Obama, Libya and White House Communications

I supported the war in Afghanistan when we began it soon after the attacks on our country by Al Queda September 11, 2001.I believe that our country was justified in taking action to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya to protect the people of Libya.

Problem is that in the real world of politics, even the brightest among us seem to not be able to understand intentionally or just because they can't the differentiate between the President declaring it is the policy of this Nation that we want Colonel Qaddafi removed from power and the actions taken to enforce a no-fly zone. While the distinction seems fairly self-evident to me, even Keith Olbermann has expressed confusion.

But this brings me back to a subject that I am continually frustrated with since Barack Obama was elected President. There is a portion of the Democratic Party that seems hell bent on being pissed off at him. Often it seems clear to me they are just as disingenuous about the facts as the Republican Party in their efforts to attack him. Is it really that hard to understand the difference between attacks on a country in which we are targeting people and attacks in which we are targeting air defense munitions? Or, do they really not understand that it can be the policy of the country that we want Qaddafi removed without the actions to enforce the no-fly zone having the goal of removal?

For me to believe they truly don't understand these points calls me to doubt the collective intelligence of the far left of this country. While these are fine points for citizens who are otherwise distracted by their daily lives, that doesn't seem to be an adequate excuse for the so-called "professional left."

Since I don't doubt the intelligence of the left, I am left believing it is simply cynical politics from them as they wage political war for the hearts and minds of American citizens. That I'm afraid isn't a much better excuse than ignorance.

At the same time, the White House has to continually be engaged in public relations. Over the last 4-5 days they have made it far too easy for demagogues on the left and right to make it sound like the White House doesn't have a plan here.

I'm totally in support of the actual plan. And, the doctrine seems fairly obvious to me. When a dictatorial leader of a country is killing its citizens randomly and we can get the support of the United Nations to take actions militarily that will protect the citizens threatened by that dictator, and we can do so relatively safely, then we will indeed take such action. This is what happened in Libya. It did not happen in Egypt. And, it did not happen in Bahrain. Given that we cannot afford to unilaterally be the world's policeman this makes sense.

I don't know why this doctrine is hard for pundits on the left and right to discern from the actions of the Obama Administration but apparently these folks need President Obama to draw them a picture. And, since it is my belief that is incumbent upon a President to communicate his message on issues such a war and peace as clear as day, it has been a mistake for the President not to draw the picture.

It is apparently not enough that the Arab League supports the action, that those fighting the Qaddafi regime seem genuinely thankful for the actions we have taken, and not even that it is pretty clear our intervention prevented significant slaughter of citizens in Benghazi. President Obama needs to draw the picture not only for those to slow to figure out some rather obvious distinctions but so that those who clearly want him to fail on both the left and right cannot play on the minds of those who don't have the time or passion to know better.

Yellow Triangle - Christy Moore [8/23[

This is posted tonight for our country. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!

YELLOW TRIANGLE
by Christy Moore
(Inspired by a famous statement by Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group)

The black triangle
The pink triangle
The green triangle
The red triangle
The blue triangle
The black triangle

And they wore the yellow triangle

When first they came for the criminals I did not speak
Then they began to take the jews
When they fetched the people who were member s of trades unions
I did not speak

Then they took the bible students
Round they took the homosexuals
Then they gathered up the students and the gypsies

I did not speak
I did not speak


Eventually they came for me there was no one left to speak

The black triangle
The pink triangle
The green triangle
The red triangle
The blue triangle
The black triangle

And they wore the yellow triangle
And they wore the yellow triangle
And they wore the yellow triangle
And they wore the yellow triangle

And the winner is...

Well, certainly this blog isn't going to be winning any awards soon. My renewed pledge to blog more has not gone well. I've been fairly busy but I think I need to figure out how to blog from my phone. But, enough of that. Today, is the Academy Awards and I am ready for the show.

Unlike previous years, my wife and I have actually seen a good number of the movies nominated for awards. For example, we have seen 5 of the 10 movies nominated for best picture, including: The Fighter, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech, The Social Network, and Winter's Bone.

I want to separate my predictions from my feelings. For each of the big categories, I will give my own personal feelings and then make a prediction.

My favorite movie of the 5 best picture nominees that I saw this year is The Social Network. I actually really liked all 5 of the nominees that I watched. But, I am a sucker for Aaron Sorkin's writing and dramatic style. The Social Network was simply terrific. My guess from the press around this is that The King's Speech will win.

