As I skimmed over my usual sites with my first cup of coffee this morning, I noted that virtually all have a list of some kind "defining 2012" ~ what's interesting is that by limiting the lists to +/- 10 or so, different sites identify different entries on the same topic ~ here's the first list, with several more to follow ~ Sooz

The Top 10 Words And Phrases That Define 2012
By Deborah Montesano

Words are powerful things, calling up images that capture as little as a single moment or as much as an entire era. This past year was loaded with words and phrases that might have left many, especially politicians, wishing they had heard this from Winston Churchill’s lips:


Beginning with the words that illustrated pivotal moments in this year’s election, here are 2012′s most memorable ones:

(1) Binders full of women. If there were still women casting an uncertain eye at Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, his comment in a debate about ‘binders full of women’ surely sent them in the other direction. First of all, the reference made it seem he didn’t personally know any career women and had to have others collect them for him. Secondly, it was an uncomfortable image for keeping women in their place. The phrase ricocheted around the Internet and made Romney an instant object of ridicule.

(2) The 47%. In September, Romney said at a private fund-raiser that 47% of the American public would vote for Obama no matter what, because they were dependent victims who didn’t pay taxes. Furthermore, it wasn’t his job to worry about them. Unfortunately for him, his words were secretly recorded. When they were released to the public, they, too, shot around the world through social networking, dismaying the public he had so readily dismissed. Ironically and justly, Romney then received only 47% of the vote.

(3) Eastwooding. Here, someone else’s words became the problem. Unfortunately for Romney, the problem was still his. During the GOP’s National Convention, actor Clint Eastwood spoke to an empty chair as if President Obama were sitting in it, raising questions about both his sanity and Romney’s judgement, since Eastwood was the candidate’s personal choice of speaker. On the upside, the American public gained a new term for talking to empty chairs.

(4) Legitimate rape. U.S Representative Todd Akin of Missouri was running for the Senate this year when asked about whether abortion should be allowed for rape victims. In answering “no,” he referenced “legitimate rape,” seeming to invalidate some rapes and question the integrity of the women involved. His candidacy immediately tanked and he belatedly learned one of the primary lessons of the 2012 election: you can’t win without women.

(5) Bunch of malarkey. Some spontaneous political outbursts work out well. During a debate between vice-presidential candidates, Vice President Joe Biden cut GOP candidate Paul Ryan off at the knees, calling Ryan’s inaccuracies on foreign affairs a “bunch of malarkey.” The phrase became an instant hit on Google and gave Biden’s reputation as a straight-shooter a huge boost.

(6) Gangnam style. The catchy song and video by South Korean rapper PSY really caught on in the U.S. when it was used to parody…uh, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. PSY’s “galloping pony ride” dance seemed particularly apt when performed in what was supposedly Romney’s horse barn.

(7) Fiscal cliff. The entire U.S. Congress has gotten itself caught in the web of this term. The “fiscal cliff” is what the country is supposedly going over when low tax rates expire and drastic, automatic budget cuts kick in, if Congress doesn’t act by the New Year. Some think it’s all a bunch of hype that hides the real reason the economy may take another nose-dive.

(8) Pink slime. This term to describe the filler put in ground beef was first used by a former USDA meat inspector in 2002. However, it hit the public consciousness when the media grabbed ahold of it this year. Pink slime is beef trimmings that are turned into mush and exposed to ammonium gas to kill bacteria before being added to ground beef. While the American public had a bellyful of the image, causing companies like McDonald’s to ban its use, Republican governors like Rick Perry defended the product. Hmm. Wonder whose pockets those guys are in?

(9) Frankenstorm. When Hurricane Sandy headed up the eastern seaboard to collide with a snowstorm coming from the West and a cold front coming down from Canada, a report by National Public Radio dubbed it “Frankenstorm”–a perfect combination of factors creating a storm of almost unheard of proportions. It was every bit as destructive as predicted, causing tremendous logistical and political problems that continue today. One consequence of the storm was New Jersey’s GOP governor, Chris Christie, embracing the help of Democratic President Barack Obama, and literally embracing him in a bear hug--a brief but heartwarming moment of bipartisanship.

(10) Nomophobia. I don’t honestly know of a political connection to this one, but it’s a huge problem in my life. Once you understand what it is, you’ll probably see that it’s a huge one in yours, too. “Nomophobia” is the fear of being without mobile phone contact, either through losing it, forgetting it, running out of battery power, or being outside of your service area. Check your pockets.

Have a Happy New Year, and never forget the words of Jean-Paul Sartre:


http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/12/31/the-top-10-words-and-phrases-that-define-2012/

Some real gems here ~ "live links" to more/corroborating info in original ~ Sooz

Top 15 Political Quotes of 2012
By T. Steelman

Yes, another end-of-the-year list but please indulge me as I count down the Top 15 political quotes of 2012. Most of these are quotes that changed the direction of the biggest political story of the year – the Presidential election. Whether spoken by one of the candidates or a surrogate, these are the quotes that I think made the biggest impact. The Associated Press has their list and we have a few that are the same but my list is a bit more… weird. Kind of like me. In no particular order, I give you…

1. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: “I have a job to do…If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics, then you don’t know me.” After Hurricane Sandy decimated parts of New Jersey, Christie did what a governor is supposed to do – see to the welfare of the people and property of his state. Coming so close to Election Day, Christie’s cooperation with and praise of President Obama did not sit well with Republican pundits. When the governor went on Fox and Friends soon after a joint Obama-Christie news conference, Doocy and company tried to drum up enthusiasm for a potential Romney photo-op visit to New Jersey. Gov. Christie’s answer got him into more hot water with the GOP punditocracy. That their opinion didn’t matter to him speaks well of Christie and earned him a spot on my list.

2. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke: “Under current law, on January 1st, 2013, there is going to be a massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases.” Because Bernake’s use of the words “fiscal cliff” gave us a name for the economic armageddon we fell over last night. I don’t know about you but I will be happy for the rest of my life if I never hear those words again.

