LotD: Mahathir Mohamad

Today’s Line of the Day is brought to us by the former prime minister of Malaysia.  Mr. Mohamad contends that 9/11 was staged, because after all…

If they can make Avatar, they can make anything.

HT: LGF

Fact of the Day: Colorado

Yesterday my dad and I were discussing where the boundaries of Weld County lay which brought out my parents’ encyclopedias.  In true generational fashion, the evening ended with my dad and I racing to discover interesting facts – he about Grover Cleveland (encyclopedia) and I about Colorado history (iPhone).

I’m pretty sure I won.  Did you know that Colorado once had 4 Governors in one year and the unique record of 3 in one day?  Some of the procedural details are a touch dry but here’s the essence of it:

Governor Peabody

Governor James H. Peabody was elected in 1902 with a promise of restoring law and order in the midst of a particularly bitter and violent labor dispute centered around Cripple Creek (which I just notice for the first time is a somewhat insensitive name).  It seems that the miners’ union had successfully gained a virtual monopoly on miners by shouldering out all non-labor workers and then striking.  Obviously the mine owners didn’t like this much and brought in outside labor while petitioning the state to use the militia against the tough union tactics (aimed at preventing non-union miners from stepping in). Peabody was particularly sympathetic to these requests and took an extremely pro-business stance.

By 1904 the public was losing patience with Peabody and he faced a tough re-election campaign against Alva Adams.  Here’s where it gets weird….

Adams appeared to win but later claims of election fraud caused the legislature to act to overturn the election.  As it turned out both candidates probably violated election law in a massive way.  A compromise was reached by which on March 17, 1905 (a day that should live in infamy) Alva Adams was inaugurated and then immediately removed.  Peabody was reinstated – having only been out of the position for a matter of hours – and then promptly resigned, leaving Lieutenant Governor Jesse McDonald to head the state.  Count ’em, that’s 3 in one day.  To make it even more interesting, it was Adam’s 3rd time as the governor.

Also, I came across a fantastic – if not quite flattering – quote by the head of the Colorado militia, a General Sherman Bell.  In response to criticism for holding suspected criminal members of the unions without charges, he stated, “Habeas Corpus, hell.  We’ll give ’em post mortems.”

Interesting stuff and it puts a fine point on the fact that it’s an absolute tragedy the education system doesn’t put a greater emphasis on teaching state history to our kids.

I learned some interesting pieces related to the Colorado labor wars of the early 20th century when I was in college but I didn’t realize until yesterday how brutal that conflict was – from BOTH sides of the issue.  I can now understand a little better why the national guard was brought in.

Line of the Day: Henning Wehn

I always say, why did my grandfather cross the road?  To occupy France…  I’m off to the border.

-German comedian Henning Wehn from BBC Radio’s Fighting Talk about France’s punishment for cheating their way to the World Cup.

2 points to the blond in the heels… (LoTD)

I love news aggregators. Unlike watching cable news, you can just scan headlines and click on what you’d like to know about, ignoring what you don’t.

It’s by this method that I’ve been vaguely aware of a story involving same-sex marriage and Miss California. Here’s the summary if you missed it…

Original Miss CA, Carrie Prejean (I’m sure there’s a Levis joke in there somewhere) was tossed out and ‘de-crowned’ for saying that she believed – like a majority of Californians – that marriage is defined as between 1 man and 1 woman. She was replaced by Tami Ferrell (runner-up maybe?)….

…who apparently holds the same belief.

The line of the story is from Ferrell, who shows commendable humor and perspective in saying:

“You know, I think it’s hilarious right now that the world is turning to beauty queens for the answers…”

LotD (summarized) – Fighting Talk (BBC)

This LoTD is a summary of a hilarious point I just heard on Fighting Talk (podcast it, listen to it).

A male from south central LA has a 1 in 3 chance of ending up in jail. A staggering fact until you consider that after current Gov. Rod Blagojevich is convicted, 4 of the past 8 Illinois governors have also ended up in prison….

You are more likely to go to get locked up from the IL state capital than Compton… gotta love Chicago politics.

LotD – darthvader

The number one topic on Twitter at the moment is ‘Alderaan’ (Princess Lea’s home planet in Star Wars) thanks to a user called… darthvader. Best line to commemorate Earth Day.

“Just be glad I don’t celebrate Earth Day the way I celebrated Alderaan Day”

Has he been here too long?

Today on our way to the park, Cam looked over at one of the many abandoned buildings that we have here (either half built, half wrecked or some combination of the two) and said,

“Ohhh, a castle! It’s beautiful!”

Either he’s been here altogether too long or he was just born to live in eastern Europe.

LotD – James Lileks

Whom the gods would destroy, they first make ironic: [Former Chairman to the Federal Reserve] Ben Bernanke’s childhood home sold – after foreclosure.

-Lileks

I caught this from him via Twitter. If you’re a Tweet, I recommend you follow him… he’s brilliant.

LoTD – Sergey IceCreamakov

Oh, man….

I’ve been waiting for Sergey to leave so I could post this.  

Tonight we were playing dominos and he was singing (apparently) the lyrics to “Fergalicious.”  At one point during the chorus he substituted the title word for “Fridgelicious” – as in, “My body is fridgelicious.”

I love the idea of a hip-hop song talking about having a fridgelicious body.  I think the genre may have turned a corner here.

LotD – James Lileks

Lileks has a few – direct from Twitter – talking about the extremely cold weather in Minneapolis Friday.

“Temp is still One. But they’re releasing 1.1 as a noon upgrade.“

and 

“Economy hits Minnesota weather, temperature lays off three degrees. Ah, noon warmth – when will I see you again?“

and 

“News from overseas weather forecasts pushs the temp up to 12 in late-day trading!”