Category: The Unrepresented

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Berryvillin’: Obelisks and Things

8/21/2021

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Berryvillin': Crows

Part IX of XIII

“… How’s this?”
“Thanks Reb.”
“Them crows got to ya Yank.”
“I wasn’t sure what to think?”
“I heard ‘em too.”
“There are a lot of crows in Berryville.”
“Yes.”
“There’s even a street named Crow.”
“That’s for a family.”
“I thought so too, and said so to the crows.”
“And?”
“The crows, they wondered who that family would be named after, if not them?”
“Crows.”
“What is with these obelisks Johnny?”
“Good question Gus.”
“They’re … ”

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Berryvillin': Slavery

“… How much slavery was there here in Berryville?”
“Clarke County was about half enslaved in 1860.”
“Berryville’s in Clarke.”
“County seat.”
“These stone obelisks, crosses and testimonials, were built with slave coin.”
“I hear ya.”
“The stained glass windows, the brick church.”
“Economy of slavery.”
“We can see what enslaved people built, what their labors contributed.”
“We can.”
“It’s right here, here in these stones.”
“And the stained glass.”
“What’s next Johnny?”
“Got some news Gus.”
“Do tell.”

Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Berryvillin': Word

“The truth has come.”
“The thirty Thousand.”
“And the falsehood shall vanish.”
“The usurpation.”
“And shall not come back.”
“Sounds like you’ve gotten word.”
“Word is expected by 17 September Gus.”
“Constitution Day.”
“Yes.”
“What if no word?”
“Then the Office of the - ”
“- Don’t say Reb.”
“Right.”
“Soon enough, we’ll all know.”
“Meantime … let’s look for some Berrys.”
“Johnny: I had forgotten our purpose.”
“This way Gus …”

Next Up: 17 September and part X of the series Johnny Reb and Gus Yank Berryvillin’: Smudge Day 2021.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

We the People and Others: What Would Jesus Do… Deport the Catholics?

3/1/2018

Romans 12:17-21, The Book of the Is (page 40)

Reductio ad absurdum

Sure, the Jesus reference in the title is absurd, but there are defining similarities between Jesus and the Dreamers: because of their parents, both were born somewhere and then live somewhere else.

A Roman Immigration Officer might have asked Jesus some interesting questions, like:
“Who is your father?”
“Immaculate conception?”
“Where is your papyrus showing a Bethlehem birth?"
“You say ‘Three Wise Men’ were witnesses?”
“And what kind of work are you doing in Nazareth these days?”

Or one could read Romans for a Jesus-inspired Christ-like teaching that a constitutional We the People might try to enact; others, Martin Luther for example, have found inspiration and reverence in Paul’s counsel.

There is also the parable Jesus told about The Good Samaritan: this parable supports The Great Commandment (how one should live).

So what would Jesus do?

The teachings of Jesus are a political goal not represented by usurpation. Something like “The Good ‘Merican,” given the Great Commandment, seems the logical goal of a Christian United States of America. By representing We the People in Congress according to numbers, that is, by the law, we would find out what Jesus-inspired ‘Mericans would do … good and/or otherwise.

*Next Up: 9 April and Usurpation Day 2018, Ex Falso Quodlibet / From a Falsehood, Anything (Follows).

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Thereat: Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb, On Our Way Memories

12/10/2017

Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Thereat Boys

XI of XIII

“Now that was some music Reb.”
“Thought you might like that.”
“I did, and I think The Boys here did too.”
“The Boys?”
“Adult Johnnies were all young once, right?”
“Right.”
“I thought I heard some sniffling is what I mean.”
“Memories.”
“Me too.”
“And it was a bit misty Gus.”
“Yes … a bit misty.”
“People from the past gave us a remembrance.”
“The monument?”
“Right.”
“It looks old.”
“Put up after the war.”
“We’re in West Virginia.”
“We are.”
“This monument worked.”
“In a ‘lest we forget’ kind of way?”
“More in a ‘made me remember’ kind of way.”
“About?”
“Let’s visit one of The Boys from Antietam first.”
“Sure ~ step this way.”

Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Thereat Doctor

“Doctor?”
“Dr. William S. Parran.”
“Husband too.”
“Yes.”
“‘Born July 5th 1835, Killed at Sharpsburg, September 17th 1862.’”
“Antietam.”
“Look at his age.”
“Young.”
“A 27 year-old doctor.”
“Making me remember Gus.”
“The other day it was all about deserters and cowards Reb.”
“I know.”
“We didn’t mention doctors and martyrs.”
“We didn’t.”
“Mrs. Parran stood here.”
“Easy to imagine.”
“Just ‘cuz the war ended, that wouldn’t mean Mrs. Parran thought-less of her William.”
“Of course not.”
“Or that he wasn’t a martyr to a cause.”
“I hear ya.”
“Before, by the monument, I was thinking of the Confederate Dead as ‘Merican Dead too (or as well).”
“Makes sense.”
“How do The Boys feel about that?”

Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Thereat 'Mericans

“The Boys would like to hear an example from the Yank.”
“Sure: will The Doctor do?”
“Yes.”
“So we all know things fell into civil war in April 1861.”
“Go on.”
“And The Doctor here died 17 months into the war.”
“He did.”
“So 17 months in rebellion, let’s say, and 25 years living under usurpation.”
“It takes time to create a Doc Parran.”
“I was thinking something like that too Reb.”
“Meaning someone born under the laws of the United States of America …”
“… Was killed by the laws of the Usurped States of America.”
“Indeed.”
“The Doctor was as unrepresented as you, me and –”
“– The Boys.”
“They agree?”
“It wasn’t a yell, but it was a solid yes.”
“I’m sort-of-glad they didn’t yell Reb.”
“Me too Yank.”
“What’s next?”
“Another Johnny to visit.”
“Who?”
“The most complicated Johnny I know.”
“Let’s go then.”
“This way Yank.”
“With ya Reb …”

*Next Up: Sunday 17 December and Thereat part XII, Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb On Our Way Mysteries.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Summer Union 2016: Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Vera

9/3/2016

Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Some

Part 10 of 13

“You feeling the way I do Reb?”
“’Bout?”
“Virginia.”
“Yes and no.”
“Yes?”
“Time to be on our way to Virginia.”
“No?”
“Virginia.”
“That’s real clear Johnny.”
“I know.”
“Say more.”

Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Sunny

“Do you remember when I mistook West Virginia for Virginia?”
“By the Potomac.”
“Right.”
“That was ‘65 and ’62 Johnny.”
“It’s like that.”
“Vera Reb.”
“Faith?”
“You know that one ‘eh?”
“It’s Russian.”
“Okay.”
“How’d you know Vera Gus?”

Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Day

“Fire.”
“Talking around a fire.”
“Right.”
“What am I to keep the faith in Gus?”
“Jonathan Rebel.”
“Me?”
“You.”
“Hmmm,” Johnny paused: “that’s becoming.”
“Let’s add Vera to our Virginia trip Reb.”
“Done.”

*Next Up: The Union 2016 summer series continues on Sunday 11 September with part 11, Johnny Reb and Gus Kotka Nowhere Bring the Boys.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

2020: Putamen Cannabinoids and Opioids Control Our Brains (Even the brains of presidential candidates)

6/12/2016

Purple is Caudate Nucleus and Putamen / Orange is Thalamus

Brains presidential

There are cannabinoid (pot) receptors and precursors all over our brains; there are also opioid (heroin, morphine, oxycodone) receptors and precursors there too.

“If you were” to click on the publication image below you’d find a schematic representation of our brain’s cannabinoid and opioid receptors. The “If you were” is because there is some caution involved; seems that after looking at the image for a bit (twenty seconds or so) one might see the image looking back at you: I’m just saying it might happen.

I looked at the image for a bit and can report it shows three levels of receptor density for both cannabinoids and opioids: low, moderate and high. Some parts of our brains are high in both; one such spot is the caudate putamen.

The caudate putamen, located at the center of our brains (and the brains of all presidential candidates, it should be said), is fundamental to movement and learning; basically, we wouldn’t be bipedal or remember much without it. Adding science to our sense of ourselves, and the discussion known as the 2016 presidential election, will help us get through the next big thing: the 2020 Enumeration, i.e., the census and the “thirty Thousand.”

