Really Right – Page 39 – Religion, Politics, and Culture: Explained and Defined

Just Us Brothers Fined for Tampering in 2016 Election

Word is the Just Us Brothers are so close to hell that they can see Sparks. Oh, and they’re feeling the heat too as the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) has weighed in on their behavior in the 2016 election. Bottom line is they are as devious as Crooked Hillary.

We all know the Placer County Mafia has been up to no good for a long time. Many of their shenanigans have been documented here on this blog. Thankfully, some of their behavior in the 2016 elections has finally caught-up with them.

In case you need to refresh yourself on the background of today’s subject, here are my two articles about them leading up to the 2016 general election. As I documented at the time, Park’s behavior was improper and the FPPC has agreed.

Just Us Brothers—Money for Nothing

Just Us Brothers Mailers Hit Roseville Mailboxes

The FPPC has found them guilty of violating four parts of California election law and George Park was fined $8,000 for his conduct as treasurer of Placer County Impact Republicans PAC.

Folks the money guy paying for this illegal activity was and is Placer County Supervisor Kirk Uhler. We will have more to report on Uhler in a few minutes.

Below you will find the text of the document from the FPPC.

Please note a few nuggets contained in it. A portion of page 7 will be of great interest for those current and former CRA members.

Failure to Timely Amend Statement of Organization
The Committee reported receiving $32,145 in contributions between its date of establishment and November 1, 2016. During that time, the Committee’s largest contributor was League.
As of November 1, 2016, League had contributed $27,000 to the Committee which amounts to approximately 84% of the total contributions received by the Committee ($27,000 / $32,145 = 0.8399).
Thus, under the Act, as of November 1, 2016, the Committee was sponsored by League and was required to report the sponsorship within 24 hours by filing an amended statement of organization.
In addition to filing an amended statement of organization to report League’s sponsorship of the Committee, the Committee was required to change its name to include the name of its sponsor, Placer County Impact Republicans PAC sponsored by League of Placer County Taxpayers PAC. The Committee and Park did not file an amended statement of organization to report League’s sponsorship or to change the Committee’s name to include the name of its sponsor, League.

Thus, Placer County Impact Republicans PAC because a subsidiary of the League of Placer County Taxpayers PAC—an organization which didn’t really exist.

In 2016, my sources told me that Uhler likely helped get some of the FPPC reporting documents backdated to try to help Park get around campaign finance reporting laws. At the time, I decided not to go with the accusation, but looking back now it makes me wonder…

Oh, CRA here’s the bonus quote that should frost your Wheaties.

The violations committed here were isolated as the Committee and Park have not had prior enforcement history. –page 10

Isolated my foot!!!!!!!!! If George Park has a clean record with the FPPC or anybody else, you can thank Tom Hudson and Craig Alexander for failing to go after them for their conduct in CRA. If you thought only Crooked Hillary was purging files and deleting servers then you need to take a deeper dive into the antics of the Brothers Park.

Oh, so do you believe George Park actually wrote a check to the FPPC out of his pocket? Not a chance. Enter once lame duck Placer County Supervisor, Kirk Uhler. Kirk help start Impact Republicans and at their end he ponied up the money to bail them out one last time.

Yep, look carefully at the Form 460 below. This is the end of Placer County Impact Republicans PAC. Termination Statement filed June 5, 2020.

On page 3, you can see that Kirk Uhler gave a substantial amount of campaign money to George Park to pay his FPPC fine. ($7,589.27)

On page 4, you can see the disbursements to the FPPC.

Typically, when a candidate is done in political life, they donate the remaining campaign money to charity but not Uhler.

Epilogue

George Park moved to Nevada several years ago, and I’ve been told his brother Aaron finally followed him there.

George and Aaron Park with Jeb Bush on 05-13-2015

As for Uhler, his Rensa Group website is defunct, and Rensa’s Facebook page entries are ancient. Look for Uhler to exit California once his replacement is sworn into office.

