Weapons of Mass Deception

I have been a part of many mailing lists over the years, from work-related announcement lists, to auto enthusiast lists, faith-based study and encouragement lists, politics, health, technology, even humor and recreational lists. I even ran some mailing lists as far back as the late 1980s.

Most of these lists have one thing in common, to inform the audience about a given topic and incite an action of some form, to get the reader up off the couch and moving in the "right" direction.

Many of the lists provide a considerable amount of fantastic, in-depth information assembled by people who are dedicated and enthusiastic about the topic at hand. But even the announcement-only lists have a world-view centered around the topic at hand. So the challenge handed to every reader is to consolidate all the relevant information and make wise, well-rounded, experience based decisions. No big deal, this is the beauty of focused conversation.

So I got a promotional email earlier today from one of my weekly lists. The list is about independent healthy living, so conversations are normally centered around healthy bug-resistant organic gardening and how to not be a basket case should the power or water go out or the local HEB run out of popcorn oil. The email contained a warning about the potential for an enormous radiation explosion within the sun which would inevitably cause a huge electromagnetic pulse and destroy a lot of the world's power transmission capabilities. Sure, it's blurring the boundary between science and science-fiction and there is a very, very remote possibility of something like that harming the infrastructure, but the thing that really caught my eye was the solution.

The author was recommending a solar-electric generator for his readers to become self-sufficient.

This is where my trivial experience in electronics and power generation / transmission stepped in with a "Hold it right there, pilgrim." I read and re-read the problem and solution statements to make sure I got the scenario and sure enough, the "solution" to a solar flare large enough to damage electronics and transformers all over the world is supposed to be a solar generator made up of electronics and transformers!

Even Mr. Magoo can see the problem, this enthusiast lists has transitioned into advocating on behalf of their sponsors instead of sharing objective and honest facts and solutions.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing inherently wrong with sponsored lists, sponsors help finance these lists and promote the sharing of valuable information.

The problem is when sponsors start defining the message that gets spread.

One major thing I learned in two years of high school journalism is the concept of objectivity, being able to report on something without injecting a personal bias which taints the story. The key phrase there is "taints the story". We all see and say things through a filter based on our own experience which naturally shows up in all of our communications. This is a very real challenge of objective journalism and honest communications, how to keep those personal real-life filters from corrupting the message we need to share.

I freely admit my own biases. It's foolish to deny that my upbringing, faith and desires determine how I think. If you've ready my "I Believe" blog, you'll know what I mean and where I come from.

What I Believe

I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. That He literally walked on this earth, that He died on the cross for our sins and rose again on the third day.

I believe that the United States of America is the last, best hope of earthly freedom for the human race, not because we are better than everyone else, but because we believe that freedom-derived opportunity is better for all people.

I believe that if people are allowed and encouraged to achieve, that they will achieve beyond their wildest dreams. I also believe that if people are constantly told "you can't do this without my help" that both parties will fail miserably and the human race suffers.

I believe that I am a better judge of my health needs than any government bureaucrat. I believe that my doctor is a better judge of my health needs than any government or insurance company bureaucrat. I also believe that it is solely my decision whether to inquire about or ignore any of my doctor's advice.

I believe that it is my decision alone how best to defend my own life or that of my family and friends in my care. I also believe that a refusal to make that decision leaves no right to comment on the outcome when someone else does.

I believe that if I want something my neighbor has, the only appropriate way to receive it is to work harder or longer to earn it.

I believe that failure is only temporary unless I fail to learn from it and forge on.

I believe that theft by government is still theft.

I believe that "sharing the wealth" can legitimately originate only from those who have the wealth to share.

I believe that greed by government is still greed.

I believe that any person who breaks their solemn oath to uphold, support, or defend the Constitution (of the US, State, County, or Town) should be immediately removed from office and disallowed from any future elected, appointed or hired position where an oath is required, and should lose all current and future benefits of the previously held position.

