Thursday Stuff

Noted anti-unionist Walt Disney died on this day 45 years ago (based on this, though, it looks like a settlement between Disney workers and management was just hammered out a few days ago)…



…and “’tis the season” for this too, unfortunately (here)…



…turning to more seasonal stuff, I guess it’s too late for anybody to “beam Mr. Shatner outta here”…



…and here is an “oughts-era” tale.

Wednesday Stuff

“What on earth is the President doing” indeed, to say nothing of House Democrats (here)…



…”Worst Persons” (Australian communications minister Stephen Conroy, a guy who apparently is big on censoring those darn Internet tubes for just about anything, lets fly with an “F” blast – have fun polishing the windows of your glass house; Fix Noise collectively gets second place for another incorrect graphic display, this one an attempt to ridicule Willard Mitt Romney – seriously, are they even trying anymore; but Joseph Farah of World Nut Daily takes top “honors” for a stunt that, as far as I’m concerned, defines the term EPIC FAIL – I can’t do justice describing it)…



...and the thought of "skating away" appeals to me this time of year also...



...and does anyone have a bicarbonate of soda?

Doomsy's Do-Gooders And Dregs (2011 - Pt. 8)

(Part One is here, Part Two is here, Part Three is here, Part Four is here, Part Five is here, Part Six is here, and Part Seven is here.)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Guy Petroziello, editorial page editor of the Bucks County Courier Times, gets a mention here, and I need a minute to set this up.

Petroziello published a Letter to the Editor from Bucks County Repug Committee Chair Pat Poprik in September in which she criticized the Democrats for the PA Voter Assistance Office boondoggle last year, which appeared to be a ham-handed attempt by the Dems and the campaign of former rep Patrick Murphy to ensure that absentee ballots were sent to one location (the actual office apparently did not, and does not, exist). However, no illegality has ever been proven, and to date no one has been charged.

However, I happen to know that Petroziello will not allow any mention, in a Letter to the Editor, Vent or Guest Opinion, of the Rob Ciervo/Mike Fitzpatrick voter fraud letter from about the same timeframe last year, in which the parents of college students were told to send absentee ballots to the residences of the students at their campuses, creating confusion about which addresses should be written on the actual ballots (if the college residence is shown on the ballot instead of the voting district residence, the ballots are discarded). And this is the case even though the Ciervo/Fitzpatrick letter was reported by his own newspaper! Oh, and did I mention that college students primarily (but not always) vote for Democrats?

The house organ of “Mikey The Beloved” strikes again.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Conservative comedian (I can never figure out if that’s redundant or a contradiction) Eric Golub for referring to liberals here as “special needs children”; he was opening up for a speech by Palin, apparently, who of course will never criticize conservatives for mocking the handicapped (oh, but Rahm Emanuel and his oh-so-awful “temper” is just SOOO BAD for referring to someone as “retarded,” isn’t he?)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Former Philadelphia Eagles kicker (and All-Pro) David Akers, for thanking Eagles fans here with a billboard that he paid for as he departed for San Francisco, where he signed with the 49ers (and the Eagles remain an utterly amateur organization for continuing to boot experienced veterans out the door when they could provide leadership to younger players; coach Andy “I Will Never Win A Super Bowl, Though I’ve Conned This Ownership Into Thinking I Will” Reid’s remarks after Akers missed two kicks in a playoff game against Green Bay earlier this year were particularly classless, especially considering that Akers found out that his little girl was suffering from a malignant tumor before the game…Green Bay ended up winning the Super Bowl; I don’t think two missed kicks would have ended up making a difference – hopefully Akers will receive the professional respect from the 49ers that the Eagles refused to give him here…by the way, as of this month, the 49ers lead the AFC West and Akers is having another Pro Bowl year, and the Eagles have about a hair’s width of a chance of making the playoffs after they “crashed and burned” despite all of the Philly “Dream Team” media hype...another "pigskin pick" shortly)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee earns a mention – I’ll need a minute to set this up also.

As Daily Kos tells us, federal agents raided the Gibson guitar company last month looking for illegally imported exotic woods. The raid followed one in 2009; no charges have yet been filed but the cases are ongoing.

And as a follow up to that...

(Blackburn) invited (Gibson Guitar CEO Henry) Juszkiewicz as her guest at Obama's jobs speech on 9/8, to make the point that, by enforcing laws inconvenient to Gibson Guitar, Obama is creating a bad environment for jobs.

As DK also tells us, “According to a law passed in 2008, prior to the Obama presidency, it is illegal to import wood that was illegally exported from its country of origin. Gibson Guitar was found doing exactly that, and was raided for further evidence. And this…is evidence that Obama is somehow overreaching. By enforcing laws passed under George W. Bush.” (and more from Captain Clueless in a minute, by the way)

As long as Moon Unit Bachmann continues to take up space in the U.S. House, Blackburn will never have to worry about being the stupidest Republican in that entire body. However, that really isn’t anything to brag about, is it?

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The National Football League earns a dubious mention for scheduling a full slate of games on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 (so let me get this straight – they were prepared to delay the season as a result of the players’ lockout in the event that a new collective bargaining agreement had not been reached, but they decided not to do that to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the worst foreign-based terrorist attack this country had ever seen).

As far as I’m concerned, the anniversary should have been a day of reflection and remembrance only; probably puts me in the minority, but so be it. Yes, I realize people probably went through that exercise in their own way within themselves, and that’s fine. However, there’s still a ton of information about the attacks, to say nothing of the aftermath, that we should remember and reflect on also (Rachel Maddow and Richard Engle of NBC News hosted a bunch of programs in this vein in the two weeks leading up to the remembrance; everyone else should have also…and a Do Gooder citation within this one goes to the New York Times for publishing a great remembrance section on the anniversary).

