Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Speaking of Cultural Imperialism & No Future For The Youth
The Guardian reports on what it claims to be Sweden's largest pop-kult phenom. (As long as it's not ABBA tribute bands we don't really care.)
No indication that they have anything in for the Black, Death or whatever-the-hell Metallers we've heard tell of in the land where summer means something, but they seem to have known from aggro:
Many will ask, "How does the fascism w/ a human face socialism of Sweden deal w/ this menace to society? Attempt to tax it to death, so all the too-depressed-to-work Swedes can sit around all day & laugh at the suckers who work?" Not quite.
Uh, no comment there, we guess.For young Swedes, these giant American cars, which contrasted with the safe, boxy Volvos their parents drove, were the ultimate symbols of rebellion. And they were dirt-cheap. "They were stupid," Georg says about the Americans. "Some of the cars were limited edition. They built maybe 70 of them and they were selling them to us for a few thousand when they were collector pieces."
Georg picked up his first US muscle car, a black 1965 Pontiac, for $2,000 in Los Angeles in 1980. He found it in a lot, rusted and part-inhabited by a eucalyptus tree. By the time he'd shipped it home, sourced original parts, resprayed and kitted out the whole body, it was worth 20 times as much, with an engine that purred and a stereo that roared. The latter is the only concession to modernity acceptable in a raggare's restored car; music is a huge part of the culture. "You don't exactly want to have hip-hop playing from your car when you're cruising," says Martin, a farmer who drives a lime green Chevy. He listens mostly to Creedence Clearwater Revival. "That music came from a period when America was really great. You can hear it in the lyrics."
No indication that they have anything in for the Black, Death or whatever-the-hell Metallers we've heard tell of in the land where summer means something, but they seem to have known from aggro:
Yes, it said MOTHERFUCKERS, right there in the Guardian, at least on-line. A real First Amendment country.It wasn't always like this, according to Georg. "We used to meet up on Sundays to have fights. We were honest fighters. No weapons, no martial arts, no kicking – and if you fell on the ground it was all over and you'd buy the guy a drink."
The raggare didn't confine the fighting to themselves. They singled out punks and hippies for beatings, and did it so often that the Rude Kids, a Swedish punk band, released a single called Raggare Is a Bunch of Motherfuckers.
Many will ask, "How does the fascism w/ a human face socialism of Sweden deal w/ this menace to society? Attempt to tax it to death, so all the too-depressed-to-work Swedes can sit around all day & laugh at the suckers who work?" Not quite.
It's funny how often the words respect and responsibility are used by a group who take their cues from music and films whose very purpose was to express rebellion. That's partly the result of the Swedish government realising there was more to be gained from embracing the raggare than alienating them. In the 60s, the government made the decision to consult the raggare about decisions that might affect them – so now they pay no car or import tax on their vehicles, and Sweden has the largest collection of classic cars outside the US. Another 6,000 were imported last year alone.What a world.
America Eats Its Young, Part Whatever
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMANTrust the shorter, they say. Meaning we have not/will not read it. (Hell, we won't even link it. If you give a damn, it's at The NYT, in case you hadn't figured that out.) Perhaps the 'Stache condemns the entire developed world, fine by us, we don't limit our hate to America & its institutions.
Today’s youth are growing up in the shadow of three bombs — the nuclear, debt and climate bombs — any one of which could go off and set in motion a radical change in their lives.
The party's over for the youth though. Ha ha. No sooner had they been turned to teen-agers, & become a vital economic demographic, thereby validating them as consumers, even if not actual citizens, the whole thing goes go hell. We got in just in time. (And hope to get out at the right moment too.)
At This Moment
Did Not Fall Off The Edge
Yesterday we had to wake & arise several hours before the crack of noon (The horror, the indignity, the exhaustion!) to trek almost fifteen miles to the very edge of the continent. (Money is the root of early rising & all other evil.) In order that it not be a complete loss, we present some images of what Raymond Chandler called "Bay City." Here one can see the edge of the continent, & fool humanoids defying the tsunami that's bound to come. (Hurry up, damnit!)
The People's Republic appeals to "liberal guilt."
Coastal Defense Emplacement
The Alley of Commodity Fetishism
At the other end of the Alley of Commodity Fetishism, schadenfreude of the first water: This was a Borders Books, Music, Movies & a Cafe a few months ago.
Fans of this web log may remember the editor typing in passing that he was once an employee of said outfit, though not at this particular store, & merely because we told a condescending management shitheel that "We have to get out of here before we kill someone," they fired us. Can you imagine? We are pleased as punch that it's been replaced by an "outlet store." Fucking morons couldn't keep a store going in the very nexus of consumption.
We hope Borders Group still has the lease on the dump & are still losing money hand over fist on the two vacant upper floors. (The Barnes & Noble at the other end of The Alley of Etc. is still in business. Haw!! Justice. Almost.)
7 October: Edgar Allen Poe: Nevermore; Big Day In Debating; Trotsky!!; Teapot Dome Irony; Fox News Debuts; Schaartzenegger "Elected," California Heads For Hell; Tone Loc Popped For Pizza;
Today is Wednesday, Oct. 7, the 280th day of 2009. There are 85 days left in the year. The UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 7, 1929, former Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall, one of the main figures of the Teapot Dome scandal, went on trial in Washington, D.C., charged with accepting a bribe from oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny. (Fall was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison and fined $100,000; he ended up serving nine months. Ironically, Doheny was acquitted at trial of offering the bribe that Fall was convicted of accepting.)
On this date:
In 1765, the Stamp Act Congress convened in New York to draw up colonial grievances against England.
In 1777, the second Battle of Saratoga began during the American Revolution. (British forces under Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered 10 days later.)
In 1849, author Edgar Allan Poe died at age 40.
In 1858, the fifth debate between Illinois senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas took place in Galesburg.
In 1868, Cornell University was inaugurated in Ithaca, N.Y.
In 1879, Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein in Yanovka, Ukraine.
In 1913, for the first time, Henry Ford's entire Highland Park automobile factory was run on a continuously moving assembly line.
In 1916, in the most lopsided football game on record, Georgia Tech humbled Cumberland University, 222-0. [We've been led to understand that our late father was on the losing team in a 104-0 football game in Texas in the '30s. Coulda been that eight-man football they play down there 'cause they're nuts. Either way: Loser. — Ed.]
In 1949, the Republic of East Germany was formed.
In 1960, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy and Republican opponent Richard M. Nixon held their second televised debate, in Washington, D.C.
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the documents of ratification for a nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union.
Thirty years ago, in 1979, Pope John Paul II concluded his weeklong tour of the United States with a Mass on the Washington Mall.
In 1985, Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean. (The hijackers, who killed an elderly Jewish American tourist, Leon Klinghoffer, surrendered two days after taking over the ship.)
Twenty years ago, in 1989, Hungary's Communist Party renounced Marxism in favor of democratic socialism during a party congress in Budapest.
In 1991, University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill publicly accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of making sexually inappropriate comments when she worked for him; Thomas denied Hill's allegations.
In 1996, Fox News Channel made its debut.
In 1997, scientists announced they had found one of the most massive stars known, behind a dense dust cloud in the Milky Way that had previously concealed it. The star was 25,000 light-years from Earth.
In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay college student at the University of Wyoming, was beaten, robbed and left tied to a wooden fence post outside of Laramie; he died five days later. (Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney are serving life sentences for Shepard's murder.)
Ten years ago: American Home Products Corp. resolved one of the biggest product liability cases ever by agreeing to pay up to $4.83 billion to settle claims that the fen-phen diet drug combination caused dangerous heart valve problems.
AP Highlight in [Alternate] History:
On Oct. 7, 2001, the United States and Britain launched air strikes against Taliban positions and Osama bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan; bin Laden praised God for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in a videotaped statement aired on the Arabic satellite station Al-Jazeera. [If Bush hadn't been such a moron on 6 August 2001 ("You've covered your ass.") we could have been bombing them 12 or 13 September 2001, depending on the dateline. — Ed.] In a pre-recorded tape Osama bin Laden warned, "America will not live in peace" until peace came to "Palestine" and "until the army of infidels depart the land of Mohammed."
In 2001, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants wrapped up his record-breaking season with his 73rd homer, while San Diego's Rickey Henderson became the 25th player with 3,000 career hits. [Barry sucks, but Rickey's cool. — Ed.]
In 2002, the sniper terrorizing the Washington area struck again, critically wounding a 13-year-old boy as he was being dropped off at school in Bowie, Md.
In 2003, California voters recalled Gov. Gray Davis and elected actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace him. [Smooth move, you fucking shitheels. Are you happy now, cretins? — Ed.]
Five years ago: President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney conceded that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction as they tried to shift the Iraq war debate to a new issue — whether the invasion was justified because Saddam was abusing a U.N. oil-for-food program. [Oh, why even bother? — Ed.] Two bombs exploded at a gathering of Sunni Muslim radicals in Multan, Pakistan, killing some three dozen people. Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated because of poor health. [Perhaps Ah-node will abdicate because he's a groping jerk-off. — Ed.] Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek won the Nobel Prize in literature.
In 2006, Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who had chronicled Russian military abuses against civilians in Chechnya, was found shot to death in Moscow. Until this is a regular occurence in the United Snakes, fascist right-wing ass-wipes are cordially invited the shut the fuck up about being "silenced" when they are called on their lies & condemned as lying scum. — Ed.] Three former congressional pages joined two others in accusing former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., of making "sexual approaches" over the Internet. Foley had resigned a week earlier when the first of the reports surfaced.
One year ago: The misery worsened on Wall Street, as the Dow lost more than 500 points and all the major indexes slid more than 5 percent. In their second presidential debate, held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain clashed repeatedly over the causes and cures for the economic crisis. Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa of Japan and Yoichiro Nambu of the United States won the Nobel Prize in physics.
Today's Birthdays: Singer Al Martino is 82. Retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu is 78. Comedian Joy Behar ("The View") is 67. Former National Security Council aide Oliver North is 66. Rock musician Kevin Godley (10cc) is 64. Actress Jill Larson ("All My Children") is 62. Country singer Kieran Kane is 60. Singer John Mellencamp is 58. Rock musician Ricky Phillips is 58. Actress Mary Badham is 57. Actress Christopher Norris is 56. Rock musician Tico Torres (Bon Jovi) is 56. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is 54. Gospel singer Michael W. Smith is 52. Actor Dylan Baker is 51. Recording executive and TV personality Simon Cowell ("American Idol") is 50. Rock musician Charlie Marinkovich (Iron Butterfly) is 50. Country singer Dale Watson is 47. Pop singer Ann Curless (Expose) is 46. R&B singer Toni Braxton is 42. Rock singer-musician Thom Yorke (Radiohead) is 41. Rock musician-dancer Leeroy Thornhill is 40. Actress Nicole Ari Parker is 39. Rock singer-musician Damian Kulash is 34. Singer Taylor Hicks ("American Idol") is 33. Actor Omar Benson Miller is 31.
Today In Entertainment History October 7
In 1940, Artie Shaw and his Orchestra recorded Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" for RCA Victor.
In 1950, "Your Hit Parade" was first broadcast on NBC. It started as a radio program in 1935.
