Hedley Lamarr has passed. February 15, 1927 to May 30, 2008. He was 81.

The man that had the hardest time keeping a straight face playing opposite Tim Conway on the Carol Burnett Show. In fact, he failed most of the time, breaking down in uncontrollable laughter at Tim’s antics. I enjoyed the Carol Burnett show the best when Harvey and Tim were in the same skits.

Slim Pickens as Taggart and Harvey Korman as Hedley Lamarr in Blazing Saddles

Hedley Lamarr: Repeat after me: I…

Men: I…

Hedley Lamarr: …your name…

Men: …your name…

Hedley Lamarr: [to himself] Shmucks. [continues aloud]

Hedley Lamarr: … do pledge allegiance…

Men: …do pledge allegiance…

Hedley Lamarr: …to Hedley Lamarr…

Men: …to Hedy Lamarr…

Hedley Lamarr: That’s *Hedley*!

Men: That’s Hedley.

We pray for his family and friends and offer our condolences. He will be missed.

The post just below has a link to the book by Scott McClellan that is coming out shortly. Amazon generally has a “Better Together” section for its items. The “Better Together” for this item is reproduced below. I’d really suggest the second book… Clicking the link will get you to a page where you can purchase Doug Feith’s War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism. Clicking the image below will get you to where you can purchase both books, which will garner you free standard shipping because they total more than $25.

Write a book that bashes President Bush

AND

Write a book that validates everything the left has been saying for years. That’s the way to guarantee both sales and LOTS of media attention. What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception

Just what Richard Clarke (Against All Enemies) did four years ago. What was that Scott McClellan said in response to that book? Ah, yes:

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he’s raising these grave concerns that he claims he had. And I think you have to look at some of the facts. One, he is bringing this up in the heat of a presidential campaign. He has written a book and he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book. Certainly let’s look at the politics of it. His best buddy is Rand Beers, who is the principal foreign policy advisor to Senator Kerry’s campaign. The Kerry campaign went out and immediately put these comments up on their website that Mr. Clarke made.

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) jumped on the suggestion in the book that Karl Rove and Dick Cheney were in cahoots to “out” Valerie Plame. The Day in New London, CT reports:

Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida, however, said that McClellan should testify before the House Judiciary Committee to tell what he knows about the White House role in the leak of a CIA operative’s name and how the administration “deliberately orchestrated a massive propaganda campaign to sell the war in Iraq to the American people.”

He must have forgotten that Robert Novak and Richard Armitage took responsibility for the “outing” and that Lewis “Scooter” Libby was actually convicted in association with the case. He wants to bring in Scott McClellan to testify under oath to the committee. A guy who pretty much said: I lied then, but now I’m telling the truth so you should believe me now and forget what I said before….

We had a nice parade in town with participation from the Navy (there’s a base nearby).

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Then there was the S.W.A.T. vehicle…

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And then there was the idiot who thought that the Parade didn’t matter, he could drive out onto the main parade route … and hit a child who was going for candy thrown from the floats. The child was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Our prayers are with the child and his or her family. These ambulances were not participating in the parade, sadly they had to be doing their jobs…

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It’s Memorial Day. A day to get together with family and friends and to remember those who are no longer with us.

I hear people talking about how in the duel of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that Barack Obama just doesn’t seem to be able to “close the deal” on the nomination. No one says that about Hillary Clinton. But she doesn’t seem to be able to “close the deal” either…

Apparently Ellen DeGeneres asked John McCain to walk her down the aisle when she marries her girlfriend Portia De Rossi. The next day she asked Laura Bush and Jenna Hager if she could get married at the Crawford ranch.  Of course she can’t. Even if she could get married in California, the ranch is in Texas…

A note to Republicans who really don’t like McCain: Sitting this one out or voting for third party instead is what got us Clinton 42. Do we really want Clinton 44 or Obama?

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, there’s a group that is suing the city for discrimination. They say that they are allergic to WiFi and want it removed from public buildings because it violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Overlawyered, 5/23). So, somehow these people can tell when there are WiFi or cell phone signals nearby because they have physical symptoms. These people believe that by having WiFi removed from public buildings their symptoms will be relieved. Uh, no.  Even if the WiFi were removed from public buildings in Santa Fe, there’s still all the private WiFi out there. Offices, Panera Bread, Starbucks, McDonalds and more. Unless, somehow, it’s only WiFi in public buildings that causes the symptoms…

These two come for lunch and dinner quite often. We have a bird feeder in the tree in the front yard and the little birds are good at spilling the seed to the ground below, where the Mallards can get to it easily.

We’re starting out by running errands and getting a few things done around the house.

We have to get the pool area fixed up so we can put the pool up. We have to mow the lawn again. We have to de-poopify areas.

Buy some landscape timbers, sand, gravel…

Cat food, dog food, cat litter…

Gas for the grill, something to grill…

Pop (soda), beer…

What are you doing this weekend?

Mr. Right at The Right Place lost his father on Saturday.

He has written a beautiful tribute to his dad.

Our prayers and condolences are with you and your family.

