Category: History

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Scalia: “Yes you can discriminate against women…”

US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia gave another interview that continued to show how much of an ass he really is and made me wonder why he hasn’t been retired yet. He is yet another conservative that is hypocrisy personified.

In a recent interview Scalia actually said:

“Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t. Nobody ever thought that that’s what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that. If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws. You don’t need a constitution to keep things up-to-date. All you need is a legislature and a ballot box. You don’t like the death penalty anymore, that’s fine. You want a right to abortion? There’s nothing in the Constitution about that. But that doesn’t mean you cannot prohibit it. Persuade your fellow citizens it’s a good idea and pass a law. That’s what democracy is all about. It’s not about nine superannuated judges who have been there too long, imposing these demands on society.”

The Originalist

The problem is the 14th amendment isn’t as open as Scalia thinks:

“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Just like if Congress intended God to be in the Constitution it would have put Him in it, probably in 1868 the men who wrote the amendment weren’t thinking of women but don’t you think that if women were not to be protected they would’ve written “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of male citizens of the United States…”

Scalia’s Archie Bunker mentality was rejected by the Supreme Court in 1971 which confirmed women were equally protected.

It’s nice that Scalia falls back on his original intent doctrine but fails to remember that judicial review of laws isn’t specifically in the Constitution and I doubt the framers thought corporations are people covered by the Bill of Rights either.

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Growing up in movie theaters in Findlay Ohio

The day after Christmas, Turner Classic Movies had a Disney live action movie marathon. It included favorites of mine like “The Apple Dumpling Gang” (1975) and “The Love Bug” (1968). It got me remembering about my experiences at the movie theater when I was a kid back in Findlay. Many of the places I saw movies at are now long gone but I still remember them as if it were yesterday.

My earliest movie watching experiences involve two theaters that were in downtown Findlay. I saw “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (1971) at the State Theater and months later I saw “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” (1971) at the Harris Theater which was across the street from the State.

We were late to Willy Wonka and missed probably 30 minutes of the movie. What we did was decide not to leave at the end of the movie and we watched the first 30 minutes of the next showing.

The Harris Theater was, I think, the oldest and creepiest theater. I’m pretty sure it had a closed balcony which creeped me out during Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I swore I saw people up there.

The State later burned down and around the same time the Harris closed and was torn down. Both were gone before 1980.

The next focal point for my movie history was two theaters that opened in the Shopping center area on Tiffin Ave in Findlay. One was called Cinema World and the other opened as The Jerry Lewis Twin and then later renamed Twin Palace. Cinema World was located behind the Fort Findlay Mall and had six screens while the Twin Palace had two screens.

I saw classics like “Superman the Movie” (1978) and “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980) at Cinema World. The best time though was when Glenwood Junior High rented out a screen so all the English classes could see “The Dark Crystal” (1982). The movie was cool and getting out of school to watch a feature movie was great.

I had a couple of great memories of the Twin Palace. Once I went to the movies with a neighbor and her daughter. The Moms went to one screen to see “All the President’s Men” (1976) and us kids were sent to the other screen showing “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (1976). The adults thought a political movie would be too boring so we got see a western with a lot of violence. The best part was we were the only people watching Josey Wales at that showing and the usher hooked us up with a free bucket of popcorn and two small cokes.

The other Twin Palace memory was seeing “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) with my Aunt and her kids. Even back then the concession prices were steep especially for our group of seven people. We decided to sneak in some snacks and pop. Back then we didn’t have those 20 oz plastic bottles of soda. We had 16 oz glass long neck bottles that you would take back to the store for a deposit toward another purchase. Well either me or my cousin finished our pop and had set the bottle on the floor. Then during a quiet moment of the film the whole theater hears *CLINK*. There is still some debate if I knocked it over or if he did but the bottle *clinked* on the floor and then rolled down towards the screen going *clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink…clink*. We both scrunched down in our seats to try to hide while the other kids laughed at us.

Carmike Theaters later bought both locations and closed Twin Palace while moving Cinema World into the mall and adding more screens. In the last ten years it built a stand alone 12 screen theater on the west side of town.

Another kid memory from the 70’s was when Findlay’s first McDonald’s on Tiffin Ave opened. It was before 1976 because the restaurant was the old white and yellow walk up style. In 1976 our second McDonald’s opened on Trenton Ave on the West side with the classic brown color scheme and the iconic mansard roof line.

