The Loony Bin
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loonies@bloodaxe.com
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Tue, 18 Jan 2000 02:16:12 +0000
The Loony Bin - http://loonies.net800.co.uk/ Hiya Loonies... Here's another list for you to look at: O__, O__, Join The Funny Bone Mailing Lists /'._|\/______|\_/.'\ ASCII art illustrated humor, \ / / funny stories, & hilarious jokes. ~^~^~^^`~^~^~^~^~~^~^~^~~^~^~ They're Free! <a href="http://www.funnybone.com/subscribe/">SUBSCRIBE</a> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now lets think about who should be California's 'Person of the Century'... Wishes & Dreams... - ANDREA xx *********THE LOONY BIN****loonies@bloodaxe.com********* *** *** *** Archive: http://loonies.net800.co.uk/ *** *** *** ************ANDROMEDA******Internet Goddess************ ------- Forwarded foolishness follows ------- He Could, He Should Be California's Guy... How could that be, you ask me why. He tops them all, I say with a sigh. No one has brought more joy than he. Hats off to the Doc of the century! By Greg Lucas, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau Sunday, July 18, 1999 Today we pick California's Person of the Century. With the Legislature out of town, at last attention can be turned toward grander, less tawdry topics. Some of those big newsmagazines have been piddling around searching for a guy or gal of the century. What is puzzling is that in a nation whose citizens routinely proclaim government has no relevance to their lives, most of the suggestions for Century Guy or Gal are politicians. Round up the usual suspects: FDR, Hitler, Ronald McPresident, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. Winnie was actually Time Magazine's Man of the First Half of This Century. He kept the Free World alive with bluff and oratory. But hey, what has he done since 1965? Of course, FDR hasn't done much since 1944. And Adolf - he keeps a pretty low profile down there at the coffee plantation in Argentina. Einstein. Gandhi. King. Jonas Salk. They get a few votes. But who should be California's Centurion? John Muir? Cool beard. Beautiful writer. Protector of Yosemite and the Sierra. Bummer about Hetch Hetchy, though. Randy Collier? State senator from Yreka. Chair of the transportation committee that created our network of highways. Father of our freeways. Herbert Hoover? Hey, come on, he went to Stanford. He's got a building down there named after him and everything. Pat Brown? Unburdened by the environmental quality act and draft EIRs, he was the builder of great universities and massive water projects. Richard M. Nixon? Wrote a few foreign policy books. Visited China. President for awhile, if memory serves. Hiram Johnson? Turn-of-the-century reformer who fought the railroads and won. Earl Warren? Swell attorney general. Good governor. Great chief justice. Jerry Garcia? Master doodler. Guitar wizard. Spielberg? Uncle George? Those techno-alchemists who found gold in Silicon Valley? No way. Forget the politicians, the inventors, the movie stars, the corporate robber barons, the Internet entrepreneurs. California's Century Guy is Theodor Geisel. Hands down. No question. No Californian has touched the lives of more people all over this tiny blue-green world in this century and, most likely, the next than Ted Geisel. Like many great Californians, Geisel was born somewhere else and immigrated here, ultimately settling in La Jolla. All Ted Geisel did was draw pictures and write books - 47 of them to be precise. More than 100 million copies sold in 18 languages. He wrote under the name of Dr. Seuss. He made reading fun for mommies and daddies and especially kiddos. And what books they are. The good doctor took on more heavy issues than most politicians ever will. Is there any more eloquent denunciation of prejudice than the Sneetches? Has the folly of blind obstinance been better portrayed than in 'The Zax'? Has anyone heard a better call to environmental action than reading about those brown bar-ba-loots in their bar-ba-loot suits cavorting around the truffula trees in 'The Lorax'? How about 'Yertle the Turtle' and its depiction of real and perceived power? Is there a more sublime skewering of the madness of mutually assured destruction than 'The Butter Battle Book'? Who has proved better than the Grinch that holidays are measured by the heart and not by the size of the stacks of store-bought gifts? Or just the simple courage to stand by your convictions in the face of universal denunciation like Horton when he hears those Whos and steadfastly protects them? All that aside, you just have to love a guy who, on a $50 bet, writes a book using only 50 words. That would be 'Green Eggs and Ham' - 'Huevos Verdes con Jamon' in the Spanish edition. Show me a 20th century Californian who has done more to better this planet than Dr. Seuss. Dig the good doctor talking about his craft: "I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of the telescope, which is what I do, and that's what enables you to laugh at life's realities." On behalf of kiddos young and old, this one's for you, Doc. We will read you on a train. We will read you in the rain. We will read you with a goat. We will read you on a boat. We will read you in a car. We will read you on a star. We will read you here and there. And someday, maybe, everywhere. Please include this information if you forward this joke: ********************************************************* This joke and others like it, can be found in: The Loony Bin http://loonies.net800.co.uk/ ********************************************************* ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to loonies-unsubscribe@listbot.com