Celebrity Death Pool 2010: The picks that matter

Last year, a few friends including myself took part in our first ever "celebrity death pool." The concept is to have a draft in which each participant picks 10 celebrities or notable persons they think will die that year (points are computed by subtracting the celebrity's age from 100). Unfortunately, our pool only lasted six months compared to the year it usually takes to complete a death pool, so the historic year in celebrity deaths did not really effect the outcome - I think Bea Arthur's death won it!

But since a new year is upon us, and last year was such a historic year in celebrity deaths, I decided to leave you with a list of crazed-celebrities/politicians I would like to see kick the bucket in 2010. Please don't take this the wrong way, as I don't wish to harm these people myself, but if the good lord (or Satan) could just give them a little help getting to the other side, it might make the world a better place in 2010.

1. Dick Cheney (32 points)

No body and I mean NO BODY has been a bigger menace to unity, truth and security in the U.S. over the past year than Dick Cheney. The former vice president who tortured us (no pun intended) with his unconstitutional policies for eight years, just wouldn't seem to go away as he criticized the new president on every move he made and set himself up to look like the "I told you so" guy if a terrorist attack is to occur on American soil. Since it doesn't seem like Cheney is going to shut-up and go away any time soon, not to mention he has suffered multiple heart failures over the years, I have listed him as my number one person to DIE in 2010.

2. Osama Bin Laden (48 points)

While I think many Americans have their doubts that we will ever catch the man responsible for the attacks of 9/11, he is still a symbol for all those terrorists out there who wish us harm, not to mention he is one of the final pieces in the puzzle in terms of us avenging the 3,000 people who died in the World Trade Center attacks. Here is to finally catching and killing the swine if he is not already dead.

3. Rush Limbaugh (42 points)

He went into the Hospital with chest pains today (Dec. 31, 2009), but it appears he is stable so we might have to wait a little longer for old Rushy-boy to drop dead. Sure he is entertaining, but it is hard to root for a guy that doesn't even root for his own country to succeed. The failure of Barack Obama means the failure of us all, so with that said, Rush Limbaugh, and his unpatriotic rhetoric needs to disappear once and for all in 2010.

4. Glenn Beck (55 points)

I don't think my choice here needs much explaining as Glenn Beck's sanity comes more and more into question each time he takes the air to host his talk show on FOX. I don't know if he should just drop dead or be carted off in a straight jacket, but either would work. Hell, maybe he already escaped from a mental institution and has been fooling network executives and the idiots who actually listen to him ever since - kind of like Ray Finkle's character in "Ace Ventura." Seriously, has anyone done a background check on this nutjob. Either way, something has to be done about Glenn Beck, so either he needs to get fired, admitted to an insane asylum or drop dead in 2010 - which ever comes first!

5. Joe Lieberman (33 points)

Forget Benedict Arnold, Joe Lieberman is the ultimate trader in America today. Over the past year, the former life-long Democrat, and current Independent Senator from Connecticut, has been making liberals lives a living hell - and to think this guy was a few hanging chads away from being vice president a decade ago. Since that time he has supported the war-monger, John McCain, during last year's presidential election, encouraged our nation's participation in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tried to stop health-care for all - and while he was not completely successful, he was successful at killing the public option - and has called out the president on preemptively striking Yemen, when the president had already begun bombing the country weeks before the most recent attempted terrorist plot. While he is not the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, he is the biggest asshole. And that is why if something terrible were to happen to Joe Lieberman in 2010, all of our lives on the left would become just a little bit better.

6. Dick Army (31 points)

We all thought Dick Army had disappeared from the political spectrum once and for all, but like all good things it didn't last as Army has reemerged as possibly a bigger nuisance to liberal ideals after forming the so-called "Tea Party Movement" earlier this year. These morons are most notable for their disruption of Town Hall Meetings dealing with health care earlier this year. While Army has been successful in starting a new movement - like it or not - he has also been even more successful at using the movement to make more than $800,000 for his company, Freedom Works, that sponsors Tea Party events. So here is to stopping big government and Dick Army's money making schemes once and for all.

7. Sean Hannity (52 points)

Sean Hannity could be the biggest asshole on television. While he might not be as crazy on the surface as Glenn Beck, it is hard to deny that this guy is the king of all right-wing douchebags. Plus, he is a so obsessed with Sarah Palin, I could hear his hand pounding against the table as he beat one out to the former governor of Alaska in a recent interview.

