Auld Lang Syne?

Posted on January 1, 2007
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For Old Times sake? I, for one, am ready for new times.

2006 was the year when the winds finally began to shift. It’s been a tough century for progressives — so far. The outcome of the Fall elections may be a blip on the political timeline, but just may be a harbinger of good things to come. The year started out badly with Samuel Alito taking a seat on the Supreme Court and rapidly confirming all progressives’ worst fears. Still there was a thin favorable majority on the court when it was time to rule against some of the abuses of power by the executive branch.

Our planet warmed a bit more last year abetted by the federal government. Many conservatives appear to be ready to abandon the Republican party line on global warming, but not a bit too soon. Congress and regulators continue to put corporate interests first. The question of Net Neutrality came to the fore as the telecom companies begin spending massive PR dollars to say how they will not be able to afford their infrastructures if they don’t gain the ability to discriminate on content providers in favor of content that brings them greater profit.

We continue to expand the concept of war for profit. War to control oil is so Gulf War I. This time supplying the means to destroy and the means to rebuild, as well as supplying infrastructure for our soldiers and providing private security forces is where the big bucks are to be found. The truly obscene aspect of it is the lives lost and destroyed. The human cost is incalculable. Who knows the cost to Iraqis? The stunning fact at year end was 3,000 U.S. soldiers dead.

We lost some notable people this year, folks who made the human condition a little finer and better. Here’s my short list:

Ann Richards, former Gov. Texas
Coretta Scott King, Activist, wife of late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Betty Friedan activist, author The Feminine Mystique
Ed Bradley, Journalist
Robert Altman, filmmaker, Nashville, The Player, A Prairie Home Companion
John Kenneth Galbraith, economist, humanitarian
Lou Rawls, Singer
Wilson Pickett, Singer, Mustang Sally
Billy Preston, Singer
Don Knotts, actor known for creating Barney Fife
Maureen Stapleton, Actress
William Sloane Coffin, activist, minister
Lloyd Bentson, told Dan Quayle, “you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
Hugh B. Patterson Jr. Publisher of Arkansas Gazette, won Pulitzer for coverage of desegregation
Otis Chandler, LA Times
Mickey Spillane, mystery writer
Red Buttons, actor, comedian
Maynard Ferguson, Jazz trumpeter
Glenn Ford, actor
Steve Irwin, crocodile hunter
William Ziff, publisher
Gerry Studds, first openly gay congressman
Jack Palance, actor
Octavia Butler, sci-fi author
Phillip Hyde, wildlife photographer
James Brown, Godfather of Soul