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~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

U.S. takes Puerto Rico


1898 U.S. takes control of Puerto Rico Only one year after Spain granted Puerto Rico self-rule, American troops raise the U.S. flag over the Caribbean nation, formalizing U.S. authority over the island’s one million inhabitants. In July 1898, near the end of the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces launched an invasion …read more

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

10/17 1787-Equal Educational Rights Petition


Getting an education isn’t just about books and grades – we’re also learning how to participate fully in the life of this nation. (We’re tomorrow’s leaders after all!)

But in order to really participate, we need to know our rights – otherwise, we may lose them. The highest law in our land is the U.S. Constitution, which has some amendments, known as the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights guarantees that the government can never deprive people in the U.S. of certain fundamental rights including the right to freedom of religion and to free speech and the due process of law. Many federal and state laws give us additional rights, too.

The Bill of Rights applies to young people as well as adults. And what I’m going to do right here is tell you about EQUAL TREATMENT.

for their complete article aclu.org

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

on this day 10/17


1739 – Thomas Coram was granted a Royal Charter from George II so a “hospital for the maintenance and education of exposed and deserted young children” in London, England.

1777 – American troops defeated British forces in Saratoga, NY. It was the turning point in the American Revolutionary War.

1787 –  Prince Hall submitted, to the State Legislature of Boston, Massachusetts, a petition asking for equal educational rights. His petition was not granted.

1871 – President Grant suspended the writ of habeas corpus and declared martial law in nine South Carolina counties affected by Klan disturbances.

1888 – Capital Savings Bank of Washigton, D.C., the first Black bank, opened in Washington, D.C. The Savings Bank of the Order of True Reformers (Richmond, Va.) was chartered on March 2, 1888.

1888 – The first issue of “National Geographic Magazine” was released at newsstands.

1931 – Al Capone was convicted on income tax evasion and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. He was released in 1939.

1933 – “News-Week” appeared for the first time at newsstands. The name was later changed to “Newsweek.”

1933 – Dr. Albert Einstein moved to Princeton, NJ, after leaving Germany.

1945 – Colonel Juan Peron became the dictator of Argentina after staging a coup in Buenos Aires.

1973 – The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) began an oil-embargo against several countries including the U.S. and Great Britain. The incident stemmed from Western support of Israel when Egypt and Syria attacked the nation on October 6, 1973. The embargo lasted until March of 1974.

1978 – U.S. President Carter signed a bill that restored full U.S. citizenship rights to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

1979 – Mother Teresa of India was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1987 – U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan underwent a modified radical mastectomy at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.

1989 – An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale hit the San Francisco Bay area in California. The quake caused about 67 deaths, 3,000 injuries, and damages up to $7 billion.

1994 – Israel and Jordan initiated a draft peace treaty.

1994 – The Angolan government and rebels agreed to a peace treaty that ended their 19 years of civil war.

1997 – The remains of revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara were laid to rest in his adopted Cuba, 30 years after his execution in Bolivia.

2000 – In New York City, Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum opened to the public. The 42nd Street location joined Tussaud’s other exhibitions already in London, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Las Vegas.

2000 – Patrick Roy (Colorado Avalanche) achieved his 448th victory as a goalie in the NHL. Roy passed Terry Sawchuck to become the record holder for career victories.

2001 – Israel’s tourism minister was killed. A radical Palestinian faction claimed that it had carried out the assassination to avenge the killing of its leader by Israel 2 months earlier.

2001 – Pakistan placed its armed forces on high alert because of troop movements by India in the disputed territory of Kashmir. India said that the movements were part of a normal troop rotation.

2001 – Italian priest Giuseppe “Beppe” Pierantoni was kidnapped by the terrorist group the “Pentagon.” He was released on April 8, 2002.

2003 – In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration approved a drug, known as memantine, to help people with Alzheimer’s symptoms.

2003 – In Taipei, Taiwan, construction crews finished 1,676-foot-tall-building called Taipei 101. The building was planned to open for business in 2004.

2003 – In northwest England, the Carnforth railway station reopened as a heritage center.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

1854 Lincoln speaks out against slavery 10/16 – Black History

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slavesinchainsOn this day in 1854, an obscure lawyer and Congressional hopeful from the state of Illinois named Abraham Lincoln delivers a speech regarding the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which Congress had passed five months earlier.
In his speech, the future president denounced the act and outlined his views on slavery, which he called “immoral.”Under the terms of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, two new territories—Kansas and Nebraska—would be allowed into the Union and each territory’s citizens would be given the power to determine whether slavery would be allowed within the territory’s borders. It was believed that the act would set a precedent for determining the legality of slavery in other new territories. Controversy over the act influenced political races across the country that fall.
Abolitionists, like Lincoln, hoped to convince lawmakers in the new territories to reject slavery.Lincoln, who was practicing law at the time, campaigned on behalf of abolitionist Republicans in Illinois and attacked the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He denounced members of the Democratic Party for backing a law that “assumes there can be moral right in the enslaving of one man by another.” He believed that the law went against the founding American principle that “all men are created equal.” Lincoln was an abolitionist at heart, but he realized that the outlawing of slavery in states where it already existed might lead to civil war. Instead, he advocated outlawing the spread of slavery to new states. He hoped this plan would preserve the Union and slowly eliminate slavery by confining it to the South, where, he believed, “it would surely die a slow death.”Lincoln and his fellow abolitionists were dismayed when Kansans voted a pro-slavery candidate into Congress in November. As Lincoln’s political career picked up momentum over the next several years, he continually referred to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the seeming inevitability that Kansas should become a slave state as “a violence…it was conceived in violence, passed in violence, is maintained in violence, and is being executed in violence.”Lincoln continued to actively campaign against slavery in Kansas and helped to raise money to support anti-slavery candidates in that state.
Meanwhile he continued his law practice and ran for the U.S. Senate in 1859. Although he lost to Democrat Stephen Douglas, Lincoln began to make a name for himself in national politics and earned increasing support from the North and abolitionists across the nation. It was this constituency that helped him win the presidency in 1860.