4 Handed Guitar...

It's been too long. My fingers are soft - I can't play for more than 10 minutes without my fingers hurting, but I still enjoy good guitar. Here's a little fun with Mozart:

Let's Visit a National Park Next Year

The Interior Department is changing a 25 year old ban on concealed carry in National Parks and Wildlife Refuges. The rule will take place mid-January before B. Hussein Obama takes office. As long as the new administration does not change the rules, my family and I will probably be visiting Rocky Mountain National Park next summer. My ban on visiting National Parks will be lifted the same day the ban is lifted.

Of course, you still have the crowds, crime, and pollution that have made me prefer national forests and state lands. But, there are some really pretty places to see, and now my family will get to enjoy some of them.

Happy 90th Birthday!

One of my all time heroes, Billy Graham, evangelist and Christian leader, turned 90 today. I know he'll probably never read my blog, but I want to wish him a big Happy Birthday anyway. He is a man whose faith, integrity, and steadfastness of purpose have inspired me since I was a teenager. I remember watching one of his crusades when I was in high school, and thinking - he believes what I do, but I want more of what he's got!

Presidents and world leaders have sought his counsel, but he has remained humble. While huckster televangelists soaked people for millions, he lived on a modest income. While the world wrestled with agnosticism and postmodernism, he remained devoted to the truth of God's word.



May God raise up more men and women like him!

An American Tragedy

While many celebrate tonight in Chicago's Hyde Park and around the country, some of us mourn. We mourn the coming loss of liberty. We mourn the coming loss of morality. We mourn the coming loss of prosperity.

Bitterly clinging to my guns and religion for four more years, until change for the better.

Obama Doesn't Tolerate Dissent

Once again, Obama punishes reporters who dare to disagree with him. It's really too bad the mainstream media is so infatuated with him, or he probably wouldn't have made it out of the primaries.

Hey Obama Supporters - Economics 101

Redistribution Applied!

My old friend Adam McManus, conservative Christian talk radio host from San Antonio, sent out this little gem in his email alert today!

(interesting e-mail from an anonymous person)

Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed.

Once in the restaurant my server had on an Obama 08 tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference just imagine the coincidence.

When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need -- the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.

At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experience I realized, the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more.

I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.

Obama the Socialist

This was a headline on FoxNews.com a couple days ago, with a quote from Barack Hussein Obama's memoir Dreams from my Father. First we have his "spread the wealth" quote with Joe the Plumber. Next we have him in saying in a 2001 interview that he was disappointed that the Supreme Court did not do more to overcome the limitations the US Constitution placed on the state and federal governments. Listen to the actual radio interview in its full context in the YouTube clip below. (Of course, the Obama campaign's response is that this is a "manufactured issue.")



I've said it before, I'll say it again: Barack Hussein Obama is a socialist, a Marxist of the first order. He doesn't like the fact that the Constitution places limits on the State and Federal Governments.

To give you an idea of some of the issues that top his legislative agenda for his presidency, here are some of the bigger laws that he wants to see pass (and with a Democratic super-majority in the House and Senate, the rest of us won't have a choice):

Freedom of Choice Act: FOCA will repeal most of the pro-life laws, including parental notification and the ban on partial birth abortion. Apparently 46 million children slaughtered in the name of choice is not enough. (Obama voted 4 times against the Infant Born Alive Protection Act in the Illinois Senate.)

Hate Crimes Legislation: So much for freedom of speech. Under Obama it will become illegal to voice the opinion that homosexuality is an unhealthy, unbiblical lifestyle. Preaching the seven passages in the Bible that condemn homosexuality could be construed as "inciting violence against a minority."

Fairness Doctrine: Liberals cannot compete in the marketplace of ideas, and with the now openly liberal mainstream networks, the Democrats are planning on bringing back the "fairness doctrine" which will require stations to run "balanced" coverage of the issues. Unfortunately, their definition of balanced and ours are incredibly different. They think Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann are centrist... This would require our favorite radio stations to put a liberal on the air with equal time with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and the like. So much for freedom of speech, again.

