The End of a Crappy Decade

The end is near. Those were the words spoken from more than a few nutballs at this time of the year 10 years ago. We were collectively all aflutter about the Y2K bug, the Internet might go kaput, chaos was bound ensue, some of us were about to party like it was 1999.

And then again some of us were stuck in the suburbs of Montreal because of the weather, some of us watched Celine Dion sing us into the new millennium, some of us hoped the end was indeed near. But we won't speak of any of that again. Le sigh.

The Internet survived, the Y2K bug was a huge bust, the Clinton years ended, the party was over. I blame Monica Lewinsky, she was a GOP operative, I know it. George Dubya Bush stole an election, that was how it began, that was the beginning of all that would suck about this last decade. OK so I blame Bush and Lewinsky. Wait, wait then 911 happened, I blame Bin Laden for this most shitty decade. Then the wars began. Colon Powell lived up to his first name and stuck a pole up the ass of the UN and rest of us with is magical made-up 'evidence' of weapons of mass destruction.

Wars, wars and more wars. Bush became known as a War President (thank God he had lots of practice with his G.I. Joes, GO JOE!). Bin Laden's infamy faded. Iraq was quickly squashed, Saddam was hung, Mission Accomplished... ha, ya, right. Genocides in Africa, no one paid any attention. Iraq quagmired, giggidy, giggidy. The International Community, mainly Canada, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands battled on in Afghanistan, it quickly became America's second war, Iraq dominated the headlines, it emptied the American treasury. The weapons of mass destruction were never found, there were no ties to Bin Laden or Al Qaeda (well duh!), but Saddam was still a bad dude, America because of its moral authority had every right to force a regime change (right, right? Ummm...?).

Oh and then there was the spending like drunken sailors thing. It started with the folks in the White House, it spread to the banking industry. Everyone could get a loan. Credit boomed, then burst! The global economy was in shock. America's economy went down the toilet, we the rest of the planet acted as best we could as toilet paper (flush!).

Hope and change that was what the new and improved President promised. I believed him, I swallowed his Kool-Aid. He is just so damned charming. He packaged himself so well. He looked to be just what the world needed; smart, charming, black... how could he fail? Has he? Is it too early to tell? I dunno. He is a big step up from his predecessor, but how couldn't he be? Bush lowered the bar.

Are things gonna get better? I think they will. Hell they have gotta. After an ebb, the inevitable flow occurs, thats how it works. So good luck dear readers. Happy New Year, bon decade. Things are about change for the better, I promise. Santé!