Reverend Jeremiah Wright is a very distinguished pastor. Good looking, too.

Reverend Wright was not made by Barak Obama. Not hardly. I think this paragraph states a lot, "...most famous congregant...." a Senator, a minority Senator, came to grace his parish.  It is difficult to not notice when a US Senator walks in the door.


During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, whose most famous congregant was Illinois Senator Barack Obama, burst unto the national political scene when media outlets reported and aired segments of previous sermons.  The segment which appeared most frequently and generated the greatest controversy was his phrase, “God damn America” for its treatment of people of color.  The entire sermon, delivered at Trinity on April 13, 2003, appears below....


Reverend Wright became Pastor Emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ.  Trinity UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST is a megachurch with more than 6000 members. President Obama was only one of those members.


President Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.  He would leave Hawaii to attend college.  He began his college career in California and ended it in 1991 at Harvard (click here).

Reverend Wright retired from his ministry at Trinity United Church of Christ no doubt from public scandals generated by the GOP during the 2008 Presidential Race.  No doubt Reverend Wright had no desire to cause President Obama any more difficulty during his terms in office.  Reverend Wright was most gracious in coming forward from his Bully Pulpit and Fire Brand preaching during those elections to make clear his dedication to his faith and his country.  


At the point where Reverend Wright retired he had served 36 years to build a congregation  and minister to it.


President Obama first went to Chicago two years after achieving a Bachelor of Arts degree and hired as a director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Roseland, West Pullman and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side.  He worked there for three years until May of 1988.  He would then enter Harvard later that year.


Reverend Wright never needed Barak Obama to deliver his message to his congregation. He never needed anyone to grow the members of his church, because, he was a beacon of hope for the people that worshiped there.


During the 2008 Presidential Campaign, Reverend Wright's sermons were taken out of context.  Reverend Wright ministered to many in the Chicago area, but, primarily minorities that had and were victims of hatred and discrimination.  I would not expect his sermons to be 'standard dinner fare.'  I would hope not because then it would be alienating and further victimizing.  Never once in his career do I believe the United Church of Christ  Ministries (click here)_ever told him to stop preaching.  Not with a growing and ever growing congregation anyway.


Maybe we didn't respect the good works of Reverend Wright enough to stop the hideous propagandizing that continues today.  Maybe we just wanted to make it go away.  That was "W"rong.  I apologize for it.


Below is the end, last paragraph or so, of one of the most so called controversial sermons.  It would be respectful if we took the time to read the entire sermon and not just excerpt words, sentences or paragraphs.  I am sure his parishioners miss his moving sermons.  He should consider giving sermons again to select challenged Christians that normally don't need these good words in their daily diet and in honor of his dedication to his ministry he sincerely should be at a National Prayer Breakfast as Guest Speaker.


...You can’t keep down what God wants up. (click title to entry - thank you) God never fails. If God can get a three-day Jesus up out of a grave, what’s going on in your life that in anyway can’t match what God has already done? He’ll abides with you, he’ll reside in you, and he’ll preside over your problems if you take them to Him and leave them with Him. Don’t take them back – turn to your neighbor and say “stop taking your problems back.” Should we always bring our problems to the altar and then do we just them right on back to our seats? Turn and say “Stop taking them back!” God never fails. Turn and tell them “God never fails!” 


God never fails! 

God never fails.

Have a better day.

And don't ever expect any Republican are conspiring with Wall Street.

Don Regan and Ronald Reagan at the Wall Street Stock Exchange Podium in New York City.

Not at all.  I would never give them that much credit to be that organized.  It is just that Republicans are more easily lead to be sure they are re-elected no matter the scheme it takes.


Hell, no, Republican motivations are purely ego centered.  It is Wall Street's money that makes it all possible, that's all.  How Wall Street gets it money is of sincere concern.  And the world goes round and round.


No, no, Newt really believes there will be people there.  No,no, the closest people will get will be a Virgin Galactica Bus Tour.  

Something really interesting and not as absurd as the GOP is the lunar surface.

The largest of the newly detected graben found in the highlands of the lunar farside. The broadest example measures 500 metres across and could be up to 20 metres deep. Image: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University/Smithsonian Institution.


The Moon is as old as the Earth at 4.5 billion years, but, the recent surface finding of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is seismic activity about 50 million years old resulting from a 'cooling'  of the core, no different than Earth.


NASA believes this may mean there is still a hot core to the Moon.  There are volcanoes on the Moon.  No rivers of lava, so this is a finding that indicates there may be a hot core, but, no active vents leading to it.


