The Trestle Board

Hole Punch Clouds.

2007-12-18T09:59:00.000-06:00

An interesting atmospheric phenomenon occurred here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast yesterday. It is called a hole punch cloud and is caused by aircraft moving through a suspended altocumulus cloud deck composed of supercooled water vapor above the freezing level. As the exhaust from the engines combines with the water vapor that is in the clouds, it causes the cloud to precipitate out as rain, snow, and/or ice depending on what kind of air is in place underneath the cloud. Mostly like it was snow with this on considering that there was a cold front that passed through a day or so ago. Enjoy.

2006 Oklahoma Gubernatorial Race

2006-05-05T02:31:00.000-05:00

With the Oklahoma 2006 Governors race almost upon us I have put in my support for the incumbant Governor Brad Henry. As you have read I am a staunch conservative and a die-hard Republican. This might seem out of character for me but I have held on to a belief that if the Democratic Party brought forth a candidate that has similar goals and beliefs as me that I would support him. In his first term, Governor Henry has had incredible support from the Oklahoma Repubilcan party through encourage bipartism efforts to better the The Great State Of Oklahoma. I have kept close eye on his administration and he has done some very promising things for my home state. Has enacted heavy bolstering our education system by the creation of a state lottery, strengthening education through comprehensive school accountability, increased teacher pay, initiative upgrading college campuses, and successfully fought for a statewide vote in which Oklahomans approved a tribal gaming regulation act that will pump millions of dollars into state classrooms while helping revive the beleaguered horserace industry. Thanks to his efforts, Oklahoma’s teachers have received an increase on average of $3,000 during his term in office.

Governor Henry also secured a state vote to fund several vital healthcare initiatives through an increase in the tobacco tax. Approved by voters in November of 2004, the measure included targeted tax cuts, particularly an elimination of the capital gains tax on all Oklahoma property held for five years or more. When Governor Henry took office, Oklahoma was in the midst of a the worst budget problems in its history. With overwhelming bipartism support worked through massive budget cuts, but was able to protect education and health care from those cuts.

Governor Henry enacted legislation and policies that have augmented Oklahoma’s early childhood education, medical malpractice tort reform, placed reforms on public smoking, followed zero-based budgeting, and introduced funding solution to retain the state's only level-one trauma center. A landmark anti-methamphetamine measure advanced by Governor Henry resulted in a dramatic decline of meth lab seizures in the state and has served as a model for the rest of the nation. And finally, Governor Henry is proposing legislation that targets pedophiles that prey on children over the Internet, placing tougher penalties for such offenders. Henry wants to establish a sex offender registry with better registration and community notification, provide for additional funding to hire new corrections officers and boost pay to assist retention, to hire 112 new investigators over two years to investigate child abuse cases.

Governor Henry will have my voted for Governor in 2006

2006-02-07T14:54:00.000-06:00

Harold Clayton Clark, 84, known also as H.C. passed away December 14, 2003 at his home in Moore, Oklahoma. He was born June 24, 1919 in Seminole, Oklahoma. He was preceded in death by his wife of 58 years, Beulah Walker Clark. Harold was the third of eight children born to James W. and Anna Clark. His family moved to Norman in 1929. He attended Corn School south of Moore. He married the love of his life Beulah Walker on May 7, 1938. Harold was an avid hunter and fisherman and also loved farming and ranching. He served in the Army from March 13, 1943 to October 13, 1944. He was in the 9th Inf 39th Reg. E. Company 2nd battery. He received the Purple Heart, Oak Leaf Cluster and three Bronze Stars along with the Combat Inf. Badge, ETO Ribbon with three Campaign Stars. He fought on Sigfried line, in Hurtken Forest and in the famous Battle of the Bulge. He was injured in Hurtken Forest where he was awarded a Bronze star for carrying one of the four survivors of his company of 171 men., 2 1/2 miles behind enemy lines to a point of safety. When he returned home in 1944 he moved his family west of Moore where he farmed until 1969. At that time he formed and opened Capital Trailor Corporation until 1995. He is survived by two brothers James Lee Clark and Billy Clark both of Moore; his five children Lelan Clark and wife, Imogene, of Midwest City, James Clark and wife, Phyllis, of Tulsa, Dave Clark and wife, Phyllis, of Blanchard, Rick Clark and wife, Carolyn, of Broken Arrow and Anita Hill of Moore. He is also survived by 14 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren. He always had a story to tell or advice to give sitting around the table in his favorite chair. His presence there will be deaily missed by all who knew and loved him. Services are 2:00 PM Wednesday December 17, 2003 at Eagle Heights Church. Located at SW 119th & Portland in Oklahoma City, OK. Interment to follow to Moore City Cemetery in Moore, OK. Services are under the direction of the John M. Ireland Funeral Home & Chapel. Published in The Oklahoman on 12/17/2003.

