2005 - A Year in Review
Robert Rouse
December 31, 2005
I have to admit that while I was looking back at the events of the past year, in many cases I was looking through a 20/20 rear view mirror, filtered with a kaleidoscope and rose colored glasses. It was both memorable and tragic, funny and forgettable, squeaky clean on the surface with loads of gum stuck under the counter. 2005 was one of the most confusing and enlightening years in recent memory and that's the story I'm sticking to - unless Cheney sends me to an undisclosed location in a former Soviet state. Okay, I give, here is my review of 2005.
Katrina and the Waves - This is the starting point of the rest of the country coming to grips with the simple fact that George W. Bush has no idea how to run a country. Not that it should've come as any surprise to anyone who has ever studied his history. He was a failure in nearly every business venture he ever tried - and don't even start in on The Texas Rangers, the man decided to get rid of Sammy Sousa because he didn't think he was worth it. Yes, it was because of Katrina and her aftermath that we discovered Bush's choice as the head of FEMA, Michael "you're doing a heck of a job, Brownie" Brown actually had no business as the head of anything. The federal response was slow in coming and in many cases never arrived. To date, more than 1300 people are confirmed dead from the flooding and an entire city may have to be rebuilt - at a substantially higher cost than the price tag for updating the levees as had been proposed earlier. The local guard units? Sorry, they were in Iraq.
Stuck between Iraq and a hard place - What will, in the future, be referred to as Bush's folly, moved another inch toward nowhere in 2005. The US death toll surpassed 2000 in October. The reconstruction of Iraq that we're paying Cheney's friends at Halliburton for, has stopped inside the relative safety of the "Green Zone" inside Baghdad. The insurgents, who are tired of their nation being occupied by foreign invaders, are still being referred to by the administration as "terrorists" - I guess the British should have been calling George Washington and Paul Revere terrorists as well. And while there really are some terrorists inside Iraq, they're only there because the U.S. is there. For a short time, the administration tried to change the name of their "Global War on Terrorism" to the "Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism", but let's face the facts, that just wasn't as snappy. It didn't take more than a short time - and a lot of jokes - before we went back to the old title. It was like the "New Coke" debacle revisited. But the war drags on and Bush is still "staying the course" even as former dictator Saddam Hussein is standing trial and the first democratic elections took place. The fact that the majority of Americans (and Iraqis) want the U.S. out of the country means nothing to Bushco.
Cindy lounges in Texas - Courageous mom, Cindy Sheehan, became the focal point of the peace movement and the favorite target of the pro-war minions. After spending a month next to Bush's Crawford, TX ranch while Bush took a "short" vacation, people either loved her or hated her. Some saw her using the tragedy of the death of her son Casey, as a political tool. They called it shameful to use someone's death to further a cause like peace. Of course, these are the same people who use 9/11 and the deaths of over 3,000 to further a cause like war, even though 9/11 and Iraq have nothing to do with each other.
Changing Popes - For the first time since Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn committed a "Foul Play" back in 1978, we had to select a new pontiff. Actually, we didn't have to do it, but the job had to be done. Karol Józef Wojty³a had been the top gun for the Catholics longer than any other, and as Pope John Paul II, he was able to touch - almost literally - millions of people around the world. As a non-Catholic, I've found his replacement, Joseph Alois Ratzinger, a little harder pill to swallow. Time will tell, but he chose Benedict XVI as his Holy See nom de plume, and as a Beatles fan, I was hoping the next pontiff would be Pope John Paul George. Oh well.
Supreme Court Musical Chairs - When the first lady of the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor decided to call it quits, Bush pulled Greg Kinnear's stunt double out of his butt and pushed John Roberts as her replacement. Before he could be confirmed, Chief Justice William Rehnquist called it quits by dying. Bush quickly changed his mind and put Robert's up for Chief Justice. After a filibuster/nuclear option compromise was made, Roberts was approved and placed on the bench - which is precisely where he would be even if he were chosen to replace Patrick Ewing. Roberts is an intelligent man who knows the law inside and out, even if he does have a right wing philosophy. Now Bush had to come up with someone else to replace O'Connor, so he went in an opposite direction from Roberts - he chose Harriet Mier, who doesn't even have enough experience to judge a County Fair apple pie competition, let alone a High Court case as important as the one Anna Nicole Smith is bringing. Bush ended up accepting Mier's pullout and went with another Ivy Leaguer, Samuel Alito, who won't know his fate until sometime in 2006.
