Though I’m all for more Orthodoxy in all aspects of life, I can see how asking people to give up saying “Happy New Year!” in favor of “Happy Circumcision and Naming Day of Our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, and Commemoration of St. Basil of Cappadocia Day!” would be a bit much. All the same, um, what I just said.

Making the rounds of the blogosphere and Orthoblogosphere, there’s lots of fun:

• O those funny Prots.
• O that clever (and hardworking) Orthodixie. The whooole year in review. You know, if I were ever organized enough to do something like this, I’d probably be too organized to keep up with time-wasters like this blog. So it’s a bit of a Catch-22 for me.
• Also learned from Orthodixie: The odious daVinci Code movie will be coming up next year. But we also learn from Jim N. that there will be a “hefty new website” going up to combat the lies. Hooray for the new media; a pox on the old. What else is new?
• Jan Bear’s got a hilarious example of demonic influence in canines. Go look if you don’t believe me. I’m glad that whoever is holding the video camera is giggling. Me, I’d be sending for a priest-veterinarian. Something’s wrong with that doggie.
• The Anchoress has 2006 predictions. My favorite two:
  

  3) President Bush will not be impeached over the FISE/NSA matter; his poll numbers will continue to rise as Americans - no longer distracted with Christmas - follow the story and realize that the NY Times and much of the Fourth Estate have become a Fifth Column.

  4) The WaPo will pull back from that story. The NY Times, mad with hate, will run over a cliff with it. The L.A. Times will save itself.

• I don’t know if I can share Anchoress’ optimism about the LA Times. Here’s a year-in-review of how they’ve skewed stories to reflect their own agenda. Long must-read, and every one back up with links, in case you think he’s fibbing:
  

  The paper has steadfastly maintained the fiction that establishing democracy was not an articulated justification for the Iraq war until it became clear that the U.S. was not going to find large stockpiles of WMD in Iraq. This fiction is easily debunked.

  The paper also repeated the “imminent threat” canard. They stalled on a correction for days, and finally refused to issue one, claiming that the error was, and I quote, “not correctable.” I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried, folks.

  The L.A. Times danced with joy when Barbara Boxer managed to annoy Condi Rice with a misleading presentation of the facts leading up to the declaration of war in Iraq. Gloated The Times: “Boxer, the passionate standard-bearer, had succeeded in getting that woman’s [Rice’s] goat. Mission accomplished.” The Times did not bother to mention that “passionate standard-bearer” Boxer had gotten Rice’s goat by gravely distorting the facts. That part was left for the blogs to handle.

  Lot of hard work in researching something like this, and I admire anyone who could keep reading the paper day after day. I’ve found I can’t handle any of the big mainstream papers anymore — if I ever did read something that seemed eye-opening, I’d have to wonder how much of it was really true. And since I’d go off to Drudge Report and other alternative media to check it out, it just makes more sense to start with them. On the other hand, I like getting the daily paper from nearby St. Joseph. It’s a small enough town that they just report on what’s going on without some daily dose of anti-Bush-dementia.

• And speaking of the man the MSM loves to hate, here’s Bush’s New Year’s message:
  

  The great strength of our nation lies in the hearts and souls of the American people. …

  As we celebrate the New Year, we give thanks to God for his blessings and ask for his guidance. We look with hope to the year ahead and the many new opportunities the future will bring.

  Laura and I send our best wishes for a happy New Year. May God bless you, and may God continue to bless America.

  Yep, the man’s a dangerous eavesdropping maniac, all right. I know that everyone (including myself) has some ax to grind with Bush, but really, when do we think we’ll ever have a president like this again?

• The Catholics are doing away with limbo? Does anyone else remember George Carlin mentioning this on one of his albums back in the ’70s, and then saying, “So what did they do with all the unbaptized babies in limbo? Did they get promoted or what?” Which of course is completely irreverent, but I have to admit it’s what I’d be asking myself if I were a Catholic. There are some other things I’d be wondering, like what else they were going to change their minds about. And I’d also be wondering why it takes them 30 years to make a change. But then, the Orthodox aren’t exactly speedy either. (My favorite Orthodox joke — Question: How many Orthodox does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Change? )
• Seraphim from Ancient Church offers this New Year’s blessing by way of Serapion of Thmuis : We beseech you, make living men out of us. Well, trust a desert father to take everything I would’ve come up with for a New Year’s Resolution, improve on it 100% and distill it down into nine words.

Happy New Year, all!