Year in review: Round up edition

Submitted by James on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 1:39pm

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This is for capturing those "Year in Review" stories that get pumped out in late December. If you find one, please provide a link so we'll have all the year-end punditry anyone could ever want. Plus the fabulous year in pictures, courtesy of IndyWeek and our good friend Jeremy Lange.

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Religious year in review

Submitted by James on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 1:40pm.

A good roundup from the always interesting Baptist Planet. You'll be happy to know the Pope had a busy year.

But the pope's disappointment was also evident in 2009, in part because he felt misunderstood by some of his own faithful and the mass media over difficult decisions or statements.

Poor misunderstood Pope. I guess when you're encouraging policies that further the spread of AIDs and giving your blessing to Holocaust deniers, it's hard to catch a break from the mean old media.

Yahoo has their Year in Review 2009 out

Submitted by Foxtrot on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 5:56pm.

Yahoo has its Year in Review 2009 out now.

I loved their coverage of the top 10 blog sites. Interesting.

And, of course, that copy of Obama's birth certificate on their presentation on Obama is gonna really piss off the "birthers" :)

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“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument is an exchange of ignorance" __ Robert Quillen

I am humbled

Submitted by scharrison on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 4:35pm.

by the actions of the Nature Conservancy:

At a summit in Manado, Indonesia on Friday, May 15, 2009, six governments launched the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) — an agreement that will fundamentally transform resource use and protection across the region. Heads of government of all six countries that lie in the Coral Triangle — Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, the Philippines, Timor Leste and Malaysia — resoundingly adopted the CTI, setting in motion a Regional Plan of Action that contains unprecedented goals and commitments for MPAs, fisheries protection and climate change adaptation.

These and other governments, including the U.S., pledged nearly $17 million in new funding for conservation of resources that sustain more than 120 million people. Indonesia created an 8.5 million acre Marine Protected Area (MPA) — now the largest in the Coral Triangle.

Facilitating cooperative efforts like this is extremely critical (just look at the Copenhagen snarl), but what really amazes me is how the Conservancy's volunteers gladly plunge into seemingly impossible and arduous tasks, repairing and reshaping our planet for the better:

In the early 1930s, a noxious slime mold and the powerful Chesapeake-Potomac Hurricane combined to devastate seagrass meadows in Virginia’s coastal bays. While sea grasses did regenerate in the Chesapeake Bay, they never returned to Virginia’s other coastal bays.

Fast-forward to June 2009. Our humble barge in South Bay serves literally as our jumping-off point for the largest, most successful seagrass restoration project in the world.

Starting from the mere remnant Orth located nearby, VIMS and The Nature Conservancy have since broadcast upwards of 23 million seeds across more than 200 acres. These efforts have accelerated the natural spread of eelgrass, which now covers more than 2,400 acres in South, Spider Crab, Hog Island and Cobb Island bays.

For the second year running, around 100 volunteers have signed on to boost the now decade-long partnership. So how exactly does a volunteer make a dent in our goal of collecting enough eelgrass shoots to yield 10 million seeds? One handful at a time.

Year in Review from Equality NC

Submitted by usernamehere on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 6:25pm.

Blue NC folks have been very supportive of Equality NC, and it is appreciated.

More than that, it resulted in great success this year.

Take a look at Equality NC's year in review article.

A five minute video accompanies the year in review article. Much of the clip highlights points in passage of the School Violence Prevention Act (aka the anti-bullying bill). I'm sure some folks here would enjoy it.

ENC

Submitted by Jake Gellar-Goad on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 5:43am.

did great work this year, they are definitely FTW.

Good stuff

Submitted by James on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 9:18pm.

Equality is on the march.

Institute for Southern Studies round ups

Submitted by James on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 2:45pm.

http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/12/top-10-stories-of-2009---5-what-o...

NY Times year in pictures

Submitted by James on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 2:53pm.

Always a good collection.

Yikes, James

Submitted by Linda on Mon, 12/28/2009 - 3:21pm.

I drop in for a review of the year and read this:

The Shearon Harris nuclear plant in North Carolina's Wake County isn't just a power-generating station. The Progress Energy plant, located in a backwoods area, bears the distinction of housing the largest radioactive-waste storage pools in the country. Spent fuel rods from two other nuclear plants are transported there by rail, then stored beneath circulating cold water to prevent the radioactive waste from heating. ---snip---"The fire could well spread to older fuel. The long-term contamination consequences of such an event could be significantly worse than Chernobyl."

Happy New Year?

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My darling girl, when will you understand that 'normal' is not necessarily a virtue. It rather denotes a lack of courage. Alice Hoffman

Hey you!

Submitted by James on Mon, 12/28/2009 - 3:25pm.

Good to see you out and about.

Don't worry, the Nuclear Energy arm of corporate America would never, never I tell you, do anything that wasn't in the long term interest of ~~America~~ profits.

Thanks for that, James

Submitted by Foxtrot on Mon, 12/28/2009 - 5:55pm.

Appears there are some that come here occassionally that seem to be "alarmists" and "skeptics" when it comes to nuclear power. Things have changed since Chernobyl and Three-Mile. But, I know those memories remain in many.

It is something that has to be overcome if nuclear power is to proliferate.

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“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument is an exchange of ignorance" __ Robert Quillen

Boo on you

Submitted by Foxtrot on Mon, 12/28/2009 - 7:35pm.

Don't worry, the Nuclear Energy arm of corporate America would never, never I tell you, do anything that wasn't in the long term interest of America profits.

Can I say disheartening?

What's that all about?

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“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument is an exchange of ignorance" __ Robert Quillen

Kristof on charities

Submitted by James on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 11:23am.

