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Wars of Blood and Faith
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Conservatives Are From Mars, Liberals Are From San Francisco
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FROM THE PHONE BOOTH: The Smallest Space in  Hollywood

	FINEFROCK

It’s All About THE Benjamin
FRANKLIN, that is...
by Steve Finefrock - Hollywood Forum [scriptwriter] 2/20/08

It’s all about the Benjamins derives from slang in the drug world, where the face of Benjamin Franklin plays large: his face adorns the popular $100 bill, the numero uno and lingua franca of drug transactions. “Dead Presidents” filmed a story on drug dealing, supposedly referencing the monetary denomination faces of now-dead presidents, failing to consider that the lingua franca features a face whose features never graced the Oval Office.  Merely the Post Office, as Postmaster General, Franklin nevertheless is central to our history.
 
Perhaps most famously, he said:

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.

Of course, he never meant unlimited license when he adored and adorned liberty to his memory.  One’s liberty ends when it infringes on another’s basic rights. Liberty is not the unfettered expression of every urge and appetite – something not grasped recently by Jane Fonda, or Janet Jackson.  He might have had a few things to say, caustically, to Bill Maher and the other PC crowd, as certain words are disfavored and others embraced.  As his face is on that famous denomination, it’s worth noting as B.O. and H.R.C. faces threateningly appear on the presidential horizon, what he said about the new system he helped birth in Philadelphia:

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.

Maybe ole Ben favored the Second Amendment, even before it was submitted to the states for ratification. Doubtless he’d disapprove of earmarks and logrolling run amok in our politics.  For he also intoned:

When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.

Shades of the Bridge to Nowhere, elderly drug benefits, and the coming ‘free’ healthcare schemes awaiting BO or HRC signature. Congress is mostly ‘about the Benjamins’ as they seek our dough and bake bread to give away, taking credit for ‘creating jobs’ and ‘giving benefits’ which originated in our own pockets in the first place.  That might be a First Lesson, a Prime Concept, for Senator McCain as he wrestles with economics.

And for Barack Obama:

He that lives upon hope will die fasting.

And a point to point out both to B.O. and Hillary:

The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

His assertion that there is nothing certain in life but death and taxes, commenting on whether the Constitution was certain to survive, was uttered before there was the income tax, or death taxes. In fact, “A penny saved is a penny earned” nowadays, in light of taxes [are you listening, econ student McCain?], saving a penny is equal to earning a pre-tax penny and a half [or a quarter at least].  Before long, Congress will tax those grocery store savings coupons, counting it as ‘earned’ income.  Already, if you pay your taxes and then make a ‘gift of cash from what remains, you must then pay ‘gift tax’ for your generosity.  Wonder what ole Ben might say about that.  

As to Dems’ desire, or certain ones’ desires for “Her Majesty” in Florida and Michigan:

When there's no Law, there's no Bread.

We’ve seen this before – in ’72, Humphrey laughed a McGovern’s early primary urging for a joint federal lawsuit to set aside California’s winner-take-all primary, so delegates would be awarded proportionately by election returns.  Soon, the tables turned, McGovern won California’s entire slate, and suddenly who was filing a brief on Wednesday morning in Federal court?  The old Happy Warrior himself. So, Gore v. Bush ain’t’ nuttin’ new, nor will be Hillary’s changing-the-rules-her-way.

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

And something else that’s about the Benjamin:

Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.

That includes PC, quotas, media bigotry and the other indignities visited by Hillary hench-persons and B.O. battalions these many decades. Their definitions of the two proper nouns in the final citation are at the heart of the coming cultural combat:

Where Liberty dwells, there is my Country. ExileStreet

copyright 2008 Steve Finefrock

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