We all love May here as it is full of DAYS OFF! First we have May 1, the Worker’s Holiday. It is still considered a Communist holiday here because there are no workers left under capitalism. No, that is not a statement of Poland’s employment policy. We are now all partners! It is celebrated by the Left – this year has 3 separate marches which shows the sad state of the Left these days, the Right, just to provoke the Left, and the anarchists and the neo-Nazis, whose message is unclear. We also had a festival at the Palace of Culture, the Soviet’s huge building which was a gift to the Polish people in 1952. It celebrated the absurdity of the Communist system. They had old Communist cars, ugly clothes and goods, all consumer based. If one wanted to see the absurdity of the capitalist system, one only has to walk across the street to see the new fancy shops filled with unaffordable goods which is on display every single day.

May 2 used to be a regular day but since most people took it off to prepare for May 3 another holiday, it has been transformed into Flag Day. Then we have May 3, Constitution Day or History is Written by the Winners. Here’s how the story goes. May 3 celebrates the first European Constitution in 1791 and only the second in the world after the American one. By the early 17th century, the magnates of Lithuania and Poland managed to ensure that no reforms would be carried out that might weaken their privileged status. They spent lavishly on banquets, drinking bouts and other assorted amusements, while the peasants languished in abysmal conditions. The Constitution introduced political equality between nobility and the peasants and abolished parliamentary institutions such as the liberum veto, which at one time had put the Sejm (parliament) at the mercy of any deputy(nobility) who might choose, or be bribed by an interest or foreign power, to undo legislation passed by that Sejm The official story stops here. Bring out the flags! And as Paul Harvey would say, here is the rest of the story. The adoption of the May 3rd Constitution provoked the active hostility of a cabal of Polish magnates who opposed reforms that might weaken their influence. They aligned themselves with Catherine the Great of Russia and set the stage for the final partitions of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austria. By 1795, Poland was wiped off the map of Europe which lasted for 123 years until 1918, the end of World War I. Polish “freedom” lasted for 21 years until 1939 with the invasion of Germany, thus setting the scene for World War II. And the rest as they say, is history. Though the Constitution itself was only in effect for 1 YEAR, it is now celebrated as a great patriotic (code for anti-Russian) holiday. Any of this sound familiar? But we do get the day off.

How is the US getting more like Poland under Communism: In Poland it was about ideology and supply, in the States it’s about ideology and money.

Hoarding of food

Cutting down on quality of food Less driving Less to no travel

Rationing food

State (corporate) owned media

Propaganda presented as news

Patriot Act

Fear as a domestic policy

Lots of ordinary people, small number of rich (actually, that’s true in capitalist Poland too)

Government financed holidays

Universal health care

Minimum but sustainable pension

Subsidized housing and food

Cheap public transportation

Excellent and free education system

Sound familiar? Aren’t most (except for the first 2, of course- that’s way too radical) of those issues on the Democratic platform? Just goes to show you that freedom and wealth is all relative.

S&F Financial section or No such thing as a free lunch

Price comparisons in Warsaw and NY – Warsaw prices based on my ever declining dollar salary

Bring money when you come to visit me. And toothpaste.

Only in America and only because we’re not in the streets

Recent headline:

Exxon profit disappoints despite high oil prices

Exxon Mobil Corp posted a $10.89 billion first-quarter profit on Thursday, but still managed to disappoint investors as weak production volumes and low refining margins blunted the impact of record-high crude prices.

