Tax Cuts

A letter to the editor in The Record recently made the following claim about tax cuts for wealthy individuals. He said the rich will spend some of that money-which it seems is what we want people to do-but most of the tax break will be put into "safe federal, state and municipal bonds". These bonds will pay interest in later years, interest provided by all taxpayers, and in most cases the interest paid will be tax-free. Thus the rich will preserve their tax cut gains and in the long run create more wealth in the form of interest. As he says "no wonder the wealthy grow richer while average taxpayers get poorer". I don't know enough to know if he is right or not, but it is an interesting thought.

(Source: The Record "letters to the editor" on 9/28/10)

Discrimination in the US

I read an interesting comment in an article about the health care legislation in the news in November regarding discrimination. The writer noted that if a company wanted to fire someone who was a smoker or who was obese, they could. Discrimination-which is what this would be-laws do not cover every category or reason for being fired. The law only prohibits discrimination based on "age, sex, race and religion". Some smokers or over weight employees have sued but all have lost.

(Source: The Record on 11/22/10. Title of article and author unknown to me)

Confederate States of America

The flag of the CSA has 13 stars on it that represent the states that seceded. However, only 11 states left the Union in 1861. The other two stars represent delegations sent to the Confederate Congress from Kentucky and Missouri, two states that did not join the CSA but remained loyal to the Union. In other words, these two states had delegations in both congresses. I came across this item while perusing a World Book Encyclopedia from 1969. The 13 stars appear on the "confederate battle flag" or "Southern Cross". The flag known as the "stars and bars" has only 7 stars in a circle in a field of blue in the top left corner.

(Source: Vol 4 of the World Book Encyclopedia 1969 page 753).

"Operation Pedro Pan"

Between 1960 to 1962, some 14,000 Cuban children were "spirited out of the country" by parents afraid the incoming Communist government of Fidel Castro was going to "take control of their children". Flights out of Cuba were organized by the Catholic Church and many of the children never saw their parents again. The children stayed in refugee camps-like Camp Matecumbe in south Miami-they foster homes or orphanages. "Cuban officials and some researchers have long maintained the effort was a CIA-backed plot to create a brain-drain form the island. The US government denies those accusations". The term "Petro Pan" is Spanish for "Peter Pan".

(Source: "'Petro Pan' children reunite 50 years later" by Laura Wides-Munoz of The AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 11/13/10).

Update: www.campeatecumbeveterans.com notes that this was the "largest exodus of children in the Western Hemisphere".

Civil War and Revisionism

Edward Ayers is a Civil War historian at the Univ of Richmond who argues that the coming of the Civil War was "perfect storm" of conditions and the "most important consequence (of the war) was the emancipation of 4 million slaves". He notes how the view of the war has changed over the years. In the late 1800's the war was seen as a "necessary sacrifice to end slavery". After WWI historians questioned if the war was "unavoidable or worth the price". One historian-Edmond Wilson-"compared Lincoln to Lenin" in that both were trying to re-shape the world to their liking. During WWII the war was taught as "worth dying for". Then with the civil rights era those in the south emphasized the "states' rights" position while northerners believed in the "need for federal intervention to right and enduring wrong". In Virginia this year the governor issued a proclamation honoring Confederate History Month without noting the existence of slavery. Edward Ayers believes the Civil War "is at the heart of what this nation is about" and a proper teaching of it is important. The war came about by a complex of issues and one explanation-like slavery or states' rights-is the wrong approach.
(Source: "A Perfect Storm Caused Civil War, Historian Says" by Frederick Kunkle of The Washington Post. In The Virginian Pilot on 11/7/10).

Student Rights NJ

In the NJ case of C.H. v. Bridgeton Board of Education the US District Court in Camden upheld a student's right to "silent protest". In this case a student wished to show her oppostion to abortion. She planned to wear an armband that read "life" and to distribute literature to other students. She sought "official permission" prior to her protest and provided a copy of the literature she wanted to hand out. In October of 2009 the school informed her that her request was denied. She sought the help of the ACLU of NJ and took her case to court where she won. The court ruled that this was not the school establishing religious belief but a student and "not a person vested with the authority of government" who wished to exercise her First Amendment right to free speech. References were made to the original student rights case of Tinker v. Des Moines.

(Source: "ACLU-NJ fights for activists rigtht to wear beliefs about abortion on her sleeve". The American Civil Liberties Union of NJ, 2nd quarter of 2010).

Carnegie Libraries

Almost every American History text book has given coverage to the fact that Andrew Carnegie-in his later life-built major libraries, but what I didn't know was the extent of that library building campaign. While reading a book about a library cat in Iowa I came across this information. The "libraries were of the classical style with three stained-glass windows in the entrance hall, two with flowers and one with the word 'library'...a large central desk, surrounded by drawers of cards. The side rooms were small and cloistered, with bookshelves to the ceiling". Most public buildings of this era were segregated by sex, not so the Carnegie libraries. This sourse also notes that these libraries were some of the first to allow a patron to take a book off the shelf rather than request it from the librarian. These buildings were thought of as plain only because they were compared to the large ones built in NYC and Chicago. These libraries had high ceilings with large windows and a "half-underground bottom floor" for children; this at a time when most thought children should at home.

I googled the topic and found that Carnegie provided $ 10,000 grant to towns for the building, and 2509 were built between 1883 and 1929. There were 1689 in the US, 660 in Britain and Ireland, 125 in Canada and even one in Fiji. On the site I found there were lists of libraries by state; in NJ there was one built in Englewood.

(Source: Dewey: The Small Town Cat Who Touched the World. By Vicki Myron with Bret Witter. 2008. Page 117

Federalism

It seems it is time for American History teachers to think about spending more time explaining the concept of "federalism" to their classes. At the Richmond, Virginia Tea Party convention held this past week the Attorney General of Virginia-Ken Cuccinelli-made the point at a panel discussion on the Constitution. Cuccinelli has been mentioned as a possible vice president for the republican party in 2012.

As we know the concept of federalism is about the power-sharing between the federal government and the state governments. This combined with those who call themselves "tenthers" seems to suggest that the supremacy of federal law over state law is an active question again, regardless of the outcome of the Civil War in 1865.

(Source: "At tea party rally, Cuccinelli shines among GOP stars" by Bill Bartel of The Virginia Pilot on 10/10/10).

Guatemala 1940's

The US gov't has issued an apology for a medical study it conducted on "soldiers, prisoners, and mental patients with syphilis and other sexally transmitted diseases" from 1946 to 1948. John C. Cutler a doctor with the Public Health Service and fellow doctors picked inmates in Guatemala jails because that was one country that allowed prisoners to have sex. First prostitutes "with the disease" were used and then the prisoners were directly inoculated. The study also used soldiers and men and women "in Guatemala's national mental health hospital". The study was intended to study the effectiveness of penicilin and to study how STD's were spread. Cutler was also involved in the Tuskegee Institute syphilis experiments in this country in the 1950's. In that case hundreds of African American men with late stage syphilis "were left untreated to enable study of the disease". This information was found by a Wellesley College professor who was investigating the Tuskegee incident. President Obama and Sec't of State Hillary Clinton have both apologized to the Guatemalan government.

(Source: "US apologizes to Guatemala for '40s study" by Rob Stein of The Washington Post. In The Virginia Pilot on 10/02/10)

Kissinger and Vietnam

Henry Kissinger is now saying that "US erred in Vietnam" by not understanding the determination of the North Vietnamese to unite the entire country under their control. He made the assesment at a State Department conference in DC yesterday. He futher noted that "most of what wrong in Vietnam we did to ourselves...". He said that the "central objective of preserving an independent viable South Vietnam state was unachievable". "Americans wanted compromise, Hanoi want victory". This article ends by stating that "historians are coming to the same conclusion"

(Source: "Kissinger says US erred in Vietnam" by Robert Burns of The AP. In The Record on 9/30/10)

James Baldwin

A new book out from Pantheon Books is a collection of the writings of James Baldwin who died in 1987. A black man born in "Jim Crow South" and raised in Harlem, he "escaped in 1948 to Europe" to write about race and humanity in America (not a pretty picture). Go Tell It On the Mountain in 1953, Notes of a Native Son in 1955 and The Fire Next Time in 1963; the last a "history of the Nation of Islam". Baldwin writings in this edition "argues that his view of American society and race was more than 'probable'. Anger was inevitable in a society whose majority benefited from subjugating one group of people. And facing that there have been political and personal, as well as economic, benefits for the largely white upper classes in denigrating black people is the only way to move beyond racism". In an essay "Nationalism, Colonialism and the United States" he writes that electing a black man president is not going to correct the problem. In another essay he notes that "I...do not bring down property values when I move in. You bring them down when you move out".

The book is The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings" edited by Randall Kenan.

(Source: "Piercing Glimpses of Pointed Hope" by Laura Impellizzeri of The AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 9/5/10)

D-Day

When Scottish troops landed on "Sword" beach in Normandy on June 6th, 1944 they were encouraged on by Bill Millin who played bagpipes on the beach while under fire. He was playing "...morale-pumping tunes for his fellow commandos". He carried no weapons except his "ceremonial dagger". He was the only bagpiper on Normandy beaches that day and his actions were depicted in the D-Day movie "The Longest Day". When his unit captured a number of German snipers, they were asked why they didn't target the bagpiper. Their response was "...they didn't bother..." because he appeared to "..be on a suicide mission and was clearly mad". We was referred to thereafter as the "mad piper". Millin died recently at the age of 88.

(Source: "Bill Millin; braved enemy fire to play bagpipes on D-Day" by T. Ress Shapiro of The Washington Post. In The Record on 8/21/10).

"Cooping"

I came across this term while reading a Time magazine article and did some research on it. The term referres to the practice of forcing "unwilling participants" into voting "often several times...for a particular candidate in an election". The "participant" was often dressed and re-dressed before taken to a polling place and was usually heavily under the influence of alcohol when "voting". The term, I believe, comes from the idea that the "participant" was kept in one place while election day was occuring and then released after the polls closed. He was in fact "cooped up" in "vile dens, drugged, drunken and carried to voting places...". Many people believe that this is how Edgar Allen Poe died. He was found dressed in someone else's clothes lying on the street the day after an election day in 1849. In the movie "Gangs of New York" there is a scene depicting this practice in New York City around 1860. (Complaints about corruption of the electoral process are nothing new).

(Source: Wikipedia.org/wiki/cooping. 7/19/10. Also www.wisegeek.com/what-was-cooping.htm).

4th Amendment

The police suspected an individual of trafficking in drugs so they attached a GPS tracking device to his car and along with his cell-phone records monitoried him for a couple of days. The police did not get a search warrant for the use of the GPS. Evidence the police acquired tended to show that the individual was indeed in the drug distribution business. He was found guilty but a federal appeals court in Washington DC voted 3 to 0 to reverse that finding claiming that the defendant' 4th Amendment rights were violated. The GPS was in fact a search and the appeals court said the defendant had an expectation of privacy. One of the Appeals Court judges quoted in The Record on 8/7/10 was Douglas Ginsburg (Wasn't he once nominated for the Supreme Court?).

Crime

In Israel a man committed (or may have) a sex crime called "rape by deception". This involved a Palestinian man who convinced an Israeli woman to have sex with him by telling her he was Jewish, single and "interested in a relationship". It appears he was none of those things and mearly wanted to have sex. He was in fact convicted of the crime mentioned above and sentenced to 18 months in jail and fined $ 2500.

(Source: "Sex, lies and 'rape by deception'" by Amy Teibel of The AP. In The Record on 7/29/10

Lockerbee Scotland Bombing

It was reported on NBC nightly news on 7/15/10 that there might have been a deal between the UK and Libya to release the convicted Libyan bomber of that plane in exchange for a favorable oil deal with Libya. BP may have negotiated the deal. The bomber himself was released-we were told-because he was dying of prostate cancer and had only two months to live. A year later and he is still alive. (This will require more research).

Civil Case Rules

In a traffic accident case in Bergen County recently a formula for determining degree of guilt or liability was described. In this case the pedestrian that was killed while crossing a parking lot "street" was deemed to be 51 % responsible for the accident that cost her life. The driver of the car who hit her and killed her was considered to be 10 % responsible and the shopping mall where it happened was held to be 39 % responsible for the woman's death. I do not report this here for the purpose of agreeing or disagreeing with the verdict but to note the "formula" the jury arrives at to determine liability. If the plaintiff-or in this case the plaintiffs family-is held to be responsible by more than 50 % then there is not monetary award granted to the plantifff. Thus no penalty to the other parties to the accident.

(Source: "Pedestrian faulted for death" by Kimbret Marhos of The Record on 7/16/10).

Sit-ins

The AARP Bulletin had an interesting short history of the use of the sit-in as a means of protest. The first seems to be the "Woolworth's Sit-In" in Greensboro, NC in 1960. There was "Atlanta Sit-In" in 1961 protesting city segregation. A "Free Speech Sit-In" occured at Berkley, California in 1964 and 1965 protesting First Amendment restrictions. At Berkley in 1965 there was also a "teach-in" protesting the war in Vietnam. A "Human Be-In" took place in San Francisco n 1967 protesting the state's ban on LSD (0nly in California). The list also includes a TV program. "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" was on the TV from 1968 to 1973 inspiring an FBI investigation after the show made fun of J. Edgar Hoover. In Amsterdam and Montreal in 1969 there was a "Bed-Ins for Peace" protesting the Vietnam war. This source noted the last such "In" was a "Ladies Home Journal Sit-In" in 1970 that protested sexism in magazines. (More research is needed on this but I found it interesting so I included it here).

(Source: "Social Change-In" by Betsy Towner in the AARP Bulletin in July and August of 2010).

Korean War

A government commission has been investigating claims that government forces, with US help, murdered "tens of thousands of South Korean detainees" during the war there between 1950 to 1953. A number of mass graves have been uncovered over the years and relatives of possible victims have been pushing the government for an accounting. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in 2005 under a liberal government that was to cover "human rights abuses from Korea's pre 1945 Japanese colonial period through South Korea's military dictatorships into the 1980". The commission has ended its investigation, as ordered by a more conservative government, and has stated that "the US military's large scale killing of refugees during the Korean War arose from military necessity". "Collateral damage may be inevitable" says the present commission chairman.

(Source: "Korean War abuse panel is shut down" by Charles J. Hanley and Hyung-Jin Kim of the AP. In The Record on 7/11/10)

Oath Keepers

The Washington Spectator for July 1, 2010 made mention of the Nevada Republican primary which was won by Sharron Angle. She beat the GOP establishment candidate and will now face Harry Reid in November. She is a Tea Party candidate and is also defined at a member of the "Oath Keepers", a "national political cult". I googled the organization for more information. They are a "right wing patriot" organization whose membership consists of military, former military and police members. They are pledged to protect the Constitution by refusing to obey orders from the federal government they consider "unconstitutional". They are preparing for the day President Obama "declares martial law". So says Mother Jones magazine. They were founded by Steward Rhodes-a former staffer for Ron Paul-in March of 2009 with a membership that may be 200,000. Dave Love, writing in The Progressive says the organization is "concerned about a coming dictatorship, concentration camps, and a 'New World Order'. And they regard President Obama as 'an enemy of the state'". (More research will be needed)

(Source: The Washington Spectator from July 1, 2010. Google report on Mother Jones from February 22, 2010 and The Progressive-date unknown).

California v. Greenwood 1988

I came across a reference to this Supreme Court case in AARP magazine recently. It notes that the case established the principle that "garbage left at curbside is not private property". I believe this was a police search and seizure case that allowed the police to look thru someone's trash to find evidence of wrongdoing. This article, however, notes that the case gave support to those who call themselves "freegans"; allowing them to look thru trash for whatever they could find use for, including food. "Freeganism" as a life style believes that one can "...scavenge instead of buy, volunteer instead of work and squat instead of rent". These people are not usually homeless and can afford to buy food but instead want to "disassociate themselves from capitalism and consumerism". The term comes from "free" as in if it is found it is free and "vegan" for vegetarian. They are also called "dumpster divers".

(Source: "Thrifty History: A ten cent highlight reel". AARP magazine July/August 2010. Also from "howstuffworks.com" on line)

14th Amendment

There is a movement a foot that wants to make laws that deny citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants who are born in this country. A Georgia republican introduced such a bill in Congress in 2009, but it didn't go anywhere. Now a Arizona legislator wants a state law that would do the same thing. This following the law in Arizona recently that makes it a crime to be in the state illegally and allows the police to question those they suspect of being illegal. Legal scholars say this is clearly unconstitutional and note the 14th Amendment. "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside".

(Source: "Politician wants limit on birthright citizens" by Michelle Price of The AP. In The Record on 6/16/10).

Sex-related Court cases

The ACLU of NJ reports in their most recent newsletter about the right to privacy in NJ. They note the state supreme court case of State of New Jersey v. Saunders from 1977. That case held that the law against "...fornication (sex between unmarried persons) is unconstitutional". I further check Wikipedia on this date as an additional source.

(Source: American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey newsletter 1st Quarter 2010. "Which rights would you have given up in the past 50 years?". And Wikipedia on 6/8/10 under "sex-related court cases in the US").

New Spy Chief

President Obama has picked James R. Clapper to be the new Director of National Intelligence; he will replace Admiral Dennis Blair. Can we assume that he will have authority over the CIA? He is the 4th person to hold this post since the position was created in 2004 as a result of the changes made after the 911 attack. There are "16 spy agencies" and Clapper's job is to make them work together. The Senate, of course, will have to confirm his appointment.

(Source: "Obama picks new spy chief" by Kimberly Dozier of The AP. In The Record on 6/6/10.)

Miranda Warning Again 2010

The Supreme Court has issued another case that further limits the effect of the Miranda Warning. In Berghuis v. Thompkins the court allowed a statement-a confession of sorts-after the police gave the suspect his miranda warning but continued to ask him questions for some three hours. The suspect usually answered with a "yes", "no" or "don't know". However, when asked "if he prayed for forgiveness for 'shooting that boy down', Thompkins said 'yes'". "...a suspect who goes ahead and talks to police after being informed he doesn't have to has waived his right to remain silent". With this ruling the suspect must not only ask for a lawyer but must state his/her desire to "remain quiet to stop the interrogation". The decision was 5 to 4. (There is a third case recently decided on the Miranda Warning and it involves the number of days the warning still applies. I don't have any other information at this time.)

(Source: "Miranda rights narrowed" by Jesse J. Holland of The AP. In The Record on 6/2/10. Information also from "google" under Supreme Court Miranda decision.)

First Black Catholic Priest in the US

There seems to be some debate about who should get the honor. Sainthood maybe on the line for one of them. The Rev Augustus Tolton appears to be the front-runner but Bishop James Augustine Healy came before him. The issue with Healy is that he passed for white and "distanced himself from his African-American identity". He served his ministry in Portland, Maine prior to the Civil War with a native American community. Tolton was born in 1854 and had to "overcome racial discrimination to pursue (his) calling". His family escaped from slavery into Illinois. "Because no American seminary would admit a black man" Tolton had to travel to Rome to be ordained. He wished a post in Africa but was sent back to Quincy, Illionois. He moved to Chicago where he founded the city's first black parish. Those who support Toltan for the honor say his life and career more closely matches that of the African American community in the US.