Comprehensive Sex Education: Want your 5 year old Kindergartener learning about the birds and the bees? Forget about any balanced discussions of abstinence versus "safe" sex - this will turn sex education from K-12 over to Planned Parenthood, who by the way, makes money when a pregnant teenager comes to them for an abortion. What a marketing tool for them! What a disaster for our children!

Gun Control Legislation: As a State Senator, Obama voted 4 times to reduce the rights of law-abiding citizens to use guns to defend themselves. He opposed semi-automatic shotguns and pistols, and wanted to ban rifle hunting ammunition because it is "armor piercing." Biden says Obama won't take our guns away, but looking at his record, it's really hard to believe otherwise. He even suggested that the police should be allowed to go door to door to search for and confiscate "illegal" weapons. So much for the 4th amendment.

So much for the 1st, 2nd, and 4th amendments. Since he has so little regard for the rest of the Constitution, I won't be surprised when he starts trashing the rest of it too.

We Voted!

We went and participated in early voting Thursday evening. With the longest Colorado ballot since 1904 and what is certain to be a contentious, high turnout election, we decided to beat the lines and vote early. Here is my recap, especially for those who are still going to vote here in Colorado.

Candidates: Although it goes against my independent streak, straight ticket Republican this year. The deception, scare tactics and voter fraud on the part of the Democrats has been terrible. Obama the Communist terrifies me. I just wish I could have voted Palin-McCain rather than McCain-Palin.

Ballot Measures: (Take a cheat sheet with you when you vote - you'll never have time to read all of them in the booth!) Since there's so many of these, I'll try and keep it short.

Colorado Amendments

46 - Yes - Colorado Civil Rights Initiative - No preferential treatment based on race, sex, or ethnicity for state hiring, education, or contracts. Well, duh!

47 - Yes - Right to Work - Outlaws agreement requiring union workers to pay union fees for union representation. Workers cannot be forced to join a union in order to get a job. You should see the scare tactics the labor unions have been using on this one... Liberty!

48 - YES - Definition of Person - Defines human life as beginning at fertilization. Let's have our policies line up with what science has been telling us for the last 20 years. At the moment of conception it is a unique human life. It's a baby!

49 - Yes - Public Payroll Standards - Ban governments from taking deductions directly from employee paychecks for any nongovernmental special interest group. See number 47, above.

50 - No - Expanded Gaming - Allow casino towns to vote on whether to increase bet limits to $100 from $5, expand hours of operation and add games. Doesn't anybody see the damage gambling does to families and neighborhoods where casinos operate?

51 - No - Sales Tax for disabled services - Increase the state sales tax (by 2 cents on every $10) to fund services for those with developmental disabilities. Either I'm a heartless monster or I think that the state already has funds for this - tied up in various pork projects and wasteful spending.

53 - Yes - Severance Tax Reallocation for Transportation - Improvements to I-70 in the mountains, which improves roads without increasing taxes. Although I think this is part of a government shell game, they're not increasing taxes to do it, and I-70 definitely needs the work.

54 - Yes - Campaign Finance Curbs - Bar sole-source government contractors and unions with exclusive bargaining powers from making contributions to political candidates. This is a "no" to graft and corruption. See 47 and 49, above.

58 - Hell No - Severance Tax - Governor Ritter's huge tax energy tax increase. And the Democrats say they don't want to tax the middle class. What the heck is this? Tax and Spend Liberalism at its finest.

59 - No - K-12 Schools Funding - Increased taxes, but the legislature spent the money this is replacing elsewhere. This is a classic tax and spend shell game. We won't vote to raise taxes for the projects they shifted the funds to, but they cry about the suffering children in the schools and everyone's heart breaks. Put the money back where it belongs and fund your pork out of your own pockets!

