I'm back from Oklahoma City but I ended up staying another unexpected night in Memphis. I find it hard to believe that Northwest has no fights heading east OUT OF THEIR MAJOR HUB past 1PM. So we were guessed of the city of Memphis for a night.

I got home about 1PM yesterday and immediately felt sick to the stomach. I was wasted from the travel and stress but my lovely wife and two sons made me feel right at home. It's good to have a family to come home to.

Try as I might I just couldn't stay wake for John Kerry's entrance. I was watching Max Cleland's introduction and I guess I dosed off. It was 10:15 by the time Sue joined me downstairs and nudged me awake. She knew I would have been furious with myself for missing the whole thing. I feel that as a citizen, I have a duty to watch BOTH conventions and listen to BOTH sets of ideas. All voters should.

Over the years I've become much more moderate on the topics of the day and part of that reasoning is that I study both sides of the issue. In looking for what's right and wrong on any given issue I'm finding that the truth is becoming clearer. Still, I like to test my finding by listening to the other side to ensure they haven't uncovered any contradictions in my positions (truth being the absence of contradictions).

It is so, so true that Republicans attack problems logically and that Democrats attack problems emotionally. You wonder why there is such an even politican slip in a population of 270 million? For that matter, why is half the population male and the other female (close enough anyway)? I'm guessing it's for balance. The world needs people that think with their head as well as those that think with their hearts. Problem is that the thinking with your hearts crowd is the more dangerous because their rhetoric can't be debated. How to you debate a feeling?

Anyway, I got a little side-tracked. Where was I? Oh yes, contradictions. I have one position I'm finding it hard to maintain as it does still have a number of contradictions that make me think maybe I have yet to find the truth. That issue is gay marriage. This is not an issue like abortion that is clear cut and dry. This one, gay marriage, does not physically hurt anyone and can only be resisted on both emotional and moral levels; not a logical one. It is NOT discrimination but it is a restriction of freedom of choice. I'm not sure where I'm going with my position but even though I am with the majority on this issue the majority is not always right. A positions is only right (or true) when all contradictions have been removed.

Oh, and in case you can't tell, I'm currently reading Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." What is REALLY scary is watching Democratic Convention with this book on your mind. You can just see each of these people in the roles of the antagonists. You want to know what I fear? The phrase "from each according to his ability to each according to his need." Watch Kerry's speech again and you know why I shutter in fear that he may win.

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