(S)election 2008

S&F’s mantra for the US elections has always been, “If God intended us to vote we would have been given candidates. Barack Obama has almost changed this view recently by addressing the most taboo subject in US politics: class, correctly saying that workers have turned their frustrations of the disappearing American dream into other issues like religion, guns and racism Interestingly this was encouraged by the media because we all know that what Washington fears most is a united front. Unfortunately, he was scared off by the same media induced hysteria and backed off. If he had stuck with his views, that would have been a change I could voted for. The other bright spot of his interesting life was having the Rev. Wright as his pastor and mentor. Why, that alone is almost enough for me to vote for him. The good Rev. is so astute in his analysis of US politics that if Obama chooses him for Vice President, I WILL vote for him. Unfortunately, now that the wolves have come out as they inevitably do in politics, he has retreated and so has some of his support. And this point is the most intriguing of all, one that never fails to surprise me: the fear and compliance of the American voter. Remember Howard Dean? It’s happening again because it worked before. You know, like rigging elections. I’m watching a group of highly educated, sophisticated, astute, familiar with the media (or so they think), enthusiastic voters, insisting Obama is the change we have been waiting for, to ones where they have allowed, once again, a seed of doubt to be cleverly planted by the media. Change? Sure we want change, the media says they say. But not this kind of change. And what do they mean by “this kind of change”? I’m sure they don’t know because the media hasn’t told them. It’s best to leave it, um, you know, like, uh, oh, I don’t know, vague-ish…, you know what I mean, like? It’s a manufactured consensus. Obama, using different rhetoric, has said exactly what the Rev. Wright has and isn’t that what was appealing to his voters in the first place? And for those who criticized Clinton for doing anything to get elected, not considering that’s what all politicians do, I wonder what they think of Obama repudiating a close friend of 20 years who proved to be politically threatening? The worst of all this is that Obama, a black man with a history abroad and a community activist, probably does agree with Wright but is terrified to admit it. And if he won’t admit it before the Presidency, why should I believe he would do it when he was President when the stakes are much higher?

For more on this issue and the hypocrisy of the media:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#24418708 and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umQjl_rv1Ds&eurl=http://www.mediachannel.org/w...

And elitist? Is it me or does the media think we get even more stupid every day? The media is banking that most people don’t know what elitist really means and even if they do, they have redefined it as rich and in Obama’s case, it’s code for “uppity”. Elitist, meaning rich, is what the US presidential election is all about! What else can you be when it costs millions to run? And look at Clinton, leading the pack, waving her grandfather’s and by association her, working class creds and silent about a tax return that states she has earned over 100 million dollars. Man, the media MUST think we’re stupid and it has the polls to prove it.

Reality Check

In spite of all this, Rev. Wright still has a higher approval rate than Bush. 42 to 29 percent.

S&F ENTERTAINMENT AND GOSSIP SECTION

From Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky:….the U.S. media do not function in the manner of the propaganda system of a totalitarian state. Rather, they permit-indeed, encourage spirited debate, criticism, and dissent, as long as these remain faithfully within the system of presuppositions and principles that constitute an elite consensus, a system so powerful as to be internalized largely without awareness…… In the process, the media provided neither facts nor analyses that would have enabled the public to understand the issues or the bases of government policies…. and they thereby assured that the public could not exert any meaningful influence on the decisions that were made. ….In these cases, as in numerous others, the public was managed and mobilized from above, by means of the media's highly selective messages and evasions.

.... Leaders have usurped enormous amounts of political power and reduced popular control over the political system by using the media to generate support, compliance, and just plain confusion among the public.

…..the institutional bias of the private mass media does not merely protect the corporate system. It robs the public of a chance to understand the real world.

More in the Mickey Mouse Media http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/02/8672/

New movie, War,Inc., opening in NY, May 23 http://www.exclaim.ca/motionreviews/latestsub.aspx?csid1=119&csid2=871&fid1=30983

America Kicks Ass video

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/84139/

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

"The Bush administration wants our nation's 80 million recreational boaters to help fight terrorism by watching out for small boats that could deliver a nuclear bomb. Well, that should work out well, huh? You got a bunch of beer-drinking fishermen in bass boats with rifles. What could go wrong there?" --Jay Leno

"And Barack Obama is suffering from a bad headache today. His former pastor, Reverend Wright, is back out there. Reverend Wright gave an interview earlier tonight on PBS with Bill Moyers, and he said he's gotten over a million emails and phone calls telling him to keep on speaking out, and every one of them came from Hillary Clinton. It was amazing." --Jay Leno

"Hillary Clinton said she is a stronger candidate than Barack Obama. And to prove it, she counts the votes she got in Michigan, even though Obama's name wasn't even on the ballot. It's a pretty strong argument. I mean, whenever Barack Obama's name is not on the ballot, she beats him every single time." --Jay Leno

"Well, experts say the big test for Barack Obama will be surviving the negative attacks. The big test for Hillary Clinton, of course, is surviving North Carolina. The big test for John McCain is just surviving until November." --Jay Leno

"But it turned out that Barack Obama was right. The rural voters in Pennsylvania are bitter about a lot of things. Unfortunately, one of is Barack Obama. 19% of the people said that race was a factor. In fact, one cracker said that he would have burned a cross, but gas was too expensive." --Bill Maher

"I'm no pundit, I'm no political expert, but here is the problem with what the Democrats are doing. They're spending too much time attacking one another, and not enough time trying to rig the election. That's the problem." --David Letterman

"Also in Washington this week, President Bush named a new HUD chief. Bush says he wants to reverse the direction of HUD. Now, if you reverse HUD, you get 'duh’”. Jay Leno

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk returned from a triumphant trip in the US, citing a great deal on the first strike missiles to be installed in Poland. “With the dollar so low, we were able to buy twice as many missiles as we have been forced to by the Americans”, he crowed.

