Although in my case, it is costing.  Not much and I did it pretty much on a lark.  Yes, today I purchased some Google Ads.  Another effort in my struggle to recover from the theft of my domain.  I’ve not seen any of the ads, but they should be appearing randomly throughout the K-blogosphere.  I just checked the Google Ad stats and one person actually clicked on an ad.  Set me back 66 cents.  Sir or Madam, I hope it was as good for you as it was for me.

Anyway, I only pay when I get a hit and my total budget is fifty bucks.  I’ll be amazed if I get enough hits to max that out, but you never know.

So, if you came here through an ad and are wondering what Long Time Gone is all about, well, you tell me.  This blog is a virtual cornacopia of potporri.  Which is another way of saying it is about everything and nothing at all.  I write what I feel like writing whenever I feel like writing about what I’m feeling, doing, feel like doing, or wishing I was doing.  And sometimes I write nothing at all.  I ain’t much on grammar nor spelling, but I take no offense at criticism in that regard neither.  Feedback is a gift, so feel free to spill your guts in the comment section.

Like me, this here blog is a work in progress.  Stop by anytime you like and see what’s up.  Expect to be disappointed and perhaps occasionally pleasantly surprised.   As Stephen Stills opined: “It’s no matter, no distance–it’s the ride.”  Whatever that means…

And now it’s time to say goodbye from here at Long Time Gone

And I would like to thank you folks for kindly loggin’ on

You’re all invited back again to this locality

To have a heapin’ helpin’ of my hospitality…

Y’all come back now, hear?

(with apologies to the Beverly Hillbillies)

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More hope and change from The One:

“Don’t think we’re not keeping score, brother.” That’s what President Barack Obama said to Rep. Peter DeFazio in a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, according to the Associated Press.

A few weeks ago, Mr. DeFazio voted against the administration’s stimulus bill. The comment from Mr. Obama was a presidential rebuke and part of a new, hard-nosed push by the White House to pressure Congress to adopt the president’s budget. He has mobilized outside groups and enlisted forces still in place from the Obama campaign.

Its targets were initially Republicans, as team Obama ran ads depicting the GOP as the “party of no.” But now the fire is being trained on Democrats worried about runaway spending.

Americans United is going after Democrats who are skeptical of Mr. Obama’s plans to double the national debt in five years and nearly triple it in 10. The White House is taking aim at lawmakers in 12 states, including Democratic Sens. Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. MoveOn.Org is running ads aimed at 10 moderate Senate and House Democrats. And robocalls are urging voters in key districts to pressure their congressman to get in line.

Support continues to decline for the proposition that a big boost in government spending will lead America to prosperity. A NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll early last month found that 61% of Americans were concerned that “the federal government will spend too much money” (up 12 points from December), and only 29% were concerned “it will spend too little money to try to boost the economy.”

This growing skepticism will not be assuaged by White House Budget Director Peter Orszag’s bewildering response when asked by a reporter last week about increasing federal debt. He said, “I don’t know what spiraling debt you’re referring to.”

Members of Congress should also worry about how Mr. Obama is “keeping score.” He is steeped in the ways of Chicago politics and has not forgotten his training in the methods once used by Saul Alinsky, the radical Chicago community organizer.

Alinsky’s 1971 book, “Rules for Radicals,” is a favorite of the Obamas. Michele Obama quoted it at the Democratic Convention. One Alinsky tactic is to “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” That’s what the White House did in targeting Rush Limbaugh, Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer. (The president’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, went so far as to lash all three from the White House press podium.) It may also explain Mr. Obama’s comments to Mr. DeFazio.

After all, Alinsky’s first rule of “power tactics” is “power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.” Team Obama wants to remind its adversaries it has plenty of power, and it does. The question is whether the White House will wield it responsibly. The jury is still out, but certain clues are beginning to emerge. “Don’t think we’re not keeping score, brother,” even if said with a wink and a smile, isn’t quite the “new politics” we were told to expect.

To further enjoy the irony (or perhaps more aptly, hypocrisy) here’s the ad MoveOn.org ran about the comparitively small deficits under Bush (updated to reflect the pending disaster Obama is creating):

Let me apologize now to my sweet granddaughter Gracyn.  The country went temporarily (I hope) insane.  Sorry you have to pay for that madness.

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