Laura's Look
Laura Ware
It's that time of the year again - time when I take a quick peek back at the year and use this column to hit the highlights that occurred. Of course, these highlights are the things that interest me the most, regardless of whether or not they are all that important.
The big news this year was, of course, was the presidential election. It started with a Republican primary that gave us Mitt Romney versus Anyone Except Mitt Romney. Governor Romney emerged victorious but bloodied, and took on President Obama. Two conventions, several debates and a lot of political ads later, President Obama emerged victorious, ready to take on a second term on the promise that he'll do better. His victory garnered him Time's Person of the Year award, which ticked a few people off. Others got upset over those ticked off, and it seems that our political discourse isn't going to improve in the near future.
Of course, the fiscal cliff has also taken up the news at the moment, which to date has not been resolved by the politicians. There's a chance that by the time you read this that they will have come to their senses and hammered something out that will benefit the country. On the other hand, there's also a chance that unicorns are real. So forgive me for not holding my breath on this one.
In other political news, the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare, to the surprise of many like myself who couldn't find "health care" in the Constitution. We are now apparently stuck with Obamacare now, and let's hope it's not as bad as it looks.
Hurricane Sandy paid a visit to the Northeast, garnering the sympathy of many in the South who felt their pain. Here in Highlands County we managed to escape any major weather events, except for the inevitable heat wave this summer that we endure to pay for nice winters.
The end of the world that some claimed the Mayans predicted came and went with northing much happening. It did generate a lot of jokes which people cracked before, during, and after the fizzled apocalypse.
Several mass shootings left us grieving for the lives lost and debating gun control for the umpteenth time. Here in Florida, a neighborhood watch volunteer who is white/Hispanic shot and killed a young black man, claiming Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. This case will undoubtedly be part of 2013's news, at least here in Florida.
In entertainment news, Disney made plans to buy Lucasfilm, which gave geeks all over the world hopes for more Star Wars movies, as long as Disney was smart and got rid of Jar-Jar Binks.
We finally had to say goodbye to Dick Clark, who had seemed to have the gift of living forever. Writer Ray Bradbury passed away, leaving a wealth of reading for eager bookworms. Robert Bork, whose contentious confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court in 1987 was the start of the process going downhill, also left us. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, embarked on the greatest adventure. Other deaths that caught our attention this year include Whitney Houston, Jack Klugman, Larry Hagman, and Arlen Specter.
Personally, 2012 was a year of ups and downs. I lost two very dear to me, my father-in-law and my beloved beagle. In good news, I continued to write and saw two of my novels go into print and become available via amazon.com. Also, James graduated from college and my nest became a little emptier - I leave it to you if that is a good or bad thing to happen this year.
Other things happened this year, but I'm out of space. We'll just have to push ahead to 2013, where I hope to continue to entertain you and maybe make you think once in a while. Thanks for reading.
Sunday, December 30, 2012 - www.newssun.com/col-123012-ware-column