Referendums

L - No - Reduce the age of a Colorado legislator from 25 to 21. These knuckleheads are already inexperienced enough.

M - Yes - eliminate obsolete provisions in the state constitution about land value increases. I read the provisions. They don't make sense, so remove them. Now, keep going and keep removing laws that don't make sense or are offensive to rational citizens...

N - Yes - eliminate obsolete provisions in the constitution about intoxicating liquor. Ditto for M.

O - No - Increases the number of people required to sign petitions for constitutional amendments. Let's see, government doesn't want the people interfering with its business, so make it harder for the people to submit constitutional amendments for the rest of the people to decide on. Oh NO!

El Paso County Issues

1A. Hell NO! - 1% Sales Tax Increase - The largest tax increase in county history - *doubles* the county sales tax from 1% to 2%. They claim it's for essential and emergency services, but they're asking for way too much. Clean out the government waste and your pet projects and come back with a more reasonable request and we'll talk about it.

Colorado Springs City Ballot Issues

#200 - Yes - Rescinding Stormwater Fees - The stormwater fees aren't much, but they were an end-around of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR). If you need the money, show us your budget and convince us a tax increase is necessary. Don't try to pull a fast one and call a tax a "fee."

#201 - Yes - Rescind Non-Voter Approved Taxes - The title is pretty self-explanatory.

Blackballed by Obama/Biden

What happens when you ask the Obama campaign tough questions? You get blackballed. No more interviews, sorry. Why are they afraid of hard questions? Of course, when you get used to the mainstream media throwing you softballs all the time, I can imagine you'd get upset when a real journalist asks some tough questions:



More discussion here. Let's see.

Is "spreading the wealth around" Marxist? Yes.

Is Obama a socialist? Yes.

Can we expect suppression of free speech under an Obama presidency? Absolutely.

Another Reason to Carry in National Parks

FoxNews reported on Saturday that Mexican Drug Cartels, hurt by post-9/11 border security, are now growing marijuana on public lands, including National Parks and Forests up and down the West Coast, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. According to AOL News, "The pot growers pose a risk to the public. In some cases, growers are operating near campgrounds, roads and beaches. " According to King5 News in Washington State, "Agents go in heavily armed knowing the growers often are too." It seems the drug cartels have to watch out for "patch pilots," competing drug dealers who steal from their crops, so they often post armed guards on the site to shoot anyone who comes nosing around, like you and your family out for a nice Fall hike.

But law abiding citizens with concealed carry permits are not allowed to bring loaded concealed weapons into National Parks? It sounds like some National Parks are not the "completely safe" places that the liberals have been leading us to believe.

Puh-leaze!

McCain vs Freddie and Fannie, 2006. Nuff Said.

The Truth About the Economic Mess

Who caused the current economic mess? Barack Hussein Obama says it's John McCain and the Republican policy of deregulation. Palin didn't even respond to Biden during the debate last night when he made that claim. The real causes?

Social engineering. Political correctness. Regulation. The Democrat's own risky, socialist housing policies, forcing banks to make subprime loans to those who in all financial reality should never have received a loan in the first place.

Check this out:




If McCain doesn't rip Obama on this during the debates, something is very wrong. He needs Ross Perot charts, mass TV marketing, and web sites with all the gory details.

Priceless!

Needles and Leather Thread - $4
Scrap Leather from Tandy - $8
Metal Clip from a Cheap Nylon Holster - $Free
Free time while I'm looking for work - $Expensive
Having enough leather left to do another one - $Priceless!

I have been wanting an Inside the Waistband (IWB) holster for quite awhile now, but options are limited to get a leather holster built specifically for my Magnum Research Baby Eagle. My Dad used to do leather work as a hobby, and recently made himself a holster for his Ruger Super Blackhawk when he couldn't find a crossdraw holster exactly like he wanted. (Of course, Dad has all the right tools so his looks 100 times better than mine...) Since I'm out of work and money is pretty tight, I decided to give it a try myself. The result is a sub-$10 holster that would cost me at least $70 new. Admittedly, mine doesn't have quite the same fit and finish as the commercial ones, but for something that is hidden by my clothes and is actually pretty comfortable, I'm very happy.



