Today -100: April 19, 1911: Of retreats and vivisection

The Mexican government accepts Washington’s demand that both sides in the civil war arrange themselves so that bullets in the civil war stop crossing the border. Or to put it another way, they are willing to accept the establishment of a neutral zone that just happens to favor them in Agua Prieta and Juarez.

Taft has been making it clear that he will not order troops to cross into Mexico without explicit instructions from Congress, as he believes, correctly but almost uniquely among presidents, the Constitution requires.

The rebels evacuate Agua Prieta; they’d won all the battles but ran out of ammo. They blame US customs and secret service agents for seizing 100,000 rounds of ammunition shipped to them on the Arizona side of the border. The rebels object strongly to this action, noting (correctly) that arms sales to Mexican rebels do not violate US law. However, the former commander-in-chief of the rebels in the city, the guy who fled to the US yesterday, blames the defeat on rebels who drank up all the booze in the city.

The NYT has a pro-vivisection editorial.

Today -100: April 18, 1911: Of surrenders, extending racism, and beverages in the Philippines

The battle for Agua Prieta, on the US-Mexican border, continues, with federal attempts to recapture the town from the rebels being fought off, although at one point the rebel commander surrendered himself – to the Americans. Both sides ignored the American demand that they not fire any bullets that might cross the border, and 7 people in Douglas, AZ are wounded.

Rep. Everis Hayes (R-CA) introduces a bill to extend all existing laws excluding Chinese immigrants to “Japanese, Koreans, Tartars, Malays, Afghans, East Indians, Lascars, Hindus, and all other persons of the Mongolian or Asiatic race”.

A US cavalry officer in the Philippines is killed by someone described by the NYT correspondent as “a Moro fanatic, who, crazed with religious passion, ran amuck, thirsting for the blood of a Christian.” There will be more of this.

Today -100: April 17, 1911: Of champagne rioters, Easter riots, and Mormons

The US instructs the Mexican federals and the insurgents that in the future they must so arrange their battles that bullets not cross the border.

The Mexican government is calling for volunteers to join the army for six months. The Times notes that in addition to the regular army, there are private ones maintained by mine owners, rich estate owners and the like.

Headline of the Day -100: “Champagne Rioters Calm.”

Another nicely incongruous headline: “Easter Worshippers Riot.” In Chicopee, Mass., the Polish organizations traditionally march to church on Easter, with brass bands and everything. The priest disapproves of both the brass bands and the everything and cancelled the 5:00 Easter Mass, locking the church. So there was an actual Easter riot, with knives drawn.

Other Easter news: “Easter Paraders See Suicide’s Body.”

Another headline: “Draws Royal Flush; Dies.; Chicago Girl Falls Lifeless from Her Chair in a Poker Game.”

An anti-Mormon mob in Birkenhead, England, attacks the Mormon meeting house and demands that Mormon missionaries leave town (there is a bit of a moral panic going on in the UK over Mormons coming to Britain to Steal Our Women).

Quote of the Day

Some dude in Misurata: “I jumped onto the ground when the explosions started. My friend did not. His head came off.”

Today -100: April 16, 1911: Of sane progressives, champagne riots, and scary cats

Teddy Roosevelt praises LaFollette and his followers’ work in Wisconsin: “The progressive movement has been sane in Wisconsin.”

Headline of the Day -100: “More Champagne Riots.” Classy. Actually, riots in the Champagne region of France, which have been going on for days. Something about the legal delimitation of the Champagne region. Whatever. Lots of wine workers running around destroying the property of wine growers and wine merchants, rumors of anarchist involvement.

Other Headline of the Day -100: “Cats Scare Chicago.” The Health Dept wants to kill stray cats.

Today -100: April 15, 1911: Of sacrilege, the 14th Amendment, and publicity

Pennsylvania bans sacrilegious plays, movies, operas or vaudeville.

British marines land to protect a Baja California town from an insurrecto attack (which fails to materialize).

The insurrectos now control the city of Agua Prieta, and will install there a provisional government for the state of Sonora.

Rep. Thomas Hardwick (D-Georgia) introduces a bill to repeal the 14th Amendment, specifically the provisions (which as far as I know have never been used) to punish states that disfranchise (black) adult males.

The Publicity Bill, requiring reporting and publication of campaign contributions before general elections, passes the House 302-0. The Senate version, though, was amended to postpone publication until after the election. The Republicans failed to win an amendment to include primaries and other nomination processes, which means Democrats in the one-party South are effectively not covered by the bill.

It is impossible to imagine a future for Libya with Qaddafi in power

Barack Obama, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy have written an op-ed piece for the International Herald Tribune, The Times of London and Le Figaro about Justin Bieber Libya.

ROCKETS IN ONE PLACE AND A MEDIEVAL SIEGE IN ANOTHER? IS LIBYA EXPERIENCING SOME SORT OF BREAKDOWN IN THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM? “But the people of Libya are still suffering terrible horrors at Qaddafi’s hands each and every day. His rockets and shells rained down on defenseless civilians in Ajdabiya. The city of Misurata is enduring a medieval siege”. And it was American, British and French companies that sold Qaddafi all those rockets and giant catapults.

OMG, THERE IS A BREAKDOWN IN THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM! AND IT MAY STOP FUNCTIONING ALTOGETHER! The UN mandate “is not to remove Qaddafi by force. But it is impossible to imagine a future for Libya with Qaddafi in power.”

IT IS UNTHINKABLE BECAUSE SUCH A THING HAS NEVER HAPPENED IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF MANKIND. NOT EVER. “It is unthinkable that someone who has tried to massacre his own people can play a part in their future government.”

