TalkLeft will hit 5 million visitors today. We began in June, 2002 with this post, some of which we got right...

It has become readily apparent that this Administration is not interested in preserving our rights, only in convincing a fearful public that it is fighting terrorism.

We really like the way the ACLU has jumped on Mr. Ashcroft and the administration since Sept. 11.

We think the FBI has no business engaging in domestic spying. Not after all its past abuses.

And some of which turned out to be wishful thinking:

It seems like progressive and liberal websites and blogs are sprouting daily. Hopefully it will be in time to cause a major defeat for the Republicans in the 2002 elections.

2002 and 2004 are now behind us. Hopefully we'll be here for 2006. If at first you don't succeed.....

I'm off to court in the mountains ....50 degrees in Denver, snowing up there. I hope you'll catch up with our weekend posting, and check out the great blogs nominated for the Koufax Liberal blogging awards (links on top left). This is also an open thread for you.

We've been down all night from what Instaundit says is another DDOS attack at Hosting Matters, which is the hosting company for both of our weblogs. Lots of weblogs, actually. They are excellent hosts.

We don't have a backup blog to let you know about these things, but Instapundit does, here. So if you can't find us, you might check his backup blog to see if it's a server or hosting problem.

On a related note, we moved CrimeLynx (our legal resource site) to Hosting Matters this weekend, so if you wondering what's up there, same story. And you may have to refresh your bookmark for the change to go through.

Quite a coup for blogger Tom Burka of Opinions You Should Have who has a satirical op-ed on Alberto Gonzales, the Tsunami, filibusters and other news stories in Saturday's New York Times. This part made me laugh out loud:

As the result of a bureaucratic slip-up, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was inadvertently included in the United States government delegation sent to comfort tsunami victims in Southeast Asia.

"Waves happen," Mr. Rumsfeld told survivors. "Weather is untidy. Sometimes you have to make do with the weather you get instead of the weather you want."

Mr. Rumsfeld also criticized the news coverage of the disaster. "They just keep showing the same wave over and over again," he said.

The opening nominations are in for the third annual Koufax blogging awards. This is the semi-final round. TalkLeft is nominated in two categories, "best expert blog" and "best single issues blog." We won the award for "best single issues" blog in 2002 and 2003.

The Koufax Awards are named for Sandy Koufax, one of the greatest left handed pitchers of all time. They are intended to honor the best of the left of blogtopia (ysitp). At its core, the Koufax Awards are meant to be an opportunity to say nice things about your favorite bloggers and to provide a bit of recognition for the folks who provide us with information, insight, and entertainment usually for little or no renumeration.

It feels a little greedy to seek to win again, but this past year, TChris also has been blogging at Talkleft, and I'd like to see him get some recognition as well as me. (Although I can tell you he will say he doesn't want any. That's just his nature.)

There is so much fine competition this year that it will be an achievement just to get to the finals in both categories. You can vote here for best expert blog and here for best single issues blog. Just scroll down and leave your vote in a comment. You can vote once in both categories. If you'd rather email your vote, you can do that here: Email Mary Beth or Email Dwight.

Major thanks are due TChris again for keeping readers up to date while I've been in court the past two days...it's over now and after a long nap, I'll be back. Feel free to use the comments to fill me or each other in on the big stories of the past two days.

Say hello to DUIblog---"Bad DUI Laws, False Evidence and the New Prohibition...It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government."

The blog is written by DUI guru Lawrence Taylor, attorney, Fulbright professor and author of the authoritative textbooks on DUI laws.

Check out the entry "MADD, DUI and the New Prohibition."

...where are we headed with MADD in apparent control? A federal .05% DUI standard is on the horizon and, in fact, has already been adopted to some extent in a few states. "Zero tolerance" for adult drivers is clearly on MADD’s agenda. And then?

In 1999, MADD’s National Board of Directors unanimously voted to change the organization’s mission statement to include the prevention of underage drinking. Not underage drinking and driving -- just drinking. Let me say that again: MADD has now formally shifted its focus away from "drunk driving" and towards the broader "problem" of drinking. Can a new era of prohibition be far behind?

