No Runny Eggs

Welcome to the 5th and final day of the NRE 2010 Awards. Today, we name our people of the year. As a review, here is the rest of the schedule:

– Jackass of the Year, 1/1
– Thank You for Existing, 1/2
– Dumbest Thing Said, 1/3
– News Story of the Year, yesterday

And the nominees are…

The TEA Party (from realdebate) – Obama tried to ignore it, leftwing radicals like Wisconsin Dem Chair Mike Tate and the NAALCP threw out insults and false accusations of racism. Every time the left tried to impugn the TEA party activists it only served to strengthen their resolve. Grass roots activists, many of them active in politics for the first time in their lives, rose up against the astroturfed organized left wing radicals and threw the left to the curb.

Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama (Shoebox) – Oh, I could have said the Tea Party but when I thought about it, the Tea Party was the response not the impetus.  There were many times during the year that the Tea Party could have fizzled out and we would have had just another spin of the Merry-Go-Round of the Elite for the November election.  Fortunately, at every opportunity for the Tea Party flame to die down, one of the above would do or say something so overwhelmingly arrogant, stupid or brash that it fed new fuel into the Tea Party.  Watching these three during 2010 was more predictable and tiring than seeing Rob Schneider showing up in an Adam Sandler movie.

Scott Brown (from Phineas): By winning the Senate seat once held by the late and contemptible Edward Kennedy, Brown put an exclamation point on the growing populist reaction against liberal statism, particularly ObamaCare. His election had a tremendous effect on the Senate, providing the 41st vote to end the Democrats’ filibuster-proof majority and forcing Harry Reid to resort to such sleazy parliamentary tactics (and outright bribery) to pass ObamaCare. That public display of ethical corruption, in turn, fueled the public outrage that burst forth last November. For being the key domino that set all the others tumbling, Senator Scott Brown should be Person of the Year.

Aisha (from Kevin Fischer) – In July 2010, TIME magazine wrote:

The Taliban pounded on the door just before midnight, demanding that Aisha, 18, be punished for running away from her husband’s house. They dragged her to a mountain clearing near her village in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, ignoring her protests that her in-laws had been abusive, that she had no choice but to escape. Shivering in the cold air and blinded by the flashlights trained on her by her husband’s family, she faced her spouse and accuser. Her in-laws treated her like a slave, Aisha pleaded. They beat her. If she hadn’t run away, she would have died. Her judge, a local Taliban commander, was unmoved. Later, he would tell Aisha’s uncle that she had to be made an example of lest other girls in the village try to do the same thing. The commander gave his verdict, and men moved in to deliver the punishment. Aisha’s brother-in-law held her down while her husband pulled out a knife. First he sliced off her ears. Then he started on her nose. Aisha passed out from the pain but awoke soon after, choking on her own blood. The men had left her on the mountainside to die.

Aisha posed for a controversial TIME magazine cover. Her willingness to be photographed in such a manner told the world of the evil of the Taliban and why American soldiers are at war in Afghanistan.

The Daily Mail headline says it all.

Ron Johnson and Sean Duffy (from steveegg) – If you told me this time last year that the two liberal lions of the Wisconsin Congressional delegation would be ex-elected officials today, I would have called you nuts. Yes, there were some rumblings that Russ Feingold might be vulnerable to a certain candidate because of the spectacular failure of his 2009 “non-hearing” tour, but the first poll that showed that vulnerability had yet to show up. Indeed, that first poll, and the several after, showed that it wasn’t the announced candidates that could give Feingold fits, but the biggest name in Wisconsin politics, former governor Tommy Thompson. Then, Thompson decided not to run on April 15, Ron Johnson used an incredible 6-week run-up from an unofficial launch of his campaign then (and an official launch at the beginning of May) to the RPW convention at the end of May to become that “certain candidate”. With some of the best help Wisconsin GOP politics could come up with (and notably the researcing ability of friend-of-the-blog Kevin Binversie), a willingness to use his personal fortune, and an ability to raise money unseen in a GOP Senate candidate in 12 years, Johnson overcame the new liberal lion of the Senate.

