Post Scripts: Plenty of New Year worries

Here we are, facing a brand new year. None of us can predict what 2005 will bring. All we can hope for is an improvement over the year just past which, while giving us some benefits and pleasures, was overall a big concern what with the war in Iraq. The war in Iraq is showing no sign of a suitable end or solution, no matter what the Great White Fathers in Washington try to convince us of with propaganda or downright misinformation.

President George Bush remains in the White House for a second term, garnering more votes in the November election than any other candidate in the history of the United States. It appears the president will use this political capital to launch some dramatic reforms in Social Security that will affect every citizen in our nation.

Maybe that’s good, but remember that you read it here first; George Bush is like a shade-tree mechanic with a big screwdriver who wants to "fix" one of the best performing government programs ever devised – Social Security. Tinkering with Social Security might just result in turning the screws until the whole program falls apart. Ask around, there are enough of us "old people" who can tell you some pretty scary stories about The Great Depression and the plight of millions before Social Security came along.

My favorite person in the Bush Administration, Colin Powell, has resigned his Secretary of State post. Good soldier that he is, he became bitter and frustrated with the conduct of the war in Iraq – a war he thought should not have been launched without America’s traditional Allies. Secondly, he regretted the assignment he was given to lie to the UN’s security council about those Iraqi trailers and weapons of mass destruction.

So, here we go into another four years. We still have an unauthorized war going on in Iraq, frustrating most Americans and infuriating millions of Arabs and Middle East folk who will never forgive us for our intrusion into the Middle East. All we have to show for our 1,500 or so dead and 8,000 wounded, are several devastated Iraqi cities, the homes of thousands of their citizens lie in rubble. Here in America the Federal deficit just grows and grows (we are now borrowing from former enemies).

What amazes me is that so few complaints are launched. It’s like far too many Americans are in some kind of a trance, unable to complain or protest, not caring only about America’s future, but the future of their children and grandchildren. Surely there are others out there who are concerned about the future of our beloved nation.

I’m truly hoping that it’s just me who is worried about the future. Maybe I’m the one who is all mixed up. Maybe I’m the one who can’t see the forest for the trees. Anyway, Kathy and I extend best wishes to all in this New Year.