Bosnia War

War raged in the former Yugoslavia region of Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 during which the "siege of Sarajevo" was the longest in modern history.  For three and a half years the world (UN and other nations) did noting to stop the killing.  During this war one in every two Bosnians was forced to flee his home.  50,000 Bosnian women were raped leading to the first conviction for sexual violence on it own as a "crime against humanity".  This war was the deadliest in Europe since WWII and in 1995 an "uneasy peace" in Bosnia-Herzogovina with the struggle still going on.  My knowledge of this war is limited and a lot more research is needed by anyone wishing to know more.  (It is also my belief that the crime of rape was committed against a Muslim population by Christian members of Serbia and Bosnia.  If this is true it might help explain why many Muslims feel hatred toward other religious groups in the region and world)

(Source:  Movie "In the Land of Blood and Honey").

Witchcraft trials of 1730

I read recently of witchcraft trials in Mount Holly in NJ in 1730 in which a witch and a wizard were put on "trial".  The townspeople, in an effort to be fair, choose two of their number to undergo the same "tests" as the suspected witches "as a sort of litmus test to prove their fairness".  The four were all stripped naked and tied hand and foot and dropped into a pond.   "It was thought that anyone who was a witch would float on the surface of the water, while an innocent would sink to the bottom".  One of the test persons sank while the   other and the two accused floated to the surface.  There was no further indication of what happened next.  I think the interesting point here is that an account of this was recorded by one "Benjamin Franklin" who as "an enlightened thinker of his day...poke fun at folk beliefs which still persisted as well as to have a joke at the expense of Burlington County residents, whom Philadelphians saw as rustic, rural yokels".  I post this because I wonder if the "test" we have always heard about-the sinking in water when dunked-was in fact made up by this "Benjamin Franklin" just to ridicule those who believed in witches.  I am also assuming that the Benjamin Franklin noted here is the one history books record the existence of.
(Source: "The Mount Holly Witch Trials of 1730" by Michael Vikovic in Weird New Jersey volume number 19.  This source is questionable; I have no knowledge of the magazines value as a source of history).

WW II Relocation Camps

Many of us have heard about and noted in our classes about the detention of Japanese Americans on the West Coast starting after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Of the 120,000 so detained, two-thirds of them were citizens; most had their property taken without compensation and got nothing back after the war.  What I had not heard of before was that Canada did the same thing.  A Canadian environmentalist and broadcaster-David Suzuki-notes that "there were 22,000 Japanese Canadians put in camps".  More research is needed.

(Source:  "A Progressive Interview With David Suzuki" by Mathew Rothschild.  The Progessive Dec 2010 Jan 2011).

Civil War

(Personal observation. I always knew of the conflict as the "American Civil War". I have learned that some refer to it as the "War of Northern Aggression" or the "War between the States". Now I read in the Virginian Pilot this morning that it is "Mr Lincoln's War". Why not call it the "War to Save the Union" or the "War to defeat Treason" or the "War to End Slavery". I guess it all depends on one's personal perspective. Today conservatives are calling the war started by George W. Bush as "Obama's War").

Student Speech

I school district in Indianapolis has expelled a 17 year old student for the use of profanity on a Twitter site (I am not sure what that is). He used a "certain expletive" (most likely the "F" word) numerous times to show how it would fit into a sentence. He made the comment on "his own time" and not on school property. He says he was using his own computer but the school seems to disagree; he was using a school computer that was given to all upper grades. This seems to be developing into a case that will end up in court. An ACLU spokes-person notes that this could be a First and Fourth Amendment case. The article notes that the 1969 Supreme Court case of Tinker v. Des Moines applies here. Further action is not mentioned in this article.

(Source: "Student's profane tweet stirs debate on free speech" by Charles Wilson of The AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 4/4/12)

John Wilkes Booth

Maybe this is not much of an issue, but I thought it worth mentioning. The Gettysburg National Military Park visitors center bookstore was-for awhile-selling bobblehead dolls of Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth. The Lincoln doll makes sense, but a doll of his assassin holding a pistol like the one he used to kill Lincoln seems to me in very bad taste. Of course, it may also show how people in a certain part of this country still view the Civil War and who the real villain was. After a week on the shelves it was removed. However, the doll still sells online for $ 20.

(Source: "Lincoln's Assassin's bobblehead off shelves" by the AP. In the Virginian Pilot on 3/16/12).

Presidential Elections

I was told after the 2000 presidential election that Al Gore couldn't even carry his own state; thus-it was implied-not deserving to win the presidency that year. I have since learned that Woodrow Wilson and Richard Nixon-both of whom won elections-also lost their home states. Nixon's was California but I am not sure what they consider Wilson's "home" state even thou he was governor of New Jersey prior to being elected. It also seems that Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney will also face this issue if either of them becomes the GOP nominee in 2012. Santorum and Romney are from Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, states that usually vote democratic.

(Source: New Orleans Times Picayune from March 4, 2012)