Newtie and the Blowhards in Y2K+12

Last night, GOP presidential candidates debated in South Carolina ahead of Saturday's primary election.

Earlier in the day, candidate and former speaker of the house, Newt Gingrich, got some bad news. His former wife (wife # 2) alleged he approached her about having an "open" marriage. For you youngsters, and open marriage is one in which spouses remain married while, in most cases, the husband was free to screw a mistress or boyfriend.

The first question directed at old Newt involved this alleged affair, and he came unhitched.

You know, it's amazing. This is the piece of shit of a man who presided over the US House of Representatives that drew up articles of impeachment against President Clinton. Why? Clinton had lied about an affair with an intern. 

Now, this same piece of shit of a man, Gingrich, has the nerve to be outraged by John King's question?

You know what?  I wonder. Was Gingrich envious of Clinton's alleged arrangement with Hillary? Did Newt retaliate against Clinton because wife #2 (with whom he cheated on wife #1) said no? There's your question, King!

And to wife #2, you knew he cheated on wives in the first place. After all, you were there when he cheated on wife #1. You saw Newt hit wife #1, Jacqueline, with a divorce petition while she was fighting cancer. She contested the divorce, and he had the nerve to confront her about it as she recovered from cancer surgery.

Damn, Republicans have short memories. And damn if they have no sense of hypocrisy.

And, Newt doth protest too much.

He is a bad, unrepentant hypocrite. Republicans, run!



--- What was the original American Aurora? The Aurora was a newspaper published by Benjamin Franklin Bache , a grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Aurora was published in Philadelphia, our nation's capitol at the time.

The Aurora was highly critical of what Bache felt was the tyrannous Federalist governments of presidents Washington and Adams.

The result? Adams imprisoned Bache for sedition, where he languished, awaiting trial, until his death from yellow fever at age 29.

SOPA, PIPA, and Mickey

I love to read original laws, especially those offered by the first few congresses. This tells you just how crazy our laws have gotten with intellectual property. The original congress thought it was reasonable to secure rights to the creator of writings or discoveries for 14 years, with a one-time renewal within six months of the first term expiring. Now, it's 95 years in some cases (thank you Disney and Sonny Bono).

Here is a link to the original Copyright Act of 1790.

http://www.copyright.gov/history/1790act.pdf

See, the problem at the core of the proposed SOPA and PIPA laws is the length of time they secure intellectual rights for their owners/creators, how long these works are held OUT of the public domain.

The Constitutional Convention had a good reason for securing these rights for a term, but not forever. James Madison explained it best in Federalist 43. His explanation seems reasonable to me.

http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa43.htm

Now, about Mickey Mouse. The first time we saw Mickey Mouse on film was in 1928. Under the Copyright Act of 1790, assuming Disney paid its $0.60 for one renewal, this character would have been in the public domain in 1956. Under the most recent act, he remains the property of Disney until 2023. That's 11 years away. Who wants to bet Congress will extent that term of ownership under a new copyright for, oh say 150 years, between now and then? Clearly based on what Mr. Madison wrote, the Constitution's Article 1, Section 8 was never intended to allow for a 95-year term, let alone something onerously longer.

It's time to free the creative spirit and let others benefit from earlier works, to, as the Constitution directs, promote the progress of science and useful arts. It is time to free that creative spirit even if that includes something as seemingly superfluous as the gold-mine character of Mickey Mouse.


--- What was the original American Aurora? The Aurora was a newspaper published by Benjamin Franklin Bache , a grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Aurora was published in Philadelphia, our nation's capitol at the time.

The Aurora was highly critical of what Bache felt was the tyrannous Federalist governments of presidents Washington and Adams.

The result? Adams imprisoned Bache for sedition, where he languished, awaiting trial, until his death from yellow fever at age 29.

Occupy, Schmoccupy!

I came to the conclusion yesterday, after Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said she was coordinating anti-Occupy-movement actions with 18 other cities, that the mayors of America are laughing at the Occupy Movement.

The mayors know movement members are incapable of doing anything more than sitting or standing in a park and bitching. They know the Occupy members will not challenge them politically with, say, a recall drive. They know members are not threatening their jobs. So, they know they are as safe as a babe in its mother's arms.

So, the mayors laugh, in coordinated fashion (see, they can organize too) in the movement's face, their laughter coming in the form of police, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and flash grenades.

Unless you do something else peaceful to threaten these mayors' jobs, like starting a recall petition drive (ala Wisconsin), you're about to be stuffed and served for dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving, Occupy turkeys!


