I was conspicuously absent on Thursday and a good portion of today. That was because I took my father and my fiance on a trip to Apple Hill, in the foothill country of Fornicalia above the Sacratomato Valley. Autumn is the perfect time to visit Apple Hill and its ranches.

Apple Hill lies at about the 3,500 foot level and consists of a number of farms and ranches that produce apples, pears, wines and, oddly enough, one really good beer. I’ll get to that in a moment.

I took Thursday off and picked up Dad. We drove his Maxima up Highway 50 to the Camino offramp and so began our Apple Hill journey. First stop: High Hill Ranch.

We took in the various crafts booths; I purchased a fabulous print from Robert Foster, and Dad and my fiance consumed some apple pie a-la-mode. Smiles abounded. I purchased the print “Bearspective” and had it signed by the artist. Check out his site — fabulous artwork!

They took in some wine tasting at the Lava Cap Winery vineyard, and we drove to the Jack Russell Brewery where I purchased two packs of dog brew and a dimple mug.

We concluded the day with three orders of ribs at Poor Reds in El Dorado County. Poor Reds pours more Galliano than anywhere in the continental United States — and they are proud of that fact, via their Golden Cadillacs drinks.

When you enter the bar, the light hurts the eyes of those at the bar and you must soothe their savage souls. Buying a drink or two usually massages sufficiently — as long as you buy yourself a Golden Cadillac as well — which arrives in the form of a wide martini glass and another backup glass as well. It’s as though you’ve ordered a massive milkshake and acquired the metal mixing glass. You couldn’t be more fortunate.

Folks: don’t do this at home. Only Poor Reds mixes Golden Cadillacs like this.

If you’re lucky you’ve arrived sufficiently early for dinner. If you’re after 6 PM you’re hosed. You must wade three-deep to the bar for help. And you must fight for the ribs that fall off the rack and the baked potato and the salad with your choice of dressings — in a dimly-lighted area insufficient for most nominal bathrooms.

But that’s the way it is at Poor Reds.

Today Chris and I mixed and poured more concrete for the vertical posts.

I already took my Ibuprofen. I’ll be taking some in an hour or so.

I checked out “Gridiron Gang” last night with my fiance and was impressed. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a remarkably versatile actor. And quite impressive.

BZ

From the Associated Press:

North Korea stoked regional tensions Wednesday, threatening more nuclear tests and saying additional sanctions imposed on it would be considered an act of war, as nervous neighbors raced to bolster defenses and punish Pyongyang.

South Korea said it was making sure its troops were prepared for atomic warfare, and Japan imposed new economic sanctions to hit the economic lifeline of the communist nation’s 1 million-member military, the world’s fifth-largest.

North Korea, in its first formal statement since Monday’s claimed atomic bomb test, hailed the blast as a success and said attempts by the outside world to penalize North Korea with sanctions would be considered an act of war.

Further pressure will be countered with physical retaliation, the North’s Foreign Ministry warned in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Then, the Bush Administration indicated:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States would not attack North Korea, rejecting a suggestion that Pyongyang may feel it needs nuclear weapons to stave off an Iraq-style U.S. invasion.

Rice told CNN that President Bush has told the North Koreans that “there is no intention to invade or attack them. So they have that guarantee — I don’t know what more they want.”

But she also said that the decision by Pyongyang to go ahead with its nuclear program means it likely will see “international condemnation and international sanctions unlike anything that they have faced before.”

You may not be aware, but there are still over 29,000 US soldiers stationed in South Korea, following the 1953 end of the Korean War. US Army General B. Bell, commander of our forces in South Korea, responded to the threat from North Korea:

Be assured that the alliance has the forces necessary to deter aggression, and should deterrence fail, decisively defeat any North Korean attack against South Korea. U.S. forces have been well- trained to confront nuclear, biological and chemical threats.”

Japan is considering additional sactions as well:

National Public Safety Commission Chairman Kensei Mizote said following an emergency security meeting late Wednesday that the government had decided to impose additional sanctions, including a total ban on North Korean vessels.

Of course, due to the nature of the history of the Framed Agreement and the questions regarding Jimmy Carter’s role in 1994 when send “behind the scenes” by then-President Clinton, Mr. Carter took it upon himself to write this wonderfully self-serving piece today, with some highlights noted below:

Responding to an invitation from President Kim Il-sung of North Korea, and with the approval of President Bill Clinton, I went to Pyongyang and negotiated an agreement under which North Korea would cease its nuclear program at Yongbyon and permit inspectors from the atomic agency to return to the site to assure that the spent fuel was not reprocessed. It was also agreed that direct talks would be held between the two Koreas.

But beginning in 2002, the United States branded North Korea as part of an axis of evil, threatened military action, ended the shipments of fuel oil and the construction of nuclear power plants and refused to consider further bilateral talks. In their discussions with me at this time, North Korean spokesmen seemed convinced that the American positions posed a serious danger to their country and to its political regime.

Responding in its ill-advised but predictable way, Pyongyang withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, expelled atomic energy agency inspectors, resumed processing fuel rods and began developing nuclear explosive devices.

Time out. Comments: Of course, Jimmy, how horrible is it that we had a president that would lower himself, actually deign to tell the truth about the nature of evil. So I suppose we should have, at that time, continued oil shipments, continued shipping them anything on their Nuclear Shopping List and continued having a nice chat, all the while knowing that Pyongyang just slammed a homer up the previous administration’s butt?

