Supreme Court Fails Again

The US Supreme Court laid another stinky pile of manure today on its way out of town for summer vacation. To me this makes no legal sense. First they invalidated DOM (the federal Defense of Marriage Act) on the basis that states have the right to decide what their marriage laws should be. Then, in California’s Prop 8 case, they declare that the voters of a state do not have the right to decide what their definition of marriage should be.

Clearly, this is what you get without a moral compass to guide you. Moral Relativism leads only to schizophrenia and unintelligible nonsense. Congress could fix this but they lack the moral will to act. The net result is that another institution that once held the West on solid footing has fallen.

We need reformation or rebellion. Perhaps the question, “Who is John Galt” is not in our future but the dystopia we are creating leads only to the Road to Serfdom. Liberals in our time truly believe the big lie that “Slavery is Freedom” because that is what they have in store for us.

A relatively unknown Christian rock band called Quickflight did a song called “Modern Romans”. I think the title of this song is in fact our future. In ancient Rome, citizens could worship any god they wanted as long as Caesar is supreme. I fear we are heading toward the same belief; thus any beliefs that present a challenge to ruling class will be viewed as treasonous and will not be tolerated. Thus Christianity will be illegal. Those who renounce the supremacy of the State will be punished. Churches will be regulated and those that refuse to conform to the moral principles of the State will be outlawed. (Can you see why a 501.C3 is a bad idea?) It follows that Christians that maintain orthodox biblical beliefs will be prohibited from government benefits such as student loans, social security, federal or state jobs, etc. Also children of believers will be removed from their parents and given to others because of their intolerance and hateful beliefs such as opposing abortion, homosexuality and tyranny. To declare “Jesus is Lord” and truly believe it will soon be the unpardonable sin in our society.

This will happen sooner than later. Ironically, those that proclaimed they would always remember the Holocaust, are among those that will be putting us to the sword. They have already forgotten the promise that they made to the world to oppose tyranny in all its forms. They are aligned with those in power so the whole “when they came for me” argument is a non-starter. Proof? Had they really meant what they said, Roe v Wade would never have been allowed to stand.

I am reminded of the Curses recorded in Deuteronomy Chapter 28. I believe that this is the future we will experience if we stay on the path we are following.  Here are a few highlights that will be visiting us:

15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
20 The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do , until thou be destroyed , and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
36 The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
43 The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. 44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
49 The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth ; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand ;
50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:
51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst , throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
64 And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.

As I read this, I keep thinking of China & Islam carving up the West. Judgment can lead to either repentance or destruction. Thus far, we keep choosing destruction.

Public Safety Risk Increasing

Yet another article on the threat to public safety by release of prisoners. Even I am surprised by number of bad guys already let loose on the public.

The state has reduced its prison population by more than 46,000 inmates since 2006, with more than half the decrease due to a 2-year-old state law that is sentencing lower-level criminals to county jails instead of state prisons. But the population remains about 9,400 inmates over the level required by the courts.

The state has said it can whittle the population further by the end of the year but would remain 2,300 inmates over the court-ordered number.

“It’s inevitable. You’re going to have people released to the community who are continuing to commit more crime and, as such, our population in the (jail) facility is going to be impacted,” said Sgt. Jason Ramos, of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.

He added, there’s a 70 percent chance criminals released will reoffend.
Read more: http://www.kcra.com/news/judges-gov-brown-must-fully-comply-with-prison-order/-/11797728/20650150/-/dpyo3p/-/index.html#ixzz2Wso78db5

Emphasis added by me.
Instead of building more prisons our elected officials are trying to disarm the public.

My solution is to release all the prisoners in the neighborhood where the judges live and see how they like living with their rulings.

D-Day Remembered

Yesterday was the 69th anniversary of the D-Day Invasion at the beaches in Normandy France.
It also happened to be the day of our month meeting of my local California Republican Assembly chapter. As President, I took the opportunity to remember the soldiers that participated in this assault; especially the 9,000 men that lost their lives that day.

