NeilAquino.Com Has Been Posted And Your Viewpoints Would Be Helpful

I’ve published my new website.

It is called NeilAquino.com.

Please click here to see the new project.

It would be great to know what you think of the new site.

I’m open to any suggestions. I intend to update the site often.

There is a new blog on the site called All People Have Value.

I’ve only made one post at the new shop so far, but there will be many more to come.

I appreciate all the good folks who helped make Texas Liberal a success.

I’d ask please that you take a look at the site and leave a comment here or on All People Have Value with your ideas and thoughts about new effort. It is at this point very much a work in progress.

Thank you.

Still Staying The Course—NeilAquino.Com Will Be Up And Running In July

While I’ve not made a new post on the blog of late, I’m still here.

I am working on my new project that will be called NeilAquino.com. I plan to have it up and running next month. I’ll be offering more details about the project soon here on Texas Liberal. I will be having a new blog at my new site.

It has been nice to take a break from blogging over the past few months. It is good to take a break from something you have been doing for a long time and thinking about new ways to move ahead.

Thanks to folks who have been checking the blog from-to-time to see if I’m still around.

Above is a picture of a ship that I took while in Galveston recently.

Just like this ship in the picture, I am staying the course. I hope you are doing the same.

Picture Of Friendly Mini-Horses—Still Working On New Website

Above you see a picture I took of friendly mini-horses a few hours ago at Bear Creek Pioneers Park here in Harris County, Texas.

In this picture you see that these mini-horses are talkng to each other about fun games they would like to play.

Here are facts about mini-horses.

Though I’ve not been around here on Texas Liberal as much as late, I am working on a new website that I plan to have up and running in April.

This new website will have a photo essay of a kind, a metaphoric universe and solar system, some poems, and a blog about the 2013 City of Houston elections.

There will also be other things on the website that I have not yet thought about.

Thanks to everybody still checking out the blog from time-to-time and thanks to folks visiting the blog for the first time. I’ll still be posting on Texas Liberal off and on until the new site is published.

I Am Still Here As I Work On A New Website—Photo Of Emu

I’ve not been around much here on Texas Liberal of late, but I am still working hard for the blog reading public.

I’m working on a new website that I plan to have up and running in April. This new website will have a photo essay of a kind, a metaphoric universe and solar system, some poems, and a blog about the 2013 City of Houston elections.

There will also be other things on the website that I have not yet thought about.

Thanks to everybody still checking out the blog from time-to-time and thanks to folks visiting the blog for the first time. I’ll still be posting on Texas Liberal off and on until the new site is published.

Above you see a picture I took recently of an Emu at Bear Creek Pioneers Park here in Harris County, Texas.

Here are facts about Emus.

I’ve Not Been Blogging As Much Of Late Because I’m Working On Something & Because I’m Tired Of Stuff

Regular readers may have noticed that I’ve not been posting everyday.

This is for two reasons.

One is that I’ve been working on an art/creative project. This project has diverted some of my attention away from the blog.

The other reason is that I’m really just tired of a bunch of stuff and I need a bit of a blog break.

A lot of things out in the world are just so stupid.

As the picture above suggests, this blog is still a going concern. I’ll be posting on a reduced schedule for the time being.

Thank you for reading Texas Liberal.

2 Million Page Views At Texas Liberal—Thanks To The Blog Reading Public

Thanks to the blog reading public, Texas Liberal today passed 2 million page views.

I’d say that is pretty good for one yahoo sitting at home with his computer.

Thanks to folks for reading the blog.

Drawing above of pre-historic seas by Apokryltaros.

Relationships Of Various Kinds Are The Start Of Things—3,000 Blog Posts Is A Lot Of Work

Earlier this week I reached 3,000 posts on Texas Liberal.  This is post # 3,003.

3,003 blog posts is a lot of work.

I thought it would be good to note 3,000 blog posts with pictures of many of the friends I saw on my trip to Cincinnati last week.

I’m also appreciative of the many folks I’ve met in Houston and elsewhere in Texas through this blog. There are very many good hopeful people in Texas.

Everything starts with relationships and with the acknowledgment that all things are connected.

