The following is a prescription for a McCain/Palin Victory.

It's a animated cartoon ad in the style of Southpark.

Door bell rings.
Door opens.

Kid
"Trick Or Treat!"

Woman (yelling back into the house)
"Oh Honey look, how cute. Here's some candy for you."

Kid
hand points into the bag.

Woman
"Oh, you want more? Well... Let's save a little for the others."

Kid
"They already have more than their fair share. Give me theirs and I'll see that someone more deserving gets it."

Woman (looking back into the house)
"Oh Honey, it's little Karl Marx, and he's got the cutest little Barack Obama mask on."

Kid
Mumbles as he walks off, "Trick."

Fade Out

Title: "Barack Obama. He's real generous with other people's candy." 

Evelyn's favorite thing to eat is a hamburger. For too many years, it was officially called a hamgurber. The name was just too fun to correct. We finally enforced a name change of the burger about a year ago. Tonight, after I compared this week's burger to last week's burger, she uttered with a full mouth, "You mean the burger we ate last week was Elk?"

It slipped my mind to mention that. I do feel that I made up for that omission by stating this, "Yes. The burger you are eating now is elk." After about ten seconds, the chewing resumed.

It was good, by the way.

This guy was tricky. He stole the last bite of my sandwich. I think that can get you a $50k fine in some federal parks.



This guy wanted my sandwich.



This guy wanted to BE my sandwich.



She was just interested in posing.

There is a reason why so many evangelicals are getting fooled into carrying a marxist worldview. Karl planned it that way.

Here's a real quick history lesson. Karl Marx started out as a believer. He was very passionate about God as a teen. Something happened. There's no clear record of how and exactly when it happened, but he did a 180. He suddenly became enraged by the thought of God and the idea of a savior. His anger was what fueled his efforts to create this new "socialism." He figured if he could take away the people's need for a loving God, a Savior, the people would abandon their crosses and their Bibles.

As the legendary Gilbert Godfrey stated (in some movie way before the AFLAC gig came along), "Is there something that I can put in this hand to make you totally forget what's in THIS hand?" The idea is to get The State to replace Jesus, so instead of giving to your fellow man as a good Samaritan, you could just write a check to the government. Better yet, why don't you just let the government take charge of your paycheck and the government will decide how much you need. Perhaps someone else can use this money more than you can. Instead of rendering to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's, it all goes to Caesar.
 
Caesar is not above buying votes. God, on the other hand does not play that. He simply cares for us and He blesses us when we bless others. Christians, out of the goodness of their hearts get totally tricked into giving their treats to the wrong guy. Then we have less to affect the community with. I truly believe that some of the so-called leaders in this faith community are scams. Just like the TV preachers who fool us into donating our pension fund so we can get money blessings in return. When it comes to what we do with our money, I guess we're not all as wise a serpents and innocent as doves. There is a difference in the spitting social gospel preacher and the hair-sprayed television preacher: With the TV guy, I'd be giving my own money to finance a couple yachts. With the book writing social preacher, I'd be following his lead and voting for someone to forcefully take away not just mine, but other people's earnings to pay for a politician's Aruban armada. This country is on a slip-and-slide into flat-out marxist socialism. And it wasn't just Democrats who voted for government "bail-outs" of banks.

Who 'deserves' the money? I never thought envy was a virtue. I hear it, though. "Rich people should pay their fair share." How is paying a higher tax rate, FAIR? ENVY, my friend. We have justified confiscation of our neighbor's wealth with pet phrases like, "He can afford it." (One candidate stated that very phrase to Bill O'Reilly, guess which candidate.) I once heard someone say that one person looks at a rich person, let's say 'Oprah', and prays to God that he will make what Oprah makes. The other person sees Oprah and prays to God that Oprah would make what he makes. ENVY. You can dress it up for concern for your fellow man, but due to this marxist mentality, we shouldn't even need to pick up that bruised and broken guy on the street. It's the government's job. Thankfully plenty of people are not marxists at heart and there are a lot of rogue Samaritans out there. Hopefully they won't get sued.

So, many evangelicals have traded the freedom in our own hands for the marxism in the state's big old talon. Read his little manifesto. See what's next. Or, better yet; read your history book and see whom you have aligned yourself with.

Hint: _______ Marx, _______ Stalin, ______ Lenin, ______ Hitler, ______ Castro, ____ Zedong, ____ Pot. How many of these guys who liked to "spread the wealth" were buddies with Jesus people? 
 

