tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32869165.post7916453128576207383..comments2017-04-13T04:47:21.148-06:00Comments on Pro Libertate: "Tumult and Blood" (Updated, June 5)William N. Grigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14368220509514750246noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32869165.post-12966314498766663082008-06-06T22:11:00.000-06:002008-06-06T22:11:00.000-06:00Flogging his wedding tackle?Do you mean pounding h...Flogging his wedding tackle?<BR/>Do you mean pounding his pud, choking the chicken, stirring his own pudding, beating his meat sort of flogging?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32869165.post-87460488852861335782008-06-06T08:43:00.000-06:002008-06-06T08:43:00.000-06:00Check out today's new article on gritsforbreakfast...Check out today's new article on gritsforbreakfast blogspot.<BR/><BR/>"Most recently, an informant in Plano who threatened to out police officers in five Metroplex departments was found shot to death in his home this morning, making him the second steroid dealer/informant killed this year before he could testify against law enforcement. Reported Jason Trahan at the Dallas News ("Convicted steroid dealer David Jacobs found dead in Plano home," June 5)"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32869165.post-43178844886670298642008-06-06T01:30:00.000-06:002008-06-06T01:30:00.000-06:00FREE?!!!! on only $75,000 bond? talk about Santa ...FREE?!!!! on only $75,000 bond? talk about Santa Claus! <BR/><BR/>rickAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32869165.post-81703930006405647392008-06-05T14:25:00.000-06:002008-06-05T14:25:00.000-06:00Good riddance to this guy. I hope he goes away for...Good riddance to this guy. I hope he goes away for a long, long time.Difsterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15192605698986301905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32869165.post-16845458481296154602008-06-05T10:10:00.000-06:002008-06-05T10:10:00.000-06:00"The 'wanton tyranny' of George III's rule now see..."The 'wanton tyranny' of George III's rule now seems like an era of enlightened restraint, living as we do under a Regime that is frequently responsible for spectacles of "tumult and blood" the likes of which Otis could only have imagined after madness tragically claimed ownership of his once-incomparable mind." -- Will G.<BR/><BR/>So sadly true. As dismal as it is to contemplate, 1789 may have constituted -- in retrospect -- a high-water mark for a radical and widely-accepted commitment to human liberty. Elites, as always, find ways to counter and reverse such advances, even while affirming their obeisance to the old revolutionary slogans. Word frequency analyses show the trend: "liberty" has virtually disappeared from State of the Union speeches, since it is no longer on offer. "Security" and "terrorism" have replaced it as government priorities.<BR/><BR/>Now that even the Great Writ of habeas corpus has been compromised by the Military Commissions Act, in some respects individual rights have been rolled back to pre-Magna Carta era -- i.e., before the year 1215.<BR/><BR/>Eight centuries is pretty far to fall. Must we slide all the way back to the Dark Ages, to serfdom and droit de seigneur? Or even to the B.C. era, when kings gaily feasted with courtesans al fresco, as condemned and crucified wretches groaned and twisted on the crosses surrounding the picnic grounds? If Abu Ghraib is any guide, the sadistic spectacle of public torture would probably have a sexual twist to it, in the Bush era.<BR/><BR/>But back to the present -- as recently as the 1960s, teenaged Boomers (including myself) were under the delusion that they were ushering in a new era of freedom and tolerance. Some of the tolerance stuck -- minorities and gays enjoy more legal protection. But liberty under the law has undergone a full-scale collapse. I can only regard our generation as a complete, unmitigated failure.<BR/><BR/>We used to question whether it made sense to bring children into the world under the pervasive nuclear threat of the Cold War. Today, the pertinent question is whether it is justified to have children, knowing that they will grow up in a militaristic police state which probably faces de facto bankruptcy during their adulthood. My answer would be "No."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32869165.post-64153592463710653162008-06-04T21:59:00.000-06:002008-06-04T21:59:00.000-06:00The nature of tyranny has not changed over the cou...The nature of tyranny has not changed over the course of mankind. Find a group easily marginalized, hype fear, demand enforcement and tax dollars to make it happen. Drug users, gun owners, supporters of the constitution, "dead beat" dads, blacks, japs - the list of potential targets is without end. And with each miscreant class to be crushed comes more power - until the oppressive power tramples all.<BR/><BR/>Will it change? Starve Leviathan, disarm it's toadies, put fear back in the hearts of bureaucrats - unlikely unless we take head of Jefferson's admonition regarding the maintaining tree of liberty.<BR/><BR/>Sic Semper TyrannisAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com