It's been a while since I've posted one of these lists--I've had too many more important things on my mind to diary about these days. But that doesn't mean I haven't been Extremely Annoyed by certain people and organizations who either have been in the news these days, or have been out of it, but have popped into my mind--whose wacky, hateful, mean-spirited, stupid, insensitive, media- or political-whorish, and otherwise perfidious acts have made them extremely well-qualified to be on my fourth list of Extremely Annoying People. So, here's to another rogues' gallery!
But to start off, here's a new *****EXTREMELY ANNOYING BRIAN WILLIAMS UPDATE***** that's too brief for a stand-alone diary. To his credit last night, Williams didn't air anything on O.J.'s trial for Memorabiliagate. What I saw about it on cable was so boring I'm not even including O.J. in Extremely Annoying People this time. But here's some boring crap Williams did cover last night--Ann Curry's arrival at the South Pole. As my dad would have said,
Big flippin' deal!
(Pity the funny tone of his voice he'd use when he said that can't be captured in print!) And compared to that, the O.J. trial would have been must-see TV!
And last night's was the 49th newscast since Williams, owned and operated by GE, the world's largest defense contractor, last aired a full report out of New Orleans. This means he didn't cover the following atrocity on the part of the federal agency which tops my regularly-scheduled list:
1. FEMA, which has been barring employees from entering stored trailers due to the fact that formaldehyde they emit would be hazardous to their health. Howver, at this time, 48,000 Katrina and Rita survivors are still living in FEMA trailers in Louisiana and Mississippi. FEMA has postponed plans to test occupied trailers for formaldehyde. Sen. Mary Landrieu is obviously Extremely Annoyed by this double standard. She says banning FEMA employees from stored trailers, while not testing occupied trailers, "defies logic."
2. Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. The only religious fanatics worse than this bunch are those who blow themselves up at crowded pizza parlors or fly planes into tall buildings. The disgusting haters of this so-called church earned their infamy by demonstrating at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq or Afghan, carrying signs saying
"God Hates [Gays], "God Hates America,"
and other things so loathesome and offensive that I've mercifully for my own mental health blocked them out of my mind. And that's not all--on top of this, they're media whores, going after high-profile funerals. Recently a talk show host whose name I can't recall discouraged them from picketing at the funeral of some of the South Carolina University students killed in a beach house fire in North Carolina, and about a year ago he also somehow persuaded them not to picket the funeral of some of the Amish children murdered at a one-schoolhouse. And last but not least, have you even seen or heard their Extremely Annoying spokesperson? If they want to attract good publicity, and converts, to their "church," they could at least find one more telegenic and pleasant-sounding. Not only does she look like if she wanted to dress as a witch on Halloween, she wouldn't need a wig, with that straggly tangled blond hair, she's obviously mentally unhinged, yelling and screaming.
***CELEBRITY CRAP ALERT***
3. Heather Mills, currently involved in a messy divorce with Paul McCartney. She demands Paul issue a statement saying she's not a gold-digger and that he provide her with security (not financial, but the other kind--she whines that she's been getting death threats against her and her daughter.) Here's a soundbite I heard, from an interview where she's hamming it up complete with crocodile tears:
"They make up such lies. They call me a whore, a gold-digger..."
Now, if she'd preceded the word "whore" with the word "media, that would have been accurate. And she says she's fed up with the bad media coverage--but there's one thing I'd say to her were I handling her P.R.--I'd tell her to quit being such a media whore. Which some Extremely Annoyed people have already attempted--but in spite of them she's undergoing this very public meltdown and repeatedly ignored advice not to talk to the press. In fact, both her legal and P.R. teams have quit. So it's yet another celebrity soap opera. Tabloids say she's
the most hated woman in all of Britain
I say she's the most Extremely Annoying woman in all of Britain!
4. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. As a Nolaphile, I think she deserves much better than Nagin. And this has nothing to do with how he handled Katrina, for example the flooded schoolbuses (which were a bad rap, anyway, as I detail in "Louisiana's Relationship From Hell") This is about something Extremely Annoying he's doing now, which seems to be working hand-in-hand with President Bush at ensuring that New Orleans does not come back, or at least becomes a city only the rich can afford to live in. According to the Times Picayune
Halloween was over, but New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was still in a trick-or-treat mood Thursday as he submitted his proposed 2008 operating budget to the City Council.
The "treat" in Nagin's $912.5 million spending plan -- a record total inflated by more than $450 million in mostly recovery-related federal and state grants -- was a $1.3 million appropriation for the new office of inspector general, an agency that council members are committed to getting up and running next year.