3. Romney senior campaign adviser Eric Fehrnstrom: “You hit a reset button for the fall campaign; everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again.” Fehrnstrom’s comment gave us a new nickname for Mitt Romney: the Etch-A-Sketch Candidate. And he certainly lived up to it, changing his persona almost weekly. Is he “severely conservative” or a moderate? Nobody could count on Romney to be consistent, which is part of what made his campaign so fun.

4. Missouri senatorial candidate Todd Akin: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” How to blow up your candidacy in one easy step. This quote from crazy Akin got a lot of mileage both from Democrats and Republicans, though the latter tried to spin it while the former used it as a wedge. It killed any chance the GOP had of unseating Sen. Claire McCaskill, helping the Dems tilt the Senate a little more in their direction.

5. President Obama: “Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.” Sure, it was a bit condescending but it sure got people talking. It seemed appropriate to many of us that Mr. Obama explain this point to Mittens as if the Republican was a child. Fact-checkers and history wonks went a little crazy over it while Liberals (like myself) showered some love on it.

6. President Obama: “Please proceed, Governor.” THE best line from that great (or awful, depending on your viewpoint) third debate. We watched with stifled laughter as Romney pulled that rope with him and we rubbed our hands together with glee when the President uttered these words. And sure enough, Romney blundered on and had to be fact-checked live. It was a delicious moment of Schadenfreude. And a huge blunder for Romney.

7. Mitt Romney: “We took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet (in Massachusetts). I went to a number of women’s groups and said, “Can you help us find folks?” and they brought us whole binders full of women.” Ah, the “binders full of women.” The quote, coming as it did just before Halloween, inspired some women to compose a costume illustrating the idea. It also sent women across the country into paroxysms of laughter. When it was pointed out that the binders had been presented to then-governor Romney rather than his staff putting them together, the campaign had another gaffe to try to spin.

8. Mitt Romney: “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what … who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims. … These are people who pay no income tax. … and so my job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” This was it, in the opinion of many political wonks and pundits – this was what swung the election and killed Romney’s chances. After wondering for over a year who the “real” Mitt Romney was, we found out in this clandestine recording of him among his peers. Speaking to other rich, entitled people he denigrated the folks that would back Obama and blundered his campaign into free-fall. There were other terrible things he said in that speech but this was all the American people needed to hear.

9. Paul Ryan: “[T]he reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand. And the fight we are in here, make no mistake about it, is a fight of individualis versus collectivism.” and “We have responsibilities, one to another – we do not each face the world alone. And the greatest of all responsibilities, is that of the strong to protect the weak. The truest measure of any society is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves.” Mr. Ryan was Romney’s choice for running mate. Thinking that he had scored with the Tea Party folks as well as fiscal conservatives, he thrust Paul Ryan into the spotlight. When Ryan’s hero-worship of Ayn Rand was revealed to a wide audience, he had to find a way to disavow his adoration of the Mother of Objectivism. I thought it was funny that his position took such a sudden 180 that he probably got whiplash.

10. Businessman Foster Friess: “This contraceptive thing, my gosh, it’s so… inexpensive. Back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn’t that costly.” Like Andrea Mitchell, who was interviewing him at the time, most of us were gobsmacked by this comment. Mr. Friess, who was Rick Santorum’s sugar daddy, just had to get his two cents in on the whole contraception thing. And when he did, we got an absolutely stunning and memorable quote.

11. Senatorial candidate Richard Mourdock: “I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize, life is that gift from God, and I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something that God intended to happen.” Another Republican candidate who just couldn’t keep his mouth shut about rape, Mourdock lost his party another possible Senate seat. When the Indiana hopeful felt that he had to elucidate his position on abortion during a debate he sealed his fate. Of course, he tried to blame that go-to scapegoat of all Republicans who make a gaffe, the “liberal media.” But it wasn’t anyone but Mourdock himself who blew his chances.

12. President Obama: “By the way, we have to fix that.” On election night, President Obama gave a great acceptance speech. In it, he made reference to all the voters who had stood in line and fought for their right to cast a ballot. He almost off-handedly added this remark. In the face of GOP efforts to disenfranchise millions of voters, all it took was a short quip for lawmakers at state and federal levels to start writing bills expanding and strengthening the Voting Rights Act. Even the Supreme Court took notice.

13. Presidential candidate Rick Santorum: “I don’t want to make black (blah) people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.” This was another candidate freezing remark, this time from the regressive Santorum. In a speech to supporters, somehow forgetting for a second that a camera was on, he started to say what he really thought. He tried to stop but it was too late. His ridiculous spin, that he meant “blah” people was seen as exactly what it was – nonsense. And another GOP darling faded away.

14. Actor Clint Eastwood: “If somebody’s dumb enough to ask me to go to a political convention and say something, they’re gonna have to take what they get.” Sure, the whole speech was… odd. The octogenarian actor had a rambling, sometimes incoherent conversation with a chair standing in for Pres. Obama fer crying out loud. But this comment which came after the whole event led some of us to think that perhaps Clint punked the entire Republican Convention. Perhaps he did but he’s not talking about it anymore so we may never know.

15. Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich: “By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American.” What can we say about Newtie? The moon base comment was the final straw, many feel. After his insistence that children should clean their own schools and his blindingly racist remarks, this was the proverbial straw that broke… in this case, the candidate’s back.

There were others but I had to stop. So many dumb comments, so little time. Or, in some cases, so many inspiring comments, so little time. Either way, this was an interesting year for stand-out (or stand-up) quotes. Between the circus that was the GOP primary, the re-election of a historic President and the burn out of Mitt Romney, political wonks like me had a field day. 2013 may bring us even more fascinating events and people, but even if it doesn’t we have the 2014 elections to look forward to. I can’t wait!

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/01/01/top-15-political-quotes-of-2012/

Since I don't/won't watch Fox anything, there are several things on this list that are new to me ~ but the sum and substance only strengthen my own bigotry against anything Fox ~ "live links" to more/corroborating info in original ~ Sooz

AlterNet / By Mark Howard
12 Unbelievably Awful Things Fox News Did This Year
Fox was clearly operating at the top of its capacity to distort and deceive.

