Open Thread – One Person’s Folly is Another’s Fortune
Happy Seward’s Day, Alaskans! And for the rest of you, please allow this post to serve as your permission slip to bail out of work early today. Just tell your boss we said it was OK.
Seward’s Day is one of those “we’re going to force it to happen on a Monday” holidays that gives many Alaskans a nice three-day weekend, and a special grown-up treat – a day off while the kids are in school!
The day commemorates the signing of the Alaska Purchase Treaty, on March 30, 1867. Newspapers at the time called Alaska “nothing but walrus covered icebergs.”
Surprise!
Seward, who perhaps is most widely known for his “folly” was an interesting character. Here are a few things you might not know about him.
William Henry Seward (May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was the 12th Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. A determined opponent of the spread of slavery in the years leading up to the American Civil War, he was a dominant figure in the Republican Party in its formative years, and was widely regarded as the leading contender for the party’s presidential nomination in 1860 – yet his very outspokenness may have cost him the nomination. Despite his loss, he became a loyal member of Lincoln’s wartime cabinet, and played a role in preventing foreign intervention early in the war. On the night of Lincoln’s assassination, he survived an attempt on his life in the conspirators’ effort to decapitate the Union government. As Johnson’s Secretary of State, he engineered the purchase of Alaska from Russia in an act that was ridiculed at the time as “Seward’s Folly”, but which somehow exemplified his character. His contemporary Carl Schurz described Seward as “one of those spirits who sometimes will go ahead of public opinion instead of tamely following its footprints.”
Thanks, William H. for seeing something that few others did.
“please allow this post to serve as your permission slip to bail out of work early today”
Oh sure, AKM, you tell me this AFTER I get home from my 11 1/2 hour day!!!
AFTER I knock half of my lunch onto the kitchen floor this morning.
AFTER I discover there’s no milk for breakfast.
AFTER I discover that the pants I need to wear today are still damp and I can’t spot dry them because the hair dryer started smoking the other day.
AFTER I realize that – yikes! – I forgot to hang up the load of laundry from the washer last night. The load that included all of my good…well…uhhh…lady-type garments, one of which I will NEED if I’m standing in front of an audience flapping my hands around during tonight’s concert. (By the way, certain items of clothing DO eventually dry when left in the trunk of a car, although they do get quite chilly when the temperature is only 42 degrees. THAT’ll sure wake you up in a hurry!)
A tad more advance notice would have been much appreciated so I could have turned the alarm off and rolled over in my nice cozy bed this morning!
And sometime’s one man’s folly is everyone’s problem.
Shell
today
North Sea
Leaking gas
Evacuation
No fly
Not sure what they are gonna do
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-17505448
Mr President-
If this happened with oil off the coast of Alaska in the Chukchi Sea , is there a real plan?
Real accountability?
I’m gonna barf, sir.
Just have to share this gem. I check in with Dan Fagan’s radio show (and, yes I am a masochist, thank you) just to hear what the crazy people are talking about. I think my personal best is 10 minutes without yelling or laughing so hard I pass out from lack of oxygen. Anyway…today’s was doozy. I am paraphrasing only slightly here…
Dan: “If you are a teacher with the Anchorage School District, you have to give cash to the union. You have no choice. Just like if you were a Jew in Poland, you had to live in the ghettos.”
There you have it people! Possibly the best Nazi analogy EVAH!!!!
Wow…did he pop a vertebrae making a stretch like that?
I have it on good authority that several states with rwnj guvs and legislatures will ram through legislation that outlaws the prescence, within state borders, of hooded mergansers-“Hoodies” for short. These nefarious waterfowl,which are black and wear hoodies(males) are no doubt potential troublemakers for all other water birds and will require expensive litigation to soothe the fears of White sportsmen and women. Any of these cheeky devils found in any of several states will be forcibly evicted by the NRA and its many members,none of which claim to be racist. If you or your loved ones know the whereabouts of any of these miscreant fowl and if you know what is good for you,then report(snitch) immediately to the nearest exceptional ‘Mericans in your neighborhood. Any reward you are in line for will be divided equitably among the 1%-the wealthiest first. Have a nice(read Red) day. Der Kommisar.
