Venturing into 2007

Howdy, folks!! Tobias Poindexter here after a very long, long hiatus.

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! This should prove to be an interesting year - with the Dems controlling Congress and the '08 elections a small but noticeable blip on the horizon. (Carolina boy John Edwards has left the Center on Poverty and thrown his big grin into the ring. We'll see...) In Iraq, we clocked the 3000th American military casualty before the big apple (and big Raleigh acorn) dropped. But things could be a-changin' - with Rummy gone and Secretary Gates in, Saddam is out of the picture (save perhaps his martyrdom), and focus is now on sectarian violence (i.e. "civil war" semantics). Too bad there's still the Taliban on the other end of the continent. (Osama Bin who-now?)

Locally, the Duke Lacrosse case is STILL rearing its ugly head. Yesterday, Mike Nifong was sworn is as DA in a "private ceremony," as the State Bar announced it has opened up its own investigation into Mr. Nifong himself. At the start of it all, my mommas were unapologetic Nifong supporters, because they had met him personally, appreciated what he had done thus far for the citizens of Durham, and didn't like the sensational national media (and the Raleigh New and Observer) telling us and our fellow Durhamites that we were putzes. But now is not the time to circle the wagons (lest we trap all that ill blood in). (Duke had a discernible drop in the number of kids who took their Duke acceptances this year, meaning the university didn't get many of their first choice students 'cuz of this thing. The alumni are a-steamin'. Remarkably, per Momma C's Duke Annual Fund Report, Alumni Giving was at an all time high last year. Talk about circlin' the wagons!)
At this point, if one is making the case for "justice," no "justice" can be served (for anyone) with Mr. Nifong still prosecuting the case. If anything (to find the last shred of humor in it...), Nifong's current actions (inaction?) may now prove how he never went after this case for political gain, as had been the cry when the accusations first came up in March/April '06, close to the DA primary. Any true politician would have dropped this case like a hot potato long ago. What a way to muck up your CV for life.

This year, Durham also had the auspicious achievement of lowering its annual murder total from 37 in 2005 to a mere 15 in 2006. (The 15th just happened the last weekend of the year. So really, it's more like 14...). The mayor's "pleased". Too bad non-homicide violent crime is on the rise.

But, as is hopefully apparent to those that read my musings (or those less coherent ramblings of my Momma C), we only make these commentaries because we truly love and care for this city, this nation, and this planet and all of its citizens, two, four, and other-legged.

Perhaps in 2007, I will try to be more upbeat and make sure to also balance my posts with the wonderful and the wondrous in our midst, like the British springer-mix Saffy who saved her people from imminent danger by warning them of a gas leak or the 6-month old puppy, prophetically named Hero, who save his people from fire in Indiana. (Thanks to Joy Ward of Dogster Blog for these!)

Here's to a better, bigger, brighter year!!