Most important news story of the week (ending December 19, 2008)

[ColbertWatcher]

Most important news story of the week ending December 19, 2008

A: missing link discovered in the evolutionary history of HIV

B: Obama selects Linda Solis to be Labor Secretary, Mary Schapiro
to chair SEC, asshole to speak at inaugural

C: general strike and riots continue in Greece; (unrelated) protests are staged throughout Russia

D: Mark Felt aka "Deep Throat" dies

E: freakishly cold weather dumps snow on New Orleans, Vegas and parts of LA (and damn near everywhere in between) as power outages continue in Northeast

F: Munthazer al-Zaidi throws his shoes during a press conference, is taken into custody and beaten

G: US refuses to condemn anti-gay laws, but Cheney admits to supporting torture

H: loophole "discovered" in TARP legislation allowing executives to keep their bonuses; Goldman Sachs pays 1% in taxes; Chrysler announces it will shut down all plants for a month

I: One of the last-minute "incidents" that are a part of the Friday document dump (please see which in my reply)

J: Other (please see my pick for most important new story in reply)

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R. Very interesting poll. But I'm in a quandry...

Certainly the most reported news story of the week is the shoe thrower. In fact, they're talking about it right now on MSNBC, clips of all the jokes about it on numerous shows. But the most important? I don't think so, unless, of course, it further inflames the Arab world. x(

I had trouble deciding, since most of them struck me as very important. But I finally decided on G. Denying civil rights to an entire segment of American citizens and the current VP admitting to war crimes is as serious as it gets... :-(

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Thank you. Usually I forget a whole bunch, and ...

... since we are limited to only 10 choices it kinda makes it hard to including all the news of the week.

That particular choice came about by accident--I ran out of places to put everything!

But, I decided they go together because it has to do with how we as a nation are represented by our "elected" officials and it kinda fell into place.

Actually it's pretty sad.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. You're more than welcome. This has been a particularly busy news week,

and none of it good, but you chose the biggest ones, IMHO. And those two do belong together. They're both huge stories, deserve more coverage, and they're certainly the saddest... :-(

[ColbertWatcher]

8. I'm starting to think that the election should be held in the spring or summer.

I can't take so much bad news dumped on us when it's so freakin' cold.

[Rhiannon12866]

19. Tell me about it. We got about a foot of snow today and it's not over.

I'm not a big fan of winter because it's not only so cold, but I hate having to deal with snowstorms every other day. I had to appear in traffic court, for the first time ever, on Wednesday, and I was very nervous, but the worst part was the drive, worried about the roads and my windshield kept freezing up. :scared:

But the bad weather does keep you inside so you can get caught up. I pretty much had the news on all day today... And it always seems to be bad news these days, summer or winter...:-(

[lapfog_1]

2. The most important is G. However, the one that will be remembered

by the world and for decades if not forever is F.

And the one that bodes ill for our future is B part 3 and E.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. You may be correct about the shoes.

I am kinda surprised at how it's been adopted by so many people around the world!

What I fear, however, is that the GOP-controlled media will intentionally omit the part about the story that says what happened to al-Zaidi before and after the shoe-throwing.

[lapfog_1]

5. He is already a Martyr. The worse they treat him the longer the

world will remember.

9/11 and shoe throwing. Bookends to the Bush mis-administration.

[ColbertWatcher]

10. That's too bad.

I wish this maladministration would stop creating martyrs.

[tomreedtoon]

7. Other: possibly Kaylee Anthony's body found.

This might be a little egocentric to pick a story in my backyard (Orlando) which has hit national attention, but you guys haven't lived in the hell of the story.

As a TV engineer, I've seen our remote trucks parked outside the Anthony house almost every day since this story erupted. I think, IMHO, we in the media have NOT adapted a circus or an "Ace in the Hole" attitude towards it; we're simply giving the public what they are demanding. But by doing so, we've all been exposed to a true cesspool of humanity.

I don't know the truth about the Anthony family, but having seen them day after day, week after week, I think they're perhaps the most dysfunctional family since Charles Manson's. They are literally creepy in their attempt to block and divert the investigation into the death of their kid. Pretending that Kaylee is still alive (pretty damn unlikely), excuses, attention-grabbing "bounty hunters" and religious buttinskys, and the clear frustration of law enforcement with this mess, has been the depressing, throbbing headache of Central Florida's existence.

If DNA testing proves that the sad little corpse, found partially decomposed with duct tape over her mouth, truly is Kaylee Anthony, it will be the light at the end of a stinky, feces-encrusted tunnel into which we have all been thrust.

[ColbertWatcher]

9. Sorry.

But I disagree that this is the most important news story this week.

And I also disagree that the Anthony family is more dysfunctional than the Palins.

[ColbertWatcher]

11. Countdown kick. n/t

[Ilsa]

12. I picked A: missing link discovered in the evolutionary history of HIV .

The more we know about this, then the closer we are to understanding how immunity evolves and how we might speed it along.

[ColbertWatcher]

13. There have been so many fascinating discoveries made this year ...

... in terms of stem cells and HIV/AIDS.

I wonder what we could have done had we not had an anti-science moran blocking everything?

[hay rick]

14. I picked H

These stories ( TARP bonus loophole, Goldman Sachs 1% tax rate, and Chrysler shut down) are all emblematic of the nightmarish transformation of American society from a mostly comfortable middle-class society with widespread economic opportunities to a highly stratified society in which the majority of people are far less secure, the ranks of the poor are rapidly expanding, and a very small and parasitic minority hoards an ever-increasing share of power, privilege and wealth.

[ColbertWatcher]

15. Good arguments, I wish you had posted yesterday! n/t

[lonestarnot]

16. Bushitler gets the F vote again!

:P

[ColbertWatcher]

17. LOL! I didn't even notice that! LOL! n/t

[lonestarnot]

18. Teehee. I don't believe you.

:evilgrin: