Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor heads to Capitol Hill for the start of her Supreme Court confirmation hearings today.
Hope she brought some protective gear.
Do you remember where you were on July 13, 1985? If you were like 1.5 billion other people, you probably tuned into the concert at some point.
July 13, 1793 (Décade III, Quintidi de Messidor de l'Année 213 de la Révolution) -
French revolutionary writer Jean Paul Marat is stabbed to death in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday, as she gives him a list of names to be guillotined. The assassination inspired the famous painting by Jacques Louis David; Corday was executed four days after slaying Marat.
After the heavy blade fell, an executioner's assistant named Francois le Gros (Fat Frank) picked up the severed head by the hair and brimming with Revolutionary fervor slapped Corday's cheek. Several eyewitnesses saw her face flush red with anger, not just one cheek but both cheeks. Some though they perceived disgust curl her lips.
July 13, 1946 - Horace Greeley advises his readers to 'Go west young man' .
I'm not sure but I don't think this is what Mr. Greeley had in mind.
July 13, 1946 - It's Cheech Marin's birthday.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
July 13, 1977 - NYC experiences 25 hr black-out .
The 1977 blackout, unlike the 1965 and 2003 blackouts, resulted in city-wide looting and other disorder, including arson.
July 13, 1985 - President Ronald Reagan has a polyp removed from his colon.
The polyp, named Larry, is living comfortable at the Reagan ranch keeping Nancy company. George H.W. Bush got a free taste for the Presidency for a day and got hooked.
July 13, 1994 - Jeff Gillooly, Tonya Harding's ex-husband, is sentenced totwo years in prison for his role in the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.
He serves six months.
On July 13, 1994, Germany's Constitutional Court ended the ban on German troops fighting outside the country.
(On July 14, 1994, France's Constitutional Court ended their ban on running like hell.)
July 12, 100 BCE - Julius Caesar was born on this date. He is famous for fighting the Garlic Wars and dying of the unkindest cut. His death so shocked the people of Rome that they buried him instead of praising him, although this may have been because he was a Proud Man.
Interesting to note that in between, fighting across most of Europe, Julie baby was quoted as saying, "Beware the leader who bangs the drum of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor. For patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind."
July 12 1843- Mormon numero uno Joseph Smith discloses a divine revelation instructing his followers to take multiple wives, in what the LDS Church calls "plural marriage" but everyone else calls polygamy.
The Mormons are ultimately forced to disclaim the practice in September 1890.
July 12, 1908 Milton Berle was an Emmy-winning American comedian who was born Milton Berlinger. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948-1955), he was the first major star of television. He became known as Uncle Miltie to millions during TV's golden age.
That's all well and good but the real reason you want to know about Uncle Miltie is his prodigious member.
Berle was notorious within show business for the rumored size of his penis. Phil Silvers once told a story about standing next to Berle at a urinal, glancing down, and quipping, "You'd better feed that thing, or it's liable to turn on you!" Saturday Night Live writer Alan Zweibel, who had written many Friars Club jokes about Berle's penis for other comedians, described being treated to a private showing: "He just takes out this-- this anaconda. He lays it on the table and I'm looking into this thing, right? I'm looking into the head of Milton Berle's dick. It was enormous. It was like a pepperoni. And he goes, 'What do you think of the boy?' And I'm looking right at it and I go, 'Oh, it's really, really nice.'" At a memorial service for Berle at the New York Friars Club, Freddie Roman solemnly announced, "On May 1st and May 2nd, his penis will be buried." Now try getting that out of your mind's eye.
July 12 1979 - Bonanno boss Carmine Galante, the "cigar problem", is whacked at Joe and Mary's Restaurant in Brooklyn. Galante dies with a cigar still in his mouth.
Almost everyone in the New York mob feared the ruthless crime boss, so the killing was sanctioned by the consensus of Paul Castellano, Joe Bonanno, and Santo Trafficante.
July 12 1979 - It is "Disco Demolition Night" at Chicago's Comiskey Park, where baseball tickets cost only $.98 if the purchaser brings along a disco record for the bonfire.
During the second game of the doubleheader, thousands of vinyl LPs fly onto the field, generating enough chaos that the White Sox are forced to forfeit.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Oscar G. Mayer, retired chairman of the Wisconsin-based meat processing company that bears his name, has died at the age of 95.
I wonder with all of the nitrates this guys must have consumed throughout his life, if they have to embalm him at all.
July 11, 1942 - A classic 40's Merrie Melodies cartoon, Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid was released on this date.
This is the first appearance of Beaky Buzzard.
