Trail of Dead Deer

 

by Pa Rock

Traveling Fool

Rosie and I are back in Roeland Park, Kansas, after an absence of almost three-and-a-half months (March 1st).   We used to make it up this way every six weeks or so, but advancing age and the attendant decrepitude have worn us down.    As we grow older, the road between south-central Missouri, and northeast Kansas grows longer and more difficult to traverse.   I blame Trump.

When we do make these increasingly rare road trips, I always look for oddities along the way - things to blog about.  Yesterday's item of interest turned out to be dead deer,  From north of Springfield, Missouri, to Harrisonville, Missouri, in the Kansas City area, the deer carcasses on the roadway were so numerous that I lost count.  It was almost like driving through the remnants of a wildlife suicide pact.  

The other item of interest to this worn out road warrior was Truman Lake just south of Clinton, Missouri.  State Highway 13 crosses two long stretches of Truman Lake, which, in its normal state is not that deep, at least close to the shore.   There are trees growing in the water, somewhat like a southern bayou.  This trip, however, after the recent rans, the lake had far more water in it than usual - almost resembling the Lake of the Ozarks - or Lake Norfolk in northern Arkansas.  And it was still raining yesterday through much of my trip - which did not make the travel any easier.

The big mishap of the trip - so far - is that I left my computer at home and didn't realize it until about the time I was arriving in Kansas City.   It turned out not to be the crisis situation I expected because Tim was quickly able to connect me to most of my accounts on his computer, even though I had no idea what my passwords were.  Password recovery is so simple that it begs the question of why we must be hobbled with passwords at all.

Once we arrived in the KC area, a highlight of the trip was a visit with an old college friend from the 1960's who came by my son's house,  My friend, who is just my junior by two years, has, like me, gone through multiple careers, but instead of just choosing to retire and just sit in a corner and vegetate, he is enrolled in a multi-year divinity program which this time next year will have resulted in his being qualified to be a professional deacon in his church.  I am in awe of Mike's drive and his energy.

Speaking of rain, it is clouding up and the wind is beginning to blow.  That doesn't bode well for our planned trip to Costco later today.  I am also expecting a visit from a grown grandchild who lives in this area later today.  Visiting with three of six grandchildren on a two-day trip is certainly making good use of my time!  

Headed back to the Ozarks tomorrow.

Political Pest Gets Booed at NBA Finals Last Night

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump, a former resident of New York City, was roundly booed at Game 3 of the NBA finals last night at Madison Square Garden in downtown NYC.   Trump, the first sitting president to ever attend an NBA Finals game, announced plans earlier this week to be at the game,   His visit caused ticket holders to have to stand in line two hours in order to get into the venue.  When Trump stood in the owner's box and saluted for the national anthem, the scene was shown on the jumbo-tron and greeted with extensive jeers and derision. The crowd loved their Knicks, but clearly were not impressed by the President of the United States and his entourage of flunkies.

Not only did Trump's short-notice trip to Madison Square Garden slow fans' entry into the venue (considerably!), it also managed to snarl traffic even more than usual.  Trump's sports outing required a large security presence at the Garden both inside and outside of the event.  Five blocks around the game site were supposedly locked down by government agents.

CNBC reported that as the presidential motorcade made its way to the Garden, Trump was able to see signs along the way disparaging his visit.  They featured sentiments such as "Nobody Wants You Here," "Trump Must Go," and "Impeach.  Convict.  Remove."   There were also people along the route booing the motorcade.  Clearly Donbo was not feeling the love.

The New York Knicks lost last night's game, ending a thirteen-game winning streak, a sad occurrence which some are undoubtedly interpreting as what to expect when a self-important personage chooses to make a national sporting event about himself rather than the teams and the competition.

The final score was the San Antonio Spurs 115 and the New York Knicks 111.

Donald, please do the Knicks a favor and watch the rest of the series on television!

Another Interview, Another Hissy Fit

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump likes to be the loudest person in the room and the center of attention, and he likes to tell a story his way.  He does not like being challenged or interrupted, especially by female journalists.

