DISCLAIMER: Please note that my title reads "some of the media". I don't wish to disparage the responsible members of this profession. The Kobe Bryant case has really brought out a pet peeve of mine. Because the name of the accuser has been released on some separate occasions, it is information that I found months ago, and is readily available to anyone willing to do the work to find it. However, I have had no problem in not releasing the name in my posts or discussion of the case because,...

OK, this bugs me. I was reading one blog where the woman talked about a new love interest who had a couple previous engagements where the women dumped him, but for what the young lady considered little things. This always disturbs me. If a man is talking about previous relationships that failed and they always center on what the woman did to him, how she wronged him, etc, etc, etc....this should be a VERY serious red flag. Either this guy has incredibly poor judgement in women, or you'r...

Well, Las Vegas' most infamous current resident, John Wayne Bobbit is currently in jail on a domestic violence charge. He was, of course, convicted of domestic violence in an earlier relationship, which came some time after the infamous "Bobbitizing" of his genitalia by ex wife, Lorena, whose defense was that she had been abused by Bobbit. Frankly, given his history since the incident, I'm thinking Lorena should have Osterized the damn thing. Anyway, Bobbit is claiming that the charges aga...

As I look back through my own blogs and the blogs of others, I thought this would be relevant to explain my position on social programs per se. I'm not against "safety nets" per se. The idea of these is to provide emergency relief for those who need it, to get them through some tough times. The problem is when these safety nets are administrated by the government. The government puts strings on the funding it provides (which is interesting, as the source of the money is the PEOPLE, not...

OK, now this is interesting. For some time, I have been "feeling the political waters", at first back in Wisconsin, where I was very near to making a city council run, now where we are, where I am mulling over running in the next town board election. This is where it gets interesting. While feeling the waters, I was solicited by the Democratic Party to run under their banner. What is more interesting is that, less than three weeks ago, I was solicited by the Republican Party. It's obvio...

...I would like to see a day where there's more peace than war. While I'm not naive enough to think we would ever achieve total world peace, I'd like to see us at least make a noble attempt... ...I would like to see a day of equal opportunity, not necessarily equality. While we are all created equal, some people do a better job than others in being stewards of what they are given, and should be adequately rewarded... ...I would like to see a day when intelligent, thoughtful discussion ...

I'm sure nobody who reads me regularly would be surprised to hear me say that I think that compassion should come from those who choose to be compassionate, not from the government forcing "compassion" (forced compassion is no compassion at all, IMO). I take issue with the current crop of celebrity liberals who are spending absurd amounts of money to implement a government that adds social programs and a tax burden to accompany it, especially when I consider the net worth of some of the peopl...

I am so proud... One of the featured bloggers in my "A Blogger You all Should Know" series has cracked the JU top 20 blog sites. Texaswahine, who we all know and love, has earned that distinction. I don't know if my article had any impact on that, but I'd certainly like to think it didn't hurt. I started the series in response to the JU drama; instead of badmouthing people who pissed us off, I figured, why not help new bloggers get established and get recognition on the site? I am pleas...

I know many on joeuser think I'm a walking enigma. And I don't blame them. Many of my thoughts and ideals are seemingly contradictory until you understand how I would go about them. And knowing how I would go about them comes about only as you begin to know me as a person. So let me tell you about my five months as miner #43. I moved to this area, and work was incredibly hard to find. The exception is in Vegas, where it's just that many of the jobs are low paying. I received a job offer...

OK, this article is meant for JU's peacenik community. If you disagree entirely with its pretense, move along. I'm not going to allow this to become a debate thread. I was thinking back to John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Christmas billboard in NYC in the early 70's (72, I think it was? correct me if I'm wrong), and I had a related proposal. These holidays (Christmas to many of us), organize a drive with some of your friends to put full page ads in your nearby major newspaper with the simple ...

As the father of 5 children, I am surprised how often I am accosted by callous jerks who don't know me, and yet, seeing the size of my family, feel that I am a ripe target for their rant about the irresponsibility of having many kids in an overpopulated planet. Since it is societally unacceptable to bound and gag them and force them to watch "the Waltons" for 42 straight days, I felt that I would do the next best thing: blog about it. While I defer to a family the right to decide the size ...

OK, time to put my "liberal" hat on. For those who don't notice, I have stolen a line from one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time ("Do They Know It's Christmas?") for this blog. As the Republicans are settling in for their national convention, they are sending their message out in a city whose homeless problems are legendary. Where a former mayor once proposed putting the homeless in jail that refused to go into the shelters. George W. Bush will speak, most likely, on the th...

It all came down to one goal. Iraq lost their bronze medal in a 1-0 game to Italy, but in the end gained something that can't be bought: respect. For these games, we have seen them as athletes, competing nobly on a world stage against the best of the best in their field, and we have cheered them, not for their politic, but for their prowess. They embodied everything about the Olympic ideal, as they played every game with passion and intensity, despite having limited ability to practice ...

In my previous article on the conditions at the mine in death valley, I mentioned the very real dangers there. To be fair, mining will always be a dangerous occupation, but as long as there is a need for ore, there will be a need for laborers to extract it. Job pay, in my opinion, should always be related to job risk, and miners should be among the best paid laborers in America. In the case of American Borate Company's Billie Mine in Death Valley California, however, risks are taken that unne...