Stumbling Towards the Light

Now that the catfood's out of the bag: What Romney's VP pick really means

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 19:05:14 GMT

By now, most of you reading this will have heard that this year's presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, yesterday finally ended months of speculation on the part of pols and pundits alike by announcing his choice of a running mate. At a rally in Norfolk, VA, with the museum ship USS Wisconsin serving as a carefully-chosen backdrop, he unveiled the man he thinks should be a heartbeat away from the most powerful office in the world: Rep. Paul Ryan, who in recent months has become both the Badger State's leading political figure and a rock star with movement conservatives and Tea Party types, largely due to his controversial budget proposal earlier this year.

As reported by The New York Times today, Romney had this to say about his newly-anointed sidekick: "There are a lot of people in the other party who might disagree with Paul Ryan. I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t respect his character and judgment.” Speaking as a registered Democrat, allow me to offer what I believe is my party's carefully calibrated, consensus response to that statement...

...in the form of this YouTube clip.

Anyone who has actually read Ryan's budget proposal and knows what it contains has ample reason to question both his judgment—if he truly believes that more of the same social-program-whacking, defense-budget-bloating, wealth-worshiping-tax-cuts snake-oil medicine the GOP has been peddling for years now really will goose a staggering economy and produce jobs this time, despite more than a decade's worth of evidence to the contrary—and his character, if you believe as many religious activists on both sides do that government budgets are moral documents as much as fiscal ones.

If Romney thinks this is what will push his struggling campaign back onto the rails, he's an even bigger idiot than I already thought—which is pretty damn big. This may well be a game-changer, albeit not the kind he hopes for...but more likely in the same way picking Sarah Palin changed the game for Sen. John McCain four years ago, to his everlasting chagrin. From the McClatchy Newspapers blog Planet Washington:

"This is a major unforced error by Mitt Romney," said committee co-founder Adam Green. "It gives the President and Democrats a chance to draw a clear contrast in 2012 by promising not to cut one penny from Medicare or Social Security benefits. If Democrats win in a landslide, this was the game changer."

Here's what picking Ryan really means: Even after clinching the nomination, and hanging onto narrowly competitive polling numbers despite being a veritable non-stop gaffe factory, Romney still hasn't managed to "close the deal" with the hard-core right-wingers that make up his party's base. The reasoning for both the choice and its timing—barely two weeks before the party's convention in Tampa, FL—should have been obvious once word got out that Ryan was on the short list along with Ohio's Rob Portman, Florida's Marco Rubio and Mitt's former opponent for the nomination (however briefly), Minnesota's Tim Pawlenty.

Choosing Ryan as much as announces that the Tea Party has the Mittster by the short-and-curlies, and he desperately needs them to get enthusiastically on board in time for his Tampa coronation—and mobilize for him afterward in the run-up to Election Day—if he is to have a sno-ball's chance in New Orleans on Jazzfest weekend of beating President Barack Obama. The only problem with this strategy? While it may—emphasize, may—finally win over the wingnuts, it's guaranteed to alienate the independents and moderates he will also need just as badly to win.

By picking Ryan, he's practically written off the entire state of Florida already, with its huge senior population so dependent on the Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid programs Ryan's proposed budget would endanger. All Obama and his campaign staff have to do is keep repeating these three words from now to November 6th: "Romney-Ryan budget." You've heard perhaps that the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction commission Obama convened last year was often referred to as "the Catfood Commission" because it was (and still is) widely accepted conventional wisdom that no serious deficit reduction can happen absent drastic reductions in these ginormous entitlement programs, leaving the elderly to subsist on cans of you-know-what. With his own proposals, Ryan has marked himself (and now, Romney) as "the Catfood Candidates."

My final analysis? While this by no means indicates Democrats and progressives should get cocky about their chances of winning and slack off on the hard work already planned for the next couple of months, I do think it would behoove the Administration to send Mittens a nice, big fruit gift basket at his campaign offices sometime this week, with a card reading: "Dear Mitt: Thanks so much for picking Paul Ryan. Hope you can both make it to my second inauguration in January. Love, Barack."

An insta-filk for the memory of a pioneer

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 02:22:08 GMT

RIDE, SALLY RIDE

Music: "Ride, Captain, Ride" by Carlos M. "Mike" Pinera and Frank "Skip" Konte

New Lyrics: MGL
Dedicated to the memory of Sally Ride

In 'Eighty-three she flew up

From that Cape Canav'ral bay

Got onto the Shuttle

Here's what she had to say:

"I'm calling everyone to ride along

To another shore

Out to boldly go

Where no woman's gone before!'

And young girls heard her calling

All across the land

Telling them that they could be

Anything they planned

As the sun was rising

Out in that starry sea

She took off and rode the fire

Into history

Chorus:
Ride, Sally Ride

Up in your big white ship

And you'll take all of us

Out with you on your trip

Ride, Sally Ride

For all humanity

On your way to a world

We've all long dreamed to see

[Repeat verses 1-2 and chorus to fade]

Parody lyrics ©2012 by Matt G. Leger. No infringement on existing copyright is intended or should be inferred. Any use for profit requires prior written consent of all copyright holders; all other uses of lyrics permitted so long as this notice is retained unaltered. No infringement of the rights of existing copyright holders is intended or should be inferred.

In Memoriam: Andrew Samuel "Andy" Griffith, 1926-2012

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 23:26:20 GMT

It is with a heavy heart that I must report that today, we lost Andy Griffith. He died today at the ripe old age of 86, of undisclosed causes at his Roanoke Island, NC home and was buried less than five hours later. CNN's website has the full story here, and Wikipedia outlines his life and career here.

