Sunday, January 30, 2011 Open Thread

As promised, an open thread for all of you to use as you see fit. You can post a new topic, continue a conversation that you were having on the last thread (because I know that it becomes a pain to continue scrolling down to resume the conversation and it also slows way down in loading the longer the thread gets), or even write an article that you want to post. Once I have recovered from my surgery I will be back at writing all the things that either delight or infuriate you! In the mean time you will just have to infuriate each other! But remember to keep it fairly civil as we discuss our differences with respect. I am also going to add a cartoon or two each day. These have no other purpose than to chuckle at. They are nothing more than cartoons that I saw at some point and never used.

Seeking Opinions

I am seeking opinions on this particular look for SUFA. I really have it narrowed down to using the site format and look that I was using for the last two years or using this look for the blog. So let me know what you think of this look. I will leave it up for a bit. If I keep this look, I will miss the “waking America up one 3:00am phone call at a time” thing at the top but it has been two years since that was a tag line for a campaign, so perhaps it is time for it to go, lol.

Test for Adding People

This is nothing more than a test, dear SUFA readers. I am preparing for how the blog is going to move forward and part of it is testing how the site will act and feel if I add regular additional authors. So I have created this test author and will see how the stuff works!

Thursday, January 27, 2011 Open Thread

As promised, an open thread for all of you to use as you see fit. You can post a new topic, continue a conversation that you were having on the last thread (because I know that it becomes a pain to continue scrolling down to resume the conversation and it also slows way down in loading the longer the thread gets), or even write an article that you want to post. Once I have recovered from my surgery I will be back at writing all the things that either delight or infuriate you! In the mean time you will just have to infuriate each other! But remember to keep it fairly civil as we discuss our differences with respect. I am also going to add a cartoon or two each day. These have no other purpose than to chuckle at. They are nothing more than cartoons that I saw at some point and never used.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011 Open Thread

As promised, an open thread for all of you to use as you see fit. You can post a new topic, continue a conversation that you were having on the last thread (because I know that it becomes a pain to continue scrolling down to resume the conversation and it also slows way down in loading the longer the thread gets), or even write an article that you want to post. Once I have recovered from my surgery I will be back at writing all the things that either delight or infuriate you! In the mean time you will just have to infuriate each other! But remember to keep it fairly civil as we discuss our differences with respect. I am also going to add a cartoon or two each day. These have no other purpose than to chuckle at. They are nothing more than cartoons that I saw at some point and never used.

Sunday, January 23, 2011 Open Thread

JUST A QUICK NOTICE: Throughout the next couple of days I may be taking the opportunity to play around with the look of the site. So if you come here and it looks funny that is why. Changes may not be permanent and the site may continue to change. The final look of the site by the end of the week may be exactly the same or way different. Please feel free to comment on whether you like or not whatever looks you see. But reference what you are commenting on as several changes later I may not know what you are talking about! As promised, an open thread for all of you to use as you see fit. You can post a new topic, continue a conversation that you were having on the last thread (because I know that it becomes a pain to continue scrolling down to resume the conversation and it also slows way down in loading the longer the thread gets), or even write an article that you want to post. Once I have recovered from my surgery I will be back at writing all the things that either delight or infuriate you! In the mean time you will just have to infuriate each other! But remember to keep it fairly civil as we discuss our differences with respect. I am also going to add a cartoon or two each day. These have no other purpose than to chuckle at. They are nothing more than cartoons that I saw at some point and never used.

Thursday, January 20, 2011 Open Thread

As promised, an open thread for all of you to use as you see fit. You can post a new topic, continue a conversation that you were having on the last thread (because I know that it becomes a pain to continue scrolling down to resume the conversation and it also slows way down in loading the longer the thread gets), or even write an article that you want to post. Once I have recovered from my surgery I will be back at writing all the things that either delight or infuriate you! In the mean time you will just have to infuriate each other! But remember to keep it fairly civil as we discuss our differences with respect. I am also going to add a cartoon or two each day. These have no other purpose than to chuckle at. They are nothing more than cartoons that I saw at some point and never used.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011 Open Thread

As promised, an open thread for all of you to use as you see fit. You can post a new topic, continue a conversation that you were having on the last thread (because I know that it becomes a pain to continue scrolling down to resume the conversation and it also slows way down in loading the longer the thread gets), or even write an article that you want to post. Once I have recovered from my surgery I will be back at writing all the things that either delight or infuriate you! In the mean time you will just have to infuriate each other! But remember to keep it fairly civil as we discuss our differences with respect. I am also going to add a cartoon or two each day. These have no other purpose than to chuckle at. They are nothing more than cartoons that I saw at some point and never used.

A Small Hiatus

As most of you know, I will be going in shortly for surgery on Monday morning. The surgery is becoming more complicated than I originally thought. Not to worry, it is not life threatening or anything, just a pain in my butt (or groin as it were ). However I will be out of commission for a bit as I take lots of good drugs and recover. As a result I am forced to take a little bit of a hiatus from writing. I simply won’t be able to do it for a little bit. My expectation is a week, two at the most. I apologize as I know that this is a place that everyone enjoys coming and discussing the days events. Obviously you will still be able to come and post but I won’t be here to remove things from moderation or offer new articles for that time. I have good plans for how this site will improve and I will be also thinking about those during my hiatus. In the meantime I have set it up so that every two days an “open thread” will show up. You can use that thread to post an article, continue conversations, or start a topic. They will show up at 8:00am on the 18th, 20th, 23rd, 25th, 27th, and 30th. Until the first one posts on the 18th, use this one!

