Good Riddance, 2017

Today is the last day of 2017, a year I won't be sorry to see in the rear-view mirror.

I'm generally a pretty cheerful and upbeat fellow, but this was a year that challenged my ability to see the good in people and to make the best of tough times.

This was the year in which I mourned the precipitous decline of the country I proudly served in uniform for 23 years.

It was the year in which it became clear that mass murder - including the slaughter of children - had become an acceptable cost of the freedom to own as many weapons of as many types as one wishes.

It was the year in which my faith in the essential fairness of the justice system and those who administer it was severely shaken.

It was the year in which I watched my government relentlessly and recklessly dismantle consumer and environmental protections in the service of a governing philosophy that honors big business and the wealthy over the interest and welfare of average citizens and prudent preparation for the future.

It was the year in which my opinion of the fairness and goodwill for which Americans have always been known was diminished by the willingness of many of my fellow Americans to not only accept, but to praise and dignify the crude behavior of their elected officials.

I hate to end the year on a downer, but that's how it is ... if I didn't have the love of my family and a core of dedicated friends, I'd have just given up. I hope that the new year will be better than the old, and with the help of family and friends, I'm sure it will be. But a lot of the same political and social misery will still be here, and I fear I'll be writing a similar post a year from now.

If you are going out partying tonight, please be careful ... above all, don't drive if you've been drinking. I need you all to help get me through 2018.

Have a good day and a safe, happy new year celebration. Be sure to check in tomorrow, when we announce the Ass Clown of the Year for 2017 - don't forget to cast those last votes.

Bilbo