And Over To You, Readers...

For some time now, I have been questioning the value in continuing this blog.

My main aim when I started out was twofold: to bring public attention to the forces which control our lives, and to educate myself in the process. Specifically, the blog became anti-Bush because of the Iraq War lies, which really shone a spotlight on the dangerous liaisons between Western governments and Big Business. This has become something of an obsession as I have learned more and more about what is going on in today's world. It has been an alarming, sometimes exhilirating, endlessly frustrating, but ultimately educational experience.

We have come a long way since the days when every second post here was considered a "conspiracy theory" and Bush supporters were regularly threatening violence against me for even countenancing such thoughts. Let's consider for a moment what has been achieved since I started this blog:

- Despite successful re-election campaigns, Bush, Blair and Howard are now polling at near- record lows,
- More than half the voters in the USA are now aware of the Iraq War lies,
- A procession of whistle-blowers have been encouraged to come forward with evidence like the Downing Street Memos,
- US politicians are now openly calling for a withdrawal from Iraq, with strong public support,
- Bush's GOP is engulfed in scandals - DeLay, Frist, PlameGate and more - as they head into the 2006 elections,
- Resistance from ordinary Iraqis has frustrated US efforts to seize Iraqi oil and spread a military presence across the region,
- This resistance has also helped dispel support for the neocon myth of the USA playing the role of an un-challenge-able global empire,
- US atrocities in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, secret torture centres and rendition flights have been brought to light,
- The UN has resisted US efforts to control its agenda, and the IAEA head (whom the USA sought to remove) was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace,

There is much more, of course... and I am not taking credit for all of them!

But with Bush now being described as a "lame duck" President for the next three years (his backdown on McCain's torture bill was a glaring example of how little political power the White House now exerts in Washington), with Cheney hiding from the lights in his bunker and Rumsfeld set to be replaced in the coming months, I feel that the main aim of this blog - to bring public attention to these things - has now largely been achieved. I feel that it is now up to Americans - not an Aussie like me - to continue the reform from here on in.

Having said that, I do enjoy the journalistic aspect of blogging and plan to continue with it in some form or other. In the coming week or two, the blog counter below should hit 50,000. That's a lot of hits (even if half of the visits may have been mine!). I really do appreciate the constructive feedback I have had over the years, and I am glad to have served as a source of information for countless search engine requests.

So this post is to solicit your feedback as I ponder how best to expend my energies in the coming year... What do you all like/dislike about this blog? How do you think it could be improved? How do you think it fits within the larger picture of the blogosphere - is there a need for blogs like this when we already have valuable sites like antiwar.com, alternet, working for change, ICH, etc?

I will be eager to read any comments (and if there are none, that will tell me all I need to know).