The Year of 2012...

The Sage Street Award recipients for the year 2012 are...

Best Event of the Year: The re-election of President Obama and Vice President Biden. Though Obama sometimes seemed lackluster and likely to lose, especially because of the high unemployment rate, the alternative choice of Mitt Romney and the Republican Party/Tea Party was horrifying and apparently uniting for the 2008 Obama voters who stayed the course. It was a transitional election moment, shifting the nation to the left and reaffirming progressive ideas. Runners-up: The Summer Olympics, the presidential and primary election debates (the debates of the Republican candidates were eye-openers about how extremely conservative--and out-of-touch--those candidates seemed).

Worst Event of the Year: The mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut in December. It shocked the nation. It abruptly altered the seasonal mood of joy to tears and reflection. I think and hope it has awakened sensible people, including hunters, to the need for gun restrictions, including bans on assault rifles and large ammunition magazines, and a need to stop encouraging a gun culture, which includes video games and movies. The runners-up in this category were Hurricane Sandy, which hit New York, New Jersey, and the East Coast and brought a new realization of the concern about climate change and the July mass shooting in an Aurora, Colo. theater, killing 12 people and dozens of others. When two of the worst events in America in a year are mass shootings, it says that America has a gun violence problem.

Best Movies (of the ones I saw, which means they could have been produced in previous years): "A Better Life," "The Artist" (which was the Academy Award best picture of 2011-2012), and "The Three Stooges" (the new version with actors impersonating the original Three Stooges). Runners-up: "Being Flynn," "Prometheus," "I Am Four," "Carnage," "Midnight in Paris," and "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter."

Best TV Shows: "Longmire" and "Falling Skies." Runners-up: "The Walking Dead," "Hell on Wheels," "Saturday Night Live," "Merlin," and "Wipe-Out."

Best News Programs: "The Rachel Maddow Show," "The Melissa Harris Perry Show," "The Ed Schulz Show," "60 Minutes," and "360 with Anderson Cooper."

Best Documentary: "The Dust Bowl" (PBS).

Best Discoveries That I Enjoyed: The writing of journalist/author Sanora Babb, the writing of poet/author Nick Flynn, the music of William Brittelle.

Books Most Enjoyed: "An Owl on Every Post:" by Sanora Babb, "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City" by Nick Flynn, "Hedy's Folly, The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr" by Richard Rhodes about actress Hedy Lamarr and her inventive brilliance in developing "frequency hopping," "Pete Seeger and the Power of Song" by Allan Winkler, and "Cody's Cave" by Phil Roberts.

Best Songs I Heard for the First Time: "The Color of Rain" by William Brittelle, "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals, and "Tongue Tied" by Grouplove.

Best Website: The Delta at mvcdelta.com, Amazon.com, Netflix, National Geographic.

Best YouTube Video: "Where the Hell is Matt 2012" about a guy named Matt Harding who dances with groups all around the world.

Leaving a Great Legacy (some amazing people who died this year): Former U.S. Senator George McGovern (the first presidential candidate I ever voted for) for standing consistently for progressive ideas and working to reduce world hunger; actor Andy Griffith for the gentle, quality comedy of "The Andy Griffith Show;" Andy Williams for the song "Moon River" and other standards; Neil Armstrong for being the first man on the moon; U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii; and Donna Summer for "Last Dance" and other disco songs.

Biggest Losers of the Year: Mitt Romney for flip-flopping all over the place; for being pulled like taffy to the right by the Tea Party crowd; spending a billion dollars to lose the election; unable to rationalize Mormonism to the rest of the nation probably because, like numerous religious dogmas put under a microscope, it seems utterly unbelievable; and for the lasting image of a mistreated dog in a carrier on the roof of a car. Runners-up: Actor Clint Eastwood for his embarrassing rant of a conversation with a chair at the Republican National Convention; defrocked bicyclist Lance Armstrong; Donald Trump (not sure what he is but he's on TV too much and is incredibly arrogant); and the NRA for its reckless, selfish advocacy in support of guns without reason and also not thinking about the greater good of the culture.

