Calling People Names for Almost a Year

The one-year anniversary of “What’s the Diehl?” occurs next Wednesday.

“What’s the Diehl?” has been cool. This blog – which includes good or unique music and interesting photos in addition to information and opinions on politics, postings about my family and other expressions – has provided me with an invaluable vehicle for sharing what I think and made it unnecessary for me to persistently pester my partner and our preteens with my views. For that they are surely grateful.

I’ve collected 168 followers (122 through networkedblogs.com and 46 through Google) and posted 648 posts in 2011 and 166 so far in 2012. If the stats provided by blogger.com are accurate, “What’s the Diehl?” has been visited almost 28,000 times by readers in the U.S., Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, Russia, Denmark, Brazil, Australia, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, France, Switzerland, Hungary and elsewhere.

My April 12 post entitled “United States My Ass” was my most popular; it was viewed over 1,900 times and generated 11 comments. Maybe its popularity had something to do with the fact that I opened that post by writing, “Republicans can kiss my ass.” I’m not really sure.

Last July’s post entitled “Who’s turning their porch lights on for Aiyana Jones?” about the seven-year-old black girl from Motown’s east side who was shot and killed by Detroit police as she slept on her couch back in 2010 came in second with 352 page views.

My October 24 post, “The GOP Presidential Contenders in a Nutshell,” came in third with 276 hits and my first negative comment. And the follow-up posting I added on October 5, “Justice for Aiyana?,” received 152 hits.

I’ve also featured interesting guest posts from others – on everything from “Why I Still Go to Church” and “Why the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Sucks” to “Why AIPAC is Bad” and the post with the coolest title ever: “Bullshit Nationalists in Outer Space” – that have proven pretty popular.

Although I added a “Donate” button months ago and I occasionally solicit contributions (and a few supportive readers have stepped up to the plate), “What’s the Diehl?” has yet to augment our household income. This is unfortunate because I spend a lot of time researching issues, choosing music, collecting photos and sharing what I write and post in Facebook and elsewhere. (I featured ads at first but they didn’t generate any income so I dumped them.) As one Facebook “friend” asked, “Why would people pay to read a blog that just calls conservatives bad names when the internet’s free anyway?” (I promptly unfriended the twit.) I like to think I offer more than name-calling although I concede I’m not one to beat around the Bush, mince words or suffer fools gladly.

I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to continue posting daily – I’ve only missed a handful of days in almost a year – because it’s difficult to justify the time I spend on “What’s the Diehl?” when I’m facing a plethora of other demands. But I’m glad that I took this step on March 7, 2011 and am grateful that so many people apparently give a rodent’s derriere what I think about stuff.

Maybe AOL will buy my blog for $315 million?