California Burning is a Result of Sin Not Donald Trump

With north of two million acres up in flames this year and several deaths, President Trump decided to expand his visit to Nevada by making a stop in northern California. Right on cue, our Democrat Governor and the media decided to use this visit as an opportunity to promote their leftist agenda.

SACRAMENTO (AP) – With the smell of California wildfires in the air, President Donald Trump on Monday ignored the scientific consensus that climate change is playing a central role in historic West Coast infernos and renewed his unfounded claim that poor forest management is mostly to blame.
The fires are threatening to become another front in Trump’s reelection bid, which is already facing hurdles because of the coronavirus pandemic, joblessness and social unrest. His Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, in his own speech on Monday said the destruction and mounting death toll across California, Oregon and Washington require stronger presidential leadership and labeled Trump a “climate arsonist.”
Trump traveled to Northern California to be briefed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state and federal officials. At one point, state Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot urged the president to “recognize the changing climate and what it means to our forests.”
‘Don’t Think Science Knows’: Trump Spurns Science On Climate Change During Sacramento Visit

Please note the editorializing in this supposed news piece. Opinion is claimed as fact “… Trump on Monday ignored the scientific consensus that climate change is playing a central role in historic West Coast infernos and renewed his unfounded claim that poor forest management is mostly to blame.”

Oh, and Hidin’ Biden came out just long enough to call Trump a “climate arsonist” and upon seeing his shadow, he promptly retreated to campaign for six more weeks from his basement.

Trump’s response was that it will get cooler. As usual, Trump is right. Cooler is usually called “fall” which is typically followed by “winter” except in Roland Emmerich movies—which is about the only place where Michael Moore, Al Gore, or Gavin Newsom have a chance of hell in being right.

Also, the so-called proof of global warming referenced in the Associated Press story was abandoned over a decade ago in favor of climate change because it is less precise and requires even less evidence than evolution for people to believe it. In fact, this whole climate change idea is a matter of religion not science. Those that cling to the climate mantra do so by faith and despite evidence. They cherry-pick their “facts” and refuse to look at all the evidence because in the final analysis, the facts don’t matter. If something doesn’t fit the template it is dismissed out of hand. Like all sacred cows of the Left, the climate argument is an emotional one not a rational one.

I was going to blog on this subject before this article on Trump came out today but since its slightly more timely now, I took it out of my “hope to blog on it someday” pile and went to work on it. What was a slight epiphany on this issue was yesterday’s congregational prayer.

Yep, Trump wasn’t even on my mind when I decided to write on the subject of the California wildfires fires. Contrary to what a few liberals with whom I am acquainted accuse me of doing, I don’t watch Fox News or read Trump on Twitter to get my marching orders.

Yesterday, our pastor prayed that God would cause the fires to cease, protect the firefighters, relieve the victims of the fire, stop lightning strikes, clean the air, make it rain, and generally just make the fires go away. His list was long and thorough, but it hit me as he was going thru it that the fires are a direct result of man refusing to obey the Dominion Mandate all the way back in the early part of Genesis. In a sense, the pastor was asking God to honor and bless our disobedience to one of His oldest Commandments and relieve us of the consequences of our disobedience.

In Christianity we have a word for not obeying God, it is “sin.” Sin is derived from a Greek archery term meaning to miss the mark (or target). To lift a phrase from Campus Crusade for Christ’s most famous tract, they describe a state of sin as people being either passively indifferent or in active rebellion.

This brings us back to the subject of forests. In the Bible, there is no such thing as a “virgin forest.” Man is commanded in the Garden to make the whole world into a garden. We are to tend, nurture, and cultivate all the land in the world. Leaving land in a state of nature is contrary to God’s command.

