Amiri Baraka Award Nominee: Gore Vidal, for accusing the Bush administration of using the 9/11 attacks to enact pre-existing plans to invade Afghanistan and limit civil liberties. In a 7000 word piece called "The Enemy Within," published today in the Guardian Observer, Vidal speaks in uncompromising terms about the "Bush junta":

We still don't know by whom we were struck that infamous Tuesday, or for what true purpose. But it is fairly plain to many civil libertarians that 9/11 put paid not only to much of our fragile Bill of Rights but also to our once-envied system of government which had taken a mortal blow the previous year when the Supreme Court did a little dance in 5/4 time and replaced a popularly elected President with the oil and gas Bush-Cheney junta.

[...]

Osama was chosen on aesthetic grounds to be the frightening logo for our long-contemplated invasion and conquest of Afghanistan ... [because] the administration is convinced that Americans are so simple-minded that they can deal with no scenario more complex than the venerable, lone, crazed killer (this time with zombie helpers) who does evil just for the fun of it 'cause he hates us because we're rich 'n free 'n he's not.

We at Critical Mass are not empowered to dispense Sontag Awards, which are the exclusive provenance of the wise and judicious Andrew Sullivan. We do, however, proudly decorate worthy individuals with Gilmore Awards and Amiri Baraka Awards as our discretion dictates. But we feel, in this instance, that an Amiri Baraka Award does not adequately recognize the supreme achievement of Mr. Vidal, whose vitriol foameth over in truly commendable quantities this fine Sunday morning. It is our hope that Judge Sullivan will honor Vidal's rhetorical feat with the rare and venerable distinction conferred by the Sontag Award.