After a brief exchange last night on a social networking site with one man who is running for Governor in the Republican party in my home state I thought it best to lay out 10 points that are what I believe we as the voters and the citizens of this country should expect from the people who want to lead us.

#1. You have to EARN my vote. It shall not be given to you just because of one thing you say or one stance you take. You will have to earn it. Answer our questions. Do it in a clear and concise manner. Speak to us don't lecture or preach to us. Listen to what WE have to say.

#2. If you are openly promising to break the law (such as Obama is doing RIGHT now with the healthcare debate) you do not stand a chance with me. I am not voting for someone to care for me. I am voting for someone to adhere to the founding documents of this State and Country. Nothing more nothing less. Healthcare, retirement plans, income taxes, public education, the Federal Reserve system are all anti-Constitutional programs. Not only anti but illegal according to the Constitution. If you as a politician can't figure that out I will not vote for you.

#3. If you cannot run for office without promising to give away my children's inheritance then don't run. You only have to promise to give everybody everything because you have no ideas. You have no leadership qualities.

#4. If you want to continue the usurping of power from other parts of the government as the "Commander-n-Chief" then I will not vote for you. It is not your right to send without congressional approval our Armed Services into harms way. It is not your right to select "Czars" that are not approved by congressional oversight. It is not your right to force the states to accept teachers from a union who have nothing but their own selfish interests at heart. It is not your right to fire the chairman of GM. You cannot open the coffers of this country and give BILLIONS to the largest banks and companies in this country. We are not Fascists. We are not Socialists. If you as a congressman will go to Washington and continue to hand over your Constitutional Rights to demand the accountability of the Executive Branch and the Judiciary Branch then you have no business running. NONE! This simply means you are a coward and a man who will not stand up for his own rights will not stand for mine!

#5. The Constitution is America's system of Government. It defines American rights. NOT THE WORLD'S! Illegal aliens do not have the same rights as legal aliens or citizens of this country. Terrorists caught on the battlefield do not have Constitutional rights! You are not god to hand out rights. You are restricted to us. To the citizens. We have a bill of rights. They have the rights of humans to descent treatment, to not be tortured, to not be unduly imprisoned. But they do not have a right to MY judicial system! If you cannot understand the simple fact that we as Americans are the people protected by the Constitution then you have no business representing me.

#6. If you continually show so little education as to continuously refer to this country as a "Democracy" I will not vote for you. We are not a democracy. We are a Constitutional Republic! We vote for people to represent us in a larger session. The popular vote is useless and those who follow it will always end up in tyranny. Always. Democracy is a failed system that does not work on any level. Please learn the difference. It is embarrassing to see a "professional" politician who does not know the difference.

#7. The Constitution is not a living breathing document. It is a document that says what it means and means what it says. The Bill of Rights is not up for negotiation. You do not have to be able to walk, crawl, or even live independently outside of your Mother's womb to deserve the protection of our Constitution. If you can find a reason for abortion I have a reason to not vote for you. It is murder. There is no choice. That fetus will not grow up to be anything else but a HUMAN! Abortion is illegal by God's Law and any decent understanding of common law. There is no excuse. If you will support it. I will openly and actively seek to derail your hopes and dreams of representing me.

8. The Second Amendment is as clear as the rest. If you can preach about freedom of speech then you can figure out I have a right to protect my family from YOU! That is the essence of the 2nd. It is not just to protect us from criminals on the street but to protect us from criminals in the GOVERNMENT! That right guarantees us the chance to take our country back should you become to self centered and tyrannical. It is not just about protecting Granny from the burglar. It is about protecting We The People from an over reaching and power hungry mob of government dudley do rights.

9. The 10th Amendment clearly states "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." You see this means that those powers not mentioned specifically in the constitution belong to the states and to US! The People!!! Every state politician seems to forget that right now. I do not care if only 1/3 or 1/8 or 1/16 of the people of this country want you to live up to this. It is your duty. I will not vote for you unless you will live up to this.

