Remember Noblesse Oblige?

Remember noblesse oblige? Remember when people with money, wealth cared, actually cared about and for those with less? Cared for and about the imporverished?

It would be nice, so nice if that would come back. Besides being the right, "Christian" thing to do, if that matters to anyone, it also happens to make the nation stronger.Hey, we can hope. You hear that, Mr. Bezos? Mr. Zuckerberg? Walton family? Etc?

Great Question

What happened to progress?

John Dickerson on the Presidency and This President

CBS' News "Face the Nation" host John Dickerson makes some excellent points on the job and position that is the presidency, what it entails, what the job calls for and how this President does--and does not--fit the job.

Not Columbus Day

Today is, so far, still, officially Columbus Day, as most any school child knows. We celebrate this day Columbus "discovered" America. You know the drill. And you probably know where i'm going with this and I'm good with that.

Sure, it's great and courageous that one Christopher Columbus was courageous and ambitious enough, maybe foolhardy or even stupid enough to load up his rather tiny wooden ships and sail out on the ocean and what little he and we knew at that time, out to explore that ocean, those oceans and the world.

Sure. Naturally, any of us get that.

But it's what he then did, especially to the native people of those "new lands" that was then and still is, to this day, the problem.

His exploitation of those people and peoples, all because he thought they were "ignorant" or "savages" or whatever, was then and still is horrible. It was the beginning of the not just brutal but extremely brutal exploitation of indigenous people all across the continent. Here's just some information on it:

Columbus Day? True Legacy: 

Cruelty and Slavery

Columbus wasn’t a hero. When he set foot on that sandy beach in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, Columbus discovered that the islands were inhabited by friendly, peaceful people called the Lucayans, Taínos and Arawaks. Writing in his diary, Columbus said they were a handsome, smart and kind people. He noted that the gentle Arawaks were remarkable for their hospitality. “They offered to share with anyone and when you ask for something, they never say no,” he said. The Arawaks had no weapons; their society had neither criminals, prisons nor prisoners. They were so kind-hearted that Columbus noted in his diary that on the day the Santa Maria was shipwrecked, the Arawaks labored for hours to save his crew and cargo. The native people were so honest that not one thing was missing.

Columbus was so impressed with the hard work of these gentle islanders, that he immediately seized their land for Spain and enslaved them to work in his brutal gold mines. Within only two years, 125,000 (half of the population) of the original natives on the island were dead.
Forget that he didn't really "discover" the continent or people since Leif Ericson, as the article also points out, arrived here 500 years earlier or that "...the Native Americans discovered North America about 14,000 years before Columbus was even born! Surprisingly, DNA evidence now suggests that courageous Polynesian adventurers sailed dugout canoes across the Pacific and settled in South America long before the Vikings."

Check out the reason we even HAVE this holiday, celebrating Columbus.

Columbus Day, as we know it in the United States, was invented by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal service organization. Back in the 1930s, they were looking for a Catholic hero as a role-model their kids could look up to. In 1934, as a result of lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, Congress and President Franklin Roosevelt signed Columbus Day into law as a federal holiday to honor this courageous explorer.

So let's move on, America. Let's wise up. Let's make this day what it ought to be. Let's start celebrating a  national Indigenous Peoples' Day. It makes far more sense, is truer to history and it would celebrate a far bigger, better portion of why and how we're even here and the people that help make it happen. We owe them that. Heck, we owe it to ourselves.

Then, along with that, let's start helping Native Americans more fully as they most surely deserve and even need, as well.

Links:

The war against Columbus Day

8 Myths and Atrocities About Christopher Columbus

Columbus's Real Legacy: The Brutal Disparities Suffered

Why These Cities Are Dropping 'Columbus Day'

On Columbus Day, support grows for the indigenous

Seattle Swaps Columbus Day For 'Indigenous Peoples' Day'

Support grows for Indigenous Peoples Day amid Columbus Day criticism

Columbus Day changed to Indigenous People's Day in Vermont

Indigenous Peoples' Day Gains Momentum As A Replacement

Indigenous Peoples' Day - Wikipedia

You can possibly take action here:  Transform Columbus Day

Some Relevant Missouri History

I saw this today from the New York Times. Given the presidential election currently proceeding, it's interesting to see how we've developed and changed--at least somewhat--and where our past leaders and current policies came from.

