Gale Storm, R.I.P.
Forget about Michael Jackson [link, link, link, link] — Gale Storm has passed away!
Granted, most of you weren’t born when My Little Margie was on the air, but I had a huge little kid crush on Gale Storm. And until I checked out Wikipedia, I didn’t realize all my memories of Margie were reruns. The original show ran from when I was -1 to 2 years old.
I doubt I could sit through an episode now, but apparently it was just the right speed for a little kid.
Now little kids do their own TV shows and upload them to YouTube. Anna just uploaded one of them. [WARNING: excessively cute!]
And all of this because I clicked on this link, went to Wikipedia’s page o’ death and saw that Gale Storm died yesterday.
It’s all about Twitter. If it weren’t for Twitter I wouldn’t have known about this hours if not hours and hours.
I’m not sure how this has changed your life, or if you’re just some loser who didn’t find out until Monday morning, but yeah, Twitter. If they ever go public they’re the new Google, no three ways about it.
Wolcott on the other guy who just died.
And here’s another home made video, this one from an uninsured dad.
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In actual news a Thaksin Shinawatra supporter just won an important by-election. By all accounts Thaksin’s a crook, but the people in the “red” provinces sure love him.
Makes you wonder who does the media for rural Thailand, don’t it? And no, it isn’t Thaksin. His money came from mobile phones and communications satellites and I’ve never had much luck googling for this stuff because I don’t read Thai.
I don’t know if Thaksin’s people don’t check out Wikipedia, if this is the indisputable truth or what, but if you ever wondered why Thaksin got booted, try this explanation.
A highly controversial leader, he has also been the target of numerous allegations of lèse-majesté, treason, usurping religious and royal authority, selling assets to international investors, and religious desecration.
It’s the kind of list where you’re surprised when you get done and realize grave robbing wasn’t on it. Individually I could support #1, 3 and 5, but #2 and 4 are on the somewhat heinous side.
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Military coup underway in Honduras today.
The right-winger they elected moved left and then further left and the military decided to exercise their traditional veto.
If Obama punishes Honduras economically, we’ll just see an uptick in undocumented Honduran workers. Lets hope that he at least cuts off any military aid they’re getting.
Wall Street Journal is saying the coup is over, but that could just be their way of trying to ratify the resolution most appealing to the American hard right. The U.S. is saying that we still recognize President Zelaya, so here’s hoping O gives the Journal something to bloviate about at length.
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A little late but here’s the entire three-part St. Petersburg Times Scientology exposé.
Dickgate is about something else, but it just seemed to fit in with this item better than the others and truthfully, ditto this Travolta-esque item.
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Best post about TV punditry I’ve seen in ages. (And talk about throwing red meat to your readers….)
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You missed the last broadcast of Atheists Talk radio this morning. It was over before I read about it but the good news is that it will live on as a podcast.
More convenient and, imho, more atheisty.
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Quality reads:
Republic Windows and Doors lives on
A sensible replacement for IRAs
A useful chart
I agree with Ezra, but you can agree with Digby if you like but you should hope Ezra’s right because if he’s not we’re boned (again)
Besides me, the best thing to ever come out of Iowa
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David Yepsen’s replacement at the Des Moines Register writes her first column. I won’t call her a biased snitch, but….
Hey, it’s only my first column. Give me a week or two. But I do feel strongly that Iowa needs a leader who will inspire people to get involved in improving their communities and the state, even if it’s just in small ways. Government can only do so much. It will take more than a state-funded incentive program or a targeted tax cut to put Iowa on the map as a place people want to live.
So, let’s get the conversation started. What’s your vision for the state? What do you want to hear from the candidates for governor? Send me an e-mail….
Given that Iowa has an incumbent governor and that there is no reason to think he’s not running for re-election, how could an Iowan not read this as direct criticism of Gov. Chet Culver? And talk about a loaded agenda! “Government can only do so much.” No, the point is government has X much they must to do to keep society functioning, and they’re not up to X level in any state I know of thanks to Bush’s ruinous economic policies.
Yepsen obviously trained his replacement. She writes just like him but since I’ve never met the woman I’ll refrain from critiquing her like I did the loathsome Yepsen who will now take up the business of miseducating grad students.
In many, many ways, Yepsen wrote like Tom Friedman trying to do George Will. Yes, he was that bad. So bad in fact he’d probably take that as a compliment.
And something funny. Yepsen’s been the journalist-host for the last seven Iowa Caucuses, and has been around for at least one or two more. For someone who pollutes the national airwaves with his presence every four years, it’s amazing he doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page….
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Trailer for a movie about a dark period in Norwegian history: the early 1990s.
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Boxed is better than bottled, but tap is still best of all.
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Remember the Chicago cop who was beating up bar patrons?
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Another chart. This one shows how the financial people suck all the juice out of everything, even digital technology.
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TSA mau maus a comic book writer. Turley has more.
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It is finished.
Tags: atheisty, cults, Ed McMahon, Gale Storm, Honduras, Republic Windows and Doors, Scientology, Thaksin Shinawatra
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June 28, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Michael Jackson is dead?
You’re definitely #3 outta Iowa.
June 28, 2009 at 5:23 pm
You’re right. I totally forgot about Donna Reed.
June 28, 2009 at 7:50 pm
My memories of My Little Margie have to be from reruns as well. My memories don’t look anything like the program descriptions I found in Wikipedia. Carlton Arms Apts? I remember them living in a house, and Margie having a best friend named Maybelle. It’s entirely possible I’m confusing this with something similar from the same period.
June 28, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I think you’re thinking of the Gale Storm Show which came later.
June 29, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I considered that as well, and the descriptions of The Gale Storm show doesn’t sound like I remember either. The picture in the mind’s eye is cleary Gale Storm & the actor who played her Father. Confusing!
June 29, 2009 at 1:23 am
My Little Margie ?
Father Knows Best
June 29, 2009 at 1:24 am
And why was Arthur Godfrey a beloved celebrity?
June 29, 2009 at 2:10 pm
It sucks about Atheists Talk, I guess. The concept was great, but the show often sounded like NPR on benzos. You can’t be that dry and expect anyone to listen regularly. And while I’m on the subject, what is with having a “host” whose only job is to cut to commercial? The host should be interviewing the guests. And maybe more group discussions would have been nice.
OK. Better now. “The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe” is still strong, I think.