From the very beginning of things, the elements of existence have moved in concert and in reaction to each other.

Our relationships are with other people, with the natural and man-made world (to the extent the natural and man-made world are separate), and with our own values, thoughts and aspirations.

And in any other way that I’m missing here and that makes a hopeful difference to you.

Everything you need to understand the world is around you each day. These things are accessible with effort and imagination.

Thanks for reading Texas Liberal and—as Ronald Reagan often said—Stay the course.

Six Years Of Texas Liberal—A Conservative Such As Myself Focuses On Simple Things

(Blogger’s Note—July 25th marks the 6th anniversary of regular posting on Texas Liberal. I’m glad to say I’m nearing 2 million page views. That is pretty good for one yahoo sitting at home. I was thinking today of what I wanted to say for my blog anniversary. I came to the view that the post below that I wrote earlier this year would well-convey the spirit of the blog. Thanks to everybody who has read Texas Liberal. Please know that in addition to the blog, I have an artsy creative project I hope to have online later this year.  A conservative like myself focuses first on friendship and simple virtues such as sticking to something–such as a blog–one day after the other.)

On my recent visit home to Cincinnati, I met up with a number of friends.

In some cases I took their pictures. These are the pictures you see above.

I met some of these folks in the 1980’s. Two I have met since I left Cincinnati in 1998.

Strong and long-lasting relationships make us better able to deal with the hardships of life.

Also–if we pay attention– these relationships provide us with context to understand the lives that all sorts of people lead in our difficult world.

Everybody I met up with for lunch, dinner, coffee, or a drink had a story to tell.

This is no different from any person you know.

The lives my friends lead have great worth.

I like the people my friends have become over the years.

I work hard to keep up with my friends. I suggest you do the same. Don’t wait for others to act.

Every person has value. Every place has value. Every day has value.

I’m Out And About On Behalf Of The Blog Reading Public

I’m out and about today working on behalf of the blog reading public.

Today I’ll be at the Texas State Democratic Convention, the National Weather Service Hurricane Preparedness Workshop, and at the political art show I made reference to yesterday on the blog.

Hopefully I’ll get some good material today for a number of future posts here at Texas Liberal.

I spare no effort for the blog reading public.

Thanks for reading Texas Liberal.

Technical Issues

Having some web connection issues today. I hope to be back to normal posting tomorrow. Thanks for reading Texas Liberal.

I’m Certain I’ll Blog Again About Local Affairs In Houston And Texas Soon Enough

I could blog about local affairs here in Houston and in Texas on the blog today.  I imagine I will offer such blogging soon enough.

It is just that our leaders—and many of our fellow everyday citizens as well—are thieves who steal our time and our best energies with an endless load of idiocy, self-centeredness, and anything else that is annoying and a waste of time.

And so I’m just going to leave all that stuff alone for today.

Texas Liberal Is 2011 Blog Of The Year—Let’s Make 2012 A Year Of Optimism And Hard Work

I have selected this blog–Texas Liberal–as Blog of the Year for 2011.

Loyal readers may recall that two years ago I chose this blog as Blog of the Decade. 

It seems a bit egotistical to award myself the Blog of the Decade title again so early in this current decade. It is only 2011.

So I’ll hold off on that for now.

That said— I do view myself as the front-runner for that prize to be awarded at the end of 2019.

For winning the title of 2011 Blog of the Year, I have awarded myself a picture of a trophy.

I realize that trophy may well look like the 1775 Nottingham Race Cup currently on display at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

It is also the picture of the trophy for that is the prize for being 2011 Blog of the Year.

Thanks to everybody for reading the blog and for offering your comments.

For the year ahead–just as in the year now ending–the work of freedom and democracy is up to each of us.

Every Texan and every American has the ability to attend a public meeting, attend or organize a protest, write or call an elected official, talk to friends and family, start a blog, donate money, write a letter to the editor, volunteer for candidates and causes, engage in acts of civil disobedience, and to run for public office.

Let’s make 2012 a year of optimism, strong convictions and hard work.

And of course–to end blogging year the right way–here is the Occupy Wall Street website.

Texas Liberal Marks Five Years—The Work Of Freedom Is Up To Each Of Us

July 25th, 2011 marked five years since I began regular posting on Texas Liberal.

