Every day, I peruse the obituaries of the major daily newspaper delivered to my home, as well as online publications in other American cities. My sister in California thinks I’m crazy to do so, believing there is something morbid about such activity, but I have my reasons.
Much of the day’s news is often contained on who has left our earthly existence and it IS interesting to see the various contributions they made to our society. For the record, the obituary section of the Los Angeles Times (www.latimes.com) is superior to any paper in the land.
I also see if there is anyone I know, knew or, in the rare cases, with whom I had personal contact. Recently, I had three such passings that touched my life in small ways. Yet you recoil at some measure of shock to read that these people are gone.
Rabbi Sherwin T. Wine was known in Detroit, Mich. as “the Atheist Rabbi” having founded a movement known as Humanistic Judaism, celebrating Jewish history and culture but invoking the name of God. He was 79 at the time of his death from a car accident in Morocco.
Like me, he was a graduate of the University of Michigan and in 1965, he formed the first Humanistic Jewish congregation in Detroit (own mutual hometown). But before that, he was the associate rabbi (pastor) of Temple Beth-El, which was our family’s congregation. He taught little tykes like me in our Sunday school classes and presided over traditional Jewish worship services.
In 1965, he formed The Birmingham Temple in Farmington, Mich., which turned Judaism on its ear, following more of a Unitarian Universalist theme than what others knew before.
According to his obit in the Los Angeles Times, “Wine rewrote rituals to reflect a people-centric viewpoint. Thus, at Friday night services, ‘You shall love the Lord your God’ became ‘We revere the best in man.’ Poems were recited instead of prayers, and presentations on Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt replaced Torah readings at bar and bat mitzvahs.”
The small congregation expanded from eight families to 140 in two years’ time. It now claims 40,000 members worldwide through 50 “temples.”
But his passing reminded me of days very long ago. As did the death of songwriter Ron Miller at the age of 77 of cardiac arrest after battling emphysema and cancer.
If you are a fan of ‘60s music and especially, my favorite genre, Motown (the soundtrack of my youth), you might remember some of Miller’s biggest hits. He wrote “For Once in My Life,” first recorded by Stevie Wonder and subsequently, 269 times more, including a 2007 Grammy for a duet with Wonder and Tony Bennett.
He also wrote another Stevie Wonder hit, “Yester-me, Yester-you, Yesterday,” the Diana Ross hit, “Touch Me in the Morning” Celine Dion’s “If I Could,” and “Heaven Help Us All.”
Miller was a native of Chicago, who served in the Marines before migrating to Detroit to seek his fame and fortune. Eventually Motown founder Berry Gordy spotted him at a piano bar and asked him to write and produce for Motown Records.
But before that breakthrough happened, Ron Miller made a few scheckles by teaching people to play the piano. One of those groups was the Bloom family, at the insistence of my mother, who bought a baby grand piano but didn’t know how to properly use it. She wanted to be able to play “Moon River” for party guests and after seeing Miller play at a private club, she hired him.
Working with Mom was easier than trying to instruct her musically-dense son. I was a hopeless case because, within my DNA, there is no capacity to read music. I have the same problem with foreign languages – the ability to instantly translate words and sounds in my mind within that spectrum. I mull it over in English and the thought process just takes too long.
Still, every time I heard “For Once in My Life,” I thought of my failed attempts to become Billy Joel.
And then there was Bill Flemming, a name many of you might recognize. Actually, it would be the face and voice that would stand out. He left us July 20 at the age of 80 from prostate cancer.
If you ever watched “ABC’s Wide World of Sports,” or college football or any major athletic event on ABC, chances are you heard the dulcet tones of Flemming. He called the famed 1969 Michigan-Ohio State “upset of the century” game and was totally objective despite being a native of Ann Arbor and, yes, a graduate of the University of Michigan.
He also did cliff diving from Acapulco, hurling from Ireland and more than 600 events for “Wide World of Sports.” He was also a member of 11 Olympic coverage teams for ABC and was the announcer for the 1972 chess showdown between chess divas Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. Back then, THAT was a major sporting event – as big as David Beckham coming to America.
When I worked as a student assistant in the Michigan sports information department, I often came into contact with Bill Flemming and always found him to be cordial, nice and never pushy (unlike some others wearing the same insignia). He took pride in his work but never took himself too seriously.
He made everyone feel at ease – from grizzled old coaches to nervous young assistants trying to make good impressions. It wasn’t necessary because Bill Flemming liked everyone, and everyone liked him.
I will continue to check the obituaries today and tomorrow – to make sure I’m not there, but also to see who is. Sadly, the older I get, the more names I know.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
No full faith and credit from Austin
Under the current Republican-controlled Texas Legislature, the public has seen an abomination taking place in higher education, where those in charge have failed to put their full faith and (most importantly) credit behind two programs – the Texas Tomorrow Fund and B On Time – aimed at helping students advance toward college degrees.
By their actions and votes, Austin lawmakers think it is more important for blind people to own guns, or toll our public roads to death, or to sanctify the hamburger, than allow students to gain access to state universities and colleges. They now renege on the prior agreements made with the citizenry, and tell the public that only the privileged will have financial access to higher education at a time when increased learning, not less, is needed for society’s future growth.
The Texas Tomorrow Fund Guaranteed Tuition Program was established in 1996, to permit Texan families to lock down the cost of future college tuition and fees (five years’ worth of tuition and fees ant any state university) at current prices (at the time of agreement) for their children, either by installment payments or paying a lump sum – all tax-free. As originally envisioned, parents could enroll their children at any age.
It sounded like an excellent deal for people to plan for a child’s future education, and some 158,000 contracts were executed. TTF garnered assets of some $1.6 billion (yes, with a “B”), making it one of the state’s largest investment funds.
But poor financial planning by the state and the trickery that the legislators employed (massive diversion of ALL program funding, from state parks to gasoline taxes used to fix the roads) to deal with a budget deficit (while still trying to provide for some imaginary property tax cut).
So, in the summer of 2003, the Legislature closed TTF to newcomers and, at the same time, approved the dirtiest word in Texas education – deregulation. Austin gave the state’s 35 colleges and universities an open invitation to increase tuition at whatever level they felt like (until then the Legislature set the rates), and lo and behold, what result was a record hike in those fees – more than 40 percent over the last four years.
TTF can only pay tuition that is less than the average, not more. That means the more expensive institutions must cover the difference out of their own funds. In 2005, the six largest Texas universities had to pony up with $7 million to cover the difference for students using the Tomorrow Fund, according to the Comptroller’s report.
Now, TTF is underfunded by some $3.3 billion, according to the Comptroller’s office and TTF remains closed to anyone trying to open an account. In fact, so short-sighted has been the Legislature in its handling of this programs that TTF won’t be able to cover tuition payment through … 2029.
And now we have major problems with the B On Time Loan program, which provides eligible Texas students with no-interest loans to attend state colleges and universities. If a student meets a set of standards and specific goals, the entire loan amount can be forgiven upon graduation.
A BOT loan disappears (but appears as taxable income to the IRS so no one gets off Scot-free) if the student earns an undergraduate degree or certificate from an eligible institution with a grade point average of 3.0 or more (on a 4.0 scale), and does it in four years (five years for engineering, architecture students or other advance degree programs) or two years for community college degrees.
Alas, the dear ole Legislature fooled around and made changes to BOT’s funding for 2008-09 and there isn’t enough money provided to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to fund all the loans already approved and promised to incoming students. In fact, notification of this shortcoming only was sent to prospective students a few weeks before the start of school. Because of the budgetary dilly-dallying in Austin, the two schedules (application process approval and financial notification) didn’t jive.
When you combine all this with the alteration of the 10 percent admission policy (which allowed for the top 10 percent of any high school’s graduating class to have priority for state college admission), it becomes fairly clear that higher education in Texas will only be the province of the rich. Graduates form rural communities, and especially small-town minorities, have been placed behind the economic eight-ball when compared to the wealthier, and far more whining, suburbanites, who all too often believe that a place at UT or A&M is theirs by some sort of divine right because of their address.
Such policies and priorities are just wrong, and it is time for the public to recognize it, be vigilant and change the representation in Austin – to bring in people with priorities that actually benefit more than just a precious few.
And THAT cannot be done unless you actually VOTE to change the faces sent to Austin. Unless such policies are just fine with you and, if that is the case, I feel sorry for your vision of this state’s future.
By their actions and votes, Austin lawmakers think it is more important for blind people to own guns, or toll our public roads to death, or to sanctify the hamburger, than allow students to gain access to state universities and colleges. They now renege on the prior agreements made with the citizenry, and tell the public that only the privileged will have financial access to higher education at a time when increased learning, not less, is needed for society’s future growth.
The Texas Tomorrow Fund Guaranteed Tuition Program was established in 1996, to permit Texan families to lock down the cost of future college tuition and fees (five years’ worth of tuition and fees ant any state university) at current prices (at the time of agreement) for their children, either by installment payments or paying a lump sum – all tax-free. As originally envisioned, parents could enroll their children at any age.
It sounded like an excellent deal for people to plan for a child’s future education, and some 158,000 contracts were executed. TTF garnered assets of some $1.6 billion (yes, with a “B”), making it one of the state’s largest investment funds.
But poor financial planning by the state and the trickery that the legislators employed (massive diversion of ALL program funding, from state parks to gasoline taxes used to fix the roads) to deal with a budget deficit (while still trying to provide for some imaginary property tax cut).
So, in the summer of 2003, the Legislature closed TTF to newcomers and, at the same time, approved the dirtiest word in Texas education – deregulation. Austin gave the state’s 35 colleges and universities an open invitation to increase tuition at whatever level they felt like (until then the Legislature set the rates), and lo and behold, what result was a record hike in those fees – more than 40 percent over the last four years.
TTF can only pay tuition that is less than the average, not more. That means the more expensive institutions must cover the difference out of their own funds. In 2005, the six largest Texas universities had to pony up with $7 million to cover the difference for students using the Tomorrow Fund, according to the Comptroller’s report.
Now, TTF is underfunded by some $3.3 billion, according to the Comptroller’s office and TTF remains closed to anyone trying to open an account. In fact, so short-sighted has been the Legislature in its handling of this programs that TTF won’t be able to cover tuition payment through … 2029.
And now we have major problems with the B On Time Loan program, which provides eligible Texas students with no-interest loans to attend state colleges and universities. If a student meets a set of standards and specific goals, the entire loan amount can be forgiven upon graduation.
