State of Mind

Mississippi Frees Its Slaves

February 19, 2013 By mario piperni

The Thirteenth Amendment of the United States reads as follows:

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

After passing the Senate (1864) and House (1865), the amendment was sent off to all 36 states of the union for ratification. Georgia became the 27th state to ratify the amendment and on December 6 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment was adopted. Slavery was outlawed. Yeah!

But the story did not end there.

After watching Steven Spielberg’s film Lincoln, a professor at the University of Mississippi and his colleague decided to look into the matter. Here’s what they discovered.

Mississippi was one of four states that rejected ratification of the 13th amendment, along with New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky. The amendment passed without Mississippi’s support anyway, and all the other no-voting states symbolically ratified the amendment in the following years. New Jersey was quick, ratifying in 1866. Delaware had resolved the matter by 1901. Kentucky took a little longer, waiting until 1976. Mississippi lawmakers finally got around to it in 1995.

But it doesn’t appear to have been a huge priority, because the ratification was never sent to the Office of the Federal Register, which means it wasn’t official.

Oops.

No worries. The Mississippi Secretary of State was contacted and the paperwork was finally done this month to make ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment official.

With that out of the way, word is out that Mississippi will now get around to surrendering to the union later this month.

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Filed Under: State of Mind Tagged With: Mississippi, slavery

Romney and Wealth: Quotes of the Day

July 10, 2012 By mario piperni

She sat in her Range Rover in the Hamptons waiting to enter a mansion where a $25,000 a plate Romney fundraiser was being held. She took the time to complain about the little people who, in her humble opinion, are simply too ignorant to understand “why Obama is hurting them.”

We’ve got the message. But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies — everybody who’s got the right to vote — they don’t understand what’s going on. I just think if you’re lower income — one, you’re not as educated, two, they don’t understand how it works, they don’t understand how the systems work, they don’t understand the impact.

That’s a Romney voter for you – out of touch, well-to-do and cast in the mold of Marie Antoinette (yes, I know that Marie Antoinette got a bad rap on that “let them eat cake” myth, but you know what I’m saying.)

Joshua Green nails it with the following observation on Romney and his wealth.

…every time Romney draws attention to the unseemly aspects of his wealth (or when his supporters do, like the Hamptons crowd), he undercuts that fundraising advantage and hurts his candidacy. He does this a lot: bragging about his multiple Cadillacs, proposing a $10,000 bet during a GOP debate, boasting of his friendship with NFL owners.

Romney’s problem is that while he was very good at getting rich, he isn’t any good at being rich. In fact, he’s downright terrible at it.

Yep. Ri¢hie Ri¢h handled his wealth so much better.

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Filed Under: State of Mind Tagged With: 2012 election, mitt romney

Dems Win in Wisconsin

August 17, 2011 By mario piperni

Some good news out of Wisconsin to start a dreary Wednesday.

The six-month saga that was Wisconsin’s state Senate recall movement ended Tuesday with Democrats retaining two seats – and Republicans still in possession of a week-old, razor-thin 17-16 majority.

On the fourth election day of the summer, two Democratic incumbents were victorious. Sen. Jim Holperin (D-Conover) beat challenger and tea party activist Kim Simac of Eagle River, and Sen. Bob Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie) easily topped Republican lawyer Jonathan Steitz.

Bottom line: Republicans will continue to control the agenda in the Capitol, but it will be difficult for Gov. Scott Walker and other GOP leaders to get everything they want.

OK, Republicans still hold a lead in the Wisconsin Senate but yesterday’s wins combined with the two seats Dems took last week will make it trickier for Walker to pass any more draconian policies. The key is Sen. Dale Schultz who was the only Republican to side with Dems in voting against Walker’s collective bargaining bill. Moderate conservatives like Schultz who buck the party line are a rare thing these days. Any future legislation Republicans hope to pass will have to, at a minimum, concede something to Democrats or face being defeated.

On the negative side, Walker has pretty much already passed much of what Republicans had hoped for.

Republicans this year have already achieved many of the top goals that they have pursued for years. In addition to the collective bargaining changes, they approved significant cuts in state aid to schools and local governments; some tax cuts; the carrying of concealed weapons; requiring photo ID at the polls starting next year; and eliminating all taxpayer funding for political campaigns.

What is it with Republicans and cutting funding to schools? Do these people perceive education as a liberal plot to take over the country? Idiots. Anyway, next on the agenda for Dems is the Walker recall planned for next year. It’s a long shot but the overall results from the Senate recalls should give all fair-minded, freedom-loving Wisconsinites hope.

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