I feel like Im taking crazy pills

So Im watching the news this morning and I have to wonder if Im the only person on the planet who is seeing this and wondering if I am taking crazy pills.


So a border agent, Jesus Diaz, busts this guy coming across the border. It turns out that the guy has 75 pounds of happy smoke in his backpack. So the agent cuffs the guy and then allegedly ruffs him up. The issue was investigated by internal affairs and the agent lies about it....then is convicted and sentenced to two years in prison.

But here is the where I have a problem with it.

The illegal immigrant who was smuggling the drugs testified against the agent. In exchange for his testimony, he was granted immunity.

Now here is where it gets better. Our Justice department, in exchange for the testimony of Mr Illegal border crosser drug smuggling guy, was also given a visa into the United States.

Once again folks....Im not making this up.

I cant help but think back to the time when Michelle Obama, in a wisconsin speech shortly after her husband was elected President said, For the First Time in My Adult Lifetime, I’m Really Proud of My Country”

I guess I just dont see things the same way.....

Its time that we as Americans wake up and get a President, and administration, that takes securing our borders seriously.

2011 Brown Family Chili Cookoff Championship

Well......As Charlie Sheen would say, my tiger blood mixed with Adonis DNA is why Im WINNING !!!

I am officially the two time undefeated Champion !

We had an awesome time this year. We had everyone there except Christine and Joe and they were definitely missed. We also had Tim and Brady who are friends of Pauls and Candices in attendance and Tim made the mistake of challenging my ninja like culinary skills.

The Waterfalls mountain lodge was AWESOME ! What a great house and what an absolutely awesome location. We were NE of Burnsville on Cattail creek and about halfway down the mountain at 3900 feet . As you can see from the pictures, the falls are right behind the cabin and the pictures just dont do the place justice.

More news from the Lavender Folder

So Im getting my daily dose of news and run across an article about an 11 year old boy in Brinckley California that is undergoing hormone supression treatmeant. This means that as a young man (boy) he will not have to 'go through' puberty. This is being done because his parents plan to subject the boy to a sex change operation and feel that it is better to do this while he is young.

When the boy was three years old the parents taught the child sign language. In a discussion one day at the age of three he signed to them that he was a girl. At the age of seven this child ( supposedly) threatened to mutilate his testicles because he felt so strongly that he was born a  female and not the way God had made him.

The parents put him through therapy and he was diagnosed with body dismorphis.

So  now Tommy ( now known as tammy) lives his life as a girl and I guess at some point will make the surgical transition.

My first thought after reading the article was 'what went wrong' in this childs life'.

It turns out that Tommy/Tammy has two lesbian parents.....Imagine that !

Im not making this up.....you can read it here.....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2043345/The-California-boy-11-undergoing-hormone-blocking-treatment.html


Thats it.....I got nothing else for ya !

Pandora's Box

I knew ( and said all along) that once the Obama Administration repealed the Dont Ask Dont tell policy for the military that the gay community wouldnt be satisified. So with that said, I read this today! Obama's actions have opened Pandoras box and I dont think it can be closed.

Now for the record, Im betting that those making the most noise on the issue have no intention of serving but hey,,,,,they are on a roll.

For the record. i think that gays are an abomination. I dont care about politics or studies, I think its immoral and thier actions only tend to degrade our society.

Lastly...If I make a stance against this then I get labled as homophobic. I really think that term is an unfair description. Phobic means to fear and I can assure you I dont fear anything homosexual. ( the same applies for me to Islamaphobia)

It makes me ill to think that two men, or two women would consider raising kids or adopting. There is just no substitute for a mother and father !

For the random reader who disagrees, move along.....I could care less what you think.

Read the article......if you can get through it without getting throwing up.


For Transgender Americans, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Not Enough

The discriminatory military policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” officially came to an end early this morning.
For 17 years, the law, originally an attempt to help gay and lesbian servicemembers instead forced them into the closet and resulted in thousands of dismissals. The legislation meant that closeted LGB people could serve free of harassment, but that servicemembers could be discharged if their sexual orientation became public.
Now that the much anticipated repeal is finally taking effect, soldiers are coming out, marching in pride parades, telling their stories, and rightly celebrating.
We should celebrate this victory for what it is: One step along the road to justice for LGBT people.
And while that’s reason to applaud the repeal, it’s vital that we also cannot ignore the fact that transgender people are still unable to serve.
The law banning people from serving in the military based on sexual orientation (included in various forms since the Revolutionary War) was the only thing amended by DADT and then again by its repeal. The U.S. military considers transgender people medically unfit to serve based on diagnosis of “Gender Identity Disorder” and/or genital surgery, labeled by the military as “major abnormalities and defects of the genitalia.”
The National Center for Transgender Equality and The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network issued a joint statement last week reminding transgender servicemembers the risks involved with coming out.

