Say It Ain't So, Time!

I want to write Newsweek & thank them for putting Barak Obama on the cover.

wow!!

This is great. Andrew, I love your letter. I am ready to fire one off to them and I have a friend who has a subscription who will give me her issue so I can send their cover back with a description of what I feel is the WORST decision on Man of the Year--this man, who is responsible for the death and torture of thousands, who was asleep at the helm when we were attacked, does not deserve to be man of hte year.

Andrew:

Unless I am mistaken Time makes it clear that their man of the year in no way implies that that person was the most noble or made positive contributions to this country that year. As I recall, Hitler and Mousalini were there men of the year, but they certainly did not imply positive contributions.

While I will not even glance at that cover and have avoided all national news for 6 weeks, their logic is sound. Bush did have an effect on this country. A nauseating, digusting influence on this country, but an influence. Maybe we should write to Time and remind them that Bush is now in the same company with Hitler and Mousalini.

We should commend Time Magazine for featuring the most disgusting person in this country for the year 2004.

Posted by: Ira | December 22, 2004 09:58 PM

When I spoke with my mother regarding Bush being Time's Man of the Year, she was all for it. Why? Because Bush started a war of lies, stubbornly stuck to his failed policies at all costs, and alienated so many allies. In other words, Bush deserves the title due to his incompetence and boneheadedness.

Yes, you are right - you don't have to be a brilliant, positive role model to be Time's Person of the Year.

Did Time actually state Bush was the most "Honorable" Man of the year??? I think it is just "Man of the Year", not honorable.

In addition, "Man of the year" is someone that makes a large impact on the world that could be good OR bad. I believe Time once had Hitler as "Man of the Year" and a few other horrible people on their cover. In 2001, they were going to name Bin Laden but switched to Mayor Rudy G. of NY at the last minute.

Did Time actually state Bush was the most "Honorable" Man of the year??? I think it is just "Man of the Year", not honorable.

In addition, "Man of the year" is someone that makes a large impact on the world that could be good OR bad. I believe Time once had Hitler as "Man of the Year" and a few other horrible people on their cover. In 2001, they were going to name Bin Laden but switched to Mayor Rudy G. of NY at the last minute.

Ira,

I like your idea. I will include that in my letter--I still think it is a joke, because the perception from all the neocons is that this was a great honor--an we all know he is the least honorable man of the year 2004.

Ira-
You're still avoiding national tv news too? Thought I was the last one. Okay, I take sneak peeks here and there for a few minutes at a time but I think I'm gonna stick with the net for my news. Besides, tv has a way of sneaking footage of The Chimperor in without much warning. Blech!

After seeing you choose President Bush as Person of the Year, and simultaneously seeing Newsweek choose Barak Obama for their cover, it is clear to me which publication is driven by the bottom line versus the important issues driving our society. Your choice was a financially driven homage to a sanctimonious, deceitful, trigger happy, draft dodging abuser of the American political system. It is obvious which publication holds principled values in high esteem. And that is not your publication. I will be canceling all of my subscriptions (including business related subscriptions).

I'm hearing whispers on the wind that something big is going to happen tomorrow.

That tease is not fair KiK.

KIK,

Does it have to do with the recount? That is the only BIG news that will send us all DANCING in the STREETS and would be BIG. I would also accept and end of the hostilities in Iraq, but that is too far fetched.

Maybe Blackwell will be indicted!! That would also be BIG--but I am just rambling and guessing

Thanks for posting. I have enjoyed the speculatio.

Considering the source, KiK's tease involves either something serious . . . or more beefcake.

Since it is Christmas and I love Christmas presents, I am hoping this is an early Chriatmas present and Santa is going to reverse the fraudulent results and deliver us from this access of evil.

I do not want to go on about this because if I am wrong, you might kill the messenger.

If nothing happens you can say "KIK was drunk again last night" and leave it at that.

If there is any noteworthy breaking news tomorrow, you can say. "Good guess, KIK."

