Cuz they say two thousand zero zero party over
Oops out of time
So tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999
— “Prince”
By Randall Grantham
Community Columnist
As I sit here writing this, it is the last day of the year. In fact, as pointed out by numerous pundits, it is the end of the decade.
And it’s ending in pretty much the same way it started — A terrorist attack via commercial airplane on the U. S., followed by finger-pointing and accusations that it should have been foreseen and avoided.
The year 2009 was rough for the country and for me, personally. In fact, the last 10 years haven’t been real good. I didn’t like this century from the get-go. It started with a fall and a broken hip, followed by numerous surgeries that culminated in a total hip replacement. It ended with the passing of the family patriarch.
Nationally, we had the contested 2000 election decided by the Supreme Court and our record budget surplus turned into a record deficit. This nation’s economy has been through hell and back, and back again.
The decade started with the dot.com bubble bursting, only to be followed by the meltdown on Wall Street and real estate collapse to close out the aughts. Unemployment has reached crisis levels and it is being felt by every part of our society (with the possible exception of those on Wall Street who, some argue, caused this whole mess to begin with).
Things are starting to look up, however. The terrorist attack that ended this decade was unsuccessful and the culprit was captured. His overseers are under attack already in Yemen, but I don’t expect a full-scale invasion.
I am surprised we haven’t heard any outrage that he’s being charged in federal court instead of those military tribunals demanded for those involved in 9/11. But Richard Reid, the shoe bomber who was the first to try to take down a plane with the explosive PETN, was tried in criminal court and that seemed to go okay.
As you read this article, it’s the beginning of a new year and a new decade. All I can say is it’s got to be better than the aughts and I hope the door didn’t hit 2009 in the (backside) on the way out. The previous century was described as the American Century. Let’s hope the first 10 years following Y2K was just a bump in the road.
I wish each and every one of you out there, and our great nation, a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful new year and new decade.
Randall C. Grantham is a lifelong resident of Lutz who practices law from his offices on Dale Mabry Highway. He can be reached at . Copyright 2009 RCG
