We've Lost a Giant.

George Carlin died today. This is a National Tragedy.

In a country which has been veering dangerously off course for 40 years now, Carlin posessed the humor and raw intellect to expose the lies and bullshit of our society in the most eloquent and and memorable terms imaginable.

George Carlin was not just a comedian. I call him: writer, linguist, poet, actor, anthropologist, social scientist, and genius.

I was first introduced to him as a 10-year old, watching his comedy specials on HBO. My brother and I watched Carlin on Campus and Carlin at Carnegie over and over 'til we knew every word by heart.

He was the first host of Saturday Night Live. More recently, he appeared in films by Kevin Smith like Dogma. I consider Kevin a contemporary (17 year-old Mack Arillo=Jay), so I'm sure he was a huge fan of George's as well.

To try and list George Carlin's achievements here would be futile - he was simply so prolific.

I feel that with George dead, somewhere Bush, Cheney, and Co. are smiling, because they know that one of the world's greatest bullshit detectors has passed.

But don't be fooled, George's critical wit was not reserved for the Hawks and Right-wingers. No one was safe.

His disgust for hypocrisy knew no party-lines. Check out his bit on "euphemisms" some time. You'll see why I consider him one of the great linguists of our time.

I'm going to leave you with something a bit more light-hearted today. One of Carlin's most famous skits, and a personal favorite: Baseball and Football.