THE 2012 DOMINO AWARDS (INTERNATIONAL DIVISION)

It’s time for the fourth annual Domino Awards.

These awards are named for the Kooky Khast of Kharacters from my teenage days around the Domino table.  These people taught me from an early age that one can learn from every single person with whom one comes into contact.  The Dunce, who fell from a tree and hit his head as a child, lived in his own world with his don’t-worry-be-happy motto “if a macca, mek it jook yu” ensuring a stress free existence.  The Beast was timid yet loyal and dependable to the core.  Awards earned on the international scene (farrin’) come first.  Next week, the highly anticipated local winners will be revealed.

Please remember these awards, like the entire series of Tuesday Columns, are mostly intended to be humourous.  Don’t get your knickers in an uproar or send irate e-mails about how much I’ve disrespected your personal hero.  I don’t care.

The (International) Dunce Award:      For running the most asinine campaign for U.S.A. President ever, MITT ROMNEY wins on a canter.  Proving only that his pollsters hadn’t read a census since 1958, Romney told Latinos to “self-deport”; advised Hispanics, the fastest growing minority, that his economic plan to benefit them would raise middle-class taxes to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy; failed to comprehensively deplore Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” or Richard Mourdock’s “Even pregnancy from rape is what God intended” atrocities; told women he’d work to overturn Roe v Wade; and told Gays that marriage was between a man and a woman, no debate.

Who’d he expect was left to vote for him?

Then, he dug his heels in on election night; kept his shoes tightly laced up so as not to smell defeat; and refused to concede for almost 2 hours after every TV network, including Fox News, had called the President’s re-election.

Mitt, all I can say is “if a Macca, mek it jook yu……..”  And it sure did. 

The (International) Dunce-Move of the Year Award:  in a record breaking feat, MITT ROMNEY sweeps the awards for dunces.  From his multiple entries, the winning gaffe was his dismissal of 47% of the electorate as idlers and leeches.  At a US$50,000 a head fundraiser, Romney brazenly told his audience that 47% of Americans “don’t pay taxes” and “are dependent upon the government;…believe they are victims;…believe the government has a responsibility to care for them;…believe they’re entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.  That that’s an entitlement.  And the Government should give it to them.  And they will vote for this President no matter what.”

In other words, in response to allegations that he’s out of touch with the common man, Mitt’s attitude is “Piss on the common man from a lofty height.  He’s a parasite who won’t vote for me anyway.”

Well, in 2012’s ironic moment winner, exactly 47% voted for Mitt.  One more time, Mitt: “if a macca, mek it jook yu…..”

Finally:

The International Personality of the Year:

This year’s winner is Egyptian President MOHAMMED MORSI whose brilliant political strategy and statesmanlike approach to leadership has been the surprise of the millennium.  He wasn’t even his party’s first choice for presidential nominee but a back-up in case (as happened) the military controlled courts derailed the candidacy of The Brotherhood’s favoured, more charismatic, leader Khairat el-Shater.

Despite this and despite a narrow election win, Morsi has moved quickly to establish himself as a no-nonsense leader without a personal agenda.  He resigned from The Brotherhood; ensured all factions were represented in government; took on former military rulers frontally b forcing powerful defense minister, Field Marshal Mohamed HusseinTantawi, army chief of staff, Sami Anan, and several senior generals to retire; by challenging the military controlled courts face to face; by upholding his treaty obligations to Israel while remaining a steadfast Hamas ally; and by becoming President Obama’s middle east poster boy.

Morsi has been a central figure in the recently negotiated Israel/Hamas cease fire.  A short time ago, The New York Times reported:

“In two days, Mr. Morsi recalled Egypt’s ambassador to Tel Aviv,                        dispatched his prime minister on a solidarity mission to Gaza, called                  President Obama, the European Union, the United Nations and the                Arab League for support, and even publicly instructed top generals to                  inspect air bases and prepare land defenses near the Gaza border. He             stepped up to the very limits of Egypt’s obligations to Israel — without                   stepping over.”

Take a bow Mohammed Morsi.

Peace and Love