Monday, July 04, 2011

Four For The Fourth

- I love my country but bedamned if I can stomach what the government is doing to it. We need a better class of bums, or at least Congressthings with a better grasp of the Constitution and a greater willingness to listen to the people they supposedly represent. I'm not holding my breath waiting, which brings us to:

- We have the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and, if we must, the Code of Federal Regulations. The Roman Republic had the Twelve Tables, and look where that got their Republic in the end. When the weight of Law grows too heavy, the crowd cries for a Caesar. (Still, the Roman Republic had a good long run, as governments go).

- On the other hand, I like the way we increasingly celebrate Independence Day with what sounds like a running blackpowder battle. Though I do wish they'd knock off after midnight. Still, Our Civic Leaders spend most of my youth and early adulthood blanding the celebrations to a "sit down and watch the professionals do it" event and it's nice to see it get back to more the kind of loud-noise exuberance traditionally associated with the day.

- Is it disconcerting or reassuring that Kasey Kasem first treated listeners to American Top 40 41 years ago today? Is he deliberately paraphrasing Oscar Wilde[1] in his signature closing line?[2]
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1. "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
2. "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars."

4 comments:

Ken said...

On the subject of Wome, I (better late -- very late -- than never) just started reading Tacitus, and...holy petunia. I see what Borepatch is on about. If every parent would voluntarily get his or her school-age kids to read Tacitus, we might avoid all manner of hijinks.

BobG said...

Tacitus is good reading; I have an old dog-eared copy that I read during high school (class of 1969).

LabRat said...

Ever seen the Far Side cartoon "Dick Clark ages 40 years in 20 seconds"? I keep expecting the same thing to happen to Kasem. Do radio deejays make some kind of deal with the devil? Feed on the shortened lifespans of rock stars?

Quizikle said...

Re: "Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Code of Federal Regulations"

I suspect that only the names of these documents are of any concern to anyone elected to office - particularly those first two which are antiquated and outdated. The contents just get in the way of "the People's Work"

Re: "cries for a Caesar"
Didn't that already happen in '08?

Q