Rachel Maddow on the Pitfalls of NOT Nominating a SCOTUS Justice

If conservative Republicans win the PR battle, and manage to stall the Supreme Court nomination process, they have a chance to have a conservative seated. But only if a Republican wins the presidential election. Even with that (for liberal Democrats) unfortunate outcome, the Republicans manage to potentially lose a lot along the way. A number of potential 5-4 decisions, some of which would certainly have gone the conservatives' way, would end in a tie. Meaning they'd lose. So in each scenario where it was that tight, liberals effectively win. This is a huge dice roll for the GOP.

One of Rachel Maddow's biggest strengths is her ability to supply context and history to subjects like this, and tease out the many and sundry implications. One of her best monologues was on this subject on Monday night. Take a look.

Seth Meyers on SCOTUS Nomination Flap

Seth Meyers has hit upon the real opposing forces in the Supreme Court nominating fight that is starting to take the country by storm. It is less between right and left, or Senate vs. Obama. It's really between obstructionist Republicans vs. a strict constructionist view of the Constitution. In effect, it's a battle between the GOP Senate and Antonin Scalia's professed ideology. Isn't it ironic? Don'tcha think?

[Excerpt]

Seth Meyers Blasts Republican Leadership Over Justice Scalia Replacement

The untimely death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia this past weekend immediately morphed into a pitched political war, a war that Late Night host Seth Meyers points out is largely between Republicans and the U.S. Constitution that Justice Scalia so famously wanted to be interpreted as originally written. . .

Read more at: Mediaite

World AIDS Day: Flashing Back to "When AIDS Was Funny"

AIDS was, of course, never really funny. But for a time, people got titters about it, because it was "gay cancer," and openly gay Americans were rather rare, and the whole subject was treated like a joke. A dirty, truly tasteless joke. The most troubling fact about that, is that it wasn't just 13-year-old boys with pocket "dead baby" joke books treating it that way, but the official stance of the Reagan Administration. How much differently could the AIDS crisis have turned out, had Saint Ronnie treated the subject more seriously at the outset? We'll never know.

[Excerpt]

The Reagan Administration’s Unearthed Response to the AIDS Crisis Is Chilling

One of the most prominent stains on the reputation of the much-mythologized Reagan administration was its response, or lack of response, to the AIDS crisis as it began to ravage American cities in the early and mid-1980s. President Reagan famously (though, not famously enough) didn’t himself publicly mention AIDS until 1985, when more than 5,000 people, most of them gay men, had already been killed by the disease. Filmmaker Scott Calonico’s new documentary short, When AIDS Was Funny, exclusively debuting on VF.com, shows how the Reagan administration reacted to the mounting problem in chilling fashion. Not even Reagan’s appointed mouthpiece, notorious press secretary Larry Speakes, had much to say about the crisis beyond derisive laughter. . .


Read more (with video) at: Vanity Fair

What Happens in Vegas: Man with 132-pound Scrotum Dies

I mean, wouldn't you? Poor guy.

[Excerpt]

Wesley Warren Jr., Man With 132-lb. Scrotum, Dead At 49

Image from source, Huffington Post

Wesley Warren Jr., who received worldwide notoriety because of his problems with a scrotum that grew to 132 pounds, died Friday at a Las Vegas hospital. He was 49. No cause of death was officially announced, but Warren's roommate, Joey Hurtado, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Warren had suffered two heart attacks recently. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

What Happens in Vegas: Cirque du Soleil Performer Dies in Fall at KA

Ugh. Immediate reaction to the news was just an "oof" moment to me. It's something that is at once sad, and completely understandable. Circus performers perform death-defying acts for a living, and sometimes there is a mistake. It doesn't make it less sad, this reality. Nor does it help with the trauma felt by the performer's friends, the people in the crowd who witnessed it, or anyone involved with the show (or family of shows). But it is important to put this into context. As with air shows, and race cars, and many other thrill-providing entertainment exhibitions, occasionally--and thankfully rarely--someone is going to get hurt or die.