I know folks like Obama and all. But is he really THAT skilled as a leader? I don't know anyone who is set to vote for Obama who has stated that they have issues with him at all. This really makes me curious. Most people that I know who are voting for Palin... and McCain have issues. My issue is that McCain says he will create jobs. I don't like that talk. He says that because he feels he has to. IT'S NOT THE GOVERNMENT'S JOB! Most of my friends have some sort of beef with him. So, yes, I'm voting for the guy. I'm not crazy about him. I think he's too liberal for my taste. I'm actually more crazy about his running mate. I enjoy the fact that the press is more concerned with her shoes than her views. Leave it to the bankrupt NY Times to prove that Sexism is alive and well.

If I could just hear, "I'm not comfortable with Obama's "spreading the wealth" philosophy, but I think he would make a great Commander in Chief... If I could just hear, "This election fraud/ACORN connection is terrible, I wish Obama and Biden will call for criminal investigations." But I don't hear that. Is he not too liberal or too conservative for any of his backers?

I hear nothing but praise. I hear how he's going to change things. It all amounts to chants and slogans. Frankly, if you have ever watched footage of Hitler's Youth, this type of devotion should scare you. That may sound offensive, but how often do you hear people ask the question, "How could they let him (Hitler) get away with that?" I can tell you. He promised them National Socialism.

Am I alleging that Obama will take us in the same direction as Hitler? No. Simply stating that most of the "Changelings" that I've heard share the same type of devotion as Adolf's crew.

Tomorrow, on this blog I will talk to the person of faith. What issues are most important to you in an election? Is Marxism a world view that agrees with the Christian world view? Oh, and beware, I might bring up Hitler again. I don't think I can offend many by criticizing him. I'm pretty sure HE would lose an election here... I think.

There is no mail delivery here. I'm proud of that. I have to drop in at the post office and pick up my mail. There is screaming fast internet, 200 channels of cable, and a golf course, but no mail.

I found out I didn't get the garbage out in time for the one day of garbage pick-up. The neighbor (I like to call him, "Neighbor") suggested that I call and ask if they can have someone come out and get it. If I explain that we are from "the city" and we are unaccustomed to the ways of the country, they might just help us out. Neighbor was right. The waste transporter came by with his wife in his personal pickup. He insisted that we leave the trash out and he will come back later. "There's too much trash to wait another week." Around supper time, he came and emptied our trash.

So, neighbor did it. He won me over. I now trust everything he says. That's why his second piece of advice was impactful. "You're going to have to get up in the morning and put the trash out before 7:00. I used to leave it out at night, but the bears got to be too much of a hassle." I replied, " I am glad that you did not say that to Kathleen. I had thoughts of changing the word "bear" to "deer" or of simply adding the word "koala" to it. After all, Moses and the Israelites were required to have two eye witnesses to convict a criminal. How could I alert the spouse on account of one random talebearer?

A couple hours later, I went to THE grocery store to buy wasp spray. The reaction of the cashier was merely, "See." I asked, "So you have wasps too?" She replied, "Between the wasps and the bears, they're driving me crazy." My thought: "I'm going to need a LOT more of this spray." That was two witnesses. Does God want me to keep this a secret? Hmm. Immediately, I had a major CSI kind of flash. I envisioned those scratches on the door posts of the back doors... 'Don't think they're from the wasps.

Have you ever seen the Wilderness Family? Where can I get a gun?

So I told Kathleen about those pesky deer.

"Do you want to have a 'Grape-out' later today?"

Joelle asked me this earlier today. I didn't know at the time what a grape-out is, but I was sure it is good.
Yes, it is good. Taste the quiet moments as you do simple, seemingly insignificant things together.

Yesterday, I decided to step out on the back porch and gaze at the Greenhorn Mountains. I leaned against the railing and the girls (Evelyn and Joelle) peeked out the window as if they needed permission to join me. I motioned to them much like the Carribean traffic officer in the "If We Had Wings" ride at Disney. Think of my daughters as my little flamingos. Evelyn joined me and one minute later Joelle appeared with a huge cluster of red globe grapes. They are worth fishing for the seeds. I had some grapes with me already but she knew that we needed more provisions. The three of us stood and cracked open grapes and spit them out over the deck. "Squish, slosh, spit." I didn't know at the time, but this will forever be known as a "grape-out."

By request, we did enjoy a grape-out today. It was a little less satisfying as we were missing the "spit." All we had left were seedless grapes. Mollie banged on the door. She became the youngest grape-out participant in the history of the event. We, did basically run inside screaming due to the arrival of a couple blood-thirsty wasps. We barely escaped their grasp.

Tonight's bed-time prayer with the girls (I know. There a lot of hyphens in this.) had a little P.S. After the worship and the praises and the intercessions, I threw in a heart-felt "Thank you Lord for the Grape-Out."

