"“We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little worried.” "


Chinese premier Wen Jiabao 12th March 2009


""We have a financial system that is run by private shareholders, managed by private institutions, and we'd like to do our best to preserve that system."


Timothy Geithner US Secretary of the Treasury, previously President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.1/3/2009

Saturday, June 02, 2007

The Gadsden Flag - a very brief history

At the time of the French and Indian War, Benjamin Franklin published this famous woodcut of a snake cut into eight sections. It represented the colonies, with New England joined together as the head and South Carolina as the tail, following the form of the coast. Under the snake was the message "Join, or Die." This became the first political cartoon published in an American newspaper.

The seal from a 1778 $20 bill from Georgia. The financial backing for these bills was property seized from loyalists. The French motto reads "Nemo me impune lacesset," i.e. "No one will provoke me with impunity." - the Scottish motto as used when in Scotland by the mother of the Prince of Wales, toyboy of the coughing Camilla who was apparently de-flowered by some chinless bounder, (as yet it appears un-horsewhipped) as a 17 year old at her debutante's ball in 1965 at the start of a career to match any pub dart board ... well read all about it in the Daily Mail today.

By 1775, the snake symbol wasn't just being printed in newspapers. It was appearing all over the colonies: on uniform buttons, on paper money, and of course, on banners and flags.

The snake symbol changed by shape and specias quite a bit during its rapid and widespread adoption. It wasn't cut up into pieces anymore. And it was usually shown as an American timber rattlesnake, not a generic serpent.

It eventually morphed into the Gadsden Flag designed (?) by Colonel Christopher Gadsden for the earliest US navy vessels.

See more about the fascinating history of this flag and it's modern usage here in an informtive, authoritative and entertaining article by Chris Whitten - http://www.gadsden.info/history.html

Navy Gear will sell you the flag as above for $9.99 and other associated redneck crap to make you look a real areshole on your 900 bhp bass boat.

Including George VIths Skull and Bones Flag ....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Minor quibble:

"Nemo me impune lacessit" is Latin rather than French, and is associated with Scottish flags, coats of arms and even £1 coins.

(C) Very Seriously Disorganised Criminals 2002/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 - copy anything you wish