I want to expand a little on something I wrote in my last post:

"I think it therefore important to encourage other, mostly silent, and, no doubt,
bewildered members of the masses to contribute their insights and write about
their concerns. Fortunately, I am lucky enough to know many bright, talented and funny people who have a visceral loathing of all things Bush or who are just pissed off at the current state of affairs in America. So, I have asked a few of my friends to contribute to my blog on a somewhat regular basis. Hopefully, you will be able to meet some of my fellow comrades soon."

I have to admit that I don't have any close friends who are avowedly conservative, although plenty of my family members are. This is not because I can't or won't be friends with someone who has strong conservative beliefs; I don't choose my friends based soley on their political beliefs and identities. Things have just worked out this way. I do know, however, that I have friends who identify themselves more or less as Republicans or who tend to vote for Republicans. I live in a Red state, after all. Thus, the main reason that I am writing this post is for my for my friends, whom I imagine will be the people who are initially reading this blog and so I want to add this:

While many of you do share a loathing for all things Bush and are liberals to the extent that you identify yourselves as belonging in one or the other of the liberal/conservative categories, some of you probably aren't. Some of you, whom I hope will read my blog from time to time (and some of you who have expressed an interest in contributing some posts), are not self-identified liberals and probably don't generally vote Democratic and that's fine. In fact, I think it's a good thing. That is why I also inclued the phrase, "or who are just pissed off at the current state of affairs in America," in the excerpted paragraph above. Even if you don't share all of my political beliefs and even if you tend to lean toward the Republican side of the aisle, I still value your opinions and insights.

I am also writing this post because I want to bring up another important reason that I started this blog. In the past 4 years or so my level of interest in politics has increased dramatically and the more I become informed about what is going in our country the more disgusted I am. There are many things that Americans in general, Democrats and Republicans, are frustated and disgusted with such as healthcare, the economy, and the war in Iraq to name a few. So, as a further welcome to my friends, I hope to hear your opinions and insights and would like to know what issues you are concerned about becuase the point of starting this blog is to discuss and debate. Yes, I look forward to ranting about the things that concern and piss me off, but that is only a part of what I hope this blog will be for. After all, if I was just looking for a means to deal with my general frutration, I would continue informing myself and just start drinking even more.