Scott Turner, who runs Rocky Sullivan’s, the pub across the street from IKEA in Red Hook, sent this tribute to George Carlin, who died over the weekend. He also mentioned that there’s a pub quiz this Thursday. Like always.

..and what I want is to pay tribute to George Carlin by listing, in all their glory, the Seven Words You Can’t Say On T.V. Carlin’s routine wasn’t about cheap laughs or working blue, as the old Borscht Belt comics used to call explicit routines. Carlin was pointing out the U.S. government’s usual hypocritical proclivities. In this case, a society that uses these words all the time, except for the tiny little realm called “television.” Like if television programs don’t use dirty words, dirty words don’t exist.

By the way, here’s George Carlin’s take on electoral politics: “It is the illusion of choice.” He’s 99% right…this fall might, for the first time in most of our lives, be the yang to Carlin’s yin. But when the Democrats punked out last week and voted for George Bush’s FISA bill, Dems in New York City favor big real-estate developers over their local constituents clear instructions to stop Bloomberg’s wild-west construction explosion, and those vote against their own best interests in this country — well, it’s easy to see the wisdom of Carlin’s eloquence.

Still, agreeing with Carlin doesn’t mean it’s good to stay away from the voting booth. You want a country that works the way it should? Use all the tools in the shed. Voting’s one of ’em. With a two-party system that works together to keep all other parties out in the cold, it’s not freedom of choice — more like freedom to choose who the folks in Washington tell us to choose from. It’s like only being allowed to buy items that Wal-Mart stocks, and convincing yourself you can purchase anything in the world.

Carlin’s gone, and with it, another gale in our sails. We’ll just have to row harder now.

Rocky Sullivan’s Pub Quiz
Quiz ‘Neath The Stars
General Knowledge Night
with Quizmaster Scott M.X. Turner
This Thursday evening, June 26th
8:00 pm
free admission, potable prizes, per chance wearable winners and aural awards
Rocky Sullivan’s
34 Van Dyke Street
Red Hook, Brooklyn
F/G to Smith/9th Streer -or- F/R to 4th Avenue/9th Street Stations
transfer for the B77 Bus to corner of Van Dyke & Dwight Street, Red Hook
free Ikea shuttle buses and ferries, go here for more info: http://info.ikea-usa.com/brooklyn/
http://www.rockysullivans.com/quiz.html

Here’s his tribute to George Carlin: