Saturday, December 31, 2005

SSDY (Same Stuff, Different Year) -- Almost

First off, a happy and productive new year to all. This is year two of the blog, and, owing to feedback and posting interests, I've split my 'Pulse' blog into three:
  • The Pulse, discussions regarding politics and personal life,
  • HaDofeq, Middle Eastern-related political and personal posts, and
  • The Ping, technical and technological posts
I'll be doing political, social and personal commentaries on this blog. So, without further delay, let's start the New Year off with a list of things recently realized:
To the left is a graph of the US national debt (up-to-date).

The chart to the right is a drilldown of the national debt for the year 2000, the year the Bush administration stole into office.

I have a cure for any despondency this entry may have caused you: talk to your neighbors, co-workers and friends about the issues. Don't let this administration turn away yet another fiasco into more looting opportunities. Refute, respond and admonish people spreading falsehoods. And most of all, don't give up; the mid-term elections are coming, and many current "peoples' representatives" in Washington are going to need to file change-of-address forms before the year is out.

This is a year of action, and of change. Don't lose hope.

An important footnote: I'm honored to be able to provide an occasional cartoon commentary as drawn by the incomparable Richard Bartholomew, whose rendition of the NSA appears in this blog. He has a web site with additional cartoons, and a blog.