Saturday Stuff

Happy belated 75th birthday to boomer icon Mary Tyler Moore (and best wishes for good health too)…



…and I think this is a good question aimed at the presumptive Repug presidential nominee…



…and this, when all is said and done, is probably my favorite tune from the year that is coming to a close (so apropos)…



…and yeah, I think this is a nice tune for ringing in 2012; won’t mind seeing 2011 fade into obscurity (and once more, Happy New Year to one and all).

Friday Stuff

Huffington Post is replaying what it considers some of the funniest political moments on late night TV over the past year, and here is one - I would be inclined to agree (And remember when it was supposedly a big deal that Conan O'Brien was shopping around for a new channel for his show?)...



...and here is another favorite video from the last 12 months.

Doomsy's Do-Gooders And Dregs (2011 - Pt. 12)

(I know it's hard to believe, but since all good things must come to an end...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, Part Eight is here, Part Nine is here, Part Ten is here, and Part Eleven is here.)

RIP

Pete Postlethwaite, Anne Francis, Gerry Rafferty, Matthew Crozier, Federal Judge John Roll, Christina-Taylor Green, Dave Nelson, Susannah York, Josephine Harris, Sargent Shriver, Don Kirshner, Jack LaLanne, David Kato, John Barry, Ernest McCulloch, Brian Rust, Maria Schneider, Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, Gary Moore, Rashawn Anderson, Chuck Tanner, George Shearing, Kenneth Mars, Frank Buckles, Jane Russell, Shabhaz Bhatti, David Broder, Rick Martin, Warren Christopher, Bill Winslade, Elizabeth Taylor, Joseph William “Pinetop” Perkins, Geraldine Ferraro, Richard Leacock, Joe Bageant, Sabah al-Bazi, Farley Granger, John Adler, Baruch Blumberg, E.J. McGuire, John Sullivan, Sidney Lumet, William Donald Schaefer, Tim Hetherington, Anton Hammerl, Chris Hondros, Madelyn Pugh Davis. Michael Sarrazin, Phoebe Snow, Don Clark, Marian Mercer, Jackie Cooper, William Campbell, Cornell Dupree, Odell Brown, Jr., Harmon Killebrew, Jeff Conaway, Gil Scott-Heron, James Arness, Andrew Gold, David Mason (trumpet player on “Penny Lane”), Carl Gardner (lead singer of The Coasters), Wild Man Fischer, Clarence Clemons, Yelena Bonner, Peter Falk, Gil Spencer, Margaret Tyzack, Fred Steiner (composer of this theme, among others), Anna Massey, Cy Twombly, Armen Gilliam, Betty Ford, Shannon Stone, Facundo Cabral, Sherwood Schwartz, Sam Denoff, Jerry Ragovoy, Ketzel (meow), Amy Winehouse, G.D. Spradlin, Dan Peek, Bubba Smith, Hugh Carey, Bernadine Healy, Nancy Wake, Jared Hagemann, Albert Brown, Christina Santiago, Ruth Brinker, Nick Ashford, Jerry Leiber, Brad McCrimmon, Pavol Demitra, Mike Flanagan, Casey Ribicoff, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Kyle Willis, Charles S. Dubin, Cliff Robertson, Charles Percy, Burhanuddin Rabbani, Troy Davis, Wangari Maathai, Ralph Steinman, Steve Jobs, Fred L. Shuttlesworth, Derrick Bell, Bert Jansch, Roger Williams, Dan Wheldon, Paul Leka, Virginia Knauer, Robert Pierpoint, Andy Rooney, Joe Frazier, Bil Keane, Tom Wicker, Harry Morgan, Dobie Gray, Oscar Griffin, Jr., Desmond Ryan, Cesaria Evora, Vaclav Havel, Dan Frazer, Michele O’Callaghan, Jacob Goldman, Kim Geun-tae, Simms Taback, Nicol Williamson

Dregs of the Year

After reviewing all of the evidence, I don’t know how it could be anyone else but this guy, Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News International.

This tells us about the phone hacking scandal that broke open over the summer after the British newspaper The Guardian reported on Milly Dowler, 13, who disappeared on a walk home in a London suburb in 2002. Days later, private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, working for News of the World, allegedly started intercepting Dowler's cellphone voicemail messages, and erasing them to make room for more. The deletion of messages gave Dowler's family and the police false hope that Dowler was alive, until her remains were found in September of that year.

Oh, but News Corp conducted an “investigation” in August that did little more than further cover up phone hacking allegations on both sides of the Atlantic, as Eric Boehlert of Media Matters noted here.