I've never seen KA, though I have watched other Cirque du Soleil shows, such as Mystère, Zarkana and Michael Jackson Immortal. All of them contained amazing, thrilling--and clearly death-defying--stunts. Part of the amazement is in the fact that it looks so dangerous. Now we know, if we didn't already, that the threat is very real.

Image from source, Las Vegas Sun

[Excerpt]

Cirque du Soleil artist killed in fall from stage during ‘Ka’ at MGM Grand

Sarah Guyard-Guillot, an artist in "Ka" at MGM Grand and a mother of two children ages 8 and 5, was killed Saturday night after a fall from the show's stage at MGM Grand. The Clark County Coroner's Office said this afternoon that Guyard-Guillot, 31, was pronounced dead at 11:43 p.m. Saturday at University Medical Center.

Read more: LasVegasSun

My Funeral (A Fantasy)

I have this bizarre fantasy that only occurs to me at odd times, like that little period between waking and sleeping, when you're pondering weird crap, and you have odd swimming shapes before your eyes. The time when if you glance at your bedroom doorway, you can see the shape of a goblin or an alien. And that fantasy is how I'd like my funeral to go. See, I'm an atheist, and have been a non-believer for a very long time. I don't want prayer or Bible verses, or "spirituality"--whatever that is--at my memorial service.

So, what do I want? Well, I'm really not sure. I think maybe that should be decided by my husband, with maybe some input from my family. None of them think I'm religious, and none of them really are either. But back to my fantasy. I have this image of me all laid out in repose--looking far better than I ever have of course, studious glasses perched on my nose, a nice suit, half a smirk on my face. And as the mourners (scores of them of course) file by to pay their last respects, a soft music starts to play. It would be pleasant, but not necessarily identifiable, but would eventually segue into a song called One by One, by Cher. Naturally, right? I mean, I'm gay after all. It's a nice, gentle song about loving one another. Perfect for a funeral, right?



They can even splice the song for length, if necessary, to let the line file by. But at some point, I want another segue. I want a little dramatic lighting. I want the soft song to fade into the dance remix! Maybe even a disco ball, and spotlights! Pulsing lights to the pulsing beat, and the line is played off with a driving, fun, boogieing  send-off! I can see the last batch of mourners dancing, twirling by, filing out of the service with smiles on their faces, and a spring in their step!

I can't think of a better send-off!

Davy Jones, Andrew Breitbart. . .Ann Coulter, Harbinger of Doom?

Davy Jones. Andrew Breitbart. The common link? Ann Coulter. I'm just sayin'. . .

Coincidence?

My Many Brushes With Death

I was just reading a Cracked article online, 5 Mundane Objects that Saved Important Lives, which is about just what the headline says. It got me to thinking about the times in my life that my chips were almost cashed in. I've read that we come this close to death at least six times per day, but that we usually don't know it. Leaving aside how it is even possible to come up with that figure, I do know that I've been conscious of several of these. Here's a partial list off the top of my head:

1. Nearly flattened by a train - In 1986, I moved from my parents' home in the country back to Whitehall, Ohio, where I'd grown up. In fact, I was moving--temporarily--back into my childhood home, prior to my parents finally selling it. My kid sister--11 at the time--rode along, in one of a series of Ford Econoline vans our family owned. Just south of the 5th Avenue/Hamilton Road intersection, near what was the Rockwell International building, Hamilton is intersected by railroad tracks. On this particular day, the flashers and gates did not activate, in addition to there being an obstructed view. My sister and I sailed over the tracks, and as we plunged down the hill immediately after the tracks, the train woodshed immediately behind us.

2. Run-in with a ditch, pt. 1 - I was driving to my parents' house, from Whitehall, this time. It was dark, and I was driving my brother's 70s Toyota Corolla (his license was suspended, and my car was in the shop). There was a light but steady rain, and I remember that the headlights on the Corolla did not illuminate the landscape very well. I remember feeling an odd sensation while tootling down the country road at 60 mph. It was like the car had lateral rollers underneath the tires. Odd, I thought. Then, I hit a bump or pothole, and my steering wheel spun under my hands. I was hurtling diagonally across the road, the car heedless of the direction the tires were spinning, directly toward a telephone pole. The brakes were ineffective.

