Getting Back in the Flow

Seems I've missed out on a year of news stories. And being as this is the last month of the year and the time when all the "Top Things of 2012" come out including "Top News Stories of 2012," etc., it's time to recap all the stories in order of what I think are the top news stories, as well as questions I ask that show how uninformed I am, but may be on the minds of the typical American/ fantasy sports blogger.




Greece on brink of financial meltdown: My question is, how did Greece get this way? And why is it Greece? Not like Germany, with a history of economic stagflation and catastrophic events? Or Russia, with its transition from a socialist to capitalistic society? No, Greece.....a country known more for its rich history and mythological gods and creatures. Not even sure who the president/leader of Greece is, but certainly whoever it is hasn't done enough to be famous as the butt of jokes for all international economic study. What's going on, Greece?

Hacktivists: Don't these people have anything else to do with their lives? Like getting a real job? I am not a fan of the fact that these hackers are considered "cool" or "hipster."

Hurricane Sandy: That's tough. Just saw "Twister"  and realize the extent of damage storms can cause. Different storm, but that must have been an unbearable week. I've so far dodged all weather-related catastrohies in the U.S. for the last 20 years........can I keep dodging these bullets?

Batman shooting: Every year there's random acts of violence like this: See school shootings, Gabrielle Giffords shooting in Arizona, this. Makes me wonder about gun control, especially deadly assault weapons. He wouldn't have killed 12 people and wounded 58 others if he just had a pistol. Also, I know the pool of U.S. citizens is huge, but is there any way to monitor and control the crazies. Probably futile, but we're all at risk because of a few of these people.

Jerry Sandusky: This year's Casey Anthony trial, except a lot more insidious. My prediction that more child molestation stories would come out came true, but on a much lower scale (fortunately). Sandusky was the head of the beast, and it was ugly. May that stuff never happen again.

U.S. Presidential Election: 
One where the media probably made the election closer than it seemed. According the media, the race was down to the wire. According to the media, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and any number of swing states were in play. According to the media, election night was supposed to be tense, and may not have been decided for many weeks. And then election night came......much like a heavily hyped Sunday Night Football game, the election got one-sided really quickly and suddenly, Ohio was projected for Obama, Pennsylvania was projected for Obama, and then about an hour and a half into the election coverage, Obama was projected to be the winner. As I expected all along. Like a lot of commentators stated, the bottom line is, the incumbent has an advantage, especially one as charismatic and sophisticated (at the same time! Wow!) as Obama, who's one of the country's biggest celebrities at this point, and his exquisite handling of foreign policy was sufficient to overcome the problems with economic deficiencies (rightly or wrongly attributed to the President). O and Mitt Romney was just not strong enough of a candidate.

What's actually more important are the local elections, actually. Your vote actually matters (especially for people in California, let's say) and they much more directly affect you. As a guy who has never voted before, I resolve to vote in the next election (no matter where I am) if only for the local (and state) politics.