Zarqawi’s suicide bombers in Jordan murdered a leading palestinian terrorist in the blasts that killed many more innocents.

AMMAN (AFX) - The head of the Palestinian intelligence services, Bashir Nafeh, was among those killed in a blast that shook a hotel in the Jordanian capital, a top Palestinian diplomat told Agence France-Presse.

‘Bashir Nafeh was killed in the attack on the Grand Hyatt hotel,’ charge d’affaires Atallah Khairy said.

What was Nafeh responsible for? Well, among other things, trying to extort money from palestinian Christians, and when that failed, burning their homes and churches and terrorizing them.

Too bad the bombers didn’t strike a terrorists’ convention instead of murdering people at wedding parties.

Someone needs to find Zarqawi and end his existence. Faster, please.

The Australian and Asian news services are leading with the story of the Bali bombing mastermind confirmed dead.

The rest of the world is leading with the attacks in Jordan. This one goes below the fold, so to speak.

Hell, even Charles Johnson is ignoring it.

I guess it’s just not that important, then.

Ha’aretz printed a rumor first, then published this article in response. Nice going, Ha’aretz, because, it’s not like anti-Semites won’t use the fact that an Israeli paper published this crap first as evidence that it’s true:

There is no truth to reports that Israelis staying at the Radisson SAS hotel in Amman on Wednesday were evacuated by Jordanian security forces before the bombing that took place there.

The Israelis were escorted back to Israel by Jordanian security personnel only after the attacks had taken place, contrary to earlier reports.

Al Jazeera is only too happy to republish the lie, and I’ll bet any amount you won’t see a correction in their paper.

A number of Israelis staying at the Radisson hotel in Amman were evacuated before the bombing by Jordanian security forces, apparently due to a specific security alert, according to the website of Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.

They were escorted back to Israel by security personnel.

Nice going, Ha’aretz. Well done.

Schmucks.

And of course, the Arab press is more than happy to spread the lies around.

Look for this story to pop up repeatedly on neo-Nazi sites as well.

Once again, well done, Ha’aretz. I can’t thank you enough for supplying more lies to the enemies of Jews.

How about firing the editor who approved the story, as well as the reporter who wrote it?

Update: Someone tell Hugh Hewitt and Captain Ed the story is false. Because they’re passing it along like it isn’t.

Looks like Hizbullah and the PA aren’t sitting at the cool kids table:

A recent poll in Lebanon revealed that 72 percent of Lebanese are in favor of disarming Palestinians in Lebanon, while 54 percent are in favor of ousting pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.

[…] 55 percent supported the disarmament of Hizbullah and Lebanon’s Palestinians under Security Council Resolution 1559.

You heard ‘em, boys. Drop the weapons.

This one is sliding under the radar everywhere except Down Under, it seems:

THE most feared terrorist in Asia, Azahari bin Husin, the man responsible for the two Bali bombings and an attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta, has blown himself up after being cornered by police in East Java.

Police said it appeared Azahari, Indonesia’s most wanted man, had died during a police raid in the city of Malang yesterday afternoon.

Indonesia’s elite anti-terror squad Detachment 88 tracked Azahari down after months of surveillance. It is understood one of the master bomb-maker’s acolytes inadvertently led police to the hideout. Police have hunted the elusive Malaysian militant since the 2002 Bali blasts, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Strangely, it is nobody’s top story. Not Google News, not AP, not Reuters.

If true, this is a significant move forward in the war on terror–and yet, the world media is yawning and moving on to the more important things, like the NJ and VA gubernatorial races. Or the latest casualty in Iraq.

What is wrong with these people?

The UN is asking Israel for - get this - peacekeepers. Yes, peacekeepers.

The United Nations has approached Israel with a request to send military units to troublesome parts of the globe under the world body’s peace keeping forces.

Haiti, Kosovo, Congo, and Liberia are among the proposed destinations Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday.

The U.N. has specifically asked for Israeli military medical units equipped with helicopters to serve in one of these hotspots. The world organization is also interested in purchasing advanced Israeli-made military equipment including night vision and telecommunication equipment.

Why? Good question, because the effing U.S. military stopped using Israeli bullets in Iraq for fear of “offending” Muslims.

But maybe the UN wants Israeli soldiers because they are of a far higher caliber than the current peacekeeping forces, who are often as bad as the forces they’re supposed to be protecting the citizens from.

