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Today

Alamo falls, Dred Scott, Stossel born

On March 6, 1836, the Alamo falls after a thirteen day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops. The 187 Texas volunteers, including frontiersman Davy Crockett and Colonel Jim Bowie are killed. “Remember the Alamo” becomes the rallying cry of those who successfully win an independent Republic of Texas.

On March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court delivered perhaps its most infamous decision in Dred Scott case, affirming the right of slave owners to take their slaves into the Western territories, thereby negating the doctrine of popular sovereignty in deciding whether new states will be free or slave states.

On March 6, 1947, John Stossel, author and television reporter and commentator, is born in Chicago Heights, Illinois.

On March 6, 1967, Joseph Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva defected to the United States.

On March 6, 1970, a bomb blast at a house in Greenwich Village killed three members of the Weather Underground.

Categories
Thought

Samuel Adams

“Driven from every other corner of the earth, freedom of thought and the right of private judgment in matters of conscience, direct their course to this happy country as their last asylum.”

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Today

Boston Massacre, Hula Hoop

On Monday, March 5, 1770, a small number of British soldiers fired on a crowd of angry colonists, killing five, in what came to be known as “The Boston Massacre.” The occupation of Boston by British soldiers was fiercely opposed and a crowd gathered outside the Customs House began to pelt soldiers with snowballs and rocks. Many believe the initial shot was fired by accident, but the incident inflamed public opinion against the British.

On March 5, 1963, the Hula Hoop was patented.

Categories
First Amendment rights free trade & free markets general freedom ideological culture

A Nickel’s Worth of Freedom

“If we are going to pay for your contraceptives,” said Rush Limbaugh on air, referring to Ms. Sandra Fluke’s congressional testimony, “and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.”

In my Townhall column this weekend, “’Tis a Pity He’s a Boor,” I responded with a “No, thanks.” But I did defend what I took to be the point Rush was trying to make: “The issue isn’t about contraceptives, but the right to choose . . . on your own nickel.”

The flak Rush received became an avalanche of advertiser pull-outs from his show. And an apology.

And this all points to something interesting about freedom.

Rush has freedom of speech. He would still have it if every advertiser in the world refused to touch him and he took to blogging. His freedom requires no one to support him. Free speech doesn’t force anyone to listen – or advertise.

Similarly, Ms. Fluke has freedom of association, sexually and otherwise, including her relationships with the university in question and its contracted insurance company. But such freedom doesn’t obligate her school or insurance company or other consumers (through passed-on costs) to pay for her contraceptives. We all have freedom.

The same freedom of contract that allows advertisers to drop Rush’s show also allows businesses to choose employee benefit plans, workers to choose where they will work, and insurance companies to decide what terms they will offer.

Or it should. And in the specific case of contraception coverage did, until the Obama Administration dictated otherwise.

Several nasty words ago, that’s what started this brouhaha.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
Thought

James Madison

“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.”

Categories
Today

First Congress opens

On March 4, 1789, the first session of the U.S. Congress held under the newly ratified U.S. Constitution began in New York City. But of the 22 senators and 59 representatives from the 11 states that had ratified the document, only nine senators and 13 representatives showed up.

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links

Townhall: ’Tis a Pity He’s a Boor

Go to Townhall.com this weekend to read “’Tis a Pity He’s a Boor” — and come back here for the links and references:

And did you miss last week’s Townhall column? It’s right here on Common Sense, now.

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video

Video: Nuclear Detonation Timeline

This is mesmerizing, and perhaps more than a bit unsettling:

 

Categories
Thought

Ernest Hemmingway

“They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet, nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.”

Categories
Today

Texas independence declaration, Civil War draft law passes, Manila recaptured from Japan

On March 3, 1836, Texans signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, officially breaking from Mexico to establish the Republic of Texas.

On March 3, 1863, the U.S. Congress passed the Civil War conscription act, the first wartime draft of U.S. citizens in American history. The act required registration of all males between 20 and 45 years of age. Exemptions could be purchased for $300 or by finding a substitute. Only 18 percent of those registered and drafted actually entered the Union army. The law was fiercely opposed. Protests of the draft law in New York City led to bloody riots, in which estimates of deaths range from 120 to 2,000 and 2,000 to 8,000 people injured.

On March 3, 1945, American and Filipino troops recaptured Manila in the Philippines from the Empire of Japan.