Author
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Topic: Einstein and the G-men
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'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064
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posted 07 May 2002 02:44 PM
quote: He was the Elvis of science.Women pursued him, celebrities sought him out, politicians courted him, and journalists followed him through the streets. But, as Einstein was well aware, there was a darker posse on his trail. For many years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies spied on him, acting on suspicions as disturbing as a tip that he had been a Russian spy in Berlin; as vague as an unease with his support of civil rights and pacifist and socialist causes; and as goofy as claims that he was working on a death ray or that he was heading a Communist conspiracy to take over Hollywood.
Fascinating stuff. New Details Emerge from the Einstein Files A particularly interesting little tidbit, I thought, was this: quote: One informer, however, clammed up and disappeared when the investigators asked for more information. Another turned out to be a convicted extortionist who had once organized antirelativity rallies in Berlin.
An antirelativity rally. What would such a thing be like, I wonder? Can you imagine the placard slogans? "Einstein and Lorenz: Stalin's Useful Idiots!" "C Isn't Constant, Space-Time Is!" "If Time's Not Absolute, Nothing Is: Defend, Complete, Extend the Newtonian Revolution!"
From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001
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clockwork
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 690
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posted 07 May 2002 04:48 PM
This caught (piqued?) my attention: quote: Mr. Jerome, a self-described "Red diaper baby" born and raised in New York City, is no stranger to the F.B.I. His father, a Communist Party official, was imprisoned for three years under the Smith Act, which made advocating the overthrow of the government a crime.
From the web: quote: 1940, passed by the U.S. Congress as the Alien Registration Act of 1940. The act, which made it an offense to advocate or belong to a group that advocated the violent overthrow of the government, was the basis of later prosecutions of members of the Communist and Socialist Workers parties. In 1957 the U.S. Supreme Court restricted the application of the Smith Act to instances of active participation in, or verbal encouragement of, specific insurrectionary activities.
I don't get this at all. In the declaration of independence it is written: quote: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
What gives? Is the declaration of independence not a legal binding document?
From: Pokaroo! | Registered: May 2001
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'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064
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posted 07 May 2002 05:11 PM
Interesting, isn't it.When I was in the Steelworkers union, we had a little booklet of union bylaws, printed by the international union in Pittsburgh. Section Whatever-it-was prevented you from being an officer of the union if you were a member of any "Communist or Fascist organization" (I don't recall the exact wording; nor do I remember whether former members were similarly precluded). This, I later learned, was a holdover from the early Cold War, when the AFL and CIO unions expelled their Communists and brought themselves into line with the Smith Act. In our copies, incidentally, there were little typed stickers reading "Section Whatever-it-is is not applicable in British Columbia."
From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001
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'lance
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1064
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posted 07 May 2002 08:08 PM
quote: Time is not relative. Time is money.
But surely money's relative, yes? To the US dollar, typically? Therefore... quote: I see clock's keeping on his toes...
Speaking of which, according to Einstein, clock should run faster or slower, depending on the frame of reference, yes?
From: that enchanted place on the top of the Forest | Registered: Jul 2001
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