Lifting the veil on Anthony Shadid's death

Anthony Shadid.

There's an interesting story at counterpunch this weekend. It's about the circumstances of journalist Anthony Shadid's death. It seems the NYT version of events may not have been accurate.

Here's an excerpt:

At this point, Dr. Shadid said, Anthony called his wife and “gave his last haunting directive: ‘If anything happens to me, I want the world to know the New York Times killed me.’”

If this is true, Anthony Shadid's last wish was that you read this story. I've read it and sadly, it seems plausible.

(I'm not sure how to credit the photo. I found it at frontlinedefenders.org.)

Dog!

You know when you hear a noise in the next room, and you can't account for it? Like I just heard a major crackling noise coming from the kitchen or hall area. It went on for a bit and freaked me out. So I went there and stood, still and vigilant. But I heard nothing and there didn't seem to be a logical source for the crackles. It was as if they came out of nowhere.

I think it was dog. I think dog was trying to contact me. He must have a message for the world, something he wants me to reveal on my blog. I think it's something important.

But I don't know what to do. The problem is that I don't know how to contact dog, but I'll try. Okay, I'm taking deep breaths now and I'm calling dog. I'm telling him to use me to deliver his message to the world.

Okay, I think I feel something. I'm going to let dog take control of my fingers now so he can type his message for the world, using me as his sacred receptacle. The next words you read will be dog's.

Relax. Enjoy yourselves. But also accomplish something now and then. And don't eat too much. You heard me.

Gasp! I just saw those words. I swear to you that I didn't type them! I'll take a lie detector test, if you want. But right now I'm overwhelmed and I have to go lie down. Dog!

Awwww. Doris Singleton died.

Doris Singleton.

Remember Doris Singleton? She was Lucy's perennial neighbor and women's club member. I used to love her character. There was just something special about her voice. It seemed to encapsulate the 1950s.

To this day, I find myself hearing (in her voice) the word, "Honestly!" Remember how people used this word, way back when? In today's terms, it would translate as "You've got to be kidding!" I still say "Honestly!" just like she did and every time I do it, I think of her. She lives in me. Truly.

Doris Singleton added something to this world. To my mind, that's what we should hope people say about us after we're gone. We were a plus, and the world is lessened by our departure.

A painful task

I just removed all the copyrighted Xmas carol lyrics from Xmas Carol, my horror novel, and replaced them with lyrics from public domain Xmas carols. After I tossed the religious public-domain carols aside, all that was left was:

Jingle Bells
Deck the Halls
The Twelve Days of Xmas
We Wish You a Merry Xmas.

Slim pickins -- truly slim. At least The Twelve Days of Xmas is irritating. I was able to use that to good effect.

Originally (i.e., before I realized the public domain issue was going to clunk me on the head) I chose the carols with care, making sure each lyric went perfectly with a scene. It was difficult to toss all that out the window and be forced to use these four tunes.

It's a sad day in Xmas Carol land. Truly. But it needed to be done and I've done it. Sob.

GOP plans to establish theocracy in US

Taliban & GOP: no difference.

They really, really want a theocracy. It's shocking, it's stupid and it's so un-American that you can't believe it, but the 2012 Texas Republican Party platform literally states:

We pledge our influence toward a return to the original intent of the First Amendment and toward dispelling the myth of separation of church and state.

They want a king to run our country, and not just any king, but a prince of the church. In other words, they want a mullah to run the country. Sure, it'll be a Christian Taliban version of a mullah, but it's still the same. They want the iron hand of Jesus Christ to run our country. No more sluts, no more fags, no more brown people. It's really that bad, folks.

And while I'm at it, what's all this about Egypt having an "Islamic democracy"? This term is an oxymoron. Religion is authoritarian; democracy is the opposite. This concept implodes on inspection.

