Tuesday, January 29, 2008
[1737 - Thomas Paine, political philosopher, patriot, born in Thetford, Great Britain ]
[1860 - Anton Chekhov, playwright, writer, born in Taganrog, Russia]
[1861 - Kansas enters the Union as a free state]
[1874 - John Davison Rockefeller Jr., industrialist, philanthropist, born in Cleveland, Ohio]
[1880 - W. C. Fields (Dukenfield), actor, comedian, born in Darby, Pennsylvania]
[1923 - Paddy (Sidney) Chayefsky, Academy Award-winning playwright, born in the Bronx, New York City]
[1963 - Robert Lee Frost, poet (4 Pulitzers), dies at age 88]
The Exemplary Status of Our Grand & Glorious Union as told by Our Noble & Great Leader
Our Founding Fathers in Article II., Section 3. of the Constitution directed the President that:
He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;...
Do you suppose those wise men who formed our government envisioned anything like the spectacle that now takes place in our Nation's Capital every year? Does it occur to you that they might look askance on the pomp and circumstance of the event, befitting as it is of the opening of a royal court rather than a simple report by the Chief of the Executive Branch to the Congress? Dr. Franklin might have had some real fun in his Almanack with the ritual applause, the phony standing ovations, and the insincere exhibiting of selected common folk in the Peanut Gallery. It may be good theater, but it is bad for democracy when we are so full of ourselves.
Perhaps we should call it the State of the Onion Message, since it brings tears to your eyes as you peel off its layers, and by the time you reach the core, the odor has filled the entire room.
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