American Idol crowned its winner tonight…

David

Last name below the fold…

Continue reading →

Transcribed from Fox News Broadcast.

{I started yelling at the TV again so I decided to write it down…}

This work to extend the franchise to all of our citizens is a core mission of the modern Democratic party. From signing the voting rights act, to fighting racial discrimination at the ballot box. To lowering the voting age so that those old enough to fight and die in war would have a right to choose their commander in chief.

To fighting for multilingual ballots so you can make your voice heard no matter what language you speak.

{Note to Mrs. Clinton: Only U.S. citizens can vote. People who are naturalized citizens must be proficient in English to pass the tests to become a citizen. Therefore – multi-lingual ballots are unnecessary. Citizens speak English. – Non-citizens don’t vote. Another question: How many different languages would you put on the ballot? Naturalized citizens of this country speak far more than two or three…}

And I’m proud of our work today. We’re fighting the redistricting initiatives that dilute African-American and Latino votes. We’re fighting efforts to purge voters from the rolls here in Florida and elsewhere.

{Purging the rolls is a necessary thing Mrs. Clinton. People move, people die. Some become felons losing their voting rights. Those names that aren’t removed from the rolls need to be.}

We’re fighting voter identification laws that could wrongly keep tens of thousands of voters from casting their ballot this November.

{Tens of thousands with names such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, tens of thousands whose officially listed residence is a vacant lot or the public library. Tens of thousands whose actual physical presence on this earth is located six feet under. In Chicago that’d be Rosehill Cemetery. Beautiful place.}

We carry on this cause for a simple reason. Because we believe the outcome of our elections should be determined by the will of the people. Nothing more, nothing less. And we believe the popular vote is the truest expression of your will.

{In Illinois, Cook County’s population accounts for 50% – half – of the population of the entire state. Mrs. Clinton. With the “popular vote” being the be all and end all of your vision for elections only the big cities would really have any say. The founders went with the Electoral College for a reason.}

We believe it today, just as we believed it back in 2000 when right here in Florida you learned the hard way what happens when your votes aren’t counted and the candidate with fewer votes is declared the winner.

{Several newspapers and other media institutions undertook the Florida recount again and they all found that President Bush won Florida. All of them. Gore did not win Florida. The candidate with fewer votes did not win Florida. Gore says he won the national popular vote… but recounts weren’t done everywhere now were they?}

The lesson of 2000 here in Florida is crystal clear, if any votes aren’t counted the will of the people isn’t realized and our democracy is diminished. That’s what I’ve always believed.

{Then why did Gore only want a few counties re-counted and not the whole state? Why did he want to exclude military absentee ballots? That’s not counting all the votes to determine the will of the people. That’s counting what you want to count to realize the result that you want.}

Now my first job in politics was on the 1972 presidential campaign registering African-American and Hispanic voters in Texas. That work took me from home to home in neighborhood after neighborhood. I was determined to knock on every door and sign up every voter I could find. And while we may not have won that election I’ve never given up the fight. It’s a fight I continue to this day. Because I think it’s appalling that in the 21^st century voters are still being wrongly turned away from the polls, ballots are still mysteriously lost in state after state,

{or fortuitously found just when a few more Democrat votes are needed…}

African-American and Hispanic voters still wait in line for hours while voters in the same state or even in the same county can wait just minutes to cast their votes.

{Democrats run the polling places in the primarily democrat areas, they can make the lines shorter by using more machines, or booths; more poll workers; other things. That’s why even in the same country, some lines are long and some are short.}

That’s why I’ve been working since 2004 with my dear friend Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones to pass the Count Every Vote Act. Comprehensive voting rights legislation designed to end these deplorable violations. It will ensure that every eligible voter can vote, every vote is counted, and every voter can verify his or her vote before it is finally cast. And I will continue to fight for that same principle every day in this campaign.

{I’m glad she finally used the word eligible in connection with voters.}

The fact is the people of Florida voted back in January. You did your part. You showed up in record numbers and you made informed choices. But today, some months later, you still don’t know if these votes will help determine our party’s nominee. You still don’t know if this great state will be represented at our convention in August. It is time you knew. Because the more than 2.3 million people who voted in Florida and Michigan exercised their fundamental American right in good faith. You watched the news, you went to the candidate web sites, you talked to your friends and neighbors, you learned about our records and policies so you could make informed voting decisions. You didn’t break a single rule and you should not be punished for matters beyond your control.

{And if your party had done as the Republicans did, punish the state party by reducing, not eliminating, the delegate count, this wouldn’t be an issue in the first place.}

Now, now I know that Senator Obama chose to remove his name from the ballot in Michigan. And that was his right. But his choice does not negate the votes of all those who turned out to cast their ballots. And we should not let our process rob them and all of you of your voices.

{That scares me. Badly. read on.}

To do so would undermine the very purpose of the nominating process. To ensure that as many democrats as possible can cast their votes, to ensure that the party selects the nominee who truly represents the will of the voters and to ensure that the democrats take back the White House to rebuild America.

