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December 26, 2004

Naughty and Nice, 2004

The Center for American Progress emailed me their list of who they believe were the "naughty" and "nice" for 2004.

Some highlights from them...and my own follow:

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: Congress, for underfunding the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). allocating "$164 million less than needed to cover the expected 24 percent increase in home heating costs" this winter.
Nice: Richard Hamann and his wife, Donna, for paying the electricity bills for the entire town of Anthon, Iowa, because they wanted to give something back to their community.

Naughty: Medicare headTom Scully, Rep. Billy Tauzin, Rep. James Greenwood and trade representatives Ralph Ives and Claude Burcky, for using public service for personal benefit, taking lucrative, top-dollar jobs with the pharmaceutical industry they had formerly regulated.
Nice: Rep. Henry Waxman, for using public service for public benefit, compiling reports on everything from the Halliburton to undue secrecy in the White House.

Mine:

Naughty:Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative(BALCO), who apparently provided performance enhancing steroids to top tier athletes in baseball and track and field.
Nice: The mighty Boston Red Sox who shrugged the curse and defeated the Evil Yankees.

Naughty:The Federal Communications Commission. The FCC ran rampant in 2004 levying ridiculous fines at the behest of a puritannical Congress. McCarthyism redux.
Nice: Shock jock Howard Stern. As one of the FCC's favorite targets, Stern abandoned the public airwaves and will probably do for satellite radio what HBO has done for pay cable television.

Naughty: The Beaverton,Oregon City Attorney who refused to charge Rosemary Kriegel of Tigard, Oregon after her physical act against Kendra Lloyd-Knox, who was protesting a Bush event.

Here's the photo...which represents PK's first foray into journalism:

Nice: The readers of Preemptive Karma. You've encouraged, cajoled, debated, inspired and made sure our cups runneth over. Thank you.

Here's to a peaceful and blessed 2005.

Posted by Carla at December 26, 2004 05:12 PM