(1) I watch the world from a right-leaning libertarian vantage point, as you'll see at my popular blog, Right And Wrong. (Clicking the link won't take you away from Free Republic; the blog will open in a new window.)

I'm a fan of measured, reasoned debate. I'm not a fan of shrill, knee-jerk opinions or blind partisanship. I tend to dismiss those who play politics for the sake of the politics rather than principle. Politics can be enjoyable sport, and it's OK to root for our chosen team -- but it's always crucial to remember why we chose that team in the first place. Winning is of no use if it does nothing to advance philosophical goals. Just as the world is full of blind-faith Democrats, it is full of Republicans who will pull the "REPUBLICAN" voting lever no matter what, who will not tolerate criticism of the party or its leaders. They become so caught up in politics-as-sport they are willing to win even as they lose their own critical-thinking faculties. For these sorts of folks I have no use.

I also have no use for those who distort the names of our opponents — "Hitlerly Clinton," for instance, or "Demoncrats." Not only do these slurs do little to advance debate, they can in fact hurt the cause, because they send a signal to others that their user has nothing of actual substance to contribute to the conversation at hand. The purpose of debate is to persuade. Name-calling, no matter how clever the pun, does nothing to persuade. For me, phrases such as "Hitlery" at least serve as handy indicators that a post can be skipped.

I have largely supported President Bush — particularly in the War on Islamic Fascism — but am disappointed in many of his domestic economic policies. The president's second inauguration address was a masterpiece of liberty rhetoric; I am hopeful that he follows the words with action.

(2) There is no "War in Iraq," nor is there a "War in Afghanistan." There is a War on Islamic Fascism, popularly known as the "War on Terrorism." Iraq and Afghanistan are two battles in this war. They are not isolated from one another; they are campaigns in the bigger war. This distinction is not merely semantic; it is an essential point, and we all should take care to properly frame Afghanistan and Iraq within this appropriate context. The Battle of Afghanistan and the Battle of Iraq are merely the opening salvos in a war to preserve American liberties.

It is irrelevant that the "global community" does not understand this. The United States is the place where the world's freedom-lovers have been migrating for several centuries, so it not surprising that those who stayed behind are of a different nature and cannot grasp the true nature of the war.

(3) Go, Tar Heels. At this writing (January 2005), I am predicting a berth for the University of North Carolina in this season's NCAA basketball championship game.

(4) I do not think Social Security should be "privatized"; I think Social Security should be abandoned. It is perhaps the most egregious violation of individual liberty in American history. While the United States must honor the promise it has made to current contributors and retirees, the program must otherwise be phased out entirely. Stealing from each other via "payroll taxes" is not necessary for protecting the elderly and disabled.

I think the National Labor Relations Act should be repealed. It is not the federal government's place to strip rights from one arbitrarily defined group of individuals ("employers") in favor of another ("employees"). Labor unions have a right to exist. Employers have a right to hire and fire whom they wish. In a free society, government does not have the right to intrude into these matters.

I am an adamant supporter of intellectual-property rights. Creators own their creations, and thus retain exclusive distribution rights. I am appalled by those who believe that simply because it's now easy to copy and paste the work of others, that it is OK to do so. I find it disheartening that many otherwise intelligent people are generally ignorant of basic copyright principles.

I am vehemently opposed to the common Free Republic practice of reproducing copyrighted material in its entirety without permission of the work's owners. This practice is legally and morally wrong. The rationalizations used to justify this practice often reveal both tortured logic and a misapprehension of such concepts as fair use.

(5) At my blog, Right And Wrong, I'm occasionally joined by a guest poster, code name Officer Friendly. I'm her (much) older brother; she's a college student who is valiantly holding up the conservative cause at her quite liberal university. She is a young right-winger who deserves kudos and support. If you visit Right And Wrong, please look for the posts of Officer Friendly and let her know she's doing a good job.

Again, you can visit Right And Wrong at http://rightandwrong.typepad.com. To bookmark the site, simply right-click on this link and then click "Add to Favorites": Right And Wrong.

(6) I am a longtime Free Republic visitor, and over the years have posted as well (under a different handle, I should add for the sake of preventing any graybearded confusion). I find many of the users here to be smart, witty and provocative. The debate is reliably lively, and there is a welcoming spirit, a commitment to truth, that is a welcome respite from other Internet forums. Free Republic has a stealthy but immeasurable influence on the wider Internet dialogue, one that — not surprisingly — is often ignored by mainstream media.

I do find Free Republic to be one of the more poorly designed sites of its kind of the Web; indeed, there is probably no site this popular that is this badly constructed. It can be extraordinarily difficult to navigate, structured in a way that is maddeningly counterintuitive. Links often lead to internal pages without a simple path back out; there is no consistent logic to the interface; simple HTML coding is made unnecessarily cumbersome when posting; the site's main pages are dizzyingly cluttered. From an aesthetic and functional point of view, the site seems to be stuck in an Internet time warp circa 1996.

Despite its reputation as a design nightmare, the quality of the content saves the site and makes Free Republic a reliably alluring place to visit.

(7) "Semolina Pilchard" is a nickname. I am a 30-something male. Greetings, Beatles fans — you already know what the handle is all about.

Best wishes to all!