Former NY Governor Mario Cuomo Dies

Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo died last night at age 82.  He’s the guy who gave the big speech at the Democratic 1984 convention.   He was under pressure to run for President in 1988 and particularly in 1992 but Cuomo announced in December of 1991 that he would not run.  Now I hear that the democratic national committee asked Cuomo NOT to run “in the interest of the party”.  It strikes me as really strange that the party management is worried about a charismatic candidate delivering a speech at a convention, overshadowing the nominee.   Arguably this happened in 1980, 1984, and in 1988 with Jesse Jackson, at the democratic convention.  It seems to be why the party establishment was scared shitless that Hillary’s name would be put in nomination at the democratic convention in 2008.  This doctrine of “boring is safe” is getting a little old, because the electorate is getting quite bored with candidates “playing it safe”.   Cuomo was Governor of New York from 1982 through to 1994, which would be three terms.   His son Andrew Cuomo has been New York Governor and was inaugurated for another term and didn’t know his father had died till after the ceremonies were over with. 

The Mission Inn  in Riverside has all these big fireworks celebrations.  Several Presidents of the United States have stayed there including Kennedy, Nixon, and Ronald Reagan.  It’s not just a hotel but a major tourest attraction with a “spa” and also a chapel if you want to get married there, and the area has rich historic roots.  Of course the day of Aunt Bonnie’s funeral the family ate lunch there.  This was in April of 2001 when I couldn’t make it because I was too alcoholic.  But I’d have never made it because it’s not just a few steps to the grave.  It’s a major hike over lumpy ground that alternates either dead grass, or else it’s over-watered and muddy, all in your Sunday finest.  Of course I was able to say my good-byes to Bonnie because we visited her at the funeral home and Paul suggested I feel the body and the flesh was cold.  It’s the first time I had ever touched a dead body.  From what I heard it was a ceremony with a lot of religious trappings with a lot of readings from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer.  Uncle Bob was never very religious and didn't attend church, but let a little thing like death come around and now he's the most religious person on the planet.

If you thought the economy of California was a little sluggish before, it’s going to get a lot worse next year because that Cap and Trade carbon tax goes into effect in California, and the news people are saying that these low gasoline prices may become just a pleasant memory in a short while.  One person said that the average price hike for this new cap and trade will be 76 cents.  There was an initial ten cent per gallon price hike yesterday, but that’s just the appetizer, they say.  There are a number of states in the east including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, I think, that have hiked their gasoline taxes.  Of course 21 states are making some changes to their minimum wage laws, but in most of these states, the raise is far below what it would be required to be to offset inflation since 1968.   But it is possible that with slightly more money in circulation, stock prices will continue to rise higher for a while.  We’ll see whether that “bubble burst” in late 2015 prediction holds up.   But in California those on the right have been saying for a long time that our corporations were over-taxed, and so far all those corporations which moved to states like Texas, have not moved back.  Regardless of what I think of Texas in terms of climate- - political or otherwise- - - a lot of businessmen are in seventh heaven with Texas’s tax laws.

 The Rose Bowl will feature Oregon and Florida State playing.  The resuls of this game are now in at  5:50 and Oregon pummeled Florida State 59 to 20 and a key factor were three Florida turnovers in the second half.  The other half of this college Final Four are Ohio and Alabama, playing in the Sugar Bowl.  We learn Ohio State defeated Alabama in the Sugar bowl last night.  I thought Alabama was first and Ohio State was number four.  Of course there are fans of Texas Christian University (TCU) who feel they were robbed of a play-off berth here.  So there still seems to be a certain ammount of arbitrariness about this whole process.   But at least Ohio State vindicated their selection by winning.

It can be said that the hippy movement began in 1965 in terms of the dress and the really long hair and such.  I first heard about LSD in the summer of 1965 and that fall it was the big topic of discussion in High School.  LSD was still legal then, of course.  Much of what we call today "underground stuff" like Dr Timothy Leary's teachings and books like "I love you Alice B Tolkis" were already established pillars in the underground community, as of course were the works of Bob Dylan.  It was only in the spring of 1965 that Dylan kind of "came out" as a household item.  It was the turn of the year that the LBJ tax cuts went into effect and when were advertising how excise taxes on many things were now lifted.  Everybody (except Barry Mc Guire) were optimistic in 1965.   We had the first Gemini (EVA) extra vehicular activity space walks in 1965.   We had the Medicare passage, and without much contraversy as I recall, at least after the deed was done.  Nobody questioned it - not even George Wallace in his 1968 Presidential campaign.  It was a time of progress and Voting Rights and the War on Poverty and all of that.  The conservatives were once and for all time (so we assumed) completely vanquished as any kind of serious political force in American life.  It wasn't until the fall of 1965 that Color TV programming became the norm rather than just a minority of programs, and it was obvious there were decisions being made in a lot of Hollywood studios.   At the same time the - - Black and White movie - - became almost a thing of the past in theaters.  Few serious film makers considered the rather "Noir" quality of the black and white presentation worth considering.   However it was also the year we began taking the silver out of our coins- - - and it also became the year that inflation began to be a significant problem - -  though minor at first.  It was the year of the Go - Go and the mini skirt.  Starting with the Yardbirds and the Kinks, it was the year of really LOUD rock groups.  It was a time when church pastors in their sermons began to lament the declining numbers in church attendance.  It was the time "The record album" as an antistic entity in itself- - first saw its rise in teen buyers as opposed to just 45 rpm singles.  It was about the time when high schools were pressured to have a shot at revising their dress codes.   When these politicians say they would like to return to "the past" - - well, here is is- the way it was fifty years ago.