Why politics?

I actually debated whether or not to put a "political" page on my web site since politics can be far too divisive. Also, in this area it seems that people frequently question the character of those who disagree with them. It can't just be that there are "differences of opinion," there has to be some moral or intellectual flaw(s) in the "opponent."

Additionally, as you can see by the menu choices to the left, religion is also important to me. I worry that someone who opposes my political thoughts might then discount my theological ones (or even worse, that my ideas somehow might reflect badly on God).

However, the web site would be an incomplete picture of me without politics. Not because I'm active in them (although I did run for school board once -- losing), but because my dad involved me in it at an early age, and I follow the subject pretty diligently.

Random Thoughts

Sunday, January 12, 2003
New Internet Pedophile Defense

On Friday, January, 10, 2003 a former Presbyterian minister, Jonathan Gerstner, 45, was acquitted of charges stemming from setting up a date with a supposed 13-year-old Internet acquaintance. His defense? He figured she was just and adult acting out a fantasy when he set up the date for sex.

So, from no on, until actually caught in the act of statutory rape of a minor, pedophiles should just claim they thought it was an adult all along. Perhaps extortionists should insist that they thought the victim wanted to give them the money, or drug purchasers claim that they thought the dealer was going to give them powdered sugar instead...

Although I originally read the article in the Washington Times, here is an on-line link to the story:

http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.gerstner11jan11.story

(As an "in all fairness" addendum, Gerstner probably had convincing testimony as to why he figured it was an woman -- and may have believed so. However, do we honestly think he wouldn't have gone through with it if "jennifer000013" had turned out to be a teenager instead of the police?)

Thursday, November 28, 2002
"Squash You Like a Bug"

Regarding Arnold Schwarzenegger:
"Whatever the Terminator is, he is not a wimp. When Maria Shriver told her family that she would marry a ruff-and-tuff Republican, she was ready for the incredulity. 'I don't want you to think of him as a Republican,' she said, 'I want you to think of him as the man I love. Or if not that, think of him as someone who could squash you like a bug.'"
From "Not a dreamboat, a bug-squasher" column, "Pruden on Politics" by Wesley Pruden
The Washington Times, Tuesday, November 26, 2002