I have a new routine. When Tig wants to go out in the morning, I grab him, smear a dab of Laxatone on his paw, and let him out. He struggled the first day. He struggled the second day. Today, he held back and refused to go out until I opened the sliding door wide enough to make him think he was going out, but not wide enough for him to fit. And got the Laxatone on the paw.

Thing is, he’s still leaving me disgusting presents. Not yet today, but that doesn’t mean I won’t come home to it.

Think I should just have him shaved bald for the winter?

It looks like the ICRC really is going to accept Israel as a member after all.

Israel’s rescue service on Tuesday welcomed the intention of the international Red Cross to introduce a new emblem that will pave the way for Israel’s inclusion into the lifesaving organization.

Switzerland will host a diplomatic conference in early December to approve the proposed new emblem, to be called the red crystal. The conference is expected to resolve a long-running dispute between Israel and the international Red Cross.

[…] The red crystal depicts a square standing on one corner, with a blank white interior and a thick red border. Dr. Noam Yifrach, chairman of Magen David Adom, said Israeli aid workers would be able to insert a Star of David symbol into the crystal when working overseas.

Looks like the Swiss weren’t just blowing smoke when they said they’d work to get Israel into the family of nations. Where she belongs, I might add.

So the choice, for me, came down to this: Do I vote for the guy with the really weird eyebrow, or the guy with the smirk?

I went eyebrow all the way.

My guy won.

That’s good, because during the debates, all I wanted to do was smack that smirk off of Kilgore’s face. Geez. He’s like, the guy everyone must’ve beat up in high school.

In any case, I’m sorry, but I have a major HA-ha moment here: The conservatives (of which I am not one, in spite of many people fervently wishing to make me so) both lost.

Wow, was Forrester sleazy or what, getting Corzine’s ex-wife to come out against him in an ad?

My precinct had the touch-screen voting machines. Kewl. Fun. Germ carriers. I pointed that out to the woman who keyed in my vote, and she said, “I know. I keep wiping the screen clean.”

Smart woman.

And although my button says “I made freedom count,” and Sarah’s only says that she voted, she still wins the competition. Last week, Al Gore and Rudy Guiliani called her. This week, W. and Bill Clinton called her.

Nobody called me. All they did was send people door to door to ask me to vote for Kaine. (I live in a solidly Democratic neighborhood, and Kilgore was obviously not wasting his time and money to convince me otherwise. The smug jackass.)

Y’know, I visited one of those conservative Virginian blogs today. I think they’re a bit unhappy tonight. Poor things. Hell, even during his concession speech, he smirked. ARGH! Smack that man!!! Smack him!

Once again, the international monitors are proving how incredibly useless they are. The EU refuses to even think about arresting gun smugglers if it catches any. I suppose they’re just going to frown in their general direction.

“Obviously what we will not be doing is taking the place of the Palestinian customs and security officials. In the end the Palestinian Authority will be in charge of its borders,” EU envoy Marc Otte told Reuters.

Well, there you have it. Expect an avalanche of weaponry to arrive shortly.

You won’t hear about this via AP, Reuters, or the New York Times:

Israeli sales in the Palestinian Authority will rise 10-15% to $1.9 billion this year, the same level as before the intifada. The Manufacturers Association of Israel made the prediction at a meeting with leaders of the leading Palestinian business organization in the Gaza Strip.

In 1999, a peak in trade between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli sales in the Palestinian Authority totaled $1.9 billion.

Are you listening, PCUSA? Are you listening, would-be divestment proponents? Because here’s more evidence that Israel and the palestinians are starting to work together:

The Manufacturers Association hosted the Palestinians in order to consider ways of strengthening dialogue and economic connections between Palestinian and Israeli businesspeople.

The guests consisted of six Palestinian businesspeople from the Palestinian Businessmen Association (PBA) in the Gaza Strip. The goals of the organization, which consists of 130 Palestinian businesspeople, are to represent the Palestinian business community in the Gaza Strip, and encourage foreign investment and the domestic economy.

Mind you, that won’t stop the anti-Israel protesters from demonizing Israel. It isn’t Israel’s policies they’re protesting, really. It’s Israel’s existence.

This one flew by under the radar: The boy who was shot by the IDF because he was wielding a toy gun during a firefight with terrorists died, and his parents donated his organs. They went to six Israelis.

The vital organs of a Palestinian boy mistakenly killed by the Israel Defense Forces last week have been transplanted into the bodies of six Israelis, after the boy’s family donated his organs “for the sake of peace between peoples,” Israel Radio reported.