Meanwhile, Dave Obey was riding high as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. In the past year, he had steered through Porkulus and the two largest budgets in the history of the country. Yes, Sean Duffy had entered the race in 2009, but he was still considered a serious underdog, with the 2010 run merely an attempt to get his name and face out to the voters of the 7th so he would be well-positioned when Obey would retire. Nobody knew that would be in May when, apparently after an internal poll that showed Duffy at a minimum too close for comfort for someone who hasn’t had to seriously campaign for as long as I’ve been able to legally drink, Obey pulled the plug. How insurmountable had Duffy become in a district that historically votes for Democrats by double-digit margins? The sitting state Senate Majority Leader, Russ Decker, was ordered to try to (and ultimately fail to) hang onto his seat rather than pursue his decades-long dream of succeeding Obey, and the only major Democrat candidate was a state Senator who didn’t have to give up her seat to run what turned out to be a lackluster campaign. The ultimate margin of victory for Duffy was 7 1/2 points.

Welcome to Day 4 of the NRE 2010 Awards. Today, we focus on the biggest news story of the past year. As a review/preview, here’s the rest of the schedule:

– Jackass of the Year, 1/1
– Thank You for Existing, 1/2
– Dumbest Thing Said, yesterday
– Person of the Year, tomorrow

And the nominees are…

The November election (from realdebate) – Never in my lifetime have I seen such a dramatic shift. The country saw real liberalism in action and rejected it soundly. Major kudos to Wisconsin which had the biggest turn around of any state in the nation: 2 Congresscritters, The Governor’s Office, the State Assembly & Senate and of course a US Senate seat. The left still doesn’t understand it, they just think people who don’t agree with their world view are stoopid.

Passage of Placebocare (Shoebox) – I don’t think there’s any question that the passage of this bill crystalized the anti Obama, anti Democrat, anti incumbent and anti Rino movement that culminated in the elections of 2010.  Sure, people were upset about the stimulus bill, sure, people were upset about the finance bill and numerous other efforts by Democrats to make us less free and more beholden to our D.C. masters.  However, passage of Placebocare, in spite of overwhelming public sentiment against it, showed even those in the electorate middle that we could no longer tolerate the arrogance of the D.C. meritocrisy mentality.  I hope the sleeping giant of the silent majority has finally been awakened….we’ll find out as 2011 plays out.

Chilean mine rescue (from Kevin Fischer) – Trapped in a Chilean mine for 69 days, how did Edison Pena and the other 33 workers survive? With help from the King. Appearing on the David Letterman Show, Pena said the miners found comfort in listening to Elvis on a specially-delivered MP3 player sent into the mine. Without publicity, Elvis Presley Enterprises sent whatever material could fit into a tube: DVDs, CDs, Elvis sunglasses. The men entertained themselves in sing-a-longs to lift their spirits while they waited for help. The Memphis Commercial Appeal wrote this headline: “Elvis to the rescue-The King’s music soothed Chilean miners.”

President Barack Obama becomes President George W. Bush. (From Phineas) This is really more of a theme over several stories, but it also is a story in itself. Riding a wave of Bush-bashing into office and promising to be anything but Bush, Obama found himself time and again mugged by reality and force to continue Bush’s policies: tax rates, military commissions for terrorists, Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan… One can almost hear Obama speak with a Texas twang. The irony is laughable.

The national debt tops $14 trillion (from steveegg) – Up until very late last night, I was going to pretty much repeat last year’s choice of the Tea Party Movement getting vocal (and this time, power), while those in government doubled (this time tripled with both halves of the bipartisan Party-In-Government taking part) down on stupid. However, I’ll get ahead of the fiscal curve and explain why a specific element of that, the debt hitting 95% of the Gross Domestic Product, is going to be THE STORY. Yes, we’ve been in that territory before. However, there are three big differences between 1946 and 2011:

1. There isn’t 16 years of pent-up demand just beginning to be met to drive the GDP up to a point where the debt load becomes manageable.
2. On a related note, we’re not the sole source of goods like we were after World War II.
3. The nature of the debt is far different – rather than the debt being almost exclusively past obligations that, once met, don’t recur, a significant portion is on future obligations that are only increasing.

Sooner or later, the house of cards is going to get a “major makeover”, and another 2-year delay in a serious attempt at a crash diet means it’s more likely that “major makeover” will be a collapse.