8. Michele Bachmann (47 points)

If any one is as crazy as Glenn Beck it has to be Michele Bachmann. Not only did this nutjob want an expose on who is patriotic and who is not patriotic in Congress during the 2008 elections, she has continued her crazy rhetoric, blaming everyone but herself for exploiting the insane comments she has made concerning government over the last year - maybe the expose on patriotism should be focused on Bachmann. Not only has her words frightened us all, Bachmann has also become a devout member of the Tea Party Movement. If you think Sarah Palin is crazy, wait until you meet Michelle Bachmann.

9. Kim Jong Il (32 points)

He might be dead, he might not be dead. It has been a myth that has surrounded Kim Jong Il for years and has made celebrity death pool particapants leary about picking him. But since he is a man that continues to mystify death pool participants, not to mention his pursuit of nuclear arms, I just could not in good faith leave Kim Jong Il off this list.

10. Karl Rove (41 points)

I have been hoping this little turd blossom would drop dead since he managed to get George W. Bush elected eight years ago and not much has changed.

Thanks for reading my choice for celebrity deaths in 2010. If this list happens to freak you out, just remember the cardinal rule of celebrity death pool: "they're not real people, they're celebrities."

The Lost War in Afghanistan

President Obama announced his decision last night to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan for a period of 18 months. His decision, while not surprising, is disheartening to a person who not only supported him from the beginning, but has given him the benefit of the doubt through a tough first year in office. While I am not ready to abandon all hope on our new president's failure to provide the type of change I had envisioned during his campaign, time is ticking on him to start moving this country in the right direction.

Not that I or anyone else should be surprised at the move to send more troops to Afghanistan, considering he said throughout the campaign that he intended to focus our military efforts on the war, including the growing threat of terrorism in Pakistan for that matter. So it is hard to get upset or say, as some people have suggested, that he stole their vote. I think many people just wanted to hear what they wanted to hear when it came to Obama during the election and missed a lot of the substance.

But when I think of all the wasted lives and money, I can't help but know this is the wrong decision. Plus while President Obama uses many of the same arguments George W. Bush once did (i.e. attacks of 9/11, threat of al Qaeda) to sell the war, I just don't understand how we can think fighting a war in a third world country, against an enemy that couldn't even be picked out of a police line-up, is going to make America more safe. If anything our presence in Afghanistan, and our lack of focus on domestic issues at home, is what is making our nation more vulnerable to a terrorist attack.

What we should be doing is withdrawing from the Middle East, re-energizing our military at home, putting money into strengthening our boarders, but not to a degree where it jeopardizes our freedoms, because as Patrick Henry so famously proclaimed "give me liberty or give me death," and focusing our efforts on reducing the deficit, creating jobs, investing in energy and funding domestic programs like education and health care to ensure the future prosperity of America. If president Obama was to see this type of "change" then we could be on a road to prosperity and not constantly defending our interests against our fears of the world - for "there is nothing to fear but fear itself."

Not that I don't understand the president's reasoning and refusal to allow America to fail in a country that harbors the type of monsters that are the biggest threat to American security. Plus I know he doesn't feel President Bush ever did enough to make America successful in Afghanistan in the first place and Obama wants to give us the chance to win the war. As he said during the campaign "I am not against all wars, but I am against dumb wars."

While the number of additional troops is a problem for most Democrats, Republicans have a problem with the 18 month time table that intends to start withdrawing troops in the summer of 2011. This on the other hand is probably the one aspect of the plan that pleases most Democrats, because it sets a date we would like to believe will signal the end of the war. Of course, that withdrawl date hinders on how things are going on the ground, but you have to imagine if Obama expects to get re-elected in 2012 he will be withdrawing those troops no later than the summer of that year.

While this is a major blow to all of us Democrats, we have to give the president we elected a chance to do what he thinks is right for our nation. For if you were listening during the campaign you would have realized then that he intended to focus our efforts on the war in Afghanistan. Not that it makes his decision right, but if we are going to get through this the president has one right idea, we must be "united." And that is why I am giving the president my full-support until the summer of 2011. But if the troops aren't starting to come home at that time, then I have to withdraw my vote on election day 2012.