Interactions of the opioid and cannabinoid systems in reward: Insights from knockout studies
Frontiers in Pharmacology
Pubmed: 5 FEB 2015

From the abstract: The opioid system consists of three receptors, mu, delta, and kappa, which are activated by endogenous opioid peptides (enkephalins, endorphins, and dynorphins). The endogenous cannabinoid system comprises lipid neuromodulators (endocannabinoids), enzymes for their synthesis and their degradation and two well-characterized receptors, cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2. These systems play a major role in the control of pain as well as in mood regulation, reward processing and the development of addiction. Both opioid and cannabinoid receptors are coupled to G proteins and are expressed throughout the brain reinforcement circuitry.

*Images from this publication
See all images (1)Free text

Next Up: Announcing the release of an Ew Publishing research pamphlet, Aspasia of Miletus: Socrates’ Didaskalos, on Wednesday 15 June.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

2020: Constitutional Decadence, the Public Realm and Bruce Dold of the Chicago Tribune

5/9/2016

2020 Constitutional Representation

Value

Hannah Arendt’s value clarity was noteworthy; to requote: “Value is the quality a thing can never possess in privacy but acquires automatically the moment it appears in public.”

The thirty Thousand and Seventh Amendment are both public, so how is it they exhibit so little power?

Jean Baudrillard (political theorist) adds a bit to Arendt’s value definition with the “fourth order” and the workings of the hyperreal; Bruce Dold of the Chicago Tribune comes to mind as an example of a hyperrealist; our Constitution is clear (see picture above) and yet First Amendment corporations remain silent.

Silence concerning the representation of We the People according to our numbers is Constitutional decadence.

*Next Up: 9 June and a 2020, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ numbers quote (and Gus and Johnny return on Juneteenth).

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

2020: Constitutional Representation is 1, 2, 3 and Seven-twenty

4/2/2016

2020 Constitutional Representation

Briefly, 2020 is about 1, 2, 3 and seven-twenty; unbriefly, meaning for the next 48 months, 2020 is about constitutional representation of We the People.

The “1, 2, 3” is our US Constitution, Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3; the “seven-twenty” is from the 7th Amendment and its twenty dollars.

Next Up: Usurpation Day 2016, Saturday 9 April, 2020 and Bruce Dold of the Chicago Tribune.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Republican In Name Only: James Madison’s Friends, Parties and Liberties

2/20/2016

Revolutionary notes

James Madison was in the US House of Representatives in 1792; he was there on April 9th when the others first voted for the representation usurpation and against the Republic. The pamphlet includes three political essays Madison wrote that year and published in the Philadelphia National Gazette.

The essays are easily found online (Facebook for example) and in the excellent collection James Madison Writings, The Library of America, 1999: pages 517-18 and 530-34. Editing notes include the keeping of old spellings (“encreasing” and “chusing” for example) and the addition of a few footnotes.

*Next Up: The Union 2016 winter series continues Saturday 27 February with part 8, Virginia and Indiana.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

republican_in_name_only_jm_friends_parties_liberties.pdf
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Whiskey221: Rebellion, Napoleon and Washington

10/10/2015

General Washington resigns his commission 23 December 1783, by John Trumbull

Whiskey 221 ~ October 1794, Part 1 of 3
The Whiskey Rebellion 1791-94: Western Pennsylvania

Quiet

George Washington was no Napoleon Bonaparte and Napoleon was no George; they were men of the same era yet not the same men: Napoleon an Emperor and the only one – Washington a president and only one of many.

The French Republic (1792-1804) wasn’t quiet. They had this thing called the Reign of Terror from September 1793 to July 1794: they killed the aristocracy, or anyone not with the new times. The guillotining ended (mostly) yet the French never recovered; in 1799 General Napoleon used force (the army) to take down the French Republic; in 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor.

The American Republic (1789-to present) was quiet by comparison. For example, we had no Reign of Terror in dealing with non-compliance (rebellion) in our Whiskey Rebellion of 1791-94 (no guillotining); there was just a bit of rioting and outright lawlessness happening in the western hills of Pennsylvania. The rebellious citizens didn’t want to pay a whiskey tax; President Washington asked Congress for guidance; they said something had to be done, so President Washington called on the state militias for federal support.