In 1954, Marian Anderson became the first black singer hired by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York.
In 1959, singer-actor Mario Lanza died in Rome at age 38.
In 1968, the Motion Picture Association of America adopted its film-rating system, ranging from "G" for general audiences to "X" for adult patrons only.
In 1975, John Lennon won his battle against US immigration authorities when a federal appeals court overturned an order to deport him. Officials had wanted to kick Lennon out of the country because of a drug arrest in Britain.
In 1977, guitarist Steve Hackett left Genesis.
In 1982, the musical "Cats" opened on Broadway, beginning its record run of 7,485 performances. [No one has ever gone broke underestimating the "taste" of the American public. — Ed.]
In 1995, actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen were married on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. Rapper Tone Loc was arrested for allegedly taking $80 from a pizza parlor in Los Angeles, arguing with the owner over a pizza, and demanding his money back. He pleaded no contest to the charges.
In 1996, an alleged shoplifter surrendered to actors Richard Belzer and Clark Johnson after mistaking them for real cops. Belzer and Johnson were filming an episode of "Homicide: Life on the Street."
In 2000, Phish performed its last show before going on hiatus.
Thought for Today:"An egotist is a person of low taste — more interested in himself than in me." — Ambrose Bierce, American author-journalist (1842-1914?).
On Oct. 7, 1929, former Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall, one of the main figures of the Teapot Dome scandal, went on trial in Washington, D.C., charged with accepting a bribe from oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny. (Fall was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison and fined $100,000; he ended up serving nine months. Ironically, Doheny was acquitted at trial of offering the bribe that Fall was convicted of accepting.)
On this date:
In 1765, the Stamp Act Congress convened in New York to draw up colonial grievances against England.
In 1777, the second Battle of Saratoga began during the American Revolution. (British forces under Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered 10 days later.)
In 1849, author Edgar Allan Poe died at age 40.
In 1858, the fifth debate between Illinois senatorial candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas took place in Galesburg.
In 1868, Cornell University was inaugurated in Ithaca, N.Y.
In 1879, Communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky was born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein in Yanovka, Ukraine.
In 1913, for the first time, Henry Ford's entire Highland Park automobile factory was run on a continuously moving assembly line.
In 1916, in the most lopsided football game on record, Georgia Tech humbled Cumberland University, 222-0. [We've been led to understand that our late father was on the losing team in a 104-0 football game in Texas in the '30s. Coulda been that eight-man football they play down there 'cause they're nuts. Either way: Loser. — Ed.]
In 1949, the Republic of East Germany was formed.
In 1960, Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy and Republican opponent Richard M. Nixon held their second televised debate, in Washington, D.C.
In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the documents of ratification for a nuclear test ban treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union.
Thirty years ago, in 1979, Pope John Paul II concluded his weeklong tour of the United States with a Mass on the Washington Mall.
In 1985, Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean. (The hijackers, who killed an elderly Jewish American tourist, Leon Klinghoffer, surrendered two days after taking over the ship.)
Twenty years ago, in 1989, Hungary's Communist Party renounced Marxism in favor of democratic socialism during a party congress in Budapest.
In 1991, University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill publicly accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of making sexually inappropriate comments when she worked for him; Thomas denied Hill's allegations.
In 1996, Fox News Channel made its debut.
In 1997, scientists announced they had found one of the most massive stars known, behind a dense dust cloud in the Milky Way that had previously concealed it. The star was 25,000 light-years from Earth.
In 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay college student at the University of Wyoming, was beaten, robbed and left tied to a wooden fence post outside of Laramie; he died five days later. (Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney are serving life sentences for Shepard's murder.)
AP Highlight in [Alternate] History:
On Oct. 7, 2001, the United States and Britain launched air strikes against Taliban positions and Osama bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan; bin Laden praised God for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in a videotaped statement aired on the Arabic satellite station Al-Jazeera. [If Bush hadn't been such a moron on 6 August 2001 ("You've covered your ass.") we could have been bombing them 12 or 13 September 2001, depending on the dateline. — Ed.] In a pre-recorded tape Osama bin Laden warned, "America will not live in peace" until peace came to "Palestine" and "until the army of infidels depart the land of Mohammed."
In 2001, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants wrapped up his record-breaking season with his 73rd homer, while San Diego's Rickey Henderson became the 25th player with 3,000 career hits. [Barry sucks, but Rickey's cool. — Ed.]
In 2002, the sniper terrorizing the Washington area struck again, critically wounding a 13-year-old boy as he was being dropped off at school in Bowie, Md.
In 2003, California voters recalled Gov. Gray Davis and elected actor Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace him. [Smooth move, you fucking shitheels. Are you happy now, cretins? — Ed.]
Five years ago: President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney conceded that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction as they tried to shift the Iraq war debate to a new issue — whether the invasion was justified because Saddam was abusing a U.N. oil-for-food program. [Oh, why even bother? — Ed.] Two bombs exploded at a gathering of Sunni Muslim radicals in Multan, Pakistan, killing some three dozen people. Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated because of poor health. [Perhaps Ah-node will abdicate because he's a groping jerk-off. — Ed.] Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek won the Nobel Prize in literature.
In 2006, Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who had chronicled Russian military abuses against civilians in Chechnya, was found shot to death in Moscow. Until this is a regular occurence in the United Snakes, fascist right-wing ass-wipes are cordially invited the shut the fuck up about being "silenced" when they are called on their lies & condemned as lying scum. — Ed.] Three former congressional pages joined two others in accusing former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., of making "sexual approaches" over the Internet. Foley had resigned a week earlier when the first of the reports surfaced.
One year ago: The misery worsened on Wall Street, as the Dow lost more than 500 points and all the major indexes slid more than 5 percent. In their second presidential debate, held at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain clashed repeatedly over the causes and cures for the economic crisis. Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa of Japan and Yoichiro Nambu of the United States won the Nobel Prize in physics.
Today's Birthdays: Singer Al Martino is 82. Retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu is 78. Comedian Joy Behar ("The View") is 67. Former National Security Council aide Oliver North is 66. Rock musician Kevin Godley (10cc) is 64. Actress Jill Larson ("All My Children") is 62. Country singer Kieran Kane is 60. Singer John Mellencamp is 58. Rock musician Ricky Phillips is 58. Actress Mary Badham is 57. Actress Christopher Norris is 56. Rock musician Tico Torres (Bon Jovi) is 56. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is 54. Gospel singer Michael W. Smith is 52. Actor Dylan Baker is 51. Recording executive and TV personality Simon Cowell ("American Idol") is 50. Rock musician Charlie Marinkovich (Iron Butterfly) is 50. Country singer Dale Watson is 47. Pop singer Ann Curless (Expose) is 46. R&B singer Toni Braxton is 42. Rock singer-musician Thom Yorke (Radiohead) is 41. Rock musician-dancer Leeroy Thornhill is 40. Actress Nicole Ari Parker is 39. Rock singer-musician Damian Kulash is 34. Singer Taylor Hicks ("American Idol") is 33. Actor Omar Benson Miller is 31.
Today In Entertainment History October 7
In 1940, Artie Shaw and his Orchestra recorded Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" for RCA Victor.
In 1950, "Your Hit Parade" was first broadcast on NBC. It started as a radio program in 1935.
In 1954, Marian Anderson became the first black singer hired by the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York.
In 1959, singer-actor Mario Lanza died in Rome at age 38.
In 1968, the Motion Picture Association of America adopted its film-rating system, ranging from "G" for general audiences to "X" for adult patrons only.
In 1975, John Lennon won his battle against US immigration authorities when a federal appeals court overturned an order to deport him. Officials had wanted to kick Lennon out of the country because of a drug arrest in Britain.
In 1977, guitarist Steve Hackett left Genesis.
In 1982, the musical "Cats" opened on Broadway, beginning its record run of 7,485 performances. [No one has ever gone broke underestimating the "taste" of the American public. — Ed.]
In 1995, actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen were married on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. Rapper Tone Loc was arrested for allegedly taking $80 from a pizza parlor in Los Angeles, arguing with the owner over a pizza, and demanding his money back. He pleaded no contest to the charges.
In 1996, an alleged shoplifter surrendered to actors Richard Belzer and Clark Johnson after mistaking them for real cops. Belzer and Johnson were filming an episode of "Homicide: Life on the Street."
In 2000, Phish performed its last show before going on hiatus.
Thought for Today:"An egotist is a person of low taste — more interested in himself than in me." — Ambrose Bierce, American author-journalist (1842-1914?).
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Mea Culpa
You've probably seen the TNR piece on Betsy (A sixty yr. old "Betsy?") McCaughey & what a lying sack of shit she is.
And their "Gee, we're sorry publishing this horrid woman's lies in 1994 destroyed health care reformapology'regrets.'" (Perhaps Marty Peretz can cough up a few of his wife's zillions to pay some of the families whose loved ones' deaths can be laid directly at TNR's door. You think? Maybe just pay for long term care for some of those screwed up for life as a result of TNR's assholery, but not yet dead?)
Here's one:
To which we can only add: Have you ever seen teeth that large on a humanoid?
We are led to believe that Betsy gets her lunch handed to her in this clipas in the Daily Show clips posted here.
Can't she afford a different outfit?
Also: Further boring "facts" & stuff linked by Royal Crown Thundarr³² in comments.
And their "Gee, we're sorry publishing this horrid woman's lies in 1994 destroyed health care reform
Ha ha. Schadenfreude +. We've only two things to add:Related Links - Betsy McCaughey (12 of 12)
Click here to read Michelle Cottle's new profile of Besty McCaughey.
Click here to read Besty McCaughey's infamous 1994 essay about the Clinton health plan.
Click here to read TNR's regrets about McCaughey's article, and our case for universal health care.
A well-tended 60, she still has a penchant for short, high-slit skirts, revealing blouses, and spike heels--all on display at her afternoon debate with Aaron--which give the impression less of poised-to-kill tiger than on-the-prowl cougar.What, no pictures?
Here's one:
We are led to believe that Betsy gets her lunch handed to her in this clipas in the Daily Show clips posted here.
Can't she afford a different outfit?
Also: Further boring "facts" & stuff linked by Royal Crown Thundarr³² in comments.
The Last Trumpet, Pp. 8 - 11
Not giving anything away (We couldn't, we haven't read any farther than anyone else.) but you don't think that Miles (being, after all, of Jewish heritage) might be the so-called Anti-Christ, do you?
Cheesis K. Rist (UPDATED)
Via a guy in Omaha:
You must click to rollover & find out who is whom.
(We think Bret Favre posed for Jesus.)
Credit where credit is due: If memory serves, Freelancer in Omaha led us to the fickle finger below as well.
UPDATE: A smarty-pants has modified the mouse-overs.
(We think Bret Favre posed for Jesus.)
Credit where credit is due: If memory serves, Freelancer in Omaha led us to the fickle finger below as well.
UPDATE: A smarty-pants has modified the mouse-overs.
Local Nostalgia Action
Fans of Pioneer Chicken & The Starwood will note them at the beginning of this.We've no idea if it was shot in The Starwood. Was the stage that big? Don't bother watching/listening. Suicidal urges are the least of the responses this piece of dreck will cause.
