Leap, Froggy

Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November
All the rest have 31
Seven of them
Except February,
And that's all messed up.

   This year has 366 days, in society's effort to maintain 12 months in a calendar year.
   But it still doesn't work.
   If you divide 12 into 365, you get 30, with five left over. And that means those five are spread among the other months. So four months get 30 days, and seven others get 31, but that accounts for only 11 months. Which means February (named after the ancient goddess Febra) is cheated out of two months.
   Unless the Gremlin jumps in and adds an extra month to make up for the lost time. But he can only do that every four years, lest the other months lose some of their time.
   But why insist on the magic of 12?
   Perhaps because if society divided the monthly lunar cycle of 28 days into 365, the result would be 13 months, with only one day left over, which would give the rest of earthly society a day off, to celebrate the start of a new year.
   However, everyone knows that 13 is unlucky, so those in charge of making up the calendar insisted on a 12 month year, even though it meant we have to hop our way through the complications of four months with 30 days, seven with 31 days, an extra month with 28 days and giving that short period an extra day every four years to balance things out so the powers that be (were?) would not have to deal with the perceived threat of the power of 13.
   But is that really a threat?
   Ask builders, who won't put that number onto one of their floors. Nor will they put that number onto the street address of their buildings. Instead, the street numbers go from 11 to 15. 

 Nor will large cities have a 13th street.

And don't forget what happened to Apollo 13.

Monthly Mooning

  Tomorrow begins the second month of the year, named after the ancient goddess Febra, partner to Janus, who opens the calendar.
   This month holds just 28 days, at the end of which Febra, the goddess of fertility, suffers from a discomfort called fever, which carries her name.
   Nine months later, she gives birth to a new year, and the new Janus is portrayed as an infant.
   (In the ancient, traditional Roman calendar, there were only 10 months to the year, hence the name December. July and August were added later, after the Romans controlled the Gauls and borrowed their 12 month cycle, thus naming the two new months after their own leaders, Julius and Augustus.)
   Soon the offspring of Janus and Febra will March off to battle with those who would try to stop Eastern flowers from springing forth new life throughout Nature.
   Then the goddess April will pass the calendar to her successor, and she will say to the world, "May the Fourth be with you."

   Juno will bust out all over.
   

Memories

 

 

Here's a posting from 15 years ago. History doesn't change much.

 

CITIZENS – "He was the son of Puerto Rican immigrants." Not so. Puerto Rico has been part of the United States for more than 100 years, since the end of the Spanish-American War. The word "immigrant" implies that someone came to America from a foreign country. But since Puerto Rico is part of the U.S., it is not, by definition, a foreign country. People in Puerto Rico send delegates to national political conventions, vote in presidential elections, and serve in the military, as do people in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They are all American citizens and carry U.S. passports. Therefore, they should not be referred to as "immigrants."

 

HISTORY – Spanish is not a foreign language in America, and never has been. Remember 1492 and Columbus, an Italian seaman sponsored by Queen Isabella of Spain? Keep in mind that Spanish was spoken here long before the English arrived. So was Swedish, as well as Dutch and several other languages. Also, while the English organized colonies as business ventures, settlers were recruited from Scotland, Ireland and Wales, many of whom spoke Gaelic or Welsh.

 

WRONG-WAY RALEIGH – A newsletter for apartment dwellers, in its history trivia section, claimed that in 1586, Sir Walter Raleigh brought tobacco to Virginia from England.

 

COMMENTARIAT – There is more danger to individual liberty from the Far Right than from the Liberal Left. Examples: Germany under Hitler, Italy under Mussolini, Spain under Franco, Chile under Allende. "It can't happen here," you say? Yes, it can, and very nearly did. The novel by Sinclair Lewis was fiction, but it was based on real events of the 1930s. Try reading "The Plot to Seize the White House," by Jules Archer (1973), Skyhorse Publishing, New York, 2007. It documents an attempt by corporate America to oust FDR by military force. The duty of a free press is to monitor and expose activities of government and/or any extremist group that threatens liberty.

