It is a woeful tale.....an event that occurred today in history.
This guy, who happened to be a Congressman from Maine.....Jon Cilley....got into an aggressive bit of behavior.....speaking out about a bribery accusation on the Congressional floor. Guys could say just about anything they wanted in those days, and without TV or radio.....you usually got away with it unless some idiot was standing there....wrote the quote down, and then blabbed it to the insulted guy.
Well....in this case.....a southern Congressman....Bill Graves of Kentucky.....was the insulted party. Bill wasn't exactly a guy to stand down.
In these days of 1838, things were a bit different. Guys tended to drink excessively....all day long. We don't know the drinking status of Bill or Jon that day....but I'd make an educated guess that both sipped some beverages and probably were a bit more reactive than you'd like.
There was no willingness on Jon's part to own up to the insult, so Bill decided a duel had to be necessary. In this period of American history....duels were pretty accepted. There various choices of weapon in a duel, with varying degrees of outcome.
Naturally, you were supposed to duel around the District area. That was considered in bad taste. So they crossed the river over into Maryland. The kindly folks over in Maryland....had created the Bladensburg Duelling Grounds....where you could professionally duel with other folks. The history folks say over fifty duels occurred at Bladensburg during it's period of usage.
So Jon....who wasn't much of an expert with weapons anyway....shows up. Bill shows up. And there is this shooting match. Bill basically shoots Jon in the leg pretty severely, and blood is pumping out rapidly....with Jon dead in 90 seconds flat. Other than covering the guy with a horse-blanket in the moments after his death....there's not much you could offer to the guy.
Word gets out about this duel and upsets folks greatly. So the kindly folks at Congress....Republican and Democrat....finally decide on a joint resolution. No more duels. You couldn't issue an invitation to a duel....nor could you accept an invitation. Course, the wording was typical Washington....it only meant for threats given or received in the District. If you got insulted in a regular state....then all bets were off.
The curious thing about this whole thing....a week later, the funeral occurs, with the President in attendance. You can imagine this scene...a funeral with various party members....all in a state of shock of the duel and it's impact.
Dueling between political figures came to an end after that. And if you were guessing....yeah....Bill was a Republican and a gun expert. And yeah, Jon was a Democrat, and mostly known for no gun skills at all.
Friday, 24 February 2012
Your Orientation
When I joined the Air Force in 1977, they had this business of asking me about various personal things.....to mark me correctly in their database.
They wanted to know if I was white.....which I kinda confirmed. They wanted to know if I had any Indian blood in me, and I hinted I might be one sixteenth.....but they said that wasn't enough to be a real Indian. They wanted to know my religious preference, which I responded that I really didn't have a big preference. They didn't like that answer, and demanded a more firm answer.....and I just said Baptist....although it wasn't much of a preference for me.
As the years went by.....they added onto their list of things they wanted to know. There was the smoker status, the drinker status, and the educated status. I think by the time I retired, there were fifteen different status blocks that they had filled out.
Today, there was a memo sent out to all California judges and justices. The Administrative Office of the Courts for the state of California....wants to know what each guy or gal's sexual orientation is: gay, lesbian or straight. This is apparently being done to make sure enough gays are adequately represented on the judicial bench of the state......or so they say.
This kinda leads to this awkward situation where there's a judgeship up, and Karl from the Administrative Office calls up the Governor, and says that this has to be given to a lesbian, or a straight gal, or a gay guy, or some regular straight guy. Course, then you have to figure in the black, Latino, Asian status with this. You might accidentally discover in the whole state of California.....for an expert guy to be sitting on the state supreme court.....there's only one Latino Lesbian in existence in the state.
I can imagine some judge being approached and he responds that he likes aliens....gets into extreme bondage.....and rarely wears clothing. The Administrative Office will say to get serious....and he'll respond that he is absolutely serious.
Frankly, once you get around to this kind of marker on your record.....your grades in college and your common sense level won't matter much. We will eventually require a Latino lesbian midget gal, who smokes and is pro-tattoo.
They wanted to know if I was white.....which I kinda confirmed. They wanted to know if I had any Indian blood in me, and I hinted I might be one sixteenth.....but they said that wasn't enough to be a real Indian. They wanted to know my religious preference, which I responded that I really didn't have a big preference. They didn't like that answer, and demanded a more firm answer.....and I just said Baptist....although it wasn't much of a preference for me.
As the years went by.....they added onto their list of things they wanted to know. There was the smoker status, the drinker status, and the educated status. I think by the time I retired, there were fifteen different status blocks that they had filled out.
Today, there was a memo sent out to all California judges and justices. The Administrative Office of the Courts for the state of California....wants to know what each guy or gal's sexual orientation is: gay, lesbian or straight. This is apparently being done to make sure enough gays are adequately represented on the judicial bench of the state......or so they say.
