Archive for the 'History' Category

I once read about someone saying that her favorite day of the year was March 4th, because it’s a complete sentence. Technically, that’s not true, since the sentence is “March forth!” and the date is “March fourth”. But for what it’s worth, they sound the same. In history, March fourth was America’s original Inauguration Day, before being changed by the 20th Amendment, and was the birthday of Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi. So without further ado, I give you the news on or around March fourth.

PETA has decided to forgo their plans for a billboard depicting Tiger Woods.

How much of a chance does this have of passing? Congressmen Jeb Hensarling and Mike Pence propose an amendment to limit spending to 20% of GDP.

If you’re a car nut, but also would like to consider yourself “green”, you might like this. Ferrari has unveiled a hybrid auto.

In the Netherlands, a pilot who was not licensed for passenger flights was arrested just before takeoff.

Students protesting cutbacks in Davis, California got close to blocking an interstate highway. (H/T CDC Journal)

Earlier this evening, two police officers were shot at the main entrance of the Pentagon.

From Atlas Shrugs: In San Francisco, three muslims have been charged with shooting a gay man in the face with a BB gun.

From A Catholic View: Maryland Catholic Conference backs state plan to fund adult stem cell research. Historically, Maryland was founded to provide a refuge for Catholics who were mistreated in England.

Because of falling real estate values, spouses facing divorce are now telling each other “No, you take the House.”

From the Weekly Standard: Is Obama offering a congressman’s brother a position as judge in exchange for his vote on health care?

From Yahoo News: The Chilean quake’s effects on the earth include shortening its rotation period.

Yet more geologic activity. Fox News reports a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan.

Here in Maryland, as in much of the United States, the cold snap continues. Meanwhile, across the pond, Great Britain is covered by snow. (H/T Ice Age Now)

Next up, a look at some liberals. Well, actually two looks. The British site Telegraph will be listing the 100 most influential American liberals, and has started with numbers 100 through 81. Back here in the states, John Hawkins at Right Wing News gives us the “20 most annoying liberals of 2009″.

Let’s not forget our liberal-in-chief. In The Minority Report, Ken Taylor calls Obama’s transparency “a transparency of lies”. (H/T ARRA News)

Speaking of alleged lies, in CNS News, Alan Caruba writes about “The Lies About Green Jobs”. Hmmm, that’s “3 letters: J-O-B-S”, isn’t it, Mr. Vice President?

Please excuse me while I roll my eyes over this one. Disgraced former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich calls himself “blacker than Barack Obama”.

From Canada Free Press, Daniel Greenfield tells us about “The Secret History of the Left”.

One more reason that crude oil and thus gasoline are getting more expensive: increased Chinese demand.

How well do you know the American Revolution? Take the quiz.

Bring out the asterisk. Nearly Nobody’s News reports that former major league baseball player Mark McGwire has admitted to using steroids back during his playing days. In 1998, McGwire hit 70 home runs, breaking the single-season record of 61 by Roger Maris in 1961, itself subject to an asterisk because Maris played in a 162-game season, whereas the Babe Ruth had hit 60 in a 154-game season. McGwire’s record, steroid-aided as it may have been, lasted only three years, as Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001, likely also a steroid-aided feat.

In a courtroom in East Boston, there will be no pussy-footing around with this potential juror.

Sixty-eight years ago, the Japanese navy launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in the territory of Hawaii. Soon after learning of the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan, calling that day “a date which will live in infamy“. America would soon enter World War II, allied with the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, and eventually defeat Japan and her allies Germany and Italy within four years.

On a personal note, during the 1990’s I travelled to Hawaii, being lucky enough to have a friend who lived there. The first thing I did after getting off the plane and renting a car, even before finding my friend’s house, was visit the Arizona Memorial. The ship has never been de-commissioned.

Here are a few tributes to that awful day:

From the Naval History and Heritage Command,

From Kim Priestap,

From Debbie Schlussel, and

From the Snooper Report.

Twenty years ago today, the Berlin Wall came down. It was torn down, not by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, as famously urged by American president Ronald Reagan, but by ordinary Germans. The destruction of the wall led to the reunification of Germany, and eventually to the end of European communism. Another wall, known as the “Iron Curtain”, would likewise meet its demise, as communist regimes fell, culminating with the end of the Soviet Union itself.

These events were largely unforeseen, but were welcomed in the United States and Europe, as the decades-long Cold War came to a peaceful end. It was an especially sweet time for people like myself, Americans of east European descent. I had grown up with the knowledge that my ancestral countries of Poland and Czechoslovakia (which would later break up into two separate countries) were among the “satellites” of America’s most powerful adversary, their internal politics dominated by Soviet influence. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the leadership of people such as Lech Wałęsa in Poland and Haclav Havel in the Czech Republic, formerly communist lands would join NATO and become allies of the United States.

