The Blogger Behind the Blog

A Bio I could Tweet

          A northwest Christian conservative and retired navy veteran infiltrating liberal Seattle.  I wear the badge of conservative proudly.

Biography 

          Ronald Reagan once said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic party, my party left me.”  I sometimes feel that way about the Republicans.  At the end of the Bush administration with spending out of control, the economy sinking and the Democratic party in control of the federal government, I felt the country had lost its way.  The great principles that the Founding Fathers had built this country upon were ignored or worse, ridiculed.  I began to rethink my political alliances.   

          I enjoy writing and use it both as a creative release and as a means of venting.  One very cold night in March of 2009, I was pondering what the country should do to recover and grow.  I started poking away on my laptop.  An hour later I had written an essay I titled The Road to Recovery.  Sure, I felt better, but what should I do with the essay?  RuminationsBlog began that night.        

          In many ways I’m just an average small-town American who, as then candidate Obama put it, clings to his guns and religion.  I’m conservative (actually a paleoconservative) in that I want to conserve the freedoms and prosperity that grew from the limited constitutional government established by the Founding Fathers.

          I was a Cryptologic Technician in the navy, a field that required a top-secret clearance. The intelligence reports that passed through my hands everyday made for interesting reading—I still can’t talk about them, but I enjoyed reading them. I was already interested in politics and my job only increased that awareness.  Going to school at night and on weekends, I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science.

         I have read many of the works of Ayn Rand.  While she was an atheist and I am a Christian, I found we could agree on principles such as limited government, individualism, economics, markets and liberty.  Along with Rand, the Austrian School and economists such as F.A. Hayek shape my views on economics.    

          The field of cryptology embraced computers early on and from my position, I literally watched the growth and evolution of computers, the Internet and the Worldwide Web. I couldn’t see myself winning elections so I thought that my career would be in computers and technology, but it didn’t work out that way.  While I still have a keen interest in the Internet and technology, I gradually moved to the field of Education.

          I spend the summers at my home near the towns of Chehalis and Napavine in Washington State, but I spend my winters teaching in Eek, a remote Yup’ik Eskimo village in Alaska. There are no roads to Eek.  When I come in August, it is by bush plane.  Later, when the snow covers the ground, the rivers become snowmobile roads weaving across the tundra.  Teaching here is unlike anything in the lower 48 states, if the need arises, you might find me cooking in the kitchen, fixing plumbing, cleaning, or filling in for the principal.  It’s not just a job—it really is an adventure.

Memberships

I’m not really a joiner, but I listed the few that I have joined because I believe looking at the groups a person joins provides an insight into the mind of the member.  Here is my short list.

American Legion
National Rifle Association (NRA)
Washington Arms Collectors (WAC)

A Mission Statement I could Tweet

Providing a Christian, paleoconservative & libertarian viewpoint to underreported news, with a focus on the Pacific Northwest. 

About the Blog 

          Conservatives have dominated talk radio and that has been good for the movement—so far.  However, talk radio is old media, dependant of national advertising, controlled by a few fickle corporations and under the thumb of the FCC and the administration in power.  Conservative’s access to radio and television could vanish at any time.  Conservative Americans need a network that can’t be swept away by a stroke of a pen.  We need a communications network for the new millennium.  The Internet is the future for communications, networking, news and opinion. 

          My small voice does not a network make, but I hope it will be a part of the growing conservative voice.  Today the RumintionsBlog social media network includes the following

RuminationsBlog.com         
RuminationsBlog.net
RuminationsBlog.org
RuminationsBlog.info
Facebook        
Twitter
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