It's our 5th blogiversary today. (Yes, as Skippy would say, we coined that phrase.) I'm really amazed. I had no idea when I sat at the computer one weekend in June, 2002 to create TalkLeft that I'd still be doing this five years later. There's no turning back now.

Thanks to all of you who read TalkLeft. You've made the time investment so worthwhile.

A little TalkLeft history for those who are interested, below the fold:

I'm always the last to know. From a diary at Daily Kos:

And today you have the opportunity to listen to [Big Tent Democrat, aka Armando on] On Topic at Political Nexus.  The show will begin tonight at 5pm PST (8pm EST)--those who wish to listen live can do so at the "On Topic" BlogTalkRadio page (the only show currently listed is the one we did with MSOC on abortion; it will appear when the show goes live.)  Otherwise, you can access the archives of the show either at Political Nexus or at the BlogTalkRadio On Topic page.

Among the topics we'll be discussing during the half-hour show include:

More...

The last episode of the Sopranos. It all ends tonight.

Were you satisfied?

Monday Update: I hated it. I watched it again tonight to see if I felt differently. I didn't. It teased and manipulated and then didn't deliver.

I'm at the NORML conference.

We're creating a blog with Blogger.

Tommy Chong was here yesterday. Here's a picture of him and me.

Gotta go now. More later.

This is an open thraad.

Joe Lieberman stakes out a position held only by Dick Cheney:

"I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq," Lieberman said. "And to me, that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers."

(Emphasis supplied.) If our soldiers were not in Iraq, they would not be subject to these attacks Lieberman. As I have said many times, the way to stop war with Iran is to end the Debacle in Iraq.

On a related note, noted "extremist" hunter Joe Klein discovers that there is no such thing as a precipitous withdrawal:

In light of the recent anti-primary posts at daily kos, one can see a split developing in the Netroots when you compare those posts to this one at MYDD:

Labor is the pillar of the progressive community, and is openly being dismissed as irrelevant. . . . The progressive movement on the internet isn't recognizing these realities either. . . . The people in charge of the political system are the swing votes and the people that those voters want to work with. Steny Hoyer and Rahm Emanuel have positioned themselves to be this swing vote, and they have chosen to basically throw some crumbs our way (minimum wage) while voting with the Republicans on the big issues, like Iraq. This isn't permanent. . . . [W]e can broaden out and build bridges between progressives and independents. We can learn to educate and/or cut off people like Udall, and encourage labor to stand up harder for workers.

And primaries, one presumes, will be central to that. If that is the case, no member of the Netroots should ever argue against ANY primary. Do they propose that Netroots leaders get to decide when primaries are good?

I'm off to Aspen and the 2007 NORML legal seminar where I'll be speaking again on using the internet for free legal research and blogging.

Big Tent Democrat, TChris and hopefully, Last Night in Little Rock, will be posting in my stead.

One of the highlights is that we will again be able to spend Sunday afternoon at Hunter Thompson's Owl Farm. That's in addition to Tommy Chong and Tony Serra and food by Chris of Cache Cache. Not to mention my favorite Sheriff Bob Braudis who will be on scene. (One of Bob's sayings: You neither need a big stick nor a big gun to keep the peace in Aspen. Listen to Jimmy Ibbotson of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band singing Braudis is Our Man, His County Rocks.)

Check out my my videos of last year's Aspen conference and our day at Owl Farm. (My You Tube video of Owl Farm was my first video ever and has generated 23,137 views and been favorited 75 times.)

This year, Hunter's wife, Anita, has invited me to stay at Owl Farm, so that's where I'll be for the weekend. I'm bringing both my camera and video camera. Hopefully, if I haven't forgotten how to use them, when I get back, I'll have some new pix and video for you.

(The hard decision: Whether to sleep in Johnny Depps' bedroom downstairs in the basement or on the main floor. The former was very tempting, but I chose the latter.)

'Tis a privilege to live in Colorado. And yes, this is an open thread.

Congrats to the TL kid who graduates today from Cardozo Law School in New York City. His ambition: to be a public defender.

I never was a public defender, I've only been in private practice. But I've told the TL kid since he was a child that if he wanted to be a trial lawyer, he ought to spend a few years as a public defender, to master the skills of a litigator.

He's listening, and hoping for a job. Congrats, Nic, to a valiant effort and a great accomplishment. And I'm sorry you have spend the summer suffering through bar refresher to take the bar exam, but it's a rite of passage. I know you will do great.

If you have some words of encouragement for him today, I hope you will post them in the comments. TalkLeft is his home page so I know he'll read them.

I guess Ezra is trying to pay a compliment but I just found this condescending:

To step aside from the concerns about the content of the sites Klein dislikes (I'm a fan of Atrios, DailyKos, et al, but that argument has been had already), they also serve a secondary purpose in subsidizing "the smart stuff" Klein likes. In much the way that cover stories on back pain and, in this case, "the Science of Appetite," sustain the readership and subscription numbers necessary for Klein's wonkier work and the magazine's political and international reporting, the red meat provided by the sites Klein decries create the audience and infrastructure that sustains and, more to the point, publicizes, my health care writing, or Juan Cole's Iraq reporting.

I try to do an open thread on Tuesdays, but I ended up being online all day and night because of Scooter Libby's sentencing. So, I'm going to be at work today, and as a heads up, I'll be on the road starting Thursday until next week. We'll try to keep the site going, but here's a place for you to discuss what's of import to you, regardless of whether me, Big Tent, TChris or LNILR have mentioned it.

The New York Times has an article on Steve Gilliard's passing.

May he rest in peace.

It's Sunday and site traffic will be down today, so I'm going to go off-topic and self-indulgent.

With Steve Gillard's untimely passing and the 40 year anniversary of the release of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper, I've been contemplating today how fast life goes. And how much we change physically over time, but in many other respects, stay the same .

As my eye doctor would say when he's testing my vision, "Better now? Better then?" And just like I usually tell him, I can't tell.

I'd be curious to see how other bloggers and commenters have evolved over time. Here's me:

• 1967
• 1981
• 2002
• 2007

Now I'm off to see my mother (who at 84, has really changed over time) and will be back in time for the New Hampshire Democrats Debate and the Sopranos.

This is an open thread, feel free to discuss what you want.