"Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen."
Heinrich Heine, Almansor (1821)I guess I might as well put down for all to see my stand on certain of the issues that currently confront us here in the USA ...... I caution that these stands are evolving, so some of these will be updated and/or expanded on from time to time, so take a look back later if you find it interesting.
- FIREARMS:
What part of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand? A government can take away anything it wants to from its citizens/subjects, but as long as the populace is armed, they have the ability to TAKE IT BACK AT ANY TIME. A government that does not trust the populace with that ability is to be feared, and any politician who supports a disarmed citizenry is a dictator-in-waiting.
Of all my "hot-buttons," this is my basic litmus test of a politician or political party. If they are in favor of disarming the citizenry, then I am against them, no matter what else they stand for.
Now go read this.
- THE WAR ON TERRORISM
One of the cardinal rules of warfare of any kind, be it debate or actual war, is to do it on the other guys' turf; to put him on the defensive. Another rule is to make it impossible for the other guy to continue with his actions. Too many people see this as a "political" war. It is not. Neither is it a matter of "lawbreakers" and "criminals." It is an all out cultural and religious conflict, and will not end with territorial conquests and the rest of the usual "panoply of war," but with the absolute breaking of the will and ability of one side or the other to engage in violent actions.
It will not be over in seven years, nor in ten. I forsee that it will
take at least a generation .... as long, if not longer, than the
Cold War did.
This is not a war against Islam. This is a war against a fanatical religious-justified facism that makes barbarians out of otherwise civilized people. If we in the West cannot buckle down for the long haul, we will lose .... and if we lose this one, we lose it all.
"Al Qaeda's Fantasy Ideology" is the best analysis of the whole thing I have ever read. See also Cleaning Up Dodge and "Debunking 8 anti-war myths about the conflict in Iraq," and if you STILL don't get a clue, go here and here. If you don't "get it" after that, go pound sand.
- ABORTION
As much free choice as possible is always a good idea. Therefore, while I have personal reservations about abortion, I cannot do anything other than say it should be legal. I'd rather it be left up to the individual States to decide, however, and not to the Federal government.
- STEM-CELL RESEARCH
The jury is still out on this one.
- GLOBAL WARMING
So far, much of what I have seen on the subject is predicated on studies that use an assumed baseline, pro or con. Can we get an unbiased look at it, please?
We need to be, right NOW:
- Stressing grants to local or regional causes that can be more easily monitored for effectiveness;
- Supporting environmental education efforts for schools and the press that avoid crude ideological views and instead focus on scientific skills like measuring environmental quality or on analytical skills that can be used to compare alternative actions;
- Underwriting scientific watchdog efforts that will bring the best information to public attention and hold environmental managers and groups accountable for exaggerated claims and hidden agendas; and
- Funding think tanks and other projects whose environmental goals reflect a sober understanding of human incentives and political freedom.
- THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA
The actions of the mass media in this country have proven, time and time again, that they will distort facts, omit facts and outright lie in order to advance their political agenda.
How can I, or anyone else with a sense of honor and fair play, trust the so-called Mainstream Media ever again, given their collective record ever since the Vietnam War?
The reporting of rumor-as-fact during Hurricane Katrina that is now being exposed is simply appalling, Dan Rather's instant acceptance of a forged document, doctored and posed photographs, news sources that do not exist, and Mike Wallace's support of the anti-2nd Amendment agitators, the virtual news blackout (dare I say "blacklist") of the heroes in this war .... the hidden and not-so-hidden agenda that this implies tells me all I need to know about their true intentions.
The MSM are, in general, liars and fear-mongers.
Mike Wallace proclaimed that if he were traveling with enemy soldiers he would not warn U.S. soldiers of an impending ambush. “Don’t you have a higher duty as an American citizen to do all you can to save the lives of soldiers rather than this journalistic ethic of reporting fact?”, moderator Charles Ogletree Jr. suggested. Without hesitating, Wallace responded: “No, you don’t have higher duty…you’re a reporter.” When Brent Scrowcroft, the then-future National Security Adviser, argued that “you’re Americans first, and you’re journalists second,” Wallace was mystified by the concept, wondering “what in the world is wrong with photographing this attack by [the imaginary] North Kosanese on American soldiers?”
This is not to say that they are the only ones using fear to advance their agenda.
I no longer read newspapers, and I don't bother with TV news. The MSM can go pound sand.
" Well sir, I’d tell you, if I got my news from the newspapers I’d be pretty depressed as well."
- CAPTAIN SHERMAN POWELL on the ground in Iraq“The men have sense, and will trust us. As to the reports in the newspapers, we must scorn them, else they will ruin us and our country. They are as much enemies to good government as the secesh, and between the two I like the secesh best, because they are a brave, open enemy and not a set of sneaking, croaking scoundrels.”
– Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, 1863- EMINENT DOMAIN
The recent decision of the Supreme Court has shown that property rights in this country are a thing of the past. This was a truly bad decision, and must be reversed. (see SEPARATION OF POWERS below)
- RELIGION
Your moral and ethical beliefs are your own business, as are mine. So long as I am not harming people by exercising my own beliefs, no matter how peculiar, the government, any government, has no right to interfere with me .... and neither do you.
And if you belong to a "non-standard" religion, such as Wicca, Asatru, Baha'i or one of many others both monotheist or polytheist, the episode at Waco .... and the stated aims and repeated actions of the Middle Eastern Facists we are currently opposing in the War On Terror .... should scare the hell out of you. If it does not, then you are living in an imaginary fairyland.
And for those in Canada, read this.
- IMMIGRATION
Our borders are a sieve, and must be controlled.
If you come here legally, you are more than welcome. That's what this country is all about.
Learn English, but preserve your native language and culture to enrich what is now your home and mine. Otherwise, if you are here illegally .... you must go back and fix it.
Become a citizen. Don't be a hyphenated American, be an AMERICAN. Every one of us have ancestors that came here from some other place, speaking a non-English language. They learned English, and joined with everyone else in being AMERICANS. You as an immigrant are welcome here. Join with us. BE AN AMERICAN!
Until you can learn the predominating language, in this case English, you live in isolation from the overall community, and your choices are severely limited. You have every opportunity in this country to become more than what you are now, but you will not realize your full potential until you can speak the language!
(Just as a note to folks reading this: my ancestors spoke French, Spanish, English, Gaelic, Welsh, Cherokee, Portuguese, Arabic and whatever West African dialect a certain ex-slave spoke. Hurray for hybrid vigor!)
Here is one reason it's such a problem. Here's another.
And here are some other people doing something about it..
- SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
"Marriage" is a civil contract. If the civil law says that two persons of the same sex may enter into this form of civil contract, then so be it. When the civil authorities presume to force the witnessing of the contract (this is what ministers etc. do when they "marry" people) against the conciences of the witnesses, then the civil government is in the wrong. Therefore, no church, minister or other religious person should be forced to act against their concience in this matter.
Otherwise, who cares?
By extension, the same applies to other possible forms of marriage, too. Polygamy, polyandry, whatever floats your boat and is entered into by freely consenting adults. If it works, it's real.
Just don't force it on me or any other person.
Andrew Sullivan has a good take on it here, and this is worth reading too.
- POLITICAL CORRECTNESS
Given that we get this term from Maoist China, it is not surprising that it is fast becoming the euphemism of choice in some quarters for the suppression of free speech, and even some parts of our history. I detest it.
- SPACE EXPLORATION
The sooner we get "out there" the better.
These paragraphs in the liner notes for one of my CDs says it pretty well, and this should give you some good information about the feasability of terraforming Mars.
- AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Steven Pinker says it very well in "The Blank Slate," writing that "equality is not the empirical claim that all groups of humans are interchangeable; it is the moral principle that individuals should not be judged or constrained by the average properties of their group."
When I was active in the Civil Rights Movement back in the early 60s, we were going with the idea of "equal rights" and "equal opportunity." What I see now is "preferential rights" and "unequal opportunity," that only wind up making minorities dependent on the good will of those in power and is effectively denying them the knowledge they must have in order to succeed in the real world. I don't think that this is much of an improvement, and I find the implied assumption that minorities can't make it on their own to be racist and offensive.
- THE DRUG WAR
Legalize and tax marijuana, just like alcohol. Crack, heroin, meth and the like, the "hard" drugs that destroy lives, should remain illegal.
(NB: I don't personally drink alcohol, nor do I use recreational drugs.)
ECOLOGY AND ALL THAT
The famous quote by Walt Kelly shown to the right says it all. I feel, however, that groups like Greenpeace and the like are going way overboard in their activites and attitudes, and that fusion power just might wind up to be the best alternative, along with other avenues such as wind.
The primary thing to remember is not to litter, to "use it up and wear it out," and not to s**t where you live.
- HIV
I've lost seven friends to AIDS so far. I can only imagine what it must be like in the gay community. A cure MUST be found. Careless unprotected sex KILLS both heterosexual and homosexual, male and female.
- THE UN
How does this grab ya?
- SEPARATION OF POWERS
Where the hell do the Courts (and IRS and ATF) of this country get off by creating law? That is the job of the elected representatives of the people! This needs to STOP and STOP NOW!
And how about proceedings worthy of the worst abuses of the Star Chamber, given the many instances of confiscation of private real-estate for commercial gain by cities and towns?
Yeah, I'm grumpy.
