Tag: Pennsylvania

Who Was First?

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Black History/American History

It is Black History Month, where the accomplishments and achievements of Afro-American citizens have had on the country…we celebrate our diversity and our citizens……

Last year I wrote a post about the Father Of The Civil Rights Movement”….Thomas Paine (go to search and type in Paine’s name and read his contribution and why I say that)…..this year I ask which was the first state to issue a abolition act?

Since I find Paine an interesting and forgotten Founder….it plays into the question…..

The answer for those who are not aware of this……it was the state of Pennsylvania…..the Pennsylvania Gradual Abolition of Slavery Act of 1780….and with this act the “preamble”, if you will, was said to be written by Thomas Paine while he was employed by the Pennsylvania Assembly……the “preamble” is as follows:

When we contemplate our abhorrence of that condition to which the arms and tyranny of Great Britain were exerted to reduce us, when we look back on the variety of dangers to which we have been exposed, and how miraculously our wants in many instances have been supplied, and our deliverances wrought, when even hope and human fortitude have become unequal to the conflict, we are unavoidably led to a serious and grateful sense of the manifold blessings, which we have undeservedly received from the hand of that Being from whom every good and perfect gift cometh. Impressed with these ideas, we conceive that it is our duty , and we rejoice that it is in our power to extend a portion of that freedom to others which hath been extended to us, and release from that state of thraldom to which we ourselves were tyrannically doomed, and from which we now have every prospect of being delivered. It is not for us to inquire why in the creation of mankind the inhabitants of several parts of the earth were distinguished by a difference in feature or complexion. It is sufficient to know that all are the work of an Almighty Hand. We find in the distribution of the human species that the most fertile as well as the most barren parts of the earth are inhabited by Men of complexions different from ours and from each other; from whence we may reasonably as well as religiously infer that He who placed them in their various situations, hath extended equally His care and protection to all, and that it becometh not us to counteract His mercies.

Not only was Paine there in the original fight for the emancipation of slaves….but his words were strong and eloquent, just as they were in Common Sense that lead Americans to demand independence…….and the birth of the nation……

Few history books tell the whole story of the fight for freedom for the slaves……take nothing away from people like MLK or Malcolm X or Harriet Tubman or Douglass or any of the champions of freedom for the oppressed…..but in the same vain…take nothing away from those that worked tirelessly with no credit for the work they did……

Granted Thomas Paine is NOT a black person but he did more in the early days of the republic to free the slaves than any other of the Founders and he should be remembered for the work that he did…….

Did Specter Step On His Johnson?

It would appear that Arlen Specter may have spoken too soon when he annouinced that there was no guarantee that he would be a loyal Democrat.

On Tuesday night, 5 May 09, the Senate voted to strip Sen, Arlen Specter of his seniority on committees.

He had been  assured him he would retain his seniority in the Senate and on the five committees on which he serves. Specter’s tenure ranked him ahead of all but seven Democrats.

On a voice vote, the Senate approved a resolution that made Specter the most junior Democrat on four committees for the remainder of this Congress. (He will rank second from last on the fifth, the Special Committee on Aging.) Reid himself read the resolution on the Senate floor, underscoring the reversal.

Democrats have suggested that they will consider revisiting Specter’s seniority claim at the committee level only after next year’s midterm elections.

Specter had switched parties because he saw the writing on the wall that he would be defeated in 2010 Pennsylvania Republican primary.  The loss of seniority could prove costly to Specter in his campaign to win reelection in 2010, denying him the ability to distinguish himself from a newcomer in his ability to claim key positions.

Looks like the Senate Democrats took Specter at his word, when he said:  ” I’m ordinarily pretty correct in what I say. I’ve made a career of being precise.”  Why would the Dems want a person who is not a team player to lead any of the committees?

So when Specter said he would not necessarily be a loyal Democrat, he step hard onto his johnson.

Democrat Specter Leads In The Polls

Senator Arlen Specter’s switch to the Democratic Party appears to be paying off with a poll on Monday showing him ahead in his 2010 re-election race in Pennsylvania. Last week Specter, 79, abandoned the Republican Party to run for re-election as a Democrat, a move denounced by fellow Republicans.

Specter said his philosophy was more in line now with Democrats than Republicans, who fired back that he was simply bending to the political winds in order to hang on to power.

A Quinnipiac University poll found Specter would defeat a conservative Republican who is in the race, Pat Toomey, if the election were held today by 53 percent to 33 percent.

You know if the GOP wanted to start rebuilding the party then why not dump Toomey in favor of Tom Ridge?   The poll found Specter leading Ridge by only a margin of 46 percent to 43 percent.

Ridge is a popular politician in the state and could help the GOP start reclaiming some of their old fire that has been lost in the last couple of years.  He is a conservative, but not liked by the far right, that is one reason he was not the choice as McxCain’s running mate in the last election.

The GOP has an opening to help redifine the party, but will they cease the opportunity or will they let is slip through their fingers?