Jim Austin

His previous columns are archived HERE.

JIM AUSTIN

Looking back 365 - 9/11 is top news story

2001 will be remembered forever as the day terrorists awakened the United States from a cozy dream world. We learned that we cannot take our security for granted. We learned that we can't use our resources to arm one side of a conflict without infuriating the other.

2001 will also be remembered as the day everyone was able to see the overwhelming courage of New York City fireman and police. We can only imagine the guts it would have taken to rush into that second tower after the first had collapsed crushing a thousand or more.

2001 brought mail order anthrax to U.S. postal users.

George Harrison, "the quiet Beatle" died in 2001. Another piece of the baby boomer's youth crumbled with him. When George died we all looked around and wondered, "where did the last thirty years go?"

George W. Bush was inaugurated in 2001. Could we ever have imagined that he would be declaring war on "evildoers"? It is a credit to his personal strength that he has held it together for almost a year.

Our troops in Afghanistan have conducted themselves admirably. They have carried out an impossible task with professionalism and minimal loss of civilian life.

Stem Cell research was the science story of the year. Predictably, the same men who jailed Galileo rose up to put superstition before reason.

Most Westerners have forgotten the murder of the entire Nepalese Royal Family.

The top sports story of 2001 is a toss-up.

How about the scandal that rocked Little League as cheating adults altered a boy's birth certificate so he could play, and win, the Little League World Series. Maybe 73 dingers by Barry is a less depressing choice.

The one bright spot in top world news stories of 2001 was the arrest and confinement of Slobodan Milosovich, Serbian strongman and author of genocide in the former Yugoslavia. Long may he rot in jail.

Middle East violence was at an all time high with Palestinian suicide bombers being countered by Israeli aggression.

Vermont's top story could be the fact that the fabric of our society remains intact despite allowing civil unions.

The "Euro" made it just in time before 2002. With a few exceptions all of Europe will have a common currency. Goodbye drachma, lire, franc and mark. Bonehead Brits keep their medieval pound, pence, farthing, ha'penny, guinea, bob or whatever, system.

Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond announce their retirements. Civil War is officially declared over.

Top kid's story must be the release of the Harry Potter movie. Shorty liked "The Lord of the Rings" better. I did too.

Brattleboro's top news story is tragic. Robert Woodward was shot down by police.

There's lots more bad news I could mention including mad cow disease and the slowdown of our economy. 2001 was not the space odyssey that Stanley Kubrick predicted. We still don't know what the monolith was in that film. Maybe the monolith is like the sorcerer's stone, something that we will strive for until our species goes the way of the dinosaur and never achieve. Man, that's deep.

Hope we all have a better 2002. Happy New Year.