The Plame Game - Leak, leak mo beak, banana-fana-fo-feak, me my mo meek, leak. To make a long story short, Bush lied, Wilson exposed the lie, people got back at Wilson by telling people his wife was a spook. Allegations flew about who knew. Rove is still in the running, but Libby is indicted. Fitzgerald is going through second grand jury, as we all play the Pla-a-a-a-ame Game.
Squeezing the Tube in the center - On July 7, Ringo Starr's birthday began with a bang - literally. Homegrown British terrorist proved that fighting the terrorists in Iraq to keep them away from home wasn't really going to work. A double-decker bus and London's underground railway system, affectionately called "The Tube" were rocked by suicide bombers and resulted in the deaths of 56 people and over 700 injuries. Yet Tony "the paper tiger" Blair insists on being Bush's buddy and continues a failed Iraqi policy.
The State of Florida and the state of vegetation - A comatose woman in a persistent vegetative state, Theresa Marie "Terri" Schiavo, became the center of a fight that ended up showing how Bush and the Republicans are willing to go all willy-nilly with the law. In what would normally be a family matter, everyone from Terri's husband and parents to Congress and the President became involved. The hubby and most logical people - including her doctors - knew their was no chance of Terri ever regaining consciousness, but her parents and the right-to-lifers thought she was just being shy. Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature tried to stop docs from pulling the tubes by passing "Terri's law". The courts struck down the law. Eventually, the U.S. Senate - with a whopping three members present - passed the "Palm Sunday Compromise" which granted Terri's parents the right to have their case heard in a federal court. The house also passed the compromise and George Bush interrupted his Crawford vacation and flew back to Washington - something he wouldn't even do for Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans - just to sign Public Law 109-3 into effect. Once again, the Courts said "that's a no-no". I don't want to ruin the eventual made-for-TV movie for anyone, but on March 18, her feeding tube was removed and Terri died on March 31.
Tapping a great source of American data - We learned a couple of weeks ago that our Buffoon-in-Chief has been authorizing wiretaps of American citizens since shortly after 9/11. While that shouldn't be surprising, the fact that he is doing it without the knowledge or the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court is another thing. In other words, no matter what he says, our President is breaking the law, and to make matters worse, he's complaining that someone had the audacity to call him on it in full view of the public. A federal investigation is no going on - to find the person who reported the president was breaking the law, not to investigate the president for breaking the law. Isn't this a wonderful country to be spied upon in?
Les permettre de manger du gâteau pourrir - Flint tools from the Neolithic period have been found in Clichy-sous-Bois, a poor banlieue (suburb) of Paris, and apparently, that was the last time anyone in that area had a decent job. Some soccer playing kids saw the gendarmerie coming for an identification check and ran. Three of the youths hopped a fence into an electric sub station and two were electrocuted. This event sparked a series of riots that lasted from Oct. 27 to Nov. 7 and spread over 274 communities. Much of it had to do with the fact that as open-minded as some Frenchmen think they are, most won't hire you for any real work unless you look and sound like you're a white native of Quebec or some other Anglo-looking, French speaking person. I guess that will teach those haughty French dignitaire from sticking their nose up at American bigots any time soon.
Truth or Consequences - Bush said we don't, McCain said we shouldn't, Cheney said we should and Rice defended our non-practices to the European community. Torture is the word of the day. Arizona Senator John McCain, who knows a thing or two about being on the receiving end of torture believes it should be outlawed and Vice Press-and-dent Dick "evil grin" Cheney thinks we need it to force people, we don't really fly to black operation prisons that don't really exist, to talk. For some odd reason, there are several Americans who take Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer character way too seriously - although I have it on pretty good authority that Sen. McCain will actually be making a cameo appearance on "24" sometime during it's fifth season.
Polly want a Tamiflu? - It's not here -yet. It hasn't mutated into a form that travels from human to human - yet. It is basically a threat only to birds - yet it was a huge news story. I know It scared me enough to write about it. It may never be a threat, but then again it might. The H5N1 Virus or Asian Bird Flu is one of the great mysteries. Here is a disease that may someday wipe out millions and millions of people as a global pandemic or it may end up being a bigger nothing than the Y2K computer bug. Only time will tell, but that hasn't stopped some over-zealous criminals from selling counterfeit Tamiflu.