And what’s the deal, Jimmy, with the line about responding in an “ill advised” but “predictable” way? Predictable then moves “ill advised” into the “acceptable” category?

More:

What must be avoided is to leave a beleaguered nuclear nation convinced that it is permanently excluded from the international community, its existence threatened, its people suffering horrible deprivation and its hard-liners in total control of military and political policy.

Article tag line: “Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, is the founder of the Carter Center and the winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.” Change to read: “Jimmy Carter, universally thought to be the weakest functioning American president of the 20th century, wrote this article to reaffirm the remarkably high esteem unto which he holds himself as the final arbiter of what is proper for the World.”

Carter oddly omits the part where North Korea cheated on every aspect of the deal the moment Carter turned back to his limo.

Everyone also conveniently omits the part where North Korea deals in and sells heroin and methamphetamine, and also how it has been systematically counterfeiting ONLY American currency ($100 bills) in such a way as to meet or exceed our printing capabilities.

Just thought everyone might like to know.

BZ

From the WorldNetDaily:

North Korea threatens U.S. with nuke missile;
Official says Pyongyang will fire weapon unless Washington acts to resolve standoff.

Communist North Korea has threatened to fire a nuclear-tipped missile unless the U.S. takes action to resolve its standoff with Pyongyang, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

The unnamed North Korean official who issued the threat said the intent is to bring Washington to the negotiating table.

“We hope the situation will be resolved before an unfortunate incident of us firing a nuclear missile comes,” the official said yesterday. “That depends on how the U.S. will act.”

The South Korean agency previously reported the North Korean official said that Pyongyang was willing to return to the negotiating table and quit its nuclear program if the U.S. takes “corresponding measures.”

“The nuclear test is an expression of our intention to face the United States across the negotiating table,” official said. “What we want is security of the (North), including guaranteeing our system.”

Did the North Koreans detonate an actual nuclear device or not?

Do they mean this or not?

Why does Nancy Pelosi openly denigrate a US missile shield system?

BZ

Everyone now knows that North Korea detonated a smaller nuclear device underground in defiance of the world community.

The U.S. Geological Survey said it had detected a 4.2 magnitude tremor in North Korea at 10:35 local time (0135 GMT). The Japan Meteorological Agency said its data showed a tremor took place around Gifu, on the peninsula’s northeast coast around 110 km (70 miles) from the Chinese border.

But what does it mean and what steps should be taken?

President Bush said the “United States condemns this provocative act.” The UN security council met once already and will meet this afternoon; the UN prepares to review a US draft resolution. And no one on the security council has made any noise of support for North Korea. Oddly enough both China and Russia have condemned the test.

But there’s more to the mix — politics, naturally. South Korea, Taiwan, Japan — are extremely concerned about this test because, of course, the likelihood of nuclear tipped missiles pointed in a given direction — well, that direction will be at them — and us as in US. North Korean missiles potentially targeted at Russia or China? Not a chance.

Kim Jong-il wants to force reunification with South Korea. And the only way to achieve this end is militarily. NK already invaded South Korea once and Seoul was demolished. KJi has an army of more than a million soldiers and they predominantly exist near the southern border. Would KJi think twice about going nuclear against the south? I am not confident he has the ability to understand the ramifications of such a move and that places him into the “beyond dangerous” category.

KJi’s NK has a rancid economy and hundreds of thousands of his countrymen and women have perished due to starvation, executions and in “labor” camps. With North Korea now being, what, the 8th Nuclear Nation? — and dying for cash, what is the “logical extension?” I fear the logical extension may be for NK to sell one of their upcoming nuclear devices to another rogue state or, worse, to terrorist factions such as al Qaeda, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority — you name it.

What should be done?

Some will consider “economic sanctions” too harsh, due to the overall poor condition of the North Korean populace. I would suggest that is only a place to begin.

We should, in addition, make it clear that we are monitoring NK’s airspace, and any missile sites indicating preparations for launch will be hit in a pre-emptive strike.

We should also make it clear that future missile launches, now that North Korea is a nuclear power, will be considered an active attempt at a nuclear strike against the surrounding states (more than likely South Korea) and perhaps even the United States, and will be met with military retaliation up to and possibly including a nuclear response.

And where is China in all of this?

I am unsure. I am, however, sure that China is doing its overt and covert best to ensure the diminishment of the United States; some believe that there will be a war between ourselves and China. We have sworn to defend Taiwan — and China has sworn to bring Taiwan into line.

China wants to be the world Superpower and has expanded its military shockingly. It too is becoming not only a military powerhouse but an economic one and will, resultingly, more and more want to confront us not only in the petroleum market but with petroleum-producing nation-states. It has to; there is no other option. And do not think that it is not eyeballing the oil under Russia. A Russian/China link? Japan went to war with us when we limited their oil and steel. And China?

These are dangerous, dangerous times. But sooner or later we will have to fish or cut bait. How will we meet this clear and obvious threat and the overarching global threats?

BZ

I’m going to summarize the GOP in a few sentences or paragraphs and then let loose what may.

This is an overview of impressions and facts.

For the previous 8 years:

Elections were won; get the fuck over it.

Republicans won the House and the Senate. And then they let these institutions languish.

They had power and then refused to, first, coalesce it and then, second, utilize it.

My President exelled in some areas and not in others; communication would not be GW’s strong point.

In the meantime GOP concerns exploded into the mainstream.