Now I’ve heard some say that counting Florida and Michigan would be changing the rules. I say that not counting Florida and Michigan is changing a central governing rule of this country.

{To hell with the rules set by the democrat party for their nominating process. Do it my way. Above, she said that the “process” should not rob the people of their voices. Mrs. Clinton – you need to change the process then. But not in the middle of the race. Learn your lesson for the next time. I don’t think this country needs a President who, in the middle of something, decides she doesn’t like the rules as written and changes them at a whim. This reminds me of jury nullification – the jury decides that even though the defendant is guilty of the crime (s)he was accused of, the law is stupid or it shouldn’t be a crime, so the jury finds the defendant not guilty. They jury’s job is to apply the law as written and as explained by the judge regardless of whether the jury thinks the law is stupid or not. The rules are the rules Mrs. Clinton. You can get them changed for next time. Not this time.}

That whenever we can understand the clear intent of the voters their votes should be counted.

{Squinting at chads, trying to determine the will of the voter by whether or not they touched the chad with the pusher thing. There were undervotes in Florida in 2000, there are undervotes everywhere. If I had decided not to cast a vote for a particular office I would certainly not want someone to decided that I really wanted to vote for this candidate or that candidate instead of the one I did vote for: None of the Above. An undervote should be clear intent of voting for no one.}

I remember very well, back in 2000, there were those who argued that people’s votes should be discounted over technicalities.

{Oh, such as no postmark on a military absentee vote that was sent in a batch from overseas, in a covering envelope that had all the postage on it?}

For the people of Florida, who voted in this primary, the notion of discounting their votes sounds way too much the same. The votes of 1.7 million people should not be cast aside because of a technicality. The people who voted did nothing wrong and it would be wrong to punish you.

{Again, if the democrats had reduced the number of delegates to punish the state party instead of eliminating the delegates, this would not be an issue. The votes of 1.7 million people are not being cast aside because of a technicality – it’s a rule that Mrs. Clinton’s party put in place. A rule everyone knew about before Florida and Michigan changed their primary dates. Both state democratic parties knew the consequences. It still may not be the individual voter’s fault, but the consequences stand.}

As the Florida Supreme Court said back in 2000 before the United States Supreme Court took the case away from them.

{Excuse me? The USSC took the case away from the Florida Supremes? “I told you if you drew on the wall again I’d take your crayons away from you”?}

As your Supreme Court said, it’s not about the technicalities or about the contestants, it’s about the will of the people. And whenever you can understand their intent, it should govern.

{and Bush won Florida. And what does the 2000 Presidential election have to do with internal rule making of the democratic party for the primary elections in 2008?}

Well it’s very clear what 1.7 million people intended here in Florida. Playing a role in the nominating process in a two party system is just as important as having a vote in the presidential election on election day count.

{And in a “normal” year, or in your plans, the democrat nominee would have had the nomination in the bag by February or March, rendering all primaries after that pretty moot. Negating those voter’s role in the nominating process… But that’s not what you’re after here… Truth gets in the way sometimes…}

We know it was wrong to penalize voters for the decisions of state officials back in the 2000 presidential election. It would be wrong to do so for decisions made in our nominating process. Democrats argued passionately we are still arguing aren’t we, for counting all the votes back in 2000.

{You did. Bush won.}

And we should be just as passionate arguing for that principle today here in Florida and in Michigan.

{Your party made the rules in Michigan and Florida for the primaries. Primaries are run by the parties. It’s apples and oranges to compare primary elections to a federal presidential election.}

It is well within the democratic party rules to take this stand. The rules clearly state that we can count all of these votes and seat all of these delegates pledged and unpledged if we so choose. And the rules lay out a clear process for doing so. With this process I hope we will honor the will of those who came out to cast votes. Think of how that day was, workers who rushed to the polls between shifts, students who came between classes, parents who rearranged their families’ schedules, senior citizens who arranged transportation to the polls all so you could have your votes counted.

And whether you voted for better schools for your kids or a secure retirement for your parents, for jobs you can raise a family on, and for health care you can afford, to bring your son, your grandson, your daughter or your granddaughter back from Iraq, or bring back America’s reputation in the world. Whether you voted for me, or Senator Obama, or Senator Edwards, or someone else, each vote you cast is a prayer for our nation. A declaration of your dreams for your children and grandchildren. A reflection of your determination to ensure that our country lives up to its promise.

Each vote is a tool, one used throughout history to break barriers, open doors, and widen the circle of opportunity. I remember when President Lyndon Johnson addressed the Congress and the nation urging passage of the Voting Rights Act. He declared, “I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.” It was urgent, elevated language. but it was not hyperbole. Now as back then, those are the stakes.

That’s why, here in Florida, even when you were told your primary might not count, you voted anyway. A Floridian I know from Tallahassee, told me about his mother’s canasta club. It’s a group of women in their golden years who gather every week to play cards and visit. They talked about that Florida primary every week as they gathered around the card table…

[End of broadcast on Fox]

Welcome Anchoress readers! Please have a look around. We’ve also transcribed Obama’s speech in Montana…