2012 Blog Year in Review

2012 was a good blogging year for me. I posted 150 blogs in 2012, not counting this one.  In 8 full complete years I averaged about 247 blog posts a year or roughly one blog post every 1.5 days on average.  The most I ever blogged in a single year was 470 blogs in 2005. Last year I blogged 269 times. The lowest number of blogs in a single year was 69 blogs in 2009.

This year my blog saw three milestones. I reached my 2000th blog piece becoming the most blogged deaf/hh blogger around. I passed my 8 years of blogging earning the longest running deaf/hh blogsite around. I am now in my 9th year of blogging. And lastly, in my third milestone my blog received one million hits last month in November earning me the berth as the only deaf/hh blogger to have one million hits to his/her credit.

This year saw the good, the bad, and the ugly comments. The ugly and outrageously bad comments typically came from anonymous cowards who come in here thinking ad hominems make valid arguments. They don't. So, I take comfort in the fact of their continued stupidity. But then again I get a lot of good comments that provided good insights and good arguments. Those are the more interesting ones.


Most outrageous comment: "Nobody bullied Celia May Baldwin."

Most uninformed comment: "HUH? this is so outdated (very old information like 2 years ago) where have you been? You must be in the basement and studies to sterotypes the deaf community? Sadly. Occupy KokonutPundit." (Note, my response:"Anony #1, It is not old information. This is relatively new. The study began in April 2011 and will continue for three years while they get qualified candidates to do their year long Phase I study.")

2nd most uninformed comment:  "This blog is an example of a*dism and ignorance at its finest."

Most insightful comment: "Some prefer remaining blissfully ignorant. There's nothing much anybody can do for them. Is it crossing the line when they decide to ask for disability checks?"

2nd most insightful comment: "Yeah, well. Writing an open letter wasn't smart."  The Lotus flower wilts in shame.

Most desperate comment: "Thanks for promoting our new forum. We're forever indebted to you."
Maybe contribute to that forum and do a "pity" visit?   That reminds me of a homeless guy on a street corner bugging me for money and I can smell his foul, alcohol odor emanating from his mouth. Yeah, sure.


This year also saw a lot of failed petitions by the usual whiners and complainers who have nothing better to do than gripe and do mindless petitionings that go no where.

Petition against stem cells (scroll down for link) for babies who lost their hearing after birth. Link to petition is no longer. Ultimate fail.

Petition against one deaf character, Daphne,  in the Switched at Birth show because she wasn't "deaf enough." Petition only gained 99 supporters. Go figure.

Petition to get CSD to remove "The Bear Hunt" statue from campus. Petition collected only 146 supporters. Petition is closed. Common sense prevailed.

Happy New Year fans and supporters of Kokonut Pundit! Another year awaits for Kokonut Pundit.

ADDENDUM:

Forgot to include a petition to get show comedian Chelsea Handler to apologize to deaf people for making fun of sign language. As most petitions go, they don't go anywhere on achieving results.

And also, must not forget the failed petition to get a certain author from publishing her book on dirty signs.  Petition is already closed.

Rob McGovern and Chris Muir

*Read my recent UPDATEs to this story at bottom of page.

I'm repeating the story here about Rob McGovern since you might of come here through a Google or Technorati search on Rob McGovern. My story about him is seen below. But first a hearty thank you to Chris Muir of Day by Day. Thank you Chris for mentioning Rob McGovern in your strip today. Maybe people will finally look him up and see the things he has done.

Chris Muir of Day by Day cartoon seen above contacted me after I explained to him about Rob McGovern, one of the many deserving unsung heros on the war against terrorism, in one of my blog. It was nearly a week ago when Chris responded to my email and loved the story, and agreed to put Rob McGovern's name in the one of the cartoon's panel. I mentioned this hint yesterday and on December 31, 2005.

Here's my story:

I was incredulous when my mother called me one day saying that a cousin of mine that I never knew I had who was a few years older than me was killed in Kuwait by Sgt. Hasan Akbar in a planned fragging attack at Camp Pennsylvania. I never knew I had a cousin who was going to be a part of the war in Iraq and was from Idaho. But sadly, I had to learn such gross violation that day that marked the first Idaho casulty of the Iraq war whose enemy fired the first shot of the war that came from a traitorous convert from within.

