Here's the first post I made as a blogger (on Feb. 16, 2004*). The blog was then called No Holds Barred. Later, it was known as Hot Potatoes before becoming HucksOnline:

For those who have developed a taste for Huckleberries, Hot Potatoes and other basic food groups in North Idaho, I'm taking it to the next level today ... by moving on up to blogging. If you don't know what that means, sound it out: blog, bah-log, Web log. In other words, a blog is a combination Web diary/column/train-of-consciousness thing.

Here's what I hope to accomplish with my blog:

1. Let folks in North Idaho know what's going on behind the scenes in political races and North Idaho governments.
2. Comment on the stories of the day.
3. Bring important Web stories to your attention.
4. Use the blog to test drive new words for my Hot Potatoes columns on Sundays and Wednesdays -- words such as ap-hollow-gize and institution-all-lies, which speak for themselves.

I view life through an offbeat conservative filter but that doesn't mean I'm conservative through and through. I may lean to the right on social issues but I voted for more Democrats than Republicans in Idaho's last legislative elections. In other words, I don't put much stock in either party's politics.

One of my favorite sayings comes from the old Chicago Times: "It's a newspaper's duty to print the news and raise hell." So, fasten your seatbelts. I hope you have as much fun reading this as I'm going to have writing it.

*DFO: I'm thoroughly embarrassed to admit this but this blog began in 2004 not 2003, as I've been saying for some time now. Digger brought it to my attention in the comments section. He remembers being a college freshman when I started this. I began the blog as a conservative editorial page writer for the SR as a means to support George W. Bush's run for re-election. Which means I'm starting my 9th year not my 10th year on this blog. They say the mind is the first thing to go.

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