Supreme Corpse

(shared with GHI observer Jon)

Or
Chief Just-iced

Or
First Mournday

Or
OverQuist
Chief Justice William Rehnquist added 25 years to the conservative revolution he started on the Supreme Court, delivering a writ of habeus corpse Saturday night at the age of 80 after battling thyroid cancer for more than a year. Appointed as an associate justice by Richard Nixon and elevated to chief justice in 1986 by Ronald Reagan, Rehnquist served the 5th longest term on the Supreme Court. Highlights of his tenure include being one of two justices in the minority on Roe v. Wade. Rehnquist proved to be an ingracious loser by spending the next 30 years retrying elements of that case whenever possible. He also presided over the impeachment of Bill Clinton in the Case of the Overblown Blow Job and appointed George W. Bush as president as the deciding vote in Bush v. Gore. Often a lone dissenter on a liberal court, Rehnquist was the first step in the transformation of the court from the left to its current 5-4 status favoring the right. His career was marked by increasing limits on federal authority in favor of an emphasis on state’s last rites, a rather fuzzy take on the separation of church and state and objections over striking down laws criminalizing homosexual behavior and allowing indefinite detention of terror suspects without access to due process. Prior to his time on the bench, he had clerked for Justice Robert Jackson and suggested that Jackson oppose Brown v. Board of Education, the ruling that declared public school segregation unconstitutional, suggesting he spent at least 50 years in courts being wrong.

Seven of us expected the benchmark decision, led ironically by my Better Dead than Red State, which moves into 6th. Also moving up are Jen, into 7th, Tom, into 11th, Michelle, James and Dawn, into a 4-way logjam at 18th, and Michelle, into 29th.

The unchanged leaderboard:
1st Kirsti MacPherson - 2003 Champion
7 hits, 62.0833333 points
2nd Me - Death Be Not Proud
5 hits, 50.7738095 points
3rd Monty's Mortuary
5 hits, 25.35714286 points
4th Shawn DeVeau - Team Two
5 hits, 18.6904762 points
5th Mark Coen - The Random Undead
4 hits, 43.75 points

And in the better late than never category, a month’s worth of catching up. Yes, I’m tardy, but unlike these folks, I have a life.

Switched off
(Craig weighs in)
Robert Moog, who took music out of the hands of skilled craftsman and into the hands of any yutz who can push a button, has died at the age of 71. After years of playing with the sci-fi sound machine theremin, Moog developed a device that could modulate sound. His synthesizer hit the big time with the surprise 1965 hit Switched on Bach, which reduced one of the world’s great composers to the a reproduction resembling the tinny soundover to the design credits on a video game. Progressive rock bands like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk overcame their own limitations by quickly adding the synthesizer to performances, impressing audiences who were too amazed by something new to think about it, and now hip-hop groups have found that extensive use of the Moog synthesizer is a handy way to overcome idiotic lyrics.

And this time I mean it
Unsatisfied with the response to his resignation as leader of the House of Commons in protest of Tony Blair’s decision to join the U.S. in invading Iraq, Robin Cook has shown the courage of his convictions, dying at the age of 59. Should this fail to sway Blair, Cook announced plans to haunt him for the remainder of his term, much like the actual decision to join the U.S. in invading Iraq.

Looking for Mr. Funeral Director
Judith Rossner, author of the successful novel "Looking for Mr. Goodbar," which was made into a movie starring Diane Keaton, has died at the age of 70. The 1975 novel was loosely based on an actual murder of a Roman Catholic schoolteacher in New York City who frequented singles bars. Other novels included the 1983 bestseller "August," "To the Precipice," "Nine Months in the life of an Old Maid," “Any Minute I Split," "Olivia," and "Perfidia.”

To Kill a Charactor Actor

Or
"Sorry ma'am, Sisko's on Bourbon Street is closed."
(If you get this one, send props to Craig, our resident Trekkie, who suggested it before there were other reasons to close Bourbon Street.)
Last month Soylent Green was made from Brock Peters as the veteran actor has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 78. Best remembered for his heart-breaking performance as a black man falsely accused of rape in "To Kill a Mockingbird," Peters also betrayed the Federation as Admiral Cartwright in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and helped Charlton Heston find the recipe for Soylent Green. Other roles included Ben Sisko’s father on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Porgy & Bess.

His heart has failed him for the last time
Michael Sheard, who authored one of cinema’s greatest death scenes, has died at the age of 67. In The Empire Strikes Back, Sheard, as Admiral Ozzel, has informed Darth Vader that he has lost Millennium Falcon, and then gets a fatal tickle in his throat, as Vader finds a dramatic way of showing his displeasure. Sheard also carved out a niche as cinema’s most prolific Nazi, playing Adolf Hitler 5 times, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Henrich Himmler 3 times. British fans will also remember him as the autocratic French teacher in the television series Grange Hill. Sheard also appeared with more iterations of the Doctor in the long-running series Doctor Who than any other actor.

Red fish, blue fish, big fish, dead fish
(Laudatories to Tammy)
Matthew McGrory, the 7-foot-plus actor who portrayed Karl the Giant in 2003's Big Fish, has died at the age of 32. McGrory had been working on a biopic of former wrestler Andre the Giant. McGrory also starred as Tiny Firefly in Rob Zombie's 2003 horror flick House of 1000 Corpses and its gory sequel, The Devil's Rejects, released last month.

Hasta La Vista
(Kudos for Monty)
Ibrahim Ferrer the Cuban singer who emerged late in life as the star of the Buena Vista Social Club, has died at the age of 78.