Actor, director, writer and producer in stage, screen and television; gospel singer and comedian; genuine American cultural icon - all these things and more can be said of Mr. Griffith. He earned a place in the hearts of millions in all parts of the US (and elsewhere in the world, as well)...but for those of us born and raised in the South, he was more than just a beloved entertainer, or even a favorite son. His now-classic program The Andy Griffith Show, aired on CBS from 1960 to 1968 (when it transmogrified into Mayberry RFD, with the late Ken Berry taking over the lead as a new character), had already just ended its third smash-hit season when I was born. But I grew up watching it in reruns on weekday afternoons, as so many of my generation and the ones after did, and came to know that sleepy little "Nawth Cah-ligh-na" town quite well.

For us Southern folk, this was the first representation of our people and way of life on TV or in film that did not ridicule or belittle us as ignorant rubes and moonshine-swilling hicks. There was humor, to be sure—it was at least nominally a situation comedy, after all—but the humor was never mocking or stereotypical as so many other shows purporting to depict Southern culture had been. In many ways, Sheriff Andy Taylor reminded me of my own father—not perfect as a man or a parent, but trying awful hard; possessed of a down-to-earth wisdom (some might call it just plain "common sense," which is not nearly as common as we all wish it were) that took me most of my adolescence to finally appreciate; a gentle sense of humor and a strength of character rare in any culture; a masculine man beyond any question, who nonetheless still managed to convey to his child the boundless love every father should have for his children. And if Mayberry did seem rather lily-white for being a Southern town, there were enough other shows in the 1960s addressing this country's notorious racial problems that it is hard to begrudge people seeking respite from the fear and hopelessness of that era's headlines for tuning in, or CBS and Griffith for providing it.

Just as later shows like Good Times and Welcome Back, Kotter would help white America unlearn its assumptions about non-white families and the real world they inhabited, The Andy Griffith Show helped Yankees and other non-Southerners learn that not all of us from below the Mason-Dixon Line were either irredeemable racist scum or naïve bumpkins. For that alone, Andy Griffith deserves to be remembered with kindness, appreciation...and not a little bit of regional pride.

Deepest sympathies to his widow Cindi and the rest of "Uncle" Andy's surviving family, his colleagues and friends...and heartfelt thanks for a lifetime of entertainment from a little Cajun boy who probably watched way more TV than was good for him.

To an obnoxious Obama-hating driver in Atlanta

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:58:04 GMT

I ended up behind a blue late-model luxury sedan yesterday while driving on a local street. It has six—count 'em, six—separate bumper stickers on its back window expressing the owner's loathing and hatred for our current President, Barack Obama. You've seen some of them yourself, no doubt, like these two:

But this one was the one that really chapped this skinny white liberal Cajun boy's behind:

Since I have no way of knowing how to reach or even identify this, um..fellow citizen (didn't have a chance to take down the license plate number, alas), I'm venting several thoughts that came to mind here.

Do you really need to have six—SIX!—stickers to tell everyone how much you despise Obama? One or two would have been more than adequate. Or could you just not choose from an assortment? And did you really have to put them up on your rear window, in everyone's face, rather than on the bumper like a normal person?
You have lots of stickers saying who you're against for President in this fall's election. Why don't you have even one stating who you'd prefer instead? Are you that lacking in the courage of your convictions? Or are you just one of the many thousands who backed losing candidates in the GOP primaries who will be holding their noses and voting for Mitt Romney?
Gratuitous insults toward those who sport Obama stickers on their vehicles may make you feel like a big smart badass, but it does not advance your political views in any way that will let you be taken seriously. It also just needlessly pisses people off...but then, I strongly suspect that was your general intention. Explaining what specifically about Obama and/or his policies, statements and actions so raises your ire, rather than just dissing the man generically, would also help your First-Amendment-protected expression sound like more than just venting spleen.
As long as you're going to engage in petty ad hominem arguments: if you vote for Romney or any conservative/libertarian candidate for President this fall, YOU'RE the stupid one!

Anyone on my f-list with opinions is welcome to respond, whether or not they agree with mine.

Obama finally comes out in support of marriage equality...alas, too late for North Carolina

Fri, 11 May 2012 16:37:53 GMT

smallship1 has expressed irritation with me on Facebook for complaining about yesterday's historic statement by President Barack Obama that his views on same-gender marriage have finally finished "evolving" and he supports marriage equality for all. For those not on FB, here's the text of my posting and his reply:

Me: "I have only one thing to say: IT'S ABOUT GODDAMNED TIME!!! And at that, he had to be pushed into finally coming down on the right side by Biden and Duncan."

Him: "It's amazing how even a really major step forward can be parlayed into "gosh, he's lucky we're still willing to give him the time of day". Doesn't matter who pushed him. Doesn't matter why. Doesn't even matter if the people who want this are happy about it, or complaining because they wanted a blue one with polka dots. He said it. That is what matters. May it mean more to the people who are undecided than it obviously does to us."

Well, yes, I recognize it is a Big Thing indeed for a sitting US president to take this position publicly, particularly in an election year. And I recognize that agreeing with LGBTQ equality in, say, military service or housing is one thing and for far too many people, the emotion-fraught baggage attached to the word "marriage" is quite another, especially in a society such as ours which has for far too long made little to no distinction between marriage as a religious institution and marriage as a legal contract enforced by government. It may well have been a real struggle for Obama to come around on this; even the late former singer and US Representative Sonny Bono, whose daughter Chastity (now his transgender son Chaz) was at the time in a lesbian relationship, admitted he could not bring himself to "go as far as you need and deserve" in consenting to allow same-sex couples to be recognized as legally married.

But that being said... Five years ago, Obama campaigned on promises of working for equality under the law in ALL matters pertaining to queer citizens. And to be fair, he has done far more than any of his predecessors toward that end. But supporting the cause in all matters save this most crucial one—often quite literally a matter of life and death, in the case of hospital privileges, insurance coverage and even funeral/burial arrangements—is the sort of half-assed support a cause desperately fighting against right-wing bigots and religious zealots both here and the world over does NOT need. It's almost worse than his being fully on board, because it's frustrating and incomprehensible to many of us that anyone (particularly a Democrat, who damned well ought to know better!) can somehow be okay with ending sexual-orientation discrimination in all other areas but this.

