A Quote of the Day from one of our own

From quotationspage.com, this Quotes of the Day inclusion from the late, lamented SF master Gordon R. Dickson:

Some people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it.

(Um, Gordy? Maybe they framed and hung it to remind them to use it...)

Murdoch's newest propaganda platform launches

Courtesy of BusinessWeek Online, this story reports that right-wing media baron Rupert Murdoch and his chief lieutenant, Roger "I Made Willie Horton Famous" Ailes, just couldn't resist the temptation to go after The Other Side on the launch day of their newest cable channel, Fox Business Network:

"It's pure talk radio, and it hews to the right, like much of what News Corp. offers. America's Nightly Scoreboard anchor David Asman skewers liberal Democrats for the mistake of one second-level congressional aide who encouraged House staffers to get inoculated before going to NASCAR events. Is that business news?"

Now you know the real reason Rupe wanted to buy Dow Jones and its crown jewel, the Wall Street Journal, so bad.

Today's birthday wishes

Many happy returns of the day to jhayman! Sorry I won't be seeing you at OVFF next weekend.

Speaking of video-game classics...

...how about Space Invaders carved on your Halloween jack-o'-lantern?

Yes, David, the Supreme Court most certainly does still matter

A HuffingtonPost.com blogger notes here that Time's cover story this week, "Does the Supreme Court Still Matter?" by David von Drehle, could not have come at a worse time, from the perspective of Democrats and liberal groups trying to get voters and activists to have a sense of urgency about who gets to nominate justices the next couple of Presidential terms. No less than the legal director of People for the American Way, the Norman Lear-founded liberal watchdog group, felt compelled to respond to the article on the PFAW website.

Even as we speak, the Republican presidential nomination aspirants are converging on a religious-wingnut confab to convince the Jim Dobsons, Gary Bauers and Paul Weyrichs of the political world that, should they gain the White House, they will keep on sending more Thomases, Alitos, Scalias and Robertses to the benches of not only the Supreme Court, but lower federal courts as well. This is an absolute necessity for the GOP, particularly given the recent threats by Dobson and his fellow morals-wing leaders to bolt the party and run a candidate of their own unless the 2008 nominee is one to their liking—a standard to which none of the current crop, least of all notorious Noo Yawkah Rudy "Mr. 9/11" Giuliani, presently the front-runner, conforms. With all the scandals surrounding GOP Senators and Reps, and the continuing unpopularity of their President's mule-headed refusal to allow an end to our military misadventure in Iraq, the GOP mandarins know that any hope they still have of keeping hold of the highest office in the land depends utterly on placating their restless base.

NPR has also pointed out here, here and here just how dire a set of straits the GOP now finds itself in with regard to next year's Presidential and Congressional races...and how ironic is the reversal of the usual situation, with Democrats mostly united and organized and able to sit back and watch the other party's fractious self-destruction, rather than the other way around. Don't you just love watching right-wingers eat their own? [evil grin]

Some people just never learn...

House Fails to Override Bush Veto of Children's Health Care Bill
On behalf of all those of us yearning to see the Democrats win again next year, thank you, Mr. Bush and House Republicans—especially those of you facing the voters next fall. You just gave your opponents a club to beat you over the heads with, again and again and again, between now and November 4th, 2008. That's right, suckers: for the entire next year. And just practically guaranteed another Dem majority (even larger than the one gained last year). Don't you know better than to vote against poor kids' health care in an election season? Silly, silly conservatives. Snicker.

In Memoriam: Joseph Abraham Gottlieb (AKA Joey Bishop), 1918-2007

It is my sad duty to report that one of television's earliest funnymen—and the last surviving member of the notorious "Rat Pack"—has died. Joey Bishop, TV talk-show host, sitcom star and comedian, has passed away at 89 at his Newport Beach, CA home. Death was announced as the result of "multiple causes;" CNN.com has details here.

I was one of Joey's youngest viewers; at around three years old or so, I was so fascinated by his ABC talk show I actually cut out letter shapes from newspaper to form the show's title on the living-room floor...and squalled up an unholy racket when my mother dared dislodge any of the letters in passing. (It was one of her favorite funny stories to tell by way of illustrating my childhood precocity.) He was also a longtime mainstay of fellow Packer Dean Martin's NBC celebrity roast specials, and could usually be counted on for some suitable drollery about the evening's "Man/Woman of the Hour." He never worked blue that I knew of, and he always showed class, onstage and off.

You can read more about Joey's relationships with Pack honcho Frank Sinatra, Dino and the others in The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin', an excellent book put out by a major Sinatra fan a few years back. Amazon sells it here.

Look who's lived through breast cancer

This month, as is every October, is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I just took a look at Wikipedia's list of famous people who've survived the disease, and you won't believe how many you know:

( A partial list, cut to save your friends page. )