10. The 4th Amendment is not to be overturned because of a group of 10th century wanna bees. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." Understand this. You are violating that with the "Patriot Act". With the searches at the airport. With the taping of our CITIZENS phones and emails and etc. I will not give up any Liberty for a little protection.

These rights defined in the Constitution are to be cherished, protected, and they are DEFINITE. They do not come from you the government to me. They are given to me by God. I in turn trust you to protect them. When you no longer protect them I no longer owe you my loyalty. I am not a subject. I am a FREE MAN! You have no authority other than that which is specifically given to you by the US Constitution and by God!

You as Democrats and Republicans have turned your back on America. You have tried to sell us into slavery to the state. There is no difference between the two of you. Democrats seem bound and determined to run headlong into the pit of socialism. Republicans want to take the scenic route. I want neither. The values that made our country great are not socialist ones. They are Christian ones. They are capitalistic ones. Risk and Reward. That is what has made America great. Live up to those values and you can earn my vote.

Mr. Obama you are not God. You are in the words of Andrew Melville to King James "You sir are God's silly vassal". This statement deserves to be leveled at every politician in this country right now. You are not a ruling class. You are not above the law. Man is equal under the law. And you will be held to it.

This is what I expect. This is what I demand. If you want my vote. I want you to be Men! Men of substance and courage. Men of Conviction and faith.

From time to time you sit in wonder of the people you meet, the places you go, and occasionally if you are lucky the life you live. Usually this is done in the quiet of an evening with a glass of smooth bourbon disappearing from your hand. The angels drank their share now it's your turn. The gift of the bourbon is to quietly reminisce. To sit and think alone and in my case with a cigar or pipe slowly burning away in my other hand.

There are times though when this realization hits you slap in the forehead in the parking lot of a fly shop. A busy one at that which is as rare as hen's teeth these days. This happens to be the occasion I am talking about this time.

I stopped by Charleston Angler to meet up with a man I had only met via the internet. Yet we have kept in touch really well for a year now. Pictures of kids, fish, battle zones and prayers have gone back and forth. Only fishing and in particularly fly fishing can bring this type of bond. We spent a good solid 3 hours swapping stories over fly rods, feathers, and dreams of future trips and plans for helping others less fortunate than ourselves.

Along for the journey is a younger version of what we used to be and sometimes long to return to. Madmike. A fly shop junkie. A recovering trout hippie and a fly nut. Madmike is hysterical to be around.

The friend I had come to meet and hang out with was Msgt Ken who has served our country faithfully for almost 22 yrs now. We taught our kids about the middle east and the lands of Persia and Mesopotamia with Ken as an example of our men and women who were serving far away. To my kids the image of a soldier is Ken. That's who they asked about every time they saw the news.

We cast a few rods and dreamed over the talk of people fishing in the Bahamas for bones. This is the anglers' escape. After a few rough weeks it was a pleasant surprise to be able to sit and chat with a man such as this in one of my favorite places in the world. A good fly shop.

Today with our cell phones, email, facebook addictions, tweet, and etc we tend to miss the little things. The idea of talking face to face seems far away and even foreign to today's culture. We share ideas via the web not over the blueish gleam of a good fly rod and green glow of the fly line zipping thru the air.

Occasionally we still meet face to face. We stand in the heat of an asphalt parking lot in the lowcountry and play with toys! We share our dreams of the future and our fears for our country. Our love of our wives who for some reason have put up with different types of insanity for way too long.

Ken you guys are in our prayers! And here's to the next time we get the chance to shoot the bull and play with toys!

It's been a while since I sat down to write. Today being the 8th anniversary of the attacks on 9/11/01 struck a nerve with me that I felt I needed to share.

I remember where I was. Exactly. Sitting in my office I had been on the phone probably yelling at someone about something (can't remember who or what now) when my cell rang. One of my best friends at the time was calling to ask if I was watching the news. I turned to my small office TV and flipped it on. Foxnews was showing the 1st tower smoking. People were screaming and running. Then the second plane hit. While we were on the phone he stated "OH my God... My Dad is there this morning.". It took them 20 hours to get ahold of him. He had been in the atrium between the two towers eating breakfast. Everyone at the table next to him had been killed when something fell on it.