I'm sorry, but motivation does matter...as well as timing. Even as important a step as this is, I would be a lot more impressed with Obama on this if he hadn't had to be just about dragged kicking and screaming into it..and if he hadn't been pressed to finally quit waffling by his Vice President and his Secretary of Education publicly stating their support—and by big gay campaign donors threatening to withdraw theirs of him...and if he had used the biggest, loudest public-policy megaphone in the world to push this sooner, so that maybe enough undecided North Carolina voters would have been motivated to prevent the atrocity the Tarheel State voted into law this week. Thanks at least in part to his prolonged, gutless refusal to take a firm stand on the side of right, 30 states have now enshrined marriage discrimination into statute law and/or their constitutions. Only six now legally allow same-gender marriage; as my Songbird points out, that's a five-to-one ratio against equality.

If that makes me seem ungrateful, so be it. But I no longer have any patience at all with people determined to stand in the way of my many queer friends being counted as full citizens under the law...or with supposed "allies" who fold like a cheap card table when the going gets tough politically. I'm glad he's finally done what he must have known in his heart was the right and just thing...but the cynical, disillusioned activist in me still can't help echoing Daffy Duck and saying sarcastically, "Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin!"

In which Your Humble makes the front page of the local paper...though not the way he'd like

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:56:45 GMT

Over the past couple of months, reporters from our local ~~fish-wrapper~~ major daily newspaper of record have been calling me periodically to solicit my views on issues surrounding unemployment in the metro Atlanta area and Georgia in general, a subject with which Your Humble has had far too much experience over the eight years he has lived in the Peach State. No idea how either of the two reporters who have called got my name, unless they're searching Facebook or LinkedIn for likely subjects, or read letters to the editor I've had printed in the past.

So far, none of these conversations has resulted in any attributed quotes actually seeing print...until now. Today, in fact. Right on the front page, above the fold. The web version is here.

While the story as printed actually conflates two sentences of mine into one (the actual statement was "They should not be balancing the budget on the backs of the unemployed in Georgia. And I would be saying that even if I didn't happen to be one of them"), and my own case would not be affected due to a grandfather clause (only new applicants would see a reduction in benefits), the general sentiment is still one I stand by. God and the Republican leaders of our state Lege know there are plenty of other ways to raise funds to repay the federal loan for UI benefits without doing this to those who can least afford it—including people who can afford it far less than YHC, who at least has a working roommate/fianceé to share expenses.

This and the recent spate of legislation in this and other statehouses around the country affecting matters of reproduction and sexual orientation have two main purposes, to my view: 1) to burnish the conservative credentials of GOP legislators who must face the voters this fall (and avoid a primary challenge from their state party's right), and 2) to bring more conservatives to the polls who support such measures to not only re-elect them, but also to crush President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats in Congress who also seek to stay in their jobs, as well as Democrat challengers to GOP incumbents.

One can only hope that these bills have the unintended consequence of galvanizing Democrat/liberal voters to likewise throng the voting booths and counteract any such rightist surge. I plan to help, if I can.

In Memoriam: Biagio Anthony "Ben" Gazzara, 1930-2012

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:06:40 GMT

More sad news out of the world of entertainment, following yesterday's announcement of the suicide of Don Cornelius: Veteran actor of stage, screen and television Ben Gazzara has died of pancreatic cancer at 81 at New York's Bellevue Hospital. An obituary for him in The New York Times can be found here.

Mr. Gazzara made an early impression on Your Humble when he appeared in ABC's first "Novel for Television," the precursor of what we know today as the perennially mislabeled "mini-series." It was a 1974 adaptation of the late Leon Uris' best-selling novel QB VII, in which Mr. Gazzara played Abraham Cady, a reporter and one of the two protagonists, more than holding his own opposite a not-yet-knighted Sir Anthony Hopkins as a former Nazi concentration-camp doctor who sues Cady for libel. It was a powerful performance in a lavishly-executed 6.5 hours of television, which established the template for all the similar "major television events" that would follow on ABC and other networks.

Of course, this was hardly the only distinguished entry in a resumé that spans an entire half-century; he also won the Emmy Award and was several times nominated for the Golden Globe Awards; he attended the famous Actors' Studio and studied under the legendary Lee Strasberg; and worked with five decades' worth of some of the biggest names in filmmaking, from John Cassavetes to Spike Lee. He also co-starred in the first made-for-TV movie dealing with the HIV/AIDS crisis, NBC's 1985 film An Early Frost, at a time when doing such a film was still a bit of a risk for any actor's career and reputation. And he was no less adept at comedy, from If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium to The Big Lebowski.

Heartfelt sympathies to his three wives and the rest of his family, friends, colleagues and fans. And thanks to the man himself for many years of extraordinary, gutsy thespianship.

In Memoriam: Donald Cortez "Don" Cornelius, 1936-2012

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:09:55 GMT

Shocking news coming out of Los Angeles, CA today: Rhythm & blues/soul music impresario Don Cornelius, 75, was found mortally injured by an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in his Sherman Oaks home by LA police around 4 AM Pacific time (7 AM Eastern). He was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he died shortly after arrival. Wikipedia has more information and background on his amazing career here.

It is impossible to say as yet why Mr. Cornelius would have decided to take his own life, though there is some speculation that Alzheimer's-related dementia may have played a role. It is also impossible to overstate the tremendous impact he had not only on African-American culture, but on the broader American culture and society as a whole by being creator, executive producer and first host of this ground-breaking program. In an era when (as documented in, among other places, John Waters' film Hairspray) black kids and artists rarely if ever got on mainstream shows like ABC's American Bandstand, Cornelius gave them their own version. He also founded Soul Train Records and the annual Soul Train Music Awards, which are still given out every November despite the fact that the Soul Train show itself finally ceased production in 2006 after nearly four decades. James Brown, Aretha Franklin and all the Jacksons owe at least part of their success to him, as do the black-owned companies whose wares he sold ad time for on the show (chief among them Johnson Products, makers of the Ultra Sheen hair-care line). Generations of artists both Caucasian and not, in music and other fields, were influenced by the show and the music it featured.