When man refuses to obey God, it is called sin. Thus, when man (or mankind) refuses to obey God concerning caring for our environment, is it any wonder that the creation goes out of control? If we don’t remove the unhealthy trees, harvest the good ones, and manage the forest as we were told to do, then we will be expelled from the land. Isn’t that about the sum total of what’s happening now? Please note that states with better forest management don’t have these types of fires on a regular basis.

FYI, per Scripture, failing to obey God is also grounds for being expelled from the land.

So, either way California, you have submitted yourselves to God’s wrath through disobedience.

Hey, California Democrats, if you want to see the real culprits of this manmade conflagration, look in the mirror. Or as one of my old pastors used to say, “You get the government that you deserve.”

When Democrats complain that Trump is blaming poor forest management, its ok because Trump is on God’s side. God’s Word is clear that we are to take dominion over the land, not allow it to have dominion over us. We are to tend the Garden not let it go feral and overgrown.

Oh, final thought. Do you remember all those old cowboy and Indian shows where the Indian with the bow and arrow would stalk the deer and shoot it at close range? It can’t happen now because we don’t clear the undergrowth like the Indians did in the days before the National Park Service. Try bow hunting now and you won’t get within a country mile of a deer.

You see, in the fall of the year, before the Indians went out of the mountains to the lowlands for the winter, they lit the forest on fire and burned away all the undergrowth. Because there wasn’t much to burn, only the grass and undergrowth was burned. The trees were not harmed but actually grew better as a result. The benefit for the Indian was better feed for the animals and more food to harvest the following year. Letting fires burn is natural, controlling how much fuel accumulates on the forest floor before it does is our job.

Covid Sheep Continue to Amuse Us

As the pandemic continues, the editorial board met at a new salsa bar, one that made sure we would not be exposed to the ‘rona whilst eating inside. However, we were exposed to the dirty air from the fires burning all over the state but alas I digress. So here are some stories to share about the sheep following the orders of all the different folks they see on TV or whichever article comes up on Google.

The Assistant Dean at a charter school: This one is gold. This person refuses to go into the office due to corona concerns. Keep in mind the schools are 100% distance learning and the staff on campus is very minimal. So, she has been granted a special exemption to work from home. One weekend, back in the old days when the sun was visible, I decided to get out of the house and drive the ole vehicle. After wandering to various places, I found myself at Discovery Park near the river in Sacramento. A cursory search of the parking lot drew my attention to a vehicle decked out in Biden/Sanders stickers, a perfect match as I recognized the car. It turns out that chicken to go to work lady was at the beach, hardly the crime of the century but I figured I’d go have a look. Low and behold, there she was at a large party (over 200) folks down at the beach area of the river, nary a mask in sight, and social distancing of maybe 1 foot. My point being these people are the worst and are the primary reason we are all wearing masks in public. An outbreak likely occurred and as a direct result numbers spike keeping businesses closed.

90-Day Guy weighs in: This was even more rare gold! He comes into the office wearing one of those fancy Darth Vader looking masks with a valve, thinking he is beating the ‘rona. It’s funny because even Fauci and Beilensen have come out and said that mask is literally useless; it protects neither you nor the others around you. 90-Day Guy said it was to protect him from the smoky air…. wow. Then he came in a couple days later with an oddly placed N95 mask that didn’t cover his nose…. again, what’s the point? After I explained most do not wear the mask properly, he said he found the mask on the ground….yes he said that. He showed up with a different mask today and proclaimed he thinks he got the virus from the bad air….yes even though science doesn’t back that claim or basically anyone in the medical field, he thinks he got it from the air. Talk about blowing smoke…

More frustrating is my folks reaction to the teacher at the river. They immediately backed the worker at my mom’s school saying she has the right to be scared of coming into work…yet partying with others isn’t a problem? This makes no sense if we need to “slow the spread.” 90-Day Guy then accused me of being worried about the virus. He claims he watches no television but has panic/anxiety attacks almost daily. Folks if you are wondering, I do not wear a mask at work, never have. I work in a public building that likely see’s 150 people a day at least come through. I work with 1 co-worker he is 72. We are around each other all the time and are both very active in extracurricular activities. My point is neither of us have had any symptoms, nor are either of us worried. We live our lives daily, we comply with Comrade Newsom’s mandate when in a store, and we seem to have no issues with panic or anxiety. These are the types of people, and we all know someone who are irrationally scared of this virus, please wake up, listen to doctors not cable!

