OK. If the library woulda let me have coffee at the computer, I woulda spewed it. Apparently, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival has given Leonardo DiCaprio an award based on his lifetime achievements. Now, I will not question that DiCaprio has put out an impressive body of work, his teen idolship notwithstanding (although I consider his best role to have been in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" rather than "Titanic", but I digress). The point is, he's 30 years old. One would h...

I was reading someone else's blog on self sufficiency. As we're working towards that goal, I had to think about several factors that have hindered us from doing so in the past, and why this is an ideal place to live for someone with a back to earth mindset. First of all, property. In many parts of the country, owning one's own home is basically a pipe dream. Even if they get a mortgage, the odds of them ever seeing the day the mortgage is paid off are slim to none, statistically speaking. Eve...

"College Dropout". I hate that phrase. And yet, in a technical sense, that is exactly what I am. After 2 years of college (one didn't count; the college was unaccredited), I walked away. It wasn't because of grades; those were fine. It was a combination of other things, from the fact that I hadn't yet learned to deal with my infrequent but intense bouts of social phobia, to the fact that I really didn't understand WHY I was there. Sure, I was there to LEARN, but WHY? I lacked the cohesive sen...

I am a misfit...and proud of it, man. I am researching farming worms, discussing the feasibility of picking scraps of cotton that's fallen off of trucks on the roadside, preparing to build a greenhouse and raise chickens. I am a 34 year old who lists "newspaper carrier" as my primary profession, and is working on a lawn care business on the side. I walk the highways collecting aluminum cans to recycle. In so many ways, I empathize with the agenda of the "luddite" left. I don't have a w...

I want worms... Seriously, I'm working very hard towards self sufficiency on our little chunk o'Texas, and one of the things I am seriously evaluating is worm farms. To whit, I am renewing my subscription to Mother Earth News , and checking out their various articles (there are a lot of other things we need besides worms...woodstove, chickens, a greenhouse, a fence...). Now, I'm a good ol' dual purpose man. So, I'm envisioning a nightcrawler empire, and me making money hand over fist sell...

I've had a few interesting scenarios with friends lately. I've seen a few go through some crises, and they will look at options that I don't deem consistent with my religious beliefs for solutions to those dilemnas. That's not a problem, as long as they don't share my faith or ask me for advice. The problem comes when they ask me for advice (or put out a general appeal for advice). My advice has a bias; I will readily admit to that. The bias is my Christian faith, and my advice to that end is...

Well, some time ago, I applied for a job here at the sheltered workshop working as a job coach (a job coach is, for those of you who don't know, one who assists developmentally disabled individuals in work skills). I balked at sending in the application, though, still being a little gun shy after my 5 1/2 years' work in the residential field (I left largely because of burnout and had to seriously evaluate whether or not I was able to take steps to prevent that from repeating itself). Finally, ho...

(Note: Before you get TOO upset, read the subtitle). This is not addressed to anyone in particular. This is addressed to a trend that I find very disturbing. The trend is to "custom fit" one's religion into a box of one's choosing. The theory seems to revolve around the idea that, by cutting and pasting ideas one likes and removing ideas one dislikes, one can come up with a religion that's a custom "fit"...without having to worry about concrete beliefs or anything stupid like that. Not ...

I was entering my two latest contributions to the "They Longed for the Presidency" series, and ruminating as to why I, the quintessential point whore, would continue in this endeavour, given that the series has elicited less than a handful of responses overall, one of said responses referring to the resemblance of said candidate to the guy on a bottle of Jack Daniels. To put it simply, these articles fall into the category of my "notes". While I have a hard copy standing right here in front o...

Clinton Fisk (1828-1890) was an educator and worked with freed slaves following the Civil War, establishing a school for freedmen in army barracks in 1866. in 1867, the school was renamed Fisk University, after its founder. In 1888, Fisk took the reins of the Prohibition Party, who built on their 1884 percentage by garnering 2.19% of the popular vote.

John St. John (1833-1916) was elected to the Kansas senate in 1873. In 1879, he was elected the Governor of Kansas as a Republican. When the Republican Party refused to adopt a platform of prohibition, St. John joined the Prohibition Party, and ran as its presidential candidate in 1884, garnering about 1.5% of the vote. combined with the Greenback Party's similar percentage, St. John and Benjamin Butler combined to spoil the 1884 contest, which was decided by fewer than 26,000 popular vote...

I have been doing a lot of work strategizing for third party strategies for 2006, as I feel it is a key election, especially in building for the 2008 presidential elections. With the Democrats and Republicans as polarized as they are, a well organized third party effort stands a fair chance of gaining the position of power in the House and Senate. I am not submitting or even suggesting that a third party has any chance of gaining a MAJORITY in either chamber. But with the realistic possibilit...

I was reading a blog asking when the Democrats would work with President Bush. One response asked when Bush would work with the Democrats. Both sides were right, and yet, both sides were horribly wrong. One of the values I have instilled in my children is that someone has to be the mature one. When one is being cantentious, the other can't justify their response by the other's actions. What happens around us, how other people act and interact, is beyond our control. All we can control is how ...

Now I will be the first to admit that I am less than enthusiastic about the whole cartoon characters "promoting tolerance" (when "tolerance" is defined, as it is, as embracing lifestyles with which I don't agree). However, as a student of history, I can tell you that popular culture throughout history is replete with examples of popular culture used as propaganda, and cartoons are not immune to this trend. I could write many blogs on the use of popular folk songs to express dissent, rally ind...

(Note: for clarification of what is meant by "macrosocialism", see my article "Macrosocialism vs. Microsocialism". I introduced and clarified those terms in that article, and this article is a continuation of my thoughts on the theories I advanced). Macrosocialist societies have been a part of our world culture for the better part of the last 100 years. The failed USSR, China, North Korea, and Cuba are prominent examples. Yet each of these governments did and do have long lists of human right...