A BOT loan disappears (but appears as taxable income to the IRS so no one gets off Scot-free) if the student earns an undergraduate degree or certificate from an eligible institution with a grade point average of 3.0 or more (on a 4.0 scale), and does it in four years (five years for engineering, architecture students or other advance degree programs) or two years for community college degrees.
Alas, the dear ole Legislature fooled around and made changes to BOT’s funding for 2008-09 and there isn’t enough money provided to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to fund all the loans already approved and promised to incoming students. In fact, notification of this shortcoming only was sent to prospective students a few weeks before the start of school. Because of the budgetary dilly-dallying in Austin, the two schedules (application process approval and financial notification) didn’t jive.
When you combine all this with the alteration of the 10 percent admission policy (which allowed for the top 10 percent of any high school’s graduating class to have priority for state college admission), it becomes fairly clear that higher education in Texas will only be the province of the rich. Graduates form rural communities, and especially small-town minorities, have been placed behind the economic eight-ball when compared to the wealthier, and far more whining, suburbanites, who all too often believe that a place at UT or A&M is theirs by some sort of divine right because of their address.
Such policies and priorities are just wrong, and it is time for the public to recognize it, be vigilant and change the representation in Austin – to bring in people with priorities that actually benefit more than just a precious few.
And THAT cannot be done unless you actually VOTE to change the faces sent to Austin. Unless such policies are just fine with you and, if that is the case, I feel sorry for your vision of this state’s future.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
You shouldn’t take it with you
Author's Note: This is the column that appears in today's (July 19) edition of the Dallas Morning News' Collin County Opinion Pages:
Human nature, being the bewildering phenomenon that it is, makes some of us confess to things we’d rather not make public. Almost all of us fib (just a little) to loved ones (we call them “white lies”) and on our taxes (we call them “deductions”).
And this summer, many of us Collin Countyies will take trips to special places and return with what can generously be considered “souvenirs” – those little mementos (a towel, ashtray, glass) with hotel insignias to remind you of the wonderful times while staying there.
I have my personal collection over the years – towels from the UT Frank Erwin Special Events Center, Golden Nugget and other Las Vegas hotels that have been reduced to dust by dynamite and the wrecker ball. One hand towel came from our honeymoon hotel in Waikiki and I just found an old shoe shine pad from the Hotel Thayer at West Point, N.Y., obtained during the 1972 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
I’m no criminal; it’s just human nature … but at least one unnamed Texas-based national hotel chain which, in English means “country house or villa” (and for which there are NONE offered within the chain) is addressing such behavior. Upon check-in recently to one of its double-bedded rooms, there sat a small placard on the nightstand.
And it read:
I know what you’re thinking: no proper home is complete without a set of sheets too small to cover any normal bed and which feel like someone dump a pile of sand on them in the wash. Every child wants to dry off using a towel that feel like cat claws on tender skin and all of you have dreamt of wrapping up in those hotel comforters on a chilly night.
Right?
For $140, you can owe a set of four dingy white, overly-bleached, over-starched towels and hand towels that are too small to cover most infants and over which most of America has trampled on dirty hotel room floors – without even so much as an insignia to designate initial origin. Gee whiz, the folks at West Point Pepperell are shakin’ in their boots at the prospect of the consumer frenzy.
And there’s this “other” issue. In past years, through mental lapses (or that bad waffle mix at 7 a.m. – I’m not sure which), my wife and I have accidentally donated a few pillows of our own to the corporate cause on various trips.
I am not quite sure if the people at “The Villa” owe me anything, but by their own calculations, I figure it should be good for a $90 credit … if I follow their logic. What’s good for the goose should be equal for the gander.
Bottom line? These people think a little too highly of their laundry product. Recent changes find them washing their linen less often (under the guise of water conservation), meaning there is less to do for housekeeping. Pass the savings to the customer? Ha! The rates have all gone higher.
Want to penalize people for stealing towels and sheets? Tell them at check-in that the hotel reserves the right to add a penalty equal to one night’s stay for loss of linen. But don’t make a laundry list of charges for your laundry. That’s highly overrated, like the room you’re in.
Back to human nature, being what it is, I did something to remind me of my experience for the night.
I took the placard.
For this column. It went UPS the next week.
My guilt was overwhelming.
Human nature, being the bewildering phenomenon that it is, makes some of us confess to things we’d rather not make public. Almost all of us fib (just a little) to loved ones (we call them “white lies”) and on our taxes (we call them “deductions”).
And this summer, many of us Collin Countyies will take trips to special places and return with what can generously be considered “souvenirs” – those little mementos (a towel, ashtray, glass) with hotel insignias to remind you of the wonderful times while staying there.
I have my personal collection over the years – towels from the UT Frank Erwin Special Events Center, Golden Nugget and other Las Vegas hotels that have been reduced to dust by dynamite and the wrecker ball. One hand towel came from our honeymoon hotel in Waikiki and I just found an old shoe shine pad from the Hotel Thayer at West Point, N.Y., obtained during the 1972 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
I’m no criminal; it’s just human nature … but at least one unnamed Texas-based national hotel chain which, in English means “country house or villa” (and for which there are NONE offered within the chain) is addressing such behavior. Upon check-in recently to one of its double-bedded rooms, there sat a small placard on the nightstand.
And it read:
After arising from sticker shock, I continued to read:Dear Guest,
Due to the popularity of our guest room amenities, our Housekeeping Department now offers these items for sale:
Bath towels – $20
Hand towels – $15
Bath mats – $10
Face cloths – $10
Pillows – $30
Set of Sheets – $60
Blankets/Comforters – $50
Each guest room attendant (the new politically correct term for “maid”) is responsible for maintaining the guest room items. Should you decide to take these articles from the room, instead of obtaining them from the Executive Housekeeper (PC for “head maid”), we will assume you approve a corresponding charge to your account. Thank you.
I know what you’re thinking: no proper home is complete without a set of sheets too small to cover any normal bed and which feel like someone dump a pile of sand on them in the wash. Every child wants to dry off using a towel that feel like cat claws on tender skin and all of you have dreamt of wrapping up in those hotel comforters on a chilly night.
Right?
For $140, you can owe a set of four dingy white, overly-bleached, over-starched towels and hand towels that are too small to cover most infants and over which most of America has trampled on dirty hotel room floors – without even so much as an insignia to designate initial origin. Gee whiz, the folks at West Point Pepperell are shakin’ in their boots at the prospect of the consumer frenzy.
And there’s this “other” issue. In past years, through mental lapses (or that bad waffle mix at 7 a.m. – I’m not sure which), my wife and I have accidentally donated a few pillows of our own to the corporate cause on various trips.
I am not quite sure if the people at “The Villa” owe me anything, but by their own calculations, I figure it should be good for a $90 credit … if I follow their logic. What’s good for the goose should be equal for the gander.
Bottom line? These people think a little too highly of their laundry product. Recent changes find them washing their linen less often (under the guise of water conservation), meaning there is less to do for housekeeping. Pass the savings to the customer? Ha! The rates have all gone higher.
Want to penalize people for stealing towels and sheets? Tell them at check-in that the hotel reserves the right to add a penalty equal to one night’s stay for loss of linen. But don’t make a laundry list of charges for your laundry. That’s highly overrated, like the room you’re in.
Back to human nature, being what it is, I did something to remind me of my experience for the night.
I took the placard.
For this column. It went UPS the next week.
My guilt was overwhelming.
Overheard at the dinner table
Actual conversation in my household last night:
Me: Honey, let's go to a movie Saturday afternoon.
Wifey: Can't.
Me: Why not?
Wifey: Gotta wait for it to come.
Me: For what?
Wifey: The book!
Me: The Harry Potter book? It'll get here and you'll hve plenty of time to read it. But we need to see a movie.
Wifey: Can't. Gotta read it as soon as it gets here.
Me: Why? It won't disappear. It won't change.
Wifey: Gotta read it through when it gets here.
Me: What about Sunday?
Wifey: Can't. Gotta sleep.
Me: Why?
Wifey: Will be up all night reading the new Harry Potter book.
Me: Oh for Goodness sake. Save me from this nightmare.
Me: Honey, let's go to a movie Saturday afternoon.
Wifey: Can't.
Me: Why not?
Wifey: Gotta wait for it to come.
Me: For what?
Wifey: The book!
Me: The Harry Potter book? It'll get here and you'll hve plenty of time to read it. But we need to see a movie.
Wifey: Can't. Gotta read it as soon as it gets here.
Me: Why? It won't disappear. It won't change.
Wifey: Gotta read it through when it gets here.
Me: What about Sunday?
Wifey: Can't. Gotta sleep.
Me: Why?
Wifey: Will be up all night reading the new Harry Potter book.
Me: Oh for Goodness sake. Save me from this nightmare.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Lady Bird's recipe
In honor of the late Lady Bird Johnson, whom they laid to rest in her beloved Stonewall, Texas last Sunday afternoon, I present you with one of her gifts - a chili recipe that she proudly made for guests.
I got it first years ago on a post card that was sold for a quarter at the LBJ Library in Austin and LBJ National Parks Site in Johnson City. So it's not a secret family heirloom.
As chilis go, it's sorta bland unless you "Emeril" it several notches, but I was told she enjoyed making it for ranch guests and it was her creation.
So enjoy!
Lady Bird Johnson’s Pedernales River Chili
4 lbs. ground beef (chuck)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground oregano
1 tsp. ground cumin
6 tsp. chili powder (to taste)
2 cans (1 lb. each) tomatoes, not drained
Salt to taste
2 cups hot water
Put meat, onion and garlic in large, heavy pan; sear until lightly colored.
Add oregano, cumin, chili powder, salt, tomatoes and hot water. Bring to boil; lower heart and summer for 1 hour. As fat cooks out, skim from chili.
Serves 8-12.
I got it first years ago on a post card that was sold for a quarter at the LBJ Library in Austin and LBJ National Parks Site in Johnson City. So it's not a secret family heirloom.
As chilis go, it's sorta bland unless you "Emeril" it several notches, but I was told she enjoyed making it for ranch guests and it was her creation.
So enjoy!
Lady Bird Johnson’s Pedernales River Chili
4 lbs. ground beef (chuck)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground oregano
1 tsp. ground cumin
6 tsp. chili powder (to taste)
2 cans (1 lb. each) tomatoes, not drained
Salt to taste
2 cups hot water
Put meat, onion and garlic in large, heavy pan; sear until lightly colored.
