[Note from the Proprietor: In case you're wondering what it's all about, well, we're smack in the middle of BLOGAPALOOZA! Hey, you're welcome to join in the fun if you like! All ya gotta do is click that cute little link and read all about it!]

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Guest post by Kevin Tracy who writes over at Kevin Tracy

January: When Did We Let McCain Off The Hook? About the trouble the GOP would be in if they nominated John McCain, a man who abandoned the party every chance he had.

February: Brendan ‘The Dark’ Hughes Dies at 59 Brendan Hughes was one of the leaders of the IRA and helped lead in the Hunger Strikes, Dirty Protests, and Uniform Protests in British prisons. His death was hastened by wounds he received in prison years earlier.

March: Shady Bookkeeping in the Keyes Campaign Alan Keyes only had full disclosure on 35% of his donations… 65% were completely undisclosed, violating all campaign finance laws.

April: Microsoft Padding Vista Conversion Numbers It was apparent by April 2008 that Vista was a flop, but Microsoft was insisting Vista sales were skyrocketing. It turns out that they were selling XP under a Vista license, which meant that any sale of a computer with XP or the XP operating system itself was statistically a Vista installation.

May: Pornography on Wikipedia When a 12 year old did a Wikipedia search on “Fluffy” and was redirected to an article on “Fluffer”, all hell broke loose. The question was asked whether Wikipedia should be censored by censored by writers, owners, the government, evangelical Christians, or anybody else. This article says no, but I do suggest some basic protection to protect Wikipedia from liability.

June: The Truth About Cuts to DoD Funding Barack Obama and John McCain both proposed cuts to Department of Defense spending in 2008, why? When the military looses funding, contractors that donate millions of dollars to political campaigns are hired to make up the shortfall at as much as 20 times the cost the DoD could have done it at.

July: Married Catholic Priests? They exist and the Church approved it! The Catholic Church allows married Lutheran and Anglican priests to convert to Catholicism and continue their profession as a priest. There are approximately 100 married Roman Catholic Priests in the United States today.

August: WAR! Russia and Georgia Clash in South Ossetia When Georgia, a US ally, began killing innocent civilians in South Ossetia, Russia responded immediately to prevent further civilian deaths. So where is South Ossetia and what’s the history behind it?

September: Marriage Background Checks: A Provocative Idea To Strengthen Marriage

Should the United States consider requiring a criminal background checks be made available to inquisitive fiancées before they get married? How much should you trust him/her?
October: Happy Birthday Prime Minister Putin Prime Minister Putin celebrates his birthday and gets some really awesome pictures taken with a Siberian Tiger he tagged.

November: Do Oil Companies Fear Obama and a Democratic Congress? Gas prices typically rise again after an election… why aren’t they shooting back up now? Is it possible that oil and gas companies fear Obama’s plan to tax them into extinction and replace them with alternative energies?

December: Americans Need To Embrace Terrorism Since before American Colonists dumped 2 million dollars of tea into the water at the Boston Tea Party, we have always been a people who have embraced terrorism. Why then have we been led to change our perception of this timeless act of defiance against oppression and injustice?

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[Further note from the Proprietor: Hey, if you're interested in having your own "best of 2008" posts highlighted right here at the Middle Zone, then by all means, click on this link: (BLOGAPALOOZA: What I Learned From 2008) and read all about it! BLOGAPALOOZA will be open for entries from now until Sunday, January 25.]

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