The number after each nomination is the number of votes it received. Numbers separated by slash marks indicate a run-off. Voting totals are for each category might not be identical because the number of voters might have changed for each category.

WORD OF THE YEAR WINNER:

subprime, an adjective used to describe a risky or less than ideal loan, mortgage, or investment. 79

green- prefix/compounding form Designates environmental concern, as in greenwashing. 9

surge an increase in troops in a war zone. 1

Facebook all parts of speech. 11

waterboarding an interrogation technique in which the subject is immobilized and doused with water to simulate drowning. 1

Googlegänger A person with your name who shows up when you google yourself. 7

wide stance, to have a To be hypocritical or to express two conflicting points of view. When Senator Larry Craig was arrested in a public restroom and accused of making signals with his foot that police said meant he was in search of a anonymous sex, Craig said it was a misunderstanding and that he just had a wide stance when using the toilet. 2

—MOST USEFUL—

green- prefix/compounding form Designates environmental concern, as in greenwashing. 43/59

bacn Impersonal email such as alerts, newsletters, and automated reminders that are nearly as annoying as spam but which one has chosen to receive. 14

celebu- prefix Indicates celebrity, as in celebutard. 13

connectile dysfunction Inability to gain or maintain a connection. 5

wrap rage Anger brought on by the frustration of trying to open a factory-sealed purchase. 39/55

—MOST CREATIVE—

Googlegänger Person with your name who shows up when you google yourself. 84

boom An instance of a military explosion in the phrases left of boom, which describes the US military’s efforts to root out insurgents before they do harm, and right of boom, which describes efforts to minimize attacks with better equipment, systems, and medical care. 1

lolcat On the Internet, an odd or funny picture of a cat given a humorous and intentionally ungrammatical caption in large block letters. From LOL + cat. 20

tapafication The tendency of restaurants to serve food in many small portions, similar to tapas. 4

—MOST UNNECESSARY—

Happy Kwanhanamas! [Kwanza + Hanukka + Christmas] Happy holidays! 63

truther Someone who espouses a conspiracy theory about the events of 9/11. 5

vegansexual A person who eats no meat, uses no animal-derived goods, and who prefers not to have sex with non-vegans. 35

—MOST OUTRAGEOUS—

toe-tapper A homosexual. Senator Larry Craig was arrested in June for an encounter in a public restroom in which toe-tapping was said to have been used as a sexual come-on. 70

nappy-headed ho An expression used on the Don Imus radio show, and repeated by the host, about the women’s basketball team at Rutgers University. 27

make it rain To drop paper money on a crowd of people, especially in strip clubs, nightclubs, or casinos. 2

—MOST EUPHEMISTIC—

human terrain team A group of social scientists employed by the US military to serve as cultural advisers in Iraq or Afghanistan. 60

shmashmortion/smushmortion Abortion. 8

va-j-j Also va-jay-jay or vajayjay The vagina. 30

—MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED—

green- prefix/compounding form Designates environmental concern, as in greenwashing. 70

global weirding An increase in severe or unusual environmental activity often attributed to global warming. This includes freakish weather and new animal migration patterns. 3

Super-Duper Tuesday Feb. 5th, the day 23 US states will hold primary elections. Also known as Tsunami Tuesday. 1

wide stance, to have a To be hypocritical or to express two conflicting points of view. When Senator Larry Craig was arrested in a public restroom and accused of making signals with his foot that police said meant he was in search of a anonymous sex, Craig said it was a misunderstanding and that he just had a wide stance when using the toilet. 13

locavore someone who eats food that is grown or produced locally. Nominated by Dick Bailey. 13

texter a person who sends text messages. 5

—LEAST LIKELY TO SUCCEED—

strand-in Protest duplicating being stranded inside an airplane on a delayed flight. 31/74

Billary/Hill-Bill Bill and Hillary Clinton. 1

earmarxist A congressman or senator who adds earmarks—money designated for a particular person or group—to legislation. Coined by the blog Redstate to refer to Democrats. 32/2

quadriboobage The appearance of having four breasts caused by wearing a brassiere that is too small. 40/19

