Day: October 17, 2008

Levi Stubbs, Four Tops Singer

DETROIT – Levi Stubbs, the gravelly voiced, plaintive lead singer of the Motown group the Four Tops, the group’s front man in 1960s pop classics like “Reach Out (I’ll Be There),” and “Bernadette,” died Friday at his home here. He was 72.

The New York Times has an interesting article about Stubbs and the Tops.

“His voice was as unique as Marvin’s or as Smokey’s or as Stevie’s.”

They adopted the name in 1954 and were together until the first member died in 1997. One member, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, survives.

A billion here a billion there

You know that $700 billion that John McCain and Barack Obama say we’re sending to “tyrants and dictators” because of our dependence on foreign oil? It doesn’t exist. In fact, it appears that Boone Pickens made it up.

I only know this thanks to the A.P.’s H. Josef Hebert, who just did a tremendous piece on the mythology behind the $700 billion number. Pickens seems to have come up with the number by simply multiplying the number of barrels of petroleum products we import every year by $145, which happens to be oil’s peak price this year (and it’s peak price of all time, for that matter).

The Balance Sheet

The actual amount we send to our “enemies” for oil is more likely less than $100 billion. Click on the link to learn why.

Buy American. I Am.

Warren Buffett is bullish on America. He writes why, beginning with:

The financial world is a mess, both in the United States and abroad. Its problems, moreover, have been leaking into the general economy, and the leaks are now turning into a gusher. In the near term, unemployment will rise, business activity will falter and headlines will continue to be scary.

So … I’ve been buying American stocks.

ABC News: McCain Acorn Fears Overblown

Citing a Republican former Department of Justice lawyer, ABC concludes the voter fraud charges are meaningless.

But McCain’s voter fraud worries – about Acorn or anyone else – are unsupported by the facts, said experts on election fraud, who recall similar concerns being raised in several previous elections, despite a near-total absence of cases.

“There’s no evidence that any of these invalid registrations lead to any invalid votes,” said David Becker, project director of the “Make Voting Work” initiative for the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Becker should know: he was a lawyer for the Bush administration until 2005, in the Justice Department’s voting rights section, which was part of the administration’s aggressive anti-vote-fraud effort.

“The Justice Department really made prosecution of voter fraud of this sort a big priority in the first half of this decade, and they really didn’t come up with anything,” he said.

ABC News

Other Republicans have made similar remarks — Florida Governor Crist among them.

In NewMexiKen’s opinion, trying to take away a person’s vote is about as low as politicians can go.

October 17

Arthur Miller, the playwright (The Crucible, Death of a Salesman) and one-time husband of Marilyn Monroe, was born on this date in 1915.

n the period immediately following the end of World War II, American theater was transformed by the work of playwright Arthur Miller. Profoundly influenced by the Depression and the war that immediately followed it, Miller tapped into a sense of dissatisfaction and unrest within the greater American psyche. His probing dramas proved to be both the conscience and redemption of the times, allowing people an honest view of the direction the country had taken.

American Masters

Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth was born on this date in 1918.

Montgomery Clift was born on October 17 in 1920. Clift was nominated for the best actor Oscar three times and supporting actor once. He played Prewitt, the bugler who won’t box, in From Here to Eternity.

It’s also the birthday

… of Jimmy Breslin. The columnist is 78.

… of Margot Kidder. Lois Lane is 60.

… of George Wendt. Norm is 60.

Sam: What’ll you have Normie?
Norm: Well, I’m in a gambling mood Sammy. I’ll take a glass of whatever comes out of that tap.
Sam: Looks like beer, Norm.
Norm: Call me Mister Lucky.

… of country singer Alan Jackson; he’s 50.

… of golfer Ernie Els, 39.

And of Marshall Mathers, better known as Eminem. He’s 36.