The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 82,000 times in 2011. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 4 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

The Louvre Museum? Those guys really do have a sense of humor. Either that or they were just trying to point out that I wrote an awful lot of posts for just 4 days of activity.

Here is a list (in no particular order) of the blogs I enjoyed the most in the past year. To each I wish a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

• THE FAMILY FOUNDATION BLOG: Provides news relevant to Virginia’s families.
• Freedom, by the way: Writes well-researched, interesting posts that garners equally interesting comment.
• The right-wing liberal: An astute political analyst.
• pumabydesign001′s blog: Fiercely Conservative.
• American Freedom: Interesting new blog. Refuses to sit by and watch our God-given American rights stripped away.
• blogsense-by-barb: What can I add to her avatar?
• My Blog: A lovely lady saddened by a prodigal government.
• Be Sure You’re RIGHT, Then Go Ahead: Proud patriot on the attack.
• Right Hook: The name fits.
• Blog de KingShamus: Reflective. Makes you think, but doesn’t take himself too seriously.
• PWC Education Reform Blog: A very involved mother.
• Deo Vindice: Christian/Soldier/Scholar.
• NooneOfAnyImport’s Blog: Homeschooling military wife and mom with a great blog.
• bluebird of bitterness: Bob collects great humor. When I am feeling low, I visit .
• Boudica BPI Weblog: Nuts about Queen Boudica. Fascinating bit of history, BTW.
• Shaun Kenney: Thoughtful and thought provoking.
• Rogue Operator: Has appropriately changed its name to Rogue Government.
• ON MY WATCH – the writings of SamHenry: Strives for reasoned and orderly debate.
• Always On Watch: Is a lady who posts her “homework” on her blog.
• Virginia Right!: Great new News Blog that focuses on Virginia politics.
• The Twilight’s Last Gleaming: Blog home to a nostalgic patriot who loves glorious graphics.
• The Mad Jewess: A little nutty, sometimes funny, but always intriguing.
• Diary of a Mad Conservative: A Constitutionalist, an Originalist, and a Conservative fed up with the opposing view.
• That Mr. G Guy’s Blog: A redneck.    See below.
• PHOEBE’S DETENTION ROOM: The redneck’s lady.
• sitting on the edge of the sandbox, biting my tongue: A blog where the reader never knows what to expect.
• I Hold the Line: Thoughtful Christian blog written by an excellent scholar.
• Salt and Light Blog: Inspiring Christian/political blog.
• To Be Right!: A neighbor like the rest of us, seeking to sound the alarm.
• Common Sense: Not so Conservative, but these guys do voice their opinions. One had the gumption to run for public office.
• SkepticalObservor: A hardworking lawyer who actively works for Conservative government.
• Thinking in Christ: Puts the focus where it belongs.

A greeting from the email chain.

This came from a friend at Christmas and thought I would pass it along.

You might be a redneck if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, ‘One nation, under God..’

You might be a redneck if: You’ve enjoyed seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a redneck if: You still say ‘ Christmas’ instead of ‘Winter Festival.’

You might be a redneck if: You bow your head when someone prays.

You might be a redneck if: You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem

You might be a redneck if: You treat our armed forces veterans with great respect, and always have.

You might be a redneck if: You’ve never burned an American flag, nor intend to.

You might be a redneck if: You know what you believe and you aren’t afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a redneck if: You respect your elders and raised your kids to do the same.

You might be a redneck if: You’d give your last dollar to help a friend.

You might be a redneck if: You believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior; and in His death, burial, and resurrection.

This email is because I believe that you, like me, have just enough Red Neck in you to have the same beliefs as those talked about above.

God Bless the USA and God Bless you and your loved ones!

Merry Christmas,

From a friend

What is the subject of this post?

WRATH or ANGER

Wrath is one of the seven deadly sins. Is all anger wrong? Consider this definition from the Catholic Encyclopedia.

The desire of vengeance. Its ethical rating depends upon the quality of the vengeance and the quantity of the passion. When these are in conformity with the prescriptions of balanced reason, anger is not a sin. It is rather a praiseworthy thing and justifiable with a proper zeal. It becomes sinful when it is sought to wreak vengeance upon one who has not deserved it, or to a greater extent than it has been deserved, or in conflict with the dispositions of law, or from an improper motive. The sin is then in a general sense mortal as being opposed to justice and charity. It may, however, be venial because the punishment aimed at is but a trifling one or because of lack of full deliberation. Likewise, anger is sinful when there is an undue vehemence in the passion itself, whether inwardly or outwardly. Ordinarily it is then accounted a venial sin unless the excess be so great as to go counter seriously to the love of God or of one’s neighbour. (from here)

Ethical rating? It seems the writer of this definition just made a funny choice of words. For a minute, I thought we might have a mathematical measure for sin.

