Honduras

There had not been a military coup in Latin America for 20 years until this past June when the Honduran President-Jose Manuel Zelaya-was forced into exile in Costa Rica. The Washington Spectator claims "...a small group of (US) extremist republicans..." had a hand in the coup and did so while the Obama admin was occupied with Iraq and Afghanistan. Zeleya was moving too close to leftists in the region-Venezuela's Chavez for one-and had "...refused to privitize the state-owned phone company Hondutel". This source claims that GOP senator Jim DeMint had held up an Obama appointment to Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs for five months, causing a void in US leadership in the region. DeMint and three Florida Cuban American congressmen were thus able to "...conduct their own foreign policy..." while "...Obama (was) boxed in...". As of September, Zeleya was back in Honduras under refuge in the Brazilian Embassy. Obama is working for his return to office.

(Source: "Banana Republicans: A New Cold War in a Small Tropical Country" by Lou Dubose. The Washington Spectator Dec. 1, 2009)

John Adams Presidency

During his term in office, Adams was faced with a growing war threat from France. He believed that agents of the French Directory were operating in the US in a plot to "...force American 'wives and daughters' into 'legal prostitution'..." and that these agents would attack the east coast and try to kill him. Adams referred to this threat as "terrorism", making this one of the first, if not the first, use of the term to define a national security threat to the US.

Adams friend and advisor, Elbridge Gerry, provided an interesting description of the danger poised by a "...large standing army...": it was like a "...swollen penis, providing '...an excellent assurance of domestic tranquility, but dangerous temptation to foreign adventure".

(Source: Presidential Courage by Michael Beschloss. Simon and Schuster Publishing 2007. Page 35.)

Counterinsurgency or Counterterrorism

The Washington Spectator gives a brief description of the two strategies. Counterinsurgency is the commitment of "...a large troop commitment to protect the Afghan people, defend cities, roads, and bridges, and pursue al-Qaeda". Counterterrorism would involve the use of fewer American troops but use "...intelligence, special forces and drones to degrade al-Qaeda". This last strategy is favored by VP Joe Biden.

(Source: "The Afghan dilemma" by Lou Dubose. The Washington Spectator, Nov 15, 2009)

Paul Samuelson

The author of what many consider the foremost text on economics has died at the age of 94. His text called Economics has been in use for decades. Samuelson was also involved as an economic advisor to JFK. The obit I read said the following: "...was a liberal, and like many of his generation a follower of British economist John Maynard Keynes, who proposed that a nation needs an activist government that could foster low unemployment by steering tax and monetary policies, even if it meant deficit spending at times". The federal income tax cut of the Kennedy years-actually passed after his death-has been noted often by those wanting to cut income taxes. The obit stated what Samuelson said on this issue in 1961 . "A temporary reduction in tax rates on individual incomes can be a powerful weapon against recession" (my emphasis).

(Source: "A Widely Influential Economist" by Polly Anderson of The AP. The Record on 12/14/09)

Confederates in Brazil-Update

This post is an update on a 10/21/09 post on this same topic. This emigration was "one of the few organized emigrations out of the US" (I don't know the others) and consisted on southerners who were too poor to own slaves, even thou some did bring their slaves with them. The emperor of Brazil-Don Pedro-wanted to recruit farmers who could grow cotton. Many of the emigrants died on disease and about 60 % returned to the US. Today there are about 200,000 Brazilians who claim American ancestry. These Brazilians will flag the Confederate "stars and bars" flag, not the battle flag.

(Google: "Confederates in Brazil")

SDI and UFO

In a Time Magazine article from 1997 about the UFO "incident" at Roswell, NW, the author notes a book by Philip J. Corso. Corso says that the real stimulus behind President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative was to fight the "real Cold War" against EBES or "extraterrestial biological entities". The article states that the SDI "...tipped the balance of power...the US and USSR both knew who the real targets of SDI were...when we deployed our advanced particle-beam weapon and tested it in orbit for all to see, the EBES knew and we knew that they knew that we had our defense of the planet in place". (Did we really spend all that money to protect ourselves from UFO's? Sounds unlikely to me.) The book is The Day After Roswell by Philip J. Corso, with a forward by Senator Strom Thurmond. Date of book unknown.

(Source: "Roswell or Bust" by Bruce Hardy. Time Magazine June 23, 1997.)

Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed"

US Gun Laws

The FBI is required to conduct a background check on a person buying a gun. However, the record of that background check is not to be kept more than 24 hours after completion of the check. Senator Frank Lautenberg-Democrat of NJ-is proposing legislation-S 2820-that would require the FBI to maintain those records (the source does not say for how long). It is noted by this source that senators are "more inclined to roll back existing laws that advocates for gun owners consider restrictive, rather than pass new laws".

(Source: "Keeping tabs on gun sales" in Capital Games column by Herb Jackson. The Record on 12/6/09)

WWI Christmas Truce

On the night of December 24th, 1914, the singing of Christmas carols by German soldiers in the trenches of Ypres, Belgium was answered by British soldiers singing carols. This led to soldiers from both sides exchanging greetings and gifts-whiskey, cigars and chocolate-and allowing for the removal of dead from the battlefield. There are stories about German and British soldiers meeting for drinks and football games. On Christmas Eve of 1915 French and German soldiers called a similiar truce to enjoy Christmas. Officers of both sides disapproved; they ordered "bombardments on Christmas Eve, to nip any detente in the bud". These events are the subject of a play in NYC showing this week thru January 2nd at the Hudson Guild Theatre on 26th Street.

(Source: "Play pays Christmas more than lip service" by Jim Beckerman of The Record. Dec 6, 2009).

Birmingham, Alabama

The city has offered a pardon to those charged with misdemeanor crimes during the civil rights protests of the 1960's. One protestor-a pastor now-was 14 at the time and held for a "week in custody at the city fairgrounds charged with demonstrating without a permit". The state has had the offer ongoing for three years and "officials have not received a single pardon application from anyone arrested in the Montgomery bus boycott of the mid-1950's, the Birmingham demostrations of 1963 or the Selma voting rights marches of 1965". The "charges" are carried like a "badge of honor" by protestors who believe they did nothing to be pardoned for.

(Source: "Civil rights protestors pardoned of charges" by The AP. The Record on 8/12/09).

US Surveillance

The ACLU reports on the state of government surveillance in the US since 9/11. Prior to 9/11 the federal government conducted spying on a "targeted suspicion" model where "first came the suspect, then the surveillance". After 9/11 the spying program was reversed; the government "vacuumed up info about everyone...in the hopes of finding someone who had done something wrong". The National Security Agency (NSA) monitors "American's telephone calls, emails, web activity and financial records". It seems that there are three methods of gathering info with the use of "warrantless wiretapping". First, is the use of "fusion centers", which are state centers of info collection that is shared with federal law agencies which includes "info about local crimes and 'suspicious activity'". Second, are the use of National Security Letters which are used to gather info from Internet service providers, banks and credit card companies from consumer records. Third, the FISA Amendments Act which is the law that "essentially legalized the NSA's warrantless spying program".

(Source: "The mass surveillance of Americans" by Anthony D. Romero, executive director ACLU. Civil Liberties: The American Civil Liberties Union National Newsletter dated Summer 2009)

"Great Society"

LBJ outlined his plans for a "great society" in a speech on January 4, 1965 (might be worth re-reading). The programs he suggested were Medicare, Medicaid and educational funding. The program included immigration reform and civil rights protections.

(Source: The Record on 1/4/09)

Children Deportations

The British government has apologized for a program that sent poor British children overseas from 1618 to 1967. 150,000 such children were sent to Australia, Canada and other former colonies (US being one). The children were from orphanages, unmarried mothers, or poor families. It seems one of the first groups was sent to the Virginia Colony in 1618 and after 1920 most were sent to Australia. Many of these children were placed in institutions and many were "physically and sexually abused or sent to work as farm laborers". Of those sent to Australia, many of the siblings were split up. While the stated objective was to give these children a chance for a "better life" it was also "intended to stop them from being a burden on the British state while supplying the receiving countries with white potential workers".

(Source: "Kids shipped to colonies receive an official apology" by Rod McGuirk, and Jill Lawless of The AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 11/16/09)

Harding and Press Censorship

The "...only known case of government suppression of a book in peacetime" occured during the administration of Warren Harding. The case involved the disclosure of the story that Warren Harding had a long-standing affair with a Carrie Phillips, who was a "former best friend" of Florence Harding-the First Lady. She was paid a sum of $ 25,000 to disappear during the time of the 1920 election. When this story was about to come to light (by whom the article does not say) the administration sent agents of the Bureau of Investigation "to seize the plates and printing press and destroy copies". This would involve the First Amendment issue of "prior restraint" which holds that the government should not take restrictive action before a publication; after is another matter.

(Source: "The Most Scandalous President" by Carl Sferrazze Anthony. American Heritage Magazine July/August 1998).

Lyndon Johnson

LBJ-as we all have heard-had reputation for colorful language. This example comes from The Washington Spectator and its editor Lou DuBose. We have heard the phrase about "keeping our enemies close" and LBJ said in that regard; "I'd rather have 'em inside the tent pissin' out than outside the tent pissin' in".

