We’ve arrived at the last day of this eventful and historical year.  In hindsight, we realize we’ve witnessed much history and have seen things we never dreamed possible.  The country’s largest companies have found themselves struggling just to keep their doors open, political leaders in new scandals from everything from marital affairs to placing price tags on political vacancies and the unbelievable audacity of one businessman’s belief he could get away with the theft of fifty billion dollars.  Below you’ll find a few more newsworthy events from the last half of 2008. The first half can be found here and here.

July 15 - A woman calls 911 to report her granddaughter has been missing for thirty one days. Caylee Anthony, who was two years old when she disappeared, has since been found murdered less than one half mile from her home.  Her own mother, Casey Anthony, was indicted on October 14 for the murder.  Her trial is set to begin in early 2009.

July 23 - Hurricane Dolly makes landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on the U.S.-Mexico border.

August 29 - Republican presidential candidate John McCain announces his running mate.  AK Governor Sarah Palin comes in with a bang and shakes up the entire election.  She’s well-received and

Anne Pressly

quickly gains a solid following from those not only from her home state, but from the country as a whole.

September 13 -  This is the day most analysts agree was day the chains come unhinged as Lehman Brothers announced it was near bankruptcy, AIG announced it was in hot water because of its underwriting practices and the mortgage crisis finally comes into full light and Americans realized just how bad things were on the economic front.

October 2008 - OJ Simpson is finally found guilty of one of his crimes.  A jury determined he was guilty of several felonies committed during a Las Vegas hotel room break-in.  He’s accused of stealing, at gunpoint, sports memorabilia and other momentos.  He’s facing thirty-three years in prison as a result of this guilty verdict.

October 20 - Anne Pressly, an admired Arkansas news anchor, was found murdered in her home.  A suspect has since been arrested and is awaiting trial.

October 24 - Jennifer Hudson’s family, including her mother and brother, are found murdered in their Chicago home.  A few days later, her nephew is found murdered in an abandoned vehicle.  An ex-husband of her sister is now charged with these murders. 

October 2008 - New legal provisions are passed that require insurance companies to provide the same coverage for mental health as they do physical health.  For twelve years, advocates have worked to ensure this law is passed.

November 4 - National history is made as Barack Obama becomes the first black president ever elected and will be the first U.S. president to enter office during wartime. 

Jennifer Hudson

November 2008 - The pregnant man (who is biologically a woman) announces a second pregnancy.  Thomas Beatie, a transgender who has undergone testosterone therapy but still has the reproductive organs of a woman, gave birth for the first time in March of this year.

December 9 - IL Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested for attempting to sell the vacancy left by President-elect Barack Obama in the Illinois Senate.  He’s also been accused of a number of other illegal and unethical activities.  Attempts are now being made to have him impeached from office.

As we head into a new year, we do so in a recession but also with hopes of effective solutions to these problems and with sincere attempts to leave the “one step forward and two steps back” way of doing things behind.

As bad as the latest political scandal is, the governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich has singlehandedly confirmed the very thing we have spent our lives hoping would never come to pass: the sale of politics.  For a vacancy to become a commodity with a price tag undermines every principle the framers had hoped would safeguard our Constitution.  Despite all of the other scandals politicians

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seem to bury themselves in, this is by far one of the most disgusting we’ve seen in this lifetime.  This one is a kick in the teeth to every foundation this country is built on.  In one fell swoop, he’s managed to drop jaws across political party lines, the citizens who voted him into office and the general public as a whole. 

He was arrested and released on Tuesday after federal prosecutors accused him of a one man “political corruption crime spree”.   Some of these crimes he’s accused of includes threatening one of the country’s largest newspapers, Chicago Tribune, if it refused to fire writers who criticized him, as well as his redefinition of “pay to play” for politics.  He has been accused of giving jobs, political appointments and contracts for hefty price tags. This evidence has been gained via wiretaps on his home and office phones and it’s been said some of these conversations would fit nicely into any of the Godfather movies with “tough guy” talk and profanity.  He refers to political peers as “Candidate 1″, “Candidate 2″ and so.  Unfortunately, these candidates he refers to as considerations to fill the seat left vacant by Barack Obama have had to release statements that no one in public office should have ever have to make.  They’ve reiterated their respect for the political offices they hold and have stated not only did they have no idea of what the governor was doing, but they were as disappointed as the rest of the country.  None of those considered for this vacant post are suspected of participating in this political auction.  Now, though, instead of an immediate replacement being named, it appears as though a special election might be the only solution that’s fair and will renew the faith of the state’s voters. 

He’s also accused of complaining about his inability to make good money as governor and said he felt ’stuck’.  If you’re interested, he makes over $175,000 a year as governor.  He’s also overheard negotiating a position for his wife and stated he was looking for a gravy position where she could make at least “150 grand” a year.  He was lining the remainder of this golden brick road to cover him after he left office as governor.  When the pompous governor answered the door at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, his reply to the two FBI agents who’d announced they were there to arrest him was, “Is this a joke?”  That left it wide open - I don’t know if I’d have had enough self-discipline to keep from going into how the joke would ultimately be on him in ways he could never imagine.  I suppose that’s why I never considered that as a line of work.  It’s difficult, if not impossible, to bite my tongue. 

In the past two days, he’s vehemently asserted his refusal to step down as governor.  That’s been met with the state’s attorney releasing a statement that he didn’t have to, they were taking immediate steps to remove him from office.  So you see, if it was a joke, it’s clearly on Governor Blagojevich.