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Post by justjohn on Mar 10, 2010 19:09:23 GMT -7
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Post by Nictoshek on Mar 11, 2010 19:12:26 GMT -7
I just bought some bio-degradable pots made in Vietnam.
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Post by justjohn on Mar 17, 2010 3:34:31 GMT -7
This Day in Marine History: March 17 1967 The first woman Marine to report to Vietnam for duty, Master Sergeant Barbara J. Dulinsky, began her 18-hour flight to Bien Hoa, 30 miles north of Saigon. MSgt Dulinsky and the other officer and enlisted Women Marines that followed were assigned to the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) based in Saigon. Most worked with the Marine Corps Personnel Section providing administrative support to Marines assigned as far north as the DMZ, but two Lieutenant Colonels, Ruth Reinholz and Ruth O'Holleran, served as historians with the Military History Branch, Secretary Joint Staff, MACV.
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Post by justjohn on Mar 27, 2010 5:57:37 GMT -7
Brest Raion, Belarus – March 30, 1689, also known in English as Casimir Liszinski, was a Polish noble, landowner in Brest Litovsk Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania being a part of the Kingdom of Poland, philosopher, and soldier in the ranks of the Sapieha family, who was accused, tried, and executed for atheism in 1689.[1][2] For eight years he studied philosophy as a Jesuit and then became a podsędek (supply judge) in legal cases against the Jesuits concerning estates. He wrote a treatise entitled The non-existence of God and was later executed on charges of atheism. His trial was criticized[3] and is seen as an isolated case of legalized "religious murder" in Poland.[4] Kazimierz Łyszczyński was a Polish noble, landowner, philosopher, and soldier in the ranks of the Sapieha family. For eight years he studied philosophy as a Jesuit and then became a supply judge (podsędek) in legal cases against the Jesuits concerning estates. Łyszczyński was reading a book by Henry Aldsted entitled Theologia Naturalis, which attempted to prove the existence of divinity. But the arguments were so confused that Łyszczyński was able to infer contradictions. In ridicule of Aldsted, Łyszczyński wrote in the margins of the book the words "ergo non est Deus" ("therefore God does not exist"). This was discovered by one of Łyszczyński's debtors, Jan Kazimierz Brzoska, who was the nuncio of Brest in Poland or a Stolnik of Bracławice or Łowczy of Brześć. Brest, reluctant to return a great sum of money lent by Łyszczyński, accused Lyszczynski of being an atheist and gave as evidence the aforementioned work to Witwicki, bishop of Posnania. Brzoska also stole and delivered to the court a handwritten copy of De non existentia Dei, which was the first Polish philosophical treatise presenting reality from an atheistic perspective, developed by Łyszczyński from 1674 onwards.[5] Witwicki along with the Zaluski, bishop of Kiod, took up this case with a zeal. The King attempted to help Łyszczyński by ordering that he should be judged at Vilna, but this could not save Łyszczyński from the clergy. Łyszczyński's first privilege of a Polish noble, that he could not be imprisoned before his condemnation, was violated. Łyszczyński's affair was brought before the diet of 1689 where he was accused of having denied the existence of God and having blasphemed against the Virgin Mary and the saints. He was condemned to death for atheism. The sentence was undertaken before noon at the Old Town Market in Warsaw, where his tongue was pulled out followed by a beheading.[3] After that, his corpse was transported beyond the city borders and cremated. Bishop Zaluski gave the following account of the execution: After recantation the culprit was conducted to the scaffold, where the executioner tore with a burning iron the tongue and the mouth, with which he had been cruel against God; after which his hands, the instruments of the abominable production, were burnt at a slow fire, the sacrilegious paper was thrown into the flames; finally himself, that monster of his century, this deicide was thrown into the expiatory flames; expiatory if such a crime may be atoned for.[3]
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Post by pieter on Mar 27, 2010 7:06:59 GMT -7
Interesting history lesson JJ!
