2007: Great year for my family and me, tough year for democracy. When Putin's Person of the Year and Bhutto is killed by a suicide attack, probably by Musharraf's men, as elections (sham ones at that) approach, a year that began somewhat promising with the return of some form of balance of power here in the States, the destabilizing effect of 9/11 and six years of the Bush administration's militaristic response to it, are taking root everywhere you look. This trend, coupled with the continuing sub-prime mess, does not bode well for 2008. Whomever wins the election next November (and I pray it is Obama) will have quite a mess to clean up in 2009. Happy Holidays!