Well, now this is interesting...

Well, according to the Guardian newspaper, Vladimir Putin Supports Bush for President, which is quite interesting considering that he was against the war in Iraq:

The endorsement was a significant boost for Mr Bush who has been
under fire from John Kerry for failing to maintain international support for the
US "war on terror".

"International terrorists have set as their goal inflicting the
maximum damage to Bush, to prevent his election to a second term," the Russian
president said at a central Asian summit in Tajikistan.

"If they succeed in doing that, they will celebrate a victory
over America and over the entire anti-terror coalition. In that case, this would
give an additional impulse to international terrorists and to their activities,
and could lead to the spread of terrorism to other parts of the world." He added
he would respect "any choice by the American people".

It was by far his strongest endorsement of Mr Bush to date, and the most
direct intervention in the race so far by a foreign leader.
[Emphasis Mine - D]

Strangely, halfway through the article, it goes on to talk about a completely unrelated, seemingly editorial rant about a Bush appearance saying:

The endorsement came as Mr Bush regained a small but significant
lead in the polls after his mediocre performance in the three debates with Mr
Kerry, and on a day when he accused his rival of retreat in the war on terror,
playing on memories of the September 11 2001 terror attacks in the hopes of
plucking off the reliably Democratic state of New Jersey.

New Jersey lost
nearly 700 citizens when hijacked planes struck the World Trade Centre, and the
president's visit to the southern parts of the state was aimed at exploiting
strong fears of another attack.

I may be seeing too much into this, but isn't it curious how they seem to talk about Bush's reminding New Jersey citizens about 9/11 as "exploitation strong fears" but then Kerry and Edwards' supporters saying that the US's War on Iraq is being mismanaged by an incompetent Bush Administration isn't "exploiting strong fears" enough to be mentioned in the article?

Introduction to what will hopefully be a long-lived Soapbox

Well, first off, I wanna welcome you to my new blog. Second, I want you to know that this is my first attempt at starting a blog of my own. Primarily what has caused me to start this blog is that I have gotten so sick and tired of the lies that have been spread about my country, the United States, it's principles on economic and social liberty, and its allies and actions. These lies range from the constructively critical, yet uninformed to the most vitriolic and hateful. The first often sound like well-meaning statements from people who aren't really hateful, although some may very well be, but often sound like talking points parrotted to bolster support for their politics. Both sides of any issue do this, so don't mistake what I'm saying as painting this flaw on one particular group, but it irritates me to no end when someone says something that was merely told to them by someone in the media (Michael Moore, I'm looking at you...) or someone they know and respect and then saying it and taking it as gospel. The second, more hateful statements are often meant to play on a certain bigotry against Americans. It can be light, such as "Americans are primarily more ignorant on international and political issues than Europeans" to more hateful statements like "Americans are all bible-thumping, arrogant, ignorant nutjobs in league with the Zionist Jews who want to take over the whole world!" Speaking of Zionism, I am also going to focus on lies often told about Israel and its policies as well, as there have been many fallacious statements that have stained the reputation of a staunch US ally in the Middle East who is not actually as Nazi-like as many would have you believe. Also, these arguments have been used to spread anti-semitism and anti-Americanism through the world, and hopefully by debunking some of these arguments, we can hope to debilitate this steadily growing bigotry that is spreading and poisoning our civilization.

And as for stuff about me, well, here are some stats:

Name: Daniel
Age: 21
Place of Birth: New Jersey
Place of Current Residence: North Carolina
Education: High School Graduate, Sophomore at College
Political Affiliation: Independent, but registered Republican
Religion: Kind of struggling through that one... (note: this is NOT an invitation to Religious chain e-mails!)
Favorite News Source: Internet. There's a lot less BS going on when there isn't the entertainment-orientation of today's television news involved.
Hobbies: Watching Sci-Fi, Action, Comedy, and War Movies. Occasionally playing video games. Listening to my favorite music (as opposed to listening to music I hate, ha ha) even if the music is made by left-wing wack-jobs who are promoting the lies I hope to debunk. Sorry, Toby Keith just doesn't do it for me, along with most country music aside from Johnny Cash. I'll take Black Sabbath, Tool, and Iron Maiden over Toby Keith any given day of the week! I also like researching War, which doesn't mean I like war itself, but mostly the human drama and historical signifigance of it. Particularly, I seem to be finding myself having a lot of interest in Vietnam, perhaps my country's most misunderstood war.

Well, hopefully this introduction is satisfactory and you find my blog of some value. I'm willing to allow anyone to comment, even if they disagree with my own views, just be respectful.