I clipped the pole, and the car spun completely around, eventually landing driver's door down in the ditch, on the same side of the road as the pole. I climbed out of the passenger door--now on top--and got out on the side of the road. This wasn't rain, it was freezing rain. I was barely able to stand, due to the sheath of ice on everything. A passing motorist picked me up, and took me the next three miles to my folks' house. I called a tow truck, which eventually arrived, and took me back to the crash site. They pulled the car out, and abandoned me there. My limited injuries included my ruined voice (from screaming, "Oh, Shit!!!"), a bruise across my chest from the seat belt, and sore muscles from scraping the tomb of ice off of the Corolla before I could drive it oh, so slowly back to the house.*

If I'd gotten my gloves, I'd have been right in the
spot where the car was hit.

3. Run-in with a ditch, pt. 2 - Leaving my parent's house for work in Delaware, Ohio**, I crept across deep fluffy snow, from the house to State Route 605. As I turned north onto the road, I was greeted by a (barely) two-lane path, which had been plowed into the snow. Accumulation had obscured the road, so it was difficult to tell where it was. But I was on it, that wasn't the problem. I'd scarcely gotten half a mile when I felt the wind. There was an open field to the west, and the wind was gusting. My Nissan Pulsar NX weighed approximately as much as a large kitchen appliance. It was no contest. The wind softly and gently pushed my car into the ditch on the east side of the road.

The landing was not violent. It was like landing in a cloud, since the snow had been drifting into the ditch. My car and I were unharmed, but I was stuck. I got out of the car, and trudged to a house a hundred yards to the south of me. I called my Dad, and he said he'd bring a rope to pull me out. I walked back to the car, and desperately wanted to get my gloves out of the hatch. Then, I had something akin to a premonition. I imagined another car, also getting blown off of the road, right on top of my car. Instead of opening the hatch, and getting my gloves, I walked around it, and stood behind a fence post. Seconds later, a Ford Tempo--just as I imagined it--whooshed off of the road, and crashed right on top of my car! Dad was a bit surprised when he got there, to see the Tempo on top of my Pulsar.

4. Nearly fell through sliding glass door - In late 2006, I was newly out of debt. After nearly a decade (almost my entire 30s) climbing out of debt, I was free. So, naturally, I thought it would be a good idea to buy something I'd never been able to afford before. So--after much research--I bought a Maytag Ice20 refrigerator. I got it as a display model from Home Depot, and got a great deal. Since it was a floor model, it was missing a few trim pieces, which I managed to find online. One of those things was a plastic hinge cover for the top. Foolishly, I used a swivel stool to stand upon to put the trim piece in place. After I installed the piece, I started to get down, and the stool swiveled beneath me. The chair flew backward, and so did I. I managed to grab on to the hinge cover, and it--barely--saved me. That I didn't fall still amazes me. Gravity and momentum were working strongly against me. If I hadn't caught myself, I would have gone through the slider glass, likely back first onto broken glass and the door frame and slider tracks. I was home alone for the first of three days. I could've either been severely injured or dead there for all that time before someone would have found me.

And that, dear reader, is my top four. I'm sure there are many more. How about you?



* A coda to that story is very sad. I stayed home from work the next day, since I was in so much pain. I recuperated in Mom & Dad's bed, and was watching the news on their television. On the news was a van in a ditch, clearly on the same road I was on. The back doors were open, rear end in the air. Turns out, the driver of the fan overcompensated after seeing my car in the ditch, and crashed into the opposite ditch. The seeing eye dog the van was carrying scampered out, and was killed by another motorist. The kid the dog was being delivered to had been waiting for months for the dog. I still feel guilty about that.




