"Brilliant at Breakfast's" Top 20 People of 2006

I believe I've already owned up here to being a bit of a sucker for lists. Typically this is in categories like books-read-this-year, best 1,000 R&R songs of all time, or top 100 of the year, that sort of thing. In contrast, I find People-Mag-type lists - Most Convincing Liar, Worst Dressed, Least Promiscuous, Most Reviled, Most Asymmetric Face, Most Sinful, Best Botox Survivor, etc., a total bore.

But I ran across this intriguing people list tonight at Brilliant at Breakfast (BaB). The poster caveats, appropriately, that the list is a bit light on women. I agree, I could come up with female entries (Cindy Sheehan and Dixie Chicks are easy examples) to replace a number of males that were either unfamiliar or did not resonate strongly enough with me for such an elite list, but I defer to and accept rationale. We have to start somewhere.

BaB gets high marks for both selections and great annotations. I was slapping thighs and otherwise getting emotional pretty steadily as I worked my way through the list. Great stuff. You should certainly check out the original for the full effect. I'm not sure how to summarize and yet tease; you will have to be the judge how I pulled that off. Hint - I was ecstatic over #1. I've refrained (mostly) from marking excisions - this was an intense cut-and-paste! In general, BaB has (appropropriately) a good deal more to say than my brief squib. I'm just trying to tantalize, hoping you will check out original and be as inspired as I was. Go there!

And of course the subtext is that any of us can make a difference. Voting matters. Disseminating information that counteracts the increasing spew of government propaganda is absolutely vital. Actions that serve to bolster anti-authoritarianism are both patriotic and heroic.

20. "Action" Jackson Jones. In a perilous year of complex problems, it may seem frivolous to give any spot on this list to an infant. Sure, he's cute in that "He Looks Just Like Old Man Finkelstein" kind of way, but why this particular baby?

13. George Clooney. As if it weren't enough to be gorgeous, talented, and an Academy Award nominee in 2005 for Good Night and Good Luck, George Clooney continued to put his money where his mouth is in 2006, lending his name, face, and clout to legislation introduced by strange political bedfellows Barack Obama and Sam Brownback to pay more attention to the genocide occurring in Darfur.

9. The New York Mets.

4. Stephen Colbert. Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner was one of the most astounding addresses ever given in front of a room full of people. It isn't everyone who can ambush a president, a vice president, and their apologists in the media

2. Michael J. Fox. Michael J. Fox exposed the gargoyle behind even the lame mask of Rush Limbaugh. In coming forward in favor of candidates who support stem-cell research, Fox showed an entire nation what has become of one of their favorite television personalities. . . . Rush Limbaugh was understandably panicked, and the image of that fat bastard flailing around in a cruel parody of what he believed was an unmedicated, but in reality was an overmedicated Michael J. Fox showed what the talk radio right is really all about -- and it isn't about morality.

It's Been a Long Time Comin'

It would be fair to say I have been obsessed with the Outing of Valerie Plame/Wilson from the time it happened. "Plame" made for my very first Google alert (still extant) back a good long time ago, and believe me that alert has furthered my political education no small amount through many hundreds if not thousands of instructive links it provided. And, yes indeed, as you can probably imagine, that Googalert has also supplied manifold links to outrageous rightwing propaganda impugning the Wilson/Plames and anyone even daring to question the rights and prerogatives of the "administration."

But now we have some new playwrights working at bringing us some entertainment. Mr. Libby is on trial, and jury selection began last week. It is a fascinating process, with Libby's defense team focused among other things from what I can tell on trying to find 36 good people who still think george and more particularly dick (duck? - why not?) walk on water - or at least talk on a daily basis directly with God. For the arithmetically inclined (sadly, as an enthusiast for the subject, I realize that might mean two of you), the numbers here I gather involve a total of 20 peremptory challenges, interestingly not evenly shared, leading to ideal 12 jurors and 4 alternates.

I strongly commend your attention to Firedoglake, a premier progressive website which has an inside track via in-court blogging. This is a big-time site in the sense that they have great connections (many of which you have already possibly been introduced to here) and a multitude of like-minded folks posting on the site throughout the day, but one of their key focuses, and possibly the original raisson d'etre for the site (stretching if not exhausting my linguistic ability - and spelling) has always been the Affaire Plame. The site strongly deserves your attention and support ($).

And in case you, like me and Mickey Rooney, experience that occasional memory lapse, you can find a terrific primer courtesy of Robert Parry on the whole gov-ugly Plame affair at Truthout

The trial of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is being billed by the Big Media as a case study of a favorite Washington cliché - "it's not the crime but the coverup" - a smugly delivered line suggesting that Libby committed no real offense beyond trimming a few facts when questioned by overzealous investigators.

But the major US news media is again missing the point. The real significance of the Libby trial is that it could demonstrate how far George W. Bush went in 2003 to shut down legitimate criticism of his Iraq War policies as well as questions about his personal honesty.

In that sense, the trial could be a kind of time machine for transporting America back to that earlier era of not so long ago when Bush and his team felt they controlled reality itself and were justified in tricking the American people into bloody adventures overseas.

It was a time when President Bush swaggered across the political landscape, a modern-day king fawned over by courtiers in the government and the press - and protected by legions of followers who bullied citizens who dared to dissent.

Libby may be going on trial for five felony counts of lying and obstructing justice, but the essence of his criminal behavior was his work as a top enforcer responsible for intimidating Americans who wouldn't stay in line behind the infallible Bush.

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