What a year 2005 has been. Wish I could say it was a “great year”. But it wasn’t. Even if it was a “great year” for the blogosphere and the citizen’s uprising against both a failed media and a failed administration. I’m sorry to say that America’s shame is the blogosphere’s gain. I’d be much happier if it weren’t the case. I’d be happier still if our government halted its tragically wreckless and misguided foreign policies, cynically and ironically implemented in the name of “national security”. I’d be joyous beyond reason if the unprecedented rise and reign of corruption in DC came to an end. And giddy to the point of distraction if the Mainstream Media woke up finally from their five-year slumber and decided to show up to play their vital role as our fourth estate once more. All of which would allow for a welcome retirement from the job I reluctantly find myself doing much less because I want to, and much more because I believe it’s necessary.
At the year’s very end, I thought it would be interesting to compile a “Best of BRAD BLOG 2005”. A list of notable stories, achievements, landmarks, highlights and lowlights. In the process, I was overwhelmed by how much has been recorded on these cyber-pages over the last twelve months. Selecting choices for the “Best of…” list was no easy feat, even if the end result is still a rather hefty compilation of notable stories. I welcome your thoughts on these selections and any additions that you, dear BRAD BLOG readers who have made it all possible, feel should have made it onto this list. As always, all of our archived stories are here for your perusal.
I can’t turn the page to 2006 until I’ve given a proper thanks to the many who have made The BRAD BLOG what it is and The BRAD SHOW what we hope it may soon be. To all the Guest Bloggers, contributors, tipsters and sources (named and otherwise) who have shaped the very character of these pages, I say thank you. To name just a few (and likely to leave too many errantly out!) I’d like to recognize a few folks who have served above and beyond the call of duty here over the past year: “Winter Patriot”, David Edwards, John Gideon, John Byrne, “Kira”, Brett, Katrina Wilcox, Joseph Cannon, Ben Burch, Jaime Robledo, Kat L’Estrange, Ilene Proctor, Aerielle Louise, Otie McClay, Lydia Cornell and Desiree Doyen. Thank you all several times over. And, of course, without you readers, listeners, emailers, commentors, donators (see how I snuck that in?) and all-around patriotic trouble-makers, I am nothing. So thank you all from the very bottom of my heart.
From Bush’s ignominious inaugural and electoral challenge in January…to new revelations in the Clint Curtis story and CNN’s duplicitious or just dumb drumbeating for war in February…to Velvet Revolution’s launch of a campaign against American Voting Machines companies, a stunning twist in the Curtis case and the appearance of a phony GOP “voting rights” group in March…to a cooked “National Election Reform” commission, a new radio show and the emergence of the “BRAD BLOG 6 or 7” in April…to spiked newspaper columns and outrage on Capitol Hill in March…to meltdowns in Congress and Conyers at the White House gates in June…to whitewashed investigations, censored websites, fired elections workers, a heroic “Blogathon” and the first whiffs of “the I word” in July…to an unexpected trip to Crawford TX to be a witness to history and to “be the media” like never before in August…to Rove shenanigans, disastrous hurricanes, an insider dubbed “DIEB-THROAT” and “nothing at all” happening in D.C. in September…to running Ann Coulter off the air, finding Conservatives who despise her and discovering “faith-based voting” is alive and well in October…to GAO reports corroborating and ignored, staggeringly impossible election results and Ann Coulter lashing back in November…to a remarkable end of the year unraveling of the once-great, now-disgraced company known as Diebold and more election reform panics than one could shake a stick at, much less blog about as fully as it all deserved, in December…2005 has been — to paraphrase Dubya — “a heckuva year”.
And with that overly long preamble, and having more than a few ideas of what is soon to come in 2006, I hope you now enjoy a look back, if only at a few of the remarkable headlines! — to the BRAD BLOG year that was 2005…
Brad, it is clear that you, and others like you, are making some headway. I’m grateful for you, the good contributors to this blog, and for the Internet, for the MSM of today bears little resemblance to the MSM of my youth.
Your quote here caught my eye: "I’d be joyous beyond reason if the unprecedented rise and reign of corruption in DC came to an end. And giddy to the point of distraction if the Mainstream Media woke up finally from their five-year slumber and decided to show up to play their vital role as our fourth estate once more".
