Happy Birthday Thomas Paine

More than just an intellectual

Thomas Paine's birthday today. MORE than just an intellectual founder of the nation, he took up arms in the Revolutionary War, was aide-de-camp to Gen. Nathaniel Green, was one of the greatest propagandists in history ... virtually founded the trade, first battlefield journalist, his works touched off the struggle for freedom of the press in England, and he participated and nearly died in the French Revolution. And he somehow found time to invent the first single-span iron bridge and a smokeless candle. Raise a glass. And then get busy: we are at a crossroads and there is much to do.