(Source: "Things Fall Apart" by Lou DuBose. The Washington Spectator 11/1/09).

Obama's Nobel Prize

An AP report notes the defense the Nobel Prize committee gave for its decision to give its peace award to President Obama. Members of the committee said the reasons were as follows. First, Obama has made "efforts to heal the divide between the West and the Muslim world". Second, Obama has scaled "down a Bush era proposal for an anti-missile shield in Europe". Third, Obama has caused a change in "global mood" by his "calls for peace and cooperation". Fourth, Obama has "pledged to reduce the world stock of nuclear arms". Fifth, Obama has "strengthened the US role in combating climate change". Members of the committee who were interviewed said that "most world leaders were positive about the award" while the critics are mostly the US media and "Obama's political rivals". Some of those critics-like Michael Steele of the GOP-said the award to Obama indicates "how meaningless a once honorable and respected award has become". Steele also said that democrats and "their international leftist allies want America made subservient to the agenda of global redistribution and control" (What does the rest of the world think of this degree of criticism? Are they wondering if race is a factor?)

(Source: "Nobel Jurists defend giving Award to Obama" by Ian McDougall and Karl Ritter of The AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 10/14/09).

Update on 11/11/09.

The Washington Spectator offers an explanation of the Peace Prize award to president Obama that hinges on the committee's long-standing belief that the "biggest issue...(is)...nuclear disarmament". Those who are opposed to Obama getting the award are "...diehard Cold Warriors..." in the US. These people have always felt that disarmament was "...for others, not for itself". In Prague in April Obama stated his goal of "a multilateral policy committed to nuclear disarmament". In September at the UN Obama became the "first US president ever to preside over the UN Security Council" and his agenda was "nuclear disarmament". At the UN, Obama pushed a resolution that would support the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, "which would ban the processing of the refined materials necessary for bomb production". The resolution was adopted unanimously. Obama also "seems to be moving forward" on the Non-Proliferation Treaty and disarmament by the nuclear power countries. He has "moved to renew and expand the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" and he has "re-considered the provocative, expensive-and almost certainly useless-anti missile program in Eastern Europe"

(Source: "Obama and the Bomb" by Ian Williams of the Foreign Policy In Focus. The Washington Spectator. November 1, 2009).

George Washington's Pay

We all know that George refused a salary when he served as the commander of American forces in the Revolution. However, did we know that the bill he submitted to the Continental Congress for his expenses was in excess of $ 450,000 (The article does not say if that is 1783 or 2009 money). The article notes that historians are now going over financial records GW left that up till now had been mostly ignored.

(Source: "Long-ignored logs reveal father of his country, too" by Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post. In The Virginian Pilot on 10/14/09).

The Southern Manifesto"

This post is an up-date on the Estes Kefauver item on 10/15/09. In that info I stated that Kefauver was one of three US southeastern senators who did not sign the Southern Manifesto. The other two were Albert Gore Sr. and Lyndon Johnson. This document was written in Feb/Mar of 1956 by senators Strom Thurmond and Richard Russell, and stated their "opposition to racial integration in public places". It was signed by 101 congressmen-99 democrats and 2 republicans: 19 were senators and 82 were house members. In the 1960's, the democrats switched to the GOP. Their opposition was against the Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education of 1954. The entire delegations of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, S. Carolina, and Virginia signed the document. (It would seem that the three non-signing senators would have been "profiles in courage" but Kefauver went on to the vice presidential nomination under Stevenson, and Johnson became VP and President. All three were re-elected).

(Source: Wikipedia 10/17/09)

MI5 and Mussolini

The Guardian stated recently that the British Intelligence Service-MI5-paid Benito Mussolini 100 pounds a week in 1917-equal to $9600 today-to produce pro-war propaganda during the First World War . At the time Mussolini was the editor of Il Popolo d'AItala. He was also paid to "send thugs to 'persuade' peace protestors in Milan to stay at home".

(Source: "Italian dictator worked for British Intelligence in WWI". In blog.usatoday.com/on deadline. 10/16/09)

Guns, NRA and the Law

In the race for Virginia governor, the NRA is not endorsing a candidate who is known as a "strong supporter of gun rights", has voted "repeadedly to stop local governments from enforcing gun laws more restrictive than the state's", opposed a ban on guns in "community centers and parks". He has opposed "government law suits against gun manufactures" and against "firearm bans on school campuses". He opposed a state law "that limits gun purchases to one a month". In 2005 the NRA did endorse this candidate but after he voted to support a "bill to close the so-called gun-show loophole" that permits sales without a back ground check, the National Rifle Association now will not endorse him. (If the NRA had an rational thoughts they would endorse no-one in the Virginia race: big if.)

(Source: "The Issues. The Candidates. The Future of Virginia". Pull out section in the Sunday paper on 10/25/09. The Virginian Pilot)

Mayan Calendar

The Mayan Calendar is 5125 years old and it will "run out" on Dec 21, 2012 giving some to think that this may be a warning of a "doomsday scenario". Hollywood is contributing to the hype by producing a disaster movie entitled "2012". Mayan scholars are not buying the disaster theme, saying even though the Maya were advanced in many fields they could not possibly predict the future. The calendar is formally known as the "Mesoamerican Long-Count" calendar and is refered to by some as the "Odometer of Time". The Mayan estimated the creation day as August 11 (or 13) 3114 BC. In response a company in Virginia is selling doomsday shelters and have built 1000 so far. Others have picked up on this theory; one being the Edgar Cayce Association of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Mayan experts say the Maya "were indeed deep thinkers-equipped with a written language, adept at astronomy and math. But they also favored elongated heads, crossed eyes and human sacrifice". They also say that the calendar is "impressive...but flawed by inaccuracies".

(Source: "1159 days left? Maya prophecy gains a following" by Joanne Kimberlin of The Virginian Pilot on 10/18/09)

Police complaints in NJ

The ACLU of NJ reports that a majority of the state police departments are not following the law regarding citizen complaints. In the 1990's the state "adopted a strong Internal Affairs Policy" with procedures that state the following. Police must "accept complaints 24 hours a day" from "a victim, a third party or anonymous source" regardless of age. Complaints do not have to be filed in person, they can be filed over the phone and they can be anonymous. The policy also says that "juveniles could file a complaint without a parent present". This source says the law in this regard is not being followed by most law agencies.

(Source: "Confronting the Crisis Inside Internal Affairs in NJ's police departments" by Deborah Jacobs. Civil Liberties Report. The American Civil Liberties Union of NJ. 2nd Quarter 2009)/

Youth Rights NJ

In NJ, the state Supreme Court ruled in "In the Matter of P.M.P." "that a juvenile charged with a crime has the right to counsel when the complaint is filed" and not "at the first court appearance". In another case, not yet decided, a student's car was searched for drugs by the school principal after another student said there were drugs in the car. Egg Harbor High School has no rule on car searches but does require students to turnover their keys after they park. The principal says he needs only "reasonable suspicion"-like he would if the search involved a locker-while the ACLU of NJ says the principal needs "probable cause"-a higher standard-"unless there is a potential for immediate danger to students". It is noted that the principal had the keys and the student was detained in the school. The ACLU position is that the police could have been involved in the search. The case is "State v. Best" and is yet to be heard.

(Source: "In NJ, Rights of Youth Under Stress" no author listed. Civil Liberties Reporter of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. 2nd Quarter 2009.

Confederates in Brazil

After the Civil War, about 10,000 former confederates left the US and re-settled in Brazil; one of the "colonies" has survived to the present. The locations are about 2 hours NW of Sao Paulo at Santa Barbara d'Oeste and Americana. The emperor at the time-Dom Pedro II-made offers of cheap land as an enticement. Their descendents today are known as "confederados" and they have kept alive the memory of the pre-Civil War south. It seems the original founder of the community was Col. William Norris. Interestingly the area of Brazil where the group settled was involved in its own secession in 1932 and "many of the confederados went off to fight" (There is no other info on this topic in this article). Two books on the subject are; The Lost Colony of the Confederacy by Eugene C. Harter and The Confederates: Old South Immigrants edited by Cyrus and James Dawsey. An emigration to Brazil society was based in the Broad River town of Edgefield, SC.

(Source: "The Deepest South" by Alan M. Tigay who writes about Brazil for Hadassah Magazine. American Heritage Magazine April 1998).

Can You Believe This (Again)

The House voted overwhelmingly to end federal government restrictions on local governments ability to "disinvest from organizations that have at least $ 20 million invested in the Iranian energy sector or sell $ 20 million in services or equipment to that sector". The House vote was 414 to 6. The State Department opposed the legislation saying that "disinvestment hampers the conduct of US foreign policy". The bill (HR 1327) now awaits Senate action. (I guess my bias is showing; can you blame me?)

(Source: "How They Voted". The Virginian Pilot on 10/19/09).

US Military Spending

The US military in Afghanistan is spending billions of dollars to rebuild the infrastructure in that country. They have reportedly spent $ 2.7 billion already and the fiscal 2010 budget includes another $ 1.3 billion "on more than 100 projects at 40 sites across the country". The spending is meant to "support American and coalition personnel in 2010 and years beyond". The main US base there-Bagram-is up for a $ 30 million passenger terminal and adjacent cargo facility to handle the flow of troops". This facility will not be completed until late in 2010 and be operational in 2011 (if we were leaving anytime soon, I would imagine we would not be building like this).

