Five things from wasabi_poptart
Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.
1. Taxes
This is what distinguishes me from the classic libertarians I hang around with. I like liberty and human rights and freedom to travel, consume, speak as I wish, defend myself, etc. but I really don't have a problem paying taxes so that those who were born or wind up less fortunate than I am can do their thing too. I'm glad there are outspoken people who protest against taxes and keep us out of a full-on income redistribution in this country, but also I'm glad that an elected and accountable government is maintaining our parks, schools, and roads, and has the money to do it.
2. Photography
If you didn't get it right in the field, don't touch it up in post-edit. Photography is about capturing what you see, not what you wish you saw or wish you could have captured. That's a different kind of art. Folks don't like to argue with me about this, and I have thousands and thousands of pictures that people enjoy that are exactly the way I caught them using only the settings of my camera at the moment I took them.
3. Firearms
Love em. Think (almost) everyone should have some. Thinks anyone who wants to regulate or is afraid of firearms should take a training class and go out with a responsible friend who enjoys them. In the Supreme Court case Castle Rock vs. Gonzales they determined that individual police protection isn't a constitutional right even with a restraining order. The police exist to protect the public good not the individual. If you leave your safety exclusively to the police, you are leaving it to folks who have an interest but not an obligation to protect you. The obligation remains yours.
4. Che Guevara
If you watch Firefly, you'll remember the episode "Jaynestown." At the very end, Mal Reynolds says to Jayne Cobb, "It's my estimation that every man ever got a statue made of him was one kind of sommbitch or another. Ain't about you, Jayne. It's about what they need." For everyone who has a silkscreen of his high-contrast face on their tee shirt, he's what they need. What they do with that is up to them.
5. Ham Radio
It's not dying, but the participants are. Today has me a little melancholy about this topic. In going through my e-mail I found out that back in January a fellow by the name of Guy Falcioni, callsign K2IH, passed away at the age of 85. This is the guy I consider to be my "elmer" in ham radio, having explained a lot about radio, on-air etiquette, and all manner of nuances of communication when I got my ham license at 16. He's part of the generation of radio operators that got entranced by radio during the war or finding employment as radio engineers or electronics technicians. And slowly but surely, they are becoming "silent keys."
1. Taxes
This is what distinguishes me from the classic libertarians I hang around with. I like liberty and human rights and freedom to travel, consume, speak as I wish, defend myself, etc. but I really don't have a problem paying taxes so that those who were born or wind up less fortunate than I am can do their thing too. I'm glad there are outspoken people who protest against taxes and keep us out of a full-on income redistribution in this country, but also I'm glad that an elected and accountable government is maintaining our parks, schools, and roads, and has the money to do it.
2. Photography
If you didn't get it right in the field, don't touch it up in post-edit. Photography is about capturing what you see, not what you wish you saw or wish you could have captured. That's a different kind of art. Folks don't like to argue with me about this, and I have thousands and thousands of pictures that people enjoy that are exactly the way I caught them using only the settings of my camera at the moment I took them.
3. Firearms
Love em. Think (almost) everyone should have some. Thinks anyone who wants to regulate or is afraid of firearms should take a training class and go out with a responsible friend who enjoys them. In the Supreme Court case Castle Rock vs. Gonzales they determined that individual police protection isn't a constitutional right even with a restraining order. The police exist to protect the public good not the individual. If you leave your safety exclusively to the police, you are leaving it to folks who have an interest but not an obligation to protect you. The obligation remains yours.
4. Che Guevara
If you watch Firefly, you'll remember the episode "Jaynestown." At the very end, Mal Reynolds says to Jayne Cobb, "It's my estimation that every man ever got a statue made of him was one kind of sommbitch or another. Ain't about you, Jayne. It's about what they need." For everyone who has a silkscreen of his high-contrast face on their tee shirt, he's what they need. What they do with that is up to them.
5. Ham Radio
It's not dying, but the participants are. Today has me a little melancholy about this topic. In going through my e-mail I found out that back in January a fellow by the name of Guy Falcioni, callsign K2IH, passed away at the age of 85. This is the guy I consider to be my "elmer" in ham radio, having explained a lot about radio, on-air etiquette, and all manner of nuances of communication when I got my ham license at 16. He's part of the generation of radio operators that got entranced by radio during the war or finding employment as radio engineers or electronics technicians. And slowly but surely, they are becoming "silent keys."