I actually think the supporting actor/actress categories are more interesting this year than the leading category. Looking at the nominees it appears to me that the line is getting awfully thin between leading and supporting work in a movie. I will start with the Leading category. It's clear that Colin Firth is going to win the Leading Actor award. The only other performance I saw this year was that of Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network. Frankly, Eisenberg was so good that I think most of the country thinks he is Mark Zuckerberg. But, Colin Firth was magical in his portrayal of King George VI. He gets the nod for preference and prediction.

I strongly feel the best performance by a woman in a leading role this year was that of Julianne Moore in The Kids Are All Right. Of course, she's not nominated... her co-star, Annette Bening is. Jennifer Lawrence was awfully good in the Winter's Bone but while I really enjoyed that movie I wasn't overwhelmed by Ms. Lawrence's performance. She was good, I'm just not sure it was a tough enough role to get the win. I'm thus giving it to Annette Bening as my preference. I did not see Natalie Portman's performance in Black Swan. I don't have any interest in seeing the movie. I'm going to guess that Annette Bening wins the award.

I did see 4 of the 5 performances which garnered Supporting Actor nominees. All 4 of them were just absolutely terrific. I'm picking Christian Bale. I frankly don't know how you can call his character a supporting character in The Fighter movie. Afterwards, my wife asked me so who was the movie about Dicky or Micky. It seems to me it was about Micky, the character played by Mark Wahlberg but this was a movie dominated by Christian Bale's character. He should have been nominated for best actor. Honestly, I wouldn't be unhappy if John Hawkes was given the award as well. He too was terrific. His role in Winter's Bone though was not nearly as substantial as Christian Bale's in The Fighter. My prediction: I'm going to guess that the Academy gives the award to Geoffrey Rush. He is a great actor and he did a magnificent job in The King's Speech. His role like that of Christian Bale's was hardly just a supporting role. And, I must give a shout out to Mark Ruffalo who did an excellent job in The Kids Are All Right.

That leaves, Supporting Actress. I saw 3 of these 5 nominees. Two of them were in The Fighter and the other is Helena Bonham Carter from The King's Speech. I really liked Helena Bonham Carter's character but I just can't compare her work in the movie to that put in by Amy Adams and Melissa Leo in The Fighter. I'd be happy to see either Amy Adams or Melissa Leo win. I'm going to root for Melissa Leo because the role was so different from what I've seen her do before. She was also a star in Treme which gives her some bonus props from me. I actually am clueless about who will win this one. I will predict Helena Bonham Carter.

I'll be interested to see who wins the writing categories. There are some wonderfully written, intelligent movies nominated. Adapted screenplay seems like a tough battle between Aaron Sorkin and the folks that wrote Winter's Bone. The original screenplay category has The Fighter, The Kids Are All Right, and The King's Speech. It seems like The King's Speech will win given the accolades but I would be thrilled to see The Kids Are All Right win.

My predictions have The King's Speech just about running the table. Somehow, that seems unlikely but it does seem like the sort of movie with the sort of performances and performers that the Academy tends to like.

We will see. It should be a good show made much more enjoyable because I've seen many of the movies.

Egypt: The World Watches

I feel like I'm supposed to write something about the events we are watching in Egypt the last few days. I found it quite astonishing how slow the American media was to covering the upheaval. Seems Jon Stewart on the Daily Show and Rick Sanchez via his twitter account seemed to be the only ones actually covering what has come to be known as #Jan25. Suddenly, on Friday it finally became all Egypt, all the time on CNN and MSNBC.

It is fairly fascinating television and at least in visuals reminds me of the Tiananmen Square protests from 1989. It appears to be similar on some levels to the Tiananmen Square protests in that these seem to also being led by young people who are pretty pissed off about the state of affairs in their country. Honestly, I know very little about how the people of Egypt live, but CNN tells me these young people are pissed off because even though many of them are well-educated they have very little prospect for jobs. Combine this economic frustration with limiting their ability to speak freely on the internet and you have a powder keg.

From an American perspective politically this is a very delicate situation. While I'm sure many could give me details of Mubarak mistreatment of the people over the last 30 years, he has played an immensely important role to the United States in that region. I can't help but worry about who would replace Mubarak in a real democratic election. Shouldn't it concern us that the people of Egypt may not only elect someone who isn't as friendly with the United States but could also be even more restrictive on the people of Egypt who happen to be women or non-Muslim believers? Some suggest the Muslim Brotherhood may not be as bad an option as many in this country would expect. Many have expressed concerns that the Muslim Brotherhood does not include women in its leadership.