DeLay Waylaid - On his way to becoming an influential and high-ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tom DeLay forgot that he was supposed to be a lawmaker, not a law breaker. While it is not true that the Texas definition of ethics is "not getting caught", it is true that some people simply never took the time to learn what the real definition is. As I recall, there was a special chair in the office of the Dean of Boys at my old High School with my name on it. The way things have been with DeLay, perhaps the House Ethics Committee need a special admonishment chair with Tom's name on it. DeLay has now been indicted for money laundering in Texas. Unfortunately, I believe that is one of the few charges in Texas that doesn't carry a life sentence or the death penalty.
A second baseball curse lifted in as many years - Last year the curse of the Bambino was blown away when the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918 and this year the Chicago White Sox won their first Series since 1917 breaking the curse of the Black Sox. Not only was the curse broken, but the Chi-Sox did it in grand style sweeping the Houston Astros in four straight games. The game marked the first time two teams meeting in the October classic had not been to the Series in over 40 years.
Death forgot to take a Holiday - The year started off with a shocker of huge magnitude when the King of late night comedy, Johnny Carson joined his predecessors - Steve Allen and Jack Paar - in the afterlife (hey Leno, they're waiting for you, can you speed it up?). From October 1962 to May 1992, our late nights were devoted to Johnny and Ed. His retirement left a void that will never be filled (although Letterman comes closer than Leno to the total Carson experience. It was revealed after his death that for months, Carson had been writing jokes for Letterman's monologue in keeping with Carson's desire that Dave was his choice as heir to the "Tonight Show". Other greats who shuffled off their mortal coil included, Arthur Miller, Hunter S. "Gonzo" Thompson, Saul Bellow, Anne Bancroft, Luther Vandross, James Doohan, Robert Wise, Pat Morita, Rosa Parks and Prince Rainier of Monaco. Lastly, another death that affected many millions was that of Richard Pryor. While not as much of a shocker as Carson's passing, the finality of his demise really drove home his contributions to both comedy and the advancement of black Americans. Every year is a bad year for deaths, but because of Carson and Pryor, 2006 will be a lot less funny.
Hal Holbrook's true identity is Felt - After more than thirty years, the infamous leaker of Watergate information to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein was finally revealed. After much speculation of everyone from Diane Sawyer to Papa George H. W. Bush, "Deep Throat" ended up being W. Mark Felt, a former deputy director of the FBI. And just who was the bastard who revealed Felt's identity? It was the same guy who leaked the information to Woodward and Bernstein. Felt admitted to being "Deep Throat" in an article in Vanity Fair magazine. A hero to many people for exposing the corruption of the Nixon White House, after his true identity was revealed, Felt was vilified by members of the Republican party who, like Bush II, get angry about Republican sins being given any kind of a public airing. Too bad, we could use another good "Deep Throat" today.
Mr. Peace Goes to Washington - On September 24, anywhere between 250,000 (organizers guess) to 500,000 (C-SPAN's estimation) protesters merged in our Nation's Capitol to protest the war in Iraq. It began with a rally featuring speakers Jesse Jackson, Cindy Sheehan, Ramsay Clark and Jessica Lange among many others. What followed was a march route of over two miles that went in front of the White House. Unfortunately, George W. was not in residence that day. He was in Denver, CO to check out the damage of Hurricane Rita. I'm still not sure how Denver was a better vantage point to read reports of wind and water hitting Texas, but to each his own. As one of the hundreds of thousands who were in Washington that day, I can attest to the sense of pride many of us felt toward our fellow countrymen and peace lovers.
Not guilty is not the same thing as innocent - On June 13, a jury acquitted Michael Jackson of all charges stemming from his arrest for child molestation. The real news story was not the trial, it is the simple fact that so many people failed to see that Jackson needs severe psychiatric help. Any man who admits to sleeping in the same bed with children and who has been accused of molestation at least two other times must have something less than innocent going on. Today Jackson lives in the Arab country of Bahrain. In many Arab countries, people lose a hand if they're convicted of theft - imagine what the punishment will be if anyone ever sees Michael being indiscreet with a child over there.
Katrina and the Waves - This is the starting point of the rest of the country coming to grips with the simple fact that George W. Bush has no idea how to run a country. Not that it should've come as any surprise to anyone who has ever studied his history. He was a failure in nearly every business venture he ever tried - and don't even start in on The Texas Rangers, the man decided to get rid of Sammy Sousa because he didn't think he was worth it. Yes, it was because of Katrina and her aftermath that we discovered Bush's choice as the head of FEMA, Michael "you're doing a heck of a job, Brownie" Brown actually had no business as the head of anything. The federal response was slow in coming and in many cases never arrived. To date, more than 1300 people are confirmed dead from the flooding and an entire city may have to be rebuilt - at a substantially higher cost than the price tag for updating the levees as had been proposed earlier. The local guard units? Sorry, they were in Iraq.