One of the things I really wanted, but is hard to find, is a flap that covers the rather sharp tang on the back of the Baby Eagle. I didn't want it digging into my side all day. The other thing I was looking for was a fairly strong cant to the holster. However, after making it, the one thing I would change is to increase the cant even more - to somewhere around 30 degrees or more. The "FBI Cant" is really comfortable wearing it just behind the hip on the strong side. The last requirement was a holster stiff enough to stay open so I can re-holster the weapon one handed. The extra layer of leather on the outside works perfectly!



I'm going to use the leftover leather to make an OWB (outside the waistband) holster for hunting and the range. I still like my fanny pack, but this gives me a few more options, especially when I need to dress up a little more for work. (That is, when I get my next job.)

Why buy it when you can make it yourself, and have fun doing it?

New Scope - Sightron SI HHR 3-9x40

My new scope is on its way, a Sightron S1 with their new Hunter Holdover Reticle (HHR). I picked the scope because for the price, reviews said Sightron's optics were very comparable with many more expensive scopes. I looked at one at a local shooting store before ordering it (for $40 less, not counting tax...) online. You can't beat free shipping.

One of the things I was really excited about was the ballistic holdover reticle, which allows you to determine where to hold the Point of Aim (POA) for different ranges. Of course, it's set for the ballistics of a particular factory ammo, but with a little tinkering and handloading with my Savage 11GL in 308 Winchester, I should be able to determine the appropriate ranges for each of the hash marks.

Another reason for choosing the ballistic reticle was that it can be used for determining the range to target for objects of known size. The military uses the mil-dot system, which uses equally spaced dots of a specific size across the vertical and horizontal axes to determine windage and elevation as well as distance to target. The problem with it is that you either have to have a spotter to do the math for you, or you have to carry ballistics cards to simplify the process. I wanted something a little easier. Since hunting is a little more forgiving than target shooting (especially at the ranges I'm capable of actually hitting anything!), I figured that it would be possible to use the HHR reticle to get a good approximation of the range to my target - a deer or an elk.

Sightron's website has the dimensions for the reticle at both 3x and 9x power at 100 yards, so a little simple algebra in Excel, and a little graphics wizardry in PowerPoint, and I came up with the following chart (click to see it full size). (I also have one for Elk). According to Chuck Hawks, the average size of a deer from back to chest is 18 inches. (An elk averages 24 inches.) The resulting chart lets me set the scope at either 3x or 9x, then based on the measured size of the animal, tell approximately the range of the deer. I added in the Point of Aim (relative to the scope reticle, not the deer in the image!) to help me remember the amount of holdover for that range. A little practice, and memorizing my charts, and hopefully I'll be able to get a good working estimate for range and holdover very quickly when I'm in the field. The little X's on the diagram are to show that those are outside the view of the scope, out of range for my level of skill, or beyond the responsible killing ability of the ammunition.

For those who are wondering, I based the holdover on the averages of ballistics data from available over the counter loads from Winchester and Remington. Once I work up my handloads, I'll adjust the diagram accordingly.

Graduation!

I have finally finished my Master of Arts in Biblical Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary! It has been quite a ride for the last 7 years. I started seminary a year after getting married, and my two kids (3 and almost 5) have never had a daddy who was not in school. For those reasons, and because I'm just plain tired, we're going to take a one year break before pursuing any kind of full-time ministry. My backpack has hung in the garage for seven years, and I need to teach my family how to camp!

I would appreciate your prayers for the Lord Jesus Christ to give us a restful year, and for Him to show us where He wants us when the time comes. My passions are for discipling new Christians and young leaders, and counseling the hurting.

