On the 18th September AD 96 another of those dreadful Roman Emperors was done in. This time it was Domitian. His father had been the great military commander Vespasian, who started work on the Colosseum. Domitian succeeded his equally good brother, Titus, but when he fell ill, he left orders to his attendants to let him starve.
Domitian was a sadist and as he grew older he lost his good looks and athletic frame. He took his brother’s daughter as a mistress and executed a man after he had taken his wife from him, because he had joked about it with Titus. His wife hatched a plot with another who also feared for his life, using other members of the Emperor’s exasperated staff.
The assassination came days after Domitian had celebrated his 15th anniversary as Emperor.
The man who would do the deed was Stephanus, the steward to  the Emperor’s niece, Domitilla. Days before he began wearing a sling, feigning an injury. On the 18th September he placed a dagger in it and at a good moment pulled it out, stabbing Domitian in the groin. The two wrestled for their lives, until four more plotters came in and stabbed the Emperor a further seven times.
He was succeeded by a 65 year old Nerva, who was elected by the Senate and who died of natural causes. He was the first of the Five Good Emperors.
Another Bush Screw-up
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As normal, when I see the President screw up, I like to post it. I’ve annotated my distaste for his stance on immigration, CAFTA, drug finance, some of his plans on Social Security and now:
Yesterday, in a speech, he claimed that no one could have forseen that the levvies would break.
I can’t find a link to it on the White House’s webpage. I didn’t really look too hard, but I didn’t find one immediately.
However, assuming he actually said it like they claimed on AM 890 WLS (owned by ABC) then he missed a few critical points:
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In the 1970’s the Army Corps of Engineers specifically informed the city of New Orleans and the State of Louisianna that the 4’ high levvies they built would be in sufficient in the case of an earthquake, high winds or hurricane.
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In the early 1980’s the mayor, with the support of the people, began a special new tax specifically to build the funds necessary to rebuild the levvies properly. This tax was set at 4.5%
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In the 90’s the State of LA set aside millions of dollars into a fund to assist New Orleans in rebuilding the levvies properly so that work could be started much sooner then anticipated.
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In the 1970’s the local state and city authorities drafted and approved numerous types of evacuation plans for multiple different situations, including what would happen if the levvies broke.
Give the above, how could one claim that no one could know the levvies would break? Didn’t the federal government have thousands of workers, millions of dollars and millions of dollars in machines and materials standing by to assist LA like is reported on FOX and CBS? Didn’t the salvation army have 55,000 tons of food and water ready to deploy into the superdome BEFORE the hurricane before the mayor asked them to not bring it? (His arguement was that if there was food and water there, the people wouldn’t leave once danger was gone.)
Sounds like a stupid remark written by some uneducated staff member who should be fired for ineptitude.
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Sounds like a stupid remark written by some uneducated staff member who should be fired for ineptitude
You wouldn’t believe some of the morons who work in the Press Office and the Presidential Speech Office…I was in there installing a new keyboard for someone who didn’t understand that eating greasy food and then typing made your keyboard gross asked me how to spell Minnesota. I for one will fully admit my spelling skills lack very much, but I get paid to fix computers not WRITE SPEECHES FOR THE FRECKIN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. I was floored, showed him how to spell it, taught him to pronounce it just like it sounds in his head so in the future he would be set and didn’t bother to point out how to use spell check ;) Have to keep the contract getting money somehow right?
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Sounds like a stupid remark written by some uneducated staff member who should be fired for ineptitude
You wouldn’t believe some of the morons who work in the Press Office and the Presidential Speech Office…I was in there installing a new keyboard for someone who didn’t understand that eating greasy food and then typing made your keyboard gross asked me how to spell Minnesota. I for one will fully admit my spelling skills lack very much, but I get paid to fix computers not WRITE SPEECHES FOR THE FRECKIN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. I was floored, showed him how to spell it, taught him to pronounce it just like it sounds in his head so in the future he would be set and didn’t bother to point out how to use spell check ;) Have to keep the contract getting money somehow right?
That you do. I’m sure every president in US history has had their fair share of bad speech writters, it’s just amazing no one caught this before Georgie spit it out on national television is all.
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Well when has Dubya not had to put his foot in his mouth…really he shouldn’t have any staff writers with some of the gems he has tossed out there.
“First, we would not accept a treaty that would not have been ratified, nor a treaty that I thought made sense for the country.” —George W. Bush, on the Kyoto accord, April 24, 2001
“It’s very important for folks to understand that when there’s more trade, there’s more commerce.” —George W. Bush, at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City
“Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican.” —President Bush, on not taking questions at a photo opportunity with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien
“This administration is doing everything we can to end the stalemate in an efficient way. We’re making the right decisions to bring the solution to an end.” —George W. Bush, April 10, 2001
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Well when has Dubya not had to put his foot in his mouth…really he shouldn’t have any staff writers with some of the gems he has tossed out there.
“First, we would not accept a treaty that would not have been ratified, nor a treaty that I thought made sense for the country.” —George W. Bush, on the Kyoto accord, April 24, 2001
“It’s very important for folks to understand that when there’s more trade, there’s more commerce.” —George W. Bush, at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City
“Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican.” —President Bush, on not taking questions at a photo opportunity with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien
“This administration is doing everything we can to end the stalemate in an efficient way. We’re making the right decisions to bring the solution to an end.” —George W. Bush, April 10, 2001
I admit, he does let his mouth move faster then his brain. This is why he needs speech writers. I’m thoroughly convinced he has the best foreign policy (aka we don’t need you if you’re just a fair weather friend, which is how I see his policy speaking to the world) but his local policies just plain suck. They suck almost completely.
Really, he should just pass a bill saying Presidents and Congressmen cannot ever screw around iwth the states. If Maryland wants gays to marry, let them. If Idaho doesn’t want to honor that marriage, let them. If Georgia wants ot make it legal for men to shag sheep, fine! But get the damn President out of my living room already! And for that matter, get Teddy Kennedy out too!!!