A noted pedophile died Wednesday. He would probably want his name mentioned.
I’m not sure that anybody else who never held public office whose passing has been given more hoopla by the various medis since Mother Teresa.
And to make that comparison seems almost sacrilegious.
Now what will be written when that film director/ clarinetist who married his girlfriend's daughter goes?
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Forgive us our debts, but you pay yours
A Monticello debt-collection agency is facing a federal law suit because it sends out notices with a “WWJD” header.
And every Sunday we say “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
Story
And every Sunday we say “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
Story
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Advertising in our era
I guess I will never understand the world of marketing.
We hear it said that a good salesperson could sell refrigerators to Eskimos or carburetors to Amish. After all, sometimes you have to create the demand before you can sell it.
And it helps sometimes when you know where and to whom you are advertising. Several years ago a commercial for feminine hygiene product somehow got slipped into [I believe] a Cubs game on WGN. I wondered whether they knew something about who watches ball games that I didn’t. But since I never saw that repeated I assumed that it was some kind of aberration.
But this has been happening repeatedly. Have you noticed the commercials lately for genuine
These commercials are being aired in
Fifty years ago Charles Starkweather was executed
Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the execution of Charles Starkweather. Together with his girlfriend [as I remember there was some dispute between about how much each of them did] they killed eleven people, including her parents and baby sister.
I remember seeing a picture of him and his girlfriend on television during the brief period between when they were identified and fled Omaha and when they were apprehended in Wyoming. The announcement was very curt, something like, ”If you see these people, get away from them and call the police. They’re killers.” There seemed to be a special emphasis on that last word.
[When I first heard on the radio that they had been caught, I remember thinking it was Wyoming, Iowa, but it was the state of Wyoming.]
I remember reading an article attributed to him in a Sunday paper sometime between his sentencing and execution, in the Parade magazine I think. He said he had been picked on all of his life, that other kids had belittled his red hair, calling him “red-headed woodpecker.” He also indicated that he had come to Jesus since his arrest.
I don’t know if these statements were intended to get him some clemency, but it wasn’t about to come. Capital punishment seemed to be more accepted back then, even if it was not always advocated and even if somehow Nebraska could overlook the severity and the ruthlessness of what he had done, Wyoming would also have had an opportunity to get him.
Starkweather’s feats and his fate were the things which kept boys my age talking back in those days. Nebraska took his life with an electric chair and we would joke about his “hot seat” and watching where we sat for what seems like several weeks after that.
Starkweather’s crimes were especially cruel and grizzly and were stretched out over several weeks and I don’t know that we appreciated the utter evil of what he did, the utter cold-bloodedness of it all as we laughed about it.
In my adult life I have come to oppose capital punishment for more than one reason, but you do have to wonder just what could have ever been done with a boy like this. And I cannot help but notice how much more quickly sentence was carried out than it ever could be carried out these days.
Additional note: His girlfriend got off with a life sentence and was paroled several years ago.
More can be found at
http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkillers/S/STARKWEATHER_charles_FUGATE.php
I remember seeing a picture of him and his girlfriend on television during the brief period between when they were identified and fled Omaha and when they were apprehended in Wyoming. The announcement was very curt, something like, ”If you see these people, get away from them and call the police. They’re killers.” There seemed to be a special emphasis on that last word.
[When I first heard on the radio that they had been caught, I remember thinking it was Wyoming, Iowa, but it was the state of Wyoming.]
I remember reading an article attributed to him in a Sunday paper sometime between his sentencing and execution, in the Parade magazine I think. He said he had been picked on all of his life, that other kids had belittled his red hair, calling him “red-headed woodpecker.” He also indicated that he had come to Jesus since his arrest.
I don’t know if these statements were intended to get him some clemency, but it wasn’t about to come. Capital punishment seemed to be more accepted back then, even if it was not always advocated and even if somehow Nebraska could overlook the severity and the ruthlessness of what he had done, Wyoming would also have had an opportunity to get him.
