A new place to share what is important to me

After many times reading political blogs and news sites I have decided to parse what is important to me into my own little blog.    This is basically a way for me to express my beliefs; nothing more.  I have no aspiration to become Arriana Huffington, Glenn Beck, or any other blowhard political commentator.

About Me

I am a male, I live in the Rocky Mountains, and have traveled all over the US and parts of the world.  I have been employed in many industries and professions.  I graduated college, and have owned my own business for several years.  Even as a business owner I work other jobs so that I can afford to live the American Dream (house, retirement, vacations, etc)
    I favor no political party.  I support abortion, firearms, small government, and and want to leave a healthy environment for our children and so forth.  This may seem a little Libertarian, but unlike the Libertarians i believe that we need a strong international presence, but not one that invades foreign countries for dubious reasons.  I also believe that we need to protect OUR country, but not at the expense of countries less fortunate then us.  While I feel that we need to be involved in the international community I don't think that we have to blindly follow Europe, the UN, IMF, NATO, etc.  We have an obligation as a great nation to help developing countries, primarily African nations, but we also have to face OUR problems of poverty and lack of education in our country as well.
      I don't support our current president, nor did I support the last one.  I believe they both ultimately have been backed into the corner by the same people.  I feel like our system of banking and governemnt are largely one and the same.  After GW's TARP and now Obama's banking 'regulations' I am wondering the White House is nothing more than a branch office of Wall Street? 
    Our nation encompasses an enormous amount of space, arid desert, high peaks, temperate rain forests, glaciers, high plains, lowlands, marshes, deltas, etc.  We need to protect these the best we can.  Part of the problem of having such a large country is that people needs and views vary from region to region.  A person in New York has little understanding of water conservation compared to a person from Colorado or Nevada.  A person in Pennsylvania views of immigration will differ greatly than a person in Arizona, New Mexico, or California.  Our nation has so many sub groups and cultures; this is one of our greatest strengths but also can be one of our greatest hurdles.  In our nation's short life we have gone from subjects of the British crown to an independent nation, to a nation built on slavery, to a state of prohibition, to a world superpower (militarily and economically), to a nation that tries to give equality to everyone.  We have come a long ways, but still have a lot to work on.

Below are some of the reason that I am doing this;

• I have become disenfranchised with our politcal system.  It has become nothing more than a high school popularity contest.  Our political parties spend more time discrediting each other than working for the people.
• Our country has largely become a nation of lazy slobs.  More people care about American Idol than what their politicians are doing
• We have 2 dominant, if not exclusive parties in our government; neither cares about the people.  There are exceptions in each party, but largely they care about 1) votes 2) kickbacks 3)consulting or book deals at the end of their public service career.
• We are in the depths of an economic calamity.  Some say depression, some say recession.  This all is semantics.  The end result is that we are loosing jobs to other nations, people have lived on credit too long and are now paying the price.  I am no econimist, but have education in business and finance.  My education and life experience does not qualify me as an expert on much of anything, but does allow me to have an opinion on the things I see and experience in my daily life
• Our nation is facing an energy crisis.  Peak oil is near if not passed, we have the 'Drill baby, Drill' crowd on one end and the 'No Energy Production' crowd on the other.  In reality as a nation of consumers and industry we need a compromise that will allow us to sustain and grow as a nation and an economy.  
• I can't stand the cheerleaders from the Left or Right.

I  am unsure of what and when I will post, but look for article and links to stuff like:

• Federal Reserve
• Constitutional Infringments
• Environmental Issues
• US policy, both foreign and domestic
• Sarcasm
• YOUR content