I believe that the right to free speech is about communications, not the sale of pornographic materials.

I believe that if the people who merely choose to live off government handouts were forced to work that we would have no problem with unemployment or welfare.

Why do I believe this? Because I was raised by devout Christian parents. My heroes are a full time mother who never expected the government to pay her for the role she still treasures, and a father who worked tirelessly so his family could have a better life than he experienced growing up.

A few memories which helped forge my beliefs:

As an 8 year old I was privileged to watch Dad graduate from the University of Oklahoma after seeing him work full time through the years of college and spend one weekend a month for his Air National Guard duties.

My Mom remains the world's best cook. From the daily snacks after school (peanut butter and brown sugar?) that she set out just before starting supper, to the shrimp gumbo in gallon buckets she sent back to college with me. Food was the binding agent for most of our family business since it was conducted almost exclusively around the kitchen table. Many experts are just now discovering what my parents understood and practiced decades ago.

I was blessed to attend my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary (and of my parents and parents-in-law).

Eww, that smell...

We drove by a little church building in Hankamer, Texas last year on a geocaching adventure. That drive-by inspired this article, not because of any special memories associated with the family that worshiped there or the facade on the front, but simply because of the smell I knew would be inside.

The cleaner and furniture polish they used on the wooden pews and wooden floor in the mid-1970s left a unique aroma after decades of buildup. It was neither unpleasant nor pleasant, but it was omnipresent. The building had a couple of classrooms in the back which we painted one Saturday afternoon and gagged on the paint fumes, but the single greatest thing I recall about that building is the smell of every Sunday evening's services. Maybe 25 people attended if we brought a couple of carloads from Baytown, the air conditioning was almost non-existent, the singing wasn't a draw but the preaching was pretty good, and I often unlocked the front door with a pocket knife because the key was miles away. I would probably not remember any of the other building memories except through that strong and unique scent.

How many times has a particular aroma brought up powerful components of a significant memory? Got time for a quick detour?

If you've ever had a noseful of airplane ventilation you know what I mean. That meld of plastic, leather, dirtyish carpet, stress, a tinge of burned jet fuel and spilled soft drinks is pretty unique to the airline experience. Does it remind you of that trip to Walt Disney World or Grandma's house for Christmas?

What about the stench of burned rubber and racing fuel found around racetracks? Just talking about it reminds me of a trip J.D. Walker, Guy Larson and I took to Buffalo Speedway in 1976.

The bouquet of Hoppe's #9 almost makes me feel the cold steel in my hands, and a whiff of consumed nitrocellulose will turn the head of most hoplophiles.

Good: electronics fresh from the plastic wrap. Bad: electronics after a catastrophic failure.

Chocolate. Coffee. Charcoal-grilled hamburger. Salmon. Garlic. Cinnamon. Fresh cookies, straight from the oven. Many of our instantly recognizable scents are reinforced through years of practice in or near the dining room. Bacon. Mmmmm bacon. Maple syrup. Bacon. Maple syrup. That's an easy loop to get stuck in.

Some smells are less pleasant, not by the smell itself but by the associated memories. The essence of isopropyl alcohol probably stirs memories of painful doctor-related events in most of us.

The fragrance of certain flowers reminds me of funeral homes, a perfume I like to avoid most days.

Skunk, 'nuff said.

Some smells can go either way: Wet dog. Springtime rain. Black earth. Manure. Diesel.

But because we're unique we don't all have the same scent-memory triggers. Some people probably associate the smell of Sterno with food warmers, I think of the Andromeda Strain, an obvious synapse-crossfire.

And then there's the memories of certain sounds, we'll discuss that at length some other time.

A Tribute to the Nation's Warriors

My heartfelt thanks to all of the nation's fighting men and women. I deeply appreciate your dedication to the safety of this country and our allies around the world.

