Today -100: December 29, 1910: Of amateur politicians, resurrections, and street cars

In a speech to the City Club of St Louis, NJ Governor-Elect Woodrow Wilson says that this is the day of the amateur politician, the politician not seeking personal gain. I wonder who he has in mind? He also said, “You can trust the people providing you serve them. Reveal everything and the people will be just; conceal anything and make them jealous.” “Force public officials to report often and watch their eyes to see if they are telling you all they know.”

Some Christian Scientists are protesting the placing of an armed guard at the cemetery where Mary Baker Eddy’s body is waiting to be interred, because they expect her to be resurrected.

There are riots and shooting in a border war between Chicago and its suburbs, whose residents are now being charged double fares to ride street cars into Chicago.

Today -100: December 28, 1910: Of men in small spaces

Cornelius Dayton, who went insane when serving in the Civil War, has been kept for the last 45 years in a cage on the family farm in Connecticut.

In West Virginia a lynching is thwarted when a negro prisoner was kept from the mob for several hours in the railroad station’s safe. He almost died of suffocation.

Okay, I thought I was done with Obama before. NOW I’m done with Obama.

Obama took time out of his presumably busy schedule to call the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles to thank him for hiring perpetrator of violence against animals Michael Vick.

Today -100: December 27, 1910: Of suffrage, interrupted toilets, pigs, mistletoe, and Sunday baseball

There have been several letters in the NYT over the last couple of weeks -100 about whether or not female students at Barnard College have any interest in women’s suffrage. Now an editorial informs us that “The organization of suffrage clubs in the women’s colleges is not spontaneous, the idea of it is hardly tolerated by the majority in the undergraduate bodies. The young women do not go to college to argue politics or to let the subject intrude upon their studies. It offends them. ... Outside the colleges the agitation of the suffragists has wrought no demonstrable good. It can do no good within them, and it has no rightful place within them.” So that settles that.

Headline of the Day -100: “Morok’s Aeroplane Interrupts Toilet.” Belgian aviator Charles Frank Morok set off from North Bergen, NJ, only to crash into the second floor of a house “where a young woman was completing her toilet at the time.”

On Christmas, there was an explosion at the Llewellyn Iron Works in Los Angeles, part of an ongoing labor dispute. Now, 1,000 LA businessmen have formed a “vigilance committee” to beat up labor organizers, meet union agitators at the train station and turn them away, etc. A police captain says this is just what is needed.

The US sends a gunboat to Honduras. Just because.

Other Headline of the Day -100: “Won’t Let Woman Live with Pigs.” The Health Dept won’t let a woman back into her home in the, um, “Polackville” section of Queens.

Christmas-y Headline of the Day -100: “Mistletoe Kills Children.”

NY Governor-Elect Dix is such a politician: “I have never expressed myself on the subject of Sunday baseball.”

Today -100: December 26, 1910: Of common malefactors & robbers, strikes, and peacemaker’s heads

The governor of Chihuahua issues a proclamation calling for all citizens to organize themselves to fight the rebels and deriding the latter as common malefactors and robbers.

Employees of the Pressed Steel Car Company of Pittsburg are threatening to strike. 1909’s strike was accompanied by violence and this year plant workers have been buying rifles discarded by the Army. Oh, and they’re “foreigners.”

Christmas-y Headline of the Day -100: “Peacemaker’s Head Nearly Severed.” One Albert Hibbs in Camden, NJ, who tried to stop two negroes fighting (Hibbs’s race is not mentioned, which means he was white, since the 1910 NYT was incapable of referring to any African-American without making their race clear).

GOP gadgets

Republicans are proposing to allow members of Congress to bring their electronic gadgets into the House chamber – iPads, Blackberries, vibrators, etc. After all, Dick Cheney used to preside over the Senate, and he’s more machine than man.

CONTEST: What gadgets might be appropriate for Republican congresscritters in either House, collectively or for individuals, such as the iCurmudgeon, which reminds him what he’s cranky about on a real-time basis.

