2007 Smokey Awards

Background of the Smokies can be found here.

Previous winners and explanations of the awards are listed here.

Certainly this was a great year for Over the Line performances. Though we are anxious to recognize emerging stars, it was simply impossible to avoid naming two repeat winners. Choosing the winners was so difficult that an entirely new award had to be created. Even with that, OTLS! has had to ignore stellar work by the likes of Alberto Gonzales, Rudy Giuliani, Joe Klein, John McCain, and Mitt Romney.

The 2007 Winners:
The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce Business Achiever “Smokey”, again goes to: Keith Olbermann, for his continuing successful efforts to show America that the Emperor has no clothes, and for his continuing campaign to expose the mendacity of the Fox News Channel.

Variety Clubs International Achiever of the Year “Smokey”, to Dick Cheney, for his deceptive war-mongering campaign against Iran.

The Arthur Digby Sellers* lifetime achievement “Smokey”: To Karl Rove, a now-retired official of some branch of the government of the United States; in a career of evil-doing, lawlessness, corruption, sliming, mendacity, manipulation and darkness, Karl Rove was at the very center of a concerted effort to transform the United States of America into what amounts to a fascist state.

The Little Lebowski Urban Achiever “Smokey” for blogging: To Glenn Greenwald, for his consistent excellence in reporting both the lawlessness of the Bush administration and the sad state of American political journalism.

The Mrs. Jamtoss 5th Period** “Big Red Circled D“: again goes to George W. Bush, president of the United States and Leader of the Free World; this year, he receives the award for his obstruction of efforts to ameliorate future catastrophic global warming.

and, a new Smokey Award for this year: The Nihilist Award; for the person who demonstrated most convincingly that he believes in nothing. The 2007 winner is Alan Dershowitz, who advocated torture, his rationale being that it worked for the Nazis.

Congratulations to these great Over-the-liners; they have set the bar at a very high/low level. Next year’s winners are gonna be hard pressed to surpass these accomplishments.

The Smokey statuettes will be shipped COD to the winners, if they will provide their social security numbers and proof of insurability to Over the Line, Smokey! The Mrs. Jamtoss 5th Period “circled big red D” award will be placed in a ziploc bag, then locked in a briefcase, until the opening ceremonies of the George W. Bush Presidential Libeary Liebury, Lyebary place, when it will be presented to Mr. Bush, with the query, “Is this your homework?”

Joe Klein moves into serious contention for Smokey Award

[h/t ThinkProgress]

The competition for Smokey Awards is pretty tough again this year, but Joe’s year-long performance, in print and on his blog, capped by his crapurulent lies about the FISA bill (and his subsequent fandangos around the truth) have put him into contention. I thought he was just a garden variety fool/tool. Now, with this beaut on MSNBC, he has surpassed himself on NIEgate.

The Bush reaction to this — he didn’t try to block it. He didn’t try to postpone it. He didn’t spend weeks, he didn’t ask the intelligence community ‘give me a couple of weeks, let’s see if we can figure out some kind of negotiating initiative or some way to respond to this.’ He didn’t try to spin it to our advantage. This is an amazing moment of candor by the United States.

Breathtaking. George Bush and candor. Is there such a thing as a parody of a caricature? if there is, Joe Klein is it.

A skeptical Joe Scarborough responded to Klein’s cheerleading for the administration, stating, “Well that’s one way to look at it,” then explained that Bush continued to warn of World War III with Iran despite knowing better. Klein chuckled, “There is that…”

He may not eclipse Dick Cheney for the top Smokey statuette, but who could? We at least one category into which Joe would fit very nicely….
Yes, Mrs. Jamtoss 5th Period** Circled Big Red D Award, we’re lookin’ at you….

[Interestingly, OTLS! notes that Joe gives out “Teddy” Awards every year; whew, that is too close for comfort.]

Occasional Saturday Big Lebowski Roundup

Big news on TBL this week: a new book.

For those Achievers for whom the movie offers an ethos, catharsis against the daily grind, or Zen philosophy for how to live, I’m a Lebowski, You’re A Lebowski is the book we’ve been waiting for. Written by four Lebowski fans (and Lebowski Fest founders) with both a fierce dedication to the movie and an apparent abundance of available free time, this humorous book offers enough Lebowski ins and outs to satisfy even the most rabid fan.

The book is logically divided into chapters that each take a specific approach related to the movie, and even includes a forward by Jeff Bridges (the Dude himself…er, the movie version of the Dude, anyway). The various chapters cover everything from ways to “Dude-ify” your life, to playful yet informative interviews with the movie’s actors (major roles like John Goodman and minor roles like Jim Hoosier, who played Jesus Quintana’s bowling partner and didn’t even have a single line of dialogue), to a tidy analysis of how The Big Lebowski became a cult classic, to various Lebowski tidbits, including the number of F-bombs dropped in the movie (281 according to the authors. I still count 279, and yes, I clearly need professional psychiatric help).