--- What was the original American Aurora? The Aurora was a newspaper published by Benjamin Franklin Bache , a grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Aurora was published in Philadelphia, our nation's capitol at the time.

The Aurora was highly critical of what Bache felt was the tyrannous Federalist governments of presidents Washington and Adams.

The result? Adams imprisoned Bache for sedition, where he languished, awaiting trial, until his death from yellow fever at age 29.

Going Along to Get Along Got Us Here

Progress is a dialectical process. Opposites confront each other until eventually creating a synthesis of the opposites. A new thing takes the place of the opposites. Then, a new opposite arises to confront the synthesis, and the process begins again.


In government, the opposites arise around how to use government to support society. Traditionally, one side seeks to empower plutocrats, aristocrats, monarchs, families, senators, or dictators. The other seeks to empower people (small "d" democratic).


In the 1950s, 60s, and even for part of the 70s, the synthesis was built around the small "d" model, specifically around needs of the middle class. As a result, the free world prospered like at no other period of history. 


Since 1976, when the first year in a string of 35 years of trade deficits began, a synthesis has formed around the needs of banksters and MNCs, the plutocrats. This synthesis was similar to what happened after the Wilson administration, beginning in the 1920s. As a result, prosperity began to falter.


What most people don't understand is, we are living the results of that synthesis begun in 1976. This is what both the Dems and GOP decided was the right way to go, with most of the compromise coming in one direction, from Dems to GOP.


What's more, this synthesis has happened all over the free world. The only point of dispute now seems to be just how much to eviscerate the rest of society to support the banksters and MNCs.


The politicians have decided this will be the model for life in the 21st century. 
Not having real opposition to elitism is what got us here. Going along to get along got us here.









--- What was the original American Aurora? The Aurora was a newspaper published by Benjamin Franklin Bache , a grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Aurora was published in Philadelphia, our nation's capitol at the time.

The Aurora was highly critical of what Bache felt was the tyrannous Federalist governments of presidents Washington and Adams.

The result? Adams imprisoned Bache for sedition, where he languished, awaiting trial, until his death from yellow fever at age 29.

In 2001, there was no space odyssey

In 2001, there was no space odyssey.
There was only hatred's idiocy.

Don't be lost in the insanity of anger.
Don't seethe anymore over
the graves of thousands brutally murdered
because of a religious idea conceived in idiocy.

Ideas are things both wondrous and dangerous.
They can raise up our hearts
or dash our souls against the rocks.

Love is the best idea of all.
Love even if you don't like.
I re-learn this idea's lesson
again and again each day,
as I reach for a rock
with which to bash
my fake enemies head
to a pulp.

I realize
at that moment,
the real enemy
is
me.

So, I return quickly to the idea of love.
I must.

Love is the savior of us all.
Love unceasingly. Love unfailingly.
But above all, love the idea of love.
In that idea is true religion.
If there is God,
That idea relinks us to its divinity.
And, we are saved.



--- What was the original American Aurora? The Aurora was a newspaper published by Benjamin Franklin Bache , a grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Aurora was published in Philadelphia, our nation's capitol at the time.

The Aurora was highly critical of what Bache felt was the tyrannous Federalist governments of presidents Washington and Adams.

The result? Adams imprisoned Bache for sedition, where he languished, awaiting trial, until his death from yellow fever at age 29.

The Burden of a Date

The Burden of a Date (a poem)

I was born on Pearl Habor Day in 1959.

I no longer celebrate my birthday because of the weight

of that date.

I can't. 

My uncle Julio (Dad's brother) fought in the Pacific during that war.

My uncle Henry (my maternal grandmother's brother) and other relatives fought in Europe.

The date is seared on my soul.

It is not my date.

I no longer celebrate.

I can't. 

My nephew was born on Sept 10

only a few years before 2001.

I fear that his birthday will become the same,

with September 11 so close.

For me, 9/11 has the same gravity

as 12/7. 

I fear it will for him as well,

that he will no longer be able to

play and celebrate

the most important

date of his life

because of the weight of the next day.

Yet, I hope he can. 

If an American can forget the significance of 9/11,

he or she was not likely born on or before that date.

He or she did not work in their careers

with people in those towers, as I did.

He or she did not date in high school

someone who worked in those towers,

who mercifully was fired a few months earlier,

from Citibank,

who sent an e-mail and hoped

beyond hope she had survived,

who did not receive reply for four days,

as I did.

There is likely no direct memory of the date.

