If you are a regular reader then you have probably noticed that my posting frequency has dropped over the last week. While I have been making a lot of improvements by adding new plug-ins and polishing the look of the blog up a bit, I have also been contemplating the direction this blog has gone in.

Originally, I started the blog because I really wanted to counter some of the outrageous things being said about our country and our President in the run-up to the election. Since then, things have taken a more abrasive tone and I am beginning to feel that I am not really adding anything useful to the dialog. Sure, it is fun to give my more sarcastic side a workout, but there is a fine line between sarcastic and caustic - and I have come to think I cross that line entirely too often.

Very simply put, I am starting to sound like this to myself, just on the other end of the spectrum.

So what does this mean? Well, it does not mean I am going to quit blogging, but it does mean that I will be taking things in a new direction.

The discourse in this country has become entirely too harsh. It has become riddled with disrespect and anger and hatred. I got caught up in it as so many bloggers do. But people like Don Meyers are part of the problem, not part of the solution and I do not want to be considered in the same light. And while I do not believe I have ever said or done anything so completely over the top as to call the mother of one of the men defending my right to put anything on my blog I choose a “bitch” , I refuse to be a part of that type of dialog any longer.

So, all that being said, I am going to take the next week off from blogging while I think about how to proceed. Along with the new attitude will come a new layout and look for the blog as well. A big THANK YOU to all of you that are loyal readers. You have made this endeavor a lot of fun and I hope you will find this new direction read-worthy.

The spell-checker is now fully functional. My hosting provider did not have a word list installed. Once they finally installed one, it worked perfectly.

Thanks to ColdForged for his assistance in diagnosing the problem!

Michael Jackson has a jury.

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Well ahead of schedule, a jury was selected Wednesday for Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial, well

“We have a jury,” Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville announced from his bench mid-morning Wednesday.

The selection happened very rapidly — though after two weeks of delays. It had been expected to last several weeks, but took only five court days. However, it was interrupted by a one-week break due to the death of an attorney’s sister and another one-week break when Jackson was hospitalized with apparent flu-like symptoms.

The panel includes four men and eight women, ranging in age from 20 to 79. Seven are white, four are Hispanic and one is Asian. Eight have children. Only five of the 12 said they were aware of 1993 child molestation allegations against Jackson; one said they or a family member personally knew Jackson.

Is there really any doubt that this trial is going to be a circus of such magnitude as to put the OJ trial to shame?

Oh Look! Oliver is still barking at the moon while playing that Six Degrees of Jeff Gannon game! Oliver actually gets PAID for what he does?

First, I have moved from Favatars back to Gravatars. Since HaloScan started using Gravatars they have become wildly popular. I also noticed quite a few commentors didn’t have a blog or a favicon on theirs so Gravatars seemed like the right move.

Second, there is the Live Alerts link below the Flag. This will allow you to setup MSN Alerts so you get a notification when the blog is updated. It is pretty cool.

Third is the comments spell-checker. Well, that one almost works. As it stands now, it cannot locate the en_US dictionary word list for aspell on my host’s server and throws an error. My hosting provider is working on the problem and that one will hopefully be up and running soon.

And last but not least, Live Comment Preview. Now you can actually preview what your comment will look like as you type it.

If you have any other ideas or cool plug-ins for WordPress 1.5 you’d like to share, please let me know!

Note: The idea to implement these new toys came from Protein Wisdom, Say Anything, and Tempus Fugit. Thanks for the ideas guys! Hope you don’t mind me blatantly ripping you off.

Looks like Howard Dean’s fundraising skills are going to be put to the test in very short order.

WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee began the month with a 6-to-1 financial advantage over its Democratic counterpart, with $16.5 million in the bank compared to the Democratic National Committee’s $2.6 million.

The RNC raised $10.5 million in January, according to its monthly report to the Federal Election Commission. The GOP spent $8.7 million, including a $1 million transfer to Senate Republicans’ fund-raising committee and nearly $1 million in telemarketing, according to an analysis by Political Money Line, a nonpartisan campaign finance tracking service.

The DNC raised $4.1 million last month, based on its FEC report. It spent $7.6 million, including a donation of $1.5 million to Virginia Lt. Gov. Timothy Kaine’s campaign for governor and a $1 million transfer to the Senate Democrats’ fund-raising committee.