Today -100: December 25, 1910: Of hair, reckless driving, and dancing

One result of the Japanese annexation of Korea: human hair has gotten a lot cheaper on the world hair markets as Koreans are cutting off their top-knots. A ladies’ hairdresser tells the Times that “smart” women spend $100 to $150 a year on human hair, with $8 of foreign hair on her head at any one time. The glut of Korean hair will bring curls, switches (whatever those might be) etc within the reach of all.

A chauffeur (I think meaning taxi driver) in Nebraska is sentenced to 3 years for running over a rich guy (while driving some fares to a funeral). This is the first manslaughter conviction of a motorist in the West ever (reckless drivers in general seemed to get off pretty lightly in 1910).

Nebraska Governor-Elect Chester Aldrich will have no inaugural ball – he is a Methodist and “cannot countenance dancing.”

That voodoo that you do

1) Sarah Palin’s latest “cause” is Haiti (through the odious Franklin Graham’s group). 2) Haitians have been killing voodoo practitioners in an effort to end the cholera epidemic. Coincidence?

Today -100: December 24, 1910: Of gambling, divorces and recalls

Gamblers are demanding the repeal of an anti-gambling law recently passed in Nevada. They are threatening that if it is not repealed, they will repeal the other source of Nevada’s tourist trade, the divorce law.

A petition for the recall of Seattle Mayor Hiram Gill, elected earlier in the year, receives enough signatures to trigger a recall election, the first of an American mayor.

State visit

Chinese president Hu Jintao will be visiting the White House next month. In other news, banks have been breaking into people’s houses and throwing out all their possessions. Just sayin’.

Today -100: December 23, 1910: Of bodies in barrels, invasions, duck hunting, and opium

A body found in a barrel marked “poultry” in Montreal has been identified as one Matthew Johnson. The case turned out not to be one of murder, but of grave robbery by an amateur medical student, who insists that the barrel, which was discovered after he failed to collect it at the railroad station, contained turkeys and not dead janitors.

For some reason everyone in the US government is issuing denials that the US plans to re-invade Cuba.

French aviator Hubert Latham went duck hunting from his airplane. Another aviation first.

Members of the Chinese National Assembly are demanding a reduction in the production of opium and a ban on its importation from India. The British government is trying to prevent these “sentimental” measures which threaten state revenues in India, and they did after all fight the Opium Wars to force open the Chinese opium market.

Obama press conference: A season of progress

Just what I didn’t want for Xmas: another Obama press conference to blog.

IS THAT YOUR WAY OF TELLING THEM THE WHITE HOUSE HAS BEDBUGS AND NOW SO DO THEY? He began, “I know everybody is itching to get out of here”.

AND A SEASON OF WHINING AND PETULANCE FOR JOHN MCCAIN: “A lot of folks in this town predicted that after the midterm elections, Washington would be headed for more partisanship and more gridlock. And instead, this has been a season of progress for the American people.”


IT WAS MORE FUN WHEN REAGAN USED TO TRY TO SAY IT IN RUSSIAN: On the New START Treaty: “So we will be able to trust but verify.”

HE’S THE REMINDERER: “In fact, I just got off the phone with Dick Lugar, and reminded him the first trip I ever took as senator -- foreign trip -- was with Dick Lugar to Russia, to look at nuclear facilities there.” Hey, Dick, remember when I’d been in the Senate about a week and you’d been there like thirty years and now I’m the president and you’re still in the Senate?

“PERFECTING OUR UNION” – IS THAT WHAT THEY’RE CALLING IT NOW? “In our ongoing struggle to perfect our union, we also overturned a 17-year-old law and a longstanding injustice by finally ending ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’”

YES, LET’S STOP PUNISHING KIDS, AND SEND THEM INTO THE MILITARY, NO WAIT, WHAT? “I am very disappointed Congress wasn’t able to pass the DREAM Act so we can stop punishing kids for the actions of their parents, and allow them to serve in the military or earn an education and contribute their talents to the country where they grew up.”

On gay marriage: “As I’ve said, my feelings about this are constantly evolving. I struggle with this.” It’s not about your “feelings.” It’s about equity. Your “feelings” about other people’s rights are irrelevant.


