Posts Tagged ‘Indecency’
The Battle of the Brewers…
There are just over 11,100 Starbucks locations in the U.S; Dunkin’ Donuts has 7,200… and Boston.com has mapped them all for us, nationally (green dots for Starbucks, red for Dunkin):
… and in major cities (as here, New York):
Find out what it all portends in “Split country: Dunkin’ vs. Starbucks.”
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As we choose sides, we might spare a well-caffeinated thought for the wise and witty George Carlin; he died on this date in 2008. The Grammy-winning comedian is probably best remembered for his routine “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” (originated on his third album). When it was first broadcast on New York radio, a complaint led the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ban the broadcast as “indecent,” an order that was upheld by the Supreme Court and remains in effect today. Not coincidentally, Carlin was selected to host the first Saturday Night Live.
Crack, down…
From Flint, Michigan, the police world’s pinnacle of punning. (thanks, Glitter)
As we hitch up our trousers (and consider the rights we do and don’t have), we might recall that it was on this date in 1215 that King John affixed his seal to the Magna Carta… After years of watching rights-abridging legislation streak through Congress like greased pigs, it’s somehow comforting to recall this early example of unintended consequences: the “Great Charter” was meant as a fundamentally reactionary treaty between the king and his barons, guaranteeing nobles’ feudal rights and assuring that the King would respect the Church and national law. But over succeeding centuries, at the expense of royal and noble hegemony, it became a cornerstone of English democracy– and indeed, democracy as we know it in the West.
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