I remember work stopped that day. Nobody could care less what else was happening. We were all riveted to the TV. I didn't receive another phone call in regards to business for two days. That day. That single day shook the world. I remember the palestinians and people throughout the middle east dancing in the street and tossing candy like this was Mardi Gras. I know the feeling that got us into this war. I remember why. I wish our politicians did.

I now look back on all of that and wonder. What really happened? Not whether or not the government did it. To me that notion is ridiculous. This is the same group that can't manage the cars for clunker program and they were supposed to have run the most sophisticated false flag operation in the history of the world... Yeah right...

No I mean someone knew. Someone let this happen. Either thru ignorance or stupidity or true evil intent. It doesn't really matter which. The result is all the same. I wonder what really went on. Afterwards and still to this day congress and the intel agencies pointed fingers and ran and hid. Whether thru shame or simple cowardice I have no idea. But it was no one's "fault" according to all them...

Today the question is what has happened? I saw a post on Facebook this morning claiming the whole 9/11 terrorist attacks cost Osama $500,000.00 according to Osama's own bragging. If that is true think about it. Since that day we have lost TRILLIONS in economic income. Spent ourselves into what over $56trillion in deficit spending? Lost how many sons, daughters, fathers, and husbands in who knows how many countries around the globe. To believe we are only fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq is the very height of ignorance and stupidity. Our country has swung from the NeoCon right to the National Socialist left in those 8 years. We have forever changed our country. So much so that unlike Pearl Harbor or the assassination of Kennedy we can look back on this singular event and divide our countries history there at that point. Before 9/11 and after.

Today... Today... We look around and see an argument out of control over health insurance. Stimulus spending beyond all imagination. Troops being thrown into a war we cannot even identify. Billions and billions are being spent in an effort to defeat what?

The very idea of a war on terror is ridiculous. A war on an idea? A war on a misidentified and purposefully misconstrued religious thought? A war on what is what we should be asking. What have we allowed this country to become after 9/11? What have we done to our founding documents? What have we done to our ideals and strength and independence that existed before 9/11?

We live now in a state that seeks to take care of us from cradle to grave. Your healthcare is too important to be entrusted to the simple minded and common people. We can spend our way into prosperity is what we are told now. We must send more troops into Afghanistan. Remove more from Iraq. Add bases around the world. Spend more to impress our will on others around the globe.

What will happen now? Have we been attacked since 9/11 and they have not told us? The constant outbreaks of ecoli in the last few years is one point of question. The shootings by muslims throughout the country. The attacks on pastors during services. What exactly has happened? Can we trust them to tell us? Or is this what Eisenhower was warning us about with the military industrial complex?

What kind of country will we leave our children and grand children? Can we look to the future and the costs and the impact these flawed and socialistic and even nationalistic policies will have? Can we for one instant as a nation take our minds off ourselves off our needs right here right now and think for one moment about the future? Is it too much to ask our President to simply stop and think? Our leaders?

I cannot think of 9/11 and wonder if this is not punishment? If this is not the beginning of the removal of providential protection from a country that was once a great Christian nation. Obama is right. We are not a Christian nation. He says it with pride though. I think it and tremble in fear.

While we rush headlong into this uncertain future let us stop and pray for guidance. This country was founded on the simple idea that there is an all knowing, omnipresent, guiding in the lives of men God. The God of the Bible. This country was founded by Bible believing men and women who looked forward to the future and the building of Christ's kingdom here on earth.

I pray this morning simply:

God our Father forgive us. We have turned from You. We have worshipped at the altar of false gods. We have sacrificed our children. We have sinfully pursued our own selfish desires. We deserve your wrath. Yet God we beg your forgiveness. We beg you to change the hearts and minds of the people of our nation. Without Your guiding hand on our nation we will continue to crumble. We will continue to suffer at the hands of those who hate You.

