The Warren

Our President: Capitan Obvious

2010-08-29T18:35:00.002-06:00

This just in from the Master of the Obvious Department: President Obama says that the economy is not growing fast enough. Well, duh! I guess with unemployment close to 10% for as long as it has been, he might have grasped this concept a bit earlier, but with all the Obamacare legislation and bowing to foreign kings, I guess he overlooked that fact.

In addition, he says that there is no "magic bullet" to fix the problems. Um, I thought that the 780 billion stimulus/pork spending bill was supposed to be the "magic bullet", or at least, that's what we were told when he signed it into law. Ergo, all that money was essentially pissed away for some nice signs telling us that the gub-mint was spending our money.

Every day that goes by, it become more and more clearer the mistake that the idiots who voted for this dork-head foisted on the rest of us. Jan 20th, 2013 cannot get here fast enough.

Do As I Say Not As I Do

2010-08-03T18:45:00.005-06:00

From the "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" Department. The First Lady, Michelle "Now I'm Proud of the US" Obama and one of her daughters will be spending their vacation in Marbella, Spain. As I recall, wasn't she and her incompetent husband urging Americans to still spend their vacation dollars on the Gulf Coast to help the local economy which has been destroyed due to her husband's ineptitude? If it was so important that Americans put aside their fears about the oil slick and continue to spend their vacations on the Gulf Coast, don't you think that the President and the First Lady should set the example and do the same? Oops! My bad! I forgot. These are liberals and liberals are big on the "do as I say, not as I do" vibe.

Many Americans might be jealous of the First Lady for going to Spain on vacation, but having been there, she's wasting her time. For any of the readers of the Warren (are there any?), I have actually been to Marbella in Spain and spent two weeks there on vacation back in 2005. My wife wanted to go to Spain on vacation that year, so that's where we went. We were greatly underwhelmed. I don't remember much about the vacation other than the beaches around our hotel sucked but we also went to Gibraltar and Tangiers, which was more interesting than Spain. We probably should have gone to Mallorca or stayed in Italy.

The Curse of Liberal Stupidty

2010-07-28T16:59:00.003-06:00

A Clinton-appointee judge today blocked parts of the Arizona illegal immigration law from taking afect tomorrow. Unfortunately, it was to be expected. Although some said that the judge wanted to be through and adequately research the law, after all, she was a Clinton-appointee and as such, a liberal. Ergo, liberals have no idea what "equal protection under the law means" and therefore, she rolled over and did the Obama adminstration bidding. The 2012 elections cannot come fast enough for the United States sake.

Cause and Effect: Immigration

2010-07-25T18:13:00.003-06:00

Here is a good example of cause and effect involving immigation. Arizona's tough, new law against illegal immigration will shortly take effect and miracle of miracle, illegal immigrants are leaving the state of Arizona on their own. If every state in the union had laws like this, I don't think we would have as many problems with illegal immigration. But, as the article points out, the illegals leaving are the "day laborers, landscapers, house cleaners, chambermaids", etc., that we take for granted. Oh well, at least there will be jobs for teenagers now.

Italy and the US

2010-07-23T18:10:00.003-06:00

At one time in my life, I lived in Italy. Now, in Italy, there is no such thing as writing out a check to pay for your phone bill or electric bill. You would receive the bill in the mail and then have to go to the bank or the post office to pay the bill in cash or with a debit card. You may wonder why someone would be paying bills at the post office and it's because the post office in Italy, like other European countries, serves for more than just mailing letters. Post offices also perform the basic functions of a bank. I often thought of those functions as equivalent to a basic passbook savings account at a bank. So, for this reason, you would have to go to the post office and pay your electric bill and telephone bill there. The post office also was where the senior citizens went every month to get their pensions from the gub-mint. As a result of all these other things going on at the post office, mailing letters wasn't the main reason that the majority of the people happened to be at the post office.

So, as you can imagine, the post office was a very popular and busy place. On days when I planned on paying my electric or telephone bill (water was paid at a different bank), I would make sure that I arrived at the post office about 30 minutes before opening time so I could get in line. Usually, when the post office opened, there were already 10 to 15 people waiting to do business. If I didn't get there early, I could wait for an hour very easily just to complete a 2-minute transaction (In Italy, paying bills was quick and easy. Waiting was the hard part).

Why am I telling this story? Because it seems that for all it's problems, the local Italian post office where I used to pay bills is looking more efficient today than my local US post office. I have gone into my local post office and seen twenty people or more standing in line and there would be one postal employee behind the counter "slowly" helping these people. You would think that the post office would have more postal employees behind the counter at the busiest times (they do, they just aren't there to help you), but since it's a quasi-gub-mint agency, efficiency is not a word in their vocabulary. Although both the US and Italian post offices have long lines, at least the Italian post office has a reason since the Italian post office does so much more. Oh, the joys of public employee unions. I can hardly wait for healthcare to kick in.

Is this a sign of the apocalypse?

2009-10-11T12:58:00.002-06:00

While searching Al Gore's invention for information on The Chosen One's Nobel Booby Prize, I ran across an article from Time about who should be awarded the Nobel Booby Prize and it's not a carbon-based life form. And the winner is........wait for it.......Nuk-lur Weapons!

I am somewhat shocked as I thought that Time was one of those left-leaning members of the MSM who are all for nuk-lure disarmament, etc. Maybe the apocalypse is on it way.

Anyway, it's nice to read something that makes sense from Time. I wonder what they put in the bong that they normally smoke.

El-ahrairah for the Nobel Peace Prize!

2009-10-11T12:41:00.002-06:00

Since the Chosen One has now become the Chosen One Nobel Laureate for doing absolutely nothing, The Great El-ahrairah will nominate himself for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. Having lowered he bar so low as to make actions meaningless, the Nobel Committee has made qualifying for the Peace Prize (hearby known as the Nobel Booby Prize) easy as converting oxygen into carbon dioxide. Come to think of it, everyone in the world is now eligible for the Booby Prize. See, Obama's Hope and Change (tm) in action.

From what I have read/heard, the deadline for submitting nominations for the Booby Prize is 1 February. That means that Booby Prize Obama was nominated a mere 10 days after taking office. Actually, it was probably some Obama suckup who nominated him, probably many months before the actual 1 February deadline. However, I would not be at all surprized if the Booby Prize committee decided to bend the rules and nominated him themselves much past the 1 February deadline since bending the rules to acomplish their objectives is something that you would expect from liberals.

Anyway, remember you heard it here first. El-ahrairah will win the Booby Prize in 2010!

Captain Holly's Hiking Blog: The End(?)

2009-09-27T21:38:00.005-06:00

Back in early 2003, when I was an assistant Scoutmaster and had signed up to be Hiking merit badge counselor for our troop, I went out searching for a good sturdy pair of hiking boots to help me with my new calling. I went to Kirkham's in Salt Lake City and found this pair of Vasque boots on sale for something like $90.

They have turned out to be a bargain. Every hike in this blog has been completed with these boots, along with several others about which I haven't blogged. I would guess counting all my scouting expeditions, hunting, fishing and camping trips as well as hiking I have put about 400-500 miles on them. They are beginning to wear out but other than having to replace the laces they've never failed me.

It's only fitting then that I retire them at the same time I retire my hiking blog. No, I'm not going to give up hiking, but I am going to spend less time peakbagging and more time fishing and backpacking. When I was up in the Uintas earlier this summer I saw all sorts of wonderful opportunities to fish but was unable to do so because I had left my fishing gear behind in the interest of reducing weight.

While on that trip I decided that I had done most of the hikes I wanted to do when I got back into hiking a few years ago, and now it was time to do something else with my limited vacation time. That "something else" is more backpacking and fishing in the Uintas and less hiking just to climb a peak. As a result, if this blog does continue next year it will do so as "Captain Holly's Backpacking/Fishing Blog".

Just thought you'd like to know. Thanks for reading.

Hikeblogging: Wellsville Cone, Wellsville Mountains Wilderness Area, Wasatch-Cache NF

2009-09-27T21:07:00.009-06:00

I did this hike on September 12, 2009.

Over the past four years I've planned on doing a late-season hike to the Wellsville Mountains but there always seemed to be something that would force me to cancel. This year I was determined to do it no matter what and I finally did.

The Wellsvilles are the steep mountain chain between Cache and Box Elder counties. Supposedly they are one of the steepest in the US, rising from valley floor to top and back in less than 6 miles. I can attest that they are indeed steep, having gotten several blisters from coming back down.

The overall distance from Coldwater Canyon/Maple Ridge trailhead east of Mendon to the summit is only about 3.5 miles, but I had to tack on an extra mile because the dirt road leading up the trailhead was so rough my car couldn't make it. A 4WD with high clearance is a necessity if you plan on going.

About a half mile in you come upon lovely Coldwater Lake, which in reality is a small pond about 75 feet long. But it is picturesque. From here the trail goes right up the mountainside and you gain about 2,000 feet in elevation over the next mile or so. Fortunately there are several switchbacks which makes it relatively easy. But because the trail isn't heavily used the brush has grown over the trail in a couple of different locations.

On top the views of both Cache Valley and Box Elder county are great. The trail then follows the ridge line south until reaching the top of Wellsville Cone which is 9,356 feet. The tallest peak in the chain is just a mile to the south and is about 20 feet higher.

On top there is a makeshift memorial to someone who died earlier this year, but it doesn't specify if he died up on top or on the trail, or if he just liked hiking to this mountain.

This picture of the road leading out from the trail head shows why this hike would be great for right about now. The lower elevations of the Wellsvilles are covered with groves of aspen and maple and are beautiful when the leaves turn. I probably should have waited a couple of weeks to hike it, but if I had failed to go when I had scheduled it I probably wouldn't have gone just as in previous years.

Hikeblogging: King's Peak, High Uintas Wilderness Area

2009-08-23T09:55:00.013-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I completed what for local "peakbaggers" is the ultimate Utah hike: Climbing to the top of King's Peak, the highest mountain in the state.

The peak is located smack-dab in the middle of the High Uintas Wilderness Area, a 470,000-acre expanse of high mountains, forests, and lakes. Several trails lead to the top but the most popular by far is the Henry's Fork trailhead.

What makes the King's Peak hike so challenging are two factors: Distance, and elevation. The trail starts at about 9,500 above sea level, reaching 13,528 feet at the top of the peak. But for almost all of the roughly 30-mile hike one is above 10,000 feet in elevation.

Usually most hikers divide the trip up into 3 or 4 days. Some do it in two, while a few hard-core souls can make to the top and back to the trailhead within a single day. I was in the average group, taking three days. The first day I hiked in about 9 miles to my campsite. The trail going in goes through forest, but then opens up into wide alpine meadows. Thankfully, the slope is fairly gentle; had it been steeper I might not have enjoyed myself as much.

Finally I found a good campsite about a mile below Gunsight Pass in a nice meadow with a beautiful view.

The next morning, I got up and started up to Gunsight Pass.

Up close from the east side, King's Peak doesn't look very impressive, just a big pile of large Precambrian metamorphic rocks. From the Yellowstone river side on the west, however, the mountain face is about 4,000 feet high.

From on top, however, you can tell you're up high. Looking down at the Yellowstone drainage.

Looking east at the Uinta River drainage.

Looking south at South King's Peak, which at 13,512 is the second-highest point in the state. For years it was thought to be the highest -- the geographic survey marker for the area is on the top -- but more accurate readings showed it was slightly lower.

Overall, this was a great, if challenging, hike. The co-worker who was going with me pulled out at the last minute, so I completed it by myself. However, because it is so popular there were several people who climbed the peak at the same time I did, so I wasn't completely alone.

Conditioning is a must for this hike. I trained hard and the extra effort showed: I was able to make it to the top without having to take more than a couple of rest stops. Definitely one of the better hikes in Utah.

Hikeblogging: Box Elder Peak, Uinta National Forest (2nd attempt)

2009-07-26T07:05:00.011-06:00

This hike was done on July 18, 2009.

My latest hike took me to Box Elder Peak, a relatively unknown and and less crowded mountain located between the much more popular hiking areas of Little Cottonwood Canyon and Mount Timpanogos. Last year I tried it but I ended up taking a wrong turn and getting lost for a little bit.

This year I started off at the Dry Creek trail head again and took the right turn. By mid-morning I had reached the ridge separating Dry Creek basin with that of the American Fork River. There I was treated to a spectacular view of the backside of Timpanogos, which is still covered with plenty of snow (obviously a result of Global Warming).

Box Elder Peak is only a mile and a half away at this point, but there is no maintained trail to the top and you have to follow game trails or find your own route. It's not that difficult, but it is very steep; you gain roughly 1,500 feet in elevation during the last mile. In that respect I found it to be much like my Twin Peaks hike.

Up on top the view of the Utah County area is great, and unlike the view from Timpanogos you pretty much have the mountain to yourself. The lack of a maintained trail and the difficulty of the hike makes crowds less likely.

The peak is actually a high point in the rim of a large "C" shaped basin which is full of mountain goats (they were too far away to get pictures). You can see some of the intense crumpling of the rocks on the other side.

Overall, it was a nice hike, good workout, but very difficult. The distance is about 12 miles overall and you go from 5,800 feet at the trail head to 11,101 feet at the top. That's not impossible but doing it on a hot summer day and having to trail-find both up and down the peak is not the easiest thing to do. Plus, the main trail is full of large rocks that make the hike down very tiring.

I'm glad I got it done, having failed last year, but I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.

Up Next: The Grandaddy of all Utah mountains, Kings Peak.

Keep your friends close......

2009-05-16T16:28:00.003-06:00

..... and your enemies closer. In the same way that The Chosen One chose his primary Democratic rival for the presidency, Hilary Clinton, to be his Secretary of State, he has decided to remove yet another obstacle from his re-election bid in 2012 by naming Utah governor John Huntsman to be the new ambassador to China. However, unlike other political appointments, Gov. Huntsman is very qualified to be the ambassador, having served in Taiwan as a LDS missionary and speaking the language, having already served as the ambassador to Singapore and also having performed trade missions in China. Still, after hearing rumors of how much The Chosen One feared running against a "moderate" as Gov. Huntsman for president in 2012, it seems rather "convienent" that he would more or less remove Gov. Huntsman from the playing field in 2012. Can we expect that he will tap Gov. Romney to clean up the auto industry in the near future?

How to suck up to a president

2009-05-11T00:51:00.003-06:00

Although the election is over, the MSM are still falling over themselves to see who can brown-nose The Chosen One the best. Our latest example is this puff-piece masquerating as serious journalism.