For a skinny white kid growing up in a lower-middle-class environment in southwest Louisiana, Soul Train was a window into a whole other world. At first its appearance every Saturday afternoon at lunchtime was merely a disappointing sign that cartoons were over for the day. As I grew older and watched more, however, it exposed me as it did many others to music and artists and dance moves that I might never, or much later, have encountered otherwise. It also exposed me to African-American people not all that different from the ones I saw on Bandstand, and thus did much to counteract the surrounding racism in which most of the Deep South is steeped. I began to look forward to hearing that famous deep voice, as sonorous and sensual as Barry White's, welcome us aboard "another exciting ride on the Soul Train."

My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to his ex-wife, children, grandchildren and other family, friends, colleagues and fans as they cope with this surely traumatic and sorrowful event. As for Mr. C. himself, I hope his soul, wherever it may now reside, has finally found some peace from a troubled life...and I also hope that he realized before he died what a difference he made in the world.

A word of thanks, a day overdue, and a hippo birdie

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:03:11 GMT

For those who don't know, the last entry's catalogue of dire events has increased. Last weekend the Songbird and I were to have attended the fourteenth annual GAFilk convention. I had been looking forward to this for months, and especially to hearing the Guests of Honor, vixyish and tfabris, perform.

Well, guess what? Your Dumbassed Correspondent, knowing when we returned home last Wednesday that our three cats had been allowed to shed hair and dander into the copious carpeting in our apartment for weeks while we were away, failed to vacuum it all up at once on Thursday. As a result, SB's usual allergic reaction of respiratory congestion was inevitable, and she was too ill to go to the con Friday evening. I went by myself to pick up our badges and banquet tickets and stayed long enough to tick her off when I came home around two a.m.

As Saturday morning came (and went), she had a fever in excess of 100°, which kiboshed any question of her attending the con at all, and I did not feel it right or safe to go back and have fun by myself with her in that condition. Ergo, we missed out on all the concerts, the banquet, the Interfilk auction (where I had placed a written bid on an old NolaCon II tape) and all the rest of Saturday's festivities.

Then I got a text message from my older brother, back home in Louisiana, saying that my mother's brother James had died, after languishing in a nursing home for the past year. His obituary is at the website of Delhomme Funeral Home, which has served the Leger and Girouard families for generations. Naturally, with Mary too sick to travel and me not being able to afford a plane ticket or risk a 15-hour drive alone, I could not attend his interment scheduled the next day.

About Sunday noon, SB was feeling somewhat better, although still not well enough to go out. She insisted I go back to the con and have at least a little time with friends, which turns out to have been both very wise and generous on her part. When I got there, I was blessed with hugs and sympathy aplenty from all present, plus a thoughtful condolence card signed by many. I got to chat for awhile with my filk parents, Harry and Marilyn Alm, and meet their doggies, then have a nice dinner with starmalachite and her husband stevemb among others at the favored after-con dinner spot, the Barbecue Kitchen (no website, alas)...and hms42 was kind enough to cover my meal when I discovered I lacked cash (the Kitchen doesn't do plastic, either). I also learned that another kind fan, Larry Kirby, had picked up the $5 tab for my auction item and made sure it was held for me. After dinner, it was back to the hotel for the always-fun Dead Dog Filk, where much fun was had by all at least until I had to bail to keep my promise to SB that I would be home at something vaguely resembling a decent hour.

Thanks, however belatedly, to both Harold and Larry, and a very happy birthday to Harold today. Both of you, please let me know how I can send you repayment for your expenditures on my behalf. It's good to have friends...especially when the universe isn't one.

G minus 7 days...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 23:08:03 GMT

Exactly one week from today, GAFilk XIV will take place at the Crowne Plaza Airport Atlanta Hotel. Longtime readers will recall this is the convention that honored Your Humble Correspondent by naming him Toastmaster last year (which was a metric buttload of fun—at least until the snowstorm hit—and the pictures are online to prove it!).

Who's planning to be there besides moi and the Songbird? We could sure as Goddamned hell use some friendly faces, singing and hugs and conviviality after the hellish last month or so we've had. (If you haven't been keeping up with our Facebook posts and don't know what I mean, let me know and I'll post the Reader's Digest condensed version here.)

Channeling my inner Capitol Steps

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:50:24 GMT

ANYONE, PLEASE, BUT ROMNEY!
Music: "Windy" by Ruthann Friedman ©1967, as recorded by The Association
Parody Lyrics: TCC

[Tea Partiers:]

We are today's Republican Party

Growling at ev'rybody we see;

Whom do we want on 2012's ticket?

Anyone, please, but Romney!

Ron and Michelle we loved for a moment,

The two Ricks and Herman polled superbly;

Who do we think can take back the White House?

Anyone, please, but Romney!

'Cause Romney has flip-flop eyes;

He says he's like us—he lies!

His rhetoric never flies

Or gets too loud...

Turns off the crowds!

[Mitt Romney:]
Ranting, it's true, I never do go there,

But Massachusetts voted for me!

[Tea Partiers:]

You built Obamacare 1.0 there—

No, we don't want you, Romney!

You ran once before in vain;

Nobody jumped on your train.

You couldn't beat John McCain!

How lame is that?

He's old and fat!

We're gonna make Barack a one-termer,

Not with a moderate empty suit;

We're going with a fresh new contender --

Ev'ryone knows that it's....Newt!

Parody lyrics ©2011 and beyond by Matt G. Leger. Any use for profit requires prior written consent from all copyright holders; all other uses of lyrics alone permitted so long as this credit is retained unaltered. No infringement on existing copyrights is intended or should be inferred.

