Teresa Brewer Dead
Here is the story from the Washington Post.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Joey Bishop Dead
The following comes from friend Dan Russell. I had Joey Bishop on my radio show at CJOR in 1983, which is the same year I met Dan, who was a young sport reporter.
Comedian Joey Bishop dies
Story Highlights
Comedian Joey Bishop dies at home in Los Angeles
With Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Bishop was in Rat Pack
Bishop had late-'60s talk show; sidekick was Regis Philbin
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Joey Bishop, the stone-faced comedian who found success in nightclubs, television and movies but became most famous as a member of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack, has died at 89.
He was the group's last surviving member. Peter Lawford died in 1984, Sammy Davis Jr. in 1990, Dean Martin in 1995, and Sinatra in 1998.
Bishop died Wednesday night of multiple causes at his home in Newport Beach, publicist and longtime friend Warren Cowan said Thursday.
The Rat Pack -- originally a social group surrounding Humphrey Bogart -- became a show business sensation in the early 1960s, appearing at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas in shows that combined music and comedy in a seemingly chaotic manner.
Reviewers often claimed that Bishop played a minor role, but Sinatra knew otherwise. He termed the comedian "the Hub of the Big Wheel," with Bishop coming up with some of the best one-liners and beginning many jokes with his favorite phrase, "Son of a gun!"
The quintet lived it up whenever members were free of their own commitments. They appeared together in such films as "Ocean's Eleven" and "Sergeants 3" and proudly gave honorary membership to a certain fun-loving politician from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, at whose inauguration gala Bishop served as master of ceremonies.
The Rat Pack faded after Kennedy's assassination, but the late 1990s brought a renaissance, with the group depicted in an HBO movie and portrayed by imitators in Las Vegas and elsewhere. The movie "Ocean's Eleven" was even remade in 2003 with George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the lead roles.
Bishop defended his fellow performers' rowdy reputations in a 1998 interview.
"Are we remembered as being drunk and chasing broads?" he asked. "I never saw Frank, Dean, Sammy or Peter drunk during performances. That was only a gag. And do you believe these guys had to chase broads? They had to chase 'em away."
Away from the Rat Pack, Bishop starred in two TV series, both called "The Joey Bishop Show."
The first, an NBC sitcom, got off to a rocky start in 1961. Critical and audience response was generally negative, and the second season brought a change in format. The third season brought a change in network, with the show moving to ABC, but nothing seemed to help and it was canceled in 1965.
In the first series, Bishop played a TV talk show host.
Then, he really became a TV talk show host. His program was started by ABC in 1967 as a challenge to Johnny Carson's immensely popular "The Tonight Show."
Like Carson, Bishop sat behind a desk and bantered with a sidekick, TV newcomer Regis Philbin. But despite an impressive guest list and outrageous stunts, Bishop couldn't dent Carson's ratings, and "The Joey Bishop Show" was canceled after two seasons.
Bishop then became a familiar guest figure in TV variety shows and as sub for vacationing talk show hosts, filling in for Carson 205 times.
He also played character roles in such movies as "The Naked and the Dead" ("I played both roles"), "Onion-head," "Johnny Cool," "Texas Across the River," "Who's Minding the Mint?" "Valley of the Dolls" and "The Delta Force."
His comedic schooling came from vaudeville, burlesque and nightclubs.
Skipping his last high school semester in Philadelphia, he formed a music and comedy act with two other boys, and they played clubs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. They called themselves the Bishop Brothers, borrowing the name from their driver, Glenn Bishop.
Joseph Abraham Gottlieb would eventually adopt Joey Bishop as his stage name.
When his partners got drafted, Bishop went to work as a single, playing his first solo date in Cleveland at the well-named El Dumpo.
During these early years he developed his style: laid-back drollery, with surprise throwaway lines.
After 3 1/2 years in the Army, Bishop resumed his career in 1945. Within five years he was earning $1,000 a week at New York's Latin Quarter. Sinatra saw him there one night and hired him as opening act.
While most members of the Sinatra entourage treated the great man gingerly, Bishop had no inhibitions. He would tell audiences that the group's leader hadn't ignored him: "He spoke to me backstage; he told me, 'Get out of the way.' "
When Sinatra almost drowned filming a movie scene in Hawaii, Bishop wired him: "I thought you could walk on water."
Born in New York's borough of the Bronx, Bishop was the youngest of five children of two immigrants from Eastern Europe.
When he was 3 months old the family moved to South Philadelphia, where he attended public schools. He recalled being an indifferent student, once remarking, "In kindergarten, I flunked sand pile."
