Happy New Year I hope.

But I can see a lot of the bad and unresolved issues from last year (and the decade before that) being fought over again this year.

With added bonus of dissent potentially getting you listed as a terrorist (cf Occupy & the FBI et al).

I see nothing on the horizon that is going to stop the rise of corporate power & influence. Right now down here in Australia we have 2 major newspaper outlets - one owned by Murdoch & the other being sized up by a mega-rich billionaire who has made her distaste for it's slant on the news well known. And she is lining up other media assets as well.

More? You wanted more - Trans-Pacific-Partnership (SOPA for the rest of us) whether it lives or dies, will probably come back stronger with another name by different means.

I see a lot of things to get disillusioned about before the year has much begun.

It sorts of put in perspective the cliche of "endless vigilance" - and the costs thereof.

Ironically, getting listed as a terrorist might not affect my life at all. I don't travel much, especially by plane, so I don't fear the "no fly" list. I've never had a job which required a security clearance, and I'm unlikely to work in such areas in the future. I don't go to events attended by important government people, so I don't deal with that sort of guest vetting. And at least it'd be considered a downside without argument (i.e. people would be unlikely to say "Oh, so you're on the terrorist watch list, here's the world smallest violin, stop whining about your FBI file, don't talk about it unless and until you're sent to Gitmo").