Jackie Robinson’s civil rights

Jack Roosevelt Robinson—the baseball player who was better known as “Jackie” and who was celebrated for breaking the color barrier in his sport—had a civil rights past that is often overlooked. Of course, given his extraordinary baseball skills, it’s understandable that baseball’s the main source of his fame.

During his service as a second lieutenant in the US Army at the time of World War II, he refused the direction of a civiliam bus driver to move from his seat near the front of a bus and take a seat in the back. He was aquited of insubordination in court martial proceedings and ultimately received an honorable discharge.

Misplaced priorities

The National Priorities Project Web site has a couple of pretty interesting features. The features allow one to consider the choices that the US government makes. It provides a good glimpse of spending on war (military) and peace (education, health care).

For example, if you’ve ever wondered on what the US government’s spending with the taxes it receives, you can learn about it from the NPP. The NPP has an interactive feature that allows one to enter a number and receive a graphic representation of the proportions of the amount going to military, social security, education, and etc. Here’s a link to the page. It’s just a percentage calculator, but it illustrates what I consider to be some badly misplaced priorities.