t's a little bit like writing love letters; do it daily, and it becomes second nature; simple to say and probably more effective. Procrastinate, let the time pass, and you lose effectiveness. I am guilty for a variety of reasons which, I do hope, will not recur. So the obvious and simplest way to start, on this end of the Jewish Holiday of Lights, Hanukkah, is to wish you health and happiness. Merry Christmas and to all a year ahead that portends well for this world which, wearily, over the past few years, has suffered one kick-in-its-axis after another.
Time Magazine named their "Person" of the year, (they put a mirror on the cover to gaze into), and it is "you": All of us, en masse and as individuals. Lest we forget, it wasn't until a few years ago they named their "Man". More appropriately, with 53% of the world's population being womankind, they broadened the choice and appropriately, each year they now name their Person of the Year. YOU - each and any one of us. Perhaps the simplest reason is that they felt they had nowhere else to go. So many of the outstanding men - in positions of world leadership are frequently unlikable, not to be admired and not what the world would wish to emulate; dictators, warlords, leaders who care naught about humanity and want only their own aggrandizement.
For example, I don't think the editors would have expected a large surge in sales of an edition that featured North Korea's "beloved" leader , Kim Jong Il. Dumb and dangerous. He's the decision maker of a poor and starving population with nothing but a growing nuclear arsenal to make his mark and to try and influence the world.
Osama Bin Laden is still the most wanted terrorist leader. Hardly an exciting cover boy. Or how about the radical Shiite cleric, who may well control this country's fate in Iraq, Moqtada Al Sadr. And then there's a very weird leader of a growing power which aims to be a nuclear threat to Israel and other states, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The list could go on.
Who would you have selected as the "Person of the Year"? The resigned Secretary of Defense" Donald Rumsfeld? Or possibly "The Donald"; Donald Trump, for his pardoning of Miss USA It appears the 21 year old went on a binging time in New York ; partying, drinking, possible drug use and antics of a sexual nature. Or something. "YOU" are beginning to look better by the moment.

By year's end we'll most likely be at the three thousand mark; US sons and daughters, serving in Iraq, killed in action. And many more thousands injured, seriously. The psychological scars are likely to impact on the whole life of a large number of those seeing so much brutality and death ,suffering and fear. The Iraq Study Group reported days ago that our efforts in Iraq are handicapped by the fact that our embassy, manned by a thousand employees, has only 33 Arabic speakers and of that number only six are fluent.
The call by the President is to increase the number of Americans serving in Iraq. To what end? We don't know, but it seems we'll be fed a new slogan to digest; to replace the ill-conceived Presidential admonition to "stay the course."
(By the way, from all he has said, repetitively, we most likely will be attempting to "stay the course", whatever he calls it for many years).

A post-election poll found that health care is more important to voters than terrorism, immigration, moral values or taxes. It is possible that the next congress can start reflecting our concerns. The Middle Class, at a time when most of our nation's economic gains go to people at the very top, are truly becoming loaded paupers. The median income for a household of people of working age has fallen five years in a row, yet corporate profits are at their highest level in a couple of generations. The cost of education, healthcare, child care and housing have climbed very rapidly. I think that many millions of Americans live in fear that a major health problem in the family can cause bankruptcy. We are a recently anxious nation which is reflected in the outcome of the November election.


Todd Gitlin, in the current issue of Mother Jones, put it succinctly and well. He wrote, "Hillary-Hating is such a national pastime that it should be its own verb, "Hillarating". The race is already "on". Hillary is already squaring off for the nomination in 2008. So is "The Man from Nowhere", as Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal; Senator Barack Obama. He is uncompromised by a past or unburdened by achievement. I don't really know what he stands for but I am convinced that both he and the former First lady would make a wonderful team as I'm a sufficiently naive a person that I believe they could make a formidable pair: Pres. Clinton and Vice President Obama. Yes, we are ready for the right woman and the right black man.

It is now time for me to start assembling some of the toys that our grandchildren have asked Santa for. Five grandchildren. I used to approach the task of putting the items together with some aplomb until last year the doll's house instructions included the following, "Fwengle the gambit off." I don't think it came with a gambit..and, so help me, I've forgotten how to fwengle.

Merry Christmas.
Michael, Alana and our ever-growing mob.

P.S . Within the next few days, if you are a recipient and reader of the AAA magazine, Westways, you'll be receiving the January/February issue. I do hope you take the time to read the story I wrote for them on the subject of skiing - in Park City, The Canyons and Deer Valley, the interconnected resorts in Utah.

View the story online:
http://www.aaa-calif.com/westways/0107/features/park.aspx
for archive click here.