A retrospective...


Good for some, bad for most.


Here's a small sampling:

A few fortunate folks and corporations added more profits to their already expansive wealth.

The year was a bumpy ride through endless political, economic and social epiphanies and/or injustices, depending on your viewpoint.

The Year 2007 began with a power shift to Democrats and a reassessment of strategy in Iraq.  However, as the year continued we began to feel as though it was Congress and NOT the president who was the "lame duck".

The Bush administration's hold over the American people finally lost much of its grip and the loss of American lives in Iraq topped the 3,000 mark. No, in that aspect it wasn't worse than the Vietnam conflict as so many compare it to, but many families did lose their loved ones over this questionable war. Taxpayers fared the worst, losing TRILLIONS of dollars many feel would have been better spent at home.

There was (and is still) a call for impeaching Bush, Cheney and others in the administration.

The dykes burst in New Orleans causing flooding and devastation that killed and injured many. Thousands pilgrimaged to adjacent states looking for refuge and new homes. The federal agency FEMA mishandled the urgency of providing relief, causing many to question the agency's actions and its immediate future. Finally, New Orleans was rebuilt.

Home foreclosures in the U.S. catapulted dramatically to a record high. Credit was far too easy for consumers to get at high interest and promptly go into high debt, while financing companies were able to change the laws more in their favor. Greater restrictions were placed on filing bankruptcy.

Government curtailed its spending on domestic issues and subsequently cut urgent financing for public education, building and maintaining roadways, needed social service funding, maintaining the needs of our Veteran population and basically highlighting the priority for corporate profiteering.

Hollywood continued to prosper with many movies depicting themes of fantasy and reality --- the top 5 money-makers were Spider-Man 3 ($336,530,303); Shrek the Third ($321,012,359); Transformers ($319,071,806); Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ($ 309,420,425); Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix  ($292,004,738); and The Bourne Ultimatum ($227,471,070).

More Americans were out of work than at any other time since the Great Depression.

The Boston Red Sox won the World Series for the second time in 4 years, and many baseball stars are implicated for steroid use.

Presidential Campaign 2008 got started early with at least 1 dozen candidates for each of the GOP and DNC parties.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's September visit to Columbia University generated serious debate about free speech: If a world leader is expressing hateful views, should he still be given a forum at an American university?

Much of this year's notorious news centered on the misadventures of Hollywood icons from Brittany Spears, Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan to Paris Hilton.

Armed to the hilt, Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people, then himself, and wounded 25 others on April 16, 2007, the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history.

Another real-life incredulous story just right for Hollywood was astronaut Lisa Nowak, who drove 900 miles from Houston to Florida ending Feb. 5, 2007 to confront Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman -- who had been dating the object of Nowak's affection, astronaut William Oefelein -- and who now disputes law enforcement's diaper report.

While filming their controversial story, certain film-makers attested that the tomb of Jesus Christ had been uncovered in a neighborhood of Jerusalem. National Geographic wrote a follow-up to the story.

Most recently, it was the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto at a rally in Rawalpindi. Her attacker shot her in the neck and chest before blowing himself up, killing more people in the crowd.

In world power struggles, this was the year that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf suspended the constitution and declared a state of emergency, the year that soon-to-be-termed-out Russian President Vladimir Putin picked a presidential candidate who would appoint him prime minister. It was also the year that Hugo Chavez lost a referendum for greater powers and no term limit in Venezuela, and the year that Myanmar monks led residents in peaceful marches against the government that resulted in violent results.

Here in Texas --- home insurance costs remained #1 in the nation; the legislature debated to death and proposed the definition of marriage; Gov. Rick Perry was reelected by a paltry 39-percent of the total votes; Toll road profiteering again reared its ugly head, only to be swatted-down several fathoms by grassroots organizations like Sal Costello's Texastollparty.com, Terri Hall's San Antonio tollparty.com, and Texans Against Tolls. Now that TxDOT Commissioner Ric Williamson died during the night from his 3rd heart attack in recent years, Texans are wondering who will replace him and what the future road plans will be for future generations.

The House Speaker Tom Craddick was assailed by various feeble coups, still is feeling the heat from members of both parties and yet may lose the speaker's chair. More children in Texas are without health insurance than in most other states. Home property taxes are at the highest level proportionately than anywhere in the nation. The state kept a $14 BILLION overpayment by consumers of their sales taxes and has not spent it on any of the urgent hardship issues felt by most Texans.

Regarding all the twists and turns of Year 2007 and what we can look for in Year 2008, perhaps no one could sum it up any better than the great writer Charles Dickens did at the start of the first chapter of his famous A Tale of Two Cities:


It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.


I wish you all a great New Year!

Peter Stern

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