Today April 29th, marks the 19th anniversary of the Los Angeles Riots.
Today is the 20th anniversary of the cyclone of that struck the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 mph. Killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless.
April 20th, marked the first anniversary of the BP Oil spill that killed 11, dumped 210,000,000 US gallon of oil into 68,000 square miles of the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way destroying wildlife and the livelihood of thousands of fishermen. You can read more here
April 20th is the 12th anniversary of The Columbine High School that left 12 dead and 21 injured after two disgruntled students lashed out with semi-automatic weaponry on their High School in 1999.
April 20th 1889 Adolf Hitler was born.
April 19th, 1995 the Oklahoma City bombing claimed 168 lives, including 19 children under the age of 6, and injured more than 680 people. The blast destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a sixteen-block radius.
April 18th, 1906 a 8.25 magnitude earthquake struck San Francisco in the early hours.
April 16th, marks the 4th anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, a student killed 32 people and wounded many others before committing suicide.
And this is all I care to remember.
However saying that today's wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton helped to show that some nice things do happen in April too.
More than 30 years after they left Earth, NASA's twin Voyager probes are now at the edge of the solar system. Not only that, they're still working. And with each passing day they are beaming back a message that, to scientists, is both unsettling and thrilling.
The message is, "Expect the unexpected."
"It's uncanny," says Ed Stone of Caltech, Voyager Project Scientist since 1972. "Voyager 1 and 2 have a knack for making discoveries."
Yesterday (4/28), NASA held a live briefing to reflect on what the Voyager mission has accomplished, and to preview what lies ahead as the probes prepare to enter the realm of the Milky Way itself.
The adventure began in the late 1970s when the probes took advantage of a rare alignment of outer planets for an unprecedented Grand Tour. Voyager 1 visited Jupiter and Saturn, while Voyager 2 flew past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. (Voyager 2 is still the only probe to visit Uranus and Neptune.)
When pressed to name the top discoveries from those encounters, Stone pauses, not for lack of material, but rather an embarrassment of riches. "It's so hard to choose," he says.
Stone's partial list includes the discovery of volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io; evidence for an ocean beneath the icy surface of Europa; hints of methane rain on Saturn's moon Titan; the crazily-tipped magnetic poles of Uranus and Neptune; icy geysers on Neptune's moon Triton; planetary winds that blow faster and faster with increasing distance from the sun.
Back in early 2010, when Haiti was devastated by a massive earthquake, text-to-donate campaigns helped raise the amazing amount of $10 million pretty quickly. Though that campaign is no longer active (you can still mail cash donations), other donation-by-SMS campaigns now exist to provide disaster relief to Japan and the tsunami-hit Pacific. There are many additional non-profit organizations that make use of these text-to-donate campaigns.
Why not? The donation process is fast and easy: Once you text the appropriate number, in most cases, you’ll need to confirm your donation with another text message. Finally, you’ll see the charge on your next cell phone bill. That’s it. Read on to see the major charities that you can help with a simple text message (SMS fees still apply).
Red Cross
Most people have probably heard about this campaign, so as a reminder, US residents can text “REDCROSS” to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross. During the donation process, you’ll be presented with the option to specify whether your gift should go to help those affected by the earthquake in Japan and tsunami throughout the Pacific, or to support the Red Cross efforts. Participating carriers include all four major US carriers, such as AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and other regional carriers, like Virgin Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Cricket. Most wireless carriers allow you to donate up to $30 per month to a specific keyword, like REDCROSS.
Susan G. Komen For The Cure
Formerly known as The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, this organization is the largest and most widely known breast cancer organization that invests in breast cancer research, education, advocacy, health services and social support programs in the US. It’s well-known for holding large fundraising events, like the Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure, which take place worldwide. To donate $10 to this organization, text “KOMEN” to 90999. You can donate up to 5 times per monthly billing cycle.
Water.org
Text “POOPIN” (yes, you read right) to 27722 to give $10 to Water.org, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to provide aid to regions in developing countries that have no access to safe drinking water and sanitation. The organization, co-founded by "Matt Damon", aims to bring adequate, safe drinking water worldwide.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation
Founded in 1980, the Make-A-Wish Foundation aims to give hope and joy to children who have life-threatening, degenerative or malignant medical conditions by granting them wishes, like meeting a celebrity, or getting a princess bedroom. To donate $5 to this organization, text “WISH” to 90999.
Keep A Child Alive
You can text “ALIVE” to 90999 to donate $5 to Keep A Child Alive, a non-profit organization that aims to provide medicine to families with HIV and AIDS in Africa and India. It’s partly founded by R&B singer, Alicia Keys, who was involved in the Digital Death campaign, along with Kim Kardashian, Ryan Seacrest and other celebrities, where they signed off Twitter and Facebook (digitally dead) so fans could donate to this charity in honor of World AIDS Day and in order to reach a $1 million fundraiser goal.
Operation Smile
Formed in 1982, Operation Smile is a not-for-profit medical service organization aiming to provide cleft lip and palate surgeries to children and adolescents across the globe. $240 can fund a surgery and change the life of a child with cleft palate forever. That’s way less than an iPad. Text the keyword “SMILE” to the short code 90999 to donate $5. (Sauce)
Liberals claim that the founding fathers separated church and state, while conservatives argue that the founders made faith a foundation of our government. Both sides argue that America once enjoyed a freedom to worship that they seek to preserve. Yet neither side gets it right. As we marked Passover and Easter, let's end some misconceptions about religion and politics in America.