As the article goes on to say, now that the evil BusHitler has been banished to Texas, we should all be singing "Hallelujah" that The Chosen One is here to bless us with this wisdom, since he has soooooo much experience as a constitutional scholar. If that is the case, why will he pick someone who believes that they have a good=given right to become a legislator-for-life? I guess the "constitutional scholar" in him is like everything else about The Chosen One, unknown and inexperienced.

Beating the Church with Torture Memos

2009-04-28T19:10:00.004-06:00

The SL Tribune's resident Mormon basher, Rebecca Walsh, is at it again. Not one to let any chance to bash the LDS Church go to waste, she is now going after the church because one of it's members was part of President Bush's legal team that authorized "torture". Of course, to make the story really work, she had to bring in a member of the LDS Church who didn't go along with "torturing" Iraqi prisoners. The member in questions decided to commit suicide instead of following the Evil BusHilter down the path of "torture".

To all this, the Great El-ahrairah says"Poppycock!". First of all, a very low-level interogator in Iraq wouldn't have been required or even asked to do anything remotely resembling what the lefties are screaming about as "torture". If she commited suicide, then is was for some other reason and to bring her up her name as someone who valiantly opposed the Evil BusHitler is ridiculous. As for the other member of the church who wrote the legal justification for "torture", I say we should give him a medal. He did what any true-blooded American would have done to defend his country, as opposed to all those anti-war, anti-American war protestors.

As for the Great El-ahrairah, I'll just paraphrase a saying from the Old West; "The only good terrorist is a dead terrorist." Whatever President Bush did to defend the United States against terrorists is fine by me. I'm all for the wanton killing and "torture" of any and all terrorists. If the loony left thinks that we are "torturing" terrorists, then we should run Gitmo like a gulag and take all the Korans and prayer rugs away from the inmates, force them to listen to speed metal music and make them all eat pork.

I think that some filmmaker should make a film of just Predator surveillance video showing terrorists being blown apart in Hellfire missle strikes. It might now win any awards, but it would make liberal heads explode 'cuz remember boys and girls, whenever a terrorists dies, Baby Jesus smiles and another angel gets his wings.

I left when an adult was president......

2009-04-25T10:21:00.003-06:00

....and I returned with a teenager in charge. To all those readers of the Warren out there, I just got back from an all-expense paid vacation for one to President Obama's favorite War on Terror (can we still say 'war'?) country. I left the US just before his inauguration (and an adult was still president) and now I'm back. Here are my observations of President Hope for a Change's first 90+ days.

1. He is inexperienced. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize this, but enough of the US population didn't take this into account. The liberals say that we should cut him some slack, but I'm sure that all the enemies of the US are getting ready to "bend him over" so that they can have their way.

2. He is basically a liar. The Chosen One made lots and lots of promises to get elected, but now that reality has set in, he is either letting his promises expire or he is forgetting that he made them all together. I remember that during the primary season, a well-known liberal film director ( I don't remember his name right now) said that he was supporting Obama due to the Clinton's propensity to lie ("All politicians lie but the Clinton's do it so easily" or something to that effect). Well, it looks like Obama has decided to make the Clinton's look like Honest Abe.

3. He is a socialist. Like all socialists, he believes that if you can spend your way to prosperity. If this was true, Communist Russia would have been the world's biggest economic power.

There are many other things that I can post, but they essentially come back to these three observations. If things keep going the way they are now, the elections of 2012 will be very interesting indeed.

Captain Holly's Hiking Blog, 2009 Edition: Angel's Landing, Zion National Park

2009-04-19T09:27:00.015-06:00

I did this hike on March 27, 2009.

It's time for another fun-filled summer of hiking in the great outdoors of Utah. This year I have several good hikes on tap, starting with getting to the top of Box Elder Peak and then conquering the highest mountain in Utah, Kings Peak.

But for starters I decided to do the toughest hike in Zion National Park: Angel's Landing.

The "peak" is actually just a large slab of Entrada sandstone stuck right in the middle of Zion's Canyon. Because of its location, it provides incredible views of the entire canyon. These views come at a price, though: It's extremely steep and not for the faint of heart.

The trail is well-maintained and is quite easy for the first half-mile or so. Then as you start your way up it is paved with concrete or asphalt in order to accommodate the huge volume of hikers who climb it every year.

After about a mile, you get to what's called "Walter's Wiggles", a set of switchbacks built into the side of the mountain, leading to a flat area where there are pit toilets and places to relax and have lunch.

After that, the "easy part" is done. Now comes the white-knuckle climbing portion.

The trail from here is steep slickrock scrambling. The Park Service installed a chain because without it many people wouldn't be able to make it to the top.

Once you get on top, the view is worth it.

But be advised it's a long way down, especially on the north side.

A wonderful hike, it only took me about 3 hours to get to the top and back. But it is very strenuous, so be advised.

Next he will say that he won't heal the oceans

2009-01-11T18:37:00.002-07:00

The Obamamessiah, now that he isn't campaigning for the presidency, has started to backpedal from his earlier statements and is starting to tell the truth. The latest example of his cooling of expectations is about the economy. Instead of healing the economy and putting Americans back to work the minute he takes office, he now says that it will get worse before it gets better. As I recall, during the election, I don't remember him ever saying this. I only remember him saying how he was going to heal the oceans and the economy at the same time.

If you are wondering why he is doing this, it's to prepare everyone for the real world realities of being president. He must suddenly realize that the people who voted for him did so because of all the promises he made during the campaign, but like we all know, all his promises come with expiration dates. Welcome to the real world, Obama supporters. Your man isn't who you thought he was.

Another Oops! Report from Science

2009-01-11T17:16:00.002-07:00

Yet another Oops! report from the scientific community: two researchers now say that maybe the massive melting of glaciers in Greenland isn't all that catastrophic afterall. Don't you wish all the scientists would get on the same page when it comes to global warming scaremongering. Anyway, after having spilt the beans about not getting all excited about the melting glaciers in Greenland, they give the standard disclamier that the findings are focused on only one glacier, and that sea levels could still rise higher than projection. They also drop the tidbit that other Greenland glaciers behave differently, and the dynamics of the Antarctic ice sheet are still poorly understood and nor should the new study be taken out of context to suggest that climate change is not a serious threat, because, like you know, it is. Ergo, lest any of you global warming skeptics think that this is proof that there is no global warming, well, you can't judge what happens over the whole earth just by what happens on one glacier (like what global warming scaremonger extrodinaire, Al Gore, does).

I have always said that global warming is a natural cycle of the earth and man doesn't have anything to do with it.

Welcome to the real world, Obama

2009-01-11T12:22:00.004-07:00

Soon-to-be President Obama is suddenly finding out the difference between the world the presidential campaign and the world where we all live. Case in point, he is now starting to backpedal on his promise to shudown Gitmo within the first 100 days in office. Although he still says that closing the base in 100 days is his goal, he is now saying that "our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do", which is "politicalspeak" for "Hey, I know I said 100 days, but now, reality is setting in and maybe I was a bit too quick to open my mouth". Welcome to the real world, Obama. If it had easy to shutdown the place, don't you think President Bush would have done it a long time ago?

The law of unintended consequences

2009-01-11T10:08:00.002-07:00

Yet another example of the law of unintended consequences, applications for concealed weapons permits in the state of Utah have quadrupled from four years ago and going along with that, gun sales in the state of Utah have gone up from just over 125,000 in 2007 to almost 140,000 in 2008. For those of you who are gun control advocates (otherwise know as "gun-fearing whoosies" on other blogs) and cannot fathom why this is happening, I only have two words for you: President Obama. Thanks to Obama, gun dealers in Utah are having a very good year.

Although he didn't really say much about gun control during the election, we all know that any statement and/or promise he may have made comes with an expiration date, ergo, it's best to "git yer gunz" now before Obama throws the 2nd Amendment under the bus and outlaws anything to do with the right to bear arms, 'cuz he's a liberal and that's what liberals do, pass laws against law-abiding citizens and kiss-up to criminals.

Maybe there is a Santa Claus afterall......

2008-12-28T09:45:00.005-07:00

While surfing Al Gore's invention, I ran across this article in the WSJ. Although the article states that Brother Harry Reid is in an uphill re-election bid, it really doesn't give any specifics other than he has a low approval rating and a high disapproval rating. Still, it would be really nice if the people of Nevada gave him his walking papers so that he could be called as a LDS Church mission president. I'm sure the country would be better off without him in office.

Thanks to our European "friends"

2008-12-23T19:55:00.002-07:00

After many years asking, the Europeans are now saying that they will consider taking some of the Gitmo detainees, which would enable the US to close the place. President Bush has often asked them to do the same thing, they always seem to have excuses why they couldn't. What a difference an election makes. Now that the Chosen One who will heal the oceans and bring balance to the earth has been elected, the are only to happy to oblige. Nothing like having "friends" who will help you out in a jam.

Et Tu, Jerry?

2008-12-23T19:37:00.003-07:00

Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, the current California Attorny General, has decided that doing his job and representing the interests of the people of California is to hard, so he has decided to jump on the "Prop. 8 is unconstituional" bandwagon and argue that it should be overturned before the California Supreme Court. Well, what would you have expected him to do anyway? He's a liberal and you can't trust a liberal to do their job or even the right thing.

His reasoning is rather novel, in a "Catch 22" so of way. Since the right to marry is a, according to him, a "fundamental right", the constitution of California does not allow "fundamental rights" to be removed by the amendment process.

Ergo, in general, the way to change the constitution of the state of California is by amendment, except when removing a "fundamental right". Therefore, if the Supreme Court of California deems that beastiality is a "fundamental right" (don't laugh, they are loopy enough to do that), then any laws against beastiality are unconstitutional and you cannot change that in the constitution even by the amendment process. So, no matter what the issue, if the un-elected members of the California Supreme Court, through their wiz-dumb deem that something is a "fundamental right", you cannot change it. Right now, California is having problems balancing it's budget because in order to raise taxes, you need a 2/3 majority in the state legislature to raise taxes thanks to another amendment to the state constitution, Prop. 13. When are members of the going to declare paying taxes a "fundamental right" and invalidate this amendment?

Whatever the outcome, this will probably hit the US Supreme Court and the moral of the story is to get out of California as soon as possible since the place is run by idiots.

What if there was a boycott than nobody noticed?

2008-12-08T22:37:00.003-07:00

To show just how important gays are to the US economy (therefore, we should let them marry), this Wednesday will be national "Call in Gay" day. On that day, gays everywhere are urged to not go to work and not spend any money so all us uncaring, religious bigots can see what happens if gays don't show up for work and don't spend any money (so you better let us marry or else!). I say let them do their boycott. Except for certain large cities on both coasts of the US, it will go unnoticed in the rest of the country. Of course, it will be hailed as a complete and total success by gay activists and be reported as such by the MSM which will show everyone else just how many gays there really are in the US (not many) and just how much clout they really have in the rest of the country (not much). This is just another loopy way of protesting what liberals can't get at the ballot box. Darn you uncaring, religious bigots!

Like men lecturing women on the pain of child birth

2008-12-08T22:27:00.005-07:00

Apparently, the editors/writers of Obamaweek, oops, Newsweek think that they are biblical scholars since they now think that can lecture about the meaning of the Bible when it comes to gay marriage. This may make gay marriage supporters happy, but anyone who has actually read the Bible knows that Newsweek has either 1) misinterpreted the scriptures or 2) is just plain stupid. You take your pick. I can't wait for their hard-hitting expose on how childbirth is nothing more than a few cramps.

What would Obama do?

2008-11-30T05:57:00.003-07:00

Over Thanksgiving, Islamic terrorists killed close to 200 people in multiple attacks in Mumbai, India. We all know where President Bush stands on terrorism, but what would Obama do if it happened here? Would he go after the terrorists like President Bush, or would he try to negociate with them to find out why they hate us so? He has talked the talk about how he would capture Osama Bin Laden but can he walk the walk? What do you think?

Yes, but what will we get in return?

2008-11-23T10:30:00.002-07:00

The Sainted One, the great Obama, has said that maybe he won't raise taxes on "the wealthy" afterall. This could be some good news, but, knowing Obama and how raising taxes on "the wealthy" runs in his left-wing liberal blood, he'll find some way to stick it to the US tax payer, so don't go off singing the praises of The Sainted One yet. Taxes are going up, whether the Sainted One says so or not, since Pelosi and Brother Harry Reid haven't said they wouldn't raise taxes and we all know how they love to tax "the wealthy".

Another Publik Skool Suckcess

2008-11-23T10:07:00.006-07:00

If you have ever wondered how the collection of idiots that we call US Elected officials can mess things up as bad as they do, this is probably one of the main reasons why. The test that they gave those officials sounds like the same test that the guv-mint gives all immigrants who want to become American citizens, ergo, how stupid are our elected officials?

At the end of the article, the organization who gave the test, ISI, said that "activities that dull Americans' civic knowledge include talking on the phone and watching movies or television -- even news shows and documentaries". In other words, watching the MSM is one way to completely suck all the knowledge out of your heads when it comes to American history and civics. Our last election was a very good example of this since the least-qualified candidate was elected. For any of you Obama supporters out there, you may not want to hear this, but he was elected just because he was black, not because he had any special qualifications (unless being lack is one). And liberals say that conservatives need to move past race.

Happy Birthday Marine Corps

2008-11-10T06:17:00.002-07:00

Today is the 232nd birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Congradulations to all current and former Marines out there.

Bend over Utah

2008-11-10T06:10:00.003-07:00

One of the first planned executive orders that The Chosen One will issue within a femtosecond of taking office is to stop all oil and gas exploration in Utah. Of course, he will say it is to protect the environment, blah, blah, blah, but could it be for other reasons? Utah voted over 60% for McCain and now it looks like The Chosen One is going to use his power to punish the citizens of the state of Utah. Welcome to "Yes We Can" Utah.

Reflections on a moment in history

2008-11-05T19:12:00.003-07:00

Since everyone else is doing it, I'll give my reflections on this moment in history. The MSM and everyone else is saying that this is a momentous occasion in history and they are right. America has elected the most unqualified, light-weight, left-wing candidate in it's history all in the name of diversity. How stupid can we be.

Anyway, for all his flaws, during President Bush's terms in office, I was pretty well certain that he would kill terrorists and try to avoid stealing my money. Unfortunately, I doubt that Obama will do either.

Over at the Wizbang, there is a post about how the election of Obama is eerily similar to the election of Jimmah Cah-tah in 1976. I have thought the same also (especially how President Ford was very unpopular and how Iran was starting to cause problems) but this post explains it much better. What was that old saying? Those who cannot remember history are destined to repeat it? I guess we'll see what the next four years brings.

What Kool-Aid is she drinking?

2008-10-26T09:54:00.004-06:00

Hillary Cliton was in Utah yesterday to raise money for Obama. She was basically here to tell everyone that she really didn't want to be vice-president afterall and she is just fine with almost winning the nomination and almost breaking thru that glass ceiling and all women should feel the same.

