All of the sudden, tonight was his last broadcast. The NBC folk want you all to believe it had nothing to do with the Comcast takeover, which begins next week. It’s just coincidence.
“Olbermann did not discuss any future plans, but NBC executives said one term of his settlement will keep him from moving to another network for an extended period of time.”
So no Olbermann anywhere for awhile. Why did he agree to that? Maybe he wants some rest. It does happen.
Josh Marshal was on the early part of the show and didn’t learn about it until he got home. He said that there was nothing in the studio to give the impression something was up.
Here’s his sign off.
Countdown With Keith Olbermann Is No More – Lez…, posted with vodpod
Addendum: Is he returning to sports? Or maybe a run for Senate?
59 comments
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January 21, 2011 at 10:57 pm
Tapperass
I see Keith as a guy who gets bored, or maybe burned out after a while. He never has stayed anywhere for a long time.
Sports? He left ESPN years ago in a blaze. I doubt he would go back to that kind of work considering how bad his split from ESPN was.
January 22, 2011 at 7:30 am
Plain Jane
And yet Beck, no matter who he attacks or how many crazies he incites to at least make threats, goes on and on….
His latest victim is a 78 year old acacemic, Frances Fox Piven:
“The interest in Ms. Piven is rooted in an article she wrote with her husband, Richard Cloward, in 1966. The article, “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty,” proposed that if people overwhelmed the welfare rolls, fiscal and political stress on the system could force reform and give rise to changes like a guaranteed income. By drawing attention to the topic, the proposal “had a big impact” even though it was not enacted, Ms. Piven said. “A lot of people got the money that they desperately needed to survive,” she said.
In Mr. Beck’s telling on a Fox broadcast on Jan. 5, 2010, Ms. Piven and Mr. Cloward (who died in 2001) planned “to overwhelm the system and bring about the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with impossible demands and bring on economic collapse.” Mr. Beck observed that the number of welfare recipients soared in the years after the article, and said the article was like “economic sabotage.”
“Mr. Beck has invoked Ms. Piven dozens of times since. Conservative Web sites, like the ones operated by Andrew Breitbart, have also spent time dissecting her articles and speeches.
Ms. Piven came under additional scrutiny when she wrote in the liberal magazine The Nation this month that unemployed people should be staging mass protests.
Her assertions that “an effective movement of the unemployed will have to look something like the strikes and riots that have spread across Greece,” and that “protesters need targets, preferably local and accessible ones,” led Mr. Beck to ask on Fox this week, “Is that not inciting violence? Is that not asking for violence?” Videos of fires in Greece played behind him.”
“One such threat, published as an anonymous comment on The Blaze, read, “Somebody tell Frances I have 5000 roundas ready and I’ll give My life to take Our freedom back.” (The spelling and capitalizing have not been changed.)
That comment and others that were direct threats were later deleted, but other comments remain that charge her with treasonous behavior.”
And what does Fox have to say about this?
“In response, a liberal nonprofit group, the Center for Constitutional Rights, wrote to the chairman of Fox News, Roger Ailes, on Thursday to ask him to put a stop to Mr. Beck’s “false accusations” about Ms. Piven.
“Mr. Beck is putting Professor Piven in actual physical danger of a violent response,” the group wrote.
Fox News disagrees. Joel Cheatwood, a senior vice president, said Friday that Mr. Beck would not be ordered to stop talking about Ms. Piven on television. He said Mr. Beck had quoted her accurately and had never threatened her.
“The Glenn Beck Program,’ probably above and beyond any on television, has denounced violence repeatedly,” Mr. Cheatwood said.”
link
January 22, 2011 at 8:30 am
moviedad
I understand a lot of people support Kieth Olbermann. But for me he is an apple hanging on the same tree as Beck. The fact that he is leaving the tree does raise his credibility.
Lying and spewing racist language is the bread and butter of television. Some of it is subtle, some of it is not. It is all one huge propaganda machine, owned by the wealthy. So what else is new?
January 22, 2011 at 8:51 am
Anonymous
PJ. What part of Beck’s statement re: Pliven is false? I get the fact you don’t like it but so what. Truth hurts?
January 22, 2011 at 10:26 am
Anonymous
Humm, did Beck say anything that was not true about Frances Fox Piven? Not he did not. She is what she is. Using her own words is a problem how?
January 22, 2011 at 10:43 am
Ernie's Place
Make he could start his own E.I.B.S. show, ala Limbaugh.
