Welcome to the blog of writer and musician Andrew Martin. Here I'll post original photographs and observations as I encounter the history and culture of the San Fernando Valley, the City of the Angels, Alta California and the far-flung Pacific Rim… but mostly the Valley.
I’ve snarked about V.P. Joe Biden’s insufferable line “Get up, Champ, you’ve got to pull yourself up on your own two…blah blah blah.”
But Biden squares off against a certifiable nut in a few minutes. Here’s hoping that our Champ knocks the bully on his fat wheezing ass.
If there’s anything like good Pennsylvania sense, let the spirit of Benjamin Franklin bless Biden, as channeled by the amazing Robert Preston (and lyricist Sidney Michaels and composer, amazingly, none other than former Hollywood executive Mark Sandrich, Jr.?? Damn that alone, is inspiring.)
The good part begins at 2:00. If you don’t cry when the kid pipes up you have no heart.
When Long Knives slash from all sides, it’s hard for the flailing victim to feel which cuts pierce the Body Politic to the quick, and which are only further shredding the ragged bloody toga of Democracy.
“Messenger of sympathy and love Servant of parted friends Consoler of the lonely Bond of the scattered family Enlarger of the common life
Carrier of news and knowledge Instrument of trade and industry Promoter of mutual acquaintance Of peace and of goodwill Among men and nations
— Inscription on the former Washington D.C. Post Office, now home of the Smithsonian’s National Postal Service Museum
It’s no wonder why this dangerous octopus must be strangled. There is no greater example of the People organizing themselves for mutual benefit.
“Mail Transportation” — WPA mural in the San Pedro Post Office; 1935, Fletcher Martin. Note the ethnicities represented.
Dr. Franklin had been made Postmaster General for North America in 1765 by the British Parliament; during most of those years, he resided in London, but regulated the apparatus for mail delivery in America. When the British dismissed him in 1775, he returned to Philadelphia, where the Continental Congress hired him as our first American Postmaster General. In 1792, under Pres. Washington, the U.S. Post Office was created; it was later made a Department of the executive branch; then, made a cabinet post under Pres. Jackson.
Few remember, but the U.S.P.S. offered non-profit public banking services for much of the 20th century. During the wild days of Bank Runs, Panics, Wartime Inflation, Influenza, Florida Real Estate, Margin Calls, the Gold Standard and Old Man Depression, the U.S.P.S. was the most popular, and one of the ONLY stable and reliable, of all the banks in the WHOLE COUNTRY. They could turn around and offer Public Postal Banking again tomorrow, (without even touching the FDIC program that was “meant to” replace it and which serves the industry’s purpose just fine by socializing their downside.) Postal Banking has all the infrastructure in place, all that would be needed would be the flip of the switch that turned it off. If switches can be turned off — they can also be turned on, which is what really scares conservatives. Thus, they must tout the ruse that the U.S.P.S is an expensive luxury, a palsied hand that must be pried from around the country’s throat. Of course, the truth is that the Post Office is a major artery of America, carrying commonalty, security, absolute equality, social convenience, penny-cheapness, and other desirable democratic attributes, to every corner of the land. That it has been,, like Amtrak, sorely abused by Congress and savagely kicked in the ribs by nearly every Administration of my lifetime, is no discredit to the Post Office.
The Butterfield Overland Express, mail contractor for California, stops at the Bella Union Hotel on Main Street off the Plaza.
For a perfectly great history of the U.S.P.S., by the U.S.P.S. click below, for Publication 100.
God help us, these were the folks we were counting on to be helping carry our precious ballots at election time. God help them, especially our letter carriers, whose stable, respectable middle- class jobs “literally” created America’s communities.
The Valley Village View 