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Post by kaima on Mar 27, 2010 10:12:05 GMT -7
....i landowner in Brest Litovsk Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania being a part of the Kingdom of Poland,..... JJ, I take that as Polish ego exposing itself on the part of the original writer, and it is quite common. With New York and Virginia unified within the United States, we do not refer to Virginia as a part of New York, but it is all too common to refer to the Duchy of Lithuania as part of Poland. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a very large and internally differentiated state. The population of Ruthenians (Rus, not Moskovites who later are identified as Russians) was more numerous, with their language and culture dominating even at the court of the grand Lithuanian dukes. After the initial Union of Krewo (1385) and baptism of Lithuania, it turned out, however, that the incorporation [the text of the Union used the Latin term applicare] of such a different state organism into the Crown of the Polish Kingdom was impossible. Lithuania had its own system of government, laws and social structures. In 1401 in Vilnius and in 1413 in Horodlo the Polish-Lithuanian Union was transformed so as to enable Lithuania's identity to find its legal expression. Poland and Lithuania, united by the Union, commanded at the turn of the 15th century a territory of upwards of 1.1 million sq. km., the land being inhabited by various ethnic groups and religions: Poles, Lithuanians, Germans, Ruthenians, Jews, Armenians, and Tartars, professing Catholic, Orthodox, Armenian, Judaic and Muslim religions. That great diversity, despite the dominance of Catholicism, compelled the rulers to be completely tolerant and guarantee rights to all inhabitants, irrespective of their descent or religion. The baptism of Lithuania and the union with Poland deprived the Teutonic Order of all reasons for its expansion, and even for its existence. The diplomatic strife between the Order and Poland and Lithuania continued at the Council of Constance (1414-1418). A professor of Krakow University, Pawel Wiodkowic, delivered there a treatise condemning war and violence as a means to convert pagans. Such views ran counter to the prevailing contemporary opinion, but were borne out by the effective Christianization of Lithuania by Poland. The Union of Lublin (Polish: Unia lubelska; Lithuanian: Liublino unija; Belarusian: Лю́блінская у́нія) replaced the personal union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with a real union and an elective monarchy. In addition, the autonomy of Royal Prussia was largely abandoned. The Duchy of Livonia, tied to Lithuania in real union since the Union of Grodno (1566), became a Polish-Lithuanian condominium. The Union of Lublin was signed July 1, 1569, in Lublin, Poland, and created a single State, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth was ruled by a single elected monarch who carried out the duties of Polish King and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and governed with a common Senate and parliament (the Sejm), as well as continuing the individual parliaments. The Union was an evolutionary stage in the Polish-Lithuanian alliance and personal union, necessitated also by Lithuania's dangerous position in wars with Russia.[2][3][4] Constituting a crucial event in the history of several nations, the Union of Lublin has been viewed quite differently by many historians. Polish historians concentrate on its positive aspects, emphasizing its peaceful, voluntary creation and its role in the spreading of Polish culture. Lithuanian historians are more critical of the Union, pointing out that it was dominated by Poland. And a chronological summary from another source: The term Polish–Lithuanian Union sometimes called as United Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania refers to a series of acts and alliances between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that lasted for prolonged periods of time and led to the creation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth—the "Republic of the Two Nations"—in 1569 and eventually to the creation of a short-lived unitary state in 1791.[1] The most important acts in the process of union were: * 1385 – Union of Krewo— a personal union that brought Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila to Polish throne; * 1401 – Union of Vilnius and Radom reassured sovereignty of Grand Duchy of Lithuania; * 1413 – Union of Horodło - heraldic union, that granted many szlachta rights to Lithuanian nobility; * 1432 (1432–34) – Union of Grodno a declarative attempt to renew closer union; * 1499 – Union of Kraków and Vilnius personal union turns to dynastic union, recognises sovereignty of Lithuania and sescribes interation between two states; * 1501 – Union of Mielnik - personal union renewed; * July 1, 1569 – Union of Lublin — a real union that resulted in creation of the semi-federal, semi-confedederal Republic of the Two Nations; and * May 3, 1791 – Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791: the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were abolished, and a common state was created in their place. The changes were modified with the Reciprocal Guarantee of Two Nations that stressed the continuity of bi-national status of the state, and were reversed completely in 1792 under pressure of Russian Empire forces. So I believe we should clean up the references to the Union in English and recognize the high degree of Lithuanian independence that was maintained through the various stages of the Union. One of the most common complaints I hear about Poles among other Slavic communities is the pushiness to dominate; resistance of others to this domination maintains the split among our peoples.