In Memoriam: Harry Bratsberg Morgan, 1915-2011

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:43:17 GMT

It is with a heavy heart that I must report the passing of stage, film and TV actor Harry Morgan. He died today at the impressive age of 96 of pneumonia complications at his home in the tony Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The Associated Press has an obit here.

I was going to write an entry about how damn much I admired this man and his work...but my old pal filkertom beat me to the punch by saying it all and then some on his own LJ page. He even has a couple of YouTube links to some of Mr. Morgan's peerless perfs as Col. Sherman T. Potter, MD on the now-legendary CBS situation comedy M*A*S*H, by way of showing just why he was revered and loved as an actor.

I also fondly remember his appearance as the judge in the original film adaptation of one of my all-time favorite plays, Inherit the Wind, with the equally great Spencer Tracy and Frederic March as the protagonists and a young, pre-Bewitched Dick York as the luckless schoolteacher jailed for teaching his students the bald-faced truth—which, as Lazarus Long noted, is a capital offense in any society. It's one of the best films you'll ever clap eyes on...and if you haven't, go thou and rent the DVD at once. (By an interesting coincidence, Morgan almost became a real-life lawyer instead of acting; see the AP article. One is hard-pressed to decide whether this would have been society's loss or even greater gain.) I even remember seeing him a few times as LAPD Sgt. Joe Friday's equally phlegmatic sidekick, Det. Bill Gannon, on the TV version of Dragnet. The old gent invariably classed up anything he ever appeared in.

The hearts, thoughts and prayers of millions, including Your Humble, are with his daughter-in-law, three sons, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren; his castmates and friends; and all the rest who mourn the loss of a good man and a tremendous talent. Rest well, sir, and thank you from the bottom of an old lefty drama-club geek's heart.

In Memoriam: Anne Inez McCaffrey, 1926-2011

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:32:36 GMT

My heart is sick and sad. Tor Books reports on its website that Anne McCaffrey, author and winner of multiple awards including the Hugo and Nebula, has passed away of a stroke in her home in Ireland at 85. The full obituary is here.

Nobody reading this will likely need a catalog of her literary achievements, so I'll leave that to Wikipedia and others. But I was among those blessed to have met her in person as well as enjoyed her work, thanks to two dear friends, Harry and Marilyn Alm of my former home city of New Orleans, LA. She was a great and gentle lady, full of good humor and stout spirit, not to mention an imagination beggaring belief.

Her Dragonriders of Pern series, far and away her main literary calling card, still hold pride of place in my library despite many moves and resulting purges of excess bookage. I can still remember first encountering it via the third volume of the Harper Hall trilogy, Dragondrums, in a supermarket checkout carousel in Lafayette, LA where I was born and (mostly) raised...and then seeking out the other two, then the first three and more.

At least that work will continue, now firmly in the able hands of her son Todd, who has several Dragonrider books under his belt now both with and without his mother. Heartfelt sympathies to him and Anne's other family members, friends and fans the world over. And I am almost glad she doesn't actually have a dragon or fire lizards of her own to mourn her, else they would go between forever with her from the pain of loss. Thank you, dear lady, from the bottom of a bookish, skinny young geek-boy's heart, for many years of wonder and joy.

Right-wing editorial cartoonist resorts to libel against the Occupy movement

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:45:31 GMT

My local paper ran this syndicated cartoon today from Investors' Business Daily by conservative editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez. I hold no brief for the Occupy Wall Street/Oakland/You-name-it movement (though I do sympathize with some of their views); but this piece of dishonest, vicious tripe makes me so angry I can't even think straight:
Tea Party Members vs. Occupiers in a Right-Winger's Eyes: "Which is closer to 99 percent of America?"

As the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) famously said, "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion...but NOT to their own facts." Mr. Ramirez, where is your proof, sir? Have you any evidence at all of any member of any Occupy group having been accused, tried or convicted of "rapes, murders and suicides"? I seriously doubt it. (He also falsely accuses them of wanting to destroy capitalism (see sign) and notes his fictional Occupier "lives in his parents' basement" and "lives with Mom," which are the same thing and also untrue in most protesters' cases...but these are small beer compared to the above libelous caption.)

We should be used to the lies of the right by now, but this is one more instance of how they have kicked it up several notches lately. Disagreement with ideas and policy on the merits (or lack thereof) is one thing; false charges of rape and/or murder to demonize and discredit your opponent is quite another, and the Supreme Court has long ruled the latter outside the First Amendment's protections on speech. At the least—at the very least—IBD needs to be bombarded with phone calls, letters, faxes, e-mails and telegrams of complaint from anyone who has even a modicum of concern for truth and fairness, whether or not you agree with the Occupiers' views or tactics. And were I among the Occupy organizers (such as there may be), I would definitely be considering litigation against them and every other print publication or website that displays this defamation of character.

It should be noted that the home base of OWS was rousted out of Zucotti Park in the wee hours of yesterday by New York Police Dept. officers on orders from the mayor; maybe this is also indicative of how scared certain quarters are getting.

"Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"—Joseph Nye Welch, US Army head counsel, to Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) at the Army-McCarthy hearings, 1954

It's official: The GOP wants to keep us out of work until Obama is!

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:29:27 GMT

It's been rumored among liberal activists, hinted at by Democratic leaders and even said outright on snarky blogs. But until now, no one had any actual, concrete, documented proof. Now we have it, courtesy of MSNBC's Chris Jansing and Rep. Loretta Sanchez, the five-term Democrat representing California's 46th and 47th districts.

On Jansing's weekday-morning news/commentary show, Jansing & Co., in this interview reposted to YouTube, Sanchez revealed earlier this week that she has personally heard fellow members from the other side of the aisle, behind closed doors in the House, admitting in her presence that they not only want to keep the economy in the toilet and millions of unemployed out of work in hopes of making President Barack Obama look bad and winning back the White House (and possibly the Senate as well) next year, but are actively working to make sure that happens.

