Texas BBQ

Even though I am no fan of chain restaurants whenever I'm in
El Paso (as I was this week) I always eat at Rudy's. The chain of BBQ restaurants is still quite small in numbers and found only in Texas with the exception of 1 each in Oklahoma and New Mexico. The food is terrific and the rustic Texas atmosphere makes the experience even more enjoyable. This time around I sampled the baby back ribs, jalapeño sausage, Green Chile stew (to die for), potato salad and sweet tea. Texas does BBQ better than anywhere else in my book! If you find yourself travelling on I-10 through El Paso or on I-40 through Albuquerque make some time for a meal at Rudy's.

Tonopah Rob's

Christine and I celebrated Valentine’s morning at our favorite farmer’s market in the Valley of the Sun. Root vegetables are plentiful this time of year at Rob Lazzaratto’s farm in Tonopah. The crisp morning air (okay, 45 degrees is a crisp as it gets here in Phoenix) was perfect for strolling the produce aisles that bulged with lettuce mixes, carrots, turnips, radishes and so much more. Rob’s vegetables and flowers are grown on-site and are all natural which is even better than organic. Its well worth the drive out to the farm to buy food for the week that was pulled from the earth just hours before your purchase.

A Christian in Saddam's Regime

I was very fortunate today to hear General Georges Sada speak at
Radiant Church in Surprise, Arizona. Although born Assyrian, not Arab, he rose to the rank of a 2 star general in the Iraqi military and reported directly to Saddam Hussein. General Sada is now retired from the military and works as the director of the Iraqi Institute for Peace and is a spokesman for the Prime Minister of Iraq.

The genuine gratitude General Sada displayed toward America and our military in particular was moving. He thanked everyone in attendance and especially those that lost children fighting for the freedom of Iraq. General Sada told many stories of how God worked through him in dealing with Saddam, Uday or Qusay Hussein. Advising them not to bomb Israel or not to kill American POW's was a dicey matter but Sada did just that and lived to tell about it. The most remarkable part of his talk, in addition to being a Christian working for a madman, was about WMDs. The General stated without and uncertainty that Iraq did have WMDs when we thought they did. Hussein used deception and some help from Russia, Syria and Jordan to get rid of them.

General Georges Sada has testified before our congress on this matter and is travelling the country lecturing extensively trying to get his message out. And what is his message you might ask? Here is what I took away from his talk:
1. God's plan (yes he did use the "J" word too) is universal and as a Christian he was placed close to Saddam Hussein for a reason.
2. The surge worked in Iraq and they now have 88 females freely elected to their parliament thanks to George Bush (altough he never mentioned him by name) and the United States military.
3. We were right to go into Iraq and remove Saddam be cause he did have a stockpile of WMDs and was planning to use them.

I can't wait to read his book Saddam's Secrets!

Go Cards!