Here’s to Swimmin’ with… Crazy Old Racists?

The first African American to be popularly elected to the Senate, Edward W. Brooke III died at the spry age of 95.

In a statement, President Obama said that Brooke “stood at the forefront of the battle for civil rights and economic fairness.”  Because, you know, this guy did some incredible things and broke major racial barriers.  He was a black man that got elected to the Senate in 1966!  There have only been six other black Senators since he left office in 1979!  (America sucks)

So, yeah, he’s worth the President’s time.  Not like some guy who voices his opinion about the Saber’s chance in the NHL

This I know to be true: Don Draper wouldn’t have voted for him.

playoffs this year.

Although he was African American, Brooke was also a Republican.  (I know, right?)

But he was fiercely independent and he fought for his beliefs, not for the beliefs of organizations.  He often broke with the Republican party.  He fought against the NAACP when they wanted to boycott Boston public schools.

Bottom line: this guy was frickin’ awesome!  He didn’t let anyone tell him what to believe in or what to fight for.  Man, he would be creamed in Washington today.

He earned the respect of all that he worked with in Washington.  Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) invited him to swim with them in the Senate’s pool. “They invited me to join them and urged me to use the pool as often as I could,” Mr. Brooke wrote in his memoir.

Strom-fucking-Thurmond!  The man who said: “There’s not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.”  THIS man invited THIS black man to swim with him!

I’ll say it again: this guy was frickin’ awesome!

It eventually came out that he had incorrectly reported to the Senate a loan from a friend and that he had helped his mother-in-law conceal money to help her qualify for Medicaid assistance for her nursing-home care. He used some of the money to buy a Watergate condo.

The ensuing scandal was called the “Watergate Scandal” and it would rock the very political foundation of Washington… along with cursing every political scandal to end with the word “-gate,” for eternity.

Ya know, this didn’t happen after the Teapot Dome Scandal.  Warren G. Harding was not plagued with the Justice Department-Dome scandal.  It was just the Justice Department scandal.

This hit goes to: Mostly Mike!  I know, we all thought it would have been an Anne pick.  Even she did.  But MM swooped in and picked Brooke out from under her!

Happy pooling,

SPMI

Current Standings:

Jami: 70 – (Diem Brown)

Nikki: 60 – (Stuart Scott – 60)

Anne: 30 – (Joe Cocker – 30)

Team Sushi: 30 – (Marion Barry – 30)

Mostly Mike: 20 – (Ralph H Baer – 10, Edward W. Brooke III – 10)

The Girl on Fire: 20 – (Mario Cuomo – 20)

I-Steve (a.k.a: The Arch-Bishop!): 20 – (Fiorenzo Angelini – 10, Jorge María Mejía – 10)

Tailgating with Jesus: 20 – (Jean Béliveau – 20)

The Mortician’s Daughter:  10 – (“Little” Jimmy Dickens – 10)

You Can’t Spell “Death” Without a Dee

She had joy, she had fun.  She did “Raisin in the Sun.”

Ruby Dee, actress and activist (actravist) died at the spry age of 91.

In 1961, Dee starred in “Raisin in the Son,” a movie where Sidney Poitier is fed raisins by his mother… somehow that speaks to racism.

Dee went on to work with Spike Lee in movies like “Do the Right Thing,” about a poor pizza parlor owner whose shop window is vandalized by neighborhood toughs and “Jungle Fever,” where a perfectly nice white girl is brutally taken advantage of.  Now there are those who say that I missed the point of these movies.  Well, I didn’t!  Sean Hannity told me what they were about and that’s good enough for me!

Ruby Dee’s serious face.

Dee was well-known civil rights activists. Dee was a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Delta Sigma Theta sorority and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.  At one point, she tried to join the KKK, you know, just to fuck with ‘em.

In 1967, she gave birth to her son, Heavy, who went on to have a music career and eventually went into acting.

Her sister, Sandra, died in 2004.

She is survived by Billy Dee Williams.

This hit goes to: Nora the Explorer!  She breaks her tie with Mostly Mike and now had a promising 30 points.  She is only 160 points behind the leader!

Happy pooling,

SPMI

Current Standings:

Jami: 190 (Ariel Sharon – 20, Philip Seymour Hoffman – 60, Peaches Geldof – 80, Rubin “The Hurricane” Carter – 30)

Tailgating with Jesus: – 100 (Jerry Coleman – 20, Ralph Kiner – 10, William Clay Ford – 20, Ralph Wilson -10, Jack Ramsay – 20, Don Zimmer – 20)

Starving Writer: – 100 (James Avery – 6’ 5” – 40, L’Wren Scott – 6’4” – 60)

“Imaginary” Steve: 80 (Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci – 10, Cardinal Ricardo Carles Gordo – 20, Emmanuel III Delly – 20, Marco (Polo!) Cé – 20, CArdinal Simon Lourdusamy – 10)

Gianna: 80 (Tom Laughlin – 20, Alicia Rhett – 10, Mae Young – 10, Ruth Robinson Duccini – 10, Pete Seeger – 10, Fred Phelps – 20, Marc Platt – 0)

SPMI: 70 (Peter O’Toole – 20, Joan Fontaine – 10, Sid Caesar – 10, Dave “Sick-motehrfucker” Herman – 30)

Joanne: 70 (Ace Parker – 0, Nelson Mandela – 10,  Ray Price – 20, Maximilian Schell – 20, Connie Marrero – 0, Al Feldstein – 20)

Babysitter: 60 (Mikhail Kalashnikov – 10, Russell Johnson – 20, Mickey Rooney – 10, Ann B. Davis! – 20)

Good to the Last Drop (© Maxwell House): – 60 (Frederick Sanger – 10, Maxine Kumin – 20, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. – 10, Gary Becker – 20)

Team Sushi: – 50 (Bob Hoskins – 30, Maya Angelou – 20)

The Girl on Fire: 50 (Eleanor Parker – 10, Dave Madden – 20, Ralph Waite – 20)

Occupy the Casket: 40 (Ronnie Biggs – 20, Harold Camping – 10, Dick Ayers – 10)

Nora the Explorer: 30 (Jeremiah Denton – 20, Ruby Dee – 10)

Mostly Mike: 20 (Shirley Temple Black – 20)

Carol’s 1%: 20 (Harold Simmons – 20)

Dick in Town: 10 (Hiroo Onoda – 10)