While I do not endorse the practices of former Senator Josephy McCarthy in "outing" communists in America or in destroying lives in the ensuing witch hunt, I find it frightening that the hammer and sickle of the failed Soviet Empire is beginning to march its way down Main Street, USA. I find it more frightening the WAY it is happening; not through the Democratic process but through the workings of several individuals who are coming to prominence in the media and attempting to completely SUBVERT ...

Recently, I wrote an article about how the left was unconcerned with several episodes of domestic spying. It was aimed at the left, to the exclusion of the right, who is equally culpable, for a reason. You see, the left has expressed complete outrage over the information that phones of suspected terrorists were wiretapped under FISA law without warrants (but, according to many sources, with judicial oversight). The left was right to be concerned, and is right to ask that the facts of the case...

I received a piece of mail yesterday. As a "card carrying libertarian", I receive literally dozens of fund raising letters per month, and thought this would be one of those good causes destined for the round file due to the fact that much of my dispensary income is currently relegated to the campaign and my own underfunded causes. But I opened it, because even fund raising letters often contain good, relevant information. It was from "Americans for Prosperity-Texas", a group tr...

Well, my acknowledgement from the Texas Department of Ethics came in Friday. Although I was technically "legal" to raise money for my campaign the day it was mailed, having recived the letter from them is good in the CYA department. I could spend up to $500 without a campaign treasurer being appointed, but couldn't raise money or spend over that amount without filing. Now, I won't be spending a lot of money on the campaign, but figured it was good to file anyway so that I don't have to worry abo...

In Congress, the Senate put a delay on the confirmation process of Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court. Not for any sound reason, mind you, but because they could. In the state of Texas, legislators are prepared to go back to Austin in April or May to bring school finance back to the table despite five failed special sessions to do the same and a deadline of June 1 imposed by the state Supreme Court. There's a lot of nothing going on at every level by politicians who are hard at work disregardi...

Many organizations in the United States have come up with a new and unique solution to poverty in this country: criminalize it! In my studies on CPS activities, I have found a good number of individuals who have had their initial CPS encounters after enrolling their children in Head Start Programs, taking them to WIC or free immunization programs, or even testing them for lead. If these encounters were initiated because bruises, burns, or other possible symptoms of abuse were observed, I woul...

Imagine this scenario: You are a poor, working class person who works hard to maintain a reasonable standard of living. You work hard, earn a aycheck, come home at night, and are in most ways a respectable citizen. Your one vice is coming home and playing your Clash records so loud you have one of your neighbors pounding and screaming on the walls. your neighbor gets mad, calls crimestoppers, and anonymously reports that you are a drug dealer. He fictitiously reports that people come by your...

I am writing this article for those who would describe themselves as conservative on JoeUser. While you are in the majority here and in the US government, your opinions are often shouted down in the mainstream media and in the world. Many conservatives are quick to cry that they are victims; that the attacks on their ideologies are unmerited and personal, when nothing could be further from the truth. And yet I, a former leftist, have not been able to find a home among the conservative camp in...

This is just an observation from those who tend to subscribe to leftist philosophy on this site. Take it for what it's worth, and discard the rest. I personally believe that many of the articles on JoeUser that have been put forth by centrist writers or others who see "both sides", but have veered right have been for one simple reason: Because the nature of most who would describe themselves as "left" is to act on "feeling" and emotion, and because it is far easier to "get your goat" by using...

As i have begun studying poverty in the United States, I have been compelled by the stats to look deeper. I have heard the number "40 million" tossed out as the number of Americans in poverty in the US; a recent article on the afl-cio's website ( Link ) puts the number at 37 million. Either way, the interesting fact is that that represents about 13 percent of our nation's population. That is substantially below the world bank's estimate of the global percentage of poverty at 20% of the world...

One of the biggest wrongs we can commit against the ideology of another is to sum up their ideology in one or two word sound bites (examples: the right, the left, conservative, liberal, Republican, democrat, libertarian, green). And yet it seems to be a necessary evil to address the group that is the focus of our discussion. With that disclaimer in mind, I'd like to make some observations about what I see as the right's key misunderstanding about the left (knowing that a good number of you won't...

I'm developing my Campaign slogan, and I'd appreciate your input. The slogan is "Family. Freedom. Future", and I plan to elaborate on each with the following (EXTREMELY rough drafts) in my literature: "Family: We have seen a de-emphasis, if not an outright war, on family values deemed traditional up until about thirty years ago. We have broadened definitions of abuse and neglect to prohibit traditional forms of discipline and to criminalize poverty among families. We need a legislature tha...

Well, I filed two important sets of papers today. The first was my Campaign Tresurer Appointment, with the Texas Ethics Commission (I sent that out "Certified"--no way I'm getting busted because a secretary can't keep track of incoming mail). So now I'm ready and raring for all them campaign contributions to come in (the silence so far is deafening...lol). I really didn't file because I expect contributions to come in (although I remain hopeful), but because I must have a treasurer appointed if ...

I intend to use this article as the starting point for a pamhlet with the same or similar title. Feel free to add comments or elaborate (or, yes, even debate) in the comments. I will be doing this in a series, so topics not covered here should be covered in future articles. In today's society, regardless of political affiliation, the majority of Americans seem to think their government is dysfunctional. While it's true that corruption, incompetence, and impropriety seem to be synonymous with ...

As many of you, especially my regular readers, know, I am running for a seat in the Texas house of Representatives as a Libertarian. I delayed my announcement until after January 2, because that was the filing deadline. My intention was to delay the announcement so as not to encourage the Democrats to put a candidate in for the race (the Republican incumbent has run unopposed since his initial election to the office in 1988). My reasoning was that, if the Democrats do not run, it's a two pers...