Ahmed al-Khatib, 12, was fatally shot during clashes in Jenin last week, when IDF troops mistook the toy gun he carried for a real rifle.

Three Israeli girls, two Jewish and one Druze, underwent surgery Sunday to receive Al-Khatib’s lungs, heart and liver. Twelve-year-old Samah Gadban had been waiting for a heart for five years when doctors called her family late Saturday and told them of the Al-Khatib donation. By Sunday afternoon, the Druze girl had a new heart and was recovering at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikvah.

[…] Dr. Tzvi Ben-Yishai, spokesman for Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, where Al-Khatib had been treated, said the boy’s parents decided to donate his organs “to bring hearts closer and bring peace closer.”

“I don’t mind seeing the organs in an Israeli or a Palestinian. In our religion, God allows us to give organs to another person and it doesn’t matter who the person is,” said Jamal al-Khatib, the boy’s father, who added that he hoped the donations would send a message of peace to Israelis and Palestinians.

Stories like this are still rare, but they seem to be happening more frequently. Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

Your weekly festivals of Jews and cats.

First, CoTC, Part One, Part Two, Part Three.

Next, Haveil Havalim #43.

Yes, I’m a bit late this week. But I did remember.

I spent my Saturday morning at the vet’s. Tig has been vomiting every day, often more than once a day, for the past week or more. This has happened periodically in the past. Sometimes it’s because he eats the toughest, coarsest grass he can find and it forms a mat that takes a very long time to pass. Sometimes it’s because he has hairballs that haven’t come up yet. This time, I wasn’t sure what it was, so I called and begged an emergency appointment, trapped Tig, wrestled him into his carrier, and drove off to the vet with a yowling cat in the passenger seat.

We didn’t have to wait too long before we got an examination room. I let Tig out of his carrier, he looked around a bit, found nowhere to hide, freaked out a little, I put him back on the table and he waited uncomfortably until the vet came in, hiding in his carrier. Of course he refused to come out, so he got upended out.

Mind you, Tig has never been the best at the vet’s. I no longer get his nails clipped because it will cost far too much. The last time I tried, he was wrapped, the vet, the assistant and I all were holding him, and he still slashed two of us. This time, he was horrible the second the vet began probing away from his head. He lashed out with his front paw, landed a claw in the thick of my palm - fishhook style, thank you very much. The vet waited until I finished washing my hands before calling in the assistant to wrap Tig. The exam continued, Tig hissing and biting and fighting the entire time. I was extremely embarrassed, and apologized for his horrendous behavior. The vet said she’d seen worse.

The upshot is that the vet thinks it’s just excess fur due to the change of seasons, and she gave me a tube of some vet-strength hairball medication. She also gave Tig a shot to settle his stomach, as I assured her that if I had to administer medicine, most of it would go on me and almost none of it down Tig’s throat. I cannot give him medicine. At all. If Tig ever gets really sick, or needs regular medicine to stay alive, he will die. It’s that simple. If he ever develops diabetes, he’s a goner. He’d never let me give him a daily injection.

So. Yesterday, I put a dab of the Laxatone (such a great name, isn’t it?) on his paw. He started freaking out, I tossed him outside, he washed his paw immediately, which is what he was supposed to do. Today, I dabbed a bit on my finger, got a hold of Tig, started putting it on his paw, and he started freaking out again. He struggled like I was poisoning him or something. I finished and let him go, he ran off to wash his paw.

I don’t even want to think about what he’s going to do tomorrow.

Tig is going to die if he ever needs medication for something serious. He is the most impossible cat I’ve ever had. And yes, I’ve tried all of the food tricks. None of them work.

Stupid cat.

He threw up this morning again. Yeah, I found it. I checked near where he sleeps. It was there. I fully expect to clean up some more tomorrow.

Stupid cat.

The only thing worse than hearing your cat throw up downstairs while you are upstairs is being unable to find the disaster area when you come downstairs.

What I do not understand about the riots in Paris is why the French government has not sent in their equivalent of the National Guard. It is obvious the police are unable to stop these subhumans from destroying property and hurting the police, and now, they’ve killed a man:

PARIS (AP) - A man who was beaten by an attacker while trying to extinguish a trash can fire during riots north of Paris has died of his injuries, becoming the first fatality since the urban unrest started 11 days ago, a police official said Monday. Youths overnight injured three dozen officers and burned more than 1,400 vehicles.

