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Keith Wheelock's avatar

WIZARD VS. LIZARD

As a kid I was enchanted by the Wizard of Oz (Frank Morgan).

A month before my 90th birthday I am terrified of the Lizard of Ooze (Bone Spur Donald).

I felt that the Wizard emanated hope and positive illusion through a carnival character without a shred of meanness in his body.

I know that the Lizard is a mean-spirited narcissist who spreads negative vibes to all in his cult clutches.

As a young lad, I had the remarkable good fortune to be asked to deliver a message to Frank Morgan on his yacht. Mr. Morgan graciously invited me to have a Coke in his walnut paneled cabin. [It was a 6 ounce Coke, decades before the diet variety.]

I was enraptured by this real-world Wizard who had provided courage, a brain, and a heart to Dorothy’s friends and showed Dorothy that there was no place like home (after a wicked witch experienced a watery death).

I can imagine having a cheeseburger and a Coke in the Lizard’s gilt-gold, ketchup-walled Mar a Lago hideaway.

The Lizard would bloviate about ‘the worst witch hunt in American history,’ his broken record about the BIG LIE and how he is the personification of justice (and revenge),and how Judases were betraying his path for America.

I firmly believe that the Wizard represents the soul of America while the Lizard is the personification of all that is despicable.

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Rose (WNY via OH/OR/MA/FL/CO)'s avatar

Wonderful imagery, Keith!

I’ve often wondered if tfg realizes that the term “witch” commonly refers to a woman. Wouldn’t tfg (as macho as he claims to be) more likely be referred to as a wizard? Guess “the worst wizard hunt” wouldn’t sound as catchy…

And yes, the lizard personifies evil. That mug shot!

Meanwhile, I am taking this opportunity to start celebrating your upcoming 90th HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEITH!

🎊🎉🎂🎉🎈

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L duffy's avatar

Of course they use witch. They hate women.

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Lynn May he drink witch hazel to relieve the swelling and inflammation in his rectum and anus.

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Michele's avatar

Oh, Keith, you are on a roll this am. Being near 90 must be absolutely freeing. Happy birthday ahead of time to you.

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Michele When you take Miralax, the good stuff flows.

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Michele's avatar

As I said, on a roll....LOL.

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Patrick Joseph Maloney's avatar

"Bloviate"? that's a new one to me, and I consider myself something of a wordsmith.

Here in Ireland we intensively breed people given to high windy talk.

Consequently we have had to invent words to describe it's various manifestations.

A few of them: Speaking ex-scattera, bellowering, prating, and my favorite, talking scutter.

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Patrick Bloviate “Talk at length especially in an inflated or empty way.” I could have used scutter, but that would be demeaning to decent Irishmen. Bone Spur deserves his own scatological word.

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Ally House (Oregon)'s avatar

Man, I love the wordsmithing going on here. OUTSTANDING!!

Happy (soon) 90th. We're taking off next week to go visit my wife's aunt and uncle. Uncle Bill just turned 89.

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Tell Bill to take rum with his Geritol on his 90th and play Happy Birthday on your tuba.

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Ally House (Oregon)'s avatar

I think he's more of a whiskey guy, but we're definitely taking them out for dinner.

I like the idea of HBD. I think I'll get a video of the ensemble playing it and send it off!

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Lynn Spann Bowditch's avatar

Share that HBD video!

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Rose (WNY via OH/OR/MA/FL/CO)'s avatar

Oh… but Patrick, “bloviate” is so much more relevant when referring to tfg, as it means to “talk at length, especially in an inflated or empty way.” The term originated in the 1850s but, as the Oxford Dictionary’s chart illustrates, its use has dramatically increased, most notably (and perhaps not coincidentally) in the last decade.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bloviate+meaning&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS976US976&oq=bloviate&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0i512j0i131i433i512j0i512l7.4916j0j7&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

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JDinTX's avatar

From somewhere

“Trump’ery. N. Deceit, fraud; anything calculated to deceive by false show; Anything externally splendid but intrinsically of little value; worthless finery; Things worn out and of little value; useless matter; trifles; Worthless; nonsense…”

No way to say it better

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Jeri Unadulterated shit that the septic system rejects?

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Rose (WNY via OH/OR/MA/FL/CO)'s avatar

Tailor-made and eponymous, Jeri!