6 October: Who Blamed Poland? HITLER, THAT'S WHO!! Krauts Invade Philly; Talkies Arrive; Sadat Shot; Miracle Mets; Tokyo Rose Sentenced; Mother Goddam Dies In/Near Paris
Today is Tuesday, Oct. 6, the 279th day of 2009. There are 86 days left in the year. [Consider this yr. "86'd." — Ed.] The UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 6, 1939, as remaining military resistance in Poland crumbled, Adolf Hitler delivered a speech to the Reichstag in which he blamed the Poles for the Nazi-Soviet invasion of their country and denied having any intention of war against France and Britain.
On this date:
In 1683, 13 families from Krefeld, Germany, arrived in Philadelphia to begin Germantown, one of America's oldest settlements.
In 1853, Antioch College opened in Yellow Springs, Ohio. It was the first non-sectarian school to offer equal opportunity for both men and women.
In 1884, the Naval War College was established in Newport, R.I.
In 1889, The Moulin Rouge cabaret opened in Paris.
In 1921, sports writer Grantland Rice was at the microphone as the World Series was broadcast on radio for the first time.
Sixty years ago, in 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act, providing $1.3 billion in military aid to NATO countries. U.S.-born Iva Toguri D'Aquino, convicted of treason for being Japanese wartime broadcaster "Tokyo Rose," was sentenced in San Francisco to 10 years in prison. (She ended up serving more than six.)
Forty years ago, in 1969, the New York Mets won the first-ever National League Championship Series, defeating the Atlanta Braves, 7-4, in Game 3; the Baltimore Orioles won the first-ever American League Championship Series, defeating the Minnesota Twins 11-2 in Game 3.
In 1973, war erupted in the Middle East as Egypt and Syria attacked Israel during the Yom Kippur holiday.
In 1976, in his second debate with Jimmy Carter, President Gerald R. Ford asserted there was "no Soviet domination of eastern Europe." (Ford later conceded he'd misspoken.) Sound Bite: President Gerald R. Ford.
Thirty years ago, in 1979, Pope John Paul II, on a weeklong U.S. tour, became the first pontiff to visit the White House, where he was received by President Jimmy Carter. [How many of those creeps have we let in since? — Ed.]
In 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was shot to death by extremists while reviewing a military parade.
In 1985, England's worst post-war race rioting, which began almost a month earlier in Birmingham, spread to the Tottenham section of London. One officer died and 125 people were injured.
In 1987, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 9-5 against the nomination of Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court.
Ten years ago: In Mexico, torrential rains sent swollen rivers raging through the streets of the Gulf Coast city of Villahermosa and caused mudslides; dozens of deaths were reported in eastern Mexico's coastal mountain ranges. The NFL awarded its newest franchise to Houston instead of Los Angeles, leaving the second-largest TV market in the nation without a football team. [No problem. We'll settle for three games on telebision every Sunday (+ SNF). — Ed.]
In 2001, Cal Ripkin Jr. [Hey Reverend Moon, it's spelled Ripken. — Ed.] retired after a spectacular baseball career with the Baltimore Orioles that included playing in a record 2,632 consecutive games.
Five years ago: The top U.S. arms inspector in Iraq, Charles Duelfer, reported finding no evidence Saddam Hussein's regime had produced weapons of mass destruction after 1991. The Senate approved an intelligence reorganization bill endorsed by the Sept. 11th Commission. Israelis Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko and American Irwin Rose won the Nobel Prize in chemistry.
In 2007, Pakistan's Gen. Pervez Musharraf won a presidential election boycotted by most of his opponents.
One year ago: As Wall Street reeled and global markets plunged, President George W. Bush said the U.S. economy was going to be "just fine" in the long run, but cautioned that the massive rescue plan would take time to work. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped to 9,955, its first close below 10,000 since 2004. Congress began investigating what went so wrong on Wall Street to prompt a $700 billion government bailout. Germany's Harald zur Hausen and French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine.
Today's Birthdays: Broadcaster and writer Melvyn Bragg is 70. Actress Britt Ekland is 67. Singer Millie Small is 63.The president of Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams, is 61. Singer-musician Thomas McClary is 60. CBS chief executive officer Les Moonves is 60. Rock singer Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon) is 58. Rock singer-musician David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) is 55. Former NFL player and coach Tony Dungy is 54. Actress Elisabeth Shue is 46. Singer Matthew Sweet is 45. Actress Jacqueline Obradors is 43. Country singer Tim Rushlow is 43. Rock musician Tommy Stinson is 43. Actress Amy Jo Johnson is 39. Actress Emily Mortimer is 38. Actor Lamman Rucker is 38. Actor Ioan Gruffudd is 36. Actor Jeremy Sisto is 35. R&B singer Melinda Doolittle ("American Idol") is 32. Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Richard Seymour is 30.
Today In Entertainment History October 6
In 1927, the era of talking pictures arrived with the opening of "The Jazz Singer," starring Al Jolson.
Forty years ago, in 1969, a George Harrison song became the A-side of a Beatles single for the first time, when The Beatles released "Something" backed with "Come Together."
In 1976, Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots received a gold record for the novelty single "Disco Duck." The single eventually went platinum.
In 1978, Mick Jagger apologized to the Rev. Jesse Jackson for offensive lyrics in the Rolling Stones song "Some Girls," but he refused to change the words. [Unless the lyrics concerned Jackson or his relatives, was it any of his beeswax? — Ed.]
In 1980, the Bee Gees sued their manager and PolyGram Records for $200 million, alleging fraud and misrepresentation. The suit was settled out of court. [Would that have been the Robert Stigwood Organisation? Yes, it would. — Ed.]
In 1988, "Dear John," starring Judd Hirsch, premiered on NBC. [Does anyone remember that? Anyone? — Ed.]
Twenty years ago, in 1989, actress Bette Davis died in Paris after battling cancer. She was 81.
Twenty years ago, in 1989, actress Bette Davis died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, at age 81. [Translation: She died at the "American" Hospital in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. When you read that a show biz (or other well-known) figure passed in Neuilly-sur-Seine, you know they died at the A. H. Also: Do people ever not "battle" cancer? Some people must just give the fuck up. Bag the cliches, AP! — Ed.]
In 1990, Garth Brooks joined the Grand Ole Opry.
In 1991, Elizabeth Taylor married construction worker Larry Fortensky at Michael Jackson's ranch in California. They have since separated.
Thought for Today: "There are plenty of fools in the world; but if they had not been sent for some wise purpose, they wouldn't have been here; and since they are here they have as good a right to have elbow-room in the world as the wisest." — Susan Edmonstone Ferrier, Scottish novelist (1782-1854).
On Oct. 6, 1939, as remaining military resistance in Poland crumbled, Adolf Hitler delivered a speech to the Reichstag in which he blamed the Poles for the Nazi-Soviet invasion of their country and denied having any intention of war against France and Britain.
On this date:
In 1683, 13 families from Krefeld, Germany, arrived in Philadelphia to begin Germantown, one of America's oldest settlements.
In 1853, Antioch College opened in Yellow Springs, Ohio. It was the first non-sectarian school to offer equal opportunity for both men and women.
In 1884, the Naval War College was established in Newport, R.I.
In 1889, The Moulin Rouge cabaret opened in Paris.
In 1921, sports writer Grantland Rice was at the microphone as the World Series was broadcast on radio for the first time.
Sixty years ago, in 1949, President Harry S. Truman signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act, providing $1.3 billion in military aid to NATO countries. U.S.-born Iva Toguri D'Aquino, convicted of treason for being Japanese wartime broadcaster "Tokyo Rose," was sentenced in San Francisco to 10 years in prison. (She ended up serving more than six.)
Forty years ago, in 1969, the New York Mets won the first-ever National League Championship Series, defeating the Atlanta Braves, 7-4, in Game 3; the Baltimore Orioles won the first-ever American League Championship Series, defeating the Minnesota Twins 11-2 in Game 3.
In 1973, war erupted in the Middle East as Egypt and Syria attacked Israel during the Yom Kippur holiday.
In 1976, in his second debate with Jimmy Carter, President Gerald R. Ford asserted there was "no Soviet domination of eastern Europe." (Ford later conceded he'd misspoken.) Sound Bite: President Gerald R. Ford.
Thirty years ago, in 1979, Pope John Paul II, on a weeklong U.S. tour, became the first pontiff to visit the White House, where he was received by President Jimmy Carter. [How many of those creeps have we let in since? — Ed.]
In 1987, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 9-5 against the nomination of Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court.
Ten years ago: In Mexico, torrential rains sent swollen rivers raging through the streets of the Gulf Coast city of Villahermosa and caused mudslides; dozens of deaths were reported in eastern Mexico's coastal mountain ranges. The NFL awarded its newest franchise to Houston instead of Los Angeles, leaving the second-largest TV market in the nation without a football team. [No problem. We'll settle for three games on telebision every Sunday (+ SNF). — Ed.]
In 2001, Cal Ripkin Jr. [Hey Reverend Moon, it's spelled Ripken. — Ed.] retired after a spectacular baseball career with the Baltimore Orioles that included playing in a record 2,632 consecutive games.
Five years ago: The top U.S. arms inspector in Iraq, Charles Duelfer, reported finding no evidence Saddam Hussein's regime had produced weapons of mass destruction after 1991. The Senate approved an intelligence reorganization bill endorsed by the Sept. 11th Commission. Israelis Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko and American Irwin Rose won the Nobel Prize in chemistry.
In 2007, Pakistan's Gen. Pervez Musharraf won a presidential election boycotted by most of his opponents.
One year ago: As Wall Street reeled and global markets plunged, President George W. Bush said the U.S. economy was going to be "just fine" in the long run, but cautioned that the massive rescue plan would take time to work. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped to 9,955, its first close below 10,000 since 2004. Congress began investigating what went so wrong on Wall Street to prompt a $700 billion government bailout. Germany's Harald zur Hausen and French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine.
Today's Birthdays: Broadcaster and writer Melvyn Bragg is 70. Actress Britt Ekland is 67. Singer Millie Small is 63.The president of Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams, is 61. Singer-musician Thomas McClary is 60. CBS chief executive officer Les Moonves is 60. Rock singer Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon) is 58. Rock singer-musician David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) is 55. Former NFL player and coach Tony Dungy is 54. Actress Elisabeth Shue is 46. Singer Matthew Sweet is 45. Actress Jacqueline Obradors is 43. Country singer Tim Rushlow is 43. Rock musician Tommy Stinson is 43. Actress Amy Jo Johnson is 39. Actress Emily Mortimer is 38. Actor Lamman Rucker is 38. Actor Ioan Gruffudd is 36. Actor Jeremy Sisto is 35. R&B singer Melinda Doolittle ("American Idol") is 32. Oakland Raiders defensive tackle Richard Seymour is 30.
Today In Entertainment History October 6
In 1927, the era of talking pictures arrived with the opening of "The Jazz Singer," starring Al Jolson.
Forty years ago, in 1969, a George Harrison song became the A-side of a Beatles single for the first time, when The Beatles released "Something" backed with "Come Together."