Yesterday as Trump was reeling off a litany of lies about American elections which didn't go his way on NBC's "Meet the Press," the program's host and moderator, Kristen Welker, challenged his fabrications as she tried unsuccessfully to keep him honest and on-topic.  Trump wanted to make the case that he believes US elections are rigged, and he cited his own 2020 loss to Joe Biden and the current governor's race in California in which ballots are still being counted.  Trump told Ms. Welker that he believes US elections are rigged, and then he began criticizing the three major television networks - CBS, ABC, and NBC - culminating in:

"They're crooked just like you're crooked, your press is crooked.  and 'Meet the Press' is crooked."

Trump also said that Welker, herself, was "either crooked or stupid."

Welker, a professional journalist with years of experience, responded with "To be fair, I'm not crooked.  But let's continue ."

Trump was not in the mood to continue his diatribe, particularly with a black female journalist.  He said;

"Let's call it quits because I've had enough.   Thank you, darling.  I've had a good time."

His patronizing "darling" tag at the end of their conversation is also pure Trump as he talks down to the little people, and women in particular.  In the past he has criticized Kaitlan Collins of CNN for not smiling enough and also called her and CBS's Nancy Cordes "stupid" and "dumb," told MS Now White House reporter Akalya Gardner that she was a "dumb person," called ABC's Rachel  Scott and Mary Bruce "obnoxious" and "terrible," and, of course, last November he said to Bloomberg's Catherine Lucey, "Quiet, quiet Piggy."  

Trump said in a social media post that New York Times reporter Katie Rogers was "ugly, both inside and out," and he also referred to her as "third-rate."  Trump accused NBC News reporter Yamiche Alcinder of being "very aggressive." He has also lobbed comments at two other female reporters - Megyn Kelly of Fox News and Mika Brzezinski of MS Now -  that have been widely interpreted as referring to their menstrual cycles, and Trump has referred to Brzezinski as "Low IQ."

There's a reason Donald Trump rails so loudly and vehemently against women in power positions and the "woke" culture.  They represent the modern and enlightened world, a place Trump refuses to acknowledge or respect.  The shadow of America's sexist, racist, and homophobic past is waning despite the efforts of our government and troglodytes like Donald Trump to preserve that awful legacy.  

The times are slowly changing for the better.  I believe that.  Donald Trump is struggling to preserve white, male, straight, protestant privilege, but he is basically pissing into the strong winds of change.  America is already sensing life beyond Trump and beginning to right itself.  Our country is better than Donald John Trump, and we know it - and deep down so does he.  That's why he's so damned angry.

Brilliance Like the Light of a Thousand Dumpster Fires!

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump recently revealed that while he can tolerate being called a "tyrant" and a "dictator," he draws the line at being called a "dumb" dictator or tyrant - a nugget of self-reveal leading some to suspect that mentally he may still be operating on the playground level of an elementary school in Queens, NYC, circa 1954.  And while Trump does not like having the word "dumb" applied to himself, he takes great pleasure in using it on others, particularly female journalists and members of the Democratic Party, whom he now refers to as "Dumocrats."  Donald is such a clever boy.

Trump explained to a group of Iowa farmers last week that the word "dumb" has a "b" at the end - and that "not many people know that," though he, being "brilliant," another word he likes to use to describe himself, obviously does.  His announcement that the word "dumb" ends in a "b," came across as something so novel, at least to him, that it could very likely be a case of recently acquired knowledge.

Donald, that "b" at the end of "dumb" is what some damned know-it-all, overpaid, public school teachers refer to as a "silent" letter, with "silent" meaning that it doesn't make a sound.  And while you are unlikely to have ever been silent in your entire life, except while snoozing in Cabinet meetings, many letters when used in certain words in the English language, do not make a sound.  They stay silent.  Try it sometime.

The "b" is also silent in "crumb" as in a "crumb" of bread, "numb" as in a "numbskull,"  and, of course, "dumbass."  You will also not hear the "b" when people use the word "comb" or discuss your sad "combover."   "Bomb" has two "b's" with only the second one being silent, and "tomb" also ends in a silent "b."

So Donald, the next time someone laughs at your combover or or pillories you with personal insults like "dumb," "dumbass," or "numbskull," you might want to show your brilliance by discussing the silent "b."  Your could really bowl your critics over by spelling "debt" and "doubt" for them and then explaing that both of those are spelled with a silent "b" within each word - and then announcing in as patronizing a manner as possible that"not many people know that," while you of course do.