(Source: "Military wants $ 1.3 B for Afghanistan projects" by Walter Pincus of The Washington Post. In The Virginian Pilot on 10/18/09).

US Wars

More than 30,000 Iraqis have moved to the US "under a resettlement program that began in 2007". It seems that as many as 82,000 would be eligible for relocation. Some of those might be going to other countries as well. The UN High Commission for Refugees made the recommendation to relocate Iraqis that might be in danger if they remained; it seems for cooperation with the US occupation.

An update on the US deaths in the Iraq war now stands at 4352 with 31,529 wounded. The war in Afghanistan has caused 796 US troop deaths and 4300 wounded.

(Source: "US intake of refugees increases after criticism" by Alexander G. Higgins of the AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 10/17/09)

Can You Believe This

A US company is "importing 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italy" and the federal regulators have informed Congress they can not stop them. Legislation has just now been introduced in the Senate to ban the importation of radioactive waste. The company wants to "process the waste in Tennessee and then store the remaining 1600 tons" at a private site in Utah. This source says that there are applications from Brazil and Mexico to dispose waste in Utah.

(Source: "Regulators warn of waste dumped by other nations". No author listed. In The Virginian Pilot on 10/18/09).

Update: That company is "Energy Solutions". The NRC says the importation can not be stopped and congressmen from Utah are trying to get legislation banning the disposal.

(Source: www.projectcensored.org on 10/25/09)

Columbus Day

It appears the age-old celebration of Christopher Columbus is changing. Schools are presenting a more balanced view of the explorer by noting "...the suffering of indigenous populations" that resulted from European contact. Many school districts are not observing his holiday at all. Many are not using the word "discovery" when covering Columbus as there were peoples already here when he arrived. Some schools emphasis the "Columbian Exchange" with wealth going to Europe and disease coming to the Americas. One elementary school in PA put Columbus on trial and found him guilty of "...misrepresenting the crown and thievery".

(Source: "Schools take more nuanced approach to story of Columbus" by Christine Armario of the AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 10/12/090

Senator Estes Kefauver

I had a request for information on the late Senator Estes Kefauver recently and came across some interesting items on Wikipedia about him. We know he ran with Adlai Stevenson for vice president as a democrat in 1956; they lost to DDE. He was also known as the "chief enemy of crooked businessman in the Senate" (Wikipedia is not clear on this point. Does that mean senators for were crooked businessmen or speaking as a senator was EK the enemy of such businessmen?). In 1962-in his last year in the senate-he sponsored what may be his signature legislation in the Kefauver-Harris Drug Control Act. This piece of consumer protection did the following. First, put "controls on pharmaceutical industry that required that drug companies disclose to doctors the side-effects of their products". Second, allowed for the selling of generic drugs. Third, required the drug companies "...to be able to prove on demand that their products were effective and safe".

Wikipedia also notes that in 1962 Kefauver died of a heart attack after "...eating some apple pie given to him"-by whom they do not say. (For those given to conspiracies, well never mind)

(Source: Wikipedia on 10/16/09)

Fear of Obama Health Care

There are some opposed to health care reform who are equating President Obama to Hitler and they mis-quote a German theologian when they say that "..when they came for the Jews I didn't complain because I wasn't Jewish. When the came for the Catholics I didn't complain because I wasn't Catholic..." and so on. This source prints the exact quote from Martin Niemoller and it goes as follows. "First they came for the communists, but I was not a communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the socialists and the trade unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. Then the came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me".

(Source: "Hitler, Obama and Malthus" by Lou Dubose editor of The Washington Spectator from Sept 1, 2009.

The Court and forced confessions

Some preliminary notes on this subject follow. Question: What Supreme Court cases exist that deal with the issue of forced confessions and do they apply to the alleged torture of terror suspects being held today in US military prisons.

Williams v. US 1951: A robbery suspect was beaten and tortured by a private detective who was also a "special police officer". The confession obtained was ruled to be a violation of the suspects constitutional rights and legal action was taken agains the police officer. I do not know the outcome of the robbery case.

Screws v. US

Gardner v. NJ

US v. Classic

Brown v. Mississippi

Chambers v. Florida

This information taken from on line at "Justia.com" from the US Supreme Court Center.

THIS INVESTIGATION IS ON GOING. IF ANY ONE READING THIS HAS ANY SUGGESTIONS PLEASE ADD TO COMMENT SECTION.

Interrogations and the CIA

I will enter this post directly from the newspaper I found it in. "The CIA's interrogations are likely to have damaged the brains of terrorist suspects, diminishing their ability to recall and provide the detailed information the spy agency sought, according to a new scientific paper.

The paper, published Monday in the scientific journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, scrutinizes the techniques used by the CIA under the Bush administration through the lens of neurobiology and determines the methods to be counterproductive, no matter how much the suspects might have eventurally talked". (If correct, this would argue against the use of torture to get useful information from detainees).

(Source: "Report: Interrogations of terror suspects are counterproductive" in a section entitled "nation & world at a glance". No author is listed. The Virginian Pilot on 9/22/09)

Mid East Peace

Former President Jimmy Carter believes that "Israel must stop building settlements in Palestinian territories if peace is ever to be achieved in the Middle East". The Israeli settlements in Palestine have been established by "...a determined minority of Israelis who desire to occupy and colonize east Jerusalem and the West Bank". Carter notes that all 22 Arab countries "...have offered diplomatic recognition and full trade and commerce...". if Israel would give up the occupied territories. He says the only solution to a "two state" arrangement would be a one nation in which Arabs would outnumber Israelis resulting in the "...end of the Jewish state or else an apartheid system..." with the majority population oppressed and denied equal rights. He made his comments at James Madison University while receiving an award for his humanitarian work. Carter has made a life-long concern of the Middle East problem since the Camp David Accords reached while he was president. (This, of course, is Carter's opinion. Some will disagree and some will dismiss it. He does, however, have some knowledge of the issue).

(Source: "James Madison center honors the Carter's efforts for peace" by Sue Lindsey of the AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 9/22/09).

Congress Votes

This post will start a new category with information taken from The Virginian Pilot and The Record.

The House voted to "repremand" Joe Wilson of S. Carolina for yelling "you lie" at President Obama during an address before a joint session. The vote was 240 in favor and 179 opposed. "The disapproval measure ...was the mildest punishment the House could give..." (and there were still 179 votes against it).

The House voted to deny funding to ACORN (345 to 75) and the Senate did also (83 to 7). The voter registration group was video taped "urging illegal activity".

The Senate voted to "...require Amtrak to allow passengers to stow handguns in checked luggage..." by a vote of 68 to 30.

The House approved $ 2.43 billion in funding thur 2014 to "...develop clean-vehicle technologies". The vote was 312 to 114.

(Source: "How they voted". The Virginian Pilot on 9/21/09)

Nobel Prize Winners

This post may be more useful for English teachers but I thought it worth noting here. The US has had only 11 winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature from 1901 until 2007. They are as follows: Toni Morrison in 1993, Joseph Brodsky in 1987, Czeslaw Milosz in 1980, Isaac Bashevis Singer 1978, Saul Below in 1976, John Steinbeck in 1962, Ernest Hemingway in 1954, William Faulkner in 1949, Pearl S. Buck in 1938, Eugene O'Neill in 1936, and Sinclair Lewis in 1930.

(Source: Internet "Powells.com/prizes/nobel.html".

Capital Punishment

Question: Can a felon be executed if the first attempt fails? Ohio will re-execute a convicted rapist murderer next week after an unsuccessful two hour attempt to find a vein in the felon to insert a lethal injection. His lawyer claims that this was torture and he should not be executed. The only US case dealing with this issue was from 1946 in Louisiana when an electric chair failed. The US Supreme Court ruled that to execute a "...prisoner in the wake of a failed first attempt was constitutional" (name of case unknown at this time).

(Source: "Ohio to try again after execution effort fails" from the NY Times re-printed in The Virginian Pilot on 9/17/09)

Update: A federal judge has ordered a delay-of ten days- in the second attempt to execute this convicted murderer. Romelli Broom's lawyers say the failed attempt at letha injection amounted to "cruel and unusual punishment", a violation of the 8th Amendment. Lawyers for the state "consented to the request for a delay". (Source: "Ohio: 2nd execution attempt is halted" from wire reports in The Virginian Pilot on 9/19/09)

Obama Speech

President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night to speak on the health care issue. At one point he stated that illegal immigrants would not be covered by the health care plans being discussed. A republican-conservative congressman from South Carolina, Joe Wilson, yelled out "You Lie". This outburst brought a momentary silence to the chamber and a pause by the President. Wilson was elected in 2001 and is up for re-election in 2010. (For all the congressional speeches I have listened to over the last 35 years this was the first such disrespectful comment aimed at a sitting president).