Oh, and the mainstream media has noticed - far later than the blogosphere - that there are riots in other European nations.

Apparent copycat attacks spread to other European cities for the first time, with five cars torched outside Brussels’ main train station, police in the Belgian capital said.

And still, in spite of the fact that the rioters are all French Muslim immigrants, the French pretend that perhaps it wasn’t a Muslim “youth” that killed the man:

Alain Rahmouni, a national police spokesman, said the man who was beaten died at a hospital from injuries sustained in the attack, but he had no immediate details about the victim’s age or his attacker.

The man was caught by surprise by an attacker after rushing out of his apartment building to put out the fire, Rahmouni said.

Despicable.

The terrorists are still firing rockets, and they hit another terrorist PA policeman today when the rocket failed to achieve its target. Too bad you can’t really make those “Jewish bombs,” hey, Aziz?

Two Palestinians were wounded Sunday when a Qassam rocket aimed at Israel mistakenly hit a house in the Gaza Strip town of Dir al-Balah.

One of the wounded was a Palestinian police officer who lived in the house.

Military sources said that over the past two weeks, since the targeted killing of Luay Saadi, head of the Islamic Jihad’s military wing in the area, some 40 Qassam rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel.

However only seven or eight landed within the Green Line, a much smaller number than before disengagement and withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Sources in the Israel Defense Forces ascribe the low rate of Qassam attacks over the past two weeks to the army’s creation of “buffer zones” by artillery action which, though aimed at open fields, has distanced launchings from the border with Israel and resulted in inaccurate aims.

The fact that Hamas, the organization with the most experience in manufacturing and launching Qassams, is not involved in the attacks has also brought the number of rockets down.

Yeah, Hamas is trying to prove what nice guys they are, so they can run in the PA elections. Then they’ll continue with the murdering terrorist side of the organization.

But that’s a post for another day.

A few days ago, a pro-Israel rallies were held in Italy, including a large one in Rome, and the Italian foreign minister decided not to attend in order to “avoid damaging Italian national interests.” Here’s how the Iranians rewarded him for having the nerve to speak out against Tehran’s statements:

Asefi criticized Fini for calling on the international community to help guarantee Israel’s security and condemning Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s assertion last month that the Jewish state should be “wiped off the map.'’

Fini’s comments are “not compatible with the role of foreign minister and with the glory and honor of the Italian nation,'’ Asefi said during his weekly news conference Sunday.

The Italian ministry shot back, saying, “Minister Fini certainly cannot accept lessons on conduct coming from a foreign (ministry) spokesman.'’

In other words, you can’t win for losing. You should have attended the rally. However:

In an interview published in Saturday’s editions of Corriere della Sera daily, Fini said Ahmadinejad’s Oct. 26 remark reflected what many others think “but have not always dared speak with such brutality.'’

“Not recognizing Israel’s right to exist is an incentive for terrorism because the moment you don’t recognize a state’s right to exist, you don’t recognize a people’s right to exist,'’ Fini said.

Okay, that gets you an A for Effort.

Next time, show up at the rally.

Mac Thomason is still going strong, and his blog has been around nearly as long as mine, give or take a year. Not so much war any more, definitely still liberal, and you can find the weirdest news links on Mac’s site (partly because I send him all my weird news links, partly because he likes that kind of thing).

Lair Simon has a new category that would get him the death penalty in Saudi Arabia: Ask the Prophet. He also has Palestinian Terror Group Bingo. Mine’s printed out and ready to go; how’s yours?

I couldn’t resist sending Omri a link to the news story about Israeli rabbis telling people not to name their children Omri. Oops! Too late! You don’t suppose it really does bring bad luck, does it?

Other than that, Omri continues to parallel my thoughts on many topics, and make me wish I’d gotten him before Israpundit did.

If you have links to more bloggers, post them in the comments, or trackback to your own blog here.

Say, remember when I pointed out that one of the names of the victims of the Hadera suicide bombing sounded Arabic?

It was.

And apparently, Islamic Jihad apologized for having accidentally killed an Arab instead of another Jew.

A recent apology from Islamic Jihad for the death of Jamil did little to assuage the Qa’adans. Jamil’s brother Abdelrasek told Ynet
that the family refuses to accept the apology. Jamil, says Abdelrasek, was the family’s supporting pillar and no apology will bring him back.

