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Jan
6
The party that shoulders the lesser risk should be the one accommodating the other(s). What risk does MMPI face and how does it compare to the risk Cuyahoga County and its taxpayers take with the Medical Mart dream?
When I read this article about how MMPI will take its time, all I could think of was, well, wait a second - your taking time is my county taking my taxes before it is time - for anything.
Is this really the way we get things done? That things get done? It doesn’t sound very negotiation-like to me at all, especially the selection site committee versus MMPI doing its own selection committee work.
What does any of this foreshadow if and when the deal goes through? I’m not in favor of the deal falling apart, but I am concerned about the distribution and leveraging (or lack of leveraging) bargaining power between the parties - and I suspect that that’s what bugs Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson too - as well it should.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:10 am January 6th, 2009 in Business, Cleveland+, Economy, Government, Ohio, Politics, Taxes, leadership, med mart | Please comment
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Jan
6
Just a weird way to start the morning:
First, I saw that I was linked to from Shut Up, Sit Down, a great radical feminist site (a worthwhile blog and post - thank you again for the link) writing in that post about Gaza and Israel
Then, I was linked to from this Buffy the Vampire Slayer forum which is also having a discussion about Gaza and Israel.
Then, I was handed the New York Times print edition and was slapped first by the fact that John Boehner’s skin tone is the same as Barack Obama - maybe, maybe a little more orange. This is going to be a very interesting day.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:15 am January 6th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Gaza, Government, Israel, Politics, leadership | 3 Comments
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Jan
5
Here’s an update of what I’ve been reading most recently (you can see them as a comment at my lengthy BlogHer post where I spell out a lot of my thoughts on the situation):
First, Jack at Random Thoughts continues to provide daily and sometimes 2x/day roundups with excellent links from both the MSM and blogs, from across the spectrum. Here is his update 9.5 (and that link includes links to all the other updates).
His roundup includes this post from a blogger in Bahrain but I would really urge you to look around that particular blog. I think that gentleman represents what it means to be Muslim and be secular and it’s in his presentation that I see hope - if it can get into action, into leadership. I could be wrong about the blogger, but that’s the sense I got.
Here is an interesting Newsweek column to which I can relate, Israel’s Arabs Are the Answer. If you’ve read some of what I’ve written regarding the time I spent in Israel in August 2008, then the sentiments expressed in the column will sound familiar: the wisdom of integrating, incorporating the Israeli Arab population 100%, on all levels.
If you need to be reminded as to why extremists such as Hamas, NOT the Gazan population in general or the Arab population in general, but groups which seek to impose particularly rigid codes of conduct often based on religious tenets on people who do not desire it, read this article about how a female Bangladeshi author fled to Paris. For people familiar with my blog, you know I have almost never used the word “Islamist” - I don’t really approve of it or even know so much what it means. But I can tell you when I read about what is not acceptable treatment under a government and what is extreme to me. And that story about the author is one example. Having spent time in Israel, learning about the different Arab populations in the region, I am confident that there are far fewer interested in such rigid lifestyles than there are interested in a stable, secular existence. The current conflict is completely conflating all that.
There are many photos and videos, from all perspectives, going around - if you google what you want to see, you can pretty much find it - pro-this, anti-that. Whatever.
Here is a Huffington Post item with photos that I received early this morning and here is a video called, Let’s Play Pretend, which many people find very provocative. Here’s a video showing where Gazans have hidden munitions. Here’s a video in which Annie Lennox calls for an end.
The Muqata and Israellycool continue to liveblog the war. People are calling it warblogging. Sigh. But I guess that’s what it is.
Today, there were some cyberwar tactics going on - hacking Facebook, hacking other stuff. Frankly, this crap is all foreplay. Some parties want one-state, that’s all. Other parties are willing to go for two-states if they can peacefully co-exist. Some people want a binational single, secular country. I don’t think it even matters if there are borders or not - either these people are going to learn to live with each other, or they are not. It is entirely within their ability.
Part of the enduring problem is the failure for war itself to settle anything - ever, since the creation of the state of Israel. The claim that the entire land mass has been occupied by people who call themselves Israelis (all religions and ethinicities) for the last 60 years requires that people ignore the 1948 war and armistice in 1949. You can do that if you want to - but it really results in some serious problems in figuring out what to do with millions of people in 2009.
