« O'Reilly's Emergent Democracy Forum | Main | Gohsuke Takama » Lenny Bruce Pardoned - 40 Years Too LateLenny Bruce was pardoned posthumously today by New York Governor George Pataki. The pardon was for the obscenity conviction that was part of a pattern of harassment that threw Lenny's life up gainst a brick wall and pounded him until he gave in. He died of a drug overdose in the mid-sixties. A decade ago I wrote a whacky piece remembering Lenny. Though I was a kid growing up in the middle of the West Texas desert, I knew about Lenny via Harvey Kurtzman's "Help!" magazine and the serialization in Playboy of "How to Talk Dirty and Influence People." I suppose we should be celebrating though the pardon comes at a time when free speech is on the ropes again. Pataki's move should remind us how far we've come – before we go back. [Link] jon posted this at 11:05 PM |
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