And, I PRAY there is more beefcake.

"KiK! Are you drunk again?!?!"

Good...Tis the Holiday season...

God bless us all...

Every one.

"Dare to Create a Better World"

This is as repulsive as the TIME nomination--who does this guy think he is kidding?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&...…

Rumsfeld Passionately Defends Himself

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, stung by criticism that he's insensitive to the needs of the troops and their families, offered his most impassioned defense Wednesday.

The normally stoic Rumsfeld said when he meets wounded soldiers or relatives of those killed in battle, "their grief is something I feel to my core."

"I am truly saddened by the thought that anyone could have the impression that I, or others here, are doing anything other than working urgently to see that the lives of the fighting men and women are protected and are cared for in every way humanly possible," he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/22/pirat...…

Nice to know that we are not taking this without a protest!!

Pirate radio calls for inauguration protests

Wednesday, December 22, 2004 Posted: 5:52 PM EST (2252 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An unauthorized radio station in the nation's capital called for "massive protests" in the week leading up to the January 20 presidential inauguration.

The station broadcast Wednesday at 1680 AM and identified itself as "Guerrilla Radio, WSQT."

During the identification message, an announcer said, "WSQT is a project of urban activists in the D.C. area working on housing issues, homeless issues, issues of war, issues of occupation both at home and abroad, and issues of the environment that we all have to live in."

I just saw on Democraticunderground that
William Pitt says Kerry will get into the
game tomorrow regarding the Ohio voting
fraud/recount situation.
Ought to be interesting

I thought there were only a FEW INSURGENTS??? The lies this regime will tell.

December 22, 2004

THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ

U.S. Contractor Pulls Out of Reconstruction Effort in Iraq
IRAQ CONTRACTORS RECONSTRUCTION CONTRACK INTERNAT

By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — For the first time, a major U.S. contractor has dropped out of the multibillion-dollar effort to rebuild Iraq, raising new worries about the country's growing violence and its effect on reconstruction.

Contrack International Inc., the leader of a partnership that won one of 12 major reconstruction contracts awarded this year, cited skyrocketing security costs in reaching a decision with the U.S. government last month to terminate work in Iraq.

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/rewarding_inco...…

We are not alone in out thoughts and feelings.

Rewarding Incompetence

Cindy Sheehan

December 21, 2004

TomPaine.com seldom runs open letters. This week, however, we're making an exception. In only a few days, Christians around the country and the world will be celebrating the birth of Jesus—also called the Prince of Peace. The backdrop to Christmas this year, of course, is the war in Iraq that a majority of Americans now believe was a mistake.  Sheehan's heartfelt rebuke to Time offers a perspective we hope the nation will hear more of in 2005 as we contemplate the consequences of our leaders' recklessness.

Cindy Sheehan lives in California.

Dear Time Editors:

My son, Spc. Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq on 04/04/04. This has been an extraordinary couple of weeks of "slaps in the faces" to us families of fallen heroes.

First, the Secretary of Defense—Donald Rumsfeld—admits to the world something that we as military families already know: The United States was not prepared for nor had any plan for the assault on Iraq. Our children were sent to fight an ill-conceived and badly prosecuted war. Our troops were sent with the wrong type of training, bad equipment, inferior protection and thin supply lines. Our children have been killed and we have made the ultimate sacrifice for this fiasco of a war, then we find out this week that Rumsfeld doesn't even have the courtesy or compassion to sign the "death letters"—as they are so callously called. Besides the upcoming holidays and the fact we miss our children desperately, what else can go wrong this holiday season?

Bush Monkey Picture Shown on Giant Billboard
Wed Dec 22, 2004 10:33 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A portrait of President Bush using monkeys to form his image that was banished from a New York art show last week amid charges of censorship was projected on a giant billboard in Manhattan on Tuesday.

"Bush Monkeys," a small acrylic on canvas by Chris Savido, created the stir last week at the Chelsea Market public space, leading the market's managers to close down the 60-piece show.