Other interesting facts discovered revolve around surface findings.

High-resolution cameras (click here) aboard the Japanese Kaguya spacecraft first spotted the irregularly shaped chasm, located in Mare Ingenii on the moon's southern hemisphere. Now, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken a new, up-close photo of the moon pit from lunar orbit.

"Only three have been discovered thus far, so I believe it is safe to state that skylights (pits) are rare at the 100-meter scale," Mark Robinson, principal investigator for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) at Arizona State University, told SPACE.com in an e-mail.

Mare Ingenii, also called the "sea of cleverness," is best known for its prominent lunar swirls, which are highly reflective surface features that are associated with magnetic anomalies. The new images of the region from LROC show a giant pit measuring about 427 feet (130 meters) in diameter.?

But still better news as why the social regressives and isolated of the GOP favor science when it is convenient.

This lunar mosaic (click here) shows the boundary between Mare Serenitatis and Mare Tranquillitatis. The relative blue color of the Tranquillitatis mare is due to higher abundances of the titanium-bearing mineral ilmenite.
CREDIT: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University 


Titanium.  It will not be long before robot colonies exist to mine the Moon.  Gingrich puts settlers there because 'projection of self' is easier and less counter intuitive to explain why social programs have to be destroyed in the USA to facilitate Wall Street AT  Mare Tranquillitatis

The results of the study were presented Friday (Oct. 7) at the joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences in Nantes, France.


Gathering Moon Rocks was not simply an exercise in futility, nor was it about building the character of American children.  The USA Space Program has many 'side effects' if character building is one of them, so be it, but that isn't the purpose.


And while the geological findings of the Moon Satellite is interesting, it is no surprise the Moon is believed to have a hot core.

Apollo Rock Reveals Moon Had Molten Core (click here)

by NANCY ATKINSON 

 JANUARY 15, 2009

Back in the 1960′s and ’70′s when scientists claimed that the Moon rocks returned by the Apollo astronauts would keep researchers busy for decades, they weren’t kidding. Analysis on one of the rocks collected during the Apollo 17 mission has helped to solve a longstanding puzzle about the Moon. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) carried out the most detailed analysis ever of the oldest pristine rock from the Apollo collection. Magnetic traces recorded in the rock provide strong evidence that 4.2 billion years ago the moon had a liquid core with a dynamo, like Earth’s core today, that produced a strong magnetic field....

This is where I get dangerous to any political discussion.  Why?  Because I can explain how knowing the Moon has a liquid core reveals the presence of Rare Earth Elements.  And the unwholesomeness of pure, unadulterated Wall Street Greed.


See, the American people are suppose to understand what they need to understand so they spend their monies according to Wall Street and not their best interests.  It is why dummying down a populous is better than educating them.  It is why spending federal monies on "The Department of Education" is hideous when home schooling is so much more wholesome for American children.

If anyone understands chemistry, that is the first step in understanding how a planet PRODUCES, yes produces, "Rare Earth Elements."  


The Sun, Sol is it's proper name, is a huge hydrogen ball.  71% hydrogen (click here).  The other chemicals within Sol are produced by Sol through high temperatures and high pressures.  Many of the other elements that are Sol are ORGANIC, oxygen, carbon, magnesium, nitrogen.  They are all organic chemicals that comprise the human body and most all living things on Earth.  Starting to get the picture?

This is an ATOM of hydrogen, but, that is NOT molecular hydrogen.  Atomic hydrogen has one electron that orbits a central nucleus of one proton and one neutron.  THE ELECTRON is what makes the hydrogen atom highly explosive and unstable.  See, in physics atoms seek other atoms to bond with to find stability in what is known as 'Noble Gases.'  


This is a webpage of the Periodic Table (click here).

The next most abundant element of Sol is helium.  Helium is 27% of Sol.  Helium is a NOBLE GAS, to put it in lay terms.  Helium is very stable.  


To the right is a Helium molecule.  This picture is on Wiki with pictures of the other Noble Gases (click here).  The Noble Gases are different colors and make Neon signs possible.  I am not going to get into the light spectrum as that is a tangential discussion.


See what happens with Sol is an emission of hydrogen and the other elements, but, mostly hydrogen into the Solar Wind.  The Solar Wind exists long before there is a Solar System and are the fascinating colors we see in pictures of other 'nebulas' in the universe.  They are the pretty pictures from Hubble.  Not don't get me wrong, I find the Hubble project an enhancement to human understanding of their own place in the universe we are a part and Hubble didn't shut down the US Department of Education.  Hubble has taught us a great deal about our universe and that is important if we are to understand Sol and Earth.  Earth is home.  Sol is what makes it possible that Earth is home.  Not understanding the universe Sol calls home is unthinkable.