Would it have really killed the NFL to start the season on the week of 9/18 instead? I think not.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Anyone mad at NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg for deciding not to have any religious figures at the 9/11 10th anniversary observance at the WTC site; see, if you really wanted leaders of the religious faiths of all of the victims, that would include a Muslim or two also…and I would guess that more than a few of the people complaining about Bloomberg’s decision also helped raise the hue and cry over the “ground zero mosque” also, and Bloomberg probably decided that he didn’t want to deal with the whole mess…I can’t blame him (though Bloomberg would definitely not cover himself in glory in response to OWS later, which I’ve pointed out before I know)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Dubya, for claiming any credit whatsoever for bin Laden’s death (here...what a pathetic, venal little nothing of a human being; under this logic, or what passes for it, Bill Clinton should get credit too since he was hunting bin Laden before Dubya supposedly was)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

That sleazy weasel Eric Cantor for calling for cuts to first responders in exchange for emergency disaster aid on the eve of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 here (there are actually human beings who, I suppose, manage to sleep at night even though they voted for this cretin – beyond belief...also for this)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominees

The job search web site Indeed.com, for banning job listings that discriminate against unemployed job seekers (here)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao and “Eye Doctor” Rand Paul for thinking that their teabagger cred is more important than the health and well being of their constituents; as noted here, they both oppose President Obama’s American Jobs Act, and all the while, a major federal bridge connecting their state with Ohio (or Indiana – not sure) is closed due to “potentially serious and catastrophic” structural cracks (of course, Obama’s Act would put people to work fixing it – looks like something else besides the notions of government from these two nitwits is defective…but then again, Kentucky voters, somebody elected them – take a look in the mirror)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Federal Judge Christopher C. Conner of Pennsylvania ruled here that the individual mandate in the health care law is “unconstitutional” (commerce clause, commerce clause…how many stinking times do I have to keep repeating it?).

Why do I have a big, ugly picture of “Activist” Hangin’ Judge JR making new law and torpedoing the whole damn thing when it eventually gets to him?

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Claudia Rendon for this (and I'm curious to find out the employer who treated her so shabbily - no wonder they don't want that information to be known)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Ron Paul, at long last, for this – when it comes to political hypocrisy, I don’t know how you can get any lower (and hopefully I never will)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Federal Judge Marcia G. Cooke gets it for blocking a Florida law that forbids doctors from asking patients about whether or not they own a firearm here; Judge Cooke quite rightly claimed that the law violates the First Amendment speech rights of the doctors (of course, Lex Luthor Scott will appeal…another waste of taxpayer funds, but hey, people actually elected this meat sack – I keep saying that about these clowns because it’s always true).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Pat Robertson, for saying that Alzheimer’s somehow makes divorce OK here (no doubt taken from a passage included in the Book of Hypocrisy, Chapter 11, Verses 6:8)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominees

The Foo Fighters, for turning the tables on Fred Phelps and his gang of hateful, bigoted freaks, otherwise known as the Westboro Baptist Church, here (serenading them on a flatbed pickup truck dressed as hillbillies, right in front of one of their little protests – genius!)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The board of directors of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency get a dishonorable mention for awarding $750,000 in public funds to Brooklyn-based artist Tom Otterness to make 59 bronze sculptures of the “cartoonish characters he now makes” for a local subway station (here).

What could possibly be wrong with this? It turns out that in 1977, Otterness made a short film in which he shot and killed a dog he adopted from an animal shelter under the guise of “art.” And somehow the agency didn’t know this apparently when they gave Otterness the funds.

I’m sure another round of wingnut “humor” bashing San Francisco as a supposed bastion of liberal decadence was spawned over this. Nice work (at least San Francisco mayor Ed Lee has put the project on hold pending an investigation – h/t John at Eschaton).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Sen. Charles (“Muffin Man”) Grassley for this (and a dishonorable mention to Repug U.S. House Rep Ted Poe also...and does it need to be pointed out yet again that this turned out to be a wingnut "scandal" about absolutely nothing?)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

As noted here, cross-country runner Josh Ripley participated in a contest in Andover, MN in September; he was running the course when he heard a scream from another injured runner, Mark Paulauskas of Lakeville South.

Every other runner passed Paulauskas by, but not Ripley. So what did Ripley do? He turned and carried Paulauskas a half mile back to the starting line, which was a good thing because Paulauskas had been accidentally spiked by another runner on the course, and he needed to be taken to a nearby ER to get 20 stitches to stop the bleeding (he also needed to be fitted for a walking boot). After carrying the injured runner back, Ripley, though winded, still found a way to turn around and run the course, finishing the race.

So Ripley did a good deed and still somehow found the stamina to participate in the run. Nice work.

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Stephen Hill, serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq, for “coming out” in front of the Repug presidential candidates beauty pageant on 9/22 here (and Dregs citations both to the audience who actually booed Hill and the Repug presidential candidates for not both supporting Hill and telling the audience that they’re homophobic idiots)

Dregs of the Year (Maybe The Millennia) Nominee

Judge Edith Jones of the U.S Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for this (wow)…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Yes, I can picture the scolding I’ll get for this and snide derision about “the professional left” once more, but President Obama has to get it for the sale of bunker-buster bombs to Israel (h/t profmarcus – I guess this is the “geopolitik” approach from the Obama White House while also pressuring Israel to make concessions to the Palestinians over settlements, but I still think it stinks)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Rose Marie Belforti – as this New York Times story tells us, she is the…

…elected town clerk in this sprawling Finger Lakes farming community (Ledyard, N.Y.) and a self-described Bible-believing Christian. She believes that God has condemned homosexuality as a sin, so she does not want to sign same-sex marriage licenses; instead, she has arranged for a deputy to issue all marriage licenses by appointment.

…

Ms. Belforti, represented by a Christian legal advocacy group based in Arizona, the Alliance Defense Fund, is arguing that state law requires New York to accommodate her religious beliefs.

“New York law protects my right to hold both my job and my beliefs,” she said in an interview last week, pausing briefly to collect $50 from a resident planning to take 20 loads of refuse to the town dump. “I’m not supposed to have to leave my beliefs at the door at my government job.”

But the couple, Deirdre DiBiaggio and Katie Carmichael of Miami, are arguing that the law requires all clerks in New York to provide marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The couple are being represented by a liberal advocacy organization, People for the American Way, based in Washington.

“Gay people have fought so long and hard to get these civil rights,” said Ms. Carmichael, 53, a filmmaker. “To have her basically telling us to get in the back of the line is just not acceptable.”

In response, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says…

“When you enforce the laws of the state, you don’t get to pick and choose,” he said this summer. And the State Health Department issued a memorandum to clerks that refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples would be a misdemeanor.

Uh, yep.

So obey the damn law, OK? (h/t Atrios).

...on the other hand...

Dregs of the Year Nominee

New York Mayor Andrew Cuomo for this (he definitely should know better)

Dregs of the Year Nominee (Commemorative “Look Out Kid, It’s Something You Did…God Knows When, But You’re Doing It Again” Citation)

A certain R. Zimmerman – as noted here…

Bob Dylan faced uncomfortable questions Wednesday over several paintings in a New York exhibition by the prolific singer-songwriter that appear to have been copied directly from other artists' photographs.