WHAT HIS BASELINE IS: “my baseline is a strong civil union that provides them the protections and the legal rights that married couples have. And I think -- and I think that’s the right thing to do. But I recognize that from their perspective it is not enough”. That “from their perspective” is rather telling. Just as he privileges his own personal “feelings” about gay marriage, this suggests that only gay people have a problem with their being denied marital equality, and that that problem is primarily emotional. In fact civil unions are “not enough” from the perspective of anyone who puts equity first, and the denial of equality to anyone in society is harmful to everyone in that society.

THE SPIDER-MAN PRINCIPLE (BUT THEN, SPIDER-MAN SEEMS TO BE FALLING DOWN AN AWFUL LOT LATELY): “You know, my sense is the Republicans recognize that with greater power is going to come greater responsibility.”


Asked about his failure to close Guantanamo, he went on about the reason for closing it being that “Guantanamo is probably the number one recruitment tool that is used by these jihadist organizations.” Well, no, that would probably be all the wars in Muslim countries and, you know, Israel. “And that’s what closing Guantanamo is about -- not because I think that the people who are running Guantanamo are doing a bad job, but rather because it’s become a symbol.” Unless you’re a prisoner in the 6th or 8th year of detention without trial, of course.

“And so one thing I hope people have seen during this lame duck -- I am persistent. I am persistent. If I believe in something strongly, I stay on it.” And then he went on vacation.

Today in Lame

On Monday, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was seen to be blissfully unaware of alleged terrorists having been arrested in London.



White House adviser on heimat security John Brenner defends Clapper thusly: “I am glad that Jim Clapper is not sitting in front of the TV 24 hours a day and monitoring what is coming out of the media.”

Oh, all right, I guess I have to: Clap on, clap off. The Clapper.

Today -100: December 22, 1910: Of the 103rd meridian

The US Senate invalidates the decision of the New Mexico Constitutional Convention as to the borders of the not-yet-state with Texas. There’s a dispute dating back to an error by a government surveyor in 1858, and Taft wants that error made permanent.

Oh, now you’re just making it sound dirty

AP: “Obama To End Military Gay Ban at Interior Ceremony.”

Today -100: December 21, 1910: Of the need for speed, blue suit duels, and the British elections

NYC is considering raising the automobile speed limit from its current 8 mph to 15 or 20, depending on the width of the street.

In Nagyvarad, Hungary, the president of the local union of solicitors attended a ball given by local law students. He was wearing a light blue summer suit and brown boots, which for some reason was taken as a grave insult. The law students called a meeting to debate the suit, things turned nasty, 122 deadly insults were made, which will result in 122 duels. Which are to be fought with swords. (Were 122 duels actually fought? Who knows: there was no follow-up story).

The British general election (voting took place from the 3rd to the 19th, the last multi-day election in Britain), which was supposed to break the parliamentary deadlock created by the previous general election 11 months before, didn’t. The Liberals dropped from 275 seats to 272, the Tories won 272 seats, down by 1 (who counts as what is open to debate for some, so you may see different figures). Labour gained 2 to win 42 seats, despite the fact that having to fighting two elections in one year seriously strained their finances. The Irish Nationalists won 84 seats, up 2. Turnout was 81%, down 5.5% from January. Asquith and the Liberals will continue to rule, in conjunction with Labour and the Nats.

Today -100: December 20, 1910: Of dry zones and Civil War pensions

President Taft is considering whether to modify the dry zones in Minnesota. Old Indian treaties forbid the sale of liquor on any reservations, but the boundaries were set so long ago that the dry zones now include Minneapolis, Duluth, etc. Taft is talking with the governor and the Anti-Saloon League about what to do.

In Congress, the Republican Old Guard and some Democrats are filibustering a bill to give a pension to Civil War vets who served more than 60 days ($15 a month if they’re over 65, $20 if 70, $36 if 75). The Republicans oppose it on budgetary grounds, the Democrats because, well, because a lot of them weren’t on that side, and because it would give the same pension to real soldiers and to those who joined in the last year to get large signing bonuses and who saw no actual fighting.

