For what it's worth, I can not recall a year of my adult life that was more depressing overall, as far as watching the news is concerned, than 2002.

Even the good things that happened had a down side. The SF Giants made it to the World Series, but blew a five-run lead in the sixth game and also gave up a lead in the seventh to lose to the Anaheim Angels. Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize, but America shrugged and turned its attention to the pro-war and anti-environmental policies of George W. Bush.

Even 2001, with the pain and sadness that clouded its final three months, left me thinking that something more positive or profound might grow out of the tragedy of Sept. 11. But that opportunity to really come together as a nation seems to me to have been squandered, and maybe was never really as much of an opportunity as I had once thought.

I heartily recommend that you go see "The Two Towers" even though it's long. Unless you are truly turned off by the fantasy genre. If that's the case, I have no movie going recommendations for you at this time.

Watching football on Sunday afternoons doesn't seem as interesting now that I no longer have to follow the scores to see how my fantasy team is doing (since our season ended last week with someone other than me winning the championship. Again.)

I've started a new feature on my cheap home page. Each week, at a minimum, I plan to scour a few news sources looking for articles that have some bearing on the PoMoXian cultural shifts happening around North American and the rest of the world. Mostly I'm interested in American culture but I'll include stories from other places as well if they strike a chord with me.

Well let me comment on some of these stories, and why I put them on my homepage.

The lead story involves the movement to make Christmas celebrating and gift giving more environmentally conscious, citing a growing interest in ecological issues in different faith communities. Tempering materialistic consumerism in the churches seems like a PoMoXian trend. The recent "What Would Jesus Drive" campaign is mentioned. It could lead to an interesting conflict within the religious/political special interest community, if enough Christians become conscientious enough in this area to begin questioning the unswerving pro-Big Business views of self-appointed and well-financed leaders like Dobson, Falwell, Robertson, and other less-notorious figures.

The survey on religion in the USA yields some interesting results. My overall impression is that self-identified Christians tend to be a little more strongly opinionated in their views than the general public and those with non-Christian religious views. But the contrasts are not extremely dramatic. The biggest gap is between Christians and those who are not religious at all.

The New York Times has an interesting, somewhat unique series on the 10 Commandments. Some articles are more compelling than others.

US News and World Report has a good two-part cover feature on Billy Graham's "family dynasty" and the political clout of evangelicals in the Republican Party. A brief, helpful summary of where this movement is at for the moment.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune ran a short article on how Judaism, Buddhism and Islam understand Jesus.

Finally, from overseas, we read of an art exhibit featuring photographs of Jesus. (Obviously, these are creative, interpretive expressions, not actual snapshots of the Real Historic Jesus.) Some PoMoXian twists: the exhibit was conceived by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, and it supposedly "has nothing to do with religion itself." Rather, it's dealing with the "history of photography, and art history." Heh, nice try. Obviously the guy is trying to dodge some unwanted controversy, or at least not give the zealots any raw meat to seize upon and perhaps physically disrupt or vandalize the exhibit. Personally, I don't see how religion can be avoided in an exhibit that focuses on depictions of Jesus. Maybe he's not trying to make a sectarian point or focus on any particular denomination or theology, but it's inconceivable that he could claim some kind of pure neutrality in putting the collection together. Unfortunately, he may be feeling some pressure to say this because of the heat that the exhibit would draw if it were assumed that this is another one of those "blasphemous art shows" that caused so much hue and cry here in the States over the past several years.

Anyway, I'd love for the collection to come out in book format, or better yet, visit Grand Rapids, after the runs at Paris and Jerusalem are concluded.

I just have some fairly scattered thoughts to record this morning. It seems like everyday some kind of depressing political or social development makes headlines, without all that much happening in a positive direction to balance the overall picture. I have a hard time imagining who might actually believe that things are moving in a positive direction in our nation at this time - regardless of political preferences or affiliations. The economy is crumbling, unemployment is up, deficits are piling up, the war on terrorism is just a colossal downer with very little sense of progress being conveyed. The recent re-emergence of figures like Henry Kissinger, John Poindexter and Elliot Abrams into prominent governmental roles is disturbing - this is the best they could do? It's not obvious enough that they are all tainted by past scandal and that a fresher approach might be desired at this time?

Basically, what I'm saying is that "leadership" in the USA is practically non-existent on the national level as far as I'm concerned. I don't have much confidence that our leaders are acting in the best interest of our people or the future, but are rather working to preserve their own current advantages and if possible enhance them even further. Not that I am particularly looking to the national government to assist me in my own life all that much, but I do believe that the policies that the power brokers are pursuing are destined to make things worse for a lot more people and better for only a relative few. And the biggest problem is that most of us are too busy and preoccupied trying to keep our own small ships afloat to do anything serious that would change the trends of war, exploitation and cynicism that are degrading the quality of life that we experience in the USA.

But at least it's a sunny day here in Michigan, and for December, that's a wonderful thing!