Lagniappe - Welcome to the New Year! I hope all have had a pleasant holiday season and are ready to get back to it (whatever "it" is). My top tens for the following year are:

Top 10 desires:
10 - That some courageous movie producer and director team up to make a blockbuster movie series out of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. I've just read the entire series for the first time with my daughter, and find it worthy of some visual interpretation. I think it would be a smash at the box office as well.
9 - That I get to play golf more often.
8 - That the United States avoids war completely.
7 - That the final installment of the LOTR trilogy is released sooner than next December.
6 - That the United States pays better attention to Latin America as a region and that the region is given the respect that it deserves, and not the cold shoulder.
5 - That Catholics come to a greater understanding of the Church's Social Justice teachings.
4 - That the New Orleans Saints make it to the playoffs (and beat Atlanta twice!)
3 - That Jesuit High School of New Orleans admits women.
2 - That Alberto Gonzalez be Bush's replacement selection for Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist and that Justice Gonzalez turn out to be just like Justice David Souter.
1 - That my 2 little girls and my beautiful wife have a healthy and happy year, and that my oldest daughter find herself enrolled in the International School of Louisiana.

Top 10 predictions:
10 - That the United States will, sadly, go to war with Iraq.
9 - That the New Orleans Saints will not only fail to make the playoffs, but will also have a losing season.
8 - That the Pittsburgh Steelers will win the superbowl and the AFC will win the All-Star Game.
7 - That the PRI will capture an absolute majority of the Mexican Congress.
6 - That my oldest daughter is accepted into the International School of Louisiana.
5 - That Venezuela and Ecuador will each experience military coup attempts.
4 - That Fidel Castro will die of natural causes.
3 - That the GOP will again lose control of the Senate.
2 - That George W. Bush's approval ratings slip below 40% as the domestic economy fails to improve and as his foreign policy continues to hurl down the path of incoherence and inconsistency.
1 - That the final LOTR installment is everything and more than it is expected to be.