(Source: http://online wsj.com on 9/10/09)

Follow up: There are other examples of "heckling" that have occured in the US congress over the years. In 1838 two congressman fought a duel over "...words spoken on the House floor"; one died. Of course, we all know of the 1856 attack on Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner by South Carolina congressman Preston Brooks. However, this article makes the following statement regarding the statement by Wilson. "Yet there's little if any historical precedent for a US congressman individually challenging a president during a speech to Congress-let alone accusing him of lying...".

(Source: "A history of heckling" by Jocelyn Noveck of the AP. In the Virginian Pilot on 9/12/09).

Ike's Warning

No, it's not the "military-industrial-complex" warning. Ike responds to a fellow soldier about the "...danger posed by those seeking freedom from the 'mental stress and burden' of democracy". He suggested reading The True Believer by Eric Hoffer. Hoffer writes that "...dictatorial systems make one contribution to their people which leads them to tend to support such systems-freedom from the necessity of informing themselves and making up their own minds concerning these tremendous complex and difficult questions". One who might support a dictatorship "...desire nothing more than insulation from the pressures of a free society". Eisenhower's added that his experience taught him "...that the rise of extreme movements and authoritarianism could take root anywhere-even in a democracy".

(Source: "Ike's other warning" by Max Blumenthal, author. Op-ed article in The Virginian Pilot on 9/8/09)

Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights leader T.R.M. Howard has been overlooked as a force in the modern civil rights movement. He was a wealthy, black, republican businessman and major property owner in Mississippi who supported the activities of Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Medgar Evers. It was the brutal murder of 14 year-old Emmet Till that "moved Howard to even greater efforts". He gave a speech at on Nov 27, 1955 at the Dexter Avenue Baptist church of M.L. King Jr; Rosa Parks was in the audience. It was four days later that Parks decided to keep her seat on the bus in Montgomery. She was supposedly thinking of Emmet Till when she remained seated. (Many other sources said "she was just tired from a long day of work"). Howard was a "staunch republican and ally of Eisenhower...a committed feminist whose clinics offered safe abortions in the years before Roe v. Wade".

(Source: "Unsung hero of civil righs movement" by David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito, both college professors in Alabama. In The Virginian Pilot on 9/6/09)

Bataan Death March

A new book on the events in the Philippines at the start of WWII for the US has been published. The death march began on April 10, 1942 and involved an army of 76,000 mostly Filipinos who were made to walk 66 miles to a labor camp. Some 11,000 died along the way (how many died in the labor camps the article did not say). The commanding officer of the Bataan army was Major General Ned King who did survive the war. I had always thought that Lt. Gen Jonathan Wainwright was the commanding officer but he surrendered the forces on the island of Corregador one month after King did so. King surrendered on April 9, 1942 while Wainwrighs did so on May 6, 1942. JW also survived the war. (Check the dates here. Did Wainwright's force join the death march or was it a separate event? I guess not a major issue, but only Wainwright was awarded a congressional medal of honor at the end of the war). The authors of this book "...reserve their scorn for..." General Douglas MacArthur "...whom they accuse of not leading from the field and later abandoning his men there". (A learned colleague referred to him as "dugout Doug").

(Source: "Bataan Revisited" by Dwight Garner. A review of the book Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and its Aftermath by Micheal and Elizabeth Norman. In the Virginian Pilot on 9/6/09)

Iraq War

George Will writes in a op-ed article for the Washington Post about the continuing war in Iraq. He says that the war has been going on now for 6 and a half years, with 4327 US troops killed, 31,483 wounded and the US has been "nation-building" which is the "worse use of the US military". As of June of this year US troops have been removed from all cities, and by a year from now all combat troops should be out of the country leaving only 50,000 "advisors" to the Iraq government. Those advisors are to be removed from Iraq by the "end of 2011". He makes and interesting observation. "If...the US surge permanently dampened sectarian violence, all US forces can come home sooner than the end of 2011. If, however, the surge did not so succeed, US forces must come home sooner".

(Source: "Time to leave Iraq, too" by George Will of The Washington Post. In the Virginian Pilot on 9/5/09).

Racism in the US

I am always amazed-and depressed-to read about another example of race prejudice in the US. The lastest one is from a golf magazine; a sport of "gentlemen" I've been told. The first African American to win a "...championship conducted by the USGA" was Bill Wright in 1959. This article recounts the problems he and other black pro golfers faced playing this "gentlemen's game". In 1952 four black golfers-Joe Louis was one-and Charlie Sifford qualified to play in the Phoenix Open. The four were grouped together because none of the white players would play with them. The four teed off first and when they got to the first green they found "...that the cup had been filled with human excrement". Another incident involved Charlie Sifford, who in 1961 took the first round lead in the Greater Greensboro Open. On the second day he was followed by a "...drunken mob of a dozen young white men" who taunted him while swinging and placing beer cans around his golf ball. It took police 14 holes to remove the mob from the course. Wright recalls playing with white golfers "...who wouldn't shake your hand...".

It wasn't until 1961 that the PGA dropped their "caucasians only rule". I knew that baseball had a separate league for black ballplayers and this source says the UGA had one to for golfers. Wright recalls that he went to college at a small state school in Washington state and in the 1950's he remembered an incident where a group of African Americans were moving to Canada to "relocate" but were "...arrested in Bellingham for simply looking in shop windows". The article talks about death treats, locker rooms blacks couldn't use and golf balls being kicked onto the road by spectators. (Some say things have changed. But a protest arose when a black president wanted to give a graduation speech at a major US university and now his speech on the opening day of classes to the Virginia public school system is also being protested.)

Source: "Wright and Wronged" by Caryl Phillips. Golf Magazine Sept 2009)

Exculpatory Evidence

The US Supreme Court ruled in the Brady v. Maryland case-in 1963-that the state must give to the defense "any and all exculpatory evidence" even if the evidence may not prove innocence. To do otherwise, the court said, is a violation of the "due process clause" of the US Constitution. In this case the evidence may not have been material to the question of guilty or innocence but it was to the issue of punishment. The ruling also holds that the defense must be told if a police officer testifing has a "...sustained record for knowingly lying in an official capacity". Police that fall into this category are referred to as "brady cops".

(Source: Guardian of Lies novel by Steve Martini and Wikipedia under Brady v. Maryland).

Cuban Missile Crisis

In a novel by Steve Martini-Guardian of Lies-the author includes a "note" at the end of the book about Soviet missiles remaining in Cuba after the "crisis" was resolved. It was believed at the time that all the missiles were removed but Martini says "...that there were also approximately 100 battlefield nuclear weapons on the island, each one capable of destroying a good-size city". He reports that even the US government was unaware of their presence and only with the collapse of the Soviet Union did this information become known. Martini suggests that if Kennedy had ordered an invasion of Cuba in 1962 these battlefield weapons might have been used. He describes the weapons as FKR warheads that could be delivered as a cruise missile "with an effective range of a 100 miles". Guantanamo Bay would most likely been a target. Nikita Khrushchev-Soviet premier at the time-was afraid Castro would have used the weapons and in the process drawn the Soviet Union into a nuclear war with the US. Castro had urged NK to "...launch a preemptive strike against the US..." with the thought that the first to strike would win. At the "end" of the crisis JFK wanted an "...on-site verification plan..." with Cuba but it never happened. The US could only use aerial surveillance to look for any remaining missiles.

(This is a novel, but is the "author's note" accurate? I have no way-at present-of knowing).(Source: "Author's Note" page 439 of the HarperCollins Publishers edition. Guardian of Lies by Steve Martini 2009_

Vietnam/Afghanistan

President Obama is seeking advice on the war in Afghanistan from Stanley Karnow, the Pulitzer Prize winning historian on the Vietnam War. BO has doubled the size of our force there and given Gen. Stanley McChrystal the task of reviewing our effort there and creating a plan for victory. The special envoy, Richard Holbrooke, made contact with Karnow for his advice. Historians have questioned the legitamacy of the Hamid Karzai government, and the recent elections there, and the preception of graft and corruption of that government. There is a comparison to an election in 1967 in Vietnam to lend popular support for a military regime there by "an imposed presidential election". It failed then. Karnow's book is Vietnam: A History. Karnow was asked what we learned from the Vietnam War and he replied; "We leaned that we shouldn't have been there in the first place. Obama and everybody else wants to be there. I don't".

(Source: "Vietnam scholar's advice sought" taken from McClathchy Newspapers. The Record on 8/7/09).

Homeland Security

Tom Ridge has published a memoir of his years in the Bush II admin called The Test of Our Times: American Under Seige and How We Can Be Safe Again. He says that "Bush cronies" pressed him to raise the terrot alert prior to the 2004 election. He says he refused (I thought it was raised). He notes he was the head of the "largest federal agency created since WW II". He also says he was "shut out of National Security Council meetings. The book "paints an unflattering picture of the politics behind securing our country".

(Source: "Protecting the Homeland" by Sachi Fujimori. The Record on 8/27/09)

Civil Rights Act 1964

The case that sparked passage of this landmark legislation was that of the three civil rights workers murdered in Jackson, Mississippi on June 21, 1964. They were James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner and they were in Mississippi to register black voters. This case is still open-referred to as a "cold-case"-and the FBI says it is still trying to prosecute it. "Four suspects remain alive" even thou the "key suspect"-Billy Wayne Posey-died recently. The case was the background for the movie "Mississippi Burning".

