A Modest Milestone, My 1,499th Hit!

When I sat down a month ago to write my first blog entry, I wondered to myself how much traffic the site would get. I specifically remember thinking 1ooo hits in 30 days sounds like a nice round number. I admit that number felt ambitious at the time, but hey, dare to dream right? Well, I'm happy to say that as of midnight I've had exactly 1,499 hits on my site. So much for nice round numbers? Hey, I'll take it!

One of the cool features of this site is that you can track, geographically, where the hits come in from. (Check out my world map here) Now, I totally dig maps, so I love being able to see where the traffic is coming in from this manner. The vast majority of the site traffic is coming from the American northeast and the westcoast, which isn't surprising. But to see hits coming from far away places like Costa Rica, New Zealand, Moscow and New Dehli was especially sweet. I am not gonna lie, my ego is relieved that folks 'round the world are interested in what I have to say. So why am I so ambivilant that someone is checking me out from Iran of all places?

With all the talk of government overrreach and intrusions into the lives of Americans, I can not help but think that getting a hit on my site from Iran might somehow get me on Dick Cheney's shitlist. Like I said, having global reach with this Blog is pretty exciting for me, but i can not escape the feeling that my choices of self-expression, peace activism, or political dissent is somehow being duly noted somewhere in the Department of Homeland security.

Recent media reports that the govenment engages in secret domestic spying (by Whitehouse decree, no less) is the latest evidence that the Bush Administration does not see itself as bound by the law. So why does the president even care is the so-called Patriot Act expires? By the way, I always thought the term "patriot act" sounded a little curious. I am not sure what I would rename it. Probably something German. But that's not for here.

Meanwhile we have a president who never met a civil liberty he wouldn't crush in the name of the "war on terror" and he's worried about his powers somehow being curtailed because the US Senate wants to do their job and exercise some oversite on our Commander-in-Chief. Which gets me back to why I am a little ambivalent about getting hits from Iran. Let's face it, the content of this site asks serious questions of the government. According the shadowy Bush calculus, someone from the axis-of-evil clicks onto my site and "takes comfort" because not every American is in lock step with our president.

Is this enough to get me on Dick Cheney's shitlist? Or am I just being self-absorbed?
p.s. I should note that i have nothing personal against iran or the germans.