Ex-agent Gerald Blaine says in book: "I almost shot LBJ hours after JFK murder"

By Jack Brummet
Social Mores Editor

Thanks to Dean Ericksen for pointing out this story.

Gerald Blaine, a former Secret Service agent, says in his new book—The Kennedy Detail — that he nearly shot President Lyndon B. Johnson hours after John F. Kennedy's assassination.

In his new book, Blaine remembers standing guard outside the Washington home of the just sworn-in President Johnson in the wee hours of Nov. 23, 1963.  He heard footsteps approaching.

Agent Blaine picked up his submachine gun in the darkness and aimed it at the chest of a man who turned out to be the new President. 

Blaine's nearly fatal mistake left him, naturally, chilled. Only 14 hours after losing one president, the nation had almost lost another one.  Gerald Blaine says his book is the first account of the assassination by a member of Kennedy's security detail. I think that's true.  I have read a lot about LBJ and never heard this one before.  Wow.

Fortunately, Blaine didn't fire, and Speaker of the House, John W. McCormack, did not become President.  As great as LBJ was, who knows...maybe McCormack could have somehow avoided escalating the Vietnam War...but I doubt it.  The tragic juggernaut was already inexorably gathering steam.
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Dr. Suess show in Laguna Beach

I went to a show of Dr. Seuss's fine art works on Monday in Laguna Beach.  It was pretty cool to see his work on a large scale, along with about a dozen sculptures of his unique animals.  While the prints were nice (many of them come from actual paintings he did that he never sold), it was also clear Seuss himself had little to do with the prints.  He didn't supervise the making of screens, or even select the works.  It was also clear that they were being marketed as investments (similar to all the prints of, say, Dali and Chagall that have flooded the print markets).  The guy who worked in the gallery said they were a good deal.  $1,500 to $3,000 for a work where--"some of the early prints have gone up in value to $25,000 in a few years."  Which, naturally, made me suspicious.   Worth seeing, but not buying...

From a press release:  "In 1997, The Chase Group acquired exclusive worldwide rights to publish the work of Dr. Seuss as limited edition prints. Along with publishing certain book illustrations, Chase is making available editions of Seuss’s, "Secret Art". These are paintings that Geisel painted for his own pleasure and never before shown to the public and exhibit a more sophisticated, technically accomplished and quite unrestrained side to his talent."

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Another letter from President George W. Bush

After receiving a letter back from The President, I wrote several more times, but did not get a return letter.  But finally, about a year later, some staffer took pity and fired us off this one.  I suggested incarcerating Howard Dean (since a firing squad would be a bit extreme), and even repealing the 22nd amendment.

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Painting: One of the chinless wonders

Digital drawings: Four faces by Jack Brummet

click to enlarge

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That's one way of getting the job done: Marry The Boss's Daughter

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George W. Bush writes to All This Is That (from 2005)

By Jack Brummet
Social Mores Editor

Five years ago, then President George W. Bush, wrote us to politely decline our invitation.   And now, after two years out of office, we see the slow resurrection and rehabilitation of George W. Bush's image beginning to occur. . .  Check out the original article here.

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Five digital faces by Jack Brummet

Click the drawings to enlarge. Created on an iPad, using Harmonious drawing tools...

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All This Is That Turns Six Years Old This Week

We began publishing this blog in November, 2004.  Since then, we've published 4,260 posts, or, roughly two per day.  At least 180 of these posts have focused on alien lore; 200 or so have been poems by Jack; three or four hundreds of Pablo Fanque's political pieces have appeared, as well as four hundred pieces of original art.  We have also published numerous pranks and japes; two letters from George W. Bush to the editors of All This Is That, dozens of articles on country, rock, bluegrass, and jazz; around 20 articles on Growing Up Hillbilly, hundreds of articles on Presidents, and Presidential elections, many articles on pop culture, and dozens of articles on the folly of humans and the human condition.  It's hard to sum up four thousand posts, but we have generally stuck to our mission of covering the paranormal, poetry, painting, politics, persiflage, and pop.

Over the next week, Pablo and Jack will be posting links to their favorite articles here.  We will also include links to Google's top searches here (of which, interestingly, none appear on either Jack's or Pablo's lists.


We started out very tentatively six years ago, feeling our way along as learned how to blog and how to publish every day.  We've gotten much better at it, and have published every single day for the last six years.  We have published this blog from all around the country--from Boston, Vancouver and Victoria Canada, NYC, San Francisco/Berkeley, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Orange County, England, Mexico, Greece, India, and Turkey.

Stay tuned this week for some of our favorites. 

Before we sign off today, we want to announce that we are adding another editor to our staff.  Our friend, and reformed Republican, Mona Goldwater will become a regular contributor on, or before, December 1, 2010. 

In closing, here is the very first piece to ever appear on All This Is That.  It is a short poem by Jack, that appeared our first day, November 16th, 2004:

Poem: Driving Home To Seattle, We Watch Deer Drinking from the Skookumchuck River


A rainbow loops over
the alder cathedral.


Dark clouds are sinking.
The Lamplighter


loans them a patch of land
and a heartbeat.
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Jack Brummet
(originally appeared in The Croton Review)
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random bad phone camera shots from Laguna Beach

click to enlarge

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Olmec Exhibit at LACMA In L.A., along with

We went to see the William Eggleston show at LACMA in LA. Wow. He is a color photography genius...really like the show. They had around 200 photographs from 1961-2008. The dye transfer process brings out these  saturated riots of heartbreakingly great color. He goes after the everyday image--not just glamor shots or ponderous portraits.  I really didn't know about him before this show, but he has apparently been a big influence on art and artists.