In closing here is a conversation I had with an aunt of mine who is a specialist doctor in Chicago. (for context, she is very liberal…thinks Sanders is a moderate). She said the masking idea is pointless for most as it creates a false sense of security; especially those wearing the Darth Vader or N95 mask incorrectly. She astutely points out 95% of those not in the medical field don’t know how to wear them, reason being medical folks need to take a class on how to properly wear them! She says most are treating them like underwear figuring, well I guess it goes this way? That said, she figures we will be masking until June because too many folks are scared of misinformation! We have come a long way in treating this, no longer will you be taken to a nursing home, or immediately put on a ventilator. We have converted most hospitals so they have a “Covid wing” as opposed to just grabbing any available bed, you will be served by a staff also isolated from non-Covid patients. It is not the death sentence it once was even for high risk people. In addition, in regard to vaccines, do not take unless it is absolutely mandated for your livelihood! Most don’t know but vaccines need to pass 3 phases, which equates to roughly 3 years, even with a fast track. While it is a good thing that we have about 7 companies competing and she is happy Trump is trying to push a vaccine quicker; however, this could be a recipe for a complete disaster. Not to scare anyone but typically the first one to the open market gets all the market share…. buyer beware.

Johnnie Does

Bill Gates Funds Polio Outbreak

Yep, not a typo, Mr. Microsoft is reintroducing polio into many Asian and African countries. In the name of prevention, the Gates funded Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has been giving people a live version of the polio virus that is infecting mostly children and killing and maiming many of them.

This latest pharma-induced pandemic has broken out in the African countries of Chad and Sudan, and the culprit has been identified: a vaccine-derived polio virus type 2. Officials now fear this new dangerous strain could soon ‘jump continents,’ causing further deadly outbreaks around the world.
Shocking as it sounds, this Big Pharma debacle is not new. After spending some $16 billion over 30 years to eradicate polio, international health bodies have ‘accidentally’ reintroduced the disease to in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and also Iran, as the central Asia region was hit by a virulent strain of polio spawned by the corporate pharmaceutical vaccine distributed there. Also, in 2019, the government of Ethiopia ordered the destruction of 57,000 vials of type 2 oral polio vaccine (mOPV2) following a similar outbreak of vaccine-induced polio.
It’s important to note that the oral polio vaccine being pushed on to the African population by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a consortium which is supported and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
UN Forced To Admit Gates-Funded Vaccine Is Causing Polio Outbreak In Africa

So why should you care? What does infecting millions of children in third-world, backwater countries have to do with you?

The author of the article goes on to point-out that this convergence of the World Health Organization, United Nations funding, the Bill and Melina Gates Foundation, and others is the same gang that is promising to bring the world a vaccine for Covid-19.

All of this should be a cause for concern, especially with western governments and transnational pharmaceutical giant all rushing to roll-out their new Gates-funded experimental coronavirus vaccine for the global population.
Currently, the first experimental COVID-19 vaccine is being tested on the African population through GAVI Vaccine Alliance, another organization funded by the Gates Foundation. A large round of human trials will take place in South Africa, locally managed by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg—yet another Gates-funded institution.

Is the “cure” worse than the disease? Makes you wonder. Oh, and if you have doubts then you’re not alone. A large portion of the public is wary of any offer of a Covid vaccine.

