July E-News Highlights

Aztec Two-Step E-News

Missives, Musings & Malapropos....

First a malaprop compliments of the king himself, Yogi Berra. "It ain't over till it's over." Sadly, it is over now for Tim Russert and George Carlin. When I turned the BIG SIX OH! in September 07, several people kindly suggested that 60 was now the new 30. OK! I liked that. But after thinking about it, I eventually came up with the best Carlin-esq line I could muster. "No," said I, "60 is how old my grandparents were......just before they kicked the bucket!" It's reality now. We boomers ain't babies no more. In fact, we're dropping like flies. Oh well. C'est la vie. Que sera. Or, as our good buddy Dave Sleight likes to say, "A happy Woody Guthrie on ya!"(So long, it's been good to know you.) And boy, was it ever good to know Tim Russert and George Carlin.

TR was the real deal. An advocate for working class, taxpaying Americans who vote and who are trying to hang on and earn a fair and decent living in this country. These were the roots from which he sprang. No pol itics. No punditry. Just straight forward and often tough questions aimed at the accountability of those wielding the most power; most often in Washington. Plus, how could you not like a guy who was a diehard Buffalo Bills fan.

My earliest recollection of GC was his hippie dippy weatherman skit, probably on the Smothers Brothers show back in the mid-sixties. Even at 71, he never seemed to lose his kid-like innocence and enthusiasm for life, for our quirky American language, and for the everyday world we live in: large issues or small. Our counterculture hero's jokes usually targeted misplaced shame, religious hypocrisy and linguistic quirks. Here are just a few of his chestnuts gleaned from the Hartford Courant:

"Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?"

"I'm completely in favor of separation of church and state. These institutions completely screw us up on their own, so both of them together is certain death."

"The word bipartisan usually means that some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out."

"One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor."

"Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?"

"Whose cruel idea was it for the word 'lisp' to have an 's' in it?"

"Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?"

"If the No. 2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still No. 2?"

"One nice thing about egoists, they don't talk about other people."

"When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat."

"The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time and what do you get at the end of it? A Death! What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backward. You should die first and get it out of the way. Then you live in an old-age home; you get kicked out when you become too young then you get a gold watch and go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol; you party; then you get ready for high school. You go to grade school; you become a kid; you play; you have no responsibilities. You become a little baby; you go back into the womb where you spend your last nine months floating... and you finish it off with an orgasm!"

What more can one say except thank you for tuning in this month and Happy Birthday America!

Peace (and love) if you want it,

Rex & Neal

P.S. In deference to Dan Fogelberg's brilliance and my commitment to listen to more of his musical canon since his sad departure, I am in total awe of To The Morning. "And maybe there are seasons, and maybe they change, and maybe to love is not so strange..."