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The Daily Dose/March 8, 2010
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
NOT THE RESULT HE WAS HOPING FOR: Slavery in what is now the United States begins on this date in 1654 when John Casor becomes the first person to be declared a slave for life when he loses a court case on this date in 1654.
Casor had been an indentured servant to one Anthony Johnson. Casor attempted to transfer his remaining servitude to someone else, but Johnson - showing an impressive, early American flair for litigation - sued and won. For reasons no one, especially not Casor, is sure of since there was certainly no precedent in the matter, the court awarded Casor to Johnson for the rest of Casor's life.
Nice Irony, Mr. History: In a piece of irony that might well have been scoffed at had it been part of a novel, Johnson, who was awarded the rest of Casor's life, was a black man. He had been captured by slave traders in his native Angola in 1620 and earned freedom in 1623.
Great Moments In Race Relations: A few years later, in 1662, Virginia passed a law mandating that the status of a black person was dependent on the condition of their mother, meaning that all children of slave women were slaves, even if their fathers were white.
This was very convenient if you were a horny, white male slave owner. Since slaves had no legal standing it meant slave women could not produce legal heirs so a slave owner was not obliged to acknowledge, much less emancipate or support, children reared with slave women.
More Great Moments In Slavery: Noted Founding Father and rabble rouser Thomas Paine publishes the first article in the United States calling for the emancipation of slaves on this date in 1775.
African Slavery In America was published in The Pennsylvania Journal and the Weekly Advertiser. Paine had the zany idea of that being born free was "the natural, perfect right of mankind" and logically asked "As these people are not convicted of forfeiting freedom, they have still a natural, perfect right to it; and the governments whenever they come should, in justice set them free, and punish those who hold them in slavery".
Paine also noted how white colonists were quick to claim that the Crown was trying to enslave them while "they hold so many hundred thousands in slavery; and annually enslave many thousands more, without any pretence of authority, or claim upon them?"
Going Over Like A Ton Of Bricks: Paine also wrote about what to do with freed slaves. He said it would be "cruel" to free the "old and infirm" though those able to work should be given reasonable allowances" so freed slaves might "have some property, and fruits of their labours at the own disposal
The Few. The Proud. The Wealthy: The New York Stock Exchange, formed in 1792, adopts its first constitution on this date in 1817.
The NYSE started trading under a tree on Wall Street, then moved to a coffee house at the corner of Wall and Water streets before renting a room at 40 Wall Street in May, 1817.
God, We Miss The '80's:US President Ronald Reagan uses the phrase "evil empire" to describe the Soviet Union in a speech to a bunch of religious zealots on this date in 1983.
Upset Of The Year: This will surprise you, but the Soviets responded by claiming that America was nothing more than an imperialist superpower and it was only through the Herculean efforts of the Kremlin that all of humanity wasn't force fed democracy.
Order In The Court: The US Supreme Court denies convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's appeal on this date in 1999. Though he still had several available McVeigh would later drop his appeals and would be executed in June, 2001.
SHIVER ME TIMBERS: Last week Somali pirates freed a Thai fishing vessel they had held since last fall, while other pirates captured a Norwegian tanker Saturday.
The UBT Ocean was carrying oil from the United Arab Emirates to Tanzania and this hijacking comes two days after a Saudi tanker was captured and sailed to Somalia.
Catch And Release: The Thai fishing boat had been captured in October in the Indian Ocean. The amount of the ransom wasn't disclosed, thought two previous ransoms for ships this year were for $2 million and $7 million.
Not So FunFact: Somali pirates still hold about 130 people hostage.
What In The Hell Is Going On Here? Why is this still going on? The navies of the United States, Great Britain, plus other NATO and EU nations are unable to stop a rag-tag bunch of amateurs with some guns and boats that even the most desperate Cuban would reject for travel to the United States?
Where's The Soviet Union When You Need Them? Honestly, it would help if Somalia had a stable government. They haven't had one since 1991 and the desperation in the nation is enormous. Even a dictatorship would lend some stability and ease the desperation. Somali pirates are flourishing because piracy is the most profitable way for them to make a living.
Eff This Noise: Somali's turned to piracy when, lacking a government to stop them or to provide them a stable country in which to earn a living, foreign fishing vessels depleting Somali waters and expanded when it proved profitable - and a better way to make a living than scraping an existence on land.
Now That You Mention It: It wouldn't hurt either if ships started defending themselves. Honestly, you sail unarmed into pirate infested waters you shouldn't be too surprised when you have unannounced visitors scampering up your hull. It doesn't have to be much, either. One British captain thwarted would-be hijackers by throwing tree trunks over the side.
To the international community's credit, pirates have been virtually eliminated from the Gulf of Aden, which is located in the Arabian Sea, between Yemen and the northern coast of Somalia and through which 20 percent of the world's shipping traffic travels. But the Gulf of Aden has land to the north and south and the narrow entrance to the Red Sea to the west and with some effort can be contained.
Drink And The Devil Had Done To The Rest: But that has just driven the pirates to the open ocean. Which is less easily contained because all the 20-ship task force can do is sail around and look intimidating and vessels are being attacked as many as 1,000 miles of the African coast.
The international naval contingent means well, but In reality though, the force is limiting to sailing around and looking menacing, though they have arrested suspected pirates.
Yo, Ho, Ho And A Bottle Of Rum: But their success is limited because they have been loathe to board hijacked vessels since it is likely the hostages would be killed, and they are too Western in their thinking simply to shoot people merely because they are suspected to be pirates.
Stop Or I'll Deter, Dammit! When they do board pirate vessels, they usually don't find anything indicting because the pirates throw everything - like weapons, phones and boarding ladders - over the side. Their claims to be fisherman aren't particularly believed due to the absence of anything a fisherman might possess, like fish or the implements to catch them with, but there is little the task force can do.
We Really Mean This: Meanwhile, the dreaded international yachting community has banded together to issue a communiqué which strongly calls for the release of a British couple kidnapped from their yacht last October.
Paul and Rachel Chandler, 60 and 56, were kidnapped while sailing from Tanzania to the Seychelles with the pirates demanding a $7 million ransom. The Chandlers were recently visited by a doctor with Mrs. Chandler described as being declining health, though Mr. Chandler is doing slightly better, though they are missing each other terribly because they are being kept apart.
Thought For The Day: A man's life is interesting primarily when he has failed - I well know. For it's a sign that he tried to surpass himself. - Georges Clemenceau
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: In 2005 Mink, Louisiana became the last town in the US to get landline telephone service.
Today's Stumper: Which African nation was founded by freed American slaves, had a red, white and blue flag and a national capital named after a US president? - Answer next time!
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