Today -100: December 19, 1910: Of disappearing islands and disappearing horses

Following a series of earthquakes in Costa Rica, an island in the Ilopango Lagoon sinks, killing roughly 170 people.

Another piece of old New York has passed away, says the NYT: battery-powered street cars have now replaced horse-drawn ones on the 28th and 29th Street crosstown line. “To stand in Broadway... and watch first the tide of modern traffic along the Great White Way and then suddenly to see a horse car jogging across this line of traffic was not unlike looking at a knight in armor gallop across a parade of the bricklayers’ union.”

Today -100: December 18, 1910: Of invasion, grand old Republicans, airplanes, and women smoking

Taft gives a speech publicly refuting those leaked reports of his secretary of war and army chief of staff and denying that the US is in any imminent danger of being invaded by some European power if it doesn’t immediately increase the size of the standing army to 400,000 or more: “There is not the slightest reason for such a sensation, because we are at peace with all the nations of the world and are quite likely to remain so.” But he does want an international court and fortification of the Panama Canal.

In Russia, five newspapers are confiscated and their editors will be prosecuted for lèse majesté for publishing a speech made by Vladimir Purishkevitch in the Duma about police attacks on student meetings and the cruelties inflicted on political prisoners (since Purishkevitch was a right-wing anti-Semitic crazy, I’m not sure what this is about, and I don’t have more details about the speech).

Samuel Parker, 80, one of the founders of the Republican Party and a friend of Abraham Lincoln, retires from his government job in Cook County. And the NYT -100 really needed to watch its spacing, since “whoretired” might really be “who retired,” and might really be something else entirely.

Orville Wright says that aviation is now safer than automobiling, that planes will soon be built capable of carrying ten or even twelve passengers, and that people (rich people) will soon use planes for cross-country trips.

At the new Ritz-Carlton, a woman smoked in the dining room, blowing smoke-rings. A waiter informed the head-waiter, who informed the manager, who merely observed the violator of social mores without chastising her. So, will women be allowed to smoke in the public rooms of the New York Ritz-Carlton, as they are in the one in London? The Times sent a reporter to ask the vice president of the Ritz-Carlton Company. He insisted that “American women know best what is the correct thing to do in a public restaurant, and I would never dream of posing as an arbiter of etiquette. ... I cannot presume to teach American women anything at all.”

Headlines of the day from the greatest newspaper ever

The Daily Telegraph today brings us these journalistic gems:

“Silvio Berlusconi Buys 37 Rings for His Leading Ladies.” Meaning $1,850 gold & diamond rings for women MPs. I believe they had to take them from his penis.

“Japanese Woman Sues Google for Displaying Images of Underwear.” Google Street View strikes again. “I could understand if it was just a picture of the outside of the apartment, but showing a person’s underwear hanging outside is absolutely wrong,” she says.

“Hospital Hired Models in Lab Coats and Heels ‘To Attract Men.’” UMass Memorial Health Care hired the models to flirt with men in malls and coax them into having swabs taken for a bone marrow registry. And then billing their insurance $4,300.

“Swedish Medical Students Get Teacher’s Body at First Autopsy.”

“Barack Obama Scoops Bo’s Poop.” Hey, he’s getting off lightly. John Boehner is going to make him eat his.

This was at an elementary school. No one asked him about dog poop. Some student asked how much fun is it running around the White House all day, and he brought up the poop thing all by himself. The children’s response, as recorded by the White House transcript: “Ew!”

One kid asked him for an autograph. He said no.

“Surgeon Made Dominatrix Blush.” Dr. W masturbated after giving Mistress J botox injections at a clinic in, um, Maidenhead.

“Model’s Hair Catches Fire at Rapper Diddy’s Party.” And there’s a video you can watch (I didn’t), because he was webcasting the album-release party. “Diddy has apparently been told not to return to the hotel.”

“Winona Ryder Claims Mel Gibson Called Her an ‘Oven-Dodger.’” I assumed it was some sort of sexist thing, but it was an anti-Semitic thing. Charming.