We spent Christmas with relatives in Muncie, IN, my wife’s hometown. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing friends and family.

My mother-in-law’s house had no internet, though, and a flu bug kept me confined to the couch (with no remote!) for much of the trip, so I didn’t get much writing (or anything else) done.

Nevertheless, I was able to watch a lot of CNN. Here are some thoughts I had on some of the events that came to pass:

• James Brown, RIP - So long, Soul Brother Number One! We’ll miss you.
• Gerald R. Ford, RIP - History will be kind to you, Gerry, and rightly so. Everyone wanted to ask you about the Nixon Pardon, but personally, I’m curious if you regretted furthering the careers of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.
• Tiawanese Earthquake & Tsunami - It was nothing like the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, but no one knew that at the time. I can only imagine how terrifying that must have been to feel the ground shake while remembering what happened two years ago. These people still need your help, BTW.
• Saddam Hussein, RIP - Like with Pinochet, I’m afraid I have no tears for you. But you were a human being and, as such, deserved a little more dignity than this. Personally, I would have liked to see a trial for the Al-Anfal Kurdish Massacre in which witnesses like Bush 41, Cheney and Rumsfeld should have been called to explain our actions.
• 3,000 Soldiers, RIP - I make a point to read the names aloud, whenever I come across them in the paper. So many, so young and so sad to think of the fathers, mothers, sons and daughters that have their worst fears realized. Especially when I hear people comparing to previous wars, and saying that it “isn’t so bad.” It is both fallacious and heartless.

Despite being a downer week for news, though, I am hopeful for 2007. I’m looking forward to the 100 days between January 4th and the State of the Union, and the changes that our new Congress will bring. I’m excited that bloggers are taking the lead in the information revolution. And Battlestar Galactica comes back on in two weeks, when I’ll be on my own couch – and with a remote!