TrevorCarpenter.com

One Hundred Great Americans

Today is Benjamin Franklin’s birthday. He was born in Boston, Mass., on January 17th, 1706. A great American who contributed not only to the forming of this great nation, but in many unique ways as well.

Hey, do you use bifocals? Ben did that! The circulating stove, aka the Franklin Stove, Ben did that. How about checking out a book at the library? Do you like that? Ben did that. You live in a rural area, with volunteer fire departments, Ben did that.

The first volunteer fire department in the United States was created by Ben, The Union Fire Company in Philadelphia.

Of course, Ben contributed so much more to our world. Not just being a creative thinker, but a tremendous writer and entrepreneur as well. Ben ran several successful business during his lifetime, including Pennsylvania Gazette and contributing to the first newspaper in Boston, The New England Courant, of which his brother started and published.

Uniquely enough, many don’t know what a large contribution Ben had to our independence. Yes, he was a part of the 5 who wrote the Declaration of Independence, even though Thomas Jefferson wrote the majority of it. Yet, as I’ve read more and more of Ben’s writings, I’m inclined to believe that Ben had a much larger role in the construction of that great American document.

However, another large contribution was that Ben took off for France as the first American ambassador, to France. Whilst there, Ben worked hard to secure not only a treaty with France, but many of the funds necessary to finance the upcoming war of independence.

After the war, he returned to his home in Pennsylvania, and served in a few capacities in public office. One of his last public acts was writing an anti-slavery treatise in 1789.

Ben Franklin, a great American.

(source: Wikipedia:Ben Franklin)

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Global warming is awesome! It makes the weather so nice all the time.

Get the shirt!

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You know what they say about opinions, right? Well, mine are strong and I want to share them. I really enjoy blogging and I’d like to continue my growth with the medium so I’m thinking about launching a news oriented online magazine. What do you think? I think something that focuses on the top news stories and current events, with a little commentary might be good. However, trying to cover the world or our country might be biting off more than I can chew. So, once we get moved, I think I’ll try to use this as an opportunity to learn more about the Pacific Northwest.

Most of the opinion blogs, especially the politically oriented kind, tend to be one-sided. And, well, that would be my tendency too, but that’s been done already. Whether you like them or not, those programs with two talking heads, like Hannity & Colmes, really do have strong viewership. There’s no reason why I couldn’t strive to put together a balanced team of contributors.

I went ahead and purchased, NorthwestFreePress.com, in the anticipation that I may do this. So, are you in the Pacific Northwest? Are you interested in joining a team of diverse thinkers who want to chew up and spit out their opinions on everything that’s current? Comment away, or email me. (See the sidebar for my email.)

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Jeff Jarvis, at BuzzMachine, wrote a good post today.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m pretty conservative, politically. In fact, I’m more conservative than most of the main stream Republicans. I’m not going to bullet point list out my views on the issues, I just wanted to get that clear.

So, now, let me point out that my party seems to be running in fear of the internet. I read and follow many political and technology oriented blogs. Others too, but those are pertinent to this post.

I can’t tell you how much I’ve read and heard lately that demonstrated how each of the top liberal candidates for president are using the internet and its tools to communicate with supporters, potential voters, and the media. Yes, the Edwards camp had their fiasco with their bloggers early on, but at least they had bloggers on staff who were doing something! Does McCain have any staff bloggers? Guliani? Romney?

In fact, I think Ron Paul is the only one who knows that the internet isn’t just for porn addicts and 14 year old pimple faced nerds.

Ron Paul has a Facebook page. Ron Paul sat down, townhall style, at the Googleplex recently. Ron Paul is posting YouTube video on his presidential campaign page. I like Ron Paul.

I can’t say that I agree with each of Ron Paul’s opinions. However, he is taking a stand on some of the important ones. And to top it off, Ron Paul has created a mighty stir with the techo-leftists of Silicon Valley. And since, they’re the ones developing most of the internet, that may come back to be a blessing no one saw coming.

So, GOP, “Why are you afraid of the internet?”

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