The obligatory "catching up" post

It truly shocked me to see that I had not blogged since December 2010 (and that wasn't a real entry).  I blame Facebook.

Since my last real post, several things have happened.

Most importantly, my fifth daughter, Claire, was born in December 2010.

For those who followed my posts about marathon training, you should be pleased to learn that I did, indeed, complete the 2010 Dallas White Rock Marathon.  I also completed the 2011 Rock and the 2012 OKC Memorial Marathon.  I am currently training for the 2012 NYC ING Marathon in November.

I lost my job at the Dallas DA's Office at the end of 2010 and spent a few months trying to find a new job before deciding to open my own solo law practice.

My weight loss journey started back up again last fall.  During marathon training in 2010, I had lost 20 pounds.  When I took a few months off before kicking it back up in 2011, I had gained 10 of that back.  I thought I would be able to lose that 10 again just as easily as I had the year before, but it was not to be.  In fact, over the first 3 1/2 months of training last year, I gained 3 pounds to get back up to 250.  In September, I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app for my phone and started tracking my daily caloric intake and burn.  I got down as low as 193 in April.  Right now, I'm back up a little because I haven't been as diligent as I need to be.

So, what inspired my return to this corner of the blogosphere?  I was a Delegate to the 2012 Texas Republican Convention last week.  Although I am not particularly thrilled with who wound up as the GOP Presidential nominee this year (sorry to my Ron Paul supporting friends, it really is a done deal at this point), the convention (as tiring as it was) renewed my enthusiasm for politics.  Thus, you can expect a decidedly political focus going forward.  That's not to say that I won't mention other things, but politics will be the primary subject.

Right Wing Nation

I used to be able to post comments at Right Wing Nation with no problem, but apparently I committed the mortal sin of defending Mike Huckabee over there, so now I'm on "administrator must approve" status.

So much for the free exchange of ideas.

The offending comment was made on this post. After rightwingprof's response, I pointed out that his calling Huckabee a "a soft on crime socialist who spits in the faces of crime victims" is no different from those who attack by calling John McCain, MCSHAMNESTYMCCAIN! And that was the type of attack that he was condemning in the original post.

People don't like it when their hypocrisy is exposed.

UPDATE: Now, he's calling me an amoral idiot. Yup, really bringing the level of discourse up over there. Really avoiding the ideological nonsense he was condemning.

Hello kettle, this is the pot . . .

The Infamous Gatorade Debate

There has been an ongoing debate about the color of Lemon-Lime Gatorade over at The Thinklings. According to WikiPedia, the color is "Lime," so I'm putting the color "Lime" against various background colors.

This is a test of the color Lime against a green background.

This is a test of the color Lime against a yellow background.

This is a test of the color Lime against a "web lime" background.

This is a test of the color Lime against a lime green background.

What Exactly is TheVanguard.org?

I've had a link to TheVanguard Blog on my sidebar since the early days of this blog. TheVanguard.org is the brainchild of Rod Martin, who happens to have been Best Man at my wedding and who remains my best friend despite the miles that separate us.

A couple of days ago, Human Events published a feature article entitled The Next MoveOn.org?" written by Stephanie Dube, a freelance writer from Dallas and creator of The Write Idea. Dube profiles Rod, giving a brief biographical background and professional pedigree. She goes on to explain the purpose of TheVanguard.org and mentions some of the others involved. Most of whom you've heard of, even if you have never heard of Rod Martin before:

Launched as an organization last March, TheVanguard.org already has a top-drawer cast, including Silicon Valley heavy-hitters like Eric Jackson (a former PayPal colleague of Martin’s, where he was head of marketing) and Gil Amelio (former CEO of two Fortune 500 companies, including Apple Computer), among others.

But it is far from an all-California show. Americans for Tax Reform founder Grover Norquist is on its board too, as are Club for Growth founder (and current Wall Street Journal editorial board member) Stephen Moore, famed actress Jane Russell, direct-mail pioneer Walt Longyear, “compassionate conservatism” guru Marvin Olasky, even Reagan Doctrine-architect Jack Wheeler. Martin refuses to confirm or deny rumors that Jerome Corsi—co-author of 2004’s “Unfit for Command,” which irreparably damaged John Kerry’s presidential hopes—has signed on for a similar effort against Hillary.

The diversity of issues represented by this group is not accidental. “The scope and immediacy of the internet makes bringing people together a lot easier,” Martin explains. “The conservative movement is far too fractured. Libertarians attack Christians, pro-gunners snipe at pro-lifers, border security folks question outreach to conservative Hispanics. It’s not what you’d call conducive to victory.

“The left has always been better at coalition building, and MoveOn is the latest means by which they’re better. But the internet is a great leveler: we can do this too. And we must.”

Early indications are that they will. After less than a year of “beta tests” which included efforts to extend the Bush tax cuts and derail a United Nations gun ban conference (it ended in deadlock), the group’s web traffic exceeds that of many of the most noteworthy political groups in America. While still far short of the exalted ranks of MoveOn, DailyKos or WorldNetDaily, web rankings generated by Alexa.com show TheVanguard.org beating such established organizations as the National Rifle Association, National Right to Life, the Club for Growth, the Minuteman Project and People for the American Way. Martin notes with a combination of surprise and glee that this is before the full site “goes live,” and before the group executes its marketing plan.

Conservatives owe it to themselves to check out TheVanguard.org. My prediction is that before too long, Rod Martin will be one of the most well-known people in America.

Well, that didn't take long

I had suggested that a blog entitled "The Present Moment" might turn out to be worthwhile. I was wrong.

A blog with Promise

It's too early to know for sure if The Present Moment will turn out to be worthwhile, but it looks intriguing after just two posts.

I have the power!

I have to confess that I was really out of the loop on the whole blog universe before I started my own. In fact, I just found Time Magazine's Blog of the Year, Power Line a few days ago. This is one of the main blogs that was relentless in pointing out the fact that the Bush National Guard memos touted by CBS and Dan Rather were forgeries.