I've always been mystified by the idea of taking a vow of poverty. To me, raised as I was in the liberal household of liberal households, it seemed compelling: live as the world's poor do so that you can help the poor. Now, I grant you, the poverty vow as usually expressed in the Catholic church, Buddhist monks, etc, has little to do with that and more to do with self denial of the material so that one can draw closer to God. But in the world of the Uber liberal, there's something noble, somethi...
One of the things that really irks me is the tendency to believe that poverty causes violence. People will point to third world nations and demand that their violence is an end result of their poverty. I don't buy that. Not for a second. I believe that the violence is the disease, and poverty the symptom, not the other way around. These nations are by and large impoverished because they embrace violence as a culture. This is a more obvious conclusion, because if you think about it, in a viole...
My wages will be going down this summer. Congress voted in a minimum wage increase, which a lot of people regard as a good thing. But by setting a bottom level wage for unskilled workers with no education, I will see my real earnings go down. Who's there to speak for me and the millions working within that bubble above minimum wage but still below a wage that's untouched by minimum wage increases? Who's there to speak for us? Why am I in college if I can get a guaranteed pay increase by si...
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=ArDU83F_vYUJqgEegPO_QXU5nYcB?slug=ap-hancock-lawsuit&prov=ap&type=lgns Baseball fans know the story all too well: St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock died in an April 29th car crash when his SUV slammed into a tow truck that was towing a parked car away. Hancock had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system, was speeding, was using a cell phone, and was not wearing a seat belt. Marijuana was also found in the vehicle. Now ...
A look at my account information reminds me that I am just shy of my 3 year anniversary on JU, by about a month. I would be hard pressed to detail my exact whereabouts three years ago today at this time, but it wouldn't be long odds to guess I was sitting somewhere 760 feet below the scorching surface of Death Valley, working what I could get to support my family. I would have been unaware that in less than three months, events would be set in motion that would change my life radically...agai...
(Kudos to Mason for giving me the idea for this piece). Every football fan knows about the offensive line. Have a good one and they go without comment. Nobody mentions it when the QB never gets sacked. Have a lousy one, though, and it's the subject of discussion in bars and talk shows throughout the week. Basically, it is rare to see an offensive lineman get any sort of credit for a job well done. They don't win MVP's, they don't get Nike commercials, and only the very very best see a salary ...
"You are trying to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen" -- Vizzini, The Princess Bride (Necessary disclaimer for those incapable of abstract thought: Not all left are loonies. Not all loonies are left. Not all loonies OR left subscribe to the concept I am blasting here. And there are a few righties who do. But because the title bar doesn't allow me 5,000 words to qualify everything I put in my title, I've condensed it. I also used the term "loony left" to distinguish them from the r...
Years ago, I believed that affirmative action, while wholly imperfect, was at least a good transition towards balancing the scales. As time goes by, I am rethinking that position. A perfect example: Mike Tomlin, the new coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In their excellent article on Tomlin, SI touches on the infamous "Rooney Rule" that requires teams to consider minority candidates for coaching vacancies. SI said that Tomlin's hiring was NOT because of the Rooney Rule, and I believe them. Tom...
IN the community where I grew up, city leaders are thinking of making the city an ISP to increase revenue. Now, working for an ISP, I have to tell you it is not the cash cow they're expecting it to be. There's lots of overhead they're not even considering. But that's a whole other issue... In the forum debates, all the proponents of this idea can think to do is chant "free Internet" with the same fervor that the sheep in Animal Farm shouted "Four legs good, two legs BAAAAAADDD!" The sad thing...
In my time online, I've seen online scams come and go. The pitch is the same; they promise something they don't deliver. I'm not ashamed to say I've "fallen" for a few of them. I generally weigh what it costs me, and if it doesn't cost me anything substantial, I usually give it a try. Still, I can't say I'm happy with undelivered promises. One of the things that's lured me in were the blog exchange program. While I have had no problem with one, which is why I still link it on my sidebar, t...
I'm a history buff. A MASSIVE one at that. This is a major part of the reason I try to get involved with projects like the Woody Guthrie Center in Pampa, TX. And so I was surfing around looking for some artifacts the other day, when I came across an eBay find. The New York Times from April 15, 1935, the day after Black Sunday, one of the most notorious dust storms of the Dust Bowl. The paper has a great article on the subject, and is an important piece of history to Pampa, and to the center, ...
http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news;_ylt=Aj87iM0lzwNX2ItWKld3Oko5nYcB?slug=ap-landishearing&prov=ap&type=lgns The hearing on reigning Tour de France champ Floyd Landis was not supposed to be a big story. It was supposed to be yet another steroid scandal, of course, but one exposing the seamy side of a sport that few people outside of aspiring participants really care a whole lot about. I mean, except for one race out of the year, bicycling is pretty much eclipsed by world class miming c...
OK, OK, hardline Republicans. In the wake of the debate, where many Republicans didn't appreciate Ron Paul's comments about 9/11, the title of this article alone seems farfetched, but hear me out. Historically, the office of Vice President has been the big two parties' way of dealing with "loose cannons". With a short list of viable Veep candidates to balance the ticket, once all the smoke has died down, assuming Ron Paul doesn't win the GOP nomination, choosing him as the Veep candidate woul...
I was busy wiping computers for the end of the semester much of the day, so the first I heard of Jerry Falwell's death was when I logged onto JoeUser. And I must say I am disappointed. There's a lot of celebrating going on of the wrong kind. A lot of people making judgements on Jerry Falwell's life that did not know the man in any way, shape or form. While I don't know the man either, I have known many like him, and almost every Falwell "type" I have known has been a kind individual if you tr...
I was watching yesterday's election results with anticipation. Basically, it boils down to this: if our current city marshall stays, we will be making plans to exit in December when I get my degree. If he goes, we'll plan to stick around (although we might need to split our time between two homes while I finish my bachelor's and head on to law school). Basically, our council has been split between two decent council persons, two awful councilpersons, and a swing vote. Well, this spring, one d...