Dick Cheney, Wyoming oilman and former vice president, dies at 84

Dick Cheney, Wyoming oilman and former vice president, dies at 84: The divisive and powerful 9/11-era vice president was also a devoted husband, avid outdoorsman and close advisor to his daughter, Liz Cheney.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney dies at 84

I was not a fan of Cheney when he was our Congressman nor when he was Vice President.  I tended to regard his association with Wyoming, while he was in office, as thin, something I've complained about in regard to recent Wyoming politicians as well.  For that matter, I regarded his daughter Liz's connection with the state as thin as well.

Liz Cheney really rose to the moment and in the latter stages of Trump's first Administration she stood out as a genuine hero, a status she has, in my view, today.  Dick Cheney also remained a steadfast defender of democracy in his old age.

It'll be interesting to see how the State, and the current illegitimate administration in Washington, treats his passing.  In recent years Wyoming's politics have been taken over by carpetbaggers who mentally reside in 1970s Alabama, rather than Wyoming, and Donald Trump has lost the ability to be rational in his dementia.  Cheney deserves some sort of national recognition upon his passing.

Will he receive one?

Kathy Karpan, former Wyoming secretary of state, dies

Kathy Karpan, former Wyoming secretary of state, dies: An attorney and mentor to many, 83-year-old public servant is remembered for being an insatiable reader and a "wonderful friend."

In Memoriam. James Earl Jones

James Early Jones with Barbara and George Bush.

James Earl Jones

The legendary movie actor with the deep unforgettable voice was an Army officer in the latter stages of the Korean War.  Jones never served in Korea, but his service was notable in part because he attended Ranger school as an Army officer and was accordingly Ranger qualified.

Category:  Actor

Passed today at age 98.

Jones was an interesting figure.  He started university as a pre med major but switched to drama prior to entering the Army.  He had considered a career in the service, but a conversion to Catholicism influenced him to leave the Army as he claimed that Shakespeare and the Catholic Church were the only things in his life that were not geared towards killing.  

He played many roles, but is probably best remembered for either being Darth Vader by some, or Terence Mann in Field of Dreams.

He was a fairly private man rarely speaking of his private life, but he did late in life reveal a diabetic condition which plagued him and he was a devout Catholic, albeit with potentially irregular marriages, dating back to his time in the Army.

postscript:

I screwed t his up, as the comments note.

To make it worse, I noted his death at the time it actually happened.

Inexcusable.

In Memoriam. Claudia Cardinale

Tunisian born Claudia Cardinale has died at age 87.  Her entry into film came after being chosen as the most beautiful girl in Tunisia, where her Sicilian parents were immigrants.

One of the Italian (in her case Sicilian) bombshells of the 1960s, Cardinale is famous for a series of well regarded Italian movies, but perhaps best known in the US (outside of film aficionados) for her unlikely role as the Mexican heroin in The Professionals and again as the heroin in Once Upon A Time In The West.  8 1/2 may be her best known Italian film.

She was married once, and had two children, the first of whom when she was a teenager and whom was the result of a rape.  Her parents raised that child as her brother until her true mother was revealed to him when he was eight years old.

In addition to Sicilian and English, she spoke French.

Overshadowed in the US by Sophia Loren, she was known as "Italy's girlfriend".

Blog Mirror: Wyoming Remembers Robert Redford For His Love Of The Wild West

Wyoming Remembers Robert Redford For His Love Of The Wild West

American film giant, Robert Redford, has passed at age 89.

He was, truly, one of the greatest film actors the nation has ever produced.

Three of my favorite movies, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Natural, and Jeremiah Johnson, are Redford films.

Blog Mirror: Wyoming Author Craig Johnson Remembers Actor Graham Greene, Who Died Monday

 

Wyoming Author Craig Johnson Remembers Actor Graham Greene, Who Died Monday

 

Comedian, soldier, and NSA mathematician Tom Lehrer dies at 97

June 28, 1975. Death of Rod Serling.

American screenwriter and television producer Rod Sterling died at age 50 of a heart attack.

Serling was an extremely heavy smoker, which was no doubt the cause of his death.  He'd been a paratrooper during World War Two, serving in the Pacific.

He's best remembered for The Twilight Zone.

Serling in 1959, at which time he would have only been 34 years old.  This photo gives us a good example of what we've noted elsewhere, about how people aged more rapidly in the past.  The cigarette in hand would have helped contribute to that.  World War Two probably didn't help either.  Serling's bracelet features Army jump wings.

Last edition:

Thursday, June 12, 1975. Searching for the meaning of Vietnam.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Australia, It was because of Vietnam, law, Marriage, The relationship between men and women, Vietnam War

Towering Wyoming statesman Alan Simpson dies at 93

Towering Wyoming statesman Alan Simpson dies at 93: Former U.S. Senator and storied politician was known for folksy bon mots, hard-nosed politics and a signature straight-shooting style.

President Jimmy Carter Memorial Service at National Cathedral

In Memoriam. Jimmy Carter.