BUT NOT FAILED PARIAHS. “Furthermore, it would condemn Libya to being not only a pariah state, but a failed state too.” Did you know that “pariah” comes from a Tamil word for members of a hereditary caste of people who played drums at festivals and were therefore banned from religious processions, rather like Ringo Starr?

WHEN DID HE ACTUALLY HAVE THAT “CONSENT” AND IN WHAT FORM DID THE LIBYAN PEOPLE GIVE IT? PEOPLE IN ALL THE DICTATORSHIPS AND HEREDITARY MONARCHIES SUPPORTED BY THE US, FRANCE AND BRITAIN WOULD LIKE TO KNOW, SO THEY CAN MAKE IT CLEAR TO THEM THAT THEY DON’T WANT TO LIVE UNDER DICTATORSHIPS AND HEREDITARY MONARCHIES EITHER: “And because he has lost the consent of his people any deal that leaves him in power would lead to further chaos and lawlessness.”

OR A NEW CAR. WE CAN’T AFFORD A NEW CAR OR A NEW SAFE HAVEN FOR EXTREMISTS. OR THAT BIG-SCREEN TV WE’VE HAD OUR EYE ON. “Neither Europe, the region, or the world can afford a new safe haven for extremists.”

WAR 4EVER! “However, so long as Qaddafi is in power, NATO must maintain its operations so that civilians remain protected and the pressure on the regime builds.” So we don’t have a mandate to remove Qaddafi by force, but we’ll use military operations to build pressure on his regime until he is out of power. I totally see the distinction.

NOT YOU, SAIF! “Then a genuine transition from dictatorship to an inclusive constitutional process can really begin, led by a new generation of leaders.”

MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY: “But it will be the people of Libya, not the U.N., who choose their new constitution, elect their new leaders, and write the next chapter in their history.” Assuming the Libyan space-time continuum can be restored, of course.

Today -100: April 14, 1911: Of senators, rush hours, and Cromwell’s head

As insurrectos battle to take the border town of Agua Prieta, US soldiers of the First Cavalry cross into Mexico to stop the fighting (bullets fired at fleeing Federals were hitting people in Douglas, Arizona, killing 3).

The House passes a resolution for a constitutional amendment for the direct election of senators, 296-16. An amendment to the resolution calling for control and regulation of those elections to be kept in federal rather than state hands lost badly, so Southern states will be able to continue to disenfranchise black people (not that federal control of House elections has stopped them anyway).

A letter bitching about the Interborough subway uses the phrase “rush hour.” The Online Etymology Dictionary says the term dates to 1890. Well, I found that interesting.

British Prime Minister Asquith has decided that the nation will not purchase a head that is supposed to be that of Oliver Cromwell from some clergyman. Asquith has some doubts as to its authenticity, although “the measurements of the head are said to conform with what is known of the Protector.”

Obama’s deficit speech: More than just numbers on a page

Prepared text.

WHAT THIS DEBATE IS MORE ABOUT THAN JUST: “This debate over budgets and deficits is about more than just numbers on a page, more than just cutting and spending. It’s about the kind of future we want. It’s about the kind of country we believe in.”

FAITH: “From our first days as a nation, we have put our faith in free markets and free enterprise as the engine of America’s wealth and prosperity.” Unless you count the high protective tariffs and, you know, slavery.

RUGGED: HAVING A ROCKY AND UNEVEN SURFACE. “More than citizens of any other country, we are rugged individualists, a self-reliant people with a healthy skepticism of too much government.” Actually, by definition, everyone is against too much government because it’s, you know, too much.


YOU JUST BLEW MY MIND: “But there has always been another thread running throughout our history - a belief that we are all connected”.

WHO THE TEA PARTY WOULD DENOUNCE AS A BIG-GOVERNMENT TRAITOR WHO WAS PROBABLY BORN IN KENYA RATHER THAN A LOG CABIN: “We believe, in the words of our first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln...”

BURNING ATLANTA? “...that through government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves.”

He says we “would not be a great country” without Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and unemployment insurance.

THAT VALUES WHAT NOW? “As a country that values fairness, wealthier individuals have traditionally born a greater share of this burden than the middle class or those less fortunate.”

SPEAK FOR YOURSELF: “This is not because we begrudge those who’ve done well”.

AH, THE GOOD OLD DAYS: “But after Democrats and Republicans committed to fiscal discipline during the 1990s, we lost our way in the decade that followed.”

WHAT SOME OF YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING: “Now, before I get into how we can achieve this goal, some of you might be wondering, ‘Why is this so important? Why does this matter to me?’”


AMERICANS HATE ABSTRACT THINGS: “You see, most Americans tend to dislike government spending in the abstract, but they like the stuff it buys.”

EAGER: “politicians are often eager to feed the impression that solving the problem is just a matter of eliminating waste and abuse -that tackling the deficit issue won’t require tough choices. Or they suggest that we can somehow close our entire deficit by eliminating things like foreign aid, even though foreign aid makes up about 1% of our entire budget.” Phew, that clears up that little misconception, I’m sure.

OH, A SERIOUS PLAN: “So any serious plan to tackle our deficit will require us to put everything on the table, and take on excess spending wherever it exists in the budget.”

He goes on to criticize “one vision” – for some reason he can’t bring himself to use Paul Ryan’s name. (By the way, I think much more attention should be paid to another Wisconsin congresscritter: Rep. Reid Ribble (R). I don’t know anything about him, I just want to hear his name on the news as often as possible: Reid Ribble Reid Ribble Reid Ribble Reid Ribble.)

