It has been on my mind

By Carol Gee

I suffer from being a political junkie, and I almost always have something on my mind. Sometimes I write about it, sometimes not. As a regular blogger who writes first at my own website, I usually post about certain subjects on a regular basis. And then I cross-post them for the different groups to whom I belong. I had to hold to a schedule in order to avoid becoming overwhelmed when my four children were small. Now it is easy for me to get over-loaded, too.

Because I have a lot on my mind, and lots of resource people sending me good stuff, I often get rather long-winded. That is not really the best form for The Reaction, so with Michael's permission, today's post is what he calls a "pointer." It points to some recent posts at my home page, South By Southwest.

Fun-fun. Thursdays I try to focus on the Middle East. Today's post explores "Deals in the making" -- with the Iraqi government about the status of forces -- and deals within Iraq about their oil supply. Condoleezza Rice is now in Iraq to try to move the process forward, even though China is the Iraqis' most favored nation for the oil deal. Deadlines come and go, gas prices go down, and the political race goes on here at home.

No "crying wolf." Activism is usually Wednesday's theme. There are a large number of "Warning Voices" out there, to whom we might listen. I posted on Daniel Ellsberg's take on the current state of the nation -- "dire." The challenge is keeping perspective on actual risks, in the face of fear mongering from our government, along with countering irrational Republican (and some Democratic) assaults on civil liberties.

Political posturing observed. Congress is at recess, but the House and Senate are never far from my mind. Tuesday it was Congress' turn for a post: "Congress Thinking about Energy and the Economy." And most of their thinking is about gasoline prices and unwisely reactionary to our lousy economy. I look at what might be coming up when they are back into session.

A picture that is laugh-out- loud funny. Sunday is for more personal writing and "Finding humor is tough these days." Others, evidently have the same thought and send me stuff, so in this post I share several quirky bits of news in a light vein.

(At South by Southwest.)