And so it goes ...

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. passed away earlier this month on April 11. For a certain generation, and I count myself among them, Kurt was the first author that caused us to laugh on the outside while simultaneously crying on the inside. This ability was his genius--truly his gift to generations of mostly adolescent boys who in turn look back on Vonnegut's novels today with gentle, warm regard. So it goes ...

FoxNews savaged Vonnegut in their broadcast obituary. It's up on Youtube but I'll not bother providing a link. It was as predictable (and unbalanced) as one would expect from the quasi-official administration mouthpiece. A classic example of the "Kick Down, Kiss Up" mentality that robs us all of our humanity. So it goes ...

During the week that brought Vonnegut's life to a close, the U.S. military suffered 23 fatalies in Iraq. Vonnegut, a survivor (as a prisoner-of-war) of the bombing of Dresden, Germany by Allied forces during World War II, often remarked that he was the sole person on the planet who profited in any way from the event, as measured by his royalties for the semi-autobiographical novel, Slaughterhouse Five. It would be instructive to see a list of the people and corporations profiting from the current insanity in Iraq. War was considerably more naive sixty years ago than it is today. And so it goes ...

So long, Kurt.