A round up of sorts.

How about a "Decade in Review"?

Submitted by Foxtrot on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 1:33pm.

I am stuck at home today and zooming around the Internet and caught this CBS "Decade in Review" piece. Thought I'd share it here.

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“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument is an exchange of ignorance" __ Robert Quillen

A good round up!

Submitted by James on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 4:00pm.

George Bush's War of Lies, circa 2003, was a major turning point.

Binker interviews Perdue

Submitted by James on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 4:17pm.

Da guv's year in review, in her own words.

I have to say this here

Submitted by Foxtrot on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 5:20pm.

I just got back from Walmart (ugh) where there seemed to be more people than when I once went to a Redskins game (do not even start with me on that, okay? :). What made me think of this was in James' site above that spoke a little about diversity and so forth.

First of all, a black guy in what looked to be an older model Ford pick-up truck stopped to let me get into the parking lane where it might have taken me God knows how long to maneuver the long line waiting to get out of the parking lot. Then, I was waiting in the check-out line and an elderly black woman that had what looked like to be her entire Christmas gift and grocery needs in her basket saw that I only had two items and said: "Sir, would you like to go in front of me since I probably take a long time checking out (or something to that effect)".

I'm a white guy with a ball cap and a denim shirt on (probably looked like your average red neck), and she was just so gracious.

We've come a long way, baby. Is that not what we democrats/liberals/progressives are all about?

Say what you want and listen to all the negatives about how being inclusive is a bad idea all you want. This was wonderful and I truly believe that this, if nothing else, is what we're all about and in the long run, how our country will realize a much better existance.

I know that is not exactly what this thread is about, but it just hit me so much, I wanted to say it.

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“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument is an exchange of ignorance" __ Robert Quillen

ColorLines

Submitted by party_hack on Fri, 12/25/2009 - 1:17pm.

2009 Best of ColorLines Magazine, "the national newsmagazine on race and politics."

From their blog, Racewire.

Charlotte Observer

Submitted by James on Sun, 12/27/2009 - 5:44pm.

Decade in review. Interesting stuff ... and what a crazy ten years.

Top story in Asheville

Submitted by James on Tue, 12/29/2009 - 11:51am.

Gordon Smith.

We need one of you in every city.

We have some family friends

Submitted by SPLib on Tue, 01/05/2010 - 10:08am.

We have some family friends who are senior citizens and live in Asheville. They were talking to me about some new guy on the Council who wanted to do all this "crazy" stuff. They couldn't remember his name, but I knew who they were talking about. I asked, "is it Gordon Smith?" They said, "yeah, that's the guy."

I told them that whatever Gordon wants to do should be no surprise as he ran a pretty effective campaign and put his platform out there for all to see. Jeez, I live 4 hours away and I know who he is! I asked if they had taken the effort to learn anything about the candidates for Council. They said they did not. Then I asked if they had voted in the election. They did not.

If you don't bother to participate in the voting process but don't like who gets elected, please by all means complain as much as you want.

Congrats Gordon

Americans for the Prosperous

Submitted by James on Tue, 12/29/2009 - 12:54pm.

Dallas spins a year of busdriving

ya'll have likely seen

Submitted by boball on Tue, 12/29/2009 - 1:17pm.

JibJab.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Have a great New Year!

-b
--

There cannot fail to be more kinds of things, as nature grows further disclosed. - Sir Francis Bacon

Thanks

Submitted by James on Tue, 12/29/2009 - 1:18pm.

Hadn't seen yet ... always fun stuff.

Smiles

Submitted by Foxtrot on Tue, 12/29/2009 - 6:42pm.

That was just great! I am hung up on the humor involved in our political and "Hollywood" stuff today. That was just fabulous. I just want to say THANKS, for that, boball.

If we cannot laugh about our plight and the absurdities in our culture today in America, we are relegated to crying about it all.

Good one!

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“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument is an exchange of ignorance" __ Robert Quillen

death penalty year in review

Submitted by deathwatch on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 12:36pm.

Life > death

Daily Show year in review

Submitted by Green Mom on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 1:55pm.

Check it out.

Top 10 Marketing Blunders of 2009

Submitted by James on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 4:10pm.

Some pretty funny stuff here.

http://collateraldamage.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/10-worst-marketing-blun...

Cool technology gizmo round up

Submitted by James on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 5:22pm.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/technology/personaltech/31pogue.html?hp

Gizmo, detainees

Submitted by Foxtrot on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 5:37pm.

Gismo needs to be the location where there is a military tribunal for every one of the detainees there. Nothing in our constitution says that foreign ~~adversaries~~ prisoners of war are due their "day in court" within the U.S. under the constitution.

Again, here I am most certainly at odds with the majority here.

That is IMO, okay?

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“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument is an exchange of ignorance" __ Robert Quillen

Well hell, Foxtrot

Submitted by James on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 5:45pm.

why don't we just kill the scumbags and get it over with? That's what military tribunals are for ... what's the point of the charade?

Need to have a legitimate tribunal first, James

Submitted by Foxtrot on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 5:50pm.

I am relatively sure that all military tribunals aren't all about firing squads.

I am betting you know that's not all about what I am saying.

Love you a bunch, James, but, C'mon.

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“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument is an exchange of ignorance" __ Robert Quillen

I was in the military

Submitted by James on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 6:26pm.

and served as the legal officer on the USS Charleston for three years. While there are many strong qualities of the military justice system, I have zero confidence in its ability to clean up the messes Bush made at the Guantanamo detention camp.

We invaded other countries, arrested citizens we believed to be bad guys, and whisked them away to Cuba without anything even remotely resembling due process. The least we can do is attempt to have fair, public trials.