I’m pretty sure there won’t be any replicating with hot aliens, and I’m just as sure there will be a few cold adult beverages consumed. Today is the day that 2010 was all about, and to borrow a current ad slogan — Here We Go!

We on the right claim that we can do it better. And although it’s hard to imagine that we could do worse (or even as bad), it’s time to put our words into action. Michelle Malkin has posted Day One, 112th Congress: 10 Simple Rules for the GOP. Read them all, but allow me to highlight a few of them.

6. Never forget: Government does not “create jobs.” Politicians don’t create jobs. You are there to stop government from killing jobs in the name of “reform,” the “children,” “emergencies,” global warming, hope, change, etc., etc., etc.

If there is one thing this Congress must concentrate on, it is jobs. Michelle is exactly right saying that the government doesn’t create jobs, but they sure do put roadblocks in the way of job creation. One thing I believe is under discussed is how over-regulated we have become. That over regulation is arguably the largest impediment to job creation and business success.

10. This is your oath of office. Live it: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

Personally, I think this should be number one. Everything else should flow out from this one. I think that the new emphasis the incoming is planning on Constitutional authority is great, but it needs to be more than just a gesture. It must be (and always should have been) the guide for every thing our elected representatives do.

It will be deeply satisfying when San Fran Nan relinquishes the gavel. After that it’s up to us to live up to all the promises we’ve made.

Here We Go.

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Welcome to New Year’s Eve 2010. Time to continue my look back at the paucity of posts here at bRight&Early. October was no exception. I did tell everyone about a new site I had created – The Polk Family Fun Guide. It is a directory for local family friendly businesses, and something I will be spending quite a bit of time on in 2011 as we get closer to the opening of LEGOLAND® Florida in October of 2011. One of the other posts this month was related to Legoland as well, pointing to a series of post I did at The Brick Blog regarding the Media Hard Hat Tour. Between those, I did manage to take a look at the mid-term elections that were still two weeks away.

The pace of posting finally went up in November. As you might suspect, many of the posts were related to the mid-terms. I particularly liked how things turned out here in Florida. One post that was well received was Obama’s (Imaginary) Address November 20, 2010. I finished the month by posting my favorite Thanksgiving video (As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly) and my thoughts as I turned 55.

Part of this month (December) was dedicated to looking at blog comments. I think that the three posts I did on that topic were pretty interesting, and informational. A few days before Christmas I noted that I have posted the text of the United States Constitution on a page. As promised, I have started to add anchor tags to the individual sections, but it is still a work in progress.

Well, there you have it — my look back at 2010. Yes, I see that the posting has been light at times. Yes, I’d like to do better. Still, 2010 has been a very good years in many ways. I hope that it has been a good year for you as well. No matter what, we are only hours away from the beginning of a new year. I wish for all of you a very productive, satisfying, successful, and Happy New Year.

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Wow. Looking back like this can be very eye opening. I only made four posts in July, including one for the 4th that was posted the day after, one about an update to my Legoland Florida Brick Blog, and one mentioning Chris Muir’s annual Day by Day fundraiser. On the 29th I posted one promising to post more. Let’s take a look at August and see how I did.

Yeah, about August. There were four more. But, they were four pretty good ones, I think. I pointed out a video featuring Ronald Reagan produced by the Republican Study Committee, my look ahead at the Florida Primaries, Two books I wanted (and still want) to buy, and a link to the Ustream feed for Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally.

September was going to be better, for sure. I went from four posts all the way up to. . .three. I looked at the End of Blogrolling, The Pledge to America, and a humorous, but sadly accurate, look at how some on the left view Independence. I do like that last post, and I encourage you to go read it, if you didn’t the first time around.

I am almost embarrassed to offer up this look back, but things are what they are. I knew I was not writing as much back then, but I didn’t realize how little it really was. All I can say is thank you to the ones who have hung around in spite of the lack of posts.

I don’t want to spoil the anticipation, but October and November weren’t exactly post fests either. In any case, I hope you’ll check back tomorrow for a look back at the end of the year.

