In a nod to comments BakerStreet made, I will refrain from using the actual name of the notorious "20th hijacker" in this thread. I will not give him any "airplay" so to speak. But I will respectfully disagree with his conclusion that the life sentence was necessarily the right one. The "right one" exists in some ether that our justice system doesn't recognize. You see, while the death sentence would have made him a cause du jour for certain activists, it would, implemented properly...
There's a pretty decent morning talk show host out of Amarillo that I listen to freqently. I usually try to call in once a week, although I pick my moments carefully, because they limit calls to once a week. Yesterday I was listening to the radio in the afternoon, and I heard a commercial for that show. Like many call in shows, it played clips from various callers to advertise the show. As it was playing one such clip, I was finding myself agreeing with the caller on every point...and it took...
Many times, I have heard Bush's critics state that he was "born on third base, thinking he hit a triple". The idea, of course, is that he considered himself a self made man, when in fact, he took for granted many advantages he had that weren't available to just anyone. The thing is, it's not just something BUSH does, it's something we ALL do. Some time back, I wrote an article explaining that one of the flaws in our approaches to the poor was assuming they had the same upbringing we did; ie, ...
At the request of a friend, my family and I decided to check out a local church that is popular in the area. We went, and we dropped our kids off for Sunday School in a nicely painted room where they played video games for the next hour. My wife and I went to a class where there was a speaker on tape to present the materials. We went on to church, and the children stayed in "children's church", the youngest two in the nursery. The people were nice enough, but the entire sermon focused on obta...
When I came to JoeUser, I originally wanted to blog on religion. My religious articles; however, sunk like a lead balloon, and my political articles attracted the attention. As a result, the religious articles were abandoned; after all, you write what gets read. It took me some time, but I figured out why the difference. You see, in religious topics, while I hold very conservative personal religious views, I do so with some degree of uncertainty. I'm not willing to be definitive in my approac...
I don't think I need to mention the name of the person I'm addressing with this article, but I will offer a few brief words, stolen from an old TV favorite (with minor appropriate revisions): Welcome back, Your dreams were your ticket out. Welcome back, To that same old place that you laughed about. Well the names haven't changed since you hung around, But those dreams have remained and they're turned around. Who'd have thought they'd lead ya (Who'd have thoug...
One of the most glaring oversights of our founding fathers was in not adopting English as the official language of this country. Virtually every other country on the planet has at least one (some, like Canada, have two...damn frenchies!); we have none. As we discuss the plight of millions of individuals in this country who demand to be recognized as American citzens despite the fact that they are habitual criminals, and who refuse to learn the accepted if not official language of this country...
Monday should be an interesting day. It is the day many immigrants are planning to walk out on their jobs and boycott all American industry, in support of those here illegally, who they feel should be offered blanket amnesty and be given a national anthem in their own language, rather than in English, to sing. In the midst of the discussion, some angry voices have come out. While I hope these voices are in the minority, I am concerned they may not be. One individual expressed the fact that he...
Radio talk show hosts amuse me. They'll speak on their shows about all number of issues, then allow in callers to support their position. They will, with varying degrees, allow in the opposing side, but even then it will be carefully vetted callers that they have a reasonable certainty of destroying in open debate. Michael Medved is one of the worst. Many of his callers do disagree with him, but they're usually monosyllabic wonders, conspiracy theorists, or others that Michael and his sound ...
Ahhh, yes. Another round of gas price hikes and the bawling begins. While I am not immune to it (driving being essential to my job, these price hikes SERIOUSLY impact our income, I am amazed at the ability of the average American to overlook the obvious. The fact is, we collectively have far more power to influence the market than we know. While I don't see the insane profits of the oil barons as being reasonable, I don't see that we have any other choice to drive down demand. We want oil, an...
As homeschoolers, it is not uncommon for us to encounter a great number of individuals who are entirely unfamiliar with the practice. Being educators, we usually see that as a good time to educate them about the numerous myths and misconceptions about homeschooling. However, there is one especially appalling response from these individuals that we must endure on a regular basis. It's especially common among educators. They often feel the need to spontaneously test our children on topics th...
I recently caught the trailers for an upcoming kids' movie "Hoot". The movie, for those who haven't seen the previews, is about the conflict between a group of developers (EVIL!) who want to build a pancake house and a group of kids who will stop at nothing to make sure that doesn't happen because of a family of owls nesting in the ground at the site. The previews show the children pulling all sorts of pranks on the developers to halt the development; the pranks are, of course, justified bec...
Was tipped off to this on the Michael Medved show yesterday. The latest in a line of Bush protest songs, this time from pop artist Pink (featuring the Indigo Girls). I'll post the lyrics in italics, my response in regular text: Dear Mr. President Come take a walk with me Let's pretend we're just two people and You're not better than me I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street Who do you pray for at nigh...
President Bush's selection of Fox News commentator Tony Snow to replace outgoing press secretary Scott McClellan was an interesting one, to say the least. For many years, Fox News has tried to portray itself as "fair and balanced", and has chided other stations for either getting in bed with the current administration, or putting the administration in their sights, whichever accusation best supported the thesis of the pundit making it. Their commentators have taken on the self appointed mant...
Yesterday I asked the question as to where the coverage was of the Six Nations protest outside Caledonia, Ontario, Canada. While I am not sure which side I take on this issue, I would like to be informed, as most of the news I have seen on this conflict has come from bloggers. Most sites I have seen support the Six Nations protest, although a few have been anti-protest. NONE of the sites I have seen has provided an objective analysis of the situation, information I would sincerely like to have. ...