There is, often, a great solitude in writing this blog. And it’s pleasant and comforting; troubling and perplexing.

Let me explain:  Troubling and perplexing in the way the internet has replaced the mainstream, drive-by press. It troubles me that they don’t see anything much more than the ‘Dead Baby Story’ or three solid weeks on what Michael Jackson might have ingested to send him off, thankfully, to permanent Neverland.

But it is, indeed, comforting and satisfying having done this now for almost two months, that there are so many of you that enjoy reading my scribbles. For this, I continue to remain most grateful and encourage you to provide me with as much feedback as possible.  None of us are perfect. I will always strive to do better.

If a review of your comments to me matters, both as part of stories I’ve written or in private exchanges we have had, above all, you are pleased with my opinions being front and center, without waffling, and that when I have erred, and there are certainly those moments, I will not hesitate to print a retraction or say that I was wrong.  Nothing will change in the new year, you can take heart.  I just think that when over a quarter million visitors populate a blog in two months, the responsibility is the to the owner (in this case me) to provide for a fair playing field and a reasonable exchange of ideas.  As you know, I started in this business with only a couple of hundred readers and that turned into a weblist of almost 73,000.  That in turn has readers from Canada, the USA, the Netherlands, China, Russia, the United Kingdom all coming back here every week for more thoughts from my perch.  I’m humbled and appreciative, believe me.

So…back to business. I keep a Moleskin of ideas and stories with me at all times.  Over the last year I have compiled many lists.  Below, you will find MY list of top stories.  You may add if you wish.  My lists are hardly exhaustive, there are some that might be more relevant to you, but these are the stories that rose, above most others, for me.

TOP 3 WORLD STORIES OF 2009

(1) CLIMATE CHANGE CALAMITY: Nothing could have been bigger this year than the revelations showing clear patterns of lying, deceit and cover-up at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (CRU). The lame-stream media didn’t bother to admit to this until the Al Gore interviews started and further cover-ups were exposed. The whole affair, still bubbling, cast a great pall over the Copenhagen Conference and along with China’s reticence and President Obama’s lather, turned the entire two-week caucusing of the world’s greatest hypocrites, into one magnificent theatre of the absurd. And with further evidence of a cooling trend, the apostles of alarmism are now wondering if more time will possibly legitimize their theocracy. Don’t hold your breath.

(2) THE DECLINE IN THE AIDS RATE: All I can say here is “Hooray!”  Even though the gay community and IV drug users are still the majority of those suffering, behaviors are changing, enough certainly that we can celebrate some small win.  Now to make this whole pandemic go away. For good.  Here’s to hoping and getting it done.

(3) H1N1: CATASTROPHE IN A TEACUP: I got the shot, only because I couldn’t forgive myself if I had caught it, given it to my family or friends. But you could see the panic was more manufactured by the media than anything else. There were tragic losses, yes, but as many deaths can be attributed to the same influenza circulating from year to year.

TOP 5 AMERICAN STORIES OF 2009

(1) BARACK OBAMA’S NOBEL PRIZE: This is further proof that the Nobel Society has become an activist group with tentacles deep within the far-left of the world’s green robber barons. It wasn’t by accident that this happened right prior to Copenhagen. In what can only be described as an embarrassment, St. Barry of Obama (his approval ratings have now plummeted below 50%) stood amid the world’s elitists and monarch free-loaders and accepted, with a speech absent of his signature, soaring oratory. Perhaps he has a conscience after all.  Oh my God, what the hell did I just write….?!

(2) SARAH PALIN: JUST WHO’S SHE NAILIN’ NOW?: Sorry, I couldn’t resist…but the woman who cost John McCain the presidency, is back and full of fire and brimstone and taking on everyone from the media (who did treat here a little unfairly, I will grant) to The President to Republican party critics of her foibles and failures.  Five and a half weeks out, Senator McCain was ahead by seven points and the Obama campaign was grasping for straws.  St. Barry himself was floundering.  Then, the Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric interviews, and it was all over. Sweet Sister Sarah had blown it and it was never coming back. And she’s still underwhelming.  In a recent interview in friendly territory, with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, she had this to offer after Mr. O’Reilly hit her with a fast ball about her ability to govern the cradle of the free world.  ”I believe that I have the ability and common sense to do it (be President) and I believe I’ve got the common sense, you know, and values, to, ah…I believe I’ve got the values reflected on (sic) so many others’ values (sic) and that I don’t have that, uh, spinlessness thing of some kinda, you know, (sic) Ivy League education…”  And then this nugget, “I wasn’t running for President, ya know” Let’s just stop there. She still doesn’t get it. Sarah Palin is a very sexy, moderately intelligent, somewhat informed, deeply conservative, barely articulate woman, and that’s where it ends. She is woefully unprepared to be President of the United States of America. She’d be the first person ever elected President who spoke English as a second language.

