That's cool! Congrats! I'm glad there will be an even larger audience for your thoughts!

Yikes! Don't remind me...it's scary enough as it is!

Houston. It's worth it!

Really.

Congrats on the LST gig! I think. :)

Kevin, thanks! I think. ;-)

Eric, you'll do just fine.

Just got back from the Lone Star Times...

It's a great blog! Incredible content. I'm not surprised LST wanted to continue that trend by including you. Nice to see some people recognize quality when they see it.

...actually they're secretly hoping you'll increase the readership with regular pictures of Abbye. ;-)

"Wow, what a cute dog-like creature! I'm gonna go back tomorrow and see if there's another pic!"

Eric, congrats on new opportunities and new horizons!

Stopped in to take a look at Lone Star Times. I suspect it will be VERY popular with Midland-area bloggers.

Congrats!

I doubt that I will be an avid reader of LST, but I will want to catch your byline!

You keep me on my toes!

Shannon, Mr. Freen...where should I send your checks? ;-)

Jeff, it does tend to have that irreverent conservative bent that certain local bloggers seem to gravitate toward, doesn't it?

CP, I doubt that I'll do that much toe-levitating. I'm probably going to stick to the Faith section for the time being, and we all know how non-controversial that is! ;-)

LOL, "tend to" ... "seem to" ?

But you are dead-on about what local bloggers gravitate towards.

Still, there are a few voices out there that raise views and ideas different from those approved for our part of the world. But I don't expect to see anything like that posted in the Lone Star Times.

Yet they do find outlets for expression ... the comment section of your weblog, for example. And not only are differing/opposing comments posted, but your responses to them show a degree of civility and a comitment to open discussion (without invectives or slurs) that I have stopped looking for in other parts of the Tall City's blogosphere.

And that openness is something for which I am grateful.

Thank you!

Eric

I was reading Murray Mongomery's article (7/17/04) last night, entitled "Horrors of Bataan" as told by Russel A Grokett, Sr - also decribed in "The Circle is never Broken" by Estelle Crockett. There are many things told there WHICH I HAVE NEVER HEARD BEFORE. Mothers putting human dung on their daughters' faces to make them look ugly and repulsive, american soldiers slashing the wrists of their buddies so they can quench their thirst by drinking human blood, Dutch ships bombarding Japanese ships known as "Hell Ships" for some 33 days (just like Jesus who was crucified at age 33) not knowing that inside, they were packed sardine-like with American prisoners going insane as their Dutch allies were attacking them!!! I also learned that in the Fall of Bataan, there were 12,OOO Americans, and 60,000 Filipinos. But if we see celebrations, it is as though, only americans fought and died for america's wars.

Just imagine that you are a tight rope walker. The number of people in the audience is really irrelevant. What matters is you look straight ahead. Next thing you know, you made it all the way. And you will!!!

Jeff, thanks for the encouragement. This may sound deeper than it really is (or it may just sound stupid...so be it) but sometimes I think a blog is only as good as its readers. And I'm very thankful that the folks who periodically drop by here tend to make me better than I would otherwise be.

I also think that we have way too many temptations to be adversarial in our communications, and while I do occasionally succumb to those temptations (call me a slow learner), I can't survive on a steady diet of it.

Eurasian, I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me in your first paragraph...but I think you're also offering encouragement in the second, and I appreciate it. The tightrope walker analogy is a good one. I've been looking for something to replace the old "imagine everyone in the audience is in their underwear" advice; that just tends to distract me! ;-)

Eric

I was just pointing out how informative the Lone Star Times and its contributors must be, based on the one sample I just read from it. And it is true. Most of what I read from this article, I never heard before in all these some past 50 years, whether movies, news, speeches, history books, conversations with those who experienced and lived World War II.

Oh...OK. I don't actually have time to read everything that's posted to the LST, so I didn't realize you were referring to an article you found there. ;-)