A recent survey from NBC News/SurveyMonkey Weekly Tracking Poll showed that more than half of American adults either wouldn’t get a COVID-19 vaccine once one is available or are unsure whether they’ll get immunized. The poll found 44% said they would get the vaccine, while 22% reported they wouldn’t get one and another 32% remain uncertain.

A Gallup survey earlier this month indicated that 35% of Americans would not get a free vaccine against COVID-19, if one were available and approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Another 65% responded that they would get the shot, with those identifying as Democrats far more in favor than Republicans.
A COVID-19 vaccine still hasn’t emerged — but some are already wary of it

Again, I don’t plan on being in the front of any line offering a Covid vaccine and if I learn that tissue from aborted babies was used to develop the vaccine—which many companies have been using the “jump-start” their research—then I won’t ever be in the line.

Society’s Problems in One Photo

While browsing television options in an Idaho hotel last week, I ran across this juxtaposition of programming.

Yep, the Crave channel is offering More Sex, Less Stress followed by Boy Scouts: The Sex Abuse Coverup.

Gee, what’s next Bill Clinton: the Monica Years followed by Jeffrey Epstein’s Weekend Getaway? No wonder people in our society are so confused about morality.

Exiting California–Here’s My Real Estate Recommendation

For those of you planning to flee California, here’s some advice that will save you time, money, and frustration.

I can tell you from firsthand experience that getting recommendations for a realtor via a friend or word of mouth is a waste of time. Both realtors that my wife and I have found in Idaho by this method have been colossal disasters. Neither person that was recommended to us knew the market or cared to take time with us to find what we wanted. Don’t be fooled by flashy websites or other marketing tools.

Oh, by the way, Zillow is the least accurate website that we found. Often its lot locations are wrong, sometimes by a factor of miles, especially in rural areas. Sometimes listings aren’t shown because they don’t have a street number. Also, Zillow is many days behind in terms of showing listings and their current status. The site does have some value but if you rely solely on it, you will not have accurate and up to date information.

So, if you can’t trust recommendations or the Internet, where should you look? Lucky for you that this is the purpose of today’s blog. If you want a realtor that cares about you as a person and doesn’t see you as just as another commission then you’ve come to the right place. Oh, my advice is free and nationwide, so you have no excuses. Also, the people that I’m about to recommend have all been vetted to the same high standards.

Go to Dave Ramsey dot Com, click on Dave Recommends, and select Endorsed Local Providers (ELP). You can pick from Real Estate, Insurance, and Tax Services. Both people that we worked with from the ELP list took lots of time with us as I will briefly explain below.

In order to be in a position to purchase real estate in Idaho, we had to do a refinance of our California home. Strictly speaking, this probably is not a Ramsey approved method; however, due to our closeness to retiring and the rising costs of real estate in desirable areas in Idaho (in some parts of Idaho, prices are increasing at over 15% a year) this is what we ended up doing.

We found a finance guy in Roseville that spent about two hours with us on the telephone going over our financial situation. This person was fully aware that he probably wouldn’t make a dime off of us but was willing to help us anyway. He said that he had enough paying clients to make a living so that gave him the flexibility to help others. In Evangelical terms, he viewed helping us as a ministry opportunity.

Through him, we were referred to another person that helped us do a cash-out refi of our house. She was able to knock about two percent off the interest rate of our mortgage and get us $130K out of the house. The net was a mortgage payment increase of about $300 more each month. With this “seed money” we were then able to try purchasing a property in Idaho.

The ELP real estate lady that we found in Idaho was fantastic. She spent most of three days with us driving around to various properties in the Treasure Valley area of Idaho—think within a one-hour radius of Boise. We learned a lot about Idaho that you won’t be finding on the Internet. We put in an offer for a piece of land with a terrific view. Sadly, we couldn’t agree on a price within our means. (The property owners have had the property listed for two years and weren’t willing to flex too much on their price which is why it’s still for sale.)

