As I was driving into town today, I noticed the pumpjacks doing their thing, pulling precious petroleum out of the ground here in the Texas panhandle. As the rest of the world laments an oil crisis, Texans are enjoying the fruits of the higher per barrel prices, and some areas of Alaska outside of ANWR may soon reap the benefits as well. You see, a boom or a crisis depends on your perspective. And the Texas and Alaska pumpjacks are what stand to prohibit OPEC price controls from going through...

Sometime earlier, I detailed for my readers my pimped out ride. An '86 Chrysler Fifth Avenue, it came equipped with hubcaps that only a fleshpeddler could love. Now, sadly, it has been defaced. Whether by elements of nature or an overzealous teenager who found his/her wheels one hubcap shy, the left rear hubcap is MIA. I guess I'm a-gonna have to park with my right side facing out from here on out.

Sometime earlier, I detailed for my readers my pimped out ride. An '86 Chrysler Fifth Avenue, it came equipped with hubcaps that only a fleshpeddler could love. Now, sadly, it has been defaced. Whether by elements of nature or an overzealous teenager who found his/her wheels one hubcap shy, the left rear hubcap is MIA. I guess I'm a-gonna have to park with my right side facing out from here on out.

They caught the man redhanded. In 2000, Gary Alan Matheson was arrested, and eventually convicted as a drug dealer A search of Matheson's car yielded methamphetamines, morphine, hydrocodone and drug paraphernalia. And yet, his attorneys insist on appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, the conviction should be overturned because of questions regarding the reliability of the drug dog. They argue that because the drug dog (who was nationally certified, mind you) had false positives in the past....

So, I come back on today to see that, to my surprise, my articles are still on the "recent articles" list. While this may be an issue with cookies (I am on the same computer I was on yesterday), I am hoping it does not signal a serious downward trend of blogging on this site. I have seen too many excellent bloggers head for greener pastures, and this has been a less than enjoyable transition for me. Many times, fellow bloggers give my muse a good shove in the right direction, and they contrib...

I hate the Yankees. As a die hard Mariners fan, it's one of the first rules in the bylaws (shortly under being glad the M's left their exile under that concrete atrocity known as the Kingdome some years back). However, recent events have put me in a pickle. I follow some of my favorite M's players when they've moved on (ARod going to the Yankees was no big deal-- he's dead to me now...lol). Randy Johnson is one of the key players I have followed since his exodus from Seattle. His role in b...

Recent day to day events have brought to my mind the fact that I'm hitting another crossroads in life. And it's rather intriguing. I have discovered, for instance, that several "veteran" labels could be applied to me. I am, for instance, a veteran of marriage, coming up on 10 years in April. I am also a veteran parent (although with NO experience in the teenage years; I won't go there 'till I've gone there). I am also a veteran homeschooler, having homeschooled our children in three different...

Let me go off on a preachy tangent. I DID put it under the "religion" category, at least. The parable of the good Samaritan is one of my favorite passages of scripture. It is also one of the most misquoted. The Samaritan, in a historical context, belonged to a group of people hated and despised by the Jews (and who equally hated and despised the Jews as well). This would make most contemporary analogies comparing the Samaritan to fellow Christians inappropriate and missing the point. It's ...

I have been hard at work dealing with one of the biggest paradoxes that comprises who I am as a person. I detest socialism, and see it as being impractical on a large scale (such as ANY sizable government), and yet, I equally detest the money at all costs mentality of many capitalists today. It is equally impractical, and has led to a state of economic feudalism rather than capitalism. This system hurts far more than it helps, as it is reliant upon an oppressed majority for the comfort of a m...

A few responses to some posts recently have made it clear we have too many liberals with a dogged faith in the US Government. Though it defies all reason, they are convinced that any programs of aid or assistance need to be administered through the US Government. To me, this is patently absurd. Many students of history have wondered as they have read of the old homesteading laws, what happened to homesteading and why, with our vast public land resources, it could not be done in this day an...

Champas wrote an excellent piece detailing some of the more interesting foibles of right wingers. As a Libertarian, who is neither right or left wing, I found the piece hilarious and insightful, even when it touched upon some of the beliefs I DO hold. Why? Because I have discovered over the years, the ability to laugh at myself. I also found the "South Park" episode on homeschooling insanely hilarious, even though I have been a dedicated homeschool parent, public speaker, and lobbyist, for...

Michael Newdow is causing me to appreciate the relative saneness of the Madeline Murray O'Hare era. Terpfan has kindly listed a couple of Newdow's latest suits, which include placing a ban on the hand on the Bible at the presidential inauguration. He has, in short, made a VERY bad name for atheists. I have known many atheists in my day, and I have had a good deal of respect for them. Though we disagree on a fundamental level, they have reached their conclusions through their own intellectu...

Saturday, I had decided to go into town to check out an auction. I had some reservations regarding it, given the person involved, and so I went to the auction site to check out the vehicles scheduled to be auctioned, and they were, as I suspected, junk (all but those that had been listed in the ad were 4 cylinders, and the few full sized trucks and vans were not worth waiting around to try to buy). So, I decided to hit the pawn shops looking for lawnmowers (I'm trying to get some lawn jobs come ...

Election 2004 brought it to a head. Instead of hearing about each candidates ideas and positions on issues, we received a landslide of negative campaign material accusing George W. Bush of everything short of gangbanging baby seals and John Kerry of everything but leading Vietnamese troops into combat. Granted, negativity is nothing new to elections, and every historian has their own "favorite" negative campaign smear, but rarely have we seen a nation so focused on negativity, and, I belie...

Houston, Texas was named the fattest city in a story released on Reuters (story below). Methinks, given Heather's information on the 6 minute breakdown rule (see iamheather's article "Houston Towed"), that the city council is merely trying to improve that image by creating an underground sport of "the 6 minute tire and gas change". Maybe they're not so bad after all.   And the Fattest City Is... Fri Jan 7, 9:56 AM ET   Oddly Enough - Reuters ...