Person of the Year nominees: Oscar Pistorius (inspirational Olympics runner), Melissa Harris Perry (host of her MSNBC show), Vice President Joe Biden who seems consistent in progressive ways, Ken Burns (for the excellent PBS documentary "The Dust Bowl"), Ralph Nader (consumer activist), Bob Costas (for hosting the Olympics and his statement about the need for gun control that was even prior to the Connecticut school shootings tragedy), record-holding skydiver Felix Baumgartner; statistician Nate Silver who predicted correctly the outcomes of how every state's population would vote in the presidential election, Elizabeth Warren (new U.S. senator from Massachusetts) and Julian Castro (San Antonio, Texas, mayor and Democratic Convention keynote speaker). Note: Biden, Warren and Castro look like potentially great and impressive future U.S. presidents to me.

Person of the Year: President Barack Obama (which was also Time magazine's "Person of the Year") for achieving a second term in office. Stay progressive please.

My praise of George McGovern

   With the death today of George McGovern, the former U.S. senator from South Dakota and a Democratic presidential nominee, I remember fondly that I was one of the 18-year-olds in 1972 who first got the right to vote in a presidential election and I cast my first vote for McGovern. It was a proud moment for me that has never diminished over the years.

   Well, that was also the year of the Nixon landslide, though two years later Nixon would resign in disgrace. But the initial election victory of the criminal (Nixon) over the decent man (McGovern) taught me a lot at that young age. It taught me that the American majority is not always correct. It taught me that bad can win over good but that good has a greater, longer role which usually leads to vindication (as it did with McGovern). It taught me that I should follow my beliefs, based on a lot of reading and research, which often are contrary to notions of the crowd. And it means, to the woe of some of my friends at places like Facebook who prefer less political and social-issues talk, that if there's a forum, I can't self-impose silence over issues or matters that I care about.

   Look, I went through a time when a criminal defeated an honorable and decent man and my nation was at stake. It would be horrible to not speak up.

For Father's Day...

There are many great moments I can think of concerning my parents. As this is Father's Day, I think one moment involving my dad would be the traditional aspect of a father steadying and running behind a boy on a bicycle for the first time. I learned to ride a bicycle on my older brother's tall, heavy bike. I was too short, my legs weren't long enough to jump down to secure a stance stop without receiving some male pain because there was a long bar at the top of its frame. So, if I needed to dismounted, I would have to angle it into a stop and often it was so heavy that it would fall and crunch my skinny bones. It was no small banana-seat bike. So, to learn to ride on it posed real threats to pain, but great trust that it was achievable. Thus, support was crucial. I can still see my father running behind me, keeping me balanced until I figured how to do it and took off down the alley in Worland, Wyo., in solo flight. And really, though I only understood it later, that scene was a metaphor for where my father would be for the rest of his life and for decades of my life--supporting me, standing behind me, helping me to get to my destinations. His name: Leslie J. Roberts, 1915-1989. Happy Father's Day!

News at 10...

This just in:

"Mitt Happens" is a bumpersticker slogan that the Romney campaign won't be using on the campaign trail. So, also are "Bain Is Our Bane" and "We'll Take You for a Ride Like a Dog in a Cage on the Top of A Car." But "Spit for Mitt" is still being considered, especially for NASCAR and rodeo events.

Democrats are wondering if the Obama Administration has any job creation programs. An Obama spokesman seemed perplexed. "I thought we were part of the Wall Street wing of the Democratic Party, with the Clintons and Geithner. I didn't think we had to care about Main Street jobs for regular Americans."

What about the better health care systems in European countries? Republicans say that's socialism. What about the lack of capital punishment in European countries? Republicans say not to be like Europe. What about the failed austerity measures attempted by the conservative European leaders? Republicans say, hey, we need to try that, too.

In the latest attempt of the audacity of austerity, Congress is cutting budgetary assistance for orphans.

