The tradition of using a baby to signify the New Year was started around 600 B.C by the ancient Greeks, who, at the start of a year would carry a baby around in a basket. The purpose of it was to honor Dionysus, the God of Fertility and symbolize his annual rebirth.

Fearless 2010 predictions:

1. Everything will stay the same for 2010… bad economy, bad employment listings, bad News, bad T.V… you name it, it will be just like it was in 2009.

That’s it folks… thank-you for coming… be sure and tip your waiter.

There are some good things… We have our health, our families, our friends… and all of that far out weighs the crapola that we will see, hear and feel in 2010.

In many ways I am glad to see 2009 slide into the rear view mirror. So much happened that wasn’t pleasant for many folks. Maybe the new year is just the right time to start thinking about things getting better. So maybe a New Years wish should be in order…

Edith Lovejoy Pierce
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called “Opportunity” and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.

Sydney Smith
Resolve to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment.

Aisha Elderwyn
Every new year people make resolutions to change aspects of themselves they believe are negative. A majority of people revert back to how they were before and feel like failures. This year I challenge you to a new resolution. I challenge you to just be yourself.

T. S. Eliot
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.

Benjamin Franklin
Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man.

Vern McLellan
What the New Year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the New Year.

Michael Altshuler
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.

Albert Einstein
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

Edward Payson Powell
The old year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The new year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!

Hal Borland
Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.

John Selden
Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it’s twice as onerous a duty.

Ogden Nash
Every New Year is the direct descendant, isn’t it, of a long line of proven criminals?

William Thomas
It wouldn’t be New Year’s if I didn’t have regrets.

and probably my favorite…

Anonymous
Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits.

May 2010 see you happy, healthy and harmonious…

Until next time…

It was the first petroleum-powered vehicle and it was essentially a motorized bicycle. Built in 1885, it was a novel idea in Germany, and I guess you could say it was the founding father of todays BMW motorcycle.

“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”  You know, maybe Howard Beale (Peter Finch) had it right when he galvanised a nation in the movie “Network”.  I am, as of right now, going to scream the same thing from the top of my lungs… and if you open a window, you may just hear my scream.

Wanna hear the story?  Sweet…

So, I’m in a Chain / Cheap / Chintz store… (3 C’s for savings… what BULLS%!*). It’s Christmas / Hanukkah / Kwanzaa… whatever… As I’m paying for my cheap stuff, I try and be nice to the clerk who is obviously underpaid / overworked / bored to death… In my best (get me the hell outta here) voice, I say, “Merry Christmas to ya!”… The icy stare would have frozen boiling water. “It’s not PC to say that you know. It’s Happy Holidays. Some people don’t celebrate Christmas!”

Ohhhhh Kaaaayyyy! Being rebuffed, I skate out the door.

I won’t dwell on that too much. After all, only two more stops… the next stop is a local big box store. I find my items, proceed to the checkout and pay for my goods. With the rebuff still ringing in my ears, I quietly tell the service cashier “Happy Holidays” in my most cheerful voice. Was I ever surprised when I got the “Yeah… Happy Hanukkah!” Now, as I oil my way towards the door, I’m thinkin’ “What the…???”

OK. So Happy Holidays is OK for some folks. Those of a different religious persuasion may need a different greeting as Happy Holidays may not be readily accepted. So, with that in mind, and I mull over this chain of events carefully, I work my way towards my specialty shop where I hope to get some of the best tastin’ Bar-B-Que ribs this side of the Mississippi. Well… at least, in my humble opinion, they are the best.

Pop into the store… I know right where to go… Grab up a small handful of basted and broiled greatness and press towards the checkout. Armed with what I have learned recently, I offer up the following liturgy; “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or Happy Hanukkah!” (I was almost ready to add an addendum of “or whatever floats your boat… but hey, this is Christmas). I am almost out the door, when the absolutely stunning female checker says in a very light accent “Happy Kwanza to your family as well!”

That did it… It put me over the top… I get to the car and unceremoniously heave my ill gotten gains thru the window of my car. I plant myself heavily and angrily into the drivers seat and POUND ON THE STEERING WHEEL. Political Correctness has gone too damned far. I am sick and tired of all this PC this and PC that.  Screw it…  Maybe I  should no longer wish anyone a Merry / Happy anything. I am just going to say, “Have a nice day!”

To which I will probably get some pimply faced response of, “No, it’s have a nice life!”

So here it is folks… My not so PC wish to you and yours.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a safe and sane New Year. May Santa bring you all the things you want and may 2010 be a prosperous New Year. Please… be kind to each other. Respect and cherish your elders, for they have been through more years of torment than you have up to this point. Remember in your offerings the men and women of our armed forces for they stand in the door to protect you as you sleep at night. I hope that each and every blessing that you offer comes back to you in many a different way.

At my Christmas dinner, I will raise a glass to you…  my friends…  and toast… “To absent companions…”

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Until next year…

In fact, CSN&Y had played only one previous show together prior to Woodstock. Even though each member was an experienced musician, the lack of playing together resulted in the band being incredibly nervous. The set included acoustic performances of songs from the first album released without Young, who came out and played as a duo with Stills. They were announced as their former band Buffalo Springfield, although the actual Buffalo Springfield had since disintegrated.

Also in 1969, the well known and beloved comedian Red Skelton (who can forget ‘Freddie the Freeloader’ or ‘Clem Kadiddlehopper’) lamented on his weekly television show that the Pledge of Allegiance might someday be considered a “prayer” and eliminated from public schools. Given the recent appeals court ruling that teacher-led recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional, Red Skelton’s words now strike many as remarkably prescient (and perhaps more prophetic than even he imagined).

This is not me talking… This is a comedian who had so much love for his country that he told the world exactly what the Pledge of Allegiance meant. He shared his experience as a boy in school and the musings of a teacher that helped him understand exactly what the pledge means. And all of this happened on the 14th of January, 1969.

Ladies and Gentlemen… Mr. Red Skelton…

The Pledge of Allegiance.

Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country, and two words have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance: “under God.” Wouldn’t it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer, and that would be eliminated from schools too?

It means even more today than it did in 1969…

Until next week…