(Source: "Investigators won't drop 1964 civil rights killings". The Record 8/16/09)

Update: In 1967 Edgar Ray Killen was tried for these crimes. He was found not guilty of the charge of "violation of civil rights"; he wasn't even tried for murder. In 2004 he was tried again and found guilty of murder; he was at that time 80 years old. An interesting part of this trial is that the case was investigated and re-opened based on the work of a group of Chicago high school girls working on a research project for National History Day. Their work sparked the FBI to re-open the case. Information on National History Day can be found on http://nj.nhd.org or by phone at 973-720-3978)

(Source: "Make 21st century skills come alive" by Joan Ruddiman. NJEA Review Sept 2009)

Edward M. Kennedy 1932-2009

Ted Kennedy's parting words at the Democratic National Convention in 1980 are appropriate now to note his passing. "For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, and hope still lives, and the dream shall never die".

Robert Novak

An obituary. Novak was 78 and was known as a "die-hard conservative" (at least by this source) was also known as the "prince of darkness" by fellow columnists. He worked for the Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Sun Times and most recently was a co-host of CNN's "Crossfire". Recently he became a story in himself when he published the name of a CIA agent; a federal crime to my knowledge. The case of Valerie Plame was news during the second term of GW Bush and became famous because it appeared the Bush admin leaked her name in an effort to embarrass her husband who had criticized the reasons for going to war against Iraq. (To my knowledge neither he nor those who leaked her name were ever punished for the crime). In 2005 while working for "Crossfire" he swore on the air in a debate with James Carville; his last appearance on the program.

(Source: "Robert Novak, 78; columnist, 'Crossfire' host" by Barry Schwed and Will Lester. The Record on 8/19/09)

Woodstock

Woodstock music festival held its 40th anniversary this week. August 15-18 of 1968 was the "Aquarian Exposition" held in the town of Bethel, NY. The event was defined as a "counterculture utopia". There were 400,000-estimated-people at the event including my good friends Carol and Jim. (I was in Fort Hood, Texas at the time and being a nerd I probably would not have gone anyway). It is noted that two people died during the festival-one run over by a dump truck while he slept. One of the leaders of the Hog Farm commune, Hugh Romney AKA "Wavy Gravy", and his organization provided food and security. The security called "Please Force" used the password "I forgot". (My friends C & J went back this weekend; I wished they would haved asked me to go. I am a little less nerdy now).

(Source: "She left festival after 4 hours" by Mike Kelly in The Record on 8/17/09)

Think Tanks

Wikipedia on 7/31/09 listed political think tanks by their bias. The following is a partial list taken from that source. The idea here is to inform teachers of the possible bias of a source of information that might be used in the classroom.

Centerists think tanks include: American Consumer Institute, American Institute for Economic Research, Aspen Institute, Council on Foreign Relations, and Rand Corp. The source lists 21 others.

Conservative think tanks include: American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institute, Hudson Institute, and Project for New American Century. The source lists 10 others.

Liberal think tanks include: Brookings Institution (the oldest), Center for American Progress, Commonweal Institute, Institute for Policy Studies and Economic Policy Institute. The source lists 14 others.

Libertarian think tanks include: Cato Institute (best known of this group), Ayn Rand Institute, James Madison Institute, Show-Me Institute, Goldwater Institute. The source lists 14 others.

(More research will be required to complete this information).

(Source: Wikipedia on 7/31/09.)

Ponzi Scheme

The case of the Bernard Madoff fraud is based on the mail fraud conviction of one Charles Ponzi who "bilked thousands of people out of $ 10 million in 1919-20". Hence, the name of the fraud ever since has been a "Ponzi Scheme". This source suggests that from now on the fraud might be called a "Madoff Scheme". (More research will be required on this issue).

(Source: "Madoff won't appeal 150-year term, lawyer says" by Larry Neumeister of The AP. In The Record on 7/10/09).

Populists

This might be a good time to read up on the Populists of the 1890's. Karl Rove-and others of that ilk-are saying that Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich are modern day populists. This source says that because they "bark a lot"; their style is to express "popular outrage". But the real populists of history did not "bark" at "poor people, teachers, unions, liberals, minorities, protesters, environmentalists, gays, immigrants or other demonized groups that generally reside far outside the center of the power structure". Populists were those who stood "up against the corporate powers that be", that supported "ordinary folks in their ongoing democratic fight against the moneyed elites". This source provides a definition of populism as a movement with a "focus on breaking the iron grip that big corporations have on our country-including on our economy, government, media and environment". A definition of classic liberalism is a movement that "seeks to live in harmony with concentrated corporate power by trying to regulate its excesses". This source also notes that populism is either ignored-in the classroom-or "trivialized as a quirky pitchfork rebellion by rubes and rascists" over the issue of "free silver".

(Source: "The Spark of Populism" by Jim Hightower in The Progressive magazine July 2009).

WWII and Relocation Camps

Togo W. Tanaka was a newsman and American citizen of Japanese descent who in 1942 was sent with 100,000 other Japanese-Americans to relocations camps in the American west. He was born in Oregon and graduated from UCLA before working for a Japanese language newspaper in LA. He was sent to Washington DC prior to Pearl Harbor to ask if his paper would be allowed to continue publishing. He was held for 11 days with no contact with his family or employer before the War Department released him w/o being charged with any crime. He was taken into custody 4 months later and shipped to Manzanar in Death Valley. The interesting thing about his story is that he remained loyal to the US government while in the camps and became a target of camp residents who were angered by his pro-government position. A mob might have killed him at Manaznar if he had not hidden; two residents did die. He was moved from the camp to Chicago and went on to work for a book company after the war. The US government took away his rights and fellow Japanese Americans hated him: "he was truly in a no-man's land" said his son. (The US government took away his constitutional rights in 1942; are we doing the same to some of those being held at Gitmo today?)

(Source: "Togo W. Tanka, 93; chronicled life in Japanese camps during WWII" by Elaine Woo of the Los Angeles Times. In The Record obit page on 7/7/09).

Robert Strange McNamara

The Secretary of Defense, so identified with the Vietnam war that it was often called "McNamara's War, died this week at the age of 93. He was made S of D by JFK in 1961 while he was head of Ford Motor Company and was considered at the time as one of a group known as the "whiz kids". Even thou he worked for the World Bank for years trying to improve life in rural areas in developing countries, it is fair to say that his handling of the Vietnam War was the key issue of the professional life. This is most likely the case because he came to admit, late in life, that we-and he-were "terribly wrong" in our involvement in the war there. In his book-In Retrospect: the Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam-published in 1995, he notes his "deep misgivings" about US policy as early as 1967 (the year this writer was drafted) and also that he did not think the bombing of the north would work. He told Time Magazine in 1991 he thought the bombing would not work "but that he went along with it 'because we had to try to prove it would not work, number one, and because other people thought it would work" (pardon me, but that does not sound like leadership to me, or for that matter, make any sense). RSM "continued to express public confidence" that the bombing would work if we applied enough of it, "despite (his) doubts". On a broader issue it is noted in this obit that RSM was responsible for changing US defense policy away from "massive retaliation" favored by John Foster Dulles to a policy of "flexible response".

(Source: "Robert S. McNamara, 93; manager of Vietnam War" by Peter Yost and Mike Feinsilber of The AP. In The Record on 7/7/09)

Al Franken

The Senate race between Al Franken-the Democrat-and Norm Coleman-the Republican-has finally come to an end after 8 mouths of court fights and re-counting of election ballots. Al Franken was "unaninously" declared the winner by the Minnesota Supreme Court yesterday and Coleman "conceded". His election gives the Democrats a 60 vote margin that has not occurred since the 1970's and a filibuster proof majority. However, two Democratic Senators, Byrd of WVA and Kennedy of MA, are both "absent from the Capitol" due to illness.

(Source: "Nearly 8 months late, Franken wins seat" by Brian Bakst of the AP. The Record on 7/1/09).

Immigrants and work

Immigrant workers are sending money home-their native countries-to their families in the amount of $ 50 billion a year. This is reported by the World Bank. It is estimated that in 2009 that amount may decrease by 5 %. In some cases immigrants here are requesting some of their money be sent here to them due to a lack of work opportunities in the US. This is referred to as "reverse remittances". This source suggests that the result may be some immigrant laborers returning to their native countries.

(Source: "Immigrant workers ask home for help" by Samantha Henry of the AP. The Record on 7/1/09)

Ricci v. DeStefano No. 07-1428

The US Supreme Court has ruled on the New Haven, Connecticut firefighters case by reversing the decision of the city government. The city had decided that since no non-white applicants scored well enough to be promoted the "test" would be thrown out and a new method of promotion would be created. White firefighters who did well enough on the "test" to be promoted to lieutenant or captain argued that they were in fact discriminated against: "reverse discrimination" they argued. The court agreed with the white firefighters. The decision however, "does not eliminate employers ability to take diversity into account in employment decisions". The ruling was 5 to 4. Interestingly, the appeals court case ruled in favor of the city and was supported by President Obama's choice to replace David Souter on the court: Sonia Sotomayor. Souter voted with the minority.

(Source: "Top court finds reverse bias" by the AP. The Record on June 30, 2009).