Evangelicals got very confused and started protesting against restaurants for serving BLTs. An educational effort is under way to inform them that GLBT means "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered" while BLT only means "bacon, lettuce and tomato" and refers to sandwiches. Hopefully, they will calm down.

Donald Trump appears to be just as stupid this month as he was months and months ago. And he's still on TV, too.

Mount Rushmore has given inspiration to a group of  business developers who would like to carve a mountain into completely obscene images. It could be a big tourist attraction and really help the economy, said I.M. Rich. "Just ask the French if they'd like to visit the Grand Tetons."

A billionaire is the only donor for a PAC that wants to promote term limits for U.S. Supreme Court members.

What we'd like to hear at least once on TV: "I'm Morley Safer. I'm Lesley Stahl. I'm Steve Croft. I'm Charlie Rose. I'm Bob Simon. I'm Anderson Cooper. I'm Lara Logan. I'm Scott Pelley. I'm Chicken Little and the sky is falling. Those stories tonight on 60 Minutes."

Mitt Romney recently released not only his birth certificate, but also the Mormon Church's baptism certificate for Anne Frank. 

Barack Obama "evolved" on the issue of accepting the idea of gay marriage. However, Joe Biden was heard saying, "But I evolved first." Romney "evolved" when he was governor of Massachusetts, but since he's been running for president, he's reverted to "Neanderthal." Rick Santorum doesn't believe in evolution or birth control.

In agreement with Mitt Romney's statement that "corporations are people," Exxon Corporation and a Texan named Chuck were married in a Las Vegas chapel.

As well as the privatization of the space industry, private companies are also getting into the business of selling drones. "It's fun to watch the neighbors in their backyard from the clouds and then swoop down and scare the crap out of them," one happy customer said.

Las Vegas bookies are taking bets on who has the greater moral authority: the Catholic bishops criticizing nuns for radical feminism or the nuns who actually help people in need. Oh, do you really have to think about it?!

In this week's episode of "Celebrities Chasing Squirrels," football quarterback Tim Tebow tebowed for nuts.

The approximation of a smile

Facebook as a stock share probably means it will need to become more commercial. Becoming more commercial is why I left eBay and watch less movies and TV. Now it is rare for my e-mail to include a personal letter, but there is a whole herd of commercial spam. I don't tweet because being terse and limited in word count makes sense to me mainly for cussing. My hope for my electronic life is for connecting with others, enjoying creativity, and finding nuggets of knowledge, news, or interesting discussion. Sometimes it is about the search, journey, and discovery. But it is also about having the patience not to de-friend Frankenstein. With a constant fear of being hacked and other sordid technological mysteries and miseries. And the reality is that the electronic world has to contort punctuation in order to offer the approximation of a smile.

Information Station

Here are various items in the news or in my thoughts for this week...

As a study, I listened for and noted any time that Twitter was referred to as a source within TV, as I surfed many channels for one week. I heard only one reference. It concerned a "tweet" from reality TV star Snooki concerning her "baby bump." (And I do dislike the replacement of the word "pregnancy" with something that sounds like it came from a TV reality show, which I also dislike.) Anyway, I don't know what this says about Twitter, but it would make a fascinating graduate study about the times that other media forms use the social media of Twitter and if it is about serious news or celebrity chatter.

I have not joined the Twitter world yet. I tend to think the restriction of words mainly only makes sense for headlines or for cussing.

According the Rock the Vote organization, 13,000 young Americans turn 18 years of age every day.

Another statistic: About 600,000 students drop out of high school every year.

Another statistic: Being terminated from your job can take one year off your life, according to a recent study.

What creature has killed the most people in history? According to the History Channel, the answer is mosquitoes.

For the first time in American history, minority births (at 54 percent) outnumber white births. But does that mean then that everyone becomes part of a minority group?

