Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving! I lucked out--a friend from work invited me to her house so I had Thanksgiving dinner there. Today it's Black Friday, the official start of the Christmas shopping season...but I'm not quite in the mood to shop yet!
Right now I'd like to get some things off my chest about the assorted bad guys (and gals), media whores, clueless newspeople, Nanny-types, and other Scrinches (See Extremely Annoying Christmas Tunes for what Scrinches are!) you'll be hearing about in the media these days, who'll be spoiling or at least trying to spoil the holiday season for you, as some I've mentioned will do every year!
And besides all that, there are a couple of serious matters that must be addressed--so I'll have to bring those up, too. These are too important to let drop.
- Drew Peterson--The Sequel. This former Bollingbrook, Illinois cop (he resigned last week) has gotten to be the gift that keeps on giving as the suspicious, Extremely Annoying details keep coming out. Now he is a suspect in the disapperance of his 4th wife, Stacy. Recently he blamed the media for his problems, whining that they made him out to be a monster, terrorized his kids, and that he's lost 25 pounds. And that's not all--the body of Wife #3, Kathleen Savio, who'd been found "drowned" in an empty bathtub just days before her divorce settlement with Drew was finalized, has been exhumed. The medical examiner says the original autopsy that showed her death an accident had been in error--the marks on her body point to murder. After which someone had placed her in the tub to make it look like an accidental drowning. (It has just come out that someone on that coroner's jury had known Peterson and thus there's been a conflict of interest.) Something else suspicious about Drew Peterson--he's not participating in or otherwise helping with the search for Stacy. And this could qualify Peterson for an appearance in a future Extremely Annoying Cable Commercial for a weight-loss product: He just recently was shown on TV saying to the media something along the lines of:
I've lost 30 pounds on this weight-loss program---you could stand to lose some....
- Not O.J. per se, but the two kinds of media whores that seem to come out of the woodwork every time he goes on trial: The nuts who demonstrate outside the courthouse including the naked guy in a barrel, about whom I ask, Don't they have jobs and lives? The second kind are the newspeople who, along the lines of Johnny Cochran's
"If it doesn't fit, you must acquit,"
come up with bad little rhymes, like when one said, "If he's too slick, you must convict."
For a radical change of topic, the next batch are about Christmas shopping and other seasonal things....
- The MSM, who on the day before Thanksgiving breathlessly covered in their nightly newscasts the crowds of people at airports and other places travelers congregate, as if this has never before happened in the history of the universe. And, today, "Black Friday," as if the following has never before happened, they'll also cover....
- The people who every year will start lining up Thanksgiving night, or even sooner, their dinner barely digested, so they can burst through the door at Walmart, Kmart, Target, or wherever the best bargains are. And fighting over them, every shopper for him/herself. Several years ago there was the sad story of a woman at a Walmart in Florida who wanted a $30 DVD player, got trampled in the rush, and ended up being hospitalized. That sort of thing is Extremely Annoying.
- The makers of whatever the season's hot toy is, who deliberately manufacture far too few of the item in order to keep the price inflated and heighten demand and hype surrounding the toy, which leads to....
- Otherwise mature, dignified adults who find themselves getting into childish squabbles over the last such toy in the store so they can out it under the tree for the kids or grandkids. This has gone on for years--one year it was Cabbage Patch Dolls, another it was "Tickle Me Elmo," another it was an updated Sony Playstation...(Once during the 90's it was Beanie Babies--but oddly, this rush happened not during the Christmas season, but in the spring or early summer.) And then there's the height of ridiculousness:
- People fortunate enough to snag one or more of the scarce toys, put them on e-bay and manage to sell them to....
- Suckers affluent enough...and willing enough.... to pay at least 10 times the price charged in the store for whatever the season's hot toy is..which is probably some cheap, lead paint-ridden piece of crap made in China.
That's it for Christmas shopping madness. Now for the following class of Extremely Annoying People--Scrinches--we already started hearing from right before Thanksgiving (or even sooner, because of Halloween candy!) and will be hearing steadily through New Year's Day (or actually Valentine's Day, because of the chocolate, etc. prevalent then.)