(Source: "Who was first black Catholic priest in US?" by Manya A. Brachear of the Chicago Tribune. In The Virginian Pilot on 5/22/10)

Supreme Court cases 2010

The US Supreme Court issued a ruling this week regarding punishment for minors. In Graham v. Florida the court ruled 6 to 3 that juveniles who commit crimes in which no death occurs cannot be sentenced to life without parole. A sentence of this nature would be a violation of the 8th Amendments ban on "cruel and unusual punishment". At present 37 states have at least 129 inmates on sentence of life w/o parole for crimes committed when they were juveniles. I believe these sentences would be up for re-consideration due to this ruling. Justice Thomas wrote the dissent in which Alito and Scalia concurred. Thomas wrote that the court should consider the punishment given out when the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791 when "...people as young as 7...could be executed".

In the case of United States v. Constock et al the court, by a vote of 7 to 2, ruled that Congress can "continue civil commitment of sex offenders after they have completed their criminal sentences". The source noted the connection of this case to the present day Tea Party movement and their opposition to national health care. It raises the question of, "what limits does the Constitution impose on Congress's power to legislate on matters not specifically delegated to it in Article I". Thomas and Scalia dissented.

(Source: "Court rejects life without parole for juvenile criminals who don't kill" from wire reports. The Virginian Pilot on 5/18/10. Info also from New York Times on line on the same date).

Miranda Warning

It seems there has developed an exception to the Miranda rule that is now being used in regard to those detained under suspicion of being tied to terrorists. The New York v. Quarles Supreme Court case from 1984 establishes the exception of "public safety". In the above case the police chase a man suspected of rape and believe him to be armed. When he is captured the defendant was wearing a sholder holster but it was empty. The police asked him where the gun was and the defendant indicated its location; the gun was found. The police then mirandized him. At trial the defendant argues that the gun can not be used as evidence due to the lack of proper administration of miranda. The trial court, the Appellete Court of the NY Supreme Court and the NY Court of Appeals all agree that the gun should be excluded. The case is appealled to the US Supreme Court and the lower courts are reversed. The high court holds that a "concern for public safety (being) paramount" the police action is finding the gun should be allowed. This ruling was 6 to 3..

(Source: online at "Justia.com US Supreme Court Center" on 5/10/10).

Agent Orange

Agent Orange was a defoliant used in Vietnam during the war there. About 2 million American vets have been exposed to the chemical. It has been determined that there are "12 ailments and disorders" that have effected servicemen due to the exposure to the chemical. Now the Department of Veterans Affairs has added another three diseases. The three new ones are Parkinson's, ischemic heart disease and B-cell leukemies. Other diseases are Hodgkin's disease, type 2 diabetes, non-Hodgkins' lymphoma, prostate cancer and respiratory cancers. A full list of the other diseases are posted on "publichealth.va.gov/exposures/agentorange/diseases.asp". "The VA is granting disability compensation to any veteran who suffers from any of these ailments-or to the widows of veterans who may have died of them-even if the veteran spent only one day in Vietnam". Some veterans who served in Korea from April 1968 through July 1969 may also qualify for disability compensation.

(Source: "Attention, Vietnam Vets" author unknown. AARP Magazine May/June 2010).

Arlington National Cemetery

We all know that the site of the Arlington National Cemetery was on land once owned by Robert E. Lee and was taken by the federal government when he took command of CSA forces. What might not be known was that on the site, about a half mile from the Lee home, was a "thriving black town" called "Freedman's Village". The village was established some time during the war and consisted on about 50 one and half story duplex style homes that housed 1100 former slaves. The village had "churches, stores, a hospital, mess hall, a school, an 'old peoples home' and a laundry". Sojourner Truth spent a year there as a teacher. Unfortunately, white landowners would raid the village and "kidnap children for slave labor". Once the land became more valueable the federal government paid the residents $ 75,000 for the entire town and tore down it down in 1900.

(Source: "The land of the freed" by Jesse J. Holland of the AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 4/20/10).

Taxes

With all the "tea party" hype about cutting taxes it might be good to note that federal taxes under Obama have been cut. "The fact is, in the past year we have had more tax cuts than almost any time in our nation's history" says representative Steve Cohen (D-Tenn). Recent tax cuts include the following. First, $ 300 billion over 10 years as part of the economic recovery package; $ 232 billion to individuals almost all within the first two years. Second, Obama's Making Work Pay credit which gives $ 200 to $ 400 credits during 2009 and 2010. Third, the $ 1000 child tax credit "was expanded for more families". Fourth, "the working poor can qualify for as much as $ 5667 from the Earned Income Tax Credit". Fifth, there are credits for energy improvements, paying for college tuition, buying new cars and for buying new homes. This source states that "Americans are paying lower taxes this year, even with increases passed by many states to balance their budgets". Shortly after Obama took office, Congress cut individual federal taxes for this year by $ 173 billion while states have increased their taxes by $ 28 billion. The big issue might be the fact that the Bush II tax cuts expire in January and Obama and Congress want to renew only some of those cuts. The ones unlikely (at this time) to be renewed are the cuts for those making $ 200,000 a year to couples making $ 250,000. (Is it possible this is what all this tea party fuss over cutting taxes is all about?)

(Source: "Taxes are lower" by Stephen Ohlemacher of The AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 4/15/10).

Okies

I always wondered what happened to all those tenant farmers who left Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl in search of employment in California. An article in The Nation magazine gave a brief comment on this question. "In the boom days of the 1930's it was a textbook company town (Boron, California), where employees of what was then called Pacific Borax-many of them...Dust Bowl Oklahomans-lived in company houses and used company script to shop at the company store". (Doesn't sound much different from the movie version of "Grapes of Wrath).

(Source: "Labor war in the Mojave" by Mike Davis. The Nation 3/29/10)

Tea Party/Know-Nothings

An article in The Nation magazine contends that the Tea Party movement of today may have something in common with the Know-Nothing movement of the 19th century. In their 1841 platform they called for "extending the term of naturalization to 21 years, restricting public office of the native-born (there's your birther movement), keeping the Bible in schools and resisting the 'encroachment of a foreign civil and spiritual power upon the institutions of our country'. Back then this meant the Vatican; today it's Davos, Bilderberg, the UN, the IPCC".

(Source: "Move over, Axis of Evil" by Alexander Cockburn. The Nation 3/22/10).