Stuck between Iraq and a hard place - What will, in the future, be referred to as Bush's folly, moved another inch toward nowhere in 2005. The US death toll surpassed 2000 in October. The reconstruction of Iraq that we're paying Cheney's friends at Halliburton for, has stopped inside the relative safety of the "Green Zone" inside Baghdad. The insurgents, who are tired of their nation being occupied by foreign invaders, are still being referred to by the administration as "terrorists" - I guess the British should have been calling George Washington and Paul Revere terrorists as well. And while there really are some terrorists inside Iraq, they're only there because the U.S. is there. For a short time, the administration tried to change the name of their "Global War on Terrorism" to the "Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism", but let's face the facts, that just wasn't as snappy. It didn't take more than a short time - and a lot of jokes - before we went back to the old title. It was like the "New Coke" debacle revisited. But the war drags on and Bush is still "staying the course" even as former dictator Saddam Hussein is standing trial and the first democratic elections took place. The fact that the majority of Americans (and Iraqis) want the U.S. out of the country means nothing to Bushco.
Cindy lounges in Texas - Courageous mom, Cindy Sheehan, became the focal point of the peace movement and the favorite target of the pro-war minions. After spending a month next to Bush's Crawford, TX ranch while Bush took a "short" vacation, people either loved her or hated her. Some saw her using the tragedy of the death of her son Casey, as a political tool. They called it shameful to use someone's death to further a cause like peace. Of course, these are the same people who use 9/11 and the deaths of over 3,000 to further a cause like war, even though 9/11 and Iraq have nothing to do with each other.
Changing Popes - For the first time since Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn committed a "Foul Play" back in 1978, we had to select a new pontiff. Actually, we didn't have to do it, but the job had to be done. Karol Józef Wojty³a had been the top gun for the Catholics longer than any other, and as Pope John Paul II, he was able to touch - almost literally - millions of people around the world. As a non-Catholic, I've found his replacement, Joseph Alois Ratzinger, a little harder pill to swallow. Time will tell, but he chose Benedict XVI as his Holy See nom de plume, and as a Beatles fan, I was hoping the next pontiff would be Pope John Paul George. Oh well.
Supreme Court Musical Chairs - When the first lady of the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor decided to call it quits, Bush pulled Greg Kinnear's stunt double out of his butt and pushed John Roberts as her replacement. Before he could be confirmed, Chief Justice William Rehnquist called it quits by dying. Bush quickly changed his mind and put Robert's up for Chief Justice. After a filibuster/nuclear option compromise was made, Roberts was approved and placed on the bench - which is precisely where he would be even if he were chosen to replace Patrick Ewing. Roberts is an intelligent man who knows the law inside and out, even if he does have a right wing philosophy. Now Bush had to come up with someone else to replace O'Connor, so he went in an opposite direction from Roberts - he chose Harriet Mier, who doesn't even have enough experience to judge a County Fair apple pie competition, let alone a High Court case as important as the one Anna Nicole Smith is bringing. Bush ended up accepting Mier's pullout and went with another Ivy Leaguer, Samuel Alito, who won't know his fate until sometime in 2006.
The Plame Game - Leak, leak mo beak, banana-fana-fo-feak, me my mo meek, leak. To make a long story short, Bush lied, Wilson exposed the lie, people got back at Wilson by telling people his wife was a spook. Allegations flew about who knew. Rove is still in the running, but Libby is indicted. Fitzgerald is going through second grand jury, as we all play the Pla-a-a-a-ame Game.
Squeezing the Tube in the center - On July 7, Ringo Starr's birthday began with a bang - literally. Homegrown British terrorist proved that fighting the terrorists in Iraq to keep them away from home wasn't really going to work. A double-decker bus and London's underground railway system, affectionately called "The Tube" were rocked by suicide bombers and resulted in the deaths of 56 people and over 700 injuries. Yet Tony "the paper tiger" Blair insists on being Bush's buddy and continues a failed Iraqi policy.