Anyway, one of the highlights of her remarks was that she said that Democrats are coming back in Utah and that Utah will vote for Obama in 2012. Of course, nobody asked er what Kool-Aid she was drinking at the time, but as long as the Democratic party supports abortion and gay marriage, you can be rest assured that Utah will always vote Republican.

Anyway, everyone (that is the Great El-ahrairah) knows that after Obama and the Democrats had throughly dorked up the US economy by trying to take us down the yellow-brick road of socialism, Romney will be elected president to fix the problems.

The United States Space Marine Corps?

2008-10-15T10:19:00.002-06:00

From the "Torn From the Pages of Science Fiction" File: The Pentagon is studying how to transport troops thru space to any hotspot in the world. So, sometime in the future, all those geeks who grew up reading Henlein's "Starship Troopers" or watching the movies "Aliens", "Starship Troopers" or the TV show "Space: Above and Beyond" can now fulfill their fantasies of world domination. No word yet on if nude shower scenes a la "Starship Troopers" with Denise Richards-like intergalactic babes would be included.

Yet more signs of the liberal apocalypse

2008-09-21T11:28:00.003-06:00

While perusing Utah's version of Pravda, The Salt Lake Tribune, I stumbled across this commentary. The gist of the writer's commentary was that since Saint Hillary is no longer in the race, the candidate with the most experience with women's issues was, drumroll please, Senator Joe Biden. Yes, that is correct. In the fairy-tale world of liberal politics, Joe Biden, a liberal male who is the democratic senator from Delaware has more experience with women's issues and has fought for women's rights more than a mother of five children who is also the conservative governor of Alaska, Governor Sarah Palin. Well, I would expect that from the party that said the first black president was Bill Clinton.

Since I'm not a regular reader of the Salt Lake Tribune (otherwise called the local "dishrag"), I wasn't sure at first if this was satire or what, but after reading a bit more, I knew that the writer was serious and she obviously thought that her arguments were valid and should be treated seriously. However, nobody else does since at the time, 423 other readers had taken the time to rate the article with a simple thumbs up for worthwhile or thumbs down for a joke. The score was -167 which means that 295 people thought she was full of fecal material opposed to 128 people who thought the KoolAid she was serving was delicious.

OK, boys and girls, remember this. In a liberal world, liberal men know more about being a woman than conservative women and if you believe that, then I've got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

Senator McCain reads the Warren

2008-08-31T08:55:00.007-06:00

Now that Big Mac has chosen his vice president, it's time for some El-ahrairah "I told you so". Way back in July, I blogged about how Gov. Palin would be a better pick for VP than Utah's favorite son, Mitt Romney. Either he reads the Warren or he had this up his sleeve all along, but either way, the Republican base is energized much more than if he had picked Mitt. Sorry Mitt, never a bride, always a bridesmaid.

Anyway, his pick of Gov. Palin also essentially took the wind out of The Chosen One's sails. Thursday night was his "big" speech and everyone expected that it would dominate the news for the next few days into the start of the Republican convention. If Big Mac had chosen someone lke Romney or Pawlenty, this would have probably been the case. But, with him selecting Gov. Palin, everyone has forgotten about The Chosen One's speech and are talking about a former beauty queen from Alaska who hunts and fishes and has five children, one of whom is in the military and is headed to Iraq and another who has Down's Syndrome. Obama gave a speech to 80,000+ people? When was that? Last month in Europe?

What was looking like the election which would have destroyed the Repulican party is now looking like the Democrats snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory. The Republican base is fired up, feminists are in a quandry and Obama has stopped writing his inauguration speech and is wondering what happened. It's a great day to be a Republican.

Why LDS Church members vote Republican

2008-08-31T08:29:00.004-06:00

It's that time of the election season again when prominent Democrats complain about how the Republican party seems to have a lock on the LDS vote. Recently the Senate Majority Leader, Brother Harry Reid spouted off about this at the Democratic convention along with the Salt Lake Tribune's resident LDS Church hater, Rebecca Walsh.

What they both have to say is probably true, but the main point that they are ignoring is it's not the LDS Church members who have left the Democratic party, it's the other way around. Many year ago, I can remember when the Utah congressional delegation was predominantly Democratic. This was during the 70's, but three things happened to push Utah into a solid red state. Those three things were 1) Roe V. Wade, 2) the Equal Rights Amendment and radical feminisim and 3) gay rights. The LDS Church does not endorse any candidate for elected office and only counsels it's members to vote for those people who the members believes shares his or hers beliefs. However, the LDS Church does speak out on ballot inititives on social issues and spoke out against all three of these social issues. When the Democratic party decided to embrace these causes, LDS Church members left the Democratic party in droves due to the simple fact that Democrats showed members of the LDS Church that they did not share their values. Since that time, it has only gotten worse for Democrats. Gay marriage, embryonic stem cell research, gun control (Utah has lots of hunters), sex education, etc., are all issues where the Democratic party is on the opposite side of the fence from members of the LDS Church. To put it another way, you may not like the Republican party's platform on global warming, but at least they aren't taking away your guns, marrying gays and aborting babies.

So, the question for Brother Reid and Ms. Walsh is not why LDS Church members vote Republican, the question is why the Democratic party has dumped the values that LDS Church members hold dear. Maybe Brother Reid and/or Ms. Walsh would like to expound on that question for a moment. Brother Reid? Ms. Walsh? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? (Crickets chirping).

Hike Blogging: Mount Nebo, Wasatch-Cache National Forest

2008-08-17T20:34:00.015-06:00

I did this hike on August 7-9, 2008

Last week I was able to complete one the most difficult hikes in Utah: Climbing Mount Nebo, the highest peak in the Wasatch Mountains.

Nebo is located just east of the town of Mona, Utah. The terrain is extremely steep; the mountain is a large block of sedimentary rock that has been tilted up on its side and has three peaks of almost equal height. Although the north peak is technically the highest peak of the three, most people just hike to the south peak and call it good. You will find out why later in this post.

The top of the north peak is almost exactly 8 miles from the start of the Andrews Ridge trailhead. That is part of the reason most people just go to the south peak instead of the north; it cuts 2 very difficult miles from the round trip distance and allows them to do the hike in one day. We chose the other option and backpacked in about 4 miles and then camped in one of the few campsites along the trail, this one among huge Englemann spruce more than 100 feet high and more than 3 feet wide at the base.

The next day we started out and got to the south peak in good time. The trail leading up to the south peak is well-used and in good condition. But the entire hike is quite steep; you gain over 5,000 feet in elevation from the trailhead to the top. Once on the ridgeline, however, it gets much easier.

We had a lunch up on South Nebo (elevation 11,877 feet) and since the weather was good and we were feeling fine we took off for North peak (11,928). Although only a mile away, it is quite difficult and the trail is not as well-maintained or easy to follow. Several times we had to find our way across knife-edge rocks. And as you can see, it's quite steep itself; the north face of North peak is just a sheer drop of about 100 feet.

We finally made it to the top, and there is a little mailbox where you can leave your name and other comments. The view was spectacular, but as the picture shows, there were clouds forming in the distance so we took off as quickly as possible.

It was a good thing we did. Just as we approached the South peak, a storm whipped in at amazing speed; within 5 minutes it went from warm and partly cloudy to almost completely fogbound with a cold rain. Visibility was down below 50 feet, a nerve-wracking condition when you are on a steep ridge with 500-foot cliffs on one side. But we kept calm and found the trail, and the storm soon passed over us as we descended South peak.

After spending another night at the camp we came down the next day, tired but elated. This was indeed a beautiful trip, but it was also very taxing. I'm glad I did it, but I won't be repeating the experience any time soon.

Hikeblogging: Box Elder Peak, Uinta National Forest (1st attempt)

2008-07-29T23:30:00.006-06:00

I tried this hike on July 19 but didn't get around to posting about it until today. Part of the reason is I took the wrong trail and didn't make it to the top. Doesn't happen to me often, but this time I wasn't so lucky.

The trail starts at the Dry Creek trailhead near Alpine, Utah. It's a well-used trail that gets alot of horses on it. Much of the canyon is glacial-carved granite from the Little Cottonwood formation. Throughout the canyon there are waterfalls small and large, such as this one just a mile up from the trailhead.

About this point I came to a junction in the trail that was not on any of my maps. As you can tell, it's not marked either, and both trails are equally well-used. I took the left turn, which as it turned out was the wrong choice.

I kept on the trail because it seemed to be going in the right direction and had plenty of human and horse tracks on it. But after a couple of miles, it petered out in the middle of a very rugged basin, and I had to pick my way through heavy brush. As a reward for my effort, I got slapped on my arm by some stinging nettle and for the rest of the hike I kept having the sensation of a bug crawling on my elbow.

The basin was very beautiful and had several small waterfalls like this one. However, it was north of the basin where I should have been, and I decided to scrub the hike because after a couple of hours of trail-finding, brush-busting, and boulder-hopping I was too tired to attempt the summit. Besides, it was late afternoon at this point and I needed to get back down. I crossed over the ridge and found the real trail, which was very well-used and in good condition.

The day wasn't a total loss. I figured I ended up hiking close to 10 miles and climbed about 4,000 feet in elevation, so it provided good training for next week's hike to Mount Nebo, the highest peak in the Wasatch Range. I plan to hike Box Elder in early September, except this time I will approach from the back side, which is easier and shorter than the Dry Creek route.

Racism we can believe in

2008-07-20T18:27:00.003-06:00

The other night, I was flipping thru the channels and I stumbled on a live concert performance by Carlos Mencina on Comedy Central. I like to watch his programs and also those by Dave Chappelle because they both make fun of the third rail of liberalism, racism. They take on the conventional wisdom of racism and make fun of blacks, asians, Latinos, whites, Jews and pretty well anyone else.

Anyway, the performance was from February of this year when Hillary and Barack were still going at it, and he said some things that got me thinking a bit. He said that all whites should vote for Obama because that will mean that racism no longer exists in America. Think about it. If Obama is elected president, how can blacks in America say that racsim exists when the leader of the United States is black? You would assume that if racsim existed, it would be against whites, asians, Latinos, etc., bu not against his own people.

The next logical step would be that if Obama is elected president and therefore, racsim towards blacks no longer exists, will he take the next logical step and dismantle the EEOC and other laws to prevent discrimination against blacks? These laws were put into place to "level the playing field" for blacks, but now that a black man is the president of the United States, one could argue that the playing field is now level and there is no longer a need for these laws. Of course, people who see racism behind every door and underneath every rock will say otherwise. But, like with the energy crisis, a very simple arguement will bring down the liberal house of cards.

Why environmentalists should support drilling in ANWR

2008-07-01T20:47:00.002-06:00

Because of my work, I have to travel alot. to pass the time in the airplane, I sometimes buy books at the airport. Since the first of the year, I have read two books by the same author about archeology and ancient civilizations. The first was Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. This book answered the question of why it was the Spanish who sailed across the Atlantic to inslave the Incas and not the other way around. The second book was Collapse:How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. This book talked about how different societies collapsed due to various factors, many of which are environmental in nature.

When I saw the book for sale, I quickly glanced thru it and then decided to not buy it because I was certain that I would not agree with some or all of the author's ideas about the environment. But, after thinking some more about it, I decided to buy it and read it because I'm not a liberal. I'm a conservative who is not afraid to challenge my beliefs, unlike liberals who are all for free speech, thought and ideas but only when it is something they agree with. I find it ironic that at the smallest opportunity, liberals will scream about censorship at the drop of a hat, but the same time they will go out of their way to suppress any ideas that go against their liberal dogma thru "hate speech" laws and college speech codes. But I digress.

One of the ideas that I found interesting in the book was the idea that environmentalists should be all for oil exploration in the United States and not some third world country. The reasoning is such that oil companies in the United States are heavily regulated by the state thru a myriad of state and federal regulations designed to protect the environment. There are also legions of environmental organizations with their lawyers just waiting to file lawsuits on behave of speckled snail darter or some other small animal whose habitat was destroyed by any oil company. As a result, it would be very, very difficult for an oil company to do anything remotely non-environmentally friendly without the LSM, the Sierra Club, the Congress and lots and lots of lawyers finding out and suing the pants off any offending oil companies.

However, if an oil company is operating in a third-world country, you can be sure that their idea of environmental regulation takes a back seat to other concerns like money, money, money, money, etc. It is much harder to enforce even basic environmental regulations in a third-world country and there are no legions of lawyers to make oil companies pay for destroying natural habitat.

Because of this, it is a wonder that environmentalists still prevent drilling in ANWR and off the California and Florida coasts. As the author of Collapse puts forth, by not drilling for oil in the US, we are exporting our oil exploitation to other countries which are ill-equiped to deal with it. They do not have the laws and governmental organizations in place to properly regulate oil exploration which results in much more environmental destruction than if we drilled for oil in the US. Because of this, it seems that true environmentalists are those calling for drilling in ANWR and other places in the US because drilling for oil in a third-world country is much worse for the environment (and Mother Gaia) than drilling for oil in the US.

A good choice for Veep, but I could think of a better one

2008-07-01T18:47:00.004-06:00

A story on Yahoo! has Republican insiders saying that Romney tops McCain's VP list. I think that Mr. Romney would be a very good pick. He is strong in areas where McCain is weak and vice versa. However, after thinking a bit about the VP-stakes for the Republicans, I am inclined to think that there would be a better pick for McCain. I think that although Romney is a good choice, I think that he has been OBE (overtaken by events). Like another blogger that I read on WizBang, Cassy Fiano, I think that McCain should choose the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

I have two main reasons. The first is since Obama sewed up the Democratic nomination and trashed Hillary's coronation, her female supporters have not been too happy. What a way to play the feminist card against Obama than selecting a female vice president. What a dilema for feminists. The hard-core, feminazis would still probably vote for Obama, but alot of her less radical support would probably break for McCain, thereby leaving Obama in the lurch. What's he going to say to change their minds? Vote for me because I believe that women should be president, but not right now.

The other reason is the rising cost of energy in the US. Obama and the rest of the Democrats in Congress don't want the US to do any drilling anywhere, especially in ANWR. What a great way to counter any and all arguements about the size of ANWR, what it actually is, how many polar bears are being "threatened", just how the environment is being protected at Prudoe Bay and how it would be protected there, etc. In short, she would be a very quick and immediate expert on drilling for oil in ANWR to counter anything that Obama would say. Anytime any Democrat start bloviating about the pristine wilderness at ANWR and the polar bears, Governor Palin could very quickly shut their mouths with "Senator Obama, when was the last time that you visited ANWR? The last time that I was up there was just a few weeks ago as the governor of Alaska and I don't know where you got your information, but this "pristine wilderness" that you are talking about doesn't exist. The polar bears are not threatened with starvation, etc, etc, etc." This would quickly move the debate from "We can't drill in ANWR" to "When can we start drilling in ANWR".

