On Tuesday, January 17, I announced the beginning of what I am calling the "Frank Barone 'Holy Crap!' Awards" The way I envision this program working, at least for the time being, is that I will take suggestions from my readers for the most ridiculous statement made by a liberal during the week. The liberal need not be a politician, it may include members of the press, or 'civilian' organizations such as the ACLU, NAACP or whatever--you see where I'm going.

At the end of the week (which for this contest runs Saturday-Friday), I will post what are, in my judgment, the 'holiest of holies' in the "Holy Crap!" department. For now, I will choose the weekly prize winner of the 'Holy Crap!' award for the week. Later, depending on viewer response, possibly we could have a 'Holy Crap' viewer participation vote.

At the end of each month, I (or we) will choose a monthly Holy Crapper, and at year's end, we'll jointly decide, out of the monthly winners, the crappiest person of all! Sounds like fun to me! I am contemplating having a special 'Crapper of the Month' award plaque which I may send to the winning crapper. I can hear Hillary now...Mike who? Mr. What Opinion??? LOL! There will DEFINITELY be an annual crapper award, which will be sent to the recipient, probably along with a quote of the crappy comment.

As I mentioned previously, I operate a conservative blog, and this contest is open only to outrageous statements by liberals. Again, I realize that 'Conservatives' say plenty of outrageous remarks, but that is not the purpose of this awards program. If you want to have a contest for conservatives on your blog, that's cool. But please respect the rules of this contest.

I am assuming (hoping) that, since I just started this less than 72 hours ago, my readers have not had a chance to respond. I have had a couple messages on it, but they both referenced the same Holy Crap! statement made by the same politician. So, I did a little digging of my own.

Here are this week's nominees:

1. Our beloved former first lady, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), in an address to a mostly black church in Harlem, on Martin Luther King, Jr., day no less, told the audience, "when you look at the way the House of Representatives has been run, it has been run like a PLANTATION, and YOU KNOW what I'm talking about." Hmm...

2. Jealous of the PA city of Hershey, New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin made the following statement to supporters: "We as black people, it's time, it's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans and I don't care what people are saying uptown or wherever they are, this city will be chocolate at the end of the day." Anyone else have a sudden craving for a brownie?

3. Not to be outdone by Mayor Nagin, Mayor Nagin of New Orleans posed the following theory for the tragedy that was Hurricane Katrina, as well as other recent hurricanes which have ravaged the coastal U.S.: "God is mad with this nation and is sending us hurricane after hurricane to punish us." Quite a switch from the beating Pat Robertson took over his remarks on PM Ariel Sharon.

4. Unable to resist the allure of the media spotlight, Al Gore this week charged that the Bush administration broke the law "repeatedly and insistently," although he admittedly did not know the facts of the case. Is a snide remark really necessary on this one? Isn't the stupidity self-evident?

5. On the Fox News Channel 'Cavuto on Business,' Bob Beckell (Democrat strategist) told Ann Coulter that "Your party did not discover slavery until recently." WHAT??? Ever hear of the Emancipation Proclamation? Or Abraham Lincoln, for Pete's sake? Yes, Bob, the Republican party has been unaware of the existence of slavery until just this week, when you enlightened us! THANK YOU! Maybe now we can fight that Civil War I've always heard so much about and set those slaves free.

6. During the nomination hearings of Judge Samuel Alito, Teddy 'pour me another' Kennedy charged like a pit bull at the fact that Alito had joined an alumni group called CAP (Concerned Alumni of Princeton) which he claimed tried to exclude women and minorities--a charge later proven false. The irony in all this is that the esteemed Sen. Kennedy, just this week, ended a 50-year membership in an organization called the Owl Group which he joined in college. In fact, the group was banned from the Harvard campus in 1984 for violating federal anti-discrimination laws. And Kennedy had re-upped as recently as September, 2005.

Well, there's this weeks list. Hopefully there will be more participation next week, and we can make the list longer. Although there are only six nominees, there is still plenty of Holy Crap here to go around!

It is a hard pick, but this week's "Frank Barone 'Holy Crap!' Award" recipient is the esteemed Senator from New York, Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Madam, you are honored with this award for not only slamming Republicans, but for doing so in the most racially insensitive way possible, and at the most opportune time.

A big round of applause for Sen. Clinton, please!

Think I missed the boat in my pick? Leave me a comment on your choice of the above mentioned crappers!

Stay tuned for next week's contestants. Please send me your suggestions in the upcoming week, which begins tomorrow.