Add oregano, cumin, chili powder, salt, tomatoes and hot water. Bring to boil; lower heart and summer for 1 hour. As fat cooks out, skim from chili.
Serves 8-12.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Good night and good luck with all that
So Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki claims his nation doesn't NEED U.S. troops to help protect his sorry ass and his worthless nation.
Then this should be our response.
If this fool doesn't want us there, we should NOT be in that hell hole one SECOND longer than is needed to pack up and leave.
And, oh yeah, we are taking everything with us - including your goddamn oil.
Suck on THAT!
Another reason to get the hell out of there ...NOW!
Then this should be our response.
"Goodbye, good riddance and we won't let the mosque door hit us on the ass on the way out."
If this fool doesn't want us there, we should NOT be in that hell hole one SECOND longer than is needed to pack up and leave.
And, oh yeah, we are taking everything with us - including your goddamn oil.
Suck on THAT!
Another reason to get the hell out of there ...NOW!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
G.I. Joe
In 1999-2000, had most Democrats known that Conn. Senator Joe Lieberman was SUCH a warmonger, as he poses to be today, he would NEVER have been nominated to be Al Gore's running mate. He is a total betrayal to the party, that rightfully voted against him in 2006. Sadly the Republicans abandoned their own party's nominee and re-elected Lieberman as an independent.
Lieberman acts like the best GOP war supporter in Congress for Bush's shameful war.
And as one fellow Jew to another, Joe should be ashamed of himself. The U.S. is not conducting any kind of mitzvah. We've set ourselves up to become to brunt of all the world's anymosity.
Joe, you're a total schmuck about this.
Lieberman acts like the best GOP war supporter in Congress for Bush's shameful war.
And as one fellow Jew to another, Joe should be ashamed of himself. The U.S. is not conducting any kind of mitzvah. We've set ourselves up to become to brunt of all the world's anymosity.
Joe, you're a total schmuck about this.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Benoit tragedy linked to steroids
The horrific tragedy playing out in suburban Atlanta, involving pro wrestler Chris Benoit and the double murder-suicide at his home is already being linked to that most evil of culprits - steroids.
Apparently, he smothered his 7-year-old son, strangled his wife and then hung himself in his weight room. Sources are telling CNN (right there in Atlanta) they suspect steroid involvement and this being a case of steroid rage. One look at Benoit in the ring and how he looks would lend some level of creedence.
Normally I would say this would spell doom for pro wrestling because the dirty little secret, which has already claimed other lives (Eddy Guerrero) and is now taking innocent lives. But the resilient WWE paid a three-hour tribute to Benoit Monday night, which appears ridiculous in light of the emerging news stories. Hell, it bumped off a storyline about the "death" of WWE leader Vince McMahon - great, exploiting tragedy for ratings.
Just like Fox News.
And the pro wrestling fans have apparently found a new blood lust in this shit called mixed-martial arts which is legalized mugging to the Rollerball-style cheering of people. I guess that is totally steroid free --right????????
At least Jason Giambi or Barry Bonds didn't kill anyone.
Apparently, he smothered his 7-year-old son, strangled his wife and then hung himself in his weight room. Sources are telling CNN (right there in Atlanta) they suspect steroid involvement and this being a case of steroid rage. One look at Benoit in the ring and how he looks would lend some level of creedence.
Normally I would say this would spell doom for pro wrestling because the dirty little secret, which has already claimed other lives (Eddy Guerrero) and is now taking innocent lives. But the resilient WWE paid a three-hour tribute to Benoit Monday night, which appears ridiculous in light of the emerging news stories. Hell, it bumped off a storyline about the "death" of WWE leader Vince McMahon - great, exploiting tragedy for ratings.
Just like Fox News.
And the pro wrestling fans have apparently found a new blood lust in this shit called mixed-martial arts which is legalized mugging to the Rollerball-style cheering of people. I guess that is totally steroid free --right????????
At least Jason Giambi or Barry Bonds didn't kill anyone.
The Not-So-Supreme Court
Whatever ever happened to the principle of your personal freedom ends at the point of my nose?
Just how FAR will the arm of the government reach if you restrict the free speech of an individual (and at last check, children WERE individuals unless that status has changed ...) away from the work place and/or school campus. This pussyfoot Court took steps to claim its ruling did NOT apply to anything else but, hell, the door is now wide fucking open.
But what do you expect? The Court reflects exactly what this dick-shit President wants it to think - regardless of such silly concepts as legality. The Supreme Court is supposed to interpret the law and cases, not create legal excuses. We HAVE an activist court, just leaning now for conservatives (who, when in charge, are as blind as bats). Imagine what 5-4 ruling will go if the Cheney is/is NOT part of the executive branch argument ever reaches its desk.
It is a sad day NOW when you can predict IN ADVANCE what the court will rule before a single word is uttered in arguments. That means the fix is in!
And the rest of us have to live with the consequences in a country that is losing its rights (and left) quickly rather than slower.
God HELP America!
Just how FAR will the arm of the government reach if you restrict the free speech of an individual (and at last check, children WERE individuals unless that status has changed ...) away from the work place and/or school campus. This pussyfoot Court took steps to claim its ruling did NOT apply to anything else but, hell, the door is now wide fucking open.
But what do you expect? The Court reflects exactly what this dick-shit President wants it to think - regardless of such silly concepts as legality. The Supreme Court is supposed to interpret the law and cases, not create legal excuses. We HAVE an activist court, just leaning now for conservatives (who, when in charge, are as blind as bats). Imagine what 5-4 ruling will go if the Cheney is/is NOT part of the executive branch argument ever reaches its desk.
It is a sad day NOW when you can predict IN ADVANCE what the court will rule before a single word is uttered in arguments. That means the fix is in!
And the rest of us have to live with the consequences in a country that is losing its rights (and left) quickly rather than slower.
God HELP America!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Is Paris Burning … yet?
The national pastime of America is no longer the great game of baseball. The activity that seems to float the boat of most people is celebrity voyeurism – the burning desire to gawk at the public works and private lives, and subsequently seek to destroy, of those men and women in entertainment field, sports, politics (even religion) for some sort of perverse pleasure. Simply put, we like tearing down people who have “made it.” I don’t know why, but we do.
The latest example is the legal trials and tribulations of one Paris Hilton. This 26-year-old woman’s legal affairs have been splashed across the TV screens of the world like so much old Aqua Velva in a sweaty men’s locker room. It reached the absurd point of no return last Friday, like a circle of small children watching an animal being tortured merely to get their kicks from it.
Here is the real situation. In Los Angeles, this was a political battle over a power base between Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer and L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca. Little Miss Hilton is caught in the middle.
Paris was ordered to serve a 45-day sentence for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case, but she was released, by Baca, after serving three days (which is three days longer than this girl ever imagined).
After the word got out, the judge ordered her back into court and tossed back in the pokey. Fair enough most of you said. She should do the time for having done the crime, right?
Except … the sheriff let her out and the battle was on.
In a reversal of discrimination of sorts, the sheriff told a news conference that Hilton’s celebrity was working against her.
“The criminal justice system should not create a football out of Miss Hilton,” Baca said. “The only thing I can detect as special treatment is her sentence. The special treatment appears to be her celebrity status.”
Of course, Hilton didn’t help her own cause by bawling like a 3-year-old, crying for my mommy.
According to the Los Angeles Times, in the last five years, the LA County Sheriff’s Department “has released more than 200,000 inmates early, including some who ended up committing murders and other serious crimes when they otherwise would have been behind bars.
“It would be an interesting clash of judicial power,” said UCLA law professor Sharon Dolovich said.
Let’s state this clearly: Paris Hilton is a stupid, vapid, spoiled woman of ridiculous wealth (not earned at all) whose only claim to talent apparently was having sex with a former boyfriend that was seen by million on tape. As a member of society, she contributes nothing of any discernable value although I am sure some rare examples of humanity can be cited.
That having been said, this also is true: men want to be with here and many, many women want to be her (young, fairly attractive, filthy rich, able to attract male at the snap of her fingers). Anyone who says they don’t dream of having more money than God, and being perpetually young and attractive, is a flat out lying hypocrite!
Want some more truth? Rich people have a different standard of “justice” than others because of their accessibility to better lawyers. You DO get what you pay for (just ask someone named O.J.).
So why does this constant yearning to tear down people of means and celebrity on the public’s part? Is it because we want them to lead lives as ordinary and mundane as ours? Or is it jealousy of the talent, wealth, fame and, yes, sexual advantages that being among the “beautiful people” commands? People want to rip actress Angelina Jolie all the time and I suspect it is because she’s probably the most gorgeous woman on the planet who is involved with Brad Pitt, one of the most handsome males on the same planet – not because of any adoption, her politics or her humanitarian efforts.
To seek punishment for illegal behavior is one thing; that is well-deserved in this case. However, when we cease to punish and merely want to torment a particular person, then the line has been crossed to some sort of perversion. Retribution becomes entertainment and, in any compassionate society that it laughingly claims to be, that is morally wrong.
If you really want to punish a person like Paris Hilton, how about this: IGNORE HER! Simply don’t give her any publicity, any photos, any attention or even the time of day. A celebrity is not a celebrity if no one notices.
But do not treat her like a piece of meat in a tank full of piranhas … which is what the American public has become. Shame on many of you for acting like voyeurs; you do not honor yourselves or our society.
Those with their eyes glued to the television, smiling at the prospects of Paris Hilton being perp-walked, only feed such frenzy.
Because, in the end, what has she ever done to you?
The latest example is the legal trials and tribulations of one Paris Hilton. This 26-year-old woman’s legal affairs have been splashed across the TV screens of the world like so much old Aqua Velva in a sweaty men’s locker room. It reached the absurd point of no return last Friday, like a circle of small children watching an animal being tortured merely to get their kicks from it.
Here is the real situation. In Los Angeles, this was a political battle over a power base between Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer and L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca. Little Miss Hilton is caught in the middle.
Paris was ordered to serve a 45-day sentence for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case, but she was released, by Baca, after serving three days (which is three days longer than this girl ever imagined).
After the word got out, the judge ordered her back into court and tossed back in the pokey. Fair enough most of you said. She should do the time for having done the crime, right?
Except … the sheriff let her out and the battle was on.