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mark cramer's avatar

Jeri , All the "NOISE !, That EMINATES, ...From the ORANGE MANGOWANKER definitly Falls, into the Catagory, of ; BLOWFISH !! . ( SPURS ! , are HIM !)

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Tom Keefe's avatar

If you ever saw/heard Bill O'Reilly you've witnessed bloviation.

It's all tag does....

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Barbara (NJ)'s avatar

Also Chris Christie

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Sheila B (MN)'s avatar

“Here in Ireland we intensively breed people given to high windy talk.”

🤣🤣🤣 Yes, yes you do. And those Irish who have emigrated elsewhere have lovingly carried such tendencies with them.

My younger brother is also a Patrick Joseph. He’s quite adept at high windy talk. As is the rest of my family. Including me. Thanks for the chuckle.

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Heather Elowe's avatar

Very colorful language and comparisons here. I wish the ‘scales’ would fall from the Lizard brood and they could see him as you describe him.

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Steve Abbott's avatar

Other than defaming lizards everywhere, I like your post and its message. Happy birthday next month!

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Steve My apologies to lizards everywhere. As a psychiatric nurse, I hope you don’t encounter Bone Spur Donald in a prison psychiatric ward. I have even a more diverse career, including, as a Foreign Service Officer, operating in Congo with a M-16 and .45 (and I wasn’t a Proud Boy)

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MLMinET's avatar

Just so you know, I’m a closet fan of yours. I have ways enjoyed your comments, but especially your FS ones.

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Michele's avatar

I am also a fan of Keith.

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mark cramer's avatar

LORD, HAVE MERCY !, Keith ! Glad !, That YOU, Have Been BLESSED ! I DO Trust, in OUR LORD/GODS Divine INTERVENTION, For, The DAYS, That HE, Will BLESS MANKIND, in All, HIS GRACE !, ,,,,,and MERCIES !

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Steve Abbott's avatar

Psych nurse is career #4, after Geologist (with a poly-sci minor, kind of a foreign service wanna-be), Land Surveyor, and Organic Farmer. Currently working dual roles as an immunization nurse specialist and nurse working with detained youth. The closest I got to weapons training was being on the rifle team in high school :)

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Steve Age 18/19 make documentary movies in Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. 1960 publishedNASSER’S NEW EGYPT: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS (New York, London). [Banned by Nasser, lead review in The Economist]

Foreign Service Officer Congo 1960-1966, Chile 1966-69. 1970-1971 New York City Housing Administration with responsibility for eliminating or severely changing 1943 Rent Control Lane.

1972-1983P Dun & Bradstreet Corporation: Moody’s created international bond ratings, became EVP for all global bond ratings; headed D&B’s management consulting company for nearly a decade. My own Wheelock Consulting.

Researched, published book: NEW JERSEY GROWTH MANAGEMENT. 1992-2013 history/economic professor. Deeply involved in Eisenhower Fellowships and THIS I BELIEVE since the early 1950s.

Conclusion: ‘I had trouble holding a job.

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Steve Abbott's avatar

Sounds more like jobs had trouble keeping you :)

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Steve 5-10 year itch? I loved the challenge of a new job in a different area. My ‘creativity’ threatened the majority of non-change agents. I relished my 23 years as a history profess, had the most ‘boots on the ground’ accomplishments in Congo, and totally enjoyed the newness of rating international bond issues when I had to figure out how to rate the credit of countries.

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Kathleen I heard Judy sing Over the Rainbow live in Washington in 1960. WOW!

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Carol T Cox (NJ to VA to FL)'s avatar

Thank you, Kathleen, for posting these two videos of Judy singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Her portrayal of the innocent Dorothy singing words of hope to her rendering the same words at an older age in such a heartrending way, whereby hope seems like such a sliver of possibility. Her singing always moves me, but this song challenges us to question what hope means to us in the face of so much loss (my own projections as an old lady in this uncertain world).

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Joan Friedman (MA, from NY)'s avatar

Over the Rainbow was created by American Jewish writers as Hitler's thugs took over in Central Europe. It is precisely to promote hope in the face of apparently overwhelming evil.

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Alexandra Sokoloff's avatar

Joan, agreed. But the Wizard of Oz is not just an expression of hope. Like that other classic of the era, Casablanca, it's an urgent call to action for the neutral US to enter the war against tyranny. Hollywood writers have always been profoundly political and the situation was as dire as it gets.

