George Carlin United Us In Laughter

When NBC's Tim Russert died this month (see blog of June 13) many of his fans, including yours truly, were nearly brought to tears with grief over such an immediate and unexpected death. He died of a heart attack while working in his office. But when news came that comedian George Carlin had died June 22, many of his fans were brought to smiles and perhaps a little laughter.

"Everything God makes, dies," Carlin quipped in one of his many comedic routines.

Everything?

"Yup everything, every blue hog....."

It is my sincere belief that George Carlin perhaps was among the most honest and irreverent human beings on Earth during the 71 years of his life. He told it like it was, in his opinion yes, but also in the shared opinions of many others, including those who would not publicly claim to be a fan of George Carlin's rude and often disrespectful behavior.

I thought he was right on target with many of his routines derived from his unique observations on life. And who could truly argue with some of those observations?

"The forecast for tonight is dark, and continued dark throughout most of the evening with some widely scattered light towards morning," said one of his early characters -- Al Sleet, the noted Hippy Dippy Weatherman. It truly was a routine for the ages as Carlin so cleverly and simply outted the true ridiculousness displayed by nearly every TV weather person in the United States today.

If human cloning ever was a reality many years ago, then Carlin certainly may have been cloned from the DNA of the late social writer, comic, critic and American satirist Leonard Alfred Schneider (aka Lenny Bruce). It was from Bruce's style of raunchy humor and satire launched during the 1950s and 1960s, that some say ignited the generational culture change among the first of the Baby Boom generation. Many thought that Bruce was responsible for a growing tide of social and civic disrespect in the U.S. In fact, he was arrested in Miami during 1951 because he impersonated a priest attempting to secure donations to assist a leper colony in British Guiana.

That sounded so Carlin-esque.

Carlin was no stranger to priests, having been raised an Irish Catholic in New York City. In fact, among his largest followings were Catholic schoolboys who grew up in the U.S. during the 1960s and 1970s. As many of us were trained by our Catholic educators to recite noted works such as the Gettysburg Address, learn Latin and also be able to name in correct chronological order all the U.S. Presidents and their respective terms in office by year -- then it should not have come as any surprise that many of these same Catholic boys, including a few who today are Roman Catholic priests, were able to entirely and accurately recite some of Carlin's comedy routines. Topping this list of course, and ranked No. 1 well ahead of any other subject matter by Catholic boys and perhaps Jewish boys, and Protestant boys and so on and so forth, was Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words" routine.

Those of us, who among a consensus of our youthful peers back in the 1960s and 1970s, could accurately and with proper inflection, recite Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words" routine in its entirety without being caught by parents, teachers, Catholic nuns and priests, relatives, neighbors and the police --- became journalists by trade. I am proud to say I became one of those journalists.

What struck me about George Carlin perhaps above all other things was his ability to convince audiences that his comedy routines in fact were not comedy, but acute satire which he believed to be a truism for life as we have come to know it, but afraid to admit it. Carlin was the quintessential expert, who successfully crafted and offered in highly public fashion, his judgements about people as merely his "observations" of life.

• "First of all, the Catholic boys where I grew up would always go to a Spanish priest, like Father Muerta, to confess their sins because they didn't seem to understand the sins: "Ah, Bless me Father for I have sinned....I've touched myself in an impure manner -- thought, word and deed.....etc., etc., etc---"that's okay man, tres Santa Marias ---- brrrrrrroooooo (with a roll of the tongue). Whereas the Irish priests---well first they knew your name -- why did you do that George? Oh God, he knows! And, they were heavy into Penance.

Carlin indeed proved himself to be the world's ultimate class clown. He often regaled television audiences with his observational humor, not only as the very first host of Saturday Night Live in 1975, but also as a frequent and regular substitute host for the late Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show".

I can say with laughter and forever a huge smile, that Carlin's death will likely reunite him with the place where all of his "lost stuff" throughout a lifetime of 71 years likely now can be found to some extent. His death will certainly put him right there in touch with Johnny Carson as some sort of heavenly co-host. Carlin's death perhaps means that he could one day become united with his greatest known fan of all time -- the Lord himself. As irreverent as that may sound to a few people, I think the Almighty might just agree that he is a fan of the most honest and directly outspoken comics, authors, satirists and entertainers known in this millenium.

National Callout To Subdue Oil Speculators

I have a plan.

Actually, we need to adopt a plan hatched just a few nights ago by Columbus resident James Pelfrey while discussing with me world affairs. It's called a plan of action to subdue speculators who continually and artificially drive up the price of oil at everyone's expense, and certainly not their own.

Here's the Pelfrey Plan: Every motor vehicle operator, every boat captain, every pilot, every kid with a power lawn mower, every farmer with a tractor, every motorcycle operator, the folks who operate military vehicles, every law enforcement agency, every trucker and anyone else who purchases fuel for any type of motorized vehicle during July 3-4, 2008 shall collectively fill their vehicles with gasoline and diesel fuel ---- then not purchase a drop of fuel for a period of seven consecutive days, or until the period of July 10-11.