This is a hydrogen, not helium, but a hydrogen molecule.  NOTE the two atoms form a molecule comprised of a similar structure to the Noble Gas of Helium.  Most chemical structures like attaining a 'molecular life' of the stability of Nobel Gases.


Carbon for instance, you know the molecule of human DNA and fossil fuels.  Weird isn't it?  Fossil Fuels are made of rotting flesh over time and UNDER Earth Crustal pressure.  Diamonds are the same element only under higher pressure than coal.


Weird when one really thinks about it.  Yes indeed, gasoline is refined rotting flesh.  I like sunlight and the energy Sol provides.  Just one of those things I find wholesome.


But, that is sort of getting more tangential than it should be in discussion.  The purpose of this entry including the composition of the sun and the presence of hydrogen as the first element in the periodic table is what this entry is about.


Atomic Bonding, click here.


Imagine now having a kiln that could produce any element in the periodic table.  You name it and the kiln can produce it.  Earth and its Moon and the other heavenly bodies that have molten (liquid) cores are exactly that.  The heavenly bodies that compose our Solar System were 'consolidated' over time from the nebula that was once Sol. They consolidated because they COOLED.  


As 'opportunity' presents in randomness, compounds are produced from elements gathering together to find stability in structures attempting to become Noble Gas elements.


It is a beautiful thing and Hubble tells us so.  Randomness and Chaos are nature's gift to us.  


Within that capacity lies the opportunity for elements to cool into compounds that humans have found service in their world.  Volcanoes are wonderful kilns.  Geologically, that is.


I am never so bold, but only humbled, to believe any creation of humans is as beautiful as the chaotic processes that have allowed it to exist.


But, the 'idea' that any heavenly body has the potential for mineral wealth is not a matter of discovery so much as fact because all undergo the same exact processes as the others.  So, any mission to any other planet or moon isn't really about humans living on them, although eventually that is possible I suppose.  We never know where 'design' will take the human mind over time.  Designs of today stand on the shoulders of those that came before.


To understand how 'mining the Moon' is a sure thing one just has to realize it is a satellite of Earth and with a molten core has the same exact processes exerting forces on it as its mother ship resulting in the same structures. But, (and this is the most precious idea) without the weathering process of an atmosphere to degrade the surface.  The minerals of the Moon are in a vacuum.  They will never be eroded.


More then, at another time.


"Save the US Department of Education"

The word out of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran is...

...the Right Wing's oppression of American Women will bring peace.


Rick Santorum will be the Taliban's best friend and seek reformers to talk in the USA.


The good news is the GOP has hopes of renewed relations with Ahmadinejad.

The price to be paid maybe an apology for the covert death of Osama bin Laden, which, might explain why Bush and Cheney could not find him.


There is something to be said for modern day gender equality in the USA and a glamour pose in a berka.

Free Pre-Natal Testing. Hm. I wonder why that is necessary?

I mean for real, it has to be EXPLAINED to people?


Maybe in order know you are pregnant to avoid alcohol, smoking, drugs and all kinds of nasty stuff ladies like to keep away from their baby bump, it just might be an excellent idea.  There is also a time constraint on deciding if a woman wants to seek an abortion.  So, knowing FOR SURE by a physicians office testing sounds like reasonable to me.


There is the planning for the baby that Dad needs to know about rather than wonder why Mom is painting the second bedroom when the 'nesting urge' kicks in.


Don't take my word for it as to how stupid the concept of NOT allowing Free Pre-Natal Testing is, click the title to entry and see what the American Pregnancy Association has to say.


And if Presidential hopefuls want to do away with FREE ultrasounds for Mothers, then I am all for it, BUT, they'll have to remove it from Abortion Clinics as well.


Vigin-ia's Legalized Goverment Forcible Rape Law.  I want to know if the women receiving this treatment are automatically entered into treatment for PTSD, the most common disorder affiliated with Rape.  Seriously.  Free PTSD treatment after Legalized Government Forcible Rape.

Virgin-ia's Governor

Bob McDonald


The man with a mission.