God forgive us.

Everyone needs to listen to Apologetics.com radio this week. It will be on christian ethics. Including theonomy. SHould be a wonderful show and shed some light on issues we all need to stop and think about.

Well it's the end of the week. No fishing this week. And won't get to fish this weekend either... Just let me ask what happened between the time I got out of school and had these dreams of fly fishing the world... To now. Married, kids, mortgage, and a business.

Instead of fly fishing for shoal bass or small mouth tomorrow I will either see Night in a Museum 2 or yard work... The weather will decide.

At which point did my heroes feel this way? Flip are you out there??? When did you wake up with these feelings? I mean. Is this really what it is all about?

Man I need to fling some flies soon.

This is from opening week of the GA turkey season this year.

For some reason I got to thinking about a good friend of mine who is now

gone. James Kilgo. Some of you may have read his writings and some may

have even had the fortunate adventure of meeting Jim in real life.

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-493

Jim was a great man and an inspiration to me thru my high school and early

work years. He was a throwback to southern gentlemen of times past.

Someone our great grandparents would have known.

Southern writers like him are few and far between these days. Shoot south-

erners like him are few and far between these days. Jeff Foxworthy has sto-

len our heritage and made us into rednecks and people to be pitied and

laughed at (sorry this is a soap box of mine!!!). Kilgo makes us proud to be

of the rural south. The glorious unreconstructed south of our childhood and

our dreams. The south seen only in glimpses today while floating a river,

turkey hunting in a river bottom, or visiting a small country dinner in the

middle of nowhere on a road that no longer is traveled by much of anyone.

In my imagination while sitting in a turkey blind this week I have relived the

conversations Jim and I had while playing with turkey calls and fly fishing at

a Christian retreat he attended and I was working. I was referred to by him

as Cohutta Jim. At the time I was taking people trout fishing up there all the

time. We'd smoke cigars and talk about the intimacy of turkey hunting or the

beauty of fly fishing. He once described someone walking up on you while

working a bird as almost as dire an intrusion as someone walking in on you

with your wife in an intimate embrace... And if this has ever happened to

you while hunting you know what he means.

He had a way to say things like that. One I wish daily I could capture and

cultivate. At once so clear and concise yet so completely poetic.

I guess I may have spent too much time in the woods alone this week. Qui-

etly waiting, watching and listening to well.... Not much this week.

Instead my constant companions this week have been my friends since passed on.

Jim is one of many that I miss while sitting in the woods in the morning.

Spring for me is a time when I stand amazed at the growth of my children.

The swift passage of time and the grey hairs that seem to show up in my

beard in the pre-dawn hours. Easter and it's memories of family get togeth-

ers. The carrying forward of our family traditions and the faith of my fa-

thers'. Turkey hunts, beautiful hand made calls, dogwoods in bloom, and the

glory of a pre-dawn wood lot. The quiet. The feeling of being there as if you

are witnessing the birth of the universe. You can feel God there with you.

The soft whistle of a whippoorwill in the morning air.

The sound of a turkey's wings beating as it flies down in the first crack of

day light.

That lone gobble in the mist. He's the one bird you never seem to pin down.

Every southerner (cause we are a hopelessly romantic lot) who hunts them

has one. That one majestic long beard that seems to always escape every-

one. Every season. No matter that we claim to be hunting this bird 10 years

later. His name is Crazy Larry, the ghost, psycho gobbler, Boss. He never

seems to die. For some reason he is that rarest of all turkeys. The UNDEAD.

Oh well. The South has created many creative and wonderful people and a

few kooks. I guess I stand in line with the kooks... Those who chase red

headed strutting birds around all spring. Bass all summer and fall and little

furry animals all winter long.

The glory of the outdoors is the wonder of God's creation. God's intricate

planning and workings to provide for us this magnificent place we call home.

It's just that down here. In Dixie. In Georgia we live in His den.