Blogroll

Weekend Edition: 4-25

Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes

‘Have You Ever Thought About Killing Someone?’ (“Being turned on by your own death is a fetish that causes both moral and legal problems.”)

Legal Pleading of the Week

To F*ck This Court And Everything That It Stands For (“F*ck you, old man. You’re a joke. Your court’s a […]

Yielding our freedoms: Deutsche verboten

Words can be dangerous. You know, “the pen is mightier than the sword” and all that. But entire languages? During World War I, plenty of people thought speaking German was anti-American. Many states, including South Dakota, thought it so unpatriotic that they banned the language.

As I noted previously, the South Dakota Council of Defense […]

Weekend Edition: 4-18

Interesting Reading in the Interweb Tubes

Binge Reading Disorder (“When you encounter so many sentences a day, even if they are well constructed, intelligent, and seemingly memorable, how do you actually remember one intelligent thought when a thousand others are clamoring for your attention?”)

What Does Gun Violence Really Cost? (“Even before accounting for […]

Yielding our freedoms: Meet the State Council of Defense

As noted in the last post, concern about American “preparedness” after the First World War started led to a variety of government action. One was the formation of the Council of National Defense, which was to coordinate industries and resources “for the national security and welfare.”

Although created in August 1916, the Council wasn’t […]

Yielding our freedoms: World War I edition

When assailed or even criticized by others, we Americans proudly trumpet the rights granted us by the Constitution. One of the most explicit examples in recent history was George W. Bush’s speech to Congress following the attacks of September 11, 2001. Speaking of terrorist groups, Bush said, “They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, […]