In 1976, Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots received a gold record for the novelty single "Disco Duck." The single eventually went platinum.
In 1978, Mick Jagger apologized to the Rev. Jesse Jackson for offensive lyrics in the Rolling Stones song "Some Girls," but he refused to change the words. [Unless the lyrics concerned Jackson or his relatives, was it any of his beeswax? — Ed.]
In 1980, the Bee Gees sued their manager and PolyGram Records for $200 million, alleging fraud and misrepresentation. The suit was settled out of court. [Would that have been the Robert Stigwood Organisation? Yes, it would. — Ed.]
In 1988, "Dear John," starring Judd Hirsch, premiered on NBC. [Does anyone remember that? Anyone? — Ed.]
Twenty years ago, in 1989, actress Bette Davis died in Paris after battling cancer. She was 81.
Twenty years ago, in 1989, actress Bette Davis died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, at age 81. [Translation: She died at the "American" Hospital in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. When you read that a show biz (or other well-known) figure passed in Neuilly-sur-Seine, you know they died at the A. H. Also: Do people ever not "battle" cancer? Some people must just give the fuck up. Bag the cliches, AP! — Ed.]
In 1990, Garth Brooks joined the Grand Ole Opry.
In 1991, Elizabeth Taylor married construction worker Larry Fortensky at Michael Jackson's ranch in California. They have since separated.
Thought for Today: "There are plenty of fools in the world; but if they had not been sent for some wise purpose, they wouldn't have been here; and since they are here they have as good a right to have elbow-room in the world as the wisest." — Susan Edmonstone Ferrier, Scottish novelist (1782-1854).
Monday, October 05, 2009
Apocalypse Soon
Signs of the impending heat-death of the universe: Not only did we shower yesterday, we did today as well. And shaved!! It may happen again tomorrow, though we don't advise any wagering on it.
We do have to get up & go somewhere other than four paces across the bunker to the devil-box (& at an ungawdly hour) so we're caught between water flow/negative ion bombardment to get us going, or staying in the sack another X mins. before absolutely having to get up.
We hate decisions, other than when we hold someone's life in our hands. (Those are easy: Thumbs down, off w/ their heads!!)
We do have to get up & go somewhere other than four paces across the bunker to the devil-box (& at an ungawdly hour) so we're caught between water flow/negative ion bombardment to get us going, or staying in the sack another X mins. before absolutely having to get up.
We hate decisions, other than when we hold someone's life in our hands. (Those are easy: Thumbs down, off w/ their heads!!)
Canada: Retarded Giant To The North*
Via a Canuck, we learn that our brothers, sisters, cousins, other relatives, neighbo(u)rs & friends to the North are attempting to "Stop Spending," or something.
W/ Canadians being all polite & so on, as well as lacking much of a revolutionary tradition (or counter-revolutionary tradition, in this case) we doubt this sort of thing will go very far. Not that we know squat about anything in the Great Whiteness north of us. Or shit about anything that occurs in these United Snakes, either. (Your entire species, especially those who use & abuse the English language, confuses the hell out of us.)
* Stolen from the National Lampoon, where it first appeared 30 or so yrs. ago. (Yes, we've been waiting that long to appropriate it. Actually, we may have already used it, but not in a title.) Don't take it personally, you overly-sensitive gay-marrying frozen fairies! (We don't really think you're all unfailingly polite, all the time, for example.)
W/ Canadians being all polite & so on, as well as lacking much of a revolutionary tradition (or counter-revolutionary tradition, in this case) we doubt this sort of thing will go very far. Not that we know squat about anything in the Great Whiteness north of us. Or shit about anything that occurs in these United Snakes, either. (Your entire species, especially those who use & abuse the English language, confuses the hell out of us.)
* Stolen from the National Lampoon, where it first appeared 30 or so yrs. ago. (Yes, we've been waiting that long to appropriate it. Actually, we may have already used it, but not in a title.) Don't take it personally, you overly-sensitive gay-marrying frozen fairies! (We don't really think you're all unfailingly polite, all the time, for example.)
Newsmax Coup Update
Joe Conason peeps the peeps behind Newsmax & other right-wing lies while revisiting the dimly remembered Clinton yrs., w/ a closing note of warning to the centrist mugwumps in the Executive Mansion.
Extra note: What did Pres. Clinton mean by this?
Yet while the Republican right struggles for credibility, leaving Obama with breathing space, he and his aides ought to reconsider their scornful and high-handed attitude toward the progressive wing of their own party. They might just lose the Democratic majority next year and find themselves facing the sharp end of a series of congressional investigations or worse. If and when that happens, as Clinton could remind them, the progressives will be their only reliable allies.Note: This radical will not be allied w/ any corporate apologists.
Extra note: What did Pres. Clinton mean by this?
"It's not as strong as it was, because America's changed," he told David Gregory on "Meet the Press." "But it's as virulent as it was."It seems to us to be louder than ever, & possibly even more virulent. Not that Clinton can be expected to be objective about it, of course.
5 October: Daltons "Wiped Out"; Earl Warren Swears; "You Bet Your Life" & Python Premier; Beatles Hit Charts; Bakker Convicted; Usual Collection Of Boring, Inane, Show Bidness & Otherwise Drones Born, Die
Today is Monday, Oct. 5, the 278th day of 2009. There are 87 days left in the year. The UPI Almanac.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 5, 1921, the World Series was carried on radio for the first time as Newark, N.J., station WJZ (later WABC) relayed a telephoned play-by-play account of the first game from the Polo Grounds, where the New York Giants were facing the New York Yankees, to a studio announcer who repeated the information on the air. (Although the Yankees won the opener, 3-0, the Giants won the series, 5-3.) [Justice. — Ed.]
On this date:
In 1813, the Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh was killed while fighting on the side of the British during the War of 1812.
In 1829, the 21st president of the United States, Chester Alan Arthur, was born in Fairfield, Vt. (Some sources list 1830.)
In 1892, the Dalton Gang, notorious for its train robberies, was practically wiped out while attempting to rob a pair of banks in Coffeyville, Kan.
In 1918, Germany's Hindenburg Line was broken.
In 1931, Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon completed the first nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean, arriving in Washington state some 41 hours after leaving Japan.
In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for a "quarantine" of aggressor nations.
In 1941, former Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, the first Jewish member of the nation's highest court, died at age 84.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman delivered the first televised White House address as he spoke on the world food crisis.
In 1953, Earl Warren was sworn in as the 14th chief justice of the United States, succeeding Fred M. Vinson.
In 1958, racially desegregated Clinton High School in Clinton, Tenn., was mostly leveled by an early morning bombing. [Must've been violent left-wing extremists, huh, the right in this country being neither racist nor violent. — Ed.]
In 1970, British trade commissioner James Richard Cross was kidnapped in Canada by militant Quebec separatists; he was released the following December.
In 1973, Egypt and Syria, hoping to win back territory lost to Israel during the third Arab-Israeli war, launched a coordinated attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
In 1983, Solidarity founder Lech Walesa was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1986, American Eugene Hasenfus was captured by Sandinista soldiers after the Contra supply plane he was riding in was shot down over southern Nicaragua.
In 1988, Democrat Lloyd Bentsen lambasted Republican Dan Quayle during their vice presidential debate, telling Quayle, "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
Twenty years ago, in 1989, a jury in Charlotte, N.C., convicted former PTL evangelist Jim Bakker of using his TV show to defraud followers. The Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. [Quite a contrast there. — Ed.]
In 1990, a jury in Cincinnati acquitted an art gallery and its director of obscenity charges stemming from an exhibit of sexually graphic photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe.
In 1994, 53 members of a secretive religious cult were found dead -- the victims of murder or suicide -- over a two-day period in Switzerland and Canada.
Ten years ago: It was announced that MCI WorldCom Inc. had agreed to pay $115 billion for Sprint Corp. (However, the deal collapsed less than a year later amid regulators' objections.) Two packed commuter trains collided near London's Paddington Station, killing 31 people.
In 2001, former Senate majority leader and ambassador Mike Mansfield died at age 98, a man died of inhaled anthrax in Boca Raton, Fla. [If you'd like to know his name, or see him treated as if he had been human, watch the AP video above. — Ed.] Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants set a new mark for home runs in a season, hitting his 71st and 72nd in a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers to break Mark McGwire's record of 70 set in 1998. (Bonds finished the season with 73 homers.) [Cheating sack of shit. — Ed.]
In 2003, Israel bombed an Islamic Jihad base in Syria.
Five years ago: Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic rival John Edwards slugged it out over Iraq, jobs and each other's judgment in their one and only debate of the 2004 campaign. Americans' supply of flu vaccine was abruptly cut in half as British regulators unexpectedly shut down Chiron Corp., a major supplier. Americans David Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczeck won the Nobel Prize in physics. Tiger Woods married Swedish model Elin Nordegren in Barbados.
In 2005, defying the White House, the Senate voted 90-9 to approve an amendment that would prohibit the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in U.S. government custody.
One year ago: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Kazakhstan, where she met with Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin; during a news conference, Rice said no one should question Kazakhstan's desire to have good relations with all countries in its region. In the wake of the global financial meltdown, Germany said it would follow suit with Ireland and Greece in guaranteeing all private bank accounts. The Detroit Shock won their third WNBA title in six seasons, beating the San Antonio Silver Stars 76-60 in Game 3.
Today's Birthdays: "Family Circus" cartoonist Bil Keane is 87. Actress Glynis Johns is 86. Comedian Bill Dana is 85. Actress Diane Cilento is 76. The former president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel is 73. College Football Hall of Fame coach Barry Switzer is 72. R&B singer Arlene Smith (The Chantels) is 68. Singer Richard Street is 67. Singer-musician Steve Miller is 66. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., is 66. Rock singer Brian Johnson (AC/DC) is 62. Actor Jeff Conaway is 59. Actress Karen Allen is 58. Writer-producer-director Clive Barker is 57. Rock musician David Bryson (Counting Crows) is 55. Rock singer and famine-relief organizer Bob Geldof is 55. Architect Maya Lin is 50. Actor Daniel Baldwin is 49. Rock singer-musician Dave Dederer is 45. Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux is 44. Actor Guy Pearce is 42. Actress Josie Bissett is 39. Phoenix Suns forward Grant Hill is 37. Singer-actress Heather Headley is 35. Pop-rock singer Colin Meloy (The Decemberists) is 35. Rock musician Brian Mashburn (Save Ferris) is 34. Actress Parminder Nagra is 34. Actor Scott Weinger is 34. Actress Kate Winslet is 34. Rock musician James Valentine (Maroon 5) is 31. Rock musician Paul Thomas (Good Charlotte) is 29. TV personality Nicky Hilton is 26.
Today In Entertainment History October 5
In 1950, the game show "You Bet Your Life" premiered on NBC. Groucho Marx was the host.
In 1959, "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin hit No. 1 on the pop charts.
In 1962, The Beatles' single "Love Me Do" backed with "P.S. I Love You" was released in Britain. It wasn't a hit in the U.S. until 1964.
In 1963, "Casper the Friendly Ghost" made its debut on ABC.
In 1968, Cream began its farewell tour of the US in Oakland, Calif.