He says it “would lead to a fundamentally different America than the one we’ve known throughout most of our history. A 70% cut to clean energy. A 25% cut in education. A 30% cut in transportation. Cuts in college Pell Grants that will grow to more than $1,000 per year.” Have we had “clean energy” and Pell Grants for most of our history? “These are the kind of cuts that tell us we can’t afford the America we believe in.”


RYAN’S A REAL DOWNER, MAN: “And they paint a vision of our future that’s deeply pessimistic.”

He’s nicely tough on Ryan: “ It says instead of guaranteed health care, you will get a voucher. And if that voucher isn’t worth enough to buy insurance, tough luck - you’re on your own. ... This is a vision that says up to 50 million Americans have to lose their health insurance in order for us to reduce the deficit. And who are those 50 million Americans? Many are someone’s grandparents who wouldn’t be able afford nursing home care without Medicaid. Many are poor children. Some are middle-class families who have children with autism or Down’s syndrome. Some are kids with disabilities so severe that they require 24-hour care. These are the Americans we’d be telling to fend for themselves. Worst of all, this is a vision that says even though America can’t afford to invest in education or clean energy; even though we can’t afford to care for seniors and poor children, we can somehow afford more than $1 trillion in new tax breaks for the wealthy. ... They want to give people like me a two hundred thousand dollar tax cut that’s paid for by asking thirty three seniors to each pay six thousand dollars more in health costs? ... The fact is, their vision is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America. ... There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. There’s nothing courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill.”

BOY, WOULDN’T YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN THE MYTHICAL AMERICA THAT HE “KNOWS?” “And this is not a vision of the America I know. The America I know is generous and compassionate”.

So he wants a “more balanced approach” and to preserve “core spending.” Oh, and to “win the future.” Phew, for a second there I thought he was going to propose losing the future.


He says he’ll find “additional savings” in the military budget. He doesn’t say what those might be.

And “to further reduce health care spending in our budget. Here, the difference with the House Republican plan could not be clearer: their plan lowers the government’s health care bills by asking seniors and poor families to pay them instead. Our approach lowers the government’s health care bills by reducing the cost of health care itself.” More generic drugs, no “erroneous payments,” incentives to doctors and hospitals to prevent injuries, and “an independent commission of doctors, nurses, medical experts and consumers who will look at all the evidence and recommend the best ways to reduce unnecessary spending while protecting access to the services seniors need.” DEATH PANEL! DEATH PANEL! DEATH PANEL!

He will refuse to renew again the tax cuts to the wealthy that he said he wouldn’t renew in the first place, before he renewed them.

He wants to limit itemized deductions for the wealthy.

He says his approach will cut $2 trillion in spending over 12 years, $1 trillion in interest payments (does that make sense?), and $1 trillion in tax reform (which he calls “reducing spending in the tax code,” just in case you thought he was calling for tax increases).

REALLY? ARE YOU SURE? “Of course, there will be those who disagree with my approach.”


DOES HE ACTUALLY KNOW ANY WEALTHY AMERICANS? “And I believe that most wealthy Americans would agree with me. They want to give back to the country that’s done so much for them. Washington just hasn’t asked them to.” See, and you thought they were all greedy fuckwads, when in fact they were just sitting at home (well, mansion), waiting for an engraved invitation to give back to the country that’s done so much for them, because they’re just polite that way.

HE STILL BELIEVES IN THE BI-PARTISANSHIP FAIRY: “Of course, there are those who will simply say that there’s no way we can come together and agree on a solution to this challenge. They’ll say the politics of this city are just too broken.... But I also know that we’ve come together and met big challenges before. Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill came together to blah blah blah... I believe we can and must come together again.”

HOW MANY ENDS DOES A SPECTRUM HAVE? “I don’t expect the details in any final agreement to look exactly like the approach I laid out today. I’m eager to hear other ideas from all ends of the political spectrum.”

Today -100: April 13, 1911: Non-stop

Pierre Prier flies a monoplane from London to Paris without stopping, in under 4 hours.

Today -100: April 12, 1911: Will justice be done? What do you think.

The owners of the Triangle Waist Company, Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, are indicted on charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter, for having locked the factory’s doors (which was a misdemeanor, making the deaths manslaughter).

Now we know the Mexican government is desperate: it raises soldiers’ wages and may even hold a real election in Sonora.

I mentioned that female Cornell students petitioned against two black students being admitted to the dorms. The Cornell president decided to let the ladies in. The NYT suggests that this may not do race relations any good: “It may... by compelling a closeness of physical association that one of them considers objectionable, lead to a psychical separation much wider than would otherwise be the case. There is as little likelihood of happiness for negroes as for other people when they go where they are not wanted, and there is such a thing as insisting too strongly on rights, even when they are unquestionable. Rights are valuable, but so are voluntarily granted privileges”. The Times says that the two students were “unwise” to press their case, in which case they will effectively have neither. But note the unquestioned assumption that it is for the white students to say who is or is not “wanted.” The paper suggests the black students now “so carry themselves as to overcome the present antagonism to them as near neighbors.”

Today -100: April 11, 1911: Of rumors and pruney deaths

Pres. Taft denies that his sending 20,000 troops to the Mexican border had anything to do with a rumored (falsely rumored) secret treaty between Japan and Mexico giving the Japanese a coaling station on the west coast of Mexico. There does seem to have been a tendency for people to believe almost any rumor about Japan. Rep. David Foster (R-Vermont, the former chairman of the foreign affairs committee) believes these rumors constitute a conspiracy to stir up a US-Japanese war by those with financial interests in building battleships.

Headline of the Day -100: “Voted for Lorimer, Dies in His Bath.” In that order. This would be Illinois State Legislator Michael Link, who was bribed (he insisted the $1,000 was a “gratuity”) to vote for William Lorimer for US Senate, but turned state’s evidence.