Naturally, she refuses to name names when prompted, as she still has to (try to) work with these ass-clowns. This will admittedly make her claim harder to trust...but if true, it's the first confirmation of what many of us on the left end of the political spectrum have long suspected. It explains the mule-headed behavior regarding the debt ceiling, the American Jobs Bill and so much else about these despicable "leaders" and how they really regard those who voted them in—as tools to win an election, and nothing more.

Being among those millions of un- and under-employed mentioned above, I probably ought to be spitting mad about this. But I'm actually finding hope in this news...because between this revelation, the GOP Presidential nomination candidates' various implosions in the debates and news coverage, and last week's unequivocal national repudiation (err, "refudiation"—sorry, Ms. Palin) of their party's extremist agenda and their damn-the-economy, destroy-Obama-at-any-cost strategy, they're handing my party the elections of 2012 on the proverbial silver platter. One year hence, the American people will know which party is really interested in helping them get back to work and the economy get back on track..and which party is only interested in helping themselves to power and money.

In Memoriam: Christopher "Keris" Croughton, 1956-2011

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:02:45 GMT

Horrible news from the other side of the pond this day: UK filk music fan/composer/performer Chris Croughton was involved in a three-car traffic accident in Buckinghamshire two days ago and was pronounced dead at the scene of injuries sustained in the crash. He was 55 years of age, according to this report on the incident from the BBC (thanks to rdmaughan for posting the link on filkertom's page) and two others survived.

Being that he was a British subject, I never got to see him in person terribly often myself. But the times he did show up in the States for GAFilk or other conventions, and his postings online as keristor here and elsewhere, gave me the impression of a very warm and kind human being and a genuine talent. My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends...and to all of the larger filk family here and in Europe of which he was a part.

In Memoriam: William Aloysius "Bil" Keane, 1922-2011

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:08:52 GMT

It is with a very heavy heart that I must report another cartooning icon of my childhood has left us. The creator of the long-running newspaper comic strip The Family Circus, Bil Keane, has died of congestive heart failure at 89 in his Arizona home; the full obit is here.

Although his son Jeff has actually been drawing the strip the past few years so his dad could enjoy a well-earned retirement, Keane pére still kept a close eye on the never-aging family of six (plus dog, cat and occasional smaller pet) he has chronicled since that first strip appeared on Leap Day, February 29 in 1960. Many could and did ridicule and parody his single-panel, circle-bound strip for its lack of social relevance or uproarious humor, but Keane said those were never his goal: "I don't just try to be funny...Many of my cartoons are not a belly laugh. I go for nostalgia, the lump in the throat, the tear in the eye, the tug in the heart."

Like its neighbor Peanuts, TFC was comfort-food reading, one of those features you could always count on to grace your daily funny pages, the one you could turn to for a chuckle of recognition, a trigger for memories and an occasional "awww" of sentiment. Its gentle humor speaks to the things that happen in every family with young children, the ones you laugh about when they are grown but drive you absolutely up the wall when they happen. Bil's sharp artist's pen and uncanny knack for capturing the child's-eye view of things (even long after his own children reached adulthood) was what kept his strip in front of the readers of over 1,500 papers around the world for half a century...and unlike Peanuts, TFC will continue in Jeff's able hands.

Prayers and deepest sympathies go out to his children, grandchildren and one great-grandchild, his Aussie wife Thel having pre-deceased him by three years.Goodbye and thank you, sir, for generations of fun for readers and inspiration for other artists...including Your Humble Correspondent.

In Memoriam: Andrew Aitken "Andy" Rooney, 1919-2011

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 19:00:18 GMT

Only weeks after finally retiring his long-running "A Few Minutes With..." segment on CBS-TV's Sunday night mainstay 60 Minutes, commentator Andy Rooney has died at 92 of complications from surgery for an undisclosed ailment. The full story is here.

Rooney redefined the word "curmudgeon" for two or three generations of viewers. His style and cranky attitude may have lent themselves to parody (and often did), but his observations about life, society and the issues of the day were always anything but boring. Even before becoming "America's favorite grump" on 60 Minutes, his reporting and producing work helped give CBS News its sterling reputation.

Thoughts and prayers go out to his surviving children, his wife having predeceased him by eight years. The world of journalism—and the world in general—are the poorer for his loss.

In Memoriam: Steven Paul Jobs, 1955-2011

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:37:01 GMT

This shouldn't be such a shock to me or anyone else; after all, just weeks ago Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs resigned as the company's Chief Executive Officer due to his rapidly failing health. But it is, nonetheless. We all knew it was likely coming...just not this soon. Jobs passed away today, at the exact same age my own mother did—56—and of another form of the very same illness, but no details of where or at what time death came are available as yet. CNN's website has the full story here.

It is by no means an exaggeration to say that Jobs achieved his own oft-stated goal of not just being successful at business or making cool products, but changing the world. Even if you've never touched an Apple product, chances are the company he founded with Steve Wozniak in that California garage decades ago and its products have had a profound effect on how you work, do business, play and live. Microsoft Corp. and others have been all too often forced to re-tailor their products, their strategies and even their business models in the wake of some new category-busting product or service out of the 1 Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino. Whole industries and companies only exist today because of him and Apple (Adobe Systems Inc. chief among them). Millions work and get news and entertainment on systems run by or containing his company's products. And that's not even talking about his work as head of Pixar Animation Studios, which he bought from fellow titan George Lucas back in 1986, or as a board member of its now corporate parent, The Walt Disney Co.

From the Apple II to the Macintosh, from the iPhone to the iPad, from iTunes to the new iCloud service debuting next week, Apple has impacted the worlds of business, technology, telecommunications and entertainment—not to mention the world in general—far out of proportion to its comparatively miniscule market share. And whatever you may say about Jobs' flaws, his missteps (his stubborn opposition to Mac OS clone computers, for one) or his outright failures (such as the one detailed in this story, for which shelleybear is to be thanked for hipping me), he did bring radical improvements to the way I make my living, graphics geek that I am...as well as the way I enjoy books, music, video, games and even songwriting. And even as Apple sometimes fell short of its own lofty standards for corporate citizenship, it blazed a trail for new, better business practices and techniques which other firms emulate still today.

