User:Pmacbee

Hi, I'm pmacbee. I am a new and very minor contributor as of June 24, 2008. I am amazed by the quality and quantity of scholarship and work that goes into this project, and both hopeful and apprehensive about whether a project this open can maintain a standard of objectivity and reliability that will enable Wikipedia to continue as a useful source of information ratrher than disinformation. It requires a committed community of both lay people and scholars, and I would be willing to bet a lot of clean up work by the scholars.

If I've commented on or edited any of your pages, here's some basic info to help you know who you are dealing with (and perhaps how much you need to bother about me): I have strong academic credentials and many years of practice as a lawyer, so I believe in both scrupulous sourcing of facts and a fair amount of latitude interpreting them-- as long as the interpretations are logical and based on verifiable facts, and one clearly indicates where personal interpretation begins and sourced fact leaves off. My undergraduate and post graduate studies include international relations (law, history, political science and diplomacy) and English literature. My interests at this stage are general and episodically enthusiastic, and I don't think I can claim to be an expert in any area (outside of certain areas of law), perhaps least of all the ones on which I have commented so far (English history during the Wars of the Roses). I do, however, try to do adequate research before I express a strong opinion. To the extent that it's relevant to anything down the line, I have lived in Boston, New York, New Jersey, Chicago, a number of places in northern and southern California, briefly in England and in Southeast Asia, and have travelled widely in the US and Europe, and moderatley in Asia and Southeast Asia. I'm a mom. My tastes in music are eclectic and progressive (ranging from Yo-Yo Ma to Led Zeppelin to Jackson Brown to Nelly to Vampire Weekend), my politics and values are liberal without being "politically correct"--whatever that could mean in a democratic society--and I'm a passionate defender of the individual rights and the system of government under rule of universally applicable, easily discernable laws provided for in the U.S. Constitution. So basically, while I don't particularly care to be a "card-carrying member of the ACLU" myself, I'd fight to the death for anybody's right to be one (and I'd send governmental officials straight to jail for tapping your phone based on membership).