Repent Sinners; Sean Penn Is A Saint
Sean MurphySean 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…
November 24, 1963: Take Two, Times Two
ON THIS DAY: On Nov. 24, 1963, Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President Kennedy. You think that is irreverent? Here's Hicks:
A Dose Of Dennis Miller With An Ian Curtis Chaser
I saw something the other night that really depressed me. It concerns a genius who, for a variety of reasons, could not maintain control. His implosion can be attributed to many of the usual ailments:…
Born in the U.S.A. or, Every Day is Veterans Day (Revisited)
I. Personal Remember when Born in the U.S.A. was ubiquitous? The album and the song. Bruce was already big, but he wasn’t over the top. Born in the U.S.A. put…
The Democratic Fault Line
So, fake tan is the new black? How do I feel about the idiot winds that blew this astroturf tsunami over our land? Eh... Certainly, it sucks to see a party…