Wednesday Reads

 Given how rigged our society is against women, how in the hell would making abortion illegal "empower" women at all?  I guess she thinks that because she did it with the kids and career crap (and presumably there was a husband somewhere along the way who sired her three children), ALL women should aspire to this shit.

Lots of us out here never wanted kids at all. I don't know what kind of dream world this Mississippi politician lives in.

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Obituary:  Actor Tommy Kirk, 79, known for his appearances in Disney films such as Old Yeller, was found dead in his Las Vegas home by his neighbor yesterday.

Tommy Kirk and Spike

Snip:

One of four sons, Thomas Harvey Kirk was born on Dec. 10, 1941, in Louisville, Kentucky. He and his family moved to Downey, California, when he was an infant, and his father, Louis, went to work in the aircraft industry as a mechanic. His mother, Doris, was a stenographer.

In 1954, Kirk tagged along with his older brother Joe to an audition for Eugene O’Neill’s Ah, Wilderness at the Pasadena Playhouse and wound up with a part (while Joe didn’t get one) opposite Will Rogers Jr. and Bobby Driscoll.

He was signed by an agent who saw him in that, and Kirk appeared in The Peacemaker (1956) and on TV in Lux Video Theatre, The Loretta Young Show, Gunsmoke and more than 30 episodes of Matinee Theatre before getting his first contract at Disney.

He was openly gay, but it did put a damper on his career.  He was highly regarded as an actor, but his career was over and later he had a carpet and upholstery business.

As an aside, the dog who played opposite Kirk in Old Yeller was a Mastiff//Labrador mix named Spike. He lived from 1952-1962.  He was rescued, owned, and trained by Frank Weatherwax, brother of Rudd, who with Frank trained Pal, the dog who played the original Lassie.

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Idaho is in a state of crisis thanks to so many unvaccinated people being hospitalized for COVID.  Many people who desperately need hospital care have to travel out of state to get it.

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