Emerging from blog coma

I'm sure my legions of fans have been waiting at the edge of their seats for my seventh entry in a year. You can tell that I'm really dedicated to blogging. Actually, I've been contributing to Polstate and my own stupid web site ModernVertebrate.com, as well as trying to live an ordinary life. None of these things I do well. So what have I done with the last nine months? Well, I did as I promised myself I would if Howard Dean's candidacy collapsed -- I became a card-carrying Green, but not without helping out Barack Obama's campaign in the weeks leading up to the primary. Other than that, I've been submerged in the rather dysfunctional family that is the Illinois Green Party. I first became seriously interested in the Greens in 2000 when I almost voted for Nader, but ended up voting for Al Gore. That was a wasted vote if ever there were one. So I've been helping with Green petition drives to get on the ballot -- including the Green presidential candidate David Cobb and senate candidate Scott Summers. I also helped out a little with Nader's fight to stay on the ballot with some mind numbing data entry. The most gratifying experience was a daytrip to Champaign in the last days before the petition deadline and collecting signatures for some county board candidates. Unlike Chicago, people tend to be more politically open in Champaign. In Chicago, the Democrats are like the weather...everybody complains, but nobody is willing to do anything about it. Anyway, that's my excuse.