What would Napoleon have done? He was fond of promising one thing and doing the opposite; he probably would have said something nice and then sent in the cannon and bayonets. America chose otherwise, a quiet and strong approach to domestic tranquility, one based on representing We the People in Congress according to our numbers – something a Napoleon (would be dictator) would find incomprehensible.

Napoleon I at Fontainebleau 31 March 1814, by Paul Delaroche

Next Up: Part two of Whiskey221, Saturday 17 October, with more about our American Republic, representation and whiskey rebels.

Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Constitution Day: Gus Kotka, Johnny Reb and Antietam 1862

9/16/2014

Antietam Somewhere

War Cry Heal Union
The summer series finale (10 of 10)

Honoring Constitution Day 2014 and 1862

“Hey Gus.”
“Hey Reb.”
“Our Once Upon A Time chat got interrupted yesterday …”
“Darn Squeak.”
“… Right,” continued Reb, “and welcome to Somewhere.”
“I’d say it’s nice like Nowhere,” Gus observed, “– and thistles too.”
“It wasn’t always this nice.”
“So where is Somewhere Reb?”
“Antietam.”
“No shi-kiddding?”
“No kidding.”
“So, the Dandies of Harlem Heights.”
“Yeah.”
“I figure,” Gus began, “you wanted me to see the problem.”
“What problem is that?”
“The problem of who got me shot,” Gus stated, “so you brought me the story of the battle through the eyes of the Yankee Doodle Dandies.”
“American Rebels.”
“And to show me the similarities between Leitch and the other soldier, the one killed on the field.”
“Thomas Knowlton.
“Yeah him: I remember Leitch died thirteen days later ~ sort of one day for each Stripe.”
“Nice reckoning.”
“So where we at on Antietam?”
“An orientation perhaps?”
“Great ... and is it Constitution Day in Somewhere, I mean Antietam, too?”
“Eternally Gus …”

Sharpsburg Somewhere

“You were here Johnny.”
“Yeah,” Reb panned, “the question is where were you in September 1862?”
“South Bend Indiana.”
“Indiana ‘eh.”
“Right, the 99th Volunteers were mustered into the US Army …” Gus paused: “I volunteered after …”
“After what?” Reb asked.
“… Antietam is the culmination of Robert E. Lee’s Maryland Campaign.”
“You volunteered in August 1862, right?”
“Did: the 99th was mustered into service 21 August 1862,” affirmed Gus and added, “- I see your suggestion Johnny.”
“Still need that orientation Yank?”
“Not really.”
“Whatcha’ thinking?”
“All these citizens Reb … their lives for what?”
“The bloodiest day in our heritage.”
“There’s something else, isn’t there?”
“Generally …”
“The Potomac’s near.”
“Yes.”
“Can we go there?” asked Gus.
“For a moment …”

Potomac Somewhere

“… Here it is.”
“Big.”
“Not so big …”
“No, the thing across it?”
“Bridge Yank.”
“Monster of a Bridge.”
“Yeah.”
“Is that Virginia?” wondered Gus.
"It is."
“So much talk about it ~ seems like a place to go.”
“Say more ..."
“Crossing a river is symbolic.”
“It’s been said so.”
“Can we …”
“Visit Virginia,” Reb pondered, “like maybe next year?”
“I’m available ~ you?”
“Think so.”
“Summer again Reb?”
“Feels like Spring.”
“Great.”
“It's Time to go Gus.”
“You hear something?”
“No ... just Time.”
“Thanks Reb.”
“Thanks Gus.”

Gus and Reb Somewhere Sunset

*In October, look for Ew Publishing’s mini-series, Whiskey 220: The Rebellion. Hosted on the BWB Blog, Whiskey 220 honors the successful conclusion to a domestic insurrection 220 years ago; it does so by highlighting President George Washington’s personal notes while traveling to inspect the State militias: the series includes a meeting with Virginia’s Governor Henry Lee III. Whiskey 220 begins Saturday, 11 October.

Thanks All!
~
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner

Video:
Johnny Cash sings Civil War songs