Launching the invasions from bases in England, I can’t help but think that for at least some of these men, the last thing they prayed was the Anglican Prayer In the time of War and Tumults from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

O ALMIGHTY God, King of all kings, and Governor of all things, whose power no creature is able to resist, to whom it belongeth justly to punish sinners, and to be merciful to those who truly repent; Save and deliver us, we humbly beseech thee, from the hands of our enemies; abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices; that we, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore from all perils, to glorify thee, who art the only giver of all victory; through the merits of thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We then had a moment of silence and began our meeting.

Switching Windows Phone 8 from Hotmail to Outlook

Moving my email from Hotmail.com to Outlook.com has involved some preplanning and a few minor heartaches. Here is what I have done and experienced thus far. I hope this will be helpful to others that plan to do likewise in the future.

I use my Windows Live account—or whatever Microsoft wants to call it these days—on my Windows 8 PC and my Windows 8 Phone. I found an article that claimed that by following their instructions that you can switch to a new Microsoft Account and keep your app purchases. Their method was to transfer everything from one Live account to another via an XBOX 360. I followed the instructions on the article found here
http://www.wpcentral.com/guide-how-get-new-live-id-and-keep-all-your-windows-phone-app-purchases

After following the instructions in the link above, this is what I experienced.
My XBOX points moved from one account to the other but moving the phone purchases was a bust. Only two apps have moved from the old account to the new. One was an old version of angry Birds which says it is no longer available for download and a tower defense game called SwampDefense. I had made a list of all apps on my phone prior to moving accounts so I know what I should have. After doing the Factory Reset as instructed in the link above, I found and installed the free apps that I had previously had on my phone. Many of my paid apps were originally downloaded at times when there was either a free introductory offer or they were on sale in the Store. Some posts I have read said that it can take up to three days for apps to be moved. I don’t think this is going to work, but I’m only halfway thru the three day time period.

*****
Update #1
About three and a half days after the switch, another group of old apps appears on my purchase history. However, there is still a gap from August of 2012 to June of 2013.This of course is the period that I most want to reinstall. Also, note on old entries that while the apps are on the list, the word “Purchase” does not appear in the payment column.

Secondly, when I log into Hotmail—my old phone account—I see all purchases for both the Outlook and Hotmail accounts. Also, the Hotmail log in shows Other Phones as an option on the account. This gives me some hope that the switch is still in progress.

Upon further review however, I found the other device listed was my old HTC Trophy phone. It was not removed from my Hotmail account when I bought the HTC 8X.
*****

Other posts that I read said that you will have the apps available but must go thru the motions to purchase the apps again and once you hit buy, the phone will say you have already purchased the app and can then download it without paying. This has not been my experience. I tried and ended-up buying an app that I had previously purchased.

I will not say that this method never worked but it certainly does not any more…at least as advertised.

Changing the login on the Windows 8 PC seemed easy enough. I changed from a Microsoft account to a local account. Once that process was completed, I then attached the computer login to the new Live account. The first change that I noticed was that my list of recent documents in Microsoft Office was reset and I had to setup my email accounts again. I don’t have any purchased apps in Windows 8 so I don’t know if they followed or not. If the few apps that I have installed still function and update then I think it is safe to assume that they are OK.

I went thru my list of usernames and passwords and updated my email information. In some cases, I could update them using the PC and test the change by logging into the app on my phone. An example of this would be Amazon.com where your email address is part of your login to the site.

The other issue I have with Hotmail is that there is no way to cancel the auto renewal of the account using any Microsoft website. You can either plan ahead by setting up the default credit card with one that will expire before the renewal date or outright cancel the account. There is no way to revert back to a free account without contacting MSFT. I am trying to use an email support feature buried deep in the bowels of the support website to see if they will cancel the automatic renewal but I have yet to hear from them.

*****
Update #2
Surprisingly, within about an hour, I received a reply from Microsoft and with a few more emails was able to cancel the auto renewal of my Hotmail account.
*****

The other Windows Phone question that I had was related to phone updates to the BIOS and Operating System. What happens when you do a complete reset of the phone? Do updates need to be installed again—like I would after using a PC restore disk—or do the master restore files get updated as part of the updating process? Surprisingly, the updates appear to be permanently installed. I never needed to update the BIOS or Operating System following the reset. Manually running the Check for Updates feature for the phone OS, states that the phone is up to date.

