Author: Redactor

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Today

Voltaire imprisoned, Warsaw Ghetto ends, Sedition Act passes WWI, Cultural Revolution begins

On May 16, 1717, writer Francois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, was imprisoned in the Bastille for nearly a year when his epic poem, La Henriade, infuriated the government.

On May 16, 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising ended. During the uprising, some 300 hundred German soldiers were killed, while thousands of Warsaw Jews who perished. Virtually all the former ghetto residents who survived the battle were sent to the Treblinka extermination camp and were murdered by the end of the war.

On May 16, 1918, Congress passed the Sedition Act of 1918, making criticism of the government a criminal offense. Specifically verboten was the use of “disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language” about the U.S. government, its flag, or its armed forces or language that could cause others to view the American government or its institutions with contempt. Those convicted of violating the act received sentences of imprisonment for 5 to 20 years. The act was repealed on December 13, 1920.

On May 16, 1966, the Communist Party of China issued the “May 16 Notice,” beginning the Cultural Revolution.

Categories
Thought

Voltaire, imprisoned in the Bastille on this day in 1717

“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”

“God is a comedian, playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.”

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”

“When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.”

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free trade & free markets local leaders

A Very American Bridge

Severe flooding forced Polihale State Park on Kaui, Hawaii’s fourth most famous island, to close in December. The needed repairs to a bridge were estimated to run $4 million, and yet state government lumbered along, spitting out no funds for the project. So local businesses got together and did the job themselves.

One of the organizers of the private-enterprise repair job, a local surfer, noted that the two years the state could take to do the job meant a summer or two without the attraction that local businesses depended upon, and that, “with the way they are cutting funds, we felt like they’d never get the money to do it.”

A businessman named Ivan Slack (no slacker, he) said his kayak business utterly depended upon the park — “tourism is our lifeblood; it’s what pays all our bills” — so he was more than willing to get the job going sans taxpayer dollars. His business’s survival depended upon it. He couldn’t just “wait around for a stimulus check.” So his company donated resources — as did others. The community provided its own stimulus.

And the job was completed in eight days.Alexis de Tocqueville

This is what used to be the norm in America. When Alexis de Tocqueville toured the country, he noted the amazingly prolific community organizations and associations that abounded in what was then a “new country.” If the people saw a problem, the people fixed it.

If there’s a bright side to the current economic depression, surely it’s stories like this.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Today

Soviets leave Afgh, Wallace shot, NWSA formed, Okinowa returned to Japan

On May 15, 1988, after more than eight years in Afghanistan, Soviet troops began their withdrawal. The event marked the beginning of the end to a long, bloody, and fruitless Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

On May 15, 1972, Alabama Governor George Wallace, the Democratic presidential candidate with the most total votes, was shot at an outdoor rally in Laurel, Maryland, by 21-year-old Arthur Bremer. Three others were wounded, and Wallace was permanently paralyzed from the waist down. The next day, while fighting for his life in a hospital, he won major primary victories in Michigan and Maryland. However, Wallace remained in the hospital for several months, bringing his third presidential campaign to an end.

On May 15, 1869, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton formed the National Woman Suffrage Association in New York.

On May 15, 1972, the island of Okinawa, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverted to Japanese control.

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Thought

Susan B. Anthony

“Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations . . . can never effect a reform.”

Categories
First Amendment rights general freedom too much government

A Caricature Worth 25 Lashes?

One hallmark of a free society is the legal right to make fun of our leaders. Several times per week I engage in ridicule as well as argument against the folks who think they know what they are doing when they attempt to rule us.

We should wear this freedom to ridicule like a badge.

Iranians, alas, can’t say the same.

Mahmoud Shokraye was tried and found guilty for insulting Nameye Amir, a member of parliament. Shokraye drew a mildly funny caricature of Amir, in a colorful post-Nastian style (the kind most major papers now fall back on), and for his trouble got 25 lashes.

Heroically, a number of cartoonists have upped the ante and created even less flattering caricatures, as you can see at the Cartoon Blog. (I sample some of them, here.) Amir got more than he bargained for. I hope it stings — more than 25 lashes’ worth.

There are several lessons to draw from this.

First, “taking offense” is not the basis of any legal action. Or any violent action. In the west, we’re centuries away from duels and other deadly fights of “honor.” The Islamic east is, alas, still embedded in old honor cultures. The faster they can shuffle off that obsession and move to a rule of law, instead, the better.

Second, as Thomas Jefferson put it, governments should fear the people, not the other way around. That’s part of what it means to live in a free society.

Politicians who don’t like it are free to seek a less public job. Really.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
Today

Jamestown founded, Const Con, Freedom Rider bus firebombed

On May 14, 1607, Jamestown, Virginia, was settled as the first English colony in the future United States.

On May 14, 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention began to assemble in Philadelphia to confront changes to the Article of Confederation. Though the convention was supposed to begin on May 14, it had to be pushed back until May 25, when a sufficient quorum of the participating states had arrived.

On May 14, 1961, a Freedom Riders bus was fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama, and the civil rights protesters beaten by an angry mob.

Categories
Thought

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, from “Ulysses” published on this day in 1842

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

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links

Townhall: The elephant, crazy like a fox?

Over at Townhall.com you can find an exploration of a familiar theme:

Media bias? It is not always hidden. The media bias against balancing budgets and paying off public debt is pretty out-in-the-open, these days.

The elephant, crazy like a fox?

Paul Jacob • May 13, 2012

Republicans are under attack from the highest towers of official Washington — the gnashing of chattering-class teeth now even more pronounced following Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock’s decisive victory over 36-year incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Dick Lugar.

Two weeks ago, even before Mourdock’s triumph, the Washington Post published a column, entitled, “Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.” Authors Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute are the resident scholars (read: apologists) of our nation’s capital or, as Post columnist Ezra Klein described them, “the two most respected, committed scholars — and defenders — of the U.S. Congress.”

That serves as both hoity-toity street cred for the national political class and, considering congressional approval ratings, an ugly black-eye before the American people.

“We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years,” wrote Mann and Ornstein, “and never have we seen them this dysfunctional,” adding, in phony non-partisanship, “Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.”

“Our advice to the press,” the pair generously offered, “Don’t seek professional safety through the even-handed, unfiltered presentation of opposing views.” Put in layman’s terms: “When you do your reporting, slap a finger or five on the scale. Tell people to vote for the Democrat.”

What else can be done? Apparently, Republicans cause gridlock. Especially conservative Republicans…

to continue, read the full column.

You can read last week’s column, here.

Categories
Thought

Winston Churchill

“I would say to the House as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.

“You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs — Victory in spite of all terror — Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.”