There is no burden in the weight of the date.

There is no connection to a personally significant day,

one a family should celebrate with a joyous heart,

but cannot because of the date.

And, that may be a good thing.

Bearing a burden like that

is almost more than a soul can bear.

I now hide on my birthday

to avoid the emotional connection.

I revile in wishes for a happy day,

knowing thousands of corpses lay beneath the waves

in Pearl Harbor,

drowned or incinerated by

the horrors of insanity.

I wish with all my heart

that the people who don't feel

the burden of a date,

like 12/7 or 9/11,

because they have no personal connection

to it,

enjoy that grace-filled mercy,

the peace-filled mercy,

of the date,

and stay that way.

--- What was the original American Aurora? The Aurora was a newspaper published by Benjamin Franklin Bache , a grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Aurora was published in Philadelphia, our nation's capitol at the time.

The Aurora was highly critical of what Bache felt was the tyrannous Federalist governments of presidents Washington and Adams.

The result? Adams imprisoned Bache for sedition, where he languished, awaiting trial, until his death from yellow fever at age 29.

Saved: A short story

Saved

A short story by Robert J.F. Sampron

© 2011 by Robert John Francis Sampron

All rights reserved.

All characters appearing in this work are ficticious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or

dead, is purely coincidental

Saved
So tired. So cold. So wet. This stuff on me, covering my right ear, my right side. I should be sleeping, but I heard coyotes deep in the woods, and have to keep moving.

Why did the big, two-legged animal, the one with that strange, continuous bark, bring me into its warren to play with its pups? Why did it take me out into the woods and throw me out when I was not yet fully grown? I have been walking ever since, always looking for food and water. Food and water. I’m really hungry now. And, I am cold. Then, there is this stuff on me! I have to get this stuff off because it is making it really tough to see, tough to walk.

What was that? What was that? Oh, it is one of those huge animals with the blazing eyes. They move so fast. They are really scary because their eyes only blaze after the sun goes down. I do not like them! Maybe they are angrier at night? Owls are that way. They hunt at night. I am glad I am too big for an owl to eat. I would probably eat an owl right now if I could, I am so hungry. Oh, but those fluffy things that the owls have, that all sky animals have. When I tear open a sky animal to eat, those fluffies get stuck between my teeth. I hate that.

Those poor animals that pop out of the ground. Even though they are tiny, those animals bark, just like me. I like them and would never kill and eat one. Owls do, though. I even saw an eye-blazer run over one of them, but the blazer never looked back. It just kept on running. At least when I kill, I eat. But, not the eye-blazers. It is as though they do not see the animals they crush to death. Even so, the eye-blazer gives other animals something to eat, especially those big, black sky animals with the high, shrill bark.

“I did not mean to cover you.”

“Who barked that?”

“Me. I am what is covering you. I am called Tar. I never meant to cover you.”

“What are you? And, how come I can hear and understand you. I can barely understand others like me. I only learned to understand the bark in that place."

"What place?"

"It is the place with other animals like me, the place with the two-legged animals, and the hard bars, and the barking that never stops. I was there for what seemed like forever. But, I was so young, and had no idea what forever looked like until that big two-legs, the one with the pups, took me to its warren from there. I was at that warren for many sunrises. But when I got bigger, the biggest two-legs took me out into the woods and let me go. I have been walking ever since. Walking is forever. Running too, sometimes. I hate walking! I hate running! I hate forever! But, I also hate being hunted, so I walk, and I run. I like to eat, so I have to scrounge and hunt. That means, I have to sneak, walk, and run. Do you know what I liked?"

"No, what?"

"I really liked it when the two-leg's pups laid their paws on me and rubbed my back, my head, and
especially my belly."

“I am laying on you. Yet, you do not like it?”

“No. I do not! You are laying all over my right side, clogging my face,. You are clogging my ear, my tail, and my paws. You make it harder to walk, harder to hear, and much harder to see. And, you are heavy. You lay on me, but you do not rub me like they did. The rubbing was nice. It made me feel good and peaceful. No! Instead, you are just a sticky burden!”

“Well, those two-legs, as you call them, use me to keep the rain out of a, what did you call it, warren. I do not mind that. The rain just rolls off my back. The snow does not bother me either. I am glad to be helpful. But, I do not like the wind. Over time, wind wears me down. I am Tar because that is what the two-legs call me.”

“So, your job is to cover things. Is that why you are covering me?”

