Yep, it's that time again (getting a jump on some people with this, I'll admit, partly because posting will get flakier through the month), and I'd better start getting this wrapup for 2011 together because I have a lot of stuff; like last year, it will probably take me up to New Years Eve to get to it all, so here goes.And what is the point of this, I hear you ask? Well, aside from this being my own obligatory “year end” list, I’m noting here a lot of stuff that I happened to come across during the year that I, for the most part, didn’t post about but wanted to comment on anyway. Doing this is challenging every year, but it's particularly challenging this year - if I make it to the end of these posts, I'll tell you why.
(And by the way, unacknowledged hat tips are probably owed here to Eschaton, Daily Kos, Think Progress, Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, Balloon Juice, firedoglake, MSNBC, and a few other sites here - many thanks.)
“How About ‘Tempestt Rhadhami Is In The Kitchen With Allah’?” Citation (also heard of “Allah In The Family” – touché)
Katie Couric said here that “we need a Muslim ‘Cosby Show’” (and they’re off for 2011 – she would leave the “third eye” network later in the year)…
Dregs of the Year Nominee (and past winner)
Hangin' Judge JR of the Supremes gets it for waxing nostalgic here about what he thinks was a better time apparently, and that would be the Depression - should also contrast how many Obama/Clinton nominees have been confirmed versus Dubya's (but true to form, Think Progress beat me to it here).
Dregs of the Year Nominee
His World's Neal Cavuto, for claiming that "low corporate tax rates are good for the markets" when the graphic he presents onscreen says otherwise (here)
Do Gooders of the Year Nominees
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in NYC gets it for striking down a 2008 FCC order fining 44 ABC-affiliated stations $27,500 each ($1.21M in total) for a 2003 episode of NYPD Blue in which a partial view of a woman’s breasts and buttocks appeared (the legacy of Janet Jackson and “the tit that wouldn’t die” from the 2004 Super Bowl...here).
I usually pile onto this bunch, but it’s nice to compliment them for a change.
Do Gooder of the Year Nominee
Dave Graham, a California homeowner who sued Bank of America in small claims court and won $7,595 from the bank after it burned him on a mortgage modification – as noted here…
Graham, who lives in Big Bear City, Calif., applied for a loan modification under the Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program, which is supposed to give eligible borrowers a "permanent" five-year modification if they make reduced payments during a three-month trial period.Basically, Graham got screwed over by BoA on HAMP and may lose his home anyway – “Skank of America” will probably appeal, but kudos to Graham for not taking this shit.
Graham said his trial dragged on for 18 months. He said he made every payment until Bank of America told him in May that he didn't qualify for HAMP, and that he'd lose his home unless he paid about $7,000 to make up the difference between his normal monthly payments and the reduced payments he made during the trial period.
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Antonin Scalia of The Supremes for this (giving Roberts a run for his money, I see)…
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Repug U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama – I think the question in the title here says it all…
Dregs of the Year NomineeOur own U.S. House Rep from PA-08 Mikey Fitzpatrick, who missed his own swearing-in ceremony but found time to read his section of the Constitution in that idiotic sap that the Repugs gave to those zany teabaggers here (gee, Mikey, “President pro temporary”? That’s a new one!)
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Former Bushie budget director (which should make him automatically unserious to any sentient being) and Indiana governor Mitch Daniels gets a nod; as noted here, he wants to raise the retirement age because younger people will “live to 100” because “they’ll be replacing body parts like we do tires” (of course, as Think Progress makes clear, the “pay no price, bear no burden” crowd is also enjoying longer life spans, while those life spans of everyone else are growing shorter – must be nice in Daniels’ ivory tower…please don’t feed the rabble, or they’ll only come clawing back for more...I guess the "Occupy" forces would prove this later, to their credit, though I hardly consider them to be merely "rabble")
Dregs of the Year Nominees
The Obama Administration and FCC chair Julius Genachowski for approving the Comcast/NBC merger, for all the reasons noted here (I think these people need to open a dictionary and look for the term "public interest")
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao, who says here that he opposes judicial filibusters (as Think Progress points out here, he’s a flat-out liar)
Dregs of the Year Nominees
The individuals who own the Symphony House condominiums in Philadelphia near the Avenue of the Arts (otherwise known as Broad Street) who, despite already losing in court, are trying to drive the Jamaican Jerk Hut restaurant out of business because they apparently have a problem with “live reggae music, which (the restaurant) offers to customers on the lot next (door) on weekends in spring and summer months“ (and the sad part is that they may succeed, since Jerk Hut owner Lisa Wilson says the lawsuit “has been killing our business” – h/t Atrios, noted here)
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Freshman Repug U.S. House Rep Robert Hurt of Virginia, who wanted to repeal the health care law but (just like Steve King in Iowa) wanted to keep his own plan paid for by the government, of course, as noted here (Hurt is the scumbag who beat Progressive Dem Tom Perriello, so he merits extra special attention as far as I’m concerned...more here)
Do Gooder of the Year Nominee
Steven Daglus, a Republican committeeman in Illinois who found 26 ways to trim the Arizona budget and thus provide Medicaid coverage to those in the latter state in need of organ transplants (and yep, somehow I’m sure the Arizona State football team will do just fine without financial assistance...here)
Dregs of the Year Nominees
