The "N" word

A letter to the editor of USA Today states that we all should know that the use of this word "supports racism and segregation" and there is "no place in respectful society" for it. The author also notes that the word was also used by "the English to emphasize that Irish Catholics were subhuman and by Americans who said that Southern Europeans who had darker complexions were subhuman". I have never read of this in any other forum; is it true?

(Source: "N-word has no place in respectful society" by George Chapman of Salt Lake City. In the USA Today newspaper on 1/18/11).

US Constitution

Recently I've seen a number of postings of the US Constitution that I found interesting. The first was in The Virginian Pilot newspaper from Virginia Beach, VA after the new Tea Party congressmembers read the document into the record. The paper posted the body of the document without the Amendments. The second posting was in a Revolutionary Era historic site in Charleston, SC where again only the body of the document was posted; sans Amendments. I commented to myself at the posting and a lady sitting nearby commented that the Amendments were really not part of the document because of the time difference between the Constitution and the adding of the Bill of Rights a few years later. Is there some larger significance here? Do many people not consider the Amendments part of the Constitution? Is there some overall opposition to the Amendments? Did the reading in Congress recently include the Amendments?

(Source: on the posting of the Constitution; The Virginian Pilot on 1/10/11)

American History texts

The recent publication of an American History text for use in Virginia public schools has been determined to be inaccurate. The book claimed that there were Black Confederate military units fighting for the south in the Civil War. A photo accompanying the article was photo-edited to show a Confederate officer in charge of a unit of black soldiers who were in reality a unit of Louisiana militia enlisted by the Union forces in occupation of New Orleans. After this incident became public historians reviewed the text and found "more errors, including inaccurate dates and spelling and punctuation errors". The book was printed by Five Ponds Press and was entitled Virginia; Past and Present and Our America to 1865. The publisher has promised to replace the books without cost; they also said they would "replace page 122 in the 2011 edition of the textbook". (Unclear as to what they are doing to correct the error). The book publisher stated that they "...tailored our textbooks to meet the needs of the Virginia Standards of Learning...". (Maybe the issue here is not the publisher but the state's need for its version of history).

(Source: "Publisher says it will replace error-pocked texts for free" by Elisabeth Hulette of The Virginian Pilot on 1/12/11).

Watergate 1972

I came across and interesting comment about this historic event in a work of non-fiction about crime in Ireland in the 1880's. It was in regard to an official-government-investigation, or lack thereof, of a murder of a family of five. It was in a footnote (or are they called end-notes now?) and it read as follows. "Rather similiar to President Nixon's announcement on August 29, 1972 that he had already directed a staff member to carry out 'a complete investigation of all the leads which might involve any present members of the White House staff' in the Watergate affair. The 'investigator' he named, himself subsequently jailed, admitted later that he learned of his supposed Inquiry on television" The end-note says the source was Hearings of Senate Select Committee-June 25, 1973.

(Source: Maamtrasna: The Murders and the Mystery by Jarlath Waldron. Page 324. Date 1992).

Police Search

The California Supreme Court ruled recently that "the police in the state can search the contents of an arrested person's cell phone" without a warrant. In this instance the police witnessed a drug deal in a car driven by the plaintiff. He was arrested and a car search found 6 pills of Ecstasy. At the police station his cell phone was taken and an officer noticed text message "6 4 80" indicating a Ecstasy sale. Suspect then admitted to selling the drug. The court ruled that any data stored on the phone "...photos, address book, Web browsing history, data stored in apps (including social media apps), voice mail messages, search history, chat logs and more" can be accessed.

This source does not say for sure but it appears if the phone is locked and the suspect will not unlock it, a court warrant might be needed to access the phone's information. The Ohio state supreme court, in December 2009, made a similiar ruling and wanted the US Supreme Court to review it. They did not. Now they might.

(Source: CNN.com. on 1/5/11 "cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/01/05/search.warrant").

Cornelius Dupreee

Another case of false imprisonment; this one in Texas. Dupree was released recently on the basis of DNA evidence that proves he did not commit a rape and robbery in 1979. He spent 30 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. That is the record in Texas. In Florida James Bain spent 35 years "wrongly imprisoned" and in Tennessee Lawrence McKinney spent over 31 years. These men were represented by the Innocence Project and co-director Barry Scheck; he also part of the defense team for OJ Simpson. Texas has compensation laws that pay the wrongly convicted. Dupree will get $ 80,000 for each year he was imprisoned and a "life time annuity" that could all be worth $ 2.4 million in a lump-sum payment that is not subject to federal income tax (I wonder if Texas will tax it). Dupree could have been released in 2004 if he would have admitted he was a sex offender; he wouldn't.

(Source: "Newly free man had chances to make parole" by Jeff Carlton of The AP. In The Record on 1/5/11)

Update: Dupree, Bain and McKinney are all black men: what does this tell us about our justice system?

Whiskey v. Fat

This source notes that the increased use of whiskey in early America was due to "a great abundance of corn, especially in the agriculturally rich Ohio Valley". It was easier to convert corn into whiskey than grain and easier to transport. This author compares that to the present when he says; "this economic situation resembles today's problem with obesity: agricultural overproduction, caused by deregulation during the Reagan era, forced manufacturers to find ways of more efficiently getting farm products, especially corn in the form of high-fructose sweeteners and feed for livestock, into the American diet".

(Source: "Gods Good Creature and Cold Water Armies: American drinking from Plymouth to Appmattox" Part Two. By Matthew Dikkari. Civil War Historian March/Ap 2007)

Elections

The GOP won 60 seats in the House of Representatives this past election. That is not a record according to the USA Today newspaper. In 1922 the GOP gained 75 seats in the House. In 1938 the Democrats gained 71 seats in the House. Other elections with nearly the 60 seat victory margin are 1910 with the GOP winning 57, the 1914 election with Democrats winning 59 and the 1994 election with Democrats winning 54.

(Source: USA Today 11/4/10)

2010

The key events of the past year-according to The Record-are as follows.

1. Gulf Oil Disaster.

2. Health Care Overhaul.

3. US Elections.

4. US Economy.

5. Haiti Earthquake.

6. Tea Party Movement.

7. Chile Mine Rescue.

8. Iraq.

9. Wikileaks.

10 Afghanistan.

These results come from a poll conducted by The Associated Press of US editors and news directors. They are listed in the order of their significance. There were 180 ballots collected and the Gulf Oil Disaster received 54 first place votes.

(Source: "The Year of the Spill", by David Crary of the AP. In The Record on 1/1/11).