Sunday, December 9, 2012

Power Corrupts - Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely


Tucson Weather Today

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Anti-Corruption Day

The General Assembly of The United Nations has designated December 9 as International Anti-Corruption Day.


December 9 In History --

On December 9th 1953, General Electric, announced that all communist employees would be discharged from the company. The act is part of the period of US history known as the Second Red Scare, when US society and particularly the government was afraid of a Communist invasion of the US. The period is also widely known as the McCarthy Era, a name derived from one of the movement’s biggest spokespersons, US Senator Joseph McCarthy.

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From Wikipedia . . .

"In a state where corruption abounds,
laws must be very numerous."
--Tacitus



Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (56 AD – 117 AD) was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors (AD 69).

In his Annals, in book 15, chapter 44, written c. 116 AD, there is a passage which refers to Christ, to Pontius Pilate, and to a mass execution of the Christians after a six-day fire that burned much of Rome in July 64 AD by Nero

excerpt . . .

Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.

The above narration has long attracted scholarly interest because it is a rare non-Christian reference to the origin of Christianity, the execution of Christ described in the Canonical gospels, and the persecution of Christians in 1st-century Rome. Almost all scholars consider these references to the Christians to be authentic.

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WORD FOR TODAY

corruption
noun
-  Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.
-  The action of making someone or something morally depraved or the state of being so.
synonyms
depravity - decay - putrefaction - bribery - venality

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Birthday: December 9, 1980
Age:   31 years old

Simon Maxwell Helberg is an American actor and comedian best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, currently in its sixth season. He has appeared on the sketch comedy series MADtv and is also known for his role as Moist in the Joss Whedon-led web miniseries Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.




Birthday: December 9, 1922
Date of death: Oct 11, 1991

John Elroy Sanford, better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American comedian and actor, best known for his starring role on the sitcom Sanford and Son.



Birthday:   December 9, 1902
Date of Death:   May 16, 1985

Margaret Brainard Hamilton was an American film actress best known for her portrayal of Kansas curmudgeon Miss Almira Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. A former schoolteacher, she worked as a character actor in films for seven years before she was offered the role that defined her public image.



Birthday: December 9, 1916
Age:   95 years old

Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past (1947), Champion (1949), Ace in the Hole (1951), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Lust for Life (1956), Paths of Glory (1957), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Vikings (1958), Spartacus (1960), Lonely Are the Brave (1962), The Heroes of Telemark (1965) and Tough Guys (1986).

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"Corruption is like a ball of snow, once it's set a rolling it must increase."
--Charles Caleb Colton


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