One card featured a young Dick Cheney — then Secretary of Defense — with his menacing grin intact:

The back of the card gives biographical details for the military-industrial complex ringleader:

A relevant feature of the military-industrial complex is its relationship with the rise of the managerial society: note that, as Secretary of Defense, Cheney controlled “budget allocations.”  Since his position was appointed rather than elected, the military resources he controlled were essentially outside the realm of democratic accountability.

In 1992, when the fictional TV character Murphy Brown encountered a common real-life situation — that of conceiving a child out of wedlock — there was a national uproar.  The vice president of the United States even chimed in, saying that this was an example of the moral deterioration of society.

When Bristol Palin, the real-life daughter of former vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, conceived a child out of wedlock as a teenager, she was treated as a celebrity, and subsequently earned a spot on the reality TV show “Dancing with the Stars.”  Due to audience voting, Bristol Palin remains in the competition while superior dancers are eliminated.

Source of newspaper clipping: Milwaukee Journal, May 24, 1992.