In contrast to a great real estate experience, is the one we have been living for the last few weeks. A few hundred miles away from the Treasure Valley area, a property was listed that checked a lot of the boxes that we were looking for. We had a relationship with another realtor thru a recommendation. Since the listing was exclusively on his website, we contacted him. (FYI the listing showed up on RedFin a few days later and Zillow on the fifth day after it was listed.)

The realtor was a California refugee that had been in this part of Idaho for over two decades. On the surface we thought we had found a great realtor but as time went on, we discovered otherwise. This guy had very little idea what he was doing, was extremely passive, and failed to be proactive on our behalf. Much of the time when we asked him questions, we were either referred to someone who gave us bad information or found that the realtor just didn’t know and didn’t want to find out for us. Were he a newly licensed individual, this would be understandable but for a guy doing this for a living for many years, it was profoundly disappointing. It got so bad that last week, I literally had to take time off from work and fly up there just to see for myself.

Just as a for instance, the land we are trying to purchase has never been developed before and was on the outskirts of the city limits. We were told that we would need to get water on the property, but the realtor didn’t know whether connecting to the city water (about 500 feet from the property) or drilling a well would be cheaper. After two days of looking, I found out that the city required us to hook-up to the city’s water supply and it was illegal to drill a well within the city limits. Shortly after I found the regulation stating this on the city’s website, the well drilling contractor—recommended to me by the realtor—told me the same thing. Oh, said regulation stated that the city would provide service up to the property, whereas the realtor and his buddy at the city told me that it was on me to figure out how to get water on the property.

This is just one example of several that we have experienced while working with this guy. The only reason that we didn’t use a Ramsey ELP was that we felt we already had established a relationship with this person. In retrospect, we should have sought an ELP anyway.

If all goes well, we may end-up property owners despite our realtor and not because of him. Please learn from our experience. Whether you always agree with Dave Ramsey or not, use his Endorsed Local Providers program and save yourself from tying your fate to some clueless individual with a slick website.

My Experience with Dead People on Social Media

Yep, you’re minding your own business and just living your life when Facebook, Linked-In, or some other social media alert is sent to you reminding you that you’ve been friends with Aunt Martha for ten years or Uncle Bob has been on the job for 12 years. The only problem is that you distinctly remember going to Uncle Bob’s memorial three years ago or Aunt Martha met her untimely end back when you were still in high school.

In my life, I have two people that I know are dead that kept popping-up several times each year in my email alerts. I finally got mad about it and took action. The platform that I went after was Linked-In. Here’s my experience. I’ll use only one person as my example in this post.

George was one of my old pastors back when I was attending a now defunct parish of the Reformed Episcopal Church. When he transferred out of the area I kept in touch. He loved the Internet and social media. My only gripe with him was that he was an Apple user. Apparently when he died of a heart attack, he left no master list of accounts and passwords for his wife to delete his digital footprint.

I went to his memorial service several years ago but Linked-In kept sending me reminders on his behalf such as these.

Congratulate George XXXXXX and 2 others for work anniversaries

Congratulate George XXXXXX for 6 years at XXXXXX the XXXXXX Church

The last reminder about George was received this week. I finally got tired of these messages and contacted Linked-In. Amazingly, they actually wrote me back.

I certainly appreciate you taking the time to contact us about this.
Due to the gravity of the situation, we have a formal notification process to address the death of one of our members. Please complete the following form and we can proceed with our confirmation process:
https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/ask/ts-rdmlp

The form was simple which surprised me; however, you do need a Linked-In account to access the form. Linked-In asked for your contact information and then that of the dead person.

Information about the Deceased Member:

Name of the Deceased Person:
Please copy and paste the URL of the LinkedIn profile from your browser: linkedin.com/in/XXXXXXXX
Your Relationship to the Deceased Person:
Additional Information:
Email Address of the Deceased Person:
Date They Passed Away:
Link to an Obituary or Relevant News Article:
Do You Have Any Additional Information to Add?:
Digital Signature:

I submitted the form and 12 hours later I got a response that the account had been closed.