(3) TIGER DEEP IN THE WOODS: No athlete in the history of sports, in the elite class or otherwise, has ever had such a spectacular life meltdown. And I must tell you, completely self-induced, too. I just don’t know how he comes back from this. No matter what he does, for me, he’ll never be the great guy, the role model, for so many young kids that had his picture pinned to their walls.  Tiger Woods committed a fraud greater than anything Bernie Madoff could have accomplished or even dreamt of…Madoff, made-off, with billions of dollars, Woods made-off with billions of dreams. Shame. There is no purgatory hellish enough for such a crime.

(4) DRUGS, THE COMMON DENOMINATOR: What do Andre Agassi, Alex Rodriguez, Michael Phelps and Tiger Woods have in common?  For each of their admitted failures, the crutch, the whipping post, the scapegoat was, respectively, crystal meth, steroids, marijuana and Ambien with Red Bull, cappuccino-vodka (yuk!) cocktail chasers.  Pathetic. Where are Willie Mays, Rocky Marciano and Bill Russell??  Gone.  Replaced by androids; sports entertainers.  The liars and cheats club.

(5) THE DEATH OF MICHAEL JACKSON: No need to belabor this:  The single greatest shameful act of media treason was the posthumous apotheosis of Michael Jackson. He was a great singer, no..not really, Tony Bennett is, Frank Sinatra, yes, Eddie Vedder, Steve Perry, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, yes, yes, yes and yes. Whacko Jacko was a great dancer, no…Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly were. As was Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis. Simply put, Michael Jackson was a sick, demented pedophile who used his money to escape prosecution from the despicable crimes he committed against children. Good riddance.

TOP 5 CANADIAN STORIES

(1) COALITION DERISION: Few times in the great history of this land has there been a more breathtaking fraud attempted by any political party (or in this case parties, plural…). But the Bloc, the NDP and, of course, the Liberals could have easily overturned then fresh election results to prop up as Prime Minister, a man who was so thoroughly rejected (if it wasn’t for the leadership and integrity of Governor-General Michaelle Jean).  The NDP led in cutting a deal with separatist vermin.  Think about this:  To get their greedy hands on the controls, Jack Layton and the NDP, bolstered by the forever corrupt and morally bankrupt Liberals, cut a deal with the very people in this country whose sole purpose it is to divide us; then destroy us.  Still, to this day, unbelievable.

(2) ECONOMY? WHAT ECONOMY?: This is a lesson lost on my old pal Colin Hansen, sadly, but Jim Flaherty is a Finance Minister in the same great mold as Michael Wilson, Don Mazankowski, and Paul Martin:  He tells you the plan, lays out the contingencies and offers a back-up, just in case. In B. C. we wait for Gordon Campbell to burp.  Think whatever you want of the Tories, their plan, is our plan. We are infinitely better off with them at the economic levers of this country. But 2010, particularly in B.C. will not be easy.  When the off-shore mainland Chinese money driving the real estate market (our only real profit center left) either dries up or they finally hit the breaks, they won’t be able to hold on to (multi) million dollar homes and they’ll begin to dump. Do not listen to realtors (okay, most realtors, there are exceptions). You might as well talk to a hooker. There is a massive correction coming. Save your money. And follow me in!  I’ll let you know when, worry not.

(3) AFGHANISTAN PRISONER “ABUSE”: So, let me give this to you once more: A former diplomat, with a well-known penchant for the dramatic, has suggested there were signs that people who were trying to kill us, MIGHT have been beaten while in the custody of Afghan forces–AFTER we turned them over.  Let me tell you, I don’t care, and neither should you. Men who are raised to beat women, torture children, and hate; hate with a passion so deep that they would use your children as target practice–and make you watch, are not any whom I would weep for or care about.  Beat them?  With happiness and without mercy. But, of course, the bleeding hearts are running around citing the Geneva Conventions and making human rights demands because it wasn’t their daughters whose genitals were mutilated or their wives who were stoned to death for encouraging, Heaven forbid, education or social justice. What’s sick about this whole affair is the number of willful dupes languishing in newsroom chairs and living rooms across Canada. Your weeping for a terrorist. Please wake up.

(4) LIBERALS IN FREE FALL: Like the dysfunctional family that finally has one member tell the public what’s really been happening for all the time they’ve been putting on a great face, the election of Stephane the Dunce set off the battle royal that simmered under Messers, Chretien and Martin, but has now hit critical mass. At the end of last year, the Canadian electorate rejected an egotistical, out-of-touch, elitist professor. So what did they replace him with? You guessed it, an egotistical, out-of-touch, elitist professor. And now that it’s occurred to them that this might not work, they’re going to skip over Ontario’s favorite mistake and anoint a 38-year old space cadet, whose father almost destroyed this country. Other than being a member of the ‘Lucky Sperm Club’ young Justin will demolish anything the Liberals have tried to piece together in the last years. He’s Belinda Stronach, with, presumably, a larger penis. Perhaps.