That’s why I’m so grateful for the internet. The very corruption you refer to has inundated the MSM to an alarming degree.
I contend that the MSM is wide awake, and is corrupted as well. Not every individual, of course, but the money behind the MSM. If you don’t "play team ball", you’ll have little opportunity to play at all. Through the year, you, yourself, have given numerous examples of this.
This may very well be the era of the "Fifth Estate" – The Internet. This seems to be the only way to do the job the "Fourth Estate" used to do.
Ann’s a "Beast" all right, but I don’t think she’s big enough to rate by herself. Maybe ‘666’ means there are 666 of them, and she’s one of ’em! Onward and upward!
Here here!!!
Three cheers for brad, all the bloggers, and three cheers for democracy!!!!
😉
With all the revelations, Diebold now on the full defensive, its going to be a hell of a-year-2006…..
And none of us could do it alone, that’s for sure….. Drinks & shots all around for all!!!!!
*Lifts his glass of sparkling bourban high in the air while standing up on the stool*
TO THE NEW YEAR, MAY IT BECOME THE BEST ONE YET!!!!
😎
Finally thank you Knight-Ridder newspaper for revealing the downing street memo to the world….without your tireless efforts of exposing the war lies, many of us wouldn’t be here. Kaysara.
Doug E.
Brad: You summed up 2005 very well. My fervent hope is that this work can energize you and not enervate you…that’s a selfish wish, because we need your leadership, mental acuity and humor.
A few comments from the East Coast about people, labels, and institutions we have to deal with:
ANN COULTER: Recognize her not as a true conservative but as a liberal hater. There’s a vast
difference. I think we pay her too much attention. She craves attention and doesn’t deserve it.
"LIBERAL": Wear the label proudly. It’s a scapegoat word that has no application to 21st-century politics.
It really means "open-minded, non-judgmental, flexible in thought, generous of spirit." All things we want to be, and conservatives almost never can be.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA: I think we have them pegged well. Driven by corporatism and not objectivity, in large part because of 1980s Wall Street-driven consolidation; a family-owned newspaper can expose a crooked election, but a TV station owned by G.E. or a newspaper whose parent is listed on the N.Y.S.E. never will. We’re filling the void for everyone who wants truth and hates hypocrisy.
GEORGE W. BUSH: He is to the Republican party what Mickey Mouse is to Disney, a mindless creature who utters silly platitudes, waves at non-existent crowds, and lets himself be used as a front for unbridled capitalism. We can’t take away his platform, but we can deny him the last word.
IMPEACHMENT: It’s now on the table. I think we should be careful to use the word in a legal context, not a political one. "Did Bush break the law?" works, "Let’s get rid of the S.O.B. once and for all" doesn’t. It’s about him, but it’s also about us.
Here’s a joke I saw on another blog. Ann Coulter walks into a bar carrying a duck. A drunk at the bar looks up and asks, "What are you doing with that pig?" Ann says, "Sir, this is duck, not a pig."
The drunk replies, "I was talking to the duck."
Happy 2006, everyone.
We had some good discussions about spying and the outing of CIA agent V. Wilson.
The story that carries over the heaviest may be the NSA spy story.
It is getting bigger because it is now said that the data which was mined was handed over to other federal agencies (link here).
And that story is causing the paper troubles (link here) as did the Plamegate story.
Dredd No offense but nobody should give a damn about doing anything regarding the NSA spying until issue #1 is handled……
Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia must be completely bit in the bullet— attacked non-stop until their fall so that real voting is restored!
It is only through that which real change will be affected, and we’re going to do it. The NSA & other "fallout" scandles can be dealt with after democracy is re-seized….
Also make certain and keep a microscope eye on Abramoff to make sure he takes down everyone…..even Dennis Hastert & others.
Doug E.
Doug #7
No offense either, but the spying is turning out to be so massive that it could involve political spying on opponents. Like Nixon did.
That would have an impact on campaigns and on the election. A bad effect.
So we need to focus on voting machine corruption as you say, but we would ignore political spying at our peril.