—NEW CATEGORY: REAL ESTATE/MORTGAGE/LOAN WORDS—

subprime Used to describe a risky or poorly documented loan or mortgage. 65

exploding ARM An Adjustable Rate Mortgage whose rates soon rise beyond a borrower’s ability to pay. 10

liar’s loan/liar loan Money borrowed from a financial institution under false pretenses, especially in the form of a “stated income” or “no-doc” loan which can permit a borrower to exaggerate income. 1

NINJA No Income, No Job or Assets. A poorly documented loan made to a high-risk borrower.
34
scratch and dent loan A loan or mortgage that has become a risky debt investment, especially one secured with minimal documentation or made by a borrower who has missed payments. 2

But according to the New York Times, the new Fox Business Network is drawing only about 6,300 viewers each day. Okay, it's brand new... and it's not available yet in a number of markets. But this strikes me as a weak start, and a verdict that Fox's babification of business news isn't sufficiently compelling to draw viewers away from CNBC. Can it be that people interested in business and markets want something other than miniskirts and big hair?

CNBC has the advantage of being a "must watch" for market participants who want to hear market-moving news as soon as it occurs -- with reasonable frequency CNBC breaks market-moving stories, or elicits market-moving statements from guests. Sources with market-moving information are not likely to want to use a second-tier platform like Fox to get their stories out.

Similarly, CNBC has scooped up most of the available pool of "experts" like me willing to go on-air and give our opinions to the world free of charge. I'm told that Fox doesn't want "experts" who appear on CNBC (they haven't used me since my first and only appearance in their first week of existence late last year) -- which means they will have to develop their own exclusive pool. That's a tough task. As far as I'm concerned, most of the "experts" on CNBC aren't that sharp to begin with, so at this point Fox is prospecting for talent at the bottom of the barrel.

The creation of the Fox Business Network was rumored for years, and I dared harbor the hope that they would choose to compete with CNBC by being more serious and less frantic, with longer more in-depth interviews and less of the style of sports reporting. Sadly, Fox has chosen a different path. With reporters who look like porn stars and interviews that are less breathless than CNBC's, but even more superficial, I don't see how Fox Business Network stands a chance of survival.

Thanks to "Irrational Exuberance" for the link.

Update [1/6/08]... Reader Shawn Mercer says,

I think the fundamental reason for Fox Business's unimpressive start is that there was no real demand for such a channel in the first place. You and I are in about the same spot on the ideological spectrum and I have no major criticism of CNBC's daytime market coverage. Chris Matthews and rest of the post-Kudlow lineup is a different story, but the crew they have covering the markets: Liesman, Kiernan, Cabrerra, etc, all seem to have their heads screwed on right. All of them seem to be reasonably pro-free market thinkers and they generally don't allow left wing falsehoods on taxes and such to stand unchallenged. Barney Frank once threatened to walk out on an interview with Michelle Caruso Cabrerra for her repeatedly correcting him on taxes, for example.

The original Fox thrives because conservatives rightly hated their unfair treatment on CNN. I see nothing to hate about CNBC during the day.

And then the hate-mail starts. Here's one that some bozo (or is that a moron?) sent to everyone in my firm, just to drive home his point with a little spamalicious harrassment.

Mr. Luskin,

You really made a fool of yourself on CNBC tonight, to call the Presidential candidates terrible names and not to watch them on TV if elected is so un-American. Maybe we the public will not invest in your company and tell others to do the same.

I think you owe the American people and viewers of CNBC an apology for your comments.

Sincerely,
Gene Sprouse

...the Jan. 7 criminal trial of four former insurance executives of General Re Corp., a reinsurance unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and one former executive of American International Group Inc., could be as much about Mr. Buffett as it will be about a seven-year-old reinsurance transaction that federal prosecutors said was a fraud.

The case...is the culmination of a nearly three-year inquiry into what prosecutors said was a sham deal that helped AIG boost its loss reserves in 2000 and 2001 by about $500 million, misleading analysts and investors about the amount of losses AIG could absorb and buttressing its stock price. The trial will likely cast an unflattering light on the alleged inner workings of General Re and renew questions about the involvement of Mr. Buffett in the transaction.

On trial will be Ronald Ferguson, 65 years old, former General Re chief executive; Elizabeth Monrad, 53, former General Re chief financial officer; Christopher Garand, 60, General Re's ex-senior vice president of finite reinsurance; Robert Graham, 59, General Re's ex-assistant general counsel; and Christian Milton, former head of reinsurance at AIG. Several of the defendants will assert in the trial that Mr. Buffett, widely known as the "Oracle of Omaha" for his investment prowess and his reputation for integrity, knew about the deal, giving it the stamp of legitimacy.

