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Tag Search Results For 'popular culture' (428)
2003: Paul Hill, anti-abortion martyr
Executed Today | September 3rd 2008 by Executed Today
Five years ago today, minister Paul Hill was put to death by lethal injection for murdering an abortion provider and a clinic escort nine years before. Hill rose to prominence in the early 1990’s as a fire-eating abortion foe, who openly preach read more
Give them leadership (not bullship).
BlogOffAndDie | September 2nd 2008 by Tim Cerantola
By Tim Cerantola I’ve seen some awfully offensive stuff on TV lately. Disgusting and vile behaviour brought into our very living rooms. I cannot believe they allow this on the public airwaves. Lies, character assassinations, false accusatio read more
Action figure fun
MadSilence | September 2nd 2008 by MadSilence
Lunch Lady Action Figure. Image source: Stupid.com Just in time for the return to school we have the Lunch Lady Action Figure. As a public high school graduate I well remember the stern demeanor and terrifying glare of the lunch room ladies. A to read more
Jerry Reed Dead at 71
Outside The Beltway | OTB | September 2nd 2008 by James Joyner
Jerry Reed, a country guitar player, comedian, and actor perhaps best known for “Smokey and the Bandit” and other Burt Reynolds vehicles from the 1970s and 1980s, has died from emphysemia at age 71. Sony BMG Nashville Chairman Joe Gala read more
“The Voice,” Don LaFontaine Dies
The Moderate Voice | September 2nd 2008
Don LaFontaine passed away in LA today, after a protracted illness. He was 68 years old, a man of imposing body mass and a gruffness that hid an “I’m just jacking you around,” sense of humor. He could say, “Pass the peas,R read more
1724: Half-Hangit Maggie Dickson
Executed Today | September 2nd 2008 by Executed Today
Allegedly on this date in 1724, a young woman was hanged at Edinburgh’s Grassmarket for concealing her pregnancy. Any number of details in this horrible/wonderful story are shaky, including the date: some sources make it 1728, a few say 1723, a read more
Invade Canada, Bomb Toronto?
BlogOffAndDie | August 31st 2008 by Tim Cerantola
by Tim Cerantola Canadians know Americans better than anyone else on the planet. Unlike the rest of the world, as America’s next-door neighbour (and little buddy Gilligan), we Canadians get a chance to peer over their fence and into their backyard read more
Quotabull
Scholars and Rogues | August 30th 2008 by Scholars and Rogues
This represents the final bodies from Katrina, the last unknown victim of Katrina. This represents the pain and suffering. — New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin; Laura Maggi of The Times-Picayune reported that “[s]even people who died during Hurrica read more
1966 Oceano Dunes
Photos from the Vault | August 29th 2008 by David Middlecamp
People have had big ideas for the Oceano Dunes for a long time. The Chumash Indians were the last sustained civilization on the dunes, living on the abundant clams and fish. In the early 1900’s real estate speculator’s maps carved the bea read more
Don’t pee on my shoes and tell me it’s raining: more truth, l…
Online Guide to Mediation | August 29th 2008
Earlier this year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s affiliate, the Institute for Legal Reform, cranked out a press release about a recent poll it commissioned that purported to prove that a majority of likely voters would overwhelmingly support m read more
Barack Obama: mediator to a divided nation
Online Guide to Mediation | August 29th 2008
In the days after the towers fell on September 11, 2001, Americans everywhere came together to honor the dead and demand justice. The world stood beside us, sharing our shock and grief. That unity proved short-lived. “You’re either with read more
1966: Sayyid Qutb
Executed Today | August 29th 2008 by Executed Today
On this date in 1966, author and intellectual Sayyid Qutb was hanged for plotting to overthrow the Egyptian state. Qutb — whose names can be transliterated many ways (Saïd, Syed, Seyyid, Sayid, or Sayed; Koteb, Kotb, Qutub or Kutb) — was read more
If Barack can exercise everyday, so can I (dammit!)
