Supreme Court | Ain't Complicated

June 25

Today. Long ago. (And not so long ago.)

1942 — About 1,000 British Royal Air Force bombers raid Bremen, Germany. 1000 bombers?!! Imagine the outcry today!

1948 — The Berlin Airlift begins.

1950 — The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea.

1962 — The Supreme Court, in Engel v. Vitale, rules that recital of a state-sponsored prayer in New York State public schools was unconstitutional. What’s a state-sponsored prayer?

1997 — The Supreme Court strikes down the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, designed to limit the government’s ability to regulate religious practices. So that means the government does have the ability to regulate religious practices? Isn’t that state-sponsored something-or-other?

1998 — The Supreme Court rejects a 1997 line-item veto law as unconstitutional.

2007 — A Washington (DC) judge rules in favor of a dry cleaner sued by a dissatisfied customer who was demanding $54 million for his missing pants. I remember that. I wonder if the judge lost his pants at a dry cleaner once upon a time.

2010 — Closing VBS program at Hopewell Mennonite Church. Also, Mark Roth places his first CraigsList ad (in which he casts out a low-hope lure for a place to rent).

Supreme Court Selection

Well, President Obama passed up on nominating a black conservative man or a green liberal woman or a homosexual white man.

Instead he nominated a woman I never heard of. Right now, I know extremely little about her. I don’t even know her name.

Will the Republicans bork her? Or filibuster her? Or mock her? Or fling dirt (dry or mud) at her?

Will she have tax problems? Or nanny issues? Or paper trail nukes?

We’ll see.

One other thought: The Clintonistas bemoaned that President Clinton didn’t have a 9/11 event to do great things for their man. I wonder if the Bushies are regretting President Bush didn’t get a Supreme Court nomination so early in his first term.

Well, whoever this woman is, she will not impede the progress of history nor the execution of God’s will in it.

May she not have to endure all the demeaning unkindness so many others experienced in the confirmation process.

February 14

On this day in 1977, I think I gave her a Valentine card.

1803 — Chief Justice John Marshall declares that any act of US Congress that conflicts with the Constitution is void. What would he have to say today?!

1835 — The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus is formed in Kirtland, Ohio.

1849 — James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken. Subsequent Presidents have shown an inability to kick the habit.

1859 — Oregon is admitted as the 33rd US state.

1876 — Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray apply (though not jointly) for a patent for the telephone.

1899 — Voting machines are approved by the US Congress for use in federal elections. “It will eliminate fraud, confusion, and disenfranchisement.”

1912 — Arizona is admitted as the 48th US state.

1945 — On the second day of the bombing, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden, Germany. So that’s how The Greatest Generation fought?! Imagine the uproar if that had been done in Iraq and Afghanistan!

1949 — Israel’s Parliament (the Knesset) convenes for the first time. Praise God!

1977 — Mark Roth gives Ruby Yoder a Valentine card for the first time. I think that’s right!

1989 — The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System is placed into orbit. GPS is twenty years old today. Wow!

2009 — What’s noteworthy that happened today?

January 21

On this day in 2009, America’s 44th President (Barack Hussein Obama) awoke as President for the first time. Now, as midnight strikes on the East Coast, his first full day as the only sitting President of the United States of America ends. Sleep well, Mr. President.

On other January 21’s in US and world history…

1525 — The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in Zürich.

1793 — Louis XVI of France is guillotined.

1924 — Vladimir Lenin dies; Joseph Stalin begins purge of his rivals to clear the way for his leadership.

1954 — The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched.

1973 — Tomorrow the US Supreme Court will precipitate America’s new civil war (pitting the born against the unborn) by delivering its Roe v. Wade decision, striking down laws restricting abortion during the first six to seven months of pregnancy. Thus America’s own genocide will kick into high gear.

1976 — Commercial service of Concorde begins.

1977 — New President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all American Vietnam War draft evaders.

1981 — Iran releases US hostages after 444 days (as a gift to new President Ronald Reagan?).

1985 — Ronald Reagan’s second-term public inaugural ceremony is today because January 20 was Sunday.

2003 — The US Census Bureau announces that Hispanics have surpassed blacks as America’s largest minority group.

2008 — This turns out to be Black Monday in worldwide stock markets.

In other US political events on this day in 2009:

Caroline Kennedy (the last surviving member of President JFK’s family) withdraws her name from the pool of “bidders” for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat.
Hillary Clinton is confirmed by the US Senate as America’s new Secretary of State.
At 7:35 pm (Eastern), Chief Justice Roberts readministered the oath of office to President Obama. They each goofed in the public swearing-in yesterday afternoon.