As Shasta Groene begins what will likely be a lifetime of recovery from the ordeal that she recently endured, it bears mentioning that the policies of American liberals are largely to blame for her situation. Yes, in the spirit of fairness it does bear mentioning that the conservative push to lock potheads away for life while more serious offenders get released doesn't help, but by and large, responsibility for this horrendous tragedy should fall upon the American left. You see, for years, la...
Well, I have officially logged two weeks as an employee of a Major Fast Food Chain (to be referred to hereafter as: MFFC). Besides giving me a wealth of writing material if I ever again discover enough free time to write regularly, it has revealed to me the stark change in minimum wage employment since I first entered its ranks nearly two decades ago. In the late '80's, jobs were largely hard to find except in fast food restaurants. Most of the employees you found in those restaurants were em...
I'm tired...and it's the kind of tired that won't go away. Our little Ford Tempo of the ever so delightful 27 mpg fame has yet another in a string of problems with the cooling system (I've replaced the thermostat, the radiator, the upper radiator hose, one transmission coolant line and repaired another, and rigged the fan to run directly off of the battery). This means we must park the Tempo and drive the "pimpmobile", which needs to be inspected, but first needs a $90 blinker switch and a re...
The following is exerpted from a Yahoo! News article: Michigan and Utah have until Friday to create and operate registries of e-mail addresses similar to "do-not-call" lists. Businesses will have to buy copies of the registries and face prison time and fines if they send e-mail to any addresses that parents submit. The registries also can include instant-message addresses, cell phones and pager numbers. This particular legislation comes with a whole laundry list of flaws. A "do not spam"...
I arrived home the other day, to find that, as my wife had her back turned, our ten month old son had quietly slipped the confines of his diaper, and was hanging in the breeze. It should have been a moment of laughter, perhaps even a Kodak moment to embarass him with on the first date. But I definitely know better than to snap a picture (I know families who have had their children removed forever and had the brand of "sex offender" permanently stamped upon them for just such innocent snapshot...
As the push for gay marriage continues in this country, I find it odd that most of the proponents have not realized what the left MUST do if it wishes to have gay marriage legal and acceptable for its citizens. They MUST leave the left. You see, in the best way I can describe it in my way of thinking, the left "done f*&^ed up". And it's not a recent thing. I won't go back as far as the Scopes Trial illustrated the left's war against the right, because, truth be told, most Christians ar...
Last night, 60 Minutes II profiled a school in the south that was reaching out to inner city youth. The school was a country boarding school, and, from all appearances, really looked like a school that was trying to give opportunity to students that might not otherwise have one. And so, the faculty and staff should be commended for their efforts, or so Mike Wallace would have you believe. Not so fast. While I am not one to question the unquestionable worth of such a program, giving "at ris...
In a recent article on the boycott of Kraft foods by the "American Family Association", one respondent wrote about being tired of conservatives trying to force their beliefs up his (posterior orifice). But that is not, and never has been, what conservatives or even the AFA are about. First of all, the AFA is a CHRISTIAN organization. That is part of its purpose, that is in its mission statement. The boycotts it calls, the statements it makes, are meant for the education of its MEMBERS. Does a...
To steal and twist a metaphor from one of my favorite alternative medicine practitioners of all time, Capitalism is the greatest thing in the world, except for a nice MLT (mutton, lettuce and tomato...where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomatoes are just ripe!). I love capitalism. There is almost unlimited potential for human achievement within the infrastructure of a capitalist society. But I detest consumerism. We are not just a material culture, we are a culture obsessed with disposa...
Every once in awhile, I hear people whine about how JU is allegedly a "right wing" site, and squelches liberal bloggers. While it is true that liberal bloggers have been squelched here, they have NEVER been squelched because of their politics, but rather the nature of their interaction with others. And conservative bloggers have been silenced as well. Sooo, on with the story. I decided it was time to register with Democratic Underground. Not because I agree with their ideas, mind you, but ...
When I was 18 years old, I wasn't ready for life. Still, the foster care system couldn't hold me anymore, and I went out halfway across the country, neither financially nor emotionally prepared for the journey. Due to my lack of preparation, my car ran out of gas several hundred miles short of my destination of Colorado Springs, Colorado. I was able to hitchhike into town in fairly short order, and, after calling a few churches, was given directions to the local homeless shelter. Through the ...
Although I still haven't seen "Attack of the Sith", I have read numerous pieces on various blog sites comparing the Sith to the Republican party. The argument goes, "The Sith think in terms of absolutes, and so do Republicans". Throwing away the fact that this is overanalyzing pop culture to the max, I will address the issue of Republicans thinking in terms of absolutes. While not entirely untrue, it's ignorant of the fact that Democrats ALSO think in terms of absolutes. Don't believe me? ...
An Iowa law (article below) restricting convicted sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools or day care centers is working its way through the court system. Frankly, I have VERY mixed emotions about this. While the idea has merit and we DO need to protect our children as best we reasonably can, how far could this type of legislation go? Could a convicted burglar who's served their time be denied housing in an upscale neighborhood for the same public interest? It's a ques...
TV's push towards what have been dubbed as "reality shows" has led me to believe that what TV needs is more REALITY...in its programming, in its scriptwriting, and, most importantly, in its newscasting. As I watch prime time TV series, it is clear that each is written with an agenda. One show will focus on a young child being viciously attacked by a pit bull, and, not coincidentally, people will be fired up to support proposed bans. One show will focus on a paranoid mother who homeschools her...
Karl Marx and Ayn Rand, two individuals operating at polar opposites on the political spectrum, have far more in common than a superficial analysis might perceive. And it is my contention that Rand's political thought will contribute as much to the politics of the 21st century as Marx did to the 20th. The Communist Manifesto , published in 1848, gave way to a wave of social and labor reform whose effects are still being felt to this day. Where the factories once were deathtraps that consider...