Today in Infamy
55 A.D.: Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus — you know him as I, Claudius — dies under mysterious circumstances in Rome, to be succeeded by Nero.
1812: Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry signs into law a redistricting bill, giving rise to the term “gerrymander”.
1861: The House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
1902: Police assault universal-suffrage demonstrators in Brussels, not giving rise to the term “Brussels sprouts”.
1916: Emma Goldman is arrested for lecturing on birth control. (If you’re playing at home, Maureen Stapleton > Matthew Broderick > Kevin Bacon.)
1953: President Eisenhower refuses a clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. J. Edgar Hoover recommends prosecutor Roy Cohn to Joe McCarthy, leading to rumors of the ugliest train ever.
1963: Sylvia Plath commits suicide, too early for “Team Sylvia” t-shirts to hit the streets.
1981: 100,000 gallons of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVA Sequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating eight workers and prompting Jane Fonda to consider a sequel.
2006: Dick Cheney shoots Harry Whittington in the face while “hunting” quail.
1964: Sarah Palin drops.
February 11 [Wikipedia]
My old man shares the same birthday as Simple Sarah?
I’d prefer to remember this day as Frank Drebbin’s and Edison’s, thank you very much.
From Wikipedia:
660 BC – According to tradition, Emperor Jimmu founded Japan and established his capital in Yamato.
1858 – Fourteen year-old peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous (pictured) reported the first of eighteen Marian apparitions in Lourdes, France, resulting in the town becoming a major site for pilgrimages by Catholics.
1929 – To help settle the “Roman Question”, Italy and the Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church agreed to establish the Vatican City as an independent sovereign enclave within Italy.
1979 – During the Iranian Revolution, the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran effectively collapsed when the military declared itself “neutral” after rebel troops overwhelmed forces loyal to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in armed street fighting.
1990 – Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner for 27 years, was released from Victor Verster Prison near Paarl, South Africa.
Actually, nojo: the International Poets League prints those tee-shirts in advance for anybody in the running for Tortured Soul of the Year. Happens every year.
ManchuCandidate: BTW: Sarah Plain and Dumb ain’t coming to CPAC’s little get together — which includes a straw poll and whatnot. Clever: not being seen with Limbaugh and Coulter right about now. Very, very clever.
@chicago bureau:
She might simple, but she ain’t dumb in the survival instincts. She was all smile and sunshine praising Barry last week. I expect her to “Bachmann” Obama when they meet.
@ManchuCandidate: You betcha. Also. She’d give him one of her patented Wassilla Bar-Parking-Lot blowjobs, if she could.
TJ: Re: Vox Stinque: Here is what I hope befalls Rush Limbaugh; if you have never seen this genuine bit of candid video before, prepare to be delighted beyond words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRm8okHhapU
@ManchuCandidate: I hope she does, so we can watch Michelle rip her face off. Talk about a pay-per-view gold mine.
FLYINGCHAINSAW • Morning in America IMPALE!
¡ANDREW! • Morning in America If only there were a way to block Prezinazi AntiChrist's sinister, fugly face.
KAREN MARIE MIGHT BE PEEKING JUST A LITTLE • Morning in America Oh, hey, kids - long time no see! I am delighted to see you all still kicking it.
¡ANDREW! • Joe the Plumber Foils Our Prediction of Resorting to Online Porn @nojo: When bad things happen to bad people, and they get what they deserve.
NOJO • Joe the Plumber Foils Our Prediction of Resorting to Online Porn And now he’s dead. At 49. Of pancreatic cancer. Which he couldn’t afford, so he set up a…
FLYINGCHAINSAW • Morning in America DISMEMBER!
MANCHUCANDIDATE • Morning in America The Orange Grinch who stole an Election (and Top Secrets)
NOJO • Morning in America Needs a Dragnet narrator.
FLYINGCHAINSAW • IF TRUMP APEARS IN A PENITENTIARY, THE INMATES WILL DISMEMBER HIM WITHIN MINUTES! PIECE OF SHIT, TRUMP! DIE! DIE! DIE!
¡ANDREW! • IF TRUMP APEARS IN A PENITENTIARY, THE INMATES WILL DISMEMBER HIM WITHIN MINUTES! That’s a manifesto I definitely endorse ; )