Could the pandering of the Demorats for votes get any worse? Could they possibly be any more such abject apologists for Mexicans?

Did you even remotely envision YOUR country like this?

From the Washington Times:

By Jerry Seper and Matthew Cella

The Washington Times

8:58 p.m., Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The federal government has posted signs along a major interstate highway in Arizona, more than 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, warning travelers the area is unsafe because of drug and alien smugglers, and a local sheriff says Mexican drug cartels now control some parts of the state.

The signs were posted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 between Casa Grande and Gila Bend, a major east-west corridor linking Tucson and Phoenix with San Diego.

They warn travelers that they are entering an “active drug and human smuggling area” and they may encounter “armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high rates of speed.” Beginning less than 50 miles south of Phoenix, the signs encourage travelers to “use public lands north of Interstate 8” and to call 911 if they “see suspicious activity.”

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, whose county lies at the center of major drug and alien smuggling routes to Phoenix and cities east and west, attests to the violence. He said his deputies are outmanned and outgunned by drug traffickers in the rough-hewn desert stretches of his own county.

“Mexican drug cartels literally do control parts of Arizona,” he said. “They literally have scouts on the high points in the mountains and in the hills and they literally control movement. They have radios, they have optics, they have night-vision goggles as good as anything law enforcement has.

“This is going on here in Arizona,” he said. “This is 70 to 80 miles from the border – 30 miles from the fifth-largest city in the United States.”

He said he asked the Obama administration for 3,000 National Guard soldiers to patrol the border, but what he got were 15 signs.

Your country is already turning portions of the United States over to Mexico.

This is not because we lack the technology or the personnel or the money.

It is solely because we lack the political DETERMINATION and the political WILL.

Thank you, Mr Obama. YOU are responsible.

BZ

Perhaps I should have made this known some time ago.

But for those who know me, this might explain a number of my quirks and tendencies.

In a nutshell: my senses are predominantly gone. And always have been gone.

1. Sight
I am mostly color blind. I passed various LE tests because I am clever. I am more clever than those who tested me and more devious and ingenious than the tests themselves. I know how to make distinguishing decisions. I know my colors. But I know them differently from you. I passed these tests in a Trifecta: on federal, state and local venues. Because I am that sharp. These tests make me larf to this day.

This tendency translates into color saturation. I don’t like photos they way I may have originally “seen” them — I make them translate into heavy colors. With some exceptions, I take the photos I post here and on my trainblog and then work them over in PhotoShop. I “sharpen” them and then I adjust their “saturation” UP. I like my colors VIVID. Back when I shot 35mm film, that’s why I predominantly shot Fuji Velvia.

2. Hearing
I not only worked in AM and FM radio for years, I also attended concerts from the Big Groups. I’ve seen concerts from Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Yes, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Primus, Foghat, CCR, AC/DC, and hundreds of others. I wore headphones for many hours in radio and, further, attended these concerts where my ears were completely unprotected. The sharpest damage I believe I suffered was during a Rod Stewart concert at the Fillmore West. Ron Wood’s guitar was piercing because, after all, I was standing below his right side stacks. Tetsu Yamauichi also kicked my aural ass.

Today, I can hear sounds when they are isolated. When people speak in groups, in restaurants, in meetings, with other ambient noises, I am predominantly fucked. When I try to isolate conversations I am stifled. That’s just the way it is, with my history.

3. Taste
I haven’t possessed a sense of taste since 1968. I remember that I had some kind of flu that year. Since then, my “taster” has been flawed. If I want to “taste” something it has to be, literally, “over the top.” I have to experience massive amounts of sugar. I have to experience massive amounts of salt. I like to attend movies because I insist that my popcorn be saturated with “butter” and then I apply huge amounts of seasoning or salt.

I don’t have senses.

I am a living example of “over the top.”

BZ

Most may not know that I am a railroad enthusiast.

I’m not interested in HO trains or model trains. I like the Real Deal.

Perhaps more specifically, I’m not so much interested in trains per se, as I am interested in locomotives. I’m in it mostly for the power.

Because, as I’ve said for years, there’s nothing like 15,000+ horsepower passing by you at 25 or 30 mph in Run 8 — where you can literally feel the power rattling your lungs.

In that vein, I should care to refer you to my Milepost 154 Train Blog.

Because I live less than a quarter mile from the original Transcontinental Railroad lines laid down in 1864 through the Sierra Nevada Mountains by the Central Pacific, I am interested in railroad history, the CP, the Southern Pacific and now, the Union Pacific.

I have, literally, thousands of photographs illustrating this line, and many hours of video from my Sony DCR-VX2000 MiniDV prosumer cam. And most recently, a Flip Slide. My blog documents the past and current Donner Pass over Union Pacific’s Roseville Subdivision

Thanks for checking out my hobby blog!

BZ

Sen. Murkowski’s defeat marks major tea party win

I’ll leave the title to speak for itself.

From YahooNews:

By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer Dan Joling, Associated Press Writer – Wed Sep 1, 1:12 pm ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Backed by the Tea Party Express and Sarah Palin, a little-known conservative lawyer from Alaska became the latest newcomer to the national political stage to take down an incumbent in 2010.

In arguably the biggest political upset of the year, Joe Miller claimed the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate when incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski conceded Tuesday evening. Murkowski gave up after failing to gain much ground in an count of outstanding absentee ballots.

Miller will be the favorite in November in strongly Republican Alaska against Democrat Scott McAdams, the mayor of Sitka.

Get ready for November, America.

Note to Conservatives:

Do NOT flag; do not fail; do not let down.

Now is the time to re-double our efforts in order to defeat Leftists, Demorats and Socialists.

NOW is the time to volunteer your ability to walk districts. NOW is the time to cut checks to your specific Conservative candidates — and not necessarily those of the GOP.

NOW is the time to send cash to Marco Rubio, Sharron Angle.

NOW is the time to defeat Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein.

NOW is the time to take back the House and then, possibly, the Senate.

Are the tides possibly turning . . . . ?

BZ

It’s in my confuser.

My desktop confuser at the cabin died. I received the complete Black Screen of Death, which read:

HARD DRIVE FAIL. HIT — CONTROL — ALT — DELETE — TO RESTART.

Which, of course, would bring you right back to the same screen.

Sadly, all of my photographs with my father are on that hard drive.

I’ve taken it in to a computer builder in Auburn today, and asked that as many of the photo files be extracted as possible. I gave them my Western Digital terabyte external drive to work with.

At this point I’m working with a small HP netbook my wife gave me. I am on dial-up. It’s only by the skin of my teeth that I figured out how to hook it up to my stupid dial-up.

Back soon. Once I figure a few more things out.

BZ

P.S.
Something tells me I’m going to lose a ton of family photos, and I’m going to have to have an entirely new computer built. What price can you put on irreplaceable family photographs?