This is a nice picture of a selection of squash for sale at our local farmer’s market. They make a decorative addition to a holiday table or centerpiece.

These colorful Gerbera daisies were the centerpiece of our table last weekend. Since this is such a nice picture, I decided to share it with you a week late.

This is excerpted from an article written by Stan Katten, who is a former RAND Corp. analyst:

Here’s what we’re in for if Democrats take over

This may be the most important election in a generation. Whether the traitorous Democrats or the virtuous Republicans prevail could influence this country for years to come.

By Stan Katten

[ . . . ]

A House or Senate controlled by Democrats will try to accomplish what the liberals have been striving for since Al Gore failed to reverse the 2000 presidential election — bring down the Bush administration by blocking everything it proposes and reversing its accomplishments, regardless of the negative and often dangerous consequences:

• Withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, surrendering to the terrorists.
• Abandon the fledgling Iraqi government, permitting an Iranian-backed insurgent to take over.
• Launch impeachment charges against President Bush for “lying the United States into war.”
• Abandon the Afghanistan government, allowing a Taliban resurgence.
• Stop all CIA and National Security Agency monitoring programs used to help prevent terrorist attacks.
• Grant citizen civil rights to Guantanamo Bay detainees. This would include providing lawyers for civil criminal trials.
• Stop fencing the border, allowing more than a million illegal immigrants per year to enter the nation.
• Provide five-year amnesty for illegal immigrants, including up to 66 million family members.
• Grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.
• Cancel Bush’s tax cuts, increasing average taxes by 15 percent to 20 percent.
• Continue the federal estate tax, returning to former confiscatory rates and exclusion.
• Increase the federal tax on gasoline 50 or more cents per gallon.
• Block appointments of strict constitutionalist judges.
• Extend prohibitions on increasing domestic recovery of petroleum.
• Approve same-sex marriages.
• Continue to refuse to make English the official national language.
• Seek United Nations and European Union approval for U.S. foreign policy.
• Cede U.S. trade policy to control by the World Trade Organization.
• Subvert the Constitution by participating in organizations like the World Court.
• Participate in military efforts only as part of United Nations forces.
• Add more entitlement programs, like socialized health care.
• Increase environmental regulations and restrictions.
• Sign the Kyoto Treaty despite widespread signatory noncompliance.
• Further empower trial lawyers by removing all limits on awards.
• Continue to block picture identification to impede voter fraud.
• Continue the idiotic prohibition on racial profiling at airports.
• Refuse to simplify the tax system and improve Social Security.

If you think these are exaggerations, check the liberal Democrats’ and environmentalists’ Web sites, including the George Soros-funded MoveOn.org. Read Gore’s book Earth in the Balance and view his new global- warming scare movie. Review the Democrats’ obstructionist record in Congress and their traitorous undermining of the war on terror. Note former President Clinton’s failures to capture or kill Osama bin Laden because he considered terrorists criminals, even though bin Laden had declared war against the United States years earlier.

Read the speeches of the Democrat leaders: John Kerry, Jack Murtha, Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, Al Gore, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Charles Rangel, John Conyers and even Rep. Jane Harman.

[more]

Please vote Republican. Remember the alternatives.

“Arctotis hybrida” daisies offer a wide variety of colors. These fiery ones are blooming in my back yard in late October with more to come soon.

In a previous article, I established that the average global temperature has generally risen over the past century. The graphic to the right (courtesy NOAA) clearly shows this temperature increase. There is little doubt that the planet is warming and that global temperature trends over the past 400 years have been directly proportional to observed solar activity. Sunspot counts are high when temperatures increase, and
low when temperatures decrease.

The graphic to the left (Courtesy CO2 Science) shows sea level and rate of sea level change over the past 200 years or so. A quick observation shows sea levels decreased from 1800 to 1860 at which time a minimum level reversed. Note also that the rate of sea level change (the bottom line on the graph) turned toward a higher rate of change just prior to that time. Note also that the rate of change went from negative to positive at the same time the minimum sea level occurred. You can also see that sea levels have steadily increased during the portion of the graph where the rate of change is positive. Finally, note that the rate of change peaked out around 1950 and dropped into a trough and then another peak, lower than the 1950 peak, around 1998 or so.

What’s the point? Well, if global warming is melting the ice caps and glaciers, one might expect that the rate of sea level change would also be increasing — but that’s not true according to the graph above. Since 1950 or so, global temperatures increased but the rate of sea level rise has not increased. Moreover there is considerable evidence that Antartic ice sheets are becoming thicker.

The matter of sea level change is discussed by the editors at CO2 Science who conclude the editorial with the following insightful remarks:

Clearly, either something is drastically wrong with climate-alarmist theory, or something is drastically wrong with the pertinent real-world data. Although many people choose to believe the theory over the data - or they promote the theory in spite of believing the data (or they simply ignore the data) for philosophical or political reasons - we find it much more compelling - and satisfying - to both believe the data and act in harmony with that belief.

So we ask you what we ask ourselves almost every day: what do you believe? … why do you believe it? … and how do you act in light of that belief?

Finally, quoting the famous author Michael Crichton . . .

“Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you’re being had.”

This photo, taken by the Cassini-Huygens Probe shows Saturn’s rings as we’ve never seen them. Taken from behind the planet while the Sun was eclipsed, the photo reveals that there are more rings than previously believed.

Funny things happen when you get the illumination coming from behind an object. Damsel once took a photo of Air Force One that gave the illusion of a transparent vertical stabilizer.

Read the whole story: NASA Finds Saturn’s Moons May be Creating New Rings

Damsel is just so damn cute when she shoots her 20 ga. Remington 870 Express®. I think she likes it a lot.

Notice the lovely orange and black design - with some white holes near the center courtesy of my S&W 908 9mm semi-auto pistol. Range art can be so nice on a good day.

This week’s flower arrangement features these bright orange sunflowers. Yes, they’re dyed, but they fit right in with the change of weather and fall season.

As I watched the news today, I saw part of the dedication of the U.S. Air Force Memorial.The monument itself is a trio of sweeping towers that simulate the arcs of air vehicles in flight. Visit the link to get some perspective of the monument.

At the dedication, the Air Force Thunderbirds flew a “bomb burst” formation in tribute to the design of the monument.

Yesterday, we saw the Blue Angels fly a similar maneuver at MCAS Miramar: