The Year of Living Bloggingly

It's been a little over a year since I signed into Blogger and set up this blog. As I recall, it was a quiet late December night. The sky did not crack open when I pushed "enter." For the movie version. I promise to jazz things up with some flashes of lightning to mark that signal moment when Time, Fate, History, and the Internet were united in one.

When I started, I knew that there were a million "conservative" blogs. Rather, than join that crowded field, I wanted to create a particular niche: a San Francisco-based conservative focusing on California and San Francisco issues that would be interesting to a national audience. That balance was not as easy to maintain as I thought. No one really cares about San Francisco's search for a new police chief, after all. Plus, the national stories - especially the health care debate, the continuing Little Depression, and the rehabilitation of Sarah Palin - inspired a lot of writing here. The coming year promises a lot of CA-centric events: a governor's race, a GOP primary to see who can take on Barbara Boxer, and yet another budget crisis. Look for more CA commentary, not less.

I am also planning to do a lot more commentary on books, music, and movies. Not a lot, but some. I tried to do a lot more this year, but it's difficult to stay hip when you live in the same apartment with a baby! I'll also make an effort to add more graphics and videos. I've generally settled into a routine of writing one medium length post a day. I just don't find short posts to be very satisfying, except when I'm feeling uninspired or pressed for time. I don't plan to change that very much.

I'd like to thank the small number of readers who have been following things around here, and especially those hardy souls who took the time to leave a comment. I'd also like to thank my wife, who has been very encouraging and made many helpful suggestions.

Special thanks to Tom Maguire at Just One Minute whose courageous act of adding this blog to his "Private Collection" drove a significant percentage of my traffic. I don't know when that happened, or why; but do want to acknowledge it. Thanks. Dan Reihl, Hugh Hewitt, and The Anchoress also provided valuable linkage for which I would also like to say "Thanks."

For those of you who are new, here are some of my favorite posts from the last year. Not sure if these are the "best," but they are the ones that linger in my memory.

2009 Senate democrats Preview: where I profiled all 60+ of the people who were in the Senate Democrat Caucus this year. My favorite phrase: describing Carl Levin as having a "tattered Brezhnevian air." This is a very early post, with some ridiculous formatting problems that I have never been able to clear up. Just start scrolling.

The Return Of Home Field Advantage: riffing off of a Bill Simmons concept about the loss of home field advantage in corporate sponsored football stadiums, I expressed the hope that the Little Depression would put an end to what I ended up calling the "Corporatization Of Everything," and which inspired a lot of posts.

Free Will Nobels: my alternate reality Nobel Prizes, awarded after Obama accepted his. Thanks to the power of blogging, I was able to bestow Nobels upon the likes of Vaclav Havel and Paul Kagame, rather than the lame UN-approved winners of the past.

Who Runs Republican Party: in which I reveal the shocking truth about Trig Palin, and the Taft Prophesy. A rare humorous post. I wish I wrote more of these.

I Come Not To Praise Him, But To Bury Him In Invective: in which I castigate Frank Rich at length for dubbing Sarah Palin "Evita." Now, Frank Rich doesn't know me from a hole in the wall, but it sure did feel good to get this off of my chest.

Always August: a multi-part series of essays about progressive health care reform.

Coming In From Cold: in which I said the following about Nancy Pelosi who is, among another things, my congressman:

I want to say right off the bat that I do not consider Nancy Pelosi to be a liar. She is stupid. She is a fool. She is a moralizing loudmouth. She is a natural-born scold who lives to denounce her enemies as being evil and "unamerican." She is the spoiled daughter of a urban machine pol, and the rich wife of a glad handing huckster. She wants the rest of us to drive 3 foot long smart cars while she jets around with a military escort. She has the political instincts of the Queen of Romania and the personality of your least favorite aunt. But she is not a liar. I will give her that.

I think this analysis will stand the test of time.

Chairs Missing: in which I call for the dismantling of the CIA, a personal crusade of mine since the 1980's when I went to Langley High School, located next door to you-know-where.

The Hidden Hand: in which I look at the activities of obscure activists who have an outsized influence on commerce and aviation safety.

30 Seconds Over Tokyo: in which I point out why Japanese-style health care wouldn't work in the US. Hint: it's because Americans aren't Japanese.

Atlas Insurance Group: a post from early March in which I, a literature major with a JD, suss out the "meaning" of the AIG bailout. Not sure if all of my conclusions stand up, but writing this turned out to be a real education.