Eric Cartman

Mr. Garrison, Mr. Hat, and Eric Cartman

Eric Cartman is a nine-year-old, lovable scamp in the charming town of South Park, Colorado.  He was first created as a character in a Christmas message for friends of his creators.  This is that message.  Enjoy this Christmas card on the opposite side of the year!


Mr. Garrison is the Third Grade teacher at South Park Elementary School, Eric Cartman's alma mater.  It appears as though Mr. Garrison does NOT have a Catholic world-view.  Perhaps Mr. Garrison believes in Intelligent Design pseudo-scientific paradigm.  What do you think?

Mr. Garrison seems to have been patterned after William Lloyd Garrison, the great abolishionist from New Bedford, Massachusetts we first met in the Susan B. Anthony post.  

Mr. Garrison's grandson, Oswald Garrison Villard,  was a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).  The NAACP has had many notable degrees to Pope John Paul II, among them W.E.B.DuBois (6 Degrees) and Martin Luther King.

Martin Luther King marched with Archbishop Iakovos by his side.  

Archbishop Iakovos doing what was right.  He got a lot of flack from his flock, but he lead
them anyway.

Archbishop Iakovos is mortor in the corner stone for Orthodox-Roman reunification.  

Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Iakovos

John Belushi

John and Gilda Radner 

Third Degree: John Belushi
John Belushi was an original member of the cast of Saturday Night Live.  Here he is with Jane Curtin, Dan Akroyd, Lorraine Newman, Bill Murry, and Gilda Radner in "Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger."

John Belushi partied with Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams at the Marmont Hotel the night he died.  Here is Williams saluting DeNiro with an AFI lifetime achievement award.

After Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro left John Belushi, his dealer shot Belushi up that night with a speedball (cocaine and heroine,) he died a little while afterward.

Second Degree: Kevin Bacon
Here's another classic from 1978, Animal House.  Here John has a scene with second degree, Kevin Bacon.

First Degrees, Bill Clinton and Bono were in the 2002 documentary, "Elvis Lives" with Kevin Bacon. This also gets Cher, Mary J. Blige, Eric Clapton, John Corbett, and Jon Bon Jovi closer to Pope John Paul II!

Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II

Sasha Baron Cohen

Welcome a month of fools!  Let's start with Borat!

Degree: Sasha Baron Cohen
What month of tricksters would be complete without a mention of Borat, the Kazakstani traveler character who starred in the movie which bears his name.  Here's a clip from the movie.

Fourth Degree: Jason Isaacs
Sasha Baron Cohen went to the Haberdashers' Aske's Boy's School as did Jason Isaacs and Mark Kermode.  You may know Mr. Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies.

Third Degree: Harry Potter
Mr. Isaacs has made appearances in Lucius Malfoy's body, take a look at this outtake from Chamber of Secrets.

Second Degree: Graham Norton
Jason and Graham are long time friends.  Here is Jason on Graham's show discussing his role as Captain Hook in Peter Pan.

First Degree: Roberto Benigni
As mentioned in a previous post, Roberto is one degree from Pope John Paul II.  Here is a video from that original post.  Check it out and take a look at the original post to see clips from Life is Beautiful.

Bill Maher

2 Degrees

Bill Maher and an actor

Second Degree, Bill Maher has made a good living poking fun of well-meaning, misguided Protestants who take the bible as scientific fact.  Are the subjects of his segments the fools, or is it Maher himself.  Take a look at this video (which I could not embed, sorry,) and see what happens when Maher has an intellectual Christian on, in this case, an astronomer priest from the Vatican.

First Degree, Father George Coyne is the Neil Degrasse Tyson of the Vatican.  Though retired, he still makes astronomy understandable to us.  What's more important, he helps us figure out where science leaves off and faith comes into play.  In this culture that demands a choice between faith and science, Father George Coyne helps us choose truth instead.

Pope John Paul II examines a model of the Large Binocular Telescope with its designer, Dr.Roger Angel of the University of Arizona, and Fr. George Coyne S.J., director of the Vatican Observatory, in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1987.