When Kim Kardashian, Rhianna, and Justin Bieber end up on Forbes magazine's Top 10 list of the Most Powerful Celebrities, it does make me realize how unfair life is. And that luck is an underrated commodity.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made $20 million in one day when Facebook offered shares of stock this past week. Apparently the rich 1 percent were the ones who had early access to buying shares. (The rich 1 percent always need an edge to help them out.) But 57 percent of Facebook users apparently never click on ads or sponsored messages.

Not all social media stories end with great success. Rupert Murdoch purchased MySpace for $580 million, but later sold it for $35 million.

Over the last 100 years, only two names for babies have remained in the top 10 of popular baby names in America (and they are both for baby boys). The names are Michael and William.

A reality show on Spike TV channel is called "Repo Games." It is about this guy who quizzes frazzled people (who need their cars) about trivia. If they answer the trivia questions correctly, he won't repossess the car. !!!

A SyFy channel show called "Total Blackout" puts contestants in total darkness and they must identify objects with only their senses of touch or smell (not sight). It was amusing to hear this one lady screaming like crazy when, in her imaginative mind raising all kinds of fears, she had to touch the rough texture of a pineapple. Scary!

Why the bully mentality matters...

   The psychology of a presidential candidate is always interesting and can be important in how America functions inside its borders as well as with the rest of the world.
   A recent story in the Washington Post noted a long-ago incident involving Mitt Romney at his private high school. Apparently, Romney led a group of boys who took down another boy and used scissors to cut off the boy's longer hair.
   As some people have noted, kids can do some stupid things in high school. Even in college, too. And it doesn't mean they would ever do similar acts again...Or does it?
   I think too often people get forgiving boys and girls for youthful immaturity mixed up with trying to understand why they did it in the first place and how their personality, which they carry on into adulthood, is impacted by their actions and thoughts. Yes, it is forgivable to do stupid things as a kid. But, on the other hand, if they carry forth their mentality as adults, that's not so forgivable. If the teen is a bully, what are the chances that he will be a bully as an adult? Is there a reality for that connection?
   I recently read an article that noted that, for his campaign, Mitt Romney seems to lack the personal narrative of defending differences and thus standing up to the larger group. This is interesting because Romney is a minority when it comes to his Mormon religion. If anything, from this campaign alone, especially in dealing with evangelicals and conservative Christians within his own political party, he must realize the pressures that confront a minority group.
   But religion is a little different than the more appearance-based aspects of other minorities, particularly ethnic minorities. A person can have very different thoughts and beliefs but still blend in, through traditional appearance, and camouflage that kind of minority status.
   Romney comes from a conservative religious background. Conservative religious groups tend to celebrate conformity, not differences. The socialization is about being part of the group--Being like-minded, but also sameness in appearance and probably like-groomed and like-fashioned for acceptability.
   Thus, in the high school bullying incident, Romney apparently felt driven to assault some high school teen who dared to look different, as the boy with the long hair was an affront to the socialization of Romney's world.
   So, what does that say about Romney today, 50 years later?
   One lingering curiosity I would have is if any of the sons of Romney ever had long hair or looked the least bit different from one another. But that's personal and part of the family dynamics, so that's private and affects them but not the American public.
   More interestingly is Romney's comment on the campaign trail that he "likes to fire people." Hmmmm. Now who, even as an employer, would say that and use the word "like" with firing people from their jobs? Most employers I know don't find the matter of terminating an employee to be an enjoyable task. The loss of a job is going greatly harm someone's economic condition, whether they deserved the job loss or not. If a boss likes doing that, it rather fits the bully mentality.
   And why is the bully mentality something America needs to avoid at all costs? For one reason, it can mean a disrespect for people or groups perceived as different, which is contrary to the good ideal of diversity in America. That can impact social issues.
   Even greater, the bully mentality tends to surface particularly in the actions of war. I think that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney had "bully mentality" issues of personality (which often also is a sign of insecurity). When secret prisons arise and the word "enhanced interrogation" becomes part of the national conversation and it's real meaning is "torture," then the bullies are in power and setting the agenda.
   And another grave consequence for America was two, long wars.