January 01, 2008

Happy New Year!

It's 2008, and a lot of things will change this year! If not personally for me, then certainly for the United States. President Bush will be replaced, either for better or worse. The stock market is going to have to absorb a great deal more loss in the financial markets.

But, some things aren't likely to change. For example, Mike Huckabee doesn't look like he'll become less of a manipulative politician. In today's paper I noticed the little manipulation he pulled on the press with the Mitt Romney commercial he's 'not going to air' and that promptly got more air and Internet time than he would have been able to afford on his own.

The media at large will continue to be as manipulatable as they always have been. There are so few 'real' newsmen left who actually research and report on the news, and the rest of the press is driven by levels of fame and press releases. The real news is buried on page 5 and we'll continue to know more about Jamie Lynn Spears' pregnancy and Lindsay Lohan's hot new beau than we know about what's happening to our soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Last night, we went to First Night Alexandria / New Years Eve edition. We'd been on July 4th last year, and had fun except for the rain. This year there wasn't any rain to deal with, but there certainly was a crowd. Even with a large auditorium at the Masonic lodge and a distribution of the crowd to a number of events, seating wasn't always an option. We also dealt with the cold a little bit, but the fireworks show was nice and the colors were just right for the New Year celebration. They gave away 4 million dollars to 4 lucky people, who apparently weren't in the auditorium when they called the lottery numbers. I didn't see the chance to buy lottery tickets, so I guess I missed out on my chances to win.

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