Israel admits that is has been looking to relocate the entire country to a safer area. A spokesman has confirmed that they have been offered large areas in the US near the Mexican border. He said they were able to get an excellent price because Israel comes with its own security fence.

When the Israelis announced their plans to build a large wall protecting them from the Palestinians, many claimed that it was outrageous. But American corporations saw a golden opportunity and are lining up for prime advertising space on the Israeli Wall. Disney has already revealed its first ad: Hey Arabs! Can’t go to Israel? Come to Disneyland instead!”

(S)ELECTION 2008
Allegations have recently surfaced of a secret government program called “Project Talking Heads” where leading presidential candidates are actually robots. Inquiry is focusing heavily on the chillingly machine-like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama who is said by some investigators to have been created from scratch in “a highly multicultural west coast lab” in the spring of 2003. John Edwards has come under some scrutiny because of his seemingly ageless appearance and “always perfect hair,” but political investigators are now ruling him out. They say his insistent and increasingly fiery commentary denouncing growing class inequality and poverty in the U.S. was “inconsistent with the ideological profile the Project’s directors were likely working with.

The national media has quietly changed the Presidential campaigns from a boring PBS Newshour type program to a vibrant copy of American Idol. A front page op-ed piece in the New York Times today stated, “We want to help you vote for the right kind of politicians; the kind you find most likeable, pleasant and fun. The surviving three 'Idols' - John, Hillary, and Barack - and the people around them (most of which we provide) will handle all the issues and the policies. We and they will give you all the 'hope' and 'change' and 'unity' you need. We do it all for you, America. We are here to take and keep the last risks out of your 'democracy.' The nation is in good hands."

John McCain unveiled his new prescription drug plan today: various drugs in the drinking water.

Barack Obama denies that contrary to popular belief, he was not born in a manger. To distance himself from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, he also announced that he has become a Muslim.

Mommy or Daddy talk about "things being better" before President Bush

You have two Mommies

Mommy or Daddy talk about something called "the popular vote"

The relative calm of Sesame Street has been shattered as carb-loving Cookie Monster has been attacked three times this month by devoted converts to the Atkins diet. Police say the victim was tricked each time by the Atkins insurgents posing as cookie delivery men.

Fast food customers across America rejoiced recently as McDonalds released the newest item in their diverse menu selection. The new drink, "The McForty", has been added to the previous beverage menu, consisting primarily of non-alcoholic drinks. "The addition was clear," explained Frank Robertson from McDonalds public relations, "We've always offered malted shakes, why not malt liquor?" A spokesman states, "This is a great day for fast food patrons everywhere. Not only can a customer get cheap, low quality food, they can also get cheap, low quality alcohol. Fast food chain Jack in The Box plans to push the envelope even further by offering "Crack in a Box" next month.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"It's getting nasty. Hillary and Barack really going at it. They're insulting each other, trading barbs, attacking each other's credibility. In fact, the only break they take from attacking each other is when they promise the American people, if elected, they can unite the country."

Osama bin Laden has released another anti-American speech. And out of force of habit, Barack Obama denounced the remarks and said he wasn't even in the room at the time the statements were being made."

“Republicans, of course, don't allow dangerous religious freaks to advise their campaigns. They nominate them."

"Vice President Dick Cheney was in Iraq this week. Cheney told the Iraqi government that their leaders have to show some progress on both their domestic and economic fronts. And the Iraqis said to Cheney, 'Uh, you first.'"

Daniel Cohn-Bendit was a radical young leader in the Paris 1968 revolt. His provocative ideas and proclamations struck a chord amongst the young. Bendit was denounced by the conservative press as a "Jew, a German, and an undesirable." People were stunned by the apparent anti-Semitism of the attacks upon Cohn-Bendit, and the immediate artistic response was this poster. Soon millions were chanting in the streets the slogan found on the poster... We Are All Undesirables!