Forty years ago, in 1969, the British TV comedy program "Monty Python's Flying Circus" made its debut on BBC 1.In 1988, Smashing Pumpkins played their first show together, at a club in Chicago. They earned $50.
In 1992, former Temptations singer Eddie Kendricks died of lung cancer at an Alabama hospital. He was 52. Kendricks died hours after his doctor announced he had been taken off chemotherapy and had only a few days to live.
In 2004, comedian Rodney Dangerfield died in Los Angeles at age 82.
In 2007, actress Reese Witherspoon and actor Ryan Phillipe were divorced. They had been married seven years.
In 2008, producer and TV personality Lloyd Thaxton died in Los Angeles at age 81.
Thought for Today: The role of a do-gooder is not what actors call a fat part." — Margaret Halsey, American writer (1910-1997).
Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 5, 1921, the World Series was carried on radio for the first time as Newark, N.J., station WJZ (later WABC) relayed a telephoned play-by-play account of the first game from the Polo Grounds, where the New York Giants were facing the New York Yankees, to a studio announcer who repeated the information on the air. (Although the Yankees won the opener, 3-0, the Giants won the series, 5-3.) [Justice. — Ed.]
On this date:
In 1813, the Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh was killed while fighting on the side of the British during the War of 1812.
In 1829, the 21st president of the United States, Chester Alan Arthur, was born in Fairfield, Vt. (Some sources list 1830.)
In 1892, the Dalton Gang, notorious for its train robberies, was practically wiped out while attempting to rob a pair of banks in Coffeyville, Kan.
In 1918, Germany's Hindenburg Line was broken.
In 1931, Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon completed the first nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean, arriving in Washington state some 41 hours after leaving Japan.
In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for a "quarantine" of aggressor nations.
In 1941, former Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis, the first Jewish member of the nation's highest court, died at age 84.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman delivered the first televised White House address as he spoke on the world food crisis.
In 1953, Earl Warren was sworn in as the 14th chief justice of the United States, succeeding Fred M. Vinson.
In 1970, British trade commissioner James Richard Cross was kidnapped in Canada by militant Quebec separatists; he was released the following December.
In 1973, Egypt and Syria, hoping to win back territory lost to Israel during the third Arab-Israeli war, launched a coordinated attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
In 1983, Solidarity founder Lech Walesa was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1986, American Eugene Hasenfus was captured by Sandinista soldiers after the Contra supply plane he was riding in was shot down over southern Nicaragua.
In 1988, Democrat Lloyd Bentsen lambasted Republican Dan Quayle during their vice presidential debate, telling Quayle, "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
Twenty years ago, in 1989, a jury in Charlotte, N.C., convicted former PTL evangelist Jim Bakker of using his TV show to defraud followers. The Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. [Quite a contrast there. — Ed.]
In 1990, a jury in Cincinnati acquitted an art gallery and its director of obscenity charges stemming from an exhibit of sexually graphic photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe.
In 1994, 53 members of a secretive religious cult were found dead -- the victims of murder or suicide -- over a two-day period in Switzerland and Canada.
Ten years ago: It was announced that MCI WorldCom Inc. had agreed to pay $115 billion for Sprint Corp. (However, the deal collapsed less than a year later amid regulators' objections.) Two packed commuter trains collided near London's Paddington Station, killing 31 people.
In 2001, former Senate majority leader and ambassador Mike Mansfield died at age 98, a man died of inhaled anthrax in Boca Raton, Fla. [If you'd like to know his name, or see him treated as if he had been human, watch the AP video above. — Ed.] Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants set a new mark for home runs in a season, hitting his 71st and 72nd in a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers to break Mark McGwire's record of 70 set in 1998. (Bonds finished the season with 73 homers.) [Cheating sack of shit. — Ed.]
In 2003, Israel bombed an Islamic Jihad base in Syria.
Five years ago: Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic rival John Edwards slugged it out over Iraq, jobs and each other's judgment in their one and only debate of the 2004 campaign. Americans' supply of flu vaccine was abruptly cut in half as British regulators unexpectedly shut down Chiron Corp., a major supplier. Americans David Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczeck won the Nobel Prize in physics. Tiger Woods married Swedish model Elin Nordegren in Barbados.
In 2005, defying the White House, the Senate voted 90-9 to approve an amendment that would prohibit the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in U.S. government custody.
One year ago: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Kazakhstan, where she met with Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin; during a news conference, Rice said no one should question Kazakhstan's desire to have good relations with all countries in its region. In the wake of the global financial meltdown, Germany said it would follow suit with Ireland and Greece in guaranteeing all private bank accounts. The Detroit Shock won their third WNBA title in six seasons, beating the San Antonio Silver Stars 76-60 in Game 3.
Today's Birthdays: "Family Circus" cartoonist Bil Keane is 87. Actress Glynis Johns is 86. Comedian Bill Dana is 85. Actress Diane Cilento is 76. The former president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel is 73. College Football Hall of Fame coach Barry Switzer is 72. R&B singer Arlene Smith (The Chantels) is 68. Singer Richard Street is 67. Singer-musician Steve Miller is 66. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., is 66. Rock singer Brian Johnson (AC/DC) is 62. Actor Jeff Conaway is 59. Actress Karen Allen is 58. Writer-producer-director Clive Barker is 57. Rock musician David Bryson (Counting Crows) is 55. Rock singer and famine-relief organizer Bob Geldof is 55. Architect Maya Lin is 50. Actor Daniel Baldwin is 49. Rock singer-musician Dave Dederer is 45. Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux is 44. Actor Guy Pearce is 42. Actress Josie Bissett is 39. Phoenix Suns forward Grant Hill is 37. Singer-actress Heather Headley is 35. Pop-rock singer Colin Meloy (The Decemberists) is 35. Rock musician Brian Mashburn (Save Ferris) is 34. Actress Parminder Nagra is 34. Actor Scott Weinger is 34. Actress Kate Winslet is 34. Rock musician James Valentine (Maroon 5) is 31. Rock musician Paul Thomas (Good Charlotte) is 29. TV personality Nicky Hilton is 26.
Today In Entertainment History October 5
In 1950, the game show "You Bet Your Life" premiered on NBC. Groucho Marx was the host.
In 1959, "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin hit No. 1 on the pop charts.
In 1962, The Beatles' single "Love Me Do" backed with "P.S. I Love You" was released in Britain. It wasn't a hit in the U.S. until 1964.
In 1963, "Casper the Friendly Ghost" made its debut on ABC.
In 1968, Cream began its farewell tour of the US in Oakland, Calif.
Forty years ago, in 1969, the British TV comedy program "Monty Python's Flying Circus" made its debut on BBC 1.In 1988, Smashing Pumpkins played their first show together, at a club in Chicago. They earned $50.
In 1992, former Temptations singer Eddie Kendricks died of lung cancer at an Alabama hospital. He was 52. Kendricks died hours after his doctor announced he had been taken off chemotherapy and had only a few days to live.
In 2004, comedian Rodney Dangerfield died in Los Angeles at age 82.
In 2007, actress Reese Witherspoon and actor Ryan Phillipe were divorced. They had been married seven years.
In 2008, producer and TV personality Lloyd Thaxton died in Los Angeles at age 81.
Thought for Today: The role of a do-gooder is not what actors call a fat part." — Margaret Halsey, American writer (1910-1997).
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Ann Althouse, Photo Analysis Expert
Also, gratuitous insults & the blame game:
And some information for Jason (the commenter): In the great big real world, editors, not photogs, select the photos that are published.
"Fuckin' queers, fuckin' fags/They got my balls in a plastic bag"*
Pay no attention to this crap:
Why not? Because the Royal Army is a bunch of, of, well, let's allow a MAN to explain what they're a bunch of:
* Not to be confused w/ the bowdlerized version: "Fuckin' sheep, I'm on the rag/They got my balls in a plastic bag".
† A British version of career first, country second. See how the mean liberals quash dissent & free speech? A MAN should be able to say anything he wants about anything, including Butt Pirates, & not have to worry about his career.
The advocates of allowing open homosexuals to serve often cite the example of Israel or Britain, both of which have integrated homosexuals into their military services apparently without incident. But they have done so in circumstances which do not allow for any objective assessment of the success or failure of the experiment. In Israel, all citizens must perform military service, which presumably affords much more scope for diluting the impact, if any, of the presence of homosexuals than would be the case in an all-volunteer army like that in the United States. In Britain, the change came about in response to an order from the European Court of Human Rights, whose decrees have the force of law. For this reason, it would not be in the interest of any officer who valued his career prospects† to remark upon any problems that the presence of gay soldiers, sailors, or airmen might be causing in their armed forces. Nor has the performance of the British Army in Iraq or the Royal Navy in the Persian Gulf been such as to render all suspicion of damage to morale, good order, and discipline ridiculous.Got it? The Royal Army & Royal Navy are so full of queers (which the homos on the European Court of Human Rights forced down their throats) that they can't fight worth a damn. So pay no attention to the Limey Queer-in-Chief, he's no manly man.
* Not to be confused w/ the bowdlerized version: "Fuckin' sheep, I'm on the rag/They got my balls in a plastic bag".
† A British version of career first, country second. See how the mean liberals quash dissent & free speech? A MAN should be able to say anything he wants about anything, including Butt Pirates, & not have to worry about his career.
Water, Water, Everywhere, Most Of It Contaminated W/ Human Waste & Motor Oil
More water main breaks, this one too close for comfort.
Good thing we showered today, it may have to last another wk.The third break occurred on St. Andrews Place near 4th Street in the Koreatown area shortly before 5:30 a.m., causing minor damage to the street and shutting water to a couple of hundred customers in nearby apartment buildings, Galbraith said. The repairs are expected to be completed about 6 p.m., she said.
Galbraith said the city experiences about three or four minor main breaks a day.
Priestettes Bless Animals In Pagan Ceremony That Strikes At The Very Root of Christianity
We aren't going to type word one about lesbian man-haters hugging trees & thinking animals are more important than people. Not one word.
CONSUMER WARNING: Bent Over/Doubled Up/I Did The Vom/In A Blind-O's Cup
Seem to have acquired a dose of E. Coli, X-style "Nausea" or something not-good from a load of hamburger purchased at JON'S MARKET RIGHT THERE ON THIRD BETWEEN NORMANDIE & VERMONT!
Local food buyers are warned accordingly. As is JON'S, which may well be consumed in flames as early as tomorrow evening, assuming we can get enough accelerant on our daily trip "outside" to make it worth the effort.
By the way, those disappointed that we've not yet acted on our non-threat to burn FRY's Electronics to the ground
It's time for consumer revolution in this nation of sheep. It will start w/ the broken window (one window, one stone) heard round the world that's going to be occurring at JON"S MARKET later tonight, or early tomorrow. Off the pig.
Local food buyers are warned accordingly. As is JON'S, which may well be consumed in flames as early as tomorrow evening, assuming we can get enough accelerant on our daily trip "outside" to make it worth the effort.