Establishment Clause

The US Supreme Court ruled today on the issue of the constitutionality of a latin cross on federal property in the Mojave National Preserve in California. The cross was planted there in 1934 as a tribute to the US war dead from the First World War. The ruling was deeply confrontational and decided the issue by a vote of 5 to 4 with the cross remaining on the property. The majority said the cross was "not mearly a reaffirmation of Christian belief". However, the issue has not been completely resolved (as I understand it) by this decision because it only returns the case to lower courts to reconsider. It seems that the issue being debated here was the lower court ruling that an acre of land, that the cross rested on, was to be transferred to private hands. A lower court ruled that was an unconstitutional way to avoid the issue. Thus, this ruling did not directly deal with the establishment clause of the First Amendment. The case was Salazar v. Bruno 2010.

(Source: "Cross gets court's blessing" by David G. Savage of McClatchy Newspapers. In The Record on 4/29/10. New York Times online 4/29/10)

Alabama Claims

During the Civil War the British built for the CSA naval cruisers that were used to attack Union merchant fleets. Some of the most famous cruisers were the Florida, Georgia, Sumter, Shenandoah, Chameleon and Tallahassee. The most well known was the Alabama. The ship was allowed by the British to go to sea and "taken to one of the Azores Islands". This source states the following. "The officers were confederates the crew British".

(Source: History of the United States Volume IV by E. Benjamin Andrews of the University of Nebraska and Brown University. 1913 by Charles Scribner's Sons

History Textbooks

The ACLU comments on the controversy over the re-writing of American History textbooks meant for use in public high schools in this country. They note that the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) is doing the re-writing. The changes may include the following. The removal of reference to the "founding fathers" and "separation of church and state". The downplaying of the campaigns to extend right to African Americans, Latinos and women. Less coverage of "traditional historic figures" and more coverage of the role of right-wing ideologues in the country. The source also notes that 45 of 47 state would be efffected by these textbooks changes. The source is the ACLU, so some might consider this information suspect.

(Source; ACLU on line. 4/21/10)

School Lunch Programs

The paper the other day had an article about the danger to national security of overweight children, saying that 27 % of all Americans "are too fat to join the military". The military is now pushing for a change in the school lunch program to address this issue. The article includes the following interesting comment. "During World War II, military leaders had the opposite problem, reporting that many recruits were rejected because of stunted growth and inadequate nutrition. After the war, military leaders pushed congress to establish the national school lunch program so children would grow up healthier...the program was established in 1946". Now the military wants changes made in the "junk food and high-calorie beverages" now in many public schools.

(Source: "Security threats" by Mary Clare Jalonick of The AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 4/21/10).

Civil War

A letter to the editor in The Virginian Pilot states the belief that "many constitutional scholars today affirm their right then and now to secede". The letter writer was referring to the right of Virginia-and I would assume-and other states to leave the union if they so desired. I have not heard this argument before and wonder if there is any truth in it.

(Source: Letters to the editor, "southern fact check" by Douglas M. Allen of Suffolk. The Virginian Pilot on 4/13/10).

Malcolm X

The black activist was murdered in 1965 in Manhattan. Three men-Thomas Hagan, Norman 3X Butler, Thomas 15X Johnson-were all convicted of first degree murder in 1966. It seems Hagan was the shooter while the other two claimed they were innocent. Butler and Johnson were released from prison 20 years ago. Hagan was just granted parole. He had been "locked up two days a week for 22 years. The other five days, he's been allowed to work and live with his family".

(Source: "Malcolm X killer granted parole after years of prison weekends" by Mary Esch of The AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 3/20/10)

Charles Moore

Charles Moore photographed the civil rights movement of the 1960's in the US. He died recently. He worked first for the Montgomery Advertiser and later for Life Magazine. He was a native Alabamian who "recogonized the significance of the civil rights movement". He was the only photographer when Martin Luther King was arrested in Montgomery in 1958; his photo showed two white police officers "hustling away King, whose right arm was wrenched behind his back". His photos covered the riots at U of Mississippi when James Meredith tried to register and in 1963 he got pictures of black children and teens marching in Birmingham. "They were met by police with snarling dogs and firefighters who pounded them with streams of water". In 1965 in Selma his pictures showed state troopers in gas masks "tear-gassing voting rights marchers" during what was known as "Bloody Sunday".

(Source: "News photographer documented civil rights movement" by Jay Reeves of The AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 3/16/10).

Student Search

In February the NJ state supreme court ruled that school officials have the right to "search student car's on school property". The officials must "suspect them of illegal activity". This ruling "expanded the standard of 'reasonable suspicion' to student's vehicles. The case comes from Egg Harbor Township and involved an 18 year old found with "a bottle of pills and marijuana in (his) car". The student got a three year sentence. NJ school officials can already "look through student backpacks, purses and lockers" but till now had said nothing about student cars.

(Source: "Court lets NJ schools search student's cars" by Mary Fuchs of The Record on 2/4/10).

Update: The chain of events went as follows. Student gives principal a green pill he says another sold him. Suspect student (TB) called to office of principal and asked about the pill. TB denies any wrongdoing. P searches him and finds 3 white pills but no green ones. P searches TB locker; nothing found. P searches TB car that is parked on school property. P finds a "liquid-filled syringe" a bottle of pills belonging to a woman, a bag of marjuana and a bag of "powderly substance and a vial". Police are called and TB is arrested. P had "reasonable cause", did not need "probable cause".

(source: "press of Atlantic City.com" article from 2/4/100.

US Financial Crisis

The following is the opinion of The Washington Spectator-a liberal source I would guess. They report "...most economists agree that the current crisis would not have occurred but for the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act". This law "...dismantled the restrictions imposed on banks by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 (for those teaching the New Deal you might want to note this. I never really understood what it was all about so I only mentioned it briefly). This law was pushed by republican senator Phil Gramm of Florida and signed into law by democrat Bill Clinton (looks like both parties are to blame). The Gramm law "...eliminated the structural restraints that had prohibited commercial banks from the speculation that last year brought the country perilously close to a major depression".

(Source: "Talking Financial Reform to Death" by Lou Dubose of The Washington Spectator March 1, 2010).

History Requirement

Recently in Charleston, SC I inquired at the College of Charleston book store about the books used to teach US History to undergrads. I was told that the college did not require a traditional survey course in American History. There were US history courses taught, but they dealt with different eras or aspects of US history. On a web site for the college were listed the requirements for history for the general population, and it seems those majoring in US history. The requirements were 6 credits in any of the following courses. Hist 101 Rise of European Civilization, Hist 103 World History to 1500, JWST 210 Jewish Hist I, Hons 120 Honors Western Civ. Second year courses were; Hist 102 Modern Europe, Hist 104 World Hist since 1500, JWST Jewish Hist II, Hons 130 Honors Western Civ. These were all 3 credit courses. (This might to one way to avoid mentioning the fact that the north won the Civil War. Pardon my opinion).

