Camping -- Barnett Style

So this past weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend four days with my family in New Mexico. We all met up in Albuquerque and then travelled to Alto, NM (just outside Ruidoso) to stay at my dad's "cabin" in the woods.



It really is in the woods, but not so much a traditional cabin. It was VERY comfortable, with all the amenities us Barnetts prefer in our camping: The hot tub here is of course one of the key amenities I was thrilled to enjoy throughout the weekend. Nothing like the pure quiet of the mountains and the incredible view of the moon and stars while sitting in 102 degree water with jacuzzi jets massaging your troubles away...

I thought I'd include a few photos of the area so folks could see this really is in the mountains.

There were so many deer everywhere, I loved this sign.

For those Laura Ingalls Wilder fans, one of my dad's neighbors (if you can't read it, the sign says "Little House in the Big Woods").

My husband couldn't join us this time around, so my brother had the honor of all computer related duties. He spent several hours in this position Saturday morning, but he seemed to really enjoy it in the end. Besides, Dad is now set up with an iPod and Audible books, which is quite the accomplishment.

Finally, a picture of "the boys" -- Dad and Janet's dogs Divot and Bogey as they get ready for a walk in the cold mountain air. They're hilarious little guys.

I got away from the weekend without taking pictures of my brother and sister-in-law together, but they are such a great couple it was really fun to be with them. Even more exciting and fun for me, Kristin invited me to feel little baby girl Barnett as she moved one night. Kristin is about 5 months pregnant, and this little girl is already incredibly active, kicking away pretty regularly and I got to feel her doing little flips--pretty sure I actually felt her little head roll by! How cool is that?!

All in all, a fabulous family weekend and a great time of rest. This is the kind of "camping" I love.

For the good of the party?!

So if you're in the GOP, you're being inundated just now with what the media and many party players say is a fait accompli: John McCain is the inevitable GOP nominee. As a result, we are told that it is somehow our duty to get behind the McCandidate.

I can't possibly say strongly enough how much I disagree with this "for the good of the party" nonsense. We've all been making our decisions on the GOP nominee for 20 years, and it has served only to damage the party immeasurably, possibly beyond repair.

We've been doing this for 20 years now, coming together to support the lesser of the evils because we assume he couldn't be as bad as the opposition. I believe in doing so we've only damaged the principles the Grand Ole Party once stood for and proven ourselves unworthy of that mantle. This party is supposed to be, at core, one that supports a general principle of limited government; that's of course nothing more than a joke at this stage to all three of the main contenders for nomination.


John McCain is a supremely arrogant, untrustworthy, and bitterly angry man. He is incredibly well known on Capitol Hill to have a temper beyond reason--I'm told by insiders his staff has to be prepared on a moment's notice to issue written apologies to his Congressional colleagues because no one knows what will set him off into an expletive-laden tirade.

Beyond the obvious questionable judgment that would put such a person in charge of "the button" is his lack of principles. John McCain is not a conservative, he is not a libertarian...I'm not even sure he's a liberal, if you really want to know. John McCain is basically just King of the John McCain fan club, and that's about all he has to offer this country. We're less than 10 years out from a time when he considered changing parties--not because his ideals or principles changed but because he couldn't get enough adoration and attention in the GOP. Remember our good friend Jim Jeffords? Around the time he jumped ship, having been courted by Democrats to do so, McCain staffers were sniffing around to see what kind of play McCain could get for jumping ship...so he wasn't even being courted, he was out attempting to sell himself to the highest bidder.

This is apparently the best we can muster as a party.

I am told that regardless of his flaws, he must be better than the alternatives on the Democrat side. To which I have two responses: first, how are we ever going to find the best standard-bearer when we are all too ready to accept this kind of ... person? Maybe if we all really started demanding more from politicians, expecting more from them, and holding them accountable at the ballot when they don't offer it, maybe then we'd see something really special happen.

Second, how can anyone possibly know whether McCain is any better than the alternative when no one really knows what he believes or stands for?

My hope for tomorrow, Super Tuesday is this: at the end of the day no one may be declared "presumptive nominee." Let's all take a little more time before once more submitting to that most pathetic and lowly urge to hold our noses and vote for someone just because we are told he is the most "electable" or some such nonsense. We've got SIX MONTHS until the nominating convention, maybe we could use just a bit more of that time to think things over and consider whether, once again, we really want to all band together and accept someone of such questionable worth and qualification.