06.04.09
What a Find
Color of Adolf Hitler have just been released on life.com. They are simply amazing, and very interesting.
Today in History – Suffragette
Jun 4 1913, , suffragette, runs in front of King [George V's] horse during the Derby race. She is killed and becomes a martyr for the suffrage movement in England
(Today in History – Robert Heckendorn)
05.07.09
Today in History
7 May, 1928 – The legal voting age for women in Britain is lowered from 30 to 21 in the Representation of the People Act 1928.
(Today in History – Robert Heckendorn)
04.25.09
It Has Not Always Been With Us
It wasn’t until Apr 22 1864, that Congress authorized use of the motto “In God We Trust” for U.S. coins. Proving once again if you’re going to make an argument make sure you know the facts.
Democracy in Portugal
Today marks the 35th anniversary of the in Portugal making it a .
It was a non-violent revolution in which the revolutionaries carried only red carnations and convinced the soldiers to trade their guns for carnations. Only four people were killed.
09.22.08
Dismal
(Cross-posted from )
While reading excerpts from The History of the Dividing Line (ca. 1841), I read about a place in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina called . I kid you not. It cracks me up that he didn’t name it Byrd Swamp or something that would edify him and the surveyors who were working together to demarcate the boundaries between Virginia and North Carolina. No, Byrd proved his sense of humor by using a descriptor to name the swamp. The Great Dismal Swamp seems like something that belongs in Harry Potter’s world, not US History.
09.21.08
On the Conversion of Indians
From (first encounted in The Heath Anthology of American Literature: Volume A, Colonial Period to 1800 edited by Paul Lauter (UIS Fall, 2008 Early American Lit)
[NOTE: emphasis mine.]
Brother: Continue to listen. You say that you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind, and if we do not take hold of this religion which you white people each, we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right, that we are lost. How do we know this to be true? We understand that your religion is written in a book. If it was intended for us as well as you, why has not the Great Spirit given it to us, and not only to us, but why did he not give to our forefathers the knowledge of that book, with the means of understanding it rightly? We only know what you tell us about it. How shall we know when to believe, being so often deceived by the white people?
BROTHER: You say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion why do you white people differ so much about it? Why are you not all agreed,–as you can all read the book?
BROTHER: We do not understand these things. We are told that your religion was given to your forefathers, and has been handed down from father to son. We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers and has been handed down to us their children. We worship in that way. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favors we receive; to love each other, and to be united. We never quarrel about religion.
BROTHER: The Great Spirit has made us all, but he has made a great difference between his white and red children. He has given us different complexions, and different customs. To you He has given the arts. To these He has not opened our eyes. We know these things to be true. Since He has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that He has given us a different religion according to our understanding? The Great Spirit does right. He knows what is best for is children; we are satisfied.
09.17.08
The Pledge
Cross posted from
Pay no attention to the overly simplified American history lesson, how much do you expect for 9 minutes? But do pay attention to the Pledge as Porky says it at the end.
08.30.08
Declaration of Independence
it.
Notice that there are only three references to “God”
- Paragraph 1: “Nature’s God”
- Paragraph 2: “Creator”
- Last Paragraph: “divine Providence”
People who insist on claiming that the US was founded as a Christian country would do well to remember that the Puritans left England in order to escape religious persecution and that the Declaration of Independence does not mention the Christ or allude to a “Christian” God.
JFK reading the Declaration of Independence:
08.23.08
History in the Making
Four years ago I was sitting in a pizza joint reading a book and waiting for my order to come up. The big television in the corner was blaring political stuff on CNN. I had given up on convention coverage decades ago. Gone was the spectacle and the pomp of choosing a candidate for POTUS. 2000 had made me even more cynical and bereft of much hope. 2004 was shaping up to be the same. John Kerry was the “anyone but Bush” candidate with little to offer except his firecracker of a wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. If we had been voting for FLOTUS, she would have gotten my vote gladly.
In the background the noise on the TV got louder and I looked up. There, on the stage was a tall, thin man with a mellifluous voice. I put my bookmark in place and leaned forward, barely noticing when my pizza arrived. Gone now are the words from my memory but I remember the tiny spark of hope. An unknown man, a great orator was speaking in a way that made me begin to believe that there was hope for the Democratic Party and for the country, for me. I knew then and there that this was a man destined for great things and was the one to pay attention to in the future. It’s the first time in my life that I remembered the name of the keynote speaker.
I don’t remember the words but I remember the name, Barack Obama, presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate for 2008.