In a reversal of discrimination of sorts, the sheriff told a news conference that Hilton’s celebrity was working against her.
“The criminal justice system should not create a football out of Miss Hilton,” Baca said. “The only thing I can detect as special treatment is her sentence. The special treatment appears to be her celebrity status.”
Of course, Hilton didn’t help her own cause by bawling like a 3-year-old, crying for my mommy.
According to the Los Angeles Times, in the last five years, the LA County Sheriff’s Department “has released more than 200,000 inmates early, including some who ended up committing murders and other serious crimes when they otherwise would have been behind bars.
“The releases were possible because of a nearly 20-year-old federal court order allowing the Los Angeles County sheriff to alleviate overcrowding by letting county offenders go home early.While West Coast legal experts debated the sheriff’s authority to issue such an early release, those same experts admitted that it is a common practice and judges almost ever challenge such actions.
“Behind closed doors, many judges have complained that the releases have circumvented the justice system — essentially giving an elected sheriff the power to re-sentence offenders in violation of the constitutional separation of power. But few have been willing to speak publicly, and no one has challenged Baca on legal grounds.”
“It would be an interesting clash of judicial power,” said UCLA law professor Sharon Dolovich said.
Let’s state this clearly: Paris Hilton is a stupid, vapid, spoiled woman of ridiculous wealth (not earned at all) whose only claim to talent apparently was having sex with a former boyfriend that was seen by million on tape. As a member of society, she contributes nothing of any discernable value although I am sure some rare examples of humanity can be cited.
That having been said, this also is true: men want to be with here and many, many women want to be her (young, fairly attractive, filthy rich, able to attract male at the snap of her fingers). Anyone who says they don’t dream of having more money than God, and being perpetually young and attractive, is a flat out lying hypocrite!
Want some more truth? Rich people have a different standard of “justice” than others because of their accessibility to better lawyers. You DO get what you pay for (just ask someone named O.J.).
So why does this constant yearning to tear down people of means and celebrity on the public’s part? Is it because we want them to lead lives as ordinary and mundane as ours? Or is it jealousy of the talent, wealth, fame and, yes, sexual advantages that being among the “beautiful people” commands? People want to rip actress Angelina Jolie all the time and I suspect it is because she’s probably the most gorgeous woman on the planet who is involved with Brad Pitt, one of the most handsome males on the same planet – not because of any adoption, her politics or her humanitarian efforts.
To seek punishment for illegal behavior is one thing; that is well-deserved in this case. However, when we cease to punish and merely want to torment a particular person, then the line has been crossed to some sort of perversion. Retribution becomes entertainment and, in any compassionate society that it laughingly claims to be, that is morally wrong.
If you really want to punish a person like Paris Hilton, how about this: IGNORE HER! Simply don’t give her any publicity, any photos, any attention or even the time of day. A celebrity is not a celebrity if no one notices.
But do not treat her like a piece of meat in a tank full of piranhas … which is what the American public has become. Shame on many of you for acting like voyeurs; you do not honor yourselves or our society.
Those with their eyes glued to the television, smiling at the prospects of Paris Hilton being perp-walked, only feed such frenzy.
Because, in the end, what has she ever done to you?
Sopranos blogging
Once the final credits rolls Sunday night to end “The Sopranos,” I immediately joined the blog on the Dallas Morning News (Over the Top) and contributed to the discussion – split 50-50 about liking the open-ended, non-conclusion. Those who didn’t like it felt strongly that there should have been closure. Others like me felt more than satisfied with the surprise.
The following are my submissions – go to dallasnews.com and click on entertainment/Over the Top to read the entire amount of entries from last night. I’m sure there will be more:
I was ready to blow up Time Warner Cable! I thought the ending was interrupted until I realized David Chase WANTED it that way.
All along, what you THINK is going to happen usually doesn’t, and the ending is left up to you. However, that might have been the most foreboding conclusion ever on TV.
Pure unadultered genius.
Posted June 10, 2007 09:11 p.m.
Most viewers want nice and neat closure to their shows but this show has always been different. Life usually doesn’t HAVE closure – just recurring themes and problems. Tony was upset about future indictments even though he knew, one day, they would come. Yes, the song sang “Life, it goes on and on and on...”
By the way, brilliant choices of music tonight from an all-time Dylan classic (“It’s Alright Ma”) that was speaking to two teens some 40 years after it was recorded and a grand oldie, “You Keep Me Hanging On” by the Vanilla Fudge.
Perhaps we should have listened closer at the start to see how it would end.
Posted June 10, 2007 09:25 p.m.
Nothing ever committed to film for this show answered questions without posing even more. In the end, a show about a mob family with the leader who has real family issues finished with Tony surrounded by his family. All that was missing was the collection of ducks.The sadness that Tony felt toward Uncle Junior, where he wanted to deposit more rage, simply turned into resignation – not unlike the knowledge that legal troubles were coming – was beautifully done. He wanted to do the right thing for Bobby’s children but still remembered that Janice was a bloodsucking leech.
Yes, I have one eye on the DVR clock and one eye on Meadow’s inability to parallel park (do we all have that problem?).
Like a good book, David Chase is letting everyone use their imagination for the next moment. Total genius.
And if you think the Tonys, or Tony Parker are more interesting than Tony Soprano, you should be watching junk like “Two and A Half Men” for your concept of quality TV.
Posted June 10, 2007 09:48 p.m.
The DMN movie critic, knowing that even what’s on Tony’s TV matters in the context of things, wondered about “The Twilight Zone” episode shown. I helped answer, sort of.
The episode, aired May 23, 1963, was called “The Bard,” starring the funny Jack Weston and a real young Burt Reynolds.
From idmb:com:
“Failing playwright Julius Moomer (Jack Weston) conjures up the spirit of Shakespeare (John Williams) to appear in the present in his former earthly form. The bewildered Bard reluctantly agrees to write plays for the inept Moomer who quickly sends them (under his own name) to Broadway Producers. Soon, Moomer is the toast of the town and getting rich in the process. Alas, his fame and fortune are short-lived when he mistakenly invites the Bard to see the production of one his plays in-person. Naturally, Shakespeare is taken aback by the Method acting he witnesses, and particularly by the artificial performance of one Rocky Roads (a young Burt Reynolds). Method-acting Rocky needs “motivation” for one scene and can’t seem to find it --- until the Bard provides it for him by sending him flying through a wall with a punch to the nose.
Moomer is forced to return the indignant Bard back into the past. But he’s far from finished, however, as he now conjures up Lincoln, Washington, Napoleon ... etc. etc. for more creative work.”
Does that give you any clues?
“Rome” had a nice and neat ending. Of course, it had history on its side.“Deadwood” did not have a real ending because it will return as a two-hour movie. Maybe.“Carnivale” has an ending but left lots of room for another season which didn’t happen.Regular network TV like tidy endings. BUT ... it’s not TV ...
IT’S HBO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Remember that.
Also wasn’t the collage about saying goodbye to “The Sopranos” well done?
Posted June 10, 2007 10:06 p.m.
Only the immediate family knew where it was having dinner and it was a last-minute decision. So who would have been sent there to do any whacking? Besides, as we have ALL learned, some thing about the “code” are sacred and you don’t touch family members.
Besides, Tony had made a deal with the NYC guys (although I might have missed a wonderful pearl of wisdom from Little Carmine). Phil was the price to be paid for Bobby. Maybe Tony needs to hire the law firm of Binder & Binder because “you have enough to worry about.”
You know why “The Sopranos” is greatness? Because no one blogged all night about “Six Feet Under” or “NYPD Blue” or “Hill Street Blues.”
Posted June 10, 2007 10:20 p.m.
The following are my submissions – go to dallasnews.com and click on entertainment/Over the Top to read the entire amount of entries from last night. I’m sure there will be more:
I was ready to blow up Time Warner Cable! I thought the ending was interrupted until I realized David Chase WANTED it that way.
All along, what you THINK is going to happen usually doesn’t, and the ending is left up to you. However, that might have been the most foreboding conclusion ever on TV.
Pure unadultered genius.
Posted June 10, 2007 09:11 p.m.
Most viewers want nice and neat closure to their shows but this show has always been different. Life usually doesn’t HAVE closure – just recurring themes and problems. Tony was upset about future indictments even though he knew, one day, they would come. Yes, the song sang “Life, it goes on and on and on...”
By the way, brilliant choices of music tonight from an all-time Dylan classic (“It’s Alright Ma”) that was speaking to two teens some 40 years after it was recorded and a grand oldie, “You Keep Me Hanging On” by the Vanilla Fudge.
Perhaps we should have listened closer at the start to see how it would end.
Posted June 10, 2007 09:25 p.m.
Nothing ever committed to film for this show answered questions without posing even more. In the end, a show about a mob family with the leader who has real family issues finished with Tony surrounded by his family. All that was missing was the collection of ducks.The sadness that Tony felt toward Uncle Junior, where he wanted to deposit more rage, simply turned into resignation – not unlike the knowledge that legal troubles were coming – was beautifully done. He wanted to do the right thing for Bobby’s children but still remembered that Janice was a bloodsucking leech.
Yes, I have one eye on the DVR clock and one eye on Meadow’s inability to parallel park (do we all have that problem?).
Like a good book, David Chase is letting everyone use their imagination for the next moment. Total genius.
And if you think the Tonys, or Tony Parker are more interesting than Tony Soprano, you should be watching junk like “Two and A Half Men” for your concept of quality TV.
Posted June 10, 2007 09:48 p.m.
The DMN movie critic, knowing that even what’s on Tony’s TV matters in the context of things, wondered about “The Twilight Zone” episode shown. I helped answer, sort of.
The episode, aired May 23, 1963, was called “The Bard,” starring the funny Jack Weston and a real young Burt Reynolds.
From idmb:com:
“Failing playwright Julius Moomer (Jack Weston) conjures up the spirit of Shakespeare (John Williams) to appear in the present in his former earthly form. The bewildered Bard reluctantly agrees to write plays for the inept Moomer who quickly sends them (under his own name) to Broadway Producers. Soon, Moomer is the toast of the town and getting rich in the process. Alas, his fame and fortune are short-lived when he mistakenly invites the Bard to see the production of one his plays in-person. Naturally, Shakespeare is taken aback by the Method acting he witnesses, and particularly by the artificial performance of one Rocky Roads (a young Burt Reynolds). Method-acting Rocky needs “motivation” for one scene and can’t seem to find it --- until the Bard provides it for him by sending him flying through a wall with a punch to the nose.