March 8, in addition to being International Women's Day, is the 40th anniversary of the repression of the student movement and the forced exile of Jews which led to institutionalization of anti-semitism in Poland. Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Danny the Red) appeared today with Polish dissent Adam Michnik to discuss those days and how they have influenced where we are now. Michnik being kicked out of the university was one of the reasons for the demonstrations. Michnik began by saying the post war generation was the first one that did not leave with fear unlike their parents who lived through World War II (I found myself thinking how American propaganda said that people living under Communism all lived in fear). He continued with a quote, "With the world being what it was, I do not want to die in my bed" and went on to say, "Now you'll want to beat me up when I tell you who said it, Che Guervara." He then went on to say the American prison on Guantamamo is nothing compared to the prison the whole island is on and stating his support for the war in Iraq. Although Michnik and Cohn-Bendit seem to be good friends, he is far to the left of Michnik and made several interesting assertions (outshining Michnik point by point) about 1968 and 2008. He made no apologies for him being treated as only a spokesman for the 60s concisely putting the time into a capsule: "We changed the culture and the social mores but we lost the political game."

Poland likes to think of itself as Europe's victim as in "Oh woe is us, we had to live under Communism unlike the rest of you living in the better half of the world." (and has appointed itself an expert on Communism and democracy). When Michnik tried to use that line of thinking, Cohn-Bedit made the observation that he was on the streets in Paris at the same time, doing that same thing except it was against capitalism. What they were both doing, he said, were fighting against ideology and the status quo. He then went on to criticize Michnik's support of the invasion of Iraq saying that solutions do not lie with the Americans. This received a small but enthusiastic reaction in the intellectual audience as Poles are still coming to terms that democracy and freedom are not the utopia they appear to be or what they thought they would be. However, I should cut the Poles some slack here. The 60s generation is not known for their fluency in English and Cohn-Bendit was speaking in fluent English. Only 2 out of the 500 attendees chose to wear the translation headphones, possibly not to admit they didn’t speak English, so they may not have exactly understood his arguments. But dammit, why show up if you’re not going to understand the event? Michnik then asked what are the boundaries of freedom and Cohn-Bedit said it was interesting that they have only been discussing freedom for a few minutes and already Michnik was asking about its limitations. As for the ubiquitous Jewish question, when asked what is his role as a Jew, Cohn Bendit said he would like to be able to say that Israel has a right to defend itself and that the Palestinians have a right to defend themselves also. He would also like the right to criticize Israel's policies without being called an anti-Semite. This also was received cooly, as Poles have not yet had this national conversation regarding Jews. It was interesting that whenever Cohn-Bendit made a point Michnik couldn't refute, Michnik used humor to evade an answer or a comment and found a willing audience in the loving intellectuals in the room. I found him to be still stuck in the old "Commie bad, free market good" mode and his paper, Gazeta Wyborcza often reflects that viewpoint. On the other hand, Cohn-Bendit, who spoke passionately in English IS still Red after all these years. His thinking has evolved over the years, reflecting the New World Order and all the complications that come with it – poverty and globalization, increasing rich/poor gap, questions about freedom and democracy. He had a compelling analysis of the environment and the Greens, Sarkozy and Putin, German politics, Iran, US foreign policy and was a thoughtful and articulate spokesman for Generation 68, then and now. And he brought home an important point for me. As a member of Generation 68 myself, we Americans tend to think that we were the only ones marching in the streets then. Meanwhile not only were the European students joining us in protesting against the Vietnam War, they were demanding real change in the status quo. In other words, they dared to demand the impossible.

WATCH THIS MOVIE BEFORE YOU VOTE
http://www.teachpeace.com/americanblackout.htm

Heard on the campaign trail:

Radio stations in New England are broadcasting a ski-area ad in which a mock political candidate with a voice like Obama's declares Killington to be "the ski resort of change."

“Voters will vote for the person they like”. The ubiquitous Amy Holmes, CNN pundit part of “the best political team on television” according to CNN. I want her job.

Heard during Super Tuesday:
“Romney will have trouble in Michigan,” says Jeffery Toobin, CNN “analyst” and part of the “best political team on television”.

“Hold on Jeffrey. We have breaking news,” says Wolf Blitzer. “CNN is ready to predict that Romney wins in Michigan. You were saying Jeffrey?”

“Barack Obama doesn’t need any foreign policy advice from the architect of the worst foreign policy decision in a generation.” Campaign spokesman on Bush’s assessment of Obama’s lack of a foreign policy.