January 22, 2011 at 11:18 am
Eric Kirk
Well the azsszumption that all those welfare recipients read piven’s obscure article and acted on it is the product of paranoia and selective mind numbing. I wonder what Beck was writing in 1966.
What piven is famous for is her seminal work The 10 Myths of World Hunger which turned conventional policy on its head. She is also, as I’m sure beck has noted, a member of Democratic Socialists of America.
January 22, 2011 at 11:20 am
Plain Jane
If you had read the article, you wouldn’t have to ask, 10:26.
“In Mr. Beck’s telling on a Fox broadcast on Jan. 5, 2010, Ms. Piven and Mr. Cloward (who died in 2001) planned “to overwhelm the system and bring about the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with impossible demands and bring on economic collapse.”
It isn’t Beck’s quotes of people that puts them in danger, but his dishonest interpretations of what they mean. Encouraging people to sign up for programs for which they are legally entitled as a means to force the economic system to be more egalitarian doesn’t “bring on economic collapse.” Not reforming the system to be more egalitarian HAS brought on economic crisis and possible future economic collapse. When you tell idiotic nuts like those who listen to Beck that a person, particularly an elderly, defenseless woman, is to blame for the hardships they are enduring, it’s quite likely she will be targeted and (SURPRISE!) she is now receiving death threats and is in fear for her life.
If the cretins who watch Beck could comprehend what they hear and read, they wouldn’t need the inflammatory Beck’s to “explain” it to them.
January 22, 2011 at 11:28 am
Eric Kirk
Beck did lie when he said she was inciting violence.
January 22, 2011 at 11:32 am
Plain Jane
Here is a PDF to the letter from CCR to Fox which details some of the accusations Beck has made against Piven and violent threats made by his The Blaze posters which he did not remove.
link
January 22, 2011 at 11:43 am
Anonymous
Eric and PJ you are so predictable that its unfunny. PJ I am familiar with your rants on the HH and other blogs so all I can say is pot kettle black. You poor thing.
January 22, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Joe Blow
Some of these Dark Agers (Beck, Boehner, Bush, etc.) have to dig really deep to find justification for their continued existence.
January 22, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Plain Jane
As to the right wing media pundits, their existence on TV is to divert the attention of their viewers from those truly responsible for the mess that is this country today and focus their anger on those who, without the constant demonization from Fox, et al, would be their natural allies.
January 22, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Joe Blow
I thought this comment was appropriate:
Glock Politics
It certainly won’t be Glenn Beck’s fault if something happens to Frances Piven. That’s because Beck and the rest of the lunatic right – through their lies, attacks, evasions, re-definitions, and overall propensity to bullshit a compliant media that will print anything they say (gun crosshairs are really surveyors marks – sure, why not?) – has demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that in the early 21st Century, words have no meaning whatsoever.
Only guns do.
January 22, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Mr. Nice
When I heard this news I was thinking like who is Keith Olbermann?
Nobody should care. This is like what if Rush Limbaugh quit. Screw it.
January 22, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Anonymous
You guys here need help.
January 22, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Steak n Eggs
Moviedad…you are right on. They are all haters in the same boat. I like listening to the Joe Blow’s and Plain Jane’s who get fired up with Beck but probably fall asleep watching Maddow. LOL…Go ahead you morons: pick a team to cheerlead for, but its still “mission accomplished” as far as big media is concerned. Baa, Baa, Baa
January 22, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Plain Jane
As if I would waste my time watching Beck. I don’t watch TV news, not Olbermann, not Maddow, and certainly none of the vile slimeballs at Fox.
January 22, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Joe Blow
The Dark Age Believers should learn to speak for themselves. The biggest sucker of all is the one that doesn’t know he’s or she’s been screwed. Big media, big government, big religion, are just tools used to pacify suckers.
January 22, 2011 at 4:07 pm
Steak n Eggs
PJ…I stand corrected.
January 22, 2011 at 5:48 pm
Rose
Don’t worry, he got a new gig already…
http://www.alanburkhart.com/OlbermannAtFoxNews.png
January 22, 2011 at 6:45 pm
Dave Kirby
Why would anyone watch these folks? Have any of these propagandists changed anyone’s mind about anything? Can’t imagine the local Tea Party has been tuned in to Oberski.
January 22, 2011 at 8:35 pm
Eric Kirk
I don’t know if they’ve changed anyone’s mind Dave, but Olbermann and Limbaugh are both talented as entertainers as well as wordsmiths. Beck too in is own nutcase way. It’s the market system at work, except when politics come into play such that Comcast wants to be rid of a troublemaker. Apparently Olbermann’s ratings were as high as ever.
January 22, 2011 at 8:53 pm
Dave Kirby
I guess what I’m trying to say is all these folks are preaching to the choir.
January 22, 2011 at 9:00 pm
anon
wow…just went a week without TV
did i miss anything?
doubt it…
January 22, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Joe Blow
Eric, did you not read this?
My comments on this blog were designed of prove that the “Truth manifests itself.” All that’s necessary is an ample opportunity and a little encouragement. It certainly not my problem when readers are unable to see, recognize and accept that “truth.”
TRUTH = SUCKER.
January 23, 2011 at 7:42 am
Mitch
Dave,
You answered your 6:45 at 8:53. People love nothing more than being told how correct their existing thinking is, by someone in a position of apparent authority or credibility.
These shows, on both left and right, cater to that instinct (as do, alas, various blogs when they are abused).
You could put on shows with professors outlining the latest statistics and pointing out how hard it is to associate specific causative factors or guaranteed solutions, but you’d get a market share somewhat beneath that of a channel playing static. The BBC does that — last evening I listened to an In These Times episode discussing the difference between random number sequences and pseudorandom number sequences, and why it matters — here in Merica, even NPR feels the need to pander and to do it in a way that won’t offend a critical number of Congressional campaign contributors.
January 23, 2011 at 9:24 am
Anonymous
you guys here really need help. ditch the tv watching, ditch the tv. dissect your/our own lives, and that of humboldt. maybe if you/we spent more time on the problems here, WE could FIND some SOLUTIONS for OUR PROBLEMS here..
January 23, 2011 at 9:24 am
Dave Kirby
Details are starting to emerge. Sounds like the same problem Keith had at ESPN. An over inflated ego who does not play well with others.
January 23, 2011 at 10:17 am
Ernie's Place
Kirby said: “Why would anyone watch these folks?”
I watch them for entertainment mostly. Only a fool would take them too seriously. They are more political shock jocks that speakers of truth, but just like the children of today are running out of things that will shock the adults, political commentators are running out of things that might shock the general public, so they try harder.
I have to laugh at Limbaugh mocking Hu Jintao. Not because it is anyway funny or pertinent in itself, but knowing that it will impart an outraged uproar amongst Limbaugh’s detractors. I don’t care who you are, that’s funny.
Keith Oberman seems to never impart any new knowledge upon his audience, he only harps on about what some other commentator is doing wrong, punctuated with sincere outrage and desk pounding and paper tossing. His shtick has become entirely predictable.
Rachel Maddow has some seriously great potential, I hung on her every word about the on scene reporting of Gulf oil spill. I just hope she tries harder to give us real information and doesn’t sink too deeply into the abyss of pointing out what some other fool is reporting wrongly.
I think that Shawn Hannity gives us some good information, he stands just across the fence from Maddow. He’s one of those people than doesn’t care about actual values, but only seeks to promote conservative causes.
I guess what I’m saying is that it does no good for someone to point out what a fool that someone else is being, I can figure that out for myself, so I guess from that standpoint I won’t miss Oberman, he adds nothing to the conversation.
January 23, 2011 at 11:21 am
ED Denson
I’ll miss Keith. He was certainly no Jon Stewart, or Stephen Cobert, but I did watch his show intermittently. I didn’t care for the graphics, and I thought he got stuck with too much of a formula – I like the Stewart way of making up a segment when he wants to introduce a story better than always having the same segments; and sometimes Keith just got over the top. But he was entertaining, and certainly often right on. He gets $7 million a year for the next two years as severance, so while I’ll miss him, I don’t feel sorry for him.
January 23, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Anonymous
Joeblowme, Plaingjane, and Eric you guys really are affraid of Glenn Beck! I’m not surprised, Beck does his research and like he says on his show, don’t take his word for it “do your own research” and when you do you confirm he was right.
Beck has caused me to buy several books over the past year.
KO was a clown.
January 23, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Plain Jane
I listen to the right wing radio ranters on long solo drives; in part because they are the only choice in some areas other than Christian broadcasting, and also because nothing works as well to stay alert than picking apart the ridiculous platforms on which they build their crazy propaganda.
I didn’t get Ernie’s point about Hannity being just across the fence from Maddow, but I only know him from radio. To me he sounds like a mini Rush, in size and ego.
