The 111th Congress begins tomorrow (or technically last Saturday or Tuesday, depending on who you ask) and I'm psyched to get going again. I think the 110th was just a warmup for what's going to happen now with expanded Congressional supermajorities and the White House for at least the next two years. Incremental progressive changes is all that I ask for. That or my generation's New Deal or Great Society – lord knows we may need it.

As you can see, I've updated my blog design – now with 17 percent more blue! I shamelessly stole this color scheme from the ColorSchemer Gallery from a pallet called "Retro Blue and Green" which I just love. The little sun-ray/pin wheels were from a DeviantArt brush set by user Env1ro [download here].

P.S. The Republicans in the Senate need to read the writing on the wall and stop with this nonsense about filibustering Senator-Elect Al Franken's confirmation. Baring unforeseen changes, the Canvassing Board will certify Franken the winner within the next two days. At that point Coleman will kick into full-gear sore loser mode, huff and puff, waste taxpayer dollars, and likely get nowhere. I think if I were writing a disingenuous speech that Former Senator Coleman would normally give about a situation like this, it would be something along these lines: "We have got to put partisanship aside to bring people together to get things done. Minnesota needs to heal, grow jobs, and move forward in these trying times. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs." Norm – time has come for you to go out and get one of those 350 million Minnesota jobs that you've single-handedly helped grow.

Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.