Welcome to Day 3 of the NRE 2010 Awards. Today, we focus on the dumbest thing unleashed into the public consciousness. As a review/preview, here’s the rest of the schedule:

– Jackass of the Year, 1/1
– Thank You for Existing, yesterday
– News Story of the Year, tomorrow
– Person of the Year, 1/5

And the nominees are…

“It (unemployment insurance) creates jobs faster than any other initiative you can name,” Nancy Pelosi while pleading for an extension of unemployment benefits (fron steveegg) – No, you twit, it lengthens a lack of employment (I can’t properly call it unemployment because on the federal level, one can drop off the unemployment rate while on unemployment) right up to just a couple of weeks before it actually ends. As for the extended quote (courtesy Breitbart), I don’t see (or at least I didn’t used to see) too many people on unemployment picking up ribeye steaks and Dom Perignon (which carry a rather healthy profit margin) to survive, much less the new Chevrolets, Fords, Toyotas, Arctic Cat snowmobiles and hand-crafted furniture that allow jobs to be created.

“Are you serious?”, Nancy Pelosi, in response to a question about the constitutionality of Obamacare (from realdebate) – Yes Nancy we were serious, and correct. Enjoy your new status in the minority!

“We have to pass the bill so you can see what’s in it,” Nancy Peolosi regarding Placebocare (from Shoebox) – Not since Alfred E. Neuman’s infamous “What, me worry,” has a single phrase conveyed the level of conivary and deceit as this utterance from Pelosi.

“If this was Texas, which is a state that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this saying that they had a major issue with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would have to look twice at this. But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border,” Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy West during debate on a resolution condemning Arizona for passing a immigrant status-verification law (from silent E and Kevin Fischer – yes, they both submitted the same quote)

“I don’t worry about the Constitution.” (from Phineas) Said by (now former) Congressman Phil Hare (D-IL), when asked last April  by St. Louis Tea Party members about the constitutionality of ObamaCare. I guess the “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” part of his oath of office is something he doesn’t worry about, either. Oddly, his constituents elected his opponent last November.

Welcome to Day 2 of the NRE 2010 Awards. Today, we honor the person/institution that made the past year at least somewhat tolerable. As a review/preview, here’s the rest of the schedule:

– Jackass of the Year, yesterday
– Dumbest Thing Said, tomorrow
– News Story of the Year, 1/4
– Person of the Year, 1/5

And the nominees are..

Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey (from Phineas) – As a Californian, I can only look on with envy at a state that has fallen into as bad a situation as mine, but found a leader willing to do what it takes to clean up the mess, regardless of his personal popularity. He’s faced down his legislature, the entrenched, greedy bureaucrats of the teachers’ union, and done it while keeping the public on his side. His frank, no-nonsense style is a refreshing change from the pabulum we’re usually served by politicians. And, by showing how it can be done, he gives genuine hope for change, that our states can heal themselves of the fiscal mess they’re in. Now, if I could only clone him…

Anyone named Palin (from realdebate) – Face it; anytime anyone named Palin does anything the left has absolute fits. Whether it is a stupid dancing show, a TLC program showing the wonder of the Alaskan landscape, conjecture about 2012, or Sarah on Fox News it is fun to watch the left’s heads spin around.

Conservative talk radio (from Kevin Fischer) – Forgive my personal bias, but without this alternative (along with conservative blogs and web sites), we’d be stuck with ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, PBS, NPR, The New York Times, The LA Times, The Boston Globe, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and just about every other local daily paper in America, Time, Newsweek…….you get the point. Despite FOX and Rush and Hannity, etc., our side is still mightily outnumbered on the media ideology scorecard. But we have strong, powerful, and persuasive voices that can more than hold their own.

Scott Walker (from steveegg) – Before there was Christie, there was Walker. Even though the entrenched LeftStreamMedia, the entrenched Milwaukee County Board (which was never sufficiently cleaned up by the wave that sent Walker to the Executive chair to even allow Walker’s vetos to stand without some persuasion), and entrenched county public unions (enriched beyond even their wildest dreams just before said wave was generated by said enriching) were united against him, going so far as to substitute him for Bush in the local “I blame…” game, Walker submitted and then cut the passed county budget (with one full-veto exception) down to the same property tax levy as the previous year. While he still has the hostile presstitutes and unionites at his new job as Wisconsin governor, at least he won’t have a hostile legislative branch sabotaging him at every turn.

Mrs. Shoebox (from Shoebox) – how many people would uproot from the state they had lived in their whole life, leave all family behind, take on the challenges of a relocation during the worst housing market in memory, just to let their spouse chase a dream?  Was Don Quixote married?

We here at No Runny Eggs have decided to make famous (or infamous as the case may be) some of the people and events that shaped the past year. Today, we start with the nominees for Jackass of the Year. We’ll each choose the person who we think was the biggest jackass in 2010. Some of us may agree, some of us may not.

