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THE YEAR IN POLITICS
By Robert E. Martin
Let the consciousness stream as we flashback on 2005. 27 years of
publishing and one page is sum up the year. Bombs fly in Baghdad while gas
profits of the '7-sisters' soar. $150 million a day and $2.40 a gallon for
a tank of gas. Bombs and censorship in my living room, courtesy of FoxNews.
Changing city managers like a pair of socks. Congress wielding the
pruner's blade to the state budget. Recession. The Homeless. Delphi going
broke while foreign divisions soar. Clinging to what optimism remains,
hanging on to a dream. Obscenity. New Restrictions on Expression, New
Supreme Court Justices, The Rolling Stones on tour in this sixties,
national mindset holding on as the ship-of-state flounders into the eye of
the hurricane. 51 documents on the JFK assassination still locked until
2038 on grounds of national security. McDonnell Douglas loses millions for
a decade but the government continues to guarantee maintenance of the
family mansions. Trickle-down economics dries up. The Middle Class
develops deep fissures. Birth of a Third World Workforce amidst the
marriage of real estate and banking. Listen to the Music. Karaoke is King.
Looking for a thousand points of light while seeking Freedom of
Information. Where is recycling in Saginaw? The Schuch Hotel re-opens. Bay
City continues to prove they're a city that works. Back to the New World
Order. Neo-Nazis. The War on Drugs and the Algebra of Need. Zapata Oil and
First America - the cleanest launderers of cocaine currency in the world.
Moral Hypocrisy. A Nation of Jailers (as the late great Hunter Thompson
would say). The Dow Event Center rekindles downtown Saginaw. After Hours.
Infotainment. Amusepapers. Times-Warner and the Japanese. The battle
between the DEQ and Mike Goschka. Potential privatization of state parks.
Consulting Firms and bribery. Sex and violent classes use the airwaves to
communicate to the masses. Now our children grow up prisoners, all their
lives MTV listeners. The Cold War Comes Home. $12 million wing nuts, $1
billion secret Pentagon Black Budgets. Easy to build prisons that are hard
to maintain. Parental Consent. The Patriot Act. Legalized seizure absent
probable cause. GA cutoffs to the mentally impaired and disabled.
Insurance ripoffs and a placid legislature. The Democratic Challenge.
Madonna falls off her horse and lands back on the dance floor. Finding a
way to tap through public apathy and harness collective outrage into
positive coalitions. Aggregate. 27 years of publishing and one page to sum
up a year
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