In the land of Fruits and Nuts the City of Bell takes it's toll

Here’s a link to the City of Bell, CA Pay & Benefits Scandal:

 Bell council used little-noticed ballot measure to skirt state salary limits

I take great pride in keeping up with current events but somehow, someway this story got past my radar last week. I heard about it on Mark Levin's radio show on my iPhone at work yesterday. Mark wasn't even hosting his own show on Monday; Inga Barks a Conservative from a California Central Valley talk show was filling in. She explained all the insanely preposterous details.

The amount of steam coming out of my ears as I listened to this story was almost cartoon like. The absolute gall of the morons of this city is unbelievable, it's the greatest breech of public trust I've heard of in my lifetime. Every City official involved in this crime should be thrown in jail and ALL their personal assets auctioned off so the taxpayers can recoup some of their money.

If this story doesn't wake the remaining dead and the apathetic on the sidelines who have avoided getting involved in politics in November nothing will. I just can't imagine how anyone who has heard of this story not being as totally outraged as I was when I heard about it.

Another painful side effect of this story is it gives California (D) Gubernatorial Candidate Jerry Brown who is the current Attorney General in the state, a platform to get more media coverage for his campaign. He's railing against this, what reasonable State AG wouldn't? But for him it's more about the free national news coverage he's getting and how it helps him look like a tough law enforcement official that's on top of it. Ha! Ha! Spare me the outrage Brown!

Funny, it wouldn't have surprised me at all if Brown wouldn't be the attorney who was the architect of this fraud, when he was Governor back in the 70’s he was one of the many Democrats responsible for allowing collective bargaining for unions in California. Look where that has finally led the State. Right to the wonderful yellow brick road in the City of Bell California or more accurately the Highway to Hell.

My friends please register to vote in November and support fiscally Conservative candidates. It's the only way we can reverse course and turn back this Socialist tide that has nearly finished off this great country. Please get involved, putting your head in the sand doesn't cut it anymore, we must preserve some sort of a free society for our kids and Grandkids by taking back a responsible form of government who serves us. Please take action NOW!!

Deep Sea Salmon Fishing Trip One for the Ages

Kane caught the biggest Salmon of the day.

Yesterday’s Deep Sea Salmon Fishing trip was one for the ages. The weather was fantastic, the seas were calm and the fishing was amazing.

Since we moved to the Pacific NW I’d been promising my Son Kane Charlson a fishing trip. He’s only got one more year in Seattle in the Coast Guard and he’ll be moving onto his next station in July of 2012 so time was running out.

Along for the trip were our friends Ryan Taggart, his Brother Trevor Taggart and our very dear friend Nancy Montgomery. Jenny and I had experienced Deep Sea Salmon fishing but they were all first timers so I knew they were in for an experience of a lifetime.

We left the Port of Astoria about 5 pm and it took almost an hour for the boat to get out of mouth the Columbia River and into the ocean. Once we threw the lines in the water Ryan caught the fish keeper of the day. He was beaming and pretty proud of himself as he should have been.

Next up was Kane; his first fish of the day was a keeper and as it turned out the biggest catch of the day. All the joy and excitement of the moment was so awesome to see on Kane’s face when he brought in his first fish. It’s one of those precious moments that will be a fixed in my memory forever. I just don’t think there is any outdoor experience that matches catching your very first fish and then getting the privilege to see a loved one do the same.

I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome for the trip because this was all about Kane first and then our friends snagging Salmon and hoping that they all had a good time.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!

Not only did Kane catch the biggest Salmon, a 15 Pounder, he was also the first to get his limit too. You’re only allowed to keep 2 Salmon that are 24 inches or longer and non-native. Everybody on the boat got there limit.

This throwing back natives is one of the craziest fishing regulations they have out here. You’re only allowed to catch the farmed Salmon that have back tagged and they’re indentified by having the top rear fins cut off. I estimate we threw back at least 35 natives between the 6 of us and 3 of them were big ones. Without this rule we’d of had our limit within an hour of being on the boat. More on the “natives” issue later which I’ll post in the comment section.

Some of the other great memories include:

It was fun goofing with Ryan; he’s a hoot and half. Between lulls we were thinking up macho guy lines from movies to say to get some good fishing mojo luck going.

Trevor catching at least 5 natives before he finally caught a keeper.

“There will be Blood.” Nancy catching here first keeper and after the Deckhand clubbed it he hadn’t quite killed it and it flopped out of hands tossing fish blood on her face. I have the picture to prove it.