Other good entries: DUI Marijuana and DUI Entrapment.

The DUI police were out in force New Year's weekend. Even if you weren't one of the ones stopped and arrested, there's a lot of information on this site you should know about.

Jeff Jarvis smells a New York Times editor with a grudge against blogs. The paper ran an article on tsunami blogs and trashed them today. [Via Instapundit.]

Meanwhile, Dan Gillmor reports that a new Pew study shows that while blogs are increasing, their readership is increasing at an even greater rate. Dan has just begun a new weblog on grassroots journalism...about the future of journalism, "by the people and for the people."

Lots of bloggers are back at their keyboards. A few, like Avedon Carol at Sideshow, never left. In addition to her own insights on a wide variety of topics (today she rails against those who said we would make the women of Afganistan Iraq more free when in many ways the opposite has occurred), she is an excellent chronicler of what others are writing about.

Jerome at MyDD writes about the upcoming Iraqi elections. So does Steve Gilliard, who also covers Fallujans trying to return home.

Patridiot Watch writes about U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan.

Matt Yglesias names some underappreciated blogs on national security and foreign policy.

TBogg has another installment of America's Worst Mother.

Markos of Daily Kos hits the Republicans trying to ease ethical guidelines. Digby writes of his fear of tidal waves, which leads to....

For more of what the blogosphere is writing about today, check out the Daou Report and Memeorandum.

Lots of blogging happening over the New Year's holiday ....

Was that really Judd Nelson blogging over at Protein Wisdom the last week of 2004?

Politics in the Zeros notes that the animals seemed to escape the Tsunami disaster and wonders if they have a special warning system.

Skippy has added a co-blogger, Cookie Jill, and she fits right in. Welocme, Cookie Jill.

Mark at Norwegianity has the top politically correct words for 2004.

Roger Ailes (no not that one) has a year in review quiz.

Tom Burka of Opinions You Should Have has a satirical 2004 wrap-up.

Where is Jeanne D'Arc of Body and Soul? Her last post is December 20. Jeanne, come back.

Happy New Year to all, we hope it rings in justice and peace.

For those of you spending New Year's by a computer, here's an open thread for you.

Update: Some End-of-Year lists

Media Matters: The Top Ten Most Outrageous Statements of 2004

Fafblog: Thing of the Year : the Blog

Nathan Newman spent some of his Christmas vacation in Phuket, leaving for Bangkok before the Tsunami hit. He has some pictures of Phuket.

I spent a week in Phuket here in the late 1980's. It was beautiful. The Meridian chain, which now owns the resort, reports that none of its guests were seriously injured or killed and it did not sustain any structural damage. It remains operational.

Time Magazine's Man of the Year is old news already. Out today is P.C. Magazine's People of the Year and it is a joint award to Blogger.com 's Evan Williams, Meg Hourihan, and Paul Bausch, and Ben and Mena Trott of Six Apart , (creators of Movable Type and Typepad). I got a little surprise reading the first paragraph - TalkLeft is now an "accredited member of the Fourth Estate."

Blogs—short for weblogs, or online diaries—have been around for more than a decade. But this year, the blog found a new role as an accredited member of the fourth estate. Select bloggers were allowed the same access as traditional journalists at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, among them Patrick Belton at Oxblog.com and Jeralyn Merritt at www.TalkLeft.com, powered by blog tools Blogger and Movable Type, respectively.

Also prominently featured: Technorati.

Technorati, a blog-tracking service, keeps tabs on over 3 million weblogs in what has come to be known as the blogosphere. According to Technorati, a new weblog is created every 5.8 seconds, or about 15,000 new blogs a day. There are blogs out there for everyone, and the audience is growing: A February 2004 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project says about 11 percent, or about 50 million, of Internet users are regular blog readers.

Thanks, P.C. Magazine.