McDonald v. Chicago

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on another gun rights case. This one will follow on the Dictrict of Columbia v. Heller case of two years ago where the Court ruled that the individual has a right to have a gun in his home. That case applied only to Federal law and DC being a federal city, the Heller case did not apply to other US cities. This case will expand the Heller ruling to all other cities and towns in the US. The source I am using is saying that the court will more than likely rule against the city. Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park are the only local governments with a "total ban on handguns". Many other cities have regulations on guns but not total bans. The Chicago law has been in place for 28 years. A decision is expected by late June. (As I understand it the Heller ruling did not say regulation of guns were unconstitutional, only a flat out ban on them was. The McDonald case will be a similiar ruling).

(Source: "High court poised to say all of America has right to firearms" from wire reports. The Virginian Pilot on 3/3/10).

Hiroshima Book

In my last post-2/21/10-I reported on the controversy over a book by Charles Pellegrino, and now it appears that the publisher of that book has withdrawn the book from publication. The movie director of "Avatar"-James Cameron-is still defending the author and book. Two sources the author used are now in doubt. One has "falsely claimed" to be on a plane the day of the bombing and another can not be located. The author also claimes to have a doctorate from a university in New Zealand but they have no record of his attendance there.

(Source: "Publisher halts book about bombing" by Hillel Italie of the AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 3/3/10).

Hiroshima

There is a new book on the A-bombing of Hiroshima out in January. It is The Last Train from Hiroshima by Charles Pellegrino. The problem is that many believe it is based on faulty source material. Much of the book is based on accounts from a Joseph Fuaco who claims he was a substitute engineer for James Corliss who was the regular engineer on one of the planes that accompanied the Enola Gay. The historial record and the Corliss family insist that Corliss was on that flight that day and not Fuaco. The book makes the claim that there was an "accident" prior to the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. That accident "...killed one American and irradiated others" and caused the destructive power of the bomb to be "...greatly reduced...".

(Source: "Doubts Raised on Book's Tale of Atom Bomb" by William Broad. New York Times online on 2/20/10)

New Deal Legislation

In an article about the rising of popular discontent as indicated by the "Tea Party" movement, The Nation magazine makes the following comment about FDR and New Deal laws; "It was unsanctioned moblization of people that drove congress and FDR to go further than they had intended in passing such landmarks as Social Security and labor rights for working people. In 1933 the American Bankers Association led the fight against federal insurance of bank deposits. 'Unsound, unscientific, unjust and dangerous' the ABA thundered. Federal Reserve officials objected to the measure too. Even the Roosevelt admin declined to endorse it. Congress enacted it anyway, knowing how angry people were at losing everything in...bank failures". (How could the ABA object when someone else was going to back them up?)

(Source: "Political Fever" by William Greider. The Nation magazine 2/15/10).

Update on Citizens United case

Pres Obama referred to "one hundred years" of law being overturned by the recent Citizens United Supreme Court case. It would seem that may be determined by the passage of the Tillman Act of 1907-under TR. This act "...banned corporate donations to federal campaigns". The McCain-Feingold Act of 2002 on campaing contributions was "...partly overturned". The Citizens United decision brought up another issue; that being the rule that corporations are individuals in regard to free speech rights. That point was first made in 1886 in the Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company case. The issue here is "corporate personhood". Another case of interest here is the Buckley v. Valeo ruling of 1976 stating that "...the expenditure of money is a form of speech protected by the First Amendment" (but burning a draft card was not protected; O'Brien v. US 1968). The Valeo case "...allowed individuals unlimited spending in pursuit of political ends...".

(Source: "Democracy Inc" editorial. "Corpus Ex Machina" by Patricia J. Williams. The Nation on 2/15/10).

Hollywood and Discrimination

I recently viewed the movie "Casablanca" and wondered about the career of Dooley Wilson. Wilson, an African American, played the piano player and sidekick of the Humphrey Bogart character. Wilson was "Sam". Another supporting actor in the movie was Sydney Greenstreet who played Ferrari; he owned the Blue Parrot nightclub. Wilson was paid $ 350 a week for 7 weeks while Greenstreet was paid $ 3750 a week (and this was liberal Hollywood?).

(Source: Wikipedia on 2/17/10)

Right to Privacy

Five times prior to the establishment of a right to privacy in 1965-Griswold v. Conn.-the Supreme Court laid the foundation for claiming this right. In 1923 they ruled that parents had the right to teach their own children a foreign language- Meyer v. Nebraska. In 1925 they ruled that parents could send their children to a private school-Pierce v. Society of Sisters. In 1942 they ruled that a person of limited intelligence could procreate-Skinner v. Oklahoma. In 1952 they ruled a person could resist "certain invasions of the body"-Rochin v. California. In 1964 they ruled that a person had the right to travel abroad-Aptheker v. Secretary of State. In addition the court twice passed on the opportunity to establish this right, once in 1943 and again in 1961. Thus when the Griswold ruling came out it was not out of the blue.

(Source: The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States 1992 edition).

Eugenics

I came across this Supreme Court case while researching privacy cases. In 1927 the US Supreme Court ruled that Carrie Buck could be sterialized because, as Oliver Wendall Holmes said, she came from "...three generations of imbeciles...". A lower court described the family as "...shiftless, ignorant, and worthless class of anti-social whites in the south". The case was Buck v. Bell (1927). The wider significance of this case is that after the ruling and Carrie Buck's sterialization "...numerous states passed similiar laws and Nazi Germany gave the fullest sweep to the argument".

(Source: The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States 1992 edition. Page 98).

General George McClellan

While reading a history of the United States from 1934, I came across an interesting point about Gen McClellan by Gen Robert E. Lee. The author states; "In truth, Lee had the highest regard for McClellan. Some years after the war he expressed the opinion that McClellan was the best commander the Army of the Potomac ever had and that among his opponents he was the ablest. Indeed, any man who could take such heavy toll of Joseph E. Johnston and Robert E. Lee as McClellan inflicted in almost every battle was no ordinary soldier. Furthermore, few commanders have won the heart of a great army as McClellan won that of the Army of the Potomac". (Is the compliment accurate? I don't know)

(Source: History of the United States by Asa Earl Martin. Published in 1928, 1934 and 1946 by
Ginn and Company. Page 856)

Senator Joseph McCarthy

The republican senator from Wisconsin claimed, 60 years ago, that he knew of "206 card-carrying communists" who worked in the US State Department. As we know he said this in a speech he gave in West Virginia. Shortly thereafter he wrote to President Truman and said he had the names of 57 communists. On Feb 20, 1950 he told congress that he had a list of 81 commies. "When Congress actually started to investigate, the list shrank to 10 names". Even though there was no proof of the charges "...many of the accused lost their jobs and reputations". "McCarthyism now describes the practice of using unsubstantiated accusations of subversive activity to discredit an opponent".