By the way, those disappointed that we've not yet acted on our non-threat to burn FRY's Electronics to the ground
(We were going to make arson threats — we're too cheap, lazy & ignorant for bomb-building — but as our recent encounters w/ probability have indicated, the place would probably burn down as soon as we published our impotent threats, whether from Fry's' incompetence or because another indignant customer has taken justice into his or her hands, & we'd get spotted on the web as suspect numero uno. So please do not take this as even the slightest suggestion that we would dump can after can of gas or another flammable all around the perimeter of Fry's Electronics, casually flick the lit butt of one of our Camel straights into the liquid pooled around the building & run like hell, pausing only to enjoy our handiwork adding light to the already hellish skies of Burbank. Don't even imagine that for one minute, Burbank Arson Squad.)may rest assured that the only thing holding us back is lack of a co-conspirator to transport us to the wilds of Burbank w/ gas cans. Wimps. Although, in the two birds w/ one stone dep't., we may soon be traveling to Burbank to take advantage of the IKEA wall of replacement parts. Why shouldn't we stop by Fry's about three a.m.?
It's time for consumer revolution in this nation of sheep. It will start w/ the broken window (one window, one stone) heard round the world that's going to be occurring at JON"S MARKET later tonight, or early tomorrow. Off the pig.
Why Am I Living? Why Am I Still Alive?
Apologies to the spiders whose webs were disturbed by our sudden fit of cleanliness. Next agonies: Dressing, leaving comfy brick bunker (A pleasant 73℉ as we type) walking three+ blks. (And three+ blks. back!!) to obtain Sunday fish-wrapper & Camels™. (Currently smoking post-shower last butt.)
Future troubles we anticipate: Necessity of doing laundry. (Only one pair of clean FTLs once we've dressed for the wk.)
Future troubles we anticipate: Necessity of doing laundry. (Only one pair of clean FTLs once we've dressed for the wk.)
On A Personal Note
Not having douched since last Sun., there will be a pause in the disaster as we hose ourself off.
The solitary life is quite enjoyable, until the stench dominates. Fortunately, 40+ yrs. of drinking, smoking, spicy (often "furrin") food & the like have left our receptors barely able to notice a gas leak. Really, it's the grease build-up in the hair (from our all-meat, all the time diet) that motivates this.
The solitary life is quite enjoyable, until the stench dominates. Fortunately, 40+ yrs. of drinking, smoking, spicy (often "furrin") food & the like have left our receptors barely able to notice a gas leak. Really, it's the grease build-up in the hair (from our all-meat, all the time diet) that motivates this.
This Wk.'s No Fun League Bottom Ten
October 1, 2009
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times
[Ooops, meant for this to appear earlier, as we assumed it would irk 'Skins enthusiast Mr. Thunderous 32 R. C. Nothing personal, as if anything is in the electron world. — Ed.]
4 October: Sputnik 1: A Yr. Later, Jet Travel, The Next Yr., Luna 3; Pope Discovers New World, Late As Usual; Body Dragged; Anthrax; & No More Butz
Today is Sunday, Oct. 4, the 277th day of 2009. There are 88 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 4, 1957, the Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit.
On this date:
In 1777, Gen. George Washington's troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Pa., resulting in heavy American casualties.
In 1822, the 19th president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, was born in Delaware, Ohio.
In 1895, the first U.S. Open golf tournament was held, at the Newport Country Club in Rhode Island.
In 1887, the International Herald Tribune had its beginnings as the Paris Herald, a European edition of the New York Herald.
In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini conferred at Brenner Pass in the Alps.
In 1957, Jimmy Hoffa was elected president of the Teamsters Union.
In 1958, the first trans-Atlantic passenger jetliner service was begun by the British Overseas Airways Corporation, or BOAC, with flights between London and New York.
Fifty years ago, in 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 3, a space probe which transmitted images of the far side of the moon.
In 1965, Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit the Western Hemisphere as he addressed the U.N. General Assembly.
In 1976, agriculture secretary Earl Butz resigned in the wake of a controversy over a joke he'd made about blacks. ["Loose shoes, tight pussy & a warm place to shit," that's all the colored man wants, per Sec. Butz. — Ed.]
In 1985, Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying it had killed American hostage William Buckley.
In 1990, German lawmakers held the first meeting of the reunified country's parliament in the Reichstag in Berlin.
In 1993, dozens of cheering, dancing Somalis dragged the body of an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu.
Ten years ago: An Illinois jury ordered State Farm to pay $456 million to 4.7 million customers in a class-action lawsuit accusing the nation's largest car insurer of using inferior parts for auto body repairs. (Four days later, the judge ruled State Farm had committed fraud, and awarded $730 million in actual and punitive damages on top of the jury verdict. In 2005, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the judgment, saying the lawsuit never should have been given class-action status.)
In 2001, Barry Bonds hit his 70th home run in a game against the Houston Astros to tie Mark McGwire's single-season record. (Bonds finished the season with 73 homers.) Authorities said a man in Boca Raton, Fla., had contracted the inhaled form of anthrax; he died the following day.
In 2002, John Walker Lindh, the so-called "American Taliban," was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a federal judge in Alexandria, Va. Richard Reid pleaded guilty in a federal court in Boston to trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.
Five years ago: The SpaceShipOne rocket plane broke through Earth's atmosphere to the edge of space for the second time in five days, capturing the $10 million Ansari X prize aimed at opening the final frontier to tourists. Pioneering astronaut Gordon Cooper died in Ventura, Calif., at age 77. American researchers Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their studies on humans' sense of smell.
One year ago: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with her Indian counterpart, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in New Delhi, where they lauded but did not sign a new agreement opening up U.S. nuclear trade with India. The U.S. military said it had killed an al-Qaida in Iraq leader (Mahir Ahmad Mahmud al-Zubaydi) suspected of masterminding one of the deadliest attacks in Baghdad, several other recent bombings and the 2006 videotaped killing of a Russian official. A North Korean news agency reported on Kim Jong Il's first public appearance in nearly two months.
Today's Birthdays:Country singer Leroy Van Dyke is 80. Actress Felicia Farr is 77. Pro Football Hall of Famer Sam Huff is 75. Actor Eddie Applegate is 74. Author Roy Blount Jr. is 68. Author Anne Rice is 68. Actress Lori Saunders ("Petticoat Junction") is 68. St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is 65. Actor Clifton Davis is 64. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, is 63. Actress Susan Sarandon is 63. Blues musician Duke Robillard is 61. Playwright Lee Blessing is 60. Actor Armand Assante is 60. Actor Alan Rosenberg is 59. Actor Bill Fagerbakke is 52. Producer Russell Simmons is 52. Musician Chris Lowe (The Pet Shop Boys) is 50. Country musician Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard (Sawyer Brown) is 49. Actor David W. Harper is 48. Singer Jon Secada is 48. TV personality John Melendez is 44. Actor Liev Schreiber is 42. Actor Abraham Benrubi is 40. Country singer-musician Heidi Newfield is 39. Rock musician Andy Parle is 39. Actress Alicia Silverstone is 33. Actor Phillip Glasser is 31. Rock singer-musician Marc Roberge (O.A.R.) is 31. Actress Rachael Leigh Cook is 30. Actor Jimmy Workman is 29. R&B singer Jessica Benson (3lw) is 22. Actor Michael Charles Roman is 22. Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose is 21.
Today In Entertainment History October 4
In 1895, silent film comedian Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kan.
In 1923, actor Charlton Heston was born John Charles Carter in Evanston, Ill.
In 1931, the comic strip "Dick Tracy," created by Chester Gould, made its debut.
In 1957, "Leave It To Beaver" made its debut on CBS. After a year, the show switched to ABC and ran until 1963.
In 1961, Bob Dylan made his concert hall debut in New York. About 50 people attended, mostly his friends, and he earned $20.
In 1970, singer Janis Joplin was found dead of a heroin overdose at a hotel in Hollywood. She was 27. She had just finished recording the album "Pearl."
In 1980, singer Carly Simon collapsed due to exhaustion on stage in Pittsburgh. She ended up canceling her tour.
Twenty years ago, in 1989, comedian Graham Chapman of Monty Python's Flying Circus died. He was 48.
In 1990, "Beverly Hills 90210" premiered on Fox.
In 1992, singer Sinead O'Connor ripped up a picture of the pope during an after-midnight appearance on "Saturday Night Live." NBC's switchboard in New York was flooded with calls, most of them criticizing O'Connor's actions. [Not our calls. Off the Pope, & all he stands for! — Ed.
Thought for Today: "Knowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested." — Guinean saying.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 4, 1957, the Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit.
In 1777, Gen. George Washington's troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Pa., resulting in heavy American casualties.
In 1822, the 19th president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, was born in Delaware, Ohio.
In 1887, the International Herald Tribune had its beginnings as the Paris Herald, a European edition of the New York Herald.
In 1940, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini conferred at Brenner Pass in the Alps.
In 1957, Jimmy Hoffa was elected president of the Teamsters Union.
In 1958, the first trans-Atlantic passenger jetliner service was begun by the British Overseas Airways Corporation, or BOAC, with flights between London and New York.
Fifty years ago, in 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 3, a space probe which transmitted images of the far side of the moon.
In 1965, Pope Paul VI became the first pope to visit the Western Hemisphere as he addressed the U.N. General Assembly.
In 1976, agriculture secretary Earl Butz resigned in the wake of a controversy over a joke he'd made about blacks. ["Loose shoes, tight pussy & a warm place to shit," that's all the colored man wants, per Sec. Butz. — Ed.]
In 1985, Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying it had killed American hostage William Buckley.
In 1990, German lawmakers held the first meeting of the reunified country's parliament in the Reichstag in Berlin.
In 1993, dozens of cheering, dancing Somalis dragged the body of an American soldier through the streets of Mogadishu.
Ten years ago: An Illinois jury ordered State Farm to pay $456 million to 4.7 million customers in a class-action lawsuit accusing the nation's largest car insurer of using inferior parts for auto body repairs. (Four days later, the judge ruled State Farm had committed fraud, and awarded $730 million in actual and punitive damages on top of the jury verdict. In 2005, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the judgment, saying the lawsuit never should have been given class-action status.)
In 2001, Barry Bonds hit his 70th home run in a game against the Houston Astros to tie Mark McGwire's single-season record. (Bonds finished the season with 73 homers.) Authorities said a man in Boca Raton, Fla., had contracted the inhaled form of anthrax; he died the following day.
In 2002, John Walker Lindh, the so-called "American Taliban," was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a federal judge in Alexandria, Va. Richard Reid pleaded guilty in a federal court in Boston to trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.
Five years ago: The SpaceShipOne rocket plane broke through Earth's atmosphere to the edge of space for the second time in five days, capturing the $10 million Ansari X prize aimed at opening the final frontier to tourists. Pioneering astronaut Gordon Cooper died in Ventura, Calif., at age 77. American researchers Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their studies on humans' sense of smell.
One year ago: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with her Indian counterpart, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in New Delhi, where they lauded but did not sign a new agreement opening up U.S. nuclear trade with India. The U.S. military said it had killed an al-Qaida in Iraq leader (Mahir Ahmad Mahmud al-Zubaydi) suspected of masterminding one of the deadliest attacks in Baghdad, several other recent bombings and the 2006 videotaped killing of a Russian official. A North Korean news agency reported on Kim Jong Il's first public appearance in nearly two months.