December 31, 2012 | 2012 was a dismal year for Fox News. The PR arm of the GOP failed to fulfill its prime directive: advancing the interests of Mitt Romney and the Republican Party. It spent much of the year constructing an alternative reality that left millions of its flock in shock when President Obama won an overwhelming reelection. It refused to accept the facts on the ground and denigrated polls (even its own) when the results conflicted with the fictional narrative it was peddling. And perhaps most painful of all, Fox surrendered its ratings lead to MSNBC. Two-thirds of its primetime lineup (Hannity and Van Susteren) dropped to second place behind the competition on MSNBC (Maddow and O’Donnell). However, Fox’s travails did not occur for lack of effort. It was clearly operating at the top of its capacity to distort and deceive. In the process it unleashed some of the most feverishly biased reporting, even for Fox News. What follows are a few of the worst departures from ethical journalism by Fox in the last year.

1) Romancing Petraeus: Fox News CEO Roger Ailes tries to recruit for the GOP.

The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward revealed that Fox News CEO Roger Ailes had dispatched a Fox News defense analyst, to Kabul, Afghanistan to recruit Gen. David Petraeus as a GOP candidate for president. The notion of a news network soliciting candidates for political office is a perversion of the role journalists play in society. In response, Ailes claimed that it was “a joke” and that he “thought the Republican [primary] field needed to be shaken up.” Where Ailes got the idea that it was his right and/or duty to shake up the GOP primaries is unexplained. News people are supposed to report the news, not make it. Woodward’s story affirms that Fox News is a rogue operation. Its intrusion into the political process debases journalism by breaching all standards of ethical conduct. And it debases democracy as well by exploiting its power and wealth to manipulate political outcomes.

2) Fox News produces its own anti-Obama video.

Last May on Fox & Friends, the program’s hosts introduced a video that purported to examine “Four Years of Hope and Change.” What it was in reality was a four-plus minute campaign video that presented a variety of soundbites by President Obama accompanied by ominous graphics and eerie music that falsely implied his campaign promises were unkept. The video (which Media Matters thoroughly debunks here) could not have been a more pro-Romney, anti-Obama attack had it been produced by the Republican National Committee. Apparently Fox News also recognized the gross inappropriateness of its anti-Obama attack ad. Minutes after the video was posted online it was removed. Later, an edited version was re-posted, and then that too was removed. Eventually, Fox EVP Bill Shine issued a statement scapegoating an “associate producer” and concluding that the matter “has been addressed.” But it’s difficult for Fox to absolve itself of responsibility for this atrociously unethical affair. By now it is so obvious that Fox exists only to promote Republicans and bash Democrats that this video fits squarely within its mission.

3) Question for Fox News: How much rape is too much?

In a discussion of the role of women in the military, Fox News contributor Liz Trotta expressed an opinion about new rules from the Pentagon that would permit women to serve closer to the front lines. Trotta’s take on this centered on the problems faced by servicewomen who are sexually assaulted by fellow soldiers whom she regards as whiners because they won’t shut up and accept the fact that if they work closely with men they should expect to be assaulted. And if that weren’t bad enough, Trotta went on to complain about the expensive military bureaucracy set up to “support women in the military who are now being raped too much.” I would really like to know precisely how much rape is acceptable before it crosses Trotta’s line. Is there any context in which she might have meant that that isn’t unfathomably repulsive?

4) Fox News conning Latinos for politics and profit.

Fox viewers are accustomed to stories about “illegals” swarming across the border to take up residency in the U.S. and sponge off of our prosperity. There is hardly a mention of immigrants on Fox that isn’t associated with crime, joblessness or drug cartels. Lately, however, someone at Fox News has recognized a major flaw in its strategy to demonize immigrants, particularly Latinos, who are a growing constituency of both consumers and citizens who can vote and are registering in record numbers. So how does Fox maintain its editorial animosity toward immigrants without alienating an increasingly important voter group? The answer appears to be by developing news content specifically for this demographic and sequestering it from the rest of its viewership. This has resulted in a flurry of disparaging articles on the Fox News flagship, while the same story is presented on the new Fox News Latino in a far less bigoted fashion. The pinnacle of this hypocrisy occurred during a Fox report on the election when it displayed video of illegal border crossers with a caption reading “The Hispanic Vote.”

5) Fox lies about military access to voting in Ohio.

This year Republicans in the state of Ohio sought to amend their early voting law so that only members of the military would be permitted to vote early in the three days prior to the election. Democrats objected to this as it discriminates against certain voters, and they filed suit to preserve the right of every Ohio citizen to vote early. Fox News picked up the story advancing the premise that Democrats were seeking to take something away from our military. Anchor Shannon Bream falsely declared that “If President Obama gets his way, the special voting rights of some of America’s finest will be eliminated.” The truth is that Democrats in Ohio were suing to ensure that nobody’s rights were eliminated. The Ohio GOP was deliberately attempting to suppress the votes of citizens they presumed would vote Democratic. And Fox News helped them in that mission by brazenly lying about the substance of the debate.

6) Graphic evidence of the racism of Fox News: racial photoshopping.

Coverage of the Trayvon Martin shooting was handled by Fox News in a manner that is revealing and offensive. On the day that Florida law enforcement authorities planned to file charges against George Zimmerman, Fox ran a story featuring a photo of Zimmerman with a beaming smile alongside one of Martin that looked foreboding and was obviously darkened. The editors were demonstrating their overt hostility to both African Americans and journalistic ethics. Later in the day, a more impartial photo was inserted that was not as overtly disparaging of the victim. You think they got a few complaints about the previous photo? Fox had numerous pictures from which to choose of both Martin and Zimmerman, and it chose the most negative picture of Martin which it paired with the most positive picture of Zimmerman. This was not an accident. It was the result of deliberate editorial judgment. And it tells us everything we need to know about Fox’s editors.

7) The polling schizophrenia at Fox News.

