Now it really IS the final destination

Aw, man.  George Carlin was one of my all-time favorites.

And you know, I don’t think any of my all-time favorites have passed away before now…it’s a feeling I’ve been waiting for and quietly dreading.  At this moment, it’s six a.m. and I just found out, so I can’t say for sure what it’s like…but I’m sure whatever I do say will pale, shrivel and die of embarrassment next to what Mr. Carlin would have said.  The man had a way with words, their composition and delivery, that you don’t get outside of great poets.  That he used it to simultaneously enlighten and unburden people (because that’s what great entertainment does; it unburdens you, of stress and misgivings) is all the more admirable.

I am, of course, in no position to eulogize for such an august personage, but I can offer what I think are two of his best clips:  The bit on abortion ("anti-abortion is anti-woman"), which will not only live in comedy legend, but eventually be politically vindicated too; and the best defense of sun-worship I’ve ever seen ("religion is bullshit").  Of course, that famous wordplay, and the "dirty words" clips, are some of my favorites too…it’s just that these two are what elevated the man from a comedian to a modern prophet in my personal pantheon.

RIP, dude.  I know they’ll never make another one like you, but I hope they manage to come close some day.  People need it.