Choosing a vice-presidential nominee has never been easy, but once upon a time the candidate at the top of the ticket didn’t have to sweat it, as it wasn’t his decision.

In the latter half of the 1800s, the power to pick a running mate often belonged to the party bosses who ran the local political machines. They helped determine turnout, which helped decide elections. Their strategy centered on geographic balance.

One of the their last great convention victories came on this day in 1944, when they replaced on the ticket President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vice president, Henry A. Wallace, with Harry S. Truman, a Missouri senator.

Truman wasn’t the top choice of likely Democratic voters. A Gallup poll that July found that 65 percent preferred Wallace, and Truman came in eighth place, with just 2 percent.

Roosevelt didn’t want him either. The three-term president said that if he were a delegate, he would back Wallace, whom conservative party bosses opposed. Roosevelt’s wishes were ignored, and when a delegate tried to enter the vice president’s name for the nomination, the day’s proceedings were quickly adjourned.

The decision was momentous, as Roosevelt died less than three months into his fourth term and Truman ascended to the presidency. Today, it’s customary for a convention to honor the presidential nominee’s choice for vice president.

Link:  Harry S. Truman | whitehouse.gov

Quote of the Day -- On This Day, 1938

True then, a lesson for us, still.

"The first truth is that the liberty of a Democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism—ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power."

--US President Franklin D. Roosevelt: April 29, 1938

Link:   Message to Congress on Curbing Monopolies

On This Day, September 2

For whatever reason, I thought September 2nd to be a day of significance. With that in mind, I thought I'd put together a few highlights from the date, down through the ages. Partly fun, partly educational, partly historical significance. Hopefully enjoy.

490 BC - Pheidippides, Greek hero and inspiration for the modern marathon, dies

44 BC - Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion.

- The first of Cicero's Philippics (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the next several months.

1649 - The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro. (I love that. Pope Innocent)

1666 - Great Fire of London begins at 2am in Pudding Lane, 80% of London is destroyed

1732 - Pope Clement XII renews anti-Jewish laws of Rome. (Don'tcha' just love those oh-so-innocent Catholics?)

1864 - Union General William T. Sherman captures and burns Atlanta during US Civil War

1894 - Forest fires destroy Hinckley Minnesota: about 600 die (I can't even fathom that one)

1901 - VP Theodore Roosevelt advises "Speak softly & carry a big stick"

1902 - "A Trip To The Moon", the first science fiction film, by film great Georges Méliès released

1919 - Communist Party of America organizes in Chicago (It didn't really catch on. Not permanently, anyway)

1936 - 1st transatlantic round-trip air flight

1942 - German troops enter Stalingrad

1944 - During WW II, George H W Bush ejects from a burning plane

1944 - Holocaust diarist Anne Frank was sent to Auschwitz

1945 - Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independence from France (National Day) (Years later, Americans would learn nothing whatever from France's loss and exit from Vietnam and instead, attack the country)

1946 - Nehru forms government in India

1957 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1962 - Stan Musial's 3,516th hit moves over Tris Speaker into 2nd place

1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR

1963 - Alabama Gov George C Wallace prevents integration of Tuskegee HS

1963 - CBS & NBC expand network news from 15 to 30 minutes

1964 - Keanu Reeves birthday, Beirut, "actor"

1969 - Ralph Houk signs 3-year contract to manage Yankees at $65,000 a season (think things haven't changed a lot?)
        - The first automatic teller machine (ATM) in the United States is installed in Rockville Center, New York.

1971 - Chris Evert & Jimmy Connors win their 1st US Open tennis matches (Chris who? Jimmy who?)
         - Also his, Jimmy Connors', birthday, 1952

1972 - Rod Stewart's 1st #1 hit (You Wear it Well)

1973 - J. R. R. Tolkien, British author (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings)--as if you had to ask--dies of an ulcer at 81

1982 - Rolling Stone Keith Richard's house burns down

1987 - Donald Trump takes out a full page NY Times ad lambasting Japan

1997 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Montreal Canada on CHOM 97.7 FM (and we still haven't gotten rid of him)

2005 - Bob Denver, American actor (Gilligan of "Gilligan's Island"), dies of complications from treatment for cancer at 70
So now, get out there, kids, and enjoy your September 2nd.

