Light blogging recently due to two things…

1. I’ve gotten extremely lazy. Consequently, my traffic is down about two thirds since the election. Back in the day, I was quite the comment spammer, leaving comments on a wide variety of topics at least a dozen or more times a day. Gotten lazy with trackbacks too. Fact is, as I’ve discovered, you have to work at this thing every day to see results. For those of you who DO visit, I’m grateful for your feedback and suggestions.

2. My makeshift, unergonomic computer station is actually causing me physical problems. Sitting at this desk 12-15 hours a day is causing my feet to swell, my back to hurt, and my eyes to burn. Thanks to our recent bit of incredible luck, significant Otherhawk and I have decided to get a brand new computer workstation. I’m also working towards getting off blogger and on to some real web hosting with professional design for the House. Hopefully, this will all be done by the first of the year.

I’m also in a quandary as to what this blog should evolve towards. Politics is my meat and potatoes. But the internecine battles in Congress bore me. That’s because in my experience, much of Congressional bickering is a question of personalities in conflict. Couple that with the fact that I’m NOT a policy wonk and political blogging becomes extremely limited. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I love the MECHANICS of politics…and that’s rarely interesting except during elections.

Space blogging is fun and I’ll continue to do that. I’d like to add some non-fiction book reviews and will also probably do that. I’ve never been a link whore but recognize its necessity while trying to build a site. Therefore, I’ll continue to link to other posts I find interesting and try to give my take on the current events they comment on.

The one HUGE variable here is Iran. I’m convinced that by mid-summer, George Bush will have to make the most important decision of not only his Presidency, but perhaps in the history of the US; he’s going to have to decide whether or not to take out Iran’s nuclear capacity before they can build a bomb. North Korea may resolve itself in the next few weeks (see this post by the Capn’ on some very strange goings on there). And we may yet have to take military action on the Korean peninsula to keep Pyongyang from using or transferring its ballistic missile technology. But Iran is the flashpoint.

BTW, I reject arguments that Iran or North Korea won’t attack us because they know we’d hit them back. In Iran’s case, deterrence doesn’t work unless the people you’re trying to deter care whether they live or die. Do the fanatics in Tehran fall into the former or latter category? Do you want to find out the hard way?

As for North Korea, suppose they launched one nuke and hit Seattle? (See this post from John Little on Kim’s new toy.) The very same people who are pooh-poohing the idea of a nuclear attack by Tehran or North Korea WOULD BE THE FIRST ONES IN THE STREET SCREAMING THAT WE SHOULDN’T RESPOND IN KIND! There would also be enormous pressure on us not to retaliate from Russia and China…both of whom could be affected by fall-out patterns. This much is clear…if Kim or the radioactive mullahs believe they can get away with, they’ll attack us in a New York minute.

Which brings me back to this blog. If Iran or North Korea heats up, there’s no doubt that I’ll write about it voluminously. If not, see a kind of strange mix of politics, science, history and occasional flashes of humor that have been the hallmark of this site since it began.