Hello Again; A Personal Note

Wow. Nothing like a week in the Bahamas to recharge the batteries. Blog, sweet blog - I've only been back a day but it feels like I never left.

My thanks to the illustrious guest bloggers that filled in while I was away. I didn't get to read you myself. But according to the email, you guys did such a great job that if one closed one's eyes, it was like I was still blogging. Too bad the three of you had to be let go. But I'm sure we'll see you around.

Now, the personal stuff.

It might seem on the surface that Lomblog, like most blogs, is a freewheeling place with the proverbial "anything goes" attitude (actually, I'm not sure that's a proverb, but whatever). This is not the case. Hard as it may be to believe, certain topics are off-limits. Mostly, topics where I feel my opinions might be motivated by more than the usual amount of personal bias. Subjects where I just don't think I can be neutral enough to provide the kind of balanced, incisive commentary you expect and deserve.

What am I talking about? Well, the best example is the most recent: an awful lot of bloggers have had an awful lot to say on the topic of adventurer Steve Irwin's tragic, sudden demise. I haven't been one of them, and I don't expect I will be. And there's a reason.

I've never disclosed this to anyone. But eight months ago, I adopted this little beauty:



Yes, that's Gertie, my pet stingray. I picked her up on my last visit to the Caymans. Actually, it's more than I care to share here but she sorta "hitched a ride". And after the surgery, I decided to give her a new home. She's named after Gertrude Stein, btw, not the Drew Barrymore character in ET. Isn't she gorgeous?

Anyway, I think you can understand some of my recent reticence to engage with fellow bloggers. But when it comes to non-stingray news events, the debate - as usual - is joined.

Coming Up

His Father's Eyes


First Pics Of Cruise Baby

Election (Very) Post-Mortem

Your old friend LF here, returning from my five-day post-election bender. Right now I'm feeling as hungover and weathered as Yasir Arafat's head-dress. And let's face it, the chances of either of us being seen on White House grounds again are looking pretty slim. But I did manage to file one more report from the campaign trail Tuesday evening. Of course, it was based on preliminary exit polls that later proved inaccurate, so I've had to make a few minor revisions....

Well, the people have spoken and it appears they've said a resounding no to four more years of President George W. Bush Senator John F. Kerry. Though he campaigned energetically to the end, Bush Kerry wasn't able to overcome the rising tide of voter anger contentment. Americans were in a mood for change, not more of the same, and ready to turn the page on a blind eye toward chronic job losses, out-of-control deficits, chaos in Iraq and the shame not-so-big-deal of Abu Gharib. With all the mechanisms of power at his disposal, Bush Kerry finally couldn't defeat an ironclad rule of all re-election races: results do don't matter.

The outcome was tight and long in doubt, but events at campaign's close likely tipped the balance. When Osama Bin-Laden reappeared on videotape just three days before the election, it highlighted the fact that after four years as president twenty years in the Senate, Bush Kerry had failed to make America safer by capturing the terrorist mastermind responsible for 9-11. Nor had he spelled out a vision for a potential second term presidency beyond more large tax cuts for the wealthy middle class, lawyer - CEO bashing and embracing opposing the religious right's cultural agenda. Instead he waged a campaign of fear: fear of Kerry Bush, fear of terrorism a possible draft and fear of a "flip-flopping" "Massachusetts liberal" "reckless, arrogant" Republican incumbency. Probably the campaign's pivot point was the first debate, where in contrast to Mr. Kerry's Bush's poised, confident performance, Bush Kerry seemed flustered, defensive, reduced to the tedious recitation of a single catchphrase: "It's hard work" "I have a plan". From then on, it was straight downhill.

The election may have turned on negative feelings about Mr. Bush Kerry and concerns about the nation's direction, but with a brand-new old chief executive committed to making a fresh start hell, there are reasons to be cautiously delusionally optimistic. Kerry Bush is, after all, an authentic war hero president who understands undermines the combat experience. During his political career, he's demonstrated a willingness to work with smear politicians from both sides, such as Senator John McCain of Arizona. As a senator president, the environment has always been a high low priority for him. He's committed to advancing opposing scientific research. Having traveled the world since he was a youth fifty-five-year-old, President Kerry Bush can perhaps repair completely destroy our fractured global alliances. Yes, now's the time for all Americans white evangelical Christians and voters earning over $100,000 a year to get behind their leader. Certainly, he will need all the help he can get, as he faces a hostile lapdog Congress and several difficult challenges consonants.

So congratulations, President-Elect Kerry President Bush on your remarkable victory. You truly have a mandate for sweeping change banning gay marriage. As a wise man once said, "Bring it on!" "Mission accomplished!"