I know what you’re thinking, and my rebuttal is no, it is not too early to review 2008, a relative newborn as years go. The verdict: cold, dark, and full of surprises (not unlike Space). It honestly hasn’t been so terribly cold yet; in fact, I don’t think it’s even dropped below zero.

The problem lies rather with the weather indoors at the Liberry. My beloved berry is a Carnegie Library. It’s been added on to, renovated, nearly burned to the ground, rebuilt, and re-renovated. The culmination of this 111 year history is a fantastic liberry with sub-prime heating and cooling. While the catalogers are fanning themselves upstairs and sipping iced tea, I shiver in the storage/server room cum meat locker. The upshot: I now drink more green tea than the 8th, 9th, and 11th Dalai Lama.

No news is more surprising than the upsets in the Iowa caucus, with democrat Barack H. Obama (the H stands for Hussein! Like Saddam!) and republican Mike Huckabee (another guv from Arkansas) triumphing over their respective party brethren. What does this mean for you and me? Not too damn much. Some people feel that winning the Iowa caucus will give nomination-ensuring impetus to the victors. These people are idiots.

Iowa is nothing remarkable; it has a lot of land, about as many people as metro St. Louis, and a misplaced sense of pride. Its only distinction is being the first state to hold a caucus. This small get for Iowa hardly seems deserving of all the folderol surrounding the Iowa Caucus.

Of course, there’s always hope that people will come to their senses. My boy Kucinich (who had no chance from the start) endorsed Obama, which prompted speculation about him being Obama’s running partner.

The real winner yesterday was an NPR interviewee who confessed that although she was a faithful christian and republican, voted for (mormon) Mitt Romney instead of the the (christian) Mike Huckabee. Why? Because she felt Huckabee’s religious zeal was inappropriate in a world of dangerous religious fanatics, and that faith is a personal tenant, not a public spectacle.

Maybe there’s hope for 2008 after all…

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