1200 - In China, sunglasses are invented. They are first used to observe sun spots.
1517 - The light given off from the burning of Protestants at stake in Netherlands is so bright, that it creates a huge import industry with China for sunglasses
COINCIDENCE? I think NOT!
"It's a theory that's out there. It's got some gaps in it. In Texas we teach both Creationism and evolution."
- Rick Perry, explaining Texas' anti-science crusade since cancellation of the SCSC.
"From time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented."
- Rick Perry, explaining why he wanted to insulate BO from any liability, once its negligence in the Gulf Spill became clear.
"George W. Bush did a incredible job in the presidency, defending us from freedom."
- Rick Perry, supporting unbridled domestic surveillance, especially on Democratic office seekers.
A short history lesson for the upcoming excuse for fireworks:
A few years earlier, Great Britain decided to impose draconian rules against the colonies, in response to a little tea party held in Boston. In response, the First Continental Congress was held. It drafted a response, and began organizing boycotts of british goods. (England had banned certain industries from starting up in the Colonies, especially if they could compete with her own) By 1775, a virtual war had turned into a full blown fight. Even so, most colonists wanted to reconcile with the crown, and re-establish good relations.
Imagine 56 or so rich land-owners. Highly educated, often well traveled, and many of whom owned slaves. They held widely divergent opinions, and hotly debated topics, almost to the point of violence. (think of teaBuggers, but with functioning brains and real facts) Despite extreme positions on critical issues, like slavery, they managed to join forces, come up with a final version of a declaration, and voted to walk away from the most powerful nation in the world. Such a traitorous revolution had never before occurred in history, not in the face of the biggest navy and army on the globe. Had the British army been around and listening, most of them would have been hung. Unless shooting was more convenient.
Just to remind you how different their views of key issues were, we ended up fighting one of the deadliest (un)civil wars in world history, with 625,000 dead if you include influenza victims. Considering that WWII only cost 405,000 lives, with a far larger population available for death, you get the idea of how firmly held the opinions were. And how divergent the views were, even in 1776.
And still, they put aside their differences, and came up with a momentous decision and agreed to become traitors to their nation of birth. Risking their own deaths in the process.
- - -
It is safe to say that the make up of today's Congress might resemble the Second Constitutional Congress - at least in the wide difference of ideas, backgrounds, and political theory. We have a few unrequited liberals, a bunch of moderate Ds, a very, very few semi-extinct moderate GOPers, and a group of brain dead, anti-government (unless they profit from it), anti-abortion, anti-immigrant, and anti-rational thinking who tried to connect themselves with the Boston heros of the late 1700s. The only thing similar between the funny hat-wearing, idiotic, functionally unread, and factually challenged members of today's TeaBaggers and the anti-british heroes of Boston? They both have Tea in their name.
For the first time in this nation's history, there is a group of people willing to destroy this country, simply to fulfill their neo-con based Ayn Randish fantasy that only a ill-bred, unruly and badly mannered teenager could appreciate. And yet, these "morans" have a virtual strangle-hold on Congress. Debts will be unpaid, schools closed, veterans tossed from long term care, and meals for the poor and elderly deleted from existence. And these bastards CELEBRATE it as though they won something. Their ideas are so simplistic, so idiotic, and so unworkable, that their austerity push actually earned some support across the pond in Europe. In fact, every nation that tried to apply the Randian idea of cutting spending, massive cuts to public safety net, and to radically cut deficits, has found their economy to be in the crapper. The fewer the cuts, the better their economies.
Try explaining such facts to the TeaBuggered class of Congress. Try explaining how anti-slave and pro-slave Constitutional Congress members managed to cooperate and pass an incredibly brave and far-reaching declaration. Try to explain to them how their childish pouting and refusal to pass anything that would help most Americans is threatening the fabric of our country.
When you compare and contrast the behavior of the Continental Congress with the TeaBuggerers of today's House and Senate, guess who appears smarter, braver, and more worthy of support, regardless of your political party.
By the way, a fourth of July really is 7.75 days.
- - - - -
Here are the dudes who started it all:
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
- - - - -
And now for today's (and yesterday's) TeaBuggered Congress:
Alabama
Robert Aderholt
Arizona
Trent Franks
John Shadegg,
David Schweikert
California
Jeff Denham,
Wally Herger
Tom McClintock
Gary Miller
Ed Royce
Colorado
Mike Coffman
Cory Gardner
Doug Lamborn
Florida
Sandy Adams
Gus Bilirakis
Dean Cannon
Ander Crenshaw
Rich Nugent
Dennis Ross
Steve Southerland
Cliff Stearns
Allen West
Georgia
Paul Broun
Phil Gingrey
Tom Price
Lynn Westmoreland
Idaho
Raul Labrador
Illinois
Randy Hultgren
Joe Walsh
Indiana
Dan Burton
Mike Pence
Todd Young
Iowa
Steve King
Kansas
Tim Huelskamp
Lynn Jenkins
Jerry Moran
Kentucky
Rand Paul
Thomas Massie
Louisiana
Rodney Alexander
Bill Cassidy
John Fleming
Jeff Landry
Steve Scalise
David Vitter
Maryland
Roscoe Bartlett
Andrew Harris
Michigan
Justin Amash
Mike Bishop
Pete Hoekstra
Tim Walberg
Minnesota
Michele Bachmann
Mississippi
Steven Palazzo,
Missouri
Todd Akin
Vicky Hartzler
Allen Icet
Billy Long
Blaine Luetkemeyer
Tom Schweich
Montana
Denny Rehberg
Derek Skees
Nebraska
Adrian Smith
New Hampshire
Charles Bass
New Mexico
Gary Johnson
Richard Burr
Howard Coble
Virginia Foxx
Sue Myrick
North Dakota
Duane Sand
Oklahoma
Tom Coburn
James Lankford
Pennsylvania
Mike Kelly
Pat Toomey
Rhode Island
John Robitaille
South Carolina
Jim DeMint
Trey Gowdy
Mick Mulvaney,
Mark Sanford
Joe Wilson
South Dakota
Kristi Noem
Tennessee
Diane Black,
Scott DesJarlais,
Stephen Fincher,
Phil Roe
Texas
Joe Barton
Michael Burgess
Quico Canseco
John Carter
John Culberson
Ted Cruz
David Dewhurst
Blake Farenthold
Louie Gohmert
Ralph Hall
Kenny Marchant
Debra Medina
Randy Neugebauer
Ron Paul
Ted Poe
Pete Sessions
Lamar Smith
Utah
Rob Bishop
Jason Chaffetz
Mike Lee
Virginia
Eric Cantor,
Washington
Kirby Wilbur
West Virginia
Bill Maloney
David McKinley
Wyoming
Cynthia Lummis