Mara Keisling, executive director of the NCTE says, "While we are happy to see the end of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' we are troubled that the military still expels some members of our community simply because of who they are. Transgender people continue to serve our country honorably, and our country needs to do the same for transgender service members by reexamining this outdated ban."
"Transgender Americans defend our nation every day, serving with pride and distinction at home and abroad. As we celebrate the end of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' on September 20, we also recognize that ending this terrible law is not enough to secure full LGBT equality in the military, and at SLDN, we are committed to ensuring that every qualified American who wishes to serve our nation is able to do so," said Army Veteran and SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis.

There have been intermittent protests around the issue, but for the time being, there’s no end to the service ban for transgender people in sight.
There are a number of things that need to change in order for transgender people to serve openly in the military. According to NCTE, they include:

• Ability to Serve. The Department of Defense should eliminate transgender status and gender identity disorder diagnosis as automatic disqualifications from military service and should ensure that medical fitness standards treat transgender service members equally with all other service members.
• Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Department of Defense should revise the relevant sections of the Uniform Code of Military Justice to allow transgender people to serve openly.
• Registering with Selective Service. The Selective Service System should change its policies to respect gender identity in determining who is required to register with the Selective Service.
• Anti-Harassment Action Plan. The Department of Defense should amend its Anti-Harassment Action Plan to include gender identity and expression and should enforce the plan.
• DD-215 Forms. The Department of Defense should issue and enforce a consistent policy for issuance of an amended Report of Separation (DD-215). Specifically, the Air Force should be required to issue DD-215 forms and the surgery requirement to amend gender on military discharge papers should be eliminated for all branches.
• DEERS Records. The Department of Defense should create a policy for updating the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) system that allows alteration of gender. Additionally, the policy should allow the system to be automatically updated when the underlying service record is changed.
• DFAS Records. The Department of Defense should create a policy for updating the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) system that allows alteration of gender. Additionally, the policy should allow the system to be automatically updated when the underlying service record is changed.

And that’s just for active service. Veterans’ issues are another matter, one that NCTE has helped address.
Navy veteran Autumn Sandeen has courageously told her story to ground these problems in real, lived experience, but there’s been little movement thus far.
Let’s not forget our trans brothers and sisters as we celebrate a victory for our LGB ones.

Last nights Republican debate

I had a thought last night while watching the debate and the longer it went some things bcame clear to me.

I dont think anyone takes Herman Cain seriously. I actually like the guy and the stance he has taken. He has one unique qualification that none of the other crop of candidates have. He isnt a carreer politician. In the oval office he would approach things from a business sense which , lets face it, needs to be done. If the federal Government were to be held accountable for a Profit /Loss statement the entire House, Congress, Cabinet, and the Presidnet would be fired. I think Herman Cain also brings to the table what the republicans need in order to unseat Obama......his skin color.

In truth though, I think he along with several others wont even make it to the primaries. If you watched the news coverage this morning you would think that the only three people in the debate were Romney, Perry, and Gingrich.

Anyway....

If the debate were a middleschool gym class dodgeball game it might have gone something like this.

Rick Santorum - He was the kid that no one wanted on thier team and was picked last.

Michelle Bachman - The angry little feminist that watched from the sideline and felt that she should be allowed to play with the boys because badminton just isnt exciting enough.

Ron Paul was the crotchety old gym coach that should have retired 20 years prior. He prefers layups to slam dunks.

Herman Cain - The school counseler that talked with santorum after the game was over and told him that he just needs to be more assertive.

Newt Gingrich- The school Principal

John Huntsman - He didnt dress out for class and just watched form the sidelines. ( on a personal note...you cant call yourself a conservative and support gay marrige)

Romney and Perry - Opposing teams and the last two standing when the coach blew the whistle for the end of class.

I think I may have missed someone. If so, then he is probaly insignificant.

ththththththt thats all folks.....

I was scanning some old pictures....

Going through some old photo albums and started scanning some old pictures.  Just thought Id throw these up here.

