And so it begins...

America the beautiful, the land where dreams are born, the melting pot of the world, let me begin by saying how much I love my country and how proud I am of how far she has come. She has made a few mistakes, treated native peoples poorly, started unfortunate wars or stayed out of necessary ones, but she has always been guided by a strong constitution and the belief that we are the land of opportunity. Now more than ever in the year 2008, we need to remember our principled beginnings as we face challenges that would have made the founding fathers blanch. We have learned that pollution can have a permanent and lasting effect on our environment. We are sadly reminded that the fuel types our economy is mostly based on are finite. The internet and its related technologies have not only been proven incredibly powerful tools, but have also challenged our views on the right to privacy, intellectual property rights, and a slew of other issues. I don't have the answer to all these recent conundrums but I have some common sense and a keyboard. I am not afraid to use either.