This week, the Supreme Court ruled on various cases brought before it. For those who wish to read the preliminary published text of the opinions, please come to: Shelby County v Holder (Voting Rights Act), Fisher v University of Texas (affirmative action), Hollingsworth v Perry (California same-sex marraige), and United States v Windsor (Defense of Marriage Act). SCOTUSblog and Jurist, as always, provided excellent coverage.
Archive for June, 2013
Online Primary Sources for American History: New Jersey at Gettysburg
As we remember the 150th anniversary of this battle termed the turning point of the war, let us not forget the New Jersey regiments that were at this pivotal event. Please go to New Jersey at the Battle of Gettysburg where you can find outline histories of the various regiments, the monuments erected to them on the battlefield (Gettysburg is peppered with monuments), and casualties suffered in this battle. Other New Jersey/Gettysburg-related material are also available: New Jersey troops in the Gettysburg campaign from June 5 to July 31, 1863(1888); Final report of the Gettysburg battle-field commission of New Jersey (1891); History of Battery B, First New Jersey Artillery (1905); The history of the First New Jersey Cavalry (1871); War record and personal experiences of Walter Raleigh Robbins, from April 22, 1861, to August 4, 1865 (deals with the First NJ Cavalry, 1923); History of the First brigade, New Jersey volunteers, from 1861 to 1865….(1910); Report of the Monument Committee of the Veteran Association of the 13th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, 1862-1865, the dedicatory exercises at Gettysburg, on Friday, July 1st, 1887….(1887); Proceedings of the … reunion of the Thirteenth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, 1886-1894 (1895); History of the Eleventh New Jersey Volunteers: from its organization to Appomattox : to which is added experiences of prison life and sketches of individual members (1898); Reminiscences of the war, comprising a detailed account of the experiences of the Thirteenth regiment New Jersey volunteers in camp, on the march, and in battle (1887); Roster of the Twelfth Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers : [oration by Col. William E. Potter, at the first reunion of the Regiment, Woodbury, N. J., Feb. 22, 1875] (1875) while volume 27, part 3 of The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies contains first-hand reports from New Jersey officers at Gettysburg. For histories of all of New Jersey’s Civil War regiments, please go to Part 3 of Dyer’s Compendium of the War of the Rebellion.
Racial and Generational Disparities in Wealth Building
According to this Urban Institute report – Less Than Equal: Racial Disparities in Wealth Accumulation – whites had double the income of Hispanics and blacks but six times the wealth in 2010. This has been an ongoing process for decades. It must be remembered that the term “wealth” includes not only income but insurance, savings, pensions, the ability to get loans for homes and cars (these are also indicators of wealth), and the means of passing along material goods to the younger generation (inheritance); all these are assests that need to be factored into the wealth equation. Other Institute reports include:
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National Security Reports – June 2013 Update
Threat Assessment Glossary(with bibliography, University of Nebraska); Using Public Surveillance Systems for Crime Control and Prevention: A Practical Guide for Law Enforcement and Their Municipal Partners (Urban Institute); Terrorism, Miranda, and Related Matters, Terrorism Risk Insurance: Issue Analysis and Overview of Current Program, Iran Sanctions, Intelligence Issues for Congress (all CRS); Report on North Korea’s Military and Security Developments and Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2013 (both Defense Department); Security and Privacy Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations, 4th ed.(NIST); Electric Grid Vulnerability: Industry Responses Reveal Security Gaps ( House Energy and Commerce Committee); and Telecommunications Networks – Addressing Potential Security Risks of Foreign-Manufactured Equipment (GAO).
Economic Crisis – June 2013 Update
The Financial Crisis and the Impact on Households (Federal Reserve – St Louis); Regulatory Landscapes: A U.S. Perspective (Speech – Federal Reserve); National Financial Capability Study (FINRA); and The Financial Crisis, Capital Flows, and Global Liquidity (Speech – IMF).
Runoff Election Results in Jersey City
Here are the results from yesterday’s voting. And let’s congratulate NJCU’s own Rolando Lavarro for securing one of the council-at-large seats.
17th-19th Century British Pamphlets
As the opening to the 17th-19th Century British Religious, Political, and Legal Tracts site states: “The body of pamphlet literature of the 17th and 18th centuries is enormous. These pamphlets deal with every event and circumstance of the day, be it social, economic, legal, medical, political, or religious.” More than 20,000 pamphlets have been digitized and offer another avenue of research into modern British history. Type in “Lord Protector” in the author box and find Oliver Cromwell’s A declaration of the Lord Generall and his Councel of officers; shewing the grounds and reasons for the dissolution of the late Parliament from 1653; find out what was put out at the behest of Parliament; and see how many pamphlets deal with treason.
