Smoke on the Mountain

Suzann and I recently spent a couple of days down in the Smokies for some R&R.  It was great. The weather was iffy...rain and sun mix...but overall it was a good break.  Saw four bears with one mama and two cubs.  Wildflowers were blooming and streams were running clear and cold.  The rain and clouds gave the mountains their characteristic "smoke" as seen above.  Trouble is...I want more...so I am planning a little backpack trip very soon with my son.

The smoke on the mountain reminds me of the old saying:  Where there is smoke...there is fire.  And I think I am seeing some smoke on the horizon coming out of Washington.  What is really disturbing is the efforts of the far left to stifle free speech on radio in the disguise of "fairness".  The left-wingers can't find enough financial supporters to buy the time on their own or to make their radio shows profitable... so now they want to silence the traditional conservatives to allow room for their socialistic dogma and leftist propaganda.  

It's like the story of the frog being thrown into boiling water...he jumps right out...but put the frog into nice cool water and gradually raise the temp...the frog doesn't detect the change until it is too late and he is one dead boiled frog...Well, I don't want to be the boiled frog, so I am jumping now...hope you guys start jumping too.

Another thing that concerns me is the NAIS program that is being bandied about to place IDs on all livestock in America so that in the event you have an outbreak of something like Mad Cow Disease, the animal can be tracked...don't believe the rhetoric...Cattle farmers already have a good solution...it's called the old fashioned branding...Farmers do not need more government intervention and regulation...American beef is the healthiest on the planet...further regulation could seriously hurt the farmer...one of the things they are talking about is requiring documentation everytime the animal leaves the farm...how are the 4Hers and FFA kids going to be able to show their animals at the fair, etc.???? And how about other things like...horses...going on a trail ride??? Well...seems like to me we need less government intervention and not more.

Well that's it for now...keep watching that smoke on the mountain.