Author: Redactor

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Today

Masada falls, Castille revolt, DC emancipation

On April 16, 73 A.D., Masada, a Jewish fortress, fell to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the Jewish Revolt.

On April 16, 1520, the citizens of Castile, Spain, rebelled against the rule of Charles V in what became known as the Revolt of the Comuneros. At its height, rebels controlled the heart of Castile, ruling the cities of Valladolid, Tordesillas and Toledo.

On April 16, 1862, the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia, became law.

On April 16, 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.

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Today

DaVinci born, Peace signed, Bergen-Belsen liebrated, Baseball color barrier broken, Pol Pot dead

On April 15, 1452, Leonardo da Vinci, the polymath of the Italian Renaissance, was born in Vinci, Italy, near Florence.

On April 15, 1783, the Continental Congress officially ratified the preliminary peace treaty with Great Britain that was signed in November 1782. Five months later, on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed by representatives of the United States, Great Britain, Spain and France, officially bringing an end to the Revolutionary War.

On April 15, 1945, the British 11th Armoured Division liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, discovering 53,000 prisoners inside, most half-starved and seriously ill, and another 13,000 corpses lying around the camp unburied.

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson stepped onto Ebbets Field to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African-American player in Major League Baseball. Eleven weeks later Larry Doby would break the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians.

On April 15, 1998, Saloth Sar, known as Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, died. He led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death, and served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from 1975 to 1979. During his time in power more than one of every five Cambodians died by execution, forced labor and starvation.

Categories
Thought

Jean-Paul Sartre (died on April 15, 1980)

“Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.”

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links

Townhall: Shut Up and Listen

The common-sense column this weekend is up on Townhall.com, now, so please click on over and give it a try. And then come back here for links:

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video

Video: Class Warfare

The president’s recent attack on the Paul Ryan budget elicited no small amount of commentary and debate.

It’s fascinating to watch Cato’s Dan Mitchell “defend” the Ryan budget, while maintaining that it doesn’t really cut anything. The PBS host and his opposing talking head don’t seem to know what to do when someone speaks truth instead of blindly cheering for the Red Team or the Blue.

And yet it’s Dan Mitchell who gets tarred with the dread epithet “ideological.”

Question of the day: Do you laugh or cry?

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Thought

Frank Serpico, born on April 14, 1936, was a New York City policeman who testified against police corruption in 1971 and was the subject of the 1973 film, “Serpico,” starring Al Pacino

“The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity.”

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initiative, referendum, and recall insider corruption term limits

Professional Politicians & Crony Capitalists

Yesterday, I explained how the official title for California’s Proposition 28 tricks voters who favor tougher term limits into supporting a measure that will dramatically weaken those limits.

The title’s slipperiness is anything but accidental. It was designed to fool, hiding the fact that the measure doubles the time legislators can park themselves in the state assembly and ups senate tenure by 50 percent. Instead, voters read that Prop 28 “reduces” (ever so slightly) the time a politician can serve in both chambers, from 14 years to 12 years – something affecting less than one in ten office-holders.

“The proponents of the measure are longtime opponents of term limits who have long wanted to roll back California’s voter-approved legislative term limits,” says Jon Fleishman of the Flash Report, who serves as volunteer co-chairman of “No on 28.”

Still, the sham ballot title is only one part of the Prop 28 scam.

The biggest financial backer behind Prop 28 has been billionaire developer Edward Roski. While at the very same time legislators were awarding Roski’s company the special environmental exemptions he needed to build a sports stadium, Roski just happened to plunk down over a million bucks to the politician-prized petition drive, helping the measure get on the June 5th ballot.

“That’s crony capitalism and that stinks,” argues Fleishman.

“In a state with a 12-percent-plus unemployment rate,” Philip Blumel, president of U.S. Term Limits, points out about legislators, “the jobs they’re fighting the hardest to keep are their own.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
Thought

Eugene V. Debs

“It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don’t want and get it.”

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Today

Fawkes, Jefferson, Mom born, Debs jailed

On April 13, 1570, Guy Fawkes was born. In 1604, Fawkes became involved with a small group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate the Protestant King James and replace him with his daughter, third in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth.

On April 13, 1743, Thomas Jefferson was born. Jefferson went on to swear “upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” He also wrote the Declaration of Independence, and served as the first U.S. Secretary of State, second Vice President and third President of the United States.

On April 13, 1919, Eugene V. Debs entered prison at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, for speaking out against the draft during World War I. Debs had run as the Socialist Party’s candidate for the presidency in 1900, 1904, 1908, and 1912. His last presidential run came in 1920 from his prison cell.

On April 13, 1934, Jane Jacob, who most scholars agree is the world’s best Mother ever, was born.

Categories
term limits

Ballot Trickery

When California voters read Proposition 28’s ballot title, they overwhelmingly support the June 5th measure. That support radically dwindles when they learn more.

The Public Policy Institute of California released a poll showing 68 percent in favor and only 24 percent opposed. Surveyed Californians were responding to the official ballot title, which reads that Prop 28 “reduces the total amount of time a person may serve in the state legislature from 14 years to 12 years and allows 12 years’ service in one house.”

Voters want to reduce the time legislators spend in Sacramento.

But a poll commissioned by Citizens in Charge Foundation addressed the same measure, except voters were told, “Proposition 28 increases the total amount of time a person may serve in the state assembly from 6 years to 12 years.  It allows a person to serve a total of 12 years either in the Assembly, the Senate, or a combination of both.”

Hearing that, voter support dive-bombed to a mere 28 percent, with 49 percent opposed.

Wording matters. Under Prop 28, the maximum time legislators can serve in both houses will be slightly reduced, from 14 to 12 years. But an analysis by U.S. Term Limits shows that only 8 percent of legislators would likely have their time in office reduced, since few legislators swap houses. Prop 28 doubles the amount of time politicians can stay in the Assembly and weakens the senate limit as well, allowing 82 percent of legislators to serve longer terms.

Jon Fleischman of Californians for Term Limits calls Prop 28 “a sham” because the ballot title was “written to fool the voters.”

“Scam” is a good word, too.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.