2008 - Could it be Great?

Today is the anniversary of the famous Battle of New Orleans, which was fought AFTER the war had been ended, too bad those guys didn't know yet. The tune (titled The Eighth of January) was written back in those days and the words to the Johnny Horton song came much later. I tend to remember this war as the one when we (Canadians) burned down Washington D.C. Unfortunately they rebuilt it.

As usual, after Christmas, under cover of winter,another year sneaks up to the plate. The older I get, the shorter they seem and the greater becomes the total of years with which I am familiar. I'm sure 2008 will be a particularly good year for some folks. Those enjoying sweet good love or those making real progress with their careers. For the world in general, it's difficult to be so optimistic. Those who get bombed, blown up or other wise become the victim of war, tyranny and terrorism (and greed), undoubtedly won't have such a great year.

So what might happen this year?

It will be Gee Dubya's last year in charge, barring WWIII and a declaration by Bu$h-Cheney that they must rule for life, to protect us, of course.

Maybe there will be a trial involving the sale of BC Rail, and then again, maybe not. Perhaps Dave Basi will become the new leader of the BC Liberal Party.

Maybe the Canucks will win the Stanley Cup this spring, then again, maybe not.

Maybe Stephen Harper will win his coveted Majority Government. If so, it was nice knowing you Canada, and how many states do we get to be?

Gordon Campbell may utter a true statement and fall over paralyzed, then again, maybe not. His brother Michael hearing the news will go through a whole economic update on GlowBall Tee Vee with his jaw frozen open and stunned into silence.

Canned Waste Paper Producer Can/West might actually report on a news story, then again, probably not, unless it is sensational and/or entertainment oriented.

Maybe Brian Mulroney will write a check for 2.1 million dollars and issue an apology to the Canadian People, then again, probably not.

Perhaps the current re-adjustment or small bubble correction in the US economy will begin to make people nostalgic for the 1930s, especially combined with an attack on Iran or Pakistani implosion and $2-300 a barrel oil. The Straits of Hormuz could be the Tonkin Gulf of the New American Century.

Perhaps I'm just being pessimistic and the seeds for success planted by the Bu$h Administration will germinate and the world will break out in Peace and Prosperity.

Wal-mart will encourage its employees to join the Teamsters, so the family doesn't get swamped in the profits.

Having covered all my bases, I'll take this opportunity to wish you all-

 

Happy New Year!

 

One thing I do intend to start using this year is the so far blank "Books" section. I intend to put up books that I like, liked or otherwise recommend. I may or may not say much (or anything) about the book in question. I will start with what is definitely one of the most important books of last year The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, one of Canada's own.

 

Another Year-End type of Activity:

This website/blog started back in 2002 as rkewen.com, which was kindly hosted at that time by Tom Clegg. My son Trev had kindly made me a gift of the domain. I started tracking stats/visitors with my own PHP scripts in the Spring of 2003. There was an interruption of the stat collecting when I let the rkewen domain go and moved to the space on my ISP. It took awhile to get the scripts working again as I didn't have access to a version of PHP from this millenium at my new location. As the following chart shows the trend has been generally toward more traffic. Generally the more I update the content here, the more traffic seems to come. I can't explain this recent November however, perhaps when I've looked at more of the information it will make more sense why the visits for November 2007 went literally "off the chart." I haven't posted here since last October.

There is a lot of interesting information among that which I collect, like countries and states where visitors originate as well as the outsourced surveillance firm that didn't seem to have the smarts to follow my move when I changed servers. They appeared, combing through my site once each month, after I had written a non congratulatory letter to The First Fool. Now my feelings are hurt because apparently I'm not important enough to monitor anymore. I keep meaning to send them an e-mail complaining about the lack of attention.

Each year the monthly average of visitors has increased as follows.

2003- 305.13
2004- 330.17
2005- 430.80
2006- 1072.36
2007- 2138.50