Moomer is forced to return the indignant Bard back into the past. But he’s far from finished, however, as he now conjures up Lincoln, Washington, Napoleon ... etc. etc. for more creative work.”
Does that give you any clues?
“Rome” had a nice and neat ending. Of course, it had history on its side.“Deadwood” did not have a real ending because it will return as a two-hour movie. Maybe.“Carnivale” has an ending but left lots of room for another season which didn’t happen.Regular network TV like tidy endings. BUT ... it’s not TV ...
IT’S HBO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Remember that.
Also wasn’t the collage about saying goodbye to “The Sopranos” well done?
Posted June 10, 2007 10:06 p.m.
Only the immediate family knew where it was having dinner and it was a last-minute decision. So who would have been sent there to do any whacking? Besides, as we have ALL learned, some thing about the “code” are sacred and you don’t touch family members.
Besides, Tony had made a deal with the NYC guys (although I might have missed a wonderful pearl of wisdom from Little Carmine). Phil was the price to be paid for Bobby. Maybe Tony needs to hire the law firm of Binder & Binder because “you have enough to worry about.”
You know why “The Sopranos” is greatness? Because no one blogged all night about “Six Feet Under” or “NYPD Blue” or “Hill Street Blues.”
Posted June 10, 2007 10:20 p.m.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Frankly, as a retired journalist and overall news pjunkie, I am now officially BORED-er out by immigration talk and balk. Enough of this bullshit adn let's move to something else.
ALL sides are disingenuous - one side cannot accept reality (you can't deport 12-20 million people), the other cannot accept how many people feel (you can't let more people cross illegally) and the current administration is quite simply too impotent to affect anything in Congress.
It is NO coincidence that the Republicans staged this mini-coup against the White House-supported bill while the President was at G8. His tummy will hurt more when he returns and has no position to stand upon. At least in this final year, Clinton was relevant; Bush, clearly, is NOT!
And he won't spend any veto savings on immigration because, deep down, he doesn't believe in it. He's too beholden to businesses who really, REALLY don't want to change the status quo (no enforcement, no penalties, make money off these workers).
And NO one trusts the current Justice Department to begin massive enforcement, which is where it needs to happen - not Homeland Security (who can't stop one guy with TB from crossing the Canadian border).
When he leaves office, Bush will only have the support of the ultra-crazies and half his family ... and the latter is in doubt.
ALL sides are disingenuous - one side cannot accept reality (you can't deport 12-20 million people), the other cannot accept how many people feel (you can't let more people cross illegally) and the current administration is quite simply too impotent to affect anything in Congress.
It is NO coincidence that the Republicans staged this mini-coup against the White House-supported bill while the President was at G8. His tummy will hurt more when he returns and has no position to stand upon. At least in this final year, Clinton was relevant; Bush, clearly, is NOT!
And he won't spend any veto savings on immigration because, deep down, he doesn't believe in it. He's too beholden to businesses who really, REALLY don't want to change the status quo (no enforcement, no penalties, make money off these workers).
And NO one trusts the current Justice Department to begin massive enforcement, which is where it needs to happen - not Homeland Security (who can't stop one guy with TB from crossing the Canadian border).
When he leaves office, Bush will only have the support of the ultra-crazies and half his family ... and the latter is in doubt.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Someone has a cold in the West Wing
Something tells me Scotter Libby got a cold in court.
I hear he is sneezing all around the White House and keeps saying, "PARDON ME!"
No one in Cheney's office is responding with "God Bless you" just yet.
But I hear the shotgun is being cleaned.
I hear he is sneezing all around the White House and keeps saying, "PARDON ME!"
No one in Cheney's office is responding with "God Bless you" just yet.
But I hear the shotgun is being cleaned.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
A kick in the gut reaction
On Tuesday morning, the rest of the country was introduced to the quiet east Parker County burghs of Hudson Oaks and Willow Park (located west of Fort Worth, Texas) in the saddest way possible – unspeakable tragedy. The grisly discovery of four dead bodies (three of whom are small children) at the Oak Hill Mobile Home Park is now known far and wide – with the video from the mobile home park splattered on widescreens from Washington, D.C. and New York to Los Angeles.
And all points between. By mid-afternoon, a scan of all the major Texas online newspaper sites (Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, Houston) led with this story, complete with photos. It was the lead video on the Los Angeles Times website and it was a major component to MSNBC and Fox News online viewing.
A friend from Charlotte, N.C. has already read it and was verbally upset by 10 a.m. when he communicated with me.
No one will ever know what really happened that morning or why Gilberta Estrada did what she is alleged to have done. That would require a time machine and the ability to undo events that all the rest of us deem as horrific and seemingly unnecessary.
But no one has invented such a device and no one possesses the power to see such things in advance in order to stop them. That is only reserved for books, fictional television or motion pictures.
Such tragedies affect more than immediate families but communities. This will shake the very core of those living in Willow Park and Hudson Oaks because outsiders will only identify the two cities with this single event. The stain will be that permanent.
I do not mean to be flippant about all this but I do wish that those contemplating murder-suicide will do all of us a favor and reverse the order of action. Try the suicide first and then see about the murders after you’re dead. Might not work out the way you plan it and perhaps some innocent women and children could be spared a horrible way to die.
I’m sure Gilberta Estrada might have had issues and problems. But to choose to erase the lives of such young children, as is being presented by law enforcement investigators, is unimaginable, especially by a mother.
In this country, you have to pass tests in order to drive a car, and in some states, present rigid proof to vote. But absolutely nothing is done to assure that people who have NO business being parents, do not have children. At least nothing is done to ask them to think a smidgen before conceiving, or go through the process of producing children.
I won’t get into any political debate of sanctity of life other than to say this: We have to care for children AFTER they are born and try to avoid such scenes as happened in the Oak Hill Mobile Home Park. Alternatives for desperate people even slightly contemplating this course of action need to be made available, and well known to all. As is usual inmost tragedies, this might have been avoidable.
So now the people of Willow Park and Hudson Oaks must live with the national exposure and pain. Empathy, not disdain, is what many people need to share with these people.
Sorry, but this is my gut reaction and it’s raw, exposed and probably totally inappropriate. But, perhaps not, wrong.
P.S. - The smalltown paper that directly serves those two communities is the one for which I do online copy editing. It's a small world some times. - CB
And all points between. By mid-afternoon, a scan of all the major Texas online newspaper sites (Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, Houston) led with this story, complete with photos. It was the lead video on the Los Angeles Times website and it was a major component to MSNBC and Fox News online viewing.
A friend from Charlotte, N.C. has already read it and was verbally upset by 10 a.m. when he communicated with me.
No one will ever know what really happened that morning or why Gilberta Estrada did what she is alleged to have done. That would require a time machine and the ability to undo events that all the rest of us deem as horrific and seemingly unnecessary.
But no one has invented such a device and no one possesses the power to see such things in advance in order to stop them. That is only reserved for books, fictional television or motion pictures.
Such tragedies affect more than immediate families but communities. This will shake the very core of those living in Willow Park and Hudson Oaks because outsiders will only identify the two cities with this single event. The stain will be that permanent.
I do not mean to be flippant about all this but I do wish that those contemplating murder-suicide will do all of us a favor and reverse the order of action. Try the suicide first and then see about the murders after you’re dead. Might not work out the way you plan it and perhaps some innocent women and children could be spared a horrible way to die.
I’m sure Gilberta Estrada might have had issues and problems. But to choose to erase the lives of such young children, as is being presented by law enforcement investigators, is unimaginable, especially by a mother.
In this country, you have to pass tests in order to drive a car, and in some states, present rigid proof to vote. But absolutely nothing is done to assure that people who have NO business being parents, do not have children. At least nothing is done to ask them to think a smidgen before conceiving, or go through the process of producing children.
I won’t get into any political debate of sanctity of life other than to say this: We have to care for children AFTER they are born and try to avoid such scenes as happened in the Oak Hill Mobile Home Park. Alternatives for desperate people even slightly contemplating this course of action need to be made available, and well known to all. As is usual inmost tragedies, this might have been avoidable.
So now the people of Willow Park and Hudson Oaks must live with the national exposure and pain. Empathy, not disdain, is what many people need to share with these people.
Sorry, but this is my gut reaction and it’s raw, exposed and probably totally inappropriate. But, perhaps not, wrong.
P.S. - The smalltown paper that directly serves those two communities is the one for which I do online copy editing. It's a small world some times. - CB
Monday, May 28, 2007
Farm Boy to Fly Boy
The following is a poem that one of my best friends wrote in honor of her grandfather. I blog it in his and her honor on this final hours of Memorial Day, 2007:
Apple pie and raspberries with powdered sugar tops,
Downstairs in the basement there were colorful gumdrops.
The scent of pipe and garden soil, and a hundred thousand miles
Stories he would never tell, between sighs and mischievous smiles.
I knew him, but I didn’t, in a perfectly wonderful way,
Where stories bring the intrigue of a long forgotten day.
When heroes tore the clouds open, and let the sun shine through
When my country respected the cost, and what those pilots do.
I knew him as a hero, but not for foreign beaches,
My hero made me cheesy bread, sardines and canned peaches.
My hero told me stories of five-cent movies shows
Of a quiet farm, wheat fields and chasing away the crows.
He was not a war hero, as one would think they are,
Mild and sweet tempered, I could push him awfully far.
The zoo and elephant-ears, will never be the same
And neither will the sound of an old, low-flying plane.
And, if in a dream I sit with him, back in 1942,
I’ll let him tell me everything he ever wanted to.
And I will listen intently, knowing that in time
Those stories will be all I have, cause life stops on a dime.
He will never be forgotten, though his ashes fly,
He’s left with us sweet memories that now fill up the sky.
And that’s where he would want to be if he were asked today,
“Just let me soar over the mountains and shoot your tears away.”
For my Grandpa
Col. Martin Doyle Mulligan
1917-2004
Jennifer Johnson
Apple pie and raspberries with powdered sugar tops,
Downstairs in the basement there were colorful gumdrops.
The scent of pipe and garden soil, and a hundred thousand miles
Stories he would never tell, between sighs and mischievous smiles.
I knew him, but I didn’t, in a perfectly wonderful way,
Where stories bring the intrigue of a long forgotten day.
When heroes tore the clouds open, and let the sun shine through
When my country respected the cost, and what those pilots do.