** Oddly enough, most of my near-death experiences (and car incidents, and run ins with cops) have been either when going to, or coming from my parents' house. You'd think I'd learn.

Kim Jong Il is Dead

Dead, dead, dead. Image from source

Well, 2011 has been a banner year for the deaths of horrible, terrible, no good leaders, hasn't it? And I doubt there are a lot of tears over any of them. Well, except perhaps Jim Ward of The Stephanie Miller Show and Margaret Cho, who both have delightful impressions of Kim Jong Il.

[Excerpt]


DEAR LEADER DEAD


North Korean television announced in a "special broadcast" that its leader Kim Jong Il has died in Pyongyang, the AP reports. 

Kim's death was announced Monday from the state capital of Pyongyang. He reportedly suffered a stroke in 2008, but appeared relatively healthy on recent trips around Asia, which were documented by state media. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Woman Turns Out to be Alive at the Morgue

The daughter of the not-dead, from MediaIte

Gaaahhhh. This story reawakens a childhood fear of mine (and a current one of The Other Half): being buried alive. Thank goodness this lady's still breathing "corpse" was discovered before it came to that.

[Excerpt]

This (Still) Exists: Woman Goes To Identify Mother At Morgue, Discovers She’s Actually Still Alive

Here’s kind of a good news/bad news type of story.

In Brazil, a young woman was called in to identify the body of her mother. When they brought the body out, Rosangela Celestrino got wonderful good news; her mother was actually still alive! The bad news? This means she was stuck in a refrigerated morgue drawer for two hours. . .

Read more at: MediaIte


Thanks to Stupid Monkey Planet for the nightmare, and the link.

News of the Weird: Death by Xbox

Wow. I have to say, I had no idea that a 20-year-old could die by sitting in one position for 12 hours. I didn't really know anyone could. I live in Las Vegas, home of the penny-slot grannies. They park there for days. Not to mention the 450-pound buffet warriors who go everywhere in their Hoveround.  But I've got to say, I'm doing the math of how many hours I sit here doing this blog thingie!

[Excerpt]

Chris Staniforth Dies From Blood Clot After 12-Hour Xbox Marathons 

In the latest example of "everything in moderation," too much Xbox-playing may have led to a young British man's death. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

To Show or Not to Show: The Osama bin Laden Death Photos

I could honestly go either way on this one. I'm not easily grossed out, so I'm not all oogy about seeing real-life gore, necessarily. But I'm also leery of giving in to ridiculous requests, so if this is all about appeasing the nascent "deathers" conspiracy theorists, I say "nay."

[Excerpt]

"Put Edwina back in bowl!" Sorry, but he just reminds
me of Richard Libertini's Prahka Lasa from All of Me
Image from Raw Story

News organizations press White House to release visual proof of bin Laden’s death



The Associated Press and other news organizations have officially taken the position that President Barack Obama should release visual proof of Osama bin Laden's death, claiming that without this level of transparency the White House is essentially deciding what is and is not newsworthy. . .
 
Read more at: Raw Story

Let me Tell You 'Bout the Birds and the Bees (and the Fish): They're Dying!

Image from source, Examiner

I recently posted a piece on the weird mass die-in of the crows in Arkansas. Was that a murder of crows? Heh. But see, that's the weird thing. Well, one of the weird things. This dead bird story was followed by dead fish stories, more dead bird stories, and the almost unanimous response--even by me--is humor. Dark, gallows humor. Slightly uncomfortable humor. But still. I'm a little surprised that we all find this so funny.  I mean, if this was an M. Night Shyamalan movie. . .well, it would suck. . .but the dying animals scenes would be played for suspense, to shock, to horrify. Perhaps a sequel to The Happening.  The Crappening? I like it.

But the point is, this mass death thing could be a very bad thing, right? The canary in a coal mine on a larger scale?  And what about the mass bee deaths of the last few years, did we ever figure that shit out?  I don't know. But if the wind starts chasing me, I think I'll just let it catch me.

