Mrs Mildred Loving

In 1939, a black child named Mildred Delores Jeter was born in the US State of Virginia. Twenty-eight years later, she would make history.

When Mildred Jeter turned 11, she started dating the 17 year old man Richard Perry Loving. He was white, and this posed a problem when Mildred became pregnant at the age of 18.

At this time, Virginia was one of 16 states which had a law preventing mixed-race marriages. The law that prohibited these marriages was the Racial Integrity Act, and was passed by the Democratic Party.

Due to the pregnancy and the social composition of the time, Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving decided to get married. Richard Loving knew it was illegal for them to get married in Virginia, and so the couple went to Washington D.C., and became husband and wife there. Five weeks after the wedding, they were arrested at 2 a.m. The couple were charged with “cohabitating as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth”, a charge they both pled guilty to.

In sentencing, Judge Leon M. Bazile stated “if God had meant for whites and blacks to mix, he would not have placed them on different continents.” The Lovings were sentenced to a one year suspended sentence each, and also ordered to leave Virginia and to not be in the State at the same time for 25 years, or they’d face further arrests.

The Lovings sought assistance from Democrat Robert Kennedy, who was the Attorney-General at the time, who forwarded a letter penned by Mildred Loving to the American Civil Liberties Union, and the ACLU took on the case. Due to the Lovings choice to plead guilty, they had no right to appeal. The ACLU then asked Judge Bazile to overturn his decision, but he refused. The Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals upheld Judge Bazile’s decision, and so the ACLU and the Lovings appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

This is where the case gets really interesting. In 1967, the case was heard before Chief Justice Earl Warren, a Republican, who determined that the miscegenation laws were in violation of the United States Constitution’s equal protection clause.

In handing down his decision, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote some of the finest words I can recall reading in a while. He wrote:

“…The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men. Marriage is one of the “basic civil rights of man,” fundamental to our very existence and survival … Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.”

The Loving case was a big step in the United States, one that’s led to more changes for equality.

Post deleted by its author…ME, Tizona. Now you can call me a hypocrite…but, you do have my email address, so write if you choose.

SNIP! The Bolt Moderators

I love the Bolt Moderators.

They have such a sense of humour. Such a whack of smartiness.

They’re TOPS!

No comment.

Just read - and ask yourself if there hasn’t been a couple of significant details omitted.

Credit to Monsters and Critics for running the story nonetheless.

Books Reviewed: Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, by Ken Follett

These would have to be two of the best books I’ve ever read. Both concern themselves with a fictional English medieval village - or town, as it later becomes - called Kingsbridge. Ken Follett, perhaps more famous for his World War II spy thrillers such as Eye of the Needle, effortlessly transfers his skills to the historical epic. His talent for suspense does this genre no harm. Both books are superbly plotted and well researched.

Pillars of the Earth is set in the 12th century, an amazing time which saw the birth of Western civilization as it clawed its way out of the Dark Ages, yet still riven by rampant Feudalism and, in England’s case, a drawn-out civil war. The central plot-line concerns itself with the building of a great Gothic cathedral. 1000-plus pages of cathedral building? you ask dubiously. Fear not, there’s not a boring page in the entire opus. A host of characters, spanning two generations, drives the plot along. One can only read with delight the manoeuvrings and scheming of its heroes and villains. I kept thinking of a game of bridge or five hundred: you get to see all the cards, then watch them as they’re played, expertly, one by one. Rarely will you see characters you like so well suffering so much and rarely will you clamour so hard for the nasty people to get their just deserts.

World Without End is a worthy sequel, set two centuries later. It lacks the brilliant “heart” of the first book, for by this time the cathedral is built. There is a bridge, and some cathedral renovations, both symbolic of wider events just as the cathedral was in the first book, and some people have criticized WWE for these less inspiring constructions. The criticism is, however, unfounded. If anything, WWE is even more intricately plotted than PotE and I, personally, found it a fraction more entertaining, thanks in no small part to the arrival of the Black Death half way through, and also the confidence I had gained from reading the first, in knowing that Follett was an author who ‘delivered the goods’. So many books start off with a promising idea or two but finish lamely because the author never quite worked out how to finish everything off. I don’t know how much Follett worked out in advance or made up as he went along, but it all fits together fantastically. What a truly terrifying time in which to live (or die, as a third of them did). Whilst WWE has many similarities to the first book, it is not repetitive. I read them back to back, no problem at all. My only quibble is that WWE has more sex in it than it really needs - not all of it; indeed, it’s an integral part of the lives and loves of these well drawn-out characters and many plot developments hinge on their fulfilled or unfulfilled desires - but there are only so many times Merthin needs to recall ‘feeling up’  Caris next to a pillar.

