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  Copyright 2002-08   DoggerelPundit
  All Rights Reserved


   Thursday, April 14, 2005

 
Abridge? Too Far Dept.



It’s Free Press!

At the time of Georgian reign,
It would publish Thomas Paine,
Print a broadside, card or handbill
Handed with a quill, by candle.
Page a hornbook for young students,
Schooling homilies of prudence.
Line the text for each Poor Richard’s
After Ben decided which words—
       Insurrection coming ripe,
       Its essence set in type.
Revolutionary papers
Putting Parliament in vapors,
Touched the British King with dread.
Swing the bar! Squeeze the bed!
It’s free press!

2
Eighteen hundred saw advances,
Added readers, richer chances!
Bold newspapers for the many,
Some were had at two-a-penny.
Thought and theory still in fever,
Rising age of the achiever,
Came a torrent of editions
For all; farmers to physicians—
       Webster, Douglass, (Poe!)
       Harriet Beecher Stowe.
From St. Louis to Manhattan;
“Git that devil! ink the platen!
We’ve a deadline coming Frank!”
Haul the handle! Roll and clank!
It's free press!

3
Came the big Webb and the Rotos
First engravings then with photos,
(And that righteous holy see,
The Editorial 'We')
Where the jobsticks once were packing
Now a linotype is clacking,
Miles of paper whirl a sprocket
Near a pace too fast to clock it—
       Writers free to write,
       Any censor sees a fight!
Packed with copy more discursive,
From the safe to the subversive.
Lighting truth is yet the goal,
Hear it rumble! See it roll!
It's free press!

4
After Tesla sparked ambition
For a crackling new transmission
Came news radio debuting
(Thirty years would see us viewing!)
Heard the crack of Babe Ruth batting,
F.D.R. and fireside chatting.
From the brave war-correspondents
Honest story not despondence—
       Mr. Murrow held the air,
       Pyle and Shirer over there.
Growing twice a thousand stations,
In this freest of all nations
What you say is your affair.
Cue the Anchor! On the air!
It's free press!

5
How did freedom’s institution
Garner privileged absolution?
With the bar to publish falling;
Unrestricted pages sprawling,
Now we hear of regulation
On the spread of information!
Will we let F.E.C. leaven
As in 1637
       Or license, as of yore;
       England 1644 ?
Seeing Blogger publication
Is a forward incarnation,
Raising questions of old orders;
Information without borders,
Let abridgment build a caste?
Free the linking! Keep it vast!
It’s free press!



Notes


   posted by Stephen at 10:42 PM | Plink





Last: 3/17


Last: 3/25


Fat to Fatuus
Tweets His Own
Raptor Up
Shiloh's Pride
For Mr. Martinez


Of Kos We Can
Saddam Damned. Sad.
Get a Lift
Ostiumporosis
Saddam Sad? Damn.
In The Moody
Tax The Rich!
Hogonice Beer
Leg Down
Ewywadlam
Damn! Sad Saddam
Pass The Word
On Your "S"
Halloween Satire
Oh Pam
Recipoem
Oreo Rotundo
EUoops!
Here's To Joanne!
English As It Is Writ
New Diet


KT
Leslie?
Shades of Christmas
Illuminoti
A Natural World
It's Free Press
The Emmanent Professor
Gaining?
Scott's Wae Used
Regression Analysis
Draft Copy
(a) Prayer of the Press
Epigram
Dangerous Games
Miserable Failures
Possibilities
Where Did They Go?
Negative Charge
So Much In One Place
If Only...
Growing Pains
Showin' Your Cards
Don't Give It A Thought
Advice
In A Yard


The Fallen
In Passing
Correlations
What Now?
Elements Of Chance
Dutch
Of Masses
Descent
We Are The Trolls
Now Not You
Why We Fight
Nightly Memory
Remember Me


Gunga Dan
(a) Press' Snide Story
The Pundit King
I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Media Journalist
Orrin Spare That C:/
Al Shahaf
Pere Jacques Chirac
Left It Be
Oh! What a Beautiful Warning
Hell No Barbra
Act Rationally
Rope-A-Dope
Murray's Little Slam
Listen to a STAR
Bellesiles Lament
Ditty Bares Peacenik
Back To The Boneyard


Bob's Wind
The Universal Croaker


Sing Ho!
am epigram
A small Suggestion
Motion Denied!
Larger Lesson
Trite On Brother!
Plain Cake Please
Illusion
Peroration
Old Queen Jane
Albert Gore
She knew
A Tone Poem For Peace
Feeling The Pinch
To Penn
Apeacement
Lott a Stink
Dubya Shines At That
President Bill