My goodness here it is 2012, the year the latest bunch of doomsayers say we will all perish on the next winter solstice. Like all of the previous predictors of the end of the world, they will most likely be wrong. Some may ask "how can you be sure they will be wrong?" My answer is that their claims are not based on any knowledge like discovering an asteroid hurling toward earth. Those claims of doom rarely have any real science behind them. I strongly suspect that the earth will be here a year from now.

Occasionally I have expressed a desire to not be negative in my president's message. At first, that was true for this month also, but I just can't do it. There are a couple of thing in the front of my mind that I have to say something about.

First is the news that legislation authorizing indefinite detention of citizens was signed by the president. When I read about this I had to ask myself "What kind of country is it that allows this kind of law to go into effect?" This is a law that pretty much gives the government the ability to send you to a gulag or concentration camp. To then have no redress, no rights. This is not the United States I served in the Air Force for.

This has to be a violation of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth amendments. These decrees, which deal with search and seizure, the right to a speedy trial, and other similar issues are fundamental to what this country is all about. Are we so inept at fighting terrorism that we must turn to destroying the very rights we claim to be protecting? The very words, "indefinite detention" are the exact opposite of "the right to a speedy trial."

We can also take note that the media pretty much ignored this little item. This law is not a good start for the New Year.

The other thing that has been in the front of my mind is on a much smaller scale and local. It kind of made me chuckle in a black humored sort of way when I heard that a senior center, due to budget restraints, was cutting out most or all of the bread and some of the desserts. Additionally, the small portable CD player they used for exercise classes was broken and there weren't funds to replace it. While I chuckled, I again asked myself, "what kind of country is this?" where we pamper the rich and a senior center has to go without. I realize that in the world of suffering these senior center items are pretty mild, but the contrast between rich and poor in these times is rather stark.

Before I finish I want to thank former board members Julie Mayhew and Karen Keller. Their time and efforts over the past several years is much appreciated. Again Thanks so much.

Donations for the Homeless Youth Center we collected at the December social were well received. The value was estimated to be over $600.00. Thanks everyone!

--Robert Lane
President, HoU