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

It seems that the military policy of not letting gays serve openly in the armed forces is still in place. The issue was in the news in 1993 when the existing "outright ban on gays in the military" was changed to the present day policy of "don't ask, don't tell". Former President Bill Clinton and democrats got considerable heat over the question. President Obama had stated during the campaign he "supported eventually repealing the law" but has been silent on the issue since his election. Now the US Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to the policy.

(Source: "Justices decline 'don't ask, don't tell' case" by AP in The Record on 6/9/09)

Census and Illegals

We are heading toward the Constitutionally required census that is to be conducted every 10 years. In Bergen County it seems there is a dispute among Latino group leaders as to whether "undocumented immigrants" should cooperate with the count. Some groups are urging the illegal population NOT to cooperate; to boycott the census. Other groups want the illegal population to participate in an effort to increase the federal aid cities will receive that is based on total population. The groups that favor the boycott want the US government to approve "comprehensive immigration reform" before the census it taken. One anti-census leader refers to illegals as "today's slaves". (This sounds like the 3/5 compromise in the Constitution that held that the slave population in early America were to be counted as 3/5 of their total so that the slave holding states could benefit from their presence while at the same time granting them none of the the rights that other residents and citizens were granted).

(Source: "Latino leaders at odds over census" by Elizabeth Llorente of The Record on 6/13/09).

Immigration Law

During the last days of the Bush II administration, AG Michael Mukasey issued an order that "limited access to lawyers for immigrants facing deportation". Now the Obama admin and AG Eric Holder have "vacated" the rule that said "immigrants facing deportation do not have an automatic right to an effective lawyer". Holder said a new rule will be written. (It would seem that this means that the Miranda rights apply to immigrants as well as those accused of felonies. It should be noted that the article talks of "immigrants" and not "illegal-immigrants").

(Source: "Immigration lawyer rule tossed by Obama" in The Record on 6/4/09)

Medical Lawsuits

The US Supreme Court ruled in February of 2008 that once the FDA approves a "medical device" an "injured patient has no right to sue the manufacturer to seek compensation for harm caused by design defects, failure to warn of the device's risks, or other flaws in the labeling". The case is Riegel v. Medtronic. The consumer group Public Citizen is pushing Congress for legislation-Medical Device Safety Act-to "correct this wrong". The group PC believes patients should have "access to the courts" if they are harmed by medical devices.

(Source: "Medical Device Bill Would Restore Ability to Sue for Harm" bu Rick Claypool. Public Citizen News May/June 2009

Police Search

It was reported, without much detail, the New Jersey Supreme Court's 2/25/09 ruling regarding police searches of a car when a warrant is not involved. The ACLU newsletter says "police are entitled to search parts of a car where the driver may have identification documents without a warrant, but not the entire vehicle". (This is very limited information from a clearly left-leaning source, thus more research is required).

(Source: NJ-ACLU "Civil Liberties Reporter". First Quarter 2009 Vol 43 # 1)

FDR and the Holocaust

New research states that FDR was not insensitive to the problems of European Jews trying to get away from the Nazis. This book claims that the US State Department "thwarted" his efforts on their behalf. The book is Refugees and Rescue edited by Richard Breitman and based on the diaries of James G. McDonald, who worked for the League of Nations on the issue and later became the first US ambassador to Israel. The common belief was that FDR "ignored warnings" of Hitler's final solution. The case of the SS St. Louis was always seen as proof of FDR's lack of concern. The St Louis was a ship out of Germany with 900 Jewish refugees that the US refused to allow into the US. Most of the passengers were later lost in the concentration camps. The State Department opposed immigration and issuance of visas while Congress refused to funding for re-settlement. The State Department was also in possession of a 1942 report about genocide in Germany and refused to release it. This last claim is made by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. The issue is still under debate as some historians of the era think the book sheds no new light.

(Source: "Book says FDR pressed effort to resettle Jews fleeing Nazis" by Richard Pyle of the AP. The Record on May 3, 2009)

Search and Seizure law

The US Supreme Court has ruled that police may search a vehicle without a warrant only "when the suspect could reach for a weapon or try to destroy evidence or when it is 'reasonable to believe' there is evidence in the car supporting the crime at hand". This changes the older rule allowing the police to search "a vehicle as part of a lawful arrest of a suspect". The previous ruling was New York v. Belton in 1981. This 5 to 4 decision came about by the agreement of the "most liberal" judges and the "most conservative" along with judge John Paul Stevens. In this case, the person arrested and searched had already left his car and was walking away from it. He was handcuffed a distance for the vehicle when the police conducted their search. The case is Arizona v. Gant.

(Source: "High court limits when vehicles may be searched" by Robert Barnes of the Washington Post. In the Virginian Pilot on 4/22/09)

Student Rights

For those of us interested in the rights of students in public schools the case before the Supreme Court is important. Savanna Redding was a Arizona middle school student some 6 years ago when she was strip-searched in the school's nurse's office. The 13 year old was believed to be in possession of drugs, based on a friend telling the officials she saw them. She was found to have "perscription-strength ibuprofen" on her (to my knowledge this is not an illegal drug). She was forced to remove her clothing down to her underwear and to move the underwear so the nurse could check beheath. No illegal drugs were found. She took her case to court and last year the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled her search was unreasonable and unconstitutional. Now it appears the US Supreme Court is about to overturn that decision. A lawyer for the school board said that even a body cavity search would be legal, thou he thought no school official would have gone that far. The case is Safford School District v. Redding. More on this later.

(Source: CNN news item on 4/21/09)

CIA Torture Memos

A Nation magazine article recently dealt with the CIA torture issue and stated the following. The Constitution was in danger under Bush II. It was in danger under Reagan in the 1980's. The Iran/Contra affair damaged the Constitution but Reagan, Bush I, Weinberger, Abrams, and North were never made to answer for it. Now Bush II, Cheney, John Yoo, Robert Delahanty and others are also being let off the hook.

The Office of Legal Counsel of the Justice Department now says the "military (was) used to seize alleged terrorists in their homes" and the military was used to "carry out law enforcement operations at home" in violation of Posse Comitutus Act. Now we learn that CIA's directorate of operations head Jose Rodriquez Jr "ordered destruction of 92 interrogation video tapes" under orders from former chief Michael Hayden. Worse than this is that these abuses went unreported by the main stream media. Patrick Leahy and John Conyers Jr are pushing for investigations and only a "full accountability...is the only reliable prophylactic against future abuses".

The problem now is that the MSM can't push for an investigation w/o admitting they failed in their role as "democracy's watchdog": they were either "sleeping or cowering" when we needed them the most.

(Source: "It Can Happen Here" by Eric Alterman in The Nation on 3/30/09)

Iraq War

The Iraq Body Count-a London based group-notes that the war deaths in Iraq are more often the result of "execution style-killings, not...bombings". The killings are being committed by Shiite militia death squads in revenge for bombings by al-Qaida "and other Sunni religious extremists". Many of the executions indict the use of torture as a means of getting others to leave the area. The IBC study included the period between 3/20/03 and 3/19/08 which resulted in 91,358 violent deaths. Execution killings caused 33 % of the deaths while bombings caused 27 % of the deaths. "The drop in violence is also due in part to the fact that many formerly mixed neighborhoods in Baghdad have been effectively segregated after the minority sect was purged by the death squads". Another group-Human Rights Watch-claims the reason for these deaths is the "poor postwar planning" by the US after Saddam Hussein was overthrown. This group further notes that only 4 % of Iraqi deaths-in this study period-resulted from US airstrikes. However, of this small number 46 % were female and 39 % were children.

(Source: "Source of Iraqi war deaths studied" by Kim Gamel of the AP. The Virginian Pilot on 4/18/09)

The Great Depression

Paul Krugman writes today in his column that we should be careful not to place too much importance in the recent economic up-swing. He says that FDR "responded to signs of recovery by cutting the Works Progress Administration in half and raising taxes; the Depression promptly returned in full force" (not sure of the date this occurred).

(Source: "Green shoots and glimmers" by Paul Krugman in the Virginian Pilot on 4/18/09)

Holocaust Art

Two oil paintings from the 16th century were returned to the heirs of a Jewish couple from Berlin who were forced to sell their art gallery in 1935 by the Nazis. The man died in exile while the woman died at Auschwitz. The paintings were bought by the Hearst Castle museum in 1935 from the I.S. Goldschmidt Gallery in Berlin. (It is the assumption of this writer that the Hearst Castle was owned by William Randolph Hearst of newspaper fame). The article says "Hearst was likely unaware of their origin" (like a person of Heast's connections and awareness of events in Germany would not think to ask of the origin?). The US has arranged 25 settlements of repatriated art from German Jews by the Nazis.

(Source: "Two Oil Paintings are returned to Holocaust heirs" by Smantha Young of the AP. The Virginian Pilot of 4/11/09)

Augusta National and Racism?