John Stuart Mills once wrote "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance at being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

You, the Warrior class, are the "better men" Mills describes. I pray that you will forget that tiny minority who fail to value your sacrifice and remember only that "We the People" are in your court.

If You Don't Like The Weather...

I left work this evening a little before 6. The truck's thermometer usually reads a couple of degrees high after sitting in the parking lot all day and the 108 on the display was obviously a little above ambient. It was probably about 104.

I turned out onto Parmer Lane and could see more of the northeast hemisphere where the intensely sunny skies transitioned to dense, dark storm clouds. Within three minutes I had traveled no more than two miles from the office and the outside temperature had plummeted to 84 degrees and rain was breaking over the hood in waves. Two miles later the thermometer read 78 degrees and the now-waterlogged rush hour was down to a crawl.

By the time I covered the 7 miles to I-35 the storm had passed and only the lightest of sprinkles still reached the truck. Another 6 or 7 miles and I turned the corner onto our county road and turned the truck headlights off because no one in the area suspected there were storms in the vicinity. I noticed the thermometer was back up to 98 degrees.

So a 25 or 30 minute commute took me from an exaggerated 108 degrees to a stormy 78, back to a hot, sunny 98.

Yes, I survived an ancient weather cliche this evening, one of those timeless cliches based on real-life experience.

It was vewy, vewy quiet this morning

Our modern world has a ton of background noise, even in the wee hours at the beginning of the day, and I woke up to dead silence this morning. The alarm clock was blank, my first official notice something was amiss. My reliable and battery-backed-up watch said it was 5:39 AM.

"No problem, the electricity is never off very long, it'll be back in a few seconds." I stayed put, watching the ceiling fan do nothing while a random synapse misfire in the back of my mind wondered if June 17th was a special day to some goofy terrorist organization. A few seconds of introspection sped by until reality kicked back in and I realized that the ceiling fan was still not moving so it would soon be getting HOT! I know, it's only June 17th, but this is central Texas, we often start summer in April.

The next thing I noticed was a lack of beeping or other electronic alarms. Such noise is common around our abode when the uninterruptable power supplies lose their feeds. Nothing but silence, so the power had been off for quite a while.

I put on some clothes and walked out onto the driveway. The new subdivision across the street had working streetlights, but the church next door had no lights on their sign. No lights on the school to the northeast and nothing down the street to the south. Two doors down Jim's big American flag was hanging proudly, a pleasant sight as the sun came up but the lights around it were not lit. Another synapse misfire: "Does that change them into darks?"

Coffee is always nice when waking earlier than normal, but the pot's electric and finding the propane camp stove or firing up the motor home's generator is out of the question. Seriously, there's a McDonalds 2.5 miles away, I could have a cup on my table in 8 minutes without using my own hydrocarbons for direct electricity generation.

Real life must go on, might as well get ready for work

It's a good thing the master bath has a window. It's an especially good thing for me and my cube neighbors at work that my last water heater replacement was a 50 gallon model not a tankless. For the non-techies in the audience, this means I had hot water for my shower. A tankless requires electricity to heat the water as it is used, my old fashioned tanked model keeps a quantity of water hot at all times. This makes them somewhat less efficient than tankless, but the water remains hot for a while when the electricity is off. No wind so turbines would not have been a solution. The sun was just coming up so even a huge solar array would not have heated the water for a shower. Score one for inefficiency!

I would have gotten online or on the TV to see how widespread the electric outage was, but alas, no electron flow means no electron to photon conversion, and no information superhighway data to display. So much for maintaining a normal morning routine.

Another strange thought: I really hope that was toothpaste.

And where's the cat, did the 15 or 20 minutes of UPS beeping drive him underground?

I was dressed and all ready for work at about 6:30. My wife was already taking the day off but I thought I'd wake her as I left in case her morning plans involved electricity. I was literally reaching towards her shoulder when the LED on the front of the computer flickered then stayed on. The power was back, ceiling fans running, computers booting, life would soon be back to normal!