Your brilliance will continue to light the way, like the light of a thousand dumpster fires!

Never forget, you are only as "dumb" as you let on - and say - and do.

Prices Soar as the War Drags On!

 

by Pa Rock

Pissed-Off Consumer

I paid $41.85 to fill the 12-gallon gas tank on my little Kia Soul yesterday.  Praise Allah it wasn't completely empty to begin with or I might have been out a full fifty-dollar bill!

I only use my little car to putt around town - which is two miles or so from my house - but with shopping, doctor's appointments, and various other demands on my life, I am often in town once or twice a day.  The only "public" transportation out my way are church buses on Sundays, but I haven't resorted to those yet.  I have taken a ride-share twice, once after breaking each arm and being taken to the Emergency Room by ambulance.  (Medicare doesn't pay to get you back home.)   One of those ride shares was with a young lady  who sat and impatiently watched as I struggled to get all of my things and my arm-in-a-sling into her little vehicle - with nary an offer of assistance of any kind, and the other was with an old farmer in an old farm truck which was also difficult to board and exit.

Ride shares in rural areas are not as prevalent or practical as they are in the cities, so if I need to go to town, I drive.   

Today I will use my almost four-dollar-a-gallon gas to drive to a local grocery story where I will buy a four-dollar gallon of milk, a six-or-seven-dollar box of cereal - and maybe a pack of baloney and a loaf of bread.  It is a comfort to know that with the economy crashing down around us, we have a President fixated on things like building a grand ballroom, constructing a massive eyesore of an arch, painting a reflecting pool at a cost of millions of dollars to suit his own particular tastes, and now constructing a "promenade" to connect the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River, as God intended.

Prices and affordability don't concern Donald J. Trump.  He could care less.  They will eventually come down, they always do, and if they don't, they don't.

Suck it up, America!  Affordability is a hoax, and Donald Trump will protect us from sinister things like immigrants of color, 'lectric cars, and windmills.  Everything else he will gold-plate and name after himself!

Shame on us for letting this happen.

Pa Rock Wants His Settlement - and No Tax Audits!

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Sometime in 2019 or 2020 a contracted employee with the IRS illegally released tax returns on 405,000 Americans, one of whom was Donald John Trump.  Trump was President at the time and the person ultimately in charge of the government whose procedures, regulations, and hiring practices made that breach of the law possible.  The contractor was eventually identified, arrested, tried, and is today serving a prison sentence.  But that level of legal vengeance was not enough for Trump, who, as President, knew of a "settlement fund" held within the US Treasury for the payment of court settlements against the United States.  The fund had already been approved by Congress, and the Treasury was free to dole out settlements without going back to Congress each time that the US lost a case in Court or chose to settle a  case out of court.    The fund was, in Trump's eyes, easy pickings.

A few months ago Trump brought suit against the United States Treasury and Internal Revenue Service for $10 billion over the illegal release of his tax returns which had occurred earlier on his previous watch.  Not only had Trump appointed the leaders of those agencies who were on duty during the theft incident that occurred in his first administration, he had also appointed the leaders of those same agencies years later during his second administration.  When a judge commented that it sounded like a case of Trump suing himself, Trump and his legal team, fearing the case would be doomed if it went to court, decided to be extremely cute and "settle" the case before it ever got to court.  That involved the Justice Department, headed by Trump appointees, negotiating a payment with Trump and his legal team - or Trump settling with himself.  

A sweet, sweet deal ensued in which Trump agreed to drop his suit, which he feared would not stand up in court anyway, in exchange for the government setting up a special fund of $1.776 billion to compensate people who had been persecuted by a weaponized government that was out to get them.   Trump and his government refused to rule out that the money, which was being referred to as a "slush fund" in the press and would have been administered by people appointed by Trump, could ultimately be used to compensate the traitors and anarchists who had attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The public outcry over the proposed fund that would give government money to criminals was swift and loud, and even Republican politicians were feeling the heat of the outrage.  A federal judge put the slush fund on hold and ordered that no payments be made for the time being, and the judge also ordered the case be returned to the purview of the court.  This week, the acting US Attorney General, a man appointed by Trump who also was once one of Trump's personal lawyers, announced that the deal to fund the weaponization fund was dead.  But Trump apparently didn't get the memo and is still "iffy" on the matter.

