city air makes free

City air makes free, that was the Go west young man, go west of the middle ages.  After the fall of the Roman Empire and the Muslims taking over Spain and Africa and most of the mideast and the Mediterranean Sea northern Europe hunkered down into those tiny little self sufficient feudal states. But there were certain things the feudal lord couldn't raise in his little hunk of heaven, like armor for his knights so they could attack his fellow lords, so trade started coming back, and there came the cities. I think the local lord had nominal control of the city, but he kept his hands off because, well I'm not sure, maybe because he would just muck it up, and if he left it alone they could tax it and make a pretty penny.

Of course the city people got to keep what wasn't taxed, and I guess the money in their pockets gave them some power.  But you know, even with those rich cities you still had kings,  The English killed their king in 1649, but they didn't have their first elections until 1708.  The French had their revolution shortly after ours and they didn't have their first elections until 1848.  Of course a lot happened in between, most notably Napoleon.

I seem to remember something about how the USA having elections inspired other countries to do the same, which I rather dismissed because it sounded so, you know USA! USA! USA!  But maybe there is some truth in it.  Why did we choose it?  We could have had any kind of government.  There is that story about George Washington turning down the kingship but there must be more to the story than that,  Seems like they should have covered that in school when they were washing our brains, but maybe I wasn't paying attention that day.

Information about the growth of income equality is just a click away but I have done plenty of clicking already this morning.  When I was proposing my dystopia I used the word tech powered. by which I mean all those nifty weapons.  No matter how badly the super rich are outnumbered in their citadels their Sharper Image toys will keep the hordes at bay.


Could the reason that life expectancy is lower in Appalachia than in Bangladesh be because of all the bad habits like meth and heroin that are running rampant among rural white people?  I lived in Herrin a town of 10,000 in Southern Illinois for a couple years and I hear things are pretty bad down there. What does Beagles know of the goings on in Cheboygan?


I've kind of rushed through this whole thing because I want to be able to pay full attention to the battle to bomb Obamacare.  All the wise pundits are saying this will never happen, but then all the wise pundits told us Dumbo never had a chance.  What a tangled web of factions this is turning out to be.  Now I hear that the Koch brothers have set up a fund to counter Dump's threat against those who vote against his bill.  I guess it's his bill, but I am pretty sure that if it fails it will be Ryan's bill.  I wonder if these legislators who are scared shitless of Dump ever think that in a couple years he may well be a reviled character among their constituents.

Okay then, I see by the clock on the wall that it is time for the first tweet.  Let the games begin.