Victor Davis Hanson has a very lengthy and interesting article today on the various Republican candidates. I can’t say I’m terribly excited about any of them. You’ve got Newt who is all over the place on issues and frankly, makes me think it’s more about him and his love of power than any thought of public service. You’ve got Romney who I can’t even understand why he’s running in the first place as he doesn’t seem to be very passionate about anything. There’s Santorum who I...

I am just baffled that the President is blocking the Keystone pipeline. It’s such a win-win on all fronts. Powerline article:

Because of the way the media treats those of us who are right of center politically, when we get into social situations, we are used to just keeping our mouths shut. But it turns out that a lot, perhaps even most, people are right of center (in the United States anyway) but we often don’t realize it because we get so beaten down that our opinions on liberty and freedom are so “unfair”. So usually a discussion will slowly unwind where a person stands bit by by.  First, you start o...

  In “real life” I’m not particularly political. I don’t donate to candidates or political causes, I don’t put signs on my lawn. I’m interested in the discussion of politics in the same way that other people are interested in the discussion of sports. If you’re come here from a link claiming I’m some sort of political lunatic, a few things to bear in mind: When JoeUser.com started in 2001, I posted intentionally provocative articles. The idea was to get a discussion going. ...

I must confess, there is something…gratifying about debating with a global warming alarmist (specifically people who are certain mankind is causing global warming and specifically it’s caused by CO2) who gets in my face about their superior belief system and being able to pull out the fact that I drive an electric car that is powered by my 20KW solar array that also powers my house which is also heated via geo thermal.  Match that buddy.

We heard endless about the unsubstantiated charge that some Tea Partier spat on an African American congressman but amazingly, the atrocious behavior of the Occupy movement has largely been ignored or excused. I have friends and family who practically seethe with hatred towards “fucking tea baggers” who I know are sympathetic for the Occupy Wall Street people. What the hell is the matter with these people? While I don’t consider myself a “Tea Partier”, I cannot grasp the antipathy dire...

So, on the one hand, I like the idea of having a 0 emissions house. On the other I have philosophical objections to the federal government picking winners and losers. So I have some trepidation as I install the 20KW solar array because of the almost insane level of tax incentives on it.

Someone asked me recently if there were any activities that I had had to put aside that I really missed.  The answer was easy: blogging about social issues. People now take politics very seriously and some people, mostly liberals to be honest, take politics extremely personally.  Conservatives and liberals can be very passionate in their beliefs but in my experience, liberals are a lot more likely to hate someone for having a different ideology than themselves. One of the sit...

  Today’s USA Today has a bombshell – at least for people who haven’t been paying attention: Nearly half of Americans pay no federal income taxes. I’ve tried to explain this before to my liberal friends who insist that “rich people” don’t pay their fair share and whenever I’ve brought up that nearly half of Americans pay zilch to the fed in income taxes they scoff that it’s probably some far right propaganda. Nope. It’s real. As April 15th comes up and I look at the million...

Great article:  What the Top US companies pay in taxes . The reader is meant to get fired up by the fact that these hugely profitable corporations aren’t paying Uncle Sam taxes. Oh, they’re still paying taxes. Billions of taxes. Just not in the United States. That’s because companies liek Wal-Mart, General Electric, AT&T and so forth have overseas divisions and can have the profits show up in any of those countries – countries with lower tax rates. How did this happe...

One of my big frustrations with the environmentalist community (that I like to think I’m part of) is jus how ideological they are. Today’s big hub-bug on TreeHugger.com is that apparently Sarah Palin is hosting a show on TLC about Alaska’s natural wonders. Personally, I don’t care much for Palin one way or the other. I think there’s much ado about nothing with regards to her. She’s a conservative politician. But the Treehuggers are absolutely going bonkers about it because she su...

The answer is almost always: No, actually it doesn’t. In almost any debate, we’ll hear about how the “United States is the only X that does Y [or doesn’t do]”. Except that’s not the case when you compare apples and apples. One of the constant, long-time, ongoing debates in the United States is one that Europeans now find themselves in as well – where do the “states” stop and the “union” start? When you dig into countless numbers of political topics, you find that opposition t...

I am glad that people are actively following politics more these days.  However, I am somewhat concerned with the amount of passion that’s been directed towards it. I enjoy a good political debate but I never for a second believe that I’m going to be brought in as Emperor of the world to institute my theories.  Discussing topics to try to persuade or educate others on political philosophies that you think are good is a noble thing.  However, hating other people over the...

People tend to project their hopes and dreams onto things based on their name. They hear “health care reform” and they see their ideological allies supporting it and they assume it does all kinds of magical things. For those of you glad that the bill passed, be aware that what was passed resembles nothing like what is in Europe or Canada.  Here’s what it does (you can read the details at CBS News ): 1. It “provides” insurance to 30 million Americans. How does it do thi...

Warner Todd Huston has written a statement of conservative values that I found very interesting.  Here it is below. The Huston Statement   Since our political climate has long since drifted from the first principles of our founding and since we now face a crisis threatening to tear down our American moral center we commit ourselves to re-establishing our American character. We believe that our Constitution and the principles...