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Post by justjohn on Mar 28, 2010 2:53:45 GMT -7
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Post by kaima on Mar 30, 2010 23:44:31 GMT -7
I think it is time for Marines and good Americans to start carrying weapons openly when those extremists from Kansas come to protest military funerals. Certainly if weapons can be carried in the vicinity of a sitting president, they can be carried to the funerals of our fallen soldiers when these hate-mongers come to insult and traumatize the families of the fallen.
All that remains is for the local law to declare the protest area a free fire area. A quick search for Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church 3701 Southwest 12th Street Topeka, KS 66604 (785) 273-0325
will reveal where counter-protests can be organized.
PS. It seems the crazy courts have decided the father of a fallen Marine should pay for the church's court costs in defending their right to traumatize families of the dead!
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Post by justjohn on Mar 31, 2010 3:50:48 GMT -7
I think it is time for Marines and good Americans to start carrying weapons openly when those extremists from Kansas come to protest military funerals. Certainly if weapons can be carried in the vicinity of a sitting president, they can be carried to the funerals of our fallen soldiers when these hate-mongers come to insult and traumatize the families of the fallen. All that remains is for the local law to declare the protest area a free fire area. A quick search for Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church 3701 Southwest 12th Street Topeka, KS 66604 (785) 273-0325 will reveal where counter-protests can be organized. PS. It seems the crazy courts have decided the father of a fallen Marine should pay for the church's court costs in defending their right to traumatize families of the dead! I read that. I think the court decision is crazy. It doesn't make sense. Open carry to crazies church should be an eye opener.
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Post by justjohn on Apr 2, 2010 4:21:59 GMT -7
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Post by Nictoshek on Apr 2, 2010 5:43:00 GMT -7
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Post by justjohn on Apr 2, 2010 6:55:51 GMT -7
Nictoe,
Gitmo has been around for a long time. It is only since 9/11 that it became a detention center.
The bay was called Guantánamo by its original inhabitants, the Taíno. Christopher Columbus landed at the location known as Fisherman's Point in 1494, naming it Puerto Grande.[3] On landing, Columbus' crew found Taíno fishermen preparing a feast for the local chieftain. When Spanish settlers took control of Cuba, the bay became a vital harbor on the south side of the island.
The bay was briefly known as Cumberland Bay when the British seized it in 1741, during the War of Jenkins' Ear. British Admiral Edward Vernon arrived with a force of eight warships and 4,000 soldiers with plans to march on Santiago de Cuba. However, resistance by local guerrilla forces forced him to withdraw.[3] In late 1760, boats from HMS Trent and HMS Boreas cut-out the French privateers Vainquer and Mackau, which were hiding in the bay. The French were also forced to burn the Guespe, another privateer, to prevent her capture.
During the Spanish-American War, the U.S. Navy fleet attacking Santiago needed shelter from the summer hurricane season. They chose Guantánamo because of its excellent harbor. U.S. Marines landed with naval support in the 1898 invasion of Guantánamo Bay. As they moved inland, however, Spanish resistance increased and the Marines required support from Cuban scouts.
The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base surrounds the southern portion of the bay. Since 2002, the base has included the detainment camp for suspected terrorists. In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama gave orders for the detention camp to be closed by 22 January 2010. As of March 2010, the detention camp remains open.