July 11, 1942 - Another great George Pal animated short, Tubby the Tuba, was released on this date.
(sorry it cuts off at the end.)
Beach Blanket Bingo opened today in 1965:
Movies are our best form of entertainment!
Here's your Today in History: July 11, 1533 - The Church of England came into being on this date. The story of its origins is shrouded in sex and therefore important.
Henry VIII assumed the English throne in 1509, an energetic young man of seventeen. He immediately decided to have a male heir. This became the enduring theme of his reign and he consequently came to be known as The Son King (or, to his detractors, The Heir Head).
Henry such a devout Catholic that he earned the title "Defender of the Faith" without even stepping into the ring. His first wife, whom he'd married before taking the throne, was Catherine of Aragon, who earned the nickname "Catherine of Aragon." Catherine was an excellent queen until she didn't have a son, at which point things changed.
By the 1530s Henry had realized he was married to a bad queen. He was now about forty years old and therefore decided to get a convertible coach and a new wife.
The convertible caused no problems, but the changing of wives required the official permission of the Pope, who, being Catholic himself, refused to grant a divorce.
Henry divorced her anyway, and on July 11, 1533, the Catholic Church seceded from the Church of England in retaliation.
The Pope having withdrawn, Henry made himself the head of the Church of England. Because he was still the Defender of the Faith, he wrote the Act of Supremacy. This Act proved that the Church of England was better than the Catholic Church, that King Henry VIII was better than any Pope, and that a Single White King was back in the market.
Sir Thomas More had been the Lord Chancellor of England, and knew Henry as well as any man alive. He therefore refused to swear to the Act of Supremacy, and on July 6, 1535, became Sir Thomas Somewhat Less.
At this point in his career, Henry began marrying and divorcing women on a regular basis. The divorce process was expedited now that Papal authority was no longer a consideration. In fact, Henry turned the entire process into a game: his wives would be blindfolded and asked to produce a male heir. It came to be known as "Bluff King Hal," and several centuries later it served as the inspiration for the popular French game, "Hungry Hungry Guillotine."
July 11 1804 -
Former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and sitting Vice President Aaron Burr duel in Weehawken, New Jersey after Hamilton allegedly slandered Burr during a political dinner in New York. Hamilton is shot in the liver and dies the next day.
Meanwhile, Burr lives on to finish his term in office and is eventually tried for treason after attempting to raise an army and seize land for himself, either in Mexico or the Louisiana Territory.
July 11, 1936 - The Triborough Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic, on this date.
At some point in the past, a sign on the bridge informed travelers, "In event of attack, drive off bridge", New York Times columnist William Safire wrote in 2008.
July 11 1979 - The derelict space station Skylab finally returns to Earth, ignominiously breaking into 500 separate fragments which are swallowed by the Indian Ocean. That is, except for the ones which crash into Woorlba Sheep Station, near Balladonia in Western Australia.
Shortly thereafter, President Jimmy Carter telephones the prime minister of that country to apologize for scattering NASA litter on his nation.
Oops.
July 11 1997 - Bodybuilder and wannabe actor Jonathan Norman is arrested for trespassing on Steven Spielberg's estate in Malibu, California. Believing that the film director "wanted to be raped," Norman had brought along a kit containing handcuffs, duct tape, nipple clamps, chloroform, and a stun gun.
I never realized that Steven liked huffing chloroform, he seemed more like a compressed air guy to me.
*What pet(s) do you have (or wish you had)?,
Man-eating sharks and roller skating chimp that smokes,
*What type of person were you in high school?
Troubled nerd (luckily I didn't have access to fire arms).,
*What did you do after high school?
Learned the proper way to answer a phone and mix drinks,
*What did you get for all your studying?
An inflated sense of self -worth,
*What's your current relationship status?
I'm perfectly happy with myself (you'd have to ask my wife what she thinks),
*How many kids do you have (or want to have)?
I took the option on the leasing of two kids.,
*Your friends would describe you as ...
A large pain in the ass but it's too much trouble to make new friends at our age., *What do you get paid to do?
Ride the wave of the destruction of Western Civilization,
Eagle Brand (TM) hand soap. Folks, have you noticed that you're having difficulties keeping your bald eagles hands clean. Try Eagle Brand (TM) hand soap, the soap more native american mothers wash their childrens mouths out with.
And
GUZZLERS GIN (TM)
Acme brand - Guzzlers Gin (TM) - It's smoooooth! Drink some with dinner - drink some before dinner and you won't need dinner.
Actual testimony from an avid Guzzlers Gin devotee - James Thurber - "One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough. "
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