Chronicles of Idiocy 5: The Republican Presidential Candidates Must Think We Are Idiots

My husband loves watching political races. I am interested but also try to keep a distance lest I get too angry. Just in the past week the Republican candidates (or their workers) who all desperately want to be the Republican representative to run against President Obama, have said some incredibly stupid things. My question is why would we vote for any of these jokers?

Rick Santorum: The perfect candidate for the year 1620. Yes, he would be the perfect Puritan candidate for the pilgrims that landed on Plymouth Rock. Despite the fact that he is a Catholic, he seems to be more in step with our puritan ancestors than for the United States in 2012. Just last week he stated that a true conservative president did not care about the economy or the unemployment rate. On matters of womens reproductive activities, he is all about government interference. When it is about business, he is all about the government not interfering.

Newt Gingrich: Why is he still running? Seriously. My guess he is running for Vice-President or just sell more books. He told NPR and everyone else: this is “the most important election in our lifetime.” Cause every other presidential election was not important at all. My biggest problem with this “Washington Outsider” and “Not a Lobbyist” is that he is really a Washington insider and a lobbyist. For me, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck – it's a duck. He is a Washington insider, he was Speaker of the House for goodness sake! And I don't care if he says he was a 'Consultant', he quacked like a lobbyist for Freddie Mac and certainly got paid for it.

Ron Paul: The Secret Service is a form of welfare. Well, millionaire-type welfare but welfare just the same. So, to continue with this type of libertarian thinking then regular police are a form of welfare. If we all had guns, we wouldn't need police, right? Well, our population would be much lower in a libertarian type United States.

Mitt Romney: “Mr. I Pay 13.8% Tax” wants us to shake up that etch-a-sketch according to his aide, Eric Fehnstrom. He is now saying how conservative he is but after he gets the nomination he will be a big-time centrist. Anyone who signed a bill into law that covers all people of Massachusetts for Healthcare is at least a centrist. I don't say this is a bad thing, I just wish he would be honest about what type of politician he would be for the United States.

Unfortunately, all politicians do this “appeal to the base” then run to the center. It makes us have to guess where their loyalties truly lie. But, if I was to have to guess, I would say that their loyalties are to the millionaires and billionaires who give to the Super-Pacs. Why else would these politicians be advocating for lower taxes for the rich?

Democrats do annoying things but usually don't say annoying things. Rep. Anthony Weiner tweeting a picture of himself to a “fan” was just plain stupid. The one exception in my memory is from my own Representative, Raul Grijalva, who said to boycott Arizona due to the illegal immigration law, SB1070. Arizona was already the laughing stock of the country. You did not make too many fans with that one, Raul.

I am an Independent. I am just the type of voter that these types want to attract, but these things they say really stick in my memory. I don't think an etch-a-sketch moment will happen for any of them for this election or in 2016.

Bloomin' Arizona!

Spring is one of my favorite times in Arizona. Winter has left us (sort of) and the daytime temperatures are between 65 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. I know other places around the world get to look forward to daffodils and tulips blooming but we get to look forward to wildflower season. Our deserts are quite beautiful (especially this time of year) and are the most biologically diverse deserts in the world.

Depending upon a great many things, such as how much and when the rain falls, sunlight, frost conditions and quite a few other things that we are not even sure about, the wildflowers will bloom. Some years the desert is empty with only a few blooms here and there. Other years there are spots where the ground is carpeted with orange, purple and pink. You can often find wildflowers near Saguaro National Park east or west of Tucson, near Picacho Peak north of Tucson, sometimes around the Superstition Mountains east of Mesa, or just sometimes along the road like Silverbell Rd. in Tucson.

I am going to show some wildflowers that were blooming right outside our house last week.

 

Here is my daughter taking pictures of flowers as well.

First is the most famous of our wildflowers, although it has a neighbors name cause it blooms there too. The California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica ssp. mexicana) is a beautiful delicate orange flower.

Next is the Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata):

Penstemon parryi – Parry's Beardtongue

Fiveneedle Pricklyleaf (Thymophylla pentachaeta)

And lastly, Phacelia crenulata – Cleftleaf Wildheliotrope – It's so darn cute!

I should say that I got all of my wildflower information from fireflyforest.net, a really nice website for Plants and Wildlife of Arizona, Hawaii, and Costa Rica. Also, if you haven't guessed, I am not a professional photographer and those flowers are not at their bloomiest. But, that means what you see will look more like this than what the perfect flower on the perfect day with the perfect light looks like.

All these blooms also mean its allergy season, which is not fun. When the citrus or the Palo Verde trees start to bloom, I start to sneeze. I am glad in a way that I am sneezing from our lemon tree. Last year we had such a bad frost that the lemon tree did not produce any lemons for this year. We actually had to buy lemons! I then juiced them and froze the juice cubes so we can use the lemon juice all year round.

If you do not make it to see the wildflowers this year, in May and June you can see our Saguaro's bloom a beautiful white flower that attracts bats at night.

I know this is a different blog for me but I really wanted to share the beauty of the Arizona desert!