“Enforced uniformity confounds civil and religious liberty and denies the principles of Christianity and civility. No man shall be required to worship or maintain a worship against his will.”
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Author: Redactor
On Feb. 5, 1631, Roger Williams immigrated to America, arriving in Boston, Massachusetts. Williams went on to establish the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities, start the first Baptist church in America, and advocate for fair dealings with Native Americans.
On Feb. 5, 1778, South Carolina became the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
On Feb. 5, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur returned to Manila. He had said he would.
On Feb. 5, 1958, a hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb was lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.
The biggest issue of our time, swept under the rug:
On Feb. 4, 1789, George Washington, the commander of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, was unanimously elected the first president of the United States by all 69 presidential electors who cast their votes. John Adams of Massachusetts, who received 34 votes, was elected vice president. The electors, who represented 10 of the 11 states that had ratified the U.S. Constitution, were chosen by popular vote, legislative appointment, or a combination of both, four weeks before the election. On Feb. 4, 1792, Washington was unanimously elected to a second term, becoming the only president unanimously chosen by the Electoral College.
On Feb. 4, 1794, the French legislature abolished slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic.
On Feb. 4, 1913, Rosa Parks was born in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1955, Parks would spark the Montgomery Bus Boycott by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger. She was named “the first lady of civil rights,” by the U.S. Congress.
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George Washington, Farewell Address 1796
“. . . cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible…avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt….it is essential that you…bear in mind, that towards the payments of debts there must be Revenue, that to have Revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised, which are not…inconvenient and unpleasant…”
“It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world . . .”
“. . . avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty.”
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They Shoot Deer, Don’t They?
Eight dead sea lions — a water mammal belonging to the taxonomical grouping called pinnipeds, but known to most as “big seals” — were found washed ashore with bullet holes in their carcasses.
Sad. Sea lions are interesting if not exactly beautiful mammals.
The sentimentalist in me shudders at any such death. But, as I sit back eating a hamburger, I can’t say I am against killing non-human animals. Perhaps we should save our shudders for the wasteful nature of the slaughter: No meat, blubber, or hide was used.
The news report I read warily mentions how fishermen view sea lions — as competition. The report doesn’t mention the sea lions’ protected status: You can get into big trouble shooting a sea lion in most places.
And yet, from reports I’ve heard (and occasionally read: this is an unpopular topic for journalists to cover), these carnivorous mammals are indeed quite a problem for west coast fisheries. Oft told are tales of removing sea lions from Columbia River dams’ fish ladders, where they gorge themselves, and shipping them off to the ocean — only to have them reappear at the dams lickety-split.
An alternative to such heroic and expensive protection and removal schemes would be to manage sea lion populations with planned hunting seasons. River fish are increasingly scarce, so leaving pinniped populations unmanaged will further upset ecosystem balance.
Besides, with sea lion hunts, we would see less poaching.
After all, hunters shoot deer, don’t they? And deer are a lot prettier than sea lions.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Thomas Jefferson
“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg.”
On Feb. 3, 313, Constantine the Great and co-emperor Valerius Licinius met in Milan and signed a letter proclaiming a policy of religious freedom, known as the Edict of Milan, officially ending the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Constantine ruled the western parts of the empire and actively promoted Christianity. Licinius ruled the eastern parts of the empire and, though a pagan, was accepting a policy of toleration toward Christianity.
On Feb. 3, 1944, U.S. troops captured the Marshall Islands, occupied by the Japanese since 1914 and used as a base for military operations. The loss of live was relatively small, with 400 Americans killed in the assault by 53,000 soldiers.
“I do not consider myself a hero. What have we come to if turning down a bribe is heroic?”
On February 2, 1980, details of ABSCAM, an FBI operation to uncover political corruption, were released to the public. FBI agents had posed as representatives of Abdul Enterprises, a fictional business owned by an Arab sheik. Under FBI video surveillance, agents met with the officials and offered them money or other considerations in exchange for special favors, such as the approval of government contracts for companies in which the sheik had invested. Senator Harrison A. Williams (D-NJ), and five House members – John Jenrette (D-SC), Richard Kelly (R-FL), Raymond Lederer (D-PA), Michael Myers (D-PA), and Frank Thompson (D-NJ) – were convicted of bribery and conspiracy in separate trials in 1981. John Murtha (D-PA) was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the scandal, though never indicted or prosecuted. Senator Larry Pressler (R-SD) refused to take the bribe and was called a “hero” by Walter Cronkite.
On Feb. 2, 1943, the last of the German forces fighting at Stalingrad under General Field Marshall Friedrich von Paulus surrendered, despite Hitler’s order that, “The troops will defend themselves to the last!” The Battle of Stalingrad began in the summer of 1942, as German forces assaulted the city, pushed the Soviets almost to the Volga River in mid-October and encircled Stalingrad. But with diminishing resources, partisan guerilla attacks, and the cruelty of the Russian winter taking their toll, the Soviets launched a counteroffensive that encircled the Germans. Roughly half of the 280,000 men under Paulus’ command were already dead or dying, about 35,000 had been evacuated, and the remaining 91,000 were taken to Soviet POW camps, from which only 5,000 ever returned.