First Post, 'Why I Blog'

Just got this blog started. I am new to the wonderful world of blogging and this site will be going through constant change and improvement as I learn the ropes.

I was motivated to try out blogging in no small part by the ravings of US conservative pundits like Bill O'Reilly (Fox News), who demonise the 'MoveOn crowd and the liberal bloggers' as being 'far-left loons' and 'hate mongerers'. What Fix News calls 'far left', sane people call 'mainstream', so that was an attraction. Maybe there'll be a prize for the 1,000,000th blog that O'Reilly labels as 'extremist'. Ooh I hope it's me.

Also, i was inspired by the likes of Keith Olbermann (MSNBC), Michael Moore(filmmaker) and Cenk Uygur (of The Young Turks radio show). If you don't know any of these names, look 'em up. I could go on (George Galloway, Arianna Huffington, Rachel Maddow), as many more people deserve recognition for - not getting me to blog - but for spreading the truth, and saving sane mainstream politics in the '00s.

What I find most admirable about these people (even though I don't agree with any of them 100%) is that, during the dark eight years of a Bush-ruled USA and therefore a Bush-ruled world, a few, sometimes lonely voices spoke out against the injustices, the lies, the abuse of power.

At the time the Iraq War began, I was 12 and my chief thought was how great it is that the British and the Americans, who fought together in two World Wars, would flex their military muscles in foreign lands in my lifetime too. I could claim to have 'lived through history', and someday a child would ask an old man about the time the heroic Westerners liberated Iraq.

Well, I have grown up with the sad truth about this and all wars slowly being etched into my worldview. The result? I wonder how not everybody subscribed to the neo-con fantasy of '03; how did some hold onto their moral compass in amongst the corporate media's rush to war and refusal to criticise the coalition governments (at the time even the BBC was into it, I recall, I don't think I ever heard significant opposition to the war for a year or two from the initiation - those who were, I got the impression, were 'pacifist hippies').

That is why I hold admiration for the few voices of dissent who swam against the tide, who shone out in the darkness, and a ton of other metaphors. I am thankful to them because they knew, if they kept speaking out, the public would come round in the end.

And look where we are now. Obama elected in the US, withdrawal from Iraq a consensus; Canada even wants out of Afghanistan. Sites like The Huffington Post and The DailyKos are the new print media, MoveOn apparently has over 4 Million members and there is a popular movement to impeach President Bush. Unbelievable.

King George will be overthrown (you think the Americans would have learnt from the first time that happened). The liberal phoenix will rise from the ashes of neoconservativism, and for that reason it seems like I am a little bit late to the game; the 'liberal bloggers' have apparently already won.

Of course, the Obamas, in theory the new de facto Rulers of the World, actually have a hell of a hard time getting a progressive agenda past the metaphorical bullets of big business and a spiteful GOP. Not to mention real bullets (I hope not!)

'We the people', especially Americans: I urge you to support the Dems when they come under fire for their progressive politics, and keep an eye on big business; some of the people in the upper crust wanted Bush to be in power foreverandever. They don't give a damn about you.

Overall though, it seems we are heading for a new dawn in world politics, and I will happily add myself - just one more voice - to the millions who hope for change. What'll happen when King George is overthrown? I can't answer that; but it almost certainly will be an improvement.

The World Can't Wait.