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Alexandra Somewhere over the rainbow we’ll always have Paris.

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Alexandra Sokoloff's avatar

Aww, Keith! You're a star.

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Anna Vinson's avatar

Those brave men were also brave atheists/freethinker

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Joan Friedman (MA, from NY)'s avatar

That's an interesting claim, which my fervent atheist cousin would be pleased to know about. I found something of the sort about Yip Harburg, the lyricist (link below), who is reported to have said he became an agnostic when his older brother Max died of cancer at 28. I found nothing on those lines about Harold Arlen, the composer. Can you link to any evidence of Arlen being an atheist?

https://ffrf.org/publications/freethought-today/item/13144-yip-harburg-secular-songwriter

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FERN MCBRIDE (NYC)'s avatar

Dear Kathleen Allen, I was in a rush to do errands; it was a long and busy morning, but then there you were on my screen. It was so good to stop and hear Judy Garland sing Over the Rainbow. I've heard that song hundreds of times, and, yet, it always penetrates to my soul. Thank you, dear friend.

I had promised you a few songs after you posted Bruce Springsteen's voice.

Billie Holiday: Pennies From Heaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S8S1EK7hPw

Leon Russell - Wild Horses (Live)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H7qFT8U5uo

Jon Batiste - FREEDOM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YHVC1DcHmo

Dionne Warwick - That's What Friends Are For

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyTpu6BmE88

🐦😊🌿

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Kathleen Allen's avatar

Thank you Fern ... Pennies From Heaven with Billie Holiday - a contemporary classic from a timeless star ... Wild Horses - Leon Russel from the heart ... Freedom with Jon Batiste - fat cars and fancy duds don't spell freedom for me ... That's What Friends Are For - Dionne Wareick and Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder and Elton John (at his all-time best!) - this one lives forever!!

... and this ...:

MICHAEL JACKSON - EARTH SONG

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XAi3VTSdTxU

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FERN MCBRIDE (NYC)'s avatar

Kathleen Allen, The Washington Post has been covering the tragedies of eastern Libya, the earthquakes in Morocco, Turkey and Syria...the future is now. Our earth song, produced by the US, China, Russia, India, Japan, Germany, Iran...

My tired eyes perked up at the sight of your name, your message and your care.

Jon Batiste on 'Freedom':

'This song speaks of the sexual and social revolution spearheaded by the likes of Elvis Presley, James Brown and Mavis Staples. The way they moved and expressed themselves onstage liberated people to act as they wanted rather than being constrained by society.'

'When I move my body just like this

I don't know why

But I feel like freedom'

'Batiste's message in the song is about gay rights as well as racial equality. "It's like when Elvis was shaking his hips on the Ed Sullivan Theater stage and people were flipping out," he told Relix magazine'. "It's just the whole aspect of fighting for people's rights and their freedom, and not just so that we could drink out of the same water fountain or go to the same bathroom. It's also so that we could love who we want and be how we want."

'Batiste added that sexuality is an important part of releasing people to be themselves. "You see James Brown dancing in a certain way and it makes you want to be free, and it makes you open up your identity and not fit into the mold of what society wants to give you," he said. "Mavis is somebody who represented that, and all of the Freedom Fighters represented that. I wanted to make a song that explicitly speaks to the sexual and social revolution that happened through that music, and is still happening today."

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/jon-batiste/freedom

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Kathleen Allen's avatar

Hi Fern, yes I get that - out of the repressive strict set of values imposed by former generations, and conservative rules of behavior, reactive freedom loving ideals and behaviors emerge ... my own father was a devoted "Rat-Packer" - fan of liberated sexual and social freedom of expression - where women were 'free' to smoke, drink and have sex without marriage ... and sure, that pendulum swing has impacted social discourse to the extent that just about everything we see and hear is all about sex and sexuality - not necessarily sense and sensuality ... and even now, the fat car and fancy duds reflect a certain b.r.a.n.d of freedom that still is held in bondage to big time money games and street markets that enslave the soul - that is what I see ... not to judge or condemn - to each their own, it takes all kinds ... for me, a quiet walk in a virgin forest - a spring breeze, sunlight dancing through the trees - and honest love in my heart ... these are the freedoms my heart desires ....

