Mission
Statement:
To provide a source for basic knowledge about the
country in which I live; The United States of
America. And to attempt to put forth my own ideas about what
is true and what must be held most dearly to those that live by my
side.This site
is a repository for MY thoughts and beliefs. This site's purpose
is to act as a general reminder to myself that day in and day out,
despite the flaws, I still live in the greatest country on the face of
this planet. It has also been compiled to educate people
concerning American history and even simpler things like what the
actual words
to the Pledge of Allegiance are. It never ceases to amaze me how
many people continue to botch it.
F.A.Q.
Q. What is the difference between "Editorials" and "Papers"?
A. An editorial is usually an off the cuff response to something that I feel is important enough to respond to right now. Papers on the other hand are thought out pieces that often go through 2 or even 3 drafts before I publish them. While an editorial and a paper may respond to several of the same issues, the thought process is entirely different. Editorials are meant to be more about current events while papers are generally about more broad ranging ideals although do sometimes cite current events as their basis and are designed to inspire thought on a deeper level about the deeper and core principles upon which this nation was founded.
Q. Why does the sight seem to focus on Conservative ideas more than Liberal ones?
A. I do not believe this. In fact I consider myself a civil libertarian and a constitutionalist for a great extent of my beliefs. Now, if you speak of what I like to refer to as Modern Liberalism (which is actually Socialism, Marxism, etc.) then no; I do not agree with 99% of it. It just so happens that often times conservative, librertarian and constitutional ideals cross each others paths a lot more than modern liberalism does. Conservativism is not really a belief system like being a constitutionalist is. Conservativism is more of a methodology to me than anything else. Conservativism is how I interperate our founding documents and aspects of life today. I believe that words mean specific things and I do not often look to stretch a word's meaning to come to a particular outcome I desire which is what I believe Liberalism does. And I think that is very dangerous.
Q. Can I use a quote or excerpt from anything on this web site?
A. Depends. Much of the content here is not mine. Many of them are links to other resources and information that I have drawn from other sources (and hopefully cited properly - if you find an error, please let me know so I can correct it). Anything that is of my own creation you are free to use with the following 2 caveats. First, you email me and let me know that you are going to use something. This is just so I know what is going on and am not blind sided when some one says "so-and-so has your stuff on his web site". Second is that you use the information and my work accurately. I do not tolerate for being misquoted or slandered or libeled. See also Reprint Policy.
Q. I have found an error with something on your site. What do I do?
A. Any errors can be e-mailed to me, with corrections and properly sourced. Realize that many things on this site are opinions. Just because you don't agree with them does not necessarily make them wrong. PLEASE make sure you provide either an internet link or a scanned copy of all source material. DO NOT provide me with your own personal transcription, I will not even look at it as it is too easy for one to falsify these things.
Q. Can I use the Vigilance Alert Status Monitor on my website?
A. Yes. I do not proclaim to be the originator of such an idea however I have not seen another to this date and the one that is of my design you may use along the same rules as anything else form this site with one exception. I have created a secondary version of the monitor which you can down load here. This version of the monitor is exactly the same in that it always flashes "ETERNAL" however I have added my current website URL to the bottom. You may not edit this image to remove the webiste address and I also request that you create a link to this site using the image as the target. Please note that I consider this as an advertisement for my site and I reserve the right to deny usage to any site that does not meet with my approval such as, but not limited to sites that include pornography, libel and other dubious content.
You can also get a horizontal version of the vigilance alert meter by clicking here.
Q. I don't understand the meaning of the Vigilance Alert Monitor can you please explain it?
A. The monitor is a visual take off on the old saying "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." It is a reminder of that and was inspired by the terrorism alert status that was instituted after 911. It never shows any status except for "eternal" because we must not ever be anything less than eternally vigilance.
Q. Do you have any products for sale?
A. No, not at this time. Nor do I generally promote any products for sale. Believe me, I get several requests a week asking me to sell this or put a link to that on my site but I am very picky about such things. Usually the products that people ask me to promote are shotty t-shirts with poor graphics or other such junk and I reject them outright.
Q. How often are new papers posted?
A. Depends. I have a regular job, and this is not it. I write editorials and papers when the mood strikes me. Many times when something is covered by another source, rather than rehashing it over and over I will provide a link to it. Often times they have researched the topic better than I ever could with a full time job and family responsibilities anyway.
Q. How often are new links added?
A. Depends. Once again I link to something when I feel that it is pertinent. Weeks could go by without me linking or citing another source and then I could put up 3 in a single day. Linking is a new feature as of September 20, 2002 so it may take some time before you see a sizable amount of them out there.
Q. What happened to your editorials prior to 5/1/02?
A. Lost. I hadn't maintained this site for several years since I was in college in the mid 90's and I foolishly did not back up my data. Although I thought I had, I must be going senile. I went back to the original host when I went to start it back up but apparently they had deleted my account for inactivity. I am not going to attempt to recreate any of the old works. It is my belief that things are never as good the second time around anyway and even though I remember the topics, I don't want to run the risk of allowing events that have happened since then to taint the words. Probably over the coming months you will see many of the old topics revisited and updated anyway so it won't matter a whole heck of a lot. If anyone out there happened to print off any of the old editorials, please email them to me! (P.S. Mike, you know who you are, I know you had some and if you still have them cough them up man : ) )
Q. What is your policy on allowing others to reprint your work?
A. Generally speaking my policy is that for internet sites you should be happy with simply linking to the root files on this site. If you feel that you really MUST reprint any of my work on another site for whatever reason my policy will vary depending upon the type of site you operate and will be handled on a case by case basis. Such results may include, but are not limited to: allowing the repint with accurate citation and link to the original source, one time usage fees, free site advertisement, and so on.
For non-internet based sites, again, it will depend on the type of usage and I will make these determinations on a case by case basis.