Admittedly, I speak from a great deal of ignorance here. But, it is my hope that smart people are advising are very smart President on this thing. While it is my instinct to be supportive of the people in the streets I have to say I'm not sure we as a country would be very helpful to their cause if we appeared to be totally supportive. This is a struggle that needs to be resolved by the people of Egypt. The most we can do as a nation is strongly encourage restraint by the government in how it deals with the protests.

If you're not happy with the coverage on CNN, you can watch Al Jazeera in English here. I encourage those of you on twitter to follow SA Cosgrove and Sharif Kouddous.

I must say that it is quite amazing to see people take to the streets to claim their freedom.

Olbermann signs off with Thurber -- The Scotty Who Knew Too Much.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

You can read Thurber yourself here.

Friday Poetry

I came home tonight late from work having negotiated a very difficult settlement for a client of mine. As settlements go, it was bittersweet... enough money that I recommended my client accept the offer but not nearly what she deserved or what she needed.

Soon after walking in the door to my home, my proud wife told asked me if I had heard the news. I told her the obvious... 10 hour settlement conference no outside news had reached me. She then let me know that Keith Olbermann had announced that tonight was his last show on MSNBC.

It's no secret that Keith wears his heart on his sleeve and in recent months his criticism of our President has often irritated the crap out of me. But, here's the deal... in my lifetime no single human being has had a more positive impact on how the news is delivered to this country than Keith Olbermann. While a ridiculous wealthy man by the name of Rupert Murdoch has been able to corrupt the delivery of television and newspaper news in this country in a way that nearly irreparably harmed everything that this country was founded upon, one man stood up and said no. He said no in a way that captured the hearts and minds of a huge portion of our country.

My conservative friends are strutting around tonight likely branding Keith Olbermann a pariah they are glad to be done with. And, my response is oh, if only you were so lucky. I do not have to wait for word from Keith himself that he will eventually be back bigger than ever and now likely with an event more strident and devoted following. But, here's the deal. At a time when our media had folded up it's tent and totally sold out on its responsibility to report the truth to the America regarding things like the Iraq war, the Patriot Act, Habeas Corpus, and other horrific political garbage that the Bush administration cast upon all of us. Quite literally, one man stood up and called "BULLSHIT!" He did it nightly and he did it even when his bosses wanted him to stop.

As a result, he quite literally created a following so large that MSNBC has become the answer to the absolute garbage being cast upon this country by Fox News and everything else owned by Rupert Murdoch. Someone this good will not just go away. When I discover where he returns to and how, I will be there listening and so will millions of other Americans who care so deeply about who we are as a nation.

Today, in honor of Keith Olbermann I am glad I am late to posting my Friday Poetry. For his father, for him... it has to be James Thurber. Somehow this one even fits the mood.

The Last Flower - Cycle of Civilization

World War XII, as everyone knows, brought about the collapse of civilization. Towns cities, and villages disappeared. All the groves and forest were destroyed, and all the gardens, and all the works of art. Men, women, and children became lower than the animals. Discouraged and disillusioned, dogs deserted their fallen masters. Books Paintings, and music disappeared from the earth, and human beings just sat around doing nothing. Years and years went by. Even the few generals who were left forgot what the last war had decided. Boys and girls grew up to stare at each other blankly. Love had passed from earth.

One day, a young girl who had never seen a flower chanced to come upon the last one in the world. She told the other human beings that the last flower was dying. The only one who paid attention to her was a young man. Together, the young man and the girl nurtured the flower and it began to live again. One day, a bee visited the flower, and a humming bird. Before long, there were two flowers, and then a great many. Groves and forests flourished again. The young girl began to take interest in how she looked. The young man discovered that touching the girl was pleasurable. Love was reborn into the world.

The children of the young man and the girl grew up strong and healthy. They learned to run and laugh. Dogs came out of their exile. The young man discovered how to build a shelter. Pretty soon everybody was building shelters. Towns, cities, and villages sprung up. Song came back into the world, and troubadours and jugglers, tailors and cobblers, painters and poets, and sculptors, and soldiers and Lieutenants and Captains, and Generals and Major-Generals, and liberators. Some people went to one place to live, and some to another. Before long, those who went to live in the valleys wished they had gone to live in the hills. And those who had to live in the hills wished they had gone down to live in valleys. The liberators, under the guidance of God, set fire to the discontented. So presently, the world was at war again. This time, the destruction was so complete that nothing at all was left in the world, except one man, one woman, and a flower.