Throughout the year Fox News led its audience on a roller coaster ride of propaganda and censorship as it shifted from celebrating what it regarded as positive electoral news to suppressing the negative. It persistently sought to cloister its audience in a bubble that filtered out any facts that might upset its viewers or political patrons. Fox was so determined to shut out anything that might challenge its narrative that it even failed to report its own Fox News polls if Obama was ahead. This was a part of a broader effort to deceive its audience by castigating or ignoring polls when it didn’t like the results and praising the same pollsters when their numbers were more favorable. They launched a campaign to demean professional pollsters and prop up disreputable charlatans with its "unskewed” versions. Not surprisingly, this led to the unprecedented post-election state of shock experienced by those who were foolish enough to rely on Fox for information.

8) Fox News psycho analyst: Newt Gingrich’s adultery means a stronger America.

The in-house Fox News psychiatrist, Keith Ablow, has offered his embarrassingly ridiculous diagnoses on a number of occasions. Without ever having examined (or even met) President Obama, Ablow has declared him to be contemptuous of the judiciary and devoid of all emotion. He further assessed that Obama has “got it in for this country” and doesn’t like Americans. These are the delusional ramblings of a quack who is more preoccupied with his own animosity for the president than with credible psychiatric analysis. During the GOP primary, Ablow chimed in on criticism of Newt Gingrich for his serial marriages that ended when his wives became ill or failed to serve his political purposes. Ablow’s astonishing diagnosis was that Gingrich as president would make America stronger specifically because of his multiple infidelities. Ablow actually thinks that three wives and two extramarital affairs (that we know about) enhances Gingrich’s qualifications to be president. His reasoning had something to do with the fact that multiple homewreckers found him to be marriageable material and that was a mark of character. This is what passes for family values in today’s GOP.

9) Fox News airs hour-long commercial for anti-Obama film on Hannity.

In the heart of the presidential campaign season, Sean Hannity’s program on Fox News devoted the full hour to a blatant infomercial promoting an anti-Obama movie by the people who brought us Citizens United. The program featured lengthy clips from the film as well as interviews with the film’s creators, David Bossie and Steve Bannon. Bossie is the head of Citizens United, the organization that prompted the abhorrent Supreme Court decision that made it possible for individuals and corporations to donate unlimited sums of cash to political candidates and causes. Bannon is chairman of Breitbart News and was the director of the monumental flop, Sarah Palin: Undefeated, a movie that managed to fail miserably despite millions of dollars in free publicity courtesy of Fox News. What’s particularly disturbing about this is that the producers freely admit that their purpose was not so much to promote the film, but to let their ads serve as disguised political messages aimed at disparaging the president and affecting the outcome of the election. The reason they chose October to release the film was so their advertising would appear during the campaign season and they could pretend it was merely marketing for the movie. This is not a conspiracy theory; it is something they specifically admit to and boast about. Fox News was merely the first stop on their media blitz.

10) Fox News “Democrat” Kirsten Powers accuses Obama of sympathizing with terrorists.

The next time you hear the Fox News slogan “fair and balanced," be sure to remember that its rendering of fairness is to trot out covert conservatives and label them Democrats. A perfect illustration of this is alleged Democrat Kirsten Powers, who took to Fox News to attack President Obama in an article titled “President Obama, stop blaming the victim for Mideast violence.” Powers was addressing the violence at American facilities in Libya and Egypt when she wrote that respecting religious beliefs “is implicit sympathy for the claims of some of the attackers and rioters.” So Powers thinks that respect for the diversity of faith is tantamount to sympathizing with terrorists. She cannot comprehend that such respect is offered to the vast majority of peaceful Muslims who had nothing to do with the violence. And allowing her to spew that bile while posing as a Democratic analyst is part of how Fox distorts its presentation of fairness and balance.

11) Fox News spinning furiously on unemployment rate.

Behaving entirely consistently with a network that harbors politcos who want to see President Obama fail, Fox News cavalierly dismissed the October unemployment report showing a drop from 8.1 to 7.8 percent. Heaven forbid anything good happens in this country while President Obama is in charge. Fox spent the whole morning trying to hatch skeptics. It brought in former General Electric CEO Jack Welch to explain his delusional Tweet: “Unbelievable jobs numbers...these Chicago guys will do anything...can’t debate so change numbers.” Fox’s Stuart Varney concurred along with Donald Trump and a bevy of correspondents and guests. None of them could explain why an independent agency of career economists, without a single Obama appointee, would fudge the numbers for a president to whom they owed nothing.

12) Fox opposes ban on assault weapons but imposes ban on talking about it.

The most heartbreaking news of 2012 was surely the massacre in Newtown, CT, where 20 schoolchildren and six adults were senselessly murdered by a deranged gunman. The resultant outcry from concerned Americans about the easy access to weapons that are capable of such carnage was met by Fox News as an attack on the Second Amendment and free enterprise. Its response was to slaughter the First Amendment by prohibiting any discussion of gun safety on the network. Sources told Gabriel Sherman of New York Magazine that “David Clark, the executive producer in charge of Fox’s weekend coverage, gave producers instructions not to talk about gun-control policy on air.” It’s also worthwhile to note that while Fox banned all talk of gun control, it did not banish talk of other explanations for the atrocity in Connecticut. Fox had no problem with laying the blame on mental illness, movies or video games. Fox host Mike Huckabee was permitted to go on the air and blame the killings on the absence of God in the classroom (which does nothing to explain similar shootings that have taken place in churches).

While Fox News broadcasts flagrant distortions of reality on a daily basis, the examples above transcend the conventional dishonesty and bias that is its hallmark. These assaults on ethical journalism demonstrate how dangerous it is to permit a political enterprise to disguise itself as a news network in order to shape an extreme political agenda. It is evidence of social programming and manipulation at its worst. The sad part is that we can expect much more of this in 2013. Happy New Year!

http://www.alternet.org/12-unbelievably-awful-things-fox-news-did-year?paging=off

Here is one liberal woman's "10 Worst" that this liberal woman [me] sees as quite astute ~ she also has a companion "The 10 Best People of 2012" read that I'll post next ~ there are "live links" to more/corroborating info in the original ~ Sooz

The 10 Worst People Of 2012
By Lorraine Devon Wilke

The banality of evil meme created by Lorraine Devon Wilke; image courtesy of Wikipedia

We love our end-of-year compilations, those thumbnail analyses offered by newspapers and magazines of the best and worst of the previous year. There’s something comforting, even a little vindicating, about corralling the disparate people, events, and creative experiences we’ve all encountered and charting them accordingly. Of course, every writer, editor and news source will have a different opinion (though there are always those choices that seem to transcend variance to land on everyone’s list!), but still…we love the list.

