OK, here's the setup. I was going to get my haircut. Because my time's usually short and today was no exception, I decided to see what the hair salon at WalMart could do. I'm familiar with their setup. They don't take reservations, you walk in, sign up, and they get you whenever they feel like it. But it was fairly early, so I figured I'd take my chances. I went in to the hair salon, which was open, looked around, nobody. Through a couple mirrored reflections, I could see a lady in the v...

We just completed an "initiation" trip for our dog in our truck. We're trying to get him acclimated to vehicle riding, as we're hoping to have him join us on more of our jaunts. After all, what's the point of having a pet if you cen't include them in your little adventures? As I pulled away from the house, I took an extra step of precaution. A step that made me, oddly enough, thankful for the sensationalist media. See, whenever I pull away from the house, there's always a cursory check for...

As my thoughts have centered on the health care debate, they quickly return to the role of government and how our perceptions have changed toward that end. From the frontiersman who ventured deep into the hostile territory of foreign nations (Indians) and expected the government to provide protection in the form of forts and stockades for his own reckless behaviour to our current demands that the government provide "free" condoms, healthcare, education, and everything else we might dream up, we ...

While I disagree with much of Michael Moore's philosophy, one of the things I will credit him with in the movie "Sicko" is bringing the health care debate to the forefront of discussion. While there are those on this site who will characterize me as a greedy, heartless individual, those who know me best know that it is not only an untruth, but a slanderous LIE! I won't get into the things I've done, because I don't do them for credit, but I will say there's a lot about me you don't know. I've...

I detest abortion. I think it is a disgusting practice, and I think it is a damning indictment on our society that we accept it as casually as we do. But I do not believe it should be made illegal. I believe there are better solutions. See, according to the data I have read, there are situations where an abortion may serve a medical purpose. According to what I have read, these instances comprise the minority of cases, but I do not feel when these cases exist that a doctor should have to c...

Late last night I wrote up a song about a homeless man I had met some years back, and his vision. Today I premiered it to a few people, to mixed reviews. Basically the people who appreciate folk music appreciated it, those who didn't did not. I played it at the Guthrie Center, and one of the ladies who started the Guthrie Center in Pampa, complained that it was "the same monotonous tune" (meaning I was playing the same chords; ironically, I was NOT, by the way). I grabbed a Woody Guthrie song...

Well, I'm back, from a long weekend which I will relate as soon as my thoughts congeal properly. One of the stories I couldn't tackle in my absence was the story of the Hindu prayer offered up in the Senate. I wanted to start the article by saying unequivocally that I don't like it, that it didn't belong in a government institution, and that those who are offended have every right to be offended. In short, I'm saying what every evangelical Christian is saying right now on the subject. ...

We've all seen the sitcom scenario. Junior trashes the family car then tries to hide the damage from the cheap auto repair. But try as he might he cannot hide the damage and the car is irrevocably scarred, even worse than it was when Junior ran it into the utility pole. Junior now faces consequences FAR worse than he would have faced had he simply faced up to the music. LW wrote a wonderful heart rending article that tells this story from a woman's perspective. One who has been there. One who...

On a summer day just shy of twelve years ago, we brought our oldest girl, Destiny Marie, home from the hospital. As young, new parents, we spent many hours discussing the future we had for our new daughter, who, of course, was practically perfect in every way. She would not watch TV outside of a few videos, she would not date when she was a teenager (we still believe the idea of courtship is far closer to God's way of selecting a mate...but discussing that here would set this blog far afield), a...

When I was a child, people complained about high taxes. Sadly, that day is all but over, at least among the working class. Now the complaint I hear more often than not is service related. And it's not a partisan issue; Republicans are as bad as (sometimes WORSE THAN) Democrats. Everyone wants increases to their pet program, be it military, cancer research or the murder (err, excuse me..."abortion") industry. The reason people are so quick to demand the increase is that most of them do not PAY...

There's a newspeak term for illegal aliens in this country, one that frankly, I'm glad to see. It's a word that shows the TRUE intentions of the illegal immigration movement, and shows that assimilation, unity, and citizenship are NOT the goals of these people, but rather conquest and imperialism. The term is "nuevo pioneers", and it raises the acrid taste of bile in the back of my throat. Think about it. How do we view pioneers. We view them as settlers to undiscovered lands, as builders,...

One of the statements I heard made years ago when I was a socialist was in reply to comments I would hear people make saying that "if you redistribute the wealth, the wealth will be back in the hands of the same people within five years". My challenge back then was that we should try wealth redistribution then, because it wouldn't hurt the wealthy and would, in fact, give them a five year tax write off. The fact that we don't pretty much supports the fact that even the most hardcore capitalist d...

(Kudos to Mason for giving me the idea for this piece). Every football fan knows about the offensive line. Have a good one and they go without comment. Nobody mentions it when the QB never gets sacked. Have a lousy one, though, and it's the subject of discussion in bars and talk shows throughout the week. Basically, it is rare to see an offensive lineman get any sort of credit for a job well done. They don't win MVP's, they don't get Nike commercials, and only the very very best see a salary ...

"You are trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen"  --Vizzini, The Princess Bride (Necessary disclaimer for those incapable of abstract thought: Not all left are loonies. Not all loonies are left. Not all loonies OR left subscribe to the concept I am blasting here. And there are a few righties who do. But because the title bar doesn't allow me 5,000 words to qualify everything I put in my title, I've condensed it. I also used the term "loony left" to distinguish them from the regul...

I was busy wiping computers for the end of the semester much of the day, so the first I heard of Jerry Falwell's death was when I logged onto JoeUser. And I must say I am disappointed. There's a lot of celebrating going on of the wrong kind. A lot of people making judgements on Jerry Falwell's life that did not know the man in any way, shape or form. While I don't know the man either, I have known many like him, and almost every Falwell "type" I have known has been a kind individual if you tr...