I knew him as a hero, but not for foreign beaches,
My hero made me cheesy bread, sardines and canned peaches.
My hero told me stories of five-cent movies shows
Of a quiet farm, wheat fields and chasing away the crows.
He was not a war hero, as one would think they are,
Mild and sweet tempered, I could push him awfully far.
The zoo and elephant-ears, will never be the same
And neither will the sound of an old, low-flying plane.
And, if in a dream I sit with him, back in 1942,
I’ll let him tell me everything he ever wanted to.
And I will listen intently, knowing that in time
Those stories will be all I have, cause life stops on a dime.
He will never be forgotten, though his ashes fly,
He’s left with us sweet memories that now fill up the sky.
And that’s where he would want to be if he were asked today,
“Just let me soar over the mountains and shoot your tears away.”
For my Grandpa
Col. Martin Doyle Mulligan
1917-2004
Jennifer Johnson
Friday, May 25, 2007
On this Memorial Day ...
On this Memorial Day weekend, as I have in past years, I will remember Robert M. Bloom.
When my father served in the U.S. Army, people called him “Doc.” He was an Army paymaster, flying along the famed Burma Hump during World War II in order to execute his responsibility. He rode in planes that were nothing more than cheap flying cigar tubes, stripped of all their protective armor in order to gain enough altitude to clear the Himalayan Mountains.
Robert “Doc” Bloom never killed another man. He fired his sidearm once at a group of Japanese soldiers who were attempting to shoot his plane one day when taking off. When I was growing up, he never really shared his feelings about how it felt, or what it was like to be shot at. It was just another chapter of his life.
The only ramifications from his war experience were two things he swore never to do — wear khaki or eat anything that contained curry powder. They were promises he kept until the end of his life.
At Dad’s commercial printing business, there was a salesman named Carl Taylor, a quiet, unassuming man who raised three sons to be fine young men and was an elder in his church. He loved baseball, and he and I would chat about America’s Pastime whenever I visited the office.
Sixty-two years ago, Carl was one of thousands of young American men waiting in cramped transport boats for the orders to invade mainland Japan. Had President Harry Truman not used the atomic bomb against Japan, he and 1 million other soldiers would have deployed to end the war.
Chances are Carl Taylor, and millions of other human beings, would not have survived to raise their sons, talk baseball and be elders in their churches. President Truman’s choice, even if it produced a level of destruction previously unseen in the history of mankind, saved lives — millions of them.
This winter, the 66th anniversary of America’s forced entry into World War II will be remembered, as it is always, at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. I visited one of this nation’s most sacred spots during the 60th year and it was a time to reflect upon all that war can wrought.
That point in human history is not remembered as it should be in a world that has thoroughly changed economically, socially and strategically. Japan and Germany are no longer military enemies — just economic rivals and ideological allies. But there are still some men, and a few women, who wore the uniform, who remember Pearl Harbor, Normandy, Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Midway, Bastogne, Anzio and Bataan. They aren’t just singular footnotes in history or movies to compete with other holiday entrants. They were real battles, involving real people, for the survival and freedoms we enjoy today.
Sixty-six years should be enough time to let the bitterness against former enemies subside. Six generations have since seen communist walls erected around nations and people, and also seen them crumble — brick by brick. We have tried to embrace former governments we thought would be mortal enemies. We still have men and women who wear the uniform dying in armed conflict, trying to defend our freedoms and attempting to deliver that magical concept to others.
Almost no one on Earth is left alive that fought in WWI, and too many people have a total lack of appreciation for what America went through back then or in World War II. To them, “ancient” history is Vietnam, or JFK, LBJ or Richard Nixon. Or even George W.H. Bush.
But that should change on Memorial Day, which is still an opportunity to educate all Americans about how we got to where we are today. The dropping of the atomic bomb should be a somber remembrance of what can happen when nations go ballistic. But neither should we acquiesce our history to placate another nation’s unwillingness to accept history and its verdict.
We need to honor those who gave their lives and put their bodies on the line to win that conflict; an event that changed our world forever. It was an unwritten promise made the moment the surrender papers were signed on the USS Missouri — that we never forget Carl or Doc. Because they were promises we need to keep until the end.
When my father served in the U.S. Army, people called him “Doc.” He was an Army paymaster, flying along the famed Burma Hump during World War II in order to execute his responsibility. He rode in planes that were nothing more than cheap flying cigar tubes, stripped of all their protective armor in order to gain enough altitude to clear the Himalayan Mountains.
Robert “Doc” Bloom never killed another man. He fired his sidearm once at a group of Japanese soldiers who were attempting to shoot his plane one day when taking off. When I was growing up, he never really shared his feelings about how it felt, or what it was like to be shot at. It was just another chapter of his life.
The only ramifications from his war experience were two things he swore never to do — wear khaki or eat anything that contained curry powder. They were promises he kept until the end of his life.
At Dad’s commercial printing business, there was a salesman named Carl Taylor, a quiet, unassuming man who raised three sons to be fine young men and was an elder in his church. He loved baseball, and he and I would chat about America’s Pastime whenever I visited the office.
Sixty-two years ago, Carl was one of thousands of young American men waiting in cramped transport boats for the orders to invade mainland Japan. Had President Harry Truman not used the atomic bomb against Japan, he and 1 million other soldiers would have deployed to end the war.
Chances are Carl Taylor, and millions of other human beings, would not have survived to raise their sons, talk baseball and be elders in their churches. President Truman’s choice, even if it produced a level of destruction previously unseen in the history of mankind, saved lives — millions of them.
This winter, the 66th anniversary of America’s forced entry into World War II will be remembered, as it is always, at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. I visited one of this nation’s most sacred spots during the 60th year and it was a time to reflect upon all that war can wrought.
That point in human history is not remembered as it should be in a world that has thoroughly changed economically, socially and strategically. Japan and Germany are no longer military enemies — just economic rivals and ideological allies. But there are still some men, and a few women, who wore the uniform, who remember Pearl Harbor, Normandy, Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Midway, Bastogne, Anzio and Bataan. They aren’t just singular footnotes in history or movies to compete with other holiday entrants. They were real battles, involving real people, for the survival and freedoms we enjoy today.
Sixty-six years should be enough time to let the bitterness against former enemies subside. Six generations have since seen communist walls erected around nations and people, and also seen them crumble — brick by brick. We have tried to embrace former governments we thought would be mortal enemies. We still have men and women who wear the uniform dying in armed conflict, trying to defend our freedoms and attempting to deliver that magical concept to others.
Almost no one on Earth is left alive that fought in WWI, and too many people have a total lack of appreciation for what America went through back then or in World War II. To them, “ancient” history is Vietnam, or JFK, LBJ or Richard Nixon. Or even George W.H. Bush.
But that should change on Memorial Day, which is still an opportunity to educate all Americans about how we got to where we are today. The dropping of the atomic bomb should be a somber remembrance of what can happen when nations go ballistic. But neither should we acquiesce our history to placate another nation’s unwillingness to accept history and its verdict.
We need to honor those who gave their lives and put their bodies on the line to win that conflict; an event that changed our world forever. It was an unwritten promise made the moment the surrender papers were signed on the USS Missouri — that we never forget Carl or Doc. Because they were promises we need to keep until the end.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Collegiate football Hall of Famers
The newest inductees to the College Football Hall of Fame were announced Wednesday.
They include Heisman Trophy winner QB Doug Flutie of Boston College and TV personality Ahmed Rashad, who was known as Bobby Moore at Oregon as a slotback-receiver.
Others going to the College hall are Indiana running back Anthony Thompson, Oklahoma center Tom Brahaney, Clemson linebacker Jeff Davis, Texas defensive back Johnnie Johnson, Ohio State’s legendary quarterback Rex Kern, linebacker Reggie Williams of Dartmouth, USC linebacker Richard Wood, Notre Dame defensive tackle Chris Zorich and Central Michigan coach Herb Deromedi.
Two other names are included with whom I have a personal contact.
I knew Michigan defensive back Dave Brown in college; a quiet guy who did his talking on the field. A GREAT PLAYER!
The official record will list Dave Brown as the 33rd Wolverine to be inducted and just one of 17 Wolverines to be a two-time All-American (1973-74). He had nine interceptions, 173 tackles and was an excellent punt returner – 48 returns for 531 yards (11.7 avg.), and three touchdowns.
Although drafted by the Steelers, he played 11 seasons with Seattle and four with Green Bay. He did get a Super Bowl ring for the lone year in Pittsburgh (1975) and earned All-Pro honors in 1984.
After his playing days, he coached cornerbacks for the Seahawks from 1992-98; retired briefly and then was at Texas Tech from 2001-05 when a heart attack took his life in January, 2006.
He was all of 52 – just a couple of years younger than me, but we were in the same collegiate class as students.
I will always remember Dave Brown for his kinship as a Michigan football player and being part of an unofficial fraternity known as the Den of the Mellow Men. Started by a clique of African-American team members, Brown joined after the likes of Reggie McKenzie and Billy Taylor who proudly walk among the Ann Arbor campus together and lived together in a particular house.
Brown was always seen with HIS running buddy, quarterback Dennis Franklin, two Ohio lads playing for Michigan. They could be seen everywhere in Brown’s golden Oldsmobile convertible with Brown’s prominent Afro hairstyle, one of the more pronounced and buoyant of any team member hairdo, an easy sight to behold.
Their head coach, Bo Schembechler, would often bark (he never scream but barking would be quite common), for Brown and when his defensive star would find him, Bo was actually asking for Franklin’s whereabouts.
“How would I know, coach?” Brown would ask.
“Because you don’t go anywhere without him and vive versa,” Bo would answer.
I’ve also come to learn that Deromedi was a Michigan graduate, posting a 110-55-10 record at Central Michigan (1978-93). He then became athletic director for CMU from 1994-2006.
The late Wilson Whitley came out of Brenham, Texas (as a Cub) and went almost unnoticed to the University of Houston as a defensive tackle, playing for Coach Bill Yeoman at UH.
Whitley was also a great HS pitcher and played on the same football and baseball team as Baylor’s running back Cleveland Franklin.
One of the stories I tell happened when I first arrived in Houston in 1976, and went to the Astrodome to do a feature story on the making of a made-for-TV movie, “Murder in Box 352.” It would later be aired as “Murder at the World Series” and it was a work of complete fiction since it had the Houston Astros (in those old softball, multi-orange uniforms) actually winning one.