This week's Friday Poetry is hosted by Tara at A Teaching Life.

Football Friday

I'll post some poetry later, probably football related but for now I'm just pumped for this weekend's epic battle between the Bears and Packers. They tell me that the American Football Conference (whatever the tell that is) is also having it's championship game. That one appears to be Pittsburgh vs. New York Jets. I despise every sports team from New York so I'm not unbiased in this prediction but let's just say this Pittsburgh's defense is better than the Jets and Mark Sanchez isn't on the same planet as Ben Roethlisberger as a quarterback. Unless Pittsburgh's offensive line screws this up I suspect the Steelers will take that game by 7 points or more.

The Bears and Packers essentially invented the game of football. Technically, it was a Bear, one George Halas, who founded the National Football League. A tweet has been going around this week noting that the Bears and Packers are playing each other for the Halas Trophy, the winner gets to play for the Lombardi Trophy. Even this little tweet recognizes that for real football fans, the real championship game is the NFC game. No way something named after Lombardi could be considered more important than something named after George Halas.

Listening to the national media this week, one would wonder why the Bears will even bother to show up and play against the Packers this weekend on their own field off the shores of Lake Michigan. But, somehow I am reminded that the Bears beat the Packers in the only game that mattered for the Bears between the two of them this year and shut Rodgers and company down to 10 points on Lambeau field a mere 3 weeks ago in a game that meant nothing to the Bears. And, by the way, the Chicago Bears won the division that the Packers still inhabit.

Aaron Rodgers is good. But so far this year, the Bears defense has managed to hold him pretty damn well. It looks to me like the Bears defense is actually playing as well as it has all year. The big surprise to me is that Tommie Harris is suddenly playing like the young, healthy Tommie Harris. If Tommie keeps that up the Bears 4 man pass rush with Julius Peppers and Israel Idonije is the best in the league. And, oh by the way, we still have Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs playing linebacker. I don't see the Packers scoring 20 points in this game.

The Bears offense is the Rodney Dangerfield of the NFL and given the way the line was backing up until the bye week, it's not hard to understand why. But, this line has found itself. The Packers defense is very good but they do not stop the run very well. In fact, last I checked they were 18th in the NFL in run defense. When the Bears are able to run the ball, they score points because defenses are then forced to back off the pass rush enough that Jay Cutler becomes a real threat.

Jay Cutler has a ridiculous arm. I expect at least one touchdown pass of more than 40 yards in this game. I expect Matt Forte to run for more than 100 yards. I see the Bears crossing that magic 20 point threshold.

Bears win this game 21-17. Lookout Dallas, here comes the President and his team!

Friday Poetry

I was so moved by the Memorial Service held for the victims of last weekend's tragedy in Tucson, Arizona. As soon as I heard the poetry selection read at the ceremony, I new I'd be posting it today for Friday Poetry. I must thank Joshua Robbins for having posted the poem earlier this week. The poem was written by W.S. Merwin. W.S. Merwin is the seventeenth United States Poet Laureate. The poem can be found in a collection of poems by W.S. Merwin in Present Company.

To the New Year

With what stillness at last
you appear in the valley
your first sunlight reaching down
to touch the tips of a few
high leaves that do not stir
as though they had not noticed
and did not know you at all
then the voice of a dove calls
from far away in itself
to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you
here and now whether or not
anyone hears it this is
where we have come with our age
our knowledge such as it is
and our hopes such as they are
invisible before us
untouched and still possible

This week's roundup of Poetry Friday can be found with Laura Salas.

Weapons, words, and the impressionable youth

Words matter and so does access to violent weapons. So much garbage gets said in our political discourse in recent years. Today, a few things ring very true.

(1) A young man had access to an extremely efficient, deadly automatic weapon that allowed him to kill and maim numerous people in seconds.

(2) That young man shot a congresswoman who was one of only 2 remaining elected officials still in Congress who had been literally put in the crosshairs by Sarah Palin.

(3) The citizens of Arizona all have the right to carry a concealed weapon and that fact made none of them safer and saved zero lives at the Safeway store in Tucson.

(4) The young man who was responsible for this senseless violence seems to have been a very unstable individual who believed our government was our greatest enemy -- where do you think he'd get that idea?