“Change. That’s all you’ll have in your pocket if Obama is elected.” Republican pundit.

“Obama has proved that white men can jump. To a black man.” NBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Obama’s support with white men

“It could be to people within the Party fighting each other saying the nominee was selected, not elected.” Lynn Sweet from the Chicago Sun-Times on the controversy over the super delegates. OH. MY. GOD. Lynn, you mean they’re not?!

“They’re very cynical. They’re used to being sold to.” Why young voters are supporting Obama because he’s different. My, my, all those years of being sold to and they still can’t tell.

“In previous elections, cynical voters thought there was no difference between parties calling them tweedledee and tweedledum.” Stephen Frasier, CNN

Hillary Clinton appeared on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on the eve of Super Tuesday. Asked about the role her husband would play in her administration, Clinton quipped, "In my White House, we will know who wears the pantsuits."

And these from Jay Leno:
“You see Barack Obama at that rally surrounded by all those Kennedys? Man, I couldn't tell if he was running for president or bartender."

"Today was a big day in Hollywood. The Academy Awards were announced. It looks a lot of Oscar buzz for 'No Country For Old Men,' which I think was also John McCain's campaign slogan."

"It looks like the Democratic field really starting to get narrowed down. For Democrats, it's going to be Barack Obama versus Hillary. So, it's a black man or a white woman. You know, this is the same decision Michael Jackson has to make every morning of his life."

"Not such good news for John Edwards. He came in third. Third. Proving, yes, there are two Americas and neither one is voting for him."

"Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich has a new platform -- live long and prosper. Did you here about this? Dennis Kucinich admitted during the debates the other night that he had seen a UFO up close. See, Dennis Kucinich doesn't seem like the type of guy who would see a UFO, he seems like the kind of guy you'd see coming out of a UFO."

"Last night was the premiere of 'Dancing Around The Issues,' otherwise known as the Democratic presidential debate. ... The three Democratic frontrunners said last night ... that setting a timetable for complete withdrawal is irresponsible, because you can't project what the future situation will be in Iraq and pulling out troops basically depends on the situation on the ground. Otherwise known as the 'Bush plan.'"

"Tonight the Republican presidential candidates had a big debate, 10 candidates. The last time that many rich white guys got together, I think Exxon merged with Mobil."

“The revolution will not be televised. It’ll be downloaded.” Sign held by striking Writer’s Guild member.

And other news:

Alberto Gonzales is the first Attorney General who thought the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth were three different things. Rahm Emanuel

“Ecuador is not for sale.” President of Ecuador Rafael Correa on what has changed in its foreign policy regarding oil.

“This much free.” Label on a Mars bar which now has an actual picture showing how much you get free instead of the percentage. Looks like we’re dumbing down candy bar wrappers now too.

And speaking of dumbing down, these are from the subtitles on the bottom of the screen while watching CNN International. We used to have some real news there, but it seems they must be downsizing and using the American ones. Or maybe the headlines from the National Enquirer, the American rag. Sigh.

Why sadness can blow your budget.

Man lived with dead roommate for a decade.

Couple finds dead body while viewing house.

Patti Hearst wins dog show prize.

Bruni expects lifetime with Sarkozy.

Drunken orgies “tainted” Florida jails.

From Brothers, The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years by David Talbot.

(S)ELECTION, 2008
“Much has been written about the Kennedy effort to steal the 1960 vote. But what Joe Kennedy knew from his own hard-won experience in the trenches of politics and business is that American democracy is not the crystal vessel our textbooks hold aloft. It’s a roughly contested thing. Elections are often brokered, votes bought or stolen or uncounted. And in 1960, as Kennedy knew, the outcome of the presidential race would likely depend to a significant extent on corrupt machines and underworld bosses.

…And when it came to stealing votes, Kennedy was certainly not the lone culprit in the 1960 presidential race. As political reporter Theodore H. White found out when he investigated the Illinois vote outcome, there was a good reason Nixon did not challenge that state’s final count: “The Republican stole as many votes as the Democrats.” Chicago mayor Richard Daley knew how the game was played – his Democratic machine had to steal at least as many votes in elections as the Republicans did in downstate Illinois where the GOP prevailed.”