The State of Florida and the state of vegetation - A comatose woman in a persistent vegetative state, Theresa Marie "Terri" Schiavo, became the center of a fight that ended up showing how Bush and the Republicans are willing to go all willy-nilly with the law. In what would normally be a family matter, everyone from Terri's husband and parents to Congress and the President became involved. The hubby and most logical people - including her doctors - knew their was no chance of Terri ever regaining consciousness, but her parents and the right-to-lifers thought she was just being shy. Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature tried to stop docs from pulling the tubes by passing "Terri's law". The courts struck down the law. Eventually, the U.S. Senate - with a whopping three members present - passed the "Palm Sunday Compromise" which granted Terri's parents the right to have their case heard in a federal court. The house also passed the compromise and George Bush interrupted his Crawford vacation and flew back to Washington - something he wouldn't even do for Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans - just to sign Public Law 109-3 into effect. Once again, the Courts said "that's a no-no". I don't want to ruin the eventual made-for-TV movie for anyone, but on March 18, her feeding tube was removed and Terri died on March 31.
Tapping a great source of American data - We learned a couple of weeks ago that our Buffoon-in-Chief has been authorizing wiretaps of American citizens since shortly after 9/11. While that shouldn't be surprising, the fact that he is doing it without the knowledge or the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court is another thing. In other words, no matter what he says, our President is breaking the law, and to make matters worse, he's complaining that someone had the audacity to call him on it in full view of the public. A federal investigation is no going on - to find the person who reported the president was breaking the law, not to investigate the president for breaking the law. Isn't this a wonderful country to be spied upon in?
Les permettre de manger du gâteau pourrir - Flint tools from the Neolithic period have been found in Clichy-sous-Bois, a poor banlieue (suburb) of Paris, and apparently, that was the last time anyone in that area had a decent job. Some soccer playing kids saw the gendarmerie coming for an identification check and ran. Three of the youths hopped a fence into an electric sub station and two were electrocuted. This event sparked a series of riots that lasted from Oct. 27 to Nov. 7 and spread over 274 communities. Much of it had to do with the fact that as open-minded as some Frenchmen think they are, most won't hire you for any real work unless you look and sound like you're a white native of Quebec or some other Anglo-looking, French speaking person. I guess that will teach those haughty French dignitaire from sticking their nose up at American bigots any time soon.
Truth or Consequences - Bush said we don't, McCain said we shouldn't, Cheney said we should and Rice defended our non-practices to the European community. Torture is the word of the day. Arizona Senator John McCain, who knows a thing or two about being on the receiving end of torture believes it should be outlawed and Vice Press-and-dent Dick "evil grin" Cheney thinks we need it to force people, we don't really fly to black operation prisons that don't really exist, to talk. For some odd reason, there are several Americans who take Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer character way too seriously - although I have it on pretty good authority that Sen. McCain will actually be making a cameo appearance on "24" sometime during it's fifth season.
Polly want a Tamiflu? - It's not here -yet. It hasn't mutated into a form that travels from human to human - yet. It is basically a threat only to birds - yet it was a huge news story. I know It scared me enough to write about it. It may never be a threat, but then again it might. The H5N1 Virus or Asian Bird Flu is one of the great mysteries. Here is a disease that may someday wipe out millions and millions of people as a global pandemic or it may end up being a bigger nothing than the Y2K computer bug. Only time will tell, but that hasn't stopped some over-zealous criminals from selling counterfeit Tamiflu.
DeLay Waylaid - On his way to becoming an influential and high-ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tom DeLay forgot that he was supposed to be a lawmaker, not a law breaker. While it is not true that the Texas definition of ethics is "not getting caught", it is true that some people simply never took the time to learn what the real definition is. As I recall, there was a special chair in the office of the Dean of Boys at my old High School with my name on it. The way things have been with DeLay, perhaps the House Ethics Committee need a special admonishment chair with Tom's name on it. DeLay has now been indicted for money laundering in Texas. Unfortunately, I believe that is one of the few charges in Texas that doesn't carry a life sentence or the death penalty.
A second baseball curse lifted in as many years - Last year the curse of the Bambino was blown away when the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918 and this year the Chicago White Sox won their first Series since 1917 breaking the curse of the Black Sox. Not only was the curse broken, but the Chi-Sox did it in grand style sweeping the Houston Astros in four straight games. The game marked the first time two teams meeting in the October classic had not been to the Series in over 40 years.