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Good morning. Let’s continue our look back at 2010 as it was here at bRight&Early by seeing what I posted about in April, May, and June.

As we got into April it was clear to see that the 2010 political season was well under way. By the end of the month we would find out that Governor OoompaLoompa, Charlie Crist, had decided to run with no party affiliation. He also decided to run with no conservative support, no back bone, and no moral compass, but that wasn’t part of the official announcement. Earlier that month I had also taken notice of the Florida district 22 house race, eventually won by the impressive Lt. Col. Allen West. In the middle of the month I was able to attend the Lakeland TEA party. Here is my favorite picture from the event.

I started May with a post that gets to the heart of what I really like about Marco Rubio and his message of conservatism. It is embodied in this quote from his FNS appearance:

Conservative thought is the mainstream position in America. What is not mainstream in America is the belief that we should spend money that we don’t have. What’s not mainstream in America is the belief that we should take this crazy complicated tax code and make it crazier and more complicated. What is not mainstream in America is this belief that somehow if America weakens its position in the world, the world will become a safer place. These are the positions that quite frankly the policies coming out of Washington would create. That’s well outside the mainstream of American political thought. So I believe that what political pundits describe as conservatism and I embrace as conservatism is mainstream thought in America.

That short paragraph says a lot.

We also found out that the 2012 Republican Convention will be held in Tampa. I suggested a big blogger get together, and the idea is still there. Thoughts?

I was a real slacker in June, but I did take time to note the SC primary victories of Nikki Haley and Tim Scott.

That takes us through the first half of the year. You can read about January, February and March in Part 1.

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I’ve been living in the Sunshine State (temperature as I write this – 28 degrees) for nearly nine years. 2010 has seen more than a few interesting news items. This AP story recounts many of them.

Florida lived up to its reputation for being an odd state in 2010, a year where stupid crimes, poor decisions and general weirdness seemingly showed no geographical or age limits.

Read, enjoy, comment.

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One very cool thing that happened to start this year was the announcement of LEGOLAND® Florida coming to what is practically my neighborhood. It is a story I followed all year, and it even inspired me to start two new sites: The Brick Blog and Polk Family Fun Guide. The park is scheduled to open in October of 2011, so you can expect more stories next year.

In February I shared the news that my old place of business had been purchased by another company. Many things have changed, and I can honestly say it’s been good changes. One thing I didn’t know at the time were the number of regulatory hoops that had to be jumped through before the merger could be completely complete. The final pieces should all be in place on the one year anniversary of the announcement, Feb. 3, 2011.

In March I, along with the rest of the nation, was looking at the bill we had to pass to know what was in it — the Health Control bill. Well, they passed it, we see what is in it, and most of the nation hates it. It has been challenged in court and is probably one of the key contributors to the legislative successes we saw last month. Expect it to be a key focus of the 112th Congress.

One other post from March that I believe is worth reading is a long excerpt from Atlas Shrugged. How I hope that it doesn’t describe the path we are on.

Well, that takes us through the first quarter of the year. Tomorrow I’ll look back on April, May, and June.

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This is always the most interesting week of the year, to me. Christmas is behind us and the new year is just 5 days away. It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, and half of the Hallmark channel archives have gone back into storage for another eleven months. They will be replaced with “Marathons” for every half-way successful series on the various cable channels, along with numerous looks back at 2010 and just as many looks ahead to 2011.

Who am I to argue?

Over the next few days I will take a look back at what I’ve posted here at bRight&Early before I peer into the future. I’ll start with my post from New Year’s Day, just to see how I did.

So, what are my blogging plans for 2010?

