A closer look at clowns and Munchkins.

Some crushing, late-breaking news … the Howdygram is mourning Karl Slover, one of the last surviving Munchkins from the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz. He was 93 and died of cardiac arrest on Tuesday in a suburban Atlanta hospital. Karl appears below in a 2007 photo taken at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I truly think those costumes are scary.

Slover said he was paid $50 per week as the main trumpeter in the Munchkinland band and always grumbled that Toto earned more.

In Toto’s defense, he appeared in just about every scene with Judy Garland, saved her life when she was locked up in the witch’s castle and had a MUCH bigger part (and more lines) than Slover or any of the Munchkins. I’m just saying.

A brief note to GOP clown screwball secessionist candidate Rick Perry: your brilliant new anti-government brainstorm already has a name. It’s called SEDITION, and I believe it’s still illegal. Perry wants to make Congressmen part-time positions and cut their salaries in half to drive out entrenched lawmakers and transform the legislative branch into a “citizen Congress.” Conservative pundit Norm Ornstein described Perry’s plan as “lunacy” and noted that we’d end up with a bunch of billionaires in those posts, a presidency with way too much power and Congress absent for half the year. Apparently Perry, whose political viability has been reduced to a nice hairdo, will promote just about ANYTHING to keep his campaign alive.

I should go back to bed now. Thank you for reading this.