Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Lonely Conservative II

This lonely Conservative is getting lonelier by the day. Even though I had differences with Rudy Guiliani, I believed he was the best of what I thought was just an "average" group of Republicans, and planned to vote for him Tuesday. Then he dropped out and followed that by giving us Conservatives a low blow by endorsing John "Straight Talk" McCain...ouch!


And today along with Rudy, our beloved Governator Arnold Kennedy-Schriver-Schwarzenagger also endorsed "Straight Talk". There they stood at a press conference - the Three Amigos, talking about ending Global Warming, lifting up the middle class, and "reaching across the aisle" to cooperate with Democrats (better not turn your back John, after you reach). So it looks like the Republican establishment and Washington elites are "circling the wagons" around John McCain with the intent of closing out Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee before the super Tuesday primaries. Folks, we're being "railroaded" by the Straight Talk Express.


So we will see what happens. I suspect this support of John McCain (who is more of a Democrat than Republican) is rooted in several issues:


1/ He is a war hero, a strong military leader, and does appeal to Independent voters who played a large part in the earlier primaries, and there is still much concern in this country about radical Islam and the terror threat they represent to this world.


2/ He has the backing of the "Establishment" in Washington...after 25 years he has lots of contacts, and favors to receive (and give out). A deal with Rudy?...I wouldn't be surprised if Rudy was promised VP or Attorney General in a McCain administration.


3/ But most of all, I think the media has convinced the American public that John McCain is the only candidate that can beat Hillary Clinton. And the hatred of Hillary on the Right is as strong as the hatred of Bush on the Left. So if McCain is the Republican nominee, I will recall my childhood days when mom made us eat everything - if there is fried liver and lima beans on the plate, choose the lima beans first.


But all is not lost. As we work our way through this political season the American people will have the final say, which is the way it should be. And besides, our brilliant politicians are now working on a way to solve all of our ills with a "stimulus" package. So why worry about politics when we are all going to get free money in a few months. I continue to be impressed with our politicians in Washington. When I was young, if things got tough with the economy, we just had to work our way through it. Now when things get tough, our politicians have come up with a better solution - send everyone a check! And why not, even though our country is trillions of dollars in debt, all they have to do is send a message to the Treasury to print more money...is this a great country or what? As for me, when I get my check, the first thing I am going to do is buy gas for my gas guzzling pickup (which will increase the profits of Exxon), and then whatever is leftover, I plan to spend at Wal-Mart!

Thursday, January 24, 2008

You just can't beat the "traffic"

We lived in San Diego for 30+ years and it was paradise in the 60 's, 70's, and even into the 80's. But then developers moved in and traffic became more and more congested. We lived near my work and it used to take me 10 minutes to go home, so I could even go home for lunch whenever I could. Then it became more and more crowded, and the 10 minutes started taking 20, then 30, and sometimes 40 minutes or more to travel the 10 miles home.


Then one day sitting in traffic, I decided that this was not the way I wanted to spend the rest of my life. Luckily at that time I had the opportunity to sell my company so we sold out and bought a small ranch in Central California...no more traffic!

So we moved to the country and as my wife often said, "A traffic jam in Paso Robles is meeting another car when you merge onto the freeway". Free of traffic at last...

But then shortly after moving here I just missed hitting a deer one night and the next morning had a direct hit on a squirrel with my car. Not long after that I was driving along 101 and out of the corner of my eye saw two deer along the freeway on the other side. Almost instantly one of the deer jumped onto the freeway and was hit head on by a Ford Explorer. The Ford had it's complete front end destroyed. It was like a major traffic accident in Southern California, but this time caused by "animal traffic'.

So here we are now after living in the country for 17 years and have learned that even though there are few cars to worry about, drivers need to keep a constant vigil to watch for deer, skunks, squirrels, bobcats, foxes, and yes, it's common to run over a tarantula or two.

It has been an adjustment to put up with the "animal traffic", but just when we were getting used to watching for critters jumping in front of us, a new hazard has appeared here on the Central Coast. Last week north of Cambria two elephant seals left the beach and crossed State Highway 1, and immediately a "sigalert" went out throughout the county to watch out for elephant seals on Hwy 1 North.













So you folks that sit in traffic every day in Southern California, and wish to live in the country...remember, it's not the "traffic paradise" you think it is. Picture a 1500 lb elephant seal jumping in front of your car -well, they don't exactly jump, they kind of move their blubber along to move forward. But hit one in a car and you will be airborne. Stay in Southern California, you are much safer, and take it from me, no matter where you live, you just can't beat the "traffic".

Thursday, January 17, 2008

The Lonely Conservative

If you are a Democrat or "moderate" Republican you may not want to read this blog.

I am a Conservative, but when I look around I feel lonely during these times.
My son recently said that I bled Republican red blood...and he's partially right - I bleed Conservative Republican red blood. When I look at the the present field of potential "leaders" this country will elect next November, I can't believe what a lack of leadership we are faced with.

I won't even go into the Democrats side - Hillary or Obama... for either of them to be elected, it's a "no win" situation for those of us that want smaller government, lower taxes, individual freedom, less regulation on small business, closed borders that stop the overflow of illegal immigration, etc...should I go on?

But on the Republican side our choices are pretty thin also . Each candidate has his so-called "conservative" strengths, but they also have some "not so conservative" values. It amazes me that John McCain is leading the field of Republicans at this time . He is not a Conservative (and I am not even sure he is a Republican). Yes, he is a war hero and I respect him for that, but do we want to elect someone just because they have been a war hero? He is a RINO (Republican In Name Only). How can people forget the McCain/Feingold bill, his vote against the tax cuts, and especially his support along with Teddy Kennedy of the Immigration/Amnesty bill. I predict (and hopefully), he will not be the nominee. Unfortunately, the others running are not a lot better... we shall see. Of course if McCain is our "best" choice against Hillary or Obama, I will vote for him and hold my nose, but let's hope us Republicans are smarter than that.

Someone said recently that maybe we have to go through another Jimmy Carter to get to another Ronald Reagan style Conservative. If so, tighten your belts, keep your hand on your wallet, and make sure you have a private 401K that will take care of you when you get old.

But people do buy the Democratic rhetoric of Socialism with everyone being "taken care of" by the government - so I predict that if the Demos are elected, history will repeat itself, we will "reset' our economy and slow down the ability of entrepreneurs to provide the engine that drives this country. I started my business when Jimmy Carter was President, and then grew my business during the years of Ronald Reagan so I know what I am talking about.