My heart goes out to Mr. Jobs' family, his friends, his colleagues and the entire Apple staff in this exceedingly difficult hour. And to Mr. Jobs' questing spirit, wherever it may now reside: thank you, sir, and rest well. You have earned a place alongside Andy Moore, Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in the pantheon of computing industry pioneers.

GOP ex-Senator pundit plays "pin the blame on the donkey"...ignoring the elephant in the room

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 17:46:58 GMT

August 20, 2011

Letters to the Editor/Inbox Time Magazine Time & Life Building New York, NY 10020

Attn: Richard Stengel, Managing Editor Dear Mr. Stengel:

Former Republican Senator John Sununu's meretricious column "It's Obama's Downgrade" in your issue of August 29th cannot go unanswered. His assertion that President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party leadership in Congress are solely to blame for the recent economic policy debacles in Washington willfully ignores his own party's far larger role.

in the first place, even if we only discuss future debt rather than current or previous, much of it is for wars Sununu and his party got us into in Iraq and Afghanistan; the cost of extricating our troops from what are now internal civil wars—and of caring for the wounded coming home from them—would not even exist without their choices in the past decade to send the troops there. Second, the financial crisis took most of a decade of GOP-driven non-enforcement on securities fraud and predatory lending to bring about; no President of either party or philosophy, nor any Congress run by either, can hope to turn a disaster of such magnitude into prosperity within a scant two years in office, or even the four years the Democrats controlled Congress (2006-2010). And it was his party's mule-headed opposition to any and all revenue increases, coupled with their willingness to bring further economic ruin upon the country for the sake of their rich donors' wallets, that prevented enactment of debt reductions sufficient to satisfy the unelected, self-appointed arbiters of our economic destiny at Standard & Poor's.

The Bible (which many of Sununu's GOP confreres seem to think should guide our policy more than the Constitution) reminds us not to worry about the splinter in our neighbor's eye before we've removed the plank in our own. Sununu needs an optical 2x4-ectomy, stat...and if he thinks voters won't remember next November which party was really at fault, numerous recent media polls on the subject ought to have shown him otherwise. Even if the (barely) most credible candidate gets the GOP nomination for next year—Mitt Romney, most likely—he will still have the devil's own time overcoming this bald fact. And as the late sainted GOP icon Ronald Reagan famously observed, "facts are stubborn things." Sincerely, TCC

In Memoriam: Amy Jade Winehouse, 1983-2011

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 19:58:01 GMT

In a shocking but sadly unsurprising development, British singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse (who seemingly never got her name used in the media without the word "troubled" before it) was found dead earlier today in her London flat at 27. The full story is here; London's police have not given out cause of death nor mentioned foul play as yet. Wikipedia provides more here on her brief but meteoric career as a Motown-influenced pop chanteuse and her many medical, personal and legal problems.

A sad waste of a vibrant talent, however it happened, and a tragedy for an already no-doubt-burdened family. Sincere sympathies to them, her exes and friends as well as her many fans.

Minnesota Republicans give us a preview of what we might expect nationally in a few weeks

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 06:47:20 GMT

If by any chance your holiday weekend vacation plans include a trip to or through the great midwestern state of Minnesota, you might want to revise your itinerary...at least, if you were hoping to use any state-run rest stops, state parks, museums, zoos or other facilities. As a result of the intransigence of the Republican leaders of the Gopher State's legislature, all of these will be closed...possibly for weeks. CNN tells you why here...or you can settle for the Readers' Digest version here below:

Like most states and the federal government as well, Minnesota faces a humongous deficit in its state budget due to the economic downturn; about five billion dollars, give or take. And like most of those other governments, it also faced a deadline (in this case, midnight on the last day of the fiscal year, which was this past Friday) to pass a balanced budget for 2012. And as with John Boner and company up in Washington, the state's GOP solons are digging in their heels and pulling a Newt Gingrich, letting the state run out of money to run even essential facilities and services rather than admit that revenue increases—or as they prefer to call them, tax hikes—will have to be part of the solution along with reductions in spending and elimination of waste and fraud.

The GOP leaders in St. Paul accuse their Democrat governor, Mark Dayton (successor to current presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty) of being the one at fault for the shutdown, saying they laid a passed budget on his desk in time for him to sign it and beat the deadline. Dayton's response was that any budget containing only spending cuts and no new revenue was nothing but a political publicity stunt. And so it was that as many people headed out of town for the Independence Day weekend, thousands of state employees were told to stay home until further notice. This augurs exceedingly ill for the as yet equally futile effort by Congressional Dems and President Barack Obama to get Boehner and his cronies to allow some revenue-enhancing measures and finalize a fiscal 2012 budget. This would be before the major agencies carry out their threats to downgrade Uncle Sam's heretofore sterling AAA credit rating, for the first time in the history whose beginning we celebrate this weekend...and default on the government's even more massive debts is triggered.

Their own most sainted icon, the late former President Ronald Reagan, gives the lie to the GOP's dogged insistence that raising taxes kills jobs, as he and his fellow right-wingers then running Congress raised taxes more than once in his eight years in office without the massive unemployment we're seeing now. So Your Humble Correspondent is of the opinion that someone ought to go up to St. Paul and slap some sense into the idiots running the Lege...and then do likewise for the ones in D.C.—or else Minnesotans could start suffering immediately what the rest of us will likely endure when August 2nd arrives. And he can't wait to hear what one of our most famous Minnesotans, public radio's Garrison Keillor, has to say about it all...

