Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!


Really.


I mean it, as much as is possible to be sincere in an impersonal editorial medium such as this.


To you four or five regulars, I say a sincere thanks. You are a touchstone for me. It would be nice if you would touch back (comment) a little more often, but hey, I'll take what I can get.


Enough of the schlep. On with the show.

Today is the day. Yep, the good people of Iowa are going to tell us a little bit about who the real contenders are for the presidency. Watch to see who drops out of the race in the next few days, and listen to the excuses that they offer.

I really don't know what will be worse, the political climate before or after the winnowing process starts. I am anxious to see how Ron Paul does, and what he has to say later, relative to the outcome of the election(s). Like I said in an earlier post, Ron has some interesting things to say, but he hasn't presented a clear idea of how to impliment them. Mike Huckabee seems to be a likable guy, but not so much that I would vote for him just for that reason. I would loan Fred Thompson a twenty, but ditto, that doesn't mean I would let him hold a loaded gun for me, (or on me), let alone the authority to wage war or rule the country. Then there are the lawyers, the ambulance chaser and the real estate mogul, as well as the civil rights activist from harvard. Respectable vocations all, but not what I usually see as well grounded in the realities of the world. That is not to lump these people together, they have all served honorably in government, most in the US Senate, one as governor of his state, all are conversant in national affairs. But so am I and CNN is not following me around....

From the looks of things, at least to my jaded eye, we are not going to have much of a choice this year. Whichever party wins, whoever takes the oath, we are in for the same old thing on the domestic front, and a pretty wild ride internationally.

Now, just when I have resigned myself to the political equivilent of the cable TV conundrum, (quite a few candidates and nothing on), here comes another rich guy who thinks he can be somebody. Michael Bloomberg, current Mayor of New York and bazillionaire. Go away, eat some sushi or something, I am not impressed that you think you can be president because you can bring people together. You can't, your wallet can. Get real.

Stay focused. I don't think it will make a bit of difference, but one might as well go out aware of why....