I say all of this to make the point that there is a reason electricity is also referred to as "power". It can do great things when working properly even if we treat it as nothing but a commodity and take it for granted. But when it's out, it suddenly becomes very, very important.

In some odd way, the lack of electricity was more noticeable that its presence, for no reason other than it has been present every morning of my life. That, more than the repair of this morning's outage, is a far more important accomplishment. Is this a great country or what!?!

It Takes a Village

As First Lady, Hillary Clinton was way ahead of her time in a number of ways. Mostly comedic and occasionally evil, but let's take a look back anyway.

In pushing for health care reform, or "Hillary Care" as many knew it, she once made the comment that "All children have the right to be born healthy". Why is this funny? Simple, she didn't believe children had the right to be born at all, so by adding the "healthy" qualifier she merely pointed out the hypocrisy of the pro-abortion, pro-healthcare-reform political left.

She also famously said that it takes a village to raise a child, irritating many with her anti-parent bias in context. I only bring this up now because of a cartoon I saw earlier.

The gators' image struck a nerve while another blog on tax rates was percolating. See, my wife and I both work to support our household. Our combined total income is well under the $250,000 limit the President campaigned on as a limit below which no taxes would be increased, but we have been very, very blessed with good jobs allowing us to fulfill our goal to pay for the kids' college education.

But, now that the President has recommended a 20% VAT, directed that the Bush tax cuts be allowed to expire, and suggested raising many other taxes (crude oil production, cigarettes, luxuries like new cars, electricity production, food costs, etc) it has become pretty obvious that the campaign promise was nothing but hot air, and that the goal of left wing politicos may actually be to destroy the productive middle class of this nation.

If the direct taxes (VAT, oil, income) are increased or newly created, and the cost-increases-by-decree ("green" power, more expensive cars, expensive food requirements) continue to escalate without limit, more and more of the working middle class will become unable to take care of their own financial needs. If my wife and I can't handle those needs through hard work and cutting expenses, either our standards will have to drop or someone else (namely the government) will need to fill in the gap. Perhaps this is the "it takes a village" mentality Hillary had in mind almost 20 years ago. What a poor excuse for leadership, both then and now.

I believe in the greatness of this Nation. With the euro circling the drain because of the European continent's tendency towards socialism, the United States is truly the world's last, best hope.

November can't get here soon enough!!!

"Here ya go" is not a replacement for "Thank You"

One recent Saturday my wife and I were running errands. Our mission was to pick up a few necessities and a few luxury items along the way. The first stop was a frustrating 1 for 3 event at Sears where the lawn department staff had nothing to offer close to my "line trimmer" specs, and the sporting goods staffer went into excruciating, patronizing detail to tell us how to break down the online drawings to find the part number.

These stops were frustrating because I've used a weed eater for decades and know how to use them. I know what I need, and it's really not the tiller attachment or high-priced quick-change line spools. Frustrating also because the first thing we presented to the sporting goods clerk was the exact part number he spent 4 or 5 minutes showing us how to find.

Seriously, listen to your customer first then find an accurate solution. It's a weed eater not rocket science, and we had already done the part number research for you!

And then while paying way too much for a refrigerator water filter the guy I gave my hard earned money to handed me the receipt and said "here ya go."

Not the normal "Thank you" or "We appreciate your business", or even "Please come back soon"

"Here ya go."

Strange.

Anyway, we scooted down the road to the camera shop to check out a graduated neutral density filter. After a few minutes being introduced to a new model, I made the purchase and the guy handed me the receipt and credit card with today's key phrase "Here ya go".

To paraphrase Yogi Berra, it was Deja vu all over again.

Sure, that's why I shop there, so you can personally hand me the receipt. "Here ya go".

Knock, knock, it's 2010. The real unemployment rate is over 20%. Stores are going out of business literally all the time. And rather than thanking me for delivering them the means to stay in business and remain employed, two consecutive salesman handed me the receipt and said "Here ya go".

