One star for historical significance. Otherwise it's a pious piece of self-delusional grandiosity, especially when this "law of nature" is employed against the 'king,' OR his men. In the modern U.S., a place where people fall to tasers and false charges of 'obstruction' on a daily basis, the best way to self-defend is to remain quiet, playing ball above all else.

Sinclair's succinctly described model of Fascism was in full bloom last weekend -- on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Fools 'Rush' in, to "Hail Beck..."

In the West today it's the "moneyed corporations," as Jefferson identified them with ultimate loathing who rule, not government. That means Congress, various Parliaments and courts of law, even City Hall receive their marching orders from penthouse suites too, not just the White House. Change Gibbon's final word to the acronym CEO for a more accurate and meaningful update of his observation.

My reservations about this quote stem not from its face content. Rather, they stem from the stark reality surrounding "free speech" as it's practiced in the US today. The Supreme Court may have found in this particular case that government can't control a forum's content, but they've been equally clear in that content can be utterly controlled by the owners of a private forum -- which is the precise state of today's prevailing media. Nowadays media consists of a mere handful of wholly owned, private forums -- now numbering much fewer, insofar as ownership and plurality of voices are concerned, than forums past. This, with today's ownership being much less regulated than at any time since broadcast media became technically possible. The government can't control the message, perhaps, but the plutocrats can. And folks, THEY DO.

I signed up for the Liberty-Tree email notifications just yesterday. After receiving the Twain quote this morning, I mailed it and the following personal note to everyone on my e-address bar, including my congressman: Rest easy All, I don't cuss at you in this one. For many years I lived in Plainwell (Michigan) and usually drove to and from Kalamazoo on Douglas Ave. Though it's gone now, for a very long time there was a sign in the front yard of a house on the SE corner of Douglas and 'D' Ave, at the 4-way stop in Cooper Center. It read: "God bless our military." I was often bemused by this sign, certain that the nation/people behind whatever army that was 'enjoying' the current focus of American free fire, surely held the same sentiments and prayers for their own armies. The prayers for safety and success of our military are certainly as prevalent in the US today as ever it was -- as is my bemusement toward these entreaties of God for the destruction of others. People do not realize what they ask of the Almighty and they forget the Lord is not bound by widely varying fashions of dogmatic prayer, national borders or economic suasion. God's face is turned away from the devastation, fear and hatred that accompany warfare and its practitioners -- and especially its drivers, like the "Christian" evangelical right who seek more Mideast conflict simply in order to hurry along the rapture -- as if the Almighty needs their puny help for initiating His grand plan. I have very few heroes and fewer still American ones. One of those is Mark Twain. He wrote what follows and it deals directly with what I ponder above: (Twain quote here) Written in 1904, because of the devastating meaning and great effect these words hold for the human soul, especially from one as celebrated as he, Twain never allowed his prayer to be published until after his death. He said this about it: "No,' I have told the whole truth in that, and only dead men can tell the truth in this world. It can be published after I am dead." Tragically, to this day his prayer is not taught in US classrooms alongside Huckleberry Finn (where allowed) or Tom Sawyer. If you want the complete version, it's here: . Don't ever forget that arms of war, including civilization-ending thermonuclear warheads, point in both directions. And don't ever forget that because of George W. Bush's madness and unending invasive war and torture, that the prayers entreating God Almighty to provide the above devastation on YOU and ME can now be counted daily by the BILLION. For many, many reasons, and not just because of President George Warpig Bush, God may ultimately hear this prayer -- and justifiably act on it. Peace? Mann