet, but we expect him to be able to read simple books by the end of this school year. His handwriting has been a significant problem, but the extra practice he gets at home and from his speech therapist seems to be paying off. He still wants to write from right to left, instead of left to right. That would be ok in Japan, but English just doesn't work that way. When a little boy shows you a frisbee he got from McDonald's that he'd stuck a piece of Styrofoam plastic into, and tells you it looks like Saturn, you know he's learning SOMETHING!

As we get closer to the holidays, things are looking up. The only problem we still have is one a lot of people are having - a lack of money. My son-in-law has been out of work for several months now, and we're trying to help them out. My youngest daughter has had to take a pay cut, and we're helping THEM out. Our oldest son just plain doesn't have any money, and we're trying to help HIM out. We have enough to cover our expenses, but none left over for frills. Hopefully Blair will get a job, Anna will get a promotion (or a better-paying job), and even Joe can find something that will allow him to pay for his own bus pass and cigarettes. That will take quite a few burdens from us.

A Prayer for Fred and Rantburg

... as well as all other oppressed people.

We've seen quite a few comments referring to Psalms 109:8. It would be better to quote the entire first 20 verses:

1 Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 ¶ Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.
17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20 Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

AMEN

Let the targets of this prayer - the Obama Administration and those members of Congress and the bureaucracy who feel nothing but contempt for "flyover country" - find that those who truly love the Lord our God will be victorious, and they shall taste the dregs of defeat.

Accommodation - or Surrender?

I received this in an email earlier today:

When I was a kid, I couldn't understand why Eisenhower was so popular. Maybe this will explain why.

General Eisenhower Warned Us.

It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.

He did this because he said in words to this effect:

'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened'

This week, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet.. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.

It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the, six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests Who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated' while many in the world looked the other way!

Now, more than ever, with Iran , among others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.

This e-mail is intended to reach 400 million people! Help distribute this around the world.

How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Center "NEVER HAPPENED", because it offends some Muslim???


FREEDOM ISN'T FREE...SOMEONE HAD TO PAY FOR IT!

This isn't half as impressive without the images, but I can't seem to get them to copy, either to my computer or to this weblog.

Ending AGW foolishness, once and for all.

The following testimony to the US Senate should end the folly of AGW once and for all. I doubt it would, but it should. The information comes from ICECAP, one of the most scientific "blogs" on the Internet.

May 21, 2010
Dr. Happer Testifies to Congress: ‘Warming and increased CO2 will be good for mankind’

Dr. Will Happer’s Testimony Before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming - May 20, 2010

My name is William Happer, and I am the Cyrus Fogg Bracket Professor of Physics at Princeton University. I have spent my professional life studying the interactions of visible and infrared radiation with gases - one of the main physical phenomena behind the greenhouse effect. I have published over 200 papers in peer reviewed scientific journals. I am a member of a number of professional organizations, including the American Physical Society and the National Academy of Sciences. I have done extensive consulting work for the US Government and Industry. I also served as the Director of Energy Research at the Department of Energy (DOE) from 1990 to 1993, where I supervised all of DOE’s work on climate change.

Read the whole thing, here.