Dead in 2012

[Diomedes]

Gore Vidal

[ice grillin you]

thats not the guy who invented the internet is it?

[DH]

shampoo

[Sgt PSN]

e-shampoo to be specific.

[Diomedes]

I might be the only person on this godforsaken board who has actually read some of his work, except for Rusty.  I bet he's read Burr and/or Lincoln at least.

F'n great stuff.

[ice grillin you]

if rjs hasnt his super smart friends definitely have

[phattymatty]

i can't say i'm a huge follower or anything but i know he led a super interesting life but was still a super salty dude.  don't think i ever read an entire novel of his but have read dozens of essays. he's actually getting buried here in dc.

read this if you have some time and want to know more about him: United States of Fury
pretty good stuff.

A Scotch is fetched for him as he is wheeled into the corner of the bar. "I was like everyone else when Obama was elected – optimistic. Everything we had been saying about racial integration was vindicated," he says, "but he's incompetent. He will be defeated for re-election. It's a pity because he's the first intellectual president we've had in many years, but he can't hack it. He's not up to it. He's overwhelmed. And who wouldn't be? The United States is a madhouse. The country should be put away – and we're being told to go away. Nothing makes any sense." The President "wants to be liked by everybody, and he thought all he had to do was talk reason. But remember – the Republican Party is not a political party. It's a mindset, like Hitler Youth. It's full of hatred. You're not going to get them aboard. Don't even try. The only way to handle them is to terrify them. He's too delicate for that."

When he compares Obama to his old friend Jack Kennedy, he shakes his head. "He's twice the intellectual that Jack was, but Jack knew the great world. Remember he spent a long time in the navy, losing ships. This kid [Obama] has never heard a gun fired in anger. He's absolutely bowled over by generals, who tell him lies and he believes them. He hasn't done anything. If you were faced with great problems in chemistry – to find the perfect gas, to gas a population – you won't know for a long time whether it works. You have to go by what people tell you. He's like that. He's not ready for prime time and he's getting a lot of prime time on his plate at once."

[rjs246]

Never read any of his shtein but that bit right there is pretty outstanding. Will add him to the list.

[Diomedes]

I read the American series he did, whatever they call it.  Six or seven outstanding books including Burr and Lincoln.  The series is historical fiction at its absolute finest. 

[ice grillin you]

like lincoln the vampire hunter?

[Don Ho]

Lincoln like logs.

[hbionic]

Chavela Vargas died yesterday at 93.

None of you knew her, but she was a famous Mexican singer that you've never heard about. Unless you saw the movie 'Frida'...then you at least heard her sing.

[Geowhizzer]

Johnny Pesky

[BigEd76]

Horshack (Ron Palillo)

[Don Ho]

"Oh, oh, oh, Mistah Kahtah"

The beast of the Sweat Hogs