On the other hand, if you accept that war does lead to certain agreements once ended, then all the incursions since then, and their results, need to be accepted. We can’t pick and choose which ones are legitimate and which ones aren’t.
And so this kind of lawlessness or abiding by law tug of war continues - because there isn’t even a common understanding - willfull or not - as to who possesses what, lawfully and that will be respected.
The problem I have with all of that is that we cannot turn back the clock. We can make amends, we can make reparations, we can alter things now. But enough with all the past stuff - which is all that’s being fought over in the social media, by the way. The humanitarian concerns are all real, but those can be addressed if the populations decide that they want to resolve their situations.
But, again, if there’s no common sense of the ground rules for working it all out, then these people will in fact annihilate one another.
On a different note, I’m hoping to get some peaceblogging going in the form of a Wiki for Peace project. I’ll let you know when I get a little further along.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:24 pm January 5th, 2009 in Foreign Affairs, Gaza, Israel, Law | 4 Comments
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Jan
5
Judge Lance Mason swearing in Armond Budish (D-8th, Beachwood) as Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives (Armond's wife, Amy, is next to him, to the far right)
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:01 pm January 5th, 2009 in Cleveland+, Democrats, Government, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, leadership | Please comment
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Jan
5
On Saturday, December 27, I wrote Rachel Belz at Ohio Citizen Action the following e-mail:
I’m a freelance writer and blogger based in NEOhio.
I’ve been following the Harriman, TN fly ash incident since it happened but I would really like to understand better its implications for Ohio.
Have you written anything about that yet, or would you be willing to tell me about it?
Thanks.
Today, I received the following response (and permission to publish) from Paul Ryder, Organizing Director, Ohio Citizen Action:
We have not written about it. Here are some notes on implications:
1. It is a reminder that the existence of the coal industry in Ohio and every other coal state depends on massive shifting of costs to innocent people. If the coal companies had to pay for all the costs of their operations, they would immediately go out of business.
This cost shifting is made possible by the servility of federal and state governments. Ohio is among the worst: http://www.ohiocitizen.org/moneypolitics/2006/strickland_memo.html.
2. It is also a reminder that “clean coal” — peddled in Ohio as much as anywhere – is a joke. “Clean coal” enthusiasts talk only about burning coal cleanly, ignoring the devastation of coal extraction. (And they can’t even make the case that coal can be burned cleanly.)
3. It is a comment on the bigotry of the national media that it occurred on Dec 22, and it took almost a week for the national media to take it seriously. Had this taken place in Washington or New York or LA, it would have been covered round the clock as the catastrophe it was. Since Appalachians suffered, the national media took its time.
4. For background on impoundments, here are a few places to start:
Chuck Nelson, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, (304) 934-0399
Vivian Stockman, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, (304) 522-0246http://www.ohvec.org/issues/slurry_impoundments/index.html
http://www.sludgesafety.org/
http://www.coalimpoundment.org/I hope this is helpful. Please call if you have any questions. (614) 263-4600.
Now, I’m just a lowly blogger with less than 350 “visitors” a day, probably a lot of those 350 are repeats - so maybe I have 175 people who read? Maybe?
And I’ve been writing (via blogging and tweeting) about the Harriman, TN coal ash disaster since the day after it happened.
But our Ohio press? Which covers our governor? And our coal industry? And the energy and environmental issues of our state? And the health of Ohio’s residents?
Not so much.
And that’s just plain wrong, I don’t care how many years their Editors and Editorial Filters have been around. They are making a very bad, wrong and hurtful decision by not investigating and exposing more about what Ohio is - or is not - doing that it should be doing to make sure a Kingston-style disaster can’t happen here and that Ohioans are assured as much.
Many thanks to Ohio Citizen for taking the time to respond.
NB: A story by the AP, about the Crandall Canyon coal mine collapse (the mine owned by Murray Energy Corp., headed by Pepper Pike’s Robert Murray), did make it to cleveland.com on 1/2/09. But still no larger picture stories about the faux hope and real threat of continuing to think that coal is even part of The Answer.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:37 pm January 5th, 2009 in Business, Economy, Energy, Environment, Health Care, Law, Marketing, Ohio, Politics, Resources, Utilities, activism | Please comment
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Jan
5
You can listen live now or by podcast or download later:
These days every news organization has to do more with less. So that makes the decision about what to cover, and how to cover it, more important than ever. So, we’d like to hear from you: what stories should we cover? On the next Sound of Ideas® we’ll be joined by editorial decision makers from The Plain Dealer, WKYC TV and ideastream®. We invite you to join us to talk about what direction all of our news coverage should take in 2009. We hope you’ll be there, Monday morning at nine on 90.3.