“We don’t accept Islamic Jihad’s apology. What’s the point in apologizing when you kill my brother? Declerations like these do not comfort us. Jamil was the central pillar of the family and with his death the family collapsed. If my brother’s death would have brought forward the establishment of an independent Palestinian state I would have sacrificed myself for this purpose. Yet do apologies bring Jamil back?” said Abdelrasek.

But - but I thought all the Arabs were behind the terrorists’ goals! Gee. Could I be wrong?

He added that there is no escape from dialogue for reaching fair peace between Israel and the Palestinians. “Enough to bereaved families, enough to widows and orphans,” he said, hoping his brother’s death would be the last in the ongoing conflict.

Why, that sounds like he’s saying to stop the killing.

Not that PIJ will listen. They’re one of Iran’s proxy fighting squads, the other two being Hizbullah and Hamas.

But it’s good to know that sanity prevails.

Israeli archeologists have found the ruins of what may be the oldest church in the Middle East. Their reaction:

Shoka Dorfman of the Israel Antiquities Authority said that consultations with leading archeologists will be launched next week to discuss the future of the findings.

The Israel Prisons Authority told Ynet: “We are waiting for the decisions of the Antiquities Authority to see whether the rare findings will be taken to another location or will remain in place. We will build another two buildings to complete the compound, yet in the wake of the discoveries we will decide how to proceed with constructions at a later date.”

If these ruins had been found in palestinian territory, I’m guessing they’d have been thrown away, as the Waqf has done with any non-Muslim antiquities it has found in the Temple area.

The Protestants are supporting the wrong side in this war.

Well, this’ll piss off the world’s Jew-haters, and thrill the conspiracy theorists, who will now be shouting, “Toldja! Toldja!” Israel is back on the new U.S. jet project.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz met Friday evening in the Pentagon with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

The meeting was intended to symbolize the end of the “Chinese Crisis” and the return of the defense relationship between the countries
to its previous condition through bilateral cooperation, including a resuming of Israel’s involvement in the JSF future combat aircraft project.

“All the controversial issues have been removed. Israel continues to take part in the project as an evaluated participant, and the U.S. has repeated its commitment to sell the aircraft to Israel,” Mofaz told Israeli reporters at the end of the meeting.

Actually, this is a very good thing. Israel needs to be able to sell technology, and Israeli technology is as good as America’s.

Judith Klinghoffer points out that Egypt is going to discontinue dialogue with Denmark because Danish newspapers dared to publish cartoons depicting Mohammed. While scrolling through the Danish press site, I found this:

One of the young men arrested last week on suspicion of plotting a terror attack was stopped two weeks ago, as police discovered him ‘behaving suspiciously’ outside a football stadium in the Copenhagen suburb of Brøndby.

The young man is one of six young radical Muslims arrested in Copenhagen last week, after the discovery of a large suicide bombing arsenal in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo was traced to their Danish addresses.

Police are now investigating whether there are any links between the alleged terror plans and the Brøndby Stadium, where a football match was held on Thursday evening between the Brøndby club and Israeli team Maccabi Petah-Tivka.

Another article describes the terrorists:

The six young people were burdened by a colossal hatred towards society, leaders of the mosque, The Islamic Congregation, told the newspaper.

‘They were popular, polite, and good students, but they harboured an enormous anger towards Danish society. Their fury grew stronger and made them introverted,’ said Abu Laban, the mosque’s imam, of the six 16-20-year-olds.

The true Fifth Column is all over Europe. How many of them are here as well?

I have said some pretty horrible things about Kofi Annan in the past, but this time, the man is doing the right thing: He canceled his trip to Iran over their president’s call for the destruction of Israel.

Good.

Something that nobody seems to ever mention in the spousal consent argument has been bothering me since this subject was brought up.

I have no intention of arguing the pros and cons of abortion, and I would appreciate it if you all went elsewhere to discuss that topic. Here’s what I would like to point out:

Your marriage has got to be in horrific shape if you’re afraid to tell your husband you’re pregnant. Conversely, your marriage has got to be in horrific shape if your wife is afraid to tell you she is pregnant.

If there is that much fear and lack of communication in the marriage, I think spousal notification for an abortion is the least of your problems.

15,000 Italians rallied for Israel in Rome. 2,000 more rallied in Milan. Good for the Italians!

Approximately 15,000 people participated in the rally, which was accompanied with chants of “viva Israel! viva freedom!” the website of the Italian newspaper La Republica reported. The rally was concluded with the singing of the Israeli national anthem, “Hatikvah.”

