Caspar Weinberger, R.I.P.

Caspar Weinberger has died. He was 88.

In March of 1983, Berkeley Breathed authored a Bloom County strip that still bounces around my headfrom time to time… In this particular strip, detailed nicely by Radley Balko (found after googling “jasper wine and sugar”),

Opus and Milo Bloom are sitting on grassy hill, and Opus begins to recite some poetry:

How I love to watch the morn with golden sun that shines,
up above to nicely warm these frosty toes of mine

The wind doth taste of bittersweet, Like jasper wine and sugar.
I bet it's blown through others' feet, like those of...

(Struggles to think of a rhyme...)

Caspar Weinberger.

At which point Milo, who was enjoying the verse, shouts, "Start over!"

The strip elicited the following response on official stationery from the Department of Defense:

Dear Mr. Breathed,

Many a morn I've longed to see
A comic strip be kind to me.
On 30 March, before my eyes
A penguin watched a warm sunrise.
In this land of so much bounty
Could I have that great Bloom County?

Sincerely,
Caspar Weinberger


R.I.P., Mr. Secretary.