(Source: "Did You Know" by Jan Housewerth from The Record on 2/8/10).

"Sexting"

An interesting First Amendment case might be in the making in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. A decision would effect NJ, PA, Delaware, and the Virgin Islands. The court is presently considering whether "...teens can be prosecuted...for taking their own photos and sending them to their friends". Sexting is the ..."cell phone messaging of either explicit photos or words". How is this be be considered? Is it "...constitutionally protected speech or a public safety concern..." that the law must deal with. Some say it is teenage indiscretion and others say it is child porn. (For those who think the First Amendment is dull, think again).

(Source: "Sexting" by Kibret Markos of The Record on 2/3/10).

Wartime Conscription

I have come across, from time to time, reference to the wartime conscription of women in England during WWII. A short front page article in a 1945 newspaper was headlined, "England to stop draft of all over 30". It stated, "conscription for men and women for war jobs under Britain's national service law" has been discontinued. "No British women have been called up for a considerable time". (I will try to find more on this).

(Source: Headline above. The Philadelphia Inquiror on April 13, 1945).

Scott Roeder

Scott Roeder confessed to killing abortion doctor, Dr. George Tiller, by shooting him in the head. Tiller was ushering a church service at the time. He said he did so to protect the lives of unborn children. A jury in Wichita, Kansas took 37 minutes to convict him of 1st degree murder with a mandatory life sentence with no possiblity of parole for 25 years; Roeder is 51 years old. The defense had tried to get a lesser charge approved by the court-one of manslaughter-but failed. The gun Roeder used was purchased at a pawn shop one week prior to the killing, but has not been found.

(Source: CNN internet site on 1/29/10). I found the same info on a Kerry County Ireland web site on the same date. The site was "Kerryman.i.e").

Interesting Note: Wichita was also the site of a campaign by Carrie Nation. She founded a chapter of the WCTU there called Medicine Lodge. This source notes that she broke up a bar there with a "rock and a pool ball" (I thought she always used an ax). A date was not given.

(Source: "Sighs of relief on the front lines of the abortion battle" by Emmanuella Grinberg of CNN on 1/28/10).

Congressional Votes

Congress passed a measure "...expressing condolences to and solidarity with Haiti..." in regard to the recent earthquake there. Only one member voted no: he was Ron Paul a Texas republican and Libertarian (why I would wonder). Congress also passed a resolution to "...improve international cooperation in locating nuclear and radiological materials held by terrorists". Ten members of the House voted against the bill (again I would wonder why).

The Senate failed to "...end the Troubled Assets Relief Program, which the Bush administration started to halt economic collapse". The $ 320 billion still in the program would have gone to reduction of the US debt. The bill needed 60 votes to end TARP and got 53. The bill is HJR-45 (it would interesting to know how each senator voted).

(Source: "North Jersey Tally" taken from Thomas Voting Reports. Taken from The Record on 1/24/10).

Update. Thomas Voting Reports notes that on the TARP spending legislation that failed republicans and some democrats voted to end the program and use the remaining money on the deficit. The yes votes were 40 Rep and 13 Dem. The no votes were no reps and 43 dems. 13 democrats broke with the party to vote yes and some of them were Diane Feinstein (Cal), Bill Nelson (Fl), Evan Bayh (Ind), Jon Testor (Mont), Ron Wyden (Ore), Jim Webb (Vir) and Russ Feingold (Wis) and 6 others.

TARP was established in Oct 2008 by Bush and funded with $ 7oo billion. Obama kept the program and expanded it to include auto companies and small businesses. TARP will expire in Oct 2010 and hopes to get back $ 175 billion.

(Source: This update based on the internet site "Thomas Voting Reports" on 1/25/10)

Update: On the House legislation on nuclear materials 9 rep and 1 dem voted No. 14 reps and 12 dems did not vote. Source was Thomas Voting Reports on this date.

WASPS

The Women Airforce Service Pilots of the World War II era are finally getting recognition-65 years after the end of the war-for their service. These women flew "...planes across the country, hauled targets for shooting practice..." and also trained male pilots. Their service freed up male pilots for front line duty. About 25,000 signed up for training but only 1074 completed it. 38 died in service. It seems their contribution was not appreciated at the time and some may still resent them. This source states, "At many of the bases where they were stationed, there was intense prejudice. WASPS...didn't receive veterans benefits until 1977". Even now some male pilots have written protest letters saying that "...if the medals-Congressional Gold Medals-were given to women, they would send theirs back". The recognition this spring will be the awarding of Congressional Gold Medals to some 200 surviving WASPS. Other groups receiving the medals in the past have been the Navajo Marine Corps Radio Operators or "Code Talkers" and the Tuskegee Airmen. Individuals getting the award have been Robert Frost and Dr Jonas Salk.

(Source: "WWII women fliers now up there witht the greats" by Nancy Bartley of The Seattle Times. In The Record on 1/24/10).

Citizens United v. The Federal Election Commission

The US Supreme Court has ruled that restrictions on political spending by companies is a violation of 1st Amendment speech rights, thus unconstitutional. Companies may use "...their treasuries to spend as much as they want to support or oppose individual candidates". GOPers favored the ruling saying it was a "...victory for free speech". Pres Obama opposed it saying it was a "...green light to a new stampede of special-interest money". The previous rule-dating to TR in 1907-prohibited companies spending "...their own treasury funds..." to support or attack "...a federal candidate". The McCain-Feingold Act of 2002 further restricted spending one month prior to an election. The court ruled that corporations "...have the same rights as individuals". A previous precedent stated that corporate money could not target a candidate. (I don't know this case: the article did not name it). Till now Political Action Committees (PAC) raised money that had restrictions. The ruling overturns state bans on corporate spending.

The majority: AK, JR, SA, AS, CT. The minority: JPS, SS, RBG, SB.

The case developed from a 2008 federal ban on showing the documentary film, "Hillary: The Movie".