Animal Magazine, a quarterly arts publication that had organized the month-long show, said anonymous donors had paid for the picture to be posted on a giant digital billboard over the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, used by thousands of commuters traveling between Manhattan and New Jersey.

The original picture will be auctioned on eBay, with part of the proceeds donated to parents of U.S. soldiers wishing to supply their sons and daughters with body armor in Iraq.
--------------------------------SNIP------------------------

http://news.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=7161205

Is there hope in Ohio? William Rivers Pitt claims Kerry will be getting into the game tomorrow, re reports of tampering with election results by Triad Systems, the manufacturere of the punch card systems.

See posting at the Unofficial Blog:
http://kerryblog.blogspot.com/2004/12/latest-rumors-out-of-ohio.html

am back again for one last post...
Was watching SPEED which featured the auto show from Japan.
They are doing great things with environmental friendly and/or handicap access vehicles. They will start importing them soon.
Once again, opportunities lost.

It is great Kerry will be entering the battle. We need all the Dem leadership to do this..

Indy,
That was priceless.

Ron,
This must be KIK BIG news--I hope it brings a different outcome. The New Mexico Fraud is also huge--more votes cast than total voters--we maybe uncovering something huge--this may actually be a Votergate and the criminals maybe uncovered. I just wonder if it will happen before the 6.

http://www.themoderaterepublican.us/

Has anybody gone to this site? I think we could post some comments there and have a good dialogue. Clearly there are issues which there will be major disagreement, but if our mission is to reach out to others, this would be a good place to start.

Posted by: latina4justice | December 23, 2004 01:05 AM

It must be the KiK news... and Ron has been busy posting it around... it's on the LUTD Blog too!

Okay... well, I'm a brave soul... I'm not happy with Time's choice, but as Ira pointed out they do not choose their Person of the Year on the merits of honorability.

That said I decided to brave Time Magazine online and read the offensive article.

Know your enemy... I honestly think everyone here should read it.

A footnote to my last post about reading the article...

Time was surprisingly frank about the fact that Bush is far from the perfect president and they also have poll on the article page that you can voice your opinion of you agree with their choice.

Again I can only reiterate... know your enemy... everyone should the article.

This is too funny:

'Oh, OH, OHHH, CANADA!!!' ActForLove.org, MarryAnAmerican.ca Team up to Promote Canadian-American Marriages -
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=669&ncid=669&e=3&u=/usnw/20041222/pl_usnw/_oh__oh__ohhh__canada_____actforlove_org__marryanamerican_ca_team_up_to_promote_canadian_american_marriages129_xml

Here's the view from the Nation Magazine on the Time magazine choice:

All Hat, No Cattle

Mon Dec 20, 1:29 PM ET
Op/Ed - The Nation
Katrina vanden Heuvel

In a decision that was as unsurprising as it was shallow, Time magazine picked George W. Bush as its Person of the Year for the amazing feat of winning reelection as an incumbent president. Leaving aside the fact that since WWII only two incumbent presidents have lost reelection bids, Time is rewarding process over content, style over substance.

The fact is that, with the exception of one day (November 2nd), Bush has had a terrible year. The budget deficit is the highest in our history. The dollar is in free fall. Gas prices have shot through the roof. Job creation is at a post WWII low. The tepid economic recovery has stalled. More and more children are being left behind. The country is bitterly divided. The rest of the world loathes us. Afghanistan (news - web sites) is once again the world's leading exporter of heroin. The Iraq (news - web sites) war, which was supposed to be a cakewalk, has turned into a quagmire. The American military is stretched to the breaking point as the casualty rate rises and recruitment falls. The Abu Ghraib torture photos are being used by al Qaeda as recruitment posters.