My family has a solid tradition of having relatives and siblings who are a part of the Armed Forces history and they all have the firm belief that freedom comes with a cost. Everyone of them knows that when signing up they knew the risks and wanting, even more, to give something back to the United States because so much was given to them that no other country ever experienced or understood the true value of...freedom. Even when my great uncle while in the Army during WWII was killed by a Japanese sniper on one of the small Pacific islands while his small band of men scouted ahead on the island before the arrival of an Army battalion.

Sgt. Akbar changed his allegiance back in 1993 that directly and ultimately led to the fragging deaths of two officers at Camp Pennsylvania according to Rob McGovern who was interviewed by the Kansas City Star in a newspaper last week for his tireless prosecution work that all started with 9/11.

His time in Afghanistan ended. He came home and thought about going back to the Manhattan office. And that’s when he was given the case of his life.

On March 22, 2003, in the middle of the night, Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar rolled grenades into tents and fired at fellow soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division. His stunning attack killed two and injured 14, and Akbar became the first American soldier since Vietnam to be prosecuted for killing Americans.
Rob McGovern was one of the three prosecutors.

“I know more about Hasan Akbar than I want to know,” he says.

McGovern interviewed people who had known Akbar going back to grammar school. He read 13 years of diary entries and said that was what sealed his fate.
In a 1993 entry, Akbar wrote about wanting to destroy America. “That’s fairly damning,” McGovern says.

He worked on the case for almost two years. He says he hardly slept, lost a lot of weight, obsessed over Akbar. In the courtroom, in his closing argument, McGovern cocked the M-4 rifle Akbar had used in the attack.

“Sgt. Akbar executed that attack with a cool mind,” he told the jury. “He sought maximum carnage.”

In April, Akbar was found guilty and sentenced to death.

“This was the ultimate opportunity to contribute to the war,” McGovern says. “This is a man who killed his fellow soldiers on the eve of battle. I can’t think of anything more damaging. I got a chance to stand up for the guys. I could not imagine doing anything bigger for my country.”

Yet, Rob McGovern did not stop after getting Hasan Akbar convicted but went to Iraq to convict many more terrrorists using old Iraqi laws against them that was signed in 1969 by, ironically so, Saddam Hussein.

Few people know that every day, American JAG officers work in Iraqi courtrooms with Iraqi judges. They prosecute insurgents. McGovern did not know. But after the Akbar case, he was sent to Iraq to do just that. He would charge insurgents with murder and attempted murder. If he did not have quite enough evidence to get them on those charges, he would bring them up on illegal border crossings.

He would argue his case using Iraqi laws signed in 1969 by Saddam Hussein.

In five months, he worked with more than 400 cases and had a 90 percent conviction rate. He often sat close to those insurgents everyone hears about on the evening news.

Rob McGovern, thank you for your tireless work to see that justice gets done and see that terrorists get convicted. Thank you for seeing that the death sentence get passed on to Hasan Akbar for his murderous role at Camp Pennsylvania murdering two officers and wounding so many others that night.

Rob McGovern was recently recognized and honored four weeks ago on December 4th before the Chiefs-Broncos game because he used to play in the NFL.


Other past blogs on Majory Gregory Stone:

Trial for Murder of Maj. Gregory Stone
The Plannned Murder of AF Maj. Gregory Stone and His Troop
Justice for Maj. Gregory Stone
Please visit Hero Bracelet
The Murder of Maj. Gregory Stone
In tribute of Maj. Gregory Stone

UPDATE: Chris informed me that the Dan Rather cartoon inclusion in his Day by Day cartoon panel was a result of my yesterday's blog where I mentioned Dan Rather in "Roll over, Dan. Roll over" (scroll down near bottom of page). He thought I'd get a big kick out of it. I sure did after finding out why he put Dan Rather after reading his email. That cartoon panel is now preserved at the top of my blog.

And now, you know the rest of the story.

BTW, be sure to check Day by Day's links on conservative bloggers seen on the left column of his website. Something new will be added very, very soon.

Thanks Chris!

UPDATE II: Thanks for adding Kokonut Pundits to your links, Chris!