2013 status updates
In reverse chronological order
December 1, 2013 at 3:37pm CST
Today I learned that the brother of John Wilkes Booth saved the son of Abraham Lincoln from being crushed to death on a train platform - a year before Lincoln’s assassination.
That son, Robert Todd Lincoln, was also an eyewitness to the assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881, and was present at the event where President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901.
November 26, 2013 at 8:07pm CST
“Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.
“Human beings are themselves considered consumer goods to be used and then discarded. . . In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world.
“This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system.
“Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting.”
- Pope Francis
November 4, 2013 at 3:38pm CST
Right now, in 2013, in many states a person can be fired simply for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would make it explicitly illegal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Senate is about ready to pass it, but Boehner and the Republicans will not even let the House vote on it. If Republicans listened to their constituents, the bill would pass overwhelmingly.
Nearly all recent opinion polls indicate that a large majority of the American public — more than 70 percent — supports efforts to make employment discrimination against gay men and and lesbians illegal. Majorities in all 50 states support ENDA-like legislation - public support ranges from a low of 63 percent in Mississippi to a high of 81 percent in Massachusetts.
October 19, 2013 at 1:28pm CDT
Two-thirds of regular Republicans believe the federal budget deficit has grown this year and 93 percent of Tea Party Republicans agree. Both are wrong; the budget deficit is projected to fall this year from $1.1 trillion to $642 billion.
October 12, 2013 at 4:02pm CDT
Why do so many successful people have formal music training in their backgrounds? They say it opens pathways to creative thinking, and sharpens other qualities: Collaboration. The ability to listen. A way of thinking that weaves together disparate ideas. The power to focus on the present and the future simultaneously.
October 5, 2013 at 9:10pm CDT
Back from our cruise. Loved it, but it’s so good to be home! More ’bout that later. I’m exhausted. We are mellowing out, listening to Sarah Vaughan.
Ed said “When she died, I cried all night.”
And the music responds: I who was lost and lonely, believing life was only a bitter tragic joke, have found with you the meaning of existence, my love.
October 2, 2013 at 9:36am CDT
In Bar Harbor, Maine. Our trip to Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park got cancelled thanks to the Republican shutdown of the US government. Thanks a lot, Boehner/Teabaggers!
September 16, 2013 at 5:34pm CDT
Ed, looking through old photos from 30 years ago: “I don’t even know who some of these people ARE anymore.”
Pause.
“I recognize the dogs, though.”
September 11, 2013 at 1:16pm CDT
Socialism my ass. Fact is, there has been massive redistribution of wealth in America, but not like the Tea Party claims. It’s being redistributed to the ultra-rich. The top 10 percent of earners took MORE THAN HALF of the country’s total income in 2012. The top 1 percent took more than one-fifth of the income earned by Americans, one of the highest levels on record since 1913, when the government instituted an income tax. Income is as concentrated as it was in the years that preceded the Depression of the 1930s, if not more so.
August 21, 2013 at 8:21pm CDT
A poll of Louisiana Republicans reveals that 29% think Obama was responsible for the poor response to Hurricane Katrina. Another 44% aren’t sure if it was him or Bush. Ignorance is a bitch.
July 15, 2013 at 3:22pm CDT
Carl Sagan: “We humans are one among millions of separate species who live in a world burgeoning, overflowing with life. And yet, most species that ever were are no more. After flourishing for one hundred fifty million years, the dinosaurs became extinct. Every last one. No species is guaranteed its tenure on this planet. And humans, the first beings to devise the means for their own destruction, have been here for only several million years.
“We are rare and precious because we are alive, because we can think. We are privileged to influence and perhaps control our future. We have an obligation to fight for life on Earth — not just for ourselves but for all those, humans and others, who came before us and to whom we are beholden, and for all those who, if we are wise enough, will come after. There is no cause more urgent than to survive to eliminate on a global basis the growing threats of nuclear war, environmental catastrophe, economic collapse and mass starvation. These problems were created by humans and can only be solved by humans. No social convention, no political system, no economic hypothesis, no religious dogma is more important.