Among other party committees filing January reports this week:

* The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which raises money for House Democrats, began February with $11 million in debt from last year’s elections. It had $1.5 million in the bank as this month began. The DCCC raised $1.5 million and spent $1.7 million in January.

* The National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP’s fund-raising committee, reported $2 million on hand. It raised $4.6 million and spent $5.8 million last month. The spending included $3.5 million on phone banks. (emphasis mine)

Debt? They had debt? What happened to Kerry’s leftovers? Kerry had 14 million left, four of which went into his Senate campaign fund. So what happened to the other 10? Stashed away for 2008 no doubt.

**Update**

I am not up on campaign finance so I don’t know if Kerry could have even transferred money to the DNC. Anyone know for sure?

Well, that didn’t take long. I was wondering when a MSM outlet would take what the president said in these tapes then twist them to further the persona the left has created. ABC seems to be falling all over themselves to make sure that no one gets the wrong impression - you know, that the President might actually be a stand-up guy.

The tapes also show Bush’s concern about keeping his evangelical Christian base happy [ed. note: really? it does? because it doesn't read that way to me] while appearing tolerant to gays.

In one conversation, Wead said on the tape: “He’s saying you promised you would not appoint any gays to office.”

Bush replied: “No, what I said was I wouldn’t fire gays. … I’m not going to discriminate against people.” (emphasis mine)

Oh, do read the whole article. It is laughably biased, putting the most negative spin on everything the president said.

While I am sure these tapes will only be used by the left to reinforce their collective self-reinforcing delusions about President Bush, for me they serve to confirm why I like this guy, even though I disagree with him on a variety of issues. He tells it like it is and he is a thoughtful, good-hearted person whose only crime appears to be that he is human.

For all those that just can’t comprehend how I could possibly support someone that HATES ME, from the pages of the Liberal Media Bible, the NY Times:

Early on, though, Mr. Bush appeared most worried that Christian conservatives would object to his determination not to criticize gay people. “I think he wants me to attack homosexuals,” Mr. Bush said after meeting James Robison, a prominent evangelical minister in Texas.

But Mr. Bush said he did not intend to change his position. He said he told Mr. Robison: “Look, James, I got to tell you two things right off the bat. One, I’m not going to kick gays, because I’m a sinner. How can I differentiate sin?”

Later, he read aloud an aide’s report from a convention of the Christian Coalition, a conservative political group: “This crowd uses gays as the enemy. It’s hard to distinguish between fear of the homosexual political agenda and fear of homosexuality, however.”

“This is an issue I have been trying to downplay,” Mr. Bush said. “I think it is bad for Republicans to be kicking gays.”

Told that one conservative supporter was saying Mr. Bush had pledged not to hire gay people, Mr. Bush said sharply: “No, what I said was, I wouldn’t fire gays.”

I don’t agree with President Bush on everything, but I also don’t buy into the whole “he hates gays” BS.

I have said it many times to many people: I have experienced more hatred from the left for being a gay conservative than I ever experienced from conservatives over the fact I was gay. As far as I can tell, the far-left is the most collectively hate-filled group I have ever seen.

What was that the left was saying about hypocrisy?

And for those that will say, “Then why is he pusing that HATEFUL Marriage Amendment?” - likely because he believes what I believe on the subject.

Absofreakingloutlynot.

You may not have noticed but there are three new blogs on the blogroll.

INDC Journal and Tempus Fugit have been around for awhile and give great blog. Both have a political focus but post on a wide variety of topics, and they both have a sarcastic wit. Both should be daily reads.

We want to welcome a new member to the blogosphere, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown! While I disagree with Mayor Brown on quite a few issues. I agree with him on a lot of thing too, like a new ordinance he is sponsoring in an attempt to make Oakland a safer place at night by implementing a probationer curfew.

Oakland has adopted dynamic measures to stem violence and save lives. The curfew, which targets hardcore criminals who operate at night, is one of many programs to combat crime in the city’s hotspots.

It is a great idea and a valuable weapon in the mayor’s quest to bring crime under control. He also doesn’t mind telling the activists against the law that they are not being part of the solution.

I watched a lot of appearances on various programs by the mayor during the election and I don’t remember him ever taking a cheap shot at the president. He is an intellectually honest Demoract and can play a vital role in the American debate.

Welcome to the new media Mr. Mayor.