Donald:

Major Leading U.S. Presidential Candidate to be "Outed" prior to NH Hampshire Primary -- Will Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid cover it?

Four years ago, "swift boating" became a new term in the Presidential campaign lexicon, when John Kerry's candidacy was torpedoed by widely-disputed accusations from men who'd served in Vietnam with the candidate.

For Kerry in 2004, this Swift Boating was an action based on "iffy" information – but for one leading 2008 presidential candidate, this experience is about to be repeated prior to the New Hampshire primary – but this time with rock-solid, well-sourced and absolutely accurate information.

One of this year's leading candidates will be "Swift-Boated" in a new book to be announced next Monday, January 7th at 1:30 p.m. in the Murrow Room at the National Press Club in Washington.

One candidate is about to be challenged – with hard and cold facts, presented cogently by an author and former political activist and decorated military veteran who shares this candidate's party affiliation – and who has known the candidate personally since their college days.

Next Monday, the truth will be revealed when a book that literally gives "chapter and verse" about this candidate's less-than-candid candor with the American people will tear aside the curtain, just as Toto exposed the Wizard of Oz.

This book is supported by 10 pages of meticulously-researched end-notes supporting every factual assertion about the candidate's failure to shoot straight with the American people, and this breach-of-faith's implications for the Presidency.

If you're serious about covering the 2008 Presidential campaign, you won't want to miss this announcement – and you will want to meet the author.

To RSVP for this event, a briefing or guest appearance, please visit:

http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB227AMJXP6ZZ

Immediately after the press announcement, the author will be available for interviews or you may contact me at dtoor@attentiongroup.com or at 770-777-9489.

Daryl Toor
CEO/Chief Awareness Officer
Attention Group
for Revelation Press

While the Swift Boaters charges may have been "widely-disputed" by Kerry and his supporters, none of the major claims were even challenged, let alone refuted. The disputation consisted mostly of ad hominems. And the charges were hardly based on "iffy" information. Sheesh.

After all, Kerry could refute these claims by merely ordering the general release of his military records, something which he promised to do some two years or more ago. Gee, I wonder why he hasn't done this yet, and given the lie to the charges.

Update... Dave Duval wants to know,

Is there any historical support for Jefferson's having a lithp? Bizarre ad, especially if they're really Paul supporters.

I'm no historian but Wikipedia says:

Jefferson had a lisp[19] and preferred writing to public speaking partly because of this.

Also, here's another version of the same YouTube video without the "outakes". Maybe a real supporter can have a sense of humor. Or maybe a lot of striking Hollywood writers are sitting around with nothing to do but create sfuff for YouTube. Or maybe striking Hollywood writers who support Ron Paul are sitting around...

I have no idea.

Happy New Year.

I would like your help. Please send me a check for $25.00 (or use PayPal - details below).

The McCain-Feingold "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act" is a blatant violation of libertarian principles, by restricting what any of us can spend to help good guys run for elected office. The limits on direct donations to a candidate's committee are $2,300 (double for joint tax return filers).

Yet, there is a (small) way around this, and I am doing it. If you want to participate, I need your $25.00 and it will go to the candidate of your choice.

I am Treasurer of the "Young Voters Political Action Committee." Anyone can create an independent political action committee. You can do it too. You can give your full $2,300 to your favorite candidate and then also create your own PAC and give it another $2,300 and send that money along to your candidate too. Of course, you have to file papers with the Federal Election Commission and do all the paperwork to report to them. If you mess up, you can go to jail or pay hefty fines. It is just like the income tax.

I am not afraid of paperwork like that. Eric Garris (webmaster of Antiwar.com) and I have created the Young Voters PAC. We have already donated $300.00 to Ron Paul, on Dec.16, and we plan to give him up to the maximum - with your money.

We also plan to make "independent expenditures." See the attached photo for our new bill board on Interstate 40; a second one has also just gone up on Interstate 80. These advertisements were done by me at the request of a donor. We can do a project for you too.