Guests
Susan Goldberg, Editor, The Plain Dealer
Rita Andolsen, News Director, WKYC TV
David Molpus, Executive Editor, ideastream®
I emailed in a question that Dan kindly read on the air and Ms. Andolsen was very enthusiastic about taking it up as something to cover. Here’s what I wrote that Dan read:
I would like to see our news outlets do a series on leadership, but not about the people currently in elected positions, corporate, non-profit or academic jobs, but rather an examination:
What does good leadership look like?
Where do we find and how do we support current and future leaders?
Let’s see what happens. Ms. Andolsen, I’ve got lots of time to chat. 
Ahhh and laugh at myself. Sigh.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:35 am January 5th, 2009 in Cleveland+, Media, Ohio, Writing, leadership | 3 Comments
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Jan
5
But that’s not news to me or many others in Ohio, though I’m sure politicians like Jon Husted and Josh Mandel, who’ve received more than $100,000 between the two of them from charter school operator David Brennan and his White Hat Management’s corporation (run names til heart’s content here - but “David Brennan” alone has given in the millions over the years to GOP candidates, which you can see for yourself in the records), would disagree with me - they must love how for-profit charters and money mix, right into their campaign coffers, though their Ohio GOP colleague, State Auditor Mary Taylor (love that little CPA after her name - is Rich Cordray going to put his name on his site as “Richard Cordray, ESQ.”? What would the GOP reaction be if Jennifer Brunner added that to the end of her name on the SOS website? oy) in her official capacity, has some reasons to not been a fan of the mixing:
A third of the 41 government agencies declared unauditable by Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor are charter schools. According to Steve Faulkner, the auditor’s spokesman, that’s an improvement.
And Adler points out: “It’s still a relatively new movement or industry. With all the positives they bring with them, often you’ll have educators that may lack the fiscal skills to run a school.”
Is that Brennan’s excuse? He lacks the fiscal skills to run a school? Oh - yeah - he just runs the for-profit operating company. So that entity lacks the skills to…hire people who have the fiscal skills to run a school? Whatever. He seems to be able to stay out of bankruptcy, not sure why he can’t get his schools to manage themselves.
From the Cincinnati Enquirier today:
By Ohio law, charter schools are nonprofits. But about half the charter schools are managed by for-profit companies which pay the bills and pocket any profits.
For-profit charter school managers took in $291 million in state funds last year, according to an Ohio Education Association study. The biggest charter manager in Ohio, [David Brennan's] White Hat Management Co. of Akron, received $84 million for its Ohio schools, which include its Life Skills Centers and Riverside Academy in the Cincinnati region. [emphasis added]
The Enquirier piece has a very nice chart on the righthand sidebar with financial info on the state’s charters.
But those numbers aren’t that easy to come by. And in fact, we know that, when asked, for-profit charter executives like Rod Coker of White Hat Management, outright lie about how much money the companies make.
Well, you say, stop being so hard, Jill - they serve kids no one else will serve.
Folks, I worked at Bellefaire JCB for eight years and did my social work field placement in the juvie court diagnostic clinic - I know a few things about kids no one else will serve.
So, if only the assertion that that these for-profits actually “served” all the kids was true:
Ohio has about 332 charter schools serving 82,000 students and spending $608 million in state funds. Two-thirds received low ratings last year in state report cards.
Too bad the Republican-majority statehouse, in August 2005, abolished legislative oversight of charters, eh? And I haven’t even mentioned Wilson Willard, the charter school operator who “faces sentencing for using school funds on home improvements.”
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:21 am January 5th, 2009 in Business, Education, Government, OH17, Ohio, Politics, Scandal, Statehouse, Taxes, Youth | 2 Comments
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Jan
4
Maggie Thurber has received a few kudos for her work over the last year, but now she is up for a 2008 Weblog Award for Best Political Coverage by her blog, Thurber’s Thoughts. Here is Maggie’s post on this honor and you can go here to vote for her. Her competition is tough because there are some popular blogs listed, though I really only read two of the others - India Uncut and Five Thirty Eight.
