Elijah Lovejoy

At one time, Alton, Illinois was growing more rapidly than it's then-possible sister city St. Louis, both in size and close-mindedness.

The physical growth of Alton was put to an end by the establishment of Grafton, Illinois as plotted by a coalition of St Louis businessmen in order to bring more business back to the western banks of the Mississippi. The growth of close-mindedness and lack of respect for all forms of human life, not to mention the freedom of the press, were displayed by the plot to destroy Elijah Lovejoy and his anti-slavery ideas.

Elijah Parish Lovejoy began his career of speaking out against slavery in St Louis, both as a pastor of the Presbyterian Church as well as the editor-in-chief of the religious paper, the St Louis Observer. His freedom-loving editorials speaking out against the atrocities of slavery included a full account of slave Francis J. McIntosh being burned alive published in 1836. The people of slave state Missouri retaliated against Lovejoy, destroying his press and running him out of town.

Fifteen miles upstream on the opposite bank of the Mississippi, Lovejoy began editing the Alton Observer and well as establishing himself as an active member of the local Anti-Slavery Society.

Although Illinois was deemed a free state, the people there were far from matching their states' ideals with their own. After mobs in Alton destroyed Lovejoy's press three times for printing words of anti-slavery, Lovejoy secretly - or so he thought - acquired a fourth and final press from the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society.

Delivered at 3:00 am November 7, 1837, via river for optimum secrecy, Lovejoy and company moved the press to the Godfrey & Gilman warehouse to be guarded until it could be transferred safely to the Observer. However, they were detected.

That night, a mob gathered, demanding the press and threatening Lovejoy and his 20 supporters who were standing their ground to defend their property. Eventually, as the crowd grew more unruly, gunfire was exchanged, the building was lit on fire, and the press was ultimately destroyed and thrown in the river. Lovejoy was shot five times, dying in the burning building, only to be retrieved the next day. He was buried the next day on November 9th, 1937, his 35th birthday - the first journalist to die as a martyr for the the freedom on the press.

This short-lived battle between a mob and a man who fought for the freedom of the press, the freedom of mankind, was in fact the first battle of the Civil War. Almost thirty years later, perhaps fueled by the atrocities come to light through Lovejoy's efforts and murder, Emancipation was enacted and all men were free.

Surrender your Coca-Cola and Chapstick!

The story broke last August that an alleged terror plot on British airliners was foiled, raising both conspiracy theories and sceptics alike. Authorities claimed that certain evil-doers were plotting to carry out their schemes using explosive concotions made from eveyday household liquids.

Eyebrows were raised along with security levels, questioning whether or not it was even feasible for the would-be terrorists to extract the chemicals needed for their explosive mixtures from everday liquids. And even if this highly unlikely process was acheived, how could the terrorists possibly maintain the chemicals' surrounding environment to the specifications needed in order for the concoction to be used as a successful weapon of mass destruction while on a plane?

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of potential travelers are lined up and ordered to throw away their shampoo bottles, Starbucks beverages, Coca-Colas, finger nail polish, and Chapsticks. After all, we know now that caffiene + petroleum jelly + SPF 15 = the potential detonation of mass Cherry flavored chaos blowing planes out of the skies and into the churning ocean waves below. Thank you, Central Intelligence.

While none of us want to be subjected to the fruit-flavored carnage that the British airliners were "days away" from witnessing, one can't help but draw parallels between the U.S's involvement and push for the arrests of these terrorist masterminds and the upcoming November elections. Furthermore, I have yet to hear any more news about this devious plot since the elections took place.

When looking over an article by Geov Parrish of workingforchange.com he brings up exactly these points as he questions the plot, calling the ordeal a "load of crap". He quotes directly from The Register, citing authorities as saying the suspects were thought to be planning to use TATP (triacetone triperoxide) made from ingredients found within household goods to bring down the planes. The article continues on to point out exactly how complicated that process would be, how unlikely the possibilities of anyone being able to successfully pull off a massive science experiment in the plane's restroom undetected were, and how ridiculous the whole situation was once one steps back to look at the big picture, minus the fear-tactics used by the media to excite the public.