1. The Constitution has always protected religious freedom.
Many Americans believe that the First Amendment’s separation of church and state safeguards religious liberty. But when the First Amendment was ratified in 1791, it did not apply to the states and would not until well into the 20th century. As a result, the First Amendment did not prevent states from paying churches out of the public treasury, as Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and South Carolina did when that amendment was written. And those states that did not fund churches still favored Christianity. Blasphemy was forbidden in Delaware in 1826, and officeholders in Pennsylvania had to swear that they believed in “the being of a God and a future state of rewards and punishments.”
American federalism gave states enormous power to regulate the health, welfare and morals of their citizens. Because many thought religion was the foundation of American society, they used their power to imprint their moral ideals on state constitutions and judicial opinions for much of American history. Even today, these laws linger on the books. I still can’t buy beer on Sundays in Atlanta.
2. The founders’ faith matters.
Christians who consider the founders saintly won’t have much luck backing that up. Thomas Jefferson wrote a version of the New Testament that removed references to Jesus’s divinity. Ben Franklin was a deist. And George Washington may not have taken Communion.
But whatever the founders’ religious beliefs were, the First Amendment merely preserved the church-and-state status quo. There had never been an official religion in the 13 colonies, and the new states favored different faiths. The South was traditionally Anglican but had a growing Methodist and Baptist population. New England was traditionally Congregationalist, but evangelicals moved there nonetheless. The middle colonies mixed Lutherans, Catholics (in Maryland), Presbyterians and Quakers. A small number of Jews lived in early America, as well.
So the framers punted the issue of religion to the states, promising only that the power of the federal government would not be used to advance, say, Congregationalist beliefs over Presbyterian ones. This was a pluralistic vision of sorts but one that still allowed states to declare official religions and grant privileges to specific denominations.
3. Christian conservatives have only recently taken over politics.
Christian partisans mobilized early in U.S. history, seeking to impose an interdenominational — but still Christian and, more specifically, Protestant — moral order on the new nation.
Initially, Christians were more successful in exercising political and legal control at the state level. They passed blasphemy laws. They required Sabbath rest on Sundays. In Massachusetts, they mandated devotional exercises in public schools, a practice that spread to every state with public education.
In time, however, the faithful found a federal audience for moral reform with the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919, a national experiment in prohibition. These moral campaigns anticipated many of the political disputes over religion that have emerged in recent decades, and they weren’t any less divisive than debates about the death penalty, abortion or gay marriage.
4. America is more secular than it used to be.
The American Revolution was actually a low point in American religious adherence. Sociologists have shown that no more than 20 percent of the population in 1776 belonged to a church. Then, under the influence of evangelical expansion during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century, church membership grew rapidly until, by 1850, more than one-third of Americans belonged to a church. In 1890, after another round of Protestant evangelization and Catholic immigration from Ireland, Italy and elsewhere, the proportion rose to 45 percent. And in 1906, church members became a majority — 51 percent of the population.
The trend continues. In 2000, 62 percent of the populace belonged to religious institutions, if not specifically Christian churches. Evangelical Christians still lead this expansion, and their influence has become more pronounced, not less, over the past two centuries. The presidency of George W. Bush — the most evangelical commander in chief — testifies that Americans are becoming more religious, not less.
5. Liberals are anti-religious.
In 1947’s Everson v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court demanded a more thorough separation of church and state. States could no longer endorse specific religions, and prayer and Bible reading in schools and blasphemy laws went on the chopping block. This led religious conservatives to accuse the high court — as well as liberals in general — of, well, irreligion.
But liberals such as Justices Robert H. Jackson and William Brennan argued that they sought to honor the multiple religious traditions that had been repressed in the United States. They pointed out that Catholics had been made to recite the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments in public schools; that observant Jews labored at an economic disadvantage because they had to close their shop on the Sabbath; that Buddhists, who could not swear that they believed in God, were banned from office in several states; that Jehovah’s Witnesses were made to say the pledge of allegiance in violation of their religious beliefs; and that secular humanists could be drafted without regard to their conscientious objection.
Liberals on the court sought to do away with this heritage of official discrimination, but they did not seek to do away with religion. As Jackson wrote in 1952: "My evangelistic brethren confuse an objection to compulsion with an objection to religion. It is possible to hold a faith with enough confidence to believe that what should be rendered to God does not need to be decided and collected by Caesar."
*Author of this piece David Sehat is an assistant professor of history at Georgia State University and the author of "The Myth of American Religious Freedom."
I cannot say I understand the purpose of this video other than to show how much money he has or maybe it's satirical. Who is this guy? With all this money he is still angry? Brah, you need to chill, invest your money and enjoy life. Go travel the world instead of appearing ignorant and angry towards something no one can comprehend.
And yet the smartest, greatest, kindest science and math teacher most ever had is losing their job because there's not enough money in the budget...so, so tight!
Grady Warren questions the race card and political correctness and double standards in the media. He then goes on to declare a TEAHAD on political correctness in the groups out to destroy America. (11/3/10)
I'm pretty sure anyone using "nigra" in modern times is probably not convincing anyone they aren't racist.
"Prince has reportedly needed double-hip-replacement surgery since 2005 but won't undergo the operation unless it is a bloodless surgery because Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept blood transfusions."