5) THE RAPIDLY VANISHING RESPECT FOR THE RCMP: This is another crisis on the country’s map.  There is no way for their tarnished badges to polish up again, without broad sweeping changes at the administrative and executive levels. They need to clean house. Otherwise, they are badly divided between reformers and the old boys, who apparently don’t care what this might do to Canadian society.

TOP 5 B.C. STORIES

(1) BASI-VIRK: The never-ending trial may finally get to the heart of the matter in the first month of 2010. One can only hope. I cannot help but connect the political dots and arrive at the conclusion that the Premier of this province has some very pertinent questions to answer about the many issues that have come out of pre-trial wrangling between the prosecution and defense. And that many previously active political organizers and some (former) politicians may feel like their world will be confined to a blasting sauna, with the dial at ‘max’.  I predict it will all get going and get hotter, fast. Because if it doesn’t, the pressure for a public inquiry will be so great, ignoring such a (fair) demand by the Liberals will make the next election the NDP’s to lose. In which case, God help us.

2) THE RETURN OF CAROLE TAYLOR AND EMERGENCE OF DIANNE WATTS: If the Premier leaves early enough (read: right after the Olympics) and Gordie Hogg and Colin Hansen (two of the nicest men in political life) retire, it creates the perfect storm:  Kevin Falcon resigns and runs in White Rock, Dianne Watts in Cloverdale, and Taylor in the Premier’s old Point Grey constituency (for now). Colin Hansen should go early because his name is so utterly damaged by being Gordon Campbell’s propaganda minister that he couldn’t possibly be considered a serious provincial minister anymore, and thus, a major liability. Though, he could go off and run in Vancouver-Quadra for the Grits, eliminating the forever useless Joyce Murray.  Carole Taylor and Dianne Watts together, would ensure at least ten to fifteen years of principled, reasonable government. And we would avoid the debacle of an NDP government.

3) MARC EMERY GOES TO PRISON: Lord, how I love the sound of that. Think of the amount of seeds this ass sold to people, that then ended up in the hands of kids, who are now walking around like zombies.  This ain’t the grass grandpa smoked at Haight and Ashbury in ’66. Have you ever had a good look at Emery? The skin, the eyes, the coughing and hacking, the shaking….  Yup, marijuana is harmless, sure is…  With any luck, he’s rooming with a lifer from down-home Alabama, who’s been missing his girlfriend for the last twenty years.

(4) RE-ELECTION OF GORDON CAMPBELL: The most undeserving and unquestinably the worst Premier in the history of this Province. A disaster of a public servant: cynical, arrogant, mean-spirited, reckless and ruthless…I could go on.  He is delivering the Olympics on the backs of the weakest and most needy in society. He needs to be gone. The sooner the better.

(5) THE BRAIDWOOD INQUIRY: I pray that His Honour, who was a storied lawyer and well-respected jurist, will make sweeping recommendations that will set forth a process which will clean up the RCMP. Robert Dziekanski’s death was manslaughter, quite clearly. Did they mean it?  Of course not. But it was manslaughter just the same.  Shame.

And there is only ONE story of any real relevance municipally, and it’s in Vancouver.  Gregor Robertson is surrounded by green profiteers who have launched companies that stand to collect handsomely as a result of many of Jolly Green Gregor’s initiatives. After a failed year, where the evidence is clear, the Vision Vancouver experiment is run by some extremely nasty characters: Think of Andrea Reimer’s comments about Rich Coleman’s girth; think about Kerry Jang and Raymond Louie shamefully pummeling Parks Comm. Stuart Mackinnon or Geoff Meggs being, well, Geoff Meggs. There is already a full clip of ammo for a true centrist party to use in 2011. But the big question is how much more arrogant can Mayor Robertson and Vision grow?  Let’s see how they fare. Currenly, I’m following some very interesting stories about Vision. There may be an exclusive or two, as well. It’s starting to crumble for them, so look for the desperation play, the deflection, the nastiness, the threats.  Bring it on…

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Okay, so it’s a few hours until the ball drops and then it’s a new decade.  Live your lives in peace; love like there will be no tomorrow, and laugh with the abandon of a child. It can be a nasty world out there my friends, but for tonight, try and forget about it. Don’t worry about next year. At least not for tonight. I will, of course, take my annual walk to the water, light a Romeo y Julieta Churchill (in honour of Sir Winston) and….as one of my best friends, currently serving in a British uniform on the plains of hell likes to say, “I can almost see the thoughts, ideas, schemes..all percolating in that watermelon-sized head of yours… when you’re with your bloody cigars..it is amusing, and annoying. Do you ever stop to rest your mind?”

No…

Because I’m always watching.  I’m looking forward to this year. We all should.

A very Happy New Year to you and your loved ones and may 2010 be one filled with health, happiness, love and laughter.  And please pray for our men and women fighting for freedom and justice in Afghanistan. You do not have to agree with the war. But they represent all of us. I will have some thoughts on our losses of yesterday in a couple of days. In the interim, pray for them. Please.

May your hearts fill with hope.

God bless you and your families.

Thank you for being here.