About twenty hours after I did the phone reset, I got a batch of updates that were phone specific for audio and other features. This update notification was via the Store.

Transferring my TechNet subscription was the simplest part. I just clicked on a link for this purpose and followed the steps. This was the most painless part of the whole process. My only concern was that after I was done, I could log on with my new account but the box with my name in it still was showing my old email address. Changing the TechNet login however does not change the email address of any Microsoft newsletters to which you may have subscribed.

My Resignation from Boy Scouts

Last night was the night I have been dreading for many days. I finally responded to the Scout vote last week and sent in my resignation to my local Pack.

Before I wrote my resignation email, I sat down with my son and explained why he and daddy needed to leave Scouting. I tried to explain the vote in simple terms without getting into specifics. I told him that the Scouts had adopted policies that were contrary to what Jesus taught us. He was not satisfied with such a vague reason so I tried a different tack.

Then I said that marriage was between one man and one woman. He agreed with this. Then I asked him about the principal at the school where mommy worked. I said he is a man and is married to another man. My son understood that this was wrong. I said the Scouts have changed their policy to permit such behavior and said that this is OK.

At this point he began crying. I asked him why? His response was that he could never be an Eagle Scout and that would make it much harder to be President when he grows up.( He wants to be President so he can undo all the bad stuff that Obama has done to our country.) I told him that instead we would have “daddy scouts”; I would have to take him camping and fishing and do more stuff with him. I told him that some people were trying to organize a Christian replacement for Scouting but I don’t know how far they will get by the time school starts up next fall. He was happier with this explanation. Then I sent him to bed and sat down and wrote my letter to the Pack leader.

I told the Pack leader that I was leaving but offered to allow time for a second signer to be added to the checking account. As Treasurer I support the two signature rule on expenditure of funds. Yes I know I’m showing more grace to the Scouts than they showed to me but I don’t directly blame the local Pack for the turmoil caused by the national organization. In my letter I stated that we would be at the meeting tonight to watch my son advance to the rank of Bear. He earned it. (This advancement was supposed to be last week before the vote but was changed at the last minute.) Following the meeting tonight, I will be done with Scouts.

Today I sent a letter to my son’s private Christian school to ask them to prevent Scouts from using their facilities unless the Pack breaks away from the BSA. This will be interesting to see how the school and its sponsoring church handle this situation. The Pack has been permitted to use the school facilities as long as some members are from the school—many children in the Pack attend local public schools.

Prior to tonight’s meeting, I will see if I can find some information to give to parents about the vote. The national organization kept the local scout council in a virtual news blackout leading up to the vote and no information was circulated to them or to any of the local Packs. The policy change was engineered in secret because it was the only way that advocates could get it passed. This vote also flipped scouts from a grassroots organization to a top-down one. Look for the BSA to consolidate this power in the coming months.

The Last of the Boy Scouts

Sometimes I forget that the only institution that will go on forever is the Church. Other institutions ordained by God like marriage and the United States of America have expiration dates.

Yesterday, another human institution that I valued greatly died. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) committed suicide and barely anyone noticed. The silence of conservative pundits and the media leading up to yesterday’s vote was deafening. The passing of the Scouts from traditional and dare I say “biblical values” to the toxin of tolerance and openness cannot be undone. Moral relativism claimed another victim.

Scouting is dead. The national leadership is celebrating the passing of the old values. The death of Scouting as measured by declining membership will not be seen for several months. The Pack that I am leaving as Den Leader and Treasurer does not renew its membership until January of next year.

With so many other youth options where homosexual lifestyles are not forced on me or my son, I think we will do fine without BSA. I think I will be doing daddy activities with my son to fill the vacuum. I’m calling what I plan to do “daddy scouts”. We will join other youth activities and do some family camping.

The really sad part of all this is that the people that killed Scouting have no interest in making Scouting a better organization. They really hate any organization that holds to the belief that homosexuality is wrong and that children should have an environment where they are safe from being exposed to it.

The corpse of Boy Scouts may be around for several more years but the goodness and life that once animated it are gone. Maybe a representative of BSA can do a walk-on during the next season of “The Walking Dead”. A bullet in the writhing corpse would be a quicker end than the one we will see as this plays out.