I think McCain should choose Governor Palin for vice president. This would be a brilliant move on his part and would really make life difficult for Obama with women.

What goes around.......

2008-06-29T18:46:00.003-06:00

......comes around. The other day, while flipping thru the channels, I chanced upon one of those morning news shows geared towards women. If I remember right, it was on Fox and called Mike and Jane in the Morning or something along those lines. The hosts were doing a segment on how more and more women were earning more than their husbands and how that has changed divorce in the United States for the fact that more and more women are finding themselves on the short end of the alimony stick. Having gone thru a divorce with my first wife and having had to play the alimony game, my ears perked right up when I heard that.

One of their guests was a woman who was required by the court to pay alimony to her husband of 10 years. Her sad sob story was as follows: Her husband was a former baseball player who didn't have a whole lot when they met. She was a successful business woman with a net worth of over 1 million. They were married, but unfortunately, after 10 years of putting up with her husband's multiple infidelities, she finally divorced him. When she got to divorce court, her husband's evil lawyer and the mean judge conspired against her and forced her to pay her husband alimony to the tune of $50,000 per month (I think). And the to make matters worse, she suspected that her husband had been planning this from the beginning of their relationship.

When I heard her tale of woe, I said "Well, welcome to a divorced man's world, sister!". How many men have been taken to the cleaners by women in divorce court? How many men have married women with nothing and wound up loosing a big chunk o' change just because they were stupid enough to say "I do"? How many men have suddenly realized that their wives were planning on divorcing them from day one and only married them for their money? If you are stupid enough to think that any normal man who has had to go thru a divorce and see just how badly they are screwed has any sympathy for your situation, then you deserve what you got. Not only did I say "Yeah! Finally a man gets to screw the woman in divorce court!", I cheered and wanted to shake that man's hand. Yeah! Do it to her for your less-fortunate brothers!

Now, if you are a woman and are appalled that I would be cheering for her deadbeat husband, well, then you need to get a life and see just exactly how badly men are discriminated against in court. Then maybe you can understand why I'm so happy to see her get screwed by the system.

A LSM-generated controversy

2008-06-29T07:35:00.004-06:00

Today is Gay Pride Day in San Francisco, the day when gays can dress up like drag queens or wear seat-less leather pants and expect the rest of the United States to take them as "normal". Not conincidently, it is also the day that the First Presidency of the LDS Church will have "the letter" read in California church meetings, urging the members to do all they can to pass the "one man, one woman" marriage amendment to the California constitution.

Since gay marriage is something that the LSM supports, naturally, they will go out and find any members of the LDS Church which do not support the church's stand on gay marriage and give them a forum to rail against the evil LDS Church. Of course, these members of the LDS Church will be shown as "thoughtful" and "open-minded" in contrast with the "bigoted" LDS Church. Some will have even gone so far as leaving the evil LDS Church for their beliefs, which will be found to be "principled" and "courageous" and everyone will come away thinking what a bunch of hateful right-wingers are the LDS Church.

Actually, what the LSM shows and what is the truth are two different things. It has been my experience that members of the LDS Church who "spout off" like this have already been thinking of leaving the LDS Church for many years and are almost already inactive or because of their behavior against the teachings of the LDS Church, could be excommunicated if their local church authorities found out. However, they don't want to offend their friends and family (leaving the church would kill your parents and Grandma might just cut you out of her $1 million dollar estate when she dies), so to make it look like it's not their fault, they "manufacture" some reason, whether that be gay marriage, Utah state liquor laws or the defunct Equal Rights Amendment of the 70's to leave the church. That way, the family is not offended and the ex-member comes off like a saint for living up to his or hers convictions. In general, this last only for a short time until the person's family suddenly finds out that all this talk about leaving the church "just for a short time" was a big lie when the former-member suddenly moves in with his or hers "special friend" and starts drinking booze, smoking and generally living like someone from Sodom and Gomorrah. People outside the LDS Church may think that this is an over-simplification, but it happens all the time.

Bottom line: There will always be critics of anything the LDS Church does, both in and outside of the church and they are not indicative of membership of the LDS Church.

Belated Hike Blogging: Mt. Aire, Wasatch-Cache National Forest

2008-06-28T12:39:00.007-06:00

My wife and I did this hike on June 14, 2008.

There are several relatively easy hiking trails near Salt Lake City that allow you to bag a peak in a short time. Mount Aire is probably one of the most popular.

The trail begins at the Elbow Fork trailhead in Millcreek Canyon. At least after July 1st it does; until then the road is closed off more than a mile below that point and you have to start there. It isn't hard hiking but it ends up adding more than 2 miles to the distance. But as you can see, it is picturesque.

The summit itself is less than 2 miles from the trailhead and the trail is well-marked. However, it is deceptively steep, rising about 1,000 feet per mile. When you get on top you can see quite far. Looking to the east you can see Interstate 80 going up over Parley's Summit.

To the west is Salt Lake City and Grandeur Peak. Some people hike the ridgeline all the way down.

To the south is Mount Raymond, Gobbler's Knob, and Twin Peaks.

It's a fairly easy hike and as you can see from the pictures the trail is open and snow-free several weeks before some of the higher peaks in Salt Lake County. There was a section that was still muddy, but overall a good hike.

OK, now we are pissed!

2008-06-25T20:05:00.003-06:00

With the recent Californication of the institiution of marriage (also here) and the proposed amendment to the California constitution to ban the practice of gay marriage, the LDS Church has weighed in on the amendment by urging it's members to do everything in their power to pass the amendment.

Some may think that the LDS Church should just "butt out and mind it's own business" or that the mighty Supreme Court has spoken and we should all grovel at their feet ("I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy"). Unfortunately for those who think in this way, many years ago, there was once a liberal group in Utah called the ACLU who decided to go to court to stop the LDS Church from "mettling" in government affairs. It seems that the LDS Church was lobbying the state legislature of Utah (Oh NO! Say it isn't so!) in regards to some ballot inititive. The ACLU thought that since the LDS Church was a religious organization, the church should not be allowed to lobby government entities since this would be a violation of the separation of church and state. The ACLU predicted victory over the evil LDS Church since everyone knows that only organizations like the ACLU who only have the purest intentions when they sue local governments over nativity scenes, etc., should only be allowed to lobby the legislature. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, the ACLU forgot to read the Constitution where it states that anyone can lobby the government, even religions, which was convienently pointed out to them by the court. After all, if we start preventing churches from lobbying the government, who will be next? Pompous jerks like the ACLU? We can only pray.

Anyway, I hope the people of California wake up to what is transpiring around them and vote to outlaw gay marriage. As many have pointed out, allowing gay marriage is the proverbial "slippery slope" which will lead to removing laws against polygamy and age of consent laws. Supporters of gay marriage say that this will never happen, but then until a few years ago, nobody thought that we would be fighting gay marriage because "it would never happen." If the courts can "magically" find some reason to allow gay marriage, they will also "magically" find some reason to allow polygamy or some reason to do away with age of consent laws. If you don't believe me, just stand by. You will be surprised to what depths the courts will sink when controlled by liberals.

Can I have some jam with my toast?

2008-06-23T21:07:00.004-06:00

The man who started the whole global warming fiasco, NASA scientist James Hansen, now says that, unless we take drastic action right now (do not pass go, do not collect $50), then "We're toast!" Remember, this is one of those very intelligent NASA scientists who crashed not one, but two Mars landers into the red planet due to "miscalculations" of the kind that that first-year physics students make, so when he says that the earth is in danger of being destroyed due to global warming, I take it with a grain of salt. Maybe he's just pissed that Al "Chicken Little" Gore gets all the publicity, so he's trying to extend his 15 minutes of fame.

As for global warming, I believe that the earth is getting warmer, BUT I do not believe that man is the cause, ergo, any measures that man takes to combat global warming will have no effect and will be a colossal waste of time and/or money. So, if you are will to buy what Mr. Hansen is cooking, then go right ahead. Just don't ask him about those crashed Mars landers. He might not like having gloabl warming lumped in with two NASA fiascos.

Outrage, liberal style

2008-06-19T20:24:00.004-06:00

Recently, in the Great State of Utah, there has been outrage, outrage I say, that some entrepreneurs would want to make a cheap buck off making fun of the Obamamessiah. Apparently, they came up with the idea of making an Obama sock puppet which looked alot like Curious George, the monkey. Unfortunately, the forces of liberal outrage marshalled themselves to put a stop to this and shutdown this flagant profanement of the image of the Obamamessiah.

When I heard about it, I thought it would be an actual sock puppet, you know, the kind that you put your hand in, but after seeing a picture of the puppet, it wasn't what I thought. However, with everyone screaming "Racist! He has insulted the image of the Obamamessiah! Off with their heads!", I'm of the opinion that the company should try to manufacture it. If everyone really deep, down inside thinks that it is sick and racist, then the company will go bankrupt. However, I wouldn't be so sure.

Now for all you liberal readers of the Warren who are shocked and scandalized that I would not show any kind of outrage, I ask you this: Have you ever seen the program "Lil' Bush" on Comedy Central? In this program, President Bush, his administration and most conservatives are made fun of in rather crude ways. The program makes fun of Democrats also, but only as minor characters. It's more centered on President Bush. This program is much more offensive to President Bush that some sock puppet to the Obamamessiah, but you don't hear any liberals whining about it. Of course not, they are too busy laughing at it.

So, all you Obamamessiah worshippers out there: Is the Obama sock puppet racist? You tell me if you think Lil' Bush is offensive and Comedy Central should be boycotted. Until such time that liberals start treating conservatives and the president in the same way that they want us to treat the Obamamessiah, I don't have any reason to get all excited over a "so-called" racist sock puppet.

P.S. For all you liberals who are going to start saying "Oh yeah, well what if some made a sock puppet about Joseph Smith or some other famous member of the LDS Church, what would think then?", you can shove it. I'm a conservative and a member of the LDS Church. You don't think I'm constantly bombarded by jokes, cartoons, etc., which make fun of my religious faith? If you don't think so, do a quick Google Search and you'll find hundreds of websites which make fun of my religion. My religion is laughed and ridiculed at by "so-called" open-minded people who pride themselves on how "progressive" they are and how they feel for oppressed minorities. You would never hear them making fun of any other religion (especially Muslims), but Joseph Smith and Mormons, well if I had a nickel for everytime someone has asked me how many wives I had, I would have retired many, many years ago. So, don't lecture me on what ifs. Your arguements just prove my point, all liberals are hypocrites.

Drill #@&%^* everywhere

2008-06-13T21:58:00.003-06:00

At times it seems that John McCain really doesn't want to be president. There are issues that he could go after Obama and the rest of the Democrats that would be major winners. Case in point: Energy policy and oil prices. With a barrel of oil going for $135 and gas over $4 per gallon, McCain could hammer the Democrats about how they are happy that gas is this high and they want it to go even higher. McCain could go into "Maverik Mode" and start pushing for more drilling. He could even frame it the same way that President Kennedy did with putting a man on the moon. "Before the end my second term, America will be energy independent. We will drill everywhere and anywhere that there is oil in the United States. We will develop other forms of energy like oil shale and coal-to-oil technologies. We will do all this so that the United States will no longer be held hostage to hostile foreign governments like Venezuela and Iran or so-called friendly foreign governments like Saudi Arabia and Russia, and when we are energy independent, we will laugh as their economies fail and the citizens revolt."

Anyway, this would be a winner for McCain. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like he wants to win.

The Second Coming of Jimmah Car-tah

2008-06-10T23:12:00.003-06:00

The last time that America elected a president who didn't have a clue about foreign policy or how the economy worked, we got 4 years of a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia named Jimmah Car-tah. For those of your too young to remember what his presidency was like, lets just say the following : double-digit inflation, the Iran hostage crisis, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the 1980 Olympic boycott, gas shortages, the "moral equivalent of war" against Big Oil and Vice President "Malaise". In short, the worse presidency in modern history which is no wonder that Americans turned out en masse to elect his successsor (Ronaldus Maximus).

Since Obama has shown that he also doesn't have a clue, it is safe to say that 4 years of Obama will be like the second term of Jimmah Car-tah. Well, it looks like John McCain has taken this idea to heart and (hopefully) will run with it to counter the Democratic talking point of him being Bush's third term. Linking Obama with Carter will remind everyone what happens when you elect a neophyte who doesn't have a clue. I shudder to think of another failed Carter-esque presidency.

The Californication of the United States

2008-06-05T20:54:00.003-06:00

The California Supreme Court has declined to halt the implementation of gay marriage in California, although many religious, conservative groups and nine attorney generals (including Utah) from other states had tried to point out the problems that this would create for other states. But, like all liberals who think only of themselves the rest of the world be damned, since they were the court that originally ruled it against the California constitution to deny marriage to gays, it was pretty well certain that they wouldn't contradict themselves.

So, starting 16 June, gays from other states will be going to court to force their home state to recognize their "illegal" marriages. Thank you California! Everyone bend over and be californicated!

Maybe Gates will make them report to the US Army

2008-06-05T20:35:00.003-06:00

Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, has fired/forced to retire the Secretary of the Air Force, Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley. According to the article, it was over the shipping to Taiwan of four electrical fuses for ballistic missles and the accidental arming of a B-52 with nuke missiles and flying it across the country without anyone noticing last August.

I am impressed that Secretary Gates decided to make their heads roll, but I also think it was due to the Air Force's not being a "team player". If the Secretary of Defense gives the Army, the Navy or the Marine Corps an order, they will stand up, salute and say "Yes sir, yes sir. Two bags full sir!". However, he gives the same order to the Air Force, and all he gets are excuses. Case in point: recently, he criticised Air Force leadership about dragging feet over putting more Predator UAVs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead of getting with the program, the Air Force sits around and makes excuses.

How do we fix the problem? Rename the Air Force the Army Air Corps and make them report to the US Army. That will go a long way to make the Air Farce more of a team player.

A liberal example of being "unbiased"

2008-06-05T20:22:00.003-06:00

Here is a good example of what it means to be "unbiased" in liberal land. The Democratically-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee has issued a report finding that President Bush deliberately misrepresented Iraq intel before the Iraq war. Of course they did. This is what passes as "unbiased" in the Democratically-controlled Senate. I would like to hear from the Democratically-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee how President Clinton precipitated the attacks of 9/11 on the United States because he was busy molesting the hired help instead of taking the threat seriously. Yeah, and, in the famous words of Mike Myers of Wayne's World, maybe monkey's will fly out of my butt!

