Friday, January 30, 2009

Americans Are All of Us ?

Should everyone (all ethnicities and melanin contents) refer to themselves as Americans? This question was posed in The Union newspaper today.

The problem is that "America" is itself a European derived named:

Amerigo Vespucci (March 9, 1454 February 22, 1512) was an Italian explorer and cartographer. The continents of America are popularly understood to derive their name from the feminized Latin version of his first name (see Naming of America).[1]

Vespucci played a senior role in two voyages which explored the east coast of South America between 1499 to 1502. On the first of these voyages he discovered that South America extended much further (the Indies). Vespucci's voyages became widely known in Europe after two accounts attributed to him were published between 1502 and 1504. In 1507, Martin Waldseemller produced a world map on which he named the new continent America after Vespucci's first name, Amerigo. In an accompanying book, Waldseemller published one of the Vespucci accounts, which led to criticism that Vespucci was trying to usurp Christopher Columbus' glory.

If there had been a Pan AmerIndian (there it is again!) Culture, and the name had been derived from that one culture, then maybe E. German would have a case. But alack and alas, the waves of immigration that make up the existing "native" "Americans" apparently came from everywhere, at differing times, and the is no universal AmerIndian culture. Even the AmerIndians have a problem ---> they're named generically after a group on a continent clear on the other side of the planet! Stupid Europeans that the AmerIndians discovered on their beach didn't have a clue as to where they were!

Let's move on folks, the governor is short changing the poor and helpless, and we haven't charged anyone yet with treason for trashing the "American" and the world's economy. Chase the Nicolsons, boy did they do big damage! Leave those Wall Street brojokers alone! How could have they known???!!! Give me a break!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Haiku for a Bad Economy

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Or maybe,
We should stop having,
So many babies....

I'm not sure if this is really a Haiku, but it feels like one.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Looks like Obama Reads my Blog

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