 

RADIO RHETORIC – The big talkers maintain that their words do not lead others to violence; that they are only exercising their constitutional right to free speech. But words can kill. Not directly, but words have often been used to demonize and dehumanize. And when an individual or group is felt to be less than human, it becomes acceptable to beat, torture and even kill in the name of patriotism, religion or some other fanatical fervor.

 

PLATE STATEMENTS – From New Jersey, one of our favorites: The Unitarian clergy with UU REV on his car license plate.

 

AIN'T CULTURE WUNNERFUL? – Pug Mahoney suggested that Edith Wharton's novel, "The House of Mirth," should be subtitled "The Real Housewives of 1907." Sign on store window: "No Loitering. Police Take Notice." Teenagers are OK, but no cops allowed. A factory banner proclaimed "Now Firing." This stopped us for a moment, until we recognized the building as a ceramic tile factory.

 

HOLLYWOOD CHUTZPAH – A film studio refused to give a mime screen credit for his role in "Revenge of the Fallen" because his performance "was not a speaking part."

 

CREATIVE COINAGE – The CIA does not assassinate, according to former top official Cofer Black. What it does, is "engage in war-fighting, where the goal is to degrade the command and control capability" of the enemy's leadership.

 

BEWARE OF ABSOLUTES – A Middle East government spokesman said its security forces "never fire on innocent civilians." This can be a true statement only if one accepts the premise that there is no such entity as an "innocent" civilian.

 

KINDLING – An Amazon.com exec said of his firm's electronic gadget, "We think reading is an important enough activity that it deserves a purpose-driven device." And all this time, we thought that's what a book is.

 

CHOICE PHRASES – For a know-it-all, she has very little understanding. At the age of 30, he was already like someone's grandfather – set in his ways.

Hypocrisy

   For all his criticism of newcomers to America, the former President almost never mentions his own family history.
   His mother was born and raised on a small island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, where English was her second language. The family spoke Gaelic at home. She was the youngest of ten children and did not learn English until she started school. She came to America at the age of 17, and her first jobs were as a domestic helper, until she met and married Fred Trump, Donald's father.
   Her name was Mary Anne MacLeod, and she was born in May 1912 in the village of Tong on the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, and came to America in 1930.
   She acquired American citizenship 12 years later, in March 1942.
   Her son Donald was born in 1946, a middle child. (That explains much of his behavior.)
   This also may explain why the former President almost never mentions her, since he himself is a son of an immigrant.
   And his father was a grandson of immigrants from Germany.
   Does the word hypocrisy come to mind?

Presidential Immunity

   Donald Trump now claims presidential immunity from prosecution in any or all civil or criminal cases against him.

   But.

   He is no longer President.

   Trump also claims new prosecutions amount to double jeopardy because Congress failed to impeach him. Twice.

   But.

   An impeachment trial is neither a civil nor a criminal case. It is only to punish misbehavior in office, and the only punishment can be removal from office. So double jeopardy does not apply.

    Moreover, such a former official may still face criminal or civil prosecution in a court of law. That's why Richard Nixon was pardoned after he left office.

   If  he had  done nothing wrong, why did Gerald Ford issue a pardon?

   And a presidential pardon applies only to federal offenses, not to state or local issues.

   There are several court cases pending against Donald Trump, but some of them are state cases. That could be why his attorneys are trying to get them transferred to federal courts, so if he is convicted and succeeds in getting elected to another term, he could pardon himself.

   We live in interesting times.