NSA spying on political opponents will get much more news coverage than voting machine stories alone will … but spy stories could help bring a focus on the voting machine problem if we can show the data obtained, which is evidently massive and broad based, could be used in the election this year to sway results.
Brad your blog sucks as bad as it always did. If being a crying pessimist with a low IQ will help, then your blog may help.
Brad, I want to thank you for the work you are doing. And for goading a reluctant guest blogger into doing more than he thought he could, I want to thank you again. You gave me the pen and the paper and the voice; as long as it’s there I will continue to use it.
BE…quiet .FOOL
Wow. I’m learning so much about Ann Coulter. Already having voted for her as the worst whatever they are calling them now, I don’t need to change my vote, but, uh… I was watching Borchers’ power point presentation as it turned 2006.
That is not female, okay?
That is this Anti-Christ the Christians have been talking about for so long.
No. Really. I’m an atheist, but that’s It.
Dredd
After reading this I’m afraid you’re right….
NSA spying widespread
We need to hit both of these fronts hard, and non-stop until the end.
Doug E.
Brad and All the wonderful Bloggers on this site.
After a horrendous "2005", I am hopeful and Thankful that "2006" is here.
Keep the pressure up all of us, keep signing the petitions, voicing your opinions, asking the questions and demanding the answers.
My single happiness in this year is the congressional
elections, we have to KICK the corruption out and
get our country back.
I know some democrats might be affected, but, we must stand for a free and Democratic government, no matter what. We cannot say only the Republican must be outed we must clean out all the garbage.
Only then will we have the right to start over with a clean slate, for the people, by the people, and of the people.
God Bless
Kay Exactly right!!
We must elect only honest republicans and democrats into office period, delete every incumbent that possibly can be. Including through investigations and indictments.
Get rid of every last slime along with Diebold.
Doug
Powerful PNAC Video>spread it everywhere!!!
(Now THAT’s spreadin’ democracy ;o)
http://openyourmindseye.blogspo...nac-video.html
~HAPPY NEW YEAR 2006 BRAD!!!~
You made it possible for better possibilities in this old world of ours>and it is OUR WORLD in 2006 , not the evil elite’s!!!
(Thank you and John Conyers and Cindy Sheehan and Alex Jones and every forthright fabulous freedom internet blog for democracy for teaching me that!!!)
Here’s a big blogger group hug>>>
((((((((((GROUP BLOGGER HUG))))))))))
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO WE THE PEOPLE !
With a lame post like that, you’d be best advised live up to your username, and be QUIET.
Let’s not just take our country back this coming year. Let’s help the people of the rest of the world take their world back, too. The first will lead inevitably to the second. Peace and Love to All! "God bless us every one!"
Doug #12
You are right too, we need to fix the corrupt fiasco we call "elections" here in America. Especially before we invade, conquer, and occupy the world and "bring them democracy".
There is so much danger I can’t keep track of it anymore. But you know I have brought up the concept of "peak oil" (link here) on this blog, for quite a while now, in post after post.
Today may be the day when this story has finally come out of the closet (link here) so as to be all it can be. And it can mean the destruction of humankind.
Putin as fired over the bow of Europe, and the oil wars are out of the closet now.
Thanks for all your hard work Brad and all the others who continue to make this blog one of the most informative and interesting sites on the web.
I hope we can affect some real change in 2006 and look forward to helping out any way I can. Hopefully the criminal’s house of cards will come tumbling down this year and we can make some real headway into taking back our country.
Best wishes to all for a very happy and prosperous new year!
Jeff J.
Thank you Brad for being the best investigative journalist in ALL MEDIA, mainstream and alternative! Your is by far the most comprehensive, in-depth, idiot-busting, goon-trumping, loon-mining blog anywhere. This is the year we bring sanity back to our great nation. I am appalled at what this administration has done — and I am really really angry now. Heads are going to roll…
Love & Happy New CONGRESS!!
Lydia
Brad said it was not a great year but then says it was a heckuva year. So, what was it?
Sorry that Ann Coulter didn’t make Brad a household name.
Sorry that Mother Sheehan was dropped like a hot potato.