O’Reilly vs. Colbert! Al-Maliki vs. The White House! Park City vs. Tara Reid!

Plus: Darfur’s in Trouble...Senator Leahy’s Smackdown...It’s a Bad Time to be a Detainee...We’ll Miss Art Buchwald...And Finally, Pillow Fighting Gets the Respect it Deserves. Today is January 19th, and this is Mic Check.

Celebration Excuse

With a “No” Vote on the L of N, an Apple named Lisa, and the Birthdays of 4 Sports’ Inspirations—laissez les bons temps rouler!

1920

The U.S. Senate votes against joining the League of Nations. Henry Cabot Lodge, in an unreleased photograph, sticks his tongue out at Woodrow Wilson.

1977

President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D’Aquino (a.k.a. “Tokyo Rose"). Meanwhile, “Orphan Annie” remains jailed for panhandling.

1983

The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Computer, Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced. Plans for the iLisa, a 100 pound pocket computer featuring the “Carmen Sandiego” game is quickly dismissed.

2002

Michael Jordan played his first game in Chicago since rejoining the NBA. Ross Perot congratulated Jordan after the game, noting their career similarities.

2008

The state of Nevada will hold its presidential caucus, sandwiching itself between what, to date, had been the two earliest votes on the candidacy for US presidents, the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary. Cheers for more electoral front-loading.

Birthdays!

Edgar Allan Poe (Inspiration for the Baltimore Ravens), Sir Henry Bessemer (Inspiration for the Manchester minor league cricket team, the Converters), Paul Cezanne (for whom the sports teams of Orange, New Jersey are named), and Janis Joplin (for whom the little Joplins, a softball team in Port Arthur, Texas is named).

Daybook

PEOPLE

10:30AM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) holds news conference on “State of the Union, 2007” at the National Press Club.

12:30AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) gives speech at RNC Winter Conference

SENATE

9:30AM

Senate Appropriations Committee, Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee joint hearing on Stem Cell Research

HOUSE

10AM

House meets to consider legislation to deny congressional pensions to members convicted of felonies, and legislation to overhaul the Congressional Page Board. (Name that scandal!)

10AM

Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on FY2008 appropriations relating to military medical readiness.

 

Popularity Contest

THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE EDITION

Break out the Uggs and throw on the Burberry — it’s Sundance time! This weekend, Park City, Utah will be overrun with Prada-clad Hollywood types who have come to celebrate the “indie” side of film. Impress your friends and sound like a suave insider with these juicy facts. [Sundance]

  • The festival is sponsored by the Sundance Institute, which Robert Redford founded in 1981 to assist in the “development of artists of independent vision and to the exhibition of their new work.”
  • 45,000: The number by which the population of Park City increases during the Sundance Film Festival.
  • 3,000: The number of feature films that were submitted to the festival. Only a little of 120 were selected for screening.
  • “Chicago 10:” The name of the film which will open the festival. The movie is director Brett Morgen’s stylistic retrospective of the turbulent 1968 Democratic National Convention and the trial of anti-war protesters that followed.
  • Red Bull/Vodka: according to local bartender Ron Wedig, the mixed drink is the most popular beverage during the festival. Good to know. [Fox]

Masthead

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Mic Check is produced every weekday by Christy Harvey, Sara Langhinrichs and Nicole Murphy, and is a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Read more about Mic Check.

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