[Excerpt]

Dead birds in Louisiana; dead fish in Maryland, Brazil and New Zealand



After reports over the weekend of thousands of dead birds falling from the sky in Arkansas and around 100,000 dead fish washing up on the shores of the Arkansas River, more mysteries abound with hundreds of birds dying in Louisiana, dead fish in Maryland, dead sardines on Brazil’s beaches, and hundreds of snapper floating in New Zealand waters. . .

Read more at: Examiner

News of the Weird: Man with Mind-Controlled Prosthetic Arm Dies in Crash

Image from source, AOL News

This could also be found under Science is Cool, were it not for the fact that it is also News of the Sad. I had no idea there was any such thing as mind-controlled prosthetics.  To go through a double amputation, get something as amazing and novel as that, and then to still die at 22-years-old? Harsh, man.  Poor guy.

[Excerpt]

Austrian Man With Bionic Arm Dies After Car Crash

The first European to use a mind-controlled prosthetic arm died in Austria after crashing his car into a tree.

Christian Kandlbauer, 22, died Thursday in Graz, a city in southern Austria, The Associated Press reported.

Kandlbauer had a prosthetic left arm that he moved simply by thinking. He also wore a normal prosthesis as his right arm. They were fitted after he lost both arms in an accident in 2005. . . 

Read more at: AOL News

Michelle Bachmann-Led Rally Out-Tea Bags the Tea Baggers

Disturbing image from source, Daily Kos

If there was even any proof needed that the Republican Party has gone completely around the bend, to the furthest, scariest depths of the right, today's rally was it. You've got your buses, chartered by a faux-grass roots group. You've got your nutty signs. You've got your simultaneously vague and pervasive anger at everything, and this time, you've got actual mainstream elected Congressmen and women in attendance. More than that, the whole anti-government, revolution-inciting event was slapped together by Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (R-Batshit Insane).

On one hand, all of this insanity is heartening to a Democrat like me, leading me to believe that the GOP can't possibly win this way. On the other hand, I'm terrified that somehow they will. The lunatics are truly running the GOP asylum, and I can't imagine what would happen if they ran the USA. And here I thought Bush, Cheney, Condi, Rummy, Rove and the rest were the end game. They look positively normal by comparison. Nazi imagery? Dead bodies? Dachau? Really?!?

[Excerpt]

While Democrats were touting AARP's endorsement...

. . .If Republicans wonder why most Americans view them as part of the fringe extreme, they need not look beyond this event. While Democrats were touting the endorsement of AARP, Michele Bachmann and the House leadership were rallying amidst signs like this, shoulder to shoulder with 2,000 teabaggers. . .

Read more at: Daily Kos

Is it OK to Have Fun at a Funeral?

I have returned to Las Vegas after having attended my last funeral for a grandparent in Ohio. Grandma Lillie Belle Greenlee was 94 years old, and lived 17 years after the passing of Grandpa McKinley Roosevelt Greenlee, who died at 92 in 1992. She had a form of dementia that robbed her of her memories, but not of her personality. I don't think there was a single person on the planet who met her who didn't love her.

It was possible for me to get wistful, and briefly emotional, but this funeral was slightly different for me from others I've been to. Grandma lived a long life, but the past decade was unable to enjoy her family and friends. So there was a sort of comfort in knowing that whatever confusion she may have been experiencing has come to an end. Interestingly, the sadness was offset with the experience of being with most of my Dad's side of the family, possibly for the last time.

I'm a child of a very early divorce. Because of this, the paternal side of my family has never been as close as it could have been. But the occasion of the funeral allowed us to reunite, and to visit Grandma's farm one more time. It was rather surreal, and I felt like I was in an indie film, with jump-cuts to the past, and back to the present. I walked through Grandma's house with my cousin Becky, and flashed to the last time I spent the night at Grandma's as an adult: also with Becky. Our reunion was brief, and is unlikely to be repeated, but I had a very good time. Is that OK? I dunno.

Death Can be Funny: A Hearse at Big Lots

I always wished my blog had enough of a following to allow "open threads," which are places for the readers to congregate and discuss anything going on that day. One of my favorite types of open thread is the "caption this" photo.

