About Steve

I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. My dad was a sailor in the US Navy and my mom was a japanese immigrant. We lived in military housing the first few years of my life. We only had my dad's military income to depend upon, so we didn't have much.

I started kindergarten in Yokohama, Japan. My dad moved us there while he did his time in Vietnam so that he could visit us on his time off. Much of my life was spent growing up in California, however. I lived in Vallejo for awhile, and in San Diego too. I lived in trendy Orange County, and in the blue collar Inland Empire. I've pretty much seen most of California traveling up and down and all around.

If there is anyone in my life that influenced me the most, it was my mother. She certainly did not have it easy in her life. Having been abandoned by her mom at age 10, and then being abused by her grandfather for the next 6 years, she ran away from home at age 16. She taught herself how to survive on the streets of Tokyo, taking jobs whereever she could, saving her money, until she eventually got her own place, and afforded her own luxuries. She taught me to be the same way, to be persistent, patient, and even ruthless when the situation calls for it.

My life's experiences have shaped my political and social thinking. When I turned 18, I registered to vote as a Republican, and voted for Reagan. Since then, I read about Thomas Jefferson and the libertarian philosophy. I re-registered to vote as a Libertarian, but learned that many people in the Libertarian Party are actually pacifists, as opposed to real "libertarians". A real libertarian understands that Liberty must be fought for and protected at all costs, even if it means having to take proactive military action against those who seek to destroy us. If America falls, then who else will give us Liberty?

About Dave

My upbringing was strictly middle class. I grew up in the northern New Jersey suburbs, graduated from Seton Hall University with a B.S. in Business and worked in New York City for a media company until very recently. I was in NYC on September 11, 2001 and although many miles from ground zero, I knew a few people who perished in the attack. Beyond knowing specific individuals, I live my daily life in a town that lost 36 people in the attacks. It is impossible to go to little league games and not think about September 11.

Historically my interest in politics has been limited. I was probably a liberal early on because I grew up in the 60s and 70s under the shadow of Vietnam. I had a high school teacher who told me that one of my sisters was the first "hippy" in the school. I remember the battles between my father and sisters over what constituted acceptable clothing for school as well as many other issues I knew nothing about. I also recall one of my birthdays during the Vietnam War when two of my sisters made me a tie-died shirt, angering my father for reasons I did not understand.

In high school and then college I guess I believed what I was told by my teachers and what I heard from the media. I registered to vote as an independent when I turned 18 and have voted in every major election since. I have voted for as many Democrats as Republicans for the office of President and even voted once for neither of the above. I'm more of a pragmatist than an idealist but I do think people should "do well" in the world. My problem comes when doing well doesn't get the desired result and costs me a lot personally.

I would say that, since September 11, I have become much more conservative politically. I once heard it said that a conservative is nothing more than a liberal who has been mugged. I guess I feel as if I was mugged on September 11 although I am acutely aware that many, many others were murdered.

I feel that those of us who mostly don't think about politics much or don't feel the need to voice an opinion must now become more active. My main reason for participating in this little experiment / quasi-blog / web site is in recent years I have become more and more aware of the bias found in mainstream media. Rathergate was the final straw for me. Between September 11 and the exposure of real media bias, I find that I can no longer be a politically passive person. I don't think any of us can afford to be in this day.