The many fine writers and editors here at Addicting Info have covered an intriguing slew of “best and worst” topics for the occasion of year’s end; please avail yourself of them all when you can. My offering might be the most blunt; certainly one of the most essential: The Ten Worst People of 2012.

Despite what you may think, this was not an easy list to compile. “Worst” is so subjective and certainly as you view the many harmonics and strata of the attribution, it comes down to degrees. There is the trivial bad (the vacuity of Carly Rae Jepsen or the redneck inanity of Honey Boo Boo), the hardcore global evil (Joseph Kony or “The World’s Most Repressive Societies,” and certainly the criminal evil (the Aurora shooting, the New Delhi medical student rape and murder and, of course, the Sandy Hook shooting).

But what about the prosaic, every day, touches-us-all kind of “worst”? That bad perpetrated by seemingly normal (if infamous) people who inspire the insult by their sheer idiocy, crass thoughtlessness, bar-lowering antics, or unethical, despicable behavior, either regularly or with enough impact to earn the title. That is the list I’m talking about.

The Ten Worst People of 2012.

In no particular order but with varying degrees of “worse-ness”….the amounts I’ll leave to your judgment.

1. Republican Men & Women: I hate to start with a category instead of an individual but, frankly, if I listed all the Republican men and women who earned the title I’d be through my Ten and then some. For the sake of fairness to the other nine spots, I’ve granted “Republican men & women” a singular category. They’ll have to live with that. The standouts for 2012 are well-known, their most notable acts of “badness” widely documented, their names a litany: Karl Rove, Paul Ryan, Todd Akin, Rick Santorum, Richard Mourdock, all Fox News pundits, Fox & Friends hosts, Scott Walker, Rick Scott, Dick Morris, Allen “Whiner” West, Ted Nugent, Mitt Romney, Donald Trump, Herman Cain…etc. As for the women, notables are: Michele Bachmann, Jan Brewer, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Sarah Palin, Laura Ingraham, and that cranky other blonde on Fox…there’s always another cranky blonde on Fox. [My colleague at Addicting Info has compiled a list of the 12 Worst Republican Blunders Of 2012...thought I'd add that here for your enjoyment!]

2. Donald Trump: While Donald is included above, he imploded so spectacularly this past year that he deserves a spot all his own. What happened to this guy!? He used to be just a loud, pompous, hair-challenged rich guy with a successful, if ridiculous, reality show and a catch-phrase that was all the rage for about ten minutes (“you’re fired!”). Then 2012 happened and he seemed to devolve into a tinfoil-hat, spittle-spewing, crazy as a loon, Unabomber-level conspiracist who couldn’t stop making an ass of himself, most recently with an embarrassing display of stupidity while claiming he had an “October surprise” that would change the course of the election, only to have…nothing. Except a badly produced video of himself ranting on camera with an offer to donate a few million to “the charity of his choice” if Obama presented his passport application and college transcripts. To, I presume, Trump himself. October surprise? More like: get the jacket; Trump’s lost it!!

3. The Trump Sons: These two “bad apples who haven’t fallen far from the tree” won a spot on this list for their stunning lack of tact and global sensitivity in embarking on their March 2012 “hunting” adventure in Zimbabwe, Africa. Eric and Donald Jr. hired a company called “Hunting Legends” to guide them on a “safari” where they (or their guides) shot and killed a shocking number of big game. Later seen grinning in pictures with the dead animals, one or both of the boys then promoted those images all over the Internet. Eric denies being the one who leaked the photos, but he took great pride in his hunting prowess (one picture shows him standing with a sawed off elephant’s tail and the bloody knife that was likely used), even getting into a Twitter battle with those who found the excursion, the subsequent “kills,” and the gory photos disgusting. Word came later that the Zimbabwe government was investigating the legality of their “legendary” activities. If anyone belongs on this list, they do.

4. Lindsay Lohan: This may seem like a cheap shot but hear me out. As someone who’s worked for years in the creative businesses, in collaboration with many extraordinarily talented actors and entertainers struggling to get a foothold and build a career with sometimes little luck and few opportunities, I find it appalling to watch someone with inarguable talent (just watch 11-year-old Lindsay knock out a dual role in 1998’s The Parent Trap), who has been given every chance to succeed and live the life of a successful, respected actor – something so many others work so hard toward with little fulfillment – waste that opportunity with impunity. Putting herself in the public eye as often as possible, she appears to have abdicated any visible responsibility for her life; instead she’s chosen (or at least, allowed herself) to crash, burn, steal, pose, primp, pander; parade to and from prison, get drunk and behave badly in clubs and bars, hit & run, blame Mommy, Daddy, girlfriends, boyfriends, the media, the paparazzi and even the industry. She’s been in and out of expensive rehab, squandered the time and energy put in by her and others towards her sobriety, ruined her looks, and made whatever audience was watching suffer through her cringe-worthy stint on SNL and the debacle of Lifetime’s Liz and Dick. Though I wish her well, she’s on this list because, up till now, she’s trashed every chance she’s had for redemption. And that’s too big a waste to get a pass.

5. Wayne LaPierre: While LaPierre would likely make this list in any year, he was a Johnny-come-lately in 2012, only emerging from the NRA shadows in the last month to make a rage-worthy, tone-deaf statement about what this country needs in light of Sandy Hook and the other 12,000 homicides perpetrated annually by guns…which would be more guns. After the tragedy in Newtown, he and his organization seemed oddly quiet, as if waiting to gauge the temperature of the country after the second worst mass shooting in American history. Unfortunately his reticence didn’t reward him with insight and his big announcement about the NRA School Plan, a federally funded militia of armed guards in every school in the U.S., struck a very raw nerve and, other than the most fanatic of gun lovers, some on the radical Right, and likely the gun manufacturers who fund his efforts, no one applauded. He has been roundly panned by parents, educators, the President of the United States, and any person with commonsense who could cite the many reasons why this approach is ludicrous.