Scholars and Rogues | August 28th 2008 by Scholars and Rogues
Anyone who exercises regularly to stay fit and combat stress knows it has to be part of a daily routine, even if it’s one of the biggest days of your life. That includes Barack Obama, whom I caught of glimpse of as he worked out at the Denver Athl read more
TunesDay: “Fired up!” This is the music that should be on sta…
Scholars and Rogues | August 28th 2008 by Scholars and Rogues
What is it with these wild, out-of-control visitors to the Gulf Coast bearing German names? First we had Katrina, three years ago tomorrow; now Gustav is threatening an unwelcome arrival. But we still haven’t gotten Katrina’s mess cleaned up, 1 read more
Onstage on the street: policing as performance at the DNCC
Scholars and Rogues | August 27th 2008 by Scholars and Rogues
video and editing by JS O’Brien Street theater is a traditional medium of political dissent, but the protesters at the 2008 Democratic National Convention might do well to look to the Denver police for a lesson in clear and effective improvis read more
1979: Eleven by a Firing Squad in Iran
Executed Today | August 27th 2008 by Executed Today
On this date in 1979, the only anonymous photograph to win a Pulitzer Prize captured nine Kurdish rebels and two of the Shah’s policemen executed by firing squad in revolutionary Iran. This shot, one of a series taken of the event with the per read more
Ronald Reagan 1960’s
Photos from the Vault | August 26th 2008 by David Middlecamp
Ronald Reagan was running for governor in 1966 against two term incumbent Pat Brown. Here he stops at the San Luis Obispo Airport to shake hands. Fall of 1966 During this presidential election we’ll open up the political archives of the Vault o read more
I hate TV commercials; ad execs and I hate you too, dammit!
BlogOffAndDie | August 26th 2008 by Tim Cerantola
By Tim Cerantola If you were to ask me, Tim, as a media professional who knows absolutely nothing about advertising, what would you say is the most effective way to advertise a product on TV? I’d say, first, assume that the entire viewing public ar read more
EBN OZN - AEIOU and Sometimes Y
Trapped In The 80s Moms | August 26th 2008 by kara
I SO loved this song. It was one of the best gimmicky songs of the 80's. Once you heard it, it would stay in your head for the rest of the day, the melody popping up while you rode the school bus or tried to pay attention in Chemistry class. I am act read more
‘John McCain - Sadly, More Out of Touch than Paris Hilton’: F…
The Moderate Voice | August 25th 2008
In hitting Barack Obama because of his perceived ‘celebrity,’ is John McCain missing something essential about the world we live in? Using the work of famed war reporter Nick Ut, who worked in Vietnam and recently made news by photograph read more
1945: John Birch, Society man
Executed Today | August 25th 2008 by Executed Today
On this date in 1945, according to an unhinged faction of American conservatism, the first victim of the Cold War was shot by Chinese Communists at Suchow, China, near Xi’an. John Birch, a military chaplain proselytizing in China and an agent o read more
1305: William Wallace, Braveheart
Executed Today | August 23rd 2008 by Executed Today
On this date in 1305, Scottish knight Mel Gibson — er, William Wallace — was hanged, drawn and quartered at Smithfield for treason to a British crown he refused to recognize. Just like so: Well, close enough. Some wags have alleged one read more
Quotabull
Scholars and Rogues | August 22nd 2008 by Scholars and Rogues
Young man, you have the gift of gab. Keep it up and some day you’ll be President of the United States. — an old Republican to a young Warren G. Harding after his first political speech, according to a New York Times obituary of President Har read more
Celebrating the heroes, damning the cheats, and always loving the…
Scholars and Rogues | August 20th 2008 by Scholars and Rogues
This Olympics, 2008, we mortals have been in the company of gods. Michael Phelps. Eight golds. Seven world records. Usain Bolt. Two golds. Two world records. No-one who watched Usain Bolt actually break stride, look around, slow down and beat his c read more
Apropos-of-Nothing Wednesday: #26
Pathophilia | August 20th 2008 by B. Martin, MD
Thanks to insomnia and NBC's late-night/early-morning coverage of the Beijing Olympics, BMX racing now has at least one more fan. 真牛! Photo of BMX race crash: Carl de Souza/Getty Images.... read more
The paper it’s printed on: pondering the meaning of money
Online Guide to Mediation | August 20th 2008
Money. It has been said to make the world go around. It has been maligned as the root of all evil. It breeds litigation. It spurs negotiations onward. It serves as commercial and political lubricant. Alexander Hamilton once called it the “darli read more
Ugly Women to Beauty Disadvantaged Ones: Is This Progress or Huma…
Recreating Eden: Mary Soderstrom's Blog | August 20th 2008 by Mary Soderstrom
Australian--and other--women are up in arms because the mayor of a small Outback town has invited "beauty disadvantaged women" to come to his town to find happiness because men there far outnumber women."May I suggest if there are five blokes to ever read more
TunesDay: America singing 2: goodnight, Irene, goin’ down to th…
Scholars and Rogues | August 19th 2008 by Scholars and Rogues
Most music historians explain the origins of rock music as the gradual blending of Southern blues (both Mississippi Delta based acoustic style and Chicago electrified) with country/western music as codified by Nashville. This over facile explanation read more
A brief meeting with Auntie Mame, 2008
Scholars and Rogues | August 18th 2008 by Scholars and Rogues
Fair warning: This will likely disturb you. “You’ve got to grab it at the base and deep-throat, it, Johnny,” Ms. Dennis authoritatively croaked, demonstrating with the hand holding her cigarette. The cherry singed her eyebrow a sl read more
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