Some Saturday Reads

Pat Sajak's political beliefs have nothing to do with his complete lack of talent of being a game show host.  Merv Griffin made a huge mistake getting rid of original Wheel of Fortune host Chuck Woolery, who is every bit as right-leaning as Sajak.  However, Woolery had everything Sajak lacks including charm, personality, and looks, the latter of which Woolery had by the truckload in his prime.  No, I won't miss Pat Sajak.  The show ended for me when Woolery was let go.

After Sajak leaves I think the producers should do a week of episodes with Chuck Woolery and original assistant Susan Stafford, complete with the original music and game show rules.  Griffin ruined his creation because he was too cheap to pay Woolery what he was worth.

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 Obit:  Famed whistleblower and anti-Vietnam War activist Daniel Ellsberg, 92, died yesterday after suffering from pancreatic cancer, diagnosed a few months ago.  He became famous as the person who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times, creating a lot of consternation from the Nixon administration, and especially from Nixon himself, who was paranoid he was eventually going to be found out for his violation of the Logan Act,

Snip from NPR:

Ellsberg never ran for office and only occasionally appeared on TV. But he altered the course of U.S. history in a way few private citizens ever have.

As a military analyst working on a Pentagon project in 1971, Ellsberg chose to release to the public an extensive, documentary record of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Known as the "Pentagon Papers," Ellsberg's mammoth disclosure would help to end the longest U.S. war of the 20th century. It would also prompt a landmark Supreme Court decision on freedom of the press. And it would provoke a response from President Richard Nixon that led directly to the scandals that ended his presidency.

By the time he got to the Pentagon, Ellsberg, then 40, was a Marine Corps veteran with a Harvard doctorate who had worked for the Defense and State departments and the Rand Corporation. A "hawk" before going to Vietnam in 1965, Ellsberg had since turned against the war and the official justifications given for it.