Looking forward to 2008? It's only a few hours away at this point. And there's so much to look foward to: more heated politics, new music, recycled movies and TV shows, more strife in the world, rising gas and food prices, and aging.

The upcoming new year promises to be the most politically tumultuous of the 21st Century so far. The only Muslim nuclear power (Pakistan)  has an upcoming election that hopefully will steer that country away from the Al Qaida sympathizers currently populating the administrative and military portions of its government. The leading politician (before her assassination a few days ago) was also the most outspoken against the Al Qaida threat. Assuming Musharraf doesn't cancel the upcoming elections (or Al Qaida doesn't attempt its own coup), Pakistan should have more of a popular mandate to combat the Osamas within its own borders.

The United States is not faced with an impending coup. But like Pakistan, it is faced with one of two drastic political choices. One is to keep battling Al Qaida and maintain the nation's security while trying to contain the impending explosion in federal entitlement spending. The other option is to surrender to Al Qaida and spend the government into oblivion. A Democratic Party victory in November could seed the economic and political destruction of the United States. And the leftists who currently run that party don't seem to know or care. Their policies didn't work before.. and that was before 21st Century economic and security threats reared their ugly heads. And perhaps most odious on the economic front is that the Democrats have no interest in lowering the exorbitant gas prices that are hurting the economy. They oppose further oil drilling within the US, oppose lowering the tariffs on efficient Brazilian sugar cane ethanol, and are subservient to the radical environmental lobby (and its new saint Al "Owl" Gore) while at the same time subsidizing the hell out of less efficient corn ethanol (which also is causing the spike in grocery prices). Of course the Democrats are going to hike taxes on the rich... but I'd hate to see what their new definition for rich is going to be.

The writers strike in Hollywood means that few scripted programs or movies are going to be produced this year. I've been to the movie theater maybe 3 times since 1991. Very few of those movies interest me anymore. And while I will miss "The Simpsons" and the CSI shows, I tend to watch more reality programming- which is not affected by the writers' strike. I look forward to new seasons of "Amazing Race", "Survivor", and the winter edition of "Big Brother". The billionaires and millionaires can keep their dispute going. I earn less in a year than they earn with one script.

The musical scene promises more dance music, more rap and hip hop, and declining fortunes for country and rock. Hip Hop is undergoing its own revolution, with many rappers maturing and promising more positive and less offensive lyrics. But it's too soon to see if the new Master P and the new Chamillionaire can outsell the G Units and the "ho music". Dance music of the techno, house, and Eurodance variety should be making a comeback with the success of "Calabria" and the new radio station WNYZ Pulse 87.7 in New York which is supposed to launch in a week or two.

I can only hope that Hillary Clinton, Eliot "Job Killer" Spitzer, Harry Reid, Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, and Tom Tancredo will be obscure political footnotes after 2008.

Another dark chapter in the history of Major League Baseball got re-hashed this afternoon (12PM MST/2PM EST) when former Senator George Mitchell released his long-awaited report on steroid abuse. Just a few hours before the report came it out, 2 of the abusers' names were released: Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens, who both happen to play for my least favorite team, the NY Yankees. But after browsing the report, that is just the tip of the iceberg.  Numerous current and former players of my favorite team, the NY Mets (such as Paul Lo Duca, Lenny Dykstra, Todd Hundley, Mo Vaughn, David Segui, Josias Manzanillo, Mark Carreon, Matt Franco, Chris Donnels, Todd Pratt, Mike Stanton, and Fernando Vina) were outed as abusers of steroids and/or human growth hormone. Indeed, one of the major sources for the records in this report was former NY Mets trainer and convicted HGH dealer Kirk Radomski. In all, at least 60 cheaters are named in this report. I don't have space here to name all of them. But the cheaters named played in all of the American and National League Clubs, as well as AAA and in Japan. And most of those named in the report played baseball long after anabolic steroids and the  non-prescription use of HGH were outlawed.

As far as I know, the active players named in this report should be suspended.. probably for life.

I should point out that there are a few legitimate uses for human growth hormone. But one needs a legal doctor's diagnosis and evaluation to obtain this drug. Just taking HGH to increase the home run totals is not a legitimate use of the drug. About the only legal dietary aids that can help with that would be creatine, protein powder, pasta, and good old fashioned exercise. I will admit to consuming large amounts of pasta and using approximately 10-15 grams of creatine per day when I was working in the labor-intensive Yard Hydrants division of Woodford Manufacturing. But I never did steroids or  HGH or anything illegal or anything that my doctors told me not to use.

I have a PDF of Mitchell's report on my website (courtesy of the cbsnews.com site that has a free download of the report).

Back on Sunday (December 9), I posted this on my  MySpace blog:

While there were a lot of things I missed about not living in NYC anymore, one of the things I didn't miss (besides having Eliot "Job Killer" Spitzer for a governor) was the relative safety from terrorism here in Colorado Springs. NYC is Al Qaida's number one target. The last time they struck, I was about 5 miles downwind from the towers. One of the priests from my parish at the time (St. Francis of Assisi on W 32nd St) was killed in those attacks. I knew at least 3 people who barely made it out of lower Manhattan alive. Nearly every parish in the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn has a plaque or memorial of one of their parishioners who died that day. No American should have to go through what thousands of New Yorkers had to go through back in 2001. And one would think with President Bush's War on Terror and Al Qaida on the run in Iraq that America is safer now. And certainly, a mid sized city on the edge of the Rocky Mountains that is probably unknown to the head killers at Al Qaida would be safer than NYC, wouldn't it?

