If you don't know who the Naked Cowboy is then there's a chance you are a true New Yorker, or maybe you've never been on a double-decker bus tour through Manhattan.  I don't remember when exactly it was that I became aware of who the jackass in his undies, boots and cowboy hat strumming a guitar in Times Square was, but I'm pretty sure that someone had to tell me who he was multiple times before I realized that he's a mainstay and, some might say, an attraction.  Maybe it was in some sort of promotional photo of Times Square that I first saw him, maybe he was just starting his day when I was leaving the TKTS line.  Either way, I've never really understood the appeal here, from both sides of his existence, so let's just say I'm admitting some bias right up front.  Why would someone feel the need to include him as part of their memories of a trip to New York?  It seems the only people who would feel that a cowboy-styled country singer from Cincinnati, Ohio who arrived here twelve years ago is somehow quintessentially symbolic of NYC are people who will never be coming back.  And on the other side, why would someone want to do what he does?  He stands around in his undies, which must get really cold most of the time.  But worse, he stands around in Times Square, which means he has to deal with tourists every goddamn day.  This, to me, sounds like a terrible way to spend your time, even if the most creative thing you've ever come up with is to sing country songs in your jockey shorts.

From prostitutes to Ponzi schemes, this wasn't a great year for Jewish politicians or notable persons.  In fact, if a Jew was in the news it was probably a bad thing, but I guess that doesn't exactly set 2008 aside as anything special.  What did make it special was the amazingly ferocious idiocy and unmitigated disasters that kept these guys in the corners with their yarmu