Wow! I could not believe that it had already been nearly two years since my last posting. It's not that there has not been anything to discuss (God knows that the numerous conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, the global financial financial crisis and the many social issues within the U.S. and throughout the greater world were the foundation of what could have been many good editorial postings), nor the fact that I had lost interest (for I surely have not lost interest).

In addition to a severely time restricted personal schedule there was the greater issue of having started the creation of a blog without a clear purpose in mind as to whom it would be directed and how it was to be used. It is a common mistake that seems to be the "right" of every American. My grandfather once gave me a book entitled "America: The Permanent Revolution", the premise of which that as the American bard Bob Dylan once mused "If you're not busy being born, you're busy dying" (viz. America is always at work re-inventing itself) the implication of which is that "purpose" and "utility" are ephemeral constructs at best. Even our founding fathers had no consensus of a clear vision as to what our national "purpose" would be beyond something more supportive of the character and industriousness of the individual citizen other than what existed in Europe at the time (ergo: why we spent so much ink and paper devoted to the subject of "rights"). As far as the desired "utility" of the governmental structure to be erected, they only wanted it to be strong enough to weather the storms of time and flexible enough to adapt to the anticipated change of future years. Most of those who were the founding fathers were "enlightened thinkers" who strongly believed that the child of reason was progress and progress would ultimately yield new challenges, the need for reflection upon "purpose" and new demands for new interpretations of "utility".

So, here I am hard at work, trying once again to re-invent my blog and, for the present, I see it as a means of communicating my personal interpretation of current and past events, personalities and ideologies with the hope that, eventually, I might be able to use it to strike up dialogue with family, friends, students and new acquaintances. It is my hope that I will be able to post at least weekly as a summary and critique upon the preceeding week and my "best guess" of the implications for the future. Feel free to add your comments. I will try to respond in kind as time permits.