Note that wrath is not necessarily a sin. Here for example, Wikipedia speaks of wrath as a sin, and here Wikipedia speaks of anger both as a normal emotion and as a self-destructive condition. Curiously, the Bible most often speaks of our Lord God’s righteous wrath (a condition aroused by mankind’s numerous sins) and of the anger of men — sometimes righteous and sometimes not so righteous. I wonder if that is because we are most often guilty of the sin of wrath when we break the injunction of the Lord God and seek vengeance on our own.

Deuteronomy 32:35 Common English Bible (CEB)

Revenge is my domain,
so is punishment-in-kind,
at the exact moment their step slips up,
because the day of their destruction
is just around the corner;
their final destiny is speeding
on its way!

We can help each other to avoid the sin of wrath.

Proverbs 15:1 New Century Version (NCV)

A gentle answer will calm a person’s anger,
but an unkind answer will cause more anger.

The bluebird of bitterness

Are there political bloggers who prefer the gentle answer? I think so. One such is the bluebird of bitterness.

Who is the blogger at the bluebird of bitterness? That’s . What  does is collect lots of humor.  Here is the statement of purpose from the About page.

As for the theme of this blog, it has none. I admire the focus that many of my blogging buddies possess — some blog about poetry and literature, some about home schooling, some about politics, some about faith and religion, some about nature, some about cooking and recipes, and so on. But while I have been accused of many things in my life, being focused has never been one of them. I make no predictions, much less promises, about what will appear on this blog from day to day; that will depend on a variety of things that I can’t foresee. In short, if you are looking for focus and consistency and continuity, you should look elsewhere.

Well, there is some truth to that. When I looked at the video at this post, They just don’t make ‘em like they used to…, it fit, but it left me baffled instead of laughing. What happened?

Laughing? Yes. Although   claims her blog has no focus, that is not exactly true. Gentle humor is  ‘s focus.

Some of ‘s humor is political and will “innocently” rile Obama supporters. Consider this picture.

Sign of the times

But what can Obama’s supporters say? It is simply true. Isn’t that why the folks occupying Wall Street keep asking for handouts?

Much more of what  collects simply observes the twisted irony of extreme Federal policies. In Let freedom ring! However, you’re going to need a permit for the bell, for example, we learn what happens these days when the man of the house defends his wife and children from a grizzly bear.

Still more of what   collects just is just plain funny. Need a medicinal belly laugh? Here are several posts worth checking out.

• Reading and writing and arithmetic…
• Why parents should not discuss the national debt in the presence of small children
• Know your state motto!

Next week we will discuss greed.

blogsense-by-barb just nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award. See OFFICIAL THANKS TO FRIENDS AND FANS! Many thank yous to blogsense-by-barb. Please make certain you visit her blog. It is worth the time.

What are the rules associated with this award? If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.

• Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
• Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
• Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
• Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
• Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.
• Get your awards here: http://versatilebloggeraward.wordpress.com

Pretty simple. Right? Well, if I left it that way, it would be a chore, not fun. So I intend to stretch this out into 15 more posts. How?

There are seven deadly sins:  wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. In the series that follows this post, we will visit seven blogs and highlight those posts that expose the evils of one of the deadly sins.  Of course, for such versatile blogging I will nominate each of these bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.

There are also seven virtues: chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. In the next seven posts we visit seven blogs and highlight those posts that explain how we attain to each of these virtues. Of course, for such versatile blogging I will also nominate each of these bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.

Finally, there is simply virtue, that which makes one virtuous. I will nominate a blogger dedicated to explaining how we can best apply Christian teachings as exemplified by Christ.

Somewhere along the line I also need to tell folks seven things about myself? Do I do that when we are elaborating on sins or virtues? …….I will have to think about that.

Of course, I hope no one to takes any of this too seriously. What I am looking for is an excuse to survey blogs that I enjoy. A method to my madness? Why not!

This completes the first two tasks. Next week we will discuss wrath.

List Of Nominees

October 8, 2011 -The bluebird of bitterness for opposing  wrath: See PART 2.

October 16, 2011 – The United Conservatives of Virginia for opposing greed: See PART 3.

October 23, 2011 – The Salt and Light Blog for opposing sloth: See PART 4.

October 30, 2011 - SWAC Girl for opposing pride: See PART 5.

November 12, 2011 – pumabydesign001′s blog for opposing lust: See PART 6.

December 19, 2011 – From On High for opposing envy: See PART 7.

The pinkish glow of the morning sun yawned over the horizon and glossed the capitol dome, whose fuzzy glare made it resemble an overripe peach for the plucking.

As he struck the match and lit his Kool cigarette, he contemplated all the CFCs being emitted into the atmosphere from non-prescription asthma inhalers. Those would have to go, he resolved…… Read More

via Rogue Operator