ShareThisPicture your favorite politician walking to the stage to accept major awards from celebrity presenters. Oh, what a night for America's political crowd. You're going to have to picture it because the "Jimbos'' are only going to be given out in this column, but you can dress up and pop some champagne while reading it.I'm giving out "Jimbos'' because I can't think of a better way to recognize all the odd behavior by our political leaders in 2007. Unlike other awards, a "Jimbo'' can be achieved by doing good or bad things. So don't expect the politicians to put "Winner of a Jimbo" on their campaign literature, although it would represent truth in labeling.Now let's get to the award categories.-- Easier to Complain About Illegals: The U.S. Senate had a chance to pass a comprehensive immigration reform measure this summer, but the world's greatest deliberative body decided it would rather talk about illegal immigration than actually fix it. Senators get a ''Jimbo'' for being stupid.-- Big Fat Liars: This category had a lot of nominees, but California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata get this year's ''Jimbos'' for promising to put a redistricting reform measure on the ballot. They lied.-- Do You Think I'm Classy?: Nunez is a double winner. He gets a second nod for his lavish out-of-country spending, courtesy of his campaign funds. The Los Angeles Times reported the speaker's expenses included $8,700 for a bit of relaxing at the Hotel Arts in Barcelona, $2,562 at Louis Vuitton in Paris and $5,149 at the Cave L'Avant Garde, a wine seller in Bordeaux.-- Bipartisan Means Everyone?: A ''Jimbo'' to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for this year's bipartisan efforts to bring California together. Unfortunately, Schwarzenegger's bipartisanship didn't include his own party, causing many Republicans to call him a RINO (Republican In Name Only). He's getting the last laugh, though. Schwarzenegger's approval rating is still 60%.-- At Least It Increased His Name ID: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa found out personally that sex sells. He was hounded by media following revelations of his illicit affair with a television news anchor. If Villaraigosa runs for governor in 2010, at least people will know who he is.-- She Inspired Us: Teacher Barbara Morgan gets a ''Jimbo'' for getting her trip to space. Morgan was the backup to teacher Christa McAuliffe, who along with her crewmates, died in the Challenger tragedy in 1986. Morgan was part of the Endeavour crew last summer.-- Earth Is Flat Society: We can't leave off our list those who think global warming is junk science (a term they got from a Republican talking points memo). So a ''Jimbo'' to Rush Limbaugh, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, and the others who think climate change is a bunch of hooey.-- Poser Seeking Sucker: Billionaire developer Donald Trump gets a ''Jimbo'' for waltzing into Fresno, Calif., and expecting taxpayers to subsidize his development of a bankrupt golf course/residential project. Trump's representative said "only a fool" would take on this project without taxpayer assuming the risk. That kind of an attitude is definitely worthy of recognition.-- Drop Me On My Head: America's school districts get ''Jimbos'' for their inattention to the high school dropout problem, especially their failure to offer more career education classes to students wanting them. Researchers from John Hopkins University have identified 1,700 high schools nationwide as "dropout factories." Those schools had 40 percent or more of their freshmen not graduating.-- Extraordinary Whining Even For a Lawyer: Mick Marderosian was the unanimous choice of our judges for his statement after his client, Fresno State University, lost a sexual discrimination lawsuit, putting it on the wrong end of a $19.1 million verdict: "I'm embarrassed for my community and for my hometown." That attitude may be part of the reason Fresno State lost to Stacy Johnson-Klein, the women's basketball coach it had fired.-- You're Going to Arrest Me?: We can't end the year without mentioning O.J. Simpson. Our favorite Hall-of-Famer/social deviant allegedly broke into a Las Vegas hotel room with several other men and stole hundreds of pieces of sports memorabilia. O.J. gets a ''Jimbo'' for not realizing he's used up his get-out-of-jail card.(Contact Jim Boren at jboren@fresnobee.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
'Jimbos' to many in 2007
Submitted by administrator on Mon, 12/31/2007 - 13:21
Paying taxes unites us. It also divides us. People can pay five and even six times more in state and local taxes than other folks in similar circumstances making similar incomes.
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In one of the fastest-growing forms of identity theft, crooks are stealing tax refunds by swiping personal information and using it to trick the Internal Revenue Service.