Starkweather’s feats and his fate were the things which kept boys my age talking back in those days. Nebraska took his life with an electric chair and we would joke about his “hot seat” and watching where we sat for what seems like several weeks after that.
Starkweather’s crimes were especially cruel and grizzly and were stretched out over several weeks and I don’t know that we appreciated the utter evil of what he did, the utter cold-bloodedness of it all as we laughed about it.
In my adult life I have come to oppose capital punishment for more than one reason, but you do have to wonder just what could have ever been done with a boy like this. And I cannot help but notice how much more quickly sentence was carried out than it ever could be carried out these days.
Additional note: His girlfriend got off with a life sentence and was paroled several years ago.
More can be found at
http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkillers/S/STARKWEATHER_charles_FUGATE.php
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
TV Obit -- Otis Campbell
I have accumulated a few fake obituarties of people associated with past television series. Some will show up here.
Otis Campbell, motivational speaker
RALEIGH, North Carolina [June 23, 1998]
Otis Campbell, the well known self-help guru from the 1970’s and 1980’s died at his home in Raleigh June 22. Campbell had been known to have emphysema and was believed to be in his mid-70’s.
Campbell, who captivated a generation of baby boomers disaffected with what he disdainfully called the “3C’s Society” referring to chemicals, change, and complaints with his “You can’t smell how great it is at the top until you’ve gotten rid of your own stink” lecture series, had recently retired. His publicist, Lisa Diesel, said that he died of complications of emphysema.
Admitting that he had been the “town drunk of Mayberry [North Carolina],” Campbell used illustrations from his own days of addictions and his subsequent recovery into a career as a successful ice cream distributor in his speeches. His lecture stops were noted for the distribution of his “Coming Clean” ice cream. The packaging contained inspirational messages.
Famed Metropolitan Opera singer Gomer Pyle, a friend of Campbell’s from his Mayberry days, often appeared with him on his speaking tours. He had seen Campbell as recently as Tuesday and told reporters today that Campbell’s passing was “regrettable.”
Pyle said that Campbell “could have done so much more for others if he had had more time,” but also noted that Campbell acknowledged that lack of time was one of his shortcomings, always noting that recovering addicts still bore the responsibility for the results of their bad habits and adapt to the limits they had already put on themselves.
“His message differed from some motivational speakers. He knew that he could not escape the consequences for any of the things he done earlier. He felt instead that it was more important to work for as wonderful future as one had the ability to make,” Pyle noted.
Campbell, a widower twice, is survived by a brother, nieces, nephews, and cousins. Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.
Otis Campbell, the well known self-help guru from the 1970’s and 1980’s died at his home in Raleigh June 22. Campbell had been known to have emphysema and was believed to be in his mid-70’s.
Campbell, who captivated a generation of baby boomers disaffected with what he disdainfully called the “3C’s Society” referring to chemicals, change, and complaints with his “You can’t smell how great it is at the top until you’ve gotten rid of your own stink” lecture series, had recently retired. His publicist, Lisa Diesel, said that he died of complications of emphysema.
Admitting that he had been the “town drunk of Mayberry [North Carolina],” Campbell used illustrations from his own days of addictions and his subsequent recovery into a career as a successful ice cream distributor in his speeches. His lecture stops were noted for the distribution of his “Coming Clean” ice cream. The packaging contained inspirational messages.
Famed Metropolitan Opera singer Gomer Pyle, a friend of Campbell’s from his Mayberry days, often appeared with him on his speaking tours. He had seen Campbell as recently as Tuesday and told reporters today that Campbell’s passing was “regrettable.”
Pyle said that Campbell “could have done so much more for others if he had had more time,” but also noted that Campbell acknowledged that lack of time was one of his shortcomings, always noting that recovering addicts still bore the responsibility for the results of their bad habits and adapt to the limits they had already put on themselves.
“His message differed from some motivational speakers. He knew that he could not escape the consequences for any of the things he done earlier. He felt instead that it was more important to work for as wonderful future as one had the ability to make,” Pyle noted.
Campbell, a widower twice, is survived by a brother, nieces, nephews, and cousins. Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.
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