Over here on the positive side, I'd have to say Cindy Sheehan and Plame case Prosecutor, Fitgerald.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

The BBC has a "pictures of the year" category, with very few pictures ... one of them is amusing:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/in_pictures_the_world_in_2005/html/4.stm

Funny...it is actually hard to think up too many positive figures. My wife and I came up with: Michele Calmy-Rey, Foreign Minister of Switzerland and, despite all the crap he has taken, Mr Kofi Annan. I respect them both a great deal...

Half the population is under the age of 18. Tanzania's future is NOW...join the 50% campaign!

Hugo Chavez.

He's exporting a model of resistance to the Washington Consensus and the Free Trade area of the Americas.  He's sitting on top of a pile of oil wealth, and he sees himself as a latter day Bolivar.  He's positoning himself as a liberator for the continent, purchasing bonds that have allowed Argentina to rid itself of IMF debt.  He's now militating to make MERCOSUR a political organization to challenge the bunk from Washington.

And his exporting his revolution to the Great White North with the oil assistance for poor people in Boston.  And there's resistance to this in places like Chicago, where an offer to discount diesel for city buses by Citgo was rejected in favor of raising bus fares.  Chavez knows that these offers are more than goodwill gestures they're life insurance.  I reserve the right to be skeptical about Sr. Chavez, but many of the things they are throwing at Chavez now are the same things that were thrown at Franklin Roosevelt and Nelson Mandela back in the day.  He's not a hero, just a human being. And the good he gives outweighs his failings by far from what I've seen.  

And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg

These have been the most important to me, though many are unimportant to everyone else.

I. Positive

Paul Hackett, the former Marine who nearly won the most conservative congressional district in Ohio for the Dems this year and proved that DNC Chairman Howard Dean was right to argue for contesting every seat.  Hackett may run for the Senate next year, and, if he does, he'll win.

My congressman, Pseudo-Democrat Allen Boyd, for being stupid enough to engage me in a debate through letters about Social Security and promptly shutting the hell up when he discovered I knew the topic better than he did.  Elitism is, sometimes, truly bliss.

Paul Krugman, Brad DeLong, and all bloggers for leading the charge on Social Security, and helping the Left cripple Bush just as he began celebrating his reelection.

Gordon Brown, for keeping the Tories out of office and (apparently), behind the scenes, weakening Tony Blair.

The EU, for taking the lead on Iran, whether it proves successful or not.

Bill Maher, for showing ABC that it was foolish to kick him off the air.

Jon Stewart, for kicking Faux News's ass in the ratings.

EuroTrib, for providing me a place to rant and receive great feedback.

Apple, for building computers that actually work, but I'm still not paying $300 for a fucking iPod, regardless of how much U2 propaganda Steve Jobs pushes.

Harry Reid, for his political brilliance in the Senate.  I've never seen a minority leader dominatte the majority leader.

Al Sharpton, for his one-liners.

The University of Nottingham, for being foolish enough to admit me.  And the city of Nottingham, because my rent is going to fall by nearly 50% when I move over there in August, judging by the classified ads.

Green Day, for the best album in years.

Everyone's mentioned my negatives.  Bush, Cheney, Blair, et. al.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

So, I was about to lend my voice to Cindy Sheehan but I moved to France this past October and felt that I should think of someone, if not in France, than at least outside the US.  The first thing that came to my mind was the people of the Ukraine.  Since the US now has, at the worst corrupt and at the best a flawed, election system I can't say enough about these people who stood up when their exit polls didn't match the "official" results.  These people refused to apathetically accept a fraudulent election, took to the streets, and took back their government.

We lost one of the great ones this year.  R.I.P. Hunter S. Thompson.  Here's a photo from his memorial service.  His ashes were shot out of a cannon in Aspen, Colorado.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

Marla Ruzicka, a humanitarian extraordinaire:

Marla Ruzicka


Atlantic Review - A press digest on transatlantic affairs edited by three German Fulbright Alumni

I'm with this like with Time's cowarldy choice of the Man of the 20th Century (Einstein over Hitler): being important is not the same as being good, and let's not delude ourselves.

So I vote for Dubya (cursed be his name).

As for some positive persons, what about Michelle Bachelet? Or Nichi Vendola?

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

cindy sheehan and markos zuniga for positive

berlusconi, bush and blair for negative

Peace is not the absence of war -- peace is the absence of fear. Ursula Franklin