And since both purchases were entirely optional, non-emergency and really no more than commodities, next time I'll save the gasoline and not be swayed by the easy instant gratification, and I'll just order them online. Seriously, if you can't distinguish yourself from true commodity service with the slightest awareness of your customers, then what is the value you add to the transaction relationship?

"Here ya go" right back at ya!

How it's worded, versus how it's received

"My administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government." Barack Hussein Obama, the next former President quoted at breitart.com

I understand now.

He was talking about an unprecedented LOW level of openness.

Yes, we all assumed the best, so it really is our fault for interpreting it the wrong way.

This is the problem of modern politics, a speaker delivers a carefully worded statement, say from a teleprompter, and each member of the audience interprets the words through his or her own filtering mechanism. In the example above, most listeners probably assumed he meant that the openness would improve from our perspective, causing a better view of what happens within government. Only the most cynical would have predicted the change to an almost totally "behind closed doors" mode so publicly despised by the current practitioners.

The same people said we would have a minimum of 5 days to review legislation before it was signed (although that's far too late for any kind of change), but none of the major bills have had anywhere near that time. Most recently we only had 36 hours for the health care reform bill.

According to dictionary.com, reform really only means change, the direction of change has not yet been defined. Apparently to those in favor of owning "health care reform", reform means they get to own it, the quality of service is irrelevant.

Likewise, health insurance is not the same as health care, even when some choose to use the words interchangeably.

Matthew 7:15-20 tells us to pay attention, more words to live by.

Peeling the Onion of the Deceit

Another glimpse into their mindset arrived last week as San Fran Nan was begging for support. Her excuse for her behavior paints her as totally out of touch with her constituents: "We have to pass this so you can see what's in it!".

Isn't it a major component of our representative form of government for the elected (that's Pelosi and company) to represent the electorate (that's us)?

So how in the world does she expect us (the electorate) to tell the elected (Pelosi and company) how to represent us if we can't provide feedback? And how can we provide feedback if we don't know what they're doing until they're finished?

Surely they aren't so simple that they think they can do anything they want after their election, are they?

Her remark is right in line with Obama's (now-voided) promise to let us review all major legislation before he signs it. By the time it gets to the President's desk it's too late for the people to have any influence on it.

Was this campaign promise merely a distraction to pacify his unthinking supporters?

Or do they really believe that the people should not be able to influence the work of our representatives?

Presidential Address - Timing is Everything!

I had just finished my second helping of the wife's soup at about 6:45 PM this evening and somehow the satellite receiver's remote control found its way into my hand. To be honest, that's where it normally resides, but tonight was notable due to the copious humor found on the programming guide.

The President's address started at 7 PM local time, and the program immediately following was "The Biggest Loser". Being a proud American, I naturally detected an obvious disrespect for the office. I then laughed out loud when I realized the show was probably placed there by some disgruntled Charlie Brown fan whose favorite show was displaced for another presidential event.

There were several other well-timed programming selections:

• Extreme Terror Rides
• Scare Tactics
• Aftermath: Population Zero
• Ultimate Knockouts
• True Lies ( I saw this movie entry just as the President was telling the West Point Cadets that there had been no delay in making his decision to send more troops! No kidding, I couldn't make this stuff up! )
• Don't Cry Now ( obviously a shout-out to the very French-looking John Kerry or some other anti-victory, former Obama fans )
• Parallel Universe ( also scheduled for 7 PM, spooky )
• So You Think You Can Dance ( see the comment for "True Lies"... )

Texas State Parks Geocache Challenge

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department kicked off a challenge to the state's geocachers on November 1. They placed caches in 12 locations to stimulate interest in the parks and historical sites. The goal was to get people exploring the nature and history of this great state and from our perspective it was a booming success.

We finished it in a weekend(*).

