These are the words of a coward. A weak, sissy coward.

We have become a nation of shopkeepers and clerks who are afraid to walk about in our towns and cities without the government goons herding us around like the cattle we have become. Witness what Americans will put up with to fly in a plane these days.

I am seeing more and more trash like Glenn exposed on the Internet and in other places, where sniveling cowards who think the government can prevent their death (or resurrect them) by taking all freedom away.

Friends, it is the Republican Party who is weak. They are afraid of their shadow; why should Democrats emulate this emasculated weakness and act like some neuritic nanny? If a real man or woman ran for office claiming to return America to the strong, good-natured, rational, non-interventionist country of old --- the win would be an historic landslide.

But where could we find a man or woman who would say that we defend ourselves when it is needed, otherwise we leave others alone to do as they please? Hmmmm. Not one of the major candidates, as they both are little sissy boys.

n/t

William Blum, as witty and wonderful as ever:

http://www.counterpunch.org/blum07102008.html

Virtually every president from Truman on has been exhorted by one Dr. Strangelove or another, military or civilian, to use The Bomb when things were going badly, such as in Korea or Vietnam or Cuba, or to use it against the Soviets directly, unprovoked, to once and for all get rid of those commie bastards that were causing so much trouble in so many countries. And not one president gave in to this pressure. They would have been MAD to do so. Which is why all the scary talk of recent years about Saddam Hussein and Iran and all their alleged and potential weapons of mass destruction was just that -- scary talk. Hussein was not, and the Iranians are not, MAD. The only modern-day leaders I would not make this assumption about are Osama bin Laden and Dick Cheney. The latter is a genuine Dr. Strangelove.

This was part of a wonderful essay on the realities of MAD and other items. Worth your time to read. Blum is always worth your time to read.

Oddly, some yahoo upstream called all us antiwar types right-wing. What is up with that? Damn, it gets weird here every other day or so. Will anti-war William Blum also be pigeon-holed as a right-winger? Time will tell.

No? Not everyone believed the system we have is "of the gods".

-------

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." ~ Winston Churchill

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" ~ Benjamin Franklin, leader of the American Revolution

"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." ~ Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States

"The experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived." ~ John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States

"Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few." --George Bernard Shaw

--------

You can find quotes by famous people that "prove" almost anything, of course. But the FISA vote and the Democratic Party's role in the mess is just one more data point supporting the hypothesis that democracy in the country is broken beyond repair. Both parties are full of waring special interest groups who seek to use the power of the empire to wipe out their foes and force people to "do as they should do". But what should people do? Each special group has the answer, "do as we say!"

It is as it ever has been.

No, I do not know that. Our ancestors may have done so, way back when. I think a representative republic would be a good idea; but we would need something like a constitution to protect the poor, weak, and powerless among us.

The fiction that was sold to you in civics class is just a myth for the young. The "outer mysteries" as some paths would call them. The "inner truths" are much darker, and scarier than John Obama is.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/aviation-security
/2008/Jul/01/want-some-torture-with-your-peanuts/

“Every airline passenger would be tracked by a government-funded GPS [bracelet], containing personal, private and confidential information, and would shock the customer worse than an electronic dog collar if the passenger got out of line.”

"A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®"

======

What a great democracy this is! We are protected by big nanny! Just wait till John McBama gets elected, and then all will be well. Eh?

Seriously, I find it hard to believe that Americans do not demand that the 'public servant' in question be put in a dark hole somewhere for life for suggesting that such a thing is a good idea.

We have gone insane!