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.