6. Barbara Walters: This one may surprise you. It does me…I like Barbara Walters. But she makes it onto my list for being a willing participating in lowering the cultural bar for the sake of ratings by pandering to the worst in American “fascination” rather than piquing and promoting the best. Known for her “Most Fascinating People of the Year” shows, Walters typically likes to mix it up with an eclectic list of entertainers, writers, politicians, world leaders, etc. This year is no different. But this year the “entertainers” include some of the most marginal, talentless and banal candidates in the show’s history: Honey Boo Boo and E.L. James in particular. Do I need to say any more about Honey Boo Boo? I don’t think so. But E.L. James? I’ve been trying to read Fifty Shades of Gray for the last few weeks and it has got to be, truly, one of the worst books I’ve ever read. It’s not the sex (the juvenile “oh crap!” sex); it’s the sheer vacuousness of the character, the writing, and plot. It’s as bar-lowering a piece of pseudo literature as the National Enquirer and while it purports to be erotic, I am not finding the vapid chatter of a teenage-sounding child-woman and her creepily dysfunctional lover remotely erotic. Is it me? All I know is women must not be getting enough out there if this book and this author are fascinating. That Walters vaunts either to be so for higher ratings makes her one of the worst people of 2012.

7. Lance Armstrong: This one made me incredibly sad. I defended him, I wrote on threads about how he had never tested positive, about his charity, about his fight for survival after cancer; I wanted him to be a hero. But when he threw in the towel, allowed the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to permit the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to strip him of his seven Tour de France titles and later bar him from cycling, it was clear, despite his spin otherwise, that there was something to the charges and likely nothing to disprove. What man stops fighting when his entire legacy is being obliterated? A guilty one.

8. Dan Cathy (Chick-fil-A): This one, on the other hand, was easy. The grinning, avuncular Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-fil-A, took the love of Jesus to a whole new level of cultural flagellating, announcing without hesitation that he was proudly against marriage equality and had put nearly $2 million into groups with an anti-gay agenda. The heat was immediate and fierce, with boycotts, editorials, and angry citizens swearing off the much-vaunted chicken sandwich. There were counter-protests, Christians who stood proudly in allegiance with their intolerant, homophobic leader, and a chicken place never saw so much feather ruffling. Cathy maintains his stance, though he’s now a bit quieter about it. Too late. He made the list.

9. Karen Handel – VP, Susan G. Komen for the Cure: A staunch opponent of abortion, Ms. Handel instigated the decision for Komen to pull grants from Planned Parenthood, inciting a virtual riot among progressives, women’s rights activists, and those who work in women’s healthcare. Unrepentant about politicizing medical care, preventive and otherwise, in service to her right-wing agenda, Handel was made to resign after donations to Komen dropped precipitously and the reputation of the organization suffered. But clearly driven by her desire not only for political redemption but vengeance against Planned Parenthood, she’s recently emerged from her banishment to hit back with a lecture tour to promote her new book, Planned Bullyhood, which accuses the agency of nefarious intentions. Some say she might run for office in red state Georgia. She’d likely be as welcome there as she is on this list.

10. Fred Phelps and the WBC: This guy and his cadre of yapping sycophants embody the worst of any list, any time. Between turning “God Hates Fags” into a motto and meme, protesting and screaming epithets at the funerals of soldiers, and making the name of “God” sound like a swear word, these perverse Christians give Christianity a bad name. Except most real Christians refuse to claim them, anymore than the rest of us would. Beautifully poked and parodied by Russell Brand on his show, and with “hacktivists” taking them down Anonymous style, they’ve made themselves so universally hated that it’s unlikely they can fester on any street corner without the notice of louder, smarter, and more righteous folks who hate hate. Welcome, Fred and family, to your permanent spot; get comfortable, you’re going to be here for the duration.

And there it is. My Ten Worst People of 2012. Feel free to add your own in comments. It seems this is a list that, unfortunately, never runs out of contenders…

[And to view the other side of the "best/worst" spectrum, visit my companion piece, The 10 Best People Of 2012.]

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/12/31/the-ten-worst-people-of-2012/

And here are Lorraine Wilke's "10 Best" ~ can't argue with this list either ~ "live links" to more/corroborating info in original ~ Sooz

The 10 Best People Of 2012
By Lorraine Devon Wilke

Depending on whether one has a half empty or half full worldview, we’re either heading for Armageddon or on the brink of progressive evolution. I happen to think the half empty view is a slightly sad and counter-productive one because, really, what’s the point of it? If you’re right, so what…we’re all doomed. If you’re wrong, you’ve wasted your life being a pessimist. And that is a waste.

So while some bemoan the futility of change, others preach the sermon of lost causes, and a few maneuver through life with such cynicism and crankiness they’re a drain on even the sunshine, I choose to see the light. When right-wing acquaintances caterwaul that there is “no hope for compromise” in creating better gun laws, I choose to believe there is. When bitter conspiracists carry on about Obama’s dark arts and false equivalency on every issue from political parties, world leaders, and civil rights, I say all things are not equal; some things are better than others, some reasons are stronger demands for change, and some people are good people. Some people, in fact, are the best people. But yes, you have to be a half-full person to see it that way.

So for all my half-full readers, I’ve chosen to honor the good ones who stood out to me, who transcend the norm in a way that appeals to my sense of righteousness. They are as mixed a collection as my 10 Worst, but after careful thought, this is the group that got the call, made the cut, leapt on the list.

The 10 Best People of 2012

In no particular order, but each uniquely deserving.