In 1941 Bishop married Sylvia Ruzga and, despite the rigors of a show business career, the marriage survived until her death in 1999.
Bishop, who spent his retirement years on the upscale Lido Isle in Southern California's Newport Bay, is survived by son Larry Bishop; grandchildren Scott and Kirk Bishop; and longtime companion Nora Garabotti.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
The Nugget from Judge Craig
Citizenship does not include a so-called God-given right to knowingly become addicted to a poison and then claim victimization.
Judge Wallace Craig Shares His Editorial With Us
I FEAR FOR B.C.’s FUTURE
Society’s Aims Do Not Include Drug Trafficking
October 17, 2007
LAST night I had a nightmare about
A demented
I am jolted awake and it dawns on me that
What drug legalizers don’t even dare think about, and what we surely will have to endure, is the inevitability of Orwellian bureaucrats, and their medicine men, pitted against international traffickers and their contrivances and deceit. Our young people will be trapped between them.
In 2000, then-mayor Phillip Owen sold Vancouverites a bill of goods that would make a
Like a biblical prophet he gave us the word. Our western land was to rise up on the certainty of the ‘four pillars.’ We were told that it was to be a transformational miracle; from a land beset by criminals to a land of the benign. The word alone, ‘four pillars,’ would make junkies, crackheads, methheads and potheads into quiet, self-indulgent, ‘recreational’ substance users.
On November 21, 2000, the
Wrong.
The Sun story, by reporter Frances Bula, said that “Mayor Philip Owen unveils today his sweeping plan for city’s drug crisis.”
“Safe-injection sites for drug users and providing free heroin for hard-core addicts on a trial basis are among the strategies the City of
“The plan, to be made public today, also includes drug courts that would put users into treatment instead of jail, special treatment beds for young people, day centres for drug users outside the Downtown Eastside, testing of street drugs to help prevent overdoses, and more police to target upper-level drug dealers. …
“The new plan, a copy of which was obtained by the
“Like European cities that pioneered it,
“The plan does not commit the city to spending any money or to undertaking any immediate, controversial action. …All but two of the recommendations are labelled as the responsibility of …the federal and provincial governments, the
“Owen says that, while public reaction is important, the city will not agree to a final strategy that doesn’t have all four pillars in place.”
On November 16, 2002, Larry Campbell succeeded Owen in office and got there by being a loud voice in a campaign for so-called safe-injection sites.
Owen, Campbell and incumbent mayor Sam Sullivan are still campaigning for this cosmetic solution to
Seven years have come and gone and all we have is rhetoric and one legal shooting gallery.
In the meantime we have lowered ourselves even deeper into the quagmire with a cheaper and more fashionable poison, excuse me, er drug, made locally: crystal methamphetamine.
On September 18, Owen popped up again on the op-ed page of the Sun under the banner of Continuing the ‘war on drugs’ is not helping the addicted.
Of all people, Owen should know by now that
Similarly loose with facts, Owen fantasized that “Those who are addicted … did not choose a life of addiction, illness, crime and eventual early death. They are the victims and they require medical assistance.”
“In 2001,
Owen is in reverie and divorced from reality.
The hard truth is that
Only a massive involvement by the federal government will rid
When one becomes addicted, and a criminal, he no longer satisfies the criteria for citizenship: “a member of society especially as regards one’s contribution to it.”
Citizenship does not include a so-called God-given right to knowingly become addicted to a poison and then claim victimization.
Society is an association of persons united in a common moral and ethical aim, supported by firm laws. That aim does not include druggies and traffickers.
Our once proud Canadian society is constantly being brainwashed to accept never-ending addiction as a normal common feature.
We are being deluded into living according to a lowest common denominator.
It’s time to be as tough as nails and stand together against these misfits.
Wallace Craig - wallace-gilby-craig@shaw.ca – NSNews - Oct 17, 2007
Deborah Kerr is Dead at 86
The headline says it all.
Please read the NY Times story here.
She was a wonderful, luminous performer.
MILDEW...
And for the guest who asked...
Mildew is the name I have given to a given to a certain Sun columnist who writes about criminal court matters.
Diasable the Enablers on the Queen of What?
Meet Murray, the Pilot.
Murray was my next-door neighbour. Murray was a drunk.
With Captains like Murray at the helm, it's no wonder Canadian Pacific Airlines went tits up.
One day I came home and my son, Sean, then age about 3, told me that Murray, the drunk pilot, had been driving his motorcycle across all the lawns, including ours and that he had almost hit Sean.
