I Am Going On A Brief Sabbatical From The Blog-O-Sphere, But I Will Return Relatively Soon

The "Hasslington" blog-site started in April of 2008, which means that I have today reached the relatively round-number total of 150 posts in less than a year's time. These posts have dealt with political, social, cultural, artistic, and even sport-related themes, and it is therefore the case that this site has provided me with a platform from which to voice my concerns about, questions regarding, and advocacy for a variety of things from a variety of topic areas.

Yet there comes a time when just about everyone needs to take a break from even some genuinely good habits (which I usually consider blogging to be), and, having reached my 150th post, I feel as though this is as good a time as any to take a few weeks off in order to catch-up on such things as that old-fashioned art of reading books (as opposed to computer screens). Indeed, over the last few months, I've noticed that I've read one book for every two I've added to my "evening reading" stack; these days, the pile has long-since reached such a height that it's a wonder it hasn't toppled over, to the point where I have recently found it necessary to divide it into multiple piles.

Hence, I'm not going to post anything for a few weeks, during which time I'll enjoy being blog-free. That being said, I plan to return to fairly regular blogging patterns (at least by my standards) sometime in March. (Events--both national and international in focus--that occur between now and then ought to give me plenty to write about when I return....)

So, as a snapshot of my feelings for where things stand right now, at least with regards to the Obama presidency, I have this to say: overall, I believe that President Obama has done a good job in the presently very difficult foreign policy arena in his first month in office, and though only time will tell regarding the eventual impact of his recent domestic policy decisions, I believe that he has navigated those very choppy waters with an impressive sense of what might be called "presidential bearing." (Whether or not that will make a difference, we'll just have to wait and see.)

I'm more interested in U.S. foreign policy than U.S. domestic policy, probably because I consider foreign policy to be the only true "big picture" area of politics in this international era. This is because even the domestic policy realm in a country as large as the U.S. is dependent heavily upon foreign policy decisions and realities, as anyone paying attention knows. As this is the case, with this post I am providing a "foreign-policy-themed" poll in which I encourage folks to cast their well-considered vote, as I hope to use the results in a post to be published soon after I return to blogging. (And, yes, I know I included one country twice, due to its direct involvement in two different scenarios.)

Until then, I wish you all the best.