(I got to eat lunch with Karen Valentine of “Room 222” fame and the great Michael Parks, who was supposed to be the next James Dean … but wasn’t.).
Actors in A’s uniforms were extras, including two members of the UH football team. Wearing Vida Blue’s uniform (as a right-hander not as the real lefty) was Danny Davis, an unknown quarterback who would shock the Southwest Conference in leading Houston to the Cotton Bowl.
The other was Wilson Whitley, who stayed seated in the Astrodome dugout as the long process of filming took place.
No one talked to Davis, except this brand new sports editor from Conroe (yours truly) and Davis was ready to tell anyone within ear shot that UH was going to win the conference.
“Just ask my man over there,” Davis would say, pointing to a resting Whitley, slightly larger than the average Oakland player. “Whit, are we gonna win?”
Whitley simply shook his head affirmatively, and laughed.
He became an All-American defensive tackle but never made it in the professional ranks.
When I covered UH that season, Davis and Whitley would always remind me of that afternoon in the Dome – of the prediction and the actors they found so fascinating.
Whitley died far too early in life as did Dave Brown.
Don’t we all.
They include Heisman Trophy winner QB Doug Flutie of Boston College and TV personality Ahmed Rashad, who was known as Bobby Moore at Oregon as a slotback-receiver.
Others going to the College hall are Indiana running back Anthony Thompson, Oklahoma center Tom Brahaney, Clemson linebacker Jeff Davis, Texas defensive back Johnnie Johnson, Ohio State’s legendary quarterback Rex Kern, linebacker Reggie Williams of Dartmouth, USC linebacker Richard Wood, Notre Dame defensive tackle Chris Zorich and Central Michigan coach Herb Deromedi.
Two other names are included with whom I have a personal contact.
I knew Michigan defensive back Dave Brown in college; a quiet guy who did his talking on the field. A GREAT PLAYER!
The official record will list Dave Brown as the 33rd Wolverine to be inducted and just one of 17 Wolverines to be a two-time All-American (1973-74). He had nine interceptions, 173 tackles and was an excellent punt returner – 48 returns for 531 yards (11.7 avg.), and three touchdowns.
Although drafted by the Steelers, he played 11 seasons with Seattle and four with Green Bay. He did get a Super Bowl ring for the lone year in Pittsburgh (1975) and earned All-Pro honors in 1984.
After his playing days, he coached cornerbacks for the Seahawks from 1992-98; retired briefly and then was at Texas Tech from 2001-05 when a heart attack took his life in January, 2006.
He was all of 52 – just a couple of years younger than me, but we were in the same collegiate class as students.
I will always remember Dave Brown for his kinship as a Michigan football player and being part of an unofficial fraternity known as the Den of the Mellow Men. Started by a clique of African-American team members, Brown joined after the likes of Reggie McKenzie and Billy Taylor who proudly walk among the Ann Arbor campus together and lived together in a particular house.
Brown was always seen with HIS running buddy, quarterback Dennis Franklin, two Ohio lads playing for Michigan. They could be seen everywhere in Brown’s golden Oldsmobile convertible with Brown’s prominent Afro hairstyle, one of the more pronounced and buoyant of any team member hairdo, an easy sight to behold.
Their head coach, Bo Schembechler, would often bark (he never scream but barking would be quite common), for Brown and when his defensive star would find him, Bo was actually asking for Franklin’s whereabouts.
“How would I know, coach?” Brown would ask.
“Because you don’t go anywhere without him and vive versa,” Bo would answer.
I’ve also come to learn that Deromedi was a Michigan graduate, posting a 110-55-10 record at Central Michigan (1978-93). He then became athletic director for CMU from 1994-2006.
The late Wilson Whitley came out of Brenham, Texas (as a Cub) and went almost unnoticed to the University of Houston as a defensive tackle, playing for Coach Bill Yeoman at UH.
Whitley was also a great HS pitcher and played on the same football and baseball team as Baylor’s running back Cleveland Franklin.
One of the stories I tell happened when I first arrived in Houston in 1976, and went to the Astrodome to do a feature story on the making of a made-for-TV movie, “Murder in Box 352.” It would later be aired as “Murder at the World Series” and it was a work of complete fiction since it had the Houston Astros (in those old softball, multi-orange uniforms) actually winning one.
(I got to eat lunch with Karen Valentine of “Room 222” fame and the great Michael Parks, who was supposed to be the next James Dean … but wasn’t.).
Actors in A’s uniforms were extras, including two members of the UH football team. Wearing Vida Blue’s uniform (as a right-hander not as the real lefty) was Danny Davis, an unknown quarterback who would shock the Southwest Conference in leading Houston to the Cotton Bowl.
The other was Wilson Whitley, who stayed seated in the Astrodome dugout as the long process of filming took place.
No one talked to Davis, except this brand new sports editor from Conroe (yours truly) and Davis was ready to tell anyone within ear shot that UH was going to win the conference.
“Just ask my man over there,” Davis would say, pointing to a resting Whitley, slightly larger than the average Oakland player. “Whit, are we gonna win?”
Whitley simply shook his head affirmatively, and laughed.
He became an All-American defensive tackle but never made it in the professional ranks.
When I covered UH that season, Davis and Whitley would always remind me of that afternoon in the Dome – of the prediction and the actors they found so fascinating.
Whitley died far too early in life as did Dave Brown.
Don’t we all.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Stormy weather
It was quite a night the other day when on Wednesday (May 2), yet another violent thunderstorm struck the Dallas-Fort Worth region at nighttime. But this time, it hit real close to home --- to the house actually.
Around 7:30 p.m., boom! boom!, out went the lights for the next 11 hours. A storm of intense verocity arose from the west, swept across the Metroplex around 45 mph and carried strong straight line winds of close to 100 mph - hurricane-force winds that seldom happen in a land-locked region.
At our Plano home, we could hear the rain, but never felt anything shake from such strong winds. It was the enveloping darkness and quiet that was disconcerting until around 6 a.m. the next morning when the power, which was out for more than 300,000 customers in the DFW area, resumed.
After finally obtaining a couple hours of sleep, I emerged after noon to get the newspaper and mail. I noticed some small branches and leaves in the yard and thought nothing of it. It wasn't until I took a couple more steps and saw our 30-foot tree sliced in half - as if Paul Bunyan had taken his giant ax and hit it flush at the base.
It had fallen over, taking almost 2/3rds of it with the collapse. Luckily, it really didn't hit our house all that much, nor did it touch the nieghbor's home.
But, as I discovered, we weren't alone. With winds reported in excess of 85 mph, a majority of the homes on our side of the block had similar happenings. Huge fallen tree trunks on the ground, or in one case, still a couple of stories in the other branches - just waiting to crash to earth.
Around the corner, fences were down and one house had four trees snapped, falling on a parked car.
The oddity was to see few trees across the street affected. On our side, it was like someone had that Bunyan ax and just kept swinging. In most cases, one swing did the trick.
Of course, this will all cost out of pocket since nothing is covered by anyone's homeowners insurance policy. Damn!
Lesson: Always respect Mother Nature because she ALWAYS has the last word.
Around 7:30 p.m., boom! boom!, out went the lights for the next 11 hours. A storm of intense verocity arose from the west, swept across the Metroplex around 45 mph and carried strong straight line winds of close to 100 mph - hurricane-force winds that seldom happen in a land-locked region.
At our Plano home, we could hear the rain, but never felt anything shake from such strong winds. It was the enveloping darkness and quiet that was disconcerting until around 6 a.m. the next morning when the power, which was out for more than 300,000 customers in the DFW area, resumed.
After finally obtaining a couple hours of sleep, I emerged after noon to get the newspaper and mail. I noticed some small branches and leaves in the yard and thought nothing of it. It wasn't until I took a couple more steps and saw our 30-foot tree sliced in half - as if Paul Bunyan had taken his giant ax and hit it flush at the base.
It had fallen over, taking almost 2/3rds of it with the collapse. Luckily, it really didn't hit our house all that much, nor did it touch the nieghbor's home.
But, as I discovered, we weren't alone. With winds reported in excess of 85 mph, a majority of the homes on our side of the block had similar happenings. Huge fallen tree trunks on the ground, or in one case, still a couple of stories in the other branches - just waiting to crash to earth.
Around the corner, fences were down and one house had four trees snapped, falling on a parked car.
The oddity was to see few trees across the street affected. On our side, it was like someone had that Bunyan ax and just kept swinging. In most cases, one swing did the trick.
Of course, this will all cost out of pocket since nothing is covered by anyone's homeowners insurance policy. Damn!
Lesson: Always respect Mother Nature because she ALWAYS has the last word.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Don't leave the planet without it!
The following Chuck Bloom column was published in today's edition (May 3, 2007) of the Collin County Opinion pages of the Dallas Morning News.
My wife, bless her purse-toting heart, owns (and, on occasion, uses) an American Express card. Not too often, but often enough to accumulate a certain amount of redemptive points called Reward Points. Awarded on a dollar spent-for-point basis, cardholders are permitted to redeem said points for gift certificates, merchandise or other special promotions offered to those distinguished members of the AMEX family.
And at the start of each year, cardholders are reminded kindly of such opportunities via a catalog outlining the number of Reward Points needed to exchange for gift certificates at various national and international restaurants (a few of which even exist in Collin County, such as Roy's), airline travel (on every international brand you can name), or other nice perks (shopping certificates, race car lessons not garnered on U.S. Highway 75 at noon). The card makes you feel right at home with Tiger Woods or Ellen DeGeneres – two of the company's celebrity endorserers (a made-up word that rhymes with sorcerers).
This catalog is almost like the annual Christmas book from Dallas' own Neiman Marcus, with some really exotic things offered, but not seriously considered, by 99.99 percent of the people in the land. You might want to buy his and her personalized crystal Potato Heads (by Swarovski) for $15,000. But, get serious; it's not the same as sticking plastic into an Idaho spud. A sports fantasy package starting at $250,000? That's an hour of Alex Rodriguez' time.
In the AMEX catalog, the most expensive items involve spa visits, including one to a spot at the Lake Austin Spa Resort, which can be yours for five nights, at a mere 800,000 points. Another spa in Arizona (Miraval) is worth 850,000 points, which is an awfully expensive rubdown and the best Bengay money can buy.
But they aren't No. 1. That distinction belongs to the person who wants to take a suborbital flight courtesy of the people at Space Adventures. That is worth (pause, take a breath) ... 20 million points! That's right, you read it correctly. So on a dollar-for-point basis, you will have to spend $20 million for that seat (and you don't even reach outer space). By the way, the subzero gravity flight is just 500,000 points for that weightless feeling that you can get at Six Flags.
So I ask: What can you possibly buy worth $20 million on any kind of American Express card? How much jewelry? How many cars? How much travel? Jeez!
I can't help but flash back to the Richard Pryor movie, "Brewster's Millions," where Pryor must spend $30 million in a matter of weeks and show nothing of value for his efforts, or lose a massive inheritance. If you have that kind of money to put on an American Express card in order to take a suborbital flight, why would you need to charge it?
As a measuring stick, the 2007 Maserati Quattroporte Automatic, a fine-looking piece of motor works that gets a nifty 14 miles per gallon in the city, goes for around $130,000. You'd need to buy 153 of them and there would still be change remaining. You don't have that big of an entourage, my friend.
Or you could buy actor Jeffrey Tambor's home in California. He was Hank in "The Garry Shandling Show" on HBO ("Hey, now!"). It's a nice five-bedroom, 4 ½-bath number at 4,200 square feet, a Cape Cod-style house built in 2003. It's yours for $2.9 million and, to get that AMEX perk, you would need to buy the house more than six times over.
Hey, now!
Wait a second ... Plano businesswoman Anousheh Ansari spent her own $20 million to hitchhike with the Russians for an extended space flight a while back. But this is American Express, not Moscow MasterCard, so I kinda think they insisted on cash. Or a certified check. Or, perhaps, coupons.
Of course, there's that nasty little hangup en route to space flight. Not every business takes American Express. In fact, it is a rather selective number of establishments in that AMEX circle of friends. So when the opposition card commercial used to boast, "it takes (you fill in the "priceless" blank), but it doesn't take American Express," it was merely pointing out one of the facts of shopping life. You might want to buy something, but that green card might not let you across the store's border ... so to speak.
Just to be clear, I returned to the 2006 Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog and, lo and behold, guess what? Virgin Galatic (part of Virgin Atlantic Airways on steroids, I guess) offers a seat on a charter flight ... to outer space – for a mere $1.764 million. Who da thunk you could get a bargain like that at Neiman Marcus?
Wonder if they'll take American Express for that?
My wife, bless her purse-toting heart, owns (and, on occasion, uses) an American Express card. Not too often, but often enough to accumulate a certain amount of redemptive points called Reward Points. Awarded on a dollar spent-for-point basis, cardholders are permitted to redeem said points for gift certificates, merchandise or other special promotions offered to those distinguished members of the AMEX family.
And at the start of each year, cardholders are reminded kindly of such opportunities via a catalog outlining the number of Reward Points needed to exchange for gift certificates at various national and international restaurants (a few of which even exist in Collin County, such as Roy's), airline travel (on every international brand you can name), or other nice perks (shopping certificates, race car lessons not garnered on U.S. Highway 75 at noon). The card makes you feel right at home with Tiger Woods or Ellen DeGeneres – two of the company's celebrity endorserers (a made-up word that rhymes with sorcerers).
This catalog is almost like the annual Christmas book from Dallas' own Neiman Marcus, with some really exotic things offered, but not seriously considered, by 99.99 percent of the people in the land. You might want to buy his and her personalized crystal Potato Heads (by Swarovski) for $15,000. But, get serious; it's not the same as sticking plastic into an Idaho spud. A sports fantasy package starting at $250,000? That's an hour of Alex Rodriguez' time.
In the AMEX catalog, the most expensive items involve spa visits, including one to a spot at the Lake Austin Spa Resort, which can be yours for five nights, at a mere 800,000 points. Another spa in Arizona (Miraval) is worth 850,000 points, which is an awfully expensive rubdown and the best Bengay money can buy.
But they aren't No. 1. That distinction belongs to the person who wants to take a suborbital flight courtesy of the people at Space Adventures. That is worth (pause, take a breath) ... 20 million points! That's right, you read it correctly. So on a dollar-for-point basis, you will have to spend $20 million for that seat (and you don't even reach outer space). By the way, the subzero gravity flight is just 500,000 points for that weightless feeling that you can get at Six Flags.
So I ask: What can you possibly buy worth $20 million on any kind of American Express card? How much jewelry? How many cars? How much travel? Jeez!
I can't help but flash back to the Richard Pryor movie, "Brewster's Millions," where Pryor must spend $30 million in a matter of weeks and show nothing of value for his efforts, or lose a massive inheritance. If you have that kind of money to put on an American Express card in order to take a suborbital flight, why would you need to charge it?
As a measuring stick, the 2007 Maserati Quattroporte Automatic, a fine-looking piece of motor works that gets a nifty 14 miles per gallon in the city, goes for around $130,000. You'd need to buy 153 of them and there would still be change remaining. You don't have that big of an entourage, my friend.
Or you could buy actor Jeffrey Tambor's home in California. He was Hank in "The Garry Shandling Show" on HBO ("Hey, now!"). It's a nice five-bedroom, 4 ½-bath number at 4,200 square feet, a Cape Cod-style house built in 2003. It's yours for $2.9 million and, to get that AMEX perk, you would need to buy the house more than six times over.
Hey, now!
Wait a second ... Plano businesswoman Anousheh Ansari spent her own $20 million to hitchhike with the Russians for an extended space flight a while back. But this is American Express, not Moscow MasterCard, so I kinda think they insisted on cash. Or a certified check. Or, perhaps, coupons.
Of course, there's that nasty little hangup en route to space flight. Not every business takes American Express. In fact, it is a rather selective number of establishments in that AMEX circle of friends. So when the opposition card commercial used to boast, "it takes (you fill in the "priceless" blank), but it doesn't take American Express," it was merely pointing out one of the facts of shopping life. You might want to buy something, but that green card might not let you across the store's border ... so to speak.
Just to be clear, I returned to the 2006 Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog and, lo and behold, guess what? Virgin Galatic (part of Virgin Atlantic Airways on steroids, I guess) offers a seat on a charter flight ... to outer space – for a mere $1.764 million. Who da thunk you could get a bargain like that at Neiman Marcus?
Wonder if they'll take American Express for that?
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Another Imusism
Please link to this lovely example of stupid, insensitive possibly racist remarks in Tarrant County (Fort Worth), Texas by some yah-hoo judge:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/050207dnmetjudgecomplaint.38a7084.html
The story, written by Debra Dennis of the Dallas Morning NEws, speaks for itself:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/050207dnmetjudgecomplaint.38a7084.html
The story, written by Debra Dennis of the Dallas Morning NEws, speaks for itself:
FORT WORTH – A Dallas attorney has filed a complaint against Tarrant County Judge R. Brent Keis, saying the judge told him that blacks are better suited for athletic endeavors because their ancestors survived the slave trade.
Nuru Witherspoon, who is black, said that Judge Keis made the comments as he appeared before him in court for the first time last month. Judge Keis said that Mr. Witherspoon misunderstood his comments.
"After introducing myself to Judge Keis, he told me he thought slavery and the Middle Passage made my people better athletes," Mr. Witherspoon said in a written complaint that he says he
filed with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
"Judge Keis further stated that we are bigger and stronger athletes because weak slaves were thrown overboard and never made it to the Americas," the complaint said.
Judge Keis, who handles civil cases, said he is not racist.
"I don't see the black and white," the judge said. "We had an off-the-cuff conversation about athletics. I told him one story is the Middle Passage and the sick and weak had to be pretty strong and that provided a good genetic basis for black athletes. I don't remember what prompted it."
Judge Keis, who has been the bench 18 years, likened the remarks to comments in sports lore that he said he has heard from athletes, including Calvin Hill, a former running back for the Dallas
Cowboys.
Mr. Witherspoon said the judge's comments were made April 16 during a hearing on a personal injury claim stemming from a traffic accident.
The judge, Mr. Witherspoon said, also made unsettling comments to his clients.
According to the complaint, the judge told the couple that "Tarrant County is made up of Republicans that think like him. He went on to explain the risks of litigation to my clients," Mr. Witherspoon wrote in the complaint.
"He told my clients that if they want to 'bet on black' it's their choice," Mr. Witherspoon said.
Judge Keis said he routinely uses a "roulette wheel" analogy when lecturing parties about the legal process but said he did not mean
anything racist.
"I tell them they're gambling," the judge said. "I told them, 'You can bet on black,' and I should have said, 'You can bet on red.' "
Mr. Witherspoon said the exchange was prompted when Judge Keis asked about the origin of his first name.
"I told him it was from Africa, and he began a lecture on slavery and the Middle Passage," Mr. Witherspoon said. "I'm not a real sensitive guy. I've developed a thick skin. People have a right to feel how
they want to feel. But my clients were more offended than I was. In fact, when we went into the hallways, they apologized to me."
He said his clients, who are white, chose to negotiate a settlement because of the comments made by the judge.
"They also told me that that was one of the reasons they settled
because they wondered if the judge would be fair," Mr. Witherspoon said. "We had some really important issues before the judge. So when he went off on slavery, they didn't feel they had a chance.
"I don't want to make a stretch and say he's racist. But he definitely has no tact whatsoever," he said.
Seana Willing, the Judicial Conduct Commission's executive director, would not confirm that a complaint had been filed.
"We have confidentiality rules. As a general rule, we'll investigate a complaint. If the evidence points to misconduct, we contact the judge and they're allowed to respond," Ms. Willing said. "The confidentiality is there to protect the investigation, and it protects the judge from having to defend himself against charges that are yet to be ferreted out."
Mr. Witherspoon listed Suzanne Calvert as the opposing attorney on the complaint, but Ms. Calvert said that she was not in the court
and that another attorney whom she would not name represented her office. Her office has a policy against speaking to the media, she said.
Mr. Witherspoon, 29, is a co-founder of Kelley & Witherspoon, a Dallas law firm that specializes in civil litigation. He is a graduate of Paul Quinn College and received his law degree from the University of Mississippi.
Judge Keis has no record of disciplinary history with the state board, officials said.
The judge said he would like to apologize to Mr. Witherspoon.
"From what I know, he is upset or angry," Judge Keis said. "I'm not sure what his motivation is. I don't want to hurt anybody. I apologize if I did, but Calvin Hill agrees with me. I'm no racist."
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