In Memorium

January 13, 1931 – May 25, 2007
Tony Award-winning American actor, director, and drama teacher

I do not like game shows, I ranke them slightly higher than reality television on my tolerate o' meter. However put on Match Game and I am slobbering, Cheeto eating, 2-liter bottle o' Sprite guzzling couch potato. Brett Summers, the Landers sisters, Edie McClurg, Richard Dawson, Fannie Flagg and the King of Them All:

CHARLES NELSON REILLY!

Charles died of pnumonia at his home on Friday.

Me Ke Aloha Pumehana.

Donald Tai Loy "Don" Ho

August 13, 1930 – April 14, 2007
Hawaiian musician and entertainer.

Mahalo nui loa na ho'olaule'a me la kaua

In Memorium

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
(November 11, 1922–April 11, 2007)
Novelist & Activist

And So It Goes.

In Memorium

Vickie Lynn Marshall
aka/Anna Nicole Smith
November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007

The first time I saw Anna was in her 1993 playboy pictorial, I was twenty two. She was a southern beauty with a voluptuous body and a girl next door charm. She was by my estimation the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. The Guess! Jean's commercials fueled the young male fantasies of my generation.

Then came the fall. The augmentation, the weight gain, the marriage, the money, the drugs; the glamour fell away, leaving the scarred and scared Vickie Lynn and the entertainment gossip piranhas to feed on her.

Like another former playmate Anna Nicole became a shadow of her former self. The difference was , with Norma Jean , the public was shielded from watching the moral, physical, and mental deterioration of their sex goddess. With Anna her tragedy was marketed and peddled like some cheap moral flea market.

Rest in peace Vickie Lynn. When I see you it is still 1993, I am young, the world is filled with promise, and you are star of my dreams.

In Memorium

Mary Tyler "Molly" Ivins
August 30, 1944 – January 31, 2007

"Politics is not a picture on a wall or a television sitcom that you can decide you don't much care for."

I first discovered the wit and passion of Molly Ivins in her books Who Let The Dogs In? and Bushwacked which she co-authored with Lou Dubose. She was funny, insightful, and at times controversial. A true Populist was never afraid to speak or write what was on her mind. A defender of the powerless and a never ending strength that fought the good fight until the very end. Rest in peace Molly, my monthly "The Progressive" will never be the same.

In Memorium

Generally regarded as honest, a good father, and congressman. I will put aside the two major gaffes of his presidency aside, for a few days, and just let him rest in peace.

Gerald Rudolph Ford
(July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006)
38th President (1974–1977) and 40th Vice President (1973–1974)

In Memorial

Peter Boyle
October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006

Peter Boyle best remembered for his role in Everybody Loves Raymond, but for me, more so as the Creature in Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein". Truly a brilliant actor he was able to convey menace, sadness, a comedy while having a paucity of lines.
I learned something about Mr. Boyle as I was putting together this post. He was a friend of John Lennon and worked with Jane Fonda in the anti-war movement. After his first big role, in the 1970 release "Joe", Boyle was so disturbed by the audience cheering his violent biogetd character, that he refused the role of Popeye Doyle in "The French Connection". Classy, talented, and widely respected within the industry, Peter Boyle will be missed.

In Brightest Day....

Martin Nodell

(November 15, 1915 – December 9, 2006)

Yeah Superman has got the whole alien super power thing. Batman is the world's greatest detective and a billionaire. For my money, I have always favored the The Green Lantern. I grew up on the Hal Jordan, Silver Age version and learned about the original Nodell creation as I grew older. Another legend and pioneer of the comics industry has passed.

In doing a little research, for this post, I happened to find the text for the original GL oath, as printed in ALL-AMERICAN # 16. Thanks goes out to the keeper of the Green Lantern Corps Page for finding and posting just about all of them.

"And I shall shed my light over dark evil,
For the dark things cannot stand the light,
the light of the Green Lantern!"