My wife and I visited all 12 cache sites on the weekend of November 14th and 15th. We were able to log 11 of the 12 caches, the 12th had been lost or stolen a few days before our roadtrip. TPWD's log entry said that if we had been to the site while it was missing we could include it in our count but I could not tolerate an asterisk by my name in the permanent record. So we scampered back to the Guadalupe River State Park on the 21st to punch, log and claim the final cache in the challenge.

A reasonable person is probably wondering "Why the rush to get them in a single weekend?". One little line in the challenge web page reads "The first 100 returned passports receive a commemorative Texas Geocache Challenge coin" and that's enough to motivate some people (including my better half) to git 'er done, right now. We would have eventually visited all 12 locations but without that incentive it would have taken months, if not a year or two.

Economic Stimulus

This is a simple program from TPWD that has probably had a significant economic benefit on the parks and surrounding facilities. Including the second trip to Guadalupe, we drove close to a thousand miles to complete the challenge and even in the Hybrid that's close to 30 gallons of gasoline. We spent a night in Conroe and another in San Antonio, had nice meals at Mamacita's and Chili's, and all of those expenses were above and beyond normal weekend expectations. Yes, that means outside the budget, but I'll cover the Steve Diggs / Dave Ramsey issues in a later blog. We didn't go overboard, but we did contribute to the local economies in Brenham, Conroe, Luling, LaGrange, San Antonio and Lockhart.

We also helped TPWD directly with the purchase of a State Parks Pass. It paid for itself on Saturday alone, but we will certainly come out way ahead on that purchase before it expires. We're already pretty regular visitors at the state parks, but the challenge led us to some of the jewels of the system like Washington On The Brazos State Historical Site and the Government Canyon State Natural Area. We plan to visit those more thoroughly in the very near future.

Kudos to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for this program. I look forward to what you do next!

Fort Hood

My prayers for comfort, understanding, and forgiveness go out to everyone affected by the tragedy in Fort Hood yesterday.

And should it be determined that he is a traitor to his oath and found guilty of murdering 14 innocent human beings, he should be nursed back to physical and mental health to make sure he absolutely understands why he is being put to death for his crimes.

How many warning signs should it take before a person is removed from a leadership role in an organization representing and defending this nation? Especially one in which his deeply held beliefs are diametrically opposed to his sworn mission?

And finally, as expected, people representing the "religion of peace" are voicing their paranoid expectation of backlash (aren't they racist in doing so?) instead of condemning the perp's actions and sending helping hands to the scene of the incident like legitimate religious organizations.

It's another in a long series of Thursdays

Let's see, the Yankees won their 27th World Series, and the MVP of the world championship of "America's Game" went to a Japanese man. What a great country! Who dares to claim this is no longer the land of opportunity?

In the first Post-Racism^TM election, two significant governorships made dramatic switches from Democrat to Republican but the Speaker of some of the House claims the Democrat Party won because a DIABLO (democrat in all but label only) in New York's 23^rd house district highlighted the difference between conservatives and Republicans and kept votes for the party instead of the party's values. Don't feel too bad Nancy, many in the Republican leadership missed that call just as badly. The only difference between you and the Republicans is that they now know there's a significant direction problem and will make the necessary mid-course changes. The best thing for the country is for you to just keep doing what you're doing.

The White House press secretary claims the President wasn't watching the returns Tuesday night. Ignoring the obvious mis-direction, we all know he was kept up to date while watching the Bulls, so why even make such a silly claim? Do you want everyone to think he's in full Nero-mode, happily enjoying television while his party implodes? That doesn't seem terribly, I don't know, Presidential?

Are you sure you want to tell the people for whom he campaigns that their efforts / future / successes / failures aren't worth any more of his time?

No, maybe you're right, that's exactly what your party members need to hear. You, Harry and Nancy just keep doing what you're doing. That will make this country a better place, eventually, once you've all been rejected.