Thursday, December 29, 2005

Mencken on liberty

"I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave."

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

My ear to the tracks...

Or, would you like fries with your Armageddon?

On the holiday visit to Red State Land, I heard more of the Hindenburg (flaming Nazi gasbag) on the airwaves than I can normally stomach. But one theme ran throughout Limbaugh's bloviations. Let's play charades, shall we?

One word, short word. Two syllables. First syllable (point to "eye.") I? Right!!

Second syllable (pantomime running)

I, hmmm, I, let's see, I -- running -- jogging -- ran ....... IRAN!!!!!!

He was whipping up his mouthbreathers into a frenzy about how we would "have" to "clean up" Iran.

Unbelievable--but oh so sadly believable.

What have we become?

From the Chicago Tribune:

WASHINGTON -- Three years ago, President Bush declared that he had "zero tolerance" for trafficking in humans by the government's overseas contractors, and two years ago Congress mandated a similar policy. But notwithstanding the president's statement and the congressional edict, the Defense Department has yet to adopt a policy to bar human trafficking.

A proposal prohibiting defense contractor involvement in human trafficking for forced prostitution and labor was drafted by the Pentagon last summer, but five defense lobbying groups oppose key provisions and a final policy still appears to be months away, according to those involved and Defense Department records.

More at the link above.

Being pro-torture wasn't enough. Now we are pro-slavery. To steal from The Untouchables, we have become what we beheld.

Monday, December 26, 2005

Hope all is well...

Back from Christmas at the mother-in-law's. Memo to the woman in the third row at Trinity English Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at the 9:00 Christmas Eve service:

1) God couldn't smell your perfume--but I could and

2) While we are told to make a joyous noise unto the Lord, please do not loudly replicate the sound of a small animal caught in a trap gnawing its foot off directly into the ear of a handsome edgy man.

But other than that, it was a delightful Christmas and I want to leave you with Bill O'Reilly's last card:

We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
We wish you a Merry Christmas
Even though you're a Jew!