Also, this UK Guardian article tells us, among other things, that 803 phone hacking victims were identified by police, including Sara Payne, whose daughter Sarah was abducted and murdered in July 2000 (Keith Olbermann provides more information here in an interview with British journalist Robert Moore).



So what do Rupert The Pirate and company have to say in response? This tells us about the various denials by News Corp employees that turned out to be thoroughly disproven, and this tells us about the ongoing investigation by the Justice Department (with United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, recusing himself from the office's ongoing investigation into News Corp. because of a longstanding friendship with Viet Dinh, a News Corp. board member). In addition, this tells of the typical Murdoch hubris on display as the investigation unfolded.

For these reasons (particularly the hacking of Milly Dowler, Sarah Payne, and the Iraq and Afghanistan military personnel, all of which took place and more with his approval as far as I’m concerned), Rupert Murdoch is Dregs of the Year (at least).

Do Gooders Of The Year

Time Magazine recently named “the protestor” as its Person of the Year, as noted here; I’m not so sure I would go that far because I still have a “wait and see” attitude towards Egypt and Libya (though I think the movements to depose Mubarak and Quaddafi were basically good developments). However, I definitely would name the “Occupy” movement as Do Gooders of the Year.

It most definitely is a positive development that the “Occupy” movement has brought the issue of class inequality front and center in this country, doing so by making great sacrifices and with a bit of flair at the same time, concocting stunts such as this “human red carpet” at a Chamber of Commerce soiree in Washington, D.C. (for which the “Occupy” forces have earned the wrath of the “pay no price, bear no burden” bunch, as noted here, which the group should wear as a badge of honor, particularly Iraq war vet Scott Olsen, as noted here).

I think an example of the group’s dedication to change on behalf of the “99 percent” is noted here in K.O.’s interview with Dorli Rainey, the 84-year-old Seattle “Occupy” member who was pepper sprayed by that city’s police force (Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn later apologized – more about the group can be accessed from here and here)…



For all of these reasons and many more, the “Occupy” forces are, collectively, the Do Gooders of the Year (and here is a song for the occasion).



Update: And in the spirit of the season, I give you the following (here)...



Also, in keeping with my annual custom, I want to thank everyone who has taken any time whatsoever over the prior year to visit this site and read and/or comment on what I have to say (particularly my “followers”; I’ll try my best in the New Year to return the favor). There’s more competing with my posting time than ever before, which has definitely cut down on my output (including the congressional vote write-ups – not sure what I can do about that at the moment). I’ll keep you all informed as best as I can on any future developments as they occur.

I hope you all have a great 2012 – in the coming year, let’s keep doing what we can as our means allows to put our country back on track.

Thursday Stuff

What a shame these kids can’t vote – yet (more here and here)…



…and here is another fave from earlier in the year.

Wednesday Stuff

Basically, I don’t give a crap about the hoopla going on in Iowa right now on the Repug side – what I care about is infrastructure, the economy, and the fact that our planet is melting and the Repugs continue to pretend that it isn’t happening; given all of this, why would I even consider voting for any of those clowns?

And with that in mind, I give you the following about the person who will end up as their nominee…



…and here is another video I found this year that I want to show again (though I think it's from '09...oh well).

Doomsy's Do-Gooders And Dregs (2011 - Pt. 11)

(Not quite at the end, but close...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, Part Eight is here, Part Nine is here, and Part Ten is here.)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

I never thought I would end up giving a citation to Dem Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, but I must for going along with Puppy Dog Eyes Paul Ryan and his scheme to drown Medicare in the Grover Norquist bathtub, as it were (here...um, I thought these guys cared about the deficit – but of course, as Atrios as well as many others have pointed out, it’s really all about preserving those stinking tax cuts and making everyone except the richest 1-2 percent in this country suffer).

…and a Do Gooder citation to the Obama White House for this…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

There are a lot of reasons to give a citation like this to a creep like Andrew Breitbart, but here, he was busted by Media Matters for running a Nazi-era cartoon on his web site (would that this would receive a fraction of the coverage that Breitbart, O’Keefe and company received for their bogus “stings” on ACORN, Shirley Sherrod, etc.).