“No, I am covering you because you walked through some of me after a two-legs had spilled me. I did not do anything. It is you who chose to walk through me. I laid where I was spilled. See, I lay  n whatever they put me on top of. That is what I do. And yes, I am heavy: thick and heavy. Thick and heavy is perfect for keeping out the rain, the snow.”

“Well, how do I get you off of me?”

“Sorry to say, I do not know. We may be stuck together for a very long time; so, we had best get used to it. We had best learn to stick together and like it.”

“I do not like that idea one bit. Maybe if I roll around, dirt will remove you!”

"I do not think that is a good idea," Tar cautioned. "Remember, I stick to things. And sometimes, things stick to me."

Not really caring what Tar thought, I found a patch of dirt and grass, and rolled over and through it, squirming and hoping it would help. It did not. If anything, it made matters worse. Now, Tar had dirt and grass stuck all over it and all over me. Oh, I wish I had stayed away from Tar. I was so hungry, though, and needed something. My first lick told me it was just so bad, told me that I could not eat it. "Grrrrr!” Oh, this rolling around, it is of no use!

“What are you doing?" Tar asked. "Now, you have attached all sorts of other things to me. Tar is sticky. I told you that. Yet, you roll around in things anyway? What as the matter with you!”

“Look, I am getting desperate! That is the matter with me! Maybe, I should just let the coyotes eat me. It would only hurt a little bit, but at least I would be out of this misery. No more misery. I would be dead, just like that animal that pops out of the ground, the ones run over all the time by the eye-blazers. Maybe I could just run out in front of one of the blazers, sit down, and let it crush me. That might be even faster than the coyotes. I cannot take this anymore, Tar. I just cannot.”

“Then, maybe that is what you should do,” Tar replied, a look of complete conviction fixed on its
dark complexion.

So, I sat and waited until nightfall. Not many of the blazers run out here in the woods, but some do. Some have warrens here, and I know of one who goes and comes fairly often. When it comes, it stops and stays at one of the warrens. It stays sometimes for what seems like the sunset to long after the sunrise. That is many flea bites of time. One of the two-legs somehow escapes the eye-blazer and walks into the warren. All sorts of suns go on inside the warren, like that animal can control them. After the sunrise, two-legs gets back into the eye-blazer, and the blazer runs  way until after sunset. It is really strange, and the two animals do this for sunrise after sunrise, and sunset after sunset. It is hard to believe. I just hope it runs here tonight. Then, I can dash out and let the blazer kill me.

Oh, wait. There it is! There it is! It looks so angry in the dark. Don’t run just yet. Wait. Wait. Okay! Now! Run!

"Skreeeeeeeeech!"

Somehow, the eye-blazer stopped right before it ran on top of me. The two-legs escaped from inside it, and began barking in a low, gentle manner. I like this. I remember this. You could see in its eyes, the two-legs was both sad and frightened. I could smell its fear, too. I did not want it touching me, so I began to move away. It then went back to the eye-blazer and pulled out a long thing with a loop on the end.

What? What is this? It has me by the throat. I have to shake it off. I have to fight. No! Stop! No! Just kill me! Do not capture me! Do not eat me! Just kill me! One of you caught me once! It hurt me! But, I got away! No! Do not!

I began snarling and snapping at the two-legs. Oh, now I cannot move my feet. Something is tangling them together. I cannot bite. Something is tangling my mouth shut. No! Stop!

Two-legs put me in the back of the beastly eye-blazer. Then, it got inside , and we ran all the way to the warren. Eye-blazer then stopped running and growling. Two-legs escaped from inside again, like it always does, and walked into the warren. Suns came on inside like they do after every sunset. As a few flea bites passed, I tried to get loose. Just then, two-legs came back out with, strangely enough, things filled with food and water.

What? What is this?

I stopped fighting so much and just laid there. At this point, I was more thirsty and hungry than frightened. I had not eaten anything other than grass and had no water for at least four sunrises. Oh, I cannot fight this two-legs. I am too weak. Just end it now, two-legs. Get it over with. But then, something even stranger happened. Two-legs took me down from the eye-blazer's back and set me beside me the things filled with food and water. Then, two-legs somehow released my feet and, best of all, my mouth. I was so frightened, so hungry, so thirsty that I ignored two-legs and dove right into the food and water.

Oh! So good! So delicious! So wet! Maybe, the wet can help get Tar off of me? Oh, please, two-legs, please! Do you have some more food and water? Can you take Tar off of me? Please? Do you? Can you? Oh, wait! Wait! Why am I suddenly so sl-sleepy? I c-can’t keep my h-head up. I, uh…

I awoke to find two-legs gently rubbing Tar with something wet. Then, I noticed it. Tar was coming off. Two-legs saw I was awake, and it barked gently, almost like the animal that purrs, the one with the pointy ears. I like the purr, though this animal also yowls and attacks with claws. Will two-legs attack with its claws?