Have you bought your carbon indulgences yet?

2008-06-04T07:30:00.004-06:00

Recently, I went to the Delta airlines website to get airline ticket information for a company-paid trip. Usually, after you have selected the flights that you want to take, the website will ask you if you want to also reserve a hotel or rental car. This time, I noticed something new. There was a big green button asking me if I wanted to purchase carbon offsets for my trip. For only $5.50, I could pay Delta to plant some trees which would offset the carbon emissions that my trip would have incurred. I wonder if my company would pick up the bill for that.

So now, when you fly, make sure that you have bought your carbon indulgences. Maybe if the airline gave me better service and more leg room, I would think about it. But since they don't, they can pound sand.

Change versus competence

2008-06-04T07:18:00.004-06:00

The Democratic primary is over and the Obamamessiah has decalred himself the winner and the evil that is Hillary Clinton has been vanquished (finally!). Hallelujah!

Just recently, I ran into a post over at the Corner about how an Obama support said that this election wasn't about competence, it was about change. That got me thinking about something that McCain could do to counter Obama's message of "change". Everytime Obama gives a speech, the word "CHANGE" is found everywhere. McCain should do the same thing, but instead of "CHANGE", he should have "COMPETENCE". At least that way, everyone in the US will know that you can either vote for change and get a Jimmy "I felate terrorists" Cah-tah presidency or you can vote for competence and get something much better.

I don't know about anyone else, but I would rather have someone who was competent as president and not someone who promised chnage for change's sake.

Obama resigns his membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ.....

2008-05-31T18:18:00.004-06:00

....and it's the eeevvvviiiilll neo-cons fault! I am currently listening to him on FOX blame everyone except himself for this turn of events. If he ever gets elected president, get ready for a president who will never take responsibility for his mistakes and blame everyone else, but then, that's the liberal way.

Update: Just before the end of his news conference, he said that his religious beliefs and his church had been under more scrutiny than any other president candidate. Obviously, he has forgotten all the scrutiny that Mitt Romney's religious beliefs got during the Repubican primary. I guess Obama is starting to actually believe that he is the new Democratic messiah that will lead the US to the promised land.

It is obvious to anyone that doesn't have liberal blinders on that Obama is even more of a narcissist than Bill Clinton, which is something that I would have never believed possible.

Amateur Hour in Texas

2008-05-22T19:43:00.003-06:00

The shoes are starting to drop in Texas. A judge has ruled that the state of Texas had no right to seize the children when they raided the FLDS compound. When Texas moved in and seized the children, I remember the state of Utah being criticized for not doing the same. With this slap against Texas CPS, it shows who the experts (Utah) really are and who the amateurs (Texas) are when dealing with polygamists.

I do not condone what the FLDS church has been doing, but the way that their civil rights have been trampled on is appalling. What really gets me mad is the state of Texas is trampling the civil rights of the FLDS church by preventing them from worshipping their god in the way that they see fit and yet, we are running a Club Med for terrorists in Guantanamo, Cuba. Children are having their copies of the Book of Mormon (yes, they also believe in the Book of Mormon) removed and censored by the Texas CPS but the guards at Gitmo are forced to handle terrorist's copies of the Koran only when wearing white gloves. The terrorists in Gitmo are treated better than US citizens who are members of the FLDS church.

Unfortunately for the state of Texas, the fallout is not over yet, not by a long shot. I believe in the long run, after all is said and done, no FLDS children will be found abused, no underage FLDS brides will be found, the call that precipitated the raid will be found to be fake and the FLDS church will come away much, much richer thanks to some idiot in the Texas CPS. Can you say multi-billion dollar lawsuit? If I was a Texas personal-injury lawyer, I would be salivating at the prospect of lawsuit nirvana. If I was a Texan, I would be screaming for the heads of the idiots in the Texas CPS who authorized this "goat-rope".

Why Obama = Osama

2008-05-18T16:36:00.004-06:00

While reading some of the comments of my post "I guess the truth hurts, right Obama?", two commenters were rather "peeved" about my equating Obama with Osama. For those two commenters and anyone else who might think this is just a cheap, sophomoric attempt at humor [Editor Note: What, it isn't] , here is an explanation of why Obama = Osama.

Obama attended the Trinity United Church of Christ, a predominately black church for the last 20+ years and contributed money to the aforementioned church. The paster of that church, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, used the pulpit of this church to spew racist propaganda and hatred for the United States. If we compared the words of the Reverend Wright with those of Osama bin Laden, there would not be that big of a difference. Both hate the United States. Both hate Israel and the Jews. In fact, I would not be surprised if the Reverend Wright and Osama bin Laden read and use each other's material in their speeches. Because of this, Obama really does equal Osama.

I find it interesting that Obama supporters see no problem with Reverend Wright's words. They want us to try to understand why this is normal for an African-American to feel this way about the US and other races. Imagine if the Reverend Wright was white and preached at a predominately white church called the Church of Jesus Christ -Christian, a church affilated with the Aryan-Nation movement. Now imagine if one of the candidates for the presidency of the United States attend this church for 20+ years and contributed money to it. How fast do you think it would take for Obama, the NAACP and the rest of the Reverend Wright apoligists to denounce the church and the presidential candidate? Less than a femto-second, I would imagine.

It can be easily seen that those would what to give a pass to Obama and the Reverend Wright, would fall all over themselves to denounce any white candidate for president if he was in the same situation. This is called being a liberal, but is is also known as hypocrisy, which is a normal way of life for liberals.

A nice name for Obama's foreign policy

2008-05-18T08:07:00.003-06:00

The Great El-ahrairah wishes that he had thought of this name for Obama's foreign policy, but a columnist for the NewYork Post, Charles Hurt, beat me to it (hat tip to the The Corner at NRO). We have had the Monroe Doctrine and the Bush Doctrine, now behold the Obama Doctrine, "Hugs for Thugs".

Yes, Healer-in-Chief, Mr. Obama will invite all his friends from Iran, Syria, Norht Korea and Hamas over to his big, white house, put on his favorite sweater and talk about that evil BusHitler and his big bully Israel. I'm sure that after visiting Mr. Obama's Neighborhood, they will all go home much happier.

Going thru the telemetry

2008-05-17T18:33:00.003-06:00

I ran across this article about how scientists think they have found the reason why the Pioneer spacecraft are off course. Other than interesting from the normal, rocket scientist standpoint, it's interesting to me how they are using the telemetry coming back from the probes all these years to solve the problem. My job sometimes requires me to troubleshoot problems by looking at sets of telemetry data from different time periods. The challenge is to determine what telemetry data is important so that five months later, you have enough to solve a problem. I hate it when I have to look for a problem that is somewhat intermittent and I don't really have any data to use for troubleshooting. I remember one time that..... [Editor Note: To spare our non-technical readers, the Great El-ahrairah was stopped before he was about to go off into techie-dweeb never-neverland and talk about his experiences in computer nirvana.]

Anyway, I guess you have to be a techie-dweeb to really appreciate this article. Now, where is my pocket protector?

Yet another update to an update of an election post

2008-05-17T07:22:00.003-06:00

Way back before Super-Duper Tuesday in February, I post this on who I would be voting for. I wanted to comment on that before now, but I was busy, bored and/or basically lazy.

Anyway, after the dust settled on Super-Duper Tuesday, McCain pretty well cleaned everyone's clock, so after a few more primaries, Mitt Romney saw the writing on the wall and got out of the presidential race. I was hoping that he would do better, but it wasn't to be. After Romney got out, McCain was the winner by default, so now the question mark is who will be his vice presidential candidate. Over on the Democratic side, Obama and Hillary are fighting it out. It's looking like Obama will be the nominee, but Hillary is still in the race at this point.

Since there are three candidates still running for president, here is my analysis on who the Great El-ahrairah will be voting for.

Obama: I am ashamed to say that I actually considered voting for Obama when it looked like Mitt would loose the nomination for the Republicans. After I came to my senses and evaluated my decision, I came to the conclusion that I had to be on crack to vote for a looser like Obama. He is just another Socialist in Democratic clothing, his wife is a whining quota-queen and they are both black racists since they associate with other know black racists like Reverend Wright. If he was elected, expect another Jimmy Car-tah presidency with a healthy dash of reverse discrimination against whites thrown-in. Race relations in America will take a major step backwards.

Hillary: The more I see the Democratic cat-fight unfold, the more respect I have for Hillary. That isn't saying much, but at least, compared to Obama the Racist, she is much more experienced and down to earth. Of the two, Hillary is the better candidate. Unfortunately, I don't think she will be the nominee after the Democratic convention. Too bad. If the Republicans are destined to loose to a Democrat, I would rather it be Hillary than Racist Obama.

McCain: Although I admire McCain on his unwavering support for the military and the war against terrorism, there are things about him that make me cringe like his stance on illegal immigration and global warming. Mitt Romney got out of the race because he didn't want his continued candidacy to weaken the Republican nominee and become an advantage to the Democrats, thereby causing a Democrat to be elected president knowing that they would surrender to the terrorists and runaway from Iraq. I feel the same way, but I still have problems with McCain.

So there you have it. Three bad choices for president. For Republicans, it's the lesser of three evils, so I'll hold my nose and vote for McCain because I know he will continue to pursue and kill terrorists, but I'm not happy with what else I have to accept with a McCain presidency. I hope he picks a real conservative for his running mate (maybe Mitt) to balance out the wacky liberal ideas that he has.

A liberal democracy is when.......

2008-05-16T07:41:00.004-06:00

......four judges decide what 61% of Californians really want.

As a service for those Americans too ingrossed in the lives of Paris Hilton, Miley Cyrus or Britney Spears, The California Supreme Court struck down the California law that stated that marriage was only between a man and a woman. They used the state law which overturned a ban on interracial marriages as the basis for overturning the law. I don't see why that law should apply, but then I'm not a lawyer and/or judge who has much more experience ignoring common sense.

Hopefully, California can get this all sorted out before the problem causes issues for other states. We should change our bumper stickers from "Don't Californicate Utah" to "Don't Californicate the US of A".

I remember back in the 60's when everyone was scared of an earthquake causing California to fall into the ocean. Since the state was full of hippies and other weirdos, it wouldn't have been a big loss. Given what goes on there today, I still feel the same way.

Like stirring up an ant's nest

2008-05-15T18:20:00.003-06:00

From my previous post about Obama/Osama's whining about President Bush's remarks on appeasement of terrorists, now all the Defeaot-crats are complaining, which goes to show that the president hit a raw nerve. The Defeato-crats will slander the US military, try to withhold funding from the military in Iraq, criticize Israel for defending themselves from terrorists, meet or propose to meet with state sponsors of terrorism like Syria and Iran and even drop to their knees and fellate Hamas, but when someone points out the obvious, that they are essentially appeasing terrorists, they scream like stuck pigs. As the saying goes, "Thou protesteth too much".

Remember boy and girls, appeasement = democrats.

I guess the truth hurts, right Obama?

2008-05-15T08:00:00.004-06:00

Preisdent Bush was in Israel this week and while speaking to the Israeli Knesset, called negociating with terrorists the "false comfort of appeasement". Within 1 femto-second, Senator Osama, oops, Obama said that President Bush was falsely accusing him of appeasement. Unfortunately, President Bush wasn't talking about anyone in particular, but let's look at the facts. Obama has said that if elected president, he would negociate with Iran and other terrorist organizations, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any difference between what President Bush said and what he is all worked up about. Negociating with terrorists is appeasement, plain and simple. Just ask your friend, Kofi the Appeaser.

Like the saying goes, you can't make up stuff like this

2008-05-06T06:10:00.002-06:00

From the "Truth or Satire" Department, not content to stay in their Alpen homeland surrounded by the countless billions of dollars of the world's ill gotten gains, Switzerland has decided that not only do humans and animals have rights, but plants also. So, I guess when I was younger and didn't like to eat asperagus, broccoli, peas, cauliflower, etc, it wasn't because I didn't like the taste, it was because I was afraid to destroy the plants's "dignity" and I didn't want to violate their "plant rights". Like I said, you can't make this stuff up.

The FLDS Raids and the LDS Church

2008-04-20T10:59:00.004-06:00

Unless you are someone who's life revolves around the latest Britney Spears/Paris Hilton/Miley Cyrus paparazzi up-skirt moment, you probably have heard of the FLDS raid in Texas where over 400 children were removed from their parents and placed in state custody. As a member of the LDS Church and having lots of polygamist ancestors on my sainted mother's side, I look at this with a bit of interest.

In 1890, then president and prophet of the LDS Church, Wilford Woodruff issued the Manifesto ending the practice of polygamy in the LDS Church. At that time, the LDS Church was undergoing it's share of government-sponsored attacks on the practice of polygamy and President Woodruff, after being shown by the Lord how the LDS Church would cease to exist (it would have made the presecutions suffered during the early history of the church look like a Sunday picnic) if the LDS Church continued the practice, issued the Manifesto which stated that the LDS Church would no longer perform polygamist marriages. Those polygamist marriages which had been performed up to that time would not be affected, by no new polygamist marriages would be performed and the practice would die out with those marriages.

Fast forward to today. Comparing the FLDS and LDS churches, it is easy to what the practice of polygamy did to both churches. After the LDS Church ended the practice of polygamy, the state of Utah was organised in 1896 and the LDS Church has gone on to become a worldwide church and force for good. Many people's lives are blessed, both member and non-member, by the churches efforts in the world. The FLDS church, on the other hand, is still a small, regional church that shuns most contact with the outside world. Although it practiced polygamy, it was so small that it was easier to ignore the church than spend the time and money bothering them. However, it was only a matter of time before the government decided that something had to be done and we are witness to what happened in Texas.

At one time, what we would consider underage marriages were the norm. How many years ago this was, I'm not sure of, but from my family history, I am not aware of any marriages that were performed under the age of 18. The reason for this was that to be sealed in the temple, both the wife and the husband needed to be at least 18 years of age. If I'm mistaken about this, I'm sure the Cap'n will let me know. Unfortunately, for the FLDS church, societal norms changed and what was acceptable many years ago is now against the law.

If the LDS Church had continued the practice of polygamy, I am sure that the church would have either been completely destroyed or would have gone underground and left the United States by the early 1900's. However, as it has been often said, you can win the battle but still loose the war, this may turn into a Pyrrhic victory for the government. The anti-polygamy laws of the 1800's were ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court, but with today's emphasis on right to privacy and freedom of religion, this may turn out to work in the FLDS favor. I can see the Supreme Court upholding laws against underage marriages, but striking down all anti-polygamy laws as against the freedom of religion. The FLDS Church could still be polygamist but all they would have to do is not violate the underage marriage laws and with 16 being the age that minors can marry in most states, there would not be all that big of a change in the way that the FLDS Church does things. The only question would be: What would the LDS Church do then? Would it again start practicing polygamy? Only the Lord knows the answer to that.