There is a message in here for all of us. The more we stoke the flames of hatred against each other with outrageous claims about each others motives the more this will happen. It was wrong and completely outrageous for people to compare George W. Bush to Hitler and/or suggest he and Dick Cheney may have had some role in 911. It is at least as morally reprehensible for people to carry around signs with Obama depicted in clown faces or with a Hitler mustache.

Politics has more and more become all about totally scaring the crap out of people. It doesn't take much imagination to see that when 30% of our population can be convinced that Barack Obama is an illegal immigrant, radical Muslim that we may end up with some young folks who find a reason to take up arms against their government.

Truth is no one needs access to the kinds of weapons this young man brought to the Safeway in Tucson today. And, the irresponsible language and discourse of our politics will cause young impressionable people to do outrageous, unspeakable things.

Friday Poetry

When this blog was going great guns I tried to post poetry every Friday. Today, being my first Friday back on the blog I am doing it again. For years, people have been participating in a group Friday Poetry effort. This long pre-dates the now infamous Follower Friday that goes on with Twitter posters. And, technically, if you track my blog back to its beginning I believe I may have been amongst the first to make a weekly effort to post poetry on Friday.

So, today's poetry comes from another blog's recent posting. Thank you to The Best American Poetry for sharing this one with me. And, now I share it with you.

"In the Last Forty-Five Days" [by Stephanie Paterik]

I have shaken raw sugar packets
stolen wireless Internet
made love in the morning
measured vanilla extract
watched apple spice cake go brown around the edges

and you are still where I left you in the Arizona sun.

I have drawn flowers for your headstone
selected thank you cards with a white bird on the cover
wondered why we imagine the dead to be flying rodents
stared directly at the sun
curled my hair for a passport photo

and you are still where I left you.

I have sliced bananas for the Cheerios
started signing e-mails “Warm Regards”
gained five pounds
completed one thousand downward dogs
scrubbed my yoga mat and thanked the Buddha-beaded guru

and you are still.

I have met with a tall accountant
worn black wide-brimmed hats
dreamt of a riverboat on the south of France
bought local blueberries
framed a photograph of an orange blossom

and you.

-- October 2010


The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Live. Love. Explore! this week.

Freedom

I thought I was done for the morning but this whole charade in the House of Representatives has me needing to vent. They are reading the Constitution supposedly because the Tea Party cares about freedom and personal liberty. Well, I've given up trying to figure out what the Tea Party cares about but I know what the Republican Party has stood for my entire life -- under the guise of protecting States' rights they repeatedly argue the Constitution never envisioned such a large role for the Federal government.

First of all, this is a crock of spit. The folks who wrote the Constitution we're as divided as we are on the role of the government and thus the Constitution itself was a series of political agreements which plainly left these decisions for future generations to debate as society progressed, as they knew it would. The Constitution was clearly intended to be a living document. No need to look any further then how they resolved the slavery issue. They took a pass on it and wrote in a rather obvious political agreement which made millions of Americans only 3/5 a person.

Second, the Republican Party wants to limit the role of the Federal government precisely so States can have more freedom to limit the personal freedoms of the citizens of this country. The Republican Party wants states to decide the the boundaries of civil liberties. The Republican Party doesn't want the Federal government protecting your rights over the objection of conservative (red) states. It's that simple.

That's not protecting freedom. That's limiting freedom. We have a Federal government set up as it is so that we all have a certain level playing field of rights no matter what state we happen to inhabit. Those rights protected by our Constitution make this the greatest nation on earth. The Republicans don't want to expand and protect those rights. They want to allow individual states' to dismantle those liberties.

Progress

According to the rickety old scale in my bathroom, after 3 days of dieting today I weight 15 pounds less than I did on Monday morning. I have no idea how accurate the scale is but I assume its noteworthy that the number was 15 smaller than what it said on Monday morning. This dieting thing is a breeze.

On the political front, I was glad to hear the Obama Administration has officially named Bill Daley Chief of Staff to the President. Those on the left are unhappy because they think Mr. Daley is too business friendly and those on the right are unhappy because Mr. Daley comes from the Chicago machine. That means I think the pick is perfect. More and more, my bell weather is that the best Presidential decisions piss off both sides.

I'm also biased. The City of Chicago is the most organized, cleanest, best working big city I have ever spent time in. Thus, I am happy to have a member of the Daley family helping the President manage things in the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, I am very busy at work making the diet thing that much easier. I have a deposition this afternoon to prepare for so I am off.