- Nanny-types who sanctimoniously nag you about what you're eating or drinking, or thinking about eating or drinking. Like right before Thanksgiving telling you to watch what you're eating and count your calories or you'll continue eating that way all through the holiday season and be as big as a house. My mother who was a stickler about this sort of thing died in 1988--but it's like my TV has been possessed by my mom's spirit. I wonder how many other people feel like they're being nagged when there are people harping about this on news channels--I mean, if they wanted to see stuff like that, they could check out some cheesy infomercial about the latest, greatest diet. Or Drew Peterson, who's lost 30 pounds on his now-famous Being-Hounded-By-The-Media weight-loss program. I mean, get real, everybody (or at least every adult) knows you're going to eat more around the holidays and pack on some poundage--unless you have anorexia, are a freak of nature, or are taking strong diet pills. And even if there were no holidays and holiday feasts--people still have a natural propensity to eat more and put on weight when it's cold, between what they're eating and the fact that the weather is not conducive to outdoor activity. So these people you see talking about watching what one eats during the holidays on the news are insulting to the intelligence. If they themselves want to play paragons of virtue by only eating bitter vetch during the holidays, fine--but regarding what other people eat, which is really none of their business, they're Extremely Annoying.
That's the last of the holiday stuff. Now, bear with me as I bring up a couple of serious matters--but these are things I've pledged to keep talking about to keep these issues alive. Neither can be allowed to stand without some serious protest. I now have two joint awards to places and groups:
- Austin, Texas and the Netroots Nation people who chose that culturally bland city over far more deserving New Orleans. Read more about this decision in this diary by a Netroots Nation member and be not only Extremely Annoyed but really and truly pissed off. I'm going into more detail on the Netroots Nation rejection of New Orleans in a diary next Monday or Tuesday--but will just say here that in a previous diary I'd called for a boycott of Netroots Nation's Austin convention. Now I think a boycott won't be enough. Because something is obviously rotten in Netroots Nation.
- Oxford, Mississippi and the esteemed (Snark!) Paul G. Kirk, Jr. and his fellow members of the presidential debate site selection commission. I wonder what they were thinking--and drinking--and smoking when they chose what for all intents and purposes is a hick town which doesn't even have enough hotel rooms for debate attendees. In contrast, New Orleans, which per Kirk's bullshit has not recovered enough from Katrina to be a suitable venue for a debate, has 24,000 hotel rooms.
And here's something even more Extremely Annoying about Oxford, Mississippi, and about the commission members. Ole Miss, where the debate is slated to be held, is a symbol of our nation's racist past. Now, after having read the thumbnail sketches of some of the commission's members, I've concluded that they (or at least those whose bios I found) are an intelligent, well-read, and well-informed bunch. So I strongly doubt that cluelessness or stupidity entered into Ole Miss' selection. Rather, Ole Miss' selection, coupled with the dissing of culturally-diverse New Orleans, gives me the impression that for at least some commission members, their other suit is a white robe with a hood.
But all is not lost for NOLA Kossacks, Nolaphiles, and all other parties who want to make our Extreme Annoyance known. Here's how we can loudly and clearly protest the dissing of New Orleans:
Thanks to NightProwl Kitty who originally posted this list (which was originally from the Times Picayune) in her excellent recent diary here is a list I'm reproducing here of several of the commission members with their contact information:
Co-Chair Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. (President, CEO of American Gaming Association) [Ha!] [Ed. Fahrenkopf was head of the RNC in the 80's]
202-552-2675
Co-Chair Paul G. Kirk Jr. (Retired Partner of some law firm) [Ed. - Kirk was the head of the DNC in the 80's]
617-338-2987 pkirk@sandw.com
Howard G. Buffet (Howard G. Buffet Foundation)
217-420-5140
Sen. John C. Danforth (Former Senator, that is)
314-259-2980 jcdanforth@bryancave.com
Antonia Hernandez (California Community Foundation)
213-413-4130 ahernandez@ccf-la.org
Caroline Kennedy (Famous Daughter)
212-989-3993
Mike McCurry (Former Clinton guy)
202-783-2596
Newton N. Minow (No idea)
847-835-3118 nminow@sidley.com
Dorothy Ridlings (Huh?)
