Rosa Parks to get a statute

My apologies for not getting something up sooner. I've been so busy this afternoon. I came back from a showing of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price earlier today.

The WaPo reports that events were held to mark the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks not giving up her seat.

President Bush signed a bill today that authorizes a Capitol statue for Rosa Parks, the Alabama seamstress who launched the civil rights movement by refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man 50 years ago.

The signing of the bill, on the 50th anniversary of Parks's legendary act of civil disobedience in Montgomery, Ala., will make her "the first African American woman to be honored with a statue in our nation's Capitol," Bush said before writing his name on H.R. 4145 in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building before an audience that included civil rights leaders, members of Parks's family and top government officials and lawmakers.

Under the new law, a life-sized statute of Parks, who died Oct. 24 at age 92, is to be installed in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall next to the Rotunda within two years, joining a collection that totals 100 statutes contributed by all 50 states. About 40 of the likenesses of key figures in U.S. history are in the Statuary Hall.

Shortly after her death, Parks became the first woman to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda, where Americans over the years have paid respects to the bodies of former presidents, including Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, and other national leaders.

In Detroit, they renamed a federal building after her. In Montgomery, Alabama, an event was held to honor the anniversary. Other cities held similar events.

I agree with Senator Evan Bayh when it comes to video game violence.

"Children under 17 wouldn't be allowed to rent or purchase these videos, rated M, without the presence, without the permission of an adult," Bayh stated firmly Thursday. "For the first time, there would be a fine for the violation of these rules."

Bayh's birthday bash is tomorrow.