Just to Let You All Know I’m Still Alive

I realized it has been quite some time since I last wrote anything on The Brimstone Blog.  I really do not have anything insightful to say today (as if I ever do), however, I just wanted to post a little something to let everyone out there know that I’m still here on this planet.

Let me start by lamenting the lost of a great American actor, Charlton Heston, this past weekend.  A larger-than-life figure who starred in many a cinematic epic, including “Ben-Hur” (for which he won an Oscar), “The Ten Commandments,” ”Khartoum,” “A Touch of Evil,” “The Agony and the Ecstasy” and the enduring “Planet of the Apes.” 

Married to the same woman for sixty years, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Chuck Heston stood with Martin Luther King in support of the Civil Rights Movement as well as becoming President of the National Rifle Association, thus proving that one does not have to consistently reside on only one side of the political fence.  And by the way, if he was ten years younger and not experiencing the onset of Allzheimer’s disease, he would have kicked the shit out of that bloated, unfunny, blow-hard, Michael Moore as he made the ridiculous “Bowling for Columbine.”

With that said, my last thought for the day and on a completely different note is that, much like WFMU’s Bill Kelly, I’m wondering if Joe Girardi is gonna let Joba Chamberlain throw at David Ortiz as he crowds the plate this season.  I sure hope so. 

Goodbye, Mr. Buckley

William F. Buckley, the “scourge of liberalism, as dubbed by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., passed away yesterday at his home in Connecticut. He was 82.  Buckley, born in Manhattan in 1925 and a Yale graduate, founded the magazine The National Review in 1955 and ultimately, made it “cool” to be a conservative at a time when all the rage was about liberalism.

He also hosted the much-watched television program “Firing Line” from 1966-1999, authored more than fifty books and more than 5,600 newspaper and magazine articles.

Buckley was indeed a renaissance man for he was an avid lover of sailing, good food, music and the arts and even ran for mayor of New York City in 1965, ultimately losing to winner John Lindsay.  He was a regular confident to Ronald Reagan during his presidency.

What truly made William F. Buckley unique, however, was his way with words.  He was not only extremely intelligent and well-spoken, but he was able to intermingle wit and humor into his lofty approach to language.  For instance, when asked what he would do if won the 1965 mayoral election, he replied, “I’d demand a recount.”

Another wonderful example of William Buckley is his hosting of the Granada Television-produced version of Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited” and shown in the United States on PBS in the 1980’s where he introduced each of the fourteen episodes and then moderated a round table discussion following each episode’s airing.

Buckley enjoyed having dinner with the liberals whom he would skewer on a regular basis, believing that one could learn so much from those who have opposite viewpoints.

The man could speak, the man could write and the man could ask questions, all the while acknowledging his own understanding that it was not his job to be a politician or to make policy, but rather to think about and react to politics and issues so that a voice may be heard- to say “‘Stop’, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who urge it.”

I fear this country shall not see the likes of William F. Buckley again.