Good luck, Maggie. It’s great to have some positive political attention directed toward Ohio.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:22 pm January 4th, 2009 in Blogging, Ohio, Politics | 3 Comments
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Jan
4
Thank you to Ima on (and off) the Bima for hosting this week’s Haveil Havalim #199 (Carnival of Jewish Blogging) which you can read here.
FYI re: how HH started:
Founded by Soccer Dad, Haveil Havalim is a carnival of Jewish blogs — a weekly collection of Jewish & Israeli blog highlights, tidbits and points of interest collected from blogs all around the world. It’s hosted by different bloggers each week and coordinated by Jack. The term ‘Haveil Havalim,’ which means “Vanity of Vanities,” is from Qoheleth, (Ecclesiastes) which was written by King Solomon. King Solomon built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and later on got all bogged down in materialism and other ‘excesses’ and realized that it was nothing but ‘hevel,’ or in English, ‘vanity.’
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:04 pm January 4th, 2009 in Blogging, Carnivals, Gaza, Israel, Jewish, Writing, middle east | 1 Comment
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Jan
4
From today’s New York Times Magazine Questions For Joan Rivers by Deborah Solomon:
And how is your daughter, Melissa?
For a mother and daughter we’re amazing. The only time she really cried is when I sat her down and told her that she was not adopted.
You had a famous rift with her.
Right after my husband’s suicide. Bad rift.
Is it true that you were having liposuction on the day he died?
Yes. Who knew?
That was more than 20 years ago. What is the dating scene like these days?
I just had lunch with an old beau, and it made me very sad.
Because?
I don’t know. We’re all so set in our ways. I love my life, except for losing all that money with Ruth and Bernie. I’m pleading with you, please say, “She lost a bundle with Bernie Madoff.”
Did you?
No, but everybody is walking around now saying that, and that shows that you used to be very rich.
I’m not a huge fan of Joan Rivers but she definitely has made me laugh over the years. That last line made me laugh in a very unfortunate way.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:01 pm January 4th, 2009 in Crime, Flip, Humor, Scandal | Please comment
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Jan
4
Read about from the AP.
Here’s more from the Muqata, including photos of Bloomberg in Sderot now (Jameel tips his hat to SderotMedia for the photos):
Also, from the blog, Jerusalem Magazine:
A vote of confidence on Israel’s goals was voiced by U.S. Sec of State Condoleezza Rice, who said that Hamas brought the problems on themselves by attacking Israel with missiles. This tone was also taken by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, visiting Israel on a solidarity trip. Bloomberg said if someone attacked New York with missiles he expected the US government to respond with everything it had, just as Israel is doing.
And HayLur.net:
The military has warned that the campaign could take “many long days.”
Even with Israeli forces on the ground, though, Hamas continued its rocket fire. About 25 rockets were launched at southern Israel by Sunday afternoon, the military said. One hit a house in the Israeli border town of Sderot. Touring the town some time later, Michael R. Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, had to be rushed into a protected space when Sderot’s incoming rocket alert sounded.
According to the AP:
In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Bloomberg said he fully understood Israel’s actions. “You should rest assured, if anyone in New York was being threatened, my instruction to the NYPD (New York police) would be to use all the resources at their disposal to protect civilians,” Bloomberg said.
“I think as a New Yorker, we’ve been attacked twice by al-Qaida itself,” said the mayor, who is Jewish. “We’ve seen enormous devastation and courage and after that you sort of feel you have a bond, if you will, for those who live in a dangerous world and subject to someone trying to kill them.”
New York Congressman Gary Ackerman (D) and NY Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly are traveling with Bloomberg.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:31 am January 4th, 2009 in Foreign Affairs, Gaza, Israel, Military, leadership, middle east | 13 Comments
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Jan
4
Having been in Israel about ten days before this event, I know it was extremely hot there. But, based on the Spring 2009 issue of Elegant Weddings, it looks and sounds like the wedding of state representative Josh Mandel (R-17, Lyndhurst) was very cool indeed.
Only quibble with the article: they state Mandel’s age as both 30 and 31. I couldn’t find his birthdate listed at his campaign or state legislature site, but FarmVotesMatter.org lists it as 9/27/77, which would make him 30 at the time of the wedding and 31 at the time of publication. Probably just an editing thing (article written before it was published perhaps).