Earlier today, thousands gathered in Berlin to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the first person raised in formerly communist East Germany to hold that office, welcomed world leaders to the celebration. While calling November 9, 1989 the happiest day of her life, she also pointed out a somber historical irony.

Merkel also recalled the tragic side of Nov. 9 for Germans — the Nazis’ Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass — an anti-Semitic pogrom 71 years ago. At least 91 German Jews were killed, hundreds of synagogues destroyed and thousands of Jewish businesses vandalized and looted in the state-sanctioned riots that night.

“Both show that freedom is not self evident,” Merkel said. “Freedom must be fought for. Freedom must be defended time and again.”

Sounds like advice well worth remembering.

Also recalling the fall of the Berlin Wall are

Voice Of America News

The BBC

Berlin Wall Online

The Christian Science Monitor

CBS News

YnetNews and

ABC News Australia.

Founded in 1798 and located in Oceanside, California just off state highway 76, the San Luis Rey de Francia mission is the largest of the California missions, and is a National Historic Landmark. The mission includes a church, a cemetery, a garden and a museum, of which this is the entrance.

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While exploring the mountainous region east of San Diego, I came across these two small missions (to translate the post’s title). About a mile north of Santa Ysabel is the town’s namesake, the Mission of Santa Ysabel Asistencia. Founded in 1818 by Catholic missionaries intending to minister to the natives whom they called Luiseño and Diegueño, the mission also served as a rest stop for people travelling between San Diego and the Mexican region of Sonora.

Here’s the church, which is dedicated, not to Santa Isabel (St. Elizabeth), but to St. John the Baptist.

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Here’s a man who knows how to stand up for his country.
Part 1:

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On September 17, 1787 thirty-nine men from the very young United States of America, having gathered in Philadelphia, finished writing a Constitution, a proposed replacement for the country’s governing document, the Articles of Confederation.

In much more recent political news, the Speaker is concerned about the potential for “political violence”. Isn’t it great that the Dems have come to value civility?

I know that Raven and Duncan like their guns. But sometimes, a sword will suffice.

Speaking of sharp objects, a runner from Blacksburg, VA takes time out from the Blue Ridge Relay and dies from stab wounds – inflicted by himself.

It’s sad that too much success can be controversial, even in high school football.

Washington, DC has become a favorite place for wealthy young adults. (Heck, the Kennedys knew that decades ago.)

Parlez-vous français? If so, Aer Lingus might need your help.

Mary Traverse, of Peter, Paul and Mary, has died of leukemia at age 72.

Via The Dumb Ox, ACORN’s been behaving so badly these days, so it seems, that even Aahnold has called for an investigation. More bad (for them) news: The House has voted to cut off their federal money.

From the Alamo City Pundit, an apparent strategy of peace through vulnerability: Barry decides to abandon plans for missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Tomorrow, I will be in Washington, DC, attending a huge rally against some of Barry’s policies. By some estimates, several hundred thousand people may show up, some from halfway across the country. By falling on the day after the anniversary of 9/11/01, the 9/12 rally will remind us that we live in the post-9/11 world.

September 12th is known to some people as Jan Sobieski Day, in honor of the Polish king who broke the siege of Vienna by the Turks, on that date in 1683. His troops scavenged the abandoned Turkish camp, and found stores of dark, hard-shelled beans, from which the Turks had brewed a hot beverage. Jeżeli lubisz kawę, dziękuj Polaka. (If you like coffee, thank a Pole.)

On the eighth anniversary of 9/11/01, here are some tributes that I’ve run across:
From The Snooper Report
From Theodore’s World
From America Coast 2 Coast
From Political Pistachio
And links to 1189 more (and counting) at Project 2996

Tomorrow, Obama will give his speech to the nation’s schoolchildren. Some have been critical of his planned speaking appearance, and others have said, “What’s the big deal? Reagan and/or (GHW) Bush also spoke to kids in school.” Still others have argued that Barry’s upcoming speech is different from those given by his predecessors. Therefore, I offer the text of all three. To shamelessly steal a phrase from Fox News, I report, you decide.

Speaking of which, Fox News got a hold of Barry’s prepared remarks, to be delivered at Wakefield High School in Arlington, VA.
(H/T HotAir.)

Way back in 1988, the Gipper gave this speech, from the State Dining Room at the White House. The speech was carried by C-Span and the Instructional Television Network. He also took questions from students at several junior high schools.

In 1991, Bush the Elder spoke at Alice Deal Junior High School. The speech was carried by CNN, PBS, the Mutual Broadcasting System, and the NBC radio network.
(H/T Skye, who tweeted this.)