I did not write on this subject on the 25th because I wrote other things instead for the past two days.

I write this blog with the assistance of the Texas Liberal Panel of Experts.

Above you see the TLPOE–Samuel Slater Bobblehead, Cactus, Extinct and Hamburger Wearing An Astros’ Hat.

They have busted out a bottle of champagne to mark the anniversary of the blog with a night of boozing.

Cactus would have you know, however, that he is not much of a drinker.

This post is the 2,459th entry on the blog. I follow baseball closely, but do not often mention it here since there is already enough sports in our society.

I will say though that 2,459 matches the number of hits in the career of Hall of Famer Lloyd Waner.

(Below–Lloyd Waner)

As I write this, the blog has received 1,615,181 page views. This averages out to just over 300,000 page views a year for the life of the blog.

I’m glad to say I’ve averaged 1000 page views a day or more for 33 of the past 34 months. This is good for one yahoo at home with his computer.

As I can recall at the moment, I’ve made Texas Liberal posts from Galveston, Austin, Corpus Christi, Chicago, Seattle, Boston, Cincinnati, from the Houston Downtown library when my power at home was out after after Hurricane Ike, and from Kenosha, Wisconsin.

These have been the most viewed posts on Texas Liberal—

1. Facts About Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill From Deepwater Horizon Rig Explosion —25,491 views

2. Blog Readers Demand To Know–What Is Done With Shamu’s Body After He Dies?— 21,266 views

3. Four Black Senators Since Reconstruction—Who And Why So Few? —20,282 views

The signature post of Texas Liberal is the Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List  that I update each year. This list is the best such reference on the web.

I also blog at The Daily Hurricane and Where’s The Outrage? Though I have not posted in a few weeks at WTO? I need to get back on track. I’m also a featured  political reader-blogger at the Houston Chronicle. I’m in the process of being moved on the Chronicle so there is no link at the moment.

I’m part of a group of Texas political citizen-bloggers called the Texas Progressive Alliance.

I enjoy writing Texas Liberal and will continue to move ahead with the blog. And I have another project in the works that I’ll discuss soon.

I also intend to active in taking part and posting about the upcoming 2011 Houston City elections.

Thanks to everybody who has read and supported the blog.

And please do not forget the bottom line here at Texas Liberal—

Every American has the ability has the ability to attend a public meeting, attend or organize a protest, write or call an elected official, talk to friends and family, start a blog, donate money, write a letter to the editor, volunteer for candidates and causes, engage in acts of civil disobedience, and even run for public office. The work of freedom is up to each of us.

Three Thoughts About Twitter

Three thoughts about Twitter—

1. The two largest groups of my Facebook friends come from either people I’ve encountered through blogging about politics in Houston and Texas, or are people I met 20 or 30 years ago in Cincinnati during my well-spent punk rock youth. I’ve probably got about 200 folks from each of these groups on my Facebook.

Many of my Texas blogger and political friends use Twitter based on the Twitter feeds I see that are automatically set to be posted on Facebook. On the other hand, I’m not aware of a single punk rock friend who uses Twitter.

2. I am increasingly convinced that all those hash tags on Twitter and the abbreviations required to meet the 140 character limit, are somehow part of an evolutionary drive to use language and symbols to drive group cohesion and exclude people who are not in the know. I read that Twitter stuff and I’m just not always sure what people are talking about.

This drive may well reside in the subconscious. Though you can never overstate the cliquishness of both political life and social media. When you combine political life with social media, it seems almost incestuous.

3. While I’m not saying I won’t someday sign on to Twitter, I have not done so to this point. I guess my inner Sid Vicious from my punk rock youth prevails on this matter.

(Below–The Jockey Club in Newport, Kentucky from back in the day. Maybe not so many future Twitterers in that picture.)  

Either You Run The Blog Or The Blog Runs You

I’m taking a day to catch up with some personal e-mail.

Either you run the blog, or the blog runs you.

As I catch-up, please enjoy this picture I took yesterday at the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center.

I’m very much a city person, but nature is good as long as it is contained in a nice safe park.

Thanks for reading Texas Liberal.