Scouts Vote Tomorrow

Today might be the last day that the Boy Scouts of America can claim to be morally straight. Tomorrow, the institution that once exemplified the America of Norman Rockwell is expected to commit suicide in the name of political correctness. Like many, I think only divine intervention can stop this madness; however, God may not withhold His judgment from yet another fallen institution in a nation that has turned its back on Him.

2006 Jeep Liberty Ignition Switch

Over all, I like my Jeep Liberty but I have had a few vehicle problems during my 106,000 miles. Some were manufacturer defects and a few were just wear and tear.

The first problem that I encountered was the tail lights. I used to go thru light bulbs as often as every three days. What I finally figured out is that the plastic inside the tail lights was touching the bulbs. The heat from the bulbs touching the plastic inside the light fixture caused the plastic to melt to the bulbs and they would break the bulbs—probably due to vibration—and the bulb would need replacing. Over a series of months, I used needle-nosed pliers to break out all the loose plastic inside the light fixtures. Once all plastic was removed, the bulbs worked properly.

The braking system was made using cheap parts. I had to replace rotors and pads after a few off-road trips. They go too hot and warped like crazy.

Also, the rear window motor on the driver’s side went out. The dealer charged $400 to replace it.

I have experienced the infamous key getting jammed in the ignition and not being able to remove it. This appears to be a frequent complaint of Jeep owners. I found many complaints on the Internet.

My latest adventure began with turning the ignition key and not being able to start the vehicle. Then the next time I would try, it would start right up. The last time this happened, my Jeep ran fine for two weeks before giving me trouble again. The only thing I noticed was that I had to turn the key as far as it would go and it would then start. The key movement was not right.

Well finally this week-end, it just died on me. I went to the local auto parts store and they advised me that intermittent problems—especially electrical ones—were the worst. The advice I was given was to bear with it until something failed completely and check the Internet for others experiencing similar problems.

Well, yesterday evening, the key mechanism failed completely. There was absolutely no resistance when I turned the key. Whatever happened, the break in the ignition system was no longer intermittent. When this happened, two lights on my dash board and the radio came on. I knew from reading the Internet that I needed to disconnect the battery until the issue was repaired.

I went only the Internet and found this entry. http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f9/ignition-switch-pin-actuator-repair-1378503/  The problem that I experienced was the actuator pin assembly was broken. The URL above described my problem and it includes a link to a video on how to remove and replace the broken part. The vehicle in the video, however is a PT Cruiser and not a Jeep. I would like to explain the differences between the video and the Jeep Liberty.

Broke Actuator Assembly—Metal Shard at Top—and Key Cylinder

First, the housing around the steering column is attached with two T-20 screws. They are recessed in two square holes on the bottom side of the cover, closest to the steering wheel. The top cover has some wires attached so it must be pushed out of your way.

Next difference from the video, the assembly for turn signals, wipers, etc. that is shown with T-20 screws in the video, just sits on top of two pegs on the steering column.

You need to remove three T-10 security screws to complete the disassembly. One screw is in the starter switch. This is the square box on the left side of the steering wheel with lots of wires running to it. The actuator assembly has two screws holding it in place. I found a small mirror came in handy when looking for the screws. I could remove them without crawling under the steering wheel.

Once I removed the assembly and inspected things, I noticed that the metal portion of the actuator was broken-off where it goes into the ignition switch. I required some needle-nosed pliers to remove a broken piece of metal from the switch. For some reason, I was unable to locate a second piece that was broken off of the actuator.

In total, it took ten minutes to locate the tools and remove the actuator assembly. I am writing this blog while waiting for the part to be delivered from the warehouse to my local auto parts store.

The part arrived from AutoZone an hour earlier than promised. Aligning the key cylinder with the actuator was a pain. It took several attempt to get it aligned. Once both pieces are inserted into the steering column, you do not get all key movements. You get both Off and a large, slushy On zone. After the ignition switch has been installed the movement gets better, but not until the actuator cover is screwed in place will you get all the proper key positions. Please note that the spring that must be installed with the cover must be correctly aligned or the cover will not fit over the actuator properly. Also, the tiny pin in the cover kept falling out and I had to hunt it down at least twice on the carpeting of the vehicle.