The opening of the first restaurant was a city event. Tons of people were there and as a special event Ronald McDonald was flown in by helicopter! I’m pretty sure he was dropped off by a Sikorsky H-34 in what was then an empty field across the street from the new restaurant. The field was next to the old Frosty Mug root beer stand.

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The Real Story of Thanksgiving and Socialism

A friend of mine posted a story of the “A Lost Thanksgiving Lesson” told by FOX “news” talking head John Stossel. He claims that because the colony tried to operate as a commune there was a famine and so to save the colony the Pilgrims ditched socialism. Like most Libertarian fantasies, Stossel’s story is 99.9999999% made up.

Every year around this time, schoolchildren are taught about that wonderful day when Pilgrims and Native Americans shared the fruits of the harvest. But the first Thanksgiving in 1623 almost didn’t happen.

Long before the failure of modern socialism, the earliest European settlers gave us a dramatic demonstration of the fatal flaws of collectivism. Unfortunately, few Americans today know it.

The Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony organized their farm economy along communal lines. The goal was to share the work and produce equally.

That’s why they nearly all starved.

When people can get the same return with less effort, most people make less effort. Plymouth settlers faked illness rather than working the common property. Some even stole, despite their Puritan convictions. Total production was too meager to support the population, and famine resulted. This went on for two years.

A Lost Thanksgiving Lesson

The real history tells a different tale:

Historians say that the settlers in Plymouth, and their supporters in England, did indeed agree to hold their property in common — William Bradford, the governor, referred to it in his writings as the “common course.” But the plan was in the interest of realizing a profit sooner, and was only intended for the short term; historians say the Pilgrims were more like shareholders in an early corporation than subjects of socialism.

“It was directed ultimately to private profit,” said Richard Pickering, a historian of early America and the deputy director of Plimoth Plantation, a museum devoted to keeping the Pilgrims’ story alive.

The arrangement did not produce famine. If it had, Bradford would not have declared the three days of sport and feasting in 1621 that became known as the first Thanksgiving. “The celebration would never have happened if the harvest was going to be less than enough to get them by,” Mr. Pickering said. “They would have saved it and rationed it to get by.”

The Pilgrims Were … Socialists?

The first Thanksgiving or harvest feast was held in 1621 not 1623. The Native Americans were invited because they helped support the colony with food and teaching them how to grow their crops in New England during their first year when half the colonists died.

So socialism did save the colony and the Libertarians/Tea Party/Conservatives are full of stuffing – and not the good kind.

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Tribute to my old Junior High

My hometown is building two new middle school buildings to replace the two current ones that were built in 1923. It is time for new buildings and has taken probably 10 or 15 years to finally get it started. However one casualty in the process is the school board is retiring the mascots in the name of district unity. Here is my tribute to the Glenwood Junior High Eagles.

Here is a short video of the Glenwood fight song which happens to go to the tune of the Northwestern University fight song. I recreated the lyrics from memory – yes I still remember them some 28 years later – so any errors are mine. Enjoy!

Glenwood Middle School Fight Song

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Early thoughts on 2010 Election results

The 2010 election is not official but it looks like a bad night for Democrats both nationally and here in Ohio. The economy was part of the reason – people out of work – blame the party in power. I have some other thoughts on it.

It looks like the GOP will be sweeping all the offices in Ohio but at this hour Governor is still too close to call.

MSNBC had some exit poll info that showed the main reason for turning out the Democrats was JOBS JOBS JOBS. Anger at the government (the Tea party argument) was only 24%.

Genius Chris Matthews asks maybe if the Democrats had forced the GOP to fight for their ideas instead of letting them obstruct real economy recovery solutions and financial reform the results might have been different.

You think Chris??? Duh! Where have been for two years?

Lawrence O’Donnell was upset that the dirty hippies hurt Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas in the end.

No Larry, Blanche hurt herself being a blue dog Democrat and throwing labor under the bus.

The only good thing is now the GOP has their chance to try to govern. Good luck to them and may heaven help us all. They have been saying “No!” for so long they don’t have any real idea what they will do to “give us jobs”.

A good spin I would put on it is like a close football game. It is 21 to 20 with 3 minutes left in the game.

Your team is behind and is driving down the field. You end up scoring a field goal to move ahead 23-21 but there is 2 minutes left in the game.

Commentators usually ask “Did you score too soon?”

What then sometimes happens is the other team drives down close enough to kick a field goal and ends up winning 24-23.

In my world the GOP is the team that scored too soon since the 2012 election counts more than 2010.

We will see.

One note is that the GOP is not winning as many seats as they did in 1994 when the economy was not as bad as now.

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