Is it time?

What a disappointment this primary season has been. The end result is going to be two main presidential candidates who both hold very liberal positions. Conservatives have essentially been shut out.

Is it time to consider a new political party? The Republican party, nationally, seems to prefer being "Democrats Lite" with a strong leftward shift on policy issues from federal spending to abortion. Conservative voters have been marginalized in the primary process, and many cannot and will not vote for McCain as a matter of conscience.

I've started looking into the American Conservative Party. If things don't change in the Republican party, perhaps a strong conservative coalition will bring balance to this out of balance political situation.

Computer Repairs, Gardening and Much Needed Rest

This week was spent doing many things so very different from my usual routine. It was spring break in this part of the country, and I had a week off from teaching. It was also a week of limited access to the internet community - our primary computer was being repaired. I've missed blogging, but the blogging life is not the center of my existence either.

I spent a lot of time in my little organic garden. Vegetable growing is one of my hobbies. The southern New Mexico climate (zone 9) permits the planting of summer crops earlier than most region. My readers from the cooler climes will be surprised to know that my tomatoes and peppers are planted and thriving. (Early Girl, Beefsteak, Heatwave, California Wonder and Big Jim chile peppers!) Today, if all goes well, I'll be planting green beans, yellow summer squash and zucchini.

I planted my spring crops in January - several varieties of lettuce, spinach, radishes, peas, potatoes (red potatoes from the store that had sprouted) and turnips. We are harvesting the lettuce now. The radishes should start bulbing out soon. The peas are not blooming yet and the turnips look healthy. I forgot to mention my red onions. They did not get planted until about a week ago, but I could not find good onion sets until then. (I still have some yellow onion sets to plant today as well!)

My little herb garden contains rosemary, spearmint (good thing it's in a contained raised bed), basil and coriander.

As my garden is fairly small, I use a modified version of Square Foot Gardening to maximize yield. Vegetable prices are high nowadays, and whatever I can do to help keep our food costs down and provide healthy food for my family is a bonus!

The biggest expense of gardening in the desert southwest is the cost of water. I like to use a lot of mulch to retain moisture in the garden, and I spot water my plants and use a soaker hose to target watering. How I wish we had a grey water system to recycle laundry, sink and bath/shower water! Such a system is high on my wish list if we were to move from here.

Interested in organic gardening? My favorite resources are the "Mother Earth News" and "Organic Gardening" magazines. Yes, yes, I'm a political conservative who reads "Mother Earth News"! I believe in responsible stewardship of our natural resources, and have NEVER believed the "Progressives" and "Liberals" have had a corner on the market of environmental responsibility!

There are two days left of this blessed spring break, and then I go back to the very busy life of teaching choir at one of our local schools. Large group festival is looming, as well as our spring concert and other opportunities for my honor choir to sing.

No Retreat - No Surrender

Call us hardcore if you wish. Many conservatives will not vote for John McCain this fall, even if he is on the ballot. We don't see why we have to merely accept the RINO that the Republican establishment wants to throw at us. They presume we will vote for their 'presumptive nominee', but we cannot and will not compromise our values. Romney asked us to look at his record - and he was found to be a hardcore liberal underneath his facade. Now we should do the same to John McCain and have his treachery and liberal choices exposed as well.

Mike Huckabee is in the race to the end, and conservatives are with him. We will not retreat and we will not surrender. He still has a chance at the nomination.

Romney's Record

Romney invites us to look at his record to prove his conservatism. I accept the challenge and find him to be rather liberal. It seems his 'conversion' to conservatism is an act of political expediency.

Here is an article presenting the research done by MassResistance. It documents the positions Romney has taken before and during his governance of Massachusetts.

Will voters, especially those who consider themselves reasonably conservative please do some comparison shopping of the candidates? Mike Huckabee is really the only true conservative out there.

Is Huckabee like Carter? NO WAY!