What Trump is not "iffy" is the other part of the proposed settlement in which Trump, his family members, and his companies, would not have to face any on-going tax audits - or any tax audits in the future.  That is still definitely a part of the settlement suit, while Trump's pursuit of the $10 billion of taxpayer money remains unclear at this point.

This Wednesday Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was testifying before the Senate Finance Committee when he was asked if Trump and his family would still get immunity from IRS audits, and Bessent dodged the question.

Last night during a most-of-the night debate in the US Senate over amendments to a bill to fund US immigration enforcement for three more years (at a cost of over $70 billion!) Republican senators voted down a measure that would have permanently blocked Trump's "weaponization" slush fund.

Pa Rock has a couple of questions:

1.  405,000 individuals, many of them very prominent, had their tax records released along with Trump's. Are they all going to demand $10 billion in compensation if Trump's suit against himself is successful?

2.  The second Trump administration reportedly gave all of my personal and confidential information (and yours, too) to Elon Musk and the juvenile delinquents he had running the (completely non-official) Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  Goddammit, I want $20 billion - in small bills!

3.  If Trump and his family are free from tax audits forevermore, then I expect nothing less than the same damned thing for myself and my family members.  My government has harmed me, too, but my megaphone is not as large as that of the bellicose toddler waddling around the White House!

What's good for one decrepit old geezer ought to be good for another!

Case Closed, Columbo

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Casey's is a chain of more than 2,900 convenience stores across the Midwest and South, where most, but not all, sell gas, minimal groceries, snacks, soft drinks, liquor, and lottery tickets.  Four of those 2,900 locations are in my town of West Plains, MO (population 12,000).  I stop at one of the local Casey's on most days where I buy one $1.00 lottery ticket, an unsweet iced tea with plenty of crushed ice, and sometimes a sandwich for lunch.  I vary which store I stop at depending on where my business in town happens to take me, or my mood.

This week I have gone to the one over by the college, where us young people tend to congregate, on three separate occasions, and each of those visits turned out to be memorable - at least with regard to the rest of my remarkably uneventful, retired life.  On Monday I was handed a very dull and dark, old gray nickel in change, and when I got to the car where I could examine the coin in more detail, I discovered that it had begun its long career circulating though American commerce in Philadelphia, the "City of Brotherly Love," in 1940.  The damned thing was eight years older than me!

While West Plains has four Casey's, quite a point of local pride, it apparently has no resident "coin psychics," paranormal professionals who would feel the old coin, perhaps even put it on their tongues, and eventually provide a personal history of the nickel, so I set it aside and determined that on some slow day at the blog I would "create" a history for the well-worn coin.   You have that to look forward to.

On Tuesday I went back to the Casey's, and as I left the little store, iced-tea and Missouri "Show-Me Cash" lottery ticket in hand, a young lady customer came running out the door after me saying "Sir, you forgot your key fob on the counter," which she politely returned.  Why I had the key fob out of my pocket and on the counter is anybody's guess, and, as far as I can remember (at least several days), the first time in five years that I had ever misplaced it.  I thanked her, claimed the standard excuse of old age, and went putting on down the road.

Yesterday I stopped at the same Casey's again where I went inside and placed the same order.  Upon returning to my car, getting settled in the seat with everything in its place, I reached for the key fob and realized it was missing!  I carefully searched the front and back seats of the little Kia, and when I was sure the fob was not with me, I went back in the store to check with the clerk to see if I had left it in there two days in a row.  I hadn't.  As I began to realize that I might be dealing with a case of raging dementia instead of just simple forgetfulness, I went back out to the car and looked in the glove box where I thought the extra fob was, but it wasn't.

I called my son who was at home and rushing around to get to work.  I told him a couple of places where the extra fob might be and asked him to look for it.  Then I went back into the store for a second look around, and the nice lady at the register helped me search - still no luck.  I went back outside to sit in the car until my son hopefully arrived with the spare key, and when I got to the car I discovered that the doors were all locked!  Twenty minutes had passed, and I was ready to begin walking home when the nice lady from the register rushed out and said, "I've found your key!"  But instead of handing me the errant fob, she got down on her hands and knees and reached under the driver's side of the car and retrieved the fob from the parking lot beneath the car.  I had dropped the damned fob getting in and had not thought to look there, but she had been able to see it from inside of the convenience store!