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FERN MCBRIDE (NYC)'s avatar

Kathleen, I don't believe that the 'selling' of sex is the school that Jon Batiste supports, but I won't try to speak for him. Sharing our points of view about this subject would take at least a couple of delicious lunches in the park or a lovely wooded spot. Salud!

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Jeanne Stevens's avatar

Keith, I love the comparison. "the Lizard of ooze" paints a disgusting image in my mind but I'd much rather see a festering lizard than that unbearable shell of a man.

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy 90th!

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Colette Wismer's avatar

I really like your comparisons...ones we can all see in our mind's eye!

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MLMinET's avatar

I feel like the entire country is gripped in the effects (victimization and revenge) that are the symptoms of the psychopathology of tfg. We are living in his illnesses too.

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Robin O.'s avatar

It is indeed a witchhunt, and we found the witch. He has been indicted four times. Now we just need to pour a pail of water on him as Dorothy did in the Wizard of Oz.

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Robin And bring a wooden spike and silver bullet just in case.

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Virginia Witmer's avatar

Keith, you reely done it this time! I would like to second the motion. But then both of us were here for WWII, the founding of the UN (San Francisco), the Marshall Plan, Victory gardens, carpooling, etc. It underlies my faith in the country remembering all of this and voting and losing, voting and winning. The current revision to robber barons shouldn’t make US less generous or less democratic than FDR. Perhaps I should add to this that while you were having a varied career, so also did I and both of us taught, treasuring our liberal arts educations. In November we will have only one vote apiece, but with luck and hard work, it will count.

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Virginia You and I have experienced America’s ups, downs, and then ups from the Great Depression and WW II. We know what the soul of modern-day America should be and are fighting to achieve this against that FALSE FACT FARTER, for whom I wouldn’t give a farthing.

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Virginia Witmer's avatar

Oh, language! The greatest game of all. As the doggerel queen, I dub you alliteration knight.

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Virginia We can dance the alliteration waltz accompanied by a rendition of How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?

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Virginia Witmer's avatar

You with two canes, I with a walker(not before next year, I hope). But I can sing at least two lines of that idiocy. My father taught me wacky songs. Do you know:

She promised to meet me

When the clock struck seventeen

In the stockyards ‘bout three miles out of town

Hallelujah!

Where the pigs feet and the pig ears

And the good old Texas stew

Sell from seventeen to nineteen cents a pound.

Hallelujah!

She’s my darlin’, my daisy,

She’s cross-eyed, she’s crazy,

Knockkneeded, bowlegged, got duh rheumatism,

Her teeth are false from chewin’ on epsom salts.

She’s my freckled faced, consumpted Liza Jane.”

Haven’t thought of that one in awhile, but in tribute to my father for whom no nonsense was too nonsensical and who read to me the Sunday funnies when I was three years old.

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Virginia Witmer's avatar

I would like to live long enough to hear the modern G&S version of what we are going through. Some days I just crack up at yet another perfect comedy scene.

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Virginia ‘I have a little list. He never will be missed.’ With a dash of Shaky”Poor Yoricks, I knew him well.”

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Virginia Witmer's avatar

Keith, I only know poor Yoricks by name. No reference. Please let me know where he hung out. Dickens? Shakespeare?

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

Shaky McBeth. He was a court jester whose skull was passed up to someone who reminisced about poor Yoricks.

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Virginia Witmer's avatar

Thank you. It rings a faint bell. I never loved Hamlet, so never reread it after eighth grade and if I saw the movie (?Olivier), it didn’t stick.

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Keith Wheelock's avatar

McBeth is not omelette.

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Virginia Witmer's avatar

🤣🤣🤣 Such associative powers! Somewhere between G&S and Yorricks there are as yet undiscovered laughs with or without omelette. (What’s the British cough (?) remedy that’s like Yorrick’s?) Don’t know why I keep remembering two r’s.)

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Lynn Spann Bowditch's avatar

Virginia - Are you thinking of the drink before bed, Horlicks?

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Virginia Witmer's avatar

Now that you have a framework for the musical, after November ‘24, we should do a sketch for our grandchildren. We’ll need it regardless.

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JDinTX's avatar

Well said, thank you

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Alexandra Sokoloff's avatar

Keith: What a beautiful story - and apt comparison. Thank you.

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