Over the last seven years I have learned not just Bible and theology, but how to approach Biblical and theological issues in a way that produces fruitful change in me and the ones to whom I minister. I am grateful to my professors, the seminary, and mostly to the One who has called me onwards and upwards. To Christ be the glory.

Happy Patriot's Day!

April 19th, 1775, Old North Bridge, Concord, Massachusetts. The shot heard around the world began this nation's fight for independence. This day is a powerful reminder of many important beliefs I have. The first, and most important to me, is "No king but King Jesus!"

John Ashcroft was roundly criticized for his "No King but Jesus" speech at Bob Jones University, but he was only reminding us of our colonial and Revolutionary War heritage. In a 1774 report to King George, the Governor of Boston noted: "If you ask an American, who is his master? He will tell you he has none, nor any governor but Jesus Christ." The pre-war Colonial Committees of Correspondence soon made this the American motto: "No King but King Jesus." And this sentiment was carried over into the 1783 peace treaty with Great Britain ending that war, which begins "In the name of the most Holy and Undivided Trinity... ." (Catholic Education Resource Center)

(Is the United States a Christian nation? - No. Just read the news and anyone can see that it is not. Was it founded by mostly Christians based on Christian principles? - Yes!)

The second belief enshrined in that first gunshot is that free men have the God-given right to own and carry arms for self-defense and the preservation of liberty. The minutemen were massing arms (including cannons), ammunition and supplies for war, and the British were on their way to confiscate them. Before you can subjugate a populace, you have to disarm them. Adolph Hitler understood it. Josef Stalin understood it. King George understood it, and learned the hard way what happens when tyrants encounter free men with liberty in their hearts and guns in their hands.

The third idea I find in the hearts of the patriots is that of liberty - the desire to live a life of freedom. This is not libertine freedom - the freedom to do whatever we want, regardless of what happens to others. Government is given by God to "bear the sword" (Rom 13:4) and punish evildoers, but not to be a source of fear for the law-abiding citizen. Our freedom is the freedom to do what is right, loving God and loving each other without fear of a tyrant telling us what we will do, what we will believe, or what we will think.

Happy Patriot's Day! Wouldn't it be great if it was a national holiday?

No king but King Jesus!

Feedback for Walmart

I left the following feedback on the Walmart site today:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I was deeply disturbed to hear about the changes in Walmart's policies regarding the sale of firearms and related products. Because of your competitive prices, I have been purchasing all of my practice ammunition for both handgun and rifle at your stores as well as a number of shooting, fishing and camping accessories, and was strongly considering buying a hunting rifle from you next month as well.

Your new policy of videotaping all firearm sales as well as creating a computerized log of all firearm sales is an unnecessary invasion of my privacy. In order to purchase a firearm I already have to show a valid picture ID, fill out an extensive information form and submit myself to an instant background check. The measures you are taking will have a negligible effect on reducing the number of "straw purchases" of guns to be used by criminals - the buyers will simply shop somewhere else. All that these measures will accomplish is costing you the business of hundreds of thousands of law-abiding sportsmen.

I will not shop from your outdoors department again until you rescind these unnecessary policies that only serve to invade my privacy and drive away loyal customers. Any additional cost is well worth my privacy.

Sincerely,


Jeff Odegard
Colorado Springs, CO

Barack Hussein Obama, running for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States said last Friday in Pennsylvania:

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them... And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

So, in his thinking, religious beliefs and second amendment support are on the same level as bigotry and hatred for immigrants. Faith is nothing more than a crutch for poor, embittered small-town hicks.* The right to keep and bear arms is an anachronism clung to by backwoods peasants. (In 1996 Obama supported a ban on the sale and transfer of all handguns or any semi-automatic weapons. He opposes concealed carry and the right to self-defense.)

How anyone could support such a pompous, condescending communist, I will never know. I sincerely hope Hillary wins the Democratic primary, dividing and destroying the Democrat party in the process, and that McCain can choose a true conservative as a running mate who can lead the party back to its roots.

