So, I've been hosting a website of one form or another for ten years now. A lot has changed since I first started writing my own HTML and getting myself in trouble with web content. My high school administrators actually accused me of "Brainwashing" people with my website when I was a Sophomore in High School. That's when I knew having a web presence was going to be fun.

Anyway, being the pessimist and cynic that I am, I thought it would be fun to look back and list the 10 Dumbest Things of the decade.

Technically, I don't believe the decade starts until 2011, but seeing as how I'm the only one who knows how to count to 10 anymore, I might as well play along. Nevertheless, Happy New Year to you all!

10. De-Baathification

After WWII, the Allies persecuted the leaders of the Nazi Regime responsible for the humanitarian disaster they were responsible for, but let the rest of the Nazi Party remain in tact under a new "Christian" name. They did this because Nazis hated Communists as much as we did and if we got rid of all the Nazis, there'd be nothing left in West Germany but the Communists. We just turned a blind eye and let everybody sing the "I Was Not A Nazi Polka."

Well, post-invasion Iraq was very similar to the post-war Germany. For a very long period, only Saddam Hussein's Baath Party was allowed to operate in the country, not unlike Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party. Well meaning politicians, local officials, and military personnel were forced to swear an oath to Saddam and his party in order to do their patriotic duty to serve and protect. As was the case in post-war Germany, not everybody who had a Baath Party membership card in their wallet was a vicious war criminal. In fact, they were an integral part in the day-to-day functioning of Iraqi society.

Paul Wolfowitz came in to oversee and govern occupied Iraq and one of his earliest policies was de-Baathication. This meant the complete disbandment of local political structures, police forces, and the entire military. Not only did this policy leave a void that would be filled by radical Islamists, but it forced the United States to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a basic infrastructure that was already there when we entered the country.

Like the Nazi Party after the war, the leaders of the Baath Party needed to be tried and punished for their horrendous crimes during the reign of Saddam Hussein, but it was irresponsible and shortsighted to completely dismantle every molecule of society that the Baath Party had touched during its 35 year reign.

9. Michigan and Florida Destroyed The Primary System in 2007/2008

Mike Huckabee's blunders are further down on the list, but before you get all pissy at me for listing them in the top 10 dumbest of the decade, let's agree that Michigan and Florida are the reason why Mike Huckabee is the host of a boring talk show instead of the President, or at least the defeated Republican candidate for President.

For the first time in the history of modern primaries, the winner of the Republican nomination did not finish in the Top 3 in Iowa. The 2008 Republican Primary was a demolition derby more than it was an example of Democracy in action. The reason for this is that Michigan and Florida moved their primaries up way ahead of schedule to get a say in the process. Unfortunately, this meant candidates would have to either divide their precious resources between more states or forfeit entire states to try and focus on what were perceived as the most winnable ones.

Had Huckabee not had to spend time campaigning in Michigan while Fred Thompson was attacking him in South Carolina or been able to focus on the Super Tuesday States instead of campaigning throughout Florida, both of those dates might have looked MUCH better for him.

Although everybody and their uncle demonized the hell out of me when I said it in 2008, I think there is general consensus now that John McCain was nothing shy of a piss awful Presidential candidate. His failure to win even 50% of the primary and caucus votes shows that McCain simply survived the demolition derby rather than win the support of Republican primary goers. And both the party and our message suffered for it in the General Election.

Things may have been better or worse with with Huckabee or Romney, but it goes without saying that John McCain was not the best candidate the Republicans fielded and the final responsibility for that falls on the shoulders of Michigan and Florida for screwing up the primary process.

8. Drum Sets with Rock Band and Guitar Hero

I don't actually own the drum set, but I've been to Best Buy and my friends' houses enough to know it belongs on the 10 dumbest video game gimmicks of all time. Look, the idea of this is brilliant. The guitar thing is taking off because it's tons of fun, but you can only have one guitar and one bass, how can we make this a party game? Drums! It's very reasonable.

The problem is that you're using real wood drumsticks on fake, hard plastic drums. The sound being produced by this whacking completely drowns out the sound of the music you're video game buddy band is supposed to be playing to. The final result is a bunch of clicking and clacking from two plastic guitars and a plastic drum set that sounds like an elementary school music room filled with a bunch of kindergartners when the teacher leaves the room with Billy because he got a drumstick in his nose.

