Hello from the new guy.

"Tomorrow you're all gonna wake up in a brave new world, a world where the constitution gets trampled by an army of terrorists clones created in a stem cell research lab run by homosexual doctors who sterilize their instruments over burning American flags, where tax-and-spend Democrats take all your hard-earned money and use it to buy electric cars for National Public Radio and teach evolution to illegal immigrants. Oh and everybody's high!" - My hero, Stephen Colbert.

Hello, my name is Ryan Wiedmaier, I am 6'9 freakish oaf and friend of Lynn and Michael's from college. I grew up a hardcore liberal in Seattle, but then met a man named Jesus and have since given serious ponderance to many of our social issues and found myself on the other side of the aisle from which I was raised. I used to consider myself a conservative democrat, but after an ugly run in with life in a union, I have since embraced my liberal republicanism.

Within our two party system I am a bit of an odd duck. I firmly stand against big business and I could poke Bush in the eye for giving Exxon an extra tax cut in the quarter they made more profit in the history of any company in the history of companies, but I also stand against issues like abortion, and gay marriage. I am somewhat in the left on the economy, and firmly entrenched in the right socially.

It may be worth noting that while a currently an odd duck, I am finding that within Evangelical Christianity, there are more and more who, like me, find themselves voting based upon the social issues of gay marriage and abortion, but who find themselves ill at ease with the economic policies (and some would say downright greed) that comes with a vote for the republicans.

I look forward to slinging the mud with y'all as we dig into the issues that always get me fired up, but that my wife looks at me and shakes her head at....