I've come to realize that 99% of my beliefs and motivations can be traced back to my personality type.  If you've read those profiles, the following will come as no huge surprise.

Socially Libertarian: I stay out of people's lives until their actions affect mine.

I have a huge problem with people who "have a problem" with things that do not affect them, and who act as though everyone else's beliefs, tastes and desires should mirror their own.  In more obvious instances, these people become defensive, indignant or even hostile in the face of those who are different.  I usually attribute this reaction to the person's own ignorance and stupidity, and most of the time this observation is correct.

This is not to say that I don't judge things or people.  Sometimes it seems like that's allI do, since it is my nature to assess people, ideas and things for intellectual stimulation.  However, I try to formulate my views on such things using logic and reason rather than the prevailing social norm.  And I try my best to exempt victimless actions from moral judgement.

The bottom line: Formulating views on people or things is your right.  Pawing away at people's private lives because you've been brainwashed to think they're not normal, and because you somehow think you're the one to change them, is not right.  The idea that so many nosy, meddlesome bastards are lurking out there really pisses me off.

And while I'm on the subject...

Other people may not fit the above description, but are just as annoying.  An example off the top of my head would be the well-meaning individuals who take it upon themselves to conduct curb-side seminars and educate smokers on the dangers of their habit.  Dennis Leary had it right.  These people rank somewhere between religious proselytizers and LaRouche liberals on my scale of street-corner annoyances.

Yes, smokers are idiots.  They've smoked away thousands of packs bearing dire health warnings, so if they're so obviously indifferent when it comes to their own health, you can bet they give even less of a fuck about yours.

Spiritually Agnostic: I consider myself saved.  Saved from religion, that is.

I was raised as a Christian and believed it because, well, I didn't know anything else.  That was then.  I have no use for dogma, myths, superstition or utter fantasy.  I'm an agnostic, and I believe Western religions often serve as a crutch for weak-minded people who would rather latch onto dogmatic beliefs than think for themselves.  There are, however, plenty of thinking people who believe in intelligent design without the added folklore.  I respect them.

Most people have little control over their upbringing.  However, once one reaches adulthood there is no excuse for not subjecting those inculcated beliefs to a rigorous intellectual stress test, and jettisoning those that do not make sense.

While I try to apply reason to every aspect of my life, I do have a rather significant spiritual side that remains unknown to 99% of those who know me.  When I say "spiritual," I mean that in the emotional sense rather than the paranormal.  It manifests itself most in some of my musical tastes.

Politically Centrist: Neither Democrat nor Republican

I am a principled centrist, not because the term "centrist" has become fashionable as of late, but because when it comes to any issue, the truth generally lies somewhere between the two extremes Americans are presented with on a daily basis.

I believe the election of George W. Bush was a staggeringly depressing low point in our nation's history.  This belief is not due to my idiological beliefs, but rather, for common-sense reasons that ought to transcend party title.  I mean the following in the most objective sense: Bush was an empty suit, a cocaine-snorting draft-dodger who rode his father's coattails to a constitutionally weak governorship in Texas.  Again, I mean this in the most reasonable, even-handed way, not as some rabid, Florida-obsessed liberal.  Then Bush, with no personal history of public service, very little executive experience, an inability to even articulate a coherent paragraph, and plenty of help from cowering republicans and incompetent democrats, was able to parlay this into being elected leader of the free world.   The entire experience served as a tragic insight into the gullible state of a nation that should have known better, and parties that ought to have put forth brighter stars.

To randomly pick another view I hold, I believe that abortion kills an innocent child.  Let me say that again: abortion kills an innocent child, and I consider it morally wrong.  However, I feel just as strongly that it is not within the purview of any government to dictate what a woman can or cannot do with her body. (In my view, as long as a fetus is physically dependent on the mother's organs for life, it is part of her body.)  I also feel that if men had been designated as the sex that carries babies, there would be no question as to whether or not they had the right to abortion.  I know I'd be god damned if anybody else told me what I could and couldn't do.

The media is a monolithic mess, a scandal-obsessed institution whose decline has helped to skew Americans' sense of the world.  Take the most obvious and egregious example: cable television news.  Every day, the powers that be present idiological windbags like Phil Donahue and Sean Hannity presiding over partisan face-offs for ratings, and then claim with a straight face that they are objectively exploring The Issues.  Today's media has too much air time and too little substance.

That's all I'll write for now.  Want to discuss these views or others? Contact me.