"It's that time of the year when we look back, look forward and spend three months writing bad dates on our checks. Party on."
Let's look back -- Top personality of the year – our own President George Bush.
He reminds me of something I read in the 1970's High Times. They ran a serious of cartoons on Bill Griffith's "Zippy the Pinhead." He ran for president and his slogan was "Am I elected Yet!" He brought up important issues as nuclear fishing and too many cubists in America. After a few episodes he changed his slogan to "Re-elect me." That got him elected because people at the time like stability and re-elect sounded like a good idea.
President Zippy
We weren't at war at the time, so it was all funny - a really stupid clown running the country with the mind of a five-year-old. Now flash forward 2006. We are at war in Iraq. Also in a few other places such as Afghanistan, but the casualties and real bungling in Iraq seems to dominate the news. So President Zippy has ignored the Pentagon and all his advisors and nearly every politician alive to expand the war with more troops and more money.
Now it's not so funny anymore. There doesn't seem to be much hope for change. That means more of the same. Our only hope is that the pinheaded clown will run our government into the ground until the whole system collapses in whole or part.
One silver lining is the possibility of Maoists winning gains in Nepal and parts of India. The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) seems poised to force a new government there.
We lost two Zippy the Pinheads here in Kansas, during the election, even though we have enough of them left to cause a lot of havoc as they had in the past. Religious fundamentalism causes pinhead like behavior and we have a lot of fundamentalists left in Kansas. I hate to be so pessimistic, but I think most of them will stay here next year.
Here at home we will get a new downtown stadium. The city didn't want it, so a few rich fat cats ran a petition drive to put this on the ballet and spent millions to convince the voters that this was a bargain. We pay only one cent per dollar for just one year (in the history of Kansas, there has been plenty of temporary taxes past, but none have ever really been temporary). This new arena is causing a mountain of headaches since it means re-arranging the whole down town area. Most of the businesses to be moved cater to the poor and operate on a shoestring budget. Many can't afford to move and will shut down.
The estimated cost on this project has gone way up. There's no reason to believe it will bring in extra revenue. Many young people voted for this hoping it would bring some good musical groups to Wichita. But the reason groups don't come here is that the locals can't afford ticket prices.
The rest of the years major poop can be found in any magazine, such as Time.
There have been some good movies this year, but since I can't remember their names, they can't have been that good. I enjoyed House, so I can remember at least one new show on TV. I think Dr. House reminds me of myself sometimes. Music – I don't remember any groups that came out this year that really impressed me, except maybe Atomic Swindler (if they actually started this year). The same can be said about songs. Books- again, I can't think of any impressive books that I read from this year. That sort of makes this a sucks year. But then again, I tend to listen to really good music and read great books, years after they were released. Lord of War, stands out in my mind as a fantastic movie, but it came out last year. The same can be said of Liberal Virus: Permanent War and the Americanization of the World: Permanent War and the Americanization of the World by Samir Amin. And I still love American Idiot by Green Day. So next year I'll make a list of great works of art that came out this year.
So have a great New Year's Party. Drink till you puke. Set off dangerous fireworks. Piss off your neighbors. It's a tradition. And the next day, get ready for a year that's just like the last one.
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