Well, today's a big deal for me. Though a long time Libertarian, I have lacked the funds to gain "official" status by paying membership dues. Since I want to organize the party within the county, however, and run for city council next year, I felt I had to get this in order. So, I went down to the site and officially sent in my dues to make myself official. This got me to thinking, though. How many Greens and Libertarians never pay party dues but want the benefits of being associated with ...

I have noticed a trend that definitely concerns me in regards to the gulf war,opinions towards it, and American politics: As quick as the media is to attack George W. Bush, the entertainment industry reaches out to silence the most virulent among them. While Michael Moore made great strides with his "documentary" "Fahrenheit 9/11" (which was only slightly less credible than "Spinal Tap" and "the Rutles"), Hollywood stars that have spoken out strongly against US policy in Iraq seem to have dis...

JillUser wrote an article about an idea to replace food stamps ( Link ). Her ideas, and the ideas for respondents are insightful and I would highly recommend this article. There is, however, an excellent private organization that is working to solve the problems of America's hungry. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it is called America's Second Harvest ( Link  ). Second Harvest is celebrating its 25th year,  and this from a press release on the website: In ...

Even the best of us can make mistakes. After many years of wandering in the political wilderness with a Democrat lean, I have decided that it is prudent and practical for me to change my political affiliation. While I didn't want to acknowledge the truism of the concept of a wasted vote, I realize that belonging to any party outside the big two is politically imprudent, and is basically the equivalent of pissing in the wind. No good can ever come of it. To that end, I am rejoining the D...

The title of this blog is a statement that has oft been echoed by liberals whenever conservatives attempt to write morals based legislation. And you know what, they're right? One's morals are shaped by a number of factors, and no matter how well intentioned the law, those who don't respect the moral standards upon which a law is based will be inclined to disobey it. This is why, despite massive infusions of cash into the "war on drugs", the drug industry's annual cash flow rivals that of Micr...

The WWW has been very revealing. Among other things, there's a proliferation of people from other countries that randomly spew ignorant garbage running down American government and American daily life. They base their hatred on select clips from the news media, exported US television shows, and friends that vacationed and/or participated in foreign exhange programs here. And their assumptions, from all I have seen, are largely wrong. Don't get me wrong; most Americans are equally ignora...

a. You support the slow starvation of a nonverbal brain injured human being and yet you condemn capital punishment of convicted murderers b. You feel that the right to slowly starve said woman is a states rights issue, yet you feel that the federal government has not only a right, but a responsibility to dictate the terms of life in many other areas. c. You believe that someone should speak up for the voiceless victims of oppression in third world countries yet anyone who does so for voice...

A recent blog article expressed the thought that we aren't in an evil totalitarian dictatorship, and did so using the premise that we're still here to protest the government. While I agree that we aren't IN an Evil totalitarian dictatorship (to be referred hereafter in this blog as "ETD"), I believe we're on that track, and it is only through vigilance and action that we will avoid it. Consider that, prior to the 1960's, children entered school in the first grade at 6 years of age. There was ...

As most of you already know, I am STRONGLY opposed to any "reform" that brings with it new taxes for ANYONE. All of us are paying too much. On the table here in Texas is a proposal to increase the state sales tax. We are being hit with runaway inflation in real cost of consumer goods (my family and I no longer eat red meat, because we can't afford the $5.99/lb. cost of a roast, or the $2.99/lb. cost of ground beef; while our sales tax hasn't hit grocery items YET, it's only a matter of time b...

e school's dress code. Several of the high school boys came in; all had hair that was easily as short or shorter than "Beatles" haircuts of the 60's, asking the school to change its policy, which currently only allows hair "above the collar, abovuse their hair exceeded the collar length. It still surprises me that, in this day and age, so many still judge a man, as Johnny Cash once said "by the cut of his clothes or the length of his hair".

I've often been asked why I favor tax cuts for the wealthy. It's a fair question, and deserves a fair answer, especially considering: I've never been rich I'll probably never BE rich Nobody in my immediate family, or circle of friends is rich. Well, the main arguments I have already presented in other blogs and won't mention them here. But one of the key arguments I rarely see considered is the fact that an increased tax burden on the wealthy STILL falls disproportionately on the poor. ...

This from Senator Harry Reid of Nevada: "I'm not a big Greenspan fan -- Alan Greenspan fan," Reid said when asked about the Fed chairman's testimony this week urging Congress to deal quickly with the financial problems facing Social Security and Medicare. "I voted against him the last two times. I think he's one of the biggest political hacks we have in Washington." I caught this one on yesterday's "Meet the Press", and thought it utterly ridiculous. Greenspan has fallen into disfavor wi...

In Baker's featured article, he addressed the impact that campaign finance reform laws could potentially have on blogging (that the suggested interpretations constitute a gross violation of the first amendment is another story entirely). This brought to mind another concern of mine; that of equal time laws and how they have continually been violated as regards third parties. I pulled the following from the linked website: Link The equal time, or more accurately, the equal opportunity p...

The title of this blog is (without the stream of exclamation points and question marks) the title of a propaganda piece of the liberal machine that aired on some cable TV channel yesterday. While I absolutely refused to watch it, the title of the piece was a clear and obvious reference to Rev. Martin Neimoeller's well known quote regarding Nazi Germany. And it was deliberately inflammatory, and obviously deliberately worded to imply that the recent responses to Ward Churchill are a persecutio...

"Pro-life" is one of the most bandied about, politicized words in the American lexicon today. Its narrow definition is applied by the media only to those who not only oppose abortion, but actively lobby for its illegalization. But I have a different take on the issue. "Pro-life" is a combination of words whose meaning shouldn't be changed for political convenience. I consider myself prolife and apply the following definitions: Antiabortion: with a qualifier here, I am firmly against abor...