Dregs of the Year Nominees

Sen. Mr. Elaine Chao and the rest of the Repug congressional “leadership” for this (one way to answer is for President Obama to keep touring the country making the case directly to voters in swing states – of course, another way is for idiot voters not to elect Repugs in the first place, though I might as well try to teach my cat to play the piano for all the good wishing for that will do me)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug U.S. House Rep Steve King for this (apparently bored by the testimony of fellow Rep Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas regarding that awful Stop Online Piracy Act…you Iowans who continually vote for this numbskull every two years must be so proud – Jackson-Lee is a Dem, by the way)

Do Gooder of the Year Nominees

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court ruling that a new rule created by the FAA that discounted employees that don't vote in elections to create a union, rather than counting their discounted votes as no votes, was legitimate (a tactic used by the Repugs and their corporate puppet masters for years to make unions look more unpopular than they are; looks like “Man Tan” Boehner has something else to cry about…poor baby - here).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Guy Petroziello, Op-Ed page editor of the Bucks County Courier Times, gets another dishonorable mention, and the reason why is because, in lieu of editorial content that is actually interesting and informative, the paper is instead publishing excerpts from comedy monologues by late-night comedians on a fairly regular basis (as if some of the newspaper’s “Vents” aren’t comical enough).

Yeah, who needs to read actual progressives or writers besides those appearing on the Op-Ed page of the Washington Post (though Gene Lyons is definitely an exception).

I cannot possibly imagine how this newspaper continues to make money (also, nice work to include a writeup on the Op-Ed page called “How to avoid gift wrapping your pet” on 12/22).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Baby Newton Leroy, for saying here that “activist judges” should be arrested…

Here’s your first candidate, Disgraced Former House Speaker (for this).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Little Ricky (“No One Ever Died Because They Didn’t Have Health Insurance”) Santorum here - uh, no…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Mikey The Beloved gets a mention – yet again – for contributing to gridlock – yet again – on the matter of passing the extension of the payroll tax cut proposed by President Obama (here).

"In the 2010 election I heard loud and clear what the people were saying," Fitzpatrick said. "They wanted us to go to Washington and put the country's fiscal house in order. That's what we've been doing. It's difficult finding bipartisan solutions when you're dealing with the Senate, which hasn't passed a budget in three years."

Really, Mikey? Check this out from one of your fellow Repugs…

In an unusually harsh critique of his own party, moderate GOP Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts said House Republicans' opposition to the two-month extension was "irresponsible and wrong" because it threatened to result in tax increases and jobless benefit cuts.

"We cannot allow rigid partisan ideology and unwillingness to compromise stand in the way of working together," Brown said in a written statement.

This is another reason why can be thankful for the U.S. Senate candidacy of Elizabeth Warren, people (oh, and maybe Mikey and his pals should have listened to these people in his party also, particularly his party’s nominee in the last presidential election).

And I’m long past the point of being sick of listening to Mikey whine about the debt. Take a look at the graph in the fourth bullet from here (showing the debt he helped to run up from 2004-2006 when he last took up space in Congress) and tell me why anyone should take him seriously on this subject.

…here is more on this whole mess…

…and of course, as has been already noted, the Repugs caved on this one (Do Gooder citations to everyone who contacted these clowns in the House and complained – more like this).

And one last note about Saint Mikey…we received a political mailer from him telling us that “Washington has to tighten its belt” and we should “Respond with your ideas to Congressman Fitzpatrick,” just like the mailer I completed a month or so ago with my ideas that our wet noodle PA-08 U.S. House rep promptly ignored.

Oh, and did I mention that we received Mikey’s mailer on Christmas Eve? As if we don’t have infinitely more important things to accomplish at that moment.

What class.

Update 1/1/12: Oh, and I forgot to note this earlier, but in response to Mikey's garbage about the Senate supposedly not passing a budget in three years, I ask that you read this.

Do Gooder of the Year Nominees

The 30,000 (!) Chinese “Occupy” protestors noted here

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Braylon Edwards of the NFL’s San Francisco Giants – as noted here…

As a Cleveland Browns rookie in 2005, Edwards announced he'd give $10,000 in scholarships to 100 area eighth-graders if they could graduate high school with over a 2.5 GPA and 15 hours community service. Of the 100 who were afforded the opportunity, 79 met the criteria and have begun their first year of college. Many are attending Ohio universities, but the schools represented spread across the country and include Harvard, Cornell and Johns Hopkins.

Basically, given that Edwards will make about $1 million this year, the donations will eat up most of his salary.

Kudos to him for his generosity and not going back on his word.

Update: Oh well, good luck to Edwards anyway (here).