SALES PITCH (why I need your help right now): We can become a "multi-candidate PAC" with $5,000 limits. We have met all the other rules except we don't yet have 51 donors. We have been established for more than six months and we have given already to five candidates (Ron Paul for Pres., Ron Paul for Congress, Jeff Flake for Congress, Steve Kubby for Pres., and Bill Richardson for Pres. [we wanted a Democrat, too]). We need 24 more donors.

If we can get 24 more donations we will automatically be transformed into a "multi-candidate" independent political action committee. When we earn that status, we will be able to deal in $5,000 limits, both for accepting money and donating money to candidates. ("Independent expenditures" like our bill boards are additional things we can do with money we collect, beyond giving money directly to candidates.)

I want you to become one of my additional 24 contributors.

Please send me your check for $25.00 (or more) and tell me who is your favorite candidate. I will donate the funds you give, without any administrative fees, to your favorite candidate. There is nothing illegal about my promising to follow your desires.

You, by the way, are welcome to come look at my books any time.

Attached is a photograph of one of our current "independent expenditure" projects - a bill board on Interstate 40 in Holbrook, Arizona. This was paid for by me, with the money donated by a Ron Paul supporter who had already otherwise maxed out to Ron. If you have any similar ideas, let me know. That is why Eric Garris and I created the "Young Voters PAC."

Please send $25.00 (or more) to "Young Voters PAC" or go to www.PayPal.com and give to people4paul@yahoo.com. Officially, also, I must ask you to tell me what is your occupation and your employer. That is the McCain-Feingold BCRA law.

In the upcoming elections, the Young Voters PAC will be used to support good guys of all libertarian flavors, including Libertarian Party candidates, as well as any libertarian Democrats, who rarely exist now.

Regards, Joe Cobb
Treasurer, Arizona Libertarian Party
Treasurer, Young Voters PAC
Phone 949-338-9020

Mail your check to me at:
11002 West Clover Way
Avondale, AZ 85392-4013

or go to www.PayPal.com and send money to people4paul@yahoo.com

On the economic front, the dollar continued to lose value against all major foreign currencies and most brands of bathroom tissue... the Federal Reserve Board, responding to recession fears and the continued weakening of the dollar, votes unanimously to be paid in euros.

National Review's Jonah Goldberg has a new book out -- Liberal Fascism. Love the cover! Like Goldberg, I'm tired of liberals endlessly accusing conservatives of fascism, Nazism, Hilterism, and so on -- when the liberal agenda, is in fact, the very kind of state supremacy that quite literally defines fascism.

Reader Jameson Campaigne wonders, though, whether Goldberg gives credit to Ayn Rand, who originated this concept in a famous speech called "The Fascist New Frontier"?

Update [12/31/07]... Reader Patrick Vlaskovitz notes,

Socialism and fascism are not dichotomous as the Left claims. And fascism has nothing to do with the Right. In fact, Socialism and fascism are opposite sides of the same coin --- and both coercive collective philosophies of the Left!

After all "Nazi" is short for Der Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiters Partei. Let us also not forget what the etymology of the word fascism, from the Latin word fascis, meaning "bundle...the traditional Roman fasces consisted of a bundle of birch rods tied together with a red ribbon as a cylinder to include an axe amongst the rods...Believed to date from Etruscan times, the symbolism of the fasces at one level suggested strength through unity. The bundle of rods bound together symbolizes the strength which a single rod lacks." I think the symbolism is clear.

For a technical and nuanced comparison, see this George Reisman essay. A poignant excerpt:

Nevertheless, apart from [Ludwig von] Mises and his readers, practically no one thinks of Nazi Germany as a socialist state. It is far more common to believe that it represented a form of capitalism, which is what the Communists and all other Marxists have claimed.

The basis of the claim that Nazi Germany was capitalist was the fact that most industries in Nazi Germany appeared to be left in private hands.

What Mises identified was that private ownership of the means of production existed in name only under the Nazis and that the actual substance of ownership of the means of production resided in the German government. For it was the German government and not the nominal private owners that exercised all of the substantive powers of ownership: it, not the nominal private owners, decided what was to be produced, in what quantity, by what methods, and to whom it was to be distributed, as well as what prices would be charged and what wages would be paid, and what dividends or other income the nominal private owners would be permitted to receive. The position of the alleged private owners

, Mises showed, was reduced essentially to that of government pensioners.