(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 NomineeGuy 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 NomineeConservative 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 NomineeFormer 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 NomineeRepug 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 NomineesThe 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 NomineeAnyone 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 NomineeDubya, 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 NomineeThat 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 NomineesThe job search web site Indeed.com, for banning job listings that discriminate against unemployed job seekers (
here)
Dregs of the Year NomineesSen. 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 NomineeFederal 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 NomineeClaudia 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 NomineeRon 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 NomineeFederal 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 NomineePat 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 NomineesThe 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 NomineesThe 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 NomineeSen. 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 NomineeAs 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 NomineeStephen 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) NomineeJudge Edith Jones of the U.S Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for
this (wow)…
Dregs of the Year NomineeYes, 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 NomineeRose 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 NomineeNew 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 NomineeSkank 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 NomineeRepug U.S. House Rep Randy Forbes (
here)…
Dregs of the Year NomineeAndrew 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 NomineesThere 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 NomineeMoon 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 NomineeHank 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 NomineeSenate 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 NomineeRight-wing nut job (redundant?) Laura Ingraham for
this…Dregs of the Year NomineeIt 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 NomineeGoalie 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 NomineePatrick 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 NomineeJohn 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 NomineeBoston 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 NomineesThe 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 NomineesYahoo, for deciding to part ways with the “U.S.” Chamber of Commerce (
here)
Dregs of the Year NomineeRepug 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 NomineeFreshman (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 NomineeMarine 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).
(Part One is here, Part Two is here, Part Three is here, Part Four is here, Part Five is here, Part Six is here, Part Seven is here, and Part Eight is here.)
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Dregs of the Year Nominee (Commemorative “Look Out Kid, It’s Something You Did…God Knows When, But You’re Doing It Again” Citation)
Dregs of the Year Nominee
Dregs of the Year Nominee