* For the record, I grew up in a town of about 2,000 people in Montana.

Dancing Bears

While checking out the news this morning, I stumbled on this bear video on LiveScience.com. I showed the kids and they thought it was hilarious. So enjoy!

Concealed Handguns Increase in Colorado

According to a report released this week, the number of concealed handgun permit (CHP) applications in Colorado jumped by over 50% last year, and in El Paso County (the Colorado Springs area) went up 87%. (I personally contributed to that number last August!) There are now about 8,400 active concealed handgun permits in El Paso County, about 1.46% of the population, or 1 in every 68 people.

A graph of the monthly application statistics showed spikes in applications immediately following the February 2007 Utah mall shooting, the April Virginia Tech massacre, and the December New Life Church shooting. A Monument (just North of Colorado Springs) area politician also said that the increased number of CHP applications was due to encroachments on 2nd Amendment rights.

Why did I get a permit? Was I scared by the news? Was I upset about my rights eroding before my eyes? Was I on some kind of mid-life crisis, macho paramilitary kick? No, no, and no. (I'm not yet old enough for a mid-life crisis!) I have a family. If something happens, I have the responsibility to protect them. The news has taught me that by the time the police usually show up, it's already over. As an outdoorsman, I enjoy shooting. I'm a hunter. I treasure my constitutional rights. But beyond all that, I know that this world can be an incredibly dangerous place, and I have a wife and little ones to protect. I also have a larger responsibility to my community - not as some sort of vigilante who goes looking for trouble - but as someone who does not hesitate to defend the weak and needy and make our community a safer place. It's also a Biblical responsibility - see Proverbs 31:9; Isaiah 1:17; Luke 11:21 and others. (Don't get on me about the context of the verse from Luke. I know what it is, but the statement of fact still stands!)

All states except Illinois, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia allow their law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns if they jump through the necessary hoops of training, background checks and application fees. (Vermont is unique in that any law-abiding citizen may carry concealed - no permit required!) Everywhere that concealed carry has passed, crime rates have dropped. Criminals have to wonder, "is this guy one of the 1 in 68 here with a permit?" (Or one of those unnumbered libertarian souls who believe the 2nd Amendment is their concealed carry permit!) Is the owner of this home or business armed? It makes them think twice and the crime rate drops.

Concealed carry is a good thing! If you don't already, look into it!

Another Campus Shooting...

There was another campus shooting - in Jerusalem. An armed terrorist attacked Jewish seminary students killing 8 and wounding 9, 3 seriously. The terrorist was shot - by a student with a handgun. (The original reports said he used a rifle.)

One of the students, Yitzhak Dadon, said he shot the attacker twice in the head. "I laid on the roof of the study hall, cocked my gun and waited for him. He came out of the library spraying automatic fire," he said. (source: FoxNews.com)

Apparently the terrorist was finished off by an Israeli Defense Force member who lives nearby.

I don't know, but it sounds like guns on campus can make a difference for the better.

Pray for the victims and their families. Pray for students and faculties of American universities to be allowed to defend themselves.

Updates: 8 Mar 08

Several outlets are reporting on the fact that the mainstream media is downplaying the fact that a student with a gun played a role in stopping the terrorist.

See the CCRKBA and the WorldNetDaily pieces.

Add Yitzhak Dadon to the list of CHL/CCW heroes that includes Jeanne Assam (heroine of the New Life Church shooting) and many other unsung heroes.

The Only Choice for President

Tonight we participated in our precinct Republican caucuses here in Colorado Springs. It was a little different, considering that in Texas you vote in the primaries almost exactly like you vote in a general election. You go in, show your ID (a very good thing!) and go and submit your picks. Here, it's a precinct meeting, with lots of boring legalese, discussion of the process, etc. It's definitely not a kid-friendly environment - we took the kids, kept them quiet for the 10 minutes leading up to the presidential straw poll, put in our votes and then left. By now, you've seen the pictures, so you know that we voted for Mike Huckabee. Let me tell you why.

