Who are you calling a left liberal

This will be a slightly unusual post, in the holiday spirit and whatnot. I get most of my visitors via strange google searches (my post about Tegomass has been a big source of hits recetly). I check it once in a while, so I noted that I had a visitor who came via a Belgian blogger, Vincent (cheers!) and I had a look at his site. Nice photos, and lots of intelligent ramblings in Dutch that I can just barely make sense of.

He linked to Richard E Blauvelt's site, where I found a fascinating reference to a diary called An American visitor to Japan 1923. That sort of stuff really amuses me, so I had a click.

Turned out the Blauvelt family history stems back all the way to the 1600s, when Sweden (unsuccessfully) tried to establish a colony in Delaware, aka the Americas:

Gerrit, son of Hendrick, arrived at "The Rocks" at Swede's Landing, DE in March 1638 aboard the Kalmar Nyckel. He then traveled up the Hudson River to Rensselaerwyck. On 7 May 1646 he married Marretje Lamberts Moll in the New Amsterdam (NYC) Dutch Church. He received a grant of farmland on Manhattan Island on what is now Broadway near Maiden Lane and became known as the Blau Boer (Blue Farmer), his farm, the Blau Veldt. On 22 October 1679, he married Josyntje Janse.

Anyway, what I want to say is: I took a fun American test tonight, found on a link on the above-mentioned Blauvelt family page, called The Advocates for Self-Government. Take the test!

I scored like this:



LIBERALS usually embrace freedom of choice in personal matters, but tend to support significant government control of the economy. They generally support a government-funded "safety net" to help the disadvantaged, and advocate strict regulation of business. Liberals tend to favor environmental regulations, defend civil liberties and free expression, support government action to promote equality, and tolerate diverse lifestyles.

Happy New Blogging Year!