In the days prior to our entry into WWII the members of the Augusta National Golf Club amused themselves by watching a "battle royal". This was a fist fight by 6 blind-folded black men with the last man (I am sure "boy" to them) was awarded by the spectators throwing coins at him. One fight was arranged in the dining room of the Bon-Air Hotel. This article was written, I am sure, to tell the story of "Beau Jack", a black shoeshine "boy" at the club, who was supported by $ 2500 from members to compete for the boxing world's lightweight championship. After a record of 25 to 2 he won the title of lightweight champion of the world in 1942. In entered the army in 1944 and fought a match that raised $ 35 million in war bonds, which is "still the richest gate in boxing history". Both fighters donated what they might have made to the war effort. He ended his days at a hotel in Miami shining shoes. There is no evidence at Augusta National that Beau Jack got his start at the club. (I would think that members of the club would be embarassed by this story).

(Source: "The Shining Star" by Kevin Cook. Golf Magazine April 2009)

Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson was the first African American to win the heavy weight boxing champion of the world title in 1908. He held that title till defeated by Jess Willard in Havana in 1915. Johnson was convicted in 1913 under the Mann Act "for having a consensual relationship with a white woman across state lines". He died in a car crash in 1946 in North Carolina. Now two republican congressmen-John McCain and Peter King-are urging President Obama to issue a pardon for Johnson. There is also a PBS documentary by Ken Burns entitled "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson". (I do not know the date of the TV program).

(Source: "Lawmakers push for pardon of boxing great Jack Johnson" by William Douglas of the McClatchy newspapers. The Record on April 2, 2009)

Gun Control

This is an up-date on a post from 2/8/09 about the US Supreme Court case of D.C. v. Heller. This was 5 to 4 decision stating that the "Constitution protects an individual, non-militia based right to bear arms for personal purposes". All the judges added that "reasonable restrictions are still legal"; like carrying concealed weapons and guns in schools. There are two other like items to note here. First, the Gun Industry Legal Protection Law that was passed by Congress in 2004 is an attempt to shield the gun industry from lawsuits for the violence and crime the weapons they sell cause. This law is presently being challenged. Second, the Assault Weapons Ban was allowed to "lapse" at the time the GILPL was passed. This info comes from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and they do represent only one side of this issue. However, I believe this information presented here would not be in dispute.

(Source: Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence Newsletter. Paul Helmke-President of the Brady Center wrote the un-dated newsletter).

Amer Rev and Rochambeau

As we all know the French sent and army and navy to the colonies in support of our revolution; their biggest contribution has always been seen as the victory at Yorktown. A French general Rochambeau was with GW at Yorktown in 1781. No other mention is made of him after this date. In 1802 a French general Rochambeau was in Haiti attempting to defeat Toussaint L'Overture-Breda was his original last name-in the slave uprising that occurred there. This source has very negative things to say about Rochambeau. Like, "sadistic" and he "drowned so many people in the Bay of LeCap that for many a long day the people of the district would not eat fish", or "he brought 1500 dogs to hunt down the Blacks", or he held a special festival where the audience "watched dogs rip apart a Black man tied to a stake". It is also noted that the French in general "burned alive, hanged, drowned, tortured and started their old habit of burying Blacks up to their necks near nests of insects", and all this was "policy". The source also says that the ex-slaves were not nearly as destructive as the French before them. (This source is very left-wing and the Rochambeau at issue may be two different people, however, the article about the Haitian revolution was very informative. The author of the article is using as his source a 1938 book by C.L.R. James entitled The Black Jacobins and is under the magazine section "classics of Marxism")

(Source: "The Black Jacobins by Ashley Smith in the International Socialist Review from Jan/Feb of 2009).

Taxes

We have all heard of "sin taxes", that are placed on consumption of tobacco and alcohol, that allow a jurisdiction to raise needed revenue. When other types of taxation are unpopular, these taxes are generally viewed as acceptable. Now some states, like Washington and Texas, are considering a tax on pornography; "special taxes on dirty magazines, racy movies, sex toys and strip clubs". These taxes would be called "skin taxes" or in the case of Texas a "pole tax" of $ 5 a cover charge at a strip club. States-Tenn, Kansas, California-are considering taxes on "porn, escort services, exotic dance clubs and other adult businesses". The problem with these taxes, according to civil libertarians, is that they will violate the First Amendment speech clause. (We will have to see what comes up on this issue in the years ahead).

(Source: "Pols fleshing out plans to impose porn 'skin taxes'" by Curt Woodward of the AP. The Record on February 28, 2009).

Guns and the Law

Beware gun owners; if you beat your spouse or otherwise violate "domestic-violence laws" you may lose your rights to legally own a gun. The US Supreme Court, in a 7 to 2 decision, upheld a federal law "barring people convicted of domestic-violence crimes from owning guns". The ruling also stated that "state laws against battery need not specifically mention domestic- violence to fall under the domestic-violence gun ban". The 1996 federal law was authored by Sen Frank Lautenberg of NJ and has kept "150,000 guns out of the hands of domestic abusers? This case involved a Randy Edward Hayes of West Virginia (It should be also noted that a gun could still be illegally owned if purchased by a straw buyer). This is the first gun case since the DC ruling supporting individual ownership of guns.

(Source: "Supreme Court upholds gun curb" by the AP. The Record on February 25, 2009).

Up-date: This case was originally ruled against the federal law by the 4th Circuit court of Appeals. At the US Supreme Court level Justices Roberts and Scalia were the two who voted in opposition. The case is US v. Hayes 2009.

(Source: " Googled" Supreme Court cases.)

Unions

A positive assessment of trade unions appeared in The Record Parade section recently. Prof Clete Daniel of Cornell University says that unions help all workers and "promote a fairer sharing of wealth". He also notes (in comparison to the 1920's) that "the gap between America's rich and poor is the largest it's been since 1928". Unions also played a part in getting unemployment insurance, Social Security and the 40-hour work week. Those opposed say that unions have "outlived their usefulness" and that the "workplace in much better today". Union membership is now at 12 % of American workers. This article may have been initiated by pending congressional legislation; The Employee Free Choice Act or "Card Check" law would make it easier for workers to join a union.

(Source: "Does America Still Need Labor Unions?" in the "Intelligence Report" section of Parade Magazine. February 22, 2009).

NJ Corruption?

Two Seton Hall professors write that NJ doesn't deserve its reputation as the most corrupt state government in the US. They say NJ "does not even rank in the Top 10 of ethics-challenged jurisdictions". The Department of Justice has a "tally of the quilty, per capita"; a list of "convicted officials per million residents per year". On this list NJ is number 15 behind Florida, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, California, Ohio and Illinois.

(Source: "Despite political appearances, New Jersey is far from the most corrupt state" by Paula Franzese and Daniel O'Hern, professors at Seton Hall Law School. The Record on February 22, 2009).

Civil War

It is reported in a book by Ken Dagler-Black Dispatches-that slaves spied for the Union during the war. William Jackson was a house servant and coachman for Jefferson Davis who provided information about "battle plans and movements" of southern forces. Southern states at the time banned the teaching of reading and writing to slaves thus forcing the slaves to depend more on their memory and oral reporting to remember what was said in their presence. Davis is reported to have regarded Jackson as "a piece of furniture-not human" and discussed war stategy while Jackson was in the room. Dagler reports that historical evidence includes a letter written by a Union general to General Irvin McDowell that mentions a spy who was "Jeff Davis coachman". The book also notes that another slave-Robert Smalls-was a pilot for the Charleston, SC harbor and he was able to provide the Union with info on "fortifications of the harbor". Dagler reports that there is no other mention of William Jackson after the war; he "disappeared from history".

(Source: "Slave in Jefferson Davis' home gave Union key secrets" by Barbara Starr and Bill Mears. On CNN.com/US February 23, 2009).

Native Americans

Geronimo was the Apache chief who fought the US Army in the 1880's, was captured in 1886 and spent the rest of his life at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He died in 1909. It appears that "members of the Skull and Bones" secret society, at Yale University, stole his remains from the fort while stationed there during WWI. The remains are allegedly kept in a crypt at the New Haven, Connecticut Skull and Bones clubhouse. One of the club members who was part of the alleged theft was Prescott Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush. Both Bush I and II and John Kerry are members of this society. The descendants of Geronimo have filed a lawsuit this month in Washington in an effort to regain control of the remains and give them a proper burial.

(Source: "Geronimo kin sue Skull and Bones" by the AP. The Record on February 19, 2009).

Stimulus Package

The plan is called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It is in response to the decline in employment in the US. There have been 600,000 jobs lost in January and since December of 2007 there have been 3.6 million lost. The unemployment rate is now 7.6 % and "about 14 % if you count the underemployed and people who have given up looking for work". Tax cuts make up 36 % of this plan. (These are facts, I believe, even if provided by a democratic congressman).

(Source: "Rebuilding America begins now" by Steve Rothman. The Record on February 18, 2009. Rothman represents the 9th CD in NJ).

WWII Issues

France issued a formal "recognition" of its role in the Nazi Holocaust and the deportation of the Jewish population to death camps. The Vichy government of that era "helped deport some 76,000 people-including 11,000 children from Nazi occupied France". About 3000 survived to return. The recognition does not include reparation payments. (Q: What about the Jewish population of Vichy France? Were they deported or persecuted?).