British Broadside Ballads
Rather than explain what these are, let us quote directly from one of the sites: “Broadside ballads were popular songs, sold for a penny or half-penny in the streets of towns and villages around Britain between the sixteenth and early twentieth centuries. These songs were performed in taverns, homes, or fairs — wherever a group of people gathered to discuss the day’s events or to tell tales of heroes and villains. As one of the cheapest forms of print available, the broadside ballads are also an important source material for the history of printing and literacy. Lavishly illustrated with woodcuts, they provide a visual treat for the reader and offer a source for the study of popular art in Britain.” There are two main places to go for these unique documents: The Ballads Project from the Bodleian Library (which also contains selected recordings of these pieces); and the English Broadside Ballad Archive out of UCSB that states that it has 76.44% of all surviving 17th century ballads online. Between these two, thousands of these rare pieces are made available. For a glimpse into what was of concern back in the day, these sites provide windows into the past.
Online Public Domain Musical Scores
Almost 250,000 scores from almost 8,000 composers along with 24,000 recordings are freely available at the IMSLP Petrucci Music Library. This is a collaborative, wiki-based enterprise that grows everyday with additional works. You can search via instrumentation/genre, nationality, time period, composer name, and melody. Each entry lists the scores in this database along with other informative data with the scores presented in clear pdf format. Well worth a look.
City Council Candidates for Jersey City – Biographies
Today’s election has fourteen candidates vying for City Council seats. Here are their biographies.
New Jersey’s Abbott School Districts Hit Hard by Recession
A confluence of events – the Great Recession and the introduction of the School Funding Reform Act in particular – has conspired to divest the Abbott districts of significant funding and has resulted in dramatic downturns in several key areas. This according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report titled New Jersey’s Abbott Districts: Education Finances during the Great Recession; it states that “…while all of the low-income districts responded to the drop in state aid by scaling back spending on support services and utilities, only the Abbott group also made significant cuts in instructional spending.” (Summary) A short report that is replete with charts and statistical analyses.
Where to Watch Congressional Hearings
It seems of late that whenever you look at media, there are mentions of what appears to be endless Congressional hearings. Just this week, we have hearings into the IRS delaying certification of Tea Party and conservative groups, into military sexual assaults, and human rights in China. Do you remember if the hearings were in the House or the Senate, and even if you did know, do you know what committee/subcommittee held the hearing? What if you wanted hearings that had happened years ago? Where do you go? You go to C-SPAN, a vast treasure trove of live and archived hearings, debates, speeches, interviews, etc. C-SPAN provides a schedule of present and upcoming hearings; you can also search the C-SPAN video library containing over 200,000 hours of programs dating back to 1987.
Live Coverage of Funeral for Senator Frank Lautenberg
The service begins at 11:30am today; Vice President Joe Biden and others will speak. You can watch it here where it also will be archived. The three-day itinerary includes a most appropriate stop at Amtrak’s Lautenberg Rail Station from where his casket will travel down to washington.
New Technologies and Their Impact on Work and Life
NewTechCity examines how technologies are transforming our lives in various ways. Focused on New York City and its environs, reports range from assistive technologies for special needs students to interviews with the presidents of three universities with newly-established tech programs. This weekly “broadcast” is informative and thought-provoking. Well worth the listen.
Non-Housing Debt in the Tri-State Area
This new tool from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York – Regional Indicators of Consumer Debt – covers New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. The data deal with credit card debt, student loans, car loans, and “other” loans and can be broken down by age group. For example, as of March 2013, 32% of the age group 18-34 in New Jersey carry student loans the median balance of which is $17,500. Other information presented includes delinquency rates by county, 90+ days delinquency rates, and percentage of credit scores above 620.
NJCU Still the Lowest-Cost Public College in New Jersey
This recent New Jersey Policy Perspective (a New Jersey based and oriented think tank) report – Invest in New Jersey: Make Higher Education Affordable Again – states that NJCU is the least expensive college in the state.(table on p.4). This is against a background of steadily declining state funding for higher education to such an extent that even students attending NJCU are having a hard time affording the tuition. On pages 5-6, the report explores the financial cost to families of various income levels in sending a dependent to NJCU. It concludes that the lack of state support means that: “…even attendance at the least expensive public four-year college would create considerable financial stress for up to 80 percent of New Jersey families.”(6) The report concludes with recommendations: doubling TAG, stabilizing the operating budgets of the state’s colleges, and investing in innovation.
Congressman Frank J. Guarini Library Blog 