Billy would have made my list for the 1990s' "Dumbest of the Decade."

7. 9/11 Conspiracy Theorists

I'm curious to know how many of these people thought TWA Flight 800 was a government cover up of a terrorist attack prior to the 1996 Olympics but the September 11, 2001 attacks were the doing of our own government.

Actually, let me come right out and call these idiots the most unpatriotic people in our entire country. Seriously, the Communist Party of America has higher quality American citizens then these jackasses. Here's why. These morons are going around saying that our government intentionally killed almost 3,000 American civilians on a single day just to invade a couple of countries that were in the way. And what do they do about it? They make videos that they watch at fancy tin foil hat parties.

Believing that terrorists were responsible for the attacks, I enlisted as in the United States Air Force weeks later. I wanted to kill the *#(%*#$#@!s responsible for killing 3,000 of my American brothers and sisters. If these conspiracy whack jobs loved their country and truly believed in this bull crap nonsense, they would have marched on Washington, D.C. with firearms and tried to kill everyone they thought was responsible for killing their fellow countrymen.

But no, they're pissy little un-American cowards who are too afraid to stand up for what they believe in. So instead, they'll attack the character of everybody who dares disagree with them. That's fine, I'm sure Rosie O'Donnell and the rest of these kooks will have a great time burning in Hell together.

6. Windows Vista

WTF? I mean seriously.

5. Benazir Bhutto Almost Begged To Be Assassinated

It was December 26, 2007 and I was hanging out with my cousin Tom (a commenter on this blog and my favorite liberal) and his girlfriend at a coffee shop in Valparaiso, IN. We got to talking about the Global War on Terrorism and the topic of Benazir Bhutto came up. She had returned from exile in October and there were a few attempts on her life since then, but President Musharraf's "State of Emergency" made it difficult for terrorists to get anywhere near her. Well, a little earlier, Bhutto got her way and the "State of Emergency," which also restricted her ability to campaign, was lifted.

Tom asked me for my opinion about this and I said something along the lines of, "It's absolutely stupid. She's going to be dead by the end of the week."

I left for Iowa to campaign for Governor Huckabee the morning of the 27th and didn't have cell phone reception most of the way out there... and to be honest, I was too busy rocking out to Uriah Heep to hear my cell phone anyway. Well, Tom had left a message on my voice mail. "Dude! Bhutto is dead! How the *#%@ did you know that?"

I was working for the government at the time as a terrorism analyst, so I had to call him and assure him that I didn't divulge any secrets to him and his girlfriend and nobody would be coming to take them away. It's the sort of analysis you regret ever making, but it was really just common sense. People wanted her dead. People were actively trying to kill her. Social restrictions keep good AND bad people away from her. When you have a controversial politician who some people want dead in enormous mixed with unchecked masses of people - bad things are going to happen.

I don't want to say that Bhutto deserved to die in a suicide bombing because that would be cruel, but she damn well should have known better. What the blazes did she think was going to happen?

4. Taking Politics Beyond the Waters Edge

This was the decade for people being absolutely stupid with their political views, wasn't it?

2003: The Dixie Chicks attack President Bush and Texas in London. Coincidentally, they testified before Congress because Texas radio stations stopped playing their music after the incident. John McCain defended them, arguing that their political statements shouldn't affect whether they are heard on the radio or not.

2006: Nancy Pelosi and a "bi-partisan" Congressional delegation went to Syria to meet with President Assad, despite the fact that then-Secretary of State Rice specifically told them not to go.

2009: Mike Huckabee went to Israel and made the President of the United States sound like a Jew-hating Nazi, hell-bent on Israel's destruction. Huckabee defended himself by saying he was "just a tourist." Yeah, except that he's a politician, was invited to speak at political dinners, and was followed around by Israeli media the entire time.

Look, when you're in the United States, you can say whatever you like about the President and our country. But when you're overseas, we show a united front. Always. That's been the unwritten rule since before WWII and it's gotten us through that World War and the Cold War. Let's not abandon our senses now and take our politics overseas. United We Stand, under Huckabee, Pelosi, and the Dixie Chicks we fall.

