This week it occurred to me how thankful I am for what has become known as the blogosphere. 5 or 6 years ago, blogs were still relatively new and unknown. Look how much has changed!
I believe that with the rise of the blogosphere, the Web has finally begun to fulfill the potential that I remember being hyped so much in the early 1990s. I'm still relatively new to this and I am not good at html, but am thankful to have the blogosphere to make my workdays spectacularly unproductive ;-)
So, I've now added some links to a number of blogs that I follow nearly every day. To your right you will find a section titled, "some other blogs I read." Clever, no? They mostly deal with economics or politics, but I will add others soon. Check them out... they are all very intelligent, informative and some are very, very funny... particularly Sadly No and Jon Swift. It's a brave new world, baby.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Don't spare the change
Well yet another eon has passed since my last post. It occurs to me that I would probably be better off posting lots of little posts rather than these mega-screeds that nobody wants to read anyway. Mea culpa..
Now, to bizness. I am of course thrilled that President Obama was elected by such a landslide, as you could probably guess from my last post. Heck it just feels so good to put the word “president” in front of his name and not Bush’s for a change. It has been a long 8 years and it seems like the world has really entered a new age since January 2001 when Bush took office. The sense of transition is more pronounced than I can ever remember in my lifetime.
There is no other politician that I can remember who brought tears to my eyes with such a wonderful inauguration speech, anyway. It was profoundly moving, and unlike most political speeches actually contained substance – acknowledgement of the troubles we face and a rejection of the direction we are going. I’m cynical, but I also long for reasons to be proud of my country. Men like Obama make me proud.
He seems to have hit the ground running, with a flurry of activity. We’re only 4 days into Obama’s administration and it really seems like they are trying to make a legitimate break from Bush, at least so far. I could not be happier. There has been a lot of speculation among we flaming, pinko, godless, America-hating, liberals since the election about whether Obama really intends to shake things up as was promised during the election. In particular a lot of his cabinet appointments of people from the Clinton years have drawn cries of alarm.
I’ll admit I was nervous too, as I never liked Clinton much. At times during the latest campaign, the thought of Hillary Clinton as president sent shivers of horror up my spine. Do we Americans need two decades of control of the most powerful office of the most powerful country in the world by only two families? The prospect is awful on both symbolic and functional terms. Ugh.
However, I give Prez O credit He has demonstrated time and again that he is a master of political strategy. He has been building a political juggernaut that might well be unstoppable. He has a mandate, momentum and vision. I just hope he uses these for things I want to see happen.
So the first week looks like a great start. I am a big fan of Obama and am inclined to trust his instincts. There will be mistakes and slips on the way I’m sure. But after 8 years in the Bush, I will be overjoyed if on balance things change marginally for the better. I don’t expect that I will agree with 100% of what they do.
But I am also going to hold his administration to a high standard. If it doesn’t perform, you can bet I will say something about it, and I won’t be nice. Mark my words. I have enough problems with Democrats already. If I am forced to say “et tu, Barry?” I may never vote for another Democrat again.
Now, to bizness. I am of course thrilled that President Obama was elected by such a landslide, as you could probably guess from my last post. Heck it just feels so good to put the word “president” in front of his name and not Bush’s for a change. It has been a long 8 years and it seems like the world has really entered a new age since January 2001 when Bush took office. The sense of transition is more pronounced than I can ever remember in my lifetime.
There is no other politician that I can remember who brought tears to my eyes with such a wonderful inauguration speech, anyway. It was profoundly moving, and unlike most political speeches actually contained substance – acknowledgement of the troubles we face and a rejection of the direction we are going. I’m cynical, but I also long for reasons to be proud of my country. Men like Obama make me proud.
He seems to have hit the ground running, with a flurry of activity. We’re only 4 days into Obama’s administration and it really seems like they are trying to make a legitimate break from Bush, at least so far. I could not be happier. There has been a lot of speculation among we flaming, pinko, godless, America-hating, liberals since the election about whether Obama really intends to shake things up as was promised during the election. In particular a lot of his cabinet appointments of people from the Clinton years have drawn cries of alarm.
I’ll admit I was nervous too, as I never liked Clinton much. At times during the latest campaign, the thought of Hillary Clinton as president sent shivers of horror up my spine. Do we Americans need two decades of control of the most powerful office of the most powerful country in the world by only two families? The prospect is awful on both symbolic and functional terms. Ugh.
However, I give Prez O credit He has demonstrated time and again that he is a master of political strategy. He has been building a political juggernaut that might well be unstoppable. He has a mandate, momentum and vision. I just hope he uses these for things I want to see happen.
So the first week looks like a great start. I am a big fan of Obama and am inclined to trust his instincts. There will be mistakes and slips on the way I’m sure. But after 8 years in the Bush, I will be overjoyed if on balance things change marginally for the better. I don’t expect that I will agree with 100% of what they do.
But I am also going to hold his administration to a high standard. If it doesn’t perform, you can bet I will say something about it, and I won’t be nice. Mark my words. I have enough problems with Democrats already. If I am forced to say “et tu, Barry?” I may never vote for another Democrat again.
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