January 23, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Ernie's Place
They are more logical about espousing their ideas. However, one is on the liberal side of the fence and the other is on the conservative side of the fence. But, it’s a big fence between them.
January 23, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Plain Jane
I never got that impression of Hannity. He (like Rush – Beck – Savage, etc.) starts with a fact, takes it out of context, spins it into a lie and then builds the rest of his case on the lie.
January 23, 2011 at 12:58 pm
Eric Kirk
Beck has caused me to buy several books over the past year.
How big was the font type?
January 23, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Eric Kirk
Ernie – actually, Hannity is my least favorite. I see him as a Larry King for right wingers delivering softball questions which won’t make their interview subjects uncomfortable. That’s why Palin has appeared on his show half a dozen times while snubbing even O’Reilly. I equate Rachel Maddow with Greta Van Sustern – openly biased but thoughtful. Olbermann is the O’Reilly counterpart. Hannity is Ed Schultz. Brit Hume is Lawrence O’Donnell.
Again, what I can’t stand about Fox isn’t so much the politics. I read National Review and Human Events on a regular basis (though most conservatives don’t even recognize the titles). What I don’t like about Fox is the volume. I don’t like to be yelled at in my living room. Nobody on liberal programming yells, not even Olbermann. There is no left equivalent of Glenn Beck or Michael Savage. Malloy is the closest, but I would equate him with Hannity. Hannity doesn’t yell. He whines.
January 23, 2011 at 1:08 pm
Plain Jane
If 12:00 did any research which confirmed Beck is right, it must have been at the Beck University library.
January 23, 2011 at 1:40 pm
Eric Kirk
Jon S. did Beck.
January 23, 2011 at 1:53 pm
Dave Kirby
Hannity…..
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/6938/sean-hannitys-freedom-concert-scam-only-7-of-charitys-money-went-to-injured-troops-kids-of-fallen-troops-g5s-g6s-for-vannity/
January 23, 2011 at 2:01 pm
Plain Jane
OMG NOT SOCIAL JUSTICE!!!!! RUSSIA TERRITORY??? Maoists hanging around the White House!!! This was one of the funniest EVER!
January 23, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Joe Blow
Life is just an Eric party joke and then we die.
January 23, 2011 at 5:54 pm
skippy
With the departure of Mr. Olbermann, the void’s become greater and Fox news just became… louder. Where will this go?
Mr. Olberman provided more than a voice, he provided… leverage. Pointing out the small changes leading to the big results: NAFTA, the Bush Tax Cuts, the end of Glass-Steagall, the 1996 Telecommunications Act, a few wars and ‘Mission Accomplished’. More recently, that corporate interests can buy our government officials freely under the Citizens United case… and along comes the Comcast/NBC merger pushing side Mr. Olbermann. His fellow commentators must be taking pause lest they don’t conform and wish departing, too.
Appearing that we’re heading into a more corporate-sponsored, orderly (some might say fascist-like) world in which there will be only rich and poor, the One World media will bang out right wing and corporate messages through most of the channels and money from corporations will create, more or less, a one Party State– even if two political parties remain. It’s very possible the next 10 years will see a slow erosion of privacy, rights, and civil liberties than we’ve seen in any sort of democratic country. Is this being too alarmist? Maybe so. But the pieces are falling into place; we’re heading towards this direction.
We haven’t even addressed the Big Demon on the block yet: the far more threatening at-hand subject everyone should be aware of. This pales in comparison and you’ll likely lose much more while the ‘right’ and left’ yammer at another in distraction. Folks, our golden days are over– and your pocket’s going to get picked.
January 23, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Ernie's Place
Skippy
You are so right-on that it gives me chills. The corporate take over of the American media is how the American worker, and unions, were defeated. The wealthy control the elections, and the corporations. Wall Street makes a percentage of every dollar that leaves the country. The American worker is dead unless we get smart enough to pull it together. Those that are paying attention know that China now owns us. We were sold to China by the wealthy that are still reaping a profit. The economy of America is getting so poor that China is now subsidizing and dumping their products on us. We will be bled completely dry while Americans argue politics.
Skippy and I will be labeled as alarmist, but at least I will be able to say I told you so. Maybe I will miss Olbermann more than I thought, now that it seems that he was scaring the wealthy controllers.
January 23, 2011 at 8:56 pm
Plain Jane
It’s funny that the corporations fund the Beck’s of the world to preach about how important liberty is while they do business with some of the most corrupt dictators in the world. I guess it’s easier to do business in an authoritarian country than here in the US, fewer people you have to bribe and an oppressed work force. Don’t believe they wouldn’t treat us the same way if they could.
