One For The History Books

Election 2008 is now in the history books and without a doubt, this election is monumental for several reasons. First America has elected its first black president, voter turnout for this election was more than any election in the last century and lastly, one party controls the White House and both houses of Congress for the first time since 1994.

Now that it is over, one would think that I would be able to get on with life, but that is simply not the case. For the first time in my life, I am actually scared of the government and the direction that this new administration is going to take us. I honestly do not trust Obama. Likewise with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. The three of them together have the power to do just about anything that they want in Washington - all without any checks and balances. Mark my words, for at least the next two years, President Obama will not use his veto power. Why would he use it when congress takes the same liberal view as he does.

I am totally fearful that the next two years, at the least, will see attacks on the Second Amendment, higher taxes for those of us that work and more entitlements for those that do not. I also foresee appointments to the US Supreme court as well as the lower courts of judges that not only take an extremely liberal interpretation of the Constitution and the laws of this country, but also legislation from the bench.

America wants change and that is what we will get, but I doubt that the change will be for the better. Entitlements, more government programs and more tax and spend. That is what we will get - same as any other liberal government.

The one good thing that I see from this election is that it is proof positive that Affirmative Action is no longer needed, but it will still be here in four years.

I Am Baaaaack!

Well, I guess it was inevitable. I had decided back in June to utilize my Yahoo! 360 site as my main blog, but now it looks as though that decision was not a good one. I shall explain.

NOTE: This is a rehash of what was said on my Yahoo!360 blog. It is being posted here purely for historical value.

In June, I took a cold hard look at the number of blogs that I had out there. My Space, Spaces Live, Live Journal, Blogspot and (of course) Yahoo! 360. I was overwhelmed and never able to focus on one blog or the other - never mind five distinct and different blogs. I pared down the list to one that I would focus on entirely and the one blog that won hands down was my Yahoo! 360 blog. I was happy with the choice - until now.

This past summer, Yahoo! announced that it was doing away with it's photo sharing site and focusing on Flickr. I was irked, but made the change anyway. It has led to many friends and really allows me an outlet for my photography. Now Yahoo! has made another announcement and I again find myself reeling with the agony and pain of my decision in June.

On 16 October, Yahoo! Community Manager, Mark Warburton announced that Yahoo! was going to transition away from the Y!360 Beta and looking for an alternative format. That created a lot of chatter that Mash was the 'wave of the future' for Yahoo! Call me old fashioned, but I like the current format of Yahoo! 360. I feel kind of let down that there is a distinct possibility that I will lose that. Furthermore, Mark stated that there would be no more support for Y!360.

I should have figured that something had run amok, by the fact that somethings did not update and others fell apart in the translation. I should have seen the writing on the wall, but I ignored or otherwise classified it as a Beta issue. How utterly silly of me.

So, here I am again at that place I was in June - a place of decision making for the future of my blogging/writing. It saddens me because even through my hardest times of turmoil, Yahoo! was there. My readers, though rarely commenting, were there and still are, with close to 12,000 visits to my page. We tracked our move across the US from Phoenix back to our home in Dubuque, Iowa on my Y!360 page and kept our friends we left behind in AZ updated on the move and our transition since being home. There were fun times and there were boring times, which I apologize deeply for the latter.

Yahoo! 360 also gave me something very special - something that I would have never dreamed of. This special moment was just as shocking to my sister "A" and that was the day that I found out my mom was an official blogger. My Auntie soon followed and it was good to keep up with the latest in the family via the net. I hope that that tradition will continue with my mom, Auntie, my bro "D", my other sisters "D" and "T" and all of my friends throughout this transition that Yahoo! is forcing us through. I do love and miss them much, but I hope that this transition does not sever a good channel of communication for us.

Well, I have looked back on my notes of pros and cons from June and I have decided. My decision was pretty easy this time as I had basically chosen the new site at that time, as it was my second choice. Based on the fact that I need to have a wide audience, no spam and the ability to design and layout exactly the way I want, I am going with Blogspot from the fine folks at Google. My Blogspot site will be my main blog and will be linked from my own website. I feel it will be a good change and though I somewhat like the social networking that I get from my Y!360, I will not have that over on Blogger. C’est La Vie.

Please bookmark it and be sure to comment over here. By the way, I will be keeping my Y!360 site up for a little bit, but there will be no further posts there and that site will eventually be closed up.

Before I go, I wish to thank you, the reader, for keeping me going. As I looked at the site and saw the number of visitors increase, it gave me hope that someone out there really cared to take the time to stop in. I also wish to say, ‘Thank you Yahoo!’ You got me started in the blogging and now have pushed me over to Blogspot. Look at me ma, I am all grown up now and blogging on a real blog.