James "Jimmy" Carter died on December 29. He was, of course, the 39th President of the United States.

I'm late to noting his passing and therefore everyone has already read tributes to him.  Even Donald Trump, to my surprise, lauded him and indicated he'd attend his funeral. Carter did, it might be noted, feel that the early criticism of Trump was unfair.  I don't know what he thought about Trump later.

I've listed to a lot of the audio obits and read a few, and what I'll note is that, as so often, they approach being hagiography and tend to omit somethings that should be of real interest.

I'll start with the biggest.  Carter was a failure as a President.  Coming into office with an American public sick of inflation (sound familiar?) and disgusted with the Republicans due to Watergate (sound unfamiliar?), and also fatigued by the Vietnam War, he really didn't accomplish much.  He proved incapable of tackling inflation, which would fall to Reagan, and the US military, probably not surprisingly, lapsed into a weakened state, which Reagan also would address.  

While he was not a success as a President, he was one in life, however.

Carter, it was often noted, was from a peanut farm in Georgia.  What's oddly less often mentioned is that he was a Naval Academy graduate and a submariner.  To enter the submarine service you must be an engineer and a genius.  He was both.  He may be the smartest man to occupy the office since the Second World War. 

He was certainly the most moral.

He was a dedicated Baptist Christian, which nobody could rationally doubt.  The degree of his devotion was such that its almost surprising that he was elected, particularly as he gave an interview to Playboy during the height of its influence, noting how deeply Christian he was.  After he lost his bid for reelection, he devoted his remaining long life to public service, often to the poor.

Like the law, politics is an occupation that frequently initiates people into compromising their morals and attracts a certain percentage of people who are willing to do so.  And power, as is so often noted, corrupts.  Carter was unique in that he was a deeply moral man and the office did not change him.

In Memoriam. David Harris.

Actor David Harris, best known for his role as "Cochise" in The Warriors, has passed away at age 75 from cancer.  Fans of war movies will recall he had the role as Pvt. Smalls, a major character, in A Soldier's Story.

Blog Mirror: Fernando Valenzuela, 1960-2024

 

Fernando Valenzuela, 1960-2024

Blog Mirror: Pete Rose, 1941-2024

Not a flatter portrait:

Pete Rose, 1941-2024

In Memorium. Kris Kristofferson.

 

Kristoffer Kristofferson, June 22, 1936., Brownsville, Texas,.

September 28, 2024 (aged 88), Hana, Hawaii, U.S.

In Memoriam, James Earl Jones.

One of the most monumental actors of the second half of the 20th Century, and one of the most memorable voices of all times, James Earl Jones died at age 93 yesterday.

A lot has been written about Jones over the past day, and so we won't go back into most of it.  Born to actor Robert Earl Jones, whom he closely resembled in appearance and voice, and Ruth, he mostly grew up outside of the presence of his father who left the family shortly after he was born.  He mostly grew up on the farm of his maternal grandparents in Michigan.  After high school he started off towards a career in medicine but realized it wasn't for him and switched to drama, graduating from the University of Michigan in 1955.  He participated in ROTC while a university student and had expected to deploy to the Korean War, but it ended shortly after he graduated.  He attended Ranger school, something very difficult to graduate from and frankly making him an unusually large graduate of a program which tends to favor smaller men.  While in the Army, he converted to Catholicism.

His first film appearance was in Dr. Strangelove in 1964.  His last was in 2021 in Coming 2 America.  He had various monumental roles in between, including famously being the voice of Darth Vader and Terrence Mann in Field of Dreams.

Governor Orders Wyoming State Flag be Flown at Half Staff Statewide on Saturday, February 3

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Governor Mark Gordon has ordered the Wyoming State Flag be flown at half staff statewide from sunrise to sunset on Saturday, February 3, 2024 in honor and memory of Bobbi Barrasso, wife of U.S. Senator John Barrasso. Bobbi Barrasso passed away January 24, 2024. 

Please note that this notice is only for the Wyoming State Flag statewide. Other flags should remain at full-staff.

In Memoriam. Melanie Safka, 1947-2024

Best remembered for Brand New Key, she was, in some ways, a slightly earlier, and somewhat less known, version of the same sort of singer than Linda Ronstadt would become, even preforming some of the same songs.

She performed at Woodstock, still so young that her mother went with her.

What Have They Done to My Song Ma is one I recall from my childhood for some reason, dimly recalling that my mother liked it.

I had always thought my grandfather on my mother's side died at age 58. . .

but it turns out, he died in 1958.

He was, therefore, about 67 years of age.

Still not ancient by current standards, but not 58 years of age, either.

That was, FWIW, the same year my parents married.

His wife, my grandmother, died at age 89, however, which is a little younger than I remembered.  It was in 1979, which is later than I remember, which means that my recollection didn't make mathematical sense, either.  I was in high school at the time, but I don't recall it that way.

That also means that she lived long enough to see one of her children die, which I knew, and two of them fall into severe illness accompanied by mental decline, which must have been hard in the extreme to endure.