1st Annual International Day Festival - August 26th 2011

Today at the VA Medical Center in Slisbury NC was the International Day Festival. This was a big get together of the employees and families and designed to show the wide range of cultural backgrounds represented.

The back story on this is that Ronda came home from work one day and said something to the effect of.....I hope you don tmind, but I signed you up for an event. The event was a cooking/food tasting deal where you submitted a dish based on your culture.

The judging in this deal was going to be on best meat or veggie dish and best cultural display.

So the plan was for me to make a dish and come up with some sort of display to go along with it. With that in mind, I took alot of the photos of the bayou that I had taken from an earlier trip this year and had them enlarged. I made a photo board along with some various facts on Louisian and Black Bayou. Included in the display was a cypress knee that Ronda and I have moved along with us for at least the past 15 years from flower bed to flower bed in several different states.

The menu was simple and the presentation even easier.   Ronda loves my moms hot water cornbread. Now that I think about it, everyone loves my moms cornbread. This seems like a simple thing but truthfully you have to do it a few times to get it right. So with the cornbread in mind I figured I needed a main dish to go along with it and one that would fit my bayou theme. I decided on catfish stew. to be honest here, I dont think Ive ever had that before in my live but aftger a google of some good recipies I knew this was the one.

I used my campstove not only as prop , but as a working stove to have the food simmering during the entire event. With the stew simmering, the hot water cornbread served from a duth oven, cypress knee and photos I was off in the running in the first annual event.

I truly thought everyone involved was going to be prepared to feed not only judges but also the attendees. That wasnt the case with most and some only had enough for the judges. I made almost 2 gallons of stew starting at 6 AM this morning and when serving time came it went from something fun to something that closely resembled work. I had one package of 36 bowls and 2 packages of 24 bowls and when I unloaded there was only 6 bowls left so I served alot of stew of cornbread. Several came for seconds so I knew I had a shot at being CHAMP !

I dont want to sound bitter here but Im convinced stew and cornbread trumps yams any day of the week. But, the judges didnt see it that way. So I placed third overall in the food portion.

However, my cultural display won first place so I was pleased that I was awarded a trophy instead of having to choke someone out in order to get one.

Next year will be better - Im doing frog legs and pinto beans.....I wont be denied a clean sweep next time.

My Organic Garden



More from another trip to Burnsville Last Weekend.

Last weekend Bruno and myself went back up to the mountains and stayed in a little cabin on Neils creek which is near the place Ronda and stayed at a couple of weeks before. WHAT AN AWESOME TIME WE HAD !!!

We had a small cabin right on the creek and you just couldnt have had a better spot. We spent the weekend fishing, hiking to and climbing waterfalls, and swimming in the creeks.

Of note, the trails and campgrounds were closed by the forrest service because there had been 6 accounts in one week of bear activity. The night before we arrived, one bear had actually gone into a tent with two little girls and taken the food out. to be fair to the bear, the girls didnt need the food anyway. No one was hurt but the Rangers were all over the place posting notices.

On the first waterfall we hiked to, we were talking about what we would do if we saw a bear and then looked down to see this ....

Thats bear Poo Poo.....and yes..... a bear really does #$% in the woods.......except they tend to do it on the trails.....

We hiked to two seperate falls. The first was a small one and not well traveled but it had a great little swimming hole at the bottom. The first 3 pictures show Bruno jumping off the rock into the water. Ice cold doesent even come close to describing how that water felt.

I didnt want to look like a chicken so climbed up also. But there no way I was jumping.

The second falls we went to were the Roaring Fork Falls. We both decided to climb all the way up about 150 to 200 feet. Its much steeper than it looks in the pictures. This climb was the highlight of the trip and we both are already about talking about going back before it gets too cold to do it.

This is the back porch on the cabin and also the view from the porch. I just cant say enough how nice it was up there. THe creek is literally only 10 feet off the porch so you have the sound of the water right there ! My coffee that morning as the sun was coming up just tasted excellent.

Clairs Cottage - Burnsville Nc

Ronda and went up to Brunsville in the mountains off the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had a nice little cottage on a lake. You know me.....I went fishing !

Also made a short drive up the parkway to visit Crabtree falls. It was about a one mile hike down the mountain to get to the bottom. Wasnt bad going down....but coming back up was a killer ! Plus we took the dogs on that little trek.

Fishing on Black Bayou

Back during Spring Break, Brandon and I drove Louisiana to visit my mother and do some fishing on the bayou !