2005: The Year of the Blog

Well, it's the end of the year. And while I spend my days pondering the
ramifications of my enormous (and typical) Christmas debt, I thought I'd
take a break and give a quick look at my first full year of blogging.

January: This month saw the first shots fired in Bush's war on Social
Security, as well as fights over the Gonzalez and Rice nominations. But my
favorite post from that month was prompted by a discussion I'd had at dailykos with a teacher and the deleterious
effects of No Child Left Behind.

February: As the battle to save Social Security continues I first note one
of the other major attack on the middle class safety net:, the new bankruptcy legislation, which, as predicted, is currently
making life even more difficult for people whose only wrong-doing was sheer
bad luck. Those most in the news are the survivors of hurricane Katrina who
are only now beginning to feel the pinch of this Credit Card company backed
legislation. However, those most likely to feel its bite (including you and
I) are those whose families have suffered a medical mishap.

March: This month came in like a lion with the very ugly Terry Schiavo
debacle stealing headlines from the height of the Soc Sec wars. More
importantly though, this is when I first publish my magnum opus on oil and the economy. Why I've yet to hear from the Nobel Prize
people is anybody's guess.

April: Big news month here with the death of John Paul II and the first
stirrings of the Abramoff, Delay et al. corruption scandal breaking. The
biggest move though is your CaliBlogger's move to a blogger.com site and his
series of posts on boomers: Mortality and the whiniest generation, Boomers and healthcare, and Death and the whiniest generation, part 2. What? Not
a peep from the Pulitzer people either?

May: Deep Throat is finally revealed to a general reaction of: who's that? With the exception of former Nixon henchmen who were decrypted to lather on about what a great guy Tricky Dick was and how Mark Felt betrayed the Preznit's God given right to break any damn laws he pleases, we were at war damnit (sound familiar?)! Meanwhile the wingnuts suffered another pantytwist when an Amnesty International head called the US prisons in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo an "American Gulag". And given the recent revelations about black-op prisons scattered around the globe, the Gulag Archipelago reference has turned out to be all too true.

June: The final episode of Star Wars opens to a collective sigh of thank God that's over. More significantly your CaliBlogger his vision for an Iraqi withdrawal. Still no word from the Nobel Peace Prize people.

July: Bombs explode in London and Cairo (and Iraq of course, but then when don't they?). Your CaliBlogger posts twice urging Bush's impeachment in one month (double my usual number), and once outlining the Bush Doctrine

August: Your CaliBlogger celebrates his birthday. Oh yeah, and a hurricane levels a great American city. "Heckuva job Brownie" becomes destined to be stupid quote of the year.

September: The leaves turn color, kids return to school and Republican corruption charges begin to pile up like rush hour on the San Diego Freeway.

October: Tom Delay's woes continue and Scooter Libby is the first to be indicted in the Plamegate affair. But jillian has the call on the week's true scandal.

November: Randy "Duke" Cunningham's habit of wrapping himself isn't enough from being burned by federal bribery charges. Most amazing though, we witness the sudden growth of Spinus Democraticus.

December: All the Who's in Whoville are devastated when the secular "War on Christmas" is finally won.

Other stuff happened too.

Happy, healthy New Year to all!