Mega Hyper Double Lunch Post 1: Birthday Trivia

TAE celebrates his birthday this Sunday, March 8th. Because of the current economy and Federal government (and its makeup), I thought there were three bits of interesting March 8th trivia I would share.

1. On March 8th, 1655, John Castor became the first legally recognized slave in the future United States in the case of Johnson vs. Parker. So began a long, difficult battle for equality that, in my opinion, was capped a month ago when a black man took the oath as President of the United States. (Side note, also on March 8th, but in 1775, Thomas Paine published "African Slavery in America" calling for immediate emancipation of slaves, and heavily influencing some of the language Thomas Jefferson used when writing the Declaration of Independence.)

2. On March 8th, 1817, the New York Stock Exchange opened for business, setting up modern capitalist investing on a whole new, wondrous (and in some cases vile) scale.

3. On March 8th, 1917, the U.S. Senate enacts the "cloture rule", whereby a supermajority of Senators can block filibusters. This is relevant because during the November election it was speculated whether or not the Dems could achieve the necessary 60 members to obtain a supermajority. At it's origin, the supermajority required a 2/3rds vote, which would mean 67 votes. But in 1974 that rule was changed, as the Democrats had 61 members and wanted a supermajority. So they passed it, but as in order to appease the dissenters, they agreed that each Senator must be present and accounted for in order to vote...Senator Kennedy could not vote against a filibuster from the safety of his hospital bed.


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