Oh, no! Two-legs has something in its paw. It looks sharp, like claw. Will it scratch me? Even if it does, I cannot move. I am still too tired to move, too hungry. I will just lay here until it has killed me.

Wait! Somehow two-legs is using claw to cut off big clumps of Tar from my face. Oh, now Tar is off of my ear. Oh, that feels so good. I love this. The water, the purr, the touch. "Good bye, Tar!"

"Good bye," Tar replied, not really caring one way or the other.

I suddenly remembered the little two-legged pups, the ones in that other warren. They also were nice to me, just like this. I loved that very much. But then, the big two-legs, I think it was the sire of the smaller ones, took me deep into the woods and just let me go. I wonder? Will this nice two-legs do the same thing? Why did the other two-legs do that? I loved that warren so much. I loved the pups who lived there so much. Remembering them makes me cry. They were so nice until that bad day in the woods.

"Woooooooo! Wooooooo!" I howled.

This nice two-legs became alarmed at my tears. I could hear real concern in his purr. Suddenly, it stroked the top of my head with its big paw. That felt nice, and I stopped crying mostly.

Two-legs kept barking something that sounded like Kahellen. I couldn’t make that sound in a million suns, even if I tried. It then put more things of food and water on the ground. I sensed it was the food and water that had made me sleepy before, and thought I had better not touch it. Yet, I was so hungry and thirsty. Well, if all this did was make me sleepy, that would be okay. I am tired anyway, and need to sleep.

This two-legs does not seem like it is going to hurt me, though, not like the coyotes, not like the two-legs that put me in the woods, and not like that other two-legs that tried to capture me. I mean, why would it harm me after removing Tar and bringing me food and water? Okay, I decided. I will eat.

And, I did. And though I am sleepy, I did not fall asleep this time.

Suddenly, I had to go outside. I mean, I really had to go. So, I walked over to the place in the side of the warren where we had entered. But, the opening was gone. Where, where did it go? Is there no way out? Is this a trick? I looked up at Kahellen, hoping it was not going to hurt me, that it had not played a trick me.

Kahellen seemed to understand what I meant, and walked over. Somehow, it made the opening reappear, and I walked outside. Oh, it felt so good to be outside again. I was now clean, had food in my belly, and the water was so refreshing.

Then, I thought of something. I can either run off into the woods right now, or maybe I can stay with Kahellen inside the warm warren, with the food and water. I looked at the woods. Then, I looked at Kahellen, who was standing in the opening of the warren watching me. No! No more woods! Not if a nice animal like Kahellen is willing to be so nice to me. I am clean, and I am fed. Kahellen did this for me, and it did not have to.

So, I made the hot water and the stink over by a tree, and trotted back over to Kahellen and looked up into its face. It showed its teeth, but not in an angry way. It was in more of a playful way, in the way the little two-leg's pups had done long ago. I looked then at the opening and then up into Kahellen's face, my tail wagging. It stood aside and let me back in, where I saw the things with food and water had been filled again.

Oh, what did I do to earn this blessing? I wandered for so many sunrises and sunsets, fought so many animals with my wile, claws, and teeth that I lost count. So many times, I had found myself covered from head to foot with stuff from the woods until the next, long rain, and went for long walks without food or water. Yet here, they are given to me without hunting, without scrounging, without begging.

How does this animal know what I need? All I know is, it does. It truly does. Kahellen willingly gives me all these things and more.

It has been many, many sunrises and sunsets later. Even though we are both older, Kahellen still gives me all these things. It does so out of love, which is something I have learned even more about over the years. For this kindness, for this love, I know from experience I am truly blessed.

For this kindness, I am truly grateful. I am glad I stayed here. We are a pack of two, and I am glad I let Kahellen be in charge. I am happy. This is now my home. My tail wags all the time. I am at peace.


--- What was the original American Aurora? The Aurora was a newspaper published by Benjamin Franklin Bache , a grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Aurora was published in Philadelphia, our nation's capitol at the time.

The Aurora was highly critical of what Bache felt was the tyrannous Federalist governments of presidents Washington and Adams.

The result? Adams imprisoned Bache for sedition, where he languished, awaiting trial, until his death from yellow fever at age 29.