George still has active pages on Facebook and other social media locations. As recently as yesterday, I found another active account that he had opened on yet another website. George made quite an impact on me and I don’t need to be reminded of his contributions, at least not by Linked-In.

If you have similar links for Facebook or other sites, I’d be glad to post them on the blog.

Today’s Miracle at Church

Today our church decided not to subject its members to the heat and humidity of the current heatwave so they opted to let us meet indoors. As timid as these folks have been about all the Covid-19 rules, this is a big deal. I think my church’s leadership was emboldened by John MacArthur standing up to Los Angeles County and the Governor and then winning the first round in court.

Newsom’s rules are arbitrary and capricious and the sooner that folks tire of his pompous BS the better off we will be. In the meantime, we are singing at church and at least occasionally meeting in the building built for that purpose. Its progress in my mind and I’ll take part of something over hiding in place for another six months and doing nothing.

Ikea Mob

The wife and I decided to take a trip to Ikea today to window shop and dream about making some upgrades to the house. As you can see, we were not alone.

When we arrived just before 10:30 this morning, there were hundreds of folks waiting outside to get in, plus several hundred already in the store. Oh, and about another hundred waiting outside in the return line. Yes, men, women, and children were crammed into the “cattle call” lines just to get a dose of Swedish retail therapy. Folks if you thought your last trip to Home Depot was an ordeal, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

We talked to a few folks waiting in line and this is what we were told.

We spoke with a lady that was getting close to the entrance—a few dozen people away—and she had been in line for over an hour to get this far. Calculating backwards, this means she arrived shortly after nine am for a chance to get in Ikea when it opened at 10 am. FYI the line was halted because the store was at capacity and she would have to wait until some people finished shopping before more customers would be allowed to enter so she might be waiting another hour to actually enter the store.

But that’s nothing compared to the lady we spoke with that had just finished going thru the return line. This was her fourth day* trying to make a return at Ikea. She had driven from her home in Fairfield and arrived at 7:30 this morning. She said at 7:30 that there were already 15 people in line ahead of her. Again, Ikea opens at 10 am.

* Folks, 3 ½ round trips form Fairfield to West Sacramento is about 280 miles of driving.

As I pondered the possibilities of what to do while waiting in this ridiculously long line, I thought this might be a great place to have a church service. As you can see in the photos, much of the line is shaded by a whole series of coverings. Just put your pastor at the front of the line with his congregation behind him. Then the group could sing, pray, and listen to the sermon as they wait to enter Ikea. In the line, there’s no social distancing, just face masks. The whole congregation could literally gather in one accord, at one time: to heck with the pesky 100-person limit and all the rest. Towards the end of the service, the minister could just stop advancing thru the line, stay in one spot and as people pass him, they could take Communion and give an offering.

Such a service would be more dignified than having a flash mob service at Wal-Mart or Home Depot. Such crafty skirting of Governor Newsom’s bias against Christian worship would be mitigated by conducting the worship at a government approved essential business.

21st Century churches—the big ones, anyway, are big into marketing. However, I’m stumbling to create a reverential, yet marketable slogan for such a gathering. Our advertising department has rejected the following suggestions.

Mass and Meatballs.
Sacraments and Sawdust.
Preaching and Particleboard.
I Am and Ikea.
Faith and Furnishings.
Lines for Living

Anyway, if you need something to do for a few hours while we are in the midst of triple digit temperatures, try the line at Ikea.

So, You Wanna Visit Your Dentist?

Earlier this week I went to visit my dentist for a semi-annual cleaning. What was once a routine visit has been turned into a freakshow by the irrational fear of Covid, government bureaucrats, and lawyers. After hearing my tale, you may wish to take a pass on going for the next year or so.

Last week, I got a reminder call about my upcoming appointment with my local dentist. During the call, it was mentioned that before my visit that I would need to complete two online forms.