(Source: "France concedes its role in Holocaust" from news service reports. The Record on February 17, 2009)

The US government has granted recognition and a one time payment-compensation-to Filipino WWII vets who fought with US forces. Filipino vets who are US citizens will receive $ 15,000 and non citizens $ 9000; the entire bill will cost $ 198 million. Filipinos who were "conscripted into the US Army" were promised the same benefits as US citizen veterans. After the war, "Congress stripped them of their status and their rights to many benefits". At the time 200,000 Filipinos "fought alongside US soldiers" and about 18,000 are still alive and some 6000 are living in the US. The compensation is open for a one-year period from the date of enactment of this bill and would include "widows or widowers of claimants". This legislation will be part of the economic stimulus package soon to be signed by President Obama.

(Source: "Stimulus bill to reward Filipino vets" by Elizabeth Llorente of The Record. February 17, 2009).

Supreme Court 2008

In addition to the case noted below involving Guantanamo Bay, there are other recent Supreme Court cases of interest. In D.C. v Heller the court for the first time ruled in favor of an individual right to "bear arms". The ruling also says that the right is "not absolute" (nothing in the Bill of Rights is) "and can be subject to reasonable regulation". In Crawford v. Marion County Election Board an Indiana law requiring "voters to produce a government-issued photo ID in order to vote" is legal. The ACLU notes that some 43,000 voters in that state lacked the ID; mostly poor, minority, elderly and the disabled. In Kentucky v. Louisiana ruled that a death penalty for a child rape was unconstitutional. In Baze v. Rees the court ruled that using a three-drug combination in lethal injections was constitutional. The ACLU notes that 23 states forbid the same drug combination by veterinarians "putting animals to sleep" because of "unnecessary pain".

(Source: "Supreme Court restores Habeas for Guantanamo detainees" by Steve Shapiro. Civil Liberties: The American Civil Liberties Union National Newsletter dated Summer 2008).

Same Sex Marriage

In June of 2008 the California Supreme Court ruled that the state could "no longer bar same-sex couples from marriage". This source equates the ruling to the US Supreme Court ruling in 1969 that ruled a ban on interracial marriage was unconstitutional. That was the case of Loving v. Virginia. Before Mildred Loving died last year, she gave a "rare public statement" in support of the same sex couples in California wishing to marry. The issue does not end there due to a state initiative on the ballot this past November (the results of which I will need to research). It is noted that the initiative would "override the (court) decision".

(Source: "Historic win for lesbian and gay couples in California" by Matt Coles. Civil Liberties: the American Civil Liberties Union National Newsletter dated Summer of 2008).

Guantanamo and the ACLU

In 2004 the Supreme Court ruled in Rasul v. Bush that "detainees in Guantanamo could file petitions for habeas corpus to challenge the legality of their detention". Following this ruling the ACLU of NJ represented Murat Kurnaz "a German resident of Turkish descent" who was "sold to the US for a bounty" after being taken in Pakistan. He was at the time a member of a "peaceful missionary group". He was held for 4 years at Gitmo before being released "cleared of terrorism charges", two of those years "incommunicado". The US gov't admits to "offering enormous bounties to warlords and the Pakistani gov't to turn in anyone to US forces". Seton Hall University study reports that only 18 % "of detainees have an association to Al Qaeda or the Taliban.

(Source: "ACLU-NJ Board Trustee fights for Human Rights and Due Process at Gitmo" by Baher Azmy. Civil Rights Reporter and ACLU of NJ. 2nd quarter of 2007).

Detainees have the right "to challenge their indefinite detention in federal court" said the Supreme Court case of Boumediene v. Bush in June of 2008. The military commission system is a point of debate. The ACLU is representing the detainees and is calling it the John Adams Project acknowledging the role played by the 2nd US President in defending British soldiers involved in the "Boston Massacre" in 1770. The ACLU argues that the military commission system "allows the use of torture, hearsay evidence, or coerced confessions" in trials of these detainees. Prior of 2006 the Supreme Court ruled in Hamden v. Rumsfeld that the military commissions were unconstitutional and "inconsistent with the Geneva Conventions. That ruling was addressed by Congress in 2006 with the Military Commissions Act that allows the use of the commissions to prosecute detainees w/o many of our constitutional protections. (This info is 7 or 8 months old and does not include any further developments on this issue. It is not the intention of this writer to defend the ACLU's position but mearly to report on the law as I know it. The source, however, is the ACLU, thus one-sided).

(Source: "Fighting for Justice at Guantanamo" by Anthony D. Romero. Civil Liberties: The American Civil Liberties Union National Newsletter dated Summer 2008).

Social Security

The FDR program estabished in 1935 now pays out benefits to 50 million people at a cost of $ 614 billion a year. This payment is the only income for 40 % of elderly Americans. The program also pays benefits to "surviving family members of deceased workers and to disabled workers and their dependents". The first person to collect this check was Ida May Fuller in 1939; she lived to be 100 and collected $ 22,000 on a payment of $ 24.75.

(Source: "Social Security benefits many" by Joseph Ax. The Record on January 31, 2009).

Strip-Searches

Bergen County along with a half of NJ counties allow the "practice of routinely strip-searching detainees entering county jails, regardless of the offense charged". Any crime of the 4th degree and above subjects one to be so searched. Those opposed say it is a violation of the 4th Amendment. Such searches in Camden, Cumberland, Mercer and Salem counties have already been settled in class action suits for anywhere from $ 7.5 million to $ 640,000. Legal challenges are on-going in Bergen and other counties in the state. Some of those searched were being held for non-payment of child support and traffic tickets. The searches involved "inspection of naked bodies...as well as visual inspection of their body cavities...in front of officers or other detainees. In one case a detainee was "required to spread his legs, bend over and lift his scotum". The plaintiffs want monetary damages, a county statement that the practice is unconstitutional and a end to the practice.

(Source: "Strip-search lawsuits spiraling" by Peter J. Sampson of The Record. February 3, 2009).

Search and Seizure law

On Jan 26, 2009 the US Supreme Court ruled that the police can conduct a "frisk of a passenger in a car stopped for a traffic violation" regardless of signs of criminal activity. The rule was unanimous and overturned an Arizona appeals court ruling that such a search was a violation of the 4th Amendment. The "frisk" is also defined as a "pat-down". However, the police must have a "reasonable suspicion that a person...is armed and therefore dangerous to the safety of the police and public". The case is Arizona v. Johnson (2009). As you might expect, civil libertarians are strongly opposed to this ruling. A Hackensack defense attorney says "police don't have to be oblivious to an obvious fact. But the key is obvious fact, not mere suspicion. A lot of police work is a hunch, but it has to be articulable". The person in the Arizona case was found in possession of a gun and marijuana.

(Source: "Police applaud ruling allowing pat-downs" by Ashley Kindergan and Karen Rouse of The Record on February 2, 2009. "US Supreme Court says passenger can be frisked" by AP on FindLaw.com dated January 26, 2009).

US abortion foreign policy

The Mexico City Policy was created by Pres Reagan in 1984. It stated that no money from the US in aid to other countries could be used by "international health groups that perform abortions, promote legalizing the procedure or provide counseling about terminating pregnancies". Clinton reversed it in 1993 and Bush II revived it in 2001. Now Obama has rescinded it again. The Obama policy would "allow funding to resume to international groups that provide...counseling about abortions". US funds would not be used directly for abortions.

(Source: "Obama reverses Bush funding ban tied to abortions" from wire reports. In The Virginian Pilot on January 24, 2009).

US and Israel

Two scholars who have written about the US/Israel relationship published a book entitled The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy (date unknown). Their ideas have produced controversy. They say "Israel's military adventures (Gaza) would be far more difficult w/o American support". They also note that Israel is "the largest annual recipient of direct US economic and military assistance since 1976, and is the largest recipient in total since WWII, to the tune of well over $ 140 billion (in 2004 dollars). Israel receives about $ 3 billion in direct assistance each year, roughly one-fifth of the foreign aid budget, and worth about $ 500 a year for every Israeli".

(Source: "An American War" by Lou Dubose editor of The Washington Spectator for January 15, 2009).

Bush "Midnight Rules"

Every admin makes last minute rule changes before leaving office and it seems Bush did also. This source says those changes "dismantle environmental protections and workers' rights". Some of them are as follows;

+ "allow coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountain top mines into valleys, streams

and rivers.

+ allow "mining, drilling, logging, damming, and road-building" w/o review by habitat managers.

+ allow for the dumping of "hundreds of thousands of tons of fecal waste into waterways w/o

permits from EPA".

+ allow for the "burning of hazardous waste as fuel".

+ allow uranium mining "near the Grand Canyon".

+ open 2 million acreas of fed land in the west to "oil shale mining and refining".

+ limit the number of "lead monitors" the EPA is required to have to check on lead in the air.

+ allows for the "rescind(ing of) collective bargaining rights of as many as 8600 fed workers

involved in 'national security'".

+ limits the Mine Safety and Health Admin and OSHA "in their ability to respond to workplace hazards".

(It would seem that there is no debate over the rules Bush has made; the debate is most likely over whether these changes are necessary to protect industry and/or national security. This source obviously comes down on the side of the environment and workers rights).

(Source: "Distantling Environmental Protections and Workers' Rights" by Lou Dubose editor of The Washington Spectator for January 1, 2009).