Protest of Trans-Vaginal Ultrasound Bill in Virginia Leads to Delay (click here)

By: David Dayen Monday February 20, 2012 11:38 am

The Virginia abortion bill, which would mandate that the women seeking an abortion get a trans-vaginal ultrasound – a forcible assault at the very least – before having the procedure, has received entirely too much notoriety for the tastes of conservative lawmakers in the state. I’m sure they were hoping to fly under the radar with this bill, one of the most offensive of the anti-abortion bills we’ve seen since the conservative takeover of many state legislatures in 2010.

The clumsy way in which conservatives have attempted to defend the legislation hasn’t helped. Economics professor Tyler Cowen’s tweet (“All of a sudden requiring consumers to be informed is extremely unpopular on ‘the pro-regulation side.’”) generated richly deserved outrage. And tea party favorite Dana Loesch took the position that once a women loses her virginity, she gives up the right to determine what should penetrate her vagina for the rest of her life....


Dana says, "If the Cherry is popped, anything goes."


The Republicans are carrying out legislation as a 'shoot from the hip, hurry let's get it through' to beat any change in majority without the benefit of STUDIES or testimony. They stand on their State House floors and lecture at the bully pulpit without a clue as to what nightmares await the people of the USA.

The Governor sips his tea while on speaker phone to his legislators stating, "Go, Team, Go."  Does he demand 'qualification' of the authority that accompanies the legislation?  No, that would be political suicide for a Tea Party darling.


This is moralizing legislation and has no basic in legal authority.  There is absolutely no sound basis for ANY of it, except perhaps, from the preachers that might be standing by to receive the 'faith based funding' in how to minister to the suffers of PTSD and women deprived of self-determination.  Maybe it is just as simple at a 'dunk in the baptism tub.'  You know, now that I think about it, that probably should be in the legislation, too.

I understand Sports has a new Cinderella story.

I also understand he is not without his faults, but, is able to rise above them to be a very valuable player.  

The sport should enjoy his abilities and he should enjoy his new found fame and the life that comes with it.  

The racism surrounding him is not his to deal with.  Pro basketball is for him to deal with.  Evidently, he over came any racist issues a long time ago.  I congratulate him on both and look forward to more great moments.  I am confident he rather just be seen as 'one of the guys.'  He will probably fall into line with Michael Jordan in his fame and fortune.  Both were basically humble people with ability.  

NEW YORK—Dirk Nowitzki (click title to entry - thank you) used the word crafty multiple times to describe Jeremy Lin. So maybe Lin’s ability to fight through both the Dallas Mavericks’ double teams and his own mistakes while leading the New York Knicks to a 104-97 victory Sunday was youthful craftiness: exuberant youth combined with savvy generated by wisdom beyond his years.

Lin was not able to eliminate all his mistakes — he had seven turnovers — but it did not matter. One game after his rough first half helped end the Knicks’ seven-game winning streak (they fell to the New Orleans Hornets on Friday), Lin had learned lessons. Against a tougher opponent, the defending NBA champion Mavericks, he had 28 points and 14 assists.

“He is very humble and plays extremely hard no matter if he makes a mistake or makes a fantastic play,” Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd said....

No more hydro-fracking either!

Both Hydro-fracking and the Oil Sands were Cheney's babies.  He and Bush demolished any idea that The Clean Water Act should actually be in effect to protect human health.

The views and policies of the Bush Administration are EXTREMIST positions that showed absolutely no reason why these technologies should be trusted.

No research, no nothing, simply 'Go Ahead, profits first, people never.'

But is an active fault line the real cause?

To get some answers we traveled to a state that's also had a swarm of earthquakes, Arkansas. 

In the early '80s there were a number of quakes near Enola, Ark., about 60 miles north of Little Rock.  Then they stopped. 

Fast forward almost 30 years to 2009 and there are more earthquakes, but this time the quakes were 10 miles away. According to Scott Ausbrooks with the Arkansas Geological Survey, that makes a big difference, especially considering the history of seismic activity in the "newly active" area. 

"In this particular area there were no historic earthquakes located," said Ausbrooks. 

But he said there were now injection wells, that hadn't been there before....

...In 2010, two more injection wells were added to the area in Arkansas that had seen a number of quakes and then hundreds of earthquakes followed over a four-month span including a 4.0 magnitude earthquake. 

"That really got people's attention. They wondered what's going on and so that's when the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission said, 'OK, is there something going on?', that's when we began to look more closely at it," said Ausbrooks. 

Soon after the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission issued a moratorium on four wells in the area and the quakes stopped. 

"It would be an extraordinary coincidence if there wasn't some kind of causal relationship. Between the wells and the earthquakes," said Ausbrooks. 