Death forgot to take a Holiday - The year started off with a shocker of huge magnitude when the King of late night comedy, Johnny Carson joined his predecessors - Steve Allen and Jack Paar - in the afterlife (hey Leno, they're waiting for you, can you speed it up?). From October 1962 to May 1992, our late nights were devoted to Johnny and Ed. His retirement left a void that will never be filled (although Letterman comes closer than Leno to the total Carson experience. It was revealed after his death that for months, Carson had been writing jokes for Letterman's monologue in keeping with Carson's desire that Dave was his choice as heir to the "Tonight Show". Other greats who shuffled off their mortal coil included, Arthur Miller, Hunter S. "Gonzo" Thompson, Saul Bellow, Anne Bancroft, Luther Vandross, James Doohan, Robert Wise, Pat Morita, Rosa Parks and Prince Rainier of Monaco. Lastly, another death that affected many millions was that of Richard Pryor. While not as much of a shocker as Carson's passing, the finality of his demise really drove home his contributions to both comedy and the advancement of black Americans. Every year is a bad year for deaths, but because of Carson and Pryor, 2006 will be a lot less funny.
Hal Holbrook's true identity is Felt - After more than thirty years, the infamous leaker of Watergate information to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein was finally revealed. After much speculation of everyone from Diane Sawyer to Papa George H. W. Bush, "Deep Throat" ended up being W. Mark Felt, a former deputy director of the FBI. And just who was the bastard who revealed Felt's identity? It was the same guy who leaked the information to Woodward and Bernstein. Felt admitted to being "Deep Throat" in an article in Vanity Fair magazine. A hero to many people for exposing the corruption of the Nixon White House, after his true identity was revealed, Felt was vilified by members of the Republican party who, like Bush II, get angry about Republican sins being given any kind of a public airing. Too bad, we could use another good "Deep Throat" today.
Mr. Peace Goes to Washington - On September 24, anywhere between 250,000 (organizers guess) to 500,000 (C-SPAN's estimation) protesters merged in our Nation's Capitol to protest the war in Iraq. It began with a rally featuring speakers Jesse Jackson, Cindy Sheehan, Ramsay Clark and Jessica Lange among many others. What followed was a march route of over two miles that went in front of the White House. Unfortunately, George W. was not in residence that day. He was in Denver, CO to check out the damage of Hurricane Rita. I'm still not sure how Denver was a better vantage point to read reports of wind and water hitting Texas, but to each his own. As one of the hundreds of thousands who were in Washington that day, I can attest to the sense of pride many of us felt toward our fellow countrymen and peace lovers.
Not guilty is not the same thing as innocent - On June 13, a jury acquitted Michael Jackson of all charges stemming from his arrest for child molestation. The real news story was not the trial, it is the simple fact that so many people failed to see that Jackson needs severe psychiatric help. Any man who admits to sleeping in the same bed with children and who has been accused of molestation at least two other times must have something less than innocent going on. Today Jackson lives in the Arab country of Bahrain. In many Arab countries, people lose a hand if they're convicted of theft - imagine what the punishment will be if anyone ever sees Michael being indiscreet with a child over there.
Non Stories of 2005
Celebrity couples - To be honest, I could care less if Brad is dating Angelina and Jennifer is married to Ben or if Vince is taking a risk with Tom Cruise. The "romance" and marriages of Hollywood elite hold way too much time in the scheduled news on every channel. Marriages just don't last, unless you count Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward or Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman (maybe the secret is you have to be named Paul). As far as celebrity couples, the only one that was really newsworthy in 2005 was when Oprah Winfrey agreed to be on the "Late Show with David Letterman".
Wilbanks be open today? - Jennifer Wilbanks, the so-called Runaway Bride took up way too much time in the press. Like the Schiavo case, it was the 24 hour news services looking for titillating filler material. Wilbanks' non-story was part of what PBS correspondent Gwen Ifill calls "missing white woman syndrome" and 2005 was way too full of examples.
Another white woman goes missing - Natalee Holloway, Scout-Taylor Compton and Taylor Behl were all examples of the news organizations narrow focus. In the meantime, there are lots of men and women of all races who go missing every day, but they just don't carry the ratings boost of someone like Holloway. Her disappearance spurred an overkill of reporters getting an Aruba vacation on the dime of their employers while a search continued.
And the winner of the Tour de France is - Are you kidding? Anyone who honestly thought Lance Armstrong would not win the race either doesn't pay attention or was distracted by sports writers who did their best to build up suspense. Yes, I'm happy Mr. Crow won his 7th race, but it wasn't that big of a story - at least to me.
Kate Moss is a drug addict - Have you ever seen Kate Moss? 'nuff said! Happy New Year!
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