Open Mic Again…..

I lament that I don’t have the time to write a whole new article tonight (although I am sure that even if I did, it would not be enough research to satisfy you, Todd ). Plus I wanted to respond to Ray’s post as this bee is now in my bonnet and I think that it is worth pursuing so that I can put it behind me. So I figure that for tonight I will do another open mic night and hit a topic or two as well as allowing space for people to continue other discussions that were started in that long thread that was the Wednesday Morning Open Mic. I also want to take a moment to encourage people to begin writing guest commentaries again. I want to get SUFA back on track the way we were a couple of months ago and that means fresh ideas and new topics and perspectives to talk about. I will continue to offer my fodder for regular discussion and some of it will be completely new now that we have a different majority in the House of Representatives, but I think there is much more to be gained by getting some fresh topics that I wouldn’t normally touch on. So write some stuff and send it on over. I will begin tonight with my rebuttal to Ray and then try to add topics Friday during the day.

Wednesday Morning Open Mic for January 12, 2010

A hearty good morning to all on a fine Wednesday morning. Today’s open mic will be done a little differently. I am considering this going forward for a couple of reasons, chief among them being that with my new schedule, it might be easier to accomplish! What I am going to do is post this normal introduction and then add the open mic topics throughout the day, whenever time permits me to do so. I appreciate the discussions had on Monday’s post. I feel like some of us got a little off track, but that is to be expected (and even encouraged!). The key point to my article was that what happened were the acts of someone who was not right in the head, and as such I refuse to any longer accept acts such as this as part of political wrangling. It is about removing the partisan BS and focusing instead on logical and responsible solutions and observations. As such, I found it interesting that I was attacked as jumping to conclusions when I simply state that someone who shoots 18 people isn’t right in the head. I made no other conclusions to judge. It makes me wonder….

Gabby Presents an Opportunity

Allow me to first say, before I go any further, that the attack on Arizona Representative Gabriella Giffords was a horrible tragedy. Here was a member of Congress doing what we complain that members of Congress don’t do enough of, meeting with her constituents out in public. A mentally deranged individual takes advantage of such a moment and attacks not only the Congresswoman, but an entire crowd of people with a gun. Innocent lives are lost, most notably in my opinion being that of a nine year old little girl. All life ended before its time is tragic, but the loss of a child is even more more unjust. I feel sorry for all those involved, including the shooter, who was obviously suffering from some mental incapacity of his own. One day he will probably realize what he has done to so many innocent lives and will have to live with that. The burden of taking a life is not an easy one to carry. That burden is made significantly heavier when there was no justification.

Guest Commentary: Common Man on America Today

Unfortunately, all of my work and doctor’s appointments today left me with zero time to do anything this evening. Fortunately, it is guest commentary night and that means that I didn’t have to do much tonight anyway. I don’t really have time to write a big introduction for tonight’s guest, but I don’t really need to do that either. Tonight we have an excellent article written by Common Man. CM often participates here at SUFA and I always value his input. When he sent me this article I was excited about sharing it with all of you. I will be interested in seeing how people react to such a bold statement.

Tuesday Night Open Mic for January 4, 2011

Open mic night comes again and I get the opportunity to finally stand up for my previous company in a way that I was unable to previously, as you will see below. I do so because, first, what was said was factually incorrect, and second, because I kept a lot of people quiet on the promise that I would address it. So I really hope my target for the day doesn’t get upset with me for calling it out . I am trying over the next couple of weeks to really get more settled into my regular routine again as I will be done with that previous company in two more weeks and now just have to adjust to different working hours. However, as I mentioned the other day, I will be requiring surgery at some point in the coming weeks and that could render me useless for a day or two (which some folks may argue is no change at all!). But for now, I write on into the new year. I think there are some good topics below and of course I welcome any topics that others may want to add. I will try to check in throughout the day and join in the discussion.

New Year, New Mortgage?

Before I get into the topic for the day, I want to take a moment to thank all those who sent me messages over the holidays wishing me a Merry Christmas, Happy Festivus, Happy New Year, etc. As we slide into the new year, I have great hopes for the future. Not because it is a new year and therefore a fresh start. Unless they are re-setting my bills and paying off all my debts, I am not getting a “fresh start.” I have great hope because I realize that after two years of writing this blog, there is hope out there that common sense will rule the day, that dogs and cats (or “D”s and “R”s) will live together in harmony. Watching the civilized dialogue at SUFA is something I can be proud of, and what I had hoped to do. I will endeavor for the next year to make SUFA an even better place to visit for all. As I sit here in pain (in bad need of surgery, coming soon!), I have great aspirations for SUFA improvement. There will be more of that same frank analysis of the world as I see it along with (hopefully) more guest writing and topic contribution that helps us all understand the world of politics in a better way and thus helps us speed towards getting it closer to “right”.