Trevor shaking the handle of Ryan’s fishing pole making him think he had a bite when he really didn’t.

Watching Nancy dozing was cute because she only had 2 hours of sleep the night before.

The “No-Ho”, “One-Ho”, “Two-Ho” and the “Three-Ho” fish punching technique.

Jenny and I got to see our very first Humped Back Whale. It surfaced about 75 yards in front of the boat. As it floated away I only got one good picture of its tail right before it submerged and then we didn’t see it again.

Lastly, the funny part of the whole keeper limit. By 10:30 am we only lacked getting one more keeper. It was Jenny’s fish to catch so anytime one of the 6 poles got a bit we let Jenny reel it in. After catching 8 fish which were either native or too small to keep nearly an hour half had pasted before the last keeper was caught. On the ninth attempt one got on my pole I asked jenny if she wanted to reel it in and she asked me to bring it because she was thinking she was hexed. So when I reeled it in "BAM" it was the last keeper of the day and we finally got to head back to Port.

It was amazing day and it was so fun to see Kane, Nancy, Ryan and Trevor catch their first Salmon. Next year we plan to go on a Tuna, Halibut or Sturgeon Charter together since we all had so much fun.

In Washington DC Nothing Changes

I'm so disgusted with the Republican Party today over the debt ceiling deal. I feel this was maybe the last chance I could stand with them on what should been a paradigm shift in how government does business. Instead they blew it and sadly what I see happening now is that the party will likely split in two because these entrenched RINO's are no different than the Democrats. They didn't listen to the voters in 2010 when they swept the House.

John Boehner and Mitch McConnell had control over the narrative and sold out, rolled over and negated the momentum that should have been theirs with the majority in the House. If they get reelected to their leadership positions in 2012 I'm done with the party. I've always considered myself first and foremost a Conservative and not a Republican. But if the split occurs and it's officially called the Tea Party that will be the group I'll form an alliance with. There must be no other way to gain any ground than split the party and join people who align with most of the principles I believe in. The party of Lincoln, Goldwater and Reagan is nearly dead in the water and is nothing but a hollowed out Keynesian Neo-Con shell of its former self.

Now Barack Obama will get to claim a victory (even though it wasn't) and use this wasted moment by the leaders of the GOP to get reelected. They had him on the ropes and could have knocked him out but he's come back by winning the fight with a half-assed tie. The beltway bureaucrats call that a "compromise" by the way. It's not a tie for us Conservatives; instead in this case it's a catastrophic loss for the people who voted in 2010 and the future of the country. Nothing was gained; the same problems will loom larger but just a year down the road. Incomprehensible debt, a bad economy, unemployment, bad energy policy, bad foreign policy, bad fed policy, bad taxation policy (and still higher taxes to come), Obamacare looming, Social Security and Medicare billions in the hole, EPA gone wild, over regulation and the list goes on. Nothing changed it's just more of the same.

The main stream liberal media won't see it that way of course, they'll consider this a mandate of great resolve for Obama and continue to pitch him as the glorious leader who saved us all from default, misery and complete collapse of the nation. The reality is even without their help some won't need to be convinced anyway because they blindly believe in his cult of personality. If only they could see how his vision of a "Social Utopia" has been a miserable failure but they cannot. They still believe big government has the answer to everything and can "fix" things.

In truth the government should be a nation of laws not of men, not of men who temporally hold office and make us suffer as a consequence because of their lack of vision or courage to do what they know is the just and right thing. The massive size and scope of the federal government is taking more and more of our money (private property), and freedoms away and giving to these power hungry politicians who think they know better than we do how to take care of ourselves.

This is an ideological civil war that is being fought today and the far left is still holding the field. I just wonder how long it will remain civil. I wonder what will happen if the people we elect continue to ignore ours wishes?

They and the media ignored the 500,000 9/12 Tea Party Protest on the DC mall a few years ago who peaceful protested against spending, high taxes and Obamacare and still didn't listen. It makes you wonder when the civility will be tossed out the window and instead a group of 500,000 or a million converge on Washington only this time armed with guns. This may sound extreme but if the voices of the majority of the people continue to be ignored it's not an impossible scenario.

Thankfully I have a Higher Power in my life and I'll continue to believe in prayer and that God will intervene at the right moment as he always does. Ultimately he always has the final say and control over such things not this gutless group of bureaucrats.

I'm hoping that I can take a mental break from this madness and rejoin it when the Presidential Primary season begins. I'm going on vacation starting Aug. 5 and won't go back to work until Aug 16. It's time for some fun and relaxing days with family and friends. I'm so due, so due.