Today -100: April 10, 1911: We must have standards, you know

King George V revives the court custom, discontinued – for some reason – by Edward VII, that divorced people not be received at Court.

Headline of the Day -100: “Want Beer at Cornell.”

Mommas, don’t let your fetuses grow up to be cowboy poets

Open for business

Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles acquitted by Texas court.

---

There was a budget agreement and Obama congratulated himself.

MONUMENTAL BUSINESS: “Tomorrow, I’m pleased to announce that the Washington Monument, as well as the entire federal government, will be open for business.” Or open its legs to business. Same thing, really.

SO THAT’S OKAY THEN: “And that’s because today Americans of different beliefs came together again.”

PAINFUL: “Some of the cuts we agreed to will be painful. Programs people rely on will be cut back.” I’d feel better about Obama personally if he’d specified which people will no longer have the programs they relied on, whose pain will be created by these painful cuts.

“And I would not have made these cuts in better circumstances.” The “circumstances” thing can be read in two different ways: economic or political. He needed to distinguish whether he was saying that the state of the economy makes cuts necessary, or that the state of the House of Representatives makes them politically inevitable. This is an important distinction. He also failed to mention at any point that spending cuts were necessitated by the tax cuts for the wealthy that the Republican insisted on, and he agreed to.


WINNING! “We protected the investments we need to win the future.”

“At the same time, we also made sure that at the end of the day, this was a debate about spending cuts, not social issues like women’s health and the protection of our air and water.” Dude, a budget is always about social issues and priorities. And since you threw abortions for women in D.C. under the bus (yes, that’s a really repulsive image I invoked there), you can’t say this wasn’t about women’s health.

COMING TOGETHER: “A few months ago, I was able to sign a tax cut for American families because both parties worked through their differences and found common ground. Now the same cooperation will make possible the biggest annual spending cut in history, and it’s my sincere hope that we can continue to come together as we face the many difficult challenges that lie ahead, from creating jobs and growing our economy to educating our children and reducing our deficit. That’s what the American people expect us to do.” Is that really what the American people expect them to do? Only if they’re paying absolutely no attention whatsoever, so... maybe.

In order to continue to fetishize compromise and bipartisanism, he has to portray this deal as a good thing. Biggest annual spending cut in history, hurrah! Winning the future, yay! Programs people rely on will be cut back, yippee! Austerity forever!

But in the end, it’s all about... wait for it... the children: “A few days ago, I received a letter from a mother in Longmont, Colorado. Over the year, her son’s eighth grade class saved up money and worked on projects so that next week they could take a class trip to Washington, D.C. They even have an appointment to lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.” The Unknown Soldier has appointments? “The mother wrote that for the last few days the kids in her son’s class had been worried and upset that they might have to cancel their trip because of a shutdown. She asked those of us in Washington to get past our petty grievances and make things right.” I hope he shared this letter with John Boehner, just to watch him weep. “And next week, when 50 eighth graders from Colorado arrive in our nation’s capital, I hope they get a chance to look up at the Washington Monument and feel the sense of pride and possibility that defines America”. The possibility of peeing off the top on all the tourists below. They look just like ants, don’t they, kids?

Today -100: April 9, 1911: Of non-dancing rabbis and dancing nihilists

At the annual encampment (reunion, I guess) of the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic), Dept of the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, now taking place in Georgia, three black attendees were dragged from their hotel by a mob in the middle of the night, whipped and made to leave town.

Three black men are lynched in Georgia in one incident, and one in another.

Lots of competition for Headline of the Day -100: “Rabbis Condemn Dancing.” “Nihilists Dance to Aid Refugees.” “French Now Drink Tea.” “‘I Shave Myself,’ Says Taft.” “Queen Forbids Kissing.” (The queen of Spain doesn’t want her children, or anyone else’s, kissed, on hygienic grounds.)

Headline of the Day That Sounds Dirty But Isn’t -100: “DETECTIVE DONS SKIRTS.; Zavat, Disguised as a Woman, Traps a Black-Hander.”

Today -100: April 8, 1911: Of dinner at the White House

“President Taft has adopted a unique method of meeting the new members of the Senate.” He will have them all over for dinner. Trust Taft to come up with a food-based solution to a logistical problem.

Remember Caleb Powers, the new Republican member of Congress from Kentucky who was elected in 1910 despite his involvement in the assassination of Gov. William Goebel in 1900? Well, the 9 Democratic congresscritters from KY are all refusing to serve alongside him on any congressional committee, effectively keeping him off any committee of interest to his constituents.

Today -100: April 7, 1911: Of peace talks, women on planes, the 9th Cavalry, and a non-lynching

Peace talks in the Mexican Revolution break off. Pres. Díaz refused to resign.

For the first time ever, an airplane carries not one but two women passengers.

There’s been much confusion about orders for those negro 9th Cavalry troops. For now they’ll be staying in San Antonio, after vigorous protests from various towns they were going to be coming through and forcible representations to Pres. Taft by local congresscritter John Nance Garner (FDR’s vice president). One of the towns objecting to the proposed deployment was Brownsville, where there was a similar incident with black troops in 1906. Just as these 1911 reports of running battles in San Antonio seem to come down one actual incident of a black soldier punching a street car conductor and running off, hugely exaggerated by panicky white folks, in 1906 in Brownsville, hostility between townspeople and black troops culminated in the former claiming the troops had shot up the town and planting spent shells as evidence. When none of the troops ‘fessed up, because they hadn’t done anything, Pres. Roosevelt dishonorably discharging all 167 troops in an impetuous act of collective punishment.