The paintings are part of a show at the Gagosian Gallery titled "The Asia Series," billed as "a visual reflection on his travels in Japan, China, Vietnam, and Korea."

According to the Gagosian, the art work, which went on display earlier this month, shows how Dylan "is inspired by everyday phenomena in such a way that they appear fresh, new, and mysterious."

But Dylan watchers and an article in The New York Times highlight another mystery behind the exhibition: that several paintings supposedly reflecting Dylan's globe-trotting artistic career are nearly identical to already published photographs.

If Dylan used images of other artists, that’s fine as far as I’m concerned. All I (and others I’m sure) care about is that he acknowledge that. After all, it’s not as if most of them (I would guess) are going to come anywhere close to approaching him when it comes to celebrity status; maybe a plug from Dylan would help their careers or their recognition in the art world.

Otherwise, as somebody once wrote, “all the truth in the world adds up to one big lie.”

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Skank of America, as Bill Maher calls it; I actually was going to give them a pass on this because they had company in adding their onerous debit card monthly “swipe” fees along with other financial miscreants like Wells Fargo (B of A is going with $5 a month, and W.F. is going with $3 a month in some southern states, which means that, like a lot of other bad ideas from below that Mason-Dixon line, it will be nationwide soon enough).

But no, Skank gets it for the following supposed justification…

The bank, the largest in the nation by assets, blamed its decision on the so-called Durbin Amendment, a provision of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law put into place by Democrats in 2010 that set limits on the fees banks could charge retailers for swiping their debit cards.

Bank of America said the economics of debit cards has been altered by the fee limit, which will take effect Oct. 1. Banks say the fees go to pay indirect costs of providing debit cards, such as fraud and overdraft protection.

In response, Dick Durbin said the following…

“It seems that old habits die hard for Bank of America,” Durbin said in response to the new policy. “After years of raking in excess profits off an unfair and anti-competitive interchange system, Bank of America is trying to find new ways to pad their profits by sticking it to its customers.

“It’s overt, unfair and I hope their customers have the final say.”

I hope so too (sigh...also, Dregs citations to CEO Brian Moynihan for this and this).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Randy Forbes (here)…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times, who estimated here that there were only “80” protestors at the “Occupy Wall Street” protests, presumably across the country (try thousands, numb nuts…oh, and way to suck up to the criminals responsible for the catastrophic state of our economy the way you did in that book and movie of yours – another thing: I’m still waiting for your apology to Paul Krugman for saying that Krugman wanted to nationalize the U.S. banks, which was a flat-out lie)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

There are lots of reasons to give it to Charles and David Koch, but as noted here…

A Bloomberg Markets investigation has found that Koch Industries -- in addition to being involved in improper payments to win business in Africa, India and the Middle East -- has sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.S. identifies as a sponsor of global terrorism.

Why do Charles and David Koch hate America? And yes, I’m asking that question with total seriousness.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Moon Unit Bachmann, for replying, when a talk radio caller said he’d vote for Charles Manson over Obama, “hey, thank you for saying that” (what a pinecone…the correct answer is “even if you don’t like President Obama, it’s utterly disgusting to mention him in the same breath as one of this country’s most notorious mass murderers” – imagine the howls of outrage, which would be justifiable, if a lefty said something like that about Dubya...here)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Hank Williams, Jr. gets it for comparing Obama to Hitler here (God, that’s so 2009, dude). Oh, and as a result, that dumb song of his that led into “Monday Night Football” was dropped (tee hee…what an asshat, to say nothing of an unworthy namesake to your old man…and yes, he apologized, but I’m tired of idiots like him saying preposterous crap like this about Obama and then saying “oops, sorry if people were offended,” instead of saying “oops, I’m a freaking idiot for saying it in the first place”).

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for this (and best wishes to his wife in her recovery from breast cancer)

Dregs of the Year Nominee (Commemorative, “Hey, I’ve Got A New App Called ‘Hyperbole 4.0’” Citation)

Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs (who passed away in October, of course), compared Jobs’ death to the assassinations of JFK and John Lennon here (ummm, no...Jobs had been in poor health for some time and benefitted from the very best our for-profit health care system in this country has to offer; the other two were calamitous acts of sudden violence that shocked the world and have reverberated for decades, and will probably continue to do so).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Right-wing nut job (redundant?) Laura Ingraham for this…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

It should be noted that the performance of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg during the “Occupy Wall Street” protests starting in September has been particularly awful (pointing that out yet again, I know); not a word of reproach aimed at “Sergeant Pepper Spray” who snuck up on two women protestors behind a barricade and attacked them when they weren’t looking (the officer then did his best to disappear into the crowd), not a word of reproach at the NYC police officers who arrested some of the OWS crowd that tried to cross the Brooklyn Bridge without warning them not to do so in traffic lanes, and finally, this item in which he claims that the OWS protestors are “trying to destroy jobs” (your “benefactors” who bankroll your campaigns and are the targets of the protests have already done a far better job of that than anyone ever could).

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Goalie Jason LaBarbera of the Phoenix, AZ Coyotes earns a mention here; he has chosen to honor former Army Cpl. and one-time Arizona Cardinal football player Pat Tillman with images of Tillman on his goalie mask; as we all know, Tillman’s 2004 death in Afghanistan was propagandized to the max by our prior ruling cabal under Bushco before the truth came out that he was killed by friendly fire (Tillman was also a fan favorite at Arizona State).

Also…

For every win (LaBarbera) gets during the 2011-12 season, he plans to donate $420 -- Tillman's number was 42 -- to the Pat Tillman Foundation. It was started by Pat's widow, Marie, and provides support to military service members and their families.

All class.

...on the other hand...

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Patrick Howley for this (if anything, though, I’m surprised it took the wingnuts this long to try a stunt like this concerning OWS and the “99 percenters”)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

John Smid, the “ex-gay ministry leader” who has “come out” himself and recanted his previous teachings, which hopefully will lead to a greater understanding of LGBT issues (here)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who said, in response to the “Occupy Boston” protest (in which protestors were arrested for supposedly despoiling a green area, even though that city’s jackbooted cops did a lot more to do that during the actual arrest than the protestors did), that “civil disobedience doesn’t work for Boston” here (ummm…if it weren’t for “civil disobedience” in Boston from about 240 or so years ago, this country wouldn’t exist – h/t Will Bunch)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The city council of Topeka, Kansas, for repealing its local law that makes domestic violence a crime as a “cost cutting” measure here (what the hell is wrong with these people?)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Pancake Joe Pitts for this latest atrocity, a bill that would allow hospitals that already don’t perform abortions to turn away women seeking the procedure to save their lives, basically denying abortions in any circumstance (I assume Pitts is married, but I don’t know; if so, his wife truly suffers from Stockholm Syndrome)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominees

Yahoo, for deciding to part ways with the “U.S.” Chamber of Commerce (here)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Trent (“You Have To Have Shot Someone” To Be Elected) Franks of Arizona…yes, Arizona, the state containing the city of Tucson, where you-know-what happened last January (here - what an asshat)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Freshman (person?) Repug U.S. House Rep Jamie Herrera Beutler gets it here for asking the Centralia (WA) Chronicle newspaper not to publish her “town hall” event, apparently wishing to keep it secret so only her supporters would find out (nice try, cupcake – and a Do Gooder citation to the Chronicle for refusing to go along with her stupid request).

