As years go, 2006 is ranked lower in the food chain than a chicken at a Baptist convention. But much is to be said for any year that I survive or more importantly survives me.

Each of us can say there were ups and downs. I attended way too many funerals and not enough parties.

This site however had a banner year. It started out in January with approximately 15,000 unique visitors a month and has since doubled – and then some – to over 35,000 unique visitors. Every major paper in the state and the Associated Press quoted it and I even got coverage in some of the larger radio stations. Not too bad.

It’s amazing how awful my memory is. I recently took a look at 2006’s articles – I completely forgot what I wrote.

Here are the top 10 articles for 2006 in date order based on reader’s comments, number of visits and my totally biased opinion:

“Location, Location, Location” received the most visits for a single article. Unfortunately my tracking program inexplicably reset so I do not know the final number, but it was higher than the Rolling Stones on New Years Eve.

Why the interest? For one, Don Surber, the father of West Virginia blogs, linked to it. And in it I took on then House Speaker Bob Kiss for living in Charleston. Make sure you read the comments: his nephew, Jared Tice, comes to his defense. Blood must be thicker than reason.

“Democrats Vote Against Their Own Bill” revealed a trick the Democrats frequently use to appear for an issue they are against.

“With bills like this clogging up the legislature, the Democrats have turned the session into a 60-day swindle. It is clear to those inside the dome that they play a game with West Virginia’s wellbeing and hope those on the outside will never find out.”

“The Difference Between Republicans and Democrats” gave readers a real life – and completely unplanned – example of what each party stands for. In the morning the Republicans held a press conference on their measures to cut taxes and in the afternoon Democrats convened the Judiciary Committee to discuss raising taxes on churches and clowns!

The Saga of Logan’s Law, part one and part two, uncovered the behind-the-scenes trickery of Governor Joe Manchin to kill a bill giving special protection to children from sexual crimes even while he pronounced his support of it.

Senator Bowman proceeded to give me a good cuss-riddled tongue-lashing after I called him a “liberal” in “Did Senator Bowman inadvertently collect illegal contributions?” Other Senators who thought the berating was something a bully, and not a Senator, would do told him he said enough. I wear the scars from the melee as a badge of honor. If Bowman hates you, you must be doing something right.

I wrote about how “Senator Jeff Kessler doubts a sex predator problem” even though there is overwhelming evidence. In the article I revealed easily obtainable facts about felons in his county who got free because of our weak laws.

“To the West Virginia Patriots for Peace: grow up” discussed how Manchin ended up apologizing to the local peace-loving hippies for something he wrote on a missile.

The Charleston user tax was a big issue around here in the middle of the year. In “The Charleston Gazette Says Vote For More Taxes” I explained why I do not think I should be taxed once again in this overtaxed state. Mayor Danny Jones wasn’t too happy with the article and subsequently called me a coward for not going into the military. Yeah, go figure.

I covered the battle for the new Chairman extensively in July and August and got a mention by the Associate Press: a personal first. After interviewing both candidates and reading the resulting attacks by Republican bystanders, I was sick. Thus the article, “If this really is a party, why am I not having fun?” I cannot tell you how many Republicans called and wrote me with their thanks for writing what they were thinking.

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A warm thank you to each of you who take the time to visit my humble corner of the internet. Without you I would just be a guy muttering to himself.

It is my sincerest hope and prayer that 2007 will be the best of years for all of us.