A White Plains, NY policeman saves a black man who slashed a trolley conductor during a fare dispute from being lynched, holding off a mob of 200 with his gun.

Daily Telegraphy: gay cavemen and fascist cakes

Telegraph Headline of the Day: “First Homosexual Caveman Found.” (A Czech archaeologist is over-interpreting her evidence, if you ask me).

Poor Baby of the Day: “Nick Clegg: I Cry to Music and Even My Sons Ask Why Everyone Hates Me.”

Note to Antonio, Alberto and Miguel Clegg: because your father is a git.

Confectionaries of the Day: “Nazi Cakes Cause Outrage.” A bakery in Austria makes them:



Always trying to take over the Sudetenmuffins.

Today -100: April 6, 1911: Justice McKenna’s potty mouth

The first Socialist member of Congress, Victor Berger, introduces a resolution calling for Taft to submit to Congress all reports, papers etc on which he based the order for troops to be mobilized on the Mexican border, and calling for their withdrawal.

Scenes from the Supreme Court -100: a lawyer was trying to explain to the justices what a railway conductor meant when he told an engineer, “Oh, h--, back up.” Associate Justice Joseph McKenna enquired, “Did he mean what was once expressed by the slang phrase, ‘Oh, cheese it’?” “Exactly,” the lawyer replied.

Headline of the Day -100: “Aroused About Pussy.”

No finger pointing

Obama, asked who the American people should blame ifwhen there is a government shutdown: “I don’t think the American people are interested in blaming somebody.” He don’t know us very well, do he?

WHAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AREN’T INTERESTED IN: “They’re not interested in finger pointing and neither am I.”


WHAT HE’S NOT WILLING TO DO: “But what we’re not willing to do is to go out there and say we’re going to cut another 60,000 head slot starts -- Head Start slots.” Now I’m going to be worried the rest of the day about those 60,000 head slot starts.

Today -100: April 5, 1911: Of new speakers, insurgents, socialists, and the 9th Cavalry

The new Congress convenes. The D’s, now in charge of the House, elect a new Speaker, James Beauchamp “Champ” Clark of Missouri. The 1912 presidential election is well and truly under way, since Clark will do his best to derail Taft’s legislative agenda while attempting to make himself the leading D candidate (and coming fairly close). For example, this is a special session, called by Taft for the sole purpose of passing his tariff reciprocity treaty with Canada, but Clark, giving a speech on his plans for the session, failed even to mention reciprocity, instead talking about lowering tariffs, popular election of senators, statehood for Arizona and New Mexico, etc etc.

Insurgent Republican senators demand from their party leadership, and get, ¼ of the Republican seats on all important Senate committees, with those members decided not by the party but by themselves. This means that if insurgents join with Democrats, they will be able to outvote the old guard Republicans (there are 50 R’s and 41 D’s in the Senate).

In local elections in Milwaukee, which has been run by Socialists for a year now, the Catholic Social Union fields candidates for the school board, though less Catholic than anti-socialist (there’s only one actual Catholic among the Catholic Social Union candidates who win 3 of the 5 contested seats). Women’s votes were evidently instrumental in the Socialist defeat, and for that of the socialists in Wichita.

On the other hand, Socialist John Menton is elected mayor of Flint, Michigan, and other socialists are elected aldermen, supervisors, and to other city positions there.

The Standard Oil Company issues a denial that it is financing the revolt in Mexico.

John Trower, reputed to be the richest negro in America, dies, purportedly leaving an estate of $1.5 million.

The Massachusetts Legislature defeats women’s suffrage by 161 to 69.

The Army is claiming that the decision to send the 9th Cavalry to patrol the desert had nothing to do with any fights with conductors over San Antonio’s Jim Crow laws. But another racial problem has developed: one of the colonels in the Illinois National Guard contingent of the border buildup is a... wait for it... negro. However, “Illinois Guardsmen are loyal soldiers, and despite their heart-burnings at having a colored man accompany them as their ranking office they gave no outward evidence of their chagrin.” What stoicism. Privately, some of the white Illinois officers said “that Gov. Deneen made a diplomatic mistake” in choosing him. Col. John Marshall, who was born a slave, was the first black colonel in the US Army, serving in the Spanish-American War, when his presence also pissed off white officers.

A NYT editorial blames the kerfuffle in San Antonio on white people selling whisky to black soldiers, but also on the incongruity between Jim Crow laws and soldiers “entitled to the respect deserved by one trained and ready to sacrifice his life in the defense of the Nation”. The obvious solution, the Times suggests, is to get rid of... negro soldiers. What, you thought they were going to say the Jim Crow laws? “They are good soldiers, as everybody admits, and as they have many times proved in both peace and war, but somehow they do not fit in well with the Nature of Things as They Are.”

Funny names and sport killing

An Army investigation has conveniently concluded that no one high up is in any way responsible for the “kill team” that murdered Afghan civilians for shits and giggles and gruesome souvenirs, not even the brigade’s commander, a Col. Harry D. Tunnell IV, and... okay, I’m not even gonna try to hide that one reason I’m blogging this is because of my, you know, moral outrage and whatnot, but the larger reason is that I find the names of pretty much everyone involved so darned entertaining, starting with Spc. Jeremy “The plan was to kill people” Morlock, who has already been convicted for his role.