The Return of Captain Holly's Hiking Blog, 2008 Edition

2008-04-17T20:29:00.010-06:00

After a long hiatus, the sleepy Warren is slowly stirring: Captain Holly's Hiking Blog is back for another summer of adventures in the Great Outdoors.

This year it starts at Arches National Park. That's me, standing under Delicate Arch, the unofficial symbol of the State of Utah.

I attended a conference in nearby Moab last week, and instead of paying about $75 a night for a hotel room, I opted to camp in Devil's Garden campground in the park for only $15 a night. Not bad, but you have to make reservations well in advance, as the campground fills up quickly during the spring season.

While the park is a desert area, it is a cold desert, meaning it gets snow. And it gets cold enough to freeze in April, as this picture clearly shows. The weather was cold and rainy during the first couple of days, but by the time the weekend came around it had cleared out and the temps were in the 70's.

There are several hiking trails in the park, none of which are very difficult other than some scrambling over slick sandstone. But usually as long as it's dry there isn't a problem. And the red Entrada sandstone formations are spectacular.

This is Landscape Arch on the Devil's Garden trail. It's in the terminal stages of arch-hood, as in 1991 a huge chunk fell from it and as you can tell, it's getting quite thin on one end. Another such loss and it might be gone for good.

The area has long been inhabited by humans; some Utes left these pictographs a couple of hundred years ago.

Overall, it was a great trip. I was able to hike almost all the trails. I hadn't done much hiking in red rock country before this, but I think I'll spend more time here.

If you go, the best times are in the spring and the fall before Memorial Day and after Labor Day. Winters are very cold -- trust me on this -- and summers are just too hot to enjoy. But there will be much smaller crowds.

Althought I'll be watching the Miss America Pagent..... (now with Update!)

2008-01-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

..... never fear, I haven't come out of the closet. As I blogged back in July 2007, Utah's entrant to the pagent is a member of the Utah National Guard, ergo, being a proud son of the great State of Utah, I want to see if she wins does all Utahns and members of the armed forces proud. She has already made history by being the first combat veteran in the pagent, so winning would make even more history.

However, if the Cap'n is reading this, rest assured, I'll switch channels to something more "manly" as soon as she is cut from the competition.

Update: Well, Miss Utah made the final 16, but didn't win. The winner was Miss Michigan who overcame anorexia and wants to perform on Broadway won. The judges didn't select her in the final 15, but she was America's choice (which makes sense. America loves the military), so she got in that way. Although Miss Utah runs marathons, she decided to wear a one-piece swimsuit and I think that is why she didn't make the final 10. Or it could be that the judges think that singing opera and overcoming eating disorders is more important than defending the country.

When she was eliminated, she dropped and did some push ups (followed by the rest of the contestants) and then walked off the stage. I wonder if that has made it as a YouTube video yet? Anyway, after she was eliminated, there was no other reason to watch (how many times can you watch beauty pagent contestants talke about how they want "world peace"?) and I changed the channel.

I'm glad that Canada is our ally......

2008-01-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

....if not, I don't know what we would do with such a "world power" on our border. Canada has removed the US and Israel from its terrorist watch list. Thank heavens for little miracles because you don't want to piss off the Canadians. They might just run to the UN Security Council and then the US would be screwed.

Update to another election post

2008-01-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

Way back at the end of July, 2007, I post this about why I would be voting for Mitt Romney. Fast forward to today, and I have decided to update my previous post.

Everything that posted before still applies except Thompson decided to actually run for office. However, he hasn't caught on like I thought he would and Huckabee has come out fo nowhere to challenge for the nomination. Since my thoughts about Giuliani and McCain haven't changed, I'll address only Thompson and Huckabee.

Thompson: Previously, I wasn't inclined to vote for Thompson because I really didn't know anything about him. Since July, I have learned more about him and I still am not inclined to vote for him. However, he would be my second choice since he is more conservative than anyone else who would be left.

Huckabee: Well, I am not inclined to vote for him due to the fact that he is 1) just another evangelical who says he only wants to "save" mormons but would rather they "burn in hell" and 2) just another corrupt politician from Hope, Arkansas.

So, I'm still voting for Mitt Romney. He's leading in the GOP delegate count right now and could go all the way. After Super Tuesday, things will be a bit clearer (we hope).

Yet another reason to not take the UN seriously

2008-01-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

Yet again, the UN has shown why it should be disbanded: George Clooney has been selected as "UN peace envoy". 'Nuff said.

Gratuitious War Porn

2007-11-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

The Great El-ahrairah just got back from a northern suburb of Tijuana, Mexico otherwise known as San Diego, California. While I was there, I was able to go to one of the better military museums that I have ever seen. The US aircraft carrier Midway has been restored as a floating museum and is open to the public. For the paltry sum of $7 for four hours of parking and $15 for admission, I was able to spend three and hours wandering thru the ship, feeding my addiciton to "war porn".

The visit to the ship includes a self-guided audio tour so you can actually see what life was like on-board. The first thing that struck me was juts how small the areas below deck are. I've been on-board ship a few times, but I don't remember the spaces being so small ('cept the heads).

I had to stoop down constantly and since I'm as talk as my sainted father was at 22 years old, I have new-found respect for him wanting to be in the US Navy and put up with living like this on-board ship. There are also many displays of Navy aircraft (no whussy Air Force stuff here) and since this is an aircraft carrier, the flying prowess of naval aviators is recounted and the difficulty of carrier landings explained. Air Force pilots might be good, for naval aviators, they are only the Navy's rejects.

Anyone who happens to visit San Diego should take the time to visit the Midway. I'm sure they will be glad they did (unless they are some kind of anti-military idiot) and will come away with a profound appreciation of the United States Navy (which is funny coming out of a former-Marine's mouth).

Toys for the war-mongering dictator in all of us

2007-11-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

Over at the Corner, there is a link to a Lego toy competitor which shows who really knows what little boys like. Go to the webpage and click on the Army-Desert link on the right-hand side. Next, click on the picture, fourth from the top on the left. What do you have? A SCUD missile and launcher in all it's LEGO-ish glory. The caption states that "the set will build one large ballistic missile launch vehicle with ballistic missile. Featuring: two fully accessible driver cabs, side access doors, retractable launch pad with stabilizing legs, one support personnel jeep, five soldiers in full camoflage uniforms, decals/transfers and scale weapons." And it's just in time for Christmas.

What I like is the smile on the face of the kid playing with the toy. He's probably thinking about how he will launch an pre-emptive strike on Barbie's Beach House before Barbie signs a mutual defense pact with G.I. Joe.

Doing with less and getting more

2007-10-30T20:00:00.001-06:00

The Great El-ahrairah is back after a two-month absence from blogging due to just being too busy to do anything about it. Hopefully, I'll be able to not drift off like that again, but we shall see.

Anyway, I ran accross this item in the news yesterday about "dropout factories", high schools where less that 60% of the students who start as freshmen actually make it to their senior year. What caught my eye was that the Great State of Utah does not have one high school which could be considered a "dropout factory". The reasons given by the author are that there is little poverty in the state (true) and fewer minorities than most states (I not too sure about this statistic), these being two reasons for students to drop out of high school. However, I feel that the main reason that Utah doesn't have high dropout rates is the influence of the LDS Church. Members of the church are taught that the glory of god is intelligence and since more than half of the residents of the state are members of the LDS Church, being a high school dropout is looked down upon by most of the population. In fact, when I was in high school, if you weren't planning on going to college or joining the military after high school, you were seen as a looser.

This is rather interesting for another reason. The UEA/NEA/teacher's union in the state is always whining and moaning about how Utah ranks last or almost last (usually ahead of Mississippi) when it comes to per student funding for education. However, this never seems to translate into lower SAT scores, etc., but they still do their annual "It's for the children so throw money our way" song-and-dance when the legislature is in session. This little tidbit of information should be sent to the UEA with a big congradulations on a job well done and since you can achieve results like this on what we are already spending on schools, you obviously don't need anymore money other than a pay raise for inflation.

Hikeblogging: Santaquin Peak, Uinta National Forest, August 25, 2007.

2007-08-27T22:04:00.000-06:00

After my unexpected adventures in mountaineering on Twin Peaks last month, I was looking for a hike this month that would be more pleasant and less taxing. Specifically, I wanted a hike that would give me a good workout (~10 miles round trip) and allow me to bag a decent peak (>10,000 feet elevation) but that wasn't too steep (less than 1,000 feet elevation gain per mile distance) or too far away (<60 miles) and had a decent trail going all the way to the top.

After consulting my hiking guides, I found that Santaquin Peak filled the bill perfectly.

The trail begins up Payson Canyon at the Loafer Mountain trailhead. The trail itself is quite well-maintained and easy to follow, but there are a couple of intersections and if you take the wrong turn you'll end up somewhere else. Follow Forest Service trail 098 all the way up.

As you go up the long ridge of Loafer Mountain you can see the Payson Lakes in the basin below. David Day of Utah Trails recommends doing this hike in the fall, and I can see why: There's alot of aspen and maple trees in the forest here.

Off in the distance is the imposing Mount Nebo, the highest point in the Wasatch Mountains, and a peak that is on my list for next year. I would have climbed it this year, but I didn't have the time to the recommended two-day backpacking trip.

Up on top there's a mailbox containing a notebook for peakbaggers to sign, along with some emergency supplies. Thanks to anyone who came here after reading my entry.

You have a great view of Utah Valley from on top, almost as good as the one on Timpanogos with only a fraction of the crowds. I only ran into about 20 hikers all day, and half of those were from a single ambitious Boy Scout troop from the town of Woodland who were going to descend the front face of the mountain to get home. I wonder if they made it.

The top is covered with interesting rocks made of sandstone or mudstone with layers of halite (mineralized salt) sandwiched in between. Apparently this mountaintop was a flat shallow sea basin during the Paleozoic Era that repeatedly dried out and then flooded, leaving the salt from the previous evaporations.

Overall, this hike was everything I hoped it would be. It was steep coming down in some spots, and I got a couple of small blisters and a mild sunburn, but I wouldn't mind hiking this mountain again some future autumn.

And These Idiots What to Be President

2007-08-03T23:03:00.000-06:00

This week has shown us just what lightweights some of the candidates for president actually are. First Obama told us that he would invade Pakistan and he would never use nuk-lur weapons when going after terrorists, then Hillary got in the act and did a 180 on Obama's "no use nuke" policy and said that she would not rule out the use of nuke when going after terrorists. Finally, Rep. Tom Tancredo said that we should nuke Mecca and Medina to deter terrorist attacks. All this saber-rattling produced a quick rebuke from the State Department telling the candidates to "shut up" (I think is was more along the lines of "STFU!").

Although bombing Mecca and Medina would be a great Rambo-esque fantasy to get back at the terrorists, it would really piss off the Muslim world. If you think that Muslims hate the United States now, just think what would happen if the US was actually dumb enough to do that. It would rank up there as the biggest foreign-policy blunder in the history of the world as we would succeed in turning all Muslims against the United States. If you think that the daily death toll from suicide bombings in Iraq is bad, multiply that by one thousand-fold as any Muslim would deem it his responsiblilty to kill any and all Americans to avenge the destruction of the two most holy sites in Islam. The total stupidity of actually suggesting this just shows what mental lightweights some people are. And the Defeato-crats think Bush is stupid.

Bombing Mecca and Medina is not something that the US would ever contemplate, BUT, it is something that Israel could conceivably consider. Israel remembers all too well the Holocaust and the various threats that have been proffered against it over the years by Iran, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc. As I have often said, if a nuke ever goes in Israel, you can kiss Mecca, Medina, Riyahd, Terehan and Damascas good-bye. Bombing Mecca and Medina is a desperation move, something akin to "firing the FPF and calling in artillery on your position because the enemy is coming thru the wire" because you have nothing to loose. If Israel decided that the Arabs were "coming thru the wire", that would mean that Holocaust Part 2 is about to begin, so you might as well use your nukes before you loose the ability ("use 'em or loose 'em") and take as many Arabs with you as you can. For this reason, it's probably in the best interest of the Middle East to not piss Israel off. If not, say hello to "nuk-lur holocaust".

Hikeblogging: Twin Peaks, Wasatch-Cache National Forest

2007-07-29T21:58:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I did what turned out to be the most difficult hike I've ever tried (outside of the Marines): Twin Peaks in the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City.

The lower portion of the trail is relatively easy and winds through the forest until you reach the main basin. From here you can see your goal. I originally wanted to climb Dromedary Peak (far left) but after seeing how steep it was on the sides I decided to try Twin Peaks (second from right).

The trail soon disappears and you hike through meadows and open spaces of loose rocks. From this picture it looks as if Twin Peaks is not that far away, but even though it's only about another 3/4 miles you still have about 1,500 feet of elevation to climb, as I would soon find out.

I finally made it to the top after slowly climbing up the steep rock face. In the distance to the south you can see Mount Timpanogos. This view is from East Twin, at 11,330 feet. West Twin, just another quarter mile to the west of this point is 11,328 feet. I was too tired to try and bag both in one day.

After consulting my topo map, I determined that descending the north face of the mountain would be just as difficult as going back down the way I came up on the south face. Besides, there appeared to be a decent trail leading down from the top. I followed it, and found out it wasn't a human trail, it was a game trail. One used by mountain goats, like the two in the center of this picture.

I began to realize that mountain goats tend to live in places that humans can't easily get to. Sure enough, as I continued my descent I noticed that the ridgeline down into the canyon was made up of bare, potentially slick outcrops of shale, with stair-like miniature cliffs about 10-20 high. In other words, I was trapped unless I found a route down. I eventually found a very steep couloir and I carefully picked my way down, almost causing a rockslide once or twice and losing my jacket in the process. But I finally made it down and lived to blog about it.

In consulting my copy of Veranth's Hiking the Wasatch I found out later that I had descended by a route known as the Robinson Variation, meaning that some guy named Robinson was crazy enough to go up that way. As for me, I'm proud I made it to the top, but I'm not going to try that hike again for a while.

Why the Great El-ahrairah will be voting for Mitt Romney.

2007-07-29T21:20:00.000-06:00

Continuing his series of voting preferences, the Great El-ahrairah will give his reasons for why he will be voting for Mitt Romney (and besides, there is enough coverage of Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan and Britney Spears elsewhere on the Internet).

As of today, there are three main declared GOP candidates for president (Romney, Guiliani and McCain) with one semi-declared candidate (Thompson). The rest of the GOP field is also-rans and the best that they could hope for is being selected for vice-president, and as such, I will basically ignore them.