“The hard truth seems to be this: We live in a vast and awesome universe in which, daily, suns are made and worlds destroyed, where humanity clings to an obscure clod of rock. The significance of our lives and our fragile realm derives from our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life’s meaning. We would prefer it to be otherwise, of course, but there is no compelling evidence for a cosmic Parent who will care for us and save us from ourselves. It is up to us.”
June 26, 2013 at 1:54pm CDT
Two more good results from today’s SCOTUS decisions: Democrats don’t have to beg Republicans to include same-sex couples in the pending immigration reform working thru Congress. Immigration equality is for married same-sex couples is now the law. And Even though DADT was dead, the Defense Department could not apply equal benefits to gay servicemembers because of DOMA. Now that it’s been struck down, it’s no longer an issue.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 12:54pm CDT
Ten years ago today, gay people changed from criminals to citizens. Today, federal recognition of same-sex marriages is legal. And marriage equality is coming to California, meaning 30% of the country will have access to same-sex marriage. (But, how long will those of us in the other 70% have to wait?) “[DOMA] is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the State, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity,” Justice Kennedy wrote. “By seeking to displace this protection and treating those persons as living in marriages less respected than others, the federal statute is in violation of the Fifth Amendment.”
Tuesday, June 25, 2013 at 2:37pm CDT
Tomorrow will be SCOTUS decision day for Prop.8 & DOMA cases. AND get this - tomorrow is also the 10th anniversary of the Lawrence V Texas decision which struck down sodomy laws nationwide. At the time, Scalia was furious and said “If moral disapprobation of homosexual conduct is ‘no legitimate state interest’ for purposes of proscribing that conduct … what justification could there possibly be for denying the benefits of marriage to homosexual couples exercising ‘(t)he liberty protected by the Constitution’?” What indeed, Justice? We shall see tomorrow….
June 8, 2013 at 10:32pm CDT
The Thibodeaux/Houma newspaper interviewed me. Check it out: http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20130608/ARTICLES/130609562/1320?Title=Golden-Meadow-native-serenades-patrons-at-French-Quarter-bar
April 15, 2013 at 1:22pm CDT
It’s been a tough few days for me. Thursday afternoon, I had to put Babygirl down. Thursday night, my 38-year-old nephew Cookie/Chad had a heart attack, and one stent placed on his heart. Friday, my 82-year-old Dad had a heart attack. Surgery - Three stents. (Going home today.) Saturday, my nephew Gerard totaled his vehicle (but thankfully he’s unharmed.) I’m kinda freaked out over all of this. This weekend was French Quarter Fest so I’ve been working all through it. Off tomorrow, and will go home to see Dad.
April 11, 2013 at 4:00pm CDT
Today, we said goodbye to our cat, Babygirl. She had feline COPD. I had her for thirteen years. I used to call her my “always-on” pet, because no matter what time I came home from work, she would wake up and come watch TV sitting next to me on the sofa. I will miss her so much. Goodbye, my baby. No more suffering.
April 4, 2013 at 4:30pm CDT
RIP Roger Ebert, who wrote in his memoirs: “‘Kindness’ covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.”
March 14, 2013 at 5:50pm CDT
The new Pope Francis — because when you need to hide a German, hire an Argentinian.
February 11, 2013 at 11:50am CST
Surprise: Pope to resign. I did Nazi that coming.
January 30, 2013 at 12:10am CST
Got a request for “Purple Hayes.” I think I went to school with that dude.
January 23, 2013 at 1:42pm CST
“All men are cremated equal.” - said by a death-care industry worker in the lounge last night.
January 3, 2013 at 12:50pm CST
Our vehicle’s rear windshield got shattered by a falling bullet on New Year’s Eve! While sitting innocently in our driveway! (At first we thought it was a bottle, but the repairman said it was a bullet judging by the dent in the metal right above the window.) There goes $300…..
January 2, 2013 at 1:35pm CST
2013 is the first year since 1987 where all four digits are different from one another. You’re welcome.
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