Anyway, Harry Tunnell the Fourth was known, well before he was sent to Afghanistan, when the unit was training in the States under... wait for it... Brig. Gen. Randy Dragon, for his contempt for the Army’s stated policy of protecting civilians and winning hearts & minds™, preferring a policy of “search and destroy.” But the investigation, led by one Brig. Gen. Twitty, could find “no causal relation” with the fact that his men went out and did exactly that. Nevertheless, Harry Tunnell the Fourth is getting a jolly stern letter of admonition. His boss, Brig. Gen. Frederick Hodges (who somehow escaped being assigned a Wodehousian name) says, “I should have specifically told him that MG Carter and I had lost confidence in his ability to command from his failure to follow instructions and intent.” You know what would better than specifically telling someone that you have no confidence in their ability to command because of their failure to follow instructions? Not leaving them in charge of a bunch of heavily armed hash-smokers in a foreign country.

Oh, and that MG Carter was the commander of allied forces in southern Afghanistan, Major General Nick Carter, detective.

Today -100: April 4, 1911: Of disgraces, DMV lines, loyal resolutions, and Jim Crow Texas-style

Teddy Roosevelt gives a speech in Reno, attacking Reno. He calls the divorce colony there a disgrace.

NY gets its first DMV offices (previously, you had to send to Albany for automobile registration). On the first day, it took 15 minutes on average.

Mexican Vice President Ramon Corral requests a leave of absence so he can go to Europe. For his health. Yeah, that’s it, for his health.

Oh, okay, I’ve looked it up and he had pancreatic cancer.

King George will be visiting Dublin soon. The Corporation of Dublin considered adopting a loyal resolution to mark the occasion, but decided not to.

Headline of the Day -100: “Taft Orders Negroes Out of San Antonio.” Specifically, the Ninth Cavalry, a negro regiment. Evidently they’ve been resisting the Jim Crow laws segregating street cars. The Ninth will be sent to patrol the Mexican border. In the desert. As far from cities as possible.

Great theological debates of our times

Pastor Terry Jones “promised in September not to set fire to the book, then he and his congregation discussed shredding, shooting, or dunking it in water instead.”

Wherein is revealed what no religion tolerates

Obama condemns Pastor Terry Jones’s burning of a Koran: “The desecration of any holy text, including the Koran, is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry.” Intolerance and bigotry, yes, and I would add willful ignorance and dickishness, but the disposal of a, you know, book doesn’t seem to enter “extreme” territory, which is firmly held by the Afghans busy slaughtering actual humans others (with a little side-trip to a girls’ high school, which you will no doubt be surprised to hear was burned).

Obama condemns that as well: “No religion tolerates the slaughter and beheading of innocent people,” adding, “unless they’re a witch or a heretic or a Jew or something, but those people aren’t innocent according to those religions, because they’re witches or heretics or Jews or something.”

Today -100: April 3, 1911: Of ambushes and race wars

In French Guinea, a force of French soldiers sent to capture the Sultan of Goumbra to stop his anti-French activities and, allegedly, to suppress slavery, is ambushed, with 14 killed. They respond with machine guns, killing 300. Always nice to see a humanitarian mission in action.

Some sort of ongoing race war in Laurel, Delaware, no idea why.

Francisco Madero says he doesn’t trust President Díaz’s promises and that the insurrectos will not lay down their arms until the 1910 elections are declared void and new, free elections, with no literacy requirement, have taken place. He says he really doesn’t want American military intervention but trusts that it will never happen: “I have too high an opinion of the United States government to fear an unjust war.” Isn’t that just adorable?

Daily Telegraphy: Poetic justice

A quote I didn’t expect ever to see: “There is a very moral code in prison when it comes to poetry”. A prisoner at Her Majesty’s Prison Norwich submitted a Philip Larkin poem as his own work to the prison magazine’s poetry contest.

Another Telegraph story featured this oddly unthreatening quote: “I’m just going to go in and hit anyone who comes in my way.” Today was International Pillow Fight Day (motto: The first rule of International Pillow Fight Day is you do not talk about International Pillow Fight Day).

Zamkowy Square, Warsaw:


Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei:


Sofia:


São Paulo:


Zurich:


Union Square, NY:


Brandenburg Gate, Berlin:

Straight Line of the Day

Libyan government spokesmodel Moussa Ibrahim rejects the idea of a cease-fire, saying, “If this is not mad, I don’t know what it is.”

Today -100: April 2, 1911: Of brigandage, dry Indians, and census boycotts

Canada has sent immigration agents to the Caribbean to recruit servants. However, “negresses” at $5 a month is one thing. African-American farmers who said fuck it to Jim Crow laws in Oklahoma and tried to move to Canada are evidently another thing entirely and have been turned back on spurious grounds.

Beleaguered Mexican President Porfirio Díaz makes a speech to Congress promising various reforms, including no reelection of current high officials (his term has only 5 years and 9 months left in it, by which time he’ll be 86), land reform, an independent judiciary, etc. He says the rebellion is confined to three states and the disorder elsewhere is mere “brigandage.”

Conflict of interest rules not so strict in 1911: Ohio Governor Judson Harmon will appear as a private lawyer before the Supreme Court on behalf of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company in a lawsuit he was involved with before taking office.

The District of Columbia’s excise commissioner orders that liquor not be sold to Native Americans unless they can prove they are American citizens.

British suffragettes plan to boycott the 1911 census.

Achieving unity in South America

Hugo Chavez went to Bolivia yesterday. When he arrived, he only looked a little bit silly.


That would never do.

Chavez said, “I take the opportunity to reaffirm the determination, which grows stronger every day, of achieving unity in South America.” For example, here he is achieving unity with Evo Morales.


What do you have to chew to be able to wear such an outfit in public? Coca leaves.


Lots of coca leaves.

Way to stick it to the man

Barbara Boxer and other Senate D’s are sponsoring a measure to ensure that if the government shuts down, members of Congress and the president are not paid their salaries. Sigh.