Dregs of the Year Nominees

John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, hosts of The John and Ken Show on the Clear Channel radio station KFI in California, for giving out on the air the personal cell phone number of Jorge-Mario Cabrera of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA); Cabrera was then subject to “hateful and threatening phone calls” from the single-digit-IQ listeners of the radio show – apparently these two idiots have a history of this sort of behavior (noted here)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Repug Michigan Governor Rick Snyder for this (of course, no taxpayer funds will be wasted in the costly court battle that, quite rightly, will now ensue – of course not)

…also for this (scumbag)…

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Francis Cardinal George of Chicago for comparing LGBT individuals to the Klan here (um, I hear plenty of demonization of gays from the pulpit, but I don’t hear the same response towards the church from these people trying to obtain marriage rights)

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Troy, MI Repug mayor Janice Daniels, who turned down $8.5 million in federal grant money here to build a transportation center in the city and thus create, you know, JOBS (And did I mention that she founded a local teabagger chapter?).

Oh, and check this out about Daniels…

The transit fight is not Mayor Daniels’s first brush with controversy. Earlier this month, it was revealed that she posted a message to her Facebook page last June, after New York State approved same-sex marriage, stating, “I think I am going to throw away my I Love New York carrying bag now that queers can get married there.” In an interview, she said she regretted the online comment.

“Regretted” but did not apologize for, it should be noted (of course).

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The Obama FCC gets a dubious mention here for “preparing to relax a longstanding rule that limits the ability of companies to own both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same local market,” thus further consolidating the corporate voice (Now let me see, exactly where did I leave that dictionary? Ah, here it is – I need to look up a couple of words…”hope and change, hope and change”…).

Dregs of the Year Nominee

Baby Newton Leroy again, who compared his failure to qualify for the Virginia GOP primary to the attack on Pearl Harbor here (you’re at about 14:50, Mr. GOP Idea Guy…too funny)

…more here…

…also for this…

…and for this too…

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

Lou Williams of the 76ers, who managed to persuade a gunman trying to rob him to cease and desist, and Williams even ended up treating the guy to a meal at McDonald’s (no word if charges were pressed – Williams has got more guts than I do...here)

Dregs of the Year Nominees

The utterly clueless editorial board of the Bucks County Courier Times gets a mention for complaining about that darn, unruly Internet here for distributing the video of Mikey Fitzpatrick banging the House gavel, ending the session and cutting off Steny Hoyer from making a motion to vote on the middle-class payroll tax cut (and of course, Hoyer gets blamed also for calling out Fitzpatrick as Mikey turns and exits, stage right).

Ever since the PA-08 voters, in their eternal, dunderheaded stupidity, turned out Patrick Murphy and reinstalled this fraud into the U.S. House, he has done nothing but preach this austerity crap while our economy has continued to flounder (yes, I know unemployment is 8.6 percent, a decrease from 9 barely outside the margin for error, but let’s see if it remains at that rate or goes down after those seasonal workers hired for the holidays are done). It’s long past time for him to face the proverbial music as a result.

And of course (as already noted), the tax cut was eventually passed anyway, putting Mikey firmly on the wrong side of the issue along with “Man Tan” Boehner, who faces a very good possibility of losing the role of Speaker of the House because of it.

Of course, you’d never know any of this reading this latest fluff from Mikey’s press service, who, among other faults, will never question Fitzpatrick for meeting only with “job creators” instead of residents of his district who are actually unemployed.

Do Gooder of the Year Nominees

Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who get a mention here for founding the Daltrey/Townshend Teen And Young Adult Cancer Program at UCLA, the first project of its kind in the country. It will build on the work of the UK trust they’ve also sponsored, which has helped fund 19 special teen cancer units in the UK (I guess that’s what you’d expect from two guys who performed songs stating “sickness will surely take the mind where minds can’t usually go” and “every moment has its special charm”…nicely done).

Do Gooder of the Year Nominee

California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, a former prosecutor who was appointed to her state’s highest court by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), who became the latest high-ranking official to question whether her state should continue to impose a death penalty (here – use it effectively or get rid of it, and unfortunately, I’ve seen too many problems in its application)

Update: Dregs of the Year Nominee

The Pentagon inspector general who ruled here that it was just fine for our retired generals to shill for themselves and the Iraq war on network TV (I can't imagine how this person lives with himself, or herself)

I'll end this next time, I promise.

Tuesday Stuff

(Hopefully back to Do-Gooders and Dregs tomorrow - not much more to go...)

Don’t let the door hit you in the ass, “Benator” (here; so let the damn state go Repug, then – if the people living in it don’t have enough common sense to see who’s selling them out, then they get what they deserve)…



…and before the year ends, I want to present some of my favorite videos once more that I happened to come across – here is one.

Monday Stuff

Notwithstanding the utterly cretinous Dana Loesch (And why exactly is she on the show anyway?), I thought this was a memorable New Rules segment from Bill Maher that I wanted to revisit (from here)…



…and Happy Boxing Day (some fun, eh?).

Merry Christmas 2011

From me and Nat...