Keeping (White) Hope Alive

Reprentative Lynn Jenkins (R-Kansas) speaking before a crowd about the challenges facing the Grand Old Party as it stumbles in the political wilderness: "Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope. I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington."

Edward M. Kennedy 1932 - 2009

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who died yesterday of brain cancer, was the last surviving brother in the Kennedy Dynasty, the third longest person to serve in the United States Senate, and an unrelenting advocate for health care reform, civil rights, and social justice. He was unapologetically liberal even in an era when that term became a perjorative.

Prez's Centennial

Will Friedwald's tribute to tenor saxophonist Lester Young occasioned by the musician's centennial - Young was born August 27, 1909 - is recommended reading. Friedwald looks at Young's 1943 solo on Sometimes I'm Happy. Friedwald writes that Young's solo "is a prime example of the President (usually shortened to 'Prez') - as Billie Holiday called Young - touched on every emotion known to man in a single, short solo. He's obviously inspired by Irving Caesar's title and lyric as much as he is by Vincent Youmans' melody. Most popular songs present the states of 'happy' and 'sad' as monolithic poles of feeling, but Young seems to be jazzed by the way that Caesar and Youmans mix both together. His interpretation of the tune is both at the same time, a constant state of melancholic euphoria."

Honorary Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan

This asshole richly deserves the title for saying of Barack Obama: "This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture. I don't know what it is."

"I'm not saying he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. He has a -- this guy is, I believe, a racist."

Whining

A response to a Washington Examiner columnist on supporters of Sonia Sotomayor:

Gregory Kane castigates what he terms the whining Left's complaints about Sen. Tom Coburn's use of Desi Arnaz's catch phrase "you have some 'splaining to do" in an exchange with then Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor over the Second Amendment. On the basis of an indeterminate number of phone calls received while he appeared on a Baltimore college radio station, Kane wildly extrapolates that left wingers en masse are apoplectic over Coburn's dated allusion. This is nonsense. A few phone calls cannot logically be said to represent the mindset of an entire group. It would seem that Kane has "some 'splaining to do."

Rashied Ali 1935-2009

Drummer Rashied Ali, who died of a heart attack, was an important figure in free jazz, a member of John Coltrane's last bands and an invaluable contributor to Coltrane's albums Meditations and Interstellar Space.

The Jeffersons

Don't know whether its nature or nurture but the Jefferson clan seems inclined to find themselves on the wrong end of the criminal justice system. Last week it was younger brother William convicted by federal jury for corruption and money laundering, now it is older brother Mose's turn, as he stands trial for bribing a scool board president.

Dollar Bill Convicted

An Alexandria, Va. jury found former Rep. William Jefferson guilty on 11 of 16 counts for accepting bribes and engaging in money laundering while a member of Congress. Jefferson, the first black congressman from Louisiana since Reconstruction, became the butt of comedians' jokes after an FBI raid on his Virginia home found $90,000 stuffed in his freezer. His explanation for the unconventional storage was that he was attempting to keep it away from his housekeeper or an intruder. It appears that the jurors did not put much stock in Jefferson's explanation. Jefferson not only faces a possible maximum of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced October 30th, he has the dubious distinction of changing the connotations of such well-worn expressions "cold hard cash" and "frozen assets."

Lil' Kim and Bubba

The little fellow on the right needed the visit of a high profile American to shore up his standing as the Supreme Ruler of one of the most bizarre nations on the planet. The other fellow, the gray haired dude on the left, was willing to oblige because of late, especially since his wife came up short in the Democratic presidential sweepstakes, he had pretty much been pushed to the sidelines. But as fate would have it, he was remarkably suited for the task: Bubba has always been good at picking up women.

Women Scorned

William Congreve famously wrote: "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like woman scorned." A married Wisconsin man knows this all too well. Thinking he was meeting a woman in a motel for an afternoon tryst, he found himself bound, blindfolded, and assaulted by four women including his wife. Among the indignities he suffered was having his penis glued to his stomach with Krazy Glue. The gentleman eventually managed to free himself. The four women were arrested and charged with false imprisonment. The woman who used the glue for purposes not contemplated by the manufacturer was also charged with sexual assault.

The Beer Summit

The much hyped Obama beer summit, where the principals in the Gates affair - Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley - were invited to the White House to discuss their little misunderstanding over beer was much ado about nothing. If the intent was to use the incident as what Obama termed "a teachable moment" in the thorny issue of race in America then it came up pitifully short.