If you've ever gone backpacking in the mountains, you know that at some point over the course of every journey you get to a point where you need to cross a ranging mountain stream. The water is usually wide, and it is always frigidly cold. The process of finding a route across usually begins with an effort to avoid getting wet entirely, but eventually you face up to the inevitability of getting wet and plunge in.
Getting back into blogging after a two week hiatus is just like crossing that mountain stream. Two weeks may not seem like much in real life, but in the fast moving world of the political blogosphere it is almost an eternity. There really is no gentle way to get back into the flow. You really just have to dive back in.
And so with that said...


