Unassuming Franklin
Jul. 2nd, 2007 11:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eggwardsI kind of feel like this guy today.
With all the rain we've been having, he safely moved from the pond behind the building at work to the front walkway.
Couple of notes today.
➠ I need to go find the Kwik-E-Mart in town. Given that 7-11 started in Dallas, it's no suprise that one of the Simpson Movie tie-in stores is here. I wish i was more excited about the Simpsons movie, though. All those years on TV, so much of it feels like a re-tread to me.
➠ Well, there's never a real surprise with the Bush administration - well, maybe that he let the fines stick for now, just taking away Scooter's prison sentence. Don't worry, when the heat dies down, Scooter will get the full pardon. It's nice to know the administration is consistent for making sure the loyalists will reap the rewards, even if you are just a fall guy.
What kind of world is it where a person convicted of perjury (correction, obstruction of justice - sorry) in the case of divulging state secrets serves no time, while a celebutard manages to at least serve time for driving without a license?
➠ I'm almost finished with a book on Benjamin Franklin. Over the last couple of years I've read a lot on Revolutionary war figures, Adams, Washington, Jefferson and now Franklin. I guess i wanted to understand more about the founding fathers, and see if I can come to my own conclusion as what they wanted this country to be. Here's one thing, Adams was the most devout, and he didn't go to church often. Let's just say these guys were very tolerant, and not very observant of religion, despite what's said about the forming of our nation.
Franklin though seems less put upon a pedestal, perhaps because he wasn't president, but more that he seemed like the kindly grandfather to the whole process. He was certainly more folksy and didn't try to show that he was a great thinker even though he was one of the most influential people in both science and letters of his day.
Still, he seems funny, more of a clown with clever witticisms than the others, mainly because he was very quotable, where the others were more long winded. Still, we owe a lot to the man, not only from his inventions and work on such things as ballooning and the foundations of modern electrical use, but his ability (and well-traveled-ness) to see the nation as a whole, and not just 13 separate colonies and later states. Outside of kings, he was pretty much the most famous man in the world at the time of his death, having spent time in both the new and old world.
I'm not sure there's another Revolutionary War figure I really want to read about now. i think i have my opinions down, and i know the major players. what i do know is the slow build up in executive branch power over the last six years would have alarmed the founding fathers as much as it should alarm us.
With all the rain we've been having, he safely moved from the pond behind the building at work to the front walkway.Couple of notes today.
➠ I need to go find the Kwik-E-Mart in town. Given that 7-11 started in Dallas, it's no suprise that one of the Simpson Movie tie-in stores is here. I wish i was more excited about the Simpsons movie, though. All those years on TV, so much of it feels like a re-tread to me.
➠ Well, there's never a real surprise with the Bush administration - well, maybe that he let the fines stick for now, just taking away Scooter's prison sentence. Don't worry, when the heat dies down, Scooter will get the full pardon. It's nice to know the administration is consistent for making sure the loyalists will reap the rewards, even if you are just a fall guy.
What kind of world is it where a person convicted of perjury (correction, obstruction of justice - sorry) in the case of divulging state secrets serves no time, while a celebutard manages to at least serve time for driving without a license?
➠ I'm almost finished with a book on Benjamin Franklin. Over the last couple of years I've read a lot on Revolutionary war figures, Adams, Washington, Jefferson and now Franklin. I guess i wanted to understand more about the founding fathers, and see if I can come to my own conclusion as what they wanted this country to be. Here's one thing, Adams was the most devout, and he didn't go to church often. Let's just say these guys were very tolerant, and not very observant of religion, despite what's said about the forming of our nation.
Franklin though seems less put upon a pedestal, perhaps because he wasn't president, but more that he seemed like the kindly grandfather to the whole process. He was certainly more folksy and didn't try to show that he was a great thinker even though he was one of the most influential people in both science and letters of his day.
Still, he seems funny, more of a clown with clever witticisms than the others, mainly because he was very quotable, where the others were more long winded. Still, we owe a lot to the man, not only from his inventions and work on such things as ballooning and the foundations of modern electrical use, but his ability (and well-traveled-ness) to see the nation as a whole, and not just 13 separate colonies and later states. Outside of kings, he was pretty much the most famous man in the world at the time of his death, having spent time in both the new and old world.
I'm not sure there's another Revolutionary War figure I really want to read about now. i think i have my opinions down, and i know the major players. what i do know is the slow build up in executive branch power over the last six years would have alarmed the founding fathers as much as it should alarm us.
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 05:25 am (UTC)I'm willing to bet that if more Americans were more familiar with this history, people would be a lot more pissed off and would be demanding better government now than what we have. (I say "we" because, even tough I am now also a Canadian citizen and live in Canada, I was born an American and will always be an American, although I'm ashamed to say so after hearing about the Libby deal today.)
I love reading about Ben Franklin. He was such an amazing man, and many of his pithy quotes are as relevant today as they were when he wrote them.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 03:38 pm (UTC)As for better government, as long as it doesn't intrude into their lives, people are happy to not worry about it, but they don't know how much it does affect them. There's a numbness that people are happy about here.
just think, if they re-instituted a draft to keep the Iraq war going (and we're getting close to that inevitability), the 70's style protests at all colleges will be back in full force. It's easy now to turn the other way when we're relying on a volunteer and mercinary army.