Protesters included right and left-wing politicians, local celebrities and Walter Veltroni, the mayor of Rome.
Toward the closing of the rally, many demonstrators attempted to approach the Iranian embassy, but were blocked by police.

About 2,000 people gathered opposite the Iran consulate in Milan for a similar rally.

Israel’s ambassador to Italy, Ehud Gol, said he felt immense satisfaction following the rally.

“I know of no other place in the world where so many people will rally in Israel’s support,” Gol told Ynet.

We could make it a contest. Brava, Italia, brava!

(My sister-in-law is a paisan. Jews and Italians, we go together fairly well.)

Hitler from Tehran, by Ze’ev Shiff

Israel’s Unlikely Shield - an exercise in stupidity, as Iran seems to have no problem with “martyring” millions to destroy Israel.

What’s the Biggest Single Cause of Global Violence Today? Maureen Lipman reads the morons the riot act. Hint: It’s not U.S. support for Israel.

Hamas is looking for a new home. Surprisingly, no one wants a terrorist organization in their back yard. Go figure.

And that’s it. Off to work.

This is my 250th post since this blog went WordPress on September 4th. The number is sheer coincidence; and in actuality, this isn’t the 250th post I’ve written. There are two in the scheduler right now, there are some in the draft area, and I’ve deleted more than one after it had been in drafts long enough to make me hate it.

The problem with blogging is that there’s no easy way to estimate your true word output. Most posts include excerpts from news articles or other bloggers, utterly skewing the results of any kind of attempted word count. I think, however, it’s safe to say that my word count since April of 2001 is probably in the seven-figure range, and that doesn’t include the excerpts. It’s pretty easy (for me, anyway) to put out a 500 to 1,000-word essay. I have been known to ramble on about my cats, for instance, or my students. I have one on my current and former students in the pot. It isn’t working out quite right yet. I’m trying to convey the joy I get in teaching, which gets reflected back to them when my students tell me how much they liked me as a teacher.

Some people use alcohol as a pick-me-up. I prefer spending time with children. When I’m really feeling down, I tell Sarah that I need some twins therapy, and we are off on a lunch or a trip with Max and Rebecca, or, if it’s a weekend, I get the four-child barrage at Casa G., with the problem that there’s only one of me, and all four of them tend to call me at the same time to come and look or play or hear. The twins are at the point now where they need to talk to me on the telephone, too. Last week, I discovered that what worked with Sorena works with Max. If I ask him something he doesn’t know the answer to, or doesn’t want to tell me, he will silently hand the phone back to his mother. Sorena did that, too. It’s good to know that it still works.

And I digress again. I need to write more essays, I think. I haven’t been writing enough of them lately. More humor, too, come to think of it. The Lost episode summaries have fallen by the wayside of not having enough time to write them. But then, I’m working on the concept of working at home instead of trying to find that elusive company job, so that may change. I have many irons in the fire at the moment, including a book that I’ve wanted to write for a long time. It is in its infancy, it is nonfiction, and that is all you will learn at the moment. When I am willing to share more, you’ll be the first to know.

These last few months have been good for me, overall. I’ve been reminded that I do have a fair amount of marketable skills, and don’t have to settle for less than I’m worth. I’ve been reminded that I have a network of friends and well-wishers in the blogosphere. And I’ve managed to tread water financially, and not go backwards, for the first time in a long time.

My writing ability and output improve as my satisfaction level improves, which gives you folks more to read. I know you’re still reading, because the stats are going up again. And I know my invisibles are still there, because there are only about 750 comments on those 250 posts, which is a good and bad thing. Good, because I don’t have to worry so much about moderating comments. Bad, because it makes me wonder if you’re paying attention. But you must be, because the hit counter keeps on turning.

But 250 posts in three months: It doesn’t seem like a lot when you think it’s fewer than three posts a day. But extrapolate that over the year, and I will have written over a thousand posts by September of 2006. Work your way backwards and I suppose I’ve written somewhere between three and four thousand posts since I started my blog, possibly more. I didn’t have a daily output the first few months of the blog, but once I did, I rarely missed a day. This does not, of course, count blog-related comments or emails, which, added in, make me start to wonder how I ever have time to do anything else with my life.

In any case. Three months, 250 posts, 759 comments. Those are good numbers.

I’m happy with them.