Monday, July 28, 2003

More Recall Stuff

And more proof that this is a stupid, messy process.

• Posted at 7:49 PM · LINK

Good News

At 2:50 this afternoon my time, I posted this item about how Darnell Williams, a convicted murderer in Indiana, was being denied access to DNA testing that might have proved him innocent. (He was scheduled for execution this coming Friday.)

At 3:04, Reuters moved this report that announced that Governor Frank O'Bannon has stayed the execution and ordered the DNA testing.

I'm not going to suggest that this website was responsible. But you never know.

• Posted at 7:37 PM · LINK

Also...

If you're over at that Library of Congress website looking at Bob Hope stuff and you get through early, you might want to take a gander at this online exhibit. It features some of the lesser-known works of another legend — one who didn't live quite as long as Bob.

• Posted at 6:55 PM · LINK

A Blog To Visit

My buddy Paul Harris does a terrific radio show on KTRS in St. Louis. He is now doing a terrific weblog which he calls The Bucket. Just bookmarked it on my "Daily Visit" list and so should you.

• Posted at 3:33 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

As readers of this weblog know, one of my pet issues is how dysfunctional our court system is, especially with regard to crimes for which people receive the Death Penalty. I go back and forth on whether the Death Penalty is just, moral or even a good idea...but I do not waver on the belief that if we do have a Death Penalty, we should only be executing people who are definitely guilty. And I'm amazed how to some people, that seems to be a relatively-unimportant, even bothersome technicality.

I think there are some folks in this nation who really like the idea of the government putting Bad Guys to death. They like it so much that they don't want to hear that some of those Bad Guys might be innocent, lest that revelation make Capital Punishment less popular. How else to explain situations like that of a man named Darnell Williams?

Here's an op-ed piece by a lawyer who is upset that the state (Indiana, in this case) will not allow DNA testing that might prove that Williams, who is soon to be excuted, is innocent. You would think that would be a reasonable request. Does anyone really benefit if an innocent man is executed? You'd think people would want that, if only because it means the guilty party pulls off The Perfect Crime and gets away with murder. But the execution is still planned and the DNA test isn't.

And no, the lawyer who wrote this op-ed piece is not Darnell Williams' lawyer. He's the lawyer who prosecuted and convicted Darnell Williams. Even he thinks Williams may be innocent of the killings...

• Posted at 2:50 PM · LINK

Update

Just fixed some typos and rewrote two badly-written sentences in the Bob Hope piece.

Also, in answer to Jerry Beck's question over at Cartoon Research, I understand Bob did have a complete collection of the Bob Hope comic book. In fact, there are some in this exhibit of his life at The Library of Congress. That website will show you more Hope memorabilia than you could ever want to peruse.

One other thought, perhaps a bit morbid: We seem to be suffering from a paucity of Elder Statesmen Comedians. It wasn't that long ago, we had Hope and Berle and Burns and Lucy and a couple of other folks in their eighties and nineties, all very visible and around to be interviewed. Now, the three biggies who come to mind are Jerry Lewis (age 77), Johnny Carson (age 78) and Sid Caesar (age 81).

Of those three, only Jer is really active and he doesn't seem to wear the mantle well. Carson's a hermit. Over on the David Letterman fan sites, there seems to be the recurring dream that Johnny will appear with Dave or even guest-host for him. But last year, one of Carson's closest associates told me that he couldn't imagine anything so important that it would get Johnny in front of a camera again. ("Maybe if it would cure cancer," the guy said. Then he added, "But maybe not even then.") Sid Caesar is in poor health and the last few times I've seen him speak, he fell back on the double-talk German and French, rather than really talk.

Are there any great, legendary comedians in their nineties? Or even in their mid-to-late eighties? I can't think of one. There's probably a reason for this gap but I haven't taken the time to puzzle out what it might be. Maybe something about the timing by which radio comedy shows came to prominence and then evolved into television.

Anyway, it's just a thought. And like I said, maybe a bit morbid. But I'd sure hate to see the day when the Great Elder Statesman of Comedy is Gallagher.

• Posted at 1:47 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Over at Salon, Michelle Goldberg writes a thought-provoking article about the uneasiness some Republicans feel about where Bush is taking the country. This feels like an important issue to me.

Since this is Salon, you have to either be a subscriber or watch ads in order to read the entire article. If you've been thinking of subscribing, now would be a great time to do so. The price goes up in about four days.

• Posted at 12:59 PM · LINK

But I Wanna Tell Ya...

Thoughts on the passing of Bob "I made it to 100" Hope. They're over in NOTES from me.

• Posted at 11:34 AM · LINK

Watergate Revisited

I just happened across this news item from May and was disappointed to learn that the experts who once thought they could recover the sound from the infamous Nixon tape have given up. What was said during the eighteen-and-a-half minute gap remains a mystery...at least for now.

• Posted at 2:07 AM · LINK