The outstanding Catholic theologian Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, better known for his service as Pope Benedict XVI, has died.
While I am not a Catholic and I disagree with some of Benedict’s theology, I deeply admire his commitment to the faith we share in what God is doing for the world through the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
One of the two great voices of the Dodgers (the other being his mentor Red Barber) has died at the age of 94.
Here’s my favorite of Vin Scully’s calls: During a road game with the Diamondbacks, Dodger Shortstop Chin-Lung Hu got his first major league base hit. Scully took a deep breath and said, “OK, everybody. All together, [pause] Hu’s on first!”
Gregory William Robert Fulchino who blogged under the nom de cyber of Bob Belvedere died of cancer on Friday, 11 February. He was 60.
Bob was one of the first friends I made in the blogosphere and was immensely helpful to me as I got started. Bob was well known for his appreciation of Frank Sinatra, but he and I shared an interest in opera. We spent several evenings tweeting back and forth while watching broadcasts from the Met.
Hojotoho! hojotoho! heiaha! heiaha!
The domain registration expired on 13 February, 2022. The site was just shy of ten years old. It had been in a persistent vegetative state since December, 2018. It is survived by jtmp dot org, protecteourelections dot org, velevetrevolution dot us, greencasamaryland dot org, itstime2020 dot org, and empr dot media.
Prolific essayist Terry Teachout as died. He was 65. The cause of death is not reported as yet.
I will miss his civil and civilized comments on the arts.
Rush Limbaugh made a significant impact on American culture. During his 30+ years on nationally-syndicated radio, he influenced, deeply at times, our national political debate. He did it by cleverly and often humorously framing the the debate in ways that were difficult for his opponents to easily answer, and his effectiveness caused him to be one of the admitted and most hated men in the country.
Sometimes he could frame the debate with a single word or phrase.
Consider the word feminazi.
The word Rush coined is now so charged, so verboten, that I had to fight with autocorrupt to be able to type it. Yet, it is a excellent summary description of one segment of the left, that group of generally upper-class radical feminists who wish to deal with their personal failures in life by imposing their control on society, at least with respect to the issues they care about, through totalitarian means. It would be a useful term simply for that terse summary. However, it has the extra utility of pointing out that the marxist kooks to which it refers are more like National Socialists (Fascisti and Nazis) than any of the Republican they call nazis.
I admired Rush Limbaugh.
Kevin Zeese died this morning of a heart attack. He was 64.
Zeese will be remembered for his failed campaign for the U. S. Senate in Maryland on the Green Party ticket, his involvement in Occupy DC, his support for Bradley Manning and the Maduro regime in Venezuela, and his involvement with Brett Kimberlin’s Protect Our Elections.
Musician Charlie Daniels died today after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke. He was 83. His skilled playing of the guitar, bass, fiddle, banjo, and mandolin and his distinctive voice will be missed.
UPDATE—Charlie was the bass player on this session—
CNN has a post up titled Elijah Cummings was a man of dignity and discipline.
It’s by Jesse Jackson.
De mortuis nihil nisi bonum—thus, I have no comment.
Another marxist hero is headed to his just reward, but there may be some delay if Charon requires hard currency,
It is being reported that Jeffrey Epstein has died of suicide.
Vince Foster was unavailable for comment.
I’ve just learned that my friend Fr. Paul Lemmen died last week on the 27th.
With the saints give rest, O Christ, to the soul of Thy departed servant, Paul, where there is neither sickness nor sorrow nor sighing, but life everlasting. Amen.
The first President Bush has died. He was 94.
One of the thousand points of light has dimmed.
The Queen of Soul has died.
Founder of the New Journalism movement Tom Wolfe has died at age 88. He was a writer with the right stuff.
Barbara Bush has died. She was 92.
Billy Graham has died. He was 99.
Good.
I’m sure there will be a colossal waste of bandwidth writing about him today.
I suppose the world is now a better place because he’s left it.
Connie Hoge (née Constance Ann Potter) died at 6:16 pm this evening in home hospice care after a brief struggle with a recurrence of metastatic breast cancer. She was 62.
Connie received a B. A. degree in Audio Production from Indiana University in 1977. She was the first person to graduate from that program at IU. When she died, she was pursuing a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Maryland. In between, she enjoyed several careers. She worked as a recording engineer in Nashville with several gold and platinum records to her credit and was the founding Vice Chairman of the Nashville Section of the Audio Engineering Society. She was the founding Director of the Williams-Sonoma Cooking School in Costa Mesa, California, and operated the Westminster’s Personal Chef home cooking service for several years. She was a beekeeper, a Master Gardener and Flower Show Judge. Connie was Chairman of the Carroll County, Maryland, Forest Conservancy Board, and a member of the Maryland Governor’s Sustainable Forestry Commission. She was a member of Westminster Church of Christ and active in several of the congregation’s ministries.
She is survived by her husband W. J. J. Hoge and son William Hoge, IV, both of Westminster, Maryland; her brother, Robert E. Potter, III, of Illinois; her half-sisters, Mary Olson-Menzel of New York and Patricia Davis of Illinois; her step-sister, Sondra Jean Witsman of Kansas; and her step-brother, John Richard Potter of Montana.
The funeral will be held at Roger’s Funeral Home in Jasper, Tennessee, with burial in the Hoge Cemetery. Arrangement are incomplete for now. A memorial service in Westminster, Maryland, will be held at a later date.
Memorial donations may be made to the Connie Hoge Memorial Fund for benefit of the Natural Resources Career Camp.
UPDATE—How I Met Mrs. Hoge
Leon Russell died in his sleep on Sunday at his home near Nashville. He was 74.
Almost every time that I saw him, we were on opposite sides of the glass. I was usually in a control room, but the last time, the glass was the windshield of Leon’s car. He almost ran over me one day in the early ’80s while I was crossing 19th Ave. South from Marchetti’s (a restaurant) to Nicholson’s (a audio equipment store).
Phyllis Schlafly has died. She was 92. She is probably best known as a leader in the movement to defeat the proposed Equal Rights Amendment in the ’70s and ’80s, but she was an important conservative activist supporting may other causes.
Winfield Scott “Scotty” Moore, best known for his work as the lead guitarist on Elvis Presley’s first hits, has died at his home in Nashville. Scotty was 84.
By the time I got to know Scotty, he was working more as recording engineer than a guitarist, but his musicianship was evident on both sides of the double-glass window.
The last surviving cast member from Casablanca has died at age 92.