I hooked up the battery and the Jeep started just as it should. Then I had to program the radio and clock and now I’m back on the road. Cost of my part was higher than the Internet prices. Including tax, I paid $44.27. Elapse time was less than an hour.

Review: Ice Age Village

Ice Age Village, based on the popular movie franchise, is a fun way to waste hours on your phone or tablet device. It is a game that is fun for the whole family. Best of all, it’s free.

I’m running the game on both my Windows Phone and Kindle tablet. The Android version is a bit slow on my first generation Kindle Fire. The game has a slight lag and catching Scrat is difficult. The experience on the Windows Phone is smooth and the display allows you to see more of the village on your screen at one time.

You purchase or earn various little animated animal families or entertainment venues for the animals in your village to enjoy. Based on your village configuration, you earn revenue from each thing in your village except items that give you bonuses. A family is complete when you have two adults and two children. It is somewhat disconcerting that all animals reproduce from eggs in this game but it does allow for conversations with children when you explain that Pandas and Llamas don’t really lay eggs.

Windows Phone 8 Screen Capture

The Social Network portion of the game is buggy and does not work as it should. Also, if you get your village up to a Five Star rating in all areas, it will reportedly crash the game. Hopefully this will be fixed soon.

Getting acorns in the game is difficult and clicking on items that you can’t afford will take you to a screen offering to sell you acorns for cash. Password the ability to purchase via credit card before turning the gaming device over to your children.

Below are two links with further information and cheat codes to get some quick cash early on in the game.

http://www.wpcentral.com/ice-age-village-guide
http://www.wpcentral.com/ice-age-village-review-windows-phone

Mormons Betray Boy Scouts

The other issue near and dear to me lately has been Boy Scouts. I have been a Den Leader for the last year. I am supposed to be the next pack treasurer. Yet, at the national level, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) are posturing themselves in such a way that I may have to reconsider my commitments to scouting.

In May, BSA will be voting on whether to overturn a one hundred year commitment to traditional family values. BSA leadership is trying to force the acceptance of openly homosexual members. About ten years ago, BSA went all the way to the US Supreme Court to fight for the right not to be forced into accepting homosexuals. Since that time, many top leadership positions have been captured by pro-homosexual people.

On Friday, people wishing to keep scouting rules as they are were dealt a big blow by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons). The LSD church released a lukewarm endorsement of the change in policy to allow homosexuals into scouting. The Mormons are the single largest sponsor of scouting in the United States. The third largest group, the Methodist Church, capitulated on homosexuality decades ago. This leaves the only holdouts as the second largest sponsor, the Southern Baptist Convention.

The LDS sell-out moved the policy from likely to fail to likely to pass.

Strangely enough, I have yet to hear a single conservative talk show host come out in support of scouting. While I don’t listen to talk radio 24/7, I think it would be noteworthy if Limbaugh or someone came out with a full throated endorsement of the current policy. Scouting as a traditional American institution is about to go over the cliff and they all know it, yet remain silent.

I have no desire for my elementary school aged son to hear about Heather having two mommies or daddies. I also have no desire for my son to go on an overnight scouting trip where he could be forced to sleep in the same tent with an older boy wishing to have sex with him.

Currently all leaders in scouting are required to go thru youth protection training every two years. This is so children will be kept safe from pedophiles. Now BSA wants to force our children to be with such people in the name of diversity as long as they are under 18 years old. Are they nuts? And the goodie two shoes LDS church thinks this is wonderful?

I am old enough to remember when the Mormons first allowed black people into their ranks. It was in the midst of Jimmy Carter’s human rights campaign when all of the sudden the LDS President got a revelation that blacks are no longer under divine curse and can be admitted to full membership in the church. It was like a page from Orwell’s 1984 as the church doctrine on this point was radically changed and all the sheep in Salt Lake went along without skipping a beat.

This appears to be the same thing, Salt Lake is out of step with pop culture and magically will conform so they don’t seem to backwards to the unchurched masses that they hope to recruit.

If this policy passes I will pull my son from scouting and resign as treasurer of the pack. My son is in private school so he won’t be exposed to all the perversion found in public schools and about to be forced upon him if he remains in scouts. Either that or the pack breaks away from BSA and goes it alone. I think that too many parents will resist the second option.