Tag: Volume 270 | No. 21 - Page 3 - The New Hampshire Gazette

Mon, June 29

2016—The 477-foot tanker Chem Venus runs aground off Goat Island, damaging itself and three boats at the Kittery Point Yacht Club. 2006—“It was not always certain,” says President George W.[MD] Bush, “that the U.S. and America would have a close relationship.” 1989—The Washington Times reports that high officials in the Reagan & Bush I administrations are under investigation for involvement in a homosexual prostitution ring. Quickly and conveniently, the story evaporates. 1987—“We don’t care,” declares Attorney General Ed “Meese is a Pig” Meese, “about the political or ideological allegiances of a prospective judge.” His audience bursts out laughing. 1966—U.S. planes begin bombing Hanoi and Haiphong …

Sun, June 28

2018—A Trump supporter with a grudge and a shotgun kills five in the Capital Gazette [Md.] newsroom. 2005—Operation Red Wings goes sideways: 19 U.S. special operators die in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, including Daniel R. Healy of Exeter, N.H. It’s the greatest single loss for U.S. special ops since WW II. 1994—The Department of Energy admits hundreds of U.S. citizens were used as unwitting guinea pigs in radiation experiments during the Cold War. 1972—Nixon says no new draftees will be sent to Vietnam, further eroding an anti-war movement already weakened by the lottery. 1971—Muhammad Ali’s conviction for draft evasion is overturned. 1969—Gays and lesbians battle cops …

Should We Call Them What They Are?

To the Editor, I’ve been wracking my brain for a name to describe the new class of ultra-wealthy billionaires—some 900 strong—who are making signiﬁcant changes to our lives. Some call them the one-percent. I ﬁnd that’s not very descriptive. Since they give enormous amounts of money to inﬂuence state and federal legislation, political candidates, elections, judicial appointments, etc.—all to continue their own legacy at the cost of the rest of us, it seems ﬁtting that they have their own name. I’ll call them the Parasite Class. The dictionary deﬁnes a parasite as “a person who lives at the expense of another or others without making …

The Colonization of Revolution

by Richard M. Balzano This complicated nation celebrates its 250th birthday on July 4th. Despite, or perhaps because of, the tragic state of affairs at present, semiquincentennial celebrations will likely see a spike in a particular American brand—toxic nationalism cosplaying as patriotism, built on a profound and tactfully curated misunderstanding of both the present state of geopolitical affairs and historical events, in this case reducing the American Revolution to an anti-colonial common man’s war inspired by enlightened ideals. The American origin story, set in the context of the Enlightenment and the Age of Revolution™, could use a touch of decolonization, because these revolutions were not …

Some People Are More Equal Than Others*

by W.D. Ehrhart If you will indulge me, I would like to begin with a poem I wrote in celebration of the 248th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Rather uncreatively, its title is “Independence Day”: – It is indeed inarguably self-evident that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights including life, liberty, and happiness, or at least the pursuit thereof. – All men, excepting of course Negroes, savages, the poor, the uneducated, indentured servants, and women; all women, regardless of race, ethnicity, social standing, economic status, or education. – After all, it doesn’t say that all people are …

Volume 270, No. 21

With the 250th Anniversary of the Glorious Fourth just over a week away, we meditate on the generally-ignored conspiracy which led to the Declaration. Tricorns off for William Hogeland, whose Declaration [Simon & Schuster, 2010] so brilliantly brought the plot to our attention. For that and a whole lot more, just give this link a click.