Happy New Year

Well ladies and gentlemen, today is the first day of the year 2008, and I would like to extend to you my best wishes for that new year. 

 I had thought that such an auspicious occasion merited some form of special posting as a consequence. Then I realized that I was probably not capable of such a posting and that unfortunately you were going to have to settle for what normally passes for wit and wisdom on these pages instead. 

Besides this is not a regular posting day for me and I am far too limited in both talent and ability to squander it, even for good reason. Let me simply use this occasion to share two things with you:  

First, my only New Year's Resolution - to be more consciously aware of the world around me. You see, I think that like most of us, I've spent most of my life living in, but barely aware of most of the things going on around me. There is so much in the way of folly, chicanery, and just plain meanness going on out there that I have let slip under my radar that I am often embarrassed by it. Those out there attempting to do evil to us all count on that inattention and ignorance to perpetrate their plans and schemes upon us. 

My hope is that by making just this small change in focus, that I might help to foil them at some of their ends and affect some positive action in the world around me. Second, my wish for you all - that you be allowed to live in more hope, more prosperity, and more freedom than you did in 2007. You have a right and an expectation to such a life, so long as it is tempered by a respect for the rights of your fellows to do so as well. My hope is that when and if presented with the opportunity, that you show an ability and a strength to choose to do so.