I’m a father of four in Springfield, MO. I work in IT for a 4-state Catholic healthcare corporation. My wife is a teacher. My kids are 15, 13, 12, and 5. No, I'm not Catholic, I just work for them. In this case, they're pretty good people to work for.

I’m as conservative as some of you on some things, and on other things, some of you scare the hell out of me, but I’m sure I’ll find some to say the same about me. I don’t like big government, and I believe in taking the war to the terrorists. At the same time, I like personal freedom, and I believe that free speech means what the Constitution and the Bill of Rights says it means, not what someone’s church or some talking head says it is. I go to church, same as many of you, but, that’s between me and Him, not for anyone else to tell me how I should live.

A pet peeve of mine on personal freedoms: why does law enforcement spend millions every year writing tickets because someone’s showing a little skin on the beach, when they could be catching real crooks who are hurting real people.

Personal freedom, personal responsibility.