3. Hanging Chads

That's right, Florida! You screwed up two of the three Presidential Elections of the decade. Good going!

If our Republic should fail by the end of the century, historians will look back to the finale to the 2000 Presidential Race and use it as the catalyst. The worst part of it all was the whole "chad" thing. Pregnant Chads, hanging chads, punctured chads, and the list of chads goes on. The 2000 Recount of Florida proved once and for all to every American their their vote may have actually not counted.

Look, I believe Bush won Florida fair and square. Why there were recounts only in the most heavily Democratic areas is beyond me, but the month long argument over chads was really what annoyed the heck out of me.

Next time, just let Fox News declare the winner early and save us the trouble of having to sit through this again.

2. Pharmaceutical Ads

The last time I checked, the United States was one of only two industrialized nations that allowed pharmaceutical companies to advertise. It actually used to be illegal, but we have President Clinton to thank for reversing that. Now, we all get to watch some 50 year old man talk to his reflection in a mirror about his malfunctioning penis.

Oh, what was that, miss? You're feeling sad and unmotivated? Well, there's a pill for that. Actually, there are a few hundred thousand pills for that. You're life might actually suck like hell, but at least you don't have to feel like it does! Any one of these hundreds of thousands of pills can make you a good little soldier, carrying through with your miserable life so that you'll be tolerable to your husband/kids/dog. Oh, yeah, we should probably mention that there's a chance of upset stomach, nausea, dry mouth, blindness, irresistible sexual urges, increased thoughts of suicide, and problems urinating. You also shouldn't take these pills if you have a family history of kidney, heart, or liver problems as these hundreds of thousands of pills have been reported to decrease their kidney, hear, and liver function. If your kidneys, liver, or heart stop functioning, you should stop taking these pills and call your doctor immediately.

Ask your doctor for hundreds of thousands of pills today!

Seriously, you if you're one of the people who watches these ads and thinks to yourself, "Gee, I do feel like that sometimes," you need to stop watching TV because you're an idiot and the only way pharmacutical companies are going to stop peddling their drugs on television is if idiots like you stop talking to your doctors about the damn hundreds of thousands pills you heard about since your last visit.

1a. Washington Keeps Ty Willingham as Football Head Coach

Seriously, Ty Washington is supposed to be an institution for higher learning. Aren't you sort of setting a bad example by doing something as stupid as not only hiring Ty Willingham, but keeping him around for 4 losing seasons? Yeah, how did that 4th year work out for you? Oh, that's right, in the 120 year history of Washington football, that was your only winless season.

That was REALLY dumb, Washington.

1b. The NEW Game Ball (NBA)

Holy crap, this was stupid. In 2006, the NBA introduced a "New Game Ball." The only problem was that they didn't bother testing it with much more than an insanely small sampling of bench warmers during the off season. The "superior grip" of the new ball, which was created by the new microfiber composite material, actually tore up and blistered players' fingers, had different aerodynamics, and (ironically) was more difficult to hold because of how it handled moisture.

The players revolted, taking it up through the players union. In turn, NBA Commissioner David Stern gave up on the NEW game ball and went back to the traditional leather ball that every NBA player and fan grew up playing with.

Seriously, even if the new ball was better than the traditional leather ball, what did you expect to happen? Every player who has a bad game is going to rush to blame it on the new ball. What's more, these guys have spent 22-40 years playing with leather basketballs. Coaches have been using leather basketballs for close up to 60 years. By changing the ball, you're asking them to re-learn the absolute, most fundamental part of the game - the ball.

That was absolutely dumb!

RUNNERS UP

20. Fox News format change to Fox Tabloid after 2004 election

19. Head on! Apply directly to the forehead! Head on! Apply.......

18. Focus on WMDs in the justification for the Iraq War

17. Ruckus over Lott's speech at Thurmond's 100th Birthday (and his failure to get revenge)

16. Senator Allen's "Mucacca" moment

15. "You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie."

14. Obama Nobel Prize

13."Diet Coke Plus" with minerals... the only soft drink that causes you to lose weight by making you vomit

12. Obama Birthers

11. Buying a house between 2005 and 2007