I’ve been on a tear about Anarchy lately, and people who espouse it in general, and lest anyone get any ideas about me that are offbase, let me say this:

I work damned hard not to have preconceptions or illusions about anything. It’s impossible not to bring your own prejudices to the table at some point, but in order not to close your mind completely you have to try very hard to have no illusions.

Frinstance: I do not suffer under the illusion (or for that matter the delusion) that George W Bush is the cat’s meow. I’m as anxious to criticise him when he fucks up as anyone. I think a lot of traditional conservatives feel the same way. I’m also right there to congratulate him on a job well done, such as the job he’s done of keeping the terrorists at bay since 9/11.

When Slick Willy was in office, I pointed out his fuckups at will to anyone who would listen- but I also gave credit where credit was due- his signature on the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 was a big step in a good direction.

Likewise: I am, by my convictions, vehemently opposed to abortion. If I could flip a switch and end it forever, I’d say, let’s do it! but I am not in any way deluded by the idea that there will ever be a perfect world, because only in a perfect world would a child ever be unwanted. And so since there have been abortions in one form or another for a very long time, and not a damned thing I do is going to stop that from happening, I am of the considered opinion that a woman desiring an abortion should be able to do so in a safe and legal manner so that she might live, unharmed, to possibly have a child she wants, and be more whole. And of course the concept of abortion to save a woman’s life is considered acceptable to the church. It is much more responsible to attempt to prevent pregnancy- by whatever methods available- than to bomb abortion clinics, for instance.

The issue of gun control is another one of those circumstances. I looked at this for a long long time. If there was someone who could show me a legitimate reduction in murder of accidental death by ANY kind of gun control, I’d be all for it- but logic and common sense make it clear that private ownership and use of firearms deters far more crime than it allows.

There are few issues on which I’m agnostic. I do have some fairly strong opinions on just about everything, but I don’t have any of those opinions carved in a great big pillar of granite.

Well, that’s not exactly true. I think it’s evil to commit harm on a child. I think it’s wrong to willfully destroy someone’s innocence. I believe that if you see suffering and you don’t make some effort to diminish it, it is as if you caused the suffering yourself. I believe you give the respect you get. Maybe those things are written in stone.

There’s a lot of things I have to learn. Almost everything, in fact. But I keep my eyes open.

One of the things i find, as i watch human nature (and that is the most fascinating subject, to me) is that the more strident someone is about their particular ideology, the more likely it is to be bunkum. I’m not particularly strident about our Representative Republic, because it often sucks goat asshole, as it does now. But I also see it as preferable to anything anyone else has put forth, and so far, only Roberta has been able to be civil about it. I have tried to engage her at her blog, which has caused a shitstorm, so I stopped, and I don’t blamje her for not wanting to come here. If someone could convince me in terms I can understand that Anarchy hs merit, I would be the biggest (by volume) anarchist in the world, but so far, all anyone else has to offer is rancor.

Likewise, if there were Muslims who could convince me that islam was a religion of peace, I would be fighting right alongside them, (No, the irony of that statement is not lost on me) if I could be convinced that Apple computers were superior in any way that was useful to me, I’d be doing this on one now, etc. etc. etc.

I’m a pretty simple guy. (duh, read the blog) but I know this: If it looks like a duck &etc.

My instincts have yet to prove wrong.