502-891-8835
Sen. Alan K. Simpson (Former Senator, that is)
307-587-1091
asimpson@burgsimpson.com
H. Patrick Swygert (President of Howard University) [Get our back, wouldya?]
202-806-2500
hswygert@howard.edu
Now, what we need to do is, whether we call or e-mail these commission members, let them know they need to accede to the following demands to make things right for New Orleans and Louisiana:
WHAT THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE SITE SELECTION COMMISSION NEEDS TO DO FOR NEW ORLEANS AND LOUISIANA
- Publicly apologize to the people and city of New Orleans and the state and people of Louisiana. Add that rejecting New Orleans as one of the four original debate sites was in error.
2. Tell the truth about New Orleans--that she has beautifully hosted all sorts of events after Katrina and would be the perfect site for a presidential debate.
And the following is the most important because it is the only satisfactory way this issue will be resolved. It is non-negotiable--nothing less will be acceptable:
- Plan, schedule, and announce a FIFTH presidential debate to be held in New Orleans.
Because although we'll be contacting (or attempting to contact) these members, there's a chance our calls or e-mails won't go through, or will be ignored. (I wouldn't be surprised if any of those members who get e-mails with "New Orleans" shown in the topic line delete them without reading them. So when I send mine, I'm just going to have "Debates" as the topic.)
So whether you have a blog, belong to one, or know of any blogs or message boards you can post on without being a member, please cut and paste the above demands on this blog. And most importantly encourage others to "Pass it on!" More about this next week.
That's it for the hard news--now I'm going to end with some sensational crap!
- NBC Nightly News Sunday night, when it was anchored not by Brian Williams but by Lester Holt. Holt actually aired a repeat report about pint-sized papparazzi who've been known to shoot such luminaries as Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, and Britney Spears. I think this report gave Nightly an excuse to show them on camera. This story would already have been an Extremely Annoying play to the cheap seats had it been new, but the fact that it's a repeat makes it even more Extremely Annoying. I don't think I need to mention what Nightly had not covered in order to make time for this dreck. And...
- The two pint-sized papprazzi featured in the above-mentioend report, who plan to parlay their newfound success into a reality show that will make them stars. Can you say "media whores?" their one saving grace is the fact that (as far as we know) they haven't been trying to take pictures of Drew Peterson. Who, were they to manage to get close to him, would probably say, "Scat! I probably weigh less than either of you now!" But now there's a very slim chance of that happening now..because as of Thanksgiving Eve, Drew Peterson's old news! For the pint-sized papparazzi are probably packing their bags for sunny Aruba where they could cover...
- Urine Vandersloot and his two buddies who've previously been charged with playing a role in Natalee Holloway's disappearance. And all of that case's assorted media whores. (I know his name's actually "Joran," but the way newspeople have been saying it is sounds like "Urine"! LOL!) Urine and friends have been busted again for the same reason. And this is headed to court. So from now on, at least until Christmas, we can probably expect a steady stream of coverage on this case and on this guy! With plenty of leaks!
But all is not lost for Drew Peterson news addicts. Last night there was this breaking news: Drew, who because of the success of his Being-Hounded-By-The-Media weightloss program at this season when one takes in more calories, probably wasn't crazy about being bumped from the headlines with the resurgence of the Natalee Holloway case. So he told media the following: On Wednesday he received a letter which he opened yesterday. Postmarked "Peoria," it was unsigned and its writer said that he/she had seen a pregnant-looking Stacy in a Kroger grocery store in that lovely city....
So that's it for List #5 of Extremely Annoying People. If you can think of any other media or holiday season annoyances, feel free to nominate!