Oklahoma's expert geologist was scheduled, at one time, to speak against a tie between injection wells and the Arkansas quakes. 

"There's no reason that these earthquakes look any different than the ones that occurred prior," said Austin Holland with the Oklahoma Geological Survey. 

Still, looking at other states U.S. Army geologists have linked injection wells to quakes in Colorado. In Texas, university geologists have made the same link. 

Just last month Ohio's governor issued a moratorium on five wells suspected of causing earthquakes there. 

There are almost 200 injection wells in Lincoln County alone, that's the county where the record-breaking earthquake happened in November....



EXTREMIST TECHNOLOGIES.  Not Conservative Principles, but, extremist technologies by desperate people in high office.


The Conservationists.  The Human Health Advocates.  The Environmentalists were all CORRECT.  The power of wealth and greed nullified the voices of reason.  People have died from these technologies and still others were injured and suffered personal loss with damaged properties and interrupted lives.  None of that mattered and I strongly suggest the people of the USA start LISTENING to people of reason AGAIN.


The folks that came up with "Earth Day" aren't just tree huggers and they DON'T put a planet ahead of the well being of citizens.  They don't and they never have.  Those that deem and victimize sincerely devoted persons are willing to allow harm to people, children and this country.  


Conservation, environmentalism and practices of human health such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act are NOT religious or superstitious, they are mired in profoundly solid principles of science that is measurable and correct.


Anyone that wants to sell out the principles of 'good practice' in providing safe employment for the nation's economy and the benefit of Wall Street don't understand what it takes to create a job, stabilize an economy and provide a sustainable future for the USA.  Vote on that in November.

Expert: Wastewater well in Ohio triggered quakes (click here)

Posted: 01/02/2012

CLEVELAND (AP) -- A northeast Ohio well used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas drilling almost certainly caused a series of 11 minor quakes in the Youngstown area since last spring, a seismologist investigating the quakes said Monday.

Research is continuing on the now-shuttered injection well at Youngstown and seismic activity, but it might take a year for the wastewater-related rumblings in the earth to dissipate, said John Armbruster of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York.

Brine wastewater dumped in wells comes from drilling operations, including the so-called fracking process to extract gas from underground shale that has been a source of concern among environmental groups and some property owners. Injection wells have also been suspected in quakes in Arkansas, Colorado and Oklahoma, Armbruster said...

I've mentioned it once before how a single explosion along the Keystone Crud Oil Pipeline or spill would cause dire damage to USA agriculture.

Also mentioned how it would effect the sources for biofuels in the USA.  I wrote about how our three coast are already under threat from oil spills and gas explosions as witnessed by the BP Deepwater Horizon.  I also stated before how the Gulf Coast is still suffering from oil under the sea surface, tainted wetlands and fisheries.

I mean it.  Placing an oil sands pipeline through the middle of the USA would be disasterous.  I want to ENFORCE that in the reality our military is using biofuels in their operations to protect the sovereignty of the USA.  Insuring the safety of our farmlands has never been more important as a National Security Issue including a safe food source.


There are no assurances the petroleum industry can provide that will dilute the promise we have to the priorities of our national sovereignty.  The petroleum industry's safety record is absymal and I fully expect that will never change.

Published: Dec. 6, 2011 at 6:28 AM

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) --The U.S. Department of Defense (click title to entry - thank you) is buying 450,000 gallons of advanced drop-in bio-fuel for use by the Navy, the government's largest single purchase of the fuel.

The Department of the Navy and Department of Agriculture said the Defense Department will buy biofuel made from a blend of non-food waste (used cooking oil) from the Dynamic Fuels LLC, a Louisiana joint-venture of Tyson Foods, Inc., and Syntroleum Corp. It will also buy algae from Solazyme.

The fuel will be used in next summer's Green Strike Group demonstration by the Navy during a Pacific Rim exercise.

The biofuel will be mixed with aviation gas or marine diesel fuel for use in the Green Strike Group demonstration. Since it is a drop-in fuel, there will be no engine modifications for its use.

The Navy said aircraft, such as the F/A-18 and V-22 Osprey, and various other vessels have all undergone gas turbine testing in preparation for the exercise next summer using biofuel....

"Black History Month" is being celebrated in a variety of ways at the local level.

Multiple events Black History Month in Danville (click here)

By: TIFFANY HOLLAND 

GoDanRiver.com 

Published: February 19, 2012

In the 1940s, Langston High School teacher Charles Coleman fought for teacher salary equalization for blacks.

He eventually ran for City Council in Danville.

