Month: February 2012

Government and Schools Taking Authority Over Parents

I am sure you have heard of a preschool child’s lunch replaced by a state inspector with a government chicken nugget lunch in the state of North Carolina. The child’s parents received a bill for the replacement. The child’s lunch consist of a turkey and cheese sandwich, juice drink, banana and potato chips. This lunch did not meet USDA nutritional guidelines. Most reports put emphasis on the fried chicken nugget replacement, questioning its nutritional value against the turkey and cheese sandwich, but I did read online that the reason for the lunch replacement was due to no vegetable being present and the inclusion of junk food potato chips.  The mother said the child was finicky about vegetables, so she encouraged vegetable eating when eating meals at home.

Now really, is it necessary for a government official to step in and change the child’s lunch? Who says the child is going to eat the government lunch that included a vegetable anyway? That poor child was also given the message that his/her mother did wrong with the turkey and cheese sandwich lunch. I feel the government and schools are going out of their way to plant “your parents do not know what they are doing” seeds in children’s minds these days. The effort to erode parental authority has already shifted into high gear.

If you do not feel the lunch thing is so bad, how about government backing of schools providing free condoms to students even in elementary school regardless of how parents feel? This is coming from the progressive leftist side of things. Can you even count on 1 hand any conservative promoting anyone policing school lunches and giving out any kind of free contraceptives to minor school students?

Our GOP Presidential Candidates

Republican presidential candidate, Rick Santorum had a clean sweep of  caucus and primary voting in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado. With all the hoopla, the bottom line is obtaining the 1144 delegates needed to get the nomination. Mr. Santorum did not really get any delegates from his triple victory. I still feel Mr. Santorum is the 2012 version of former presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee and may go on to win some primaries but not get the Republican presidential nomination. If I am wrong, it will be a nice surprise.

At this point, if he makes it to the PA primary in April, he most likely will get my vote over Newt Gingrich. I also consider Mitt Romney for pragmatic reasons, because I still see problems with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum winning against Pres. Obama.But then, Mr. Romney is losing some steam. I am not one of those on the right that ignores the left. Along with reading and listening to the Republican and conservative right punditry and comments, I also squeeze in some reading and listening to the Democratic, liberal left punditry and comments. That side would love for Mr. Gingrich or Mr. Santorum who they see as the flavor of the Republican month to be Pres. Obama’s opponent, because they feel either one of those candidates will make for an easy Democratic victory.

I continue to hear and read of Independents who are unhappy with the Pres. and are looking to what the Republicans have to offer and there is not much of a “wow” factor. Mitt Romney at the beginning of his campaign attracted Independents, but now he is losing them through his continuing efforts to prove his conservatism.

Let us face it, Newt Gingrich is a strong negative to some Republicans, and conservatives. He does not seem to attract Independent voters who are pretty much the deciders of who gets to be President these days. The Catholic Rick Santorum is revving up the conservative evangelical voter (count me as one), but along with the Independent voter there are many who vote Republican who do not particularly like conservative evangelicals, such as libertarian thinking Neal Boortz and do not want a resurgence of them dominating the Republican Party. Along with the very conservative Michael Savage, there are conservatives coming together with those on the liberal left in viewing Rick Santorum as sanctimonious.  They do not like candidates who are outspoken about living their lives from any kind of spiritual faith base.

If you are wondering about all of this in relation to Mitt Romney, well that is another post that would include the Mormon historical negative spiritual belief concerning black people, which has somewhat changed. But one has to wonder how the weight of that historical perspective colors his general views on non white people. Again, there is much distance between me and the Ron Paul supporter. His libertarian views in foreign policy are a very big negative to me. There is also the racial issue, but I have to look more into that situation, even though I do believe Rep. Paul knew of the negative generalizations of black people in his own newsletters. He is the last of the remaining Republican presidential candidates who would get my vote.

Oh, will we ever have another Ronald Reagan? By that, I mean a strong conservative candidate who coalesces Republicans and conservatives behind him and has Democrats and Independents voting Republican like he did! That is what we need or Pres. Obama just may get that 2nd term.

Having a Vote that Means Something in the 2012 Primary/Caucus Season

Well it looks like I may have a say with my April 24th presidential primary vote. The Republican National Committee amended Rule 15b for the 2012 presidential nominating process. It is apportionment of delegates for the Republican presidential candidates before April 1st; afterwards, the winner of the state primary and caucus votes takes all the state’s delegates.

The Democrats do apportionment throughout the primary/caucus season. When it is close like it was in 2008 with then Democratic presidential candidates Obama and Clinton, votes were necessary to the end of the primary/caucus season. It was winner take all in 2008 for the Republicans. Sen John McCain had the 1144 delegates needed for the presidential nomination before the April PA Primary. If the delegates had been proportional, my vote would have counted for something and it would have gone to Mike Huckabee.

The apportionment did not work in 2004 when I was still a Democrat. Sen. John Kerry had enough delegates before the PA Primary, which was held in May back then. I was not that upset, because I was pretty much on board for Sen. Kerry. Sometimes I feel all the caucuses should be held on 1 day and the primaries on 1 day in the next week or at least within a month of the caucuses so that every voter has a say in choosing the presidential party nominee. It is even worse for the states who have primaries and caucuses after April, especially Utah which is at the end of June. Really, how often has this state’s individual’s primary vote meant anything! Go here to see the 2012 primary/caucus schedule.