Dave

My hobbies include traveling around Planet Earth and visiting other countries, taking photos, and having fun! I love to hike down wilderness trails, climb mountains, explore city streets on foot (especially in other countries), and swim or snorkel in the ocean. During the summer of 2005, for instance, I went back to China for the second time and spent over a month touring the country & exploring the nightlife. This past summer I went to Ireland and England, marking my fifth visit to Europe.



Though I love my country, I have become very concerned as of late by highly reckless, poorly planned, U.S. military actions and counterproductive foreign policy decisions. I strongly support multilateral (and preferably peaceful) solutions to global problems. It's high time that we started demonstrating some evidence of patriotism for Planet Earth.



Speaking of Planet Earth, I am very concerned about the deteriorating state of our natural environment. Too many politicians have turned their back on the scientific evidence and refused to take meaningful steps to deal with such urgent, interrelated problems as global warming, deforestation. and air and water pollution.

I am strongly committed to cultural diversity and often volunteer my time in support of various human rights causes and related movements. I am particularly concerned about widespread homelessness, disease, hunger, and starvation (with millions of children dying needlessly each year), as well as senseless state-sponsored violence including such terrible injustices as genocide, the death penalty, and torture of prisoners.

I opposed the invasion of Iraq from the very beginning and blame the Bush Administration for turning that country into a major quagmire for our country and our troops. It's time to bring our troops home from Iraq as quickly as possible, before things get even worse and create more problems for the U.S.

With presidential lies and scandals galore, mounting federal deficits and tax cuts for the rich, homeland insecurity and fear mongering, civil liberties trampled upon, stolen elections, race baiting and gay bashing, and corporations (especially Big Oil) allowed to gouge consumers and pollute our environment to an unprecedented degree, the Bush Administration is bound to go down as the worst in American history.

Why can't we all just respect and appreciate each other, no matter what our national origin, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, disability, social class, or sexual orientation?

There's way too much racism, ethnocentrism, sexism, and heterosexism in the U.S. today. It's high time that we ended all such forms of discrimination in this country and around the world.

Over 200 towns and cities across the U.S. have non-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation (along with race, ethnicity, color, sex, creed, disability, religion, etc). Unfortunately, my adopted town of Fort Dodge, Iowa has not yet adopted such a law, though it has been proposed. It's only fair and just to add sexual orientation to the list, especially since homophobic-based discrimination often has real-life consequences for people's livelihood. The proposed law would protect people from such discrimination in employment, housing, and credit. This has become the latest example of a civil rights struggle against the privileged and theocratic status quo.

Another issue that really concerns me is the ban on gay marriage licenses. Why should gay couples be denied over 1,000 rights and privileges automatically accorded to married heterosexual couples? So many people conveniently forget that until 1967, interracial marriage was banned in many states. This current controversy is a continuation of the progressive battle for human rights and dignity

One of the worst pandemics in world history has emerged within my lifetime: AIDS. Over 40 million people across the globe are currently infected with HIV, while many politicians and religious leaders stand idly by and do very little if anything. It's time to end the silence once and for all, before it's too late.

I support peaceful social movements around the world that are designed to end oppression and bring freedom or humanitarian aid to oppressed and marginalized peoples. For example, I am a very strong supporter of Amnesty International, CARE, and the Free Tibet movement.

I understand why some folks say they vote for the person, rather than the political party. But there's really not any viable political alternative or counterweight to the bellicose, neo-conservative Republican status quo other than the Democratic party. Democrats, in contrast to Republicans, have largely opposed the reckless foreign policy and intolerant social agenda of Republicans in the White House. Thank goodness the Democrats took back the U.S. House and Senate in the most recent election, ending an out-of-control Republican monopoly on the federal government.