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Marine Corps Sgt. Shamar Thomas, who stood up to 30 NYC policemen during the Occupy Wall Street protest in October, with only words as his weapon (the act of a true hero - here)



More later (yes, there's more).

Tuesday Stuff

(Hopefully back to “Do-Gooders And Dregs” tomorrow, by the way…)

Thirty years ago, the former Soviet Union crushed the Polish Solidarity movement and imposed martial law – here is a remembrance (oh, and by the way, Jeane Kirkpatrick reminds us here of Jimmy Carter’s “malaise” speech, which I always thought was a strange thing to call it seeing as how Carter never uttered the word in his speech even once – of course, Kirkpatrick’s spin on the speech is nothing but propaganda, which was typical for her – peversely funny now to hear Richard Perle telling us that “détente didn’t work” when that is exactly what The Sainted Ronnie R pursued with Gorby later that decade).

Also, you may find some of the same parallels that I found between Solidarity in the clip and today’s “Occupy” protests, just to let you know…



…and I’m sorry – I believe in a just and merciful God, but I can’t believe He would let us be lucky enough to get this baboon as the nominee…



…and here is more traditional seasonal fare…



…and I suppose this is too.

Monday Stuff

You can tell that Willard Mitt Romney really “screwed the pooch” on the whole “$10,000 bet” thing when even our corporate media decided to pay attention (of course, “Fix and Fiends” couldn’t resist the opportunity to propagandize about the payroll tax cut in one of the clips…and not only does it make Romney look like a rich, out-of-touch, elitist Republican – which he is – but based on this, it makes him a pretty lousy Mormon too, inasmuch as it’s possible to measure that)…



…and if there’s ever a blog that deserves some coin or two, it’s Think Progress, for the reasons noted in the clip (from here)…



…and I always liked this John Denver version of a holiday favorite, full of scenes from The Big Apple…



…and though this isn’t what “Der Bingle” had in mind, it still works for me anyway.

Sunday Stuff

Isn’t it hilarious to hear well-to-do white people pontificate about how “poor” kids should work at an early age instead of benefit from the comparatively meager educational opportunities that exist for them (to say nothing of the largely well-to-do white people in the audience applauding that idiotic notion - here)?



Oh, and by the way, in response to Gingrich’s crap about janitors and teachers, I give you the following (here)…

New York City teachers certainly don’t get paid enough. The base pay is about $45,000, and it takes 22 long years to hit the $100,000 cap, according to the Department of Education. A city janitor maxes out about $6,000 higher—those top 20 reported to earn over $140,000 did so through massive overtime. But in the U.S., the average janitor makes $22,000—roughly half of a teacher’s starting pay. A handful of custodians who have worked long and hard enough to make a good living shouldn’t be an affront to anyone.

Also, from here…

The fact is, Gingrich and the Republican Party want to end child labor laws so that they can replace union workers with cheap labor. Children are easily manipulated and if Gingrich were allowed to put his plan in action, corporations wouldn’t have to provide health care to their new child labor force because they would all be working part-time. This is a way for corporations to eliminate adult workers and would aid in the Republican scheme to end public education. When would young kids find time for school if they are working for pennies? The answer is they wouldn’t. And at that crucial age, school is very important to the development of young minds. If children have to work, it would most likely have to be during the day, when schools are in session. Children will miss valuable educational lessons and will grow up to be ignorant, which is exactly what the Republican Party wants the population to be. Besides, if young kids are used to replace adults in the workforce, they are unlikely to find jobs as an adult because their jobs will be filled by another generation of child labor. Republicans want to groom future generations of Americans to accept what amounts to slave labor. It’s a vicious cycle that will only serve the interests of corporations and the GOP.

Yep, I would say that pretty much nails it.

Also, as noted here (when Gingrich was House Speaker before he resigned in disgrace, in response to Gingrich telling us how much he supposedly loves to fund science)…

…Gingrich and his Republican colleagues succeeded...in pushing through a broad program of (budget) austerity that, though it preserve(d) most of the basic research programs now in place, (put) them on a strict diet. As this issue went to press, most basic research institutions, such as the National Institutes of Health, which sponsors biological and medical research, were slated for cost-of-living increases at best, while others, such as the National Science Foundation, were expected to have to make do on slightly less.

…

The Republicans are expected to continue chipping away at spending on science in 1996. If Congress makes good on its resolution to balance the budget, it will have to cut science and technology spending by 3 3 percent (I assume that’s 3.3 with a typo) over the next seven years, according to estimates by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Stagnation could be the result, as young scientists find it increasingly difficult to win funding. From their viewpoint, American science could be racing toward the millennium on a diet of cold gruel.

And there are people I talk to who actually wonder why I don’t watch this crap.

...and from the ridiculous to the sublime, I give you this.

Saturday Stuff

Is anybody out there looking for a holiday “stocking stuffer”? Here’s a suggestion (probably a little late on this video, I’ll admit – I never imagined a line of sorts from shielding a certain R.M. Nixon all the way to shielding the banksters, Big Pharma, and the rest of the one percent, but fortunately, Glenn Greenwald did more than imagine it)…



…and I thought this was a catchy little seasonal number (sorry, no video).

Friday Stuff

Happy 95th birthday to Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas (a scene that has been often lampooned, but never duplicated, nor could it be)…



…and kudos to Elizabeth Warren for giving Turd Blossom a dose of what he deserves (here)…

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

…and Rachel Maddow brings us the “Best New Thing In The World” (yeah, it’s all about that infrastructure that the Repugs hate so much…and by the way, on a similar theme, that being jobs, this was a great Guest Opinion in the Bucks County Courier Times today, for a change)…

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

…and here is another holiday item (jump back - gonna kiss myself!).