This same provision was included on a ballot proposition here in California in November, the faux populist sauce to make passing a budget by a mere majority in the Legislature more palatable to sceptical Californians. Here was my argument against: This is precisely the same thing, morally speaking, as offering legislators a bribe in a brown paper bag in a parking garage: it is an economic incentive to vote a certain way. Any politician this would work on is not worthy of holding public office. It would put a coercive weapon in the hands of obstructionist wealthy legislators to use against any of their brethren who might actually need their pay. Do we really want to drive out of politics everyone who isn’t a multi-millionaire?

(Also, it would be unconstitutional: the Constitution says the pay of a president cannot be altered during his term, and the 27th Amendment says the same for Congress.)

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Ten UN workers massacred in Afghanistan (and 5 Afghans). It’s Pastor Terry Jones’s fault. Just had to burn a Koran. Jones denies any culpability.

Today -100: April 1, 1911: Of Ringlings

Otto Ringling, one of the circus brothers, dies. What a great name. Say it out loud with me: Otto Ringling Otto Ringling Otto Ringling.

Also, some stuff happened in Mexico but I don’t know what and the NY Legislature finally named a new senator but I don’t know who because the NYT scans were totally unreadable.

It’s a very problematic situation

The US issues a warning that it will bomb anyone in Libya, government or rebel, who kills civilians. Or as a spokesmodel puts it, “whether pro-Qaddafi or pro-opposition.”

“Pro-opposition?” Don’t the positive and negative in that phrase cancel each other out?

And we will do so because UN Security Council Resolution 1973 applies to both sides. Of course so does Resolution 1970, the arms embargo on Libya, but we’re still planning to arm the rebels (I assume we actually already are).

But who counts as a civilian? In the past, ambassador to the UN Susan Rice refused to say whether rebels were civilians or combatants. And it’s not like there’s an official rebel army that people enlist in, put on a uniform, and serve in for the duration (when such un-uniformed irregulars fight American forces in Iraq or Afghanistan, we call them “unlawful combatants”).

And on the other side, the Libyan government is handing out assault weapons to pro-Qaddafi civilians, further confusing the definition of “civilian,” which some might consider a problem, since the only stated rationale for Operation Turd Sandwich is the protection of civilians. Obama in his speech Monday said that our military activities (i.e., blowing shit up) have no broader goals. An anonymous “legal adviser to the military campaign” says that Libyans “are so intermixed that it is not feasible to discern where the boundary between the civilians and opposition forces lie”. “There are also those civilians entitled to protection that may be armed in order to protect their families, homes, businesses, and communities. Other civilians may join the rebels at certain stages, becoming armed combatants, and then decide to return home for whatever reason, thus transitioning back to civilian non-combatants.” General Carter Ham, proud possessor of the WASPiest name in all Christendom, said “it’s not a clear distinction, because we’re not talking about a regular military force — it’s a very problematic situation.” These are admissions that the just-protecting-civilians rationale is effectively meaningless.

And what does it mean for the Libyans? Basically, if civilians and combatants are mixed together, as they are everywhere, neither side can attack territory held by the other side without fouling afoul of Resolution 1973. So stalemate forever, and effective division of Libya, is that our policy?

(Update: IOZ notes the natural extension of threat to bomb anyone who kills civilians.) (Belgium has it coming; I’ve always said so.)

(Update updated: Glenn Greenwald comment on Twitter: “We sit in the sky, over Libya, threatening to shoot lighting bolts at anyone who sins.”)

Today -100: March 31, 1911: Of arbitration, funerals, Christian names

German Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg says that universal arbitration and universal disarmament are impossible ideals.

NYC Mayor Gaynor decides that the city will bury any unclaimed Triangle fire bodies. The Women’s Trade Union League and the Waistmakers’ Union have each been trying to claim them. The union also wants a parade. Er, procession.

The mother of one of the dead girls claims that $1,600 was robbed from her daughter’s body (okay, that seems like a lot, but most of these immigrant girls had never heard of banks and did carry their savings hidden on their persons).

The Russian Orthodox Church issues a ban on Jews having Christian first names.

Obama energy speech: We were the leaders in wind

Obama gave a speech about energy policy today, at Georgetown.

Credit where credit is due: this is a good line, concerning the last time gas was $4 a gallon, in 2008: “And because we were at the height of political season, you had all kinds of slogans and gimmicks and outraged politicians -- they were waving their three-point plans for $2 a gallon gas. You remember that -- ‘drill, baby, drill.’”


BECAUSE YOU’RE GOING TO BE KILLING EACH OTHER FOR A GALLON OF GASOLINE, “ROAD WARRIOR” STYLE: “We’re going to have to think long term, which is why I came here, to talk to young people here at Georgetown, because you have more of a stake in us getting our energy policy right than just about anybody.”

Another good line, somewhat hurt because he beat it into the ground: “We cannot keep going from shock when gas prices go up to trance when they go back down -- we go back to doing the same things we’ve been doing until the next time there’s a price spike, and then we’re shocked again.”

He announced his grand objective: to reduce oil imports by 1/3 in ten years.

He said we should import oil from stable countries like Canada and Mexico (has he seen Mexico recently?) and maybe Brazil. “Part of the reason I went down there is to talk about energy with the Brazilians. They recently discovered significant new oil reserves, and we can share American technology and know-how with them as they develop these resources.” Our oil! Our oil! Our oil!


Of course the “hey, let’s only import oil from friendly, stable countries” idea is nonsense, since the oil market is global. Almost none of the oil used in the US is from Libya, but that didn’t shelter us from a price spike.

