The ‘What A Maroon’ Award

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for ... This week’s “What A Maroon” award goes to...

RANDI KAYE

Kaye, a CNN correspondent and anchor, recently displayed jaw-dropping ignorance of the meaning of a simple word. The subject was a discussion she had with media critic Howard Kurtz.

At issue was the recent suspension without pay of MSNBC left-wing talk show host Ed Schultz. Schultz called conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham, a mother of two adopted children, a “right-wing slut.”

Such inflammatory language was too much, even for MSNBC, which suspended Schultz for two weeks without pay. Even Schultz seemed embarrassed and publicly apologized to Ingraham, saying,

“On my radio show yesterday, I used vile and inappropriate language when talking about talk show host Laura Ingraham. I am deeply sorry, and I apologize. It was wrong, uncalled for and I recognize the severity of what I said. I apologize to you, Laura and ask for your forgiveness.”

A repentant Schultz continued,

“I have embarrassed my family. I have embarrassed this company. And I have been in this business since 1978, and I have made a lot of mistakes. This is the lowest of low for me.”

However, this seems to be unclear to Kaye, who apparently doesn’t know the the meaning of the word “slut.”

Kaye told Kurtz,“Yeah, but you know when you hear the word ‘slut’ – I mean I hate to even say it on our air, to be honest with you – but there are mixed interpretations about the word.”

Uh, no, Randi. There are no mixed interpretations of the word.

Perhaps the satirical website “The Onion” might help her out if she is still unclear on the concept.



By parsing such a vile, misogynist word, Kaye’s remarks rival those of Whoopi Goldberg, who maintained that Roman Polanski’s drugging and sodomizing a 13-year-old girl wasn’t “rape, rape,” for mind boggling mental contortions.

Randi Kaye richly deserves the “What A Maroon” award for making such an incredible fool out of herself.

WHAT A MAROON!

In honor of the great American philosopher Bugs Bunny who first coined the phrase, I’ve decided to present the “What a Maroon” award each week to the politician, organization or celebrity who makes the most sand-poundingly stupid statement of recent days.

What Media Bias?

Remember the media coverage falsely accusing Tea Partiers of spitting on African-American Congressmen and hurling the "N" word at them? So do I.

Remember the media making claims of violence at Tea Party rallies that never happened? So do I.

Remember the media claiming the Gifford's shooting was somehow linked to conservatives in general and Sarah Palin in particular when the shooter was actually a deranged Bush-hating, anti-war lefty? So do I.

Remember the media coverage of numerous and credible death threats against Wisconsin Republican lawmakers? No, neither did I.

Even some of those on the left are starting to notice.

The ‘What A Maroon’ Award

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for ... This week's “What A Maroon” award goes to...

SEN. BARBARA BOXER

The senator is outraged, outraged that dastardly Republicans are even thinking about trimming the bloated federal budget. The GOP, the left-wing Democrat shrilly asserts in her own special way, is on a “V-E-N-D-E-T-T-A”!

That’s right, a vendetta, a “vendetta against health care” and a “vendetta against clean energy.” But there was even worse to come, as she made the most frightening accusation of all — Republicans, she said, have a “vendetta against Elmo.”

Elmo’s afraid!

True, House Republicans did vote to defund public broadcasting, although it’s blatantly left-wing bias probably had more to do with it than a kid’s show. But the good senator has always been adept at demonizing her opponents and skirting inconvenient truths.

“Vendetta against Elmo,” indeed!

WHAT A MAROON!

In honor of the great American philosopher Bugs Bunny who first coined the phrase, I’ve decided to present the “What A Maroon” award each week to the politician, organization or celebrity who makes the most sand-poundingly stupid statement of recent days.

Attention, Democrats!

The foolish voters have rejected your message and put Republicans in power. What's a good, left-wing, progressive lawmaker to do when you can't pass legislation favoring your special interest groups, or worse when there's pending legislation mandating that your friends in organized labor should pay their fair share for their own health care coverage and pensions?

Sometimes, you just have to get away from it all, especially if it shuts down government and at least temporarily blocks offending legislation. But where to go?

Ask no more.