Doomsy's Do-Gooders And Dregs (2011 - Pt. 7)

(On we go...Part One is here, Part Two is here, Part Three is here, Part Four is here, Part Five is here, and Part Six is here.)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for acting like an adult here on the issue of raising the debt limit, coming up with a plan to raise the ceiling by $2.7 trillion along with $2.7 trillion in cuts, which largely come from “winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” as opposed to Man Tan Boehner and his fellow Repugs who don’t give a damn about the deficit and want to do all they can to stick it to Obama (and gut entitlements as well as preserving those stinking Bush tax cuts, of course – the NYT said Reid’s deal wasn’t so hot, but at least he tried to move the ball the right way, as it were)…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

“Pastor” Rick (Half Of America Doesn’t Pay Taxes) Warren here (yet another h/t Atrios - maybe a record this year)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema, who ruled that NY Times reporter James Risen did not have to testify in court about who gave him details on a top-secret CIA program targeting Iran; Judge Brinkema ruled Risen would only be required to take the stand to verify the accuracy of his reporting and would not be required to identify any confidential source or sources (wise – here)…

…but on the other hand, Judge Brinkema might have unnecessarily opened up the proverbial can of worms, as noted here.

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Former U.S. House Rep Bob Edgar, now head of Common Cause, who was arrested here along with 10 other religious leaders in July after they knelt to pray in the Capitol Rotunda to protest proposed cuts to social services prior to the conclusion over that utter nonsense in the matter of raising the debt ceiling (Edgar is also a United Methodist minister…exactly the sort of person we need in government, as opposed to the type of cretins we generally have now)

...and speaking of cretins...

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Doug Lamborn of Colorado, who said here that associating with President Obama is like “touching a tar baby” (he later apologized, yet again, as well he should...at least the third such instance this year by my count)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Former Dregs of the Year Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao, who said here after that ridiculous debt ceiling vote nonsense played itself out in August that he was prepared to go through all of it again (once more, idiot voters send this life form back to Washington over and over…unfortunately, McConnell’s antics affect not just Kentucky, but the whole country)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

“Holy Joe” Lieberman for this (presumably, so we can fight them “there” so we don’t have to fight them “here,” and yes, that’s snark...this guy can't be gone soon enough)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

“Uber Alles” Buchanan for referring to Obama as “boy” here (and kudos to Al Sharpton for not letting him get away with it…seriously, why is Buchanan still on TV?)...

…and more here (unbelievable).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug Iowa Governor Terry Branstad for vetoing a tax break for the poor because it didn’t lower corporate taxes (here – what a scumwad)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Once again, the bar is set low, but I have to give it to Governor Bully for this (lots of other stuff wrong with this guy of course, but he "found the nut" here)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominees

Our brave Navy SEALs and other personnel killed in Afghanistan in August here (I’m sure the Pentagon is doing some kind of a review to determine why the #@!! so many of them were in that chopper together, including Chief Petty Officer Michael Strange of Philadelphia)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Actor Jeremy Irons for this charming quote (and by the way, for all of his good performances, he should have paid me to sit through “Dead Ringers”…h/t Daily Kos)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The 11th Circuit Federal Appeals Court for ruling against the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate here (commerce clause, people – how many goddamn times do we need to keep repeating that?)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Shery Lanford Smith of the Sumter County, Wisconsin Tea Party (figures) gets it for making yet another joke here about killing President and Mrs. Obama here (ha ha – have fun explaining this to the Secret Service, wingnut).

And Joe Nocera of the New York Times actually felt he had to apologize to these cretins (actually, he should’ve apologized for that horrible column about Boeing and the Dems in August)…

…and I guess Nocera would apologize to the Teahadists for this too.

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Judge David Hamilton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit earns a mention here; he upheld a lawsuit by Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel, two contractors who went to Iraq to work for an American security firm and became whistleblowers when Mr. Vance grew suspicious that the company was involved in illegal activity, including weapons trafficking (the suit by the two claims they were “physically threatened, abused, and assaulted by the anonymous U.S. officials working as guards”).

And by the way, the parties named in the suite are Former Defense Secretary Rummy “and others” (Bushco will face the music one of these days, and hopefully, this is the beginning of that process).

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Minnesota Twin (and former Phillie...and now a Phillie again - yaay!) Jim Thome for hitting his 600th career home run in August (here)…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Baby Newton Leroy Gingrich for saying here that same-sex marriage is to blame for our lousy economy (OWWWW, TEH STOO-PID!!! IT BURNS US!!! And he's the frontrunner - hilarious)…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Willard Mitt Romney for criticizing Obama's vacation in Martha’s Vineyard here (here we go again) – turns out the Mittster will be there the same day (what a moron)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Crazy Tom Coburn for this (and he will never face criticism over remarks like this from our corporate media – ever)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Pope Benedict XVI for this (a little more of what you might call "social action" would be nice to go with this too, Your Holiness)…

Worst Attempt at False Equivalency By A Dem Who Should Know Better

The term “firebagger” was coined by Obama campaign staffer Ray Sandoval in an attempt to demonize those on the left who may be a bit strident at times (though we’re just about always right on the issues, as it happens) by equating us with the teabaggers, presumably meant as a shot at the blog firedoglake (here - and the geniuses in the Obama Administration actually wonder why “the professional left” gets mad at them).

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Antonio Diaz Chacon, who chased down a suspected child abductor and saved a 6-year-old girl from what could have been a horrible fate, as the story tells us; on top of that, he also announced that he’s here in this country illegally (I don’t typically encourage that, but I admire his courage for standing up and doing his best to defeat the wingnut narrative that all illegals are nothing but law-breaking scum living off the “big gumint” teat…by doing so, Chacon single handedly has made a tremendous case for common-sense federal immigration reform AT LONG LAST!)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Puppy dog-eyes Paul Ryan for calling the cops on unemployed constituents who staged a sit-in at his office to protest Ryan’s plan to pay for access to his town hall meetings here (oh, but he’s a common sense, Catholic conservative according to our corporate media, not a shameless lackey for the “pay no price, bear no burden” investor class doing ALEC’s bidding…sure he is)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

“Straight Talk” McCain and Huckleberry Graham for thanking every country but the U.S. for their role in topping Quaddafi in August here (the lengths that some people won’t go to in order to take a swipe at Number 44 – why do they hate America?)

Dregs of the Year Nominee (“One Really BAA-AAD Idea” Citation)

PA Gov. Tom “Space Cadet” Corbett gets it for his education budget cuts that forced schools in Carlisle, PA to use sheep to cut grass instead of lawnmowers here (unbelievable).