1. Maryam Durani: Maryam Durani is on this list because she does something that requires boldness, bravery and tremendous conviction, and she does it because she believes it’s important to do. She is the owner and operator of a radio station that focuses on women’s issues and she does this in Kandahar, Afghanistan, one of the most repressive countries in the world when it comes to the freedoms and rights of women. Chosen as one of “The World’s 100 Most Influential People,” Time Magazine reported that she has survived several assassination attempts but maintains not only her work promoting women’s rights, but is a member of the Kandahar provincial council. Anyone who stands up to the Taliban deserves a place on this list; a woman who takes that stand is a permanent member. If you’d like to Facebook “like” her, click here.

2. Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, NJ: I like this guy. I hope we don’t find out that underneath the heroic, compassionate exterior is a Rod Blagojevich or John Edwards. I don’t think so; he’s already earned such a high profile that if there were skeletons, they’d surely be dancing all over Twitter by now. So I’m going with good. Countless reports have covered his heroism, told stories of his compassionate responses to constituents’ needs; detailed his stand, loud and proud, for marriage equality, and on and on. He’s considering a run for the Senate and his growing, and glowing, public profile bodes well for his success. He’s one of the good guys.

3. Katie Holmes: This one likely surprises you but let me explain: in a world where celebrity marriages and divorces are typically blathered all over the media (Tom did his part there), Katie Holmes — after somehow getting raptured (coerced? brainwashed? bamboozled?) into marriage and parenting with über-Scientologist and couch jumper, Tom Cruise — lived her life as quietly as someone caught in that maelstrom could manage. And despite paparazzi, the persistent and pursuing cult; her celebrity and his, when the time came to extricate herself — for whatever reasons — she did. Rather than getting Gloria Allred or Bert Fields to raise a ruckus; rather than exposing every detail of her mysterious life to the media; rather than going for a big splashy denouement that would certainly have cast her as the protagonist, Holmes left with dignity; rebuilt her life privately; divorced discreetly; and allowed no one – not Tom, not Scientology, not the promise of some media payday – dissuade her from the clear decision to transition with grace. Maybe that seems like no big deal to some, but I see it as one of the best chapter changes a celebrity – and parent – with her exposure has ever pulled off, and for that she’s on this list.

4. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT): Bernie Sanders has become a phenomenon. Seen as a truthteller, he’s built a meme around himself that invites people of all ages and political proclivities to seek out his perspective and then … actually listen to what he has to say. Active on social media, he appeals to a wide demographic – particularly younger political junkies looking for the unvarnished angle – and what he has to say really makes sense. While other politicians parse, spin, equivocate and sometimes twist the truth, Bernie speaks from the hip and the heart. His political positions include support for campaign finance reform and universal healthcare; he’s pro-choice and pro-marriage equality; and he keeps very active on Facebook, where he speaks often of the need to balance the budget without reducing benefits to veterans, the elderly and the needy. He’s smart and he’s right. He’s on this list.

5. Dames Helen Mirren and Judi Dench: Age ain’t nuthin’ but a number and these two dames of drama make the whole business of getting older seem like the bat of an eyelash. In truth, given our cultural obsession with youth and beauty, they, no doubt, like every other actress whose aging process has been documented on camera, experience all the usual indignities and “for her age” kind of qualifying most women endure, regardless of the profession. But somehow these two have made it seem easier; no ghastly cosmetic surgery to ruin the planes and particulars of their faces, no wrapping frames in fashion meant to suggest youth but too often just seem silly; no unwillingness to stand, tall, proud, and in their 78-year-old (Judi) or 67-year-old (Helen) skin. They’ve brought sexy back to the older women, and done it with style, wit and panache. Media may reject most images of age, but Mirren and Dench have shown us how to do it. May they live to be 100 and then some, to always have a place on this list.

6. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert: This was a slam-dunk. There are no better two comedians, satirists, political observers who — so sharply and with such humor — illuminate and eviscerate the players, events, and hypocrisy that informs our political and cultural world. It is said that young people look to these two for the bulk of their news, choosing to see the world through the filter of mad, crazy funnymen. Given how candid and unvarnished they are, exposing truth and calling people on the carpet while keeping a smile on their faces, that’s not hard to understand. Mostly because they make us laugh – hard – and sometimes during the most difficult, confounding and controversial of times, they are deeply embedded on the good list forever and ever, amen.

7. Beth Howard, the “Pie Lady”: We all give however we can and this story of giving intrigued me mightily. I wrote about Beth shortly after the Sandy Hook shooting because she stepped up in a heartfelt and very sweet way (literally) to bring some warmth and cheer to a town that had been ravaged by the second worst mass shooting in American history. Beth makes pies, she’s made pies for years; she has a stand, a site and a truck, and after she heard about the tragedy, she packed up that truck, drove from her hometown of Eldon, Iowa, stopped along the way to collaborate with baker friends who helped her bake 250 apple pies, and off she went to Newtown, CT. She set up shop and started giving out pie to weary families, local citizens on the street, even the children who were traumatized by the events … and from what they told her, pie never tasted so good. See the whole story here, but trust that this is one person who baked her way to my 10 Best!

8. Robert Redford: An iconic, eternally handsome, and very busy actor, director, and conservationist, Redford earns a place on this list not only for creating the Sundance Institute with its deep commitment to nurturing and mentoring filmmakers, as well as sponsoring the best film festival in the world (The Sundance Film Festival), he’s also a passionate supporter of “green” technology, conservation of green land, and the exploration of responsible alternative energy. He most recently teamed up with Pitzer College in Claremont, CA (one of the seven Claremont Colleges) to create the Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability, a program funded by a $10 million donation by Nicholas and Susan Pritzker, parents of a school graduate in the field of environmental causes. Any man who puts his time, effort and beliefs into action toward sustainability and the greater good of the planet gets my nod.