This kinda leads to this awkward situation where there's a judgeship up, and Karl from the Administrative Office calls up the Governor, and says that this has to be given to a lesbian, or a straight gal, or a gay guy, or some regular straight guy. Course, then you have to figure in the black, Latino, Asian status with this. You might accidentally discover in the whole state of California.....for an expert guy to be sitting on the state supreme court.....there's only one Latino Lesbian in existence in the state.
I can imagine some judge being approached and he responds that he likes aliens....gets into extreme bondage.....and rarely wears clothing. The Administrative Office will say to get serious....and he'll respond that he is absolutely serious.
Frankly, once you get around to this kind of marker on your record.....your grades in college and your common sense level won't matter much. We will eventually require a Latino lesbian midget gal, who smokes and is pro-tattoo.
The Burdens of Being an American
"That’s the kind of balance you need. Why is that the case? Because if you don't try to generate more revenues through tax reform, if you don't ask, you know, the most fortunate Americans to bear a slightly larger burden of the privilege of being an American, then you have to.....the only way to achieve fiscal sustainability is through unacceptably deep cuts in benefits for middle class seniors, or unacceptably deep cuts in national security.
----White House Finance Expert Timmy Geithner
Yes, even though Mr Goodman (your junior high history teacher), Mr Brown (your high school history and civics teacher), and Professor Carlise (that government studies professor in college) never mentioned any real burdens to being an American citizen.....there are apparently burdens.
I sat and paused over this. A moment of pondering. The "more fortunate Americans"? I grew up with folks in Bama, who still live in the same rural environment and make $25k a year. Frankly, they aren't exactly unhappy or in any discomfort. They do an occasional Saturday job for $300 under the table, help some neighbor paint their barn in exchange for 200 lbs of frozen beef steaks, and sit on the front porch discussing the Baptist revival from last week.
If you went up to this guy, and said he was the lesser and more unfortunate American.....he would look at you for a minute and question if you'd been drinking or smoking some good weed. He'd admit he wasn't making that much, but frankly.....he didn't care much for some government guy handing out free coupons, free gifts, free stimulus funding, or funding some solar company in the richest neighborhoods of southern California.
The misled logic with "more fortunate Americans"? After you've come to them for two years and grinned as you talked about the extra ten percent they needed to pay.....you'd eventually reach a point with a zero-growth economy and no solution yet to the home crisis, and start talking about the next version of the "more fortunate Americans". You'd lay out the next ten percent growth in taxes and remind everyone of what it takes to be a good American....more burden.
Two or three years would pass, and your friends would arrive at the door and talk about a stalled economy, and you had to take up the slack.....as the "more fortunate American", and own up to more burden....another ten percent. They'd grin as they suggest this.
Eventually, you'd greet them at the door and then suggest that as you opened it and they were trying to explain the "more fortunate American" deal and the burden issue.....that you were now a burden issue for them. Your fortunate status had turned unfortunate. Their grin would slip away.
They'd be looking at each other and trying to think of who the next "more fortunate American" would be, and how his burden would translate into something.
We almost need some special class to attend.....showing us how our lives have been shaped by our burdens. I'd like to think that I had just really small burdens.....but for some reason, I suspect others may be worried about me, and want to talk over my burden status. You can imagine this scene at a BP station out in a rural piece of Texas....where five guys discuss their burden status at length, and each saying the other folks have a bigger burden than themselves. Eventually, you'd get some burden score from the IRS, and then go into a fit when your burden measured slightly more than your neighbors.
Man, this burden business......is a big burden.
----White House Finance Expert Timmy Geithner
Yes, even though Mr Goodman (your junior high history teacher), Mr Brown (your high school history and civics teacher), and Professor Carlise (that government studies professor in college) never mentioned any real burdens to being an American citizen.....there are apparently burdens.
I sat and paused over this. A moment of pondering. The "more fortunate Americans"? I grew up with folks in Bama, who still live in the same rural environment and make $25k a year. Frankly, they aren't exactly unhappy or in any discomfort. They do an occasional Saturday job for $300 under the table, help some neighbor paint their barn in exchange for 200 lbs of frozen beef steaks, and sit on the front porch discussing the Baptist revival from last week.
If you went up to this guy, and said he was the lesser and more unfortunate American.....he would look at you for a minute and question if you'd been drinking or smoking some good weed. He'd admit he wasn't making that much, but frankly.....he didn't care much for some government guy handing out free coupons, free gifts, free stimulus funding, or funding some solar company in the richest neighborhoods of southern California.
The misled logic with "more fortunate Americans"? After you've come to them for two years and grinned as you talked about the extra ten percent they needed to pay.....you'd eventually reach a point with a zero-growth economy and no solution yet to the home crisis, and start talking about the next version of the "more fortunate Americans". You'd lay out the next ten percent growth in taxes and remind everyone of what it takes to be a good American....more burden.