Guiliani. I like Giuliani’s stances on terrorism and the War in Iraq (he also has that cool Italian name), but I don’t feel that someone who has whose highest elected office was the mayor of New York City has the experience to run the country. I also do not like his stance on abortion or gay marriage, so at this time, I will not be voting for Guiliani.

McCain. I like McCain’s stance on the War in Iraq, the military and terrorism, but his support for the immigration amnesty bill really pissed me off. I think McCain has been in Washington much too long and he needs to retire. McCain’s campaign is pretty well finished, so apparently I’m not the only one who feels this way. It’s too bad since I wanted McCain to get the nomination in 200o instead of President Bush.

Thompson. I kind of like Thompson’s rough personality, but I’m not too sure what he completely stands for at this time. I’m going to assume basic conservative values, but the specifics are unknown. About the only thing I know about him is that 1) he was on Law and Order and 2) he has a younger trophy wife. Since he is still in “exploratory” mode to decide to run or not, this should probably change in the future. However, at this time, I not inclined to vote for Thompson.

Romney. As many readers of the Warren know, I am a member of the LDS Church, the same as Mitt Romney. Some readers of the Warren may think that I will vote for Mitt Romney just because we are members of the same church. Although that is important to me, it is not the complete reason. As an example, Brother “Dirty” Harry Reid is also a member of the LDS Church, BUT I would never vote for him. He is a poor excuse for an American, he is too quick to surrender to terrorists and I feel that how he lives his professional life reflects badly on the LDS Church.

Mitt Romney has said that the campaign of anyone who runs for president needs to be based on the three conservative principles of military strength, financial strength and family strength. Military strength is what keeps America free and we should not be afraid to use our military to destroy all threats to our security. Financial strength keeps our taxes low and employment up. Family strength stands up against those things that destroy our families such as gay marriage, abortion, etc. As far as I’m concerned, Mitt Romney supports those things that I think are important, so he has my vote.

Although Mitt has my vote at this time, I cannot say what will happen in the future. Maybe Mitt will fade and Thompson will rise or McCain will get his head out and start running a decent campaign or Guiliani will repudiate his stance on abortion. The next six months will be interesting to watch.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt

2007-07-24T04:54:00.000-06:00

Having lived in Italy for a number of years, I can attest to how bad Italians drive. Apparently, the Italian government now has decided that, maybe, enough is enough.

As I often pointed out when driving in Italy, there are no traffic laws, only suggestions. Speed limits are for sissies, the police are a joke and nobody thinks twice about passing other cars in anyway they can. While I lived in Catania, I used to have to drive more than an hour both ways to get to work along two-lane roads. I used to describe my commute as driving in a NASCAR race/demolition derby while you passed other cars at 160 kms/hour (100 miles/hour) with another car riding your bumper. In all the places in Europe where I lived, Italy had the worse drivers.

However, I liked driving in Italy since I used to drive turbo-diesel powered, manual transmission, two-door cars. Sticking a turbo-diesel in a small car (think Fiat or Opel) with a manual transmission makes the car fly (or at least 160 kms/hour). When I got back to the US, I had a real hard time at first to try and not drive like an Italian. I have pretty well gotten back in the US way of driving, but every once in a while, I forget where I am and drive like my name is Giovanni and I'm yelling at the driver next to me, "Tu sei un cornuto! Vaffanculo!"

Rodeo and Utah

2007-07-23T01:20:00.000-06:00

This weekend was the start of the Days of 47 celebration in Utah. This includes a number of festivities including the Days of 47 Rodeo (Ed Note: The proper pronunciation is roh-day-oh, not roh-dee-oh. Think how John Wayne pronounced it in "The Man from Utah").

My sainted Italian, straight-off-the-boat wife had expressed her opinion to me before that she wanted to see a rodeo, so I took her, the married daughter and her husband to the Days of 47 Rodeo and in proper Utahese, a good time was had by all. She especially like the bull-riding and bronco riding events, but she really didn't care for the calf roping. I'm kind of sentimentalm but my favorite part is the singing of the US National Anthem. I'm one of those who will sing along with the singer, no matter how bad they mess up the melody. I guess it comes from the fact that the LDS Church hymnal includes the US National Anthem and is sung during church (Oh no! Where's the separation of church and state!). In fact, one of my most enduring images is the Cap'n and I being the only people in the stands singing the US National Anthem at a Quebec Nordiques hockey game in Canada during the 80's (after which we both sang the Canadian National Anthem in French). By I digress, where was I? Oh yeah, rodeo.

I was rather surprised at an article in Pravda Utah which tells how popular rodeo is in the State of Utah. After thinking about it a bit, I can see why. Since Utah is one of the more patriotic states in the Union and where serving in the military is not looked down upon (our Miss Utah serves in the National Guard), I can see why a sport that celebrates the United States, the US military, patriotism and the cowboy lifestyle is so popular.

D-Day for Mitt Romney

2007-07-22T23:07:00.000-06:00

It looks like Mitt Romney has decided that the best way to get the Republican nomination is not to attack fellow Republicans, but to attack the Democrats. This makes sense since the Republican nominee will ultimately have to defeat the Democratic nominee (which looks to be Hillary). Unfortunately, the headline, "Romney continues assault on Democrats", sound like he is waging a war against them (which you could say is true).

I also discovered this website thru the Corner. It's called My Man Mitt and the author of the site asks a very pointed question about what teaching of the LDS Church should disqualify Mitt Romney from being president. Check out the comments (51 at last count) for responses to the question.

A member of the White Flag Surrender Caucus visits Utah

2007-07-16T01:57:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately, Utah is not completely immune from the idiots of the White Flag Surrender Caucus and one of the founding members, Conneticutt Senator and presidential hopefull, Christopher Dodd, was in town for a visit. Like Brother Reid, he believes that the best way to defeat terrorists is quickly surrender and then bury your head in the sand hope that they leave you alone. Too bad he isn't like another senator from Conneticutt, Joe Libermann, who acutally knows what the threat is to the US and refuses to surrender to terrorists. I would have probably gone and listened to that Connecticutt senator speak.

Attack of the killer robots

2007-07-16T01:38:00.000-06:00

Although this might sound like the title of a "B" movie schock-fest, it's not. The US Air Force is sending a squadron of MQ-9 Reaper aerial drones to Afghanistan and eventually Iraq.

The MQ-9 Reaper (or Predator "B") is the follow on to the highly successful MQ-1 Predator, but can fly higher, fly faster and carry a much larger payload. The Predator can carry 2 Hellfire missles, but the Reaper can carry up to 14 Hellfire missiles or four Hellfire missles and two 500 lbs bombs and do it for up to 14 hours. In fact, the US Air Force is thinking about replacing manned aircraft with missile-toting Reapers in the skies over Iraq, so all you terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, just stand by. Reaper has your number and just like the Grim Reaper, you will soon be meeting your maker.

Why the Great El-ahrairah won't be voting for Hillary Clinton

2007-07-04T20:12:00.000-06:00

A recent Mason-Dixon poll found that 52% of the American electorate would not vote for Hillary Clinton, no matter what. You can count the Great El-ahrairah among that 52% of Americans and here are my reasons why.

1) As David Geffen said (and I paraphrase) “All politicians lie, but the Clintons do is so easily that it is disturbing”. Having lived thru eight years of the lies of Bill Clinton, I really don’t want to repeat the exercise. (Notice to liberals: I don't want to hear any comments about the "lies" of Bush-Cheney. When you take responsiblilty and address those lies propagated by Mr. "I did not have sex with that woman" during his eight-years in office, then we will talk. Until then, pound sand.)

2) Everything she does has an ulterior motive. She just recently discussed how her faith got her thru the tough times during her marriage. That’s all well and good, but is this really true or is this just another example of the Clinton’s saying what they think their audience wants to here. Over at BlameBush!, Larry the Liberal gives a good example about how her newfound prefession of faith is only too convenient.

3) President Clinton’s “HillaryCare” universal healthcare fiasco of his first term. ‘Nuff said.

4) Gay marriage, embryonic research, immigration, tax increases, etc. Hillary is an unreformed lefty and will make sure that all these items are forced down our throats.

5) The Clinton Legacy. There are still many documents in the national archives which are very embarrassing to the Clinton’s about their response (or lack thereof) to the threat that Osama Bin Laden posed the United States during the 1990’s. With Hillary as president, they won’t need someone like Sandy “Slap on the Hands” Berger to smuggle potentially embarrassing classified documents out of the national archives to cover their butts. She'll be able to do it herself at her leisure.

6) Who will be really in charge? During 1992, when her husband was running for president, he bragged that if you voted for him, you got both of them (the famous “Vote for one, get two” quote). Electing Hillary as president could be a thinly-disguised attempt to circumvent the 2-presidential term limit amendment (Amendment 22) to the Constitution. Of course, this could be rather amusing if President Hillary does something that former President Bill does not approve of. Would he go on TV to criticize his wife? Knowing Bill Clinton, maybe.

7) If Hillary Clinton becomes the next president of the United States, it could be called The Revenge of the Woman Scorned. Any man who has gone thru divorce court proceedings (such as myself) can testify to the truthfulness of the phrase “Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned”. Thanks to Bill Clinton’s philandering ways, Hillary already has the world’s largest chip on her shoulder against men. This will probably manifest itself in her selection of cabinet posts (half of whom would probably be women). I wouldn’t be surprised if she selected a gay woman as Secretary of Defense just to stick it to the Y-chromosome population of the United States. In fact, if Hillary gets elected president, all men can just stand by. Hillary will embark on a 4-year anti-male jihad and will not rest until all traces of Y-chromosome are stamped out of the population. Think I’m exaggerating? What better way for her to get even with her philandering husband, emasculating the rest of the male population and then placing the blame on him. You can kiss the Bill Clinton legacy goodbye.

These are just seven reasons why I will never vote for Hillary Clinton. There are probably more, but these are the only ones that come to the top of head right now.

The article also states that 46% of Americans would never vote for Mitt Romney. That may be well and good, but hopefully, Hillary’s 52% and Mitt’s 46% are not the same group of voters. If that is the case, you can say hello to President Romney.

Miss Utah

2007-07-03T04:28:00.000-06:00

The Great State of Utah has just crowned Miss Utah. Normally, this information will make me yawn and flip the channel, but this year is different. and what is unusual about her is that she is a medic in the Utah National Guard and has already served a combat tour in Afghanistan. She will represent Utah in the Miss America pagent next year, and instead of being just another airhead, at least she has some "real-world" experience under her belt. Of course, she won't win because she is 1) from a God-fearing, conservative state ,2) she could actually intelligently talk about any subject during the Interview portion of the pagent ("....and world peace.") and 3) she is a part of the whole, BusHitlerCheneyHaliburton military-industrial conplex that oppresses women, children, gays, lesbians, transgenders, minorities and everyone else on this planet (did I leave anyone out?).

The Return of Captain Holly and his Hiking Blog: Bull Mountain, Sawtooth National Forest

2007-07-02T23:11:00.000-06:00

I've been terribly busy these past few months, and it's been difficult for me to indulge in my one of my favorite pastimes: Hiking. I finally was able to stop by a secret corner of Utah on my way back from family business in Idaho, the Raft River mountains just south of the Idaho border in the Sawtooth National Forest.

Bull Mountain is on the list of many local peakbaggers because it is the highest point in Box Elder county and many hikers make it their goal to "bag" to the highest peak in each county in Utah. The place has everything Captain Holly loves: a nice fishing stream, good campsites, beautiful topography, and very few people. The area is quite isolated and so far not many people care to go there. I was able to camp in a Forest Service campsite that was not even full on a Friday night in late June.

The stream is full of catchable rainbow, brown and brook trout, with some even getting to be about 10-12 inches long. I ended up keeping a nice brown trout for dinner.

Up on top you can see the canyon with its heavy timber. I actually hiked to the top while hunting here back in the 1980's, but as I was looking for deer and not the summit I didn't actually "bag" the peak.

In fact, it's not much like a mountain up on top. It's just flat meadows, full of wildflowers. Quite beautiful if you get there in the right season.

The actual "summit" is little more than a high spot in the meadow. Under this pile of rocks was a jar with a notebook in it for peakbaggers to sign, but since it was covered with bird crap (I guess eagles or hawks like sitting on it) I wasn't going to dig it out and sign it.

Overall, not a bad hike. It's only about 9 miles round trip, and the solitude and camping are worth it. It would have been even better if I had known there was an ATV trail that actually went up to nearly the top, as I ended up brush-busting for the first mile or so. Plus, I'm out of shape and I forgot to take my heart meds and was really having a hard time for the last half-mile. But I made it, and so I can mark this one off my list.

Hit it out of the park, he did!

2007-07-02T22:49:00.000-06:00

My son took the ACT about a month ago. Earlier this year we bought a Barron's study guide for him to prepare with, since it definitely helped me when I took the GRE. He didn't do too well on the first practice test -- scoring only a 21 composite -- but he raised his scores after studying each individual section. Still, we were just hoping for him to get a good enough score on the real test to be able to enroll in my Alma Mater without any hassle.

(Explanation: Even though he is doing well taking home study courses from BYU Independent Study, there still is a heavy pro-Publik Skool bias when it comes to admitting homeschooled students. Weber State, for example, will take a graduate of the Socialized Education System with just a composite score of 18; a homeschooler needs a 24 to get in. For some reason, a Publik Skooler with an 18 is somehow smarter and better prepared for college than a homeschooler with a higher score, even though they took the same test. Go figure.)

When I looked through the book I was surprised at how difficult the questions were; they seemed like the stuff I saw in the GRE. Well, I guess I was right, because he not only got high enough scores for Weber, he beat his Old Man. We got the same composite scores (26), but he got a 31 on his reading and a 24 on his math sections, much better than I did. His worst score was 22 in the English section, but that was due to the fact he ran out of time and didn't answer 7 questions (roughly 10% of the total). Had he scored what he did on the pre-test he would have gotten a composite of about 27 or 28.

So yeah, we're proud of him here. Plus now he qualifies for a good student discount on his auto insurance (another product of Publik Skool bias, since they don't count his BYU course grades).

A foreshadowing of things to come?

2007-07-02T22:30:00.000-06:00

In news of total guv-mint stupidity, the State Department announced today that the previous announcement of employment visa numbers being available July 1 for all skilled people seeking employer-sponsored green cards was false. Unfortunately, the announcement was not issued until Monday, July 2nd, so all those foreigners who thought they would be applying for work visas today will have to wait until 1 October. The change is due to Citizenship and Immigration Services trying to reduce the backlog of applications that are hand at this time. So if you spent money for lawyers and plane tickets, etc., the State Department has only the following to say: "Oopsie! Our bad!

