July 25 Notable Birthdays

If today is your birthday, “Happy Birthday!”

Actress Barbara Harris (Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things about Me, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Peggy Sue Got Married, Plaza Suite, A Thousand Clowns) is 77.

Singer – guitarist Manuel Charlton (Nazareth) is 71.

Singer – bass guitarist Verdine White (Earth, Wind & Fire) is 61.

Cartoonist Ray Billingsley (Curtis) is 55.

Actress Bobbie Eakes (The Bold and the Beautiful, JAG, Choosing Matthias) is 51.

Actress Illeana Douglas (The Perfect Woman, To Die for, Grace of My Heart, Chasing Amy, Picture Perfect, Weapons of Mass Distraction, Bella Mafia, Message in a Bottle, The Next Best Thing) is 47.

Actor Matt LeBlanc (Friends, TV 101, Reform School Girl, Ed, Lost in Space, Charlie’s Angels, All the Queen’s Men) is 45.

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On July 25…

1844 – Realist painter Thomas Eakins (Walt Whitman, The Thinker, The Clinic of Dr. Gross, The Clinic of Dr. Agnew, Max Schmitt in a Single Scull) was born in Philadelphia, PA.

1943 – Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was voted out of power by the Grand Council and later arrested.

1956 – The Italian ocean liner Andrea Doria and the Swedish-American liner Stockholm collided in heavy fog, some 45 miles south of Nantucket Island.  Of the 1,662 passengers and crew aboard the Andrea Doria, 52 died in the initial collision.  The remaining passengers and crew managed to board the Stockholm.  Everyone from both ships was rescued the next day, before the Stockholm sank.

Andrea Doria

1978 – The first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, was born in England.  The daughter of Lesley and Gilbert Brown, she was the first baby conceived outside the mother’s body.

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Cartoon of the Day

Speaking of politicizing the Colorado shootings…

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Stupid Comments in the Wake of the Aurora Shootings

You can always count on extremists to politicize a horrific event.  09/11, Hurricane Katrina and other tragedies drew out the best in people.  But sadly, they also drew out the worst.  Some idiot – usually of the religious type – had some dumbass thing to say after the ordeal.  Jerry Falwell said 09/11 was God’s retribution for America allowing abortion and homosexuals; others said the same about Katrina.  So, as you might expect, a few morons have proven why they badly need an enema.

“You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of terror like this takes place.”

– Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), during a radio interview on the Heritage Foundation’s “Istook Live!” show, when asked why he believes such senseless acts of violence take place.

 

“Ultimately, we don’t have a crime problem or a gun problem – or even a violence problem.  What we have is a sin problem.  And since we ordered God out of our schools and communities, the military and public conversations, you know, we really shouldn’t act so surprised when all hell breaks loose.”

– Mike Huckabee, former Republican Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential candidate.

 

“If they knowingly rejected Jesus Christ, then basically, they are going to a terrible place.”

– Jerry Newcombe, evangelical pastor, adding that victims who aren’t Christian are in hell.

 

“Whether it’s the Hollywood movies, whether it’s what we see on the Internet, whether it’s liberal bias in the media, whether it’s our politicians changing public policy, I think all of those somehow have fit together – and I have to say also churches who are leaving the authority of Scripture and losing their fear of God” are what “give us these kinds of incidents.”

– Fred Jackson, of the American Family Association.

 

“Where were the men of flight 93????  Someone should have stopped this man. …All that was needed is one Courageous/ Brave man prepared mentally or otherwise to stop this it could have been done.”

– Russell Pearce, former Republican senator on Facebook.

 

“James Holmes reached out to multiple women on a sex website in the days before launching a massacre which killed 12 people and injured 58 during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises, it has emerged.  However, at least three of the women he contacted through AdultFriendFinder rejected his advances – even though he was apparently just hoping to ‘chat’ with ‘nothing sexual’ on the cards.”

