Search This Blog

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Giving up liberty for security

Ben Franklin's famous line about liberty and security has even more meaning in the age of post-9/11 fear.

Too bad most people don't take a stand like this guy did.
TSA Encounter at SAN



In 1755 (Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, Tue, Nov 11, 1755), Franklin wrote: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

This phrasing was also the motto in Historical Review of Pennsylvania, attributed to Franklin

It's important to note that this sentiment, with many variations, was much used in the Revolutionary period by Franklin and others.
http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/quotable/quote04.htm

Saturday, November 13, 2010

How a State Full of Conservatives Elects an Idiot Like Inhofe

Oklahoma Public School Students Fail Basic Citizenship Test

Sample questions:

1. What is the supreme law of the land?
2. What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution?
3. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
4. How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
5. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
6. What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?
7. What are the two major political parties in the U.S.?
8. We elect a U.S. senator for how many years?
9. Who was the first president of the United States?
10. Who is in charge of the executive branch?