HOMELAND SECURITY
From Jim Garrison, the New Orleans prosecutor who investigated the assassination of JFK:

“The United States, Garrison concluded, had been taken over by the military industrial complex that Eisenhower had warned about. ‘In a very real and terrifying sense, our government is the CIA and the Pentagon, with Congress reduced to a debating society,’ he declared in 1968. ‘I’ve learned enough about the machinations of the CIA in the past year to know that this is no longer the dream world America I once believed in…I’ve always had a kind of knee-jerk trust in my government’s basic integrity, whatever political blunders it may make. But I’ve come to realize that in Washington, deceiving and manipulating the public are viewed by some as the natural prerogatives of office. Huey Long once said, ‘Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism.’ I’m afraid, based on my experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security.”

THIS WAS IN 1968!!

And let’s not forget the personal. While the president’s father had dealings with the bin Ladens, his grandfather made a considerable share of the family fortune through his dealings with Nazi Germany. Some have suggested that the Bushes’ assets have their ultimate source, in part, in the exploitation of slave labor at Auschwitz itself.

On October 28, 1942, the US government confiscated the assets of two firms that served as fronts for the Nazi regime—the Holland-American Trading Corporation and the Seamless Steel Equipment Corporation, both controlled by UBC. A month later, it seized Nazi interests in the Silesian-American Corporation (SAC), directed by Prescott Bush and his father-in-law, George Walker.

The seizure order, issued under the Trading with the Enemy Act, described Silesian-American as a “US holding company with German and Polish subsidiaries” that controlled large and valuable coal and zinc mines in Silesia, Poland and Germany. It added that, since September 1939 (when Hitler unleashed the Second World War) these properties had been under the control of the Nazi regime, which had utilized them to further its war effort.

Among SAC’s assets was a steel plant in Poland in the same district as Auschwitz. The plant reportedly used the concentration camp’s inmates as slave labor.In his book Trading with the Enemy: The Nazi American Money Plot, former New York Times reporter Charles Higham noted that the US government sought to cover up the role played by Prescott Bush and many other leading US financiers and industrialists in supporting Hitler.

While Bush’s speech writers like to portray US policy in terms of moral absolutes—the struggle of good against evil—the record of complicity of the American ruling class, and the Bush family in particular, with Nazi Germany demonstrates that the only constant is the defense of the power and privilege of the ruling oligarchy by whatever means are required.

In the 1930s and 1940s this overriding consideration led George W. Bush’s grandfather to establish a profitable commercial relationship with the Nazis. In the 1980s, it underlay the alliance forged—in no small part by George W. Bush’s father, the senior President Bush—with the Islamic fundamentalists in the war against the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan. Today it is at the heart the younger Bush’s policies of militarism and colonialism abroad and repression and social attacks at home.

And the winner is:
Alberto Acosta, the new President of Ecuador who won the campaigning to the tune of the Twisted Sister hit, We're Not Gonna Take it Anymore.

BEST Airline Award
To Nepal Air which sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft.

BEST "Welcome Back from the 19th Century" Award
To the state of Kansas, which finally restored evolution science to state school standards.

BEST “Putting Limbo In Limbo" Award
To the Vatican which released a report reversing limbo's basic tenet that unbaptized babies who die may not go to heaven.

BEST Freedom of Speech Award
First Runner Up
Verizon Wireless who blocked NARAL Pro-Choice America's efforts to send mobile text messages to its members.

Second Runner Up:
AT&T who muted singer Eddie Vedder just as he launched into a lyric criticizing President Bush.

And the winners are:
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Bush at the UN on the same day. A religious fanatic who sponsors secret prisons and has antagonized the whole world and an Iranian, both addressing the General Assembly.

BEST Christmas Present
Sparkle-laden paper wrapped around a box of Fear. The plastic paranoia sealed package contains all the colors of Fear from brown to yellow to pink and purple. A small booklet of instructions is included on how to apply Fear to every situation and person not "one of us," and how to brush on racism, homophobia and bigotry with the mascara of mendacity.

BEST HandbagYves St. Laurent Downtown Croc Tote at $37,990. One year tuition at Johns Hopkins Medical School - $36,000

BEST Economics
In 1979, the top 1 percent averaged 8 times more than middle-income families and 23 times more than the poorest 20 percent. By 2005, the top 1 percent had 21 times the income of middle-income families and 70 times the average income of the poorest 20 percent.

BEST (S)election Headline
Obama comes in second in New Hampshire. CNN on the winner of the New Hampshire primary.

BEST Job
TV (s)election pundits who are wrong in their predictions and continue to get paid.