On the morning of my appointment I went online to their website–which up until that time I had never visited before. I found a tab for forms and filled out a medical history form—which I had updated in person during my last visit in January and thus was a totally unnecessary exercise. Then I had to complete a Covid form. I knew I would be in for some grief when I answered “Yes” to the question about have you been out of state within the last 14 days.

Right on cue, I got a phone call later in the morning about the “Yes” response on the Covid questionnaire.

Where did I go out of state?
Why did I go out of state?
How long was I gone?
Who did I see during my trip?
How many people were at gatherings that I went to?
Was anybody sick?
Did I social distance?
Did they?
Did I wear a mask everywhere?
Did they?
Did I shake hands or hug anyone?

I mean really. Why is any of this your business anyway? I felt like I needed a Miranda Warning and a phone call to my attorney before answering the blizzard of questions.

Folks I went to Idaho to look at property. Its my second trip there in three months. Given my treatment by the dentist–which is just getting started by the way–can you blame me for wanting to leave the hellhole of California.

If anything, when I said that I went to Idaho, the interview should have been over. Idaho has very few Covid cases and most folks there don’t give a crap about giving up their liberty to have the government protect them from the flu.

I told the lady from the dentist office that I went to Idaho with my wife to meet with a realtor to look at properties. What I didn’t say is that none of us wore masked while spending three days together in her car. Oh, the realtor had just spent the last four days at the local county fair—remember when we used to have those in California? She was working at the fair with her granddaughter. Thus, she was easily exposed to several thousand local residents in close proximity with each other. If anything, the folks in Idaho should have feared us since California is infested with liberals and Covid-19. However, we were not treated as pariahs but as fellow Americans.

Anyway, I thought I was good to go for the appointment and hung up the phone. I had no idea of the gauntlet that awaited me at the dental office.

I arrived a few minutes before my appointment and went into the waiting room of the dental office. Per the sign, I deployed my government mandated muzzle (mask). The next thing I noticed was a bright line on the floor that said stop here. It was about 10 to 12 feet from the front counter and barely inside the lobby door. I told the receptionist my name and was told that I had to apply some hand sanitizer that they provided on the table behind me. Yuck! It was the nastiest smelling stuff I’ve ever applied to my body. It put me on the verge of feeling ill. It was horrible. Then some woman in full garb came out and made me put my finger in a blood oxygen reader—like they use when you are in the hospital. After getting a reading, she then shot my forehead with a gun to take my temperature.

Having cleared this second screening, I was then taken to the dental chair. I was then instructed to use the mouth rinse that they provided and then I could sit in the chair. Having learned my lesson with the hand sanitizer, I used a tiny amount of the rinse and poured the rest down the drain. I then filled the cup with water and rinsed-out the rinse.

Then the dental assistant said I could be seated in the chair. She took my blood pressure. Following the blood pressure measurement, she tried to get me to remove my glasses and then use the ones provided by them. This was an epic failure and I finally opted to wear my glasses just like every other time I’ve visited them.

The assistant then told me that X-rays were the first order of business. I opened my mouth and upon seeing that I was wearing braces, she aborted the X-ray portion of the program. Apparently, wires in your mouth are not compatible with this procedure. What she did with the film that she tried to shove in my mouth I do not know. Anyway, the dentist ended up cleaning my teeth, but no polish on this trip which was unusual. I guess Doctor Fauci is not allowing that today but I’m sure the insurance will still get billed the full amount.

Anyway, that was my trip to the dentist a few days ago. Thought you should know what to expect. After recounting this experience to my wife last night, she exclaimed that there’s no way she’s going to see her local dentist any time soon. Oh, I’ve seen my orthodontist twice since all this shutdown nonsense and other than a mask, things are about the same in their office. As usual, I guess your view of Covid is a function of whether you watch 24/7 news and believe it. After all, its politics not science.