Now, I made this argument earlier as part of another subject entirely, but I'm going to go into it further here. One of the very interesting contradictions I find among some of the left is the tendency to browbeat and criticize myself and my wife for our "irresponsibility" in having a large family (five kids), while there are pockets of the planet that are overpopulated (and my having fewer kids is going to help India's overpopulation problem...HOW?!?). The contradiction comes from the fact t...
Believe it or not, I'm a pretty reluctant "rebel". In high school, I had all the preppy clothes, right down to the Swatch wristwatches, with every color guard imaginable (I didn't like the rubber band ones that went across the face, though). I tried so many ways to be "normal", but it just didn't pan out for me. Why not? You ask. Well, to put it simply: STUPID laws. They stopped making sense and it stopped making sense to me to pay attention to them. Don't get me wrong; some laws are ...
I'm sorry, folks. I'm about to get a brain hemmhorage from beating my head against the wall here. After reading the 5000th repetition of why I "wasted my vote" for voting for the candidate I believed in, I am astounded by the apparent stupidity of the Democrats who patronize this site. Now, I don't believe in the Republican Party platform, but as a rule, the Republicans and conservatives on this site have not made repeated ignorant attacks on me and my party. For those who don't know, I am...
It's interesting to note the initiatives in many US cities to ban smoking in public places. After all, it's what Cuba would do. Starting February 7, the island nation of Cuba, known of course for its fine (and, in the US, contraband) cigars, prohibits smoking in certain public places as part of a health initiative. Fidel Castro, once an icon as a cigar chomping leader, gave up smoking in 1986 and now considers cigars a gift best given to one's enemies. While I don't smoke, and never did ex...
A legislator in Washington is proposing to split the state into two separate states, given the difference in the nature of largely agricultural Eastern Washington vs. the industrial and commercial Western Washington. The differences were underscored greatly in the recent election during which the two candidates duked it out over three recounts before the winner, a democrat, was chosen (the republican contender won the first two recounts). While this would, on the surface, appear to be a solut...
I took a quick peek at an Amarillo newspaper headline that intrigued me. The article was addressing proposed reforms in the state Child and Protective Services (CPS). At first glance, I was encouraged. Maybe these reforms would address the countless abuses of CPS caseworkers who use their position to press their personal platforms regardless of the constitutional rights of their victims or of the community bullies who use CPS to bully their neighbors over largely unrelated disputes (I have files...
My neighbor's grandson is putting his application in for the town marshall's position. Now, he's a good cop as far as I know, but his big issue is drugs. The thing is, he knows I'm a Libertarian. While one the one hand, I hope he does get the marshall's position (I can see benefits to my children once they are teenagers having a good rapport with the town cop), I also know that it would be a bad idea to invite him over to the house regularly. Why? Well, even though my stoner days are lo...
Ok, here's a hypothetical scenario: Let's suppose you belong to a large social club. Here are the ANNUAL dues for the club: $8566 per household member for the national club (or, $34,000/family of four) $5104 per household member for the state chapter (or, $20,000/family of four) $800 per household member for the city chapter ($3200) This country club, in other words, imposes annual dues of over $57,000 for a family of four. Now, suppose the membership isn't optional. In order to LI...
I have been thinking about the assertion that a third party doesn't have a chance in this day and age due to media control, etc. Personally, I think it's a lot of bunk. My position on the "wasted vote" myth is well known, and I feel that, if anything, the internet has increased the chances for little knowns to make great political strides. And, although there's not much in the way of established precedents, I can point to phenomena from this past election to support my thesis. Howard Dean'...
Well, the latest "racial profiling" information came out, and our county, at least, has numbers that should be deemed acceptable. But the articles left me wondering about pockets in the country where minorities actually DO commit more than their "percentage" of crime. We have tried crime prevention techniques, we have tried education, but those seem to have worked to little effect. The prisons are overrepresented by minorities, meaning either a) we have a corrupt political system that targets mi...
I know I've told you in a previous blog that I have a tendency towards paranoia. But a lot of it stems from a time when I wasn't paranoid enough. I can't be specific, but suffice it to say, we were blindsided by a radical doctor who disapproved of our personal practices (all of which are legal) and attempted to place us on a de facto probation by requiring weekly home visits from the public health nurse and a county social worker. She also demanded that my wife breastfeed our 16 month ...
I was amused at a look back at an old article I "bumped" recently. It was my first featured article, and in one reply, the comment was made "man, you bang the same drum over and over". Well, after months of blogging on JU, I have a reply to that, one that is much better than the one I initially gave (incidentally, no ill will to the individual who made that statement: I respect his views greatly). Yes, I bang the same drum over and over, and for many reasons. I bang the drum of freedom, the s...
So I went to our city hall today, the only place where I can access city ordinances. I asked the city secretary to see them, knowing what was coming. "Well, what do you want to look up?" Frankly, it was none of her BUSINESS what I wanted to look up. You cannot expect someone to follow a law if they don't have access to look up that law without a de facto Fifth Amendment violation in TELLING the city secretary what they are looking up. AT any rate, I was looking up a number of laws, both ...
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I can't remember who said that (although I could probably google it readily), but it's a generally accepted maxim as regards politics, and one that has been proven more often than disproven. It is also a maxim that is largely disregarded by the American left in their quest to create a utopia. Somehow they feel that an individual, once bestowed with the mantle of being part of a "government" is immediately immunized from the effects of...
Senator Robert Byrd makes a wonderful spokesman for the Democrats, doncha think? Seems the ex-Klansman and early civil rights obstructionist made a speech warning people about learning from the past, using Hitler's rise to power as an example. While his statements pretty clearly referenced the GOP, he denied that they were the target of his diatribe. Byrd = pot Bush = kettle