I get so frustrated when Mike Huckabee is portrayed as some kind of 'liberal'. In truth, Huckabee is truly conservative and is exactly the type of leader the Republican Party is looking for.

Here are links to some great articles which talk about Huckabee's conservative positions:

Mike Huckabee Is A "Real" Conservative

Huckabee: Another Carter? How Stupid Can It Get!


Now, if only the electorate would look at facts instead of being spoonfed by the media.......

Republican Party Degeneration?

When I look at the field of presidential candidates on the Republican side, I wonder whose side they are running for. The 'front runner', Rudy Guiliani, has social views that line up with the Democrat front runner, Hillary Clinton. He's not a real conservative. Fred Thompson, seen as the 'great hope' for conservatives, doesn't seem to know how to run a campaign, nor what work to do in order to gain popularity. We wonder if he would be able to debate Clinton. Romney seems to have changed his mind about critical issues when convenient to do so.....like being "pro-choice" until deciding to run for President.

Is the Republican party so diluted that locally a person cannot clearly distinguish the party of a candidate by looking at their stand on issues alone? Why do we have to go to our party headquarters to find out who the candidates are? Are the candidates afraid to make their position clear?

The lack of clarity of position is evidenced by Republican dissatisfaction with the current slate of leading presidential candidates. I happened upon a poll in the sidebar of a random blog today. Here are the results:

Who is your favorite Republican Presidential Candidate?

• None of the above. I want a real Conservative! (38%, 279 Votes)
• Fred Thompson (28%, 207 Votes)
• Rudy Giuliani (16%, 116 Votes)
• Mitt Romney (8%, 59 Votes)
• Newt Gingrich (8%, 57 Votes)
• John McCain (2%, 17 Votes)

Total Voters: 735

There are so few Republican candidates that really exemplify what "conservative" means. The only one that talks the talk and has real world experience that will transfer to the role of President is Mike Huckabee. He would be a natural choice to lead the nation because of his successful experience as governor of Arkansas, and because he is a true conservative. I hope his hard work in Iowa and New Hampshire bears fruit, and that Republicans will not dismiss him as unelectable.

What are Democrats trying to accomplish?

I am an unabashed conservative. Not a Rush Limbaugh ditto-head. Not a right wingnut. Not a Phred Phelps Pflamer. Just a conservative leaning toward moderate that is trying to understand what is happening on the political scene.

I'm one of the people that Democrats would want to woo to their side. I'm not enamored with Bush, although I have supported him and do support (with only a little reservation) the war effort. I'm not happy with the leftward swing of those who call themselves conservative. I have strong feelings about social issues and care about the environment.

But I have to wonder what the Democrats are doing to attract people like me. First consider their leading presidential candidates. Hillary Clinton, based on her past baggage and association with "only the second president to be impeached in all of US history" (I'm quoting my dear husband), with her failed health care plan from the Clinton administration, and with her socialistic leanings does little to inspire trust in voters like me. She might rise to the occasion if she were elected, but she has no clue what to do with the war. Nor do the other Democratic candidates. It's complicated, but there is no "plan," as Kerry would say, on the Democrat side to end the war (nor any clear vision of the consequences of such action) outside of the "death by a thousand cuts" agenda.

Barak Obama is a man with so little experience who got lucky to be catapulted to national attention. He is more liberal than Hillary Clinton, and the church he claims to belong to has a statement of faith that appears to promote a bigoted form of reverse discrimination (everywhere you see the word "black" replace it with "white" and it could be the statement of faith of a racist white supremacist church.) Where DO the Democrats get these "leaders"? Don't they vet them first? Or maybe their leading candidates really do represent the views of the Democratic leadership. I find that possibility concerning!

Speaking of 'Death by a Thousand Cuts,' the flood of subpoenas demanded by the Democrats because of the legitimate firing of a few attorneys is this side of ridiculous. Here are some comments by Mark Davis:

What they seek to destroy is this presidency they loathe with their every breath. Mr. Gonzales has plenty to answer for, but the elevation of these attorney dismissals to a Watergate-caliber controversy is wholly without basis.