The most revealing chapter of the book contains interviews with the real-life people upon whom the movie versions of the Dude, Walter, and Little Larry Sellers were based. To a certain amount of horror, we learn that there really was an incident in which a junior high kid was confronted in his home by two men who claimed the kid had stolen the Dude’s car. One of the men even produced the kid’s homework, extracted from the seat of the stolen car, encased in a plastic baggie as if it was some sort of evidence bomb.

I believe I have found a great Xmas gift…..

Bush making late charge for a Smokey award

Evidently Bush can’t do anything about Musharaff, so now he’s going to start portraying him as the George Washington of Pakistan. Watch the Wall Street Journal, Fox News and the Beltway Pundits take up the chant.  The damage done to America and the world over the last 6 years is exceeded by the damage to the truth.

President Bush yesterday offered his strongest support of embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, saying the general “hasn’t crossed the line” and “truly is somebody who believes in democracy.”

Bush spoke nearly three weeks after Musharraf declared emergency rule, sacked members of the Supreme Court and began a roundup of journalists, lawyers and human rights activists. Musharraf’s government yesterday released about 3,000 political prisoners, although 2,000 remain in custody, according to the Interior Ministry.

Film review: No Country for Old Men

This is a great flick. Based on the novel by 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy. It’s a little out of the mainstream, but that’s the Coen brothers for you. Tommy Lee Jones, (and other old men from Texas) gets to revel in his down-home accent and various cute homilies, and pretend to be astonished by the level of violence in the world. I mean, Texas is a land of ironies. The mild-mannered, polite, “god-fearing” folks, who drink, smoke, get boob jobs, go to strip clubs and practice racism and violence. But they all “church,” which makes it okay.

Fascinating place. Land of George W. Bush.

Javier Bardem: a total freaking scary guy.

2007 Smokey Award Nominations: keep those cards and letters coming

Yes, you can tell by all the junk catalogs in your mailbox that it’s time once again for the selection of our Smokey Award winners for this year. Just think back over the year for the most outrageous “over the line” stories and characters, and give us your opinions on the very best and worst. We try to confine the list of nominees to those who have appeared in Over the Line, Smokey! postings, but are willing to consider those who have escaped our withering glance. Details and past winners can be found here.

Don’t worry about the categories; OTLS! has a committee of talented monkeys who can toss the papers down the stairs to sort them.

Thanks in advance for your participation. Winners will be announced in January.

The fake FEMA news conference: way over the line

Here are some pics of this miscarriage of government, with the actors identified.

CBS News has obtained this photo of the now infamous fake FEMA press conference held during the California wildfires. The photo, taken by a FEMA employee, is one of the only known photos of the press gallery of that event.

The gallery is not filled with members of the press but with high-level agency employees.

At the podium on the left is Vice Admiral Harvey Johnson, the second in command at FEMA.

The former director of public affairs at the agency, John “Pat” Philbin told CBS News last week, “I am not aware that he knew what was happening and all of sudden staff were asking questions.”

Identified in the photo are staff members that Johnson works closely with on a daily basis.
….
The agency’s deputy administrator, Harvey Johnson, called on FEMA employees by name during the news conference and knew they weren’t reporters.

Why does Harvey Johnson still have a job? On the positive side, he’s a leading candidate for a Smokey Award.

Mel Martinez, Newt Gingrich lookin’ good for Smokey Awards

For the most ridiculous, mendacious comment of the year:

Following the vote on the Webb Amendment, Sen. John McCain took to the floor and praised the high level of debate in the Senate over the measure. Perhaps he missed the speech by RNC Chairman and Florida Sen. Mel Martinez: “I think we would demean their service if we were to say to them that there had to be a parity between the time in service out of the country and the time at home.”

Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich came up with a statement that rivals that of Martinez, when he opined that Fred Thompson:

“…is a very articulate guy…”

Come January, the Smokey Awards committee will certainly consider Sen. Martinez and Mr. Gingrich.

Big Lebowski makes it to McSweeney’s

Steve Buscemi gets a little airtime.

Big Lebowski fans: how do you feel about the In and Out Burger?

I stopped in at the IOB on Millbrae Avenue last night, picked up a burger with the works, to go. I rolled up the windows to keep the smell at its most intense. My wife does NOT like the IOB, but I gotta say, that was a good burger. The overall atmosphere is kinda like one step up from the Greyhound Station, so I fit right in. I’m gonna have to order some of their wearables, just to let people know what kind of a guy I really am. This, for example, is sure to offend someone at the next PTA meeting.