Rampant Bigotry

   Many Americans complain of immigrants, and many members of the Republican Party insist that some of their Democratic foes do not meet the Constitutional rule that says a presidential candidate must be a "native born" citizen.
   (Not so. It says "natural born." More later.)
   But GOP partisans don't complain if a Republican does not meet that rule. For example, many Republicans urge Arnold Schwarzenegger to run for President. But he rejected that proposal, knowing that he was born and raised in Austria and became a U.S. citizen after coming to America and succeeding in Hollywood roles.
   In contrast, GOP partisans insist that Democrat Kamala Harris, the current vice president, is not eligible for that office because she is the daughter of two immigrants. But her parents became U.S. citizens and she was born in California, thus meeting the qualification "natural born" citizen for two reasons -- parental citizenship and place of birth.
   But partisans said nothing about candidate Ted Cruz, currently a senator from Texas, who was born in Canada to a Cuban father. His mother, however, was an American citizen, so he qualified for "natural born" citizenship for that reason.
   Now to explain the difference between "natural born" and "native born."
   "Native born" means born in the United States or one of its territories, regardless of parental citizenship.
   "Natural born" means at least one parent was an American citizen, so place of birth was not relevant. That's why children born in another country to an American parent inherit American citizenship. Example: Children of American military personnel or some other kind of visitor.
   Also, many Japanese women come to California late in their pregnancies so their new child will be born in America, and thus hold U.S. citizenship.
   Many prominent business and political leaders are themselves immigrants, such as Andrew Carnegie, who was born and raised in Scotland, and came to America as an adult, where he made his fortune.
   Or consider Donald Trump, whose grandfather came to America from Germany. And the former vice president married an immigrant -- twice.
   Or consider former President John F. Kennedy and current President Joe Biden, both of whose ancestors came from Ireland.
   As for former President Barack Obama, he was born in Hawaii and his mother was a native of Kansas. You don't get more American than that.
   And consider this: Every President was descended from immigrants, beginning with George Washington.
   So what's to stop an American citizen born of Iroquois or Mohawk ancestry from becoming President?
   Nothing. Such a candidate would qualify on both counts. Natural born and native born.
   Conclusion: The only ones who complain about ancestry as a qualification for the highest office in America are typically members of the Republican Party.
   What does that tell you about bigotry?
   By the way, the people of Puerto Rico hold American citizenship for the same two reasons as those born in Kansas, Guam or the Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico is part of the United States of America, and has been since the end of the Spanish-American War more than  a hundred years ago.

Political Hypocrisy

   Hypocrisy is rampant in the American political system.
   So what else is new?
   Republicans complain loudly about what they say is illegal and immoral activity among Democrats and especially the Biden family.
   They talk at length about allegations of drug use and gun possession by the President's son. Not by the President himself, but by his only remaining son, Hunter. The older son, a former military officer, died of cancer.
   But that's not relevant.
   As for drug use and gun possession, millions of other Americans die yearly of illegal drug use and illegal gun possession is rampant nationwide. Hunter Biden acquired his weapon legally, but as soon as it was determined that he also had a narcotics issue and it was made public, he got rid of the gun only a few days after he acquired it.
   As for other allegedly illegal business activities, no evidence has been presented that his father, the current President, was a participant in any way.
   That seems to be the worst that GOP opponents have to launch against Joe Biden.
   On the other hand, it's useful to compare these allegations against those formally filed against Donald Trump, the ex-president and hero of many Republicans.
   Trump was impeached twice while in office (but not convicted) and indicted four times in both federal and state jurisdictions, for a total of 91 charges.
   His lawyers now ask the Supreme Court of the United States to decide whether a President -- current or former -- is above the law.
   Or so also said Richard Nixon.
   The Supreme Court disagreed, and Nixon resigned. Within days, his duly appointed successor issued a pardon. But that only covered federal offenses, not state.
   Donald Trump now faces multiple allegations in several states as well as two federal charges.
   The question to SCOTUS is now whether a President -- present or former -- is above the law.
   If so, that would also apply to four former Presidents still with us -- Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George Bush Jr. and Barack Obama -- three of them Democrats.
   That means they also could ignore the law. Or does it apply only to former Democrat presidents?
   Finally, that leaves unanswered the issue of whether state laws can also be ignored.
   We live in interesting times.