The Daily Mail.

 

“What if one of those much maligned Internet sex-finding women could have somehow found it in the kindness of her heart to fuck James Holmes?  What then?  Nothing.  What happened in Colorado happened because a man who was trying to cause chaos was able to acquire the tools to do it successfully.”

– Erin Gloria Ryan, on Jezebel, pointing out that the killer planned his spree months ahead of time.

 

“When students are taught they are no different from animals, they act like it.”

– Pastor Rick Warren, in a tweet the day after the shootings.

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In Memoriam – Sherman Hemsley, 1938 – 2012

Actor Sherman Hemsley, best known for his role as the loud and brash George Jefferson on “The Jeffersons,” died Tuesday at his home in El Paso, Texas.  Hemsley portrayed Jefferson first on “All in the Family” from 1973 – 1975 and then on the series spin-off that ran for 11 seasons.  He was born in Philadelphia and didn’t consider acting until after he left the Air Force.  While living and working in New York in 1971, he received a call from TV producer Norman Lear who wanted Hemsley to audition for the Jefferson character.  Hemsley initially declined, as he was touring for a theatrical company, but landed the role two years later.  He engaged in a handful of other projects after “The Jeffersons” ended in 1985, including another NBC situation comedy, “Amen,” which ran from 1986 – 1991.  Police in El Paso said there was no evidence of foul play.  The cause of death will be determined through an autopsy, according to a news release.

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July 24 Notable Birthdays

If today is your birthday, “Happy Birthday!”

 

Political cartoonist Pat Oliphant is 77.

Actress – comedienne Ruth Buzzi (Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, The Entertainers, The Steve Allen Comedy Hour, That Girl, Sesame Street, Finders Keepers, Freaky Friday) is 76.

Actor Chris Sarandon (The Princess Bride, Child’s Play, Deadly Temptress, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Guiding Light) is 70.

Actor Robert Hays (Airplane!, Airplane 2, Take This Job & Shove It, Starman, FM, Angie) is 65.

Actress Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman, Partners in Crime, Hawkeye; Miss USA 1973) is 61.

Actor Kadeem Hardison (A Different World, Vampire in Brooklyn, Renaissance Man, White Men Can’t Jump, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, Beat Street) is 47.

Actress – singer Jennifer Lopez (In Living Color, Selena, Hotel Malibu, Money Train, Anaconda, Angel Eyes) is 43.

Actress Anna Paquin (The Piano, X-Men, Jane Eyre, Amistad, Almost Famous, Finding Forrester, Buffalo Soldiers) is 30.

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On July 24…

1783 – Simon Bolivar, Venezuelan military and political leader and South American liberator, was born in Caracas, Venezuela.

1802 – Novelist – playwright Alexandre Dumas was born in Soissons, France.

1847 – Richard M. Hoe of New York City patented the rotary-type printing press.

1897 – Aviator Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, KS.

1911 – American archaeologist Hiram Bingham discovered the Incan city of Machu Picchu just north of Cuzco, Peru.

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Cartoon of the Day

The state of politics in America.  No wonder people are getting tired of this crap!

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Quote of the Day

“Bachmann’s concept of Christian love brims with hate, and she has a deep satchel of stones to throw.  From what kind of messiah did she learn that?”

– Frank Bruni, New York Times columnist on Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN).

I personally don’t care where this Bachmann nitwit got her religion.  I just know people like her are part of what’s wrong with America.  Christian fundamentalists are just one step above Al-Qaeda – they just speak English.

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Picture of the Day

Archaeologists have uncovered a “dramatic” new Mayan temple in the Guatemalan jungle; one covered with giant faces embedded in the façade.  This is just one of them: the Mayan sun deity as a “shark-man.”  The temple was part of El Zotz, one of the Mayan’s smaller kingdoms, which features a palace and a tomb believed to hold its first ruler, who lived sometime in the 4th century A.D.

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