This wouldn't be that much of a problem except for the fact that during the immigration debate, it was pointed out that CIS is already swamped with a backlog of 60,000 applications and adding 12 million new Z-visa applications would cause the system to grind to a complete halt (no it's not quite there yet). So, in typical guv-mint fashion, people who do the right thing are penalized. If the immigration bill had passed, we would have been treated to the spectacle of the State Department telling current green-card holders that they would have to leave the country and re-apply since CIS would have to make room for 12-million illegal aliens applying for green cards. Don't think it wouldn't happen because only an idiot would do such a thing? Looking back on other guv-mint run fiascos, don't be too sure.

In related immigration news, the illegal alien spouse of a soldier missing in Iraq has been given a green card. She entered the country illegally in 2001, was married to her husband in 2004 and was supposed to be deported, but apparently thanks to the intervention of Senator John Kerry, the deportation proceedings were halted and she was awarded permanent residency papers.

I have mixed emotions on this. On one hand, I'm glad that the guv-mint overlooked the letter of the law and awarded her premanent residency status, but on the other hand, she still entered the country illegally and if you make an exception for one person, you will have to make an exception for all. At least Senator John Kerry did something worthwhile for once in his life. I just hope he was motivated to do the right thing and not for some other reason.

The right thing to do......

2007-07-02T19:42:00.000-06:00

......even if it was too late. President Bush decided to commute Scooter Libby's sentence for his "involvement" in the Valerie Palme affair (of which his "involvement" was nil). This was the correct thing to do, even if he should have gone farther and completely pardoned him. As everyone knows, Scooter Libby was not the person who leaked Valerie Palme's name to Robert Novak. It was Robert Armitage, but since prosecuting the guilty would not have brought down the Bush presidency, Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald decided that playing politics was more important than actually upholding the law and Scooter Libby became the fall guy.

As usual, the Democrats are all throwing a major hissy-fit, but also as usual, they conveniently change the subject when they are pressed about President Clinton's fire sale on presidential pardons of known terrorists and other unsavory types when he left office.

If we have learned something from this episode, it's this. If a special prosecutor comes knocking at your door, asking you to testify about your involvement in the congressional "fishing expedition" du jour, the best course of action will be to get yourself a lawyer and immediately take the 5th. You will save yourself much heartache and money in the long run.

Well, that was quick.

2007-06-28T23:24:00.000-06:00

Way back in January, I blogged about the kerfuffle on the Grey's Anatomy set. Cliff Notes version: One of the cast members (an African-American) insulted another cast member (a homosexual-American) by using an anti-gay epithet and was forced to go to "re-education camp". At the time I mused about when the African-American actor would start screaming racism since he's the only African-American on the cast and everyone else are white.

Fast forward to today, and we find out a that he has been fired from the cast of Grey's Anatomy, but instead of going away quietly, he has charged that his firing was the result of *GASP!* racism. You go guy!

He charges that he was let go because he didn't act like a "submissive" black at work:

"Well, it didn't help me on the set that I was a black man who wasn't a mush-mouth Negro walking around with his head in his hands all the time. I didn't speak like I'd just left the plantation and that can be a problem for people sometime," he said.
"I had a person in human resources tell me after this thing played out that `some people' were afraid of me around the studio. I asked her why, because I'm a 6-foot-1, black man with dark skin and who doesn't go around saying `Yessah, massa sir' and `No sir, massa' to everyone?

Yeah! Nothing like Hollywood liberals being called racist! I can hardly wait for the blood-letting of watching Hollywood liberals decide who is the more aggrieved minority, gays or blacks. Where's my popcorn?

At least the German MOD has some taste

2007-06-25T21:00:00.000-06:00

Kudos to the German Ministry of Defense for this slap in the face of Tom Cruise. Mr. Cruise has been cast in a film about Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the man who tried unsuccessfully to kill Adolph Hitler with a briefcase bomb in 1944. The German MOD has refused to allow the film makers to film on German military sites "..if Count Stauffenberg is played by Tom Cruise, who has publicly professed to being a member of the Scientology cult. In general, the Bundeswehr (German military) has a special interest in the serious and authentic portrayal of the events of July 20, 1944 and Stauffenberg's person..". Given Tom Cruises' body of film work, a "serious and authentic portrayal of events" is far from what one would describe his movies. The German government also considers the Church of Scientology (of which Tom Cruise is a member) as an organization which "masquerades as a religion to make money". Ouch!

Until this story broke, I did not know that Tom Cruise was involved in a film about Claus von Stauffenberg, but you can be guaranteed that the film will cheapen the story and take many "Hollywood shortcuts" in order to make the film another "Tom Cruise Summer Blockbuster Wannabee". Star Wars would probably contain more truth about Hitler than this film. Hopefully, Tom Cruise will leave the film and an actor more "serious" (maybe even, dare I suggest, a German) will found who will treat the subject with the respect it deserves.

Another terrorist appeaser opens his pie hole

2007-06-19T22:07:00.000-06:00

Ex-president Jiimmah Cartah, well-known boot-licker of terrorists, has decided to open his pie hole and prove yet again that he should keep it shut. As usual for one of the leaders of the "Blame America" crowd, he blames the US for, wait for it, the recent victory in Gaza by Hamas and their split with Fatah. Of course he blames the US. He has to find some reason to excuse Hamas for their ineptitude when it comes to running a country, and besides, he never met a murderous terrorist who he didn't want to have illicit sexual relations with.

As has been said many times, "It is always better to keep your month shut and let people think you are an idiot than to open it and and remove all doubt." Unfortunately, for the Nobel Booby Prise Weiner, that point in time has long past and he is just making it more apparent to everyone (except for the true-believer, far-left wackos who think that the earth had achieved nirvana during his administration and continue to lick his boots) that not only is he a terrorist supporter, but he is also mentally unstable. As was so sustinctly said earlier this year by the Bush White House, ex-president Cartah has become more and more irrevelant to national politics and he should keep his pie-hole shut.

I have found my new desktop background

2007-06-18T20:27:00.000-06:00

I saw this over at Blackfive and seeing how I'm such a big fan of Prime Minister, er, Senate Majority Leader Brother "Dirty Harry" Reid, I thought I would this photo that I "requisitioned" from Blackfive. It is now my desktop background so that I be reminded everyday what the word "incompetence" actually means.

Lights Out in London?

2007-06-12T22:56:00.000-06:00

I'm finally back from my guvmint-imposed hiatus (no time to blog). I don't know how long this will last due to my constant criss-crossing the world supporting the Global War on Terror (or GWOT). Anyway, I just ran into this at Planet Gore at National Review Online's Corner. Apparently, some radio station is trying to enlist Londoners to turn off all lights and other non-essential electrical applicances between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM on the 21st of June. That's all well and good, except the 21st of June is the longest day of the year and the sun goes down in London around 9:20 PM. Wow! What a sacrifice! Next they'll ask all Londoners to turn off their lights between 3:00 AM and 4:00 AM the next day to combat global warming.

The name of their campaign, Lights Out in London, sounded kind of familiar, so using Al Gore's invention, I looked it up. Sure enough, I was right. Lights Out in London is the name of a song by the 80's heavy metal group, UFO. I'm sure the Cap'n remembers them since we saw them in concert as the warm up group for another 80's heavy metal band (I don't remember which one), but I used to have a t-shirt from their concert that I wore long and proud during my annaul summer vacation trip to Europe.

Yet again, using Al Gore's invention, I poked around a bit and found a video for Lights Out in London on YouTube and it couldn't be more apropos. Someone made a video of the Power Rangers fighting Goldar and Scorpina (no, I'm not a Power Rangers nerd. It was part of the video description) to the music of Lights Out in London. Our intrepid hero, Ken Livingson, mayor of London as the Power Rangers, takes on the forces of global warming, Goldar and Scorpina. Will he vanquish them or will the forces of global warming succeed in blotting out the sun and draining the Livinator of his power? We can only keep our fingers crossed.

Ed note: After poking around yet some more on Al Gore's invention, the unamed heavy metal group that I saw with UFO was Blue Oyster Cult. Oh yeah! Give me that old time heavy metal!

Out-of-Office message

2007-05-15T21:56:00.000-06:00

Due to the recent death of our uncle and El-ahriarah's constant cris-crossing the globe in order to support the War on Terror, we've just been too busy to blog lately.

Not that anyone really noticed. But for me it's always nice to know if a blog is dead or just dormant for a while.

Compared to whom?

2007-04-24T00:07:00.000-06:00

Barack Obama said that President Bush falls short as a world leader. Since he has made such a blanket statement, I wonder just who is a good world leader according to him? President Bill Clinton? He was was too busy molesting the hired help to be bothered with what was going on in the world. President Jimmy Cah-tah? Three words: Iran Hostage Crisis and if that isn't enough, here's a fourth: Incompetent. Kofi Annan? If there was ever a man more corrupt in the world's most corrupt organization, it has to be him.

I have just thrown out three of the left's favorite "world leadears" and all three of them are a joke. If Obama wants to suggest any others, I'd would like to hear who he thinks a "world leader" actually is. From the examples that I have given, it's easy to see that the only world leaders in the last 30 years have been Republicans. All the Democrats have been total failures.

Arrogance, thy name is Harry Reid

2007-04-23T23:58:00.000-06:00

Prime Minister, oops, House Majority Speaker Harry Reid is on a roll now. After stating that tha Iraq war was lost, he now says that President Bush is in a state of denial about the Iraq war. Why does this seem like deja vu from say, 40 years ago? For those who were not alive then, we had Congress doing what they are trying to do here, micromanage the war in Vietnam. As I pointed out before, since the Democrats have always said that Iraq was another Vietnam, with them being in power, they are going to make sure that it comes to pass.

Thoughts on the Virginia Tech massacre

2007-04-17T22:00:00.000-06:00

There's been plenty said about yesterday's events, but for some reason I'm not terribly inclined to say much at this point. I think in a week or so, when more facts come out, things will appear much different than they do now.

As for the issue of gun control, I think it's obvious that the no guns policy the university was so proud of a year ago was a complete and abject failure. Now I don't know if having one or even several CCWs in the building would have prevented the shooting, but I do know it would have evened the odds significantly. As far as I'm concerned, given the choice between jumping out the fourth-story window and shooting back I know which one I'd choose.

So if Vice President Cheney is all that, what is Harry Reid?

2007-04-17T21:55:00.000-06:00

(Posted from an e-mail at El-ahrairah's request -- CH)

The latest brou-haha at BYU this year involves the selection of commencement speaker. This year, BYU has invited Vice President Dick Cheney to speak. This generated all kinds of criticism by left-leaning members of the church (yes, they do exist although the Great El-ahrairah thinks they are on the path to apostasy) and BYU decided to even allow these misguided souls to protest his visit (which shocked even me). The SL Tribune, not to be outdone in criticizing the LDS Church, decided to wade in with their two cents worth when one of their resident Mormon-haters, Rebecca Walsh, penned this blurb. Yet again, the Mormon-haters at the SL Tribune need to “get a life” as the very next day, BYU announced that Senate Majority Leader “Dirty” Harry Reid will be speaking there in November. The church’s official statement should be read as it gives a good spanking to the SL Tribune for jumping to conclusions before getting all the facts straight (in typical liberal fashion).

Since all newspapers, even those in Utah, are mostly liberal bastions of stupidity, the articles devotes more time airing liberal talking points from “concerned citizens”, and the Deseret News is no exception. However, every criticism that their “concerned citizen” levels at the vice president can also be thrown right back at “Dirty” Harry Reid, and at least the vice president is not advocating that the United State surrender to terrorists. Brother Reid on the other hand would rather that we should “cut and run” from Iraq and is only to happy to start the Defeato-cratic surrender party to people whose only aim in life it to destroy our freedom and free agency (you know, that eternal principle). Now the question for those who would criticize the Bush administration and vice president in particular is “Do you support stabbing our troops in the back and spitting on their graves a la Vietnam like Brother Reid? Yes or No answers only, no liberal nuance or equivocating.”

I do hope that when “Dirty” Harry comes to town, I can be in the state and take time off to protest his visit to BYU. In the same way that liberals at BYU don’t want the vice president speaking there, I do not want Brother Reid to besmirch the reputation of BYU by even showing his cut-and-run, military-hating, terrorist-loving face there. If liberals want to protest to “speak truth to power”, I want to be there to “speak truth to idiocracy”.

Another example of how Mark Steyn (and the Warren) understand demographics

2007-04-17T21:51:00.000-06:00

(posted from an e-mail at El-ahrairah's request -- CH)

All readers of the Warren (how many are there?) will know that the Cap’n has posted before about birth rates and demographics. His last post illustrated just how much influence on the political process gays and liberals (who do not have children) will have 20 years down the line compared to him and his wife (four children).

Mark Steyn has used this to illustrate why Europe will become Eurarabia due to falling birth rates and as a quick example, here is a new item (http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/070403/world/egypt_population) from Yahoo! Canada about birth rates in Egypt. For those too lazy to read the news item, the headline sums it all up “Egyptian baby born every 23 seconds”. If Egyptian’s are having kids every 23 seconds, how fast do you think Muslims in Europe are having children? Europeans like to whine and moan about risible theories like global warming, but can’t see the train wreck of population demographics that will arrive 20 years in the future. Maybe they s hould change their tourist slogans to something along the lines of “Europe: Soon to be under new management”.

Gimme Dat New Age Religion!

2007-04-15T20:01:00.000-06:00

Downtown Salt Lake City was the scene of a big religious revival Saturday, with thousands listening to music, singing, chanting, and learning of The Gospel.

The Gospel according to Al Gore, that is.

Yep, over 3,000 adherents of the newest of the New Age religions -- Gaia worship -- gathered in SLC to spread the Good Word. This was held in conjunction with other revivals across the nation. The goal is to preach the Good Word of Climate Change and force (via Congressional fiat) that everyone obeys it. I mean, cutting your carbon emissions by 80% in 43 years is going to take alot of sacrifice (and you damn well better do it, heretic).

But what about all that CO2 that the event itself emitted? I mean, celebrities and rock groups don't walk to these events, you know. And they don't even ride in electric cars, either. All those stretch limos and private jets have big carbon footprints.

Never fear, o ye of little faith. Our public utility, Rocky Mountain Power, stepped in and provided some indulgences in the form of carbon credits to absolve the participants for their frivolous gas-guzzling. I'm not sure how RMP stopped the emission of 11 tons of carbon; I don't remember them shutting down their coal- or gas-fired plants during the event. But they said they did it, and that's enough for those who Truly Believe.

That's the beauty of the ~~indulgence~~ carbon credit system: All it takes is a little donation to the environmentally-friendly charity of your choice, and Gaia will forgive all.