It's known as a new Independence Day -- independence from commodity speculators who make billions of dollars by stealing money from the mouths of your children, preventing you from paying your mortgage or rent on time, forcing you to pay higher utility and food bills, and essentially attempting to force you into some type of economic repression that fattens their bank accounts at your expense.

Fill all the gas tanks, fill all the fuel containers and inundate the retail market with the largest ever single day purchase of motor fuels July 3-4, then shut down the bleeping industry and the oil speculators. Don't buy a single drop of fuel for one week and the result will be to put oil speculators and other commodity brokers on notice that consumers actually drive the market price --- not a handful of sideline bettors who risk nothing at your expense.

What the Pelfrey Plan will accomplish is to put speculators on notice that their day is done in setting the daily market price for oil and other commodities. It will serve notice that at any time and without warning, consumers will collectively take matters into their own hands and there no longer will be any safe bets on speculating about where commodity market prices shall go.

The Pelfrey Plan, if well implemented by American consumers July 3-4, will also serve notice to speculators of oil prices that a developing hurricane located 1,500 miles or more southeast of the Bahamas will not have any influence on daily market prices. If well implemented, the Pelfrey Plan also will serve notice to the nation's media industry that they too, will no longer influence daily commodity prices.

American consumers need to adopt and exalt the spirit of Howard Beale, a character portrayed by the late actor Peter Finch in the 1976 Sidney Lumet-directed film "Network". His noted phrase "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore" should today be America's collective refrain to put the commodity speculators out of business under the goal of the Pelfrey Plan.

Until the American consumer takes responsibility for its commodity consumption, its public relations imaging and its desired lifestyle --- there always we be the speculators and others who will profit from the inability of consumers to truly shape their economic realities by establishing new rules governing supply-side economics. And guess what, the fact American consumers will continue to believe the bullshit explanations offered by "economists" and "industry experts" as communicated ever so diligently 24/7 by the media industry (it's supply and demand?) is what gives the commodity speculators their power.

The Pelfrey Plan gives you, each and every American consumer, the opportunity July 3-4 to put these con artists to sleep with the fishes, if you fill your tanks with their motor fuels, then cut them off for just one week. Learn to make that sacrifice now and consumers collectively will recapture their power to influence commodity markets as supply and demand should truly dictate. Once you take off the heads of the oil speculators, the plan is to then move into other commodity markets such as housing finance and food prices and finally put an end to someone controlling your destiny, other than you -- the American consumer, the American citizen and you, the American family member.

Adopt the Pelfrey Plan and put speculators out of business. Buy all the motor fuels you can July 3-4, then shut down the oil and retail gasoline industry for a period of just one week out of the 52 weeks we have to live this year. You can do it and you can do it again later this year if needed to take back control of your own lives and not the ones that are being shaped by strangers who profit from their overt speculating.

It is time for American consumers to become mad as hell and not take this anymore.

Tim Russert Death Shocks Many

Announcement Friday, June 13 of the sudden collapse and death of veteran broadcast journalist Tim Russert came as sad and tragic news that rocked the journalism profession as well as many broadcast viewers. Russert was moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press", which aired each Sunday morning, served as NBC's bureau chief in Washington D.C. and was regarded among the most respected and recognized political anaylsts in the news business.

Russert, age 58, was a husband and father. He in fact had just returned from Italy where he was celebrating a son's recent college graduation. He was devoted to his religious faith and to his profession. He embraced and well exemplified an obligation of duty to his viewers and listeners. In a rather historic moment, at least in our so-called modern day, NBC's evening network newscast June 13 was devoted entirely to one subject alone -- the unexpected death of a respected colleague and friend.

Through all the remembrances, the messages and sentiments of condolence sent in by dignitaries worldwide, and the global news coverage of Russert's death, the solitary thought which embraces me is one single word ---- "was" --- in that we are now speaking of Tim Russert in the past tense.

Many of these condolences are expressed in these words, which many perhaps know all too well: "our prayers are with his family."

While a certainty in our world, death often comes as a bit of a shock and unexpected surprise, even when we know it may be imminent. A highly publicized notice of death seems to grip us with a little more reticence, particularly when it is someone we have come to admire or someone whose name we may have recognized without aforethought.

Russert's death no doubt fostered this reaction among his family and co-workers and other professional colleagues: "Why, I just saw him a few minutes ago and he was fine," or "I just saw him on the evening news a few nights ago."

Among noted American celebrities, the shock of Russert's death perhaps recently was only eclipsed by news on that fateful day of February 18, 2001 when professional race car driver and NASCAR giant Dale Earnhardt Sr. had suddenly perished during a crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500 race in Florida.

Earnhardt's death in 2001, and certainly Russert's death earlier today, should remind us solemnly that we perhaps better need to reflect upon the value we assign to our lives and those of others whom we cherish. We often become so absorbed in what we each perceive as life's daily challenges that we simply forget that a life vanishes in a brief moment and often without advance notice.

Russert's contributions will be long remembered by declining numbers of people in the years ahead as will Earnhardt's contributions to racing over the course of this century. Ask yourself if the manner in which you live your life each day is indeed the message you wish to leave for others when your soul is immediately called upon to depart this existence. How do you want to be remembered by those who have come to love you and to know you?