But that's just what the Texas GOP wants. Funny, eh? And you know how you're always reading about the Taliban poisoning school children? There won't be none of that learnin' stuff over there in Afghanistan. No, uh-uh. All they're allowed to read is the Bible Koran. Well, check out another part of the 2012 Texas Republican Party platform:

(W)e support reducing taxpayer funding to all levels of education institutions.

They are the Taliban in every way but one: X-out Allah; insert Jeebus. Done. Welcome to the new US of A.

Upon consideration . . .

I think the Beatles should retract "Obladi Oblada" from their releases. They should cease it and desist it. It doesn't live up to Beatles' standards.

And I call upon Nancy Sinatra to rescind "These Boots are Made for Walking" and remove it from the minds of anyone who ever heard it. It must be like it never appeared on this Earth.

A little tuckered today. Light posting.

Here's Keller again

So I was apparently the only atheist in the world who found Bill Keller's column about Catholicism to be sane and sensible. (Leads to his original column, along with my short post.) I stick by my opinion and, frankly, I wonder what's wrong with the faculties of all those bloggers who trashed it. Keller is chastising the church for being idiotic -- just like we do.

Confirming my good opinion, Keller expanded on his column today in a blog post. Look, I'm as shocked as anyone. Bill Keller is usually a monster. But he's got this one pegged. If he's trashing anyone, it's the popey guy. I don't get it. Why don't lefty bloggers see this?

A Youk or a boo?

I wrote about this on the blog long ago: you can't tell fans screaming "Boo!" from fans screaming "Youk!" (the Red Sox cheer for Kevin Youkilis). Both are stretched-out yells -- Yoooooouuuuuuuk and Booooooooooooo -- so you mostly hear the middle, which is identical. Who can tell if it began with a B or a Y or ended with a K? I sure can't.

And now this anomaly has come to haunt Obama. The president was not booed. Here's an excerpt from the linked article (after all the inaccurate ones earlier in the day about Red Sox fans "booing" Obama):

"Anyone who knows Boston, and anyone who was in that room last night knows that the preponderance of people shouting in response to what the president said about Kevin Youkilis were saying 'Yoooouk' and not 'Booo,' for God's sake," Carney said.

And that's the story, folks. It was a Youk, not a boo. Mark that on your scorecards. The crowd was lamenting the loss of one of their favorite players in the only way they knew how: like a herd of lost moose.  "Yooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuk!"

By the way, there was a catchy headline about Youkilis being traded to the White Sox yesterday (at ESPN, as I recall): "Youkilis changes Sox". I liked that.

Breaking News from the Vatican!

I imagine we'll be seeing "breaking news" headlines from the Vatican now that they've got an official Fox News spokesperson.

In his new job as the Vatican’s senior communications adviser, Burke, 52, will be counseling Pope Benedict XVI and his closest staff on how to better project the Catholic Church’s image to the rest of the world.

I can just see it now. The popey guy appears on-screen. Below his image, big red letters blink with the word: "ALERT ALERT ALERT". And then the popey guy says, breathlessly, "A miracle has occurred in Transylvania! The Blessed Virgin Mary has appeared to thousands!"

Oy. It fits right in, doesn't it? Heck, he can use direct Fox News feeds and call them his own. After all, they say the same sorts of things the popey guy says: anti-gay, anti-Obama, anti-sanity stuff. It's a miracle! And I heard on Fox News that this whole set-up was preordained in the Bible!

VIQ (Very Important Question)

A baseball player's "batter introductory music", in the clunky language of baseball, is his theme song. Each baseball player picks a song as his own, and it's played every time he comes up to bat.

Some of the song choices but great and some are weird -- like Chase Utley's song, Kashmir. I find it strange every time I hear that song as he walks to the batter's box. It's so self-important -- or at least, that's how it strikes me. (Then again, maybe sounding self-important is what it's all about.)

So here's the question: If you were a major league baseball player, what would your theme song be?

(Just to refresh your memory, here's Utley's song, Kashmir. Is it a bit weird? Or is that just me?)