First of all, he plays bass guitar. It has a much bigger cool-factor than a saxophone any day. :o}

Seriously, we have listened to all the conservative talk show hosts say, "a vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain." Well, at this point, Romney and Huckabee's delegates together only come to half of McCain's. We had to vote our conscience.

Ron Paul is a no-brainer. He is absolutely clueless and isolationist when it comes to national defense and the very real threat that radical Islam poses to our nation and the rest of the free world. As a Libertarian, he is also on the wrong side of most moral issues that are important to us. However, I like his ideas for limited government, even if they are probably a bit extreme...

John McCain is a RINO (Republican in Name Only, a Democrat in Republican clothing). Bills like "McCain-Feingold" and "McCain-Kennedy" should tell you everything. He is on the wrong side of moral issues, limited government and fiscal issues. If McCain gets the nomination, I can state categorically that I will be looking for a third party candidate, even if it means throwing the election to Clinton/Obama. I will never vote for the man.

Mitt Romney is a fiscal conservative and strong on national defense, but supports a ban on so-called assault rifles, supported tax-payer funding for abortions, supported gay marriage in Massachusetts, and only recently "saw the light" when it comes to abortion - very conveniently in time for his presidential bid. Just for the record, his Mormonism has nothing to do with my decision - his record on moral and second amendment issues has everything to do with it.

Mike Huckabee is strong on national defense, and has a strong history supporting an end to abortion, support for a national marriage amendment, support for second amendment rights, including opposing a ban on so-called assault rifles. I am concerned that he is not as fiscally conservative as I like, but has promised to push for tax cuts which will strengthen the economy. On the other hand, he is so strong on the issues I care most about that I can overlook his other shortcomings. None of the other candidates even come close!

Vote your conscience. Vote Huckabee!

And that's the way you do it...

There is an ongoing debate in this country whether law-abiding concealed handgun permit holders should be allowed to carry concealed weapons on school campuses - elementary through the university level. Never mind that those who take the effort to get the training and background checks and spend the money to get the permit are far less likely to engage in violent crimes than the rest of the general population. (The statistic from Florida is that permit holders are 300 times less likely to commit a violent crime with a firearm.)

In Israel, this debate has been over for decades, and their decision works. In a January 25th article, IsraelInsider reported that two armed Palestinian terrorists broke into an Israeli high school and attempted to take hostages. If this happened in the US, the result would be catastrophic. Who knows how many would be shot, blown up, kidnapped or traumatized. In Israel, the result is two dead terrorists killed by armed counselors, and minor injuries suffered by the two counselors who resisted. By the time the authorities were notified and arrived on scene, the danger was over and the kids were safe.

Psychopaths, terrorists, and criminals of all types need to know that schools (and malls, and churchs, and everywhere else) are unsafe places - for them. Children should know that those responsible for caring for them are capable of protecting them, and that school is a safe place where they can focus on reading, writing, 'rithmatic, not wondering what unstoppable threat is coming next through the classroom door.

My New Job!

I'm thrilled to report that after three months of honey-do's and belt-tightening, I'm starting a new job on Monday. I will be working for Project Performance Corporation, a McLean, VA consulting company. I will be doing security consulting for Compassion International, a Christian ministry dedicated to bringing children around the world out of poverty in the name of Christ. I am very excited about both PPC as a company and getting to work supporting a wonderful Christian ministry here in Colorado Springs.

Laura has supported children through Compassion for years, even before we were married. She sponsored a little girl in Africa, then after we were married we sponsored a girl in Guatemala, and now a girl in Honduras. It has been a very worthwhile investment, seeing these girls grow up, being educated, given health care, food, and most importantly, being introduced to a relationship with Christ. If you've never considered sponsoring a child, please think about it today!