Adieu to '08

It is with great satisfaction we bid adieu to 2008.

We have had an interesting year here in kittycity. Speaking of kitty- with the territory of responsibilities of stewardship I offer a few collected from the local litter box. The catnip comes next year.

Measure D petition; Fight over CUP permit for Miles Avenue; LG welcomes facebook junkie Greg Larson as new Town Manager;new digs for the police; Battle over proposed glass-IM Pey looking outbuildings at 151 N. Santa Cruz Ave (Travese)remains as an elegant historic property; Mark Achilli,R.I.P; New library planned;CreditCard & ATM Numbers stolen from already overpriced Lunardi’s Supermarket; 200 K in Computer gear/routers stolen from LG school district. Geez, and it only took three years to verify it was missing; Big Dough triumphs over Good Intentions. The Friends of the Hillsides form with over 500 community members strong to fight for smart hillside development. http://www.landwatch.org/pages/kusp2008/091508kusp.html;Ross Creek wins CEQA suit; Ugly Mailers arrive in mailboxes to smear local town council candidates. J. Crew gets the high sign. Another nail in the retail coffin of local small business;TCBY yogurt melts away; The anointed one as The new town council person who paid handsomely for the opportunity to "serve"the people. Let's hope his attendance record is an improvement over his planning commission tenure.

Last task at hand is to shake out the last shameful nuggets from the national litter box. A years' worth of warrantless wiretapping; Valerie Plame; Scooter Libby's sentence commuted; Bush believes Rafael Palmeiro is innocent; soldiers face neglect at Walter Reed; signing statements; the Kyoto treaty ripped up; loyalty oaths;the fake turkey; a staged teleconference with troops; staged FEMA press conference, extraordinary rendition, support for junk science; endorsement of neo-creationist "intelligent design"; inaction against global warming; record oil prices; record budget deficits; record trade deficit; record number of Americans without health insurance; two recessions; no-bid contracts; bin Laden still at large; the Federal Marriage Amendment; stem cell research vetoed; waterboarding ban vetoed; "Last throes"; "Old Europe"; "It's hard work"; "Bring it on"; "Yo, Blair!"; "I'm the decider"; "I'm the commander guy"; "I'm a war president"; "This is the guy who tried to kill my dad"; "So?"; "Let the Eagle Soar"; John Bolton; Kenny Boy; Harriet Miers; John Roberts; Sam Alito; Blair talks Bush out of bombing al-Jazeera; Cheney shoots some guy in the face; the Military Commissions Act; Jose Padilla arrested and held without charge or access to counsel; endless tax cuts for the rich; let's waste a shitload of money by sending people to Mars and let's hire some Heritage Foundation staffers to rebuild Iraq.

Yes. I know there's a few missing from the list. Always is.

Feels good to get all of that behind us.

Now go on enjoy New Year's and whatever "catnip" you partake in this eve.