Hicks Keeps it Real
Sean MurphyON THIS DAY On Sept. 27, 1964, the Warren Commission issued a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy.
The Catholic Church is (still) Decadent and Depraved
Follow the money. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. These are the two oft-invoked quotes I kept thinking to myself as I read Sabrina Rubin Erdley's piece, "The…
The Real Life Fable of Charles Mingus and Orval Faubus (Revisited)
On Sept. 4, 1957, Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus called out the National Guard to prevent nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock. Charles Mingus had many…
Newt, Not The Onion
Someone has needed to pull a Josey Wales on Newt Gingrich for a very long time. It turns out he can do it just fine himself, thank you very little.…
Repent Sinners; Sean Penn Is A Saint
Sean Penn is a saint. Did that get your attention? Good. Since we know that there are no such things as saints, and we also know that the people we…
20 Years Later: How Rodney King Helped Us Plug In, Dial On and Wake Up
ON THIS DAY On March 3, 1991, in a case that sparked a national outcry, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in a scene captured…
Coal Mines, Unions, Big Business and (of course) George Orwell
Watching coal-miners at work, you realize momentarily what different universes people inhabit. --George Orwell Quite by chance (no, really), I saw an old classic that had been languishing in my…
The Power of Magical Thinking: Reflections on Reagan
Part One: Fact The fortieth president turns 100 and a religious cult (also known as the Republican Party) can't name buildings after him quickly enough. Is there room for Reagan…
Some Day A Real Rain Will Come: What Travis Bickle Can –And Cannot– Tell Us About Tucson
Voices In Our Heads You talking to me? It is the pivotal scene in Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and it remains one of the seminal moments in movie history. Not so…
Richard Cohen, Charles Krauthammer, Salon.com and Me
Props to Salon.com for doing some heavy lifting in the service of exposing hackery this week, courtesy of their amusing --and recommended-- "Hack Thirty" feature. In a mild upset, they…