Rainy morning thoughts

Jack Anderson — I’m not sure why his death yesterday saddens me as much as it does. I was never a big fan. But when I was earning a journalism degree in the early ’70s, Anderson was one investigative columnist we paid a lot of attention to. Especially during the Watergate mess. Hell, he was on Nixon’s “enemies list.” You gotta respect Anderson for that.

Anonymous white envelopes — When I sort the mail, there are three piles. “A” mail is personal stuff, magazines, bills, etc. “B” mail is so-called “junk mail” that I might be interested in perusing in a day or two. “C” mail is everything else, including mail with no identified sender and obscure PO Box addresses. Here’s what’s really pissing me off. To make us “safer” from identify theft and fraud, many credit card companies are now issuing renewed cards to their customers in plain white envelopes with no identified sender and from obscure PO Box addresses. This, friends, looks just like freakin’ “C” mail — i.e., crap mail. This is the stuff that has always gone into my garbage unopened. But now I have to rip open every piece of anonymous dreck that shows up, just in case... Otherwise, my credit cards go in the garbage and might be found by, who knows? American Express, is this really making me “safer”? For all the money you make, why not FedEx or UPS our cards to us?

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol — Nothing gets me into the Christmas spirit faster than this hour-long TV program from 1962. It was the first-ever animated holiday special made for TV. I’ve watched it every December since I was eight, first on TV, now on DVD. The animation is primitive, but the original songs by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill (all of which I memorized long, long ago) are charming and catchy. And who can resist Jim Backus’s Mr. Magoo as Ebenezer Scrooge? I can’t. Being the first adaptation of the Dickens story I ever saw, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol remains my favorite; only the 1951 movie starring Alastair Sim comes close.