Happy Birthday to Me!

It just struck me. I'm a year old. Funny, I feel a lot older.

It was a year ago this month that this blog came into being. Not counting the gestation period, of course, as I know there are those out there who believe that life begins at conception. In which case I'm a lot older, as the disillusionment with our elected "leaders" has been gestating, or should I say 'festering', much longer than that.

And although I'm still learning to crawl, I'm suprised that there are people out there who are interested in what I have to say. I started this blog with the intention of educating and informing people of the mistakes we've made recently, mainly in the 2004 election. But as I've learned and become more "politerate", it's grown to include local politics, the environment, and injustices in general.

It's been a wyld and crazy year. I've learned much, and been called much, since I started.

I've learned not to drink and blog - it's much better to wait until I'm hungover. The post may not be as fresh, but it's much more coherent.

I've learned about grammar and syntax, although I still have a lot to learn about being snarky and prolific like the masters at Pinkdome and Wonkette.

My second-ever post (the first being a brief introduction) was linked by The People's Republic of Seabrook with the following excerpt:

Patriotically Correct vs. Not Patriotically Correct

• PC: Believing President Bush's promises.
• Not PC: Expecting him to keep his promises.
• PC: Believing Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11.
• Not PC: Pointing out that the only thing that Iraq and Al Qaida have in common is the letter "Q". (and later pointed out, the letter I).
• PC: Believing that Haliburton is the only company that could handle support for the Iraq war because "it's a big job".
• Not PC: Pointing out that Dick Cheney made the decision, and he used to run the company.
• PC: Voting straight ticket Republican on moral grounds.
• Not PC: Questioning the morality of Republican leaders who lie, cheat and bully their peers to pass legislation that benefits themselves and their friends.

And I was off and running...

And of course, with Jack's detractors clued into my presence, the negative comments began to roll in.

Also in January, Richard Cranium at the All Spin Zone linked to a piece I did on the proper way to burn a flag, which drew criticism from both the right and the left.

That's right, I'm an equal opportunity offender.

In February, I set up a site meter, and was counting twenty-plus hits per day. Not a lot compared to the mega-bloggers, but knowing that more than a hundred people were looking at my blog every week motivated me to keep writing.

Since then, based on comments posted, I've been looked at by some big hitters including Pissed Off Patricia at BlondeSense, and Rising Hegemon. No idea how they found me, but I'm honored to be noticed by the hotshots of the progressive blogosphere.

Now, thanks to the previously mentioned bloggers and my new friends in the Texas Progressive Alliance, I'm kept in the loop on political goings-on and social happenings, and hopefully will use these newfound resources to help keep you, the internet surfer, informed as to the state of our union.

So as the new year progresses, I leave you with the tag-line used by annatopia -

Fudd's First Law of Opposition: Push something hard enough and it will fall over.

And this quote from the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, borrowed from Eye on Williamson County -

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter"