June, 2014 archive
Jean Shepherd’s Unnoticed Legacy 0
The movie, A Christmas Story, has become an American Christmas standard, played over and over on cable television during the Christmas season.
How many persons know that it is a conflation of several stories by Jean Shepherd, humorist, author, and raconteur, who is the faceless narrator of the movie?
I first encountered his stories in Playboy (Yes, Playboy is at the link and, yes, I still read the articles–they beat the hell out of Time and what’s left of Newsweek; if you must know, I start with jokes, then go to the cartoons), which I started reading as soon as I turned 15, got my drivers license (the times were different then), and could purchase the magazine at the White Brothers pharmacy in Accomack County. Then I learned that “Shep” had a radio show on WOR in New York City, when WOR was a legitimate radio station, long before it became a wingnut talker.
When the weather conditions were correct and the family dinner concluded before 6 p. m., I used to catch his broadcasts on the skip (look it up). They were a joy to listen to. You could never anticipate where he might go.
You can listen to many of his shows here. (Lorenzo deserves our thanks for all he has done to make Old Time Radio accessible. I’ve traded emails with him. He is Good People.)
Shep deserves remembrance; he was an American Original.
Cantor Can’t, Mailing It In Dept. 0
Vivian Paige, pre-eminent local politics blogger, thinks that the punditocracy and the blogosphere are missing the reason that Eric Cantor lost his primary. She writes in my local rag that it was not immigration nor ideological impurity (though the effects that Thoreau predicts may well come to pass because, as someone once said, “reality is what people think”), but rather something much simpler: Cantor’s own inept politicking.
A nugget:
(snip)
There are a few complaints of poor constituent services, but the biggest complaint was that Cantor was never around. This was especially the case in some areas that were added to the district after the 2011 redistricting. While the underfunded Brat put in shoe leather, Cantor mailed it in, running his campaign mostly from the Nation’s Capitol, using his fundraising advantage to run ads and send mail.
Read the rest. It is worth your while.
“Isolated Incidents” 0
Daniel Ruth considers suicide shooters. A nugget (emphasis added):
In 2012, Wade Michael Page shot up a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. That same year, authorities busted a ring of skinheads in Central Florida, accusing them of plotting to attack the Orlando City Hall.
There have been shooting rampages tied to the Aryan Nation in Oregon, Washington and California. Interracial couples have been targeted. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was the site of a fatal shooting by neo-Nazi James von Brunn.
Just last week, white supremacist Dennis Marx was killed by police when he attempted to attack a North Carolina courthouse.
Read the rest.
Gerry Mander, and His Entire Staff 0
Down in Florida, the League of Women Voters has instituted a nifty little suit regarding the machinations behind Florida’s recent redistricting. Much of the decisions were made in secret, and the League wants the records made public because, well, they concerned the people’s business.
Scott Maxwell reports that the trial is not going so well for the pols. A nugget:
Anyone with one good eye could already see they had pulled off a scam. Instead of sensible districts that follow geographic boundaries and keep communities intact, legislators drew snake-like districts that slither through as many as eight counties.
But now we have gobs of witnesses, evidence and testimony to prove it.
Follow the link for his summary of the evidence so far.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness begins at home.
Glover was showing Bryant his .410 caliber shotgun and was putting it away when the gun went off.
Glover placed the round he’d removed from the gun back into it and was closing it when Bryant slapped at the gun.
Officials said it is likely Glover’s finger was on the trigger when Bryant slapped at the gun. Bryant was shot at nearly point blank range in the stomach and died at the home.
Afterthought:
I’m sure that my two or three regular readers roll their eyes when they see the title of this post over and over again.
The posts will stop when stupid persons stop doing stupid things with instruments of death or I shuffle off this mortal coil. I’m betting on the latter.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
No great, but not horrible.
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, climbed to 315,250 from 310,500 in the prior week.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits increased by 11,000 to 2.61 million in the period ended May 31. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 2 percent during that period, today’s report showed.
Beyond the Palin 0
Shaun Mullen tries to figure out why the media continue to be fascinated with and give credence to a person whom my mother would have aptly characterized as “the biggest nothing.” It’s another example of something I mentioned the other day: the “Entertainment-Tonightization” of our political reporting.
A nugget:
Read the rest. And weep.
Will-ful Ignorance 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Laurie Essig tries to understand wannabe frat boy George Will’s decision to claim that rape isn’t.
In a related post at the same site, Jennifer Baker observes
I’m old. I’m so old that I can remember when George Will could pass for someone who has a clue.
Cantor Can’t, Occam’s Razor Dept. 0
The Booman points out that, despite the pontifications of the punditocracy, Eric Cantor’s loss is not complicated at all.
The Booman is not a Virginian. I am.
That’s why I know he’s correct. The opinion polls won’t show it, though, because most persons know that it’s no longer generally acceptable to be a public bigot.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Celebrate birthdays politely.
Dunn “chased down two teenage boys, held a semiautomatic pistol on them, threatened to kill them and then searched them police-style, taking a cell phone from one,” Deputy Prosecutor Ian Ith said in charging papers. “Why? Because some of the victims’ friends had been trespassing in (his) yard while playing a game of ‘cops and robbers.’”
Afterthought:
Do read the entire article. Somebody’s been watching too many reruns of COPS.
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
Words matter.
Facebook Frolics 0
Facebook is a bully place to be.