Dregs of the Year Nominee (Special “Born Free…Of Intelligence” Citation)

Texas (of course) GOP congressional candidate Roger Williams compared welfare recipients to donkeys here (takes one to know one, dude).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Steve Chabot of Ohio for banning cell phones and video recorders (which happens to be illegal) from his “town hall” events as a response to push-back he got over lying about Planned Parenthood here (this tactic is also utterly appalling – what country am I living in again?)...

…though it looks like somebody got the message to this clown (here).

Dregs of the Year Nominees (Commemorative “Seven Days In May” Citation)

William Gheen, head of the hardline anti-immigration group Americans for Legal Immigration, who appeared on the talk radio show of “Christian” wingnut Janet Mefferd to discuss plans for an actual military coup against Obama here…so the citation goes out to Gheen, Mefferd – who apparently treated this in kind of a typical blasé manner instead of telling Gheen that he and his pals are nuts and engaging in a criminal act – and those shadowy characters who are actually discussing and probably planning treason against this country; I just asked the question, but I’m keen to ask it once more…what country am I living in again?)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, who said here that he expect unemployment to remain high “for years” (for a guy who wrote his thesis on the Great Depression I believe, he sure is dumb as a rock when it comes to putting people back to work)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

Daniel Webster and Tim Griffin for this…

“Perhaps A Distant Relative of Chase Utley?” Commemorative Citation

As noted here…

Global news outlets and blogs in Asia have focused this week on a young woman who graduated top of her class at a prestigious college in Singapore. Except they aren't raving about the student's accomplishments. They're abuzz with a bad word she dropped in her graduation speech, according to Singapore's Straits Times.

"We f–king did it!" Trinetta Chong exclaimed to congratulate her peers at Nanyang Technical University's 2011 graduating ceremony. The 23-year-old's remark came after what a local reports called a "rousing" six-minute speech.

Might as well blame those lazy, overweight, unemployed Americans for that also, huh?

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Foundation, for using unpaid Chinese laborers to complete the memorial here (the dedication ceremony was postponed from August 28th due to Hurricane Irene – I seem to recall Dr. King having a thing or two to say about economic opportunity; in fact, supporting it was the last thing he did before he died...more here)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Stuart Varney of Fix Noise gets it for saying the poor lack “a richness of spirit” here…

You know what? Upon further consideration, I must tell you that I don’t even know what the #@!$ that means, but if nothing else, it’s still pretty damn stupid.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

“Goodhair” Perry earns a mention here for billing the U.S. $350 million, supposedly for the cost of Texas incarcerating undocumented immigrants; the thought process (or what passes for one) I guess is that it’s the fault of the federal government for not passing immigration reform.

As noted here, that same supposedly awful federal government assumed $10 million of Texas debt when that state entered the union in 1845 (no idea how that translates to current dollars). So Perry really should shut his pie hole on this (but why pass up the chance for a good sound bite, I guess?).

Oh, and Perry wrongfully claimed that "tort reform" has been a panacea in his state, when in fact, you could argue that it has increased Medicare spending in his state, as noted here.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Glenn Beck for calling Hurricane Irene a “blessing” here (typically disgusting)…

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

California school superintendent Larry Powell for this…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

The Pima County, AZ Republican Party for this (hard to find the words to truly communicate my disgust)…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

President Obama for backing down on creating and enforcing a new standard on ozone pollution here (it’s almost comical to see how many times President Hopey Changey gets rolled by his foes…we need a fighting Dem, but unfortunately, we’re stuck with someone who, more often than not, is nothing but a martinet...lately, though, he's shown a bit more of a spine, which I attribute to OWS)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

New York State Rep Leo Berman of the Crazy Party here for being the one to get all that “anti-Sharia law” crap propagated all over the country, particularly the south of course (a “solution” in search of a problem)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Jim Renacci of Ohio for banning a cameraman from the Democratic Party-aligned group American Bridge from his most recent town hall here (I’m sure Mikey the Beloved is taking notes)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Mike Coffman of Colorado, who said here that having Peace Corps volunteers teaching English in China is “an insult to the American taxpayer” (oh yeah, it’s the fault of the Peace Corps that our supposedly august captains of industry in this country, in their eternal, dunderheaded stupidity, gave away the computer hardware business to China and the lion’s share of software development to India to turn a quick profit, to say nothing of adding to the deficit they pretend to care about…God forbid we should act like we belong to a community of nations – so “pre-9/11,” right?)

Dregs of the Year Nominee (Collectively)

The Richmond, VA area Holiday Inn that cancelled an engagement with that sleazy weasel Eric Cantor, citing liberal protestors that the Inn said were “a security threat” here (a demonstration was planned the same night Cantor was slated to speak – yeah, and your breakfast buffet stinks too)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Alex Dicandio, a college student in Tampa, attended a Phillies road game against the Florida Marlins and tried to catch what would have been a ground-ruled double at the very least by Hunter Pence of the Phillies (possibly a home run) with his cap, and ended up interfering with Marlins’ right fielder Bryan Petersen here (and yes, Dicandio is a Phillies fan apparently since he was wearing a team jersey).

Pence was ultimately ruled out on the play, quite probably negating two runs that would have given the Phillies the lead and possibly a win in a game they ended up losing in 14 innings.

So what did Dicandio say? “It should have been a home run.” It probably would have been, doofus, if you hadn’t interfered (yes, calling the player out in that situation is a stupid rule, though it is a matter of interpretation I realize, but trying to change that is a topic for another day; because of the ump’s ruling, Phils manager Charlie Manuel complained and was tossed, and the team played the rest of the game under protest).

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Mike Lofgren, former staff member of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote a column here for TruthOut in which he explained why he left Capitol Hill after 30 years and why Republicans are not to be trusted and have devolved into a cult, in his insider opinion (kudos for speaking truth to stupid).

More later (we're getting there).

Thursday Stuff

I thought this was pretty funny, bad words and all...

Rick Perry - Weak (Strong Parody) - watch more funny videos

…and I’m glad to see that Billo successfully defended himself against the mortal threat of a bystander with a high-res camera asking him a perfectly innocent question (what a turd - Falafel Man I mean)…



…”Worst Persons” (God, Fix Noise is sure hyping the anti-Obama spin cycle into overdrive, aren’t they; Glenn Beck, while trying to plug his next media event, inadvertently steers people towards a gay porn web site…in the immortal words of Max Bialystock in “The Producers,” “just say ‘oops’ and get out”; but Rick Santorum earns another dubious mention for saying that we don’t need food stamps because there is obesity in America – whatever comes after us is going to wonder how in God’s name any human being anywhere would have been stoo-pid enough to help elect Santorum to any public office of any kind)…



…and in keeping with the tradition for this day, I give you the following.

