March 8

On the 8th in 1618 legendary big shot thinker Johannes Kepler published his third law of planetary motion: "The squares of the orbital periods of planets are directly proportional to the cubes of the semi-major axis of the orbits". I have absolutely no idea what that means nor do I have a clue about the meaning of his other two laws on the subject. I think Kepler was very lucky to have had his elves to fall back on, because at least their cookies are very good. Oh heck, those are the Keebler elves, not the Kepler elves. I guess Kepler was just another hack that I don’t understand, and now without the cookies a hack that I have absolutely no reason to even try to understand.
Kepler began his career as an assistant to famed astronomer Tycho Brahe, who also dabbed in astrology and alchemy.

March 7

Don’t you just hate it, I know that I do, when someone keeps saying to you “What’s the rush? You New Yorkers are all alike – always in a hurry. We’ll get to it, we’ll get to it.” On the 7th in 1992, the good people of the state of Michigan finally got around to ratifying the 203-year-old 27th amendment to the United States Constitution. Michigan wasn't the only one asleep at the wheel. Alabama did not get around to ratifying it until May 5, 1992, thereby putting the amendment over the top. Michigan’s ratification was unnecessary but it does make for an interesting story. I tend to view Alabama’s less than timely ratification as just the sort of thing that those kind of people tend to do.

March 6

John II, King of Castile, was born on the 6th in 1405. He assumed the throne of Castile upon the death of his father, Henry III of Castile. John was a very precocious lad. Poor little thing, his dad died when the boy who would be king was only one year and ten months old.

March 5

Alferd Packer died on April 23, 1907 after having served roughly 40 years as punishment for cannibalism. His death however, in no way posed an obstacle to the esteemed Mr. Packer being pardoned on the 5th in 1981 in spite of his death 74 years prior. It is unfortunately an urban legend that the Department of Agriculture’s cafeteria in Washington, D.C, was for a time named the Alferd Packer Cafeteria. However, for a short period in 1968, students at the University of Colorado successfully renamed their cafeteria the ‘Alferd G. Packer Memorial Cafeteria’ whose slogan was ‘Have a friend for lunch’. I have been unable to discover any evidence, either in school or court records, or for that matter any newspapers, that would indicate that controlled substances were involved in the naming of University of Colorado’s cafeteria; though considering the year I think you would be on safe ground to assume that such was the case.

It has been long been bandied about that at his sentencing the judge said "Packer, you depraved Republican son of a bitch! There were only five Democrats in Hinsdale County and you ate them all!" As nice as it would be if he had said that, what he actually said was slightly more prosaic: "Close your ears to the blandishments of hope. Listen not to the flattering promises of life, but prepare for the dread certainty of death."[

March 4

On the 4th in 1917, Jeannette Rankin of Montana assumed her seat in the United States House of Representatives. She was the first woman elected to that body. It should be noted that at the time of her election the 19th amendment to our Constitution, which gave women the right to vote, had yet to be ratified. Most politicians are notable for their tendency to be wishy-washy. Remarkably, Rankin was wonderfully consistent over the course of her very long career. She was one of the fifty members of Congress to vote against the nation entering World War I. She was the only member of Congress to vote against entering World War II. After her Congressional career was over, did she go on the lecture circuit? Not a chance. She still manned the barricades and was a leader in the opposition to the Vietnam War. It is not terribly surprising to learn that she was a founding member of both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
Rankin was in good company at the ACLU. Her fellow founding members were Helen Keller, Jane Addams, Crystal Eastman and Albert DeSilver, all of them having illustrious careers outside of their activist careers.
The Women's International League was an outgrowth of the Women’s Peace Party, which had been formed in 1915 at a meeting in Washington, D.C. that had been called for by Jane Addams and Carrie Chapman Catt. Addams was the first woman to receive a Nobel Peace Prize and, more importantly, was a cousin of cartoonist Charles Addams. Catt was a close associate of suffragist Susan B. Anthony.

March 3

Aside from being the last American member of the Whig party to serve in public office and the first Vice-President to rise to the Presidency upon the death of the incumbent. John Tylerwas also the first president to have his veto overridden by both houses of Congress. On the 20th of February in 1845, Tyler vetoed a bill relating to revenue cutters and steamers. The Senate and the House, in a surprising and uncharacteristic burst of energy, wasted no time in voting to override this veto on the 3rd of March.

The president was William Harrison. His inauguration address had 8444 words, the longest of any inaugural address, conducted in the open air on a cold and rainy day. Harrison’s address took over two hours to complete. He was soaked to the skin, caught a really nasty cold, and died.
President Tyler's favorite horse was one that he named "The General". When the horse died, Tyler buried it at his estate, Sherwood Forest Plantation, complete with a headstone on which was inscribed, "Here lies the body of my good horse 'The General'. For twenty years, he bore me around the circuit of my practice and in all that time, he never made me blunder.

March 2

On the 2nd in 1807, the United States Congress passed an act "prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States... from any foreign kingdom, place, or country." They could have saved the country a whole lot of grief and saved hundreds of thousands of lives in the middle of the nineteenth century if they had taken the simple step of also prohibiting slavery but apparently, they did not seriously consider that option.

Among the many privileges granted to members of both houses of Congress is enjoy the privilege, within the jurisdiction of the United States, of being free from arrest in all cases, except for treason, felony, and breach of the peace. Since Congress is literally infested with attorney, it no surprise the rules of the House strictly guard this privilege; a member may not waive the privilege on his or her own, but must seek the permission of the whole house to do so. More or less, it is like caging a fox in the hen’s coop.