When I lived on Long Island the apartment I rented was on a big bay. Every spring and fall an enormous flock of hooded (and non-hooded, perhaps undercover?) mergansers would stop off on their way to wherever they were going and stay for a few days. They would start quacking at sunrise and the sound would be nearly deafening by the time they all got wound up. It was most definitely NOT appreciated on Sunday mornings when I wanted to sleep in!
I was so aggravated with them early one morning that I stood at my door and made a rough estimate of how many there were. I figured that somewhere between 700 and 1,000 birds were squawking at me. I would have deeply appreciated any assistance that ANY gubment-type agency would have given me to outlaw the feathered little terrors!
Real question. Difference between Seward’s Day and Alaska Day? Statehood? Anyone? Thanx
Alaska Day recognizes the day of transfer of “ownership” of the Territory from Russia to the US. It’s October 18 and is celebrated with greatest vigor in Sitka, where the actual transfer ceremony took place.
HB80, Alaska’s own stand-your-ground bill, popular with our legislators, who cite calls and emails from constituents supporting this legislation.
And did the NRA and ALEC fester to have their legions contact their state legislators to enable this?
Paul Krugman today, if you haven’t already read it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/opinion/krugman-lobbyists-guns-and-money.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
“But where does the encouragement of vigilante (in)justice fit into this picture? In part it’s the same old story — the long-standing exploitation of public fears, especially those associated with racial tension, to promote a pro-corporate, pro-wealthy agenda. It’s neither an accident nor a surprise that the National Rifle Association and ALEC have been close allies all along.”
I’m kinda curious – just how are you supposed to “stand your ground” (instead of prudently running away if at all possible) if you’re not armed, presumably with a gun?
So if it’s possible to flee the scene, but you just happen to have a weapon, ithen it’s OK to injure or kill someone under the justification of standing your ground? Judge and jury right on the spot, eh? Phew, the stink of fearful macho posturing is all over this one.
Why run away if the legislature gives you carte blanche to blow away any unarmed person you claim got in your face? Afterall,your un-named,probably unarmed,faux assailant is likely to be dead,compliments of your dead-eye and not likely to dispute your(the killers) version of the story.
In Colorado this law is titled the “Make My Day” law.
I find it amazing that Americans from a century and more ago had such vision and foresight for our Nation. What we have today for statesmen and women is one party that wants to turn the calendar back at least one century so the wealthy can control all aspects of our lives and the other party trying to preserve most of the advances we have made,as a nation, especially in the last half of the previous century. I guess all the statesmen and women have passed on like passenger pigeons.
thank you for the history lesson AKM. i live near Seward Park High School but never knew the two men were one and the same. i am delighted.
Can I use this as a free day even though I’ve had mostly free days? I will use it doing what I enjoy.
I’m making mineral broth today. The last batch lasted about 3 months. Not bad given that I use it in place of water for cooking rice, pot roast and soups. Since it’s going to be chilly out today and tomorrow, I may as well heat up the house using the stove. Later, I will be starting some chicken broth using the left over bones from a chicken roast. When the store I worked in closed, I got a fantastic deal on a huge, energy efficient side by side fridge. I have been working on filling the freezer with good stuff ever since.
Wish I could just stay home, grow things and cook. I’m kinda liking that.
I must admit that that is the finest,most handsome walrus I never did see. Is Slip buying the beer or does he get that off,too?
Mike, anytime you call me a handsome walrus, I’m buying the beer!
Gotta get this off my chest and might as well vent here!
I wish folks would stop bringing up the “dog” issue with Mitt Romney. First off, it was 30 some years ago. Yes, it wasn’t the smartest way to take your dog with the family on vacation. But as I look at, they very much loved that dog, and wanted it with them. I think that says something.
Romney stopped and hosed down the car and dog, and continued on. It was a large dog, and he had a large family, so this might have, at the time seemed OK
Second, supposedly, they were driving to Canada. My question about this is: where were they driving from? If he lived in Michigan at the time, this could have been just a jump away. If he lived in Massachusetts, it still wasn’t like driving from the Florida Keys. Does anyone out there feel that this is an important issue in selecting POTUS?
