Lady Bird, Paris Hilton, Harry Potter and Tintin

What do these have in common? Absolutely nothing other than they’re all in the news at the moment.

Let’s address the sad news first. Lady Bird Johnson passed away this week at the age of 94. I was really sorry to hear that. She was a fine woman and one of the few remaining icons of my misspent youth. The 1960’s are rapidly fading into the mists of time. It’s hard to believe that it was 40 years ago when Lyndon and Lady Bird were entertaining visiting dignitaries with a barbecue at the LBJ Ranch.

I understand that the Johnsons donated the ranch to the National Park Service as a historic site in 1973. The main house was closed to the public during Lady Bird’s life but will now be prepared for visitors. I wouldn’t mind taking a look see at that.

Now let’s move on to poor little Paris Hilton. The latest word in the news is that the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department is opening an investigation into rumors that she was given “special treatment,” whatever that means, during her 23 days in jail for violating probation on her alcohol related reckless driving charge.

Duh, ya think? I would have been absolutely flabbergasted if she hadn’t received special treatment! Good looking, rich, white girl ends up in the pokey and she doesn’t get any special treatment? That would have been a veritable fairy tale comes true story. Wake up and get a grip on reality.

That brings us to Harry Potter. The fifth movie, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” has just been released and the seventh, and final, book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” is scheduled for release on July 21st.

The hysteria on the internet about the plot of the seventh book, and the final fate of the series heroes, is growing exponentially as the date approaches. The big fear of course is that JK kills off Harry in the final book. I think if that’s the case, it would sort of deaden the enthusiasm over the current movie. It might even limit any interest in movies of the sixth and seventh books, at least among the younger fans who I think would be terribly disappointed at the demise of the main hero. Hell, I would be terribly disappointed! I still haven’t gotten over the deaths of Cedric Diggory and Dumbledore. Call me old fashioned, or naïve, but I’m still into happy endings where the good guys win.

Finally we have Tintin, the 1930’s era comic strip about a reporter and his dog snowy. A Tintin book, first published in 1931, called “Tintin in the Congo” somehow made it to the children’s section shelves of Border’s in the UK. Now remember, we’re talking the era of Jim Crow in the U.S. and European attitudes about blacks that made the American South look progressive. Needless to say the portrayals of the native population, in what was than known as the Belgian Congo, would make you wince.

Even the author, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, had said the book embarrassed him and later additions had some of the most objectionable material removed. Well, this was an unedited version in all its racist lack of glory. Granted, the book came wrapped in a warning and had a forward explaining its “colonial content,” but still, give me a break. To make matters worse, in case you missed it,THEY PUT IT THE CHILDREN’S SECTION! When did a kid ever read a forward?

Even Tintin fans acknowledge that the book is racist as hell. So what was Border’s reaction to complaints? It moved the book from the children’s section to the adult section. I sort of agree with the guy that said "The only place that it might be acceptable for this to be displayed would be in a museum, with a big sign saying `old fashioned, racist claptrap.'"