So what am I?

Am I a liberal? Am I a conservative? I've been trying to identify my own political leanings for the last few years, with little success. I'm a Texas Democrat, which means I probably do not fit the classical definition of a big-L Liberal (as the term has been used in the US over the 20th century). However, I'm extremely likely to vote Democrat in state and national elections.

But what am I? In a combined effort to puzzle this out and justify this stupid blog account, I'm doing this exercise in public. Maybe the two or three people out there who actually read this thing can help.

Here are my positions on various matters, in no particular order:

• I believe that the power of the federal government can and should be used to improve the health and welfare of American citizens;
  
  
  
  • However, not all problems are solvable with a government program -- we should pay attention to what worked and what didn't work with the Great Society;
    
  
  
• I believe the free market is a wonderful thing in general, but that some degree of regulation and government involvement is necessary -- the market rewards success, not good behavior (see Enron);
  
• I believe that if you're going to increase spending, you should damn well generate the revenue to cover it -- better to tax and spend than spend your way into bankruptcy;
  
  
  
  • Which brings us to the Grover Norquists of the world -- if you really want to starve the beast into bankruptcy, think about the effect on the world economy if the US suddenly defaulted on all its loans;
    
  
  
• I have no illusions that Social Security, as we understand it, is going to survive the next couple of decades (which is just peachy, as that's when I'll be retiring);
  
  
  
  • However, I don't know what a suitable replacement would be -- I don't want to rely on the stock market for my retirement;
    
  
  
• I believe that the United States should not intervene militarily in any conflicts that do not directly affect the security of American citizens or interests unless we are specifically asked to do so (note that this means I do not believe we should intervene in Darfur, much as I would like to see that situation end);
  
  
  
  • I believe that the absolute worst way to spread democracy is at the point of a gun;
    
  • It is time that the US realized that it is part of an international community -- we don't have to do what the UN says, but we should realize that the same time that nobody has to do what we say, either;
    
  
  
• I believe that the War on Drugs has largely been a failure, and that it's time to create reasonable drug policies based on medical and scientific research, rather than mindless hysteria;
  
  
  
  • To wit, we should go ahead and decriminalize minor drugs like marijuana;
    
  • Do away with mandatory drug sentencing, and trust the judges to do their job;
    
  • Go back to treating drug use and addiction as a public health problem as much as a law enforcement problem;
    
  
  
• I believe that abortion should be kept legal, but that it should be avoided by all means possible, meaning:
  
  
  
  • Providing comprehensive, objective sex education programs, that
    
    
    
    • Promote abstinence first;
      
    • Do not stop there, and instead describe all forms of birth control and disease prevention, including condoms, the pill, etc;
      
    • Do not bow to pressure from various groups -- if we're serious on cutting down on teen pregnancy and STDs, then education is the best way to do that, unless you want to segregate boys and girls from the time they're 13 until they get married;
      
    
    
  
  
• I am an environmentalist to the degree that I believe that clean air and water are vital, irreplaceable resources, and that it's in our interests to preserve them at all costs;
  

There are more, but I've already spent three days on this stupid post, after a month of non-activity, so I'm going to put it up as is. I may come back and add to it in the future.

The most frustrating thing about being an atheist...

...is constantly having to correct other people's misconceptions about atheism. Contrary to popular belief, most of us aren't warring against God, most of us aren't atheists because we want to have perverted sex with underage animals and not feel guilty about it afterwards, most of us don't care about "In God We Trust" on money or "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, most of us aren't trying to undermine traditional family values, and most of us really don't give a damn what your beliefs are.

There are almost as many definitions of atheism as there are atheists, but all atheists share one thing in common: we simply don't believe in God.

Atheists can be roughly divided into two groups¹, strong (or positive), and weak (or negative). A weak atheist doesn't believe in God because he (or she) isn't convinced that God exists. A strong atheist doesn't believe in God because he (or she) is convinced that God does not exist. For most theists, the difference may be subtle to non-existent, but trust me, the difference is real, substantial, and can lead to arguments among atheists.

I personally fall into the weak camp. I cannot say with any certainty that I know that God doesn't exist; if God is everything He's advertised to be, there's probably no test that could conclusively demonstrate His existence one way or the other. What I can say with certainty is that I have not yet had any personal experience that convinces me that God is real. My mind can be changed, but it has to be a pretty unambiguous demonstration of godly power; seeing Jesus' face in a tortilla isn't going to do it for me. Similarly, testimony of the faithful alone isn't going to be much use either. No, it'd have to be God appearing as a 100-foot tall colossus striking down all the lawyers² with lightning bolts to get my attention. Absent such evidence, my default position is going to be that I don't believe.

I try to respect other people's beliefs for what they are (there are exceptions, but they're fairly rare). All I ask is that people respect my non-belief for what it is, rather than the caricature that they think it is.

1. I sometimes refer to a third group called the Almond Nutbars, who feel that religion in any form is a pernicious institution and should be abolished forthwith. They go beyond militant.

2. Except Doug. Doug's cool.

Dear Congressman Pelosi et al....

Please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please don't fuck this up.

Please.

Stop the insanity

Foleygate. Holy Mother of God, they're calling it Foleygate.

It's days like this when I wish I could line up every reporter, blogger, editor, director, publisher, etc., at every news organization and beat them with a heavy lead pipe.

It's stupid, it's nonsensical, it's unoriginal, it's lazy. Irangate. Monicagate. Nannygate.

Gah!

It is the duty of every right-thinking American to do their part to stamp out this pernicious meme, or I fear that one day our children will crack open their history books to read about Teapot Domegate.

So this is what it takes...

A sex scandal. Forget about going to war under false pretenses, creeping authoritarianism, repeated demonstrations of incompetence, and sanctimonious flag-waving. The thing that's going to bring the Republicans down is a good, juicy, old-fashioned sex scandal!

Color me underwhelmed. First of all, if the last few elections have taught me anything, it's not to get overly enthusiastic over the Democrats' chances of winning any kind of majority in Congress. Congressional Democrats are, as a rule, spineless wastes of flesh and air. Republicans may be evil, but at least they have a fucking plan. The Democrats don't have a plan. They don't even have a wild hair of a sketch of a plan. They're looking at the Foley mess with gratitude in their hearts because God knows they couldn't come to us with anything meaningful on their own.

But secondly, what the hell does this say about the United States that the one thing that's probably going to have a significant impact on the next election is that a Congressman had cybersex with underage pages, and that the Republican leadership covered it up? Forget about the war, we got us a real issue.

The best thing that can happen this November? Complete turnover. Send every single goddamned Representative and every third Senator home. I don't care if it means voting for a Republican, or Libertarian, or Communist, or even a fucking Nazi, it is time to completely clean house.

At least the judiciary still has a spine

Since Congress has long since rolled over for this administration like a trained seal, we must rely on the Judiciary to check unbridled Presidential ambition. To wit, the warrantless NSA spying program has been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge.

No doubt the White House will take this to SCOTUS, which after all has the final say on whether something is unconstitutional, but I'm fairly confident that the ruling will stand.