Doomsy's Do-Gooders And Dregs (2011 - Pt. 6)

(Part One is here, Part Two is here, Part Three is here, Part Four is here, and Part Five is here.)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The western Michigan teabaggers and U.S. House Rep Justin Amash here for having reporters from Think Progress and seniors ejected from a supposed “town hall” event in which Amash spoke because the people from TP allegedly threw things at the teabaggers, even though multiple individuals testified that no objects were ever thrown (and as TP notes, it’s particularly funny that the teabaggers advocate transparency, supposedly)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Kansas state house Republican Pete DeGraaf – I’ll let this exchange with fellow Rep. Barbara Bollier speak for itself, just as the poster at Daily Kos did (here)…

(DeGraaf), a Mulvane Republican who supports the bill (that called for banning coverage for abortions of rape pregnancies…Dear God, why are these clowns debating this garbage??), told (Bollier): "We do need to plan ahead, don't we, in life?"

Bollier asked him, "And so women need to plan ahead for issues that they have no control over with pregnancy?"

DeGraaf drew groans of protest from some House members when he responded, "I have a spare tire on my car."

"I also have life insurance," he added. "I have a lot of things that I plan ahead for."

And the linked story from the Daily Kos post tells us that DeGraaf is actually a “pastor.”

I cannot imagine what is in the minds of these people, and hopefully, I never will.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug Georgia U.S. House Rep Rob Woodall gets a citation here; in response to a query from a constituent about obtaining health insurance after they’re dropped from their employer and lose private coverage, he chided her and said “when am I going to decide to take care of me” instead of “the gumint” doing it, presumably (Dregs citations also to the idiot constituents who applauded the remark from Woodall).

To begin, it should be noted (according to Ryan Grim’s story) that Woodall now makes about $174 grand a year with “generous benefits,” so he is hardly in the same situation as the vast majority of the constituents he represents. Second, in his tirade about everything that is supposedly wrong with government, he warbled on about how Social Security is adding to the debt, which is a pretty obvious clue that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, since that is part of a separate fund that is nowhere near bankruptcy.

I believe that, basically, constituents get the elected officials they deserve, and it looks like the people represented by this numbskull just want to turn off their brains, turn up the ether and just let themselves be lied to and taken advantage of time and time again.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

House Majority Leader and sleazy weasel Eric Cantor for calling for spending cuts here to (I suppose) offset aid to Joplin, MO, which was struck by a tornado that killed more than 100 people and wrought horrific devastation (as Steve Benen noted elsewhere on this, Cantor has pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of making Tom DeLay look like a moderate by comparison – DeLay has said to pretty much just ante up the aid without any strings, or at least he has said so in similar circumstances)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

“Bibi” Netanyahu, who is a world-class liar for saying here that Israel “does not occupy the West Bank,” when even Ariel Sharon admitted that they did as far back as 2003 (and a secondary citation to all of the idiots in the House who applauded Netanyahu when he said so...of course, Obama and Sarkozy are supposedly bad guys for this - riiiiight)

Dregs of the Year Nominee (and related to the item above)...

Rob Andrews for this (and he was doing so well, but this is a big step backward)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

The Mittster for now claiming here that he supported the automaker bailout (which, again, was really a loan), when he wrote the following in 2009 in the NYT: “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Reagan-appointed federal Judge James Cacheris, who ruled here that corporations have a constitutional right to contribute money directly to political candidates (I thought there may be hope from this development, but no – he let that awful ruling stand, as noted here)

Dregs of the Year Nominee (Special “Welcome To The Club” Citation)

Repug U.S. House Rep Joe Walsh said here that President Obama was elected because he’s black (giving voice to a wingnut narrative others wish would stay silent, no doubt).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

John Elway, vice president of the Denver Broncos and Hall of Famer, for telling the punk rock band Elway to change its name, which actually turned into great publicity for the band, here (maybe the band should change its name to "Quarterback That Bailed On The City of Baltimore" instead)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Get ready for a shock – Kristol Mess gets it for accidentally telling the truth here (the bar is set really low again, I know).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Lex Luthor Scott in Florida for pushing for welfare recipients to undergo drug tests before they claim benefits here (I hope those Florida voters who thought he was a reasonable alternative to Alex Sink last year are happy with themselves)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

That half-term, moose-hunting-from-a-helicopter former governor of Alaska herself for claiming here in Massachusetts (during that bike/bus/whatever tour in May/June) that, during the legendary midnight ride of Paul Revere, he warned The British also (and runner-up citations to her single-digit-IQ fans who tried to edit the related Wikipedia page here to make it conform to her twisted narrative – see HuffPo…still, though, The Old Gray Lady and Mark Leibovich decided to feature her as the main story in its Week in Review section on 6/5 – that woman can literally say or do anything and still get press)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug LA state rep John Labruzzo for comparing women seeking abortions to heroin addicts here (he’s lucky this got out on the same day as the “Weinis” story, as Atrios called it, broke)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Paul Broun of Georgia for this (typical of a repeat offending a-hole like this guy)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Delta Airlines gets a note of infamy here for charging troops returning from Afghanistan an extra $200 each to bring a fourth bag home, forcing one unit to pay more than $2,800 in baggage fees. Evidently, Delta’s policy is to allow troops only three free checked bags, while the soldiers said that their military orders allow them to carry up to four bags free of charge.

So they’re anti-union, anti-fair elections, and now anti-troops to go along with it.