HARNESSES: “But our best opportunities to enhance our energy security can be found in our own backyard -- because we boast one critical, renewable resource that the rest of the world can’t match: American ingenuity. American ingenuity, American know-how. To make ourselves more secure, to control our energy future, we’re going to have to harness all of that ingenuity.” Like in “The Matrix.”

HE JUST TOTALLY GETS YOUNG PEOPLE, DOESN’T HE? “and I know how passionate young people are about issues like climate change”.

OBAMA TOTALLY MAKES FUN OF AMNESIA PATIENTS. AMNESIA IS A VERY SERIOUS CONDITION, MR. PRESIDENT: “And lately, we’ve been hearing folks saying, well, the Obama administration, they put restrictions on how oil companies operate offshore. Well, yes, because we just spent all that time, energy and money trying to clean up a big mess. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t have amnesia.”

He says Energy Secretary Steven Chu is “the right guy” to ensure that natural gas is extracted safely. “He’s got a Nobel Prize in physics. He actually deserved his Nobel Prize.” Oh good, Obama is finally admitting that he didn’t deserve his.

NERD! NERRRRRD!!! “And this is the kind of thing that he likes to do for fun on the weekend. (Laughter.) He goes into his garage and he tinkers around and figures out how to extract natural gas.”


Oh lord, he mentions switchgrass. Mark down “switchgrass” as another word ruined forever by George Bush. I hear it and I get flashbacks. Not that it tends to come up in casual conversation.

“We’ve also made historic investments in high-speed rail and mass transit”. 3,815 words before he mentions mass transit. It really could be a George Bush speech on energy, except he doesn’t make any disparaging jokes about electric cars looking like golf carts.

THE NICE THING ABOUT ENERGY EFFICIENCY: “The nice thing about energy efficiency is we already have the technology.”


Another goal: “By 2035, 80 percent of our electricity needs to come from a wide range of clean energy sources”. Of course he counts nuclear power and “clean coal” as clean energy sources.

He deplores the loss of our leadership in green energy: “in the 1980s, America was home to more than 80 percent of the world’s wind capacity, 90 percent of the world’s solar capacity. We were the leaders in wind.” Those were the days.

He wants those days of wind leadership back because “I want America to win the future.”


HE DIDN’T REALLY TEST IT: “I’ve tested an electric vehicle fresh off the assembly line. I mean, I didn’t really test it -- I was able to drive like five feet before Secret Service said to stop.”

Fighting the scourge of prenatal discrimination in Arizona

Arizona has banned abortions motivated by the race or sex of the child.

Of course this is a non-problem, but reading the text of the act (pdf), I suspect that (beyond peacocking for the base), the key clauses are those empowering the father (if married to the pregnant woman) or her parents (if a minor), to bring a civil action on behalf of the fetus to stop such abortions, or to sue abortion-providers afterwards, allowing relatives to control their womenfolk by making false claims in court. Financing such an abortion is made a criminal act.

As is usual with anti-abortion measures, the woman is subject to no penalties, even though its her evil discriminatory motives that are the point of this bill. All the penalties (up to 7 years in jail, loss of medical license, lawsuits, fines) fall on medical professionals. This is not just a thought crime, but a someone-else’s-thought crime.

Abortion-providers must sign an affidavit that they have no knowledge that a pregnant woman wants the abortion because of the fetus’s sex or race. The patient must also sign. This will either 1) encourage doctors to pry into the motivations of their patients, 2) encourage them to talk as little as possible with their patients, in case the woman says something for which the doctor may later face legal jeopardy. Either way, the doctor-patient relationship is poisoned, with doctors trying to cover their own asses rather than deal with the needs of their patients. Doctors, nurses, counselors, etc must also report any “known or suspected” sex- or race-selection motivations.

The law states, “There is no place for such discrimination and inequality in human society.” Because if there’s one thing the state of Arizona is opposed to, it’s discrimination and inequality. It adds, “The purpose of this legislation is to protect unborn children from prenatal discrimination”.

Prenatal... discrimination!

See, it’s not about banning abortion, it’s about banning discrimination. And discrimination is bad, right?

The law states: “Sex-selection and race-selection abortions are elective procedures that do not in any way implicate a woman’s health.” You could say the same thing about abortions following rape or incest – so what?

By the way, the name of this thing: “The Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2011.”

Today -100: March 30, 1911: Of suffrage, sacred wampum, income tax, and excessive rope jumping

Women’s suffrage fails in the Minnesota state senate 32-32.

Much of the NY state capitol burned down. It was uninsured. The State Library was destroyed, including many irreplaceable manuscripts, such as the correspondence of Gov. George Clinton. The sacred wampum of the Six Nations was (were? is wampum a singular or a plural noun?) also destroyed.

12 states have rejected the constitutional amendment for a federal income tax, meaning it can’t be ratified unless one of them retracts.

8-year-old Mary Tamplin dies “as a result of excessive rope jumping.” She was in a jump-roping contest with a friend. 698 times. Doesn’t say who won. Her classmates will be pallbearers. 8-year-old pallbearers?

Today -100: March 29, 1911: Of retiring gracefully, and secret briefings

Gustavo Madero, the rebel leader’s brother, says that the resignation of the Mexican cabinet was part of a negotiated deal, which will culminate in Díaz being allowed to “retire” on the face-saving grounds of extreme old age. Meanwhile, Díaz’s people say that he may retire, but not while the revolution continues.

President Taft called four Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the White House, giving each one a different false reason, then gave them a briefing on the reasons for the stationing of troops on the Mexican border. Astonishingly, those reasons – which have not been divulged, but which the senators evidently found convincing – have nothing to do with a need to practice “maneuvers,” as the public has been told.