Saturday, July 05, 2008
I was trying to work Jessie Helms into yesterday's post, and couldn't turn the corner. I like the headline in the Village Voice: Jesse Helms Finally Dies; but I think this obit, from the Guardian, really captures how destructive the hateful son of a bitch was: not only did he stand for just about every despicable quality embodied by the American Right, he devised a corrupt system of campaign finance to promote it. The NYTimes obit is notable for is pusillanimity.
I try hard to associate the US with the good things we have contributed to the world: the Bill of Rights, "Moby Dick", the Blues, jazz, and Rock'n'Roll. Like Sarah Vowell, when I fly over the country I try to think about Carl Perkins and William Faulkner. We've produced a fair number of cultural heroes, but we'd have had to produced quite a few more to compensate for horrorshows like Helms. Enjoy hell, Jessie, and say hello to Strom for us.
I try hard to associate the US with the good things we have contributed to the world: the Bill of Rights, "Moby Dick", the Blues, jazz, and Rock'n'Roll. Like Sarah Vowell, when I fly over the country I try to think about Carl Perkins and William Faulkner. We've produced a fair number of cultural heroes, but we'd have had to produced quite a few more to compensate for horrorshows like Helms. Enjoy hell, Jessie, and say hello to Strom for us.
// posted by Bill @ 11:17 PM 
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