SpaceX in Orbit

This is so cool....

HAWTHORNE, CA – Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) announces that Flight 4 of the Falcon 1 launch vehicle has successfully launched and achieved Earth orbit. With this key milestone, Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to orbit the Earth.

Oh, a lot of folks are impressed that the Chinese have also put men in orbit and performed a space walk this week. Well I am not impressed. The United States and the USSR both did that over 40 years ago. So I'm not very impressed.

All Tournament

I made a quick run out of town today to watch my oldest daughter and her varsity volleyball team compete in the 25th annual Scorpion Volleyball Tournament at Hesperia High School in Hesperia.

Her team did OK in the tournament. There were 10 teams divided into two pools of 5. In pool A the Burroughs team beat Victor Valley Christian 25-22, they beat San Gabriel 25-16, they lost to the host team Hesperia 23-25 and beat Lucerne Valley 25-14 for a second place finish in their pool.

Since the top two teams in each pool played this afternoon in the Championship Bracket. In the first semifinal Burroughs had to face the number one team from pool B - Quartz Hill. This was not a pleasant match for the Burroughs as they lost in straight games 14-25 and 12-25. Quartz Hill had three really good hitters to did a masterful job of hitting around the Burroughs blockers while completely overwhelming the back row defenders.

In the 3rd place match Burroughs faced Victor Valley. After leading most of the game the Burros got themselves to a 22-19 lead and then several of the senior members of the team decided the game was won and dialed in the rest of the game. They lost 23-25. The frustration over this loss carried over into the next game where it pretty much just took over the entire team. They lost the second game 13-25.

The team went home with a fourth place finish out of 10 teams and they got a pretty good look as several teams that they will have to play against when conference play starts in a couple weeks.

For our family the highlight of the day was my daughter being awarded an All Tournament award. This award means that in the opinion of the tournament organizers she was the best volleyball player from Burroughs High School on the court today.

I agree with them completely. Although I think their sophomore outside hitter probably gave my daughter a good run for the money in the voting. But that is just my opinion.

Who Am I?

This has flashed through my email several times in the last couple days.

Who Am I?


I am under 45 years old,
I love the outdoors,
I hunt,
I am a Republican reformer,
I have taken on the Republican Party establishment,
I have many children,
I have a spot on the national ticket as vice president,
I have less than two years experience in the governor's office.


I am Teddy Roosevelt in 1900.


And he ended up on Mount Rushmore

An Honest Politician?

Finally a breath of fresh air?

A hint of honesty?

A politician saying what he really thinks?

Yesterday on Good Morning American while discussing negative campaign ads Barack Obama made this comment:

"If we're going to ask questions about, you know, who has been promulgating negative ads that are completely unrelated to the issues at hand, I think I win that contest pretty handily,"

Now if I was a cynic I would say that he obviously meant to say that John McCain should win the unrelated attack ads contest. But in this case I think we may have actually caught a politician telling the truth.

Big-O? Are you paying attention?

This is a campaign ad for John McCain. But it is also a lesson to everyone out there who thinks that the war in Iraq was a mistake.

It is less than 2 minutes long. Watch the whole thing.

$3.69

Gas in Mojave, a wide spot in the road about 45 miles from here is $3.69 a gallon.

Gas in Bakersfield just 90 miles away is $3.69 a gallon.

Why the hell are we paying $4.15 a gallon here in Ridgecrest?

9-11

I thought long and hard all day about what to write about the seventh anniversary of the attacks of 9-11-2001.

First off, I don't intend to spend the day "remembering" 9-11. How the hell will I ever forget it. Fox News spent the day telling us that 9-11 was the day American changed. I disagree. 9-11 was the day that American finally admitted the truth - we had been under attack by islamic extremists for over 25 years leading up to 9-11. The attacks on the world trade centers were just a wake up call for most Americans who were too caught up in their day to day existence to pay attention enough to realize that we were already at war, we just wouldn't admit it.

I don't like to think of 9-11 as the day America changed. Because so much of America hasn't changed. A large portion of the population still doesn't recognize the dangers we face. A large portion still will not recognize that some wars must be fought. A large portion of the population still hates our military and everything they stand for.

So for me today was a day to memorialize the 3000 Americans who lost their lives on 9-11-2001. But in the fight against terror and tyrany, it was just another day. The enemy is still out there. The war goes on. In that regard, today is just like yesterday and just like tomorrow will be.

Carrot Sneeze

It is slowly becoming fall around here. That means that there is something in the air that is making me sneeze. It's not a lot of sneezing. But several times a day I really let loose with a series of loud, usually unexpected sneezes.

I discovered something yesterday. Sneezing with a mouth full of freshly chewed carrot is messy. Well, not as messy as it could have been if I hadn't gotten my hand up in front of my mouth in time.

There, never let it be said that I don't occasionally supply more information about my life than any normal decent person should ever know.

and yes, I did wash my hands.

Sarah Palin

I had read several rumors the last few months about who John McCain's running mate may end up being. I discounted most of them. After all the people spreading the rumors didn't know or have any more information than I did, and I certainly didn't know who he was going to pick. The only thing I knew for certain was that it wasn't me. After all, no one had called to get any information for the vetting process.

I won't mince words here. I am not a John McCain fan. I admire the hell out of the guy, but his pro illegal immigration attitude and the fact that he has bought into the global climate fraud are enough that I do not want him to be President. However, I am getting used to not voting for a President. Ronald Reagan's second term was the last time I walked into a voting booth and voted FOR a President. Usually I spend several minutes trying to decide who to vote for based on my guess as to who as the best opportunity to beat the guy (or girl) that I am voting against.

I had resigned myself that this election would be no different. I would be casting a vote against Barack Obama. The only thing that would change my mind on that would be John McCain's Vice-President selection. Personally I was hoping for Governor Bobby Jindal from Louisiana. My second choice was Kay Bailey Hutchinson from Texas.

Sarah Palin didn't come out of the blue as far as I was concerned. Her name had been tossed around by the media for several weeks. I had read up on some of her background but didn't really think of her as a serious contender, until last week.

This week is totally different. What I have read about this woman has me totally impressed. The fact that the liberal antique media is trying to generate a fire storm of controversy over her is even better news. Anyone who has the liberals in this country that scared of her, has got to be doing something right.

I especially like that all of the attacks are personal. Politically they don't seem to be able to find a chink in her armor. Its like Margaret Thatcher said:

“When they attack one personally it means they haven’t a single political argument left.”

So this election I am taking a different approach. Something I have never tried before. I am voting for a vice-president.