Why This Conservative Has Taken A Blogging Break

Yeah, it has been a while since I last posted anything.
The reality is that this conservative was driven away from the keyboard because of the prospect of seeing the 2016 election a race with Republican presumptive nominee, Donald J. Trump, and the more than likely Democrat nominee, Hillary Clinton.
I am one of those 60% plus Americans that is not happy with my party, the Republican party, choice for president. I certainly will not vote for Mrs. Clinton.
So I have been mulling where does my vote go this election.
It will not go to Mr. Trump no matter how conservative he tries to sound.
As noted, it will not go to Mrs. Clinton unless she somehow totally changes in almost every way and essentially becomes a Republican.
In the aftermath of Mr. Trump becoming the presumptive GOP nominee, my first thought is that I will write in a past candidate in November. But unless he or she were to make a case for such a candidacy, it will be a wasted vote.
My current position is that if I cast a vote for president at all it will be the newly-minted Libertarian candidate, former New Mexico Republican governor, Gary Johnson.
But I am still mulling over whether or not I will even participate in the presidential aspect of voting. I mean, I will still vote for the GOP for congress, local contests and the like. After all, the local elections are in many ways more important that the presidency. At least in a federal republic that is the United States, that is how it should be.
One thing is that I live in the now deep-Blue state of California. We have a race for senate this year as Sen. Barbara Ma'am Boxer is finally leaving the senate stage.
But California has found a way to possibly have the race to replace Sen. Ma'am Boxer be between Democrats only in both the primary and general election.
You see, the once Golden State now has a system of voting that, other than the presidency, in the primary it is the top two that go on to the general election. No matter what political party. Thus the race seems to be between the current Democrat attorney general, Kamala Harris, and Democrat congressman, Loretta Sanchez. Yes, there are Republicans running. But the fact is the only commercials I see are for Miss Harris and Mrs. Sanchez. I will vote for Republican Tom Del Beccarro in the primary hoping that he makes the general election. If not, and no Republican makes the general, I will be a disenfranchised voter and probably skip the senate race as well as the presidential race.
This is the dilemma for conservatives particularly in a state like California.
We may be skipping both the presidential and senate race in November. Because many of us believe that Mr. Trump is not particularly conservative. And why would we vote for a Democrat in a senate race?
Thus it made me think what is the point about writing about politics?
Then I realized that this blog is not just about politics but what passes for culture and many other current events.
And while I may rarely write about the presidential race, there is so much that is worth writing about.
That is what you will get from here on out.
This conservative is back.

Why My Lack Of Blogging

I have not blogged very much lately.
The last post I had before this was March 29, 2014.
That in Blogland is a long time.
The primary reason for this is that I have had a lot of medical problems. None of them are serious but because of the several of them, I have been to doctors, labs for blood tests, poop tests, and last but not least physical therapy for my neck.
Today is the first day in quite a few weeks that I have felt well. Well enough to get back to the key board!
There is, as always, a lot to write about. But the problem is narrowing it down.
But for now I am back ready to tackle issues of the day!

Tweaking This Blog

I do not know what it is, but lately the blogger in me has been, well not in me.
There is so much to comment on, yet maybe the dreaded factor of time has an effect. There is only so much time and thus, I guess I feel overwhelmed to narrow down what I want to comment on.
Thus, I thought, maybe tweaking the appearance of the blog might, just might, get me back into sharing my thoughts on the current events of the day.
I hope that you enjoy the new appearance.
And yes, comments are welcomed.

Why I Have Not Been Blogging Much

For some reason, this particular summer has me in the blog blahs!
I mean, we are in the middle of a historic presidential race and I have not been overly inclined to write about it.
There are all the cultural issues. Again, it just seems sort of like meh.
And there is all the foreign policy issues that should get this blogger pretty excited to blog about.
Meh.
I guess one reason is that the weather here on the Left coast is really great and is a big distraction to  blogging.
But this week I am on vacation from the day job and I think I am getting the feeling back.
The blogging feeling.
So hopefully there will be many more ruminations of your humble blogger this week.
Maybe I am getting over the summer blogger blahs.

The Flu Turns Out To Be Strep Throat

Well, what I thought was a really bad case of the flu, I wished, has turned out to be strep throat. And boy it really sucks to have it when your pushing 50.
If you read the link to WebMD, I had every symptom that is listed. The doctor did in fact take a throat culture.  Here are the symptoms to look for:

A sudden, severe sore throat.

Pain when you swallow.

Fever over 101°F (38.3°C).

Swollen tonsils and lymph nodes.

White or yellow spots on the back of a bright red throat.

Well, the only difference is that I no longer have tonsils, yet my lymph nodes were indeed very swollen. Even today I still have pain swallowing and a lot of congestion.
It is my public service announcement that if you have any of the above symptoms, get to your doctor yesterday.
Thankfully, Mrs. RVFTLC is a persistent one.
I felt sick Wednesday, it hit like a ton of bricks Thursday and she insisted that I go to the doctor on Friday. Which I did. See, I really was sick. I would normally argue. But I knew whatever it was I had to go.
And yes, it takes a long time to even marginally recover as I am now.
And I hope to at least get a post in on how voting was here in California this past Tuesday.
Again, if you are feeling ill and have any of the above symptoms, get to the doc right away.