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Photos from the Collosal Olmec sculpture show at LA's LACMA

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Faces No. 188 - 16 Lagunites

click to enlarge - scratchboard, and digitally reversed scratchboard

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The Roman gladiatorial stadium at Aphrodesias in Turkey

The gladiator stadium at Aphrodesia in Turkey has to be probably my favorite ruin ever (and we've seen them on several continents).  It was massive and very well-preserved.  My sons had a gas leaping around, darting out of the warrior tunnelts.  You could somehow sense the thousands who battled and died there--like the scene in the movie Patton where Gen Patton says to Gen. Omar Bradley, "I was here Brad.  I was here with the Carthaginians two thousand years ago.".  While we were there, we met the guy who was revisiting the place for lonely planet.  He was the only person we saw at these magnificent ruins. We saw a handful of people at the great museum there, but out among the temples and stadiums and theatres, we saw no one.

click to enlarge

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Ex-Governor Palin: "This Is Our Morning In America...and it may take some renegades going rogue to get us there!"

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

From Sarah Palin's Facebook page:  "Congratulations, America! And thank you, voters!"

The ex-Governor sends her thanks to The Voters.  If the leaks are kosher, and what I've been hearing is true, the process of the GOP distancing themselves from her begins.  Right. Now.  

They Republicans, besides repealing the health care bill, axing spending (aside from the military), and lowering taxes, now have 2012 to focus on.  The race for POTUS really does begin this January.  Now, the big question is whether or not Sarah's fervent supporters can be so easily shunted aside. . .I'm hoping not.  Keep them in the mix, GOP!

Ms. Palin, in her Facebook post, also included a link to this inspirational YouTube video her staff put together:


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The Soprano Borgata, Poll-watching on election day

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Cop rolls out the welcome wagon for "Germany-boy"

By Jack Brummet
Social Mores Editor

I do have to give the cop a little credit—a) he didn’t appear to give Fritz a ticket, and b) he didn’t bring up either Hitler or sauerkraut.

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Get out there and vote!

click to enlarge

Ned Ludd and The Luddites

This illustration of Ned Ludd is from a book published in 1812, called Rage Against The Machine.  Ned Ludd is *probably* a person who really existed.  His actions were the inspiration for the folkloric character of "Captain Ludd", or "King Ludd," the Luddites' imagined leader and founder.

The Ludd legend is that inspired Ned Ludd's transformation from an 18th century common man to a 19th century hero began when he broke two textile frames in a fit of rage around 1780.  After that, industrial problem or sabotage was often explained with the phrase "Ned Ludd did that."

The Austin band The Gourds refer to Ned Ludd as "Uncle Ned" in the song "Luddite Juice" off their 2009 release, Haymaker.

The great Edward Abbey novel The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975) is dedicated to Ned Ludd.

Stephen King's The Dark Tower series contains a metropolis called Lud (city).

Robert Calvert wrote and recorded another song "Ned Ludd," which appeared on his 1985 album Freq; and includes the lyrics::

They said Ned Ludd was an idiot boy

That all he could do was wreck and destroy, and

He turned to his workmates and said: Death to Machines

They tread on our future and they stamp on our dreams.

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.  This applies to the United States, Australia, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.
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War of the Worlds: In 1938, Orson Welles scared the bejesus out of your grandparents.

Five years ago on all this is that.  we published an article on War of the Worlds, with a link to the broadcast...and since it's Halloween, the link still works, and mostly because it's some of the best radio Eve, here is an ATIT retread.

The restrictions on this collection expired in 1986, and the Library of Congress

believes this image is in the public domain.  The photograph is by Carl Van Vechten.

Jump to the link below to download an MP3/Podcast of the entire War of the Worlds broadcast by Mercury Theatre.  This is the piece that propelled Orson Welles to fame, Listen to it and celebrate that great actor, writer, director, and Madison Avenue pitchman, who spooked a large part of America 72 years ago, on October 30, 1938.  And it's plenty spooky, in honor of the day.

http://www.mercurytheatre.info/

The image was distributed as a promotional photograph in the U.S. in 1941 for use

by the general media, satisfying the definition of "publication." There is no evidence

that it was distributed with copyright notice, as then required for copyright protection.

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Learn from the masters: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams show how mud should be slung

By Pablo Fanque
National Affairs Editor

Do you think the attack ads we've seen this political season are the nastiest ever?  They're not even close.  Check out the mud Thomas Jefferson and John Adams flung at each other in 1800...


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Video mash-up --> Beatles/Zombies: A Hard Day's Night of the Living Dead

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The Monkey and The Engineer by Jesse Fuller

The Monkey and The Engineer, by Jesse Fuller

Once upon a time there was an engineer.
Drove a locomotive both far and near.
Accompanied by a monkey that would sit on a stool
Watching everything the engineer would move

One day the engineer wanted a bite to eat,
He left the monkey sitting on the driver's seat,
The monkey pulled the throttle, the locomotive jumped the gun
And did 90 miles an hour down the mainline run.

Big locomotive right on time, big locomotive coming down the line.
Big locomotive No. 99, left the engineer with a worried mind.

The engineer called up the dispatcher on the phone,
To tell him all about his locomotive was gone.
Get on the wire, switch operator to the right,
Cause the monkey's got the main line sewed up tight.

The switch operator got the message on time,
Said there's a Northbound limited on the same main line,
Open up the switch I'm gonna let him through the hole,
Cause the monkey's got the locomotive under control.

Big locomotive right on time, big locomotive coming down the line.
Big locomotive No. 99, left the engineer with a worried mind.
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Jack Brummet drawing - Faces No. 180: Greenwood

click to enlarge

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Jack Brummet drawing - Faces No. 179

jack brummet drawing - click to enlarge

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