Back in June, I think it was, my blogging about Bush's disastrous foreign policy failures enabling a rising Islamic Fundamentalist Caliphate, as I described it, got the attention of BBC radio. They invited me to participate in a call in program about the rise of Islamic fundamentalists in Somalia, which was my first 30 minutes of fame. I didn't really feel like I came off well on their show as it wasn't really a format I was comfortable with, but it sure was flattering to have my blogging noticed!

Since then I have continued to write about our increasing losses to Islamic fundamentalism and our failures to counter it. Most recently I wrote about the rise of fundamentalists in Bahrain. I criticize the Republicans for failing to back Clinton's attempts to stabilize Somalia and to stop al-Qaeda, instead chastising him for being "obsessed with al-Qaeda" as if that was a bad thing. I criticize Bush for putting the war against the terrorists who attacked us on the back burner in his rush to attack the two Muslim nations arguably most opposed to al-Qaeda: Iraq and Iran. By picking on these three groups, Bush has picked fights with three completely disparate parts of the Muslim world: secular Sunni, fundamentalist Sunni and fundamentalist Shi'ite. Attacking all three in essence confirms in the eyes of much of the world the accusation that Bush has declared a Crusade on all Islam.

This should be muy, muy fun.

The man who slapped down Sue Kelly for not wanting to debate John Hall has requested our presence in his show. Yes people : Richard French of RNN's Real Live Politics wants to have me and other notables share their insight about 2006's highs (and lows) in New York politics and what we forsee for the new year.

I have a good idea where to start. I will be pulling out links to our most excellent stash of posts for 2006 --and boy do we have embarrasment of riches in our archives.

At random I can think of my calling first Hillary Clinton's run for the presidency after she hired Peter Daou. We also called here Havesi's win and eventual resgination. How about our stellar coverage of CD-11?

I still want to hear from you. What do you think are the highs and lows of politics in New York state? And what do you see in your crystal ball?

Oh and by the way, if you want to enjoy French at his snarkiest, we've got it after the jump.