Isaac Hayes 1943 - 2008

With his lascivious bass-baritone and flamboyant wardrobe, Hayes developed a musical persona that was an embodiment of the hyper-masculine, street-savvy characters of the so-called blaxploitation films of the era. In his theme song to Gordon Parks’s “Shaft” from 1971, the title character is summed up in a line that has become a classic of kitsch: “Who’s a black private dick/Who’s a sex machine to all the chicks?”

(Furthermore: “He’s a complicated man/But no one understands him but his woman.”)

The “Shaft” theme won an Academy Award and has become one of his best-known songs. But Hayes’s career stretched far beyond soundtracks. For much of the 1960s and into the ’70s he was one of the principal songwriters and performers for Stax Records, the trailblazing Memphis R&B label, and in the 1990s he revived his career by providing the voice for the amorous and wise Chef on the cable television show “South Park.”

"Chocolate Salty Balls", also on the South Park Christmas CD ...

He penned soul classics like ''Hold On I'm Comin''' for Sam & Dave, helped usher in the era of disco and was a goldmine for countless hip-hop and R&B artists who used his illustrious arrangements as the focal point for their songs decades later. ...

His influence also extended beyond music. His trademarked bald head, full beard and muscular frame, often adorned with a multitude of gold chains, made him a fashion trendsetter at a time when most of his contemporaries were sporting blowout Afros. He was also a symbol of black pride, and an activist for civil rights. ...

Hayes also acted in movies including ''Tough Guys,'' ''I'm Gonna Get You Sucka'' and ''Hustle & Flow.'' He had recently completed the movie ''Soul Men,'' in which he played himself; the film also starred Samuel Jackson and Bernie Mac, who died on Saturday after a bout with pneumonia.

I wou;d really like to have the rest of the week off from posting obituaries.

The Weekly Wrangle

Here's the TPA Blog Round-up for the week just passed, and check out The Truth About Texas Republicans, a new blogger-powered website designed to expose the real truth about GOP Texas legislators. The opening posts look at the stuff state representatives Dwayne Bohac, Betty Brown, John Davis, Bill Zedler and State Sen. Mike Jackson don't want you to see.

refinish69 was happy to introduce a real progressive Democrat to the readers of Doing My Part For The Left a few weeks ago, but has to wonder how to describe Michael Skelly: Democrat or Republican Lite?

Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the Texas State Teacher's Association lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency for giving public funds to private institutions.

Irony Alert: Mary McDaniels, Manager - Pipeline Safety, Texas Railroad Commission, lied on camera about the Atmos Energy gas pipeline couplings. She spoke in Fort Worth about pipeline safety, inspections, and regulations for Chesapeake Energy's Barnett Shale pipeline, says TXsharon at Bluedaze.

Julie Pippert at MOMocrats asked: "Offshore drilling -- whose issue is it anyway? The people's? Or the politician's?"

Women who enter the military know they may encounter danger along the way, just as their male counterparts do. Diarist Liberal Texas at Texas Kaos highlights an additional danger they face in Assault on Women in the Military, and calls on all of us to ensure that our fighting women are protected against sexual assault from the companions they should be able to trust.

WhosPlayin used to think John McCain was worthy of respect, even if he was wrong on issues. But mocking conservation and lying about Obama raising taxes demonstrate who John McCain really is.

jobsanger thinks Democrats should let Clinton's backers have their vote at the convention, and believes Barack Obama has a chance to win Texas this November.

Neil at Texas Liberal talks about AIDS and black people.

Due to the purchase of McBlogger by a rival blogging firm, the regular writers are on strike. This week we'd like to introduce you to a new McBlogger, Rose Petal.

North Texas Liberal remarks on John McCain's anti-Obama ad comparing the Democratic nominee to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, and also includes Hilton's response ad. Still waiting on Britney's energy policy...

Off the Kuff takes a look at The Queue behind KBH for her maybe-to-be-abandoned Senate seat.

YaGottaLoveIt of South Texas Chisme urges Barack Obama to have a fundraiser for money that stays in Texas while urging Hillary Clinton to campaign for Rick Noriega in south Texas.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the Williamson County DA's unwillingness to test DNA evidence in a 30-year-old unsolved murder case in Lawsuit Filed Against County For New DNA, Fingerprint Tests.

