Potpourri: Jan. 7, 2013
Sometimes all the gun massacres, hurricanes, suicide bombings, twisters, tsunamis, child-molestings, floods, airstrikes on civilians, wildfires and other tragedies on TV news seem almost like a bizarre disaster movie watched by millions. But never forget that they're terribly real to the shattered victims involved. In the classic film "Network," a TV newsman tells his jaded lover, a news colleague: "You're television incarnate: Indifferent to suffering; insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality. War, murder, death are all the same to you as bottles of beer."
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Sometimes all the gun massacres, hurricanes, suicide bombings, twisters, tsunamis, child-molestings, floods, airstrikes on civilians, wildfires and other tragedies on TV news seem almost like a bizarre disaster movie watched by millions. But never forget that they're terribly real to the shattered victims involved. In the classic film "Network," a TV newsman tells his jaded lover, a news colleague: "You're television incarnate: Indifferent to suffering; insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality. War, murder, death are all the same to you as bottles of beer."
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Retired Charleston graphics editor Bob Lynn says the National Rifle Association's vision for America would be akin to the Shootout at the O.K. Corral.
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A survey found that three-fourths of NRA members support closing the gun show loophole, which lets people buy guns without background checks. Delegate Danny Wells, D-Kanawha, says it's amazing that one-fourth of the gun-lovers support letting anyone - criminals, psychotics, drunks, teens - buy murder weapons freely at gun shows.
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We don't object to sex jokes that are funny - but some New Year's Eve hoopla on nationwide TV was just stupid. One comic made a resolution to masturbate more often. And Kathy Griffin repeatedly knelt in a rebuffed attempt to kiss Anderson Cooper's crotch. Ugh!
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We wonder how many West Virginians who saw the Les Misérables musical movie were haunted by the heartbreaking melodies singing in their heads, days and weeks later.
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When longtime West Virginia leader Ken Hechler was a Marshall University professor, he began classes by asking students their first names. One twangy rural youth replied "G.M." Hechler said he wanted names, not initials, but the student repeated, "G.M." Finally, the young man spelled it: "J-I-M."
Sometimes all the gun massacres, hurricanes, suicide bombings, twisters, tsunamis, child-molestings, floods, airstrikes on civilians, wildfires and other tragedies on TV news seem almost like a bizarre disaster movie watched by millions. But never forget that they're terribly real to the shattered victims involved. In the classic film "Network," a TV newsman tells his jaded lover, a news colleague: "You're television incarnate: Indifferent to suffering; insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality. War, murder, death are all the same to you as bottles of beer."
***
Retired Charleston graphics editor Bob Lynn says the National Rifle Association's vision for America would be akin to the Shootout at the O.K. Corral.
***
A survey found that three-fourths of NRA members support closing the gun show loophole, which lets people buy guns without background checks. Delegate Danny Wells, D-Kanawha, says it's amazing that one-fourth of the gun-lovers support letting anyone - criminals, psychotics, drunks, teens - buy murder weapons freely at gun shows.
***
We don't object to sex jokes that are funny - but some New Year's Eve hoopla on nationwide TV was just stupid. One comic made a resolution to masturbate more often. And Kathy Griffin repeatedly knelt in a rebuffed attempt to kiss Anderson Cooper's crotch. Ugh!
***
We wonder how many West Virginians who saw the Les Misérables musical movie were haunted by the heartbreaking melodies singing in their heads, days and weeks later.
***
When longtime West Virginia leader Ken Hechler was a Marshall University professor, he began classes by asking students their first names. One twangy rural youth replied "G.M." Hechler said he wanted names, not initials, but the student repeated, "G.M." Finally, the young man spelled it: "J-I-M."
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