The Mayor and I

I am a big fan of Cory Booker, the current mayor of Newark, New Jersey. While Governor Christie was vacationing in Florida, Mayor Booker was shoveling snow and doing whatever else was necessary to get the streets of Newark safe for public travel again.

Today, I noticed that Mayor Booker is an Honorary Co-Vice Chair of the Partnership for a Healthier America as part of Michelle Obama's larger national campaign against obesity called Let's Move! As part of his involvement in that campaign, Mayor Booker has pledged to lose 40 pounds by April 27, 2011.

Booker writes:

On Christmas Day I weighed in at 295 lbs. It was the heaviest I have been in my life -- even when I played tight end at Stanford I was just 265 lbs., and 18 months ago in 2009 I was 230 lbs.

As I write this on January 4, 2011, I am down to 287 lbs. (and that was achieved by simply reviving a long-lost moderate exercise regime on my stationary bike, and by stopping my compulsive late night stress eating). I am making a public commitment today that by my birthday on April 27th I will be below 240 lbs. and still making progress towards my healthy goal weight of 230 lbs.

Those who read this blog will wonder how my weight loss has anything to do with my political beliefs. The truth is it is about living and being what I preach. While I am certain, Mayor Booker is in better shape than I, I start my weight loss campaign at 265 pounds. In this case, less is actually more. While Mayor Booker may only need to lose 40 pounds, I believe I need to ultimately lose at least 60. But, I too am committing to dropping 40 pounds by April 27. And, I plan to post on this blog my progress as a way of holding myself accountable. Beyond that my goal is to have dropped 60 pounds by my birthday next December 22, 2011.

As Mayor Booker concluded:

Oh, and this isn't about dieting; it is about lifestyle. It isn't about getting skinny; it is about getting healthy. It isn't about denial; it is about living a more abundant life.

Here is to integrity, here is to health, here is to having life and having it more abundantly.

Someone shout Amen!

Getting things done...

Congressman Darrell Issa thinks the Obama Administration is the most corrupt ever. Representative Cantor pledges that House will vote to repeal health care next week. Surprise, surprise the Republicans are who we thought they were. Looks to me like they plan to waste a whole lot of time and money on matters that will do nothing to make the lives of Americans better.

On the other hand, President Obama is considering hiring a tough guy like Bill Daley to be his Chief of Staff and liberal Democrats are whining. Maybe it's my Chicago roots, but I love the idea of hiring Daley. He knows Washington. He's blue collar-tough, smart and not blinded by ideology. Seems like a clear signal that President Obama is most interested in getting things done that will improve the lives of Americans.

Speaking of getting things done...

I've started my weight loss program. For breakfast, I had 2 fried eggs over a couple pieces of ham (no toast). For lunch, a wonderful tuna salad my wife pre-made for me. I only ate half the salad, saving the other half for tomorrow. During the day I snacked on Macadamia nuts. Upon my arrival home from work, I snacked on some broccoli and cauliflower with blue cheese. I've managed to drink a boatload of water as well. For dinner, it looks like grilled chicken with rice.

For those of you who have done this before, you will recognize it as the old Atkins diet. I'm mixing it with my wife's experience with the South Beach diet, which explains the rice tonight. I'm making no bones about this. I'm in it to lose a bunch of weight. I will deal with the long term when I get my weight down to a more reasonable level. My diet is about making my life better.

Not Enough To Do

As is evident from the posts below I pretty much stopped blogging in 2010. One of my resolutions for the new year is to once again put some effort into sharing my thoughts on a blog. Facebook limits me to 420 character posts. Twitter limits me to 140. These limits make posting rather vague and often uninspired. Since I'm a lawyer these limits are almost impossible to live by.

I suspect the subject matter will be as wide as my posts on twitter and faceboook from random thoughts about whatever Chicago sports event I am watching to diatribes on my political beliefs I have always had much to say. As I start this new year, I have much to accomplish, a very busy trial schedule, another season of coaching girls fastpitch softball, my excursions to local pubs and other locales with my wife, my latest diet attempt, my budding musical career as the lead singer in an as yet unnamed rock band, and the ongoing soap opera of a life that includes my wife, 2 grandchildren, 2 children, 4 step-children, 9 brothers and sisters, 2 amazing parents, and more than a dozen nieces and nephews.

So, let's do this again. Because as you can tell... I do not have enough to do.