There were 64 journalists killed in action covering WWII, and when Edward R. Murrow went on the "What's My Line" TV show in 1952 (it's on Youtube) to publicize (and raise funds for) a memorial, the man with one of the Twentieth Century's most distinctive voices had to switch to a high pipsqueak deliver to fool the panel for a short time.
Recently at the Lox, Stock, and Bagel in Berkeley CA, we overheard a fellow doing an interview about something we consider to be on the top ten list of most intriguing topics from the Twnetieth Century. It took all the self control we could must to restrain our self from jumping into the interview which was about what it was like to deliver copies of Combat newspaper (it was a capital offense) in Occupied Paris.
Will violations of net neutrality ever become a capital offence?
The fact that some members of the German military were authorized to act as judge, jury, and executioner on the spot, brings up another question: Is it too harsh to impose a death sentence on war criminals? That, in turn, brings us to the point where the death penalty must be considered and that brings us full circle because that is the same question that this column had for a starting point.
[Note from the photo editor: An Objet trouve collage seemed like a good way to illustrate a column featuring a pastiche of facts, history, and trivia.]
In his biography of John Steinbeck, Jay Parini wrote: "But life is plotless, a random onslaught of facts and events that often lack a discernible pattern or arc of development." He should have added the words: " . . . until a political pundit comes along."
Now, the disk jockey will play Weird Al Yankovic's new album, "Mandatory Fun," in its entirety, the "Is Paris Burning?" soundtrack album, and "You'll Never Know," which was the winner of the 1943 Best Song Oscar from the film "Hello, Frisco, Hello." We have to go see if there is any bar in the world that still has "As Time Goes By" on the juke box. Have a "such is life" type week.
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