BEST Quotes
Jared Bernstein of EPI, summing up the record of the years 2003-2005, wrote,

“Over those two years, the growth of inequality transferred $400 billion dollars from the bottom 95 percent to the top 5 percent.” He concluded, “Such concentration of income is unsustainable in a democratic society."

“My family couldn’t come so I’m casting ballots for them.” Georgian voter as reported by Polish election observer.

“We saw many examples of voter fraud, but the West has decided that Mikhail Saakashvili has won." Polish election observer about the elections in Georgia.

“Live free or die. That says it all.”

“But what does it mean?”

“Live free or die.” New Hampshire voter clarifying the state’s motto.

"Bush has done a job so bad, he's made it hard for a white man to run for President." Chris Rock on Barack Obama

"C'mon Gary. Bowling is in your Polish blood, like kielbasa and collaborating with the Nazis." Character from Fox's sitcom, Back to You.

Twelve tents and more than 30 people were stationed outside Best Buy at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, but the diehards had been there since morning.

Sharon Smith, a New Bedford resident, had arrived at the store at 8:30 a.m., more than 20 hours before it would open. She was third in line.

"You either get hooked on doing it or you don't," she said. "It's a thrill."'

"Somebody brought us turkey here," Ms. Smith said. "We ate it in the tent."'

Well, at least she'll have some experience when the recession hits.

Not that the Europeans are any better. Well, at least they didn't give up a family holiday. Rather than worry about the recession, this is what they're doing (from the International Herald Tribune):

Heather Weir of Dublin said she could not talk for long last Tuesday as she stood at the crossroads of magic, music and video games at the FAO Schwarz store in New York. She was on a bargain tear down Fifth Avenue.

A visit with her sister became a whirlwind shopping spree when the euro rose to a 20-month high against the dollar. Weir spent more than €1,000, or $1,330, on everything from Sketchers sneakers to Bobbi Brown cosmetics and Yankee-brand candles in a week. She bought $550 worth of jewelry at Tiffany.

"I wouldn't go mad at home like I did here," said Weir, 26, who works at Merrill Lynch. "You get two times as much as you get for that price at home."

Hmm, I wonder if FDR had this in mind when he changed the holiday's dates. For 75 years after Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation, succeeding presidents honored the tradition and annually issued their own Thanksgiving Proclamation, declaring the last Thursday in November as the day of Thanksgiving. However, in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt did not. In 1939, the last Thursday of November was going to be November 30. Retailers complained to FDR that this only left 24 shopping days to Christmas and begged him to push Thanksgiving just one week earlier. It was determined that most people do their Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving and retailers hoped that with an extra week of shopping, people would buy more.

Sarko's in love. Awww! What a difference 4 years make! Well, a brilliant speech writer helps too. In his speech to the US Congress, Nicholas Sarkozy stood at the podium and evoked the greatest memories, myths, heroes and icons that are near and dear to every American’s heart – that guaranteed redemption and generate lots of applause. This should be a lesson for all world leaders coming to Washington, hat in hand to ask for money and/or support for weapons, visas, coups, torture, assassinations, etc.

Speechmaking 101 in Eight Easy Lessons

Mandatory terms:

1. War, (shhh, don't mention Iraq), specifically World War I and especially World War II. The good war fought by the greatest generation (standing ovation)

2. The liberation of Europe by the Americans (applause) and that's why we love America (standing ovation)

3. Camelot, oops, I mean John F. Kennedy. No speech would be complete without mentioning the best loved and mythical President in living memory.

4. Martin Luther King. A nod to civil rights (as long as it's here and not in France) (standing ovation)

Since the business of America is business (witness the live stock market window in the corner of the TV screen as he made his speech) and nothing sells America better than cultural icons (and shopping malls) let us mention:
5. Elvis and Marilyn Monroe.

And we can’t forget (God, will they ever let us?) the ubiquitous
6. 9/11 (standing ovation)

7. War on Terror

and the sexy newest topic

8. Iran (as long as French troops don’t have to go). Notice Sarkozy never mentioned the French military’s role in all this even though plenty of decorated soldiers in funny hats were sitting in the audience – apart from the US military, of course. Iraq was not mentioned at all! Maybe because the French troops are instead posted at one of the most dangerous spots in the world, the Eiffel Tower. See photo above.

For more on Sarkozy's experience with manipulating icons and history, go here:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/nov2007/moqu-n08.shtml