Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News The RoundTable Round Table for Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Welcome to the Round Table for Wednesday May 19


1536 Anne Boleyn Queen of England/wife of Henry VIII, beheaded
1864 Nathaniel Hawthorne US, writer (Scarlet Letter), dies

A couple of controversial leaders were born on this day in history:

1890 Ho Chi Minh leader of Vietnam
A few quick notes from Wiki:

In 1946, as war with the French loomed, he cautioned them, "You can kill 10 of my men for every one I kill of yours, yet even at those odds, you will lose and I will win."

In a remote camp, he founded the Viet Minh, an acronym for the Vietnam Independence League, from which he derived his nom de guerre, Ho Chi Minh — roughly "Bringer of Light."

Ho died on Sept. 2, 1969, at the age of 79, some six years before his battalions surged into Saigon.

“It was patriotism, not communism, that inspired me.”

On this date in 1967, the US bombed Hanoi.


1925, Malcom X (Little), Omaha NE assassinated leader of black Muslims 1925
Malcom X site

“You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”

“You show me a capitalist, and I'll show you a bloodsucker.”

“You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who says it.”


Lorraine Hansberry, playwright (Raisin in the Sun) 1930


1934 James Charles Lehrer Wichita KS, news anchor (McNeil-Lehrer Report)
1941 Nora Ephron New York NY, novelist/screenwriter/director (Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, Michael, Heartburn)
1945 Peter Townshend England, rock guitarist/vocalist/composer (The Who-Tommy)
1951 Joey Ramone [Jeffrey Hyman] Forest Hills NY, punk rocker (Ramones-Baby I Love You)













1994 Jacqueline [Lee Bouvier] Kennedy Onassis 1st lady (1961-63), dies of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at 64







1862 The Homestead Act becomes law provides cheap land for settlement of West

The following description of this egregious example of Big Government simply giving away public lands - a transfer of wealth if there ever was one - came from Wiki.

The Homestead Act was one of several United States federal laws that gave an applicant freehold title to up to 160 acres (1/4 section, 65 hectares) of undeveloped federal land outside the original 13 colonies. The law required three steps: file an application, improve the land, and file for deed of title. Anyone who had never taken up arms against the U.S. government, including freed slaves, could file an application and evidence of improvements to a federal land office.

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (did you miss your chance?) ended homesteading; the government believed that the best use of public lands was for them to remain in government control.

Definition of upside-down mortgage: When you pack whatever you can into a vehicle, leave your family and friends behind for a place you've never seen, and gamble (invest) everything in your destination. In return, you get a 14x16 hut with earthen walls made of blocks of dirt you cut and lifted yourself, your windows are brown paper, and when it rains, you get not only wet but dirty.

God, we are such wimps these days.

Never have so many had so much and appreciated it so little.

Nice Mellow.

Thanks for the Ramones, Raisin in the Sun, Jackie Kennedy and Malcolm X this morning.

Hi everybody.
I'm out the door again.

Olyve

Affirmations That Work:

Cute! Bama Gama has 2 1/2 year old this afternoon. How can one child wreck a house when the grandmother gets on the computer for just a minute? Honest it WAS just a minute.

If the pioneers had been of our ilk, would California be part of Mexico? Interesting thought on today's immigration problems. And where would Hollywood be? Deluth? That sounds really strange.

Hey, Mellowicious, know what production that Raisin clip was from? A movie in the early sixties? I'd like to see it (again?). Off to Netflix. Bye now.

anyone else think that Rand Paul is a truly bizarre, obnoxious piece of work, who will piss people off once they get to know him?

And you've concluded that because he has .....

I just watched a rerun of his "TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK" victory talk, as well as a few snippets about his views.

Social security? Gone. Medicare? Gone. Special education? Gone. Small business investment? Gone. He is even more arrogant than I. And that is saying something.

I'm 99% sure it was from The Movie -- I didn't know there was more than one -- the one with Sidney Poitier. There are other clips on YouTube that are far more dramatic but they were all 8-10 minutes long.