Two or three years would pass, and your friends would arrive at the door and talk about a stalled economy, and you had to take up the slack.....as the "more fortunate American", and own up to more burden....another ten percent. They'd grin as they suggest this.
Eventually, you'd greet them at the door and then suggest that as you opened it and they were trying to explain the "more fortunate American" deal and the burden issue.....that you were now a burden issue for them. Your fortunate status had turned unfortunate. Their grin would slip away.
They'd be looking at each other and trying to think of who the next "more fortunate American" would be, and how his burden would translate into something.
We almost need some special class to attend.....showing us how our lives have been shaped by our burdens. I'd like to think that I had just really small burdens.....but for some reason, I suspect others may be worried about me, and want to talk over my burden status. You can imagine this scene at a BP station out in a rural piece of Texas....where five guys discuss their burden status at length, and each saying the other folks have a bigger burden than themselves. Eventually, you'd get some burden score from the IRS, and then go into a fit when your burden measured slightly more than your neighbors.
Man, this burden business......is a big burden.
Simply Observations
First, I've sat over the past two days and noted about five different journalists/news dimwits....saying that rising gas prices aren't the problem of the President. In essence, there's nothing he can do. Sadly, none of the five ever came up during the Bush period of rising gas prices and uttered the same statement. A number of people are beginning to notice this obvious news commentary being mostly a joke.
Second, the good Senator from Alabama....Jeff Sessions....who sits on the Senate Budget Committee....finally stood up and posted a chart yesterday. Basically, the US ends up, after the bills are counted....as being a bigger problem on 'Per Capita Government' Debt....than Greece. It's something that ought to scare you....but frankly, after you realize there's not much you can do about it but grin.....then the pain goes away. As long as some idiot country like China....buys our bonds....things will just keep sliding. Thank God for those Communist Chinese.
Third. There's this odd job being offered by NASA. They want some pretty smart guys and gals (with a degree in math or sciences), who happen not to smoke, speak English fairly well, and have four months to eat on their terms.....to enjoy astronaut food. It's a test of issues that might arise over diminished physical capabilities.....maybe even loss of muscle mass....which drives NASA to wonder about their food. The big problem I see with this deal....no fresh food for four months. You eat out of plastic pouch three times a day, and your snack variation is probably on the very limited side (I doubt you get a Snickers bar or Pop-Tarts). Me? You'd have to offer at least $1k a month on pay....maybe even promise up a whole month of catfish and steak at the end of this episode.
Fourth. Over the past month or two in DC northwest, where the rich folks live in DC.....crime has escalated in a serious fashion. The chief of police for DC has had to make various promises, and pump up the cop presence during early evening hours. Course, no one asked where these extra magical cops came from, and if folks down in the southeast part of town knew they lost a third of their cops to this new presence....they probably wouldn't be happy. In the last day or two....several forums have come up with the next new idea.....more guns in the hands of the local residents. I'm guessing the political folks won't be happy with that idea, and the cops will be a bit disturbed with twice as many folks carrying pistols as before. The truth is....after two or three of these punks are shot on the street.....these robberies will decrease in rapid fashion.
Fifth. This Koran-burning episode in Afghanistan, that has upset a bunch of Muslim folks in the Middle East. If you read the story.....some burnt Korans were found in trash burnings on the US military installation. No one is sure about where these came from or how they got into the trash. If I were to take a pretty good guess at this....some jihad joker came up with the idea of bringing the Korans onbase, dumping them into the trash, and making sure it got discovered. Course, no one can prove any of this.
Sixth. Yesterday, if you caught this Maryland story....they approved gay marriage in the state, as of 1 January, which the governor will sign today. Course, there is these two curveballs on the deal. You have to have fifty thousand signatures on a ballot initiative by the middle of the summer, and there is the November state vote. Everyone is really excited over the results yesterday.....but if you examine the state numbers.....it's a pretty close split on state residents and their feelings for the gay marriage business. If you toss in almost every black church in the state having a negative view of this.....and then the Catholic folks....I'm guessing that it just might not pass in November. And the media will sit there on the day after the election....trying to explain how several thousand folks were visibly upset about the results....angry that their good feelings lasted through the summer, and are null and void now. It's almost like a media circus....where you pay to feel good while sitting in the circus audience, then realize when you go home that it just didn't last.
Finally, as of yesterday afternoon....seven states are preparing a legal case....likely destined for the Supreme Court.....where the free contraception deal ordered by the President will be challenged. This mostly centers around the religious side of the mess. But some folks are suggesting that the President doesn't have the authority to order anything free to be offered by any industry in America. Congress can run and regulate commerce.....but there isn't any rules established to show that the President can order something free for citizens. So we are back to this stupid 'nothing is free' discussion. Frankly, I don't think this will ever end.
