History repeating itself…sorta.

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An interesting read on Guy Fawkes day. If you haven’t heard of him, it’s because it was a long time ago in England when Mr. Fawkes took it upon himself to challenge the authority of the King and Parliament.

Fawkes, an ensign, had taken the lead in a 1605 plot to blow up the houses of Parliament at Westminster as part of a Catholic effort to bring down the Protestant monarchy in England. He was apprehended—allegedly in the act itself—taken to the Tower, and subjected to torture. For centuries, Guy Fawkes Day marked the event. Englishmen were taught of the need to be vigilant in the defense of the realm, and particularly to remember the threat from within, from the disloyal Catholics. But mostly they enjoyed the privilege of lighting bonfires and engaging in pranks on a chilly autumn evening.

But today Britons have a take on Guy Fawkes that is much at odds with the historical one. Once Fawkes was a symbol of the traitor within. The people were called to be on guard against his like. No longer. Today Guy Fawkes is increasingly viewed as the heroic figure prepared to stand against an unjust and oppressive state, as a martyr and a victim of torture.

Wouldn’t it be something to see Americans viewing the 4th of July not as a day to celebrate the greatness of itself (in typical xenophobic ‘We’re number one’ chanting and flag-waving rah-rah bullshit…) but people reminding the government that they are in their office to work FOR the people?

To tell them, ‘Watch your ass and if you fuck up, you’re out. Period.’

To show the people in office that they are transitory and if they fuck ‘we the people’ over, they better have a plan to move to Guatemala or some shit, because you will get hung up by the ankles in the public square and beaten to a soundtrack of your own offences against the Constitution and those people who hold it dear.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see the sheeple opening their eyes to see that oil is over $90 a barrel, even though G.W. said he’d tell people to “Open up them Spigots.” to prevent gas reaching the inevitable prices we Europeans pay? (Face it, even $4 a gallon is LESS than what any other non-third world nation pays… suck it up and get rid of your fucking guzzler, or shut the fuck up when gas prices keep rising. YOU control your wallet, not the gub’ment.)

On a side note, the dollar reached a new low against the Euro. As of me writing this, here is where it stands.

Yup. You better get ready for more inflation, more recession and the fact that your dollar buys you less now than it did say 10 years ago. I’m sure someone will blame Clinton and his wandering penis, but since he left in 2000 and left us with money in the bank, well… that is a rant for another post.

—bikepunk

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About bikepunk

“Cuts, scrapes, bruises… all in a day’s riding. Then it’s off for some good german beer in a local biergarten.” Munich, Germany

21 Replies to “History repeating itself…sorta.”

  1. Since I work for a German company, I check the exchange rates daily.

    If you really want get sick, look at the dollar/loonie trendline for the past 5 years. The exchange rate favors Canadians buying US goods now!

  2. Agreed 110%! And NO, I won’t blame Clinton! Elected officials don’t do SHIT for us…yet not only do we continue to put them back in office, we are actually SHOCKED when they vote themselves pay raises and take trips on our dime, not to mention the immense payouts from big business and industry. I wish more people would open their eyes and realise it’s not Republicans, it’s not Democrats, it’s POLITICIANS that are doing this!
    As for our current economic situation…we’re in deep poop with this credit crisis as well as with the declining dollar and increasing oil prices. People have lived beyond their means for too long…and now we’re ALL gonna pay for it (and no comments about how they were “allowed” to borrow such large amounts of money so that’s why they did it…it all comes down to personal responsibility in the end).

  3. sommerfliesby… we are for once in agreement. ‘Pers. Responsibility’ died just shortly after ‘Common Sense’ passed away. They will both be mourned.

  4. Bike Punk,
    Nice rant post yet again. Too bad that radical rebels get tend to get celebrated as heros only after they are teats up for a few decades.
    You guys are right the system is broken. Time to hit the reboot button. I say start with impeachment followed by meaningful campaign finance reform, including no money whatsoever from coporate sources. Lets get back to the vision of the founding fathers.
    Speaking of Ron Paul, the founding fathers invisioned governement being funded by tax on commerce, not income so he’s got a point there. The rest of what he stands for is pretty scary to me.

  5. How about term limits? The founding fathers never envisioned the “career politician.” The idea was, get elected, serve your country, and return to your prior vocation…especially on a local level. This would tend to bring about new ideas, and perhaps limit the level of corruption that is surely aided by those who are in office for a long time.

  6. Actually for the last couple of centuries Guy Fawkes has been memorialized as the last honest man to set foot in Parliament. Honest being defined as being there to do what he promised to do.

    And I have been following the Euro/Dollar exchange pretty closely for a while myself. You would not believe what it has done to the prices of Campagnolo parts. I mean Campy has had the usual inflation due to technology and raw materials costs in Euros, then throw the exchange rate BS on top of that and the prices have been skyrocketing. Or landrocketing, Or climbing faster than Basso on EPO. Whatever. Damn high priced.

    Opus

  7. Ron Paul is a fucking goofball. He has ties to christian Dominionism groups & is involved in the “states rights” neo confederacy nonsense.

    He’s right about a vast majority of things, but stuff like shows he’s just as incoherent as any other fundy xian wacko.

    Just say no.

  8. Sommer, you are talking some real sense. Then maybe reasonable people would step up to the plate. I wish the American public were ready for it tho’. Never underestimate the power of idiocracy.

    What is xian?

  9. The dollar’s lost almost half its value vs. the Euro and there used to be a thing called the Canadian Peso. Unreal. I defy anyone to name one thing, just one, that this administration hasn’t FUBARed.

  10. I always used it in the sense X-mas = Christmas ergo X-ian = christian.

    Knew a guy with that as a nickname… ended up shiortening it to just ‘X’ or the occasional ‘X-man’.

  11. ‘“states rights” neo confederacy nonsense.’

    I kind of like the idea of local decision making versus someone in washington telling me which way to tie my shoes!

  12. Oh yeah, you guy’s are getting the idea. Reboot the system, and clear all the rules, except the one we started with.

  13. It works in my favor, because I earn pounds, live in a ruble economy and am surrounded by things that, for about three different reasons, are usually priced in dollars but sold in the local money.

    The strange thing is that in relation to other currencies, it is only the dollar that is falling. The pound/euro and pound/ruble rates are the same.

    Which is why I love the internet and my ability to make purchases with my Brit credit cards and have it all delivered to relatives in the States. I feel like Donald Fucking Trump.