Add the irony that the voices stoking the scandal imagery are from the same congressional and journalistic outposts that have sugar-coated the Clinton years for more than a decade, and the spectacle borders on the obscene.

I've not even gotten into the shenanigans of Pelosi, (Barely had Pelosi been sworn in as Speaker of the House when the Dems began their assault on gun rights, free speech, freedom of religion, the right of bloggers to alert readers to contact Congress concerning pending legislation, and a host of other subversive legislation) Murtha and Dean, but to me they are equally disappointing for their pandering to the left wing of their party.

I'm not one of those voters who decides to skip voting in despair and disgust, but it may be that, again, I vote for the lesser of two evils in hopes that some real leadership will rise up in the next six years.

Ecological Indulgences

"Ecological Indulgences" That's what Charles Krauthammer called the practice of the rich buying "carbon credits" in offset their wasteful lifestyles. God forbid the wealthy actually ride a bus to get anywhere, or turn off their heated pools, or sweat at any time except when they work out on their expensively produced and energy consuming exercise equipment! Perish the though of Gore cutting back the energy consumption of his own home (one month's energy bill for him is about 20 times one of our energy bills for a YEAR).

The Carbon Credit business is a total scam that is thriving on the guilt of the wealthy. They can somehow "buy" their way out of global warming. HA! All the while the real work of ecological change is being done by those who live the simplest - the poor. It's hard to waste energy when you can't afford to keep your lights on for long. It's mighty hard to blow horrible carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when you can't even afford a car and have to walk, bike, or ride a bus everywhere.

Krauthammer's article also demonstrates the negative effect "carbon credits" have on developing countries, citing the forcible taking of farmland so "carbon credit" trees can be planted. From the article:

GreenSeat, a Dutch carbon-trading outfit, buys offsets from a foundation that plants trees in Uganda's Mount Elgon National Park to soak up the carbon emissions of its rich Western patrons. Small problem: expanding the park encroaches on land traditionally used by local farmers. As a result, reports the New York Times, "villagers living along the boundary of the park have been beaten and shot at, and their livestock has been confiscated by armed park rangers." All this so that swimming pools can be heated and Maseratis driven with a clear conscience in the fattest parts of the world.

The liberal infatuation with environmentalism is proving to be a hypocrisy. And why should concern about the environment be an exclusively liberal issue. I'm an unabashed conservative - in our household we use a wood stove for heat so we don't burn too many dinosaurs, we ride our bikes, live simply and are not consumed by greed and "keeping up with the Jone's". My kids don't vegetate in front of video games, nor are they inoculated from life by i-pods and other such devices. We use an energy efficient evaporative cooling system, and recycle cans. All this while the liberal wealthy purchase and travel to excess and buy 'carbon credits' to "offset" their indulgent lifestyles.

If they want to spend their money on excesses, let them go ahead. But puh-leeze don't put on the self righteous pall of concern about the environment while you do. BE HONEST!

My Quandry

This election season is very frustrating for conservatives. I’m disappointed in the choices we have on both sides. It seems the Republicans who are running are really Democrats at heart. Additionally, very few potential candidates have any real experience in statesmanship.

This puts me in the quandary of having to possibly cross party lines to find someone with some experience whom I could trust to do the best for our country. They all say they will, but the only one with the experience necessary to be president is Bill Richardson of New Mexico. As a resident of the state of New Mexico, I’ve seen the progress he’s made in this state in education and economic growth. He has shown he knows how to run a troubled state, and I think he has the skill to run our country.

As a conservative, I know that voting for Richardson will mean a compromise of my social values, but he would do a good job as president while the Republican party finds some real conservative candidates who can communicate well, have proven experience in governance, and who are skilled negotiators who are able to win the trust of those who are of a liberal persuasion.