9. Caroline Titus, newspaper publisher, The Ferndale Enterprise: It’s hard enough running a weekly “ink & paper” newspaper when you’ve got a big staff, a healthy budget, and the resources to cover every story that makes the news; it’s another to be a one-woman show in a tiny farm town in Humboldt County in Northern California, and still, every week without fail, put out a newspaper that has won countless awards, broken stories later covered by The New York Times, and garnered recognition as a tough, fair, but very candid news source. Impressed by her doggedness in getting the job done almost singlehandedly, sometimes with the help of friends and family, but out on every Thursday (keeping a 134 year tradition!), I profiled her in the Huffington Post in a story about “Women of the News.” Since then she’s continued to push for transparency and truth in covering the news of her area (Ferndale, CA), sometime at the cost of negative pushback from those less interested in that goal…but always with persistence, fearlessness, and a willingness to take the heat for the sake of the story. Keep up with her on Twitter.

10. Matt McQuinn, Alex Teves and Joe Blunk; heroes of the Aurora shooting: When a madman with a gun walked into the theater in Aurora that was showing Dark Knight Rises and opened fire, killing 12 people and injuring many more, these three men, Matt, Alex, and Joe, each reacted in a way most people hope they’d react but wonder if they would: they shielded their girlfriends’ bodies to protect them from the gunfire and as a result, all three were killed. Their girlfriends survived. There’s no act as noble and courageous as literally sacrificing your life for someone you love, and Matt, Alex and Joe made their shattered families proud. They were beloved by those families and their many friends, and certainly by the women they died for. Valor doesn’t get much greater than this and their stories touched every person who heard them. Click the link above to read about these heroes, who truly are the good guys in a very bad story.

So there you have it, the 10 Best People of 2012. Take some time to click their links and give them a moment of your attention. They deserve it; they did good.

[And to view the other side of the "best/worst" spectrum, visit my companion piece, The 10 Worst People Of 2012.]

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/12/31/the-10-best-people-of-2012/

4. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT): Bernie Sanders has become a phenomenon. Seen as a truthteller, he’s built a meme around himself that invites people of all ages and political proclivities to seek out his perspective and then … actually listen to what he has to say. Active on social media, he appeals to a wide demographic – particularly younger political junkies looking for the unvarnished angle – and what he has to say really makes sense. While other politicians parse, spin, equivocate and sometimes twist the truth, Bernie speaks from the hip and the heart. His political positions include support for campaign finance reform and universal healthcare; he’s pro-choice and pro-marriage equality; and he keeps very active on Facebook, where he speaks often of the need to balance the budget without reducing benefits to veterans, the elderly and the needy. He’s smart and he’s right. He’s on this list.

Finally, somebody is paying attention.

For being limited to just 10, this list is amazingly inclusive ~ Sooz

Top 10 Terms From 2012 That Need To Die A Horrible Death
2013/01/08
By Rika Christensen

2012 saw a lot of insanity and inanity in politics at all levels, but perhaps none more so than at the federal level (what’s new?). These situations, or dare I say, shenanigans, contained a lot of political-speak that really needs to go. Here are my top 10 political words and terms that need to die in 2013:

#10: Grassroots. In politics, this is supposed to mean movements of and by ordinary people, as opposed to the political elite. However, this term has been thrown around by both parties in an attempt to demonstrate that they are, in fact, making a sincere attempt to identify with us little people and understand our plights, which are the plights of a majority of the country. They have failed miserably.

#9: War on Christmas. There is no war on Christmas. Nobody has actually proposed removing Christmas from American lexicon, from religion, from society, with the possibility of a handful of nuts. The President did not (contrary to a post that made the rounds of the Internet) decide to call them “holiday trees” this year. Granted, there do seem to be a lot of people who get unnecessarily offended by nativity scenes, but there is no actual war on Christmas.

#8: Reach across the aisle. Yes, “reaching across the aisle” is a good thing; however, the term itself carries a strong sense of division that perhaps reinforces the polarization that the general public feels. Instead of using this term, politicians should just say that they’re trying to work together, or (gasp!) compromise. That is, after all, what more than 70% of the American people want.

#7: Job creators. This one has been overused for a few years, actually, but by the time of the general election it just made me want to retch. The job creators in a consumer economy are the consumers, not the corporations, not the wealthy, and not small business owners. Because there’s no reason for anybody to hire if consumers aren’t spending. That’s a simple fact.

#6: Austerity. Both parties throw this word around quite a bit, but use it in two different ways. Austerity, in politics, refers to deep cuts on domestic spending programs in an attempt to reduce the deficit, yet Republicans and Democrats insist on their own versions of austerity and won’t, dare I say it, reach across the aisle.

#5: Entitlements. We pay into them with the payroll tax. While there has been raiding and serious mismanagement of Medicare and Social Security, causing them both to contribute, in their own way, to the national debt, the fact remains that we pay into them with the payroll tax. So, of course, they’re entitlements. However, the GOP has taken this term and tried to make it mean “getting something for nothing.” We don’t get Medicare and Social Security for nothing. So stop using the term as though it’s something bad, which brings me to:

#4: Handout. Let’s be clear: there’s a difference between social programs and handouts. Social programs are intended to help people who, for whatever reason, are unable to support themselves in part or in full, temporarily or permanently. The use of the word “handout” turns social welfare programs into something that is a drain on society and, by extension, vilifies people who must rely on social programs to get by, such as the elderly and the disabled.

#3: Obstructionism. This is actually what the GOP has spent two years doing. But can we come up with another word for it, please? Obstructionism implies a movement of some type, when all they did was block everything in an attempt to keep President Obama from being re-elected.

#2: Debate. The fiscal debate. The gun control debate. The debate over the debt ceiling. The economic debate. This debate. That debate. Debate, debate, debate. Is there any topic that is not a debate of some type these days? Especially given the GOP’s inability to work with anybody that doesn’t think like them?

#1: Fiscal cliff. I’m sure everybody is shocked by this choice for number one. We spent every single moment of every single day steeped in media coverage of the impending fiscal cliff, referring to the tax hikes and budget sequester set to go into effect on New Year’s Day if another deal wasn’t reached. Now, we’re hearing about even more fiscal cliffs, including the debt ceiling and the expiration of the current budget resolution.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/01/08/top-10-terms-from-2012-that-need-to-die-a-horrible-death/

Thanks sooz. Very interesting reads, especially the "10 Best".