My town's independent bakery closes for about 10 days at the beginning of every year. The owner says the time off gives her a chance to work on the house and to catch up on her bookkeeping. But there's another reason why she closes. "There really isn't much business," she says. During the holidays, people buy pies and cakes; cookies, pastries, and fancy breads. But after the holidays, they make New Year's resolutions to drop those extra pounds.

"In about a week," says Wendy Mint, owner of Rising Dough Bakery, "they forget the resolutions and are back."

Every one of us who makes resolutions has every intention to keep them. And every one of us breaks most of them. Last year, not only did I make several resolutions, I kept every one of them. Really!

For example:

—I vowed to lose 30 pounds. Actually, I lost about 50. Of course, it was in spurts. I lost 5, then gained 7, lost 4, gained 3. Overall, I lost 50 pounds, gained 55. This year, I plan to lose another 50—and visit the bakery only twice a month.

—I successfully kept my promise not to allow my body to be penetrated by fried liver and onions.

—I didn't smoke one cigarette all year. Not even one ultralite. Of course, it was easier to keep this resolution since I never smoked. My wife smokes; she vowed to continue smoking and did a fine job keeping that resolution. I resent her. Her lungs are clear. Her heart is in fine shape. Her blood pressure is normal. She can out-walk and outwork me. It just doesn't seem fair. I'll probably get lung cancer. For the New Year's edition, the local paper published a feature about the benefits of quitting smoking. She didn't read it, undoubtedly convinced that tar and nicotine is what's keeping her body from deteriorating.

—In school, I was on basketball and football teams. For more than two decades, I played six to 12 hours of vigorous tennis a week. I was a decent swimmer. I could walk a couple of miles without even panting. For the past couple of decades, most of my exercise has been to walk 30 feet into a junk food restaurant—and half of the time, I just use the drive-up. Last year, I increased my time in regimented exercise. Of course, there were the days I had aches and pains from the previous day's workouts, so I had to cancel. Then, there were all the holidays—Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist—it would be sacrilege to work on those days. And the weekends are for rest. Then there's the Biblical scripture that prohibits exercise on days with an "s" in them. Overall, I'm pretty sure I fulfilled my resolution—whatever it was.

—Between midnight and 6 a.m. , even when the TV set is off, vestigial sideband signals infiltrate our minds with 30-minute infomercials. I vowed not to buy anything featured in an infomercial that included the phrases, "This will change your life," and "But wait! There's more." Of course, there were those CDs of classic country and early rock-and-roll, and kitchen containers with the one-size-fits-all lids and a caddy that allows you not only to conserve space but also to find every container even in the dark. And, who could not buy anything Ron Popeil invents, including those two dozen or so knives for only $13.33 a month for only three months plus shipping and handling. No one could pass up those savings.

—Related to the infomercials, I vowed to pay off my credit card debt. I didn't do too bad—I paid off two cards. Well, if you figure that I took out three other cards to pay off the first two cards, it might not seem that I fulfilled my resolution. But, the cards came with no interest for anywhere from six to 12 months, so it's almost as if I got free money.

This year, I have only one resolution. I am going to write more non-political columns. For the past two years, I have written almost exclusively about the nation's politics; more specifically, the Bush Administration. It's such fertile territory. However, a friend, who's a retired newspaper editor, recently chided me for focusing solely on the Bush administration, and begged me to "get over it and move on to new territory." He said he's "looking forward to getting back to the Walt Brasch who makes me think, laugh and appreciate a good chunk of writing about a lot of different issues." Now more than ever I can't reduce my social issues columns about what is being done to our nation. But, I can try to increase my columns about other issues. So, for Jack Yoset of Atlanta , here's the first of my New Year's resolutions.

Walter Brasch’s latest book is America’s Unpatriotic Acts: The Federal Government’s Violation of Constitutional and Civil Rights (Peter Lang Publishing, 2005). (www.walterbrasch.com/unpatrioticacts.htm) Dr. Brasch is an award-winning journalist and professor of mass communications/journalism. You may write to Brasch at mwceditor@mwcnews.net" target="_blank">mwceditor@mwcnews.net

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