Where Do I Stand?

I thought I'd let my readers get to know me a little better by letting them know where I stand on important issues of the day:

1. Abortion - Wishy-washy on this one. I believe in pro-responsibility. I also believe there are worse things than death, and being raised without loving parents in a drug culture, or with a debilitating disease or defect qualifies.

2. Death penalty - Very Pro. Murderers, drug-dealers, rapists, violent criminals, terrorists, rap artists (redundant) - they all need to be removed from this earth.

3. Right to bear arms - Pro. I agree with waiting periods and background checks, however. I also believe no one has a legitimate need for a machine gun. I wouldn't cry if we outlawed handguns, but someone had better follow up such a law with a good method of taking them away from criminals if they were to do that. A shotgun is much better for home defense, anyway.

4. Freedom of the Press - In my opinion, this is being abused in the USA. We have so-called "legitimate" media (Dan Rather and CBS) fabricating evidence of wrongdoing and reporting it as truth. We have rampant partisanship being disguised as 'straight news' instead of 'opinion'. We have stories from 'unnamed sources' being treated as fact. We have a breakdown of common politeness being broadcast as 'hard news'. We have censorship in the form of 'political correctness' being used against the ethnic and religious majorities. We have reporters taking law enforcement into their own hands and calling it "investigative journalism". We have 5 major news sources that are blatantly for one political party and one for the other party, and the 5 do everything they can to discredit the other while denying their own politically slanted reporting. We have news items from Iraq being filed by reporters who never leave their hotel rooms and get information from local sources that feed them whatever they want to hear. We have 'exit polling' results declaring false winners and discouraging voters from voting before the election is even over. We have Al-Jazeera being taken seriously as a news source, despite plenty of evidence that they are in cahoots with terrorist organizations. Something needs to be done.

5. Global warming - Skeptic. I have a degree in Biology and I participated in scientific studies in school. I learned statistics. I've written synopses for studies. So far, I haven't seen a legitimate study of global climate change. Every single one started with an opinion and set out to find measurements to support that opinion, then immediately released those results to the press. That isn't science. Scientific study follows a process where data is gathered in an impartial manner, then trends are looked for, using the approved methods of statistical analysis. Then a theory is developed. Then the theory is vigorously attempted to be disproved. If the theory holds up over the course of time, it is eventually accepted to be law. None of this hysterical pseudoscience has gone through that process. I believe there has been a small increase in global average temperature over the past 100 years. I believe this is due to natural forces. I do not think that man can change this trend, and I think it will eventually reverse itself. I think it is a shame that we've all let people who stand to profit from global warming hysteria pull the wool over our eyes. When you suspect a scam, follow the money. It will lead you to the truth. If Al Gore really believed that reducing carbon emissions would save the world, don't you think he'd close down the coal mines on his property?

5a. Despite my disbelief in man-made global warming, I believe we should cut emissions and pollution whenever we can. Not out of fear, but out of a sense of decency and a desire to preserve beauty.

6. God - I'm a member of the United Methodist Church. I currently attend Catholic church with my wife. My position on religion is that I don't know anything about religion. I hope one day to be certain of the answer. Until that day, I won't be preaching to anyone. I hope there is an afterlife and that living a decent life where you care for others and try to do no evil and repent when you do wrong gets you into heaven, because I want to go there. I hope there is a place after death where those who do unrepentant evil are punished. I hope that if there is 'one true' religion, that it allows those who were taught differently to go to heaven if they were good people. I hope there's a way into heaven for agnostics who are truly looking for answers.

7. The Monroe Doctrine and US Foreign Policy - I think the USA should try to be more self-sufficient. I think we should let other countries do as they please as long as they don't threaten the US. I think we should take actions to make sure that we aren't dependent on other countries for anything. I think the United Nations is useless and corrupt and should be abolished and rebuilt from the ground up, because the inmates are running the asylum.

8. Oil - I think the US should be spending 25% of its GNP to develop an alternative to fossil fuels. We should then share this with the rest of the world and let the Middle East fend for itself without the wealth that keeps it alive artificially. I think the world will be a much better place once all the oil reserves run out.

9. Personal responsibility - I think ultimately, everyone is responsible for their own choices in life. The USA was founded on the principle that "all men were created equal". This does not mean that all people are entitled to an equal start in life, because that simply isn't possible. We all have talents and detriments and advantages and disadvantages and we have to use what tools we are given to make whatever we can out of life. No one is entitled to anything they don't earn, but no one is entitled to take away unearned advantages from others, either. Blaming others for your own failures is a disservice to not only those who are blamed, but to those placing blame as well, for it inhibits the urge to overcome and instead encourages more failure.We should be judged not on where we end up, but on how far we have come to get there, because that is the measure of our individual achievements.

(I'm sure I have unconsciously stolen lots of that verbiage from stuff that I have read - don't sue me if I have unintentionally plagiarized! I know those words seem familiar to me, but I don't remember where I heard them)

There, now. You all know me a bit better. Do you still want to be my friends?