As I opened my eyes, I looked at Joelle. She was sporting that still, strong smile that I call the "Safety Smile." It's more than life's little cookie. That smile is the meal that somehow has the sweetness of a dessert. As it is certainly an indicator of joy and true belonging, it is also a carrier pigeon of the same. You can never arrange for a safety smile, but God will bring them. He's good like that. Just step out and grab a cluster.

We are here. Colorado City. As we drove a mile or two away from the interstate, the beauty just started splashing me. I feel like I am in Switzerland. I feel like I should be singing songs while frolicking in the green meadows. I feel like some blond lady with braids and prickly leg hair should walk out from around the corner leading a cow to some place where cows get to go. 

Earlier today stopped and enjoyed a volcanic mountain in New Mexico. Knowing that we were about to go into the crater of a former volcano, Evelyn had a good question. "Do volcanoes ever blow up more than once in the same place." I told her it was unlikely, but it has happened. This gave me a great idea for next time. Bring a huge smoke bomb and set it under some of the rocks down in the crater. Then watch the tour bus ladies sprint uphill.

I did ask the park ranger lady at the store if they had any books among the 30-35 that they were selling which would tell about volcanoes from an intelligent design perspective. She said, "No."

Big blessing today as Mollie turned 1 year old. We visited the volcano, introduced her to our new house, had pizza, went to Target (Yes, that's how lame we are. We bought her presents today.), and had carrot cake.
The pizza place was a big blessing as the manager gave us all kinds of free stuff.
We were blessed to see hundreds of pronghorn sheep. If I start hunting, I know where I'm going.

I've been working on an idea to start a skunk hunt, an annual event to just bust a cap in every smelly little critter we could find. They have basically nothing to worry about. You can't eat them. I could not open the window of our Kampin' Kabin thanks to the smell all night. We must have passed through the "stunk of the skunk" 15 times. I think it's time to thin the herd. However, I might face some opposition from the Bass daughters. I commented today of how stinky it is when we pass a dead skunk. She stated that it was not stinky, "it's sad."

I hate it when they're right.

George Jones used to sing, "He stopped lovin' her today."

I realized today that I was driving with my eyes looking forward. I guess for the last couple days I had been driving while looking backward with my head and my tongue sticking out like the characers in a package of Hot Rod stickers. I never did collect the U-Haul Box truck one. If I did, I probably would have traded it for the purple Chevy Nova with the stickshift sticking all the way out the roof.

It wasn't until today when we passed the half-way mark, the ponte du non returnoise (I know it's not real french, but if you say it outloud you could fool your neighbors... unless you live in Quebec) that I remembered the coolness of the place we are headed.

I learned this tip from a trucker lady. This is a tip on how to keep your kids entertained. - "Give them each a lemmon. That's what my mom used to do. She'd poke a hole in it and give it to us. It would keep us busy for hours." Where was the hidden camera? I happen to know that this is a woman who still uses a CB Radio as a primary form of communication. Does she realize what those lemmons are up against these days? Not only PSP's and iPods. They've got infomercials. You can't take a kid who has just watched the benefits of the Weed Weasel and just hand her a lemon. This thing is ridiculous. It doesn't get your grape stains clean. It doesn't teach you how to make money on e-bay. It doesn't even come with a money back guarantee. However, I guess you could look at it this way, in today's world, if Mom hands you a lemon, grab the Majic Bullet and make lemonade.

Blessings:
- We All are healthy and safe.
- We got in and out of Cracker Barrell faster than we would at fast food.
- The Kampin Kabin is more comfortable (and cleaner) than our Motel room from last night.
- We saw literally hundreds of hawks in the sky at the same time. I think they were trying to work up an economic bail out plan for the buzzards.

We this visited the kid's joke today:
"Why is 6 afraid of 7?"
Answer: "Because 7, 8, 9."*
I've always struggled with the wisdom of that one. I figured, why profile 7? Why should I assume that 7 was capable of numeric cannibalism just because he was a previous offender? Perhaps he has been reformed. Perhaps 9 provoked the savage actions of the number 7. I guess I figured 8 lives next door to this number. Why can't 6 show faith in the system and continue to live next door without triple locking the door?
Joelle had the answer to that. "6 looks just like 9, just turned upside down." She's right. I now believe that 6 would be the obvious choice for 7 to snack on. If I were 6, I would move. Perhaps to Colorado.
Blessings: More wisdom from conversations with a 9 year-old and a 6 year-old.
We spotted a beautiful fox and it was not squished like the deer.
We met the nicest older couple from Winter Haven. They were fellow members of the Kingdom of God. Mollie gave the man a hug. If you've ever gotten a hug on the leg from a one-year old, you've been blessed.

*I have no idea who to credit with that joke. If you invented it, would you take the credit?