When I found Murray a few minutes later, he was enjoying another drink with his buddies in a back yard not too distant.
I had a hockey stick in my hand.
This is what I said,
"Hey, Murray, come by our place again on your motorcycle drunk and I'm going to fucking decapitate you. Please do this cause I really want to hurt you."
That was the last we heard of Murray, the drunk pilot.
Now here's my thinking about this sooooo Coastal funny story about how everybody on BC Ferries is smoking pot.
Shoot the fucker at high noon in the town square.
Drug and alcohol testing are both mandatory and random in the transportation business in America. I'm up for that. What's the problem, Bunkie?
Oh, according to the wisdom of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, you cannot discriminate on the basis of disability, and ....wait for it...drug & alcohol addictions are classified as disabilities.
Of course, this fits the logic that likes to claim that just because I call something blue, it is therefore blue.
If you believe that drug & alcohol addictions are disabilities, you need a thorough head cleaning, and if you think that some dorkhead deckhand on the Queen of IforgethwereIam is disabled because he smokes a joint twice a wek, then we're in really, really big trouble.
THE BUYING OF THE VOTE
The other day, Guest Blogger Victor wrote about the favorite Canadian political pastime - The Buying of the Ethnic Vote.
Today, we get the ultimate story illustrating Victor's point.
The Liberals, urgent for the Indo-Canadian vote, spent $25 Million of your tax dollars on an immigration office in India, that has resulted in hundreds o clearly bogus applications. Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials begged the government NOT to open this office as they were well aware of the corruption that was the norm in the Punjabi city of Chandigrah.
Of course, the government did not listen. They wanted those Punjabi-Canadian votes.
Smile Though YOur Heart is Aching
John Furlong wants me and you to make Vancouver a more welcoming place for his Olympics.
That's nice, John.
Clearly spending too much time with BC Ferries workers.
This is one of the most unfriendly cities in the world, in one of the coldest countries on earth.
Smiles should be recorded by roving photographers just to prove that they occasionally break through the rude indifference.
O.K. Just for you, John, I'll leave my car at home and quit work early.
Smoke much, Buddy?
Sam Fools Nobody
Miro Cernetig nails The Idiot Mayor this morning. If you missed it, here it is. It's a beaut.
Testing? Exams? Results? We Couldn't Do That. It isn't Nice
The Bloomberg administration and the New York City teachers’ union announced an agreement yesterday on a plan that would give teachers bonuses based largely on the overall test scores of students at schools that have high concentrations of poor children.
Can you imagine the BC Teachers' Federation agreeing to something like this????
Read the whole story and ask yourself what New York teachers understand about education that we don't
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Victor Sails the HMS Mildew
Hi Mensch:
No doubt, Mildew will rise to the defense of BC Ferries crew who may have been Stoned at Sea.
Mildew believes that cannabis and Canada are made for each other. The Weed Leaf Forever.
What Mildew will not acknowledge is that weed today is not the weed of the 60's. In the 60's, a few tokes would sharpen your appetite for strawberries, peanut butter whatever. Weed today will turn your legs into cement pillars and your brain into yogurt.
Mildew is quite happy with the prospect of a truck driver, dozing on BC Bud, driving a gas truck past your neighbourhood school. He celebrates the idea of a BC Ferry, under the guidance of Captain Crunch, squashing docks and boats while Captain Crunch does a doobie on the bridge.
Mildew, and his employer, The Vancouver Stunned, are hopelessly out of touch.
The Boulevarier
Who's handling the PR in Victoria?
Further to our Graham Bruce post of yesterday...Vaughn palmer reveals that Mr. Bruce's response to the accusations that he did not properly register as a lobbyist were delivered to the press by a government employee.
BUt he doesn't work for the government.
Who's handling the PR at 12th & Cambie?
After 3 months of saying, FUCK YOU, VANCOUVER, City Hall, which still hasn't managed to get the library workers back to work, buys a half page in the Sun - with YOUR MONEY - and says, "THANK YOU VANCOUVER."
If I had the money, I'd buy a half page too, and say, "NO THANKS."
Forget the Cowboy Hats Already. Let's try dealing with Reality
The reason nothing ever gets done is that we still live in Simple Town.
Everybody wants a hero and a villain, white hats and black hats. The world, apparently is peopled with Good Guys and Bad Guys.
I guess that's why we all love sports. A beginning, a middle and an end. A final score. Somebody won, YEAH! Somebody lost, BOO!