Today's Birthdays:Country singer Leroy Van Dyke is 80. Actress Felicia Farr is 77. Pro Football Hall of Famer Sam Huff is 75. Actor Eddie Applegate is 74. Author Roy Blount Jr. is 68. Author Anne Rice is 68. Actress Lori Saunders ("Petticoat Junction") is 68. St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is 65. Actor Clifton Davis is 64. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, is 63. Actress Susan Sarandon is 63. Blues musician Duke Robillard is 61. Playwright Lee Blessing is 60. Actor Armand Assante is 60. Actor Alan Rosenberg is 59. Actor Bill Fagerbakke is 52. Producer Russell Simmons is 52. Musician Chris Lowe (The Pet Shop Boys) is 50. Country musician Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard (Sawyer Brown) is 49. Actor David W. Harper is 48. Singer Jon Secada is 48. TV personality John Melendez is 44. Actor Liev Schreiber is 42. Actor Abraham Benrubi is 40. Country singer-musician Heidi Newfield is 39. Rock musician Andy Parle is 39. Actress Alicia Silverstone is 33. Actor Phillip Glasser is 31. Rock singer-musician Marc Roberge (O.A.R.) is 31. Actress Rachael Leigh Cook is 30. Actor Jimmy Workman is 29. R&B singer Jessica Benson (3lw) is 22. Actor Michael Charles Roman is 22. Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose is 21.
Today In Entertainment History October 4
In 1895, silent film comedian Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kan.
In 1923, actor Charlton Heston was born John Charles Carter in Evanston, Ill.
In 1931, the comic strip "Dick Tracy," created by Chester Gould, made its debut.
In 1957, "Leave It To Beaver" made its debut on CBS. After a year, the show switched to ABC and ran until 1963.
In 1961, Bob Dylan made his concert hall debut in New York. About 50 people attended, mostly his friends, and he earned $20.
In 1970, singer Janis Joplin was found dead of a heroin overdose at a hotel in Hollywood. She was 27. She had just finished recording the album "Pearl."
Twenty years ago, in 1989, comedian Graham Chapman of Monty Python's Flying Circus died. He was 48.
In 1990, "Beverly Hills 90210" premiered on Fox.
In 1992, singer Sinead O'Connor ripped up a picture of the pope during an after-midnight appearance on "Saturday Night Live." NBC's switchboard in New York was flooded with calls, most of them criticizing O'Connor's actions. [Not our calls. Off the Pope, & all he stands for! — Ed.
Thought for Today: "Knowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested." — Guinean saying.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
American Newstand
From The Atlantic (eviscerated twice below) to another once great (at least tolerable) institution, The New Republic. We kid (Because we hate!); we're entirely w/ New Repper Isaac Chotiner on this'n. And of course amused by what he mocks.
The Worst Argument You've Ever Read For Banning Openly Gay People From the Military
A tease:Don't you remember the days when real men walked the earth? No? Well at least you can study ancient times. Bowman, unsurprisingly, has written a book called Honor: A History. (Do conservatives ever get tired of this stuff?) He also works for an outfit called The Ethics and Public Policy Center, which, according to its website, "was established in 1976 to clarify and reinforce the bond between the Judeo-Christian moral tradition and the public debate over domestic and foreign policy issues."In addition: Cineastes should investigate the TNR comments; the very first is a review of Alien Resurrection by real man typist Bowman. Spoiler Alert: Winona Ryder plays a "lesbian android." (Now he's spoiled it for us.)
Under One's Nose II
At The Atlantic, ace (or crack) reporter Jeffrey Goldberg, apparently wandering around in a fog, is bumping into things.
Apparently I asked Lindsey Graham today at the Atlantic's Washington Ideas Forum what he thought of Glenn Beck, and apparently he said something funny. It's always hard to know what's happening when you're doing the interview, but I thought Graham was, for Washington, candid.Huh? (Our emphases.)
Seeing What's Under One's Nose
From fadedjeans61 in YouTube comments:
This is John Clarke and Bryan Dawe who did this sort of skit at the end of every week on a local current affairs show. They would choose a story from that week and do a mock interview about it. The incident was real, the interview was not. Bryan is the interviewer, John is the "politician".Faith. Makes you a sucker every time.
In all seriousness, besides the ridiculous answers, didn't the rapid-fire delivery & lack of any pause or hesitation in the answers (or questions) indicate anything to Andy? Isn't his insignificant other an actor? Shouldn't someone, somewhere, be able to figure this sort of thing out, or do the incredible research of reading the comments? (Granted, wading through YouTube Comments is a job of Herculean stable-cleaning proportions, but you're getting paid for this, & we aren't, Sulllivan!!!!one12! Jesus.)
From First Things (While You're There, Don't Miss The Anchoress)
Another rightist (& Catholic, we suppose) has removed his head from the darkness, wiped all the stuff from his eyelids, seen what is surrounding him, & started to worry. This is beginning to be standard procedure (see the Brooks column, mentioned in the depths there) among other-side-of-the-aislers who have to appear intellectual & rational to draw their paychecks. This one amused us because it veers into "foundational" crap (We said Catholic, remember?) which points out the incompatibility of whatever thought goes on over there, cutely described as "libertarian populism inflected with social conservative attachments — an unholy hybrid of Ayn Rand, William Jennings Bryan, and Morton Downey, Jr." Which leads to the author's concern about cults & personalities. Worth a read (we all like our prejudices confirmed) but if it hadn't been for this kind of shit
And (You must have noticed.) a Catholic calls "the political left" irrational. And "insular." A Catholic. Sure. In Carter's Bizarro World all of the left is busily crying over its Vapor-Rubbed upper lip while getting marching orders from the foaming-at-the-mouth-liberal fascisti of NPR. And it is a Bizarro World. "Conservatism has never exactly been a bookish movement," he types. So ... he wants to make conservAmericans read.
The American right has begun to mimic the left in adopting a perverse form of political syncretism. A decade ago we’d mock well-intentioned, but misguided, liberals for being so intent on advancing their cause that they’d gloss over the views of their nutcase, extremist radical allies.or this
The result is that the conservative movement is becoming increasingly ineffective, insular, and irrational — in other words, we’re becoming the mirror image of the political left.we might not have bothered, but fuck you, Joe Carter, whoever you may be. Once you've pulled that beam from your gawd-fearing eye, could you please elaborate just a bit on the monolithic left's nutcase extremist radical allies of a "decade ago?" Let's see, radical extremist nutcases, 1999, uh, Republicans impeaching the President? Anarchists at the WTO meeting? Really, what?
And (You must have noticed.) a Catholic calls "the political left" irrational. And "insular." A Catholic. Sure. In Carter's Bizarro World all of the left is busily crying over its Vapor-Rubbed upper lip while getting marching orders from the foaming-at-the-mouth-liberal fascisti of NPR. And it is a Bizarro World. "Conservatism has never exactly been a bookish movement," he types. So ... he wants to make conservAmericans read.
But it doesn’t have to be this way, does it? Isn’t it possible that we could create a movement where people read books—real books, not insta-books ghostwritten for a former Morning Zoo DJs or brick-sized political novels about narcissistic atheist industrialists? Is it too much to ask that ideas be presented to us in a sober manner rather than like a dramatic reading of the apocalyptic Left Behind novels? Shouldn’t we hold our pundits and politicians to the same standard of behavior—no screaming, lying, talking gibberish, or fake crying on national television—that we expect of our children?Uh, do you live in this country? Have you lived here long? Are you (like The Anchoress) cooped up in a monastic cell somewhere, the merest of slits admitting light & air? Jesus.
3 October: Thanksgiving Crap Declared; Limeys Nuke Oz; O. J. Simpson Acquitted, Then Found Guilty; Cap't. Kangaroo, Elvis Make Pro Debuts; Krauts Reunite, Immediately Begin To Plot World Domination & "The Shot Heard 'Round The World"
Today is Saturday, Oct. 3, the 276th day of 2009. There are 89 days left in the year. The UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 3, 1789, President George Washington declared Nov. 26, 1789, a day of Thanksgiving to express gratitude for the creation of the United States of America. (On this date in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day.)
On this date:
In 1226, St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order, died; he was canonized in 1228. [Kind of a rush job there. — Ed.]
In 1929, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes formally changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
In 1941, Adolf Hitler declared in a speech in Berlin that Russia had been "broken" and would "never rise again."
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Office of Economic Stabilization.
In 1951, in the deciding game of a three-game playoff series, the New York Giants captured the National League pennant as Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning off the Brooklyn Dodgers' Ralph Branca in the "shot heard 'round the world." Sound Bite: Sportscaster Russ Hodges (to whom we used to listen an infinity & several lifetimes ago).
In 1952, Britain conducted its first atomic test as it detonated a 25-kiloton device in the Monte Bello Islands off Australia.
In 1962, astronaut Wally Schirra blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Sigma 7 on a nine-hour flight.
In 1974, Frank Robinson was named major league baseball's first black manager as he was put in charge of the Cleveland Indians.
In 1981, Irish nationalists at the Maze Prison near Belfast, Northern Ireland, ended seven months of hunger strikes that had claimed 10 lives.
In 1988, Lebanese kidnappers released Indian educator Mithileshwar Singh, who'd been held captive with three Americans for more than 20 months.
In 1990, West Germany and East Germany ended 45 years of postwar division, declaring the creation of a new unified country.
In 1995, the jury in the O.J. Simpson murder trial found the former football star not guilty of the 1994 slayings of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. (However, Simpson was later found liable in a civil trial.)
In 1997, Attorney General Janet Reno said she had found no evidence that President Bill Clinton broke the law with White House coffees and overnight stays for big contributors.
Ten years ago: Sony co-founder Akio Morita, the entrepreneur, engineer and savvy salesman who helped give new meaning to the words "Made in Japan," died in Tokyo at age 78.
In 2001, the Senate approved an agreement normalizing trade between the United States and Vietnam.
In 2002, five people were shot to death in the Washington, D.C., area within a 14-hour period, beginning the hunt for the "Beltway Sniper." (In all, 10 people were killed; mastermind John Allen Muhammad and teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo were later caught.)
Five years ago: National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, interviewed on ABC's "This Week" program, defended her characterization of Saddam Hussein's nuclear capabilities in the months before the Iraq invasion.
In 2005, President George W. Bush nominated White House counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. (Miers withdrew three weeks later after criticism over her lack of judicial experience and Republican concerns about her conservatism.)
One year ago: Amid dire warnings of economic disaster, a reluctant Congress abruptly reversed course and approved a historic $700 billion government bailout of the battered financial industry; President George W. Bush swiftly signed it. Thirteen years to the day after O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, the former football star was found guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room. (Simpson was later sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison.)
