Cultural
Best: Pope John Paul II resolutely carrying on until his death and living the Church’s teaching that all life has intrinsic value, no matter the condition.
Worst: The abandonment of the values that led Americans to be outraged by the starvation of Baby Doe leads America to condone the starvation of Terri Schiavo.

Political
Best: The defeat of Harriet Miers, showing conservatives don’t always kow-tow to the GOP elites.
Honorable Mention: Mike Pence leads the GOP back towards fiscal responsibility by standing up to House leadership.
Worst: Senator Ted Stevens impassioned defense of pork-barrel spending.

Local
Best: The Virginia blogosphere takes off with the 2005 election. I briefly join the Old Dominion Blog Alliance before leaving.
Worst: Mark Warner proves to be a successful one-man organizer of Virginia’s Democratic party, winning traditionally conservative exurban area while showing he is stronger in Virginia than ‘08 hopeful George Allen. National GOP beware.
Runner up:Del. Dick Black, a dedicate pro-lifer, loses his seat in Northern Virginia.

Sports
Best: The Washington Redskins sweep Dallas for the first time in a decade, and come to the edges of playoff contention. Will they make it? Only 2006 will tell.
Worst (tie): Notre Dame loses to USC in the final seconds. William and Mary loses to JMU under the lights… again.

Music
Best: Traditionalist country musicians put out a number of great CD’s, capped by Ray Scott’s My Kind of Music and Martina McBride’s Timeless albums.
Worst: The resurgence of bad pop-country, including hit-or-miss Big and Rich’s “Comin’ to Your City” and the continuing popularity of Rascal Flatts.

Film
Best: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe shows you can make a successful movie that teaches an important lesson without having it suck.
Worst: The Dukes of Hazzard is so bad even Cooter can’t watch it. (albeit for different reasons)

Public Education
Best: The increasing popularity of the blogosphere provides fresh, fertile ground for conservatives to debate what it means to be a conservative. It helps to remind one another of first things.
Worst: Academic elites continue to try and stamp out debate and discussion of new and different ideas.

Personal (feel free to ignore)
Best: Working with some great folks like John McCormack through American Collegians for Life. (Less than 100 spaces remain for the conference!)
Worst: Get accepted to work at Philmont, but have to turn it down.