DEATHS: INGMAR BERGMAN, TOM SNYDER, BILL WALSH... WHAT ABOUT JOHN ROBERTS?

Only the good die young

A lot of people died today-- not just the regular victims of Bush's venal, toxic agenda in Iraq, but regular folks nowhere near Iraq. One of the world's most important film makers, Ingmar Bergman. The Swedish director was 89 and he is ranked up there with Federico Fellini and Akira Kurosawa in terms of influence on the genre.

In his more than 40 years in the cinema, Mr. Bergman made about 50 films, often focusing on two themes — the relationship between the sexes, and the relationship between mankind and God. Mr. Bergman found in cinema, he wrote in a 1965 essay, “a language that literally is spoken from soul to soul in expressions that, almost sensuously, escape the restrictive control of the intellect.”

...For many filmgoers and critics, it was Mr. Bergman more than any other director who in the 1950s brought a new seriousness to film making.

“Bergman was the first to bring metaphysics-- religion, death, existentialism-- to the screen,” Bertrand Tavernier, the French film director, once said. “But the best of Bergman is the way he speaks of women, of the relationship between men and women. He’s like a miner digging in search of purity.”

Hall of Fame football coach Bill Walsh was 75 when he passed away this morning. And last night Tom Snyder a pioneering and legendary television interviewer also took his last breath.

Earlier today CNN reported that extreme right wing fanatic/Bush Regime Supreme Court Chief Judge John Roberts fell on his head but has probably survived. Having suffered a seizure several years ago, he was rushed to a hospital, but is likely to live. No one will ever know if the fall has effected his ability to function as a judge. Friday we suggested that there are other ways to right the balance at the reactionary activist Court than through the deaths of the right-wing extremists on it.


UPDATE: HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

Apparently Roberts wasn't just a klutz; he had a seizure. When he was found he was foaming at the mouth, something he usually only does when he's confronted with a rational argument in court. The hospital said there was no cause for concern, which could be taken a number of ways, depending on whether or not you care about the welfare of America. One thing is certain-- if Roberts is dead or noticeably brain-dead it will be impossible for Bush to get anyone even nearly as extremist as him confirmed to the bench.


ROBERTS DIDN'T DIE... BUT HE STILL MAY

Roberts was let out of the hospital today but USAToday reports that he's "facing a greater risk" after his second seizure. Don't count on a more moderate Supreme Court based on the chances of an early demise for Roberts though. That's up to God, not you. Still, "Patients with a history of seizures would be advised to not drive for several months, not swim alone, avoid heights and take showers rather than baths... 'It's not rare that people drown in the bathtub from a seizure. Mark Twain's daughter died that way.'" You just can't count on it.