Second, the good Senator from Alabama....Jeff Sessions....who sits on the Senate Budget Committee....finally stood up and posted a chart yesterday. Basically, the US ends up, after the bills are counted....as being a bigger problem on 'Per Capita Government' Debt....than Greece. It's something that ought to scare you....but frankly, after you realize there's not much you can do about it but grin.....then the pain goes away. As long as some idiot country like China....buys our bonds....things will just keep sliding. Thank God for those Communist Chinese.
Third. There's this odd job being offered by NASA. They want some pretty smart guys and gals (with a degree in math or sciences), who happen not to smoke, speak English fairly well, and have four months to eat on their terms.....to enjoy astronaut food. It's a test of issues that might arise over diminished physical capabilities.....maybe even loss of muscle mass....which drives NASA to wonder about their food. The big problem I see with this deal....no fresh food for four months. You eat out of plastic pouch three times a day, and your snack variation is probably on the very limited side (I doubt you get a Snickers bar or Pop-Tarts). Me? You'd have to offer at least $1k a month on pay....maybe even promise up a whole month of catfish and steak at the end of this episode.
Fourth. Over the past month or two in DC northwest, where the rich folks live in DC.....crime has escalated in a serious fashion. The chief of police for DC has had to make various promises, and pump up the cop presence during early evening hours. Course, no one asked where these extra magical cops came from, and if folks down in the southeast part of town knew they lost a third of their cops to this new presence....they probably wouldn't be happy. In the last day or two....several forums have come up with the next new idea.....more guns in the hands of the local residents. I'm guessing the political folks won't be happy with that idea, and the cops will be a bit disturbed with twice as many folks carrying pistols as before. The truth is....after two or three of these punks are shot on the street.....these robberies will decrease in rapid fashion.
Fifth. This Koran-burning episode in Afghanistan, that has upset a bunch of Muslim folks in the Middle East. If you read the story.....some burnt Korans were found in trash burnings on the US military installation. No one is sure about where these came from or how they got into the trash. If I were to take a pretty good guess at this....some jihad joker came up with the idea of bringing the Korans onbase, dumping them into the trash, and making sure it got discovered. Course, no one can prove any of this.
Sixth. Yesterday, if you caught this Maryland story....they approved gay marriage in the state, as of 1 January, which the governor will sign today. Course, there is these two curveballs on the deal. You have to have fifty thousand signatures on a ballot initiative by the middle of the summer, and there is the November state vote. Everyone is really excited over the results yesterday.....but if you examine the state numbers.....it's a pretty close split on state residents and their feelings for the gay marriage business. If you toss in almost every black church in the state having a negative view of this.....and then the Catholic folks....I'm guessing that it just might not pass in November. And the media will sit there on the day after the election....trying to explain how several thousand folks were visibly upset about the results....angry that their good feelings lasted through the summer, and are null and void now. It's almost like a media circus....where you pay to feel good while sitting in the circus audience, then realize when you go home that it just didn't last.
Finally, as of yesterday afternoon....seven states are preparing a legal case....likely destined for the Supreme Court.....where the free contraception deal ordered by the President will be challenged. This mostly centers around the religious side of the mess. But some folks are suggesting that the President doesn't have the authority to order anything free to be offered by any industry in America. Congress can run and regulate commerce.....but there isn't any rules established to show that the President can order something free for citizens. So we are back to this stupid 'nothing is free' discussion. Frankly, I don't think this will ever end.
We Won't Have to See It
A legal call was directed yesterday....which we will all come to appreciate. A judge sat down and said that now the lawsuit is settled.....the John Edwards sex tape that exists (with his hottie girlfriend, not his wife)....the tape will be destroyed.
The jest of the story is that John, while in campaign mode.....got into a episode with his gal...Rielle Hunter....while she was pregnant. No one ever said who did the tape itself....speculation circles around Miss Hunter being the one who made the tape.
Naturally, most of us folks in the world would prefer not to have the legendary stud, John Edwards, featured on some YouTube-like situation, and watching John in some 22-minute action tape. You can imagine the commentary from this move or that move. Toss in the various toys on the bed, the music in the air, and the fancy silky stuff....and you've got a 1-star sex video.
So we are all pretty thankful that the tape will be destroyed.
The jest of the story is that John, while in campaign mode.....got into a episode with his gal...Rielle Hunter....while she was pregnant. No one ever said who did the tape itself....speculation circles around Miss Hunter being the one who made the tape.
Naturally, most of us folks in the world would prefer not to have the legendary stud, John Edwards, featured on some YouTube-like situation, and watching John in some 22-minute action tape. You can imagine the commentary from this move or that move. Toss in the various toys on the bed, the music in the air, and the fancy silky stuff....and you've got a 1-star sex video.
So we are all pretty thankful that the tape will be destroyed.
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