The "trick" was the device he recommended to get the money: a 2-mill "roll forward" of property taxes, which council members unanimously oppose because they fear that taking more money from residents' pockets in property taxes will impede the city's post-Katrina recovery.
I hope the City Council members put the kibbosh on this plan to "roll forward" property taxes, because one thing New Orleans doesn't need is anything on top of all of her other problems that would discourage her coming back. And for a good rant on this topic, see Metroblogging New Orleans if you dare. (There's plenty of profanity, but the blogger is obviously so Extremely Annoyed it's justified.)
5. The man the press have been calling the "Dr. Phil of Saudi Arabia." This barbarian say there's a right way for husbands to beat their wives. He tells men having marital problems bad enough for them to do so, to first give their wives the silent treatment, then don't share the wife's bed. And if those things don't work, beat the wife--but not on the face or hands where it'll show. That's Extremely Annoying--and the real Dr. Phil should find out who the first reporter was who called this brute the "Dr. Phil of Saudi Arabia" and sue! Speaking of suing....
6. The Syracuse dentist who's being sued for injuring his patient while dancing. This is Extremely Annoying not only if you've a dental phobia but are also the same sort of sensitive person I am. I'll spare you the gory details because you've probably already heard them and just thinking about them makes my face hurt. But here's one additional detail--he'd been dancing to "Car Wash" by Rose Royce. Now I can't get that song out of my head--and that's Extremely Annoying! (One of my future topics will be Extremely Annoying Music!)
7. Striking Hollywood and New York writers (Insert bad pun here!) I don't feel up to staying up and watching those late night shows that are now the first casualties of this strike. But I sure don't envy loyal viewers of people like Leno, Letterman, Colbert, et. al. who now are being subjected to dated repeats because of this strike. Because I can put myself in their shoes and imagine finding such repeats Extremely Annoying.
But I've an idea for these talk show hosts and producers--outsourcing. And I don't mean hiring comedy writers in Bangalore, India. I'm refering to utilizing a great underused, untapped resource in cyberspace: bloggers! Hosts and producers can advertise their shows' websites (doesn't almost everybody have a website anymore?) on Daily Kos, HuffPost, Crooks and Liars, FARK--any site where bloggers keep up with current events, are politically savvy, and have good senses of humor. And through the links in these ads, bloggers can submit jokes they've made up on whatever's going on that day.
Now for soap operas, sitcoms, and series such as "Desperate Housewives" and "K-Ville." Scripts for these would be more complicated, but I imagine they'd still be doable by bloggers. On each program's website there could be a link to a place scripts could be sent. Then, users addicted to these shows and familiar with the twists and turns of their plots and the personalities of the characters could collaboratively work on and script what happens next....
The next three are out of a Midwestern state near and dear to my heart...
8. Chicago police officers. Who tazered an 82-year-old woman who'd been coming at them with a hammer. She was suffering from dementia. One may remark that it's better than shooting at her, but I wonder, first of all, what age should be considered too old--or too young--to be tazered, and secondly, why police can't be trained to recognize dementia and other problems that could negatively affect one's mental capacity.
9. The Mascoutah school district. This story sounds like it could have happened not in the Land of Lincoln but in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Utah, or some other part of the world with a strict fundamentalist culture. Megan, a 13-year-old, was put in detention for two days for hugging two of her girlfriends on school grounds after school. She'd been hugging one to say hello and the second to say goodbye. The detention was because the school's handbook says there's a ban on public displays of affection. A ridiculous example of nannyism run amuck...
***SENSATIONAL "MISSING WHITE WOMAN" CRIME ALERT!***
10. Drew Peterson, of Bolingbrook, one of Chicago's 'burbs. This police sergeant is now a "person of interest" in the disappearance of his fourth wife. He's been telling the "likely story" that his wife, Stacy, had left with another man and had called to tell him so. Her family, however, is suspicious of Peterson. Stacy had said she wanted a divorce before she went missing--and had said he was controlling, manipulative, and abusive. As noted, Stacy is his fourth wife--Wife #3, Kathleen Savio, had died under suspicious circumstances. She was found "drowned" in an empty bathtub. After it had happened, the coroner had deemed her death "accdental"--but is now planning to exhume her body because of reports of lacerations, etc. In fact, I wonder if Peterson had been taught his husbandly skills by the "Dr Phil of Saudi Arabia," because there was a recent news story about various documents including an emergency room admitting form, with evidence of injuries caused by abuse, for Kathleen. Which reminds me of the joke with the punchline,
She wouldn't eat the mushrooms!
That's it for Extremely Annoying People List #4--if you can think of any others (besides the Usual Suspects--Dubya, Rush, Ann C, Paris, Britney or Lindsey), feel free to nominate!