Cover Art: The Time Collection [Flash] "In 1978 Time Magazine gave to the National Portrait Gallery some 800 works of original art that had at one time or another appeared on its covers." The gallery has created an online-only exhibition of the covers (the museum is closed for renovation until July 4, 2006). "And while one may normally imagine ornately framed oils of distinguished luminaries when thinking of the NPG, the Time covers offer a much closer to 'street level' survey of the prominent figures of any specific period." [via CSM]
posted by clgregor on Dec 14, 2005 - 7 comments

Constance Baker Motley, civil rights lawyer and federal judge, is dead at age 84. (NYT; bugmenot). She was a brilliant lawyer in the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund when it was led by Thurgood Marshall, winning anti-segregationist legal victories against Alabama Governor George Wallace and many others, and defending the civil rights movement. A New Yorker, she was a state senator and borough president of Manhattan. In 1966, Lyndon Johnson appointed her to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and she became the first black woman federal judge in the United States. Speeches, writings and clippings.
posted by By The Grace of God on Sep 29, 2005 - 10 comments

Iranian vice-president is blogging. Mohammad Ali Abtahi is perhaps the only major politician who publishes his personal diary, and his secretly taken photos from official meetings (e.g. the ousted president of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze) on his weblog, which is unfortunately only in Persian. (via iranFilter)
posted by hoder on Nov 24, 2003 - 9 comments

"Yes, I am looking for the Farm Bureau but I am not able to find it."
A disc jockey in Fresno, CA (where my own radio career ended 25 years ago: self-interest disclosure) who says "I don't vote. I don't care", pulls a stunt on an embattled state legislator with a Hustler sex doll (NSFW unless you work for Hustler) and it becomes a First Amendment Issue TM when officers of the California Highway Patrol order pictures of the stunt deleted from a digital camera.

Here's the radio station's spin on the story, complete with a glowing endorsement (but no direct link) for their photo recovery software.

The Legislator in question has not mentioned any of this on HIS website, but he is sponsoring an essay contest for 9th-12th-graders on the subject: "There Ought to Be a Law". (scroll down)

Blame Obscure Store for getting me started.
posted by wendell on Feb 18, 2003 - 8 comments

"What nonsense I have just come out with," Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar admitted after delivering a 25-minute speech -- unaware that his microphone was still turned on. Oops.
posted by dagny on Mar 22, 2002 - 7 comments

Get Chipped! A Brazilian legislator wants to become the first politician to be implanted with a controversial microchip that would contain his personal information. Hmmm, would the real Kevin Warwick please stand up.
posted by nakedjon on Feb 15, 2002 - 3 comments