Not at all.

Around 1PM MT today, someone decided to shoot up the New Life church, which is about 3 miles from where I'm writing this blog. They got as far as the parking lot, and 4 people (including 2 young girls) were wounded by the gunfire. Now most of the area near Voyager and Interquest is on lockdown. About 13 hours before the New Life shootings, another gunman shot up a Protestant youth missionary site (Youth With A Mission) in Arvada, killing 2 people. It's pretty obvious that the New Life and Arvada shootings are anti-Christian terrorist attacks. It was reported a few minutes ago that Youth With A Mission has a field office at New Life.

No one knows yet if the Colorado church shooters are involved with Al Qaida. It certainly wouldn't be beneath Al Qaida to kill a few Americans at a soft target such as a church- in fact, it might be their Christmas wish for the year. But more likely, these shootings were single or dual party cells, fomented by extreme religious hatred. There are numerous examples of anti-religious bigotry in this country. At least one odious example is a so-called religious group called Westboro Baptist in Topeka, KS. Their hatred includes such infamous websites such as godhatesfags.com, godhatesamerica.com, and godhatessweden.com. But the bigger purveyors of religious hatred in this country are on the American left, aided by the ideology of politicians such as Eliot Spitzer, Hillary Clinton, Sheldon Silver, Air (anti) America, and the liberal Hollywood and atheist movements. In some ways, the anti-religious left has become an Al Qaida-type non-Muslim ideological movement. Al Qaida started out as an anti-Western, anti-Christian political movement (sound familiar?) before they progressed to bombing and killing people. But up until now, the anti-religious leftist movement hasn't driven anyone to kill.
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It turned out there was only one shooter in both Colorado church shootings, a 24 year old named Matthew Murray. The innocent girls were the 2 fatalities in the New Life shootings. The 3 other victims, including the girls' father, are recovering or already out of Penrose Hospital. And I was right on in nailing Murray's anti-Christian viewpoints, although sadly, it may have been someone at YWAM (the first place he shot up) that may have pushed this guy towards his killing spree. I won't apologize for blaming the anti-Christian left... even if someone at YWAM turned him off of Christianity, the anti-religious left was out there promoting the alternative. And despite the wimpy, anti-gun ideology of most leftists, there is some precedent for American leftists packing heat. The radical elements of the left were responsible for bombings and worse in the 1960s under the guise of "ending the Vietnam War". If they had succeeded in ending Vietnam earlier than they did, my parents would have never met and I never would have been born. In this century, the radical animal rights groups such as ALF and ELF are bombing laboratories and burning homes to "save the environment". If they are willing to bomb and burn, what's to stop them from shooting next?

Matt Murray made an obscure Al Qaida pipe dream a sick, deadly reality. Now every church in America has to worry if there are any more like him out there.

Rather than going into a major theological discussion on why one should follow God's word, I figure this old Google blog I posted from Christmas of 2005 should explain the tragedy of what happens when you ignore God in favor of the chemical type of Mammon...

December 25, 2005 (from netscaper113.blogspot.com)

Folks, this is not a Christmas tale for kids..

Santa did not stop by the 61-00 block of Cooper Avenue in Queens last night. Instead, paramedics, firefighters, and police officers from the 104 Precinct huddled around the small white house. They were summoned because of a large man named Kenneth Gromwaldt in the living room. Despite the paramedics' best efforts, Kenneth (or Kenny, as the house knew him) was pronounced dead at 9:30PM. He was 47 years of age.

The police questioned the landlord, Shanik, about the deceased. Shanik remarked that Kenny had a sister named Geraldine from Middle Village. Kenny had a few side jobs moving furniture. He had asthma and a blood clot in one of his legs. He also had a voracious appetite for drugs, including angel dust, heroin, xanax, methadone, and marijuana.

On the preceding night (December 23), Kenny went to his neighbor Dorby's room. Dorby sometimes assisted in Kenny's pharamceutical pursuits. But this time, Kenny downed Dorby's bottle of xanax and her methadone without her consent. She shooed him away, and he passed out on the kitchen table. Hours later, Kenny stumbled from the kitchen to the living room, where he spent the last 21 hours of his life.

Shanik, Dorby, and the other residents of the small white rooming house were in shock when the paramedics announced they could not revive Kenny. Dorby blamed herself for Kenny's death. One of the paramedics gave her Kenny's tiny address book, and she started calling the names listed on the book. One of them, Pete, was Kenny's boss from the moving jobs. He hung up on her when she told him that Kenny was dead. The police never noticed the address book. If they had, they could have gotten the names and phone numbers of at least 4 drug dealers.

So much for a well paying job. So much for 47 years of life. So much for good humor- all gone because of some pills and chemicals. To those who think using and abusing illegal drugs is fun and harmless, go to the morgue or Potters' Field in the Bronx. That's where your harmless fun takes you.

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As far as I know, Geraldine Gromwaldt is still alive and living in Ridgewood, Queens. We briefly worked at the same Senior Center in Ridgewood in March 2007. I think Shanik Khafateh (who coincidentally is the daughter of a famous artist called William Linzee Prescott) still runs the small apartment building next to the house where this Christmas tragedy occurred. I last met up with Dorby and Shanik in May 2007. I can only pray that Dorby has given up drugs for good.