The Daily Dose/March 18, 2024
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
GAYLON FOR CONGRESS…VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN: As we like to say on the campaign trail, America has been at war daily for over 30 years and most days since Pearl Harbor in 1941. We’re also fond of saying, usually right after this, that no nation has survived perpetual war and America will not be the exception to that. Eventually it will destroy us.
Oh, Jesus H: We are comfortable trotting out the above figures regularly, but we got curious about how many years in her history America has spent at war and how many at peace so we did some research. We’re pretty good researchers here, and while we are hardly The All-Knowing, any figures we come up with are entitled to be treated with respect.
Let’s Open The Manhole Cover, Shall We?: The numbers aren’t pretty. From the first shots of the American Revolution in 1775 to today, America has been at war for 206 of 249 years. That’s a lot of war. Put another way, America has known only 43 years of peace in almost 250 years of existence.
Dry, Technical Matter: Since 1789, when our current Constitution was ratified and gave Congress the exclusive power to declare war, they have done so eleven times, despite the fact the US has fought over one hundred wars in that span. These figures include wars with the Indians and occupations of other countries.
FunFact: Congress last declared war in June 1942, when it declared war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.
The Bottom Line: It’s time to declare war on war because an America butting in all over the world simply is not sustainable. The time has come for an America that is at peace both with itself and with the rest of the world. The time has come for an America that gives other nations the dignity of handling their affairs without the benefit of US interference. The time has come to see the planet that would be produced by an America at peace.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow is back in the gym after a lousy week of nutrition. Today’s Diary.
The only possible way this could’ve been worse is if we’d been standing post inside a Sin City buffet…
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On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.
In 1865 – The Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourns for the last time, in Richmond, Virginia. The House had a light agenda – appropriate for a nation that had less than a month of existence left – and the final entry in the official journal read “The hour of 2 o’clock having arrived, The Speaker announced that the House stood adjourned sine die”, a Latin phrase meaning a day of reconvening had not been set.
In 1892 – Lord Stanley of Preston, then the governor-general of Canada, presents a silver cup to be given to Canada’s amateur hockey team. Originally the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, it is now known as the Stanley Cup and names from the winning teams have been engraved on the Cup since 1924, with the oldest band being replaced roughly every 13 years. Lord Stanley died in 1908 having never seen a game played for his Cup, nor did he ever present it.
In 1989 – Ricky Van Shelton is at #1 on Billboard’s country chart – then known as the Hot Country Singles chart – for the only week with From a Jack to a King. It was the fifth of 22 Top 40 country hits for Van Shelton, his sixth of 16 Top 10 hits, and his fifth of ten #1s. The song also went #1 country in Canada and in 1963 a version by Ned Miller went #2 country and peaked at #6 on the Hot 100.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
When the room was falling in you needed a tiler and not a prophet.
Morris West
The Clowns of God
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
Billboard’s #1 soul hit was Good Times by Chic, which spent six weeks at #1.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
What team has won the Stanley Cup the most times? – Answer next time!