January 23, 2011 at 10:15 pm
skippy
Ernie,
You got it. Nailed it on the head and took it many steps further.
You even hinted who that Big Demon might be. It’s not entirely China; no, it’s much closer to home than that. It will be very clear and won’t surprise you when brought out later. In fact, you already know given your fine observations.
Being around long enough and knowing our history, you’ve seen this before, haven’t you, Ernie? History does seem to repeat itself.
Thank you, Ernie, and I’m humbled by your kind comments.
January 24, 2011 at 7:42 am
Mitch
The irony, skippy and Ernie, is that the “American worker” will line up behind the wealthy against anyone on his or her side. All the wealthy need to do is talk “values,” and show dangerous [blacks, gays, immigrants, Chinese, convicts, ex-cons, Catholics, Jews, atheists, Communists, Socialists] threatening the Merican way of life. It’s almost like shooting fish in a barrel.
January 24, 2011 at 9:43 am
Plain Jane
Robert Parry doesn’t reach the multitudes that Olbermann did, but his in depth journalism is far superior. The archives are a treasure trove of connected dots.
link
January 24, 2011 at 11:07 am
Dave Kirby
Back in the days of Cronkite and Huntley/Brinkley the news was assailed by both the left and right. The left thought these folks were corporate lackeys and the right considered them extensions of the eastern liberal mindset. I think real objective journalism is in danger of disappearing. When I served on the Planning Commission someone told me if the developers and the “nimbys” were equally unhappy with me I was probably doing a good job. Being spoon fed propaganda to support your preconceived opinions is so much junk food for the brain. I know I’ve flogged this horse already but hey my high school english teacher wrote ” redundant, pedantic or just plain wordy” on a lot of my papers.
January 24, 2011 at 11:08 am
Joe Blow
This statement above caught my attention, mostly because the person writing it NEVER takes any personal responsibility for why matters are as they are. In a sense it’s always the DEVIL’S fault. Oh yeah, the statement:
The corporate take over of the American media is how the American worker, and unions, were defeated. The wealthy control the elections, and the corporations. Wall Street makes a percentage of every dollar that leaves the country. The American worker is dead unless we get smart enough to pull it together. Those that are paying attention know that China now owns us. We were sold to China by the wealthy that are still reaping a profit. The economy of America is getting so poor that China is now subsidizing and dumping their products on us. We will be bled completely dry while Americans argue politics.
Note the emphasized sentence? I’d wager a small bet that everyone that agrees with that statement are registered voters and would defend that right to enforce their say, as an expression of their guaranteed Constitutional freedoms, to the death. Unfortunately, if the above statement is to be true, these so-called patriotic voters are really supporting the “wealthy” and not this country. So what’s your bitch? You make this all possible.
By the way, that statement reminds me of the person that got shot right straight in the heart, but his brain hasn’t figured out that he’s already dead. The looting of America is terminal and Obama is making sure. Those few of us that postulated that truth were and are always shouted down and ridiculed by these collaborators.
January 24, 2011 at 11:35 am
Ernie's Place
Joe
Because elections are not black or white. Sometimes we are not given the choice of who we would really like to elect. We get Tweedle-Dee or Tweedle-Dum, both financed by the wealthy. It sure as hell isn’t you or I sponsoring the candidates. Then the media shapes the opinions of their viewers. Look how fast the media changed the opinion about the Internet darling Howard Dean. They made a fool out of him. Did you notice that he didn’t get elected? The media makes us think that we are doing the right thing, then they keep us distracted by causing us to bicker amongst our selves about politics that we really have no control over unless we get smart enough to take the system back.
Just as you rant about what an asshole that I am, there are probably some people out there that would not vote for me because you continually disagree with everything that I say. Perceptions are subtle, and easily influenced.
January 24, 2011 at 12:31 pm
Joe Blow
Ernie, it isn’t my “ranting about what an asshole that you are” that makes you what you are in the minds of others. IT IS YOU all by yourself. All I do is occasionally point that truth out; your inability to separate yourself from what you think and believe. Did I not say that YOU NEVER TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYTHING YOU SAY OR DO? WELL? Read your first paragraph above. Everything you say is about someone or something else that’s responsible. TAKE BACK THE SYSTEM? YOU ARE THE SYSTEM when you knowingly condone, support and collaborate. That’s YOUR Democracy.
