Well, looks like a lot of people are up in arms over government oppression in California. So how are government officials oppressing people this time? Well, they are enforcing the law; immigration law that is. In a recent article in the Modesto Bee, Mario Villareal, a spokesman for the Border Patrol, said that rumors of raids in the San Joaquin Valley are "absolutely false." Despite official statements, illegal immigrants fearing deportation remain unconvinced. It almost seems ...

As I child I used to get horrible headaches. These headaches persisted through high school as well. I didn’t understand what was wrong with me, but I did discern a particular pattern. I played baseball through junior and senior high school, and after every game I would get a headache. I played soccer as well, but rarely had a headache after those games. The difference between these two was that baseball was in the spring/summer time frame, while soccer was in the fall/winter. It seeme...

A friend once told me about his experiences working in a bank, and the lesson about perception that he learned there. This bank employed several women as cashiers, and the bank manager would often offer these women “promotions” rather than raises. So a girl would get a title like “first assistant to the associate cashier” rather than a 3% pay increase for the year. And these women accepted this treatment. At work one day, a few years ago, the subject of whether I could make one of my c...

“Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist.” Michael Levine - Lessons at the Halfway Point

Some recent JU drama has brought to mind several topics for writing. One of those is the nature of young love. Can teenagers really fall in love? Do they have the capacity to see in one another a person worth sharing their life? These questions got me to thinking about my teen years, and my first love. Her name was Jennifer. I met her in the 7th grade and we would become extremely close over our junior and senior high school years. During that time she was the girlfriend of three of ...

“I said that if people tell you your mother is not prime minister anymore, you just turn around and say, 'So what? How often has your mother been prime minister?'” Benazir Bhutto , Former Pakistani Prime Minister recounting advice she gave her children

Charles Krauthammer has an interesting article about the International Court of Justice and Israel. He opens with one of the principles expressed in the ICJ’s decision on Israel’s security fence. “It is a violation of international law for Jews to be living in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem.” Sounds a little strange since “Jews have been inhabiting the Old City of Jerusalem since it became their capital 3,000 years ago…” There are some interesting numbers provided concerning su...

A while back I was playing some on-line game... I think it was Planetside. I was using the name Gideon, as I often do. So here I am, running around blasting the fools who enter my sight, and I get a tell from some fellow. Other-dude: "Hey, great name! Are you a LDS?" Now, I have several mormon friends. I dated a mormon (but I wasn't mormon enough, or at all), my best friend's whole family is mormon, though he left the church as a teenager. So I knew what LDS meant. But I was in ...

A dog looks at us and thinks, "This person feeds me, shelters me, and takes care of my every need... he must be a god!" A cat looks at us and thinks, "This person feeds me, shelters me, and takes care of my every need... I must be a god!" I don’t like dogs. I think I have stated this before . I think dogs are stupid and slavish. Also they are damn annoying when they jump into my crotch. All you have to do is give a dog some food and he is your friend for life. Wait, you don’...

"Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism." -Carl Gustav Jung "

If JoeUser has a FAQ anywhere, I haven't seen it. So there are a few technical issues that I haven't worked out. One of those is the use of the External URL. What is the purpose of this? Is there some format required (some particular domain, for example)? I've always left mine blank, but I have grown curious enough now to ask.

Back when I was a Lecturer at university, my boss and I would often tease each other about dogs. She was a fervent dog lover, and I do not like the slavishly moronic beasts. This one morning I arrived on campus and proceeded to the department office to check my mail. It was a beautiful spring day, and I was in a pretty good mood. So I enter the office as my boss is leaving. She sees a smile on my face and asks in a slightly sarcastic tone, “What’s got you in such a good mood?” I r...

“Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution.” Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956)

A friend of mine sent me the following quote that he encountered on some forum... As an atheist, I'm left up to my own moral devices. As a result, I personally slaughter twelve puppies a day, feed them to twelve other puppies, and then repeatedly stab the second set of puppies and have sex with the stab wounds. Without God as a compass, what other result is possible? I really should find a religion soon, because all these puppies are getting expensive. And I think the pet store owne...

A friend of mine sent me the following quote that he encountered on some forum... As an atheist, I'm left up to my own moral devices. As a result, I personally slaughter twelve puppies a day, feed them to twelve other puppies, and then repeatedly stab the second set of puppies and have sex with the stab wounds. Without God as a compass, what other result is possible? I really should find a religion soon, because all these puppies are getting expensive. And I think the pet store owne...