FDR's "Second New Deal" -- Still Waiting

On Janurary 11, 1944, with the second World War mostly over, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt called on the nation to make sure every American had the following:

• Employment, with a living wage
• Food, clothing and leisure
• Farmers' rights to a fair income
• Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
• Housing
• Medical care
• Social security
• Education

We're still waiting. Most especially we're still wating for that first one, a true, living wage.

Republicans seem intent on making certain Americans aren't guaranteed a true, living wage or protection from monopolies or large, powerful corporations or the ultra-wealthy, for that matter. They also seem strong-headed to end Social Security and the protections against poverty it has proved since its creation.

It doesn't bode well for the people, for the nation.

FDR himself was correct in this. His words then were as true then as they are today.

"... unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world."

It seems we've forgotten his words.

Link:  Second Bill of Rights - Wikipedia

A Statement I'd Like Every Left Wing, Liberal, Progressive, Democratic Candidate for President to be Able to Say and Commt To

From the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his "Second New Deal", October 31, 1936..

For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace--business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me--and I welcome their hatred.

_________________________

It's that last line I'd really enjoy hearing.

On Where We Are, Nationally and Politically

I see so many times online, people saying, the Republicans or the Right Wing or the wealthy just want to wreck the nation or economy. 

It's ridiculous. 

They're merely trying to support their own political party. 

The fact is, they're putting their party first, nation be damned. They'll deny that, sure, but they're scared as hell of Barack Obama becoming the next FDR and thereby setting up for the next, say, 40 years of Democratic control of government. 

The natural outgrowth of that is gerrymandering votes and Jim Crow-like voter ID laws and buying every election they can and not writing, proposing or passing any such infrastructure/jobs bill because the LAST thing they want is a roaring, successful economy. At least they don't want it and don't want to allow it unless or until one of their own, a Republican, is back in the White House. 

So screw you, America. You have to wait. 

And not enough people are on to their game to call them out on it. And Democrats aren't wise or tough enough, or whatever to do so. 

So here we are.

Quote of the Day -- Flashback

True then, 80 years ago, of the Republicans. Still true today.

Quote of the day -- True then, still true

Quote of the day --- Poignant

True then, just as true now, today.  We have to relearn this lesson.

Fight to kill campaign contibutions, folks. Fight to get the big, ugly, corrupting money out of our election and political systems.  Let's get our government back for the people.

Quote of the day -- on Conservatives

Could not agree more.  True then, true today.

The Roosevelts, then and now

Ken Burns  has, once again, done what already seems to be a wonderful documentary on history, American history, this time with The Roosevelts: An Intimate History. By this, is meant President Theodore, "Teddy", President Franklin, FDR and Franklin's wife, First Lady Eleanor.

They are, each, fascinating, hard-working, accomplished people, as so many of us know, sure. But it's all doubly- and maybe triply-fascinating because they were all from the same patrician family.  Added to that is that they all worked for the American people, instead of for their fellow wealthy families and/or corporations.



And while all this is fantastic and interesting and so great to look forward to, since it gets played for the first time this Fall, it also begs a terrific question for us and for America.

Who is and where are America's Roosevelts today?

Who is and where are the people who would have so much wealth, and yes, education and world exposure but that would still push so much against the wealthy and super-wealthy and corporations and put the Americans first, instead?

It certainly wasn't and isn't the Bush family, to state the blatantly obvious.

Quote of the day--on our humanity

Oh, for the Republicans of old

Quote of the day--making things clear

 

 

 

FDR on a "living wage"--true then, true now

‎

"In my Inaugural I laid down the simple proposition that nobody is going to starve in this country. It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living."

- Franklin Roosevelt's Statement on the National Industrial Recovery Act June 16, 1933.

http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/odnirast.html

Image: Froosevelt, Wikimedia Commons http://bit.ly/Xbe8bR

Applicable then, applicable now

"Here is an amazing paradox! The very employers and politicians and publishers who talk most loudly of class antagonism and the destruction of the American system now undermine that system by this attempt to coerce the votes of the wage earners of this country. It is the 1936 version of the old threat to close down the factory or the office if a particular candidate does not win. It is an old strategy of tyrants to delude their victims into fighting their battles for them."

-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Speech at Madison Square Garden (October 31, 1936)