When are you going to get it through your head, it is NOT about “agreeing” or “disagreeing.” “Get smart enough”? Just because you’re not able to understand or agree doesn’t mean there aren’t people “smart enough.” When you or your kind are incapable of understanding someone you immediately accuse them of being stupid, uninformed morons. My point was, that when you knowingly support a fixed, corrupt system that devalues and delegitimizes you, so that you can then turn around and blame that system for why you are without any responsibility or accountability, that by definition, is hypocrisy.
If it hasn’t occurred to you yet, YOU made that statement. NOT ME!
January 24, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Arcatawitch
Mr. Boehner, where are the jobs?
January 24, 2011 at 3:21 pm
skippy
Joe, relax. It’s not that big of a deal; a circular argument, a dog chasing it’s tail, an opinion, supposition, conjecture, a mystery wrapped up into a burrito… nothing less and nothing more. Besides, we all like Ernie and want him around for awhile. For the record, it’s my fault, I’m the guy responsible. And I haven’t even addressed the ‘Big Demon’ yet!
We all think differently, a wonderful part of Humboldt and democracy. Thanks for representing… please go easy on those caps. Ouch. Thank you.
January 26, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Joe Blow
Some people should learn to speak for themselves. On second thought, in “skippy’s” case I guess he is.
It’s not the “thinking differently” that’s the problem. It’s the thinking – saying one thing and DOING differently that makes democrat hypocrites. Trying to defend that hypocrisy is what makes them A NUMBER ONE “assholes.”
January 27, 2011 at 12:19 am
skippy
“A difference of opinion is what makes horse racing and missionaries”
“You know everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects”
“Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment”
“An onion can make people cry but there’s never been a vegetable that can make people laugh”
“There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves”
~ Will Rogers, cowboy, humorist, vaudeville actor (1879-1935)
“Do you know what the Danes do when it rains?
…They let it rain”
~(Lt. Col.) William ‘Bill’ G. Thomsen, Loleta dairyman, businessman, MFCC counselor, … and a very wise family man (1916-2010)
January 27, 2011 at 7:29 am
Mitch
Joe,
For what it’s worth, I think skippy has offered you life-changing advice in the words of (Lt Col) Thomsen.
(For me, too. Thanks, skippy.)
January 27, 2011 at 8:56 am
Joe Blow
Too bad it’s only someone’s bullshit worthless unproven opinions anyone can quote. Nothing original here. You’ve got to experience “life” before you can offers some sort of worthless opinion. Maybe you two should try taking your own advise, maybe you’ll survive long enough to learn some of life’s truths.
January 27, 2011 at 10:56 am
skippy
Mitch, thank you. May I relate more about Mr. Thomsen for you and readers?
Born in 1916 with his mother passing 3 weeks later, Bill began his hardworking life in Loleta as a dairyman. Graduating from Berkeley in Economics, he entered WWII fighting from island to island in the South Pacific with the Army’s 7th Amphibious Division. Bill related he was the youngest Captain commanding a boat, “because all the other Captains had been shot out from under me.” Bill never expected to return home but fighting all the way to Japan until the atomic bomb was dropped. Bill did return and was drafted into Korea in 1952, earning his rank of Lt. Colonel.
Returning yet again and a lifelong learner, Mr. Thomsen earned two separate Master degrees– in English and as a Certified MFCC counselor. He was a professor, established a private practice, built a remote homestead and family retreat, played bridge twice a week as a Duplicate Life Master, served on the school board, ran his dairy business, took care of his growing family and friends… and always had a book in his hand! He counseled hundreds of youths on a voluntary basis for a diversion program of the Juvenile Court. Save for the few earlier tropical diseases he had picked up and a heart attack, Mr. Thomsen was as strong as an ox.
Bill also owned… Loleta! Well, he owned the business block. As a shopkeeper explained, “Bill bought the town and charged us all ridiculously low rents– $75 a month– just to keep it alive. Bill saved this town.”
Bill, besides being exceptionally smart and having considerable energy, stamina, and vision, also had a keen awareness of the impermanence and suffering inherent in this world. Having the extreme pleasure of knowing him for many years, Bill did not tolerate injustice, coarse language, bullying, or those who were otherwise vexations to the spirit. He drew on his wells of compassion, generosity, intuition, and patience before recently passing, just 3 weeks shy of his 94th birthday– on Christmas day.
Bill Thomsen was a great man. Many owe so much to him.