If only life was even remotely like that.
Take Stephen Harper, please.
The man says he's going to do some things about crime. Right away, he is immediately cast, by the water cooler crowd, as a sonofabitching Law & Order Demon.
But look at most of his proposals; think about them for a second.
If you're found guilty of 3 violent or sexual offences, you are liable to be branded a dangerous offender. ALL RIGHT BY ME.
Stiffer penalties for impaired driving. REALLY ALL RIGHT BY ME.
Mandatory prison sentences for gun crimes. ALL RIGHT BY ME.
Tougher bail conditions for gun crimes. ALL RIGHT BY ME.
Young people who commit serious crimes are held accountable to their victims and communities. ALL RIGHT BY ME.
And - although not addressed in the Throne Speech - taking a hard look at the poisonous mistake of "safe" injection sites, free needles, and free drugs. REALLY, REALLY, REALLY ALL RIGHT WITH ME.
So, for all of these considerations, with which most Canadians totally agree, the chattering classes immediately let their knees jerk in unison, "Oh that Harper!"
Well, Harper is no hero for me; but these policies seem to me long overdue and I welcome them.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Her Day in Court - Why is this Necessary?
Hi David
I just came back from another pre-trial hearing regarding my legal action for compensation for businesses losses due to the RAV debacle. Me, and my lawyer - them and their 6 lawyers. Who knows how much money they have spent to fight me, instead of giving compensation.
We have another hearing on November 7th and 8th where the bullies will try to have my case dismissed.
Thanks for your interest in this just cause for compensation. I will keep you posted on next steps.
Regards
Susan
I just came back from another pre-trial hearing regarding my legal action for compensation for businesses losses due to the RAV debacle. Me, and my lawyer - them and their 6 lawyers. Who knows how much money they have spent to fight me, instead of giving compensation.
We have another hearing on November 7th and 8th where the bullies will try to have my case dismissed.
Thanks for your interest in this just cause for compensation. I will keep you posted on next steps.
Regards
Susan
Susan Continues Her Assault on the Canada Line Juggernaut
The EditorProvince - Small Business Week feature - October 16/07Abby Palmer - "Growing her Business"
Abby really is a wonderful example of the kind of entrepreneurial spiritthat it takes to be successful. She's energetic, thoughtful, creative,determined and she did her homework.
That said, we would not be celebrating the success of her business had shestill been in her location on Cambie Street. All around where her shop was,are empty stores and struggling family run businesses. The RAV/Canada Lineand every level of government neglected to do their homework and factoradequate compensation into their business plan, to ensure that the smallbusinesses would survive this unprecedented hardship.All mitigation has clearly failed, and after two years of construction manyfamilies are in financial crisis as a result.
It is outrageous that we areexpected to bear this unfair burden, and are being forced into businessfailure by the Province of BC and this several billion dollar governmentdriven project.
The best laid plans, and decades of hard work are now in jeopardy for hundreds of people, as the ripple effect of business losses reach not justowners, but employees and suppliers, and the residents as well.The Province indeed should be celebrating the successes of the smallbusiness community as we represent 98 percent of all business in theprovince, and have made a major contribution to the 4 billion dollar surplusthis year. And they are showing their appreciation by destroying thelivelihoods of the small independant shops that line their RAV/Canada Lineroute by refusing to take responsibility for the consequenses of thisconstruction. If this can happen in our neighbourhood, it can happen to anysmall business anywhere in the province. This is wrong and must be maderight.These families and all small businesses deserve better than bankruptcy.
Compensation is the right thing to do.
Susan Heyes Hazel&Co
Victor Finds the "CON" in Conservative...and uncovers POLENTA POLITICS!
It is sad, although not surprising, to read in today's Globe, a story stipulating that the Conservatives have a strategy to woo the urban ethnic groups in Canada.
For three decades, the Liberals have been the five dollar political whore in Canada's multicultural brothel. They would say anything, promise anything, to fill school buses with bovine voters from various ethnic halls, temples and churches.
Now the conservatives have discovered that there is voter gold in those hyphenated-Canadian hills.
So here is my question. Will the Conservative promises in Urdu, Hindi, Farsi etc. be the same as the promises in English/French. We already know that the Libs would sell their souls for a cabbage roll or shawarma.
Now, the PCs have officially embraced polenta politics.
They will, like the furtive John, pay a quick visit, love awkwardly, leave money on the bedside table, and stumble on to the next ethnic bedroom, trying to pull on their blue pants over their conservative brown shoes.
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