NB: FarmVotesMatter lists the 17th district as swing, as opposed to leaning or strongly Democrat, which is how pro-Mandel campaign efforts often describe it. The 17th district includes the following communities: Bentleyville, Brecksville, Broadview Heights, Chagrin Falls, Chagrin Falls Township, Glenwillow, Hunting Valley, Independence, Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights (part), Moreland Hills, Oakwood, Pepper Pike, Seven Hills, Solon, Valley View, and Walton Hills.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:00 am January 4th, 2009 in Israel, Jewish, OH17, Ohio, Pepper Pike, Politics, Statehouse | Please comment
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Jan
3
Thank you again to Jameel at The Muqata. He is live-blogging from Israel, with photos, Hebrew source information and other links.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:37 pm January 3rd, 2009 in Foreign Affairs, Gaza, Israel, Military, middle east | Please comment
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Jan
3
You can read how I do that at my latest post at BlogHer.com.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:31 am January 3rd, 2009 in BlogHer, Foreign Affairs, Gaza, Israel | 1 Comment
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Jan
2
Little more than 24 hours after the Plain Dealer published news that the Cuyahoga County Commissioners agreed to the Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. request for an additional 30 days (I posted about that request here just a couple of hours ago), the PD’s blog has another post about the matter. This one is titled, “Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson fumes over Med Mart delays.”
A one-month delay isn’t a lot of time for a project that has been in the works for two years, but the postponement irked Jackson because he learned of it by reading a story in Thursday’s Plain Dealer. The original deadline for deciding on a medical mart site was Jan. 15.
“If someone would have called me and given me the rationale as to why it needed to happen and if in fact it made sense,” the mayor said, “I would have done what I have done so far, which is work with them in order to come up with the best solution for the city and the region.”
I guess he wants to be one of the in-crowd, with the rest of us who are fuming, or, as Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones says, “The mayor is entitled to have the same level of angst that everybody else does about this,” Jones said. “I don’t begrudge him those feelings at all….” Hope he doesn’t begrudge the rest of us the same angst - especially given that it’s our money being spent.
Speaking of which, in my previous post on this topic, I took a dig at MMPI saying that they want to keep the project to $400 million but that the Tower City site would cost about $583 million.
In this latest PD blog post, Mayor Jackson addresses MMPI’s scaling it down code language related to MMPI’s responsibility for cost overruns:
“The convention center is not just built for the medical mart,” Jackson said. “It’s built for every other convention that comes to use it. So I can’t have a scaled-down version that doesn’t accommodate anything but a medical mart and does not accommodate all the other conventions that we could get here. And so I need to be competitive and I need the connectivity.”
I’m with Jackson on that multi-purpose perspective.
So far, the only party we’re not really hearing anything from is…MMPI. Development isn’t my expertise but from what I know about negotiating, that isn’t a good sign.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:01 am January 2nd, 2009 in Business, Cleveland+, Government, Ohio, Politics, Taxes, leadership, med mart | 3 Comments
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Jan
1
So, you know how nobody reads blogs? Or how bloggers aren’t journalists? Or how bloggers are people who live in their parents’ basement and stay in their pajamas all day, never interacting face to face with anyone? Or how bloggers are people who just want attention, focus on traffic and want to figure out how to make money without lifting a finger?
Well, if the front page of this morning’s Chagrin Sun doesn’t bust a few of those myths, then, in my estimation, it will have busted at least one other myth: that newspaper people resent, hate, don’t understand or otherwise wish ill toward bloggers. I don’t know anything about how I was selected as the 2008 Most Influential Person in Pepper Pike beyond what the paper published. But I will say that I’m humbled, honored and incredibly impressed that the description the paper uses to explain why they think I deserve this recognition specifically and unabashedly credits my blogging. To me, that too is something worth recognizing.
I’d also like to congratulate the other people chosen on their achievements.
A note on this image: because it was oversized for my printer/copier/scanner, I could not reduce the size of the entire front page and then scan it in (I won’t bore you with the details of the ways I tried - I’m going to have it done properly tomorrow). So I removed the above-the-fold four most influentials from the other four towns the paper covers and placed the below-the-fold two people there instead. Again, I will replace this image tomorrow after I get the front-paged re-sized and scanned. (The electronic version is not available yet - I don’t know if they make it available but will keep checking.)
