RIP Mario Cuomo:
(Columbus Day Parade, October 11, 1982. Mayor Edward Koch, Gov. Mario Cuomo and Westchester County Executive Alfred DelBello march down New York’s Fifth Avenue) Credit: Associated Press
You have to wonder how different the country would be if Mario Cuomo had agreed to become a Supreme Court Justice in 1993 when Bill Clinton offered to nominate him to replace Byron R. White. George Stephanopoulos has written that Clinton came within 15 minutes of nominating Cuomo, until the latter rejected the job in a phone call with Stephanopoulos.
The Wrongologist never drops bold-face names in the blog, but today is an exception. In 1988, he (and Ms. Oh So Right) were backstage speaking with Frank Zappa, who was playing in Boston. Wrongo asked who Zappa would support for president the next time around, since the Dukakis debacle had just happened. He said: “only Mario”. At the time, the Wrongologist agreed. But Mario would never run, and Zappa died in 1993.
On Christmas, Neil deGrasse Tyson sent this Tweet:
On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) December 25, 2014
It caused the usual spewing by the “war on Christmas” crowd, who claimed that Tyson was deliberately provoking them. Tyson replied:
Imagine a world in which we are all enlightened by objective truths rather than offended by them.
Speaking of truth, here is the whole objective truth:
2015 will be totally different, except:
We just ceased combat operations in Afghanistan. What did we learn?
Republican leader Scalise attends Klan meeting. What did the GOP learn?
Funny about Neil de Grass Tyson’s comment. It is just a humorous use of coincidence. But… those who wish to see a war on Xmas will see it anyway. Funny about the so called war. In NYC where I work, the city has a significant Jewish presence. In our company, the main halls are decorated for Xmas, and we have a choir that does performances of Xmas music (with 2 Hannukah pieces added). The choir manager is Jewish, as are a number of the other singers. In places where there are many people with different faiths, we have long accepted each other’s traditions. In Clifton NJ, where I grew up, many of the public school teachers were Jewish, as were maybe 1/4 of the kids. In the more diverse parts of America, we cannot simply put up manger scenes in the public square, nor ram Christianity down other folks throats.