• More, and more regular, posting here at bRight & Early. Sure, I make this a goal every year, but this year I’m going to do it.
• I’ve posted over the past few days about The Regiment. I’m going to work very hard to develop the site as a great social network and resource for conservatives.
• Reclaim Conservatism also deserves some attention.
• FloridImagine.com is my hosting reseller site. There’s no excuse to neglect an opportunity to generate some revenue.
• I’ve made some halfhearted attempts to get Blog News Co-op off the ground. Perhaps a wholehearted attempt is what’s needed.
• Aside from working on the various sites I contribute to, I absolutely have to be a more active visitor and commenter on my friends and favorite blogs. Like:
  • Support Your Local Gunfighter
  • Sister Toldjah
  • No Runny Eggs
  • Common Sense Political Thought
  • Flopping Aces
  • Ace of Spades HQ
  • Pirates Cove
  • Brian Pickrell
  • Michelle Malkin
  • Hot Air
  • Right Wing News
  • Confederate Yankee
  • The Jawa Report
  • And so many more that I shouldn’t have even started a list like this.

Using the Official Barack Obama grading scale, I’ll give myself a solid B+ . . . in other words, I failed miserably. I guess that means there is quite a bit to carry over into the new year.

I did make one observation that was right on the money:

Politics, of course, will be a big part of 2010. The mid-term elections, and the primaries preceding them, will interesting to watch (and blog about). In addition to following the national races, I am going to watching the Rubio-Crist race here in Florida very closely.

The primaries and mid-terms were very interesting, and very, very satisfying. Rubio-Crist took some interesting turns before it’s wonderful outcome, and I do look forward to seeing Senator Rubio go to work in Washington shortly.

And, before you laugh to hard at my lack of success, how did you do?

Next up, I’ll take a look back at the stories I wrote about this year (when I got off my fat duff and wrote some, that is). Until then, there is one thing I need to do between now and the new year — get a new keyboard and mouse. I don’t know what the kids have done to these, but a sticky keyboard and mind of it’s own mouse make writing and editing an adventure.

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Let me provide a crystal ball into the way President Obama is going to lead for the next two years by way of an analogy:

Imagine, if you will (my Florida readers should have no troubles doing this), the driver with out of state plates you’ve been following for two miles down the highway who has their right turn blinker on the whole way. That will be the President. We’re going to hear plenty of “right turn rhetoric”, but the only movement from the current direction will be a last minute left into Denny’s for the early bird buffet.

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Here is Senator Rubio’s acceptance speech.

And here is Lt. Col. Allen West

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As happy as I am about the results across the nation in Tuesday’s elections, I am thrilled with the outcome here in Florida! Nineteen of the twenty five U.S. House seats are now held by Republicans. Floridians flipped four, including some really outstanding pick ups.

Steve Southerland over Allen Boyd in district two, and Sandra Adams’ defeat of Suzanne Kosmas in Fl-24 were two great wins. But the other two seats flipped by the Republicans really stand out.

The election of retired Lt. Colonel Allen West in House district 22 over Ron Klein was a big win for conservatives. What has impressed me as I watched his campaign, was his no nonsense, clear vision commitment to core conservative values. I get the impression that this man has a very low BS tolerance. His win has already helped him to (symbolically) keep his campaign promise to get Nancy Pelosi to “Give me that damn gavel“.

The other flipped seat may be the most gratifying. All Floridians should be thrilled that the win by Daniel Webster in House district 8 removed the embarrassment that is Alan Grayson from representing us in Congress. While his comment that the Republican’s health care plan amounted to getting the sick to “die quickly” endeared him to the hard-core left, it did not sit well with Floridians and the voters in his district. Former Florida House Speaker Webster will be a much better representative for the state. I expect that he will advocate the same themes he championed as Speaker, smaller government and tax cuts, when he gets to Washington.

The most exciting win of the night was Marco Rubio defeating soon to be former Governor Charlie “which way is the wind blowing” Crist for Senate. Rubio, and his clear conservative vision, is going to be an excellent addition to the U.S. Senate. His compelling story, his outstanding ability to articulate his values and positions, and his natural leadership qualities are going to be a huge asset to Florida and the country. And don’t think that the nation hasn’t noticed. Rubio has attracted attention far beyond the borders of the Sunshine State. I’m convinced that his career in Washington will only increase that notice. Even as a freshman Senator, I expect his abilities to garner national attention.

That’s it for now. More thoughts later.

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