Hello, chums. My name is David Hawley, and I'm new to JoeUser. I thought you'd like to get to know me better and find out what I'm all about.
Well, first off, I'd like to state that I have been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism without the effects of mental retardation. What this means is that my thoughts and actions could be described as "odd," "different," or "unusual." In a sense, this is bad, because this means I'm easy to disagree with, and social situations are a bit difficult for me. However, this is also good, because Bill Gates has Asperger's Syndrome, and his "outside the box" thinking is most likely the reason for his enormous wealth.
I am Catholic. Also, I am independent. Contrary to popular belief, this does not mean I'm indecicive or confused as far as what political party to side with. It means I believe conservative and liberal values go well together. For example: I believe abortion should always be illegal, unless, perhaps, if the mother's life is in danger. I believe the best alternative to abortion would be to give birth to the baby, then give the baby up for adoption. This raises the problem that if everyone did this instead of abortion, there would be a lot of babies without parents. Here's where my liberal beliefs kick in. I believe homosexuals should be allowed to get married (outside of the Catholic Church, of course) and adopt children. This combination of conservative and liberal beliefs protects two essential rights: the right to live (as opposed to being aborted), and homosexual equality (they shouldn't be forced to live their lives differently just because they're different).
Abortion may be a strong issue to me (I'm a pro-life demonstrator), but the biggest issue I believe Americans should be concerned with is tobacco. I belieive the sale and use of tobacco should be criminalized, and I believe there should be government-funded rehabilitation clinics for those who are addicted to it. You might think I'm crazy for thinking this is the biggest issue, but, listen to these facts:
- In Ohio (my home state) alone, 19,000 people die every year from tobacco-related illness and disease. That's 52 a day!
- Number of kids who become daily smokers every year: 38,600.
- Over a third of Ohio's high school students smoke.
- 75% of high school seniors who smoke still smoke five years later. 95% still think they won't.
- Smoking kills more Americans than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined.
- Cigarettes kill one of every three long-term users.
- Second-hand smoke is the third leading cause of death (behind active smoking and alcohol abuse).
- Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including ammonia (floor/toilet cleaner), arsenic (rat poison), formaldehyde (embalming fluid), and hydrogen cyanide (gas chamber poison).
Get the picture? Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. Thanks for reading!