Getting Started

This blog began October 4, 2011. Over 9 years ago. I am in the tenth year. Many of my readers have not read that opening post so I show it below. See for yourself what my objectives were then; discern what they are now. How far have I strayed? Or not?

As we start a new year perhaps, we will focus on the positive and not repeat well-worn troubles? That would be nice but hardly human. We are likely to relive many problems and reactions based on emotion and not fact. That is a large part of our troubles today. Can we at least try to correct behavior to build the positive?

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2011

A Blog Begins - A continuing journey

Why another blog to add to the cluttered Internet, you say? Although the answer seems simple at this moment, I feel it will become complex later. But here's what I'm trying to accomplish:

-Ventilate my own brain on matters that are accumulating
-Provide a voice of reason on issues that so far have produced screams of incivility
-Ignore the zealots and reward the serious thinkers
-Attract ideas that may be useful in actually solving public problems
-Avoid political party labels and give voice to democracy
-Provide working definitions of ideology without being ideological(!)
-Give value and meaning to Middle of the Road and Independent

For many years I have been frustrated by opinions being touted as fact, news reports being published or aired as unbiased and factual when they are neither. It has nearly progressed to the point where I turn off the TV, the radio and avoid newspapers. Even those news organizations stating their intention to be unbiased, clearly seem to bend over backwards to report the "balanced view" but fail to achieve that objective. It becomes obvious they feel it necessary to add a point of view, whether accurate or bogus, just to give balance; the result is a weird tapestry of make believe that doesn't even make for good entertainment.

Realizing that national and large regional news outlets have fallen prey to the above, and witnessing the lack of good local news gathering for smaller communities, a few friends and I joined efforts and formed a weekly newspaper serving our community of less than 14,000 citizens and 1200 businesses with a workday population of more than 20,000. Our weekly efforts slipped to biweekly when we realized too few ad dollars existed to make our publication non-profit. It was producing too much red ink, so we economized and cut our print schedule to every other week and -- magically -- the books were balanced. We are truly non-profit. All work for free, as in volunteer! 25 hardy souls do this work and enjoy it but receive no monetary rewards. Such is our devotion to providing a news source of value to the community.

The allure to write brain-ventilating copy for my own sake in this community paper is powerful.  But that would be not only wrong; it would also be unproductive and of little value. My frustration continued however, and finally, after much cajoling by friends and family, a blog was born!

So here, dear reader, will commence discourse on many topics with many ideas, doubts, fears and insight offered. I do not admit special genius or super-brilliance; merely ideas that hopefully matter. I hope, also, to help stir others to think and share their ideas on the same matters. In this way we may come to some common agreement on how to view and to manage our deteriorating public life.

Surely America can handle its own affairs better than it is at this very moment. Surely you and I can come to better resolutions, stronger understanding, and a clearer idea of our future direction.

This is a national need and one we cannot afford to ignore any longer. Care to join me?

If so, please do the following: Follow the blog daily; share it with your family and friends; think on the content seriously; provide your comments and feedback frequently. Let us see if we can bring some sanity to public discourse. It's happened in the past and needs a rebirth in this year of 2011.

Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Now back to January 4, 2021; what have we learned over the past 9+ years that will improve our successes in 2021? An open question with no clear answer. Only a positive mindset will allow us progress. Are you game? 

January 4, 2021