»Funny Story: USA Had an Emperor Once, Norton the First«
|
|||
|
I found this on Wikipedia: there was a fellow, Joshua Norton, who in San Francisco in 1859 declared himself to be "Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico." I found the article because the main page of that site features interesting annivesaries, and it says that today in 1859, Emperor Norton I, as he was called, ordered the US Congress to dissolve. If you remember, this was the same move that Juiius Caesar made (dissolving the Senate) when he became dictator of Rome, but people in San Francisco seemed to really like Emperor Norton. Congress never heard about it, but still the Emperor frequently gave similar commands until his death. He walked the streets of San Francisco in full military regalia, once intervened to stop a race riot against some Chinese "coolies," and corresponded with Queen Victoria. Emperor Norton was poor, but he managed to convince someone to print his own paper money for him, and many restaurants eventually accepted it as legal tender in exchange for meals. He was once committed to an insane asylum by an overzealous policeman, but was soon released after a public outcry and several newspaper editorials in his defense. The celebrated author Mark Twain wrote an obituary for one of Norton's two dogs when it died, and Twain also included a fictionalized version of Emperor Norton as the character "the King" in Twain's novel Huckleberry Finn . When Emperor Norton himself died in 1880, the newspaper San Francisco Chronicle printed a front-page obituary sadly proclaiming "Le Roi est Mort" (French for "the King is Dead"). He is fondly remembered in San Francisco even today, as is shown by the fact that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2004 approved a resolution calling for a new span of bridge between San Francisco and Oakland to be named after him. [CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE] [CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS PICTURE] posted by holy_of_holies |
|||
|
|||
| in-my-opinion.orgPoliticsPolitics and Crime (Assorted topics)Funny Story: USA Had an Emperor Once, Norton the First |
|
|||
|
I found this web page when I was Googling my favorite CNBC anchor, Maria Bartiromo, and it's like a society page that posts photos of people who go to exclusive parties and events, i.e. rich people. Maria is from Brooklyn and her parents owned a restaurant when she was growing up, but she is rich now because she married a rich NYC Jew, you get the idea. *cue theme song to "The Jeffersons": Movin' on up, to the east side, to a deluxe apartment in the sky!  *
But anyway I wanted to post the link here under Emperor Norton's topic to prove to them that they are all pretenders and Norton the First is the once and future king of America. And I have to say, these are REALLY ugly people, all except Maria. She still looks pretty good to me, even though it's been a few years since we stopped seeing each other. Still, I don't honestly find many people ugly, but there must be some kind of like biological or genetic degeneration going on in New York society circles, because God! They are hideous.
 posted by MindSlavery Florida |
|||
|
|||
 Register Log in |
The time now is 24 May 2012, 18:41 php B.B. |