But Bush won, so Time magazine gave him the prize, because: "the president has reshaped the rules of politics to fit his 10-gallon-hat leadership style." It sounds like a polite way of saying, Bush proved you can be a really rotten president and still get reelected. As Texans say, the man is "all hat, no cattle." And Time fell for it hook, line and sinker.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2281&ncid=2281&e=11&u=/thenation/20041220/cm_thenation/72080

LOL Pamela! Those are some brave Canadians :)

We can take comfort in the fact that controversy gets a bigger audience than popularity in this country. Would we rather it be the other way around?

Posted by: Mark | December 23, 2004 02:35 AM

Mark

It takes internet dating and internet activism to whole new level.

With the news we see daily in this country a little levity is nice once in a while.

This is what Benson says about Rumsfeld..

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/benson/

Time magazine ...

Putting your stamp of approval on what you KNOW to be a pile of steaming dung may just win you the "Rag of the Year" award.

Why not just tell the whole world that lying and cheating and stealing and plundering and killing are ok, as long as you believe in God and stay the course.

Oh yeah, the Bush-Cheney campaign and all the zombie morons who follow them have already done that.

Move over National Enquirer, there's a new scumbag in town.

My subscription is cancelled as of today... but the puppy next door has new papers to piss on, so that's a plus.

http://rawstory.com/exclusives/kerry_1216.php
This is the link to the letter from Kerry-Edwards lawyers regarding the recount.

Posted by: Denise | December 23, 2004 08:42 AM

If this was the big story, I am truly disappointed.

NAUGHTY AND NICE 2004
Selected from American Progress Report

Naughty: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, for sending U.S. soldiers into battle without the equipment and armor they need to fight.

Nice: Grassroots charity groups like "Give 2 The Troops" and "Operation Gratitude," for sending care packages, supplies and reminders of home to American troops abroad.

Naughty: Merck, for spending millions to market the pain-reliever Vioxx to consumers long after the company knew it was unsafe.

Nice: Dr. David Graham, of the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, for fighting to keep dangerous drugs off the market.

Naughty: Bernard Kerik, for turning an apartment donated for weary Ground Zero police and rescue workers into a love nest for his adulterous affairs.

Nice: Miramax Films, for putting the kibosh on Kerik's summer blockbuster biopic.

Naughty: NRA Radio, for broadcasting anti-gun-control propaganda and calling it legitimate news.

Nice: Ed Schultz, Arnie Arnesen, Tony Trupiano, Thom Hartmann, Wendy Wilde, Al Franken, Katherine Lanpher and the rest of the Air America crew, for showing progressive radio can be thought-provoking, hard-hitting and fun.

Naughty: The Environmental Protection Agency, for using camcorders to bribe parents into offering up their toddlers as guinea pigs for a study about the dangers of pesticides on children…sponsored by the chemical industry.

Nice: The Natural Resources Defense Council, for fighting to protect kids from the harmful effects of pesticides and chemicals.

Naughty: Right-wing conservatives in the House of Representatives, for changing ethics rules so Tom DeLay (R-TX) could one day be their indicted leader.

Nice: Whistleblowers like Bunnatine Greenhouse, Richard Foster and Paul O'Neill, for holding our government to a higher ethical standard.

Naughty: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, for letting a machine do his work (and not hand-signing condolence letters to grieving families).

Nice: Ashlee Simpson, for letting a machine do her work (and not forcing us to listen to her natural singing voice).

Naughty: Russian President Vladimir Putin, for single-handedly shutting down the press, jailing his political opposition and trying to validate his hand-picked, fraudulently elected lapdog in Ukraine.

Nice: Viktor Yushchenko and supporters of the Orange Revolution, for fighting against all odds -- including poison -- to bring democracy to the Ukraine

Naughty: Bill "I Like Families" Donahue, for using his pulpit to launch partisan, hate-filled attacks.

Nice: The Reverend Jim Wallis, for teaching us something about real "moral values."

Naughty: Alberto Gonzales, for crafting memos which provided legal justification for torturing detainees.

Nice: The International Committee of the Red Cross, for exposing brutal treatment of detainees in U.S. custody.

