In the wake of the demand that we triple federal spending and tax those bastard rich to pay for it, I thought I'd offer you the other side...the primary reason why I believe that EVERY government department, EVERY program, could stand at least a 10% cut. It's also a reason why I've come to loathe the way our bureaucracy so often works. For 5 1/2 years, as you all know, I was the manager of a group home for the developmentally disabled. I'd get to see the budgets "from the inside". Our...
Ok, This was so outrageous, I had to blog on it immediately. Oscar night comment (on Hurricane Katrina): "An event that brought home both the threat AND the impact of global warming" WHAT? global warming caused Hurricane Katrina? So, let me get this straight: there were no Hurricanes (or at least no Cat5's) prior to global warming? It's bad enough that Hollywood has spent the last 7 years gnawing on Al Gore's rectum. I mean, the Oscar win for "An Inconvenient Truth" was the biggest NONs...
I've already established a distrust of our federal government. Now I can add the American Medican Association to the list of organizations that I take issue with, because of their position on vaccination. See, the AMA's not too hot on religious freedom. Witness the resolution posted on their website ( Link ): Since religious/philosophic exemptions from immunizations endanger not only the health of the unvaccinated individual, but also the health of those in his or her group and the comm...
I hate getting into endless arguments about abortion. For one, it's not likely to change any minds, but mostly because my views on abortion cannot be summed up in a simple yes or no answer. Abortion disgusts me. Period. So does war, so does the death penalty, so does poverty. But I also realize we live in an imperfect world, and sometimes we must accept the consequences of that. If there were no murder, no hate, there would be no need for the death penalty. If there were no human conflict, n...
We were sitting in class today. It's late enough in the semester that we've gotten back the "extra" money from our grants, scholarships, and stuff that allows us to eat, and pay transportation and living expenses. So, generally a pretty happy day for all, right? Wrong. One of the people in the class came in with a sour look on his face. He was upset because he was "only" getting $700 cash back. Now, normally, this would have meant a double jet of heavily agitated Dr. Pepper launching from ...
As the debate (?) rages on about Bush and Cheney's need for impeachment, I can think of one compelling reason why it should never be allowed to happen: President Pelosi.
A news story in our local paper comments about complaints by the Mexican consulate that illegal immigrants are being profiled. To that, I have only one word: Duh. See, here's the thing. They're illegal. That's "not here legally" to you lay people. Which means that by their very existence they are breaking the law. And, umm, unless I'm sorely mistaken, profiling criminals is not wrong. In the time I've lived in Nevada and Texas, I've been frustrated by the mountains of extra paperw...
Link I like compact flourescent light bulbs. I really do. In fact, you will not find traditional incandescent bulbs in our house for that reason. And our nominal electric bill (average bill between 30-50 bucks a month) reflects that and other energy saving options that we implement around our house. But I'm going to readily acknowledge that good flourescent light bulbs do not come cheap. The cheapest ones aren't worth buying, frankly, and you have to go somewhere in the $2-3 a bulb r...
In the past election, I was often asked about my position on term limits. The Libertarian Party, like many groups, is split on the issue, and it's not uncommon to find a wide variety of positions. I, for one, am solidly against them, for a number of reasons. First, we already have term limits. It's called, the vote. If the people want a candidate out of office, there's a means to remove them, with varying term lengths (except for certain judicial positions...we can revisit that as a sepa...
As I was perusing Wikipedia, I noticed something rather interesting. For some time in the past election cycle, we had a bio posted for me on Wikipedia. The bio was removed, with no mention of why, although I recently found their reasoning (while I saw it, I can't say I agree with it...but it's their site, their rules). But while my bio is absent, that of my opponent is easily available. Why? Because he's considered noteworthy by virtue of holding public office. This is something to conside...
This morning, in a not unusually pensive mood, I was mulling over Barak Obama's impending presidential candidacy and what it would mean for the aspirations not only of his for presidency, but of Hillary Clinton's. As I considered the possibilities, it struck me as ironic that basically two different camps of political correctness would effectively be doing battle here: eg, the feminist movement vs. the Civil Rights movement. My mind started reaching for analogies that I could fit inside an artic...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,243200,00.html In the 2008 GOP primaries, voters may have a name on the ballot that they recognize from 20 years ago. Ron Paul, a 9 term lawmaker from Texas, ran as the LP candidate for president in 1988 and received over 400,000 votes. Paul, who has stayed true to his Libertarian roots in his role as a US Congressman, never lost the attention or loyalty of the party he has served so faithfully as a member of the Republican Liberty Caucus in the year...
Talk about flashbacks. In a flashback worthy of the most intense acid trip ever, I am reliving 1994. Remember then? The year of the Contract with America? The year when the GOP promised sweeping reforms that would lead to a balanced budget and reduced deficit? The year that would prompt Bill Clinton two years later in his reelection campaign to declare the era of big government to be over? Well, guess what? This year's the year the DNC is promising to reform government in new and innovativ...
Saddam Hussein is dead. Or, at least that's the official story. And, frankly, it's the story I buy because I see no compelling interest for our government to keep the man alive. As he heads to whatever Valhalla awaits mass murdering evil dictators, bloggers like me who possess more free time and bandwidth than we do wisdom will write on the subject. And in the processing of their thoughts, many of these writers will parade words like "justice" across their blogs, in a sense demanding that the...
I was reading Brad's article about Barak Obama, and one of his comments got me to thinking: should imprisonment be about rehabilitation? My answer is simple: Yes...and no, See, it's not really as simple as a black and white issue. This is an area where there are quite definitely shades of grey. And it would be in our best interests to acknowledge them. Brad is absolutely, 100% right that the PRIMARY purpose of prisons is to get bad guys off the streets. And that primary purpose should t...