The naval base, nicknamed "GTMO" or "Gitmo", covers 116 km² (about 45 square miles) on the western and eastern banks of the bay. It was established in 1898, when the United States took control of Cuba from Spain following the Spanish-American War. A perpetual lease for the area around Guantánamo Bay was offered February 23, 1903, from Tomás Estrada Palma, the first President of Cuba. The newly formed American protectorate incorporated the Platt Amendment in the Cuban Constitution. The Cuban-American Treaty held, among other things, that the United States, for the purposes of operating coaling and naval stations, has "complete jurisdiction and control" of the Guantánamo Bay, while the Republic of Cuba is recognized to retain ultimate sovereignty.[4]
In 1934 the Avery Porko treaty reaffirming the lease granted Cuba and its trading partners free access through the bay, modified the lease payment from $2,000 in U.S. gold coins per year to the 1934 equivalent value of $4,085 in U.S. dollars, and made the lease permanent unless both governments agreed to break it or until the U.S. abandoned the base property.[5]
After the Cuban Revolution, then-President Dwight Eisenhower insisted the status of the base remained unchanged, despite Fidel Castro's objections. Since then, the Cuban government has cashed only one of the rent checks from the U.S. government, and even then only because of "confusion" in the early days of the leftist revolution, according to Castro. The remaining uncashed checks made out to "Treasurer General of the Republic" (a title that ceased to exist after the revolution) are kept in Castro's office stuffed into a desk drawer.[6] The United States argues that the cashing of the single check signifies Havana's ratification of the lease — and that ratification by the new government renders moot any questions about violations of sovereignty and illegal military occupation.[citation needed]
Some have countered that the 1903 and 1934 lease agreements were imposed on Cuba under duress and are unequal treaties, no longer compatible with modern international law, and voidable ex nunc pursuant to articles 60, 62, and 64 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.[7] However, Article 4 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties prohibits retroactive application of said Convention to already existing treaties,[8] such as the ones concluded between the US and Cuba in 1903 and 1934.
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Post by justjohn on Apr 3, 2010 5:44:14 GMT -7
Apr 3, 1860: Pony Express debutsOn this day in 1860, the first Pony Express mail, traveling by horse and rider relay teams, simultaneously leaves St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Ten days later, on April 13, the westbound rider and mail packet completed the approximately 1,800-mile journey and arrived in Sacramento, beating the eastbound packet's arrival in St. Joseph by two days and setting a new standard for speedy mail delivery. Although ultimately short-lived and unprofitable, the Pony Express captivated America's imagination and helped win federal aid for a more economical overland postal system. It also contributed to the economy of the towns on its route and served the mail-service needs of the American West in the days before the telegraph or an efficient transcontinental railroad. The Pony Express debuted at a time before radios and telephones, when California, which achieved statehood in 1850, was still largely cut off from the eastern part of the country. Letters sent from New York to the West Coast traveled by ship, which typically took at least a month, or by stagecoach on the recently established Butterfield Express overland route, which could take from three weeks to many months to arrive. Compared to the snail's pace of the existing delivery methods, the Pony Express' average delivery time of 10 days seemed like lightning speed. The Pony Express Company, the brainchild of William H. Russell, William Bradford Waddell and Alexander Majors, owners of a freight business, was set up over 150 relay stations along a pioneer trail across the present-day states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California. Riders, who were paid approximately $25 per week and carried loads estimated at up to 20 pounds of mail, were changed every 75 to 100 miles, with horses switched out every 10 to 15 miles. Among the riders was the legendary frontiersman and showman William "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917), who reportedly signed on with the Pony Express at age 14. The company's riders set their fastest time with Lincoln's inaugural address, which was delivered in just less than eight days. The initial cost of Pony Express delivery was $5 for every half-ounce of mail. The company began as a private enterprise and its owners hoped to gain a profitable delivery contract from the U.S. government, but that never happened. With the advent of the first transcontinental telegraph line in October 1861, the Pony Express ceased operations. However, the legend of the lone Pony Express rider galloping across the Old West frontier to deliver the mail lives on today.
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Post by Nictoshek on Apr 4, 2010 1:48:17 GMT -7
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Post by kaima on Apr 4, 2010 7:23:20 GMT -7
It flashed into my mind: did Poland have a Pony Express? They must have had some communication system, particularly during the expansive Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, for our native Polish friends who are interested in American cowboy history and in improving their English, I Googled Polish Pony Express and came up with www.amazon.com/Story-Express-Websters-Polish-Thesaurus/dp/B002BO3LL8The Story of the Pony Express (Webster's Polish Thesaurus Edition)Buy new: $28.95 1 Used & new from $28.95 Just watch out for the Kileboassa Kid (he used to ride the range around Cleveland airwaves as Big John.) Also check out Pony Express around the world, including Czechoslovakia www.xphomestation.com/xp-world.html
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