The Equal Protection Clause is a part of the Fourteenth Amendment to
the United States Constitution, providing that "no state shall ...
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws." In the broadest view, the Equal Protection Clause is part of
the United States's continuing attempt to determine what its professed
commitment to the proposition that "all men are created equal" should
mean in practice. Before its enactment, the Constitution protected
individual rights only from invasion by the federal government. After
its enactment, the Constitution also protected rights from abridgement
by state governments. For a long while after the Clause became a part
of the Constitution, it was interpreted narrowly. During and after
World War II, however, the U.S. Supreme Court began to construe the
Clause more expansively. During the 1960s, the other two branches of
the federal government—the executive and the legislative—joined in, as
Congress and the President passed and enforced legislation intended to
ensure equality in education, employment, housing, lodging, and
government benefits.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Protection_Clause
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1755:
A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson was first
published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language)
1912:
The passenger liner RMS Titanic sank two hours and forty minutes after
colliding with an iceberg.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic)
1947:
African American Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers broke the
color line in professional baseball.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson)
1986:
U.S. armed forces launched Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_El_Dorado_Canyon)
1989:
The Hillsborough disaster, one of the biggest tragedies of European
football, occurred.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsborough_disaster)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"Although to penetrate into the intimate mysteries of nature and
thence to learn the true causes of phenomena is not allowed to us,
nevertheless it can happen that a certain fictive hypothesis may
suffice for explaining many phenomena." -- Leonhard Euler
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler)
The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25, 1993.
Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the Canadian House of
Commons at that time. It was one of the most eventful elections in
Canadian history, with more than half of the electorate switching
parties from the 1988 election. The election was called by new
Progressive Conservative Party leader Kim Campbell, near the end of
her party's five-year mandate. Despite an unpopular legacy from the
Brian Mulroney years, Conservative support had recovered in the
lead-up to the election, and was near the rival Liberals when the
writs were dropped. However, this momentum did not last, and the
Conservatives suffered the worst defeat in their history. The PCs lost
more than half their vote from 1988 and were reduced to only two
seats. The Liberals, led by Jean Chrétien, won a strong majority in
the House and formed the next government of Canada.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_federal_election%2C_1993
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
467:
Anthemius became Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthemius)
1633:
The formal interrogation of Galileo Galilei by the Inquisition began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei)
1961:
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to enter outer
space.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin)
1980:
Terry Fox dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean and began
running his Marathon of Hope towards the Pacific Ocean to raise funds
across Canada for cancer research.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_of_Hope)
1981:
Columbia, the first space shuttle, was launched for its first flight.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Man is a creature of hope and invention, both of which belie the idea
that things cannot be changed." -- Tom Clancy
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Clancy)
Fanny Blankers-Koen was a Dutch athlete. She is most famous for
winning four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. At
that time, she was already a mother of two, which was unheard of at a
time when female athletes were still frowned upon by many. It earned
her the nickname "the Flying Housewife." Having started competing in
athletics in 1935, she took part in the 1936 Summer Olympics a year
later. Although international competition was hampered by World War
II, Blankers-Koen set several world records during that period, in
events as diverse as the long jump, the high jump, sprint, and
hurdling. Apart from her four Olympic titles, she won five European
titles and 58 Dutch championships. Blankers-Koen retired from
athletics in 1955 after haveing set or tied 12 world records. After
her retirment she became leader of the Dutch female track and field
team. In 1999, she was voted "Female Athlete of the Century" by the
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Blankers-Koen
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1241:
Mongols led by Batu Khan and Subutai crushed the Hungarian army of
King Béla IV in the Battle of Mohi.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batu_Khan)
1945:
World War II: The Buchenwald concentration camp was liberated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchenwald)
1951:
Korean War: General Douglas MacArthur was relieved of overall command
in Korea.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_MacArthur)
1965:
Fifty-one tornadoes struck six states in Midwestern United States
during the Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Sunday_Tornado_Outbreak)
2002:
President Hugo Chávez was forced to resign during a military coup
attempt in Venezuela.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_coup_attempt_of_2002)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"A writer writes not because he is educated but because he is driven
by the need to communicate. Behind the need to communicate is the need
to share. Behind the need to share is the need to be understood. The
writer wants to be understood much more than he wants to be respected
or praised or even loved. And that perhaps, is what makes him
different from others." -- Leo Rosten
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leo_Rosten)
Antarctica is a continent encompassing the southern extremity of
Earth, and containing the Earth's South Pole. It is surrounded by the
Southern Ocean and divided in two by the Transantarctic Mountains. It
is considered to be the coldest, driest, windiest, and highest (on
average) continent on Earth, and 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice.
There are no permanent human residents and only cold-adapted plants
and animals survive there, including penguins, fur seals, lichens, and
hundreds of types of algae. The first commonly accepted sighting of
the continent occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Mikhail
Lazarev and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. Antarctica is not
under the political sovereignty of any nation, although seven
countries (Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, Norway, New Zealand
and the United Kingdom) maintain territorial claims. Most other
countries do not recognize these claims, and the claims of Argentina,
Chile and the United Kingdom all overlap. Human activity on the
continent is regulated by the Antarctic Treaty, which was signed in
1959 by 12 countries and prohibits any military activity, supports
scientific research, and protects the continent's ecozone. Ongoing
experiments are conducted by more than 4000 scientists of many
different nationalities and research interests.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
193:
Septimius Severus was proclaimed Roman Emperor.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus)
1865:
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union forces.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee)
1940:
Operation Weserübung: Germany invaded Denmark and Norway; Occupation
of Denmark began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Weser%C3%BCbung)
1959:
NASA announced the selection of the Mercury program astronauts.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_program)
1989:
April 9 tragedy: An anti-Soviet demonstration in Tbilisi, Georgia was
cracked down by the Soviet army, resulting in 20 deaths and thousands
of injured.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_9_tragedy)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I'm sure we all agree that we ought to love one another, and I know
there are people in the world who do not love their fellow human
beings — and I hate people like that!" -- Tom Lehrer
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer)
George IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
and Hanover from 29 January 1820. He had earlier served as Prince
Regent when his father, George III, suffered from a relapse into
insanity from porphyria.The Regency (George's nine-year tenure as
Regent, which commenced in 1811 and ended with George III's death in
1820) was marked by a victory in the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. George
was a stubborn monarch, often interfering in politics (especially in
the matter of Catholic Emancipation), though not as much as his
father. For most of George's regency and reign, Lord Liverpool
controlled the government as Prime Minister. George is often
remembered as an extravagant prince and monarch. He had a poor
relationship with both his father and his wife, Caroline of Brunswick,
even excluding her from his own coronation. He was a patron of the
arts; his regency and reign were graced by such literary figures as
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron and Jane Austen. George was
responsible for the building of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_IV_of_the_United_Kingdom
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
By the Coinage Act, the U.S. Mint was founded and the U.S. currency
was decimalised.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Mint)
1801:
British forces led by Horatio Nelson defeated the Dano-Norwegian fleet
in the Battle of Copenhagen.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Copenhagen_%281801%29)
1956:
As the World Turns premiered on U.S. television as the first half-hour
serial drama.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_the_World_Turns)
1982:
Falklands War: Argentine special forces began the invasion of the
Falkland Islands.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_invasion_of_the_Falkland_Islands)
1992:
John Gotti, the crime boss of the Gambino crime family, was convicted
of racketeering, murder, conspiracy to commit murder, loansharking,
obstruction of justice, illegal gambling and tax evasion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gotti)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Whether it is happy or unhappy, a man's life is the only treasure he
can ever possess." -- Giacomo Casanova
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Giacomo_Casanova)