My Great-Grandfather, A War Hero

2006-02-07T14:11:00.000-06:00

To everyone,

My great-grandfather, Harold Clayton Clark served in the United States Army in the 9th Infantry, 39th Regiment, 2nd Battalion ECHO Company from March 13 1943 - October 13 1944.
He told me all his war stories them beiing to much to mention but the one that has stuck in my mind all these years is the one involving him and a pair of Colt 1911's .45 Automatic. He had bought a pair of these pistols and wore them in a six-gun rig when he went to fight. His platoon sergeant or officer said that they would have to confiscate his guns. Well in his own words told them " You will have to kill me before you take my guns." This was one of countless stories that he told me about fighting them "godamn Nazis." His obituary will be posted separatley.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State

2006-02-04T02:26:00.000-06:00

This country was created to be a place of religious freedom, away from oppression of a tyrant king. With this being said our Constitution was written with a "Bill of Rights" that in its First Amendment states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". Yes, this does not establish a state sponsored religion but what is does not do is prohibits the free excercise of religion in public places.

Contrary to mainstream liberal mantra but this country was founded by devoutly religious individuals and the country's laws were built on a foundation of Judeo-Christian beliefs and principles. The members of this organization and ones similar to it are the same people who want God out of our Pledge, off our money, completely out of our schools, and absolutely erradicated from the public square. Also these people want graves of our fallen soldiers and heroes whose tombstones are in the shape of a cross and national monuments that bare religious symbols to be torn down.

The truth behind the separation of church and state "clause" has been so twisted that it has lost its true meaning, that the state will not sponsor a particular religion. For some time there has been an all-out war against people who profess the Christian faith. We have been labeled by the mainstream media as: homophobes, hate-mongers, intolerant, bigoted, and judgemental. When in fact it was a conservative Christian Republican Congress that passed all of the civil rights legislation during the 1960's when every "Jim Crow" Democrat voted against it.

This organization and ones like it are setting a dangerous precedent when one day God forbid when being just a Christian would be against the law and people of this faith would be herded off to camps like Stalin's USSR and Hiltler's Riech. I find it morally irreprehensible that a portion of our society are so easily offended by the simple utterance of the name of God. It is a violation of the Great Commision that Jesus Christ said "All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, The Son, and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Matthew 28:18-20.

In closing my father in-law is a member of this organization. I do not hold this against him for have the most upmost respect for him as a father, husband, and man of God.

This brings to my recollection something the Jesus Christ said "He who denies my name among men, I will deny their name to my Father".

Freedom Of Speech

2006-02-02T00:40:00.000-06:00

What is freedom of speech? According to the United States Constitution "Bill of Rights" Amendment One, freedom of speech is defined as "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

The freedom of speech is one the greatest freedoms that we have. But is todays culture this freedom has been abused. For example: liberals and their ilk completly support freedom of speech but their own freedom of speech. In there minds anyone that has a completly differing viewpoint is censored. Us as conservatives have had our freedom of speech infringed by the left-leaning liberal Democratics believe that we do not have the right to speak our minds.

These folks and the beliefs are borderline socialist with their desire to shut us up, to send us away to some dark cell so that voice can not be heard. Beware because they will not stop until they get their way and sending every person that does not believe the way that they do away so that they can not be heard.

The Space Shuttle Challenger

2006-01-28T04:38:00.000-06:00

With the 20th aniverstity of the Space Shuttle Challenger tragedy let us all remeber the brave souls of Apollo One, Space Shuttle Challenger, and Colombia.

Apollo One crew: Command Pilot (Lieutinant Colonel USAF) Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Pilot (Lieutnant Colonel USAF) Edward H. White, and Pilot (Lieutinant Commander, USN) Roger B. Chaffee.

Space Shuttle Challenger crew: Commander Francis "Dick" R. Scobee, Pilot (Captain, USN) Micheal J. Smith, Mission Specialist Dr. Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist (Lieutinant Colonel, USAF) Ellison S. Onizuka, Mission Specialist Dr. Ronald E. McNair, Payload Specialist Gregory B. Jarvis, and Payload Specialist (Teacher In Space) Sharon Christa McAuliffe.

Space Shuttle Colombia crew: Mission Commander (Col USAF) Rick Husband, Pilot (Commander USN) William "Willie" McCool, Mission Specialist (Captain USN) David Brown, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Payload Commander (Lieutinant Colonel, USAF) Micheal Anderson, Mission Specialist (Captain, USN) Laurel Salton Clark, and Payload Specialist (Colonel, Israeli Air Force) Ilan Ramon.

Let us remember these brave souls who lost there lives in the pursuit of the great mysteries of the "Undiscovered Country."

The Story of Christ and Superman.

2006-01-28T01:23:00.000-06:00

My studies of the story and life of Christ and the comic superhero Superman has caused me to discover some similarities. To start at the beginning both Christ and Kal-El (Superman, Clark Kent) were sent to Earth by their fathers when they were very young children. Also they were raised as humans by good and humble parents. They both lived their lives like normal human beings. But as they began to age they realized that they indeed were different and that they were put on this Earth for a reason.

