Ok, now I'm not only irresponsible, but isolationist and counterproductive. Add "pissed off" to that list of character traits. You see, our founding fathers greatly valued the rights of the individual, and wrote the constitution (hypothetically) around the preservation of those rights. Sadly, too many Americans want to strip away those rights based on what THEY feel is important. Not everyone in this country qualifies for a $40,000 a year job. In fact, much of our country's labor is pro...

Link An interfaith group is working on releasing a textbook on the Bible that avoids conflict with church/state issues. I am posting this link and inviting you to discuss whether you feel it can be done properly. Feel free to share your opinions, but let's not make this a bashing thread, ok?

I saw another blogger lambasted today for apparently "stealing" another blogger's idea and incorporating it into their own article. Having been previously accused of the same, I felt it was a good topic for discussion. When I log on to JU, I don't have the time to peruse blog articles of the last several days. Being limited to a few hours' access three or four times a week, once I have purged, checked, and answered my email, I read the recent forum posts. Then I begin blogging on article...

In the latest teacher grousing article, it was stated that no other profession demands you use your own resources and do so much with so little. Oh, yeah? I want to point out one profession that is so demeaned in our society it is not even considered a profession. In fact, one blogger even went so far as to categorize these professionals as "irresponsible". And, since I am not a practitioner of that profession, it's not a pity party. That profession is, quite simply, the stay at home mo...

I am an aspiring back-to earther. Later today, I will pick up my newly acquired woodstove (I bought it early in case there's a run on them this year). Next month, I will have it installed. Our hope is to be completely independent of natural gas within the next two years, but we may be able to reach the goal in one. We hope to eventually grow most of our own produce, raise a few chickens, and, within 15 years, be "off the grid" as far as electricity is concerned. Our purchasing and lifestyle d...

OK, OK, OK, so I don't mean to keep beating a dead horse (yes I do, points whore that I am! But I digress!). But recent blogs have centered around a topic that was long ago addressed by BakerStreet (in his article about how most Americans don't know HOW to be poor), Little_Whip (pick an article on poverty by her), myself (see Little_Whip), TexasWahine (see myself and Little_Whip), and, most recently, Island Dog. There have been others, but if I were to list them all, that would be the blog in it...

One of the bigger accomplishments I have on my resume was the coauthorship of a disaster plan for 50 group homes in Northeast Wisconsin. This was done in the second half of 1999, to prepare for Y2K. After the committee was formed, we asked a representative from the Red Cross to speak to our group to help us to come up with ideas needed for our plan. The lady was more than helpful; in fact, she said, she was glad to see the attention Y2K focused on disaster preparedness, as usually they couldn...

I admit to a certain degree of "creative liberties" with my resume, but never to the point of implying qualifications for a job I couldn't handle. The fact is, I ask myself what job skills a job requires, and have I done substantially similar work to what I would be required to do on that job? Then, I cater my job description to the set of job skills required. That being said, here are a few job descriptions I DON'T use, but are not entirely wrong: (Paper Carrier): Media Distribution S...

I admit to a certain degree of "creative liberties" with my resume, but never to the point of implying qualifications for a job I couldn't handle. The fact is, I ask myself what job skills a job requires, and have I done substantially similar work to what I would be required to do on that job? Then, I cater my job description to the set of job skills required. That being said, here are a few job descriptions I DON'T use, but are not entirely wrong: (Paper Carrier): Media Distribution S...

One of our newer bloggers has taken it upon himself to mount a personal crusade against the poor. Not just welfare dependents, mind you, but ANYONE making under the EIC "ceiling" for having children (except military personnel). As Tex, LW, Bakerstreet and I, among others, have repeatedly pointed out, there is no need for individuals living in "poverty" to live in squalor. The vast majority of the world's population lives on far less than minimum wage workers in our own country. And minimum wa...

Hurricane Katrina swept away a lot more than much of the gulf coast. It swept away a lot of the facades, charades, and masquerades that the left have been hiding under. As the media continues to expose the left's criticism of the handling of Hurricane Katrina, it becomes patently clear what the left are demanding: they are demanding dictatorship, and nothing less. Of course, the right's not entirely without blame on this: years ago, they should have mounted a PR campaign exposing the ...

You knew this day would come. I have taken time to sit down and think about what I really feel about the recent decisions regarding the Pledge of Allegiance and the inclusion of the phrase "Under God". I will begin with my simple and succint summation, and follow with my feelings on the issue. The fact is, the courts are technically right. But the larger fact is that in winning the battle, they may be well on their way to losing the war. You see, the funny thing about the pledge is, it h...

In a response on another thread, a regular blogger had the following to say in response to comments about Planned Parenthood: I support Planned Parenthood. Abortion is the service that PP gets the most press about, but they also offer sliding scale fee gynecological procedures, reduced cost birth control, free pregnancy tests, free condoms, and reproductive health counseling, among other things (there are quite a few PPs that don't even provide abortions). They have helped many women wi...

Well, this is my first time online since Bush's speech the other night, so while this article may be delayed, understand it's been brewing in my head for a couple of days. 30 years ago this past March, a tornado wiped out our small community. The community once thrived during the oil boom, catering to oilfield workers who would come in from the fields. But the oil bust, combined with the tornado, changed a lot of that (I guess if the storm doesn't have a name, it doesn't matter). Through t...

Link OK, I think terp and I have accidentally started a JU webring. But the story he references in his article bears comment. The foster family in the story had raised several special needs children and had the children in cages in their home, allegedly on the advice of a psychiatrist. Now, in their defense (as I have read much on this case), the cages were clean and the children were well kept and very well behaved, according to all accounts. But that doesn't change the fact that a cag...