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).