Today's Birthdays: Author Gore Vidal is 84. Basketball player Marques Haynes is 83. Composer Steve Reich is 73. Singer Alan O'Day is 69. Rock and roll star Chubby Checker is 68. Actor Alan Rachins is 67. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is 66. Magician Roy Horn is 65. Singer Lindsey Buckingham is 60. Jazz musician Ronnie Laws is 59. Blues singer Keb' Mo' is 58. Former astronaut Kathryn Sullivan is 58. Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield is 58. Baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley is 55. Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton is 55. Actor Hart Bochner is 53. Actor Peter Frechette is 53. Golfer Fred Couples is 50. Actor Jack Wagner is 50. Rock musician Tommy Lee is 47. Actor Clive Owen is 45. Actress Janel Moloney is 40. Singer Gwen Stefani (No Doubt) is 40. Pop singer Kevin Richardson is 38. Rock singer G. Love is 37. Actress Keiko Agena is 36. Actress Neve Campbell is 36. Singer India.Arie is 34. Rapper Talib Kweli is 34. Actress Alanna Ubach is 34. Actor Seann William Scott is 33. Actress Shannyn Sossamon is 31. Actor Seth Gabel is 28. Rock musician Mark King (Hinder) is 27. Actor Erik Von Detten is 27. Actress-singer Ashlee Simpson-Wentz is 25.
Today In Entertainment History October 3
In 1941, the film "The Maltese Falcon" opened.
In 1945, 10-year-old Elvis Presley made his first public appearance in a talent show at the Mississippi-Alabama Dairy Show, singing "Old Shep." He won second place and five dollars.
In 1954, "Father Knows Best" premiered on CBS.
In 1955, "Captain Kangaroo" premiered on CBS, and "The Mickey Mouse Club" made its debut on ABC.
In 1957, "The Woody Woodpecker Show" made its premiere on ABC.
In 1967, folk singer Woody Guthrie died in New York at the age of 55. Guthrie had been in the hospital for most of the last decade of his life, suffering from Huntington's disease.
In 1998, actor Roddy McDowall died of cancer in Los Angeles. He was 70.
In 2000, singer-bassist Benjamin Orr of The Cars died of pancreatic cancer in Atlanta. He was 53.
In 2003, Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy was mauled by a white tiger during a performance in Las Vegas.
In 2004, actress Janet Leigh died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 77. The comedy-drama series "Desperate Housewives" premiered on ABC.
Thought for Today: "Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use." — Emily Post, American etiquette expert (1872-1960). [Fork you, then. — Ed.]
On Oct. 3, 1789, President George Washington declared Nov. 26, 1789, a day of Thanksgiving to express gratitude for the creation of the United States of America. (On this date in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November Thanksgiving Day.)
On this date:
In 1226, St. Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order, died; he was canonized in 1228. [Kind of a rush job there. — Ed.]
In 1929, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes formally changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
In 1941, Adolf Hitler declared in a speech in Berlin that Russia had been "broken" and would "never rise again."
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Office of Economic Stabilization.
In 1951, in the deciding game of a three-game playoff series, the New York Giants captured the National League pennant as Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning off the Brooklyn Dodgers' Ralph Branca in the "shot heard 'round the world." Sound Bite: Sportscaster Russ Hodges (to whom we used to listen an infinity & several lifetimes ago).
In 1952, Britain conducted its first atomic test as it detonated a 25-kiloton device in the Monte Bello Islands off Australia.
In 1962, astronaut Wally Schirra blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Sigma 7 on a nine-hour flight.
In 1974, Frank Robinson was named major league baseball's first black manager as he was put in charge of the Cleveland Indians.
In 1981, Irish nationalists at the Maze Prison near Belfast, Northern Ireland, ended seven months of hunger strikes that had claimed 10 lives.
In 1988, Lebanese kidnappers released Indian educator Mithileshwar Singh, who'd been held captive with three Americans for more than 20 months.
In 1990, West Germany and East Germany ended 45 years of postwar division, declaring the creation of a new unified country.
In 1995, the jury in the O.J. Simpson murder trial found the former football star not guilty of the 1994 slayings of his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. (However, Simpson was later found liable in a civil trial.)
Ten years ago: Sony co-founder Akio Morita, the entrepreneur, engineer and savvy salesman who helped give new meaning to the words "Made in Japan," died in Tokyo at age 78.
In 2001, the Senate approved an agreement normalizing trade between the United States and Vietnam.
In 2002, five people were shot to death in the Washington, D.C., area within a 14-hour period, beginning the hunt for the "Beltway Sniper." (In all, 10 people were killed; mastermind John Allen Muhammad and teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo were later caught.)
Five years ago: National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, interviewed on ABC's "This Week" program, defended her characterization of Saddam Hussein's nuclear capabilities in the months before the Iraq invasion.
In 2005, President George W. Bush nominated White House counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. (Miers withdrew three weeks later after criticism over her lack of judicial experience and Republican concerns about her conservatism.)
One year ago: Amid dire warnings of economic disaster, a reluctant Congress abruptly reversed course and approved a historic $700 billion government bailout of the battered financial industry; President George W. Bush swiftly signed it. Thirteen years to the day after O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, the former football star was found guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room. (Simpson was later sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison.)
Today's Birthdays: Author Gore Vidal is 84. Basketball player Marques Haynes is 83. Composer Steve Reich is 73. Singer Alan O'Day is 69. Rock and roll star Chubby Checker is 68. Actor Alan Rachins is 67. Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is 66. Magician Roy Horn is 65. Singer Lindsey Buckingham is 60. Jazz musician Ronnie Laws is 59. Blues singer Keb' Mo' is 58. Former astronaut Kathryn Sullivan is 58. Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield is 58. Baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley is 55. Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton is 55. Actor Hart Bochner is 53. Actor Peter Frechette is 53. Golfer Fred Couples is 50. Actor Jack Wagner is 50. Rock musician Tommy Lee is 47. Actor Clive Owen is 45. Actress Janel Moloney is 40. Singer Gwen Stefani (No Doubt) is 40. Pop singer Kevin Richardson is 38. Rock singer G. Love is 37. Actress Keiko Agena is 36. Actress Neve Campbell is 36. Singer India.Arie is 34. Rapper Talib Kweli is 34. Actress Alanna Ubach is 34. Actor Seann William Scott is 33. Actress Shannyn Sossamon is 31. Actor Seth Gabel is 28. Rock musician Mark King (Hinder) is 27. Actor Erik Von Detten is 27. Actress-singer Ashlee Simpson-Wentz is 25.
Today In Entertainment History October 3
In 1941, the film "The Maltese Falcon" opened.
In 1945, 10-year-old Elvis Presley made his first public appearance in a talent show at the Mississippi-Alabama Dairy Show, singing "Old Shep." He won second place and five dollars.
In 1954, "Father Knows Best" premiered on CBS.
In 1955, "Captain Kangaroo" premiered on CBS, and "The Mickey Mouse Club" made its debut on ABC.
In 1957, "The Woody Woodpecker Show" made its premiere on ABC.
In 1967, folk singer Woody Guthrie died in New York at the age of 55. Guthrie had been in the hospital for most of the last decade of his life, suffering from Huntington's disease.
In 1998, actor Roddy McDowall died of cancer in Los Angeles. He was 70.
In 2000, singer-bassist Benjamin Orr of The Cars died of pancreatic cancer in Atlanta. He was 53.
In 2003, Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy was mauled by a white tiger during a performance in Las Vegas.
In 2004, actress Janet Leigh died in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 77. The comedy-drama series "Desperate Housewives" premiered on ABC.
Thought for Today: "Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use." — Emily Post, American etiquette expert (1872-1960). [Fork you, then. — Ed.]
Friday, October 02, 2009
Noonan: People Are Stupid Sheep Who Must Be Controlled; Brooks: People Are Stupid Sheep Who Want To Be Controlled
The headline would imply that La Noonan was opposed to tribalism. Heh.Keeping America Safe From the Ranters
As the Elders of the media die, who'll replace them?
They're the tribal chieftains. This role has probably existed since caveman days, because people need guidance and encouragement, they need to be heartened by examples of endurance. They need to be inspired.False equivalences can be helpful in leading the flock.
Two examples from just the past week. A few days ago, I was sent a link to a screed by MSNBC's left-wing anchorman Ed Schultz, in which he explained opposition to the president's health-care reform. "The Republicans lie. They want to see you dead. They'd rather make money off your dead corpse. They kind of like it when that woman has cancer and they don't have anything for us." Next, a link to the syndicated show of right-wing radio talker Alex Jones, on the subject of the U.S. military, whose security efforts at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh show them to be agents and lackeys of the New World Order. "They are complete enemies of America. . . . Our military's been taken over. . . . This is the end of our country." Later, "They'd love to kill 10,000 Americans," and, "The republic is falling right now."Republicans don't really give a crap about you: "Get some charity or go to the emergency room." And they've been lying through their veneers since "death panels." Expressed w/ no more show-biz hoopla than anything Rush Limbaugh says. Equivalent: "Right-wing" radio talker Alex Jones, who's convinced that the coup has already taken place.
And, collectivism!!
The new Elders will have to rescue America from the precipice. They'll have to be mature, think of the collective, of the country as a whole.Health care for all, then? No, generalities from Noonan.
If they don't do it, who will? If they don't lead through this polarized time, who can? People who are 25 and 30 can't. They haven't been around long enough and don't have the sway. They're the guests on the broadcasts, not the executive producers. The new Elders are.Is that so? Peggy exits w/ the irony of projection rather than reflection:
Someone's going to sum you up one day. You want to live your professional life in a way that they can write good things.On the other extremity, David Brooks makes some sense about the tribal elders/shamans of the right,
media mavens who claim to represent a hidden majority but who in fact represent a mere niche — even in the Republican Party. It is a story as old as “The Wizard of Oz,” of grand illusions and small men behind the curtain.¹Brooks goes on to burst the bubble of fun had by mooks like us at the expense of the patent medicine sellers. Will apologies be made?
But this is not merely a story of weakness. It is a story of resilience. For no matter how often their hollowness is exposed, the jocks still reweave the myth of their own power. They still ride the airwaves claiming to speak for millions. They still confuse listeners with voters. And they are aided in this endeavor by their enablers. They are enabled by cynical Democrats, who love to claim that Rush Limbaugh controls the G.O.P. They are enabled by lazy pundits who find it easier to argue with showmen than with people whose opinions are based on knowledge. They are enabled by the slightly educated snobs who believe that Glenn Beck really is the voice of Middle America.Suckers.
So the myth returns. Just months after the election and the humiliation, everyone is again convinced that Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity and the rest possess real power. And the saddest thing is that even Republican politicians come to believe it. They mistake media for reality. They pre-emptively surrender to armies that don’t exist.
They pay more attention to Rush’s imaginary millions than to the real voters down the street. The Republican Party is unpopular because it’s more interested in pleasing Rush’s ghosts than actual people. The party is leaderless right now because nobody has the guts to step outside the rigid parameters enforced by the radio jocks and create a new party identity. The party is losing because it has adopted a radio entertainer’s niche-building strategy, while abandoning the politician’s coalition-building strategy.
The rise of Beck, Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and the rest has correlated almost perfectly with the decline of the G.O.P. But it’s not because the talk jocks have real power. It’s because they have illusory power, because Republicans hear the media mythology and fall for it every time.
¹ Used as a pull-quote mostly because we are amused that Brooks thinks "The Wiz" (book published in 1900, movie released in 1939) is one of the "old" stories, possibly as told around the ceremonial fire by Noonan's Elders.
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