And, hey, fellow Mudpuppies, I love dogs, and have had lots, from pugs to Border Collies to German Shepherds to Sluggo, a real mutt whom we took to the county pound after he ate the neighbors’ chickens. Please note the aspostrophe is after – meaning multiple neighbors! He walked back up our driveway one year later to the day! This disproves the legend that once a dog has tasted chickens,they will always kill them. We warned all the folks around us that he was home, and to let us know if he was up to his old tricks, but he behaved himself, and out out all those other dogs is today the most beloved by my kids. I loved all those pix recently posted by AKM!!!
By the way, our son is getting ready to go back to AK for the summer, and is stopping by on his way with their 3 dogs. I can barely manage to get myself on a plane, and he does it twice a year with 3 dogs!!
The dog story speaks to Mitt Romney’s lack of empathy and to his lying all the time about anything. That’s why it has continued to be important. He did have choices at the time: put the luggage on the top and the dog in the car, board the dog at a reliable kennel (which is what we do), take two cars for the trip. It would never, in a million years, occur to us to cage a dog on the top of a motor vehicle. And the planned trip was not just a few miles; it was quite a long trip. Another bizarre aspect of the infamous trip: Mitt had “planned stops in advance” and the hosing of the car and dog required an “unplanned” stop. What if one of the kids needed to go to the bathroom? Would he have made an “unplanned” stop or insisted that they travel on to one of the “planned” stops? And Seamus, the dog, apparently after the incident, kept running away and was given to one of Mitt’s sisters. Mmmmm. Smart dog! And thirty years of lies about the trip — it all adds up to quite a lot of information about the real Mitt Romney.
Moreover, the only reason this story is being discussed at this time is because Romney himself told the story during an interview in 2007. He actually thought it was a cute family story. The fact that he put his dog on the roof is bad enough, but to compound this horrible choice with the belief that it is “cute” demonstrates an amazing lack of character and understanding of how others view the world.
I don’t care whether the dog story was yesterday or 30 years ago. How a person treats animals, especially a “beloved family pet”, speaks volumes to me. My parents would never have thought to put our dog in a crate on top of the car. We made room for him IN the car.
When we moved from Kansas to Washington state, I had my car completely full with things that I didn’t want to send in the moving van. And our daughter was in her car seat and there was a little space INSIDE the car for our cat – and a space for the cat’s litter box and food and water. For most of the trip, Boots, the cat, happily curled up and went to sleep. Whenever we stopped we took time to get out of the car with the cat on a leash (which he didn’t like, but it kept him from getting lost or hit by other cars in a parking lot) so he could get some fresh air and have the chance to do what he needed to do outside. Whenever we ate, I made sure to give him fresh water and food as well.
Honestly, that trip with the cat was not easy, but I would never have put him on top of the car – ever.
Romney fails on all counts for that choice. If they didn’t have room in the car, they should have found a neighbor to watch the dog or they should have boarded him somewhere. That’s what we did any time we we taking a trip and couldn’t take our animals with us. We were happy knowing they were safe and they were happier than they would have been in a crate on top of the car. How terrifying that must have been for that poor dog. And the worst is that Romney still doesn’t get why animal lovers are upset with him – he laughs about it. How about we put him in a crate and put it on top of the car and see how he likes it. And then we’ll stop and hose him off and put him back in there. He’s lucky the dog didn’t bite him.
Was he really so cheap he couldn’t rent a u haul trailer (or buy a trailer) to put the luggage in and put the dog in the car? It’s not like he was the Beverly Hillbillies who, presumably, didn’t know they had a choice as to how to transport Granny. And in any case, she chose the rocking chair on top.
His contemporary Carl Schurz described Seward as “one of those spirits who sometimes will go ahead of public opinion instead of tamely following its footprints.”
Thanks for this post,AKM, especially the part about a work holiday or, if not that, getting off early!
I wish we had Seward in DC today, – to “go ahead of public opinion”. Makes me want to learn more about him.
Watching the “American Experience” Lincoln documentary last week, when Seward was mentioned I said to my son, ” is that the folly Seward ? the one that bought Alaska ? ”
As I heard it out loud from myself I realized that my 7th grade history class left me with exactly that amount of information. All I remembered was “Seward’s Folly” and Alaska. Poor, dear Seward. Quite short changed by the middle school history books !
Thanks AKM! With your approval, I’m skipping work today!