Our Daily Dead

Saddam Hussein is dead by hanging. Everyone’s favorite news source Al Jazeera had this quote on the main page:

“This is a time when Muslims in particular are supposed to be forgiving, are supposed to be closer to God. Why are they using this occasion to take revenge? They couldn’t wait one more week?”

Now granted Saddam was no angel and his punishment just under Iraq’s laws…but the timing of the execution is certainly curious.

And from the Jerusalem Post we find this story about a hot new travel destination

Do you wonder about the post Saddam hanging conversation between W and his daddy? “Got him Daddy” comes to mind.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Saddam Hussein, dead, hanging, Al Jazeera, no angel, Iraq, Jerusalem, Saddam, W

James Brown died on Christmas Day. Was that coal for God or just what she’d asked for?

The Concord Monitor had this to say also: “He was a pompadoured revolutionary, a one-man musical insurrection in a fur-trimmed cape and high-gloss shoes.”

And do take heart lest you think Dear James will have no accompaniment - recall that Lyn Collins kindly ran ahead to check things out.

Where Is That Confounded Bridge Travel Tip
As you wander the country dazed from the loss of Butane James…get yourself on over to Colorado’s northwestern corner and the most excellent burg of Steamboat Springs. Tis in this skiing and rodeo mecca that you will find the one and only James Brown Soul Center of the Universe bridge.

Buffalo Bill, Hunter S. Thompson, and James Brown. Could Colorado get any better?

Technorati Tags: James Brown, died, Concord Monitor, Lyn Collins, Butane James, Colorado, Steamboat Springs, James Brown Soul Center of the Universe bridge, Buffalo Bill, Hunter S. Thompson, James Brown

Former President Gerald Ford is dead at 93.

Mark K. Updegrove writing at SFGate.com reports that Ford wished to be remembered as a ‘healer and a builder’

The New York Times article called Ford ‘an accidental President’. The Times goes further and says that ‘…he was everything his predecessor was not — transparent and largely content with life as he found it. His many friends saw him as plain old “Jerry,” a get-along, go-along product of the House of Representatives whose self-assurance and modest ambitions perfectly suited a country that wanted little more than a few months’ rest’. Indeed.

Lots of happy praise all about it seems. To get a slightly different angle you might try the story from Peace, Earth and Justice News. You won’t quite believe your eyes at who is to be seen in the article’s accompanying picture. PEJ.org decidedly brings you another view of Ford and the Nixon-Ford complex.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Gerald Ford, dead, New York Times, Peace, Earth and Justice News, PEJ.org

Joseph Barbera is dead at 95. Ah, bugger it, there goes our childhood… Mr. Barbera teamed up with William Hanna to create the ultimate cartoon power duo. Thank goodness and your Cosmic Pillow that Mr. Barbera failed in his banking, playwriting and amateur boxing career attempts. And while you are doling out the thanks remember to include the nameless person at Collier’s Magazine who encouraged Mr. Barbera to pursue a career as a cartoon artist.

And the Who’s Who of Cartoons you may thank Hanna-Barbera for? Heres a reasonable slice: Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, the Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Jonny Quest, The Smurfs, and The Jetsons.

Said Mr. Hanna who died in 2001: “I was never a good artist.” But Mr. Barbera “has the ability to capture mood and expression in a quick sketch better than anyone I’ve ever known.” The Hanna-Barbera collaboration received eight Emmy Awards, including the Governors Award of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Not to mention entertaining generations of us kids all across the globe.

A personal favorite of these ODD folks is The Great Gazoo. Not sure why…perhaps it was the voice of Harvey Korman that won us over.

‘Yabba dabba doo’.

My Life in ‘Toons: From Flatbush to Bedrock in Under a Century

Technorati Tags: dead, William Hanna, Cosmic Pillow, Collier’s Magazine, Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Jonny Quest, The Smurfs, The Jetsons, Gazoo, Harvey Korman, Yabba dabba doo