January, 2008

Greetings, dear readers, and Happy New Year to both of you.

Here on the trailing edge, we’re all set to greet the new year in our typical fashion.

A little late and looking backward.

So read on, and, like the man said, try not to take seriously what is poked at you in fun.

In January of 2007, we were worried. If people didn’t accept the reality of Global Warming, we couldn’t begin to reverse the process. Silly us. Virtually everyone agrees that Global Warming is at least partially our fault. Now, we can worry that the world-wide efforts to do something about global warming are being successfully thwarted by US procrastination. Ain’t progress grand?

In February of last year, we were worried. We were afraid the cost of war would exceed our capacity to pay (and pay, and pay, and …). Silly us. Now, we see that if we just collected one dollar from every man, woman, and child on the planet, we could almost pay for the cost of war to the US. Of course, we better get the collection folks on it pretty soon, or we won’t have enough. And we have to figure out how to collect from people who only earn a dollar a week and have five kids under the age of nine. And don’t live in the US, so we’ll have to cover travel and per diem.

In March, 2007, we were hopeful. Spring was just around the corner, to coin a phrase. We hoped the children of incarcerated parents (forget Swift boats and think Swift meat processing) were OK. Silly us.

In April, we were so filled with the spirit of Spring that we didn’t even post a blog. April, April… Wasn’t that when author Ray Bradbury and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane receive special Pulitzer Prize citations, and the White House had a bunch of upbeat press releases, and we thought all was right with the world? According to Greenpeace, on the other hand, “Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world as a result of global warming.” Silly, silly us.

In May of 2007, we were still slacking. Not for nothing have we named ourselves The Trailing Edge…Actually, we were working hard on our organic garden – planting them seeds and setting them pots on the enclosed back porch. We felt so righteous, planting organic seeds, one packet of which costs more than that half the starving world makes in a day… “When will they ever learn?” to coin another phrase.

In June, Post that blog! Lift that bale! Get a little drunk and…
At the Trailing Edge, we were nothing if not self-righteous.
Fortunately, we have never landed in jail…
We do suffer mightily from mixed metaphor syndrome, however.
So cut us a little slack.
Very little.

In July of 2007, everything was coming up roses, organic vegetables, and bio-identical weeds. We Trailers were so busy harvesting and weeding that we rested on our bloggy laurels. Meanwhile, back in the world, car bombs exploded, cocaine was confiscated, President Bush commuted Scooter Libby’s sentence. And that was just in the first few days. How is a person expected to keep track? I ask you. Both.

In August and September, it was too warm and pleasant to do a blog. We went fishing. And procrastinated. Actually (our new favorite word), we caught one fish. But it got away.
That’s OK. Nobody else believed us either.

In October 2007, we awoke to the fact that the US national health situation is in critical need of repair. Especially for our children. Others had awoken to that fact several decades earlier, but – once again – we remind you two that this is the Trailing Edge. Do try to keep up. On this site it really isn’t that difficult.

November and December were, once again, months for slacking. We will try to do better in the coming year, but you know how it is…
Actually, the last months of 2007 were very interesting. In the US, it’s clear to one an all that change is necessary. Candidate Obama has said so. And it’s clear that women have a role in politics. Candidates Clinton and Bhut.. Pardon us. Candidate Clinton says so.
Oops. We’re slipping over into 2008, and that’s not calendrically correct.

Perhaps we can be forgiven for looking forward, just a bit. After all, we will turn 65 this year, so looking forward has a short half-life.

For 2008, here are our predictions – trailing behind the others as befits our station in cyberspace:

· President (George W.) Bush will leave office having bested President (Bill) Clinton in every way:
o Impact on the national debt – greater (especially if you sum the absolute value of Pres. Clinton’s positive impact and Pres. Bush’s negative one)
o Embarrassment of spouse – greater (admittedly, for different reasons)
o Foreign affairs – far different (get your minds out of the gutter)
o Impact on world peace – far greater (wandering into another gutter?)
· The US presidential campaigns will reassure citizens of the world (just kidding)
· Citizens of the world will move on to more important topics (still kidding)
· Global warming will become a thing of the past
· The Trailing Edge will be revamped, revitalized, and renovated

The likelihood of the last several predictions actually happening are somewhat diminished by reality. Hopefully, dear readers, you are not.