The Kentucky state legislature gets a dishonorable mention; it would be the first state to pass a bill forcing women to see ultrasound images of the fetus before abortion procedures (Didn’t Oklahoma try something like this also? And I think any male member of the Kentucky “lege” supporting this should have ultrasound images taken of their penises that would be made available for public viewing…fair is fair - here)
Do Gooders of the Year Nominee
The History Channel, for deciding in the end not to air the trash JFK biopic by torture pornographer Joel Surnow (as I've said, if he wants to make a fictitious JFK movie, that unfortunately is his right, but sell it to Spike TV, USA, SHOWTIME or somewhere else...I think it ended up on Starz or SHOWTIME, one or the other - here)
Corporate Media Pundit Interaction Of The Year (So Far, And I Don’t Mean This In A Good Way)
Digby gives us the gory details here of an interview Wolf Blitzer conducted with Paul Begala and Mary Matalin about what supposedly constitutes a “minimum wage” inside the Beltway (h/t Atrios)
Do Gooders of the Year Nominees
The Egyptians Muslims who defended Coptic Christians in that country here, who were the target of terror attacks ("we live together or we die together"...powerful, courageous stuff – somebody alert Pete King, who’s no doubt continuing his propaganda against SCARY MUSLIMS!!! anyway...unfortunately, the "worm turned" a bit on this later in the year)
The Last Word, As They Say, On Obama v. Dubya on Jobs
Here
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Sarah Palin for this – see screen shot at bottom of post; thank God that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords recovered to a degree (and screw Palin’s condolences, by the way; try toning down your ultra-nutso rhetoric first)
Do Gooder of the Year Nominees
Bill Badger, Joe Zamudio and Patricia Maisch, bystanders in the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Federal Judge John Roll and 11 others who restrained alleged gunman Jared Loughner before he could reload (here – Judge Roll, who, as it turned out, just stopped by to visit Giffords at the place of the shooting, was killed, along with 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green)
Dregs of the Year Nominees
Palin aide Rebecca Mansour and conservative radio host Tammy Bruce for saying here that the gun sights on the map of “targeted” U.S. congressional districts, including that of Gabrielle Giffords, were “surveyors symbols” (yeah, “survey” this, wingnuts – h/t Eschaton)
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Pundit Ross Douthat of the New York Times, who said here that “the attempted murder (of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords) is a potential gift to liberalism.” (I consider that remark to be an obscenity, much like his recent garbage about how JFK's "pay any price, bear any burden" wording during his inaugural was the same as Dubya's propaganda in the runup to the Iraq war)
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Kristol Mess, for saying here that saying that criticizing Sarah Palin over the Arizona massacre that severely wounded Rep. Giffords is “McCarthyism” - particularly repugnant given that Kristol’s old man defended “Tail-Gunner Joe” as noted here.
Do Gooder of the Year Nominee
Ousted Dem U.S. House Rep Paul Kanjorski for standing up here to J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon (tells you how stupid the voters are who voted out someone advocating on their behalf...Kanjorski went too far on Lex Luthor Scott, though)
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Repug U.S. House Rep Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who said here that accused Tucson, AZ shooter Jared Lee Loughner was the “liberal of liberals” (wonder if this woman bathes in the same toxic sludge that constitutes what passes for her thought processes?)
(And by the way, noting this, in a related vein, isn’t Judson Phillips the guy who said Keith Ellison shouldn't serve in the U.S. House just because he’s a Muslim? And by the way, I am continually impressed by Ellison whenever I see him speak on TV; highly knowledgeable on the issues that matter and articulate.)
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Trent Humphries of the Tucson Tea Party, who blamed Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords here for her own shooting (at a point, you have to wonder what kind of a country we’ve become to produce life forms like this character)
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Gotta love “Man Tan” Boehner for hosting an RNC party (a fundraiser, no doubt) here the night of the memorial service for Rep. Giffords and the other Tucson shooting victims (“hell no you can’t!”)
Dregs of the Year Nominee
CNN’s Erick (“Son of Erick”) Erickson, for claiming that Obama, while asking the country to observe a moment of silence for the Tucson shooting victims, is “accommodating atheists” here (tell me how long Erickson would last on CNN or anywhere else if he were a liberal…as if we’d have him)
Do Gooders of the Year Nominee
The Obama EPA under the direction of Administrator Lisa Jackson for, as noted here, revoking the largest mountaintop removal project for coal mining in its history in West Virginia – well done (here…get ready for the outcry from, among others, “Democratic” Senator Joe “Lock And Load” Manchin)
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Recently-sworn-in Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin, for screwing up the oath of office here (looks like Mike Fitzpatrick and Pete Sessions ended up having some company on this; that state deserves her …and oh yeah, blame “the weather” – good one)
Do Gooder of the Year Nominee
Retiring closer Trevor Hoffman, pitcher for the San Diego Padres – as SI’s Tom Verducci tells us here (bottom of page)…
He won the Lou Gehrig, Hutch and Branch Rickey Awards because of his humility and charity. (Here's one personal story about Hoffman's classy manner. After I once wrote a story about him, I received an all-time first from an athlete: a hand-written thank you note from him.) Hoffman was known for being the template of what a leader and teammate should be: unselfish and accountable. Such a legacy, beyond anything cast in bronze, is what truly should endure.And for the record, Hoffman finished his career with a 2.87 ERA and 601 saves, and he pitched more games without winning the World Series than any right hander in history, as Verducci tells us – good luck to him (Hoffman, I mean).
More later...
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