Case closed, Columbo.

That's just a sampler of how this geezer spends his days.  Gotta love the golden years!

Scott Pelley: Great American Patriot

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Donald Trump is a creature of the media, and, as such, he tends to wallow in right-wing news and social media sites that have the good sense to continuously praise and glorify him.  Other news sources, however, such as those which strive for accuracy in reporting, are far less likely to meet with Trump's approval.  Two groups of media personalities which seem to rankle Trump beyond measure are mainstream reporters for the major broadcast networks ,and the late-night comedians of those same networks.

Trump is also a creature fueled by retribution, and a major focus of his presidency has been to focus on using the powers of his office to settle scores.  He is quick to threaten the major broadcast sources with lawsuits and pulling their broadcast licenses through his ultimate control of the licensing authority - the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) whose members are appointed by the President.  Trump also exerts pressure over the major networks through his personal relationships with some of the billionaire oligarchs who control those news outlets.

Donald Trump had nursed a personal grievance against the CBS network for the past couple of years and even lodged a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the corporation over the way the news program 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harris in 2024.  Last fall CBS was acquired by tech billionaire Larry Ellison, a political ally of Trump and a man who has other business pending approval from the government which Trump runs.  Ellison has a strongly vested interest in playing nice with Trump, stroking his fragile ego, and bringing the hammer down on two of Trump's perceived enemies:   CBS News and its flagship news program, 60 Minutes.

One of Ellison's early acts after acquiring control of CBS late last fall was to bring in an outsider to run CBS News and soften its approach toward Trump.  Ellison chose Bari Weiss, a 42-year-old op-ed writer without executive experience to be the  CBS News editor-in-chief and to get 60 Minutes, as some might see it, "under control."

Weiss wasted no time placing her stamp on the program's operation and was actively reining-in reporters before she even got her office unpacked.  In December actor George Clooney, the man who recently portrayed CBS News icon Edward R. Murrow on Broadway, noted that Weiss was already "actively dismantling" CBS.  Then last Thursday things at the network seemed to hit a crescendo when Weiss fired the executive producer and two senior reporters from 60 Minutes.

Monday there was a meeting at CBS News between Nick Bilton, a former documentary filmmaker and tech writer whom Weiss had just appointed as the new executive producer of 60 Minutes, and senior staff from the program.  Bari Weiss chose not to attend the meeting.  Bilton, who seemed to think he was stepping into some sort of polite "meet and greet" was quickly disabused of that notion when the staff began lobbing questions and accusations toward him.  Scott Pelley, the senior reporter and a person who had been the face of CBS Evening News for several years, led the charge.

Bilton tried to assure the riled news staff that Bari Weiss had not been brought in to destroy CBS News or 60 Minutes, and that she "loves this place," but the staff, and particularly Scott Pelley, were not having it.  Pelley fired back:  "She does not love this place.  She was brought in to kill it, and she is doing exactly that."  Pelley went on to accuse Bari Weiss of "murdering" 60 Minutes.  He told Bilton that Bari Weiss had no qualifications for her job, and that his (Bilton's) qualifications were "slender."

After Nick Bilton left the meeting, Scott Pelley's co-workers gave him a standing round of applause.

That was Monday.   This morning (Wednesday) Scott Pelley has been fired, another head has rolled at CBS.  

In his letter of termination to Pelley, Nick Bilton cited Pelley's "remarkable incivility and contempt" and his "performative hostility."

Today the "free" press that built America is a little less free.   Donald Trump has gotta be loving that.

Thank you, Scott Pelley, for speaking truth to power at great personal sacrifice to yourself and your career, and for standing tall for the guarantees and promise of the Constitution and the United States of America.   Edward R. Murrow would have been proud to have worked with you.  Salute!

CBS News, goodnight and good luck.  You're going to need it - and so will the rest of the country.

Talarico Markets "Talafreako"

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist 

When scandal-plagued Texas attorney general Ken Paxton won the GOP nomination to run for the US Senate last week, both he and the propaganda wing of the Republican Party, Fox News, hit the ground running with personal attacks on the Democratic nominee for that Senate seat, State Representative James Talarico, of San Antonio.  Talarico, who is just thirty-seven-years-old, is clean cut, soft spoken, highly intelligent, and an 8th generation Texan who is also enrolled in a Presbyterian seminary and has no trouble weaving a positive strain of Christianity into his thoughts and remarks on the futures of Texas and the Untied States.

