I have lived in northern Virginia for almost all of my life - long enough that I do not truly remember living anywhere else, though I was technically born in Maryland. I was raised to be Catholic by my parents. The faith, however, was never really something forced on me, but is a part of my life that has only grown in importance as I have grown older and more independent. As a result of this, and of the fact that I have always been an avid reader, I have studied the teaching of the Church more than many of the Catholics I come into contact with. I do not consider myself an expert, merely a well informed amateur theologian.
I am also a geek. I avoid Microsoft Windows®, preferring to use Linux, or, when that is not a viable option, MacOSX. This aspect of my personality is most noticeable here in the fact that I have set up my own log rather than using a service, and in my color scheme, which reflects my preference for light text on a dark background, something that is significantly easier on the eyes when you use a computer as much as I do. Beyond these marginal impacts however, this aspect of my personality shows up relatively little in these pages. The occasional post where I mention my open source work, or the odd post where I criticize some politicianâs or punditâs cluelessness or inaccuracy in dealing with technical matters. Despite the fact that this site is primarily on other matters, I was at one point a senior member of the Pidgin project, with considerable influence within that project, and at least a little in the open source world in general. When I do speak on technical matters, I bring the full weight of many years of participation in open source, system administration, tech support, and programming behind me.
Still, as I alluded above, this site is and will almost certainly continue to be primarily focused on other matters. Religion and politics are my favorite themes, with science close behind them. I consider these the two most important topics that I could discuss, and the two that people are least likely to actually think about. Since our inception as a nation, the people of the United States have somehow migrated from being involved in the political and religious life of their communities and states, to being not only apathetic, but to resisting debate on the issues of the day with their family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. I believe this does a disservice to the country at large. If democracy is to work, we must be an informed and concerned people, not one blindly trusting to the ideas of our party.
I am still registered Republican but find myself increasingly at odds with both main stream parties. This is in part due to the fact that first and foremost a Catholic. I believe that morality, perhaps especially faith-based morality, should and perhaps even must inform the decisions we make and the votes we cast in the political sphere. While governance can never be legitimately used to enforce membership in a given Church, nor to attempt to enforce the full richness of the morality a given Church professes and teaches, any election or ballot is necessarily an act of raw force in support of or in opposition to a position that is rooted in a particular view of the world. Laws forbidding murder are an easy example of this. Some world views, such as the radical Muslim one, would argue for less universality here, so as to allow for the âhonor killingsâ that can be seen in parts of the Muslim world. Other world views, such as my own, argue against abortion on the grounds that it is murder. But even such things as the environment or social welfare policies are dependent on the worldview of the people, though they can be and often are legitimately disagreed on by members of my own Church and faith.
Also of great importance in my life is my beloved wife, Lauren. She brings light and joy to my life beyond measure. She stands in stark contrast to the pessimism and cynicism which has permeated much of my outlook.
My views will necessarily permeate this site. While I welcome honest discussion, I have not implemented comments. This is because I do not have the time to moderate and censor any attacks against me, rather than my views, or to censor any post containing profanity, obscenity, or other objectionable content. Additionally, I do not have the time to keep comments free of the spam which is increasingly attempting to find its way into sites of this sort. This site is not a democracy, but is rather my âsoapboxâ from which to speak. You are free to set up a site of your own and respond to me in your own fashion there if you do not like my rules.