39 years ago today, the Ohio National Guard shot at protesting students at Kent State University, killing four and wounding nine. It was in that immediate aftermath when Akron Beacon Journal photographer James Filo snapped this (in)famous Pulitzer Prize-winning photo: The anguished young woman is Mary Ann Vecchio, who was (at the time) a 14 year old runaway. She … Read More
Bainbridge
The USS Bainbridge, the Navy desroyer which rescued that captain from the Somali pirates, was diverted yesterday to intervene in another pirate attack on another U.S. vessel. I mention this only to raise that ironic fact that the USS Bainbridge is named after Captain William Bainbridge, who fought against pirates in the First and Second Barbary Wars in the early … Read More
Conservative Punditry “WTF?” Statement Of The Day
National Review's Mark Krikorian — who, believe it or not, is executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies — drops in this little gem at the Corner: During slavery and Jim Crow, a number of blacks moved abroad, to Europe or Africa or the USSR, but again, these movements never gained much traction…. Actually, I think very few slaves … Read More
Fun Fact Of The Day
John Tyler was this country's 10th president. He was born in 1790. Amazingly, two of his grandsons are alive today. [NOTE: Wikipedia only says one, but still….]
The Last Photo Of Lincoln?
A descendent of Ulysses S. Grant may possess the last known photograph of Abe Lincoln before his assassination, some believe: If it is indeed Lincoln, it would be the only known photo of the 16th president in front of the executive mansion and a rare find, as only about 130 photos of him are known to exist. A copy of … Read More
“I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another.”
— "Hamlet", Act 3 scene 1 We all know what Shakespeare looked like. Or at least, we think we know. It's this guy: But guess what? Probably not. The above engraving was by Martin Droeshout. It appeared with the First Folio, the collection of Shakespeare's work that was published in 1623, seven years after the Bard's death. In other words, Shakespeare … Read More
Idiot Elected Leaders
From Columbus Dispatch: U.S. Rep. Steve Austria said he supports a scaled-down federal economic-stimulus proposal, but the Beavercreek Republican told The Dispatch editorial board that the huge influx of money into the economy could have a negative effect. "When (President Franklin) Roosevelt did this, he put our country into a Great Depression," Austria said. "He tried to borrow and spend, … Read More
The Tunnel
When I lived in Brooklyn, I had heard rumors of a "secret tunnel" not more than two blocks from where I lived. It was supposedly an old railroad tunnel built to run dozens of blocks underneath Atlantic Avenue, making it (effectively) the first subway in the world. Unknown to me at the time was that the secret tunnel was more than … Read More
Dr. King’s Prediction
BBC has unearthed a video of Dr. King, in 1964, predicting an African American president in 40 years.
It’s Official
NOTE: The White House website has changed already — in the span of 3 minutes. UPDATE — The full text of the address below the fold… THOUGHTS: Good speech. Lofty and inspirational. A bit tweaky of the Bush policies, but I'm sure unintentionally so. Cheney in the wheelchair looked like Mr. Potter from "It's A Wonderful Life".
An Historic Day
I'm talking, of course, about the 5th anniversary of this blog. The first post was January 21, 2004, a passing reference to a State of the Union drinking game. I had blogged for several years prior to that — at a group blog called "Freespeech" — but this was my first foray into something of my own. So it's been … Read More
Dramatic License
Interesting discussions (here and here) over at Mother Jones regarding films depicting historical events. Just how much liberty with the historical facts will viewers tolerate? Or does anyone care? There are a few historical films out now. Valkyrie for one. Frost/Nixon for another. And Milk. Frost/Nixon is Ron Howard's third historically-based film, having done Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind. I knew there were … Read More