Where I'm at...

The main reason I started a blog is to get my thoughts and opinions down on paper (so to speak), to give my ideas room to breath, to see if they can stand the light of day. As such I will mostly be writing off the top of my head, and this blog will mostly be about what I think and feel, not what others say about things. That is not to say I won't occasionally be posting about what others say, but this blog will mostly be about my ideas. (Yes, you can say it. Gods, what an ego!)

So this is as good a time as any to let you know what some of my general opinions are, to see where I am coming from. Politically I am to the right, mostly conservative with a strong libertarian streak ( I will save my rant on the idiocy of the left/right political paradigm for another time), I am as close to a free speech absolutist as you can be without actually yelling FIRE! in a crowded theatre, I am a believer in original intent when it comes to the Constitution (living breathing documents scare the crap out of me), I am a firm believer in a strong, effective defense (military rant forthcoming), and I don't particularly care who or what an adult sleeps with, as long as all the partners are willing and of age. I also believe in holding adults responsible for their actions, something that seems unfashionable these days. I am a believer in as open as possible immigration, but WITHIN THE LAW. I am totally against illegal immigration (stay tuned for another rant).

On the hot button topics of the day, here is my brief description of where I am on them;
Abortion: Against (but not for the reasons you might assume)
The Iraq War: For (reasons will be given in a forthcoming rant)
Death Penalty: For (with restrictions)
Gay Marriage: Against (again, not for the reasons you might assume)
Illegal Immigration: very much Against
Bush: For (with reservations)

There you go, just some of the random thoughts running around in my head. Discuss...

I came across this post...

About the Geneva Convention, and how it should be applied to the treatment of people captured in the current conflict. http://elronsviewfromtheedge.blogspot.com/2006/04/geneva-conventions.html
My comment was about how the signers never meant the Convention to apply in these circumstances, and how the protections provided in the document only applied to uniformed personnel. The writers response was indicative of my previous post about not being able to follow arguments.

If you want to create a document giving rights to ANY combatants, whether or not they are in uniform and representing a sovereign nation or not, go right ahead and propose one. I'm sure the UN would love to have the debate, make the vote, and ignore the results as completely as they do any of the myriad of other "Declarations of Rights" that they have voted on in the past. But don't twist a document that was meant for a very specific purpose, that of protecting soldiers, and preventing the worst atrocities that could occur when countries go to war.

The idea that the Geneva Convention should apply to any combatant, in any circumstance, is ridiculous at its very core. There are a large number of circumstances where treating enemy combatants would be counterproductive. For example; the German sabateurs during WWII that were captured and summarily executed. If you apply civilized rules of treatment to uncivilized methods and the perpetrators of said methods, soon you will have the very chaos and mayhem that the original document was trying to mitigate. There would be no incentive to follow any rules in conducting warfare, forcing the entire world to lower its behavior to the lowest common denominator, simply to survive, turning the clock back to a time when atrocity was the rule in warfare, not something most tried to avoid. In my opinion a bad idea all around, but I guess others will agree to disagree...

"What We've Got Here Is..."

I've been reading, and commenting, on blogs since I found my first one, several years ago. I have always been struck by the amount of supposedly literate people who can't follow a simple argument. This blog is my little contribution to this problem. Here I will lay out my (often twisted) beliefs, thoeries, and commentaries on politics, current events, pop culture, and whatever else catches my interest. Some of the language will be harsh, some of the opinions put forth here will offend, and most of the writing will be atrocious. You have been warned.