The rest of the NRE Awards schedule is:

• Thank You for Existing, which will be announced on 1/2.
• Dumbest Thing Said, which will be announced on 1/3.
• News Story of the Year, which will be announced on 1/4.
• Person of the Year, which will be announced on 1/5.

And the nominees are…

Brett Favre (from steveegg) – I could have gone with the safe political picks of the architects of the POR Economy (Pelosi, Obama and Reid), or their Wisconsin acolytes Jim “Craps” Doyle (WEAC/HoChunk-For Sale) and noted slumlord/abuser of Milwaukee County Board Supervisors/acting Milwaukee County Executive Lee Holloway, but this isn’t just a political blog. At the beginning of the year, I said that Favre would do to the Vikings what he did to the Packers and Jets, and I was right – he held out of training camp. Worse (or better, depending on one’s point of view), he finally proved he was human, but only after he broke every record there was to break from consecutive games started to fumbles.

Alan Grayson (from realdebate) – The leftwing bomb thrower who claimed conservatives just wanted people to die, called his opponent Taliban Dan and deliberately took statements out of context to make scurrilous campaign ads. Grayson then actually had the cojones to complain about a negative ad directed at him claiming his kids could see it. Enjoy your retirement you putz, you earned it.

364,598 South Carolinians (from Shoebox) – This is the number of people who voted for Alvin Green for the South Carolina Senate Seat.  The fact that; Green had been indicted on a pornography felony, hadn’t held a job for 13 years and considered manufacturing action figures of himself “economic development”, all could be overlooked  by nearly 30% of South Carolina voters, proves without a doubt that you can fool some of the people all of the time.  It also proves that for at least 30% of voters, party affiliation and skin color mean more than capability of doing the job….and that goes for the South Carolina Senate race as well!

Eric Holder (from Phineas) – Let’s see… He sues the State of Arizona for trying to enforce a law that the federal government refuses to enforce. He tries to move the trial of Khailid Sheikh Muhammad to New York City, regardless of public sentiment or public safety. He carries on with the trial in federal court of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani for the embassy bombings, even though the judge threw out his key witness, assuring us there would be no problem. Then he loses the case. Finally, we have the revelations of racial bias in the enforcement of civil rights laws at the Justice Department, apparently tolerated Holder, if not encouraged by him. For this, I think he is a truly worthy Jackass of the Year.

Stan Cox and Ryan Brown (from Kevin Fischer) – Why is it liberals aren’t happy unless they’re unhappy, taking all our comforts away? During July 2010, as a stifling heat wave was gripping many parts of the nation, Stan Cox wrote a book entitled, “Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Condtioned World.”

In a book review for the lefty web site, Salon.com, Ryan Brown wrote:

In the last half century, air conditioning has joined fireworks, swimming pools and charred hamburgers as a ubiquitous ingredient of an American summer. It’s no exaggeration to say it has changed the way this country functions, shaping everything from where we’re willing to live (Las Vegas, anyone?) to the amount of sex we have (more: It’s never too hot to get it on when the A.C. is blasting). Nine out of 10 new homes in this country are built with central air conditioning, and Americans now use as much electricity to power our A.C. as the entire continent of Africa uses for, well, everything. It has so thoroughly scrambled our way of life that when the National Academy of Engineering chose its 20 greatest engineering accomplishments of the last century, A.C. not only made the list, it clocked in ahead of spacecraft, highways and even the Internet.

But as science writer Stan Cox argues in his new book, the dizzying rise of air conditioning comes at a steep personal and societal price. We stay inside longer, exercise less, and get sick more often — and the electricity used to power all that A.C. is helping push the fast-forward button on global warming. The invention has also changed American politics: Love it or hate it, refrigerated cooling has been a major boon to the Republican Party. The advent of A.C. helped launch the massive Southern and Western population growth that’s transformed our electoral map in the last half century. Cox navigates all of these scientific and social angles with relative ease, providing a clear explanation of how A.C. made the leap from luxury to necessity in the United States and examining how we can learn to manage the addiction before we refrigerate ourselves into the apocalypse.

That no good A.C.! Why should we live and work in comfort! And who knew A.C. was such an integral part of the immense success the GOP enjoys!

Maybe Stan Cox and Ryan Brown, my Co-Jackasses of the Year and their disciples should step to the plate and be the first to live outside, eat outside, sleep outside, work outside when the thermometer is hitting 100.