Tropical Storm Edouard was more like a decent rainstorm, but that didn't stop the media -- old as well as new, including madcap reporter/Congressman John Culberson -- from building it up to a height it could no more sustain than its winds. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has the roundup of the hyperventilating in Houston.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is concerned about the economy in "Purses Tighten, Small Business Suffers, Families Budget".

nytexan at BlueBloggin wonders, as the Georgian-Russian war continues and Bush plays with U.S. athletes at the Olympics ... Could The U.S. Get Pulled Into Georgia’s War?

XicanoPwr discusses the immigration survey that was sent to presidential candidates Obama and McCain put together by The Sanctuary, a web-based grassroots community of pro-migrant, human rights, and civil-rights bloggers.

Late Edition Funnies

EV 8/10: Attack ads work

Let's give the Sunshine State back to McBush, but no other changes from last week.

<p><strong>><a href='http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/campaign08/electoral-college/'>Electoral College Prediction Map</a></strong> - Predict the winner of the general election. Use the map to experiment with winning combinations of states. Save your prediction and send it to friends.</p>

McInsane went into the gutter, and it appears to have worked for him. Whooda thunk?

This in spite of a raft of data denouncing the ads.

So the question begged is: who's telling the truth? The people who say the ads aren't working, or the people being polled?

Here's my humble O: the attack ads are working, and they work particularly well on a portion of the electorate that wants to vote for McCain if he gives them a good enough reason to do so, i.e. the former GOP base who has been disillusioned by Bush, the wars, gasoline prices, the value of their suburban tract home (if they are still in possession of it), etc. and so on. These people despise Obama and the Democrats even more than they do all of those things, but are likely to sit this election out unless they see a Republican party willing to go on the offense against him (and them).

Voters are motivated by a politician -- a political party -- that will fight. Wonder if the Democrats have ever considered that strategy?

Solzhenitsyn, McCullough, and shortly, Newman

Far, far too much sad news this past week:

There remains among Western commentators a surprisingly persistent mythology of Soviet rule. This depicts Stalin as the usurper of Lenin's revolutionary asceticism, with Khrushchev and his successors tempering the bloodiest excesses. In reality, the grey bureaucracy of Khrushchev and Brezhnev laid claim to the individual mind. It defined political difference as mental illness.

On being released from the camps, Solzhenitsyn became the voice and dramatist of the zeks, the prisoners who languished in a system where the merest idiosyncrasy was an antisocial act. He became, with the dissidents Andrei Sakharov and Anatoli Scharansky, a towering moral witness against this system. And he was fearless.

I am reminded of that tiresome conservative canard about liberalism being a mental disorder as I read that last sentence in the first paragraph.

Bernie Mac blended style, authority and a touch of self-aware bluster to make audiences laugh as well as connect with him. For Mac, who died Saturday at age 50, it was a winning mix, delivering him from a poor childhood to stardom as a standup comedian, in films including the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and his acclaimed sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show."

Though his comedy drew on tough experiences as a black man, he had mainstream appeal -- befitting inspiration he found in a wide range of humorists: Harpo Marx as well as Moms Mabley; squeaky-clean Red Skelton, but also the raw Redd Foxx.

Saturday before last my wife and I attended a funeral service for a friend from college -- heart attack at 47 -- who was so much like Bernie Mac it was scary. Terrific smile, wonderful person, gone too soon. Fabulously funny, loved a good party, lived life to the max. Too many more parallels to iterate. His passing last week is magnified by Bernie Mac's this one.

Paul Newman has finished chemotherapy and has told his family he wants to die at home. ...

Yesterday, it was reported in America that Newman, 83, had only weeks to live and had returned home to his wife, Joanne Woodward.

"Paul didn't want to die in the hospital," a source said. "Joanne and his daughters are beside themselves with grief."

The source, described as a close family friend, said that the star had spent the past few weeks getting his affairs in order.

Never Forget: Bush gave up golf because it "just sends the wrong signal"

Three men to help him up, while his wife and daughter avoid even looking.

Legs spread wide, bouncing his knees, casting his eyes around, slapping his miniature American flag against his knee.

I have a feeling George, Jr. was the "Are we there yet?" kid.