Here is Father Robert Barron giving a Catholic perspective on the bible as science.  

Danny Kaye and Louis Armstrong and Gene Kelly

2 Degrees

Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney
in "Mandy, the Minstrel Number" from
White Christmas

Danny Kay to Rosemary Clooney to John Paul II

See the post on Bing Crosby to find Rosemary's connection to Pope John Paul II.  Rosemary Clooney was connected to Danny Kaye through the film White Christmas.  Here's one of the numbers from that film.  Rosemary Clooney is seated by the window on the left as your watch this clip.

Danny gives an extra degree to Louis Armstrong and Gene Kelley who are thus...

 3 degrees from Pope John Paul II.

Click to see "Make 'em laugh," the most awesome routine in the history of musicals on film.  Danny Kaye gets Gene Kelly and Louis Armstrong a degree closer to Pope John Paul II!  We're not only in the month of fools, but the month of April showers.  Why not sing in the rain?  Enjoy!

Gene Wilder

Fourth Degree, Gene Wilder is seen here as Willy Wonka.
Third Degree, Gilda Radner, late wife of Gene Wilder

Second Degree: Barbara Walters

First Degrees:
Fidel Castro, also featured on the post that bears his name.

Boris Yeltzin

Michael Jackson is connected to JPII in the Kevin Bacon post.  

Barbara Walters interviewed scores of second-degreers.  I'm sure we'll see Ms Walters mentioned in future posts.

Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen 

It's April, the month of fools.  Foolishness can manifest itself in many ways.  Most of the posts this month will be about comedians, but some will be about people who behave in a foolish manner.  As I write this, Charlie Sheen and his antics have become the laughing stock of the United States.  Jimmy Fallon did a remarkably good impression of Charlie for the mock cologne, "Winning."  Take a look.

Note the eyes, disheveled look, and extensive aging
in a relatively short time period.  All signs of substance
abuse.  

To see an extended interview with Charlie on The Today Show, click here.

Sheen's alcoholism and drug abuse is tragic, but sadly, not uncommon.  Charlie insists that he is in control of his substance use, but his life and looks don't agree.  Charlie is blind to the reality of his life, this makes him a tragic fool indeed.

Two sins plague Americans, sloth and gluttony.  I myself struggle furiously with both of these sins, but they manifest themselves in a lack of exercise and overeating.  When we laugh at Charlie, we are avoiding looking at our own sins.

Charlie was born Carlos Estevez.  He has a famous brother, Emilio Estevez, and his father, Martin Sheen are famous actors too.   Martin took the surname, "Sheen" out of love for the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen.  Martin Sheen is a devout Catholic and asks for prayer for his son.
  

Carol O'Conner lost his son to a drug overdose

Several years ago, Martin Sheen turned to his friend, Carol O'Conner, to help Charlie get off of drugs.  Carol, who lost his own son to drug addiction, was instrumental in that episode of recovery for Charlie.  

Charlie Sheen's life is far from "winning" at the moment.  He's lost his job, his wives, his children, and now the respect of the general public.  I will endeavor to refrain from poking fun of this guy.  He thinks he is a king, but is a fool of the most tragic sort.  I hope you will do the same.

This blogger makes a pretty compelling case for Charlie being under the influence of The Evil One.  What do you think?

A word about Heroine

infected track marks on a heroine user

When you think of heroine, think "Winning!!!," and Charlie Sheen's gaunt and crazed expression.  That sense of invincibility and godlike grandeur is what heroine is known for.  It is why it has the name, "heroine."  When you do this drug, you feel like a superhero.  This and all illegal drugs are not regulated for potency and purity.  It is easy to overdose on them with ONE DOSE.

If you are offered this or any other drug (that is not prescribed and is "recreational"), think of Charlie Sheen.  Do you want to be a "winner" too?

Charlie is very right about one thing.  Rehab is notoriously ineffective for longterm success against drug addiction.  Just don't start!