Sunday, August 9, 2015

Random thoughts: Cecil, Trump, Walker and other outrages...

By Jim Heffernan

Here are a few random thoughts about some recent stuff.

1. We all feel badly about the shooting of Cecil the lion, of course. Aside from the sadness of it all, though, I have been wondering why nobody has mentioned that Cecil’s name is the first name of Cecil Rhodes, the British founder of the African country of Rhodesia -- the former name of Zimbabwe, where Cecil was killed. What goes around, comes around.

2. I wonder why nobody else has mentioned that Donald Trump looks a bit like Cecil. At least as much as any prominent human I can think of. Growls a little like him too, at times. 


3. On the big Fox News debate of the 10 leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker stood right beside the leonine Mr. Trump, displaying tolerant smiles. Is Walker a little cross-eyed? He reminds me of Alfred E. “What, Me Worry?” Newman, of Mad Magazine. (Googling Newman to check on the spelling of his name, I noticed he once said, “Listening to opera is to entertainment what falling off the roof of a barn is to transportation.” No mention of attending a blues festival.)

4. With all of this talk about Cecil, it made me wonder whatever happened to Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion. Remember him from the movies? Not to be confused with Gladly the Cross-eyed Bear. You’ll be hearing more about him during the Walker campaign. 

5. I wonder if it’s politically incorrect to even mention cross-eyedness any more. I often force-cross my eyes when confronted with something outrageous, like the Republican debates.

6. We’ve all made mistakes in life, but you know you’ve screwed up if you’ve caused a worldwide outrage, like the Twin Cities dentist who murdered Cecil the lion. It’s not easy to cause a worldwide outrage, unless you are a prominent politician or a famous terrorist. Infamous dentist? Not so much.


This is my last post for a while. Vacation time. 

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