For me, personally, this past year has been a fast and hectic one that spanned two continents and cost a great deal of money. Everyone and their dogs seem to be doing Year In Review posts, and I'm no different, except I don't quite know the direction I want it to take. Personal or Newsworthy? A bit of both?

How 'bout Lemons and Laurels? The good and the bad of 2004, in no particular order.

Pat Tillman: Much has been made about the real American hero who left a lucrative football career to serve in Iraq. Pat Tillman was shot and killed overseas, at the age of 27. Anne Coulter writes in her review Highlights and Lowlifes:

American hero Pat Tillman won a Silver Star this year. But unlike Kerry, he did not write his own recommendation or live to throw his medals over the White House fence in an anti-war rally.

John Kerry & Teresa Heinz Kerry: For quotes about Laura Bush's career objectives, for using Cheney's gay daughter as an election tool, and for tossing his medals away (which makes him a tosser).

Jeremey Duncan: I covered this story back in May, about the Marine who came home from Iraq on leave, just to donate a kidney to his best friend. I received an email from his friend Jason Tulley at the end of the summer, saying he and Jeremy were both doing fine, and that Jeremy would be home in the spring.

Jermey Hinzman: The good and bad Jeremys of 2004. Hinzman is the pussy who went AWOL from the U.S. Army to come hide in Canada. And of course, a lemon must go to my own global village of Canada, for welcoming the dodger with open arms, throwing benefit concerts for him, and allowing him to apply for asylum. Thankfully, his refugee claim was thrown out of court. By the way, I discovered Hinzman has his own website now. Try not to gag.

Yasser Arafat: For finally doing something that might allow peace between Isreal and Palestine: dying.

Dan Rather: Oh Danny boy, what have you done? That liberal media crossed the line when Rather pushed a story regarding Bush's National Guard service, and relied on documents of dubious origin. Of course, the documents proved to be phoney, and Rather was tarred and feathered. There's a word for people who want so badly to believe something, who believe the lies they tell because they really want them to be true: patholigical. Unfortunately, such people do not make the best newsmen. It's not true just because you want it to be, Dan-o. It was the blogosphere that broke the story. And check out Rather Biased, a site I discovered today.

Pamie.com: Speaking of biased, I have to plug Pamie.com. It's a favorite site of mine, and has been for years. The reason I'm awarding Pamela Ribbon a laurel is the fundraising she has done for the past two years for the Oakland Public Library. This year and last she has asked her readers to refer to the Oakland Wishlists, and purchase books, since the library had their funding cut in 2003. I myself have bought three or four for them, and in total, there have been nearly a thousand donations made. The Oakland Public Library Foundation honored her earlier this year:

Pamela Ribbon, noted California author and "pop culture princess" has caused more than 600 books to be donated to the Oakland Public Library. Earlier this year, the media attention surrounding the Library's budget cuts caught the eye of Ms Ribbon, who subsequently added a page to her website, passionately asking visitors to donate a book to the Oakland Public Library through Amazon.com and directing them to their website. Her loyal following, who visit her website to read her comical "weblog" entries, immediately responded and within weeks, hundreds of new titles were added to the Library's collection. National media picked up this story and within hours stories in the Boston Globe, Washington Post and the New York Times brought in more than 600 hundred donated books.

Michael Moore: What do you get if you squeeze a fat socialist weasel? Lemonade! Not only is he the most biased documentary filmmaker since the propaganda machine of Hitler's army, but he's a failure, too. No matter how hard he tried to swing (or rock) the vote in favour of John Kerry, Bush still won.

George Bush: He might not be perfect, and he's certainly not for everyone, but he stands up for what he believes and doesn't let the bullshit get to him. Time Magazine honored him with Man of the Year. The citizens of the United States honored him with a second term.