A NYTimes editorial claims this is a "blow to Democracy" which will return the US "...to the robber-baron era of the 19th century". A writer for "commentarymagazine.com" says this is a "...tremendous victory for free speech". In the past politicans were protected from "...political speech that they did not like"

(Source: "US High Court Rejects a Limit on Corporations' Political Spending" from Pilot and wire reports. The Virginian Pilot on 1/22/10. The Virginian Pilot editorial page on 1/23/10)

Student Rights

In Texas a 4 year old boy has been on suspension since November (he sits with a teacher aide in the library) because his hair is too long. The public school dress code says "boy's hair must be kept out of the eyes and cannot extend below the bottom of earlobes or over the collar of a dress shirt". It also says that hair style "designed to attract attention to the individual or to disrupt the orderly conduct of the classroom or campus is not permitted". The school board said it would allow the 4 year old to wear his hair in "tight braids but keep it no longer than his ears". His mother rejected that plan. The boy is in pre-kindergarden.

(Source: "Parents Reject School's Deal on Son's Long Hair" the AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 1/13/10).

Medical Marijuana Law

The NJ legislature has approved a law to allow the use of medical marijuana "to help patients with chronic illnesses". Governor Corzine is set to sign it as he leaves office this month (it seems doubtful that the new governor would do so). This will make NJ the 14th state to pass such a law and "one of the few on the East Coast". The illnesses meant to be covered are "cancer, AIDS, Lou Gehrig's disease, muscular dystrophy, and multiple sclerosis"; the drugs would be provided "through state-monitored dispensaries". The vote in the General Assembly was 48 to 14 and in the state Senate 25-13. Opposition came from "some educators and law enforcement advocates".

(Source: "New Jersey Legislature Approves Medical Marijuana" by David Kocieniewski of The NY Times. In The Virginian Pilot on 1/12/10)

Hot Coffee Lawsuits

In Virginia Beach, Virginia a woman is suing Burger King Corp. for selling her coffee that was so hot and is such poor packaging that when it spilled it burned her left thigh. She wants $ 50,000. This happened on Dec 7, 2007. The employee handed the woman the coffee in a paper bag instead of in a cup holder. The "...most famous (hot coffee) case" was in New Mexico in 1992 when a jury awarded a woman-also burned by hot coffee-a judgment of $ 2.9 million. This award was reduced by a judge to $ 640,000 and a final settlement was reached by the company and the woman for an undisclosed amount.

(Source: "Woman Files Suit Against Burger King in Hot Coffee Case" by Shawn Day of The Virginian Pilot on 1/11/10)

White Messiah Fable

New York Times columnist David Brooks writes about this "fable" tendency in US movies. He notes it was found in "A Man Called Horse" and "Dances with Wolves" and is now a main theme in the movie "Avatar". The fable is of a white hero who becomes part of a native culture and leads them to victory over his own more powerful society. Brooks says: "It rests on the sterotype that white people are rationalist and technocratic while colonial victims are spiritual and athletic. It rests on the assumption that nonwhites need the White Messiah to lead their crusades". He says this fable is "...kind of offensive".

(Source: "Messiah complex on film" by David Brooks of the New York Times. In The Virginian Pilot on 1/11/10)

National Security Agency

The NSA was founded in 1952 to "...collect information from foreign signals for intelligence purposes". However, it was meant to be a secret agency and it was, until General Lew Allen Jr-director-testified before the House Select Committee on Intelligence about the activities of the agency referred to as "no such agency". He did so on Aug 8, 1975 and his testimony included info on the "...widespread eavesdropping on Americans..." who the FBI and Secret Service considered to be "...suspicious, including opponents of the Vietnam War". Allen stated that the spying "...helped chase down narcotics traffickers and prevent an act of terrorism". Allen did end the program in 1973. At some point thereafter, Congress set up a "...secret court to issue warrants for domestic wiretapping". (This was the court Bush II ignored when he ordered surveillance on suspects. Should be the FISA court; the article does not say). Allen took the position that once a "...secret presidential directive established the NSA..." the spying was legal. He also said that if anything is illegal it is their act of "...testifying publicly".

(Source: "Gen. Lew Allen, Who Lifted Veil on Security Agency, is Dead at 84" by Douglas Martin. Obit for the New York Times. On www.nytimes.com on 1/9/10.)

Atomic Bombs

There is only one "...officially recognized..." survivor of both atomic bomb attacks on Japan in 1945. His name was Tsutomu Yamaguchi, and he died recently at the age of 93. "He suffered serious burns to his upper body...", left the hospital for a return to his home in Nagasaki, there to encounter the second bomb. There are others who claim to have been in both cities during the attack but have not been recognized as such by the government. This source notes that 140,000 died in Hiroshima, 70,000 in Nagasaki and 260,000 survived the attacks. "Certification" means a person gets a government compensation with monthly payments "...free medical checksups and funeral costs". Mr Yamaguchi gave talks about his experience and spoke out against the use of nuclear weapons.

(Source: "Two-time A-bomb survivor dies" by Jay Alabaster of The AP. Obit in The Record on 1/09/10)

Anti Nazi Resistance

Freya von Moltke, age 98, died recently in Vermont. She and her husband-Helmuth James Graf von Moltke-were members of a anti Hitler organization in Germany during WWII. He was executed in January of 1945 for warning a friend he was to be arrested. The group they founded was called Kreisau Circle and based on their estate of that name in Poland. Their objective was not to overthrow Hitler but plan for a new democratic Germany after the war ended. In 1943 the group did contact Col. Claus von Stauffenberg who was leading a military resistance group that planned to kill Hitler. This source claims the Kreisau Circle supported the effort to kill Hitler. Wikipedia may not agree. The effort to kill Hitler was recently portrayed in the movie "Valkyrie". Google "Kreisau Circle" for more info.

(Source: "Freya von Moltke, WWII resistance leader". Obit by The AP. In The Record on 1/5/10)

Terrorist threat

The US has identified 14 countries that are called "countries of interest" in regard to the threat of terrorist attack. Anyone flying from or through these countries will face an increased level of search. There are four countries listed as "sponsors of terrorism"; they are Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria. Ten other countries are listed as "countries of interest". They are Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudia Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. This all seems in response to the Nigerian who tried to blow up a Northwest airliner on Christmas day.

(Source: "Certain fliers face tougher screening" by The AP. In The Record on 1/4/10. Also on web site for USA Today: www.usatoday.com on this date)

WW II Second Front

Albert Speer-German armaments minister during WWII-noted that the English and American airwar over Germany and the bombing of major German cities like Hamburg and Berlin prior to March of 1943 amounted to the "second front" that the Russians were pushing for. The damage to German cities and morale was considerable but the cost to allied planes and crews was very high. This same source also noted that the Allies gained daytime air superiority over Germany with the introduction of the US long range fighter the P-51 Mustang; the version equipped with a British Rolls Royce engine by March of 1943.

(Source: Video series World at War program 12 "Whirlwind")

Winston Churchill

"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened". (I don't know the source of this quote, but if he didn't say it someone should have).