Here’s the text under the main headline:
Once again, the Chagrin Sun is naming a Most Influential Person for the year just ended.
The staff searched for the person who left the biggest footprint - for better or worse - in 2008 in each municipality served by the paper.
We hand-picked people with the moxie to take the lead, to take on a challenge, to stand up to the status quo or poke their heads above the crowd. Or, they may have worked behind the scenes to make a difference.
Our choices are on this page.
Happy New Year. Here’s to people who will leave their own footprints on 2009.
And here’s the text next to my photo:
Jill Miller Zimon “Writes Likes She Talks.” She’s the chief writer and editor for her blog, which keeps a sharp eye on local, state and national politics.
City Council rescinded its restrictions on political signs in residents’ yards last summer after Zimon featured the issue on her blog.
In the words of Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, “She is very powerful, so be nice to her.”
I’ll write about what the heck this even means in a separate post.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:23 pm January 1st, 2009 in Politics | 27 Comments
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Jan
1
And wow, it was announced on December 31, 2008, published in the Plain Dealer (online) at 6pm - New Years Eve. Big traffic time no doubt. Maybe it was in the print edition today.
According to the latest article, MMPI asked for the extension - they’re doing their own site selection review, despite the appointed selection committee reportedly demonstrating a preference for Forest City-owned Tower City and appear to need more time:
MMPI is doing its own site analysis despite a similar site-selection study that the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the region’s chamber of commerce, completed in August. That study recommended the mart and convention center be built at Tower City for $583 million.
MMPI, which will be responsible for construction cost overruns, wants to keep construction costs to about $400 million. A representative for MMPI could not be reached on Wednesday.
But here’s the part I don’t get (among others):
County taxpayers are financing construction of the project through a quarter-cent sales tax hike that commissioners approved in 2007. The tax, which will be in place for 20 years, generated $42 million in its first full year.
Over the 20 years, the tax could raise $1 billion. The county intends to borrow money for the project, and use the tax to pay off the debt.
Cleveland has got to be a cheaper place to build than almost anywhere else. In construction terms, why is MMPI quibbling over less than $183 million when the tax being collected sounds as though it could easily manage to pay the higher amount for Tower City? (I also think MMPI’s number of $400 million is a ridiculous underestimation.)
And, if it’s true that “we” want to beat out NYC for this med mart concept, shouldn’t the expense of building in NYC be a barrier that Cleveland easily defeats?
Something just (still) doesn’t sound right. I don’t know Fred Nance - I know he’s done a lot in this town. But what exactly is he doing on this deal? Thoughts? What would you be doing if you really wanted it to happen?
Additional reading: Roldo covers the situation as well, here, and puts into context with the rest of the money collected from us for…we’re not exactly sure what.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:38 pm January 1st, 2009 in Business, Cleveland+, Economy, Government, Ohio, Politics, leadership, med mart | 3 Comments
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Jan
1
You can listen live on NPR stations or WCPN now.
Here it and more here (you can download it as a podcast) from the Capitol Steps. It includes songs like, “Dance McCain” and “Nieman’s is a Girl’s Best Friend,” Putin singing, “Leaving on a Midnight Raid to Georgia” and Obama, HRC and Bill Clinton singing, “Ebony and Ovary,” in a full hour of Politics Takes a Holiday.
Anyone else catch Bill and Hillary dropping the ball in Times Square last night?
Happy New Year.
More about the program from WAMU:
Say ‘yes we can’ to listening to the Capitol Steps’ annual year’s end award ceremony.
Join Barack Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Oprah Winfrey, FEMA, everyone who owns a sub-prime mortgage, Hillary Clinton, and many, many more as the Capitol Steps bring you their hour long year in review. You have every reason to look forward to 2009, but not before we make fun of 2008 first.
And, in a stunning announcement - it’s official - Alaska has overtaken long-time winner Florida as the nation’s funniest state, by winning in both the ‘Best Home Renovation by a Politician”" and ‘Fastest Time Field-Dressing a Moose’ categories.
Should old acquaintance be forgot? Not if the Capitol Steps have a say! New categories this year include: ‘Worst Use of a Plumber by a Politician (since Nixon)’, ‘Best Shade of Lipstick for a Pig’ and ‘Most Creative Excuse to Buy $150,000 Worth of Clothes.’
Joe the Plumber even has a song.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:30 am January 1st, 2009 in Humor, Politics,