A five o'clock morning

A five o'clock morning. I suppose I kind of wanted one, because I was a little ginned up by a few PolitiCartoon threads last night, along with my Saturday night post. Though, I assure you, I would have preferred to sleep till seven. But I am up and charged up, only dreading how I will feel at around ten. However, one of the reasons why I wanted an early morning is because I was looking to take a morning walk, and I am pretty sure that is going to happen.

1787 Federalists vs. Anti-federalists

Virginia did not easily succumb to the Constitution.

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Like their New York counterparts, antifederalists there posed as plucky populists, even though their ranks included many rich slaveholders. Patrick Henry, the leading antifederalists, warned delegates who supported the Constitution, “They’ll free your niggers.”

George Washington noted the hypocrisy of the many slaveholding antifederalists: “It is a little strange that the men of large property in the South should be more afraid that the Constitution will produce an aristocracy or a monarchy than the genuine, democratical people of the East.”

-- Ron Chernow, “Alexander Hamilton”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Not too strange. The plantation owners already had their own little aristocracy going and did not want it disturbed.

Wilentz book

I know I said that I wasn't going to bring the Wilentz book on my walks, being too heavy and straining on the wrist, but I really need to make some progress moving through the pages. Even in one-quarter skim mode, it is going to take me months to get through it. This isn't necessarily problemsome in itself, except I am anxious to get to the new Lincoln book, and it looks like I will be very lucky if I can get to it before the end of summer at this pace.

Schopenhauer

“A complete and adequate notion of life can never be attained by anyone who does not reach old age; for it is only the old man who sees life whole and knows its natural course; it is only he who is acquainted - and this is most important - not only with its entrance, like the rest of mankind, but with its exit too; so that he alone has a full sense of its utter vanity; whilst the others never cease to labor under the false notion that everything will come right in the end.”

-- Arthur Schopenhauer, “The Wisdom of Life”

Of course, this happily assumes that the old fellow has retained the benefit of his senses and wit, which is perhaps less than a fifty-fifty chance.

A baby bee

A baby bee floating at the kitchen screen-door. I killed another such a one last week, when none of the cats were around and at risk of poisoning. It would seem a good bet that we have a hive nearby.

It has been ages since I have shut down a hive. Did I even taken one down last year??

But the bees haven't been a problem, yet. Neither have the ants for that matter. I marvel that the ants have never invaded the cat plate when it has been laying pretty on the kitchen floor for days and nights at a time.

country music CDs

Settling in for my evening blogging, Pop orders three country music CDs, dropping another $50 like it is nothing. How, how, how?

My Amusement

Sometimes I get so bogged down in trying to grind out an extra post or to look through a few more e-pictures, straining my eyes and my body. I need to remember that I am not getting paid by the post or by the picture. I’m not even getting e-attention - comments and other such tingles. I should not spend more than fifteen minutes at a time seated in front of the computer, but should get up, if only to stretch and walk about, and rest my eyes away from the brightly lit screen, and just clear my head, do a little freethinking. This is supposed to be for my amusement, just a little something to keep me interested in waking up in the morning and getting out of bed.

Daily Fun

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