Before the 24th Amendment was ratified, people had to pay a poll tax in order to vote. Coleman kept a ledger recording money people had given him and when they got enough to pay the poll tax he would help them register to vote. He got enough people registered that he ran for a position on the all-white City Council, but lost by less than 100 votes.

He never made it to City Council, but Coleman set a precedent for black people in Danville. In 1968, Charles Harried became the first black man to sit on the city council since Reconstruction....

'Ebony Embers' honors Harlem Renaissance giants (click here)

10:41 PM, Feb. 19, 2012

Langston Hughes stands by his father’s grave, talking to the man with whom he had a contentious relationship. He tries to make peace and amends as he recites lines from his poems “Songs of the Genius Child,” “Mother to Son” and “When Sue Wears Red.”Countee Cullen, looking dapper in an overcoat and hat, stands on a New York City street on his way to sample the nightlife of Harlem.And when we encounter Claude McKay, he’s on hard times, wearing a shabby old sweater, trying to discover what the next chapter in his life and career will be....

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20: FIRST NAVY SHIP CAPTAIN (click here)

Profile America for the 20th day of Black History Month.  In his 38-year career in the Navy,Samuel Gravely Jr. accomplished many things — all under the floodlight of publicity.  In World War II, he was among the first black naval officers. In 1962, he became the first African-American to command a combat ship in the Navy — a destroyer escort.  Gravely went on to become the first black admiral, retiring as a three-star vice admiral.  His assignments included commanding the 3rd Fleet, and the Defense Communications Agency.  In 2009, a new destroyer was named after Samuel Gravely.  Today, there are just over 1 million ready reservists in the military, 148,000 of them African-American.  This special edition of Profile America is a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Black History Month: MC’s 1st valedictorian caused a stir (click here)

February 20, 2012

By Sam Shawver - The Marietta Times (sshawver@mariettatimes.com) , The Marietta Times

Marietta College's first valedictorian played a key role in Washington County's anti-slavery movement and caused quite a stir in the local pro-slavery population during the 1830s.

"There were four students in the first graduating class of 1838 and one of those was Samuel Hall from Norwich, Mass., who graduated as our first valedictorian," said Linda Showalter, special collections associate for the Marietta College Library.

Hall had come to Marietta around 1832 and became involved with the abolitionist and anti-slavery efforts locally.

"A well-known abolitionist at the time, Theodore Weld, came to town during the 1830s to hold a series of lectures," Showalter said. "He wanted to speak at the college, but there was concern for possible damage to the college buildings if the local pro-slave community would get stirred up. So he spoke at another area location, but many students attended the lectures, including Samuel Hall."

Weld later edited a book, published in 1839, entitled "American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses," which included some letters from Hall, describing atrocities that had been committed against slaves....

Black History Month Tribute Part 2: Horatio Strother’s Pioneering Work — 'The Underground Railroad In Connecticut' (click here)

2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the first comprehensive study of Connecticut’s role in the Underground Railroad.

Last week’s column dealt principally with the life of scholar, athlete, and author Horatio Strother. Though born in New York City, Strother spent most of his adolescence and adult life living in Middletown and Higganum, CT.

It was in Middletown that young Horatio began to distinguish himself both as an athlete and as a student. A star football player for Woodrow Wilson High School and a state champion in track and field, Strother also developed a keen interest in American history in general and in the Underground Railroad in particular. He pursued his interest in history at UConn and became a social studies teacher at Hale-Ray High School in the Moodus section of East Haddam. Later, he became a professor of history at a community college in New Haven.

Though discouraged to do so, Strother persisted in writing his master’s essay on the Underground Railroad in Connecticut. His pioneering study of this subject was first published 50 years ago in 1962 by Wesleyan University Press and was reprinted several months ago, perhaps in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of its publication....

The list continues for as many cities and towns as there exists in the USA.  Our minorities have contributed to the fabric of this country in ways everyone of us can be proud.  We are the luckiest nation on Earth to have citizens from every walk of life, every creed, every race, every gender with cultural diversity enriching our daily lives.  That diversity is free.  It doesn't cost us a darn thing and we should all embrace it at every turn.

Strict Constructionist at any level are lousy judges.

Everyone can play that game without thinking.  


Strict Constructionists like Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts are too lazy to actually realize the law is suppose to serve the people and not simply this law review.

"Morning Papers" - Its Origins

The Rooster


"Okeydoke"

"Good Night, Moon"

Sunday, February 19, 2012


The waning crescent


27.8 day old moon


3.4% lit