Bastards.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Willard Mitt (“I’m Also Unemployed”) Romney here (elitist, rich, out-of-touch asshole – another h/t to Atrios)…

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for suggesting in a ruling that undocumented immigrants have no Fourth Amendment rights (here)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The fans of the Vancouver Canucks for rioting in that city after the team lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals on their home ice here (hey, you’re only entitled to do that if you win, and yes, I’m being tongue-in-cheek…I was tempted to cite the Boston Bruins fans for a pic where two of the faithful were smiling as they watched Mason Raymond of the Canucks sprawled on the ice with a compression fracture of his vertebrae after a check by Johnny Boychuck of the Bruins, but I thought better of it…I don’t know how the other Bruin fans in attendance reacted)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Texas (of course) State Senator Chris Harris gets it for telling Antolin Aguirre of the Austin Immigrant Rights coalition here that “he should be speaking in English” before Harris’ subcommittee during a hearing on an immigration bill (Aguirre, a naturalized citizen since 2001, brought an interpreter with him…probably wouldn’t have done any good anyway, since I don’t think either one of them knew how to talk in “stupid-ese” to Harris).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

The High Court of Hangin’ Judge JR gets the nod yet again for tossing the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that certified the class action lawsuit brought against Wal-Mart by, at one time, 1.5 million women employees claiming discrimination in pay, though the number had fallen to about 500,000 with other court rulings (Scalia – of course – writing for the majority, said that the claim didn’t meet the “commonality” standard, though that many claimants having the same grievance sounds pretty “common” to me…as Adam B. of Daily Kos points out here, business wins in the Roberts court yet again).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Ian Ritchie, the head of England's Wimbledon tennis tournament, for complaining here about the grunting of women tennis players during matches (Dude, seriously, is that what preoccupies your time? Actually, I think it’s kind of kick-ass)…

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Louis “Luigi” Borda, a teacher at the college-prep Masterman school in Philadelphia, who embarked on a 100-mile run to Harrisburg to protest the “catastrophic” (yep, that fits) cuts to public education by Repug Gov. Tom “Space Cadet” Corbett (here)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Todd Akin of Missouri for saying here that liberals hate God (a consequence of the continued right-wing hissy fit over NBC’s airing of a pre-taped segment before the U.S. Open golf match including the Pledge of Allegiance - ?? – in which the words “under God” and “indivisible” were omitted, though the network apologized for the omission…wonder how many wingnuts like Akin know that the phrase “under God” wasn’t added to the Pledge until 1953, and the “Bellamy” pose when reading the Pledge for years looked suspiciously like the Sieg Heil salute?)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

The bar continues to be set low here, but I have to give it to Moon Unit Bachmann for this…

…on the other hand…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

To Bachmann for this and this (And what is it with Repug candidates stealing songs? And I think she tried it with “Walking on Sunshine” too and got slapped down again.)

...and let's not forget this too.

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Greta Van Susteren of Fix Noise for saying here that Wisconsin Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson should resign, in response to the news that fellow justice David Prosser “grabbed (Justice Ann Walsh Bradley) around the neck” in an argument in Bradley’s chambers in June (as TP tells us, Abramson has also been victimized by Prosser’s abusive behavior also…and of course, not a word of reproach to Prosser himself)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Missouri Repug Governor Jay Nixon gets it for cutting help for abused children in his state to pay for flood disaster relief here (secondary citations to a certain Willard Mitt Romney and that sleazy weasel Eric Cantor for saying that it is immoral and unacceptable to offer disaster assistance without other spending cuts…then again, give them a minute before they yammer on about how much we supposedly still need Dubya’s stinking tax cuts, one of our biggest deficit “drivers”).

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Judge Emmet Sullivan for this…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

That fossil Don Imus yet again for this, and yes, I think the photo juxtaposition was intentional (how many second chances is this guy supposed to get?)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

NJ State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a Dem, for being dumb enough to actually trust Governor Bully and helping to sell that state’s public employee unions down the proverbial river (here…and for waiting to get angry until AFTER he was totally played by Christie – was this guy born last night or something? Yes, I know he ended up doing the right thing in the end, but give me a break!)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

The Houston, TX jury that acquitted Charles Boartz and KBR of raping former employee Jamie Leigh Jones here (almost too despicable for words)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Obama SecDef Leon “”We’re In Iraq Because of 9/11” Panetta (here – thanks for helping to codify perhaps the most egregious of all the Bushco lies that we have been working tirelessly to refute)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Arizona State Sen. Lori Klein (R). who aimed her raspberry-pink handgun here at a journalist who was interviewing her about her pro-gun positions outside of her chambers; the gun, a .380 Ruger, was loaded, and Klein did not have the safety on (oh, but I’m sure that raspberry pink color was just so adorable, wasn’t it?)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Christian Lopez, the New York Yankees fan who, after catching the ball from Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit (a home run), gave it back to Jeter when Lopez could have kept it and probably earned six figures out of the deal…and though it pains me to say this, a Dregs citation goes to the IRS for making Lopez pay anywhere from $5 to $13G in taxes on the gifts he received from the Yankees in return, including “luxury box tickets for the rest of the season (including postseason), along with signed baseballs, bats and jerseys from Jeter” – Lopez also scored four premium front-row seats to the June 10th Yankees-Rays game (sickens me that a honest man like Lopez could get hosed on taxes like this while megacorps like GE ended up paying zilch in taxes in 2010 - here)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Peter King for this (what balls, considering how his party takes its marching orders from Roger Ailes and Rupert The Pirate…Dem Rep Earl Blumenauer of Oregon gets a nod also for echoing King’s call for an investigation into “RupertCorp”...more on this later)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Cisco, for this…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Eric (“I Don’t Remember Any Terrorist Attacks On American Soil” Between 2000 and 2008) Bolling (here…the bar for a Fix Noise flunky is already set low, but he cleared it easily)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco for ruling here that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” should continue (and the Obama Administration also for asking for a continuance of this discriminatory policy)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

“President Hopey Changey” himself gets it for bailing on Elizabeth Warren as head of the consumer financial protection bureau (here, even though Gallup said Obama was “over performing” here).

Yes, Obama gets credit for standing up and walking out on that ridiculous debt ceiling meeting with Eric Cantor in July, but then he turns around and utterly caves on making Warren a recess appointment.

Do I need to point out for the hundredy umpteenth time how Obama’s predecessor would have handled this? He would have “recessed” the nominee he wanted anyway and extended the middle digit to Congress (and, knowing Dubya, he might have literally done that), all with that idiotic smirk on his face.

Going “balls out,” as it were, to support Warren here was the correct course of action, Mr. President. Instead, yet again, you cut a progressive off at the proverbial knees.

And funny, but I seem to have lost that “Obama 2012” fundraising Email and, gosh darn it, wouldn’t you know that I can’t find it? What a shame (of course, a benefit of this was that it spurred Warren to run against “Wall Street Scott” Brown in Massachusetts, where, last I checked, she had a slight lead).

Update: My bad - seven points is more than "slight" (woo-hoo!).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Tom McClintock of CA for this…

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Rais Bhuiyan (this Think Progress post tells us who he is and why what he’s trying to do is so heroic – it would be nice if everyone prattling on about the ZOMG SCARY GROUND ZERO “MOSQUE”! story had read it also)…

More later...