New Year's greetings from he who leans left on the right coast

Well, it just amazes me how much faster the years go by now than before. I guess that is a result of each year being a smaller percentage of your life as you get older. 2005 was a truly memorable year. We saw almost 1/2 million people die due to natural disasters. We saw the amazing sight of purple fingered Iraqis exercising their franchise for the first time in their lives. We saw the horrible class distinction that still exists in this country in the aftermath of Katrina. We also saw the great heart of the American People, with charitable contributions rising to over 1/4 of a trillion dollars.
We saw the advances of AIDS treatment in this country hit new highs, while the disease is running unchecked in most of Sub-Saharan Africa. An amazing year it truly was.

Here are some hopes for the New Year

• The President abandons being the butt boy of the oil industry and throws the full force of his office behind the development of new technologies that will free us from dependence on fossil fuels, leading to a stronger America, a freer America, and a greener America.
• The continued success to the secular forces in the culture wars - I believe that everyone should be able to practice their religion whenever or wherever they desire - just respect my not practicing it. This does not mean I am against seeing creches in town squares, or crosses in public places - but it does mean please stop telling me that your way is the only way to heaven, or paradise, or Nirvana, or whatever the hell you call it. If God exists, believe me, he is not concerned with any of your sectarianism - he just represnts a good energy in the Universe, and would much rather see people respecting each other than killing each other in his name, thank you very much!
• More governing by the Legislative branch and less partisanship - the ship is rudderless right now, because everyone is posturing and playing to the fringes, instead of getting things done in the middle.
• A little more compassion from the government for those in need. I firmly believe that a majority if poeple who are getting government aid, are, in fact, in need, and not thieving welfare cheats who think it is more lucrative to have babies and get food stamos than getting a job.
• A sensible plan to deal with the illegal immigration issue - first of all, and I am speaking first hand, illegal immigrants are not here to collect welfare or get government hand-outs. They are here to do an honest days work for far more money than they could ever get at home, so they can send this hard -earned money back to their families, so they might better themselves a little. Let's give amnesty to all those workers in the country now, and develop some kind of guest worker program that works - here's a little hat tip to W. because this is something he supports.
• Education, education, education - a more equitable distribution of property taxes collected will go a long way to helping schools in impoverished areas to somewhat level the playing field. I also believe in merit raises for teachers, higher pay for teachers who choose to teach in impoverished areas, and comprehensive, regular testing for the teachers. We need to make it attractive for kids to study more math and science, or we will be buying a lot of Chinese and Indian advances in the decades to come.
• A little more laughter, a few more good movies, a lot more peace, a couple of rounds under 90, and continued health to enjoy the bounty of friends and family that I am so blessed to have.

Happy New Year - good night, and good luck!