Paxton, who defeated four-term Republican Senator John Cornyn in last week's primary election runoff with the help of a last minute endorsement from Donald Trump,  has been plagued with personal scandal, accused of impropriety in his state job, impeached, and embroiled in a nasty divorce within the past couple of years.  Talarico, on the other hand, comes across as squeaky clean.  The choice between Paxton and Talarico is stark, night and day, and many Republicans feel that Talarico could conceivably beat Paxton in November's general election.

Paxton seems to think so, too.  

Before the ink was dry on his election cerificate, Ken Paxton and the Republicans were coming at Talarico with all their political guns blazing, but unlike Paxton, Talarico seems to have led an exemplary life and does not have a closet packed with skeletons to deal with.   So, sleazeball Republicans being sleazeball Republicans, cut straight to the chase and began lobbing personal attacks.  Fox News spent the better part of a day implying that the single Talarico might have some gender identity issues or even possibly be gay, and one commentator seemed concerned with what she perceived to be Talarico's "soft skin."

Paxton also formed a line of attack trying to link Talarico to trans individuals, and finally got down to bare-knuckle name-calling by referring to his opponent as "Talafreako."  Good one, Ken!  (Not!). At another point the Paxton campaign painted Talarico as not being a real Texan because he didn't eat barbecue - to which the young Texas lawmaker replied that he had been eating barbecue "since before Ken Paxton's first indictment."

Everything's nastier in Texas!

This week, in response to the homophobic attacks, Talarico introduced his girlfriend of the past several years to the press, a very beautiful lobbyist for the Texas Medical Association named Brianna Menard.  At one time, before they were dating, she was the chief of staff in Talarico's office.  Then the young politician also displayed some new merchandise in his campaign store - tee shirts with logos saying "I'm a Talafreako," and "Texas Is Talafreako Country!"

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade - and whn life gives you catchy slogans, you make teee shirts!

Well played, Jimmy!

Marilyn Monroe at 100

  

by Pa Rock

Fanboy

Perhaps the most iconic rendition of the musical standard "Happy. Birthday" ever recorded was the one Hollywood sex bomb Marilyn Monroe sang to President Kennedy at his 45th on birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden in New York City on May 19, 1962, a Saturday night.  The blonde actress's breathy and voluptuous rendering of the classic is one for the ages, sounding more like something that should have been sung privately, maybe between satin sheets, rather than in a public venue with more that 15,000 people sharing the intimacy.

Certainly no one could have guessed that the singer, who was 35-years-old and that time, and the 45-year-old President would each live to celebrate only one more birthday.  Marilyn turned 36 on this date (June 1st) in 1962 and died of a barbiturate overdose in Hollywood just over two months after her birthday on August 4th, 1962.  Kennedy, who turned 46 on May 19, 1963, died from an assassin's bullet in Dallas, Texas, just over six months after his birthday.

During her very short lifetime, Marilyn Monroe starred in some of the most memorable movies of the 1950's, and early 1960's.  Some of my favorites of hers include:   Niagara (1953), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), River of No Return (1954), Bus Stop (1956 - my second favorite), Some Like It Hot (1959 - my all-time favorite), and The Misfits (1962 - the last feature-length film of both Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable).

In 2007 a friend and I stayed at the historic Del Coronado Hotel in San Diego where Some Like It Hot was filmed, and a couple of years later my daughter, Molly, and her husband, Scott, were married on the beach behind the Del Coronado.  My other brush with the ghost of Marilyn came on a weekend in August 1n 2012 when (for the only time in my life), I happened to spend a weekend in August visiting my son, Tim, and his family in West Hollywood and Los Angeles.  That was also the weekend that encompassed the 50th anniversary of Marilyn's passing, so I made a point of thinking of her while I was in town.

Marilyn Monroe's flame burned brightly and too quickly, but during her brief time with us she managed to leave an indelible mark on American culture.  Happy birthday Lorelei, and Cherie, and Sugar Kane,  and Marilyn.    I hope someone special is singing to you today, maybe Joltin' Joe Dimaggio!