Naughty: EPA administrator Mike Leavitt, for blaming pollution on poverty.

Nice: The Union of Concerned Scientists, for giving us the facts about global warming, pollution, clean energy and the Bush administration's ideological approach to science.

Naughty: Sinclair Media, for planning to run an hour long anti-Kerry screed as "news" just before the U.S. presidential election.

Nice: Media Matters and the blogosphere, for forcing Sinclair to change its plans. (And continuing to demand that Sinclair stop broadcasting one-sided political spin.)

Naughty: Sen. Norm Coleman, for using the oil-for-food scandal as an excuse to launch an attack against the United Nations.

Nice: U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, for launching the first serious attempt to reform the United Nations and bring it into the 21st Century.

Naughty: The Kuwaiti Hilton, for giving Halliburton's employees a place to stay while they bilked US taxpayers.

Nice: Paris Hilton, for bringing the "simple life" to Washington, D.C.

Naughty: Bill O'Reilly, for claiming Christmas is "under siege."

Nice: Americans, for not laying siege to Christmas.

Good Letter Marc - they deserve it just for all the car & drug company ads they run.

Denise, I don't think that letter is the big story. The letter is dated Dec. 15th. William Pitt on Democratic Underground says the Kerry story is going to break within the hour (and he said that about an hour ago.)

DiAnne, I'm no tekkie, so how can I send the 'naughty' greeting above? Just got the version with links, but site posted is only until 12/22. Ideas?

And, the best of everything to you these holidays,

Be well.

Shout out to ira and florida dem. I'm not watching much national news on TV - only when I stumble upon it by accident. I do check out news stories on the internet, but I am very selective. I get most of my news from DU and dailykos these days. Ira, you have nerves of steel.

KiK, can you even believe people suspected the big news to be about beefcake? Just because you are breaking that news? What do they think you are, a Kerry groupie? What gave them that idea? Oh, I saw the pic you linked to of him in the pool. Sigh. Another sigh.

Muse

Nothing whatsoever wrong with Kerry beefcake. Had media spead a little more it, GQ, or otherwise, might have brought in more lusting fundies. All religious respect, aside.

Marjorie G,
Indeed this is why the fundies are fundies - because of their lustful, sinful selves! They have to atone for that somehow and they do go overboard, poor things. Too bad the rest of us fall victim to their self-flagellation politics.

Kerry backer questions Cuyahoga recount
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Diane Suchetka
Plain Dealer Reporter

John Kerry's presidential campaign criticized the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Wednesday night for its handling of the presidential recount and said some parts of that recount should be conducted again.

That won't happen.

The board certified the recount results Wednesday, which means they're official and will be forwarded to the secretary of state to be included in statewide totals.

The new numbers show Kerry beat George W. Bush 448,503 to 221,600 in Cuyahoga County. In the recount, Bush lost six votes and Kerry gained 17.

Board and staff members responded immediately to some concerns raised Wednesday night by George Taylor, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh who lives in Cleveland Heights and who spoke, he said, on behalf of the Kerry campaign.

Taylor, for example, complained that some provisional ballots were thrown out because the signatures that voters used on Election Day were in cursive while the signatures they had on file with the board were printed. Those ballots, Taylor said, should count.

Board member Edward Coaxum said the board has always required both signatures be printed or in cursive.

Taylor also complained that some provisional ballots - ballots cast by those whose names do not appear on voter rolls - had been rejected because election workers determined voters cast them in the wrong precinct.

But Taylor said the board's own records show they were cast in the right precinct.

Cuyahoga County elections director Michael Vu had not had a chance to review those records. He will address that issue and others Taylor raised after the first of the year.

And he reminded Taylor that election regulations say only valid ballots - not those rejected - should be included in a recount.

Taylor disagreed.

"There should be a process for re-examination of every vote that was cast," he said.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

dsuchetk@plaind.com, 216-999-4987

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/110379794240050.xml