Rockford, Illinois, is waiting for you!

Unions in Action

Yesterday, Feb. 23, 2011, union members. including those from the Communications Workers of America, descended on the Washington, D.C. offices of FreedomWorks, a conservative think tank. (FreedomWorks recently moved to into a new, more secure facility following a number of credible death threats.) The protesters were expressing their displeasure at the think tank, which is certainly their right.

Several FreedomWorks employees went outside to talk to the demonstrators. When one of the protesters exhibited his debating skills by calling an employee a "little sh*t,", Tabitha Hale turned on her iPhone and attempted to record the exchange.

Apparently, the union man felt threatened by the 5'1" Hale.

As Hale stated after the attack, "It’s one thing to be called a violent teab*gger. It’s another to be called a violent teab*gger while you’re being assaulted."

Progressives like to claim conservatives are violent, yet it seems that conservatives are the victims of left-wing violence.

Public Employee Unions ‘Unthinkable and Intolerable’

Much attention is focused in Wisconsin where thousands public employees gathered at the state capital protesting pending legislation that would, among other things, force the union members to assume greater responsibility for their own health care coverage and retirement benefits, as part of an effort to balance the state budget. These union members, aided and abetted by the Democrat Party and even the President, have expressed their displeasure by closing down schools and effectively brought the machinery of state government to a halt.

Some on the left claim the actions of the Republican governor and GOP-controlled legislature are really about depriving public employees the right of collective bargaining, not balancing the budget.

There are arguments on both sides.

However, it raises an even more basic question: Should public employees have the right to collective bargaining?

Unions were formed in the private sector. Companies profited because of the workers’ labor. Unions were a way for workers to share the profits they created.

But the public sector has no profits; it creates no wealth.

In the private sector, the union negotiates with a company’s owners, be it a single individual or stockholders.

In the public sector, the owners are the taxpayers, most of whom have smaller salaries and poorer health care coverage and retirement benefits than their counterparts in the public sector.

For these and other reasons, many influential thinkers were leery of public employee unions.

One of those concerned voices raised belonged to George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO. I, 1955, Meany said, “It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government.” Part of his reasoning was that government collective bargaining meant bargaining meant that voters no longer had the final say on public policy, which goes to the heart of the democratic system.

Another such thinker called the concept of public employee unions “unthinkable and intolerable.” Those words were from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, arguably the most labor-friendly president of the 20th century. He wrote in a 1937 letter to the National Federation of Federal Employees, “All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.” He continued, “Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of government employees.”

What we are witnessing today in Madison, Wisconsin, is the “unthinkable and intolerable” as foretold by Roosevelt and warned of by Meany.

Perhaps collective bargaining by public employees is an idea whose time has come ... and gone.

The ‘What A Maroon’ Award

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you’ve all been waiting for ... This week’s “What A Maroon” award goes to...

VALERIE JARRETT

Valerie Jarrett, a Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement (whatever the heck that is), continues the Administration's tradition of embarrassing gaffes.

Jarrett was at the annual black-tie Alfalfa Club dinner when she mistook Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli for a waiter. Somehow missing his four stars and chestful of medals, she asked the general to get her some wine. Chiarelli, a gentleman, complied.

What does it say when a high-ranking member of the Administration doesn’t recognize her own country’s uniform? What is the message this conveys to the men and women wearing that uniform? What would these brave men and women like to tell the Administration?

Cartoonist Chris Muir address that question in his “Day By Day” comic strip.

Whether it’s Barack Obama announcing that he campaigned in 57 states, Vice President Joe Biden telling a paraplegic to stand up and take a bow or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton giving a cheesy Staples Easy Button to the Russian Foreign Minster that Clinton claimed had “reset” written in Russian on it when it actually spelled “overcharge,” the current Administration never ceases to bring embarrassment and humiliation on itself. Jarrett has proven herself a true servant of this inept regime.

WHAT A MAROON!

In honor of the great American philosopher Bugs Bunny who first coined the phrase, I’ve decided to present the “What A Maroon” award each week to the politician, organization or celebrity who makes the most sand-poundingly stupid statement of recent days.