Mother Mary Rants

Annus horribilus is Latin for, you guessed it, “horrible year.” It’s a pun on annus mirabilus, or “year of wonders.” Queen Elizabeth used the term to describe 1992, the year that her sons Charles and Andrew both divorced and Windsor Castle caught fire. And Kofi Annan used the phrase on December 21, 2004, to describe last year (silly boy).

The ongoing debacle in Iraq. The Terri Schiavo political posture-athon. The bombings in London. The obscene, $286.5-billion porkfest that was July’s transportation bill. Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, and Rita. The insistence of the Republicans in Congress that they can have their pork — even the $223-million bridge to nowhere in Alaska — and pay for hurricane recovery too, not to mention the in-all-but-name civil war in Iraq and still more tax cuts for wealthy Republicans. A national debt that has gone from $5.6-trillion at the end of 2000 to $7.9-trillion as of Sept. 22, and the Republicans apparently assume that we can continue to borrow money from Communist China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and similar lenders indefinitely, and no debt will ever come due. (Incidentally, 2.3 trillion seconds equals close to 73,000 years.) Gasoline prices that have pretty much doubled since 2000. As I write, the possibility of 13 named storms still to come before the end of the hurricane season.

With all due respect for her majesty, if 1992 was an annus horribilus, then I nominate 2005 as the annus horribilissimus. It’s just never going to get any worse . . . or if it is, I don’t want to be here when it does. Wake me when it’s 2006.