Gerald Ford 1913 - 2006

Guest blogged by Joy Williams

According to CNN, Ann Richards, the former Governor of Texas, has passed on due to esophogeal cancer. She was a straight talker, a truth teller, and an intelligent and fiery woman. She will be missed.

As a former Texan, I found in Ann Richards a salt-of-the-earth kind of person who had an incredible amount of compassion, and is one of those gems that you find amongst those tumbling tumbleweeds. You could trust her. You could rely on her. You knew she cared.

Her spirit and energy were phenomenal. She would have made a tremendous President.

In 1988, she gave the Democratic National Convention Keynote Address. Though it's a different George Bush, much of what she said then applies remarkably well now. The Bushes have NEVER changed their agenda. Please read her address.

We love you, Ann!

Don Knotts 1924-2006

Richard Pryor, 1940 - 2005

Rosa Parks, 1913 - 2005

Andy Stephenson lost his fight with cancer last night. He was a great fighter but, apparently, this was one he couldn't win.

I only recently got to know Andy over the past year, but he instantly became a friend. As if I'd known him my whole life. I know there are thousands out there who feel the same about him.

He was a great supporter of this blog, of The BRAD SHOW (he helped us get our first show on the air, and appeared as a guest that night) and was one of the original advisors at Velvet Revolution.

His loss is a tremendous blow to the Election Reform movement, and to America.

He will be missed...but he will never forgotten.

Godspeed, Andy...

UPDATE 7/11/05:

American Troops Killed (as of 5/29/05)
In Afghanistan: 184
In Iraq: 1,657

Funerals Attended by George W. Bush
0

"Life is just one grand, sweet song. So start the music."

- Caption from Ronald "Dutch" Reagan's
1928 Senior Highschool Yearbook photo.

Having for a couple of weeks inhabited his spirit, if not his body, for an Odd Couple spoof of sorts a few years back (Brad in OddFellas), the news of his passing was all the more sad to me. Good god was he funny. And a genius.

One of his last jokes, caught by Paul B., from the AP obituary:

Have been somewhat dispirited since our dear kitty, and one of my very best friends in the world ever, Zim, passed away a couple of days ago. She has left a huge hole in our lives and hearts...

But have been keeping myself occupied with setting up some proper Blogging software (which will allow Comments from readers here, and many other functions). So hopefully I will have that up, and something to say about things shortly.

R.I.P. Zim

Okay...so it seems it's time to start a blog. Somebody's gotta.

It's been a tough week as we returned home from an otherwise lovely Winter Vacation. My Uncle Barry died suddenly and tragically, and now my cat, Zim, is critically ill. Can't do anything for Barry right now other than ponder the wonderful memory of his life and place a page for him in memoriam. Seeing Barry just a few weeks ago at my cousin Mitchell's Wedding was great. Tremendous, in fact, and hopefully that memory will stay with me for a long time.

Zim, on the other hand, is now being force fed in the hopes that she'll come around. She stopped eating while we were gone and has become incredibly skinny. As Barry had also lost a lot of weight when we saw him at the wedding for the last time, this particular turn of events has frightened us a great deal. So for now, we're hoping for the best.

I was moved to begin this blog after reading about two minutes of Howard Dean's blog. And after about 2 months of Desiree suggesting I either get my own radio show or, in lieu of that, start my own blog. Consider it done.

I was finally moved by the Dean Blog because this Tuesday is the New Hampshire Primary, and I'm trying to figure out if Dean is gonna come around in time to win it. All the pundits are currently saying that "Howard Dean is dead" - thus, we can be almost certain that Howard Dean will win the nomination. (See the pundits piss poor predictions prior to the Iowa Caucus if you have any doubts about the ability of the pundits to get it completely wrong).

I've got many other random Dean thoughts that have been accumulating over the past few weeks and months, and without a blog up until now, those thoughts have been stored only inside of Desi's ears. Poor Desi.

I'll try to get 'em out over time here. But for a start, here's one for ya. The pundits (or "conventional wisdom" if you will) have said that Howard Dean would be the Candidate easiest beat by Bush. You may as well translate this into "Dean will clobber Bush should he be nominated".

For the past several months, the Republicans have been doing their Briar Rabbit routine ("please don't throw me in the briar patch!") in regards to Howard Dean. Their repeated claims that they "can't wait for the Democrats to nominate Howard Dean" either means they think we're idiots, or it proves that they are idiots. Or both. I'm not yet sure which one is the case. But I can tell you this, if the Dems are smart enough to nominate Dean, he will mop the floor up with Dubya.

One other Dean thought for now; His now infamous "rant" after placing 3rd in Iowa, will later be regarded as a brilliant move on his part as it's brought him more attention than anything else could have. And he knows what to do with it. His poll numbers are now turning back up, he no longer has the pressure of being the pin-cushion front-runner, and with a near-Kerry finish in NH, he's poised to move big prior to the Feb 3rd primaries. As long as he doesn't move too fast and get Fox Newsed & Rushed again. 

We'll see.