The both exibited super-human/supernatural abilities. Clark Kent started to show extraordinary abilities like enhanced hearing, sight, x-ray vision, superhuman strenghth and speed, the ability to project laser like beams from his eyes, unpenetratable skin, and flight. Although Christ did not have any superhuman abilities forsey he did possess extreme supernatural abilities, his ability to perform miracles has not yet been seen again. Also one super-human ability that he has was an extraordinary ability to sustain pain.

Finally I believe that God saw that mankind wants to be great people but the only thing that they lacked was the light to show the way, "For He so loved the world that He gave His only beggotten Son. To become a Living Sacfrifice" Jor-El saw mankind in the same way so in his own words "Even though you've been raised as a human being you're not one of them. They can be a great people Kal-El. They wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all their capacity for good, I sent them you... my only son."

Hurricane Katrina

2005-08-28T20:51:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Katrina is most likely one of the most devestating tropical cyclones that has ever hit the US. I urge everyone that visits this blog that you have the citizens of the Greater New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in your thoughts and prayers as this hurricane of apocalypictical proportions strikes the Gulf Coast.

May God be With the People of the Gulf Coast

Cindy Sheehan

2005-08-19T16:31:00.000-05:00

As all may know there is a woman whose has for weeks now been camped out near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. This woman has her rights to peaceful protest but her message is so incredibly flawed. Her supporters (Code Pink and the Gold Star Families for Peace) are nothing more than wings of the anti-war, anti-military Liberal left. These people hate our country and especially hate the military in which I am a member of.

For her to say that our President and our leadership in the military murdered her son is psychotic. On the Code Pink website they have an anti-recruitment drive with the slogan " Dying in combat is not a job opportunity". Are these people just lost it. What I see are the same dope-smoking hippies that protested the Vietnam War and treated our veterans of that war like garbage re-hashing their anti-war rhetorict for this one. Are they so blind that Saddam openly supported terrorism, built-up his WMD arsenal ( He sent his WMD's to Syria during the initial invasion), and the brutal genocidal rampage that he unleashed on his own people.

For a women like her to say that "America is not worth dying for" is a statement that borderlines on the insane. She is a American and she does have the right to say these thing but where it crossess the line is her want to shove it down peoples throats.

The Dilemma Over the US-Mexico Border.

2005-08-19T14:23:00.000-05:00

There is a major problem that Washington and the Bush administration is either reluctant and/or unwilling to deal with. The problem at hand is illegal immigration. Wave after wave enter this country illegally every day. This is a serious problem that needs an intense and progressive solution to solve this problem.

I am not against people coming to this country with dreams in their hearts and hope in their eyes wanting a better life. I just wish that they would do these things the legal and just way. The US Border Patrol is seriously undermanned and underfunded. They need all the help that they can get from the government and concerned citizens.

I have enlight of this situation figured out a solution that work with so many immigrants years ago. Fund the creation of facilites that are like Ellis Island and place these facilities every hundred or so mile along the border. At these facilities immigrants are processed, provided with food and shelter, given free dental and medical treatment, free job counseling by represantives of the government and private sector, and ulitimately once they leave this "Ellis Island" like facilities they are granted expidited citizenship.

I think that this idea will work and will allow these immigrants to become productive citizens of our society. Also this will be good for national security by being a deterent for would-be terrorists from entering our country.

What Is Masonary and Who Are The Freemasons?

2005-08-09T18:29:00.000-05:00

To the rest of the world Freemasons and their concordant bodies have the reputation in certain circles that we are a secret society and/or cult. That statement is far from the truth. If we were a secretive organization we would have no such of a visible image. With masonic lodges in most towns and large ornate monuments and temples such as the National George Washington Masonic Monument in Alexandria, Virginia why would someone make a generalization that we a secretive society. We march in parades, have booths and kiosks at public events, we proudly display rings and Masonic regalia, and participate in public outreachs to the communities in which our lodges are in.

Masonary can be described in one simple statement which is Masonary is a progressive moral science. There are many things that I cannot tell you about Freemasonary but the one thing that I can tell you about Freemasonary is that we seek to take acceptional members of our communities and make them better.

First Entry

2005-07-12T18:12:00.000-05:00

I am new to blogging. This is the very first post on my new blog. This blog's mission is to be forum of thoughts and ideas regarding science, religion, politics, economics, and Freemasonary and fraternal organizations.

A little about myself. I am a Sailor in the greatest navy in the world the United States Navy. I am also a Freemason. My job in the Navy is the study and understanding of the weather. I enjoy NASCAR, college football (Boomer Sooner), radio controlled hobbies, science fact and fiction, and fine whisky and cigars.

I am a conservative Republican but I am also very open minded to other peoples beliefs. This blog I hope will serve as a great forum for civil discourse.

Thank You