I went to Big Lots today, since I had a 20% off of everything coupon. I didn't need anything, mind you. I still spent $40. When I returned to the car with my booty of useless stuff, I saw this early 80s Lincoln Town Car refashioned into a hearse. There was something darkly comical about such a car positioned below the Big Lots sign.

Comic Books & Soap Operas: Nobody's Ever Really Dead

Image from source, Bam! Kapow!

There's a great scene in the old Sally Field movie, Soapdish, where a soap opera writer (Whoopi Goldberg) is tasked with bringing back a character who had been killed off. The character had been decapitated. "You know what that means? It means he doesn't have a head. How am I supposed to write for a guy who doesn't have a head?" But bring him back, they did.

Just a little while ago, I wrote a post about Laura Leighton's return to the resurrected Melrose Place, as the same character she played in the nineties. Leighton's character, Sydney, was run down and killed by a car on her wedding night. In her wedding dress. It was the motivation for another character, who tried to take his revenge. But they're bringing her back (and I'm sure it will be fabulous).

Soaps are notorious for this of course, and nobody's surprised by it. But comic books are even worse. Nobody stays dead in comics, nobody. Even when we're assured that they're really, truly, completely dead. Even when twenty-plus years go by and they're still dead, sure as shootin', if they're anyone of consequence, back they will come.

Barry Allen, the silver-age Flash was dead for more than twenty years. He's back. His wife was killed off "permanently," but returned long before he did. Superman died in a very famous multi-part series. Stayed dead for a couple of months. But he came back (with a mullet). Batman and Captain America are currently dead, but they'll be back. Count on it.

We can cut them a little slack, though. Unlike soap operas, superheroes are already fantastic, utterly unbelievable. If a character can push around planets (or in some cases, eat them), why not defy the finality of death? I suppose it could be a challenge to some really creative writer out there to create a death so spectacular, so absolutely final, that another writer couldn't possibly resurrect them. But I wouldn't count on it.

[Excerpt]

Death And Resurrection In Comics

. . .Why can’t characters STAY DEAD? Well the answer is simple really. Economics. There’s money to be made in big, sloppy storylines like Final Crisis or Batman R.I.P. or The Death of Superman. There’s money to be made by killing iconic characters and just as much money to be made in the return of those same characters. Artistic integrity can just be damned. Does anyone think Bruce Wayne won’t be Batman again before the end of 2009? Did anyone think Superman wouldn’t return back in 1993? . . .

Read more at: Bam! Kapow!

The Young Turks Most Important Celebrity Death?

I pondered this issue in a previous post. Who was the most important celebrity death of 2008? Now, yeah, everyone is important in their own way, but who's death had the most impact? See if you agree with The Young Turks.

Batman Dead? SURE He Is. . .

Image from AlexRossArt

DC Comics has killed off one of their top three characters. They've already killed (and revived) Superman at least once. They've regressed, rebooted and rebirthed Wonder Woman many times. And while I'm sure they've also killed Batman a time or two, this time the message seems to be that he's "really" dead.

And if you believe that, you don't know much about comic books. It is the rare major character that stays dead, no matter how final, or how brutal his or her death may be. Like in the movie Soapdish, even a beheading won't keep a good super hero down. Now, there are a few scattered exceptions. The 60s-80s version of The Flash, Barry Allen, was killed in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and he actually stayed dead. But Flash was a time-traveller, so even he pops up here and there. And while popular, Barry was no Bruce Wayne. DC has far too much name recognition there, too much money involved. . .I just ain't buyin' it.

[Excerpt]

THE world’s most famous comic book hero has breathed his last Bat breath.

Bruce Wayne – who by night is Batman – gets murdered by a man claiming to be the father he thought was dead.

In a highly controversial new storyline Bruce, who first appeared in 1939, is killed by Simon Hurt – the leader of the shady Black Glove organisation. . .

Read more at: The Sun