When is an immigration law not an immigration law? When Georgia has it, apparently

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:45:33 GMT

By now, most of you fellow US readers blessed enough to live in politically saner states than Your Humble Correspondent will have heard all about our barmy state legislators' effort to ape Arizona in enacting a new law designed to do what they insist the federal government can't or won't, namely banish the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants (or "illegal aliens," for those whom I know will demand the more pejorative formulation—you know who you are) allegedly clogging our hospitals, schools and factories and sucking up money, services and jobs rightfully belonging to citizens and legal aliens.

You will also no doubt have heard about the calamity now befalling our state's agricultural industry due to this misbegotten law. If not, hearken: For decades Georgia growers of fruits and veggies have been heavily dependent on migrant laborers, most of whom are of Hispanic ethnicity and some of whom are illegals. Most of said laborers have decided to exit or avoid Georgia entirely this picking season because of HB 87. As a result, this year's crops of our world-famous Vidalia onions, not to mention the peaches for which the state is nicknamed and just about every other kind of produce normally harvested in large crops this time of year, is being left to rot in the fields unpicked because nobody else will do this back-breaking, sun-stroking labor for the miserly wages the growers want to pay. (ADDENDUM, 10:51 PM: Thanks to an old pal of mine, Keith Marshall, you can read more detail about the problem here.)

Anyhow, a reader of our local ~~fish-wrapper~~ great metropolitan newspaper wrote a letter thereto which appears in today's edition (scroll down here to see it) insisting that HB 87, contrary to the statements of those opposed to it (whose number, if you haven't by now already guessed, most certainly includes YHC), is not an "immigration law," but "a new law trying to deal with illegal immigrants in the state." He writes that since the law does not in any way alter existing immigration statutes of the state or federal governments, but rather makes explicit the authority of sub-federal law enforcement officers to enforce them, it cannot rightly be called an "immigration law" or even an "anti-immigration law," and anyone so calling it is distorting the actual meaning of the law. For reference, the full text of the legislation in question can be read here.

Now, this may sound like an utterly meaningless distinction to you, as it did to me at first. But I got to thinking about it as the day wore on, and I decided my right-leaning fellow newsprint junkie may have a valid point, however flimsy his logic may be. So I decided to solicit opinion from all of y'all (that's Southern-speak for "crowdsource"). Does this sound like a legit argument to you, or is it a steaming load of meadow-muffins? Discuss.

In Memoriam: Clarence Anicholas Clemons, 1942-2011

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 05:24:28 GMT

With thanks to filkertom for passing along the sad, sad news and the links: Fans of saxophony and of several genres of music have lost an icon tonight. Legendary sideman Clarence "The Big Man" Clemons, longtime mainstay of the even more legendary Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and a gifted performer and bandleader in his own right, has died at age 69 in a Palm Beach, FL hospital of complications following a stroke. The New York Times reports his obituary here, and Wikipedia tells you more about him here.

Whether backing The Boss on one of his many, many hits or spellbinding a crowd as a headliner himself, acting in films or showing amateur saxman Bill Clinton how it's done by a pro, you could always tell Clarence was doing what he loved, and loved what he did. Whatever anxiety his hulking 6'4", 250-lb. frame looming over you might have caused was disarmed in a heartbeat by his jovial mien and his joyful, peerless musicality.

My favorite memory of him is, perhaps surprisingly to some, not his famous cameo in the Springsteen song and video "Dancing in the Dark," but rather his bantering, blistering horn work on another more seasonal E Street recording: "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." See it performed here and understand why Clarence was so important a part of this band. He also showed up on top-charting hits with the likes of Jackson Browne, Aretha Franklin and even Lady Gaga just before his untimely end. And he gave back, too; he worked to help fund restoration of music education to schools and encourage youngsters to find their own musical talents.

Sincere sympathies to his four sons and other surviving family, his friends (especially Bruce and the boys) and his many fans worldwide. Heaven's angelic chorus just got a little bit jazzier tonight.

An open letter to Tony Weiner: Please resign. NOW.

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 04:04:02 GMT

At the risk of alienating my many New York resident friends, I feel compelled to make this request of their US Representative, Anthony Weiner, who has now admitted to "sexting" to six or more women via Twitter and Facebook accounts over the past three years and then lying about it when questioned by the press (see article here): Sir, give up your seat at once.

As they've said since Watergate, it's not the crime that kills you; it's the cover-up. The lewd messages were bad enough in themselves, but pulling a Bill Clinton and claiming your accounts were hacked by someone else compounds the offense. In addition to your relationship with your family and with the women who work with and for you, you have irreparably damaged any credibility you possessed, any influence and effectiveness you had as a Congressman and the voting public's perception of your integrity. You can no longer function as a representative under this cloud of self-created scandal, as even one lie told publicly calls all your other public statements into question.

But there's more to it than just you and your immediate circle of people. You have also just made yourself a liability and an albatross around the neck of every Democrat in Congress...and beyond. Need I remind you, sir, that you and all your House colleagues must face the voters every even-numbered year to persuade them that you deserve to keep your jobs...or that next year, our President and Vice President will be doing the same? If you think conservatives and Republicans won't use this as a club to beat everyone in the party running for Congress or higher with, you are far more naïve than someone of your experience and longevity in politics has any business being. And Messrs. Obama and Biden already have a tough enough row to hoe getting re-elected as it is.

Sexist, unprofessional behavior and dishonesty cannot be tolerated in any elected leader, of any party or philosophy. We cannot hold the GOP to an ethical standard we ourselves fail to honor. Your political career is over, Mr. Weiner, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not...but I hope you can at least have sense enough to consider how this affects your fellow Democrats. For the good of your party, your successor in office, the people of the 9th Congressional District who elected you and the nation as a whole, I urge you in the strongest possible terms to do the honorable thing, the sensible thing, the only thing you can do right now: Leave Congress and Washington, the sooner the better.

And an aside to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: If Weiner won't go on his own, shove him out the door—by any constitutionally sound means you can find. The party emphatically does NOT need this going into 2012.