Both books celebrate the struggle of mind, reason and ability over superstition, violence and jealousy. Apparently, Pillars of the Earth was a ’sleeper’, its sales starting slowly, largely overlooked by critics at the time. Word of mouth ensured its rise to the top of the bestseller list, and you’ll now find it in most bookstores ‘Top 100′ section. For very good reason.

Mag 7.8 Quake in China, Estimate Over 8,500 Casualties

Evidently, God isn’t too keen on having the Olympics in Peking this summer either.

A 7.8 temblor is a really big one - anything over 7.5 is - and so I’d expect the number of casualties to go much higher. China is not known for robust building codes, if you catch my drift.

It will be interesting to see what, if any, damage there has been to the Olympic Village.

UPDATE: The above article has been updated, and the quake estimate has gone up to a magnitude 7.9 - truly epic - and it was 600 km from the Olympic Village, so no reported damage there… yet. A 7.5 EQ in China once killed and/or injured over a quarter million, so this could get really hideous. Fortunately, China’s government is marginally better at handling this sort of thing than, let’s say, Burma’s.

UPDATE II: Hugh Hewett is on the case, complete with links for disaster relief donations. Here’s the incident map:

As you can see, this happened in a remote central region, and nowhere near Peking.

Gallery Updated

Make sure to click over and see the updates to the 1.618: Gallery. There’s some fine art there.

1.618 - the forgotten pic.

I had reason to dig into the archives of timblair.net this morning, and rediscovered this gem.

Explanations and memories here.

Hide the letterbox, Mr Packer.

James Packer - son of the man who did something or other with cricket; ask someone who really cares - has come to a parting of the ways with the L Ron Hubbard Appreciation Society.
I remember my own flirtation with that crowd. Two or three years later I was still getting mail from them.
Today at least they might have progressed to email. Ah, the simple joys of the Delete button!

The Electronic Age has its other blessings too, of course.

Israel to declare war on Mulga?

Have been stirring the possum a little more over the Unleashed website. The moderators have been blocking any of my posts that mention a comment has been “reported to moderator”, so they do exist, and are feeling a little bit exposed.

So its time to ramp it up some more, I want the moderator to lose their job, head on a plate, impaled at the front gates as a warning to other scum.

So i have fired off an email to the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. This should be fun if they choose to get involved.

Urgent Information Needed

I need to know the answer to this question:

Is it morally or ethically wrong to eat a beefsteak pie for breakfast?

Lair Relocated

In a cunning move, The Lair of Mr. Blair has been relocated to the Daily Telegraph site.

Time will tell how successful this move is.

Update: Andrea the Mighty reflects.

And now for the fathers.

Well, the father of this particular blog at any rate.

But you’ve probably got this one in your wardrobe already, eh, boss?

I thought you did. You do all your clothes shopping here, I bet.

First Test Tracks with the New Axe

For those interested, there are three downloadable MP3’s I recorded with my new guitar here:

Test Tracks

Three pieces I wrote. The sound is a little edgy yet, and they are all first takes, and so not perfect, but I’m happy with the direction.

I have a screaming need for beer this evening. LOL!

A Plan For The Future

I’m so stealing these ideas from Sherro at Andrew Bolt’s.

An alternative 2020 vision of new ideas assembled over a slab by some of our most jaded and drunkest Australians:

1. Issue the growing homeless warm Police Uniforms, they are on the streets anyway and this way people will see cops out on the street other than for Gay Pride Marches.

2. Extend the death penalty from unborn babies to cover criminals as well.

3. Let people have the option of registering an open vote with the AEC, that way if a pollie changes his position after the election, we can too.

4. Transport Ministers trade in their limos for a bus ticket and a bike pump.

5. Aviation and Tourism ministers have to fly economy and line up like everyone else.

6. Take the revenue from speed camera fines and divide equally amongst drivers with a clean record for 12 months off their rego. This makes it revenue neutral and rewards and encourages people to drive safely, which is what are told constantly is the only reason to have these cameras.

7. Immediate ban and jail for any small business owner who appears in his own TV ads to assist our mental health by removing these annoying twits shouting at us.

8. End the baby bonus… if you can’t feed em, don’t breed em!

9. Stop arts “grants”, start arts “loans”. The artist has to generate enough income from their work to pay the public back. If their work is unwanted trite we want a refund just as we would demand for anything else we pay good money for.

10. End the “Australian Values” exam for potential immigrants and replace it with an IQ test instead.

11. Get the aboriginal community to write down everything they want to be happy, total it up and put it to a referendum.

12. Introduce HECS at the Australian Institute of Sport, if doctors and engineers have to pay for their career, so can netballers.

13. Every wage and salary earner is entitled to a “study tour” every five years that is tax deductible. If they help our pollies to be better workers, then let’s extend a good thing to all.

14. Amend the Tax Act so you can deposit your wages in overseas accounts without penalty, that way we can introduce some actual competition into Australian banking and let’s us threaten them to send them to the wall for a change.

15. Force phone companies to have a simple, flat rate fee for all mobile calls. Nobody can currently tell what is the best plan to be on, so there is no informed choice.

16. Do the same with the airlines, the same seat on the same flight should cost the same dough as the one next to it. Also, no more “one way” or “plus taxes” in small print under the prices.

17. End advancement by age in schools and replace with advancement by ability. You don’t go up until you can pass your current grade. This prevents illiterate kids coming out the other end and allows bright children to be challenged. Its much fairer at both ends and the same for those in the middle.

18. Stop calling graffiti vandals “artists” and start debiting them the full cost of cleaning off their mess. Alternatively, allow victims 10 minutes unfettered access to their homes to express themselves fully.

19. Let’s protest against Global Warming by refusing to anything about it until China does.

20. Don’t have anymore summits.

Sherro of Templestowe

In The Confessional

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It’s been nine weeks since my last confession.

Since my last confession, I have:

• Eaten more than one Magnum in one sitting;
• Coveted secret fantasies about harming a “celebrity“;
• I ate more than my body weight in steak (I should be embarrassed about this, but I’m not);
• Answered my mobile phone in the Shrine of Remembrance (This is the one thing on this thread I really do feel guilty about);
• Turned the air completely blue with about fifty swear words in a row;
• Eaten six large tubs of KFC’s Potato & Gravy. It’s very tasty;
• Dropped Josh on the floor;
• Not fed Josh when he demanded it, and insulted his mother; and
• Made very insulting, demeaning and disparaging remarks to a complete moron.

I don’t think the Father would like hearing this…

A true story. (and a sad one)

I worked for a number of years in Immigration detention here in Oz,  mostly at the Port Hedland facility. If people are interested i can post a few ‘war stories” from my time there, which happened to coincide with the majority of the riots and unrest.

My first post is related to this news article.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23659947-953,00.html

Rudd tougher on asylum seekers than Howard

Read below for an example of just how complicated an Asylum case can be.

Blaming Barry

This guy here is a big part of the reason why the referendum for a Republic failed.

A sequel. Just like Hollywood, isn’t it?

Available for purchase here.

Jack Gibson RIP

Jack Gibson, a legend of Australian rugby league, passed away overnight.

Born and raised as I was in Victoria, the birthplace of Australian Rules football, I know Gibson only for his brilliant collection of quotes Played Strong Done Fine. This one from champion boxer James J Corbett stands out above all.

Fight one more round. When your feet are so tired that you have to shuffle back to the centre of the ring, fight one more round. When your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round. When your nose is bleeding and your eyes are black and you are so tired that you wish your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round – remembering that the man who always fights one more round is never whipped.