You Have Right to...um...
From the Eagle Tribune (Lawrence, MA) opinion page:
While I stand behind that sentiment 110%, it just rings hollow coming from the land of the "mosteffective bigoted gun laws in the nation". And, it just screams out loud for this classic Python tie-in.
If a people are denied the means with which to defend themselves by their government, they are denied the very basic right to self-defense. Essentially, their lives no longer belong to them. The responsibility for what happens to their bodies is no longer theirs, but now belongs to whomever is in charge.
From that point on, they cease being free. Yet, in places in and around Boston, these people continue to live under the false impression that they are free and sovereign, and therefore should be afforded the rights of a free citizenry.
When I hear folks from Brookline or Cambridge (or Chicago, San Francisco, Washington DC, etc.) crying out about how their rights and liberties are being violated by the Bush administration's wiretapping policy, or by a proposed law that would restrict, in any way, a woman's "right" to have an abortion, I can only shrug my shoulders, and offer this simple suggestion.
Quitcher bitchin'.
You ceded your personal sovereignty over to the government years ago - and your "right" to bitch about it along with it - when you voted all those totalitarian, elitist, Massachusetts "progressive" busybodies into office. They own you. They own your body. You've got exactly the government you deserve, so do us a favor, and shut the hell up.
And, one more thing, STAY IN MASSACHUSETTS!
Deval needs you.
Three cheers and a replacement bottle of fish sauce for Ross Vannarith, the owner of a Methuen liquor store who fought off a would-be robber with the help of his son and a bottle of the salty condiment.
Vannarith had just returned to the Methuen Package Store on Route 110 when he saw a man pointing a gun at his daughter behind the register. Vannarith crept up behind the man and wrestled him to the ground, where he and his son beat him into submission with the first thing that came to hand, a bottle of fish sauce.
[...]
Police have not charged the Vannariths with any crime related to the beating. Nor should they. People have a right to defend their lives and property.
While I stand behind that sentiment 110%, it just rings hollow coming from the land of the "most
Judith: [on Stan's desire to be a mother] Here! I've got an idea: Suppose you agree that he can't actually have babies, not having a womb - which is nobody's fault, not even the Romans' - but that he can have the *right* to have babies.
Francis: Good idea, Judith. We shall fight the oppressors for your right to have babies, brother... sister, sorry.
Reg: What's the *point*?
Francis: What?
Reg: What's the point of fighting for his right to have babies, when he can't have babies?
Francis: It is symbolic of our struggle against oppression.
Reg: It's symbolic of his struggle against reality.
If a people are denied the means with which to defend themselves by their government, they are denied the very basic right to self-defense. Essentially, their lives no longer belong to them. The responsibility for what happens to their bodies is no longer theirs, but now belongs to whomever is in charge.
From that point on, they cease being free. Yet, in places in and around Boston, these people continue to live under the false impression that they are free and sovereign, and therefore should be afforded the rights of a free citizenry.
When I hear folks from Brookline or Cambridge (or Chicago, San Francisco, Washington DC, etc.) crying out about how their rights and liberties are being violated by the Bush administration's wiretapping policy, or by a proposed law that would restrict, in any way, a woman's "right" to have an abortion, I can only shrug my shoulders, and offer this simple suggestion.
Quitcher bitchin'.
You ceded your personal sovereignty over to the government years ago - and your "right" to bitch about it along with it - when you voted all those totalitarian, elitist, Massachusetts "progressive" busybodies into office. They own you. They own your body. You've got exactly the government you deserve, so do us a favor, and shut the hell up.
And, one more thing, STAY IN MASSACHUSETTS!
Deval needs you.
