Naughty and Nice in 2005

{Editor's note: this originally appeared in the 411 Politics Zone and split into two parts. The following post was my part of a roundtable discussion with my fellow 411 staff writers.

Also, this will be the last entry until after Christmas. Once again, to all my readers, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and very Mad Kwanza to all!

Well I've been mostly caught up in what's going on in Iran this passed year but I think I can muster enough material to cover the rest of the items on Santa Easley's list. Here's where I'm coming from with all this as far as naughty or nice criteria: If said person or entity did something particularly malicious out of the scope of something they would normally do than I believe that qualifies them as naughty. However, if they did something rather ordinary though not particularly good, well that's the way the Christmas cookie crumbles. So without further ado...

1). Pres. George W. Bush - Nice. I'm not laying the hurricanes or the aftermath's that followed at his doorstep. George Bush didn't cause the hurricanes or global warming and of course none of this had squat to do with the Kyoto Treaty. The merits of that treaty are debatable as well with respect to global warming. I'm also not going to fault the guy for whom he nominates to the Supreme Court. He won the election. Period. There's nothing else to talk about. It really irks me when folks on the other side of the political aisle get upset with their opponents for having the nerve to promote their agenda. Harriet Miers was a mistake obviously but that wasn't done out of malice, it was done out of cronyism and GW is not the only politician stricken with that disease. The man tried his best to "fix" Social Security and that was a complete bust. Again, he wasn't being evil or malicious; he was doing what most other Republicans in his position would have tried. And in the end he failed anyway. George W. Bush was nice this year because he didn't do anything beyond what's expected of a man in his position.

2). New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin - Naughty. Don't get me wrong. I'm not laying the hurricane at his feet either. The whole federal and state system blew it. That's as plain as I can say it. Between graft and shortsightedness all around, nobody did what was needed to save NOLA and it's not all Nagin's fault. However, I've deemed him naughty for putting the blame for the destruction of New Orleans on racism. Sorry, you can't cry racism in the face of apparent incompetence. That's malicious. That is not taking responsibility for your actions. I could have lived with him just blaming FEMA or the entire federal government to protect his political hide. That would be normal. But blaming racism is in the realm paranoid delusions and it's just plain wrong. Ray Nagin is naughty for laying out cheap shots and promoting negative race relations.

3). Peacenik Cindy Sheehan - Naughty. As far as I'm concerned she besmirched her sons name for the cause of leftist, anti-war politics. She lied to get on TV and promote herself. Her efforts had no affected on the war other than hurting the morale of some of our troops and their family that believe in what they are trying to do. If she had been honest about her intentions, being an anti-war activist instead of saying she just wanted to "talk" to the President, I would have deemed her nice. But she didn't. Instead she sacrificed any integrity she had.

4). The 107th US Congress - Naughty. I'm still annoyed by what happened with Terry Schiavo. Congress hasn't yet passed Social Security or tax reform. They haven't done enough to promote cars that use alternative fuels nor have they been able to string together a cogent energy policy. There's a whole host of issues that have not been dealt with this passed year but when the evangelicals demanded that several courts should be ignored and a law should be passed to save Schiavo's life, suddenly a law could get passed in a day. That's still ridiculous, even after all this time. Whatever else they might have accomplished this year, I have not forgiven them for this travesty.

5). British PM Tony Blair - Nice I suppose. I can't recall him doing anything abnormal this year.

6). Wal-Mart - Nice. See above.

7). The United Nations - Nice. Whatever happened with the Oil-For-Food scandal and the sexual assaults in the Congo, it's being handled. That's all that I can ask of this organization. I'm not naive enough to believe that anyone or anything can fix the UN overnight but at least there's something akin to reform going on. I think what really made them nice this year was how the Hariri probe was handled and the subsequent withdrawal by Syria from Lebanon. Considering the reputation and potential the UN has for disaster, I'll take this as a sign that the UN is not completely useless.

8). The People's Republic of China - Nice. Hooray for balance! China is the next great superpower and it's the perfect counterweight to American hegemony. I've been chronicling China all year and though I thought they were going to invade Taiwan over the summer, I believe now that they realize war on any level is counterproductive to their grand designs. Economics is king and they are primed to be the engine that drives the world economy. Taiwan isn't going to break away from China and therefore, even though China is expanding its military, there's really nothing to be afraid of. Protectionists will of course think I'm a lunatic but as I've said all year, you can't fight progress. The world is shrinking and the global economy makes living peacefully with your neighbors across our vast oceans of paramount importance.

9). The oil and natural gas industries - Naughty. They knew we were going to be in trouble back in the 70's when the oil embargo's started. Yet the oil and natural gas industries did nothing progressive in the way of finding alternative or renewable fuel sources. There hasn't even any investment in drilling and refinery technology that can absorb category 5 hurricanes. Once again, that borders on malicious. The oil industry should have been able to absorb hurricane